I wasn’t anywhere near old enough to hold a driver’s license but my dad had already bought me a motorcycle. It was a late seventies BMW R100 RS, dark blue. I loved that bike; I polished it fortnightly even though it never left the garage. I spent hours sitting on it, twisting the throttle and squeezing the clutch, diving in and out of turns on a twisty road somewhere in my imagination. My dad sold the bike not long after I got serious about Cycling, making the shrewd observation that if I was able to land myself in the emergency room as often as I did under my own power, then from a Darwinian standpoint my chances of survival would be dramatically decreased by the introduction of a 1000cc engine.
To this day, I love speed. I feel it in that layer between skin and muscle that science will tell you doesn’t exist but that anyone who has ever taken a risk will tell you does. On a bicycle, it doesn’t even have to be high speed; descending, cruising along a valley road, or climbing – any speed that comes as a result of that familiar pressure in my legs and lungs is a thrill.
Cornering at speed will amplify the feeling of speed as your muscles press against the change in tangental velocity. But even the slower speeds of climbing can produce the exciting effects of speed; diving into a tight switchback on a fast climb can provide the distinctive exhilaration that comes with needing to brake and lean while climbing. There is no sensation in Cycling that will make one feel more Pro than needing to control your speed while going uphill.
Cobblestones and gravel also provide their unique doorway into the feeling of speed. The bouncing of the machine under you as you push a big gear along the road will amplify the sensation of going fast with the transitions from tarmac to rough roads and back again playing their own part to demonstrate speed through the power of contrast.
Riding along a road that has a lot of shrubbery or tall grass that hugs the roadside, my peripheral vision will quietly inform me that the blurred motion at my side is the direct result of my own burning engine and the effort I’m putting into the pedals. To experience under our own strength that which others require a motor to accomplish is what makes us stand apart. We are active participants in speed. We are Cyclists.
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The London Olympic Velodrome opened up for public use this week and my club has organised a three hour session with coaches. It's not till November, but I cannot wait.
Speed, in terms of "how fast I'm going," is a fickle thing, and not necessarily related to how I feel on the bike. Sometimes I'll get home after a ride that felt "fast," and see that it's one of my more pedestrian efforts on a given route. Other times I'll get home feeling as if I just wrestled a bear for two hours, and I'll find that it was one of my faster efforts.
It's when the sensation of speed and effortless power come together, as noted above, that I feel the deliciously addictive nature of true Speed. It doesn't happen a lot (especially this time of year), but it's one of the sensations that keeps me climbing into the saddle day in and day out.
@Chris Neat. Wish I was within easy striking distance of one. Calshot is not too far, must arrange to go for a course there sometime.
@Ron
Personally I stay pretty centred and opposite steer (or reduce steer to control the skid) - that is of course on the assumption that there is room. I would not lean harder to the right as that is more likely to shift your weight inside the point of contact and the bike will go out from under you. If you are staying with the skid you need to stay balanced over your contact point(s). Just like skiing - don't "hill hug" or you will end up hugging the hill.
The roads have been so bad around me in the UK through the winter that any notion of speed cornering was a commitment to eat tarmac (or drown in the floods). However, now it has stopped raining the roads are dry and the mud and gravel has (mostly) gone. So (potholes aside) I can now let fly down my local hill with a sweeping left right at the bottom. On a bike its a buzz to sweep the bends at speed but in a car the line is such that you can't hold the same speed without being a bit nutty as it's a bit of a blind bend so you can't cut the centre line.
@antihero
@The Pressure
I'm with @antihero on this and after forty years of killing it in traffic with, ironically, no accidents except when I was training to race! My current commute is 16km in traffic usually with a wind. It is the best when my fitness and the wind coincide to keep me in the flow of traffic. Drafting scoters and trucks are icing on the cake. I just broke 30 minutes (with stops for the big lights) and am aiming for the mid 20's by summer.
@The Pressure, your right - do not try this at home! Seriously I started at 17 with a daily commute across central London for 4 years then back to Boston for 12. After that 25 years 90 miles from NYC where I'd train in and ride all day in the city 2-3 times a month. Now in Miami where traffic is flakey but manageable as the city has made bike awareness much better.
Like @antihero playing in traffic is, I think, an acquired taste. It also carries a risk that is not there when riding at speed with no traffic. I think of it like a sword duel there is no monkey mind or sight seeing the focus is 100% and acceptance of the risk is part of the deal!
@Rob
Back in high school, I was an avid mountain biker. I grew up following Tomac, Overend, Cuddles and Hejsedal on the World Cup circuit. I had a dream of being a professional cyclist. Between HS and smart school, I fulfilled that dream by being a bike messenger. Playing in traffic is definitely an acquired taste, especially in the core zones of major cities.
There is also nothing better for your guns than 8 hour interval sessions, racing against cars and trucks to the next light, trying to cross 4 lanes of traffic before they get up to speed, or trying to stay on their wheel at 50-60kph in order to make the green at the end of the block (or a few blocks away).
@Teocalli
There's many a car around my corner of our county that happily cuts that centre line and to hell with the risk of taking a cyclist out. I get your meaning though and it's such a pleasure to get home from a ride without being covered in crap.
@TheVid
Yes to all that. I never made it to smart school(+1) and had dreams of messengering but the real job and racing got in the way... My days in NYC had me having lots o fun with the bad boy messengers of fixiedom, the skids, the moves, the run ups, to and through the red (them not me). It was always fun to duel with them and on the rare occasion get a nod of "for an old fart you've got something", which was gold.
back to topic: I'm now riding with a small group and although they ride well and put some hurt in, in what seems to be typical Miami style they are one speed ponies and I have to warn them that on certain rides if a faster group or the right scooter/truck comes up I will be jumping on.
Its not about showing off, nor trying to beat anyone, it's all about just loving going fast and if it's too long at one tempo I get antsy.
@frank
That was a revelation for sure as I started doing them faster. It was amazing how that back wheel slides in the turn but completely holds traction because I'm putting force to it. I still need to learn to front brake to finesse it. It has completely changed how I go through corners. There were some off camber s turns on the local circuit that went from being impossible to navigate to breezing through when I just kept pedaling.