Spiritual moments

Looking forward to being out riding tomorrow and thinking about last Sunday’s ride, I had a moment when I felt a complete “oneness” with the trail and all the cares of the world just fell away. It seemed like some form of enlightenment, I wondered if anyone else had experienced anything similar.

i ride eastern dartmoor.

religious experiences are taken as a given 8)

I get that when i’m out on my own – totally different when out with others

Maslow and many other writers and researchers have written about “peak experience” and “flow”. For me it does not come close to ego dissolution, but yes, an awesome experience to have.

Riding in-general stops my internal dialogue, perhaps because it is such an involving activity. Every now and then my riding is just spot on, the sense of struggling evaporates. Nice

I love the moments when time appears to slow right down. I remember hammering through a twisty, thickly rooted section a few years back and watching as my fork spiked badly on one particular turn. It didn’t concern me as everything slowed and I could move my body and bike across onto the right line, assess the adjustment I knew I needed to make to the rebound and still watch and marvel at the speed of the tree trunks either side of the trail as they rushed past.

I get that on big rides, when you realise you’re completely alone in your surroundings and everything just falls away. This is why most of my riding is done solo.

I used to get that feeling when running sometimes – when everything just fades into the background – have started running again recently and am struggling to recreate it – meh! 🙂

I once had a buzzard pop out from some trees and glide serenley at head height, about a metre from me on a descent at Balblair. It must have been beside me for 20 or 30 metres. Afterwards i just had to stop, sit down and let the feeling wash over me. I don’t even know how to explain what i felt, euphoria isn’t quite right. At the risk of sounding like a pretentious ****, i would call it a feeling of one-ness?!?

Pretty much the most perfect moment of my life. It sounds lovely when i tell someone. But i know they will never be able to truly appreciate how amazing it actually was.

yup, lots. brings tears of joy to my eyes sometimes.

Kev