Do You Ever Feel Sexy
 

...on the bike?

Jason Giambi was a slugger with the New York Yankees. During his peak, he was an incredibly formidable foe. During an interview one time, he described the way he sometimes felt when he stepped into the batters box as "sexy."

That resonated with me immediately. I experience it sometimes when cycling. I suppose most people probably call it "in the zone." Despite getting what Giambi meant, and thinking about it often over the years, it can be hard to describe. I felt sexy yesterday on my ride.

It has an element of enhanced performance. An element of confidence, like you "own the place." An element of the reward being greater than the effort expended. It's a very psychologically aware and alert state.

Help me out here. If you know what I am talking about, what do you call it, and how do you describe it?

EDIT: After reading a few responses, it looks like I should mention that when Giambi said he felt sexy, it was not about his appearance.

This thread is gonna be epic.

While I sometimes get that feeling you describe, I certainly wouldn’t call it “sexy”. Well for me anyway, they are quite different feelings!

Perhaps I would call it “euphoric”

No, I've seen pictures of myself on a bike.

I'll take the bait and hopefully nudge along a thread with epic potential.

I think it's when an athlete "looks the part" and at the same time has ample proficiency and swagger that someone can make that kind of statement.

Bikes, ehhhhhh, it's maybe a smaller % of amateurs. Lots of hobbyists and amateurs can proficiently ride a bike in an advanced way........but man they don't look the part at all of a pro bike racer.....nor do they "exude" that confidence. Dad bod belly going on comes to mind. You can win some amateur stuff with a "dad bod belly".

I do not exude that confidence on a bike except in time trial. That's my world. But it's a world that everyone looks like a freak when they're kitted up and in their element. So that doesn't count. I may look the part given I'm skinnier and own the flashy stuff, but it's not the same.

Same here.

Well, whatever it is, I wouldn't call it that. Frankly, it sounds a little creepy. And with Giambi, maybe that was the PEDs talking.

cough, cough, BALCO, cough cough

I also experience zen like moments where I am in perfect harmony with the world around me. It's more of a spiritual kind of feeling though and has no performance component. It's not an "I own this place" kind of feeling either. Kinda the opposite. I can well recall two occasions where I had that feeling and got goose bumps from head to toe. In both cases it was in quiet wide open spaces in the west. Riding down Ohio Creek road outside of Gunnison CO.

https://i.postimg.cc/zBJ6wFNB/IMG-0010.jpg

Another time was in Coloardo as well. In the high desert of Gateway. Being a tiny speck on a massive, and sometimes inhospitable landscape, can foster the feeling. Each time I have felt it, I have been acutely aware of my insignificance.

https://i.postimg.cc/L8Y8nQsV/215004...-3778008-n.jpg

After watching some of the Olympic racewalking yesterday, I'm feeling a lot sexier about how I look on the bike. :lol:

I think you have captured some of the spirit. Swagger. I like that word. But when Giambi said he felt sexy, it had nothing to do with appearance.

You also said "that's my world." I think that touches on the spirit as well.

Yeah,

My apologies to anyone that is into this, but it's always looked like me trying to get to the commode when I'm about to have a blow out.

When I was 11, She Thought so.
She liked the Bike and One Day She wanted to Kiss All Day Long.
So we did.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f8c7afb16a.jpg

Gotta love the Golden Corral buffet!

IMO burnthesheep said it best above when he describes it as swagger.

To me, a semi conservative white hetrosexual male, sexy doesn't come up when I look at another man. My definition of sexy has a lot more to do with (for instance) a beautiful woman. By proxy I feel that some machinery (and particularly of the fast types) can be sexy as well. By continuance, I have never thought of myself as sexy, regardless of activity.
I have had swagger.

dudes feeling sexy asking other dudes about being sexy. ok

I'm older and have some health problems. Bike riding is one of the few things my body can do that allows me to enjoy my physicality. Not sure if that is "sexy".

To me, sexy isn't always a look, it's a feeling. My wife is always beautiful. She's not always sexy. Sexy is a state of mind.

Dudes doing their best not to understand the spirit of a discussion...

I think you get it to a degree. Where Giambi used sexy, you plug in swagger and they both have the same meaning.

I think of it sort of like that Conor Mcgregor fella. He would walk into a ring and swing those arms back and forth, carry himself like he was the baddest sun of a gun on Earth. Swagger...and yes, by default in this usage I guess the other as well.

Sorta. Giambi went on to explain that there is no arrogance in his feeling sexy. Confidence yes. Cockiness, maybe a little. Arrogance, never.

Lol, yeah Conor is a real peach of a human being....but struck an interesting vision as to the point of thread.

this is a real thing? next up...thumb wrestling.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I feel sexy when my wife looks at me like I'm a piece of meat. She doesn't look at me that way when I look like the Michelin Man in my kit. I don't think anyone does, especially those men who make sarcastic cat calls.