What I Talk About When I Talk About Cycling

“Sometimes it strikes me as an intricate form of torture. In his book the triathlete Dave Scott wrote that of all the sports man has invented cycling has got to be the most unpleasant of all. I totally agree.”
            -  Haruki Murakami “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running”
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I needed to cross the busy A6 and slightly misjudged the timing, causing a van driver to toot as I shot in front of him. But he wasn’t satisfied with a toot and chased me down a lane and deliberately rammed me from behind, throwing me into a hedge and breaking my arm. I had to walk half a mile with my broken bike and arm to the nearest house, where I called an ambulance. 

Haruki Murakami, in his brilliant book “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running”, which is mainly about running, but also about cycling, says that his dominant feeling when he’s on his bike is fear. He tells of the time when he hit a metal post and was only saved from serious injury by his helmet. It took me a while to get over my run in with Mr Angry, but now I’m on the road whenever I can, and I manage to do a forty minute ride four times a week on average. What do I think about when I’m cycling? Nothing at all. There’s no time to think because my mind is totally focussed on what’s happening around me. The fear is always there and that feeling of fear adds to the adrenalin, which may explain why I always feel absolutely great at the end of the ride and can’t wait for for the next round of torture.