Why do you love cycling?

[Tangled Tango]

I've been cycling consistently for forty years and it is the central part of my spiritual practice. I long ago gave up on organized religion and cycling is for me a far better way to get to the truth of my existence.

This is pretty close to my own experience, though I never embraced any organized religion so never gave one up. I live in the north of Spain (home of Chechu Rubiera & Samual Sanchez), one of the most beautiful parts of this country and an absolute cyclists dream (if you like to climb). It is lush green and the mountains meet the sea. It takes but 5 minutes and I´m in the countryside with the cows, horses, sheep. But living here I don´t truly appreciate my surroundings, the views, the clean air ect........unless I´m on my bike. For me when I´m riding I become part of my surroundings, I don´t just see the mountains, I feel them (corny as it sounds), feel that I am part of them as with the animals. Even the local people working their land seem somehow connected to me when I´m riding past. I feel this kind of transformation the second I get rolling, the second I´m moving and it happens every single ride. As someone else mentioned, it is a form of freedom. I never have this feeling when driving in my car on the same roads, with the same views. Then there is the physical aspect of cycling; leisure riding with friends or family, getting into shape, base miles, training, intervals, climbing; whatever. It´s just great for the body, the heart, circulation, the list goes on. One of the healthiest obsessions I´ve ever had the pleasure to enjoy.

 

[san4os]

Hello!
Im Alex!

There are many reasons Why do I love cycling?
1. I love a wind, I love speed.
2. It is very useful for health.
3. I support a harmonous figure.
4. I save on transport.
5. I do not love a traffic jam.

 

[chirobike]

Because...

I can buy this...

But I can't buy this...

Same thrill.

 

[RedheadDane]

The reason I prefer watching cycling to, say, a football match or a tennis match is because there are so many things going on at the same time.
The two types of sport I use as example is two teams/players against each other, with the intention of winning.
Cycling has about 20 teams against each other, and if you look at just one stage at a GT where there's a breakaway; in that break people can have so many different reasons for being there; Some are there for the GC, some wants a stage win, some are after mountain-points, some are after point and some might have been sent of the road by team-mates in the GC. And because of all those conflicted reasons you never know how long the co-working will last...
And it's a constant gamble for the leaders when a group gets away; "Should we let those people go? Are there anyone high in GC?"
(is it ever a good idea to let +50 people break free from the pack?)

Come on! What is there not to love?

 

[The Hitch]

Perhaps the main reason behind me liking cycling is i am really tired of celebrities. In almost every sport on British Tv be it golf, football, tennis, motorsport etc even the average participants are multi millionares, hero worshipped etc.
In cycling evem the top guys - Contador, Cancellara arent that famous. The only cyclist whos name people know is (take a guess).

In cycling i heard the average wage is 40 000 a year.
In england the average salary for a player in the bottom half of the league is also 40 000, but A WEEK.

therefore in cycling when someone wins or does a good job they are raising their profile, perhaps giving their family a slightly better life. And the bonus that cyclists get if their team mate wins something is like a christmas bonus, motivating cyclists to work unselfishly for themselves.

Thats the other beauty of cycling, the level of sacrifice domestiques put in to let someone else win. Its always nice seeing a teammate come in like 90th in the peloton but raise his hands as if he won the race himself.

 

[RedheadDane]

Thats the other beauty of cycling, the level of sacrifice domestiques put in to let someone else win. Its always nice seeing a teammate come in like 90th in the peloton but raise his hands as if he won the race himself.

+1,000,000,000!!!

In football when a team wins everyone gets a piece of the cake. In cycling people sacrifice themselves to let someone else have the entire cake!

 

[The Hitch]

+1,000,000,000!!!

In football when a team wins everyone gets a piece of the cake. In cycling people sacrifice themselves to let someone else have the entire cake!

To be fair its not just football. I cant think of any other sport where athletes sacrifice themselves for others. In formula 1 when drivers are asked to slow down so their team mates can pass and their team can win a championship, they arent that happy about it.

But footballers have over the years produced some moments of extreme selfishness, even though its a team sport. Like when C Ronaldo cried in front of millions of people when his team scored. Were they tears of joy? no. He was crying because it wasnt he who had scored.

Also very often footballers throw tantrums when they are substituted, and get in rows with their managers. You would think they would be happy to have done a job for their team.

So yeah cycling is unique in the that people go through a tremendous ammount of pain so others can experience glory. One extreme example of this was the domestique for Fausto Coppi who cried when he won the yellow jersey because he felt his job had been to get Fausto Coppin into it.
And a recent example from the giro was when Basso finaly got the pink jersey after 5 stages of his team doing everything just for him, one of the liquigas team came 10 minutes down and down the whole straight he was smiling and pointing to his liquigas jersey. Its always nice to see.

 

[RedheadDane]

To be fair its not just football. I cant think of any other sport where athletes sacrifice themselves for others. In formula 1 when drivers are asked to slow down so their team mates can pass and their team can win a championship, they arent that happy about it.

I just used football as an example... could've been basketball, baseball, handball or hockey where everyone gets something of the cake...
As for the F1 example you used... Wow! did anyone say ego??

Individual sports is something else...

 

[The Hitch]

I just used football as an example... could've been basketball, baseball, handball or hockey where everyone gets something of the cake...
As for the F1 example you used... Wow! did anyone say ego??

Individual sports is something else...

The F1 example? I thought the football example was much worse.

