Bike Riding-Do you love or hate it? (Or can you even do it?)

Page 1 of 4 [ 56 posts ] Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4 Next

Joined: 10 Oct 2010
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,809
Location: Canada

14 Jun 2011, 9:51 pm

This was never my choice of activity. I can barely ride a bike, plus every time I ride a bike, a dog starts to bother me. I get really nervous. I can't drive so I either get a ride, take the bus/train or walk. I learn to ride a bike when I was 11 and admit that I enjoyed for the first few years, now, I'm scared of it!

I have heard that people with AS learn to ride a bike later. However, it seems as most of them like it once they learn.

Do you enjoy it because it's not really my choice of activity.

blackcat
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 16 Nov 2006
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,142
Location: 10 miles south of sanity.

14 Jun 2011, 10:02 pm

I enjoy coasting. Struggling up the hill is all about the reward of going fast and not having to pedal. Also...it feels like I'm flying. I do like riding. It did not take me long to learn, but I never got very good at it.

_________________
I think I know. I don't think I know. I don't think I think I know. I don't think I think.

FearOfMusic
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 3 Jun 2011
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 638

14 Jun 2011, 10:05 pm

I just got back from a 20 mile bike ride maybe an hour or so ago. I got into road biking a few years back and just kind of found it a perfect fit for me really. I think the things I like about it most is that it is a sport that I can do by myself and its very repetitive, very much like running which I also do from time to time. When I am upset going biking for an hour or so always seems to clear my mind up. Maybe its kind of like a stim for me?

TheBicyclingGuitarist
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 27 May 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,332

14 Jun 2011, 10:10 pm

I rode a tricycle when little, then my first bicycle in tight circles on my family's back porch. In my teen years I went on long (thirty to fifty mile) day trips on a ten-speed. In my early twenties I found I could combine guitar playing with bicycle riding at the same time, and that has been the only relief I have yet found in my life from the physical and psychological stresses of my neurology.

I've ridden the guitar while playing the bicycle (yes, I said that right) many tens of thousands of miles since the early 1980s, writing hundreds of original songs. I can't ride when it's cold or wet outside though. Where I grew up had about 300 days a year of weather good enough for bicycle guitaring. Where I live now has fewer days of good weather, and I live in a town surrounded closely by mountains so I can't go as far, but the people of this town are friendlier to bicycling guitarists than any other place I've yet lived.

Unfortunately, the past three months I have had a leg muscle injury that prevents me from raising my right leg up high enough to even get on the bicycle. Once on, I can ride okay unless I go up hills when that leg hurts (and I live on a hill so that is unavoidable). This is soul crushing. I have always been very very depressed about my experience of life, but until this year I could at least ride and play for some temporary relief. I will be seeing an orthopedic doctor in a couple weeks, and hopefully he can prescribe some exercises or something for me to do to fix my leg so I can ride and play again.

I cannot imagine living much longer if I can't ride and play. The only peace I found has been taken from me, and I don't even know how my leg was injured. I just woke up one day a few months ago with a sore leg. I've been to my regular doctor, had a hip x-ray, and was prescribed anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxers that haven't helped. I just got a scholarship to the YMCA and hope to do some water therapy in their pool.

Here is a 46-second clip from 2005 that shows me doing what I am known for:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-2h0kw5ank[/youtube]

Alex (founder of WrongPlanet) told me in the WP chat room a few months ago that he would love to film me doing what I do. It is a rather unique way of coping with some of my autistic symptoms. Alex, if you're listening, this might be the last summer I'll be able to do this. As long as I have a step or something to get onto my bicycle, and ride on flat (not have to go up a hill), I can ride and play for an hour or two. I'd love to be filmed riding and playing my best songs before I can no longer do this anymore ever.

Here is a recent (June 11, 2011) clip of what I sound like doing a cover version of the Beatles song Help!
The Bicycling Guitarist plays Help! June 11, 2011

_________________
"When you ride over sharps, you get flats!"--The Bicycling Guitarist, May 13, 2008

jojobean
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 12 Aug 2009
Age: 47
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,341
Location: In Georgia sipping a virgin pina' colada while the rest of the world is drunk

14 Jun 2011, 10:21 pm

TheBicyclingGuitarist wrote:

I rode a tricycle when little, then my first bicycle in tight circles on my family's back porch. In my teen years I went on long (thirty to fifty mile) day trips on a ten-speed. In my early twenties I found I could combine guitar playing with bicycle riding at the same time, and that has been the only relief I have yet found in my life from the physical and psychological stresses of my neurology.

I've ridden the guitar while playing the bicycle (yes, I said that right) many tens of thousands of miles since the early 1980s, writing hundreds of original songs. I can't ride when it's cold or wet outside though. Where I grew up had about 300 days a year of weather good enough for bicycle guitaring. Where I live now has fewer days of good weather, and I live in a town surrounded closely by mountains so I can't go as far, but the people of this town are friendlier to bicycling guitarists than any other place I've yet lived.

