Cycling Quotes

“Ever bike? Now that's something that makes life worth living!...Oh, to just grip your handlebars and lay down to it, and go ripping and tearing through streets and road, over railroad tracks and bridges, threading crowds, avoiding collisions, at twenty miles or more an hour, and wondering all the time when you're going to smash up. Well, now, that's something! And then go home again after three hours of it...and then to think that tomorrow I can do it all over again!”
― Jack London

“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle

“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.”
― Ernest Hemingway, By-Line: Selected Articles and Dispatches of Four Decades

“The Rider

A boy told me
if he roller-skated fast enough
his loneliness couldn't catch up to him,
the best reason I ever heard
for trying to be a champion.
What I wonder tonight
pedaling hard down King William Street
is if it translates to bicycles.
A victory! To leave your loneliness
panting behind you on some street corner
while you float free into a cloud of sudden azaleas,
pink petals that have never felt loneliness,
no matter how slowly they fell.”
― Naomi Shihab Nye, Fuel: Poems

“You know, bicycling isn't just a matter of balance," I said. "it's a matter of faith. You can keep upright only by moving forward. You have to have your eyes on the goal, not the ground. I'm going to call that the Bicyclist's Philosophy of Life.”
― Susan Vreeland, Clara and Mr. Tiffany

“Gliding down the bike path on a Saturday morning, you whip by somebody peddling in the opposite direction and give each other a nod. For a moment it's like "Hey, we're both doing the same thing. Let's be friends for a second.”
― Neil Pasricha, The Book of Awesome

“Your bike is discovery; your bike is freedom. It doesn't matter where you are, when you're on the saddle, you're taken away.”
― Doug Donaldson

“The bicycle saves my life every day. If you've ever experienced a moment of awe or freedom on a bicycle; if you've ever taken flight from sadness to the rhythm of two spinning wheels, or felt the resurgence of hope pedalling to the top of a hill with the dew of effort on your forehead; if you've ever wondered, swooping down bird-like down a long hill, if the world was standing still; if you have ever, just once, sat on a bicycle with a singing heart and felt like an ordinary human touching the gods, then we share something fundamental. We know it's all about the bike.”
― Robert Penn

“People, even smart ones, come up with weird or silly reasons to entertain bad ideas all the time. In fact, smart people may be more prone to creating irrational stories and engaging in dumb behavior than lesser smart people, for the simple fact that there are more (cognitive) tools at their disposal.”
― T. A. Rhodes, The Lost Art of Searching: Embracing Uncertainty, Discovering Intrinsic Value, and Charging Through Life One Ride at a Time

“Unexpected snags can arise on a ride; just as unexpected snags arise in life. But the pain is temporary, the emotions are temporary, and the setbacks can provide the space for a valuable lesson, if we're open to learning. Keep pedaling.”
― T. A. Rhodes, The Lost Art of Searching: Embracing Uncertainty, Discovering Intrinsic Value, and Charging Through Life One Ride at a Time

“Anxiety, and mental disorder more generally, can be exceptionally difficult to process, and for good reason. At the time of this writing, in 2023, humans are still battling the stigmas derived from centuries of misconception, fear, and discrimination around mental illness. It still has an attribution to demonic possession, evidence of witchcraft, or is labeled as a hysteria tied to an animal-like 'wandering uterus,' that could attach itself to organs in the female body, and cause disruption in bodily function and painful symptoms (seriously).”
― T. A. Rhodes, The Lost Art of Searching: Embracing Uncertainty, Discovering Intrinsic Value, and Charging Through Life One Ride at a Time

“If you want to know the truth about the latest equipment, don’t ask a pro. At least not one that’s speaking on the record. We’re told what to use and we have to be positive about it, even when it sucks. It’s been that way since the beginning of the sport. And while I’ve been in the game for a long time now, it is still surprising to see how bad some gear can be. I don’t know how the manufacturers stay in business.”
― The Secret Cyclist, The Secret Cyclist: Real Life as a Rider in the Professional Peloton

“It takes a special kind of person to want to be a professional cyclist. If you have another opportunity, such as university, you really have to think long and hard about it, because unless you’re very talented, you’re not going to make a fortune racing bikes.”
― The Secret Cyclist, The Secret Cyclist: Real Life as a Rider in the Professional Peloton

