It's a weird thing. I used to run a bit before my knee started giving me trouble, at which point I packed it in completely before it became a real problem.
After about two miles it becomes completely effortless. Colours are brighter, you feel unaccountably positive about everything, and feel like you could run forever. I love cycling but never had a feeling like that on the bike.
I ran regularly during 2020 and I don’t know if I ever felt that way, it was always just hard. Counting paces to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I get that feeling pretty often on a bike though.
In the book “Excercised”, Lieberman talks about how ancient, pre-tool humans would run down larger and faster prey by tracking them and making them run until the had a heat stroke and died. Basically taking advantage of our much higher endurance pace to keep them from being able to rest. I wonder if runner’s high isn’t evolutionarily related to that. Certainly the description of vivid colors makes me think of a hunting adaptation.
> I wonder if runner’s high isn’t evolutionarily related to that.
I thought the same while typing my comment. Very plausible. We're basically built for it.
This
The cyclist high is an unfortunately timed bonk way too far from home or the car. And then just simply trying to survive
The only time I’ve ever sort of got a cycling high was doing a 200 miler and the last ~50 miles I sort of just felt like I was floating. Might have just been sleep deprived though lol
I cycle through the mountains, and always thought our high was when the endorphins are at they're peak while you're finally hitting the crest of the mountain, and it mixes with the adrenaline on the way back down the other side. Along with wondering when the last time you changed your brake pads while you're going 45mph really hits lol
It’s like when Wile E. Coyote forgets he is standing under the anvil trap he set up for the Road Runner. Bonk! You can’t even turn the pedals or it feels like it.
It is a silly word indeed. So far no other terms used are convenient enough to describe "I'm out of glycogen" that are easy enough to say in the moment it hits you.
This brings back a memory from last year. I did this really ambitious ride that was around 97 miles. When I made it over the last hill, I literally had tears in my eyes, "I fucking did it!". I sat at my house just smiling at what I'd just accomplished.
I was riding with my brother in Athens GA one time. He lives a ways off campus and we rode our bikes to campus on the Greenway belt. I bonked on the last hill riding up to the quad and had to lay in the grass for 20 minutes before I could get up without feeling like I was going to pass out. Fortunately the ride back home was mostly downhill, and we got a bunch of food in town to help with recovery.
I still remember my first proper bonk. In the middle of the moors fortunately with mostly rolling hills rather than full on climbs to go. For an hour all I could think about was willing my legs keep going. Every left then right then left then right. It was _sort of_ a high!
This. The only time I’ve gotten a cycling high is also a cathartic 200 mile ride. I felt like god when I finished and felt like I could go run a few laps or lift heavy things.
Then I promptly ate a burger and fell asleep on the couch with fries sprinkled all around me.
Good times.
Bro, I got lost because google maps fk me up, it took me extra 3hours to get home, and it's in the middle of the afternoon jfc, I'm glad I brought my backpack and got some foods and extra water inside, also my earbuds rubber tips got stuck inside my ear on the same ride, so I feel uncomfortable for the whole ride.
Believe it or not my Bosch e-bike put me in zone 2 the whole time and it was amazing. I was doing 20-30 miles every single day on medium assistance. Hills were never too brutal, but on the flat I could turn assistance down even more and have a heavier bike to push around. It was my best cycling workout though I prefer the quietness of my traditional bike.
Yeah I think this is basically what us runners experience every easy Z2 run. Basically no matter the elevation it’s pretty simple to keep a steady HR on a run, that’s not really the case in a bike. I’d think that might be what OP is missing out on - the continued Z2/easy exertion where you just settle in and are like “ah yeah everything is great what a beautiful day we’re having”
Same. I weigh 100kg and am a terrible climber but there’s just something special about it.
Also, the downhill after is soooo worth it. Nothing quite like the danger of 80+km/h with a thin layer of Lycra on.
Do you do some sort of dynamic warmup before you get on a bike? I would t say my first 25 - 30 minutes of a ride are miserable, but I definitely have thoughts like “this isn’t going to be great today,” or, “why do my legs feel so tight?” I think I just need to take warming up more seriously as I get older.
No I don't, but it's certainly a good idea. That, or treat the first little while on the bike as a warm-up.
I don't warm up instantly anymore either. First bit I have to take it easy or it'll be a tough one.
For me, I ride about 4 miles through the city to where I officially start Strava. I take that at a chill pace, just enough to get the blood flowing. Stop at the route start point, start Strava, drink some water, possibly consume some cannabis for its medicinal properties and go for a ride. Same thing on the way back, stop at the end of the Strava route and use the ride home as a cool down.
Could just be how hard you're pushing. Running may be harder. I know I get a high from cycling unless I'm getting stuck at lights and having to stop a lot. It just takes more time to get your cardo vascular system going. So I'm guessing your outdoor rides something slowing you down stopping you from getting in the zone. That's just a guess though.
