As an avid spectator of professional international cycling (despite never having ridden a bike), when I watched the short video Pleasure in Pain – A Cycling Movie filmed in South Australia, I felt so much of what was said was true for me when I walk. I listened to well-loved race commentator Phil Liggett’s dulcet tones as he explained the aspects which cyclists enjoy.
For ‘once cycling is in your blood you cannot get rid of it’, I would substitute ‘once walking is in your blood you cannot get rid of it’. One of the quotations used in this movie reads ‘Sometimes I ride my bike to nowhere, to see nothing, just so I can ride my bike.’ Sometimes as I walk, I look down at the ground without seeing, and enjoy the sense of my body moving, feeling the air pressing by, and noticing the day heating or cooling my body, but all the while moving my feet one more step at a time. Walking just to walk. Being directly connected to the environment through which I am passing. Thrilling!
I suspect Phil’s sentiments also hold true for all manner of other athletes and sportspeople who push themselves outside their comfort zones, but love it despite the pain and go back for more.
The Santos Tour Down Under race will be held again next January in South Australia; information about the race and more about the video can be read at this link.
Walking the Derwent River 
Excellent post, too true.
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Thanks.
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Definitely. My husband is a keen cyclist (we both watch the Tour de France and the other European races) and he feels about cycling as I do about walking! Quite often we cross paths on our early morning outings: I’ll be walking through a deserted wood when suddenly there’s a flash of lycra and a whirr of pedals, a raised hand in greeting and then I’m alone again!
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It is so wonderful to get outdoors in whatever way you can – and I feel your energy. I am a Tour de France tragic and followed the first three stages in 2014 in England – one of the highlights of my life (but few can understand that). The people around me were brilliant and all equally as tragic. You and your husband must see if you can go and watch at least one or two stages in Europe – put it on your bucket list!
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Yep… totally get that feeling.
Keep picking ’em up and putting ’em down. 🙂
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Love it! Yes it is just “pickn ’em up and puttn ’em down”. Perfect.
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