 

[Leopejo]

The F1 example is not very fitting, as these acts of self-sacrifice are prohibited, and so they have to find some excuse - not very easy, when the judges get access to all telemetric data and radio conversations.

The same for goes football (soccer) for example. There too you have the technically good striker, who scores the goals and gets all the fame, and then you have the "humble" teamworker who runs and fights from the first to the last minute to get balls back. These hardly get the deserved recognition, though a team of eleven Ronaldos would go nowhere.

 

[zealot66]

Being an american its only been since around 2003 that cyclings profile has risen and being able to watch on TV. I've always been a fan of endurance sports. I had no idea the intricacies of cycling when I first started watching. Or the basics of time accumulation. When I realized these guys were racing over 100 miles daily through a tour I was flabbergasted.

Like posted above, I hate celebrities. I hate baseball in particular. These guys are barely athletes. Yet they make Millions. They dont even need to be able to run very fast. I hate what the NFL has become. a bunch of criminals who have been carried through school into college and then the NFL and never had to study, work or anything. They carry their gangster lifestyle into a millionaire's lifestyle.

Even triathletes dont race as much as pro cyclists. I like tri's and might do one next year but cyclists LIVE on their bike and with the exception of LA and a few others, its a working mans sport compared to the big sports in the usa and Soccer aka football elsewhere.

 

[RedheadDane]

Another thing I like about cycling is that if the race is being a little boring there's a change they will start showing some footage of the landscape (and what a landscape that is sometimes!)
Whereas in a football match, even if absolutely nothing happens they still keep filming those guys running around on a pitch.

 

[The Hitch]

Another thing I like about cycling is that if the race is being a little boring there's a change they will start showing some footage of the landscape (and what a landscape that is sometimes!)
Whereas in a football match, even if absolutely nothing happens they still keep filming those guys running around on a pitch.

And even if nothing happens instead of having to wait for a week to see another race you only have to wait till the morrow for the next stage.

 

[RedheadDane]

And even if nothing happens instead of having to wait for a week to see another race you only have to wait till the morrow for the next stage.

Yeah!

Also... The spectators!!
In football some spectators freaky attack the opponent's team (their own if they don't think they did well enough...)
In cycling people stand, sometimes on mountainsides with next to no space, for hours cheering on everyone! Their hero or his greatest rival alike. Not to mention that I have a feeling people are just as likely to cheer for the person struggling way behind the peloton, even the grupetto, already falling for the time limit. As for the person going in for the stage win. It might just be me, but I don't think I've ever heard a spectactor "Buu" at a rider...

 

[The Hitch]

Yeah!

Also... The spectators!!
In football some spectators freaky attack the opponent's team (their own if they don't think they did well enough...)
In cycling people stand, sometimes on mountainsides with next to no space, for hours cheering on everyone! Their hero or his greatest rival alike. Not to mention that I have a feeling people are just as likely to cheer for the person struggling way behind the peloton, even the grupetto, already falling for the time limit. As for the person going in for the stage win. It might just be me, but I don't think I've ever heard a spectactor "Buu" at a rider...

Well thats not entirely true. If you look at the clinic, about half the posters there have/ would like nothing more than to wait for hours for a certain lance armstrong to ride by and shout obcenities at him, though they have their reasons.
But yeah your right. In most sports fans behave more badly than in this thing of ours.

 

[RedheadDane]

Yeah... but they're a minority... And I don't think they're groups of cycling fans with the declared goal of making trouble at the route. I've never heard of cycling hooligans!
Also... what do you think would happen at a football medal ceremony if they accidentally played the wrong anthem?

 

[workingclasshero]

Yeah... but they're a minority... And I don't think they're groups of cycling fans with the declared goal of making trouble at the route. I've never heard of cycling hooligans!
Also... what do you think would happen at a football medal ceremony if they accidentally played the wrong anthem?

don't bother your cute little red heid with difficult issues like that (seriously, if you've not been well into football for 20years+ it is hard to understand every little aspect of stuff). you've got more important things to do, where's that photo of you naked on your bike?

 

[RedheadDane]

Well... I just think it's rather silly running onto the pitch, attacking the referee just because you don't agree with him! Especially if it means a lost match and a huge fine (+ having to play a number of matches away from the national stadium...)
Sometimes I have a feeling that in cycling the spectators are just as likely (if not more) to be hit (well deserved! If you're running in front of a cyclist expect a punch!)
I don't think I've ever seen a cycling spectator tackle a rider off his bike! Yes, there have been incidents with idiots standing right in the middle of the way, taking pictures and stuff...

 

[nvpacchi]

Food tastes better after riding.

I always feel guilty indulging unless its post bikeride.

 

[bridgeman]

I really like how good it feels to go to bed at night after a moderate ride. That feeling is just not there if I miss a few days, or if the workout is way over the top. But that's another topic.

 

[marinoni]

I can't imagine I have anything unique to add about why I love cycling. Without having read all the posts I'm sure they've covered everything. I will however go one better and explain why I love riding in the rain. I love that it reminds me of the spring classics. I love that it's hard and dangerous and uncomfortable. I love that I don't have to deal with the hot sun. And yes, I admit, I don't hate that people see me and think that I'm tough/committed/need to be committed, whatever.

 

[Michele]

Food tastes better after riding.

I always feel guilty indulging unless its post bikeride.

Experience the same feelings very often.