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-   -   Disconnected thoughts while riding (https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=1063392)

jimmuller 05-13-16 04:07 PM

Disconnected thoughts while riding
 
Riding a 32 mile round trip commute every day gives me a lot of time to think. Sometimes I feel like sharing my thoughts with BF. But the trouble is, they are mostly disconnected, disjoint, unconnected to each other from one day or even one moment to the next. So rather than start half a dozen pointless threads I'll just toss some of them all into one, a thought stew, so to speak.

First, BF and C&V in particular have taught me a lot. Not only have I acquired bikes far nicer than I ever dreamed of owning, I've come to understand and appreciate their subtle differences. Or you could say I've become a bike snob. Okay, I plead guilty. But it's a tradeoff I'm happy with, one I'd gladly do again!

It's only mid-May and I wonder if I have essentially overtrained already. I used to prefer spinning to mashing up hills. I could spin 110+ rpm all day. But last year and even more so this year I can make my quads burn just by spinning too fast. The funny thing is, I really don't get out of breath easily. Maybe that's good. I think my legs are stronger and I feel better mashing, but that means running higher gears and I can wear my legs out faster. Five years ago I could spin up a hill limited by my aerobic capacity. I know the dictum, if your legs hurt shift down, if your lungs hurt shift up. It doesn't seem to apply like it used to. I don't sleep as much or as well as I used to so maybe that's a factor. Then too I'm five years older than I was five years ago. (I spent a long time working out that math.)

Did I ever mention how much I'm hating 2016? Maybe your part of the world is better but I swear so many people around here, especially drivers, are incredibly brain-dead sometimes, more dead than they used to be. Few drivers seem aware of anything around them except their immediate need to go where they want NOW. No, it's not cell phones. Everybody has a God-given right to go wherever and whenever they wish, courtesy or legality be damned, right? Red lights? Stop signs? The law (here at least) of not blocking an intersection "You must not enter if you have no way out"? Fuggedaboudit. Pedestrians think the world has to stop whenever they wish to cross any street. Of course many drivers here are incredibly courteous. Too courteous, in fact. And the drivers who lose patience with a cyclist never seem to understand: If I wasn't on the bike I could be driving one more car in front of you, except that you can pass me on the bike but you'd be stuck behind me in my car. Also it takes me only 1.5 sec to pass a parked car. If you're driving at twice my speed it will take you .75 sec anyway. So if you have to slow to my speed for the whole distance then it will cost you only another .75sec. Is that a good tradeoff for risking my health (and you maybe going to jail for vehicular manslaughter)??? And if you ever actually notice that I'm passing some obstruction and another car is approaching from the other direction at the same time, do you realize it would cost you just a second or less to back off the gas briefly? Maybe I'm expecting too much of your average Hominid (actual Genus name struck down by the Political Correctness-censor software) sapiens. Evolution isn't finished.

Who was it that decided a leaf blower was also great for sweeping dirt and sand? Uh, you landscaping crews might be multiplying by a factor of 100 your likelihood of developing lung cancer twenty years from now. (Of course I can't prove that.) And you are making an incredibile amount of unnecessary noise. And don't get me started on jackhammers.

Traffic around my neighborhood is much heavier than it was just last year. Lot's of condos going up. Road repair makes things worse. At least when I'm on the bike the traffic level has almost no effect on me, but I really notice it on days I can't bike and have to drive instead.

I hope 23mm tires don't disappear. They seem harder to find.

I've written songs while commuting on the bike, songs now in our repertoire.

Enough for now.

What thoughts pop into your head when riding?

Bikerider007 05-13-16 04:24 PM

I am with you on this.

I am more of a casual rider but I try to get a minimum of four 8-10 mile rides a week in. Hmmm, new name? Casuabikerider007?. I can't even get through my first sentence without drifting.

