Road Cycling · Public discussion

Bicycle dreams

Claire Petersky · 2003-05-29T01:00:21+00:00

Here's one: The dream: I was riding up a hill in a high gear, really mashing it. It was so hard to stomp on the pedals that I was nearly in tears at the effort. Only at the point of waking (just before, just after?) I realized that I could put the bike into a lower gear and simply spin up the hill. Interpretation: there is a personal issue that I am really working hard on, and from time to time it does bring me to tears. Maybe I'm trying to hard -- if I let go a little, maybe it will be easier -- even joyful? -- to deal with. Do you ride your bike in your dreams? What are your bicycle dreams like? Warm Regards, Claire Petersky ([email hidden]) Home of the meditative cyclist at: http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm

Started by Claire Petersky · 29 May 2003 · Last activity 6 June 2003 · 25 posts · 1,973 views

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01 / Original postBicycle dreamsClaire Petersky · 29 May 2003 02 / This pagePosts 1–20Page 1 of 2 · chronological order 03 / Latest replyPost #25Mark Freedman · 6 Jun 2003

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Original section: Road Cycling
Published: 29 May 2003
Last activity: 6 June 2003
Original author: Claire Petersky
Posts: 25
Discussion status: Public discussion
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Topics: Steel frames Touring Urban riding

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Original post
Claire Petersky
Archived post

29 May 2003, 01:00 UTC #1

Here's one:
The dream: I was riding up a hill in a high gear, really mashing it. It was so hard to stomp on the
pedals that I was nearly in tears at the effort. Only at the point of waking (just before, just
after?) I realized that I could put the bike into a lower gear and simply spin up the hill.
Interpretation: there is a personal issue that I am really working hard on, and from time to time it
does bring me to tears. Maybe I'm trying to hard -- if I let go a little, maybe it will be easier --
even joyful? -- to deal with.
Do you ride your bike in your dreams? What are your bicycle dreams like?
Warm Regards,
Claire Petersky ([email hidden]) Home of the meditative cyclist at:
home.earthlink.netWelcome.htm

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Mike Kruger
Archived post

29 May 2003, 02:30 UTC #2

"Claire Petersky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:

Do you ride your bike in your dreams? What are your bicycle dreams like?

My most common bicycle dream is a peaceful one. I'm just cruising. Sunny day, flat road, out on the
country, no traffic, good pavement. The pedal rhythm smooth, like a relaxed heartbeat. I feel
strong. Just rolling along easily without a care in the world.
The color in the dream is yellow: golden fields, yellow sunshine.

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Marco McClean
Archived post

29 May 2003, 04:30 UTC #3

--------------D867D9AE785EEBE3305FE6E2 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Claire Petersky said:
Do you ride your bike in your dreams? What are your bicycle dreams like?
Here you go, Claire. Go to town. (On your bike.)
Google Groups Search: bike OR bicycle OR tricycle OR trike OR pedal group:alt.dreams.
If that doesn't work, try:
makeashorterlink.commakeashorterlink.com
--------------D867D9AE785EEBE3305FE6E2 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> Claire Petersky wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>Do you ride your bike in your dreams? What are your bicycle dreams
like?</blockquote> Here you go, Claire. Go to town. (On your bike.)
<a href="groups.google.comgroups
ages&ie=ISO-8859-1&as_ugroup=alt.dreams&lr=lang_en&num=100&as_scoring=d&hl=en">Google Groups
Search: bike OR bicycle OR tricycle OR trike OR pedal group:alt.dreams</a>.
<q> If that doesn't work, try:
<r> <a href="makeashorterlink.commakeashorterlink.com">makeashorterlink.commakeashorterlink.com</a>
 </html>
--------------D867D9AE785EEBE3305FE6E2--

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Robert E. Lewis
Archived post

