Road Cycling: Things you never realized/noticed untill you started cycling

A helping wind no longer feels like it is helping once you are traveling faster than the wind.

It's true, drivers hardly ever indicate a turn, and when they do, it's often in the opposite direction from where they are actually going to turn.

It is a very powerfull feeling to know that your body literally got you through the day. Somehow while thinking about food on my bike I truly grasped the depth of what a fossil fuel is..and how long it's been around. When my body gets me to school/wrok/etc... it's using food I ate (as a vegetarian that would be plants mostly) I was looking at the ferns growing by the road and realized that that could be coal is a long long time. That energy could be used so much more dirrectly by me and my legs... Sorry it was just this oneness with nature, hippy-ish moment that was increadably gratifying. I wish I could explain it better. But there was this profound realization about the nature of life and the wonder that is the human body (and brain that developed the wonder of the bicycle!)

I'm in the uk and we don't seem to have a much road kill, however we seem to have the same irrisponsible drivers. How many cars come towards you on a back road and just don't slow down and then even glare at you as if you are doing something wrong?

I had a lady shout at me the other day...I was cycling on the pavement (sidewalk) which is part of the National Cycle Route so bikes are allowed on it and this woman was walking her dog, I was about to go on the grass so she would be ok onthe pavement and then she stepped to the side back and pulled the dog with her so I carried on and said "thank you" and she shouted in a very sarcastic tone  " Well I was expecting to walk on the pavement" as if I had done something wrong. I did think about explaining in no uncertain terms that we have as much right as she does to be on the pavement but I am a better person than that.

What have I noticed while out on my bike?

There are so many beautiful places locally that I didn't know about

It really doesn't matter what the weather is like - I love being outside

There is so much wild life...every where

I can go further than I thought

 

1. How many potholes are the size of SUV. I understand why people need SUV's the pothole can be murder on small car.
2. How impatient most drivers are they race from stop light to stop light not looking out for bicyclist.
3. The rush I get from long rides on my days off.
4. At 37 I can still ride 100 miles after being away from cycling for a long time (10+ years).
5. How much I can't wait for spring to get here right now we've just snapped a long cold spell. Yesterday was the first warm day in what seemed like a year. Bring on Spring !!! 
6. How many people drive in the bike only lane even when there's a bicyclist in the lane.

1) how drivers like to use their horns to let you know they are back there. Like we didn't know we were riding on the road with cars or something. 2) how when the roads are empty and a car comes from behind and could easily give you a ton of passing space, they refuse or just don't think about moving over to give you more "breathing room". How I would love to take those people on a bike ride sometime! 3) Not to be sexist, but the number of women on their cell phones or doing make up while driving. Not that there are not men on cell phones. But I hardly ever see a woman driving that is not on her phone. It would be a great thing to ban cell phone use while driving, it is a huge distraction and It would make it that much safer for us cyclists knowing people are paying more attention to the road then their conversations. 4) Not to be sexist, but the number of Men that have road rage! As if I am the one slowing them down so they can hurry up and get to the next stop light. How I love to keep better pace then them and beat them to their destinations. 5) How peaceful the sound of humming bike tires on a quiet morning can sound. 6) The feeling of bonking with about 10 miles left to go. Can feel harder than the first 90 miles. 7) The slickness of things you never think about in a car.-- painted lines, metal grid bridges, loose sand and gravel, smooth concrete when wet. 8) The fumes that busses and trucks put out, not to mention jet airplanes. Suffocating to say the least! 9) The pure joy of being able to travel so far on your own effort! I have been riding for 25 years and I am still amazed at how efficient travel on a bike can be. I think it is equivalent to 3000 miles per gallon! If that isn't an argument for more bike paths I don't know a better one. 10) How much this sport/activity has grown over the last 10 years. I remember being only 1 of about 20 people on the road on a weekend. Now I see hundreds every weekend. I love it.

I've taken to alerting motorists as to how slow they are going by making sure they know I'm right behind them at a red light after they just passed me. I shine my helmet light straight through the back window and watch the white LED light reflect bright as day off the rearview mirror. I do it again at the next light. People like to hurry up and wait it seems lol.

1)  Riding a bike on a poorly maintain road is a nightmare and makes one happy to pay road taxes. (provided they are use for such)

 2) Wind is not your friend.

 3)  Toyota Prius drivers despise cyclist because we get better gas mileage than they do.

Aside from all the point that all you all have pointed. I will never forget a ride I had last year. I decided to ride to my parents house, a short 25mi ride. I had traveled that route in my car for years, but never bothered to ride it. After that ride I was amazed everything that I saw. I knew every hill, every bump, every cool place to pull over and take in the country side. I have never seen those things while Im traveling 45 in the car.

