Do you ever cycle to "Escape" from anything?

I love cycling and would do it even if my life was perfect. Regrettably it's not, and neither am I. I was just curious if any of you guys/gals cycle as an escape from anything. In Heft On Wheels, the author is a dry alcoholic and former food/cigarette addict. He cycles to beat his alcoholism and obesity. I personally am trying to lose some weight and stay in shape. Otherwise, I have an anger management problem that is very much helped by cycling, and often times when the wife and I aren't getting along I will go for long rides to clear my head and get into a more upbeat mood. This at least gives me a fighting chance at optimism, instead of the pessimism and depression I would be drowning in if I just stayed at home and sulked. Thank God for cycling!

 

I got back on to lose the weight. Sometimes I will go for the ride just to get my mind off all the extraniuos crap of the day. Mostly now though it is for fun & self improvement. CAT 3 here I come...
I take it you are a retired Marine - nothing to blow up legally (anger mgmt ) and needing to lose weight. Sorry, slight razzing - but most importantly - Thank you for your service. Enjoy the ride

 

I cycle because I love it, but sure it's also an escape for me. An escape from the droll, seemingly trivial existence I live each day. I do it because it makes me feel good to know I'm doing something that improves my physical condition, gives me strength, and restores my energy to deal with my otherwise relatively boring day-to-day existence at work. The only other thing that gives me the same level of joy is being with my 5-year old son - and he can be 10 times as exhausting.

As SLS said, I too do it for the fun and self-improvement. The challenge of performing better than my last time out... it gives me something to strive for, which I need in my life. It's probably the only time I consider truly my own - a solo ride with nobody else to answer to, except the burn!

Whatever your reasons for riding, keep it up! It doesn't matter if it's an escape, especially if you recognize it as that. It serves a purpose; for some it's one thing, for others it means something else. The important thing, to me, is to enjoy the times you do get to ride. After all, you may not get to ride tomorrow.

 

I ride to escape doing housework!

 

I ride to escape the pack!

 

i once escaped from the neighbours dog...man, that thing hates me..

 

Family, School, Life!

 

Ride to escape my gut...ride to escape the four walls of my office...ride to escape getting stuck to my couch...and all balanced out by what I am equally riding to find.

 

When the wife and I are tired and bickery, we'll ride sometimes. Works wonders. She has kicked me out of the house to go riding cause I'm in a crappy mood. So in answer to your question, yes I've been known to ride to escape.

 

I guess I'm the oddball here. I don't ride to escape anything. I do it for the enjoyment, challenge, and exercise. Also, I am a geek and like technical gadgets, so I like to record & log my mileage & HR & all the other things my Polar 710 and cateye records. Combine the fun of going fast and recording your progress with all the cool gadgets, and thats the main reason I ride.

 

man, that a lot of stuff....

why?

yeay...mine does that too... ..i can feel a crappy mood coming on this Sunday morning..

 

Escape has such a negative conotation...but for lack of a better word, yes!

Whatever else happens, I know that about ten minutes after I start, the "important" issues of the day seem to drift to the back of my mind, by the middle of a two hour ride, I am pretty well oblivious to anything beyond the next curve or the next hill. I guess I don't ride to escape but I always escape when I ride.

 

i once rode to escape her indoors, she found out how much my new bike cost.

 

Oh wow...what a question...

Yes. Absolutely. My bike purchase last year was my ticket out of a nasty headspace. Twenty years of toxic living (too fat, smoked too much, dealt with stress in every inappropriate manner known to humankind) had taken their toll.

It was an evolutionary process...I started biking to keep my husband and daughter company. Then to help rehabilitate a back injury. Then to get to work. Then to have a quiet place to think and some quality "Momma" time for myself. An escape from the devastating physical damage of diabetes. Feeling good about myself and my body which is the best vaccination I know against mid-life angst. I learned I'm stronger than I ever thought and somewhere along the trial, found the courage to quit a 25 year smoking addiction.

I bike because it's cheaper than Prozac and easier on the liver than whiskey. I bike because I wish to avoid the fate of many of my contempories. I'm running away from being yet another overweight, bored, tranked out middle aged neurotic weeping at the kitchen table over lost youth.

I bike to find grace to go with my grey hair.

 

Well, when I was 8 or 9 me and my friends would steal stuff from Safeway and our BMX bikes were our escape vehicles... Is that what you mean?

 

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Okay, How's this for a better word? Advance. I'm sure you've all heard of people going on retreats? Well, one teen leader I had the priviledge of serving alongside of called it an "Advance." I really like that. So if Razor_USMC doesn't mind the semantics, I'll agree that I DEFINITELY also use cycling as an Advance. While I definitely cycle for the cardio, there are times I need to go clear my head, get the endorphins to kick in, and reset my focus on things that are good, true and lovely. I live in the beautiful Hudson Valley in NY so the views, no matter how many times I see them, help my head. I use it to do something positive for my body, mind, and soul and that, in turn, gives me more to give back home.

Last night, after a fairly difficult conflict, I hit the gym to weight lift. Talk about a workout! I was able to lift heavier weights than normal.

 

Here's an interesting quote that addresses your question:

When I go biking, I repeat a mantra of the day's sensations: bright sun, blue sky, warm breeze, blue jay's call, ice melting and so on. This helps me transcend the traffic, ignore the clamorings of work, leave all the mind theaters behind and focus on nature instead. I still must abide by the rules of the road, of biking, of gravity. But I am mentally far away from civilization. The world is breaking someone else's heart. ~Diane Ackerman

 

Yes, I ride to escape a lot of things. I ride to try to get rid of the lethargic feeling I get from sitting in my office chair all day. I also ride to get rid of the bad mood that I am in when I come home from work. Okay, so I pretty much ride to escape work.

 

Very Deep kate. I can relate.

 

I don't look at it as escape. More like a mental vacation. While I restarted cycling to escape the decay of smoking and a hectic life (quit the smoking, working on the hectic life), I have since found that the mental therapy is as valuable as the physical.

On a long solo ride, I think about... nothing. Just focus on the road ahead, drink in the sights and sounds, and go. For a couple of hours, I'm in the pure physical world - the whir of the chain, a gentle whisper from the wheels, wind noise whistling higher as you start down a hill, the clack of a gear change, a pebble popping out from under a tire. It's a symphony I could listen to for hours.

You aren't stressed out if you aren't thinking about anything.