Why do we choose to suffer?

teagar

Hi Guys.

Been riding hard road riding for about 3 years now (usually on my own), and after explaining my legendary *ahem* suffering on my bike to friends, I increasingly get asked "why?!". It has got me thinking. Why do I generally like the pain and suffering on my bike? Why do I put up with abusive road users? I think might actually get a thrill out of that one. Maybe I have some deep inner-turmoil I have yet to discover. Maybe I'm a masochist!


What makes you choose to suffer on your bike?

STEFANOS4784

Better than suffering off the bike, keeps the demons at bay :twisted:

dondare

Life without pain has no meaning:- Schopenhauer.
That which does not kill us makes us stronger:- Nietzsche.

salsarider79

I like to carry a big stick to thack myself while I ride too.

DavidBelcher

teagar wrote:

Hi Guys.

Been riding hard road riding for about 3 years now (usually on my own), and after explaining my legendary *ahem* suffering on my bike to friends, I increasingly get asked "why?!". It has got me thinking. Why do I generally like the pain and suffering on my bike? Why do I put up with abusive road users? I think might actually get a thrill out of that one. Maybe I have some deep inner-turmoil I have yet to discover. Maybe I'm a masochist!


What makes you choose to suffer on your bike?

I'm always being asked "why?", met with disbelief and/or mild ridicule, etc. from people I know who just don't seem to get the whole business of serious cycling. Their loss, I reckon - I do it (a) for the exercise, which beats being cooped up in a gym hands-down, (b) because racing is fun [1] (even if it is hard work!), (c) because generally cyclists are a sociable bunch and (d) you get to see a bit of the world around you from a diferent viewpoint (especially when cyclo-cross training and so off the beaten track a bit) - e.g. one of my longer road rides takes in two 12th-century churches which might easily be overlooked if going by car or bus. In contrast an awful lot of people I know seem to spend nearly all their spare time stuck indoors gawping at a cathode ray tube playing games on their PCs, X-Boxes, etc. Give me the bike any day!

David

[1] I guess this applies to any competitive sport that you genuinely enjoy being a part of, whether it's cycling or turning out for your local pub footie team.

idaviesmoore

It's only through pain and torture that we truely know ourselves
I take a 'Global' view:

1. If I didn't train/compete I'd be in jail
2. If I didn't train/compete I'd be divorced
3. If I didn't train/compete I'd have no friends
4. If I didn't train/compete I'd be 1,00000,0000 stone in 3 weeks
5. If I didn't train/compete my LBS would be out of business
6. If I didn't train compete so would the majority of the internet based retail outlets that supply my bike addiction
7. If I didn't train/compete I would'nt be able to give up my Sunday to drive to a wind and rain swept triathlon in the Midlands/Wales/ETC, thus narrowing my already blinkered view of life
8. If I didn't train/compete I wouldn't feel a part of a great forum like this and be able to spout cr@p about bikes on a regular basis

Not sure if that goes anyway at all to answering your question

DavidBelcher

idaviesmoore wrote:

8. If I didn't train/compete I wouldn't feel a part of a great forum like this and be able to spout cr@p about bikes on a regular basis

Doesn't have to be about bikes. I'm more than capable of spouting c**p full stop on a regular basis . Oh, and you left out;

9. If I never touched the bike, bits of it wouldn't wear out, thereby depriving me of the opportunity (or should that be 'excuse'?) to splurge the monthly salary cheque on flash kit I don't actually need and/or can't afford.

David

idaviesmoore

DavidBelcher wrote:

[

9. If I never touched the bike, bits of it wouldn't wear out, thereby depriving me of the opportunity (or should that be 'excuse'?) to splurge the monthly salary cheque on flash kit I don't actually need and/or can't afford.

David

Ah, yes. That Ol' chestnut

Mike Healey

dondare wrote:

That which does not kill us makes us stronger:- Nietzsche.

And that goes for quadriplegics:- Nietzsche

mortozola

I have narrowed it down to two:

a) So I can eat whatever I like

b) Because one day the physical fitness might just save my life!

Jez mon

Because, through your own suffering, you can make others suffer more, and it's truly a satisfying feeling riding someone strong off your wheel.

Also because riding hard is a cleansing feeling, which I think is only known by others who have ridden their bikes.