29 May 2003, 05:00 UTC #4

Claire Petersky <[email hidden]> wrote...
<snip interesting dream and interpretation - thanks!>
Quoted message said:
Do you ride your bike in your dreams? What are your bicycle dreams like?
Funny you should post this just now, because last night I had a dream with a bicycle in it, and I
was too rushed to post the dream and subsequent events had me wishing I had gotten it here when I
wrote it down this morning.
Here's the portion of last night's dream relating to a bicycle:
Scene shift: We are driving back. The highway we are on has turned into a street on which I walked
to school w was a boy, except that it had houses only on one side, and dunes leading to a beach on
the other side. We went down through a gap in the dunes and find ourselves in the audience of "So
Graham Norton," a British talk show, being held on the beach...
<snip part of dream>
There is a regular in the audience of Graham Norton's show, an old woman he frequently makes fun of
or includes stunts and skits (in RL). In this show, she is featured as a woman who lives on the
beach, a homeless woman who manages a meager living by finding things to salvage. I stand nearby as
she uses a garden rake to scrape away sand from a dune and expose an old black bicycle with a bent
front wheel; she is very excited by this find. The audience applauds, but I think this is terrible,
because the audience and Norton and his show will all leave after the half-hour is up, and this poor
old woman will be left alone on this beach, literally scraping up scraps to survive. I take the bike
(or maybe her rake - it wasn't clear) away from her and toss it into the sea, and say that I will
help her find a better life.
=END OF DREAM=
I typed the dream up this morning, but didn't have time to post it here because I had to drive my
father to a doctor appointment. The first part of the dream involved driving on an island lined with
beach houses, and the drive to the doctor is along a highway on an island lined with beach houses.
Nothing unusual there - I had the trip in mind, but the scenery certainly kept the dream in mind
during the drive.
But as I was sitting at a traffic light in town, about a half-mile from the doctor's office, an old
woman passed in front of me on the cross street riding a bicycle straight out of the dream (except
for the bent wheel). A black men's bicycle easily fifty years old, an old woman (white/English in
the dream, black in RL). I actually exclaimed out loud, "That's the bike from my dream!" when I saw
it, and then had to explain the dream to my father.
(If there's a psychic aspect to my dreams occasionally, I sure wish I could tune it into what next
week's lottery drawing will be, instead of foreseeing an old bicycle! <grumble, grumble>😉
Robert

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Zoot Katz
Archived post

29 May 2003, 06:30 UTC #5

28 May 2003 17:25:38 -0700,
Quoted post said:
Here's one:
The dream: I was riding up a hill in a high gear, really mashing it. It was so hard to stomp on the
pedals that I was nearly in tears at the effort. Only at the point of waking (just before, just
after?) I realized that I could put the bike into a lower gear and simply spin up the hill.
Interpretation: there is a personal issue that I am really working hard on, and from time to time
it does bring me to tears. Maybe I'm trying to hard -- if I let go a little, maybe it will be
easier -- even joyful? -- to deal with.
Do you ride your bike in your dreams? What are your bicycle dreams like?

One cycling dream occurred while I was cycling. I couldn't tell if I was asleep on the bike or in
bed and dreaming about cycling. I figured that if I just stayed asleep, I'd be okay. I woke up on
the top tube when the bike lodged itself in a hedge.
More recently I was dreaming about cycle polo. It was in an asylum. All the windows looked out onto
fields and people were playing really nutty variations of the game on each of these fields. The day
rooms were full of cheering and gambling by the patients who couldn't play. There were lot of extra
bikes. I chased a ball to the boundary that was a high chain-link fence. I kept hitting the ball
along the fence line until I came to a gate. The guard said I could go get my own bike if I wanted
because I wasn't an inmate. That's when I woke up somewhat disappointed that the dream had been
interrupted. I went back to sleep and resumed the dream riding my own bike back to the asylum. The
guard said if I entered, I'd become an inmate because I must be crazy to have come back. I went in
because I wanted to play play cycle polo and knowing full well I could wake up when I wanted and be
out of the place. It was fun dream.
--
zk

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Steve McDonald
Archived post

29 May 2003, 11:00 UTC #6

I fly in my dreams-----no need for a bicycle.
Steve McDonald

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Marlene Blansha
Archived post

29 May 2003, 18:32 UTC #7

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]
(Steve McDonald) said:
I fly in my dreams-----no need for a bicycle.
Steve McDonald
I recently dreamed that I had been riding my bike and then when I leaned it against a wall, I went
back later and saw there were no pedals. I thought, how did that happen? I thought maybe a friend of
ours had been fixing it and forgot to put them back on.

