Pieter1 Posted May 21, 2017 Share Just the quiet of an open Karoo road.I like to look and listen and observe the detail.As the sun rises, one can sometimes see things like field mice sunning themselves in low scrub. Or hear the Korhaans calling. Or just the silence.Jis man! This paints a nice picture! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Dale Posted May 21, 2017 Share GeezWhere do I start ???? What I do know is that the mental monkeys dance wildly as in a rave at the start of the rideAfter a while they are in a dancing cabaret And then 2 hrs later or so they're busy with tai chi ???????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johannrissik Posted May 21, 2017 Share On RASA2015 we stopped on the side of the road before sunrise because it was just too cold to ride (between Willowmore and PA). The Korhaans were calling in their special way. I won't forget that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grease_Monkey Posted May 21, 2017 Share The reason I mostly ride mtb and not road, and for that argument trail and not many long rides is because when I ride single track with some nice rocks and roots I have to look at the trail and not think. Cycling in general is the time where I get to switch off and just be. I know that sounds corny, but one needs that time where you just think of nothing but what is in front of you. On longer open roads I tend to try and take in what's around me. The trees, the sunrise, animals along the route, the sounds the grass makes when wind blows through it; and when in Western Cape, the mountains! It just reminds me of how small we are, and how big the universe is. It's that escape from reality - not that reality is bad at all. Cycling in all it's forms is about the best therapy I have ever experienced! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSG Posted May 21, 2017 Share When a friend and I did our last race together in Knysna with all those long never ending climbs I got caught singing out loud in Afrikaans, "my enigste troos in lewe en dood is dat ek aan Jesus Christus behoort". He and a few others fell of their bikes laughing at me. Seriously, I almost died that day with the climbs. I'm a hillsucker, I hate long never-ending climbs. Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas_187 Posted May 21, 2017 Share Honestly, I just keep telling myself to stop smoking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butterbean Posted May 21, 2017 Share I have a couple of things happen. One, somehow some annoying radio hit song will get stuck in my head. So the chorus to a Bieber or Miley Cyrus song. Always something I hate but it's stuck in there for the ride On flats, I'm normally too focused on the power meter to have any thoughts.. On climbs, I just hate myself for every piece of food I've ever eaten, and try to tell myself to slow down, keep the pace, take it easy, get to the top, over and over and over again. The price for being a fatass. Otherwise if it's traffic or busy, or a race, there's too much going on that I get that blissful period where I have no thought, only focus on the road. That's the best time ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pure Savage Posted May 21, 2017 Share I know when i start singing Taylor Swift Shake it Off then im probably dehydrated.Flip, I must start all my rides dehydrated!! That, then Katy perry, some lonely island and Carly Rae. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pure Savage Posted May 21, 2017 Share Commutes I plan my diary for the day. Also laugh at all the peasants in the cars stuck in traffic. Hate riding solo, but when I do I just stare at my garmin a lot. Everest I counted pedal strokes on the 14 % gradient stuff, only way could get through. Otherwise it's Instagram and twitter time! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porqui Posted May 21, 2017 Share Some serious help needed here !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mads Posted May 21, 2017 Share Just the quiet of an open Karoo road.I like to look and listen and observe the detail.As the sun rises, one can sometimes see things like field mice sunning themselves in low scrub. Or hear the Korhaans calling. Or just the silence. Although this is perfect...I must admit that when I did the Transkaroo I eventually ended singing the chorous of Transkaroo over and over and over...... Edit. On yesterdays long ride I ended singing The Prayer. Both male and female parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayleyearth Posted May 22, 2017 Share There's actually quit a bit of prep work going into a +-100miles ride, like to map it out and put it on my watch, then also to make sure there is stopping places on the way, garage at least to fill the H2O bottles. Then when I am actually on the bike the 1st thoughts are all about running through if I have everything, always still in the 1st 2km or so I will still be feeling my pockets to make sure the banana is there, cell is in, bank card in, rear light on etc. I usually ride alone. Well here in NZ 100% of my 'longer' rides have been alone, although I haven't done so many of then here yet. I don't listen to music ever so my mind is all over the place. Usually the 1st bit of navigation I will know because it is general known routes, and I now have a few houses out that has flags on to double check the wind direction as I leave....to prepare my mind for where I am going to suffer and where I am going to love it. I have discussions with people in my mind A LOT. Either people I know and it will be about something we are going through currently - e.g. telling my dad to buy a certain tile and him replying by saying it is too big and then me saying then I will get someone else to put it in and him then replying.....it is my mind thinking up all the people's replies, because we never had that conversation.. The I will think about the Hub and where I might stop to take the pic for the "Where has your bike take you thread", then I might think of some threads that was on here or some of the folk on here. The I will think "why the hell am I doing this again?!", in between keep on looking down to watch to make sure I am on track still, then thinking about some person that just drove pass and how they are on there way to their own agenda and then onto the "how many people is on the world and all the people on the world are in there own little worlds and I know nothing of them and that even the people I do know I don't know what they are doing at that moment" - that thought and the snowball effect it has consumes a lot of time in my mind. Then I might think of why don't I know people that would do this with me....am I crazy? Check to see if I am drinking enough. A cyclist dude will ride past me (here in NZ it doesn't happen that often when out on the rural roads), so then I wonder if he is using Strava and then I can go later to stalk to see flyby's and see which route he rode etc Check distance, is it time for that bite of banana... A car come by too close then I jump to have a conversation with the person driving:me: "cant you think that you are too close?"driver: "you cyclists moan about everything! I didn't touch you!"me: "when last have you even ridden a bike? do you know how the wind and gusts feels today? Do you know that if you go by this fast and close that the slipstream of your car pulls me in!?!"...conversation gets quite heated in my mind right about now ....I cant even see the car anymore in real life...driver: "bullS......t!"me: "here get on my bike so you can feel!"etc etc flip, I think so much crap, about where I am in my life, relationships, what's next etc etc Would be interesting to see how many different thought lines and decisions one make on such a ride! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurch the stalker Posted May 22, 2017 Share Commutes I plan my diary for the day. Also laugh at all the peasants in the cars stuck in traffic.First thing I find myself doing on either end of the commute is jotting down the things I have remembered along the way that I need to do. You mean laugh at the peasants and then curse the same ones for being reckless and not noticing you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breezer Posted May 22, 2017 Share Nothing, I use my brain cells for energy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprocket77 Posted May 22, 2017 Share Great thread and some interesting replies. For me, once I settle into a steady pace, the revolutions through the pedals becomes my tempo, and I naturally build on and layer that rhythm with various instruments to set a basic musical pattern - a backing track if you like. Once that's in place I just relax and let it take me anywhere (my mind not the bike) and all kinds of things that have happened throughout the week, month or my life creep in and filter through the music, giving me an unhindered platform to digest everything and think about the future. I find it very therapeutic and refreshingly liberating. Strange I know, but that's just what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Ruinaard Posted May 22, 2017 Share Here is something i saw this morning - very apt IMO. I have used parallels to cycling many times in my career to think something through and see how riding a race would give me insights as to where i am on some aspect: https://www.fastcompany.com/40419870/how-my-cycling-obsession-makes-me-a-better-entrepreneur?partner=rss&utm_content=bufferc2466&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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