I was watching an ice hockey video the other day with some mates, and I said, you know what cycling is a hell of a lot more painful, (I have done both btw) and no one really understood at all, and we were slightly pi$$ed so I was even less eloquent than usual, so I had no chance of explaining it.

Has anyone here ever ridden so hard that their eyes started to water?

chuckcork

I can think of lots of reasons:
Why?

Because I can;
Because I have an appetite and eat my fill (like a good boy);
I cannot imagine getting exercise any other way;
It is apparently character building;
I like the feeling of being strong;
With a 20 minute walk to the nearest bus stop for the occasional service, my cycling is no slower over 14 mile distance;
It makes me think at times I'm on holiday in the Lake District (when the weather is bad anyway)
Most certainly NOT because its cheaper, and I have the calculations to prove it.

And as I told the Micro Manager I work under, who has being making snide comments and giving me attitude for months, I can take out my aggression on cycling and therefore feel less like taking it out on my work colleagues (i.e. him).

Hmm, maybe not wanting to punch him out on a daily basis just because he's going out of his way to be a pr*ck is evidence of the character building at work? Or is it that I now feel good enough about myself that I sent out 10 CV's tonight (all to firms within an hours cycle from home)

chuckcork

Jez mon wrote:

Because, through your own suffering, you can make others suffer more, and it's truly a satisfying feeling riding someone strong off your wheel.

Also because riding hard is a cleansing feeling, which I think is only known by others who have ridden their bikes.

I was watching an ice hockey video the other day with some mates, and I said, you know what cycling is a hell of a lot more painful, (I have done both btw) and no one really understood at all, and we were slightly pi$$ed so I was even less eloquent than usual, so I had no chance of explaining it.

Has anyone here ever ridden so hard that their eyes started to water?

Happens all the time for me in Winter (cold air)....have a few times ridden so hard that I've felt like throwing up though.

unclemalc

For me its down to two things:
i) I simply love being able to make simple decisions about where I go, how far I go, how fast I want to go and how hard I want to go. I have no competitive ambitions (too old now) and I tend to ride when I am not governed by a clock which demands I am somewhere else;
ii) the fear that if I fail to continue riding, I will succumb to effects (being overweight, stiff and generally unhealthy) due to progressive mechanical breakdown in my legs which has plagued me since birth. I cannot run, loathe swimming baths and dislike gyms, so riding a bike is just perfect.

idaviesmoore

Jez mon wrote:

Has anyone here ever ridden so hard that their eyes started to water?

I've puked my ring a few times. Hot banana and Rego cocktail all over the front of my jersey :shock: Hmmmmm nice :roll:

Massimo

This is why we suffer:

To be a cyclist is to be a student of pain....at cycling's core lies pain, hard and bitter as the stone inside a juicy peach.

It doesn't matter if you're sprinting for an Olympic medal, the traffic lights, or the shop with the homemade pasties.

If you never confront pain, you're missing the essence of the sport.

Without pain, there's no adversity.
Without adversity, no challenge.
Without challenge, no improvement.
No improvement, no sense of accomplishment and no deep-down joy.

You might as well be playing Tiddly-Winks...

downfader

dondare wrote:

Life without pain has no meaning:- Schopenhauer.
That which does not kill us makes us stronger:- Nietzsche.

Didnt Nietzsche also say "I see many unbeleivers" and "my followers will be one hundred years from now" in The Antichrist?

virtuoso

I like going fast

I don't like to suffer

I like going fast more than I don't like to suffer.

Hence the suffering is worthwhile.

Gotte

Pain is just weakness leaving the body...

...which I think I saw here as someone's sig. Best one I ever saw.

drewfromrisca

I like the taste of blood in my mouth after a good hard session :twisted:

Gotte

I personally like the smell of napalm in the morning...but it's so rare these days in Stockport.

downfader

drewfromrisca wrote:

I like the taste of blood in my mouth after a good hard session :twisted:

we're talking about cycling here

teagar

downfader wrote:

drewfromrisca wrote:

I like the taste of blood in my mouth after a good hard session :twisted:

we're talking about cycling here

:oops:


Lovely...

I have found that I rode hardest in my life, the first ride out after breaking up with the 2yr girlfriend. Couldn't muster the engery to actually put my keys in the door to get in - didn't know where i was.