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Harris
Archived post

29 May 2003, 20:30 UTC #8

In rec.bicycles.misc Mike Kruger said:
The color in the dream is yellow: golden fields, yellow sunshine.
"Golden slumbers fill your eyes, smiles awake you when you rise..."
Art

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Luigi De Guzman
Archived post

29 May 2003, 22:30 UTC #9

(Claire Petersky) said:
Do you ride your bike in your dreams? What are your bicycle dreams like?
I had one a few weeks ago. I was riding my 'home' bike--a blue kinda-touring bike-- and suddenly
somehow I found I was riding down very steep stairs outdoors. I haven't been this skilled in real
life ever; I could stop the bike, trackstand it at landings, roll at will down the stairs; I come to
a closed iron gate--but still sunshine and birdsong everywhere. I ride through alleyways until I
come to one which has a few people walking through, a blue neon sign overhead glowing over a chinese
grocery and another narrow passageway that leads to a store selling electrical appliances.
The weirdest thing about this is that I haven't been anywhere near that adventurous on a bicycle,
skillswise, since I was about eight years old. It was a hell of a feeling--nothing could go wrong. I
was invincible, sunshine everywhere--and I wasn't wearing my glasses (which I only started wearing
when I was nine). But I was aware that my body was as it is now, aware of the feel of my own bicycle
(it wasn't any other bicycle).
If anybody can tell me what that means, I'd be grateful. But damn being that skilled felt good--and
I'm not that skilled in real life, at least not anymore.
-Luigi

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One Of The Six
Archived post

30 May 2003, 04:00 UTC #10

"Claire Petersky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Here's one:
The dream: I was riding up a hill in a high gear, really mashing it. It was so hard to stomp on
the pedals that I was nearly in tears at the effort. Only at the point of waking (just before,
just after?) I realized that I could put the bike into a lower gear and simply spin up the hill.
Interpretation: there is a personal issue that I am really working hard on, and from time to time
it does bring me to tears. Maybe I'm trying to hard -- if I let go a little, maybe it will be
easier -- even joyful? -- to deal with.
Do you ride your bike in your dreams? What are your bicycle dreams like?
Nowadays I don't dream about cycling but I often use the images of the last day's ride to
fall asleep.
A month ago, I did a ride called the Devil Mountain Double
<http://www.bbcnet.com/devilmountain/devilmountain.asp>. It was a beautiful yet grueling ride. The
images from it lasted throughout the day with the same quality of surreal dreams for two weeks
afterward.
When I was a child I remember dreaming that I'd be pedaling but not going anywhere, sometimes even
going backwards, and there would be some kind of danger that I was trying to escape.
I haven't had that dream in thirty years and I'm surprised I am remembering it now.

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Gregr
Archived post

30 May 2003, 22:00 UTC #11

(Claire Petersky) said:
Do you ride your bike in your dreams? What are your bicycle dreams like?
Last night I dreamt I was a muffler....
And I woke up exhausted.
badum bum!
🙂

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Barry Gaudet
Archived post

31 May 2003, 15:00 UTC #12

"Claire Petersky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message [...]
: Do you ride your bike in your dreams? What are your bicycle dreams like?
Great minds think alike... fools seldom differ.
I had a dream a while ago that puzzled me:
I was doing a loop to the north [don't ask me how I knew it was to the north - it just was] and
stopped in a small town similar to actual towns on my northern route but definitely not one of
them. I was traveling light with only a water bottle, keys, lock and a few dollars in my backpack.
It's a beautiful spring day and I am in shorts and t-shirt but there is still snow on the ground.
I lock up the bike and get myself a cuppa coffee. Coming out of the coffee shop only to find
countless bikes locked up everywhere. I can't find mine. I walk around looking for it in futility.
It seems like every availlable spot that would allow a bike to be locked it has one. [If anyone is
a Steven King horror story reader: think of the scene from 'The Dark Half' where there are millions
of birds covering the countryside]
I was trapped as I didn't have my bike nor any money for even a phone call.
Interpretation???
Beats me.
Fear of being stranded in one's life?
Resentment of overcrowding - too many cyclists?
Anticipating the coming of spring?
--
'They paved paradise And put up a parking lot' -Joni Mitchell

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Tom Keats
Archived post

31 May 2003, 21:00 UTC #13

In article said:
Interpretation???
Beats me.
Fear of being stranded in one's life?
Resentment of overcrowding - too many cyclists?
Anticipating the coming of spring?
I kind of got a sense of separation anxiety from your account. Sort of like a child losing his mom
in the crowd at a department store.
cheers, Tom
--
-- Powered by FreeBSD Above address is just a spam midden. I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn
[point] bc [point] ca