Here are some of my recurring thoughts. "Why do I see so many lug nuts not on cars on the side of the road?","I wonder if I will ever find anything cool or valuable other than lug nuts and broken sunglasses?" "Would I try and find the owner or be able to if I found something cool, or would it be so valuable I may be tempted not to return it?" :lol: "Why do these cars feel like they have to ride right up against the bike lane?" "Some drivers seem to get more aggressive when they see me?" "Why don't I hear honking so much when I am driving but when riding it seems like I am getting honked at?" "Don't these cars see that debris is pushed to the side of the road by cars and street sweepers and I don't want to ride in the gutter due to this?", "Better stand up, this person about to turn is not paying any kind of attention". And on and on....

plonz 05-13-16 04:32 PM

When I find myself having the mental capacity to churn through random thoughts, that's when I kick it up a notch!

Keep yourself in the zone and constantly on the edge and voila, no more random thoughts :)

uncle uncle 05-13-16 04:41 PM

Here's some of my random thoughts while riding last... 1) what is it with breaking glass bottles on a bike path? Does breaking things really provide a substantial amount of therapeutic relief? I guess it's better than kicking your dog or beating your spouse, but cheez. I wonder what creates more broken glass, angry people or the city mowing crew (they mow right over bottles, trash, shopping carts, etc). The city mowing crew uses a leaf blower to blow grass off the street and street gutter, but always leave the bike paths littered with grass and whatever. 2) what is it with going thru intersections on red? I've seen way more cars go thru intersections on pretty much "all red light" time. I guess it's a symptom of Jim's "less friendly" motorists out there. (I ride to limit my ability to concentrate on anything but riding... and it shows above.)

NYMXer 05-13-16 04:55 PM

I'm a 9 month newbie to this sport but competitive by nature. So far, my best rides were when my brain was "turned off" and I just rode the bike. I was fast, strong and enduring for up to 5 miles at a time.... I can't explain other than it was like the commute to work but you can't recall the last 5 miles...
I call it "zoning out" but I am sure there is a more popular phrase for this state of mind...euphoric maybe?
Whatever it is, if I could find a way to be there all the time, I might make the Olympic Team (LOL)!

gugie 05-13-16 05:27 PM

Get off @jimmuller 's lawn!

:50:

And mine too!

Sir_Name 05-13-16 05:44 PM

I know that if my train of thought while riding moves to "Ah, that's better." then I'm doing something right. I used to commute by bike, but noticed that it can be much more stressful than riding for pleasure/exercise due to the fact that most of the people in cars are also commuting to work and typically agrivated in some way. Still, it was a great way to start and end the work day, with a noticeable boost in energy and mood throughout. I'd go back to commuting by bike if I could. I have noticed that drivers seem much more uppity lately. Not good, not healthy. Stay safe!

Shinkers 05-13-16 05:44 PM

This is a very interesting thread, as I've always thought the thought process while riding is strange.

When I ride a couple things can happen. I may get a random song stuck in my head, and that's pretty much it for the rest of the ride.

Or, I find myself mindlessly counting out pedal rotations. This always happens at least some where during the ride.

And if the ride is long (like today's 50 mile 6k vertical suffer fest) I reach a point where I don't think at all. It's amazing the way your mind can just completely disconnect and go do something else while you're there pouring sweat over your bike.

Sir_Name 05-13-16 05:47 PM


Originally Posted by Shinkers (Post 18765873)
And if the ride is long (like today's 50 mile 6k vertical suffer fest) I reach a point where I don't think at all. It's amazing the way your mind can just completely disconnect and go do something else while you're there pouring sweat over your bike.

A form of meditation. It's wonderful.

3speedslow 05-13-16 06:02 PM

I find myself humming a lot. Sometimes it's a song I heard in the morning or one that I know well. Even Steven I just make it up. Since no one is with me on these daily runs around Jacksonville I find comfort in the noise.

I tell myself I should remember how much fun I am having cause I am riding and think, will I remember this moment when I am bedridden and can't. And then I think about how it will happen.

i think about which bike I want to work on and what it entails to do that work.