“Did an amateur cycling team help the company advertise its products? No, but two of the three founders of Sakonnet were cyclists, and that was a good enough reason to throw away $100,000.”
― Phil Gaimon, Pro Cycling on $10 a Day: From Fat Kid to Euro Pro

“Summary of life as an athlete: You’re training and miserable, you’re lonely, you’re training and miserable, you won something, everyone loves you, it’s over.”
― Phil Gaimon, Pro Cycling on $10 a Day: From Fat Kid to Euro Pro

“I lived in a world where, one way or another, everything was divided into things that might make me faster and things that might make me slower. Pretty much anything pleasant fell into the second category.”
― Michael Hutchinson, Faster: The Obsession, Science and Luck Behind the World's Fastest Cyclists

“The glare of the green landscape and the air, the air that was everywhere, in us and making way for us, and we rode and were aware only of each other and ourselves for those couple of miles, and for those couple of miles I was myself, back in the neighborhood of Chacarita, where I moved with my mom after we realized my dad was never going to move out first, that we would have to leave him, and I saw on either side of me the big ugly high-rises and squat goldenrod houses and fuchsia and blue and inscrutable notes scrawled on the walls, graffiti intermingling with the shimmering, shadowing little leaves of the tipas, and as I rode I slowed at the oleander at Facultad de Medicina, those delicate pink flowers that rose over the fence in utter opulence and the lush stiff leaves that reached out through the bars that were freshly painted bright green.
Then there it was: the Great Mamamushi.
I slowed, and Freddie slowed. We parked our bikes. I was out of breath and all the air on Earth was in my blood, and we kissed again, and I turned around, and he put his arms around my waist, and I leaned into him, and we beheld it: a tree that was almost too much to be true, that truly was incredible, with its trunk that was almost eight meters around, a staggering circumference, glittered over by dragonflies, heavy, petite, iridescent incarnations of Irena's genius, when suddenly a flock of impossible parrots exploded out of the alders, and we looked up to see them shattering the sky.
"All the oaks on this trail have their own names," I explained to Freddie. "This one is my favorite. Can you believe it's still growing?"
He put his face against mine. He didn't say anything. For a while we just stood like that, together, watching the Great Mamamushi grow.”
― Jennifer Croft, The Extinction of Irena Rey

“Riding my bike home yesterday afternoon, there was a double rainbow in the sky. It was like the best thing all day.”
― Sofia T. Romero, We Have Always Been Who We Are

“We can’t control everything. And we sure as hell can’t change people without those people wanting to change and doing the work themselves. All we can do is have the presence of mind to focus on the task at hand. The grit to work through the problem to the best of our ability. The courage to make the best decision we can at the time. The patience to trust the process, and the humility to learn from it.”
― T. A. Rhodes, The Lost Art of Searching: Embracing Uncertainty, Discovering Intrinsic Value, and Charging Through Life One Ride at a Time

“Looking out over the cliffs of Amalfi, I snapped a photo, dropped it into a WhatsApp chat with the Doughboys, and wrote: “You know guys…I could be anywhere in the world, the most exotic location imaginable, but nothing can replace hanging with my brothers.”
― T. A. Rhodes, The Lost Art of Searching: Embracing Uncertainty, Discovering Intrinsic Value, and Charging Through Life One Ride at a Time

“Well, I spent two weeks on that island watching couples celebrate and enjoy honeymoons, anniversaries, and romantic vacations together, wondering if I’d ever find love again,” she said. “And on the last day of my trip, having one last drink at the local bar with my friend, after all expectations of finding love in the Virgin Islands had faded, there he was.”
― T. A. Rhodes, The Lost Art of Searching: Embracing Uncertainty, Discovering Intrinsic Value, and Charging Through Life One Ride at a Time

“It was through bikes that I learned how to be a kid again. How to be comfortable in solitude.”
― T. A. Rhodes, The Lost Art of Searching: Embracing Uncertainty, Discovering Intrinsic Value, and Charging Through Life One Ride at a Time

