| The Wonder of Cycling | | | | hard-working. Sometimes you want to see the |
| Is cycling when you have two skinny wheels, form a | | | | countryside for a day or two or ten or more. You |
| peleton and screech around corners? Do you think | | | | prepare with great care. You pack one or two |
| you know more of what you're doing with all that | | | | panniers, gather maps, ensure you've packed that |
| metal and rubber? Or is it the clothes that make the | | | | rain jacket. You tweak your touring bike, tighten a |
| cyclist? Do you look faster with all the latest spandex | | | | screw or two, and maybe adjust your seat for the |
| shorts? And what about those jerseys -- is that | | | | right attack on the extra hill or two. Or you plan a |
| Lance Armstrong on your sleeve? Do you look more | | | | days' route ensuring you'll climb two steep hills or |
| like a contender? Tour de France here you come! Or | | | | three, enough to make the thrill of the descent pure. |
| are you only a true blue cyclist if you tour the | | | | Sometimes you want to challenge yourself on the |
| countryside a 100 days a year? Or is cycling jumping | | | | back roads - the hills and the valleys the dirt and, oh |
| on the cruiser to fetch a quart of milk at the corner | | | | yes, the adrenalin! You pump those mountain tires |
| store? Is it racing down hills braking as little as | | | | just right. You check the breaks and check your |
| possible? Or is it meandering thru the countryside on | | | | seat's suspension. You ride left, check right, jump this |
| a tandem? | | | | stump, fly over that rock, and spin up the hill, sweat |
| Cycling is all of the above. Any kind of biking is cycling | | | | the ridge and zoom, jump, and zoom down again. |
| and well worth your while and effort. You just may | | | | Of course you have challenges on your daily |
| need a particular type of bike for thoroughly doing it | | | | commute, as well. (See the section on traffic safety). |
| well. You choose to bike, no matter how hard or | | | | As a courier or bike commuter, you dart swiftly |
| how far, because you want to continually enjoy that | | | | between cars and past pedestrians. You require a |
| sense of freedom you first experienced as a kid, | | | | strong enough bike to withstand the potholes and |
| when your parents let go of the training wheels. | | | | have it look roughed up enough not to attract the |
| Today you bike for many reasons and perhaps you | | | | thieves. You feel good about being environmentally |
| cycle many styles. Let's examine you, the racer. You | | | | friendly. The courier enjoys the thrill of beating the |
| want the road bike 'cause you're a | | | | vehicle traffic. |
| 'wanabe…wanabe' a racer, a winner! You wish | | | | Sometimes the commuter is happiest with a cruiser |
| you were sleek, fast, and the ultimate hill climber. | | | | bicycle where you do not worry about what type of |
| Maybe you already are! You pump your wheels just | | | | clothes to wear, or have to change your street |
| above the max. You meet your group. Helmet on! | | | | shoes. Do you remember how you cruised the |
| Derailleur checked for the third time. Odometer on! | | | | neighborhoods with your buddies when you were a |
| Go! You alternate with the riders back and forth. | | | | kid? You biked the sidewalks, you biked the roads, |
| Soon the peleton forms. And on you go like a | | | | sat there proudly with your hands on the handlebars |
| rhythmic machine! Leader, ender - full lungs, take a | | | | looking to and 'fro laughing at all the motorists you |
| breather; maybe win the glory, the winner. | | | | thought were silly for driving cars just to sit there in |
| There's no better weigh to experience the rhymic | | | | needless traffic jams. Well as adults, think of cycling |
| flow of movement of you and the bike; to move | | | | once more; just hop on your cruiser bike and go! |
| the body forward and become one with the bike | | | | Why do bicyclists need to cycle? Cycling is in your |
| than as a touring cyclist. The beauty of panoramas | | | | blood or it's not! What is the bike to the true cyclist? |
| invite you, the smells entice you, the thrill of the total | | | | It is the only machine that is actually driven by the |
| oneness with nature and the rhythm with you and | | | | body. You are the engine and the steering wheel. |
| your bike brings you to new and back to old tours | | | | You are one with your bike. You move with freedom |
| alike. | | | | and control. Paul Fournel said it eloquently in his book, |
| Since the 1870's, people have been touring on | | | | Need for the Bike, "In life's orchestra, the bike is the |
| bicycles. The historical record of one cycling club, the | | | | double bass. Hard to forget it!" Einstein road a bicycle |
| London's Bicycle Touring Club formed in 1878, is | | | | often, as a casual cyclist, while he contemplated the |
| evidence of early touring. Cycling is a feeling. You | | | | universe. In their book, The Noblest Invention, the |
| touring cyclists have a need to just get out there - | | | | editors of Bicycling magazine stated that Einstein said |
| get out there to smell the roses, to traverse the | | | | this of the bicycle:"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep |
| countryside, to zoom-zoom. You love that feeling and | | | | your balance, you must keep moving". Tell that to |
| want to have it often. Touring can feel effortless or | | | | those who wonder why you bicyclists cycle. |