Things I Think About When I Cycle...

Don't lean
Bigger tyres
Needs a rack
Don't lean
Bigger tyres
Needs a rack
Don't lean
Bigger tyres
Needs a rack
Don't lean
Bigger tyres
Needs a rack
Silly cucumber
Head tube angles

Ah, the inner workings of scoble mind

50 cent on repeat in the brain.

No problem admitting this, the flat bit of my commuting I used to ride on a 50/11 ratio, which is quite a bit higher than I could ride round here on my fixie (now my only bike), so I would be surprised if I wasn't passable. Maybe that's part of the beauty of it, you either learn humility or you can feel superior to all those anxiously competive types - take your pick as an affirmation of your existential freedom, you see cycling gets you thinking about all sorts of stuff and fixed gear riding is a great way to ponder what Heidegger calls 'throwness' as freedom and brute contingencies collide and we realise our freedom through transcendent detachment. Cor, bet that makes you want to get on your bike

My degree dissertation was titled "Subjectivity and the concept of 'throwness [geworfenheit] in Heidegger's 'Being and Time'".

Some of the themes in it were developed when I was cycling.

Up to about 30 miles I think "this is fun", after that I think "my back hurts", am I slowly turning into Joe?

No, 3 miles is about as far as he can ride.

No, 3 miles is about as far as he can push.

ftfy

Where push = walk.

= "slain"

"...I am misunderstood therefore I am."

Now we're on the same wavelength ;-)

"that looks nice", "I'm hungry", "look at that", "I'm thirsty", "not seen anything like that for a while", "I need to shift position", "it's so quiet", "here comes a bend", "I've not seen a car for over half an hour", "mmm, banana flavour", "engage my glutes", "the trees have changed", "I'm going to write another book", "I'm hungry", "hello, other cyclist", "what will I eat when I get home", "I'll go fast for a bit", "what the fuck is life about anyway", "I'm hungry and thirsty", "fuck off, cunt", "wow, look at that", "I love cycling", "I hate cycling", "something about the human condition", etc...

Today was christmas song special:
All I want for christmas, on repeat
Then "Has the Mott got steeper or am I going faster?!?" "I feel a bit ill now"

"Oh my legs hurt."

'must go faster!'

Is Mirek about to push me off?
I better not pass.
GOA...That wasn't a fucking shuffle.

My degree dissertation was titled "Subjectivity and the concept of 'throwness [geworfenheit] in Heidegger's 'Being and Time'".

Some of the themes in it were developed when I was cycling.

Far the best way of being in the world with others :-) Thanks for reminding me of the German - I was too lazy to look it up, probably my Blackberrys fault

It didn't strike me until my ride earlier was over, but in all the time I've been condemned to regurgitate the same routes out here in the wilderness only once can I recall following another, as it happens, suitably lone rider. Never have I been overtaken, but I say that to provide stark contrast, not brag about prowess, as all the rest have been heading in the opposite direction.

This is a peculiar quirk that does nothing for my sense of alienation. I've got used to cheery Colnago man announcing himself when we quite often pass within the same 100 metre stretch of tarmac. Never do I see him on another road, or on a further afield part of the one where we meet - always he's southbound while I'm the opposite. I wonder whether he's noticed how we coincide so accurately.

But the volume of riders heading from where I've just been is quite the metaphor. Next time I'll warn them to do an immediate about turn, as there's nothing memorable behind me. Or maybe they've already escaped the trauma up the road to which I'm continually returning to, and they're en-route to salvation. If I was less a creature of habit I might consider riding one of these life-sapping circuits the 'wrong' way.

Just to say I'll be first in the queue at Hatchards for the book signing when you publish your musings...