And that is why I love cycling

EKE_38BPM

Lovely sunny weather but not too hot.
Popped into a LBS to ask for a top up of air (rear tyre feeling a bit squishy), had a nice chat with the guys in there and saw a dad looking to buy his 13 year old son his first road bike.
Lots of pretty ladies showing lots of skin ("the days are hot and girls are dressed in less" as The Fresh Prince said.
No stupid drivers in 50 miles of cycling through central London.
Stopped to offer aid to a guy who had a visit from the PF (his pump was crap so I managed to get more pressure in his tyre than his pump could) and when I told him where I was headed back to, he gave me a flapjack as thanks "You need it more than I do"
Came out of the shower and noticed the beginnings of a cyclist tan (and I don't tan easily).
And that is why I love cycling.

Why do you love cycling?

prj45

Rode through Hyde park this morning. It was such a vivid green, with mist rolling between the trees, stunning.

cyclopsbiker

I love cycling come rain or shine, sleet or snow, because I get a seat every single morning. I only have to deal with my own blood, sweat & tears. I get to keep fit(ish) and when I pootle to work it's still quicker than PT. I love it because it's so quick and cheap (we'll not enter the debate of how much we spend on the bike here!!). I love it because there's no timetable. No planned routes. No pressure (unless your SCR-ing). Mostly because it makes me smile, and you can't put a price on smiling.

nich

Lovely ride into London this morning. Almost felt like I was free-wheeling all the way, and zero traffic incidents to report! woop

MadammeMarie

prj45 wrote:

Rode through Hyde park this morning. It was such a vivid green, with mist rolling between the trees, stunning.

Hyde Park is in your route? You lucky, lucky thing! Love that place!

Thanks to Cable Street closure, my route today took me to the Thames path

chuckcork

Not having to pay SW trains for the privilege of having to get to the station early enough to buy a ticket for a seat on the floor, if it isn't so overcrowded I can't even do that.

Knowing that if I leave home I will be at work 70 minutes later, not when SW Trains thinks I should be, or when some traffic jam clears.

For not being stuck in a claustrophobic tin can, for being able to enjoy the weather, for not having to pay through the nose to government, insurance companies, petrol companies etc so I can go from home to work and back again to earn a crust.

DevUK

Riding down the country B roads with cool breeze on my face, working up a sweat riding fixed but stopping for my new "rest stop" that I found, which involves walking my bike through some meadows and over the river before carrying on to work. Very peaceful and bang in the middle of my ride to work.

Clever Pun

Off to Victoria Park at lunch, really looking forward to it

zrazzle

I also go through Hyde Park, current route is Chester Gate to Battersea so go in around Clarendon Place and down W Carriage drive then right to queens gate. Not bad! The Central London bit is really empty at the time I leave too.

ExeterSimon

Finish work at 4pm hitting dry dusty Dartmoor trails by 6pm.

No lights, no puddles, hardly anyone around, pint of cider at the end of the ride.

Put the bike back in the garage with no need to hose her down. Or me for that matter.

I'm making the most of this weather........

spasypaddy

which LBS do you use?

rf6

I love cycling too....

Yesterday was a 13 mile road ride, done slightly quicker than ever before, in the sun shine, and even getting cheered on by some motorists stuck in traffic jam as I ground up a steep hill.

Then today, off road over the hills of south Dorset. Once again in the sun, with a few stops to speak to a couple on a cycling holiday, a dog walker, and 3 sets of walkers looking for directions. Gorgeous weather, pleasant people and stunning scenery. 8)

Bassjunkieuk

Think the OP got it spot on! Even when it rains I still love the bike ride - that lovely feeling of not worrying about how wet you are and just getting on with it, after all once your soaked you can't really get any wetter!! I think I overheard one cyclist in the office say that riding in the rain feels like being a kid again!

I love the fact that I'm so "connected" to the environment, yesterday evening I was cycling back past Streatham Common and could smell the freshly cut grass :-D something I'm sure I'd have missed if sat in the car.

At the end of the day I guess I do it just because I genuinely love riding my bike, even after a sh!te day at work I'll feel much better within 10-15 minutes of leaving and hopping aboard :-D

shouldbeinbed

freedom, thinking time, the awfulness of driving, communing with nature, tanning more than one arm, interacting more with people (much more Hi's and INR's than abuse), I just do OK.....

EKE_38BPM

@Spasypaddy, I popped into Bike and Run in East Finchley (on the corner of the High Road and Leicester Road), but I usually use Shorter Rochford near Tally Ho Corner.