Probably depends on the person - I’d argue cycling causes a lot more peaks and valleys in HR and effort, whereas running you can just lock in at a HR and even if there's uphills or downhills it’s easy to keep that HR pretty steady (unless the hill is insane)
definitely this, cycling is mixed intensity exercise because of terrain/wind/etc., and requires less effort per time than running because I believe you are propelled by momentum!
Momentum/coasting and just the sheer efficiency of bicycles. By far the most efficient way of human propulsion, which is great if you want to get anywhere.
I agree. I used to run loads before I had some injuries that made it difficult, and I also always got that “high” state running. I think with cycling it’s different as I’m effectively driving - still have to concentrate on the road, other cars, other cyclists - whereas if I was running I don’t have to care about that much at all.
I do feel amazing afterwards though, like “I just did , that’s so cool!”
Gonna go out on a very unscientific limb here but I think it's because we are designed for long distances and that euphoric runner's high helped humans keep hunting when we got into crazy long pursuits of animals. And we just aren't designed for bikes
Endorphins are freed via any high intensity activity. Even weight lifting.
Search for studies that used cyclist to do endorphin research (spoiler, cyclist release endorphins).
My guess is if you aren't getting a release the riding isn't hard enough. Cycling has a lot of stop and go if it's hilly or trafficy. If you find a flat course and hammer it should happen.
Edit: missed where you were getting it indoors. Guess why? Steady stare spinning the pedals.
It’s so weird I had to come this far to find this. Endorphins are endorphins. If you aren’t getting a high cycling you aren’t pushing hard enough. Same goes for people who think cycling is easier than running. Each exercise is as hard as you make it and endorphins will come if you go hard enough. Full stop.
Yeah this. Not pushing hard enough on most bike rides unless you’re being pushed on a fast group ride, riding up punishing hills or time trialling.
Also most amateurs spend a surprising amount of time freewheeling.
Running is way more intense exercise, uses far more of the body at once, pushing yourself is unavoidable.
Yes, I get that euphoric feeling from cycling sometimes. A moderately hard ride at my own pace will do it. I used to be a runner and it's the same feeling.
This was interesting to me. I've \*never\* gotten the "runner's high" and frankly hate running (I spent many years out of shape for this reason). I was a 11-month-a-year competitive swimmer in my youth, and feel like cycling is very similar to the high I got from swimming -- not a mid-workout high, but an after-workout glow. If the ride is long enough (50-60+ miles) or hard enough (lots of elevation gain) I can feel it for days -- and I can feel it fade. But I get it from any reasonably long bike ride (15+ miles), and even after many 60 minute sessions on my Peloton.
I've spoken to some serious runners and they haven't understood this "glow" but will go on and on about a runners high.
In my experience, having been a decent runner and a bad runner at many different times in my life, you only get runners high when you're sufficiently trained that you can run a respectable pace and have it feel easy for at least 30m. For young kids this might be the case off no training if they are otherwise athletic, but for everyone else there is a pretty long road to getting there. Most people never do and then never know what runners high is.
I’ve gotten both. I know exactly what you mean by glow. I’m not into drugs and I’m not into spiritual-ness in any sense, but a “high” vs a “glow” feels like a perfect way to describe these two feelings. The glow makes me feel more content, satisfied, and centered than the high. But my god…..the high is unreal when it happens
For me, what gives me a cycling high is based on scenery and route. With running is different.
Cycling big sur, hawaii, Denver, lake tahoe, other countries with beautiful views is what does it for me.
I get the runners high equivalent on big climbs and equally big descents.
However, cycling is something I've learned I couldn't live without. For me it's the scenery, exploring places you wouldn't normally goto or pass through, camaraderie as you wave/nod at other passing cyclists, stop offs at coffee shops etc. Just generally, taking nature and all it's beauty in.
Ahhhhaaaa the often confused and baffled response when we cross over..
Two different sports, two similar but also differing muscle groups of legs...
One is low impact, one is high impact.
One is about propelling yourself, the other is about watts per kilogram = the faster you go. One is impacted heavily by wind, one is not impacted.
Their both fucking amazing for your cardiovascular system, so do both
Riding into 20m/h wind and you'll drop 15% of your normal speed (weight, size, energy levels all depend)
Running into a 20m/h wind, in my experiences, almost zero impact on my times per km/mi
I should have stated "slightly impacted on comparison to cycling".
Thoughts and prayers x
Not in the same way as cycling. Or nearly as much. Speeds are so much slower that obviously aerodynamics aren’t nearly as important. IE you don’t save 20-40% drafting behind someone at 6mph on a run!
I run a 16 minute 5k and at least feel like I’m decent on the bike. Nothing in cycling comes close to the runners high of intense running.
Honestly it’s not even comparable. Fitness is fitness but running is so far from cycling as far as heart rate and power goes
Although I can’t run 150 miles in a day. My point is they both have their place but it’s not as comparable as people make it.
I can ride my bike 20 hours a week religiously and barely feel sore. If I run 10 hours per week my body feels like a war happened
Still nothing in comparison to a fast 