You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
What goes through ones mind while in the saddle?
How do you will yourself over that final summit?
And does anyone have any motos/phrases that help get that last ounce of energy out before cracking?
Haribo.
Kelly Brook
i try not to think 😀
no phrases or mottos to get over hills... i just count each time i push my feet into the pedals until i get to the top
Pizza if I'm hungry 😀
Why don't I ride more and is that wheezing noise really coming from me??
ickle fwuffy bunny wabbits
The act of riding. And why I'm so slow.
What goes through ones mind while in the saddle?
In the same sense that a radio was the last thing to do through Diana's mind?
(I'll get my coat)
I occasionally mutter the odd "come on" to myself but the main thing on my mind is generally around avoiding a tree or how much my legs hurt.
Everything.
The longer the ride ,the more Zen it gets man. 8)
On my own on the LeJog days I think I went a bit mad (in a good way) 😯
On big long climbs, it usually involves a jacuzzi and a hot,soapy tit ****
If it's technical I'll be in full concentration survival mode.
On the road or XC I just daydream about all sorts.
If my mates are out riding too I usually want to beat them up the climbs, that's best possible motivation to get up.
For once, I think I know exactly what a * * is
I look at the trees and landscapes, listen to the birds, squint out the cold or rain, dodge the difficult terrain or look for the harder line, i fight to maintain a good balance point and study the style of the rider in front, i some times look at the lycra clad bottom it's a lady, or take to the head of the group and find my own pace, I doubt myself and think that i can't make it and sometime push cursing at my lost fitness, i question why i didn't wind down my forks to help keep the front down, how i miss only having the one gear.
Then as the trail point downwards all my thoughts are to line choice, speed management and body position, working the bike in harmony with the ground, to not be lazy when i can squeeze in a pedal stroke or two.
When on the flat and the moods there, i just enjoy the freedom of being out there and free.
The sound of one hand clapping.
The sound of one hand clasping
The sound of one hand rasping.
[img] 
[/img]
But not blue.
Kelly Brook
Strangely, that was my immediate thought as well.......
Usually nothing, that's why I like mountain biking - clears my mind.
food / beer
The sound of one lung gasping
usually s! f! or b*******! as yet another obstacle gets the better of me
"I swear my heart shouldn't be beating like that"
Generally I'm riding to clear my thoughts, and my mind will wander through hundreds of thoughts, like "was that a buzzard" "oh look another rabbit with mixy."
usually s! f! or b*******! as yet another obstacle gets the better of me
why does simonfbarnes get the better of you? 😆
IGMC
My thoughts are usually governed by what I think I'm making a real hash of at the time.
At the moment it's mainly "smoooooth - don't stomp"
accompanied by the occasional "pain is just the sensation of weakness leaving the body".
On the mtb I sing/humm music from biking vids on the dh bit. On the road bike I either try to think about things around me or when it get tough I try to 'enjoy' the pain.
Excel models
Real ale
Freaky weasel sex
Annoying song tunes
Uphill - ouch, ouch, ouch, ladies bottoms, ouch, ouch, ouch.
Downhill - weeeeeeee, ladies bottoms, shit shit shit, weeeeeeee.
I am the count and I love to...
when it's hurting on climbs or on sprints - I blame it on doing loads of gym work in my early twenties counting the reps.
Other than that offroad I look at the views, listen to my internal jukebox
On the road I listen to my ipod.
Excuse my ignorance - i'm new - but who is this simonfbarnes of whom you speak?why does simonfbarnes get the better of you? 😆
I usually get an annoying song stuck in my head, or worse still just a short looped bit of an annoying song.
This weeks one has been the [b]Alouette ette ette bit[/b] from Cherl Kerl's latest ditty. Joyous 😆
Normally why the **** am I at the back again, and I hope the horns is soon
food
Annoying songs - on long road climbs I often get one verse of a nursery rhyme (young kids) stuck on loop. Makes it even more frustrating when you have to maintain cadence to keep up with the rhyme and you've run out gears!