And then I think about COFFEE !

crank_addict 05-13-16 06:40 PM

Flashback, Sunday evening chilling out watching TV and Andy Rooney. Peace ~

oddjob2 05-13-16 06:57 PM

Traffic in Boston, why complain? It's notorious reputation for congestion and aggressive drivers is at least since the early 1970's. I get a rush out of driving in Boston traffic when it is moving, not gridlock. I'm glad you have a great safety record Jim.

I am glad I moved to a bike friendly community with wide streets and real traffic enforcement to keep speed in check. I rarely use my vehicles when inside the borders of my community. On the other hand, I was in Ann Arbor yesterday, and at 5:00 it took over 30 minutes to go about 4 miles from Costco to Forestbook Subdivision, ridiculous.

I agree on the leaf blowers. Why can't everyone in one neighborhood cut their grass on the same day, so it doesn't have to be heard every day of the week? Or why do some idiots blow their walks and drives daily?

When I ride or drive, I wonder why the %$*#@ idiot with the dented up 4 door with bald tires and no insurance is in such a hurry like his hair is on fire? It's not like the driver likely has a job he's late for. I also wonder how someone who lives in the city of Detroit in a blighted neighborhood can afford the insurance on a late model MB, BMW, or Rover; it has to be well over $3500.

jimmuller 05-13-16 06:57 PM


Originally Posted by NYMXer (Post 18765771)
I.... I can't explain other than it was like the commute to work but you can't recall the last 5 miles...
I call it "zoning out"

I've zoned out quite a few times too. On my last century (solo, unsupported) I'd been doing the return without a clear recollection of the intersections, just recognizing each as I got to it until I finally hit roads I've ridden a zillion times. A mile or so later on a ridden-a zillion-times road I came to realize I had no idea where I was. Ah, the next intersection gave me the necessary clue.

qcpmsame 05-13-16 06:58 PM

I have noticed that my thoughts while riding are about as disjointed as can be. I just don't go about in a linear thinking mode when I an pedaling. All other times I am about as linear as they come, I was told it is "Engineer's Disease", seems about right to me. When I am riding it drifts about from topic to topic, things I read here come up at times, or something I am working on for my job can interrupt. I'd love to say I have solved some pressing problem, but it hasn't happened.

The drivers around our area aren't really much of a problem for my riding, other than driving above the posted limit and walking stop signs I don't get a lot of challenges from drivers, thankfully. Maybe it is because we live in a rural area, and it is kind of mellow around here. If it was urban, or suburban riding it would be a different story, survival thoughts wold rule the ride time. And, the zoning out thing, it happens frequently when riding, entire sections go by and I could not tell you what had transpired. Weird time when you look back.

I hope that it gets better for your ride thoughts, Jim, but drivers aren't getting better, the opposite seems to be the norm.

Bill

crank_addict 05-13-16 07:11 PM

Jim, your comment on drivers, lack of respect or yield. Truly amazing. Last evening (6:00 pm or so) it was beautiful, clicked off a swift 30 miles in rural area. On a country road I see flashing lights ahead. Hard not to notice the ladder truck and brigade, cop cars. Appears whatever activity happened was near over, but the firetruck needed to get back on the road. I'm on my bike, opposite shoulder and of course, yield to stop. Some S.O.B. in a black Dodge SUV kicks down a gear and roars on past me. Crazy. That guy got lucky because the cop car on the opposite side of the road was idling but NO cop in it. What is wrong with some of these people?

drlogik 05-13-16 07:18 PM

Sometimes I think about things and sometimes I don't. Riding for me is an elixir and a mind dump. I have found though, like a previous post, that if I'm really workin' it on my bike that I think less and about fewer things. I concentrate more on my riding, position, cadence, form, etc when I'm really pushing it. It's those "off" days when I just don't feel like riding to work that my mind tends to drift from one thought to the next.

