I have never put my thoughts on paper before on this aspect of bike riding, but there is a magical quality to riding that produces happiness. Many times I have seen this joy in others but the ones that stick out in my mind are the children I have taught to ride and the feeling of accomplishment and pure joy I see in their eyes the first time you let go of the back of their saddle and they ride off. The other times I remember so well is gifting an older person a bike that haven’t rode in many years and they don’t know if they will be able to. Watching them recapture the skills they forgot they had within a few minutes and amaze themselves that they still have it takes years off their faces in minutes.
There are not a lot of things like that in life and I rank the bicycle in my list of the top ten inventions of all time. It is just a mechanical device but it improves the human device without taking its power from any outside source. It allows us to travel so much faster and cover so much distance with so much less effort. Most people don’t know what there is in biking that that brings the joy but for me it is the efficiency it provides us over our bodies. The only thing I think that would be more joyful would be if it allowed us to take flight.
Whatever the reason there is something about the feeling. I remember a night ride I took alone in the country and only my lights and the moon to show my way. I had a feeling of never getting tired and the ride was effortless like I could have lasted forever. When you are in that zone on a bike it is a wonderful feeling.