1. First ride out after replacing heavily-worn tires. 😀

2. First ride after new suspension bearings.

3. first ride in short sleeves in the spring

1st ride on a FS after riding HT for a few months.

4. hired a tandem with my girlfriend. Fun fun fun!

5. 1st climb on a h/tail after riding a full susser for a while.

6. Plucking up the courage to ride down/off/up something scary.

finally getting a bike with the correct size wheels for you 😛

Stopping to look at the view.

9. just loving the solitude of the countryside

10. Doing your favourite descent in the dry after its dried out after loads of rain/ cr@ppy weather.

seeing shy wildlife in situ

Going singlespeed and wondering why you ever thought you needed more gears.

La Marmotte, oh you meant off-roading?

Singlespeeds. Pure and simple.

Being alone on a remote hilltop with nobody else around for miles. Wonderful!

deciding to go for a night ride at 23:30 when you get back from the pub having drunk five pints of cider 😆

Bluebells

n. first descent on a full suss after riding hardtail for ages.

bunny hopping your 1st doggers :lol

putting your summer tyres back on and putting the knee warmers away for a few months

Not quite feeling up to it then an hour later up on the tops with the wind in your hair (sic, not mine) all is well.

Watching your breath condensing on a clear but chilly late spring/early summer morning, and knowing that later on it might get quite warm.

that first, slightly nippy frosty morning ride of autumn. love it 🙂

sitting outside a pub with a beer at the end of a long hot ride

Realising that you're completely unhurt after what could have been a 'big one'.

First ride out on the tandem in over a month after a dissagreement with the stoker. 😯

The feeling of excitement just as you set off on a big ride 😀

1st ride out on the full sus after using the hardtail for a while 😉
(and millions of other things!)

The first sweeping singletrack section after a few weeks off the bike

The smell of pinewoods after rain.

Sitting around in your dirty kit for hours afterwards, drinking beer/tea, listening to choice music and reading old copies of [i]*insert favourite magazine here[/i].

getting to the top

almost having a massive stack, but somehow, superhuman instinct takes over and you wrest it back under control. then have to stop and wonder how. 🙂

It keeps me sane in a mad world.

Flying wide-eyed into a dusty corner, much too fast, and feeling the tyres (and your stomach) let go. But somehow they grip again and you fly straight out with expletives and a MASSIVE giggling grin.

realising it's infinitely more fun riding a bike than reading about riding a bike

The nicely tired/dead leg feeling after a really long ride.

Chasing a big red sunset home.

The tired legs, marginal dehydration and satisfied feeling from a decent ride in the hills…

The odd ocasion where the "**** it" feeling kicks in, and you ride something that's been scaring you for ages.

First ride on a new bike.

last descent, summer's evening, trail to yourself, sun setting through the trees and it just… flows…

i love this thread. i love riding bikes.