“Fast forward to six hours later and the three of us are causing a scene: telling stories in raised voices, cackling, singing, spilling wine on ourselves, spilling wine on each other. Yours truly making runs to the back of the plane for refills in thirty-minute intervals. “Do we have any more red wine left?” one stewardess asked another. Before we knew it, sunlight was peering through the windows, the rest of the passengers were waking up, and the stewardess was rolling the cart down the aisle for morning coffee service. We must have had thirteen rounds of red wine over the eight-hour flight. The three of us stumbled our way off the plane and through Italian customs, completely wrecked.”
― T. A. Rhodes, The Lost Art of Searching: Embracing Uncertainty, Discovering Intrinsic Value, and Charging Through Life One Ride at a Time

“After a slight diversion around Milan Centrale, I found my way to Como and got my bike down the street to my apartment. I quickly assembled the bike, rolled it down the stairs, and cruised down the street for a leisurely ride to the lake, managing to forget that I’d consumed thirteen glasses of wine and hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours. Welcome to Italy, I thought to myself. Let’s go!”
― T. A. Rhodes, The Lost Art of Searching: Embracing Uncertainty, Discovering Intrinsic Value, and Charging Through Life One Ride at a Time

“I looked out over the lake, a vast plane of deep azure and emerald under a clear blue sky, noticing the reflection of the towering Italian Alps visible in the gentle ripples of the water. This, I thought to myself, is amazing. Just as my dopamine levels were peaking, the happiness dial turned to eleven, my attention was drawn to a peculiar object hovering in the air roughly twenty yards in front of me, spiraling my direction like a tiny heat seeking missile locked on to my forehead. Curious, I thought to myself. Before I could react, the object—a giant bee from hell—contacted the front of my helmet.”
― T. A. Rhodes, The Lost Art of Searching: Embracing Uncertainty, Discovering Intrinsic Value, and Charging Through Life One Ride at a Time

“I had a knack for sniffing out the rowdiest dive bars, the real ones, dark, loud, and rough around the edges, always with the distinct foul smell of old beer and urine. The Est Est Est was no different. The exterior of the building was lined with locals talking amidst a cloud of cigarette smoke. The interior was nearly pitch black, if it weren’t for the rainbow-colored disco ball spinning rays of light across the bar. I recognized a pair of patrons from the previous bar.”
― T. A. Rhodes, The Lost Art of Searching: Embracing Uncertainty, Discovering Intrinsic Value, and Charging Through Life One Ride at a Time

“Stopping to take in the surroundings and to notice the simple pleasures of life was a habit I’d been working on ever since a friend from grad school recommended the motion picture About Time. The film, centered around a father and son who possess the power of time travel, reveals that no amount of revisiting the past could compare to fully appreciating the present moment. The trip that I’d now found myself on offered the opportunity to practice this act of noticing.”
― T. A. Rhodes, The Lost Art of Searching: Embracing Uncertainty, Discovering Intrinsic Value, and Charging Through Life One Ride at a Time

“Like any endurance sport, cycling can bring about a psychological battle against the 'quit' that arises in your mind. When your body is tired and sore, when your heart rate is at its max, when your lungs cannot give enough oxygen, cycling is about finding the motivation to push through this pain to reach the summit, because you've learned that the rewards of the future surpass the costs of the present.”
― T. A. Rhodes, The Lost Art of Searching: Embracing Uncertainty, Discovering Intrinsic Value, and Charging Through Life One Ride at a Time

“In addition to this stigma, many men who suffer from mental illness find significant difficulty in overcoming the cultural barriers and emotional illiteracy best defined as 'toxic masculinity.' In other words, the idea that vulnerability and the open discussion of one’s feelings is considered a sign of weakness, counter to the behaviors of the traditional male role.”
― T. A. Rhodes, The Lost Art of Searching: Embracing Uncertainty, Discovering Intrinsic Value, and Charging Through Life One Ride at a Time

“Now, sitting in the cafe, I thought of the cyclist as a painter. The planning of a ride as the foundation for a masterpiece—a vision for an artistic endeavor that interweaves man and machine. Each landscape, each environment, providing a canvas. Each GPS route offering an outline, never perfectly followed. Each turn, jump, climb, descent, and successfully navigated feature, a brush stroke on canvas. Like the work of an impressionist painter, no ride, and no riding style, could be replicated. Each rider creates their own unique sense of movement, color, and perspective. Each rider communicates through their riding.”
― T. A. Rhodes, The Lost Art of Searching: Embracing Uncertainty, Discovering Intrinsic Value, and Charging Through Life One Ride at a Time