Cycling Psychology

dizarch

Help, I may be going mad!!

I've ridden at least 50 miles on each of the last 22 days as part of a charity challenge. While I'm getting fitter and lighter, I also seem to be getting more angst-ridden and a bit testosterone-fueled which I find a tad worrying,

I've got another 28 rides to do and fear I may smack the next Audi driver who samples my DNA with his/her wing mirror if things get worse.

Any ideas as to what the hell is going on?

:evil: :evil: :evil:

team47b

Breathe deeper.

It's just stress.

Roll your head around whilst cycling.

Smack the next Audi driver anyway because they all deserve it

WWPS

sungod

^^^ this

otherwise, the micro uzi cb is the lightest roadie solution for terminating bad drivers

dizarch

I've found a solution! Simply smash the pile of cack that is the Garmin 800 against the nearest wall.....hugely therapeutic.

How do these people sell anything?

Must dash, Audi drivers to confront:-)

chris_bass

What's wrong with the 800?I've got an edge 500 and love it, other than dodgy elevation I can't fault it

morstar

Picking up on madas' post...
Are you asthmatic? Becotide gives me a stupidly short temper if I use it for any period over a few days. And to think the doctors think I should use it every day just to manage what is quite mild asthma. I'd be a basket case!

BillyMansell

Internalising external factors beyond your control, isolating and catastrophising the occasional negative experiences and as a result of all that setting out each day with a self-fulfilling prophecy where you are expecting the worst to happen as that's the world you've constructed in your mind.

There are numerous things which are directly within your control that you could change to improve the experience but you have to accept there are some things you can't control, i.e. other road users, although you can try to influence their behaviour by modifying your own.

Mikey23

What he said...

And if you dont want your 800, send it my way will ya?

cmhill79

I'm an Audi driver and a cyclist. Not all of us are ignorant!

markhewitt1978

cmhill79 wrote:

I'm an Audi driver and a cyclist. Not all of us are ignorant!

Sell your Audi immediately!

on-yer-bike

I'm also an Audi driver. Why are they worse than any other driver? The reason for your behavior is because you are tired and irritable from riding too much.

markhewitt1978

There is a certain person who fits the sterotype of middle management, used to being 'in charge' and gets paid far too much for their role, they push people around all day at work and that extends onto the road too when they see people who are lesser than they are. We often call them bullies.

Unfortunately because these people are over paid for their bulling skills they tend to be attracted to premium marques such as BMW, Audi, Mercedes, etc, which is why poor driving is more often observed by the drivers of these cars than other makes.

If I had a choice between a boy racer in souped-up Corsa or a middle manager overtaking me, I'd choose the boy racer every time.

BillyMansell

markhewitt1978 wrote:

There is a certain person who fits the sterotype of middle management, used to being 'in charge' and gets paid far too much for their role, they push people around all day at work and that extends onto the road too when they see people who are lesser than they are. We often call them bullies.

That does nothing to explain cycling psychology. What it does is highlight your own subjective thinking, cognitive processes and possible psychological transference which may go some way to explain your own cycling psychology (and that doesn't look particularly positive).

Unfortunately because these people are over paid for their bulling skills they tend to be attracted to premium marques such as BMW, Audi, Mercedes, etc, which is why poor driving is more often observed by the drivers of these cars than other makes.

That's just a number of discordant thoughts that you've brought together solely for the purpose of rationalising a prejudice you hold in your own mind. I don't doubt you could claim to know cases that fit that prejudice but from a global and objective perspective there are very few, if any at all, that would wholly fit that view.

If I had a choice between a boy racer in souped-up Corsa or a middle manager overtaking me, I'd choose the boy racer every time.

You don't get to choose who overtakes you therefore you have to do what you can to mitigate risk but creating a self-fulfilling prophecy based on nothing more than the car someone drives isn't rational, will cloud your judgement and make your cycling less enjoyable.

markhewitt1978

I never said it wasn't a result of my own prejudice, it's just from my own, by definition limited, observations.

Pituophis

I aspire to be an audi driver, though sadly I don't see it ever happening as I'm always skint.
I might be a d*ck but I think I'm all right so I can't tell!? :shock:

Back to the original question; You're probably just a bit tired. Inconsiderate d*cks drive around in all sorts of cars and you're probably just starting to feel a bit vulnerable. Hope that helps.

chris_bass

back to the point of the thread:

make sure you are eating properly and sleeping enough

al_kidder

Chris Bass wrote:

back to the point of the thread:

make sure you are eating properly and sleeping enough

I thought the point of the thread was that getting a bit of pleasurable exercise is some kind of burden which the OP is undertaking manfully for a "charity challenge"
You ride a bike a bit....so what.
You want my charity sponsorship, do something charitable. Help an old poor person keep their garden/house maintained. Pick up rubbish that is lying around in public places.
Raising money for the new religion of medical research to keep lots of bright middle class kids employed in complex and interesting projects is all well and good, but to do it by indulging yourself doesn't impress me.

chris_bass

Al Kidder wrote:

Chris Bass wrote:

back to the point of the thread:

make sure you are eating properly and sleeping enough

I thought the point of the thread was that getting a bit of pleasurable exercise is some kind of burden which the OP is undertaking manfully for a "charity challenge"
You ride a bike a bit....so what.
You want my charity sponsorship, do something charitable. Help an old poor person keep their garden/house maintained. Pick up rubbish that is lying around in public places.
Raising money for the new religion of medical research to keep lots of bright middle class kids employed in complex and interesting projects is all well and good, but to do it by indulging yourself doesn't impress me.