Pompiere 05-13-16 07:28 PM


Originally Posted by crank_addict (Post 18766059)
Jim, your comment on drivers, lack of respect or yield. Truly amazing. Last evening (6:00 pm or so) it was beautiful, clicked off a swift 30 miles in rural area. On a country road I see flashing lights ahead. Hard not to notice the ladder truck and brigade, cop cars. Appears whatever activity happened was near over, but the firetruck needed to get back on the road. I'm on my bike, opposite shoulder and of course, yield to stop. Some S.O.B. in a black Dodge SUV kicks down a gear and roars on past me. Crazy. That guy got lucky because the cop car on the opposite side of the road was idling but NO cop in it. What is wrong with some of these people?

I retired last year after 20 years as a volunteer firefighter and I'm sad to say that happens all the time. We decided to start taking two trucks out to park across the road at each side of a scene to protect the emergency workers. Parking in the middle of the road wasn't enough, people would still try to squeeze through.

obrentharris 05-13-16 07:35 PM


Originally Posted by Shinkers (Post 18765873)
...I may get a random song stuck in my head, and that's pretty much it for the rest of the ride.

Or, I find myself mindlessly counting out pedal rotations. This always happens at least some where during the ride...

I'm guilty on both counts!
The counting is completely mindless and I never notice it until I'm up to about eighty!
The songs usually come out of "nowhere," but If I think about them long enough I can usually figure out what triggered them, many times it's a word in the title: Classic example, I often find myself singing out loud "The Great Pretender" made famous by the platters whenever I am on a rapid, curvy descent. Then one day I caught myself singing "Yes, I'm the great descender, descending like you're still around..."

Often it's tunes I've recently learned: I play old timey music with a bunch of friends every week and a couple of these friends have been playing for decades longer than I have so they are always bringing new tunes that I've never before heard. I guess my mind has decided that bike rides are a good time to try to commit those tunes to memory. But I've never composed a tune while riding; somehow the fingers need to take the lead in that process.

I compose a lot of dialog while I'm riding, things I think I will say in some upcoming conversation, puns, and things I should have said in past conversations if only I had a quicker wit.

I do still spend about an hour of each ride doing what @plonz describes: If you can think coherently you aren't working hard enough so crank it up a notch. As I get older (I'm in my sixties) I can't keep that up for hours on end like I did when I was a young whippersnapper of 50. I spend more time smelling the roses and enjoying the great scenery in most of the places that I am luck enough to ride. After a couple of hours on the bike I can get into a meditative state in which I'm mainly just watching the world go by.

Thanks for bringing up the subject Jim.

Brent

jon c. 05-13-16 08:58 PM


Originally Posted by Bikerider007 (Post 18765688)
"Why do I see so many lug nuts not on cars on the side of the road?"...

I always wonder about the articles of clothing. There are so many.

Otherwise, I ride in a mostly rural setting and I'm usually pondering the ever changing features of the natural world.

Chrome Molly 05-13-16 09:07 PM

I think about things I really can't change and then ride a little harder. Pretty soon I forget what I was thinking about. Eventually I get to a sort of checked out state and that's when the minutes turn into hours.

Not very deep but that's what I like about riding.

Shinkers 05-13-16 09:16 PM

Thought I would add that I mountain bike regularly and don't experience the same effect.

Strange...

Prowler 05-14-16 05:24 AM

I'm spoiled by the variety of bike trails around here so I choose not to deal with the car traffic youse all have discussed. I'm sure ours is just the same. So, since I don't have to deal with em I ride with my ear buds and my MP3 player stocked with acoustic music. Set the volume just above wind noise and roll thru the forest, often following a stream or river. I find that just about the time I'm no longer chilly - up to riding temperature - I've also dropped all thoughts of daily life, the future and the past. I can spend time just living in the moment. Maybe the Engineer in me makes that pretty rare but 'living in the moment' is pretty rare when not riding. Its a compelling experience: thinking of nothing, solving no problems, pondering no imponderables, fixing nothing that needs fixing, not planning to resolve recent mistakes, not evaluating candidates, not selecting routes or schedules or nuttin. Just riding, waltzing the pedals (3 downstrokes/second), watching the trees and the rippling water, tracking the clouds and sun. Nice

