When I was new at writing about cycling, I carried the evangelist’s certainty that I had the answer. It was an answer that would work for anyone. Anxious? Go for a bike ride. Angry? Bikes cure that, too. Sad? A ride will remind you how good it is to be alive. Happy? Duh. As if there’s another answer.
Then life happened. I learned that few people share my love of two wheels. Many are frightened of that speed. Some are bored by the lack of it. Others don’t want to work that hard. Eventually I learned what all great sales pros know intuitively: You can’t sell someone something they don’t want.
At a certain point, I stopped seeing cycling as the right pace. It’s the right pace for me. It’s the right pace for many of us. But these days I like to grant that for some people, the bike is too fast, too stimulating. Hikers and runners like their pace and it would be arrogant of me to dismiss something that brings them pleasure. I know better than to claim their enjoyment is less than mine. The same goes for people who ride motorcycles or like to go for long drives. It’s a pace that works for them.
Rather than feeling confined to a too-small island, what I’ve found is a kinship. If you ride, we share an understanding. Riding with another person is a communion that people can’t appreciate until they do it. And now I know not to sell that to the unwilling. If you find your way to cycling, it’s because you followed something in your heart, and that makes it yours.
As I began to learn about flow and, more importantly, how to hack it, I gained a fresh appreciation for many other pursuits. Cycling shares in common with skiing, both Nordic and Alpine, skateboarding, motorcycles and a few other activities the fact that they are particularly well-suited to the pace required to induce flow. Understanding flow drew a grand equals sign in the sky between so many activities to which we devote ourselves.
That’s ultimately the answer: We do X—whatever our X is—because it brings us flow. Cyclists are cyclists because riding is the right pace for us to reach flow. Nothing makes the world go quiet the way pedaling a bike does. Sure, there’s terrific value to seeing the world and knowing our landscape, not to mention vitamin D. However, I believe that many of us owe most of our desire to the way it calms our souls. More than many of us are aware. How can we know? Ah, that answer is easy to find. It can be measured by how we feel at peace when we reach the end of a ride.
For me, I’ve noticed that there is a strong relationship with speed and the course/road/surroundings in terms of how it makes the world go quiet. On a narrow, technical trail going 6 MPH on a mountain bike or running is plenty fast for me to reach flow. On a wider/easier trail or road I need more speed to reach flow. Walking at 3 MPH, biking at 10 MPH, or running 6 MPH on a wide road or path is frustrating for me. But, take those speeds to tighter and narrow trails and it’s a great time. I’ve also noticed how others in my family have different preferences for speed and surroundings and that can make it difficult for us to find enjoyment together. One person is bored when the other person is at their preferred pace.