No, no, this time I'm not referring to the impotence.
I, like many cyclists, drive quite a lot too. In my case though, I almost never drive to work. Being a regular bike commuter allowed our family to go down from two cars to one and that has been a bonus. My sister is out of town this week and she gave me her vehicle, a small Land Rover, to drive while she was gone. Various circumstances including the fact that I have not yet replaced the broken blue tub and hate wearing a backpack have made it more convenient to drive in to work the last couple of days and the flexibility, ridiculous comfort and ease of driving a car again has been nice, but I find that I just don't feel right, particularly at work.
I, like many cyclists, drive quite a lot too. In my case though, I almost never drive to work. Being a regular bike commuter allowed our family to go down from two cars to one and that has been a bonus. My sister is out of town this week and she gave me her vehicle, a small Land Rover, to drive while she was gone. Various circumstances including the fact that I have not yet replaced the broken blue tub and hate wearing a backpack have made it more convenient to drive in to work the last couple of days and the flexibility, ridiculous comfort and ease of driving a car again has been nice, but I find that I just don't feel right, particularly at work.
I must have become accustomed to the endorphin rush related to my morning exercise and commute, because I get to work and still feel almost as groggy as when I rolled out of bed, despite having had a shower and everything. I feel strangely full and unhealthy and almost depressed and there is no return home commute to snap me out of it. I'm pretty sure I'm not sick or anything, so all I can surmise is that driving to work (or, more accurately, not cycling to work) is now officially bad for me. That's cool for now because I love to ride.
What if I become too old or sick or both to do it (particularly in the winter) any more? I might just drop dead! I'm thinking I had better come up with some indoor alternative to cycling, you know, so I don't like, die if I have to stop for some reason. That will be tough, because I hate exercising. I like cycling, which just happens to be exercise by happy coincidence.
I know people, myself included, miss the bike when they can't ride for one reason or another, but this is the first time that I've experienced physical and mental blahs due to just missing a couple of days! I have a replacement tub waiting at home. It will be installed tonight, come hell or high water. This damn luxury and convenience is killing me.
Yer Pal,
R A N T W I C K
10 comments:
I hear ya. I find that I have trouble exercising for the sake of exercising which is why I find transportational cycling and commuting such an important part of my day.
I just ride to work so I have an excuse for the weekly omelet at the cafeteria. Tomorrow is omelet day.
You have summed up how I feel exactly (although I am relatively new to transportation cycling). I love cycling and do it as a form of exercise, and this winter have started seriously commuting to work. Last week, it got cold - too cold for my face and since I don't yet have a decent mask, I had to take the car to work three days in a row. By day three, I was loathing the sight of my car keys and decrying the waste of money that the car represented (ok, I am feeling cheap, so pffffft!) After the cold snap broke, it was with significant relief that I got back on the bike and returned to that all endorphined up state that I now normally start each day.
Regarding becoming too old to do it: I strongly suspect that I will be well done and retired and will have been for years by the time that happens. Cycling done right can be a life long thing. I might get slower (grrr - when I am on my off road bike or my cyclocross bike vs my commuter I still have this urge to chase down ANY bike I see - thing is, I don't catch as many as I used to. I think I am a sheep dog or something. Really.) But even slower, I plan on doing it until the bitter end:)
Enough blathering, it is your blog :)
"I get to work and still feel almost as groggy as when I rolled out of bed..."
I've run into the same issue when I'm off the bike for one reason or another.
When I worked in an office building with only one other bike commuter on my team, I noticed that he and I were inordinately perky in the mornings. Now that I work in a shop full of people who either ride *to* work or *for* work, I've noticed that when I don't ride, everyone ELSE is inordinately perky in the mornings ;)
Christopher U -- I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who has the urge to chase down every bike I see!
RLD - yep.
Steve - Eggs + Cheese. Yes.
CU - I'm hoping to ride into retirement too, but then my "commute" will have to go somewhere most days, I hope.
Keep chasing, and blathering for that matter. That's what this nonsense is for.
Koko - You are lucky.
Rantwick - I cannot see me not having someplace to go. I figit too much and cannot sit still. I have the summers off, and put a ridiculous amount of mileage on the bikes during that time and can see being retired as being like that, only more so. There is always someplace to go, and something to see, and it is often better to see it from a bike (for instance - this summer, a trip to Toronto is happening with one of my good cycling friends. We are dumping the car on the Lakeshore someplace, and are taking the bikes all over the inner part of the city - with cameras! Should be fun...)
Rantwick, I'll put an extra dash of hot sauce on the omelet in your honor and add 1psi to the rear tire!
even though I think your a loser...I agree with you. Does that make me a loser too? I am not reading this crap blog anymore it is like a mirror.
I dig what you are sayin', Patrick! I miss riding especially if I get stuck out of town, in meetings all day, with no time to ride. Wouldn't it be cool if one could have a folder (one that one can travel/fly with) in such situations?
Peace :)
Do I ever relate. I lost my job in January. It used to be a lovely 40-minute ride along the river (more like an hour, along the canal, in winter) away from my place. Now I freelance from home: I nearly curled up and rotted away after a week of not having a morning commute. Started making excuses to go to grocery stores halfway across town - ("I need a can of tomatoes, yeah, right! Okay, I think I'll go to that store I went to once when I lived in the West End!") - just so I wouldn't feel like chewing off my left arm.
Yeah, can you tell I relate?
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