Deal4Fuji 05-14-16 06:17 AM

random thoughts - this time of year I really get into the smells that go along with spring...honeysuckle and wisteria make the country roads more enjoyable and so much better than the chicken-**** fertilizer sprayed on fields that also go with the time of year. I usually have a song in my head if I'm not thinking about some to-do. I'd love to have earphones on but I've already been sideswiped by a pick up truck a few weeks ago that I never heard until the tremendously loud sound of the mirror breaking on my hip. A lucky lesson learned because the mirror was all that hit me but I knew even before that my bad hearing would make listening to music on a ride a bad idea. Too many concerts and clubs have made multi-task hearing almost impossible so I need every decibel I can get on the road. I've also read here the dogs you need to worry about are the ones that don't bark, so hearing those paws hitting asphalt is pretty important. I should probably make that point over on that "music while riding" thread and get my post count up. If foo posts counted I'd be in the thousands...why no respect for foo :(

otg 05-14-16 06:31 AM

Great thread Jim! I usually get random thought while I'm riding about riding the same roads at different times of the year. Sometimes, if I have an important decision to make, I find that when I get home, the decision has been made without me actually (consciously) thinking about it. This time of year, I think about how much longer the commute is taking than it was last fall. Right now, it's about 8 minutes longer, shameful!

Jim from Boston 05-14-16 07:07 AM


Originally Posted by jimmuller (Post 18765631)
Riding a 32 mile round trip commute every day gives me a lot of time to think. Sometimes I feel like sharing my thoughts with BF. But the trouble is, they are mostly disconnected, disjoint, unconnected to each other from one day or even one moment to the next. So rather than start half a dozen pointless threads I'll just toss some of them all into one, a thought stew, so to speak.….

Enough for now.

What thoughts pop into your head when riding?

Hi @jmm,

I don’t read C&V, but I happened to note your thread. (I have corresponded with jimmuller via a Metro Boston thread, and have briefly met him in person.) I enjoyed your post, and there is so much to respond to. First of all, re Boston commuting I have posted,


Originally Posted by Jim from Boston (Post 17496135)
Humbly, if Bike Forums ever had a Best Commute Award, I would be a frontrunner.

Regarding 2016:


Originally Posted by Jim from Boston (Post 18582935)
…Just this week, I was presented with a golden motivation to achieve my optimal mileage.…

Random thoughts:


Originally Posted by Jim from Boston (Post 17975906)
I find that "random/sporadic thought 'clutter" (stream of consciousness) actually interesting, as long as it's not distressing thoughts. Perhaps you might find this previous thread helpful, ”Brain activity while commuting: zoned out or day dreaming?” I posted,


Originally Posted by Jim from Boston (Post 17081260)
I too also think about composing posts, particularly on my long Saturday rides…

On routine commutes, it's often work related.



Originally Posted by Jim from Boston (Post 17074510)
I'm very motivated by novelty, and stymied by boredom on a bike, but I do have the motivation of commuting to work. I have found that when I drive my frequent, decades-old routes I often notice things I had not seen before. I think it’s because I can look around at more than just the road surface when driving. So when the commute is getting too familiar, I just raise my head higher and look over a wider field of view


Originally Posted by Jim from Boston (Post 17975245)
…Another unintended benefit [of my new training schedule] is mental. I find that to honestly maintain my 60% RPE pace I must concentrate on keeping it up. At 50% RPE I don’t think about pace. One detraction from training for mileage is sometimes the lack of novelty (boredom) from riding well-trod routes. I find that the mental concentration and enjoyment of keeping on pace occupies my mind enough to displace any thoughts of boredom


Sincerely,

JfB


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