What about you? You're based near Barnet, right?

rjsterry

Having had a few enforced bike free days recently, I started getting proper withdrawal symptoms - moodiness, restlessness, difficulty sleeping. The Dahon worked as a stop gap, but now I'm back on the Giant everything seems right with the world. now if i can just work out a way to engineer a perpetual half-term...

El Diego

Yesterday I was freewheeling no handed down hill and thinking this is the closest you can get to flying*

*without actually flying

Clarion

Just come back from a lunchtime meeting. Just seven pootling km, but it's sunny, the roads are quiet, people are smiling, and it's just great to be out there.

Imagine if I'd been in my car. I'd have had to take a long way round, I'd be hot & sweaty & irritable and, going by most people attending the meeting, late.

Riding is the only sensible way to get round a city.

Dufresneorama

My bike is my pen, the road my parchment and together we will write a poem across America... Well, Scotland at least!

Cheesy I know :oops:

I love the smug feeling of satisfaction I get whenever I arrive at my destination come rain or shine and someone says 'you cycled here? you're mad'

joebingo

EKE_38BPM wrote:

@Spasypaddy, I popped into Bike and Run in East Finchley (on the corner of the High Road and Leicester Road), but I usually use Shorter Rochford near Tally Ho Corner.

What about you? You're based near Barnet, right?

Sorry for bringing up an old(ish) topic (good topic to resurrect though, eh?), but that's my LBS and I can recommend them very highly, they've got 2 shops about 30 yards from each other one specialising in Triathlon (with some rather lovely looking steeds) and the other for more general purpose bikes. Great after sales service, and always willing to give you a hand.

I've gotta say that I agree with your first post completely, who other than cyclists sees their commute as the highlight of their day? Really looking forward to finishing my shift and cycling the empty streets of London as the sun rises, can't actually think of anything better to be doing with my time

WesternWay

joebingo wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

@Spasypaddy, I popped into Bike and Run in East Finchley (on the corner of the High Road and Leicester Road), but I usually use Shorter Rochford near Tally Ho Corner.

What about you? You're based near Barnet, right?

Sorry for bringing up an old(ish) topic (good topic to resurrect though, eh?), but that's my LBS and I can recommend them very highly

I like them too... I am sure that Shorter Rochford are good, but they were pretty snooty when I went to get a bike a year or so ago (so much so that I always feel smug satisfaction when I pass anyone on a Shorter bike.

Bike and Run are always helpful and friendly.

nich

I love cycling, and it appears someone else in the office does too - a work colleague just rocked up for the first time ever in cycle gear and really enjoyed it

CrackFox

I don't particularly love cycling. I love bikes, and it's hard to justify owning a few if you don't ride them, but cycling is simply a means to an end - getting to work, staying fit, enjoying the company of mates on a ride etc. All that tedious leg stuff with the pedals and that, that's the bit I don't like.

richred_uk

Because I get to go past a little green on my route from the house to the station that has rabbits on it, and I see them most days morning and evening, and they're cute, especially the baby ones! Do I lose man points for thinking they are cute?

Don't get anything that nice on the second half from New Barnet to Finchley though , but thanks for the info on North Finchley cycle shops, I tend to use Central Cycles who are lovely, but our offices are moving up to Tally Ho in a couple of months.

cyclingmev

boing boing! uber great day for biking....left home at 6am, looking over towards the Western fells, Scafells, Gable...awesome...not much wind...warm...bike home was ace, quiet country roads away from the maddening crowds, admiring the coastal view on the way through St Bees.....it was so hot even the tar on the roads was melting, just felt like being a kid playing out on my bike again.....big grins...sweeeeet!!

EKE_38BPM

I bought my bike from Shorters. Its got their name on the top tube to prove it too.
They've always been fine with me and I got chatty to one of the guys in there one day. I popped in later in the week and he virtually blanked me. Thought it was weird until I realised there are identical twins working there.

symo

Summer dresses are out and about. Yay!

mudcovered

symo wrote:

Summer dresses are out and about. Yay!

True. The downside is a lot of male car drivers not paying quite as much attention as they should.

Mike

Nigel Bennett

Because I can.

Because on the way to and from work I can enjoy a little bit of countryside and hear the birds singing (when there aren't any blasted cars roaring past) and feel the wind and the sun and the rain. I've been cycling to work since 1973 and to school before that and when I have to drive anywhere I always look enviously at anybody on a bike.

Because sometimes you can overtake another cyclist and leave them behind in your wake.

Because conquering a major hill or completing a long ride gives me a buzz.

Because getting somewhere solely by my own physical effort is an achievement.