Weird, trippy existential ‘moments’ while cycling.

Anyone else experience these?

Possibly a reaction to adrenalin and endorphins, helped along by a bit of alchohol?

First time I noticed it was riding home after an alleycat in winter. I was wrapped up perfectly, not so warm that I was sweaty, just perfectly snug and comfortable. Felt like I was in my bed, total relaxation yet I was still able to pedal and pay attention to traffic and stuff. I felt like I was the most comfortable and contented I’ve ever been.

Then yesterday I had another one, riding through a wind farm, which I’ve always thought had a bit of an other worldly feel to it. It’s really close to the suburbs of Glasgow, but feels totally disconnected. You can ride for hours and see nothing but the same fire road, trees and turbines scene so time seems to lose a bit of meaning. There’s a real juxtaposition of the machinery of the turbines and the wild, countryside setting.

Anyway, this hit me quite hard yesterday. I’d had a beer with for lunch and had done a fair bit of mileage by the time I got to the wind farm and it just felt like I’d slipped out of 6th May 2018 and into a Murikami novel or something.

The sunglasses I was wearing have a bit of a sepia tone, all I could hear was the white noise of wind and turbine blades and occasionally the wind would blow across the mouth of the empty beer bottle I was carrying in the side pocket of my bag giving an oboe-esque tone. The sky was filled with perfect little white clouds. There was nobody around, there didn’t even seem to be any birds or insects.

It’s hard to define it but I just felt like, I dunno, something wasn’t quite right. Like I was in a copy of the real world, a very good copy but still a copy.

It took me a while to return to reality even once I got to the bit of the wind farm that’s a lot more used. I started seeing people but it confused me that none of them looked like they had the slightest comprehension of those things that make the windfarn feel like a strange place to me, they were just totally immersed in what their dog or child was doing.

Then a maintenance van clattered over a cattle grid nearby and just like that I was back in the 6th of May again.

So, anyone else ever feel like this or should I go see the doctor!

Sounds like glorious ecstasy to me. I'm envious.

lovely.

yes me too. generally a good ride = losing myself as described above. Of note is Dunwich Dynamo's but not with too much beer at approx 3am. Also experienced euphoria and elation after an especially warm Ride of The Falling Leaves in maybe 2011 when rolling back into HHVD.

Also definitely when using/grazing shrooms and riding. So pleasant.

yeah, I've had this a few times. probably something to do with flow and those rare moments that my bike is in decent working order so I've nothing to get annoyed about

Had one a month or so back, while riding a 60k gravel ride 85k away from my home. I guess the distance played a part in it, not unlike a 'runner's high'. Anyway, the weather was absolutely perfect and at that moment I was riding through a beautiful forest with a friend, and it was just total 'zen'. Not a care in the world, just totally and utterly enjoying riding a bike through a lovely piece of nature. I remember telling my friend how I was feeling, he must've thought I was crazy.

Lovely description of the wind farm. Reminds me strongly of a charity walk I did as a teenager on a still warmish overcast day, and everything became very surreal, the landscape, people, light. As you say it's like you've just slipped out of the real world, into a novel or a painting. Intense. (So it's not just cycling.)

This is why I ride bikes. Beautiful OP. Perfectly encapsulates various magick moments on bicycle rides I have had. Sometimes just coming home from work.

Time to go somewhere random on a bicycle again.

Is that Whitelee wind farm OP? Still not been, sounds amazing.

Ha, thanks all.

Didn't realise so many of you would identify with this! Was worried you'd all thing I'd gone a bit mental!

@Drano, yeah Whitelee. At first I didn't like it at all. The disconnection and time standing still thing made it kind of uncomfortable to ride there. I'm glad I've gotten over that though.

Don't bother with the 'trails' or pump track, they are terrible. My recommendation would be to enter from Carrot Farm (as I did yesterday) or from the Ardochrig and ride through to the visitor centre.

Thanks for the tip, looking forward to some longer rides now that I have a road bike and the weather is getting nicer. Personally I sometimes get a weird sense of panic being near large mechanical objects like wind turbines, but you've made me quite curious about the time warp thing.

Reading that made my day! What a lovely post, and one that I fully empathise with.

As @Skülly says, that is why I ride!

Absolutely.

I remember being completely lost in France cycling along and singing the clash with my friend. Despite being one of the toughest rides of my life I was completely immersed in the zone.

As @Skülly says I sometimes get this even just riding home from work.

Theres a reason why exercise is good for you I guess!

Not had many zen moments as I mostly commute, but it's always nice when the tailwind matches your current speed and you can only hear the hum of your tyres.

On a warm spring or autumn day when the sun is very low in the sky at home time after work and you get this tailwind, utter bliss. Everything has a warm orange glow and there's nothing to hear but the tyres on the tarmac.

Love the feeling of riding through woodland trails as the sun sets / rises creating moving shadows in the trees , it can be very trippy !

Coffee stop in Lyttleton sports fields, North London. I look out over a sunny scene, cricket, trees, mums, kids, picnics. A figure appears from the left. Running as fast as anyone can run whilst bouncing a basketball in accomplished fashion, crossing to my right on a footpath. So?
Well he was wearing traditional Jewish garb. All baggy in black suit with a white shirt showing beneath his jacket, black wide brimmed hat, beard and flowing ringlets or payot. Should have captured it on video. Incongruous image.

Then

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SFW BTW

Had a perfect moment of cycling bliss on the way home tonight through Clapham.

The breeze was just enough to offset the heat, I had my sunnies on, and my t-shirt sleeves rolled up to the shoulder to maximise the feeling of warmth on my arms.

The new gearing on my commuter tank was perfect, and despite the chaos of CS7 around me I just had a moment of complete peace.

This is what it's all about.

i studied "flow" when training to be an Occupational Therapist many years ago - on a personal level i've experienced it on a few occasions but not recently!
hoping to experience it on my fist crack at the dynamo this year althought the altered perception side of things may be lack of sleep...

I’ve had weird moments on rides where a reasoably noticeable section is a complete blank. As if I’ve fallen asleep. Disconcerting.

One of the reasons I enjoy riding alone sometimes - completely zone out and take in the world then come to.

Many times commuting, one amazing on riding home after Thundercrit this year very warm few beers just enjoying the lights of London. Followed up by a drive through McDonalds which was also 10/10.

You see all kinds of shit when you're 20hrs into a ride, 2 weeks into an ultra race. I'm not sure any of it is good though.

I went to my Friend Max's house in Leytonstone last summer to play an internet radio DJ set with him in the company of a few friends. I left his house riding fixed at about 4am, and the night was warm. I was heading home for Old Street, and after about 5 or 10 minutes I felt total contentment, like I was floating above the road with only the hum of my tyres on the road, and zero effort from my legs. I thought this was a very Zen moment for London roads, but there was so little traffic that I could be alone for a few minutes at a time before an occasional car interupted. What a wonderful feeling. I hope I get to experience it again soon.

when I used to work nights in London the cycle home in the summer was one of the things I loved. next to no traffic cruising through the city was ace. I miss it.

esp loved going over the bridges.