The OP is pushing himself to do something which he wouldn't normally do, if people think this effort is commendable then they can sponsor him to make it worthwhile and the money goes to a good cause. He hasn't asked you to sponsor him so don't see why you seem a bit aggrieved by it.

But he was asking why he was getting irritable and easily annoyed which lack of sleep or not eating properly can contribute to.

al_kidder

I wouldn't normally visit hookers. Maybe you could sponsor me

chris_bass

Al Kidder wrote:

I wouldn't normally visit hookers. Maybe you could sponsor me

I'm sure if you visit enough hookers you'll definitely get something

al_kidder

OK. I imagine the OP is a regular rider, so I'll give you a better comparison. I usually drink 4 or 5 beers a day. But, for charity dollars, I will up my consumption to 10 a day for the next month. It will be just like being a 20 year old Uni student (in the good old days). Yes, I will be annoyed with all the rest of the world. But I will manfully continue until I reach my target. You will sponsor me, won't you?

chris_bass

Al Kidder wrote:

I usually drink 4 or 5 beers a day

you might want to see someone about that

al_kidder

While I'm on my charity binge, I might find it hard to decide which one to see. But closing one eye always solves that problem (which actually only occurs after about 20 beers)
In the kingdom of the blind....

chris_bass

Al Kidder wrote:

While I'm on my charity binge, I might find it hard to decide which one to see. But closing one eye always solves that problem (which actually only occurs after about 20 beers)
In the kingdom of the blind....

If you drink 20 beers a day for a year i'll sponsor you

slowbike

Al Kidder wrote:

I thought the point of the thread was that getting a bit of pleasurable exercise is some kind of burden which the OP is undertaking manfully for a "charity challenge"
You ride a bike a bit....so what.

50 miles a day for 50 miles is more than "a bit" for the average rider - so it's a good challenge. At least 1/2 the challenge will be mental.

Al Kidder wrote:

You want my charity sponsorship, do something charitable. Help an old poor person keep their garden/house maintained. Pick up rubbish that is lying around in public places.

Eh? Whilst that may be a neighbourly or socially responsible thing to do it's charitable work in itself rather than something you'd normally ask for sponsorship for.

Al Kidder wrote:

Raising money for the new religion of medical research to keep lots of bright middle class kids employed in complex and interesting projects is all well and good, but to do it by indulging yourself doesn't impress me.

Ah - so you think that the breast cancer charity is a worthy cause - how do you think the OP should go about raising money for them?

Oh, btw - it's not all bright "middle class" kids working there - there are lots of bright "upper class" folk and I dare say a few "under privileged but still bright" people too.

al_kidder

You think a 50 mile ride is hard? Maybe if it is cold and wet.

My point is that the mass exercise event to raise awareness and money is totally overdone. 20 or 30 years ago, it was a way to get a small portion of the lardarse population to do a bit of exercise, but now it is the default scheme for fundraising. I read an article in my local paper a few weeks ago about some young man who was going to ride 1000km to raise money for spinal injury research after his mate got crippled in a crash. So his friend will drive a van with signs all over it while the 2 of them enjoy a holiday ride down the coast. Do they seriously believe that the ride is important to their goal? I'd take them seriously if they just donated 2 weeks pay to their favourite project.
If you haven't watched it, try to find the Chris Lilley satire "Australian of the Year". The woman who is rolling long distance for charity sums it up nicely.

chris_bass

Al Kidder wrote:

You think a 50 mile ride is hard? Maybe if it is cold and wet.

My point is that the mass exercise event to raise awareness and money is totally overdone. 20 or 30 years ago, it was a way to get a small portion of the lardarse population to do a bit of exercise, but now it is the default scheme for fundraising. I read an article in my local paper a few weeks ago about some young man who was going to ride 1000km to raise money for spinal injury research after his mate got crippled in a crash. So his friend will drive a van with signs all over it while the 2 of them enjoy a holiday ride down the coast. Do they seriously believe that the ride is important to their goal? I'd take them seriously if they just donated 2 weeks pay to their favourite project.
If you haven't watched it, try to find the Chris Lilley satire "Australian of the Year". The woman who is rolling long distance for charity sums it up nicely.

it is quite simple, you don't think it is worthy of giving your money to, then don;t donate. Some people will and you can't deny that if people don't do these things then less money would be raised. If you don't like them that's fine but some people can't afford to donate two weeks wages so doing things that other people might donate money to who wouldn't have otherwise is surely no bad thing? People don't have to donate if they don't want to.

I really can't see your issue with this, if your suspicion is correct, then the worst case scenario is that the guy enjoys riding his bike and the charity gets a bit of money.

drlodge

Back to the OPs orignal question and on topic...I went through a period last year when I was feeling a little testosterone fuelled, had to do everything at a fast pace and had little patience. I can only think the amount of cycling I was doing was having some effect on my body, or others factor like not enough sleep + lots of exercise was having an effect. Or may be it was adrenaline? I don't feel it now though.

Try to take a chill pill, slow down a little on your rides, eat and drink plenty of the right foods and above all get plenty of sleep.

Oh, and well done for reaching the half way point!

damocles10

It sound like the OP is getting grief from drivers....unfortunately it is to be expected as you are doing a lot more miles and therefore putting yourself at an increased risk from some of the idiots in cars. This will cause anxiety and stress. Unless it is serious try not to react. Eat well, stay hydrated and get plenty of rest in between too.

You are doing a good thing, keep it up and good luck.

964cup

Assuming you're still working for a living, the answer's simple: you're tired. Sleep more.