Unfortunately, the past three months I have had a leg muscle injury that prevents me from raising my right leg up high enough to even get on the bicycle. Once on, I can ride okay unless I go up hills when that leg hurts (and I live on a hill so that is unavoidable). This is soul crushing. I have always been very very depressed about my experience of life, but until this year I could at least ride and play for some temporary relief. I will be seeing an orthopedic doctor in a couple weeks, and hopefully he can prescribe some exercises or something for me to do to fix my leg so I can ride and play again.

I cannot imagine living much longer if I can't ride and play. The only peace I found has been taken from me, and I don't even know how my leg was injured. I just woke up one day a few months ago with a sore leg. I've been to my regular doctor, had a hip x-ray, and was prescribed anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxers that haven't helped. I just got a scholarship to the YMCA and hope to do some water therapy in their pool.

Here is a 46-second clip from 2005 that shows me doing what I am known for:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-2h0kw5ank[/youtube]

Alex (founder of WrongPlanet) told me in the WP chat room a couple months ago that he would love to film me doing what I do. It is a rather unique way of coping with some of my autistic symptoms. Alex, if you're listening, this might be the last summer I'll be able to do this. As long as I have a step or something to get onto my bicycle, and ride on flat (not have to go up a hill), I can ride and play for an hour or two. I'd love to be filmed riding and playing my best songs before I can no longer do this anymore ever.

Here is a recent (June 11, 2011) clip of what I sound like doing a cover version of the Beatles song Help!
The Bicycling Guitarist plays Help! June 11, 2011

I have seen your video before and you are the coolest aspie...eeevvveeerr!! !

as for me, I love to ride those trail bikes with straight handle bars without holding on...it is fun!! I cant seem to do it with any other type of bike though.

_________________
All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the anguish up.
-James Baldwin

Tressillian
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

Joined: 10 May 2011
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 61

14 Jun 2011, 10:22 pm

I also just got back from a 20 mile ride.

TheBicyclingGuitarist
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 27 May 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,332

14 Jun 2011, 10:23 pm

blackcat wrote:

Also...it feels like I'm flying.

I feel that way too. There is a freedom to it when one isn't too aware of the physical effort needed to sustain it. That is where the guitar comes in for me. Without a guitar, I am out of breath sooner and feel every pedal stroke. With the guitar, my body goes on autopilot keeping me balanced (and the guitar helps like the balance pole of a high-wire artist), and my mind is full of the music yet aware of all that is going on around me at the same time. It is very Zen, a meditation in motion.

I think what I do is like two forms of stimming at once, the bicycling and the guitar playing at the same time. However, I don't think of it as doing two things at once. I am doing one thing: bicycle guitaring.

_________________
"When you ride over sharps, you get flats!"--The Bicycling Guitarist, May 13, 2008

TheBicyclingGuitarist
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 27 May 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,332

14 Jun 2011, 10:29 pm

jojobean wrote:

Aw, thank you. What I do was born from pain. Somehow this combination relieves my pain somewhat. It is also gratifying that it brings smiles to other peoples' faces, but I do it to relieve my own pain, not to please anyone else (although I am glad it does).

I have ridden only one bicycle the past thirty years, a 1977 Schwinn Sportabout ten-speed (a cheaper version of the Varsity). I don't know if I could do this on any other type of bicycle, or even on another Sportabout other than my own. I also have only played Fender Stratocaster or Strat copy guitars this whole time. I've ridden with the same guitar the past twenty years, a 1979 Silver Anniversary Stratocaster.

_________________
"When you ride over sharps, you get flats!"--The Bicycling Guitarist, May 13, 2008

johnsmcjohn
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 1 Jun 2011
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,279
Location: Las Vegas

14 Jun 2011, 10:40 pm

When I was younger I rode my bike everywhere I went. Then I got a car and since then, I haven't voluntarily biked anywhere. Whenever I plan my trip, there is a thought that spins through my mind saying "it's not as efficient as driving" and I can't get over that fact. So I don't bike anymore. And unless gas goes past $5 a gallon, I won't. I just can't wrap my mind around being inefficient if I can avoid it.

TheBicyclingGuitarist
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 27 May 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,332

14 Jun 2011, 10:49 pm

johnsmcjohn wrote:

It's more efficient than driving. You get exercise, fresh air, scenery that you can't enjoy as well while driving, plus you're not polluting or using fossil fuels. Of course it's not as fast, not fun in bad weather, and you can't carry as much, but for in town light shopping or errands I'd say bicycling is MORE efficient than driving, not less.

I drove the same car for thirty years (a 1965 Ford Falcon Ranchero), but since the summer of 2007 it has been sitting out of commission and I have not yet been able to afford to fix it. So I have been forced to bicycle more the past three years than I might have done otherwise, which is good, but also forced to ride the bus and such in weather too cold or wet for bicycling, which is bad. Also, the last time I moved (May 2010) I had to do so without the benefit of a working car. Moving tons of possessions one shopping cart load at a time put a terrible strain on my body, and I don't think I've recovered yet (that may even have something to do with my mysterious leg injury that prevents me now from even bicycling). So basically, unless my worker from the Regional Brokerage is available to give me a ride in her car, I am stuck at home. I can't even get up out of bed without a cane now. It sucks not having a working car, but was bearable as long as I could at least ride my guitar and play the bicycle in good weather. Now I can't even do that.