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Mark Freedman
Archived post

1 June 2003, 00:30 UTC #14

Barry Gaudet <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
I lock up the bike and get myself a cuppa coffee. Coming out of the

coffee shop only to find countless bikes locked up everywhere. I can't find mine. I walk around
looking for it in futility. It seems like every availlable spot that would allow a bike to be
locked it has one. [If
That happens every time I ride downtown on an errand. Lock my bike up, come out with the fuses /
film / rhubarb / chainlube / whatever, and wander around trying to find my bike again.
It's that %$#@ steel frame. Induced magnetism. Empty poles all around, and other cyclists feel
compelled to lock their bikes onto the same post I'm on.
Bikes to the left of me, bikes to the right of me, GAAAHHHHKKK.
oops. Shouldn't this thread be "Bicycle Nachtmares?"

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Artisan
Archived post

1 June 2003, 01:30 UTC #15

GregR <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:
(Claire Petersky) said:
Do you ride your bike in your dreams? What are your bicycle dreams like?
Last night I dreamt I was a muffler....
And I woke up exhausted.
badum bum!
🙂
Boo, hiss. 🙂
Rox
______________________________________
"Do not be alarmed. Sometimes our feelings conflict with our programming." --Android 16,
Dragonball Z
geocities.comindex.html
______________________________________

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Marlene Blansha
Archived post

1 June 2003, 02:30 UTC #16

Quoted message said:
I had a dream a while ago that puzzled me:
I was doing a loop to the north [don't ask me how I knew it was to the north - it just was] and
stopped in a small town similar to actual towns on my northern route but definitely not one of
them. I was traveling light with only a water bottle, keys, lock and a few dollars in my
backpack. It's a beautiful spring day and I am in shorts and t-shirt but there is still snow on
the ground.
I lock up the bike and get myself a cuppa coffee. Coming out of the coffee shop only to find
countless bikes locked up everywhere. I can't find mine. I walk around looking for it in
futility. It seems like every availlable spot that would allow a bike to be locked it has one.
[If anyone is a Steven King horror story reader: think of the scene from 'The Dark Half' where
there are millions of birds covering the countryside]
I was trapped as I didn't have my bike nor any money for even a phone call.
Interpretation???
Beats me.
Fear of being stranded in one's life?
Resentment of overcrowding - too many cyclists?
Anticipating the coming of spring?
How about transition? The image of wearing shorts and the snow on the ground sound like a transition
or you're anticipating some kind of change in your life? The bike rack sounds like anxiety, we've
all had dreams kind of like that where you lose something and can't find it. Maybe you're
anticipating an upcoming change in your life but feel anxious that it won't happen, or something
will get in the way, or screw it up, or something. It just sounds like anxiety about me, and I
oughta know, anxiety is my best thing!

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Fabrizio Mazzol
Archived post

1 June 2003, 06:00 UTC #17

"Claire Petersky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:

Do you ride your bike in your dreams? What are your bicycle dreams like?
Being a pro I mainly deal in the cold hard reality of cycling, you know; faxed training programs,
overseas conference calls on upcoming UCI races, dealing with my agent over at IMG, diet plans from
my trainer, keeping up with goodies from companies like Baxter Labs with their HemAssist (
Cross-linked Hemoglobin DCLHb ) or the excellent product Aranesp ( darbepoetin alfa ) from AMGEN,
not to even mention the use of RSR13.
Years ago I used to dream of the day I would become an elite level cyclist and now have no regrets,
except maybe the fact that Lance got the Sports Illustrated 'Sportsman of the Year' award last year
and the cover story by Rick Reilly. Take away his TdF wins, the fact that he's friends with celebs
like Robin Williams and Jerry Seinfeld, and has his own chair at Chuy's of Autin and then you'll see
he's not really that big of rider.
If I'm allowed one cycling dream then it would be of the time I retire and am free of having to ride
my sponsor's bike and can have ol Ernesto build me my custom Carbonissimo, but that's probably more
'planning' than dreaming isn't it.

