Discussion
There's probably less #BikeNite activity due to the holidays, so I am adding backup questions thought up over the weeks:
Q2. Can you share a joyful moment spent cycling? What made it so?
#BikeNiteQ #BikeNite #BikeTooter #Cycling #MastoBikes cc @bikenite
@ascentale @bikenite A2. This is an older one, and it’s more of a collection of joyful moments. When my sons were much younger, we cycled a lot along the Iron Horse Trail in Kitchener-Waterloo. The routine was that we’d ride from Waterloo to the end of it in Kitchener, then hang out there for a while before heading back. Sometime we'd stop at Victoria Park, which has lovely playground equipment that they enjoyed.
Riding as a sweeper for our tiny group brought me a lot of joy! Here's an old photo 😀 🚴🏼 🚴🏼 🚴🏼❤️
@ascentale @bikenite #bikenite A2
My joyful moments often hit about a mile into a ride. Perfect weather; I start a gentle descent & shift into higher gears; modest effort is rewarded with speed; a smile grows involuntarily as I think: This is what I’ll be doing for the next few hours.
I get that joy whether on a familiar route from home or a new adventure. Especially on gentle downslopes & flats with a tailwind. #BikeTooter #Cycling #tailwind
@MarkBrigham @ascentale @bikenite
I actually get this about 30 seconds in. I've been procrastinating on going for a ride for an hour or two, and once I am movie I am thinking "This is great! Why did I wait?!"
@ascentale @bikenite A2. Helping my sister get the child seat installed on her long tail, and her two year old's excited "wheeeee!" during her first ride. My nieces may grow up in the suburbs but they'll know that cycling is a viable alternative driving.
@ascentale @bikenite lots of fun ones, but I think recently my favorite has been a bike bus I participated in- lots of little kids on bikes and lots of joy. I love group rides!
@ascentale @bikenite A2. #BikeNite
Some say moving sucks, I say you're doing it wrong — definitely a cycling highlight of the last month or so!
Had a lovely ride that started in a properly hilly city - Bristol , over the Avon Gorge via famous Clifton Suspension Bridge, and out to one of the flattest parts of the country - the Somerset Levels (clues in the name) . The 30km/h tailwind on the open fields was most pleasant.
@MatthewNewell @bikenite @ascentale Tailwinds definitely correlate with moments of cycling joy.
I know correlation ≠ causation, but in the case of tailwinds some physical phenomena do contribute to the strong correlation.
I love that “shot-out-of-cannon” feeling I get with a strong tailwind.
@ascentale @bikenite A2 - hard to pinpoint a specific ride but one that comes to mind was during the first covid lockdown. The sun was out, don’t think I saw a single car driving and I just enjoyed a steady local ride. Made me appreciate everything I had at the time.
A2:
When I was biketouring with El in France, we met only few days ago and I suggested that we can cook together. I managed to make something decent in horrible wind and when she tasted it, she just looked at me and said : "We have to ride together more"
I won't forget the look on her face.
@ascentale @bikenite A2. Great ride a couple of weeks ago that took us to parts of the city I didn't know, including an area dedicated to comic books, er, graphic novels, and their artists. Can’t remember whether I shared this photo before, but here it is again.
@ascentale @bikenite A2. Biking outside of Copenhagen. We were sailing in our world championships. An expensive trip, so we camped out of the shipping container, and I biked to the nearby village to get breakfast things each morning. One my two favorite events, I was sad to leave. #BikeNite
@rand @ascentale @bikenite A2 I’ve worn through the seat of two pairs of Levi’s ‘cycling’ jeans. Swrve cycling jeans (and trousers) are indestructible. And cut snug round the ankle. #bikenite
@ascentale @bikenite A2. Love this question. So many joyful memories, here's a couple...
1. 6am misty sunrise along the river bank. Owl floats silently alongside me.
2. Laughing** in ridiculous headwinds crossing the emptiness of the East Anglian Fens ahead of a storm. (Directional cycling).
** I'm not always laughing. I remembered the lorry tarp video which gives an idea.
@ascentale @bikenite a2. Most moments are joyful when cycling!
But a memorable recent one was mountain biking with my son on xmas eve, and I recall looking out at the clouds/fog amongst the trees that looked really cool!