 

It makes me want to get rid of the car, but I need it for work.

hahaha

In one 9 mile ride I realized a bike path that crosses major roads is a major pain, A junk yard dog can run too, a deer crossing a path thinks that U are not much to worry about so only walks into the woods a bit, which makes for a great photo op, and finishing the last 3 miles on a flat tire and crossing the major roads is still a major pain in the apple, and finally getting to the truck with a smile on my face, priceless... Ride On!!!

reading through all the comments above I concur. riding is really an eye opening experience and sometimes a nose opening one too. (road kill stinks!) I love the birds cheering me on every morning. I ride 5:30 to 6:30 am. on my commute to work about 11 miles one way. There is wildlife everywhere around here. I have really enjoyed the open sky in the pre-dawn time. Over time watching planets close in on each other and then separating again. I love what all this riding is doing to this old body. I have more energy than ever. someone asked if I will continue to ride. how can I not continue to ride?

 Biking in general has showed me how to find new ways to get somewhere that I haven't necessarily seen before.

 

Biking has helped me in several driving situations because I found short cuts on my rides.

K Wellborn on 2/4 ... a little editing to your post makes a lovely Haiku! Helping wind no more help to you when you travel faster than the wind

How much the Amish enjoy seeing bicyclists

How much more courteous drivers are in areas where they have to share with non-motorized vehicles, like buggies

I noticed the wind always seems to shift during my ride so I'm usually riding into it.  At least, it seems that way.

Things I think about on a ride?

1) am I there yet?

2) How much I enjoy seeing the rabbits, red squirrels, the occasional deer, and a myriad of other woodland creatures.

3) How wonderful the area in which I live is.  I have lived all over the country, and I have never seen a more bicycle friendly area than where I live right now. 

4) How much I wish the area I live in now had a an ocean and a beach like the last place I lived.  How wonderful that the area I live now has MUCH less humidity than that place I did live that had the ocean and the beach. 

5) How could I have neglected myself for so long, I grew up on bicycles, I was serious cyclist from the time I was around 10 until I was around 16.  I rode a bit throughout the years, having a variety of bicycles, but never really got back into it until now.  I am 43, soon to be 44, and for the first time in years, my blood pressure is normal, without meds.  I am feeling better, eating better, in general living better.

6) So why am still smoking?

7) I can ride over 50 miles a day just on the various bike paths around my city.

8) All those bike paths are paved, unlike alot the roads around here!!

9) There are even more bike paths that are not paved.

10) glad I finally bought the cycling shorts!

Okay here is a personal favorite and I was reminded of it just the other day because it happened again.  A friend and I were riding in the road along the white line because the shoulder was torn up.  We left plenty of room for cars to go by.  Well wouldn't you know the next guy doesn't pass he just sits there and waits and lays on the horn.  I turn look back and keep riding.  30 seconds later he lays on the horn again and then speeds by us while waving his arms around in anger.  So wouldn't you think that the driver behind him would know that he doesn't have to lay on his horn...Nope we got another horn and I think a dirty look.

Oh you know what better than the doppler effect of getting yelled at.  When a guy is yelling at you and he has go his windows closed.  What a moron.

Another good one.  I was out on a team ride and we got honked at by an SUV with a bike rack on it.  that was kinda funny.

 

HORNS ARE SO POINTLESS when it comes to cyclists.

Things that I've noticed

1. There are a lot of nice looking females in my neighborhood that like to garden and/or sunbath in their bikinis.
2. Some dogs can run up to 27 mph!
3. Miniature horses give you the evil eye as you pass them
4. I can bike about 4 miles per inning while listening to a baseball game on my iPhone.
5. H₂O is my friend.
6. Towed farm equipment is really just instruments of death on wheels.
7. There are a lot of people outside, exercising on Monday and Tuesday, but not a lot on Thursday through Sunday. 

I'll think of some...

1. Illinois is not flat.
2. I have no idea how cyclists can make it up mountains when 1/4 mile @ 2% grade can be a problem for me.
3. A decent headwind/tailwind (10mph) affects my speed roughly 3 mph in either direction.
4. I would much, much rather have a tailwind.
5. The wind has been blowing out of the east about 75% of the time lately. What's up with that?
6. Limestone paths are much harder to bike through in the rain, or when wet.
7. DuPage County Forest Preserves are about as good as it gets when it comes to trails.
8. I'm tired now, but it just means I'm slower, not that I'm going to stop.

-Rob

This is an absolutely great thread and I'm happy to have stumbled across it. Funny thing is I'd been thinking about this topic myself the past few days. I, through every fault of my own, lost my license for a year and was forced to buy a bike, though I had been thinking about getting one anyway. I've learned to love every minute of riding my bike. I live less than 3 miles from work and have been trying to ride there most days now.