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Barry Gaudet
Archived post

1 June 2003, 17:31 UTC #18

In rec.bicycles.misc Marlene Blanshay <[email hidden]> wrote: [...]
: How about transition? The image of wearing shorts and the snow on the ground sound like a
: transition or you're anticipating some kind of change in your life?
I'm fast approaching 40 with much trepidation - But this was a couple months ago when winter was
giving it's last gasp. The most straightforward explanation is the anticpation of spring. I suspect
the cigar is just a cigar.
: The bike rack sounds like anxiety, we've all had dreams kind of like that where you lose something
: and can't find it.
Years ago I did have a bike stolen. I am somewhat concerned, especially away from familiar places
when I leave my bike, but I wouldn't consider it an unusual amount.
I did lose an atm card once. Ironically I stopped carrying my wallet over concerns about losing it
on some wilderness trail. At most these days I carry cash and one atm card.
An aquaintance always fussed because I didn't carry a cell phone for emergencies. I guess she
feared I'd end up lying in the middle of nowhere like that hiker in... ?Idaho? who had to cut his
arm off. I have no need for a cell phone and refuse to get one for just that one purpose.
I think this group needs a resident pshrink speciallizing in bike issues.
'The doctor is in!'
--
'They paved paradise And put up a parking lot' -Joni Mitchell

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Claire Petersky
Archived post

1 June 2003, 23:00 UTC #19

Barry Gaudet <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:
I had a dream a while ago that puzzled me:
I was doing a loop to the north [don't ask me how I knew it was to the north - it just was]
Since we think of north as being on top, it is the direction of the intellect, or top of the body.
So at the beginning of this dream, you are heading north, or using your brain/logical mind, as
opposed to the emotional or non-rational part of yourself.
And it's a loop, so I'm wondering if the rational mind is just taking you in circles.
Quoted message said:
I was traveling light with only a water bottle, keys, lock and a few dollars in my backpack.
On this journey, you are travelling light. Lighthearted? You are not carrying around your burdens.
Quoted message said:
It's a beautiful spring day and I am in shorts and t-shirt but there is still snow on the ground.
And this is a time of transition for you -- you are undergoing change, and change for the better. If
you can still see the snow on the ground, it's not to worry, as the weather is fine and you are
moving into a season where it will continue to improve.
Quoted message said:
I lock up the bike and get myself a cuppa coffee. Coming out of the coffee shop only to find
countless bikes locked up everywhere. I can't find mine. I walk around looking for it in
futility. It seems like every availlable spot that would allow a bike to be locked it has one.
[If anyone is a Steven King horror story reader: think of the scene from 'The Dark Half' where
there are millions of birds covering the countryside]
If the bike represents to you a vehicle of freedom, as it does for me, then perhaps this part of the
dream is where you can see 100s of ways you *could* go, but you are having problems finding your
special way to go. All these other ways to go are locked up -- ie you can see them, but you can't
even use them, because they are locked. Your special way, the way that is just for you, is lost in
this sea of possibility.
Quoted message said:
I was trapped as I didn't have my bike nor any money for even a phone call.
No money for the phone call means that your ability to communicate about your predicament is not
available to your now. You can't even reach someone for rescue.
The feeling I get from this dream is that your situation is not hopeless -- the travelling light,
the coming of spring -- these are all positive for you. The problem is finding your own special
vehicle, your own special means among the many, and being able to communicate to others about it.
Maybe a trip south would help?
Warm Regards,
Claire Petersky ([email hidden]) Home of the meditative cyclist:
home.earthlink.netWelcome.htm
Singing with you at: tiferet.nettiferet.net
Books just wanna be FREE! See what I mean at: bookcrossing.comCpetersky

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Luigi De Guzman
Archived post

3 June 2003, 00:30 UTC #20

[email hidden] (Claire Petersky) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:
Barry Gaudet <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:
I had a dream a while ago that puzzled me:
I was doing a loop to the north [don't ask me how I knew it was to the north - it just was]
Since we think of north as being on top, it is the direction of the intellect, or top of the body.
So at the beginning of this dream, you are heading north, or using your brain/logical mind, as
opposed to the emotional or non-rational part of yourself.
h'mmm...in Imperial China, South was considered the favoured direction, that being the side of the
house that would have gotten the most favourable sunshine and winds. The Emperor always sat south,
and they developed a special south-pointing cart to enable this (the seat would swivel to maintain a
constant southerly orientation). Maps were drawn with South at the top...
"North" is where the cold winds come from (Boreas). In International Political Economy, "North" is
shorthand for the wealthy, industrialised economies of North America and Europe (plus Japan and, er,
Australia and New Zealand. Hey, it's as useful a geographic concept as "the west"...)
-Luigi

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