The Cog Blog

I get asked the question all the time. Family members ask. Friends ask. People at work ask. I know my neighbors must be wondering. Even the kid at the coffee shop asked, "Dude, why do you ride your bike so much?"

I wish I had a simple answer. I really do. It would make the moments following the question so much easier. 

Some weeks I ride everyday. Last week I rode 137 miles. So yes, I understand the bewilderment that drives the question. I just wish I understood the answer better.

Other cyclists get it. That is, we know we like riding, but we admit among ourselves that we can't put a finger on why. A few weeks ago,  Bicycling Magazine tweeted on Twitter, "@BicyclingMag What do you love most about cycling?"

I replied  " After 40 years of riding, I still don't know. That's part of the charm. #justfeelsgreat." 

They understood and retweeted my tweet.  In other words, other cyclists don't know any better than I do why they ride.  But I can go over the general reasons that we posit at cocktail parties and coffee shop counters.

We like the feel of the wind in our hair. It's good exercise. It's me time. Cycling is good for the Earth (however, if you're not riding in place of driving, I've never understood this one).  Riding is a great stress reducer, I like how I look in Lycra/Spandex.  It's a great way to see a place and to experience it.

While I agree with all of these, save for the Spandex comment, they don't come close to explaining why I would ride 137 miles last week. There's something deeper and basketball great Bill Walton came close to it in his interview with Bicycling Magazine when he said, My bike is my church." Man, that came close to nailing it down for me, but then I wondered what that meant. Back to square one.

After a very long weekend, one in which I worked over 30 hours in three days, organized the kids to put together something for their mom on Mother's Day and got some yard work done,  I can't wait to ride Monday. You'd think I'd be tired. I am. But there's something I need from tomorrow's ride.

In another issue of Bicycling Magazine an article by Bruce Barcott, titled "Riding is my Ritalin" illustrated how a study conducted by W. Mark Shipman at The San Diego Center for Children in 1978 showed that kids, who then were considered hyperactive, behaved differently after partaking in vigorous exercise. Doctors who monitored the children couldn't tell the difference between kids who exercised and had their medication dosages lowered and those kids who maintained regular doses of medicine but didn't exercise. The results were considered significant.

The article then went on to discuss the amazing progress of  a young man named Adam Leibovitz, an ADHD patient who went on to cycling and social success. Cycling is attributed to his succesful management of his ADHD. He has had a  succesful career of collegiate and higher level cycling. The article continued about promising research and other success stories like Adam's.

Now, I'm not suggesting that every Spandex-clad goofball you see hugging the shoulders of our Bucks County roads is an ADHD patient, but clearly, there's something in that zone of the mind-body connection that affects us in a very positive way. And it seems that not every sport can fulfill this purpose.

"The best sports demanded constant physical exertion and a suite of technical movements that engaged brain functions dealing with balance, timing, error correction, decision-making and focus," said David Conant-Norville, MD, a psychiatrist in Beaverton, Oregon, who specializes in adolescents and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. "Cycling, swimming and running are tops."

Upon reading that, I knew that's where the answer to the question existed. However, I wasn't about to engage in the specifics of my new findings with the kid at the coffee counter. I just replied, "Dude, I like the wind in my hair." But the truth is, it really does just feel great.