@bikenite A2. My partner convinced my kid to do a sort of challenging bike ride a couple of weeks ago, and we had fun doing it together. I brought a speaker to try to ensure a happy ride up the hill, and we were all in good spirits. I was a little sad to lose my gloves on the way down, but so thankful to be able to do a happy recreational ride together as a family, where the ride was the point rather than for transport.
@ascentale @bikenite #BikeNite A2. Pretty much any time I get out for a leisurely, relaxed ride with not great time pressure, up to the top of an empty hill or out in the outdoors and wilderness!
@ascentale @bikenite A2. We decorated our bikes for the holidays, so the last few weeks have been a lot of joyful moments, watching people do a double take and then smile. This morning, a woman exuberantly waved at us from a bike stop across an intersection. It’s just nice to bring some joy to others while having a fun time ourselves. #BikeNite
@ascentale @bikenite A2. I get less of it now with two kids in a trailer rather than one directly behind me, but my oldest being my "radio" always brought me some joy knowing how much fun he was having.
@edd @ascentale @bikenite omg my kid does that too! He sings and chatters away in the backseat and it's the absolute best.
@Bilbo_Haggins @ascentale @bikenite I want to try a shotgun seat for the oldest and our babyseat for the youngest when temps improve so I can have my radio(s) back 
Though the oldest is getting a tad big for those I fear.
@ascentale @bikenite A2. I've had so many wonderful experiences on tours such as #BikeVirginia, and major pride and fun doing #24HoursOfBooty events. I'm particularly proud that I'm back and did both this year. #bikenite
@ascentale @bikenite A2 - went up our local hill on Thursday after work with my friend Jeff. It was dark already, and we took the eBikes because he did not have reliable light for his MTB. We rode through fog/clouds, right up to the top.
But when we sat down, we saw stars above our heads, a lot of them. We spotted a bunch of satellites, and I even saw a shooting star out of the corner of my eyes.
Totally unexpected and super special!
The way down was sketchy AF, but hey...
@ascentale @bikenite
We have a full moon bike ride each month. It was a very cold evening this December so only 3 of us showed up. We had a great ride partially because the car drivers appreciated our Christmas decorations and were much more accommodating than usual.
A2. Many great times. From day rides with my club, to evening flat out (for me) summer training rides, to long bike touring / packing trips with an old school cycling buddy
Most recently I went over to watch the Tour and met a bunch of people also going to watch, but what made my day was chatting to a mum and teenage daughter in the ferry queue who were just going over for a long weekend cycling in Northern France who were completely oblivious to the race being on. Lovely
@Pionir @ascentale @bikenite I love outside the bubble conversations like this.
@ascentale @bikenite
#bikenite A2:
I find joy in nearly every ride.
But the two times that come to mind are: 1) my ride of the entire George S Mickelson trail in the Black Hills of South Dakota both ways over 4 days in September in near perfect weather. 2) My ride on the Pine Creek Rail Trail through the "Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania" on a gorgeous Autumn day.
@MartyCormack @bikenite is the “Grand Canyon” worth a visit? Family mentioned it but I felt hesitant due to the distance and entrance fee.
@ascentale @bikenite
#bikenite
It was free to ride the Pine Creek Rail Trail in Pennsylvania. It was gorgeous on an Autumn day. I have family members that camp there often. It's radically different and much smaller in scale from the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. I've been to both and would go back again to both.
@ascentale @bikenite A2. I have to go back in history for it...The best cycle tour I ever did was with my father & siblings, riding from Brookings, OR to SF. That coast is my favorite part of the country. I was in my young teens, had a lovely Motobecane to ride, wasn't physically disabled yet, and after a brutal ascent with logging trucks harrying us on a shoulder of less than 1 foot, the downhills were great. It was just great to see the redwoods, feel the coastal fog. #BikeNite
@meganL @ascentale @bikenite That’s a gorgeous part of the country—good for you!
@ascentale @bikenite A2: well in general any time I am on my bike I am pretty darn happy. On Xmas, Brenda's French Soul Food was open so I rode to that neighborhood and had a Dungeness Crab Croque Monsieur which was delicious and afterwards decided to just ride around while the rain hadn't started back up and enjoyed the more empty city and limited fall colors we get here! #BikeNite
@ascentale @bikenite A2: Popping over a hill and seeing this was pretty dang cool:
https://mastodon.murkworks.net/@moira/115781644951216767
So that was happy ^_^
@moira @ascentale @bikenite pretty sweet!!!
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