Interesting you all mention health and not being fat! I'm guessing you're all a fair bit older than 20 then! I've always thought of cycling as pretty dangerous! Hurtling down hills at some ridiculous speed with virtually no protection, let alone bad/vicious drivers. Cycling's the only time I've ended up in hospital.

shockedsoshocked

"The cycling is pain. The cycling is soul crushing pain. The cycling is meant to make mothers weep, to make children scream, to crush the souls of the weak. The cycling is not spin class. Sure the Jan could ride a gear that is being the size of a tea cup, like Marinara Boy Basso, but the Jan is not here to dance. The Jan is here to reap." - Jan Ullrich

pottssteve

I think the lyrics to "Shine" by the Rollins Band sum it up quite nicely...


"If I'd listened everything that they said to me, I wouldn't be here!
and if I took the time to bleed from all the tiny little arrows shot my way,
I wouldn't be here!
the ones who don't do anything are always the ones who try to put you down
and you could spend your entire life walking around
in the nowhere land of self doubt
'coz when you start to doubt yourself the real world will eat you alive!
it's time, it's time to align your body with your mind, it's hero time

'coz when you start to doubt yourself the real world will eat you alive!
and you know it's true!
I'm talking to you: hero time starts right now! Yeah, hero time, yeah,
time to shine, hey, hero time!

if ya think you've got 100 years to mess around: you're wrong!
this time it's real, y o u r t i m e i s n o w . . . it's hero time!
Yeah, hero time,hey, time to shine, yeah, hero time, yeah!
hard times are gettin' harder, the liars are acting strong
you better get a grip on yourself or you won't be around too long
it's hero time, hey, time to shine, yeah, hero time, yeah, hero time, yeah!
it's hero time, it's hero time, time to shine, shine, shine, shine, shine!

no such thing as spare time, no such thing as free time
no such thing as down time
all you got is life time... go! 'coz it's hero time, 'coz it's time to
shine
'coz it's time to go, go, go! yeah,
when you're gone, you're so gone you've got it now, it's time to go
hero time starts right now! yeah, aha..! ...change it!

I got grace in times of friction, I got truth in times of fiction
I've got no time for the hype... suicide!? I'm not that type...
I got no time for drug addiction, no time for smoke and booze
too strong for a shortened life span, I've got no time to lose!
It's time to shine, yeah, it's hero time, yeah, it's hero time, yeah,
yeah!
when you start to doubt yourself the real world will eat you alive! yeah!
you could spend your entire walking around, coward: or you can get up!
get up, get up, get up, get up! it's time to shine! yeah...


Seems like Henry has a lot of rage. Maybe he should get a bike...

neeb

Sometimes it hurts and it feels bad, but 80% of the time it hurts and it doesn't feel bad. That worries me sometimes...

There's something really good about feeling your body working properly at its limits, and feeling that connected to a sense of movement.The pain is only a part of that and usually not the most important part. It seems to connect to an animal side in which your body and mind are working together doing the sort of thing they are evolved for. Ok, cycling isn't chasing bison over the plains with a sharpened stick, but it's a hell of a lot closer to that than sitting on the sofa watching telly.

More prosaically, it's probably mostly down to endorphins....

CHRISNOIR

I'm really only in it for the lycra...

STEFANOS4784 wrote:

Better than suffering off the bike, keeps the demons at bay :twisted:

This is pretty damn close to it, actually. I've never felt better either mentally or physically than the last twelve months.

chuckcork

teagar wrote:

Interesting you all mention health and not being fat! I'm guessing you're all a fair bit older than 20 then!

37 mate. Averaing 600+ miles a month and not losing any noticeable weight (anymore).

But I can ride harder and longer than the 17 year old in our club, who can fly up the hills but can't keep it up over a distance!

Fun to chase when he gets a burn going, makes me feel like a kid again myself :P

redddraggon

I'd much rather cycle than have a hangover.

It's good pain anyway, it's nicer pain than sitting A+E with broken bones various parts of ones body kicked in after playing rugby.

unclemalc

CHRISNOIR wrote:

I'm really only in it for the lycra...

You tart....

st68

it aint that painfull i did amateur boxing believe me that does hurt specially being knocked sparco by a better boxer :roll: i ride cos for me it is great for unwinding after a stressfull day 8)