Things I've Noticed While Riding My Bike

• You never REALLY understand how NOT FLAT the terrain is until you're trying to push your fat ass up in on a bike. I never noticed the majority of Main Street between my house and work is on a nice little incline. My first ride to work I thought my heart was going to escape through my throat. Not the greatest feeling.
• It's been said numerous times, but how incredibly rude drivers are. I haven't had the horn honking yet because the busiest streets I ride on the sidewalk, not taking my chances, these people are animals. It's amazing how someone can be waiting to get out of a parking lot, no one behind them, they see you coming but can't move their car enough so that you don't have to cycle in the road to get around them. Ridiculous. I stared one woman down, stopped my bike and everything, before she moved. You know, it's such hard work shifting into reverse, I don't know how she did it!
• Big drops of rain=wetness. Little drops of rain=the feeling of riding through rose bushes. Rather be wet than feel like I ran repeatedly through razorblades.
• Someone mentioned earlier about smelling the honeysuckle but riding too fast to smell it, you still smell it a lot more than you would in a car, regardless of whether the windows were rolled down or not.
• Wind is mostly evil, and never around when I'm really hot.
• My dog is the smoothest dog ever when he's riding in the basket on the front of my bike. He has his own theme music. Sounds like the soundtrack from a 70's porn flick, but hey, he has Napoleon issues. He only weighs 12.5 lbs after all.
• People point and laugh when they see Xander riding in the basket. Makes their day. Makes my day better.
• I've learned that when Xander sees me holding the blue leash he knows its time for him to own the neighborhood. Blue=basket.
• I cannot describe how much better I feel since I've been riding. My longest ride is just under 8 miles but I haven't ridden a bike since I was in single digit age and weighed significantly less than I do now. Gotta work up to it. I'm really looking forward to my first 10 mile. Gotta have goals.
• Unlike any other exercise I've ever done, and I've done many, cycling has now given my thighs the ability to crack walnuts. I have thighs of steel. Underneath all the fat, but still, nutcrackers.
• My mood, regardless of what it was beforehand, is ALWAYS improved after riding, and that's also regardless of riding conditions. Just the act of pedaling makes me feel better.
• I am learning, after living here almost 4 years, my neighbors faces as I can look at them longer on the bike. I'm getting more smiles, too, and not just from them, but from me.

Long winded, yes, but I apparently had it in me, so there you go. Feel free to skim. I won't be offended.

1. Dead skunks smell worse on a bike.  Of course everyone knows that right?

2.  Looking up and seeing the hills, lakes, ponds, wildlife, cows, horses, even the chasing dogs makes the ride a little easier.

3. Dogs chasing you are only doing their job.  Go ahead; give them a job to do.

4. Climbing hills while in the drops makes climbing easier...sometimes.

5.  I'd rather just be passed by somebody than the guy trying to be really courteous and just hangs back there forever before finally coming around you.  Of course, I have a tendency of riding faster when cars do that to me.

 6. Sunglasses will always collect sweat at the exact wrong moment.

7. Everyone rides faster when they see that lone cyclist way ahead of you...or behind you!

 Great thread!  Enjoy your ride and be safe.

I've realized that it is fun to moo at cows and nay at horses.  Sometimes the cows moo back.

However, there is no joy in barking at dogs.  

I want to second whoever it was that said the silent dogs are the dangerous ones.  Also, I have realized that I am more fearful of a dog running in front of my bike than I am of one biting my leg.

 

 

1-) Cell Phone usage is illegal while driving here in california but I still see many people using them as they drive.

 2-) Cars using the bike lane as a turning lane.

3-) Speeding cars that wiz close to me even though there is pleanty of room on our wide open two lane roads.

 4-) The odd smells

 5-) people checking me out as I ride by on my sexy Cervelo

I moved to Illinois last winter. I've lived in CA, CO & New England.

Illinois is, in fact, FLAT.

But it is kinda windy, which is really a lousy tradeoff.  The best part is that I'll "crest" a "hill", well not really a hill but a sort-of-noticeable change in elevation, and I'm thinking "hmm, almost a hill there" & I see a sign for a cross-street and almost always the cross-street is named "Long Hill" or "Joe's Hill" or "Bear Hill" or "Meeting Hill".  I almost fall off the bike laughing every time.

 Last week, I was riding with about 8 people. We were coming up to a right & quick left turn combo someplace I had never been. Just before the right, a guy yells out "slight hill coming up". I think, "cool". Just after the right, a woman yells out "better down shift". I think, "huh?". Then I see the sign on the left ... "Meeting Hill". I think "could it really be? cool." We turn left & my hopes are dashed. "Slight hill" with all the emphasis on the "slight". I get out fo the saddle & in < 10 cranks, I'm "cresting" ... & chuckling.