15 things every cyclist loves — explore the best bits of riding your bike

getting a sad face from a speed indicator device.

Getting onto the beach at Dunwich

Wheeling the bike down the path from the front door and deciding which way to go.

A bike that runs silent
Really good coffee
Good mates
That is all

To start with, just getting out of the front door. Then heading out in the rain and the mist and feeling like there is no where you'd rather be. And feeling like, you can get through this winter.

That short stretch of road that you always seem to fly along.

One of those gear changes that feels and sounds perfect.

That zen like feeling you get on a summers evening ride when you feel at one with your bike.

Crisp gear changes
Smooth tarmac
Silent running
Caffeine in my blood stream
Sun on my back
The long road ahead

I'm tempted to be cynical, but anything that can move taciturn, emotionally repressed, quietly desperate middle aged Englishmen to thoughts akin to poetry has value which should be applauded.

For me, it's the sound of clicking into that left pedal at the start of a ride. It's the prologue, the introduction, the start of a story.

An open fire in a pub after a long ride into a bitterly cold nor-easterly to warm up your toes. And the beer that goes with it.

That feeling when you've gone up to your threshold level, (for me its about 183bpm), and then you've got over that climb, or finished that sprint, and you go back down to 155bpm, and it feels like the bloods coming back into your heart, and you feel powerful again. I love that feeling.

Just being on the bike

Cycling for mile after mile - two abreast - and counting more cyclists than cars. (Okay that one's not for every cyclist. Sorry.)

And as I've just got this warm fuzzy feeling.

Completing a build and even the bar tape is perfect.

Eating a banana at the turn back home point on a pre-breakfast Saturday morning.

Post-ride shower with your boyfriend

When the city traffic is in gridlock due to an accident or earthquake and I can still get home to my family in the usual time.

Sunday mornings full stop.

getting to the bottom of a descent and looking forward to the next climb

Riding past the "Yorkshire Dales National Park" sign on a sunny spring morning.

When it's so hot, either in France or Italy (and once or twice in England), that a descent is like riding into a blow dryer. When the jersey that was soaked at the top of the hill is bone dry at the bottom and those unsightly salt lines show just how much effort was expended.

Early sunday morning roads with no cars.

Catching up with and then overtaking the idiots that cycle through red lights whilst you're waiting for them to change to green like the rest of the road users.

Being at the bottom of the hill and thinking how can I do that? Then doing it.

When you crash, think it's gonna be bad, but your bike, and you are absolutely fine

Ride in a mild weather in the warm sun with a bit of breeze and sip that ice water in the hydration pack.

Enjoy the smooth sound of the bike when at speed.

Love every time I brake with hydro disc on my road bike. Bring smile to my face every time especially it just reminds me how much I hated rim braking.

That exhilarated feeling of being able to give it pelters cos you've found a stretch of road with no pot-holes.

Just riding, actually riding in the rain on a warm day, you can't be any wetter, but it stops bothering you that you are wet. That is freedom...

Spring.