A dramatic post-thunderstorm sky pays homage to your Strava PR, and the golden light of the evening sun casts long shadows across the asphalt. You’ve got a tailwind as you crest the final climb, and there it is; that fleeting, indescribable moment. You feel light; all of your troubles have melted away. Cycling can make you happy, and it’s addictive. But how do we achieve this drop bar high?
Much of what we perceive as individual happiness is nothing but simple biochemistry. Hormones control how we perceive the world. They make us more resistant to stress, more courageous, and happier. If hormones are the ingredients for happiness, bikes are the bartenders. Can I interest you in a shot of self-confidence in the drops? Coming right up. It takes just 30 minutes of monotonous pedalling to regulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, lowering your body’s production of stress hormones. Add a shot of dopamine and a pinch of serotonin, and suddenly you have an ego like Pogačar. Or would you prefer a sex-on-the-bike? Exerting your muscles gets your testosterone and oestrogen production revving – and so do aero wheels and 3D-printed saddles, of course.
But enough with the mundane biology. After all, we’re not just victims of evolution, but drop bar enthusiasts. A highly evolved species that consciously decides which stressors to expose itself to, and where to seek happiness. A good place to start is our website or app – honestly. We try to give you access to the full range of bike related topics. From outlandish components and high-end bikes, to magical places, epic adventures, and pseudo-philosophical essays on the subject of happiness as you have here. So, if you want, you can get started with a dose of inspiration from the slipstream of others’ enthusiasm. But even the most moving vicarious experience can’t replace first-hand reality. The consumption of content is always just for starters, the main course is served in the saddle. It’s more rewarding to actually plough through the muddy potato fields for 30 minutes than to spend an hour scrolling through Robin’s sun-drenched pics in “Searching for Paradise”.
Back from Ibiza? Then it’s time to get on your bike. But wait! Have you planned the perfect route? How’s the weather looking? And do these socks match your kit? They call it freedom of choice, but more options are often crippling rather than freeing. In search of the perfect choice, we wander through infinite possibilities and eventually lose sight of the goal. Whether it’s finding yourself in a state of paralysis while staring at meteorological models or while comparing the specs of your hundredth wheel upgrade option, there’s a sweet spot for making decisions. If you miss it, you’ll just procrastinate and be unhappy. The way we make decisions is often more important than the decision itself. So it’s better to order the mystery cocktail at the endorphin bar, than to wait for the dopamine jockey to have you kicked out.
Happiness needs space and an element of surprise to unfold. With a minute by minute weather forecast, route planning, heart rate sensors and power meters, gels and bars, credit cards and mobile phones, you leave nothing to chance; fortuity fettered. Stuck in a heart rate zone marked out with shrill warning tones, you follow a pixelated line with a lowered gaze, and know exactly when to consume your caffeine gel to cope with the 13.7 % gradient at kilometre 61.4. The ride turns into a proxy of predefined expectations. That might make you fit, but does it make you happy?
Fortunately, however, you can’t plan for everything, and there’s no escaping serendipity even in the drops. Riders who stare at the sun icon on their weather app in disbelief while caught in a hailstorm; a construction site that forces you onto beautiful single-track with 30 mm tires; and the kind grandpa who still has a spare tube somewhere in his basement and then makes you a sandwich and drives you to the next train station because you can’t get the tight-fitting tubeless tire off the rim. Happiness is almost always the product of despair giving way to the realisation that drama is merely a doorway to special moments or new experiences. Sometimes it takes a thunderstorm to stagger out of a pub two hours later with a new-found friend, only to discover that the sky would have cleared even if you stayed sober – fate just couldn’t resist mixing your dopamine cocktail with one or three shots of alcohol.
But happiness needs more than (un)lucky coincidences. Happiness requires leisure. It’s difficult to escape supposed obligations or to-dos that you’ve been deferring. Even bikes aren’t a life hack against stress or depression. Cycling isn’t a means to an end, cycling is an end in itself. You allow things to happen, with an open-end and no deadlines.
If all this doesn’t make you happy, the endorphin bartender has got one last secret behind the counter. No matter how unfit you are, no matter how strong the headwind, no matter how dull the route, there is a moment on every ride that feels right. You just can’t go looking for it – it will find you. It emerges from the mist; rides on a tailwind; grins at you from the bottom of an empty cappuccino cup. Suddenly, it makes sense to be right here, right now. And you can’t help but smile.
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Words: Nils Hofmeister Photos: Julian Lemme
