5 Magical Feelings You Can Only Get By Riding Bikes

In this day and age, it's easy to be lulled in by the numbers. Heart rate stats, distance and elevation you've ridden... even gear ratio, parts compatibility and bike fit measurements.

Everything is smart watches, and measured to within an inch of its life.

We rely on the internet for research, and to tell us what we need to know. But there was a time (not that long ago) where none of that mattered.

You got a bike for Christmas - or you picked an outgrown one from an older sibling or cousin - and you just got on it and rode.

Alone, with your friends, in the sun, in the rain... it didn't matter. In that spirit, here are 5 magical feelings that we think you can only get by riding your bike.

#1 How You Feel After A Tough Climb

This will either bring back great memories or nightmares about choking back bile and tears... but however you feel about the hill itself, there's almost nothing that can compare to the pure sense of elation when you crest the top of a hard climb.

It doesn't matter if you were 10 years old on a BMX, or whether you've got the latest road bike. It doesn't matter if you ride on the tarmac, gravel, dirt or somewhere in between.

Slogging it up a hill is slogging it up a hill. And when you get there, exhausted, breathing so heavily you think you might actually throw up a kidney, and you see the top around the next corner... that sense of "I freaking did it!" is unrivalled.

#2 The Story Your Scars Will Tell

As with all things, not every ride will be perfect. You'll get bad weather, mechanical mishaps, dodgy snacks, surprise visits from aunt flow, and yes - you'll fall.

Maybe it'll be at the traffic lights after you've just learned to clip in. Or maybe you'll hit the deck mountain biking... whether it's a hard or soft landing, your scars all come with a story.

"That was the time I tried to follow [insert name] over a rock but didn't realise you had to lift your back wheel."

"This one was the time I slid out on that wet corner on the road bike."

Some of them you won't want to share with anyone. Some you'll want to laugh about straight after they happen. However they're cultivated, you'll discover that your scars somehow become a vessel for carrying entire memories.

And what is life, if it isn't about making memories?

#3 You Can Achieve Anything (Really)

The first time I knew that my bike could help me achieve anything I wanted was my first solo ride. I had learned to ride as an adult, and pretty much fudged my way through everything... there was much anxiety and crashing and going slowly on bike paths and learning how to use the gears and brakes.

But one day, I decided I would set out on a ride on my own. It was an 'out and back' ride I'd seen others do from my car, beside a coastline so I figured, at least I can't get lost. Water on the right on the way out, water on the left on the way back.

I packed enough food for a family of 7 into an old school back pack I found, got into my gear and set off. It was everything. The feeling of achievement, of freedom, of independence. It took me 3 hours to ride 70km - not bad for a newbie, and I knew that I could achieve anything I set my mind to.

Whether you have a story like mine, or whether you finished a big event you trained for you understand what I'm getting at. It's the purest form of pride. It doesn't matter what the achievement is.

You set a goal. You nailed it. You can do ANYTHING!

#4 Packing for your very FIRST Bike Trip

Whether you're going away with your partner, a few friends or you've joined an organised tour - there's NOTHING like that feeling of exhilaration and trepidation of packing for your first bike trip. It doesn't matter if it's somewhere you've been before, or somewhere entirely new (though packing for somewhere new is always filled with a touch more uncertainty!) - it ignites a sense of adventure that is difficult to replicate.

You've laid all of your things out on your bed, checklists galore, trying to figure out how to get your handlebars in the bike bag...

Your first bike trip is filled with nervous potential. It's all unknown. And yet, you are officially a wild woman.

#5 How Thrilling (But Scary As F***) New Things Can Be

For many, just getting on a bike classified as 'doing something new'. The great thing about cycling is that there are always new things to try. As you get fitter or more experienced, you can push the boundaries and find new things to be thrilled and scared about.

No matter what level you're at, what you ride, or what new horizons you're pursuing, the feeling you get just before you're about to try something new is the same! You have no idea what it’s going to be like until you do it.

And there's no magic bullet or 'right time' for a lot of new things... much like life in general. There's no egg timer to tell you when you're ready for something new. Like a baby bird trusting it's feathers and instinct will take it high into the sky, sometimes you just need to leap, and have faith.