Faster... always faster...
"…trundle….trundle… ahh this feels good… haven’t been out in how long… oops some uphill… jeez this hurts… it never used to hurt… why’s Paul disappearing into the distance… can’t… get… on… terms… oh sweet god, what’s happened to my thighs… breath… breath… cough… wheeze… bloody kids… finally some downhill… sh*t didn't lift the front… and again… and again… pedals level… lean with the berm… AAARRGGHH… trees… bumpy… don’t… clench… teeth… OOFF… wet roots… oh god… gonna crash… HAH HAARGGHH… made it.
Really must do this more often"
Abridged version of last visit to GT.
While climbing I tell myself the harder you push today, the easier it will be next time. On the downhills I think AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH
Don't you know? We're thinking about you - and we're right behind you.
Actually, I think of everything, all at once. Just like at any other time.
It's the lack of thought pertaining to anything that's outside of the experience that's part of the appeal in many ways..
Downhill on my own I'm usualy in a far more Zen like state than the climbs.
Downhill in a group I'm usualy focused on getting a wider entry to the corner than the guy/girl in front allowing me to brake less and then brake in the next section as I'm now too close. Anoyingly if I'm on my own I probably don't make such good line choices so the excercise is fairly futile. But theres still somethig very Zen about being in the middle of a group on a night ride, allthe line choices/speed have been decided by the guy 10 or 20 places in front and everyone else is just following their lead.
Climbing on the SS is one of three things
This is easy, why did I ever use gears?
This is hurting, wish I had gears (usualy at the end of a ride)
F*** HGGGRRRR HMMMMM HEAVE PANT (where the gradient gets silly and technical)
Not much, which is a great release from the usual worry and internal chatter.
Uphill, I do sometimes think "keep going!". Downhill, if I think at all, it's mainly about whether I'm balancing on my feet properly.
It's the same on the bike as it is off it, so if I'm thinking at all, (rather than being of no-mind) my thoughts are about nothing / everything / anything ...
It's genuinely interesting to read that people do actually think about specific, and/or relevant things whilst riding.
usually 'hmm should I have gone left back then? I think I'm heading in roughly the right direction...'
Sometimes I sing/hum thing like the star wars theme tune, especially when night riding in woods 🙂
Other times I just try and clear my head of all the work rubbish flying round it
How do you will yourself over that final summit?
no phrases or mottos to get over hills... i just count each time i push my feet into the pedals until i get to the top
If it's a long hard slog that requires mental strength, then I count in threes - that way you equalise emphasised push across both legs.
And don't look up/ahead. Keep the summit horizon behind the helmet peak.
What goes through ones mind while in the saddle?
whatever comes to mind. nothing specific.
Nothing... and everything...
But yunki said it better.
Even the commute home is a complete mental irrigation although that could be praise for survival.
I make mental notes for my ride report
I think about the way ahead to be ready to preempt those in front from going the wrong way
I think about light and contrast and pattern and shapes and arses and eyes and boobies
I anticipate the quiet contentment when the ride is over
I think about things that have happened the other times I've been this way
I wonder why I haven't fallen off yet despite being a terrible rider...
Perfectly put.yunki - MemberIt's the lack of thought pertaining to anything that's outside of the experience that's part of the appeal in many ways..
All that I ever think about whilst riding is riding
Mostly yellow frog avoidance on last nights ride.
How to engineer a better sounding freewheel than Chris King did on the downhills.
On the steady bits I generally think about possible sexual encounters with women I know through work, or have seen in a shop that morning or.... etc, I tend to think it through the early bits....possible conversations/situations, and rarely get past the first kiss or first naked bits. On the serious climbs I genrally just want to feel some pain and try to push myself to give it all the beans, and on the fast downs I just think 'go faster, don't die'.