Why riding is fun

After this weekend and the great crowds and cheering at two days of cross races I have been thinking about why riding a bike is fun for me.

1. I meet a lot of people I wouldn't otherwise know. Doctors, Lawyers, Professors, Truck drivers, construction workers, engineers, bike shop people (owners, managers, worker bees). All kinds of great people who just like riding bikes and racing them sometimes. You could really sense the whole biking community vibe at Saturday and Sunday's cross races because everyone was cheering, ringing cowbells, and encouraging everyone they knew to keep going. It is pretty cool to hear that from the side lines when you are deep in the pain cave.

2. It keeps me skinny so I have a nice calorie offset to drink PBR, Strohs and O'Fallon Gold.

3. Going out a nice ride, no matter what kind, just really hits the spot. Any ride, any time. It is a time to relax, enjoy the sites, and my wife and I can just chill for a couple of hours on the bikes without much else to worry about. I use it to decompress and I occasionally have some good thoughts that come to me about a problem I trying to solve at work because somehow the ride relaxes me and helps be think more clearly.

There are probably more reasons why I enjoy riding but that pretty much the main ones for me. This weekend I'll be enjoying some biking in the KC area on the mountain bike Landhal will be on the list and perhaps a trip to Shawnee Mission Park.