Hey folks, please if not too much trouble let's get a petition going to see if we can persuade Alex (founder of WrongPlanet) to schedule a film session for me this summer or fall. I don't have the resources or transportation to go to him; he'd have to come to Roseburg, Oregon. It might be possible to transport my guitar and bicycle to another city not too far away, but riding the bus is excruciatingly painful for me because of the vibrations, stops and starts, noises, smells, and close proximity to other people. Like I said, if I can step from something higher to get onto my bicycle without having to raise my leg so high, and as long as I don't have to go up any hills, I can ride and play for now. I don't know how much longer this will be true though.

_________________
"When you ride over sharps, you get flats!"--The Bicycling Guitarist, May 13, 2008

jojobean
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 12 Aug 2009
Age: 47
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,341
Location: In Georgia sipping a virgin pina' colada while the rest of the world is drunk

14 Jun 2011, 10:57 pm

TheBicyclingGuitarist wrote:

jojobean wrote:

How does it relieve what pain??

_________________
All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the anguish up.
-James Baldwin

pree10shun
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 29 May 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,659
Location: Everywhere

15 Jun 2011, 12:51 am

Oooh yes! Biking is my fav exercise! I tend to get fat around thighs...its the best way to get rid of the fat!

MooCow
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 18 Feb 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 546
Location: Under your bed.

15 Jun 2011, 1:03 am

I love biking, though I don't currently have a bike. I use to ride about 75-100 miles a week.

as soon as I have some spare cash I'm going to buy a unicycle.

_________________
I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.
-Terry Pratchett

TheBicyclingGuitarist
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 27 May 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,332

15 Jun 2011, 1:13 am

jojobean wrote:

TheBicyclingGuitarist wrote:

Aw, thank you. What I do was born from pain.

How does it relieve what pain??

I experience life far differently than most other people. I have realized this since I was a boy, and it has only become more obvious the older I get. I didn't know about Aspergers Syndrome most of my life until I was in my late thirties (I turn fifty-one years old this summer). One of the symptoms of my neurology is extreme hypersensitivity to sensory input. I can't block or filter things the way most people can, so everything is "too much" all the time. Sound, smell, taste, touch, temperature. light, all bother me more than most people. Also, my mind is hyperactive, racing a thousand directions at once at light speed.

The only peace I have found in this life so far for body and mind is to ride the guitar while playing the bicycle. Somehow my body is distracted by keeping me balanced so it is not so sensitive to sensory input. And my mind is full of the music, so not racing all directions at once. In fact, I can appreciate the present moment more, living in the "now", by doing this. I sit upright so it is easier for me to turn my head to keep track of what is going on around me. I keep the bicycle in first gear at all times so I don't go too fast (stopping guitar playing as necessary to brake when going down hills).

It is the only joy I have yet found in this life, better than sex, better than drugs, the only thing that works to give me some relief from the physical and psychological stresses of my neurological condition. THAT is why I have ridden many tens of thousands of miles doing this the past thirty years. I have to be riding a bicycle and playing guitar at the same time though for the magic to happen. Guitar by itself doesn't do it. Bicycling by itself doesn't do it. Bicycle guitaring does it for me, a meditation in motion.

As for "how" it relieves my pain: I don't know. I put my best guesses above, as I have spent some time the past thirty years trying to figure out why it works. The bottom line is, it does, and so far, has been the only thing I've found that works for me. And now my leg hurts and I can't get on my bicycle anymore. Bummer.

_________________
"When you ride over sharps, you get flats!"--The Bicycling Guitarist, May 13, 2008

Last edited by TheBicyclingGuitarist on 15 Jun 2011, 4:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

DoniiMann
Velociraptor

Joined: 2 Sep 2010
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 496
Location: Tasmania

15 Jun 2011, 1:47 am

I used to ride, but now I'm too nervous. I worked for the Australian version of Burger King back in 88 and heard twice of fellow workers being hit by cars while biking. This parallels my own experience in 86 when I was knocked of a bike I was riding twice... five minutes apart... by the same car... a cop car.

Nothing sinister in it. I heard a car behind me and figured I should move aside and let it past since I was going slower. Instead of moving to the outside, fearing broken glass, I moved to the inside of (overtaking) the road... just as the car decided to overtake. Just bad timing.

Got off of the bike, walked it home, haven't ridden since.

_________________
assumption makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'mption'.

JWS
Velociraptor

Joined: 14 Apr 2011
Age: 55
Gender: Male
Posts: 448
Location: The mountains of eastern Kentucky

15 Jun 2011, 1:59 am

When I was about 20 years younger, I enjoyed riding a bike, but I haven't ridden on one for several years, now. I used to boast that I could ride any bike out there! Now I think I'll keep my mouth shut! :wink: haha

_________________
An Asperger's man who has Autism Spectrum Disorder level 1- mild, with a sprinkling of Synesthesia. :-)

Page 1 of 4 [ 56 posts ] Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4 Next

Jump to:

Bike Riding-Do you love or hate it? (Or can you even do it?) Post Reply New Topic

Bike Riding-Do you love or hate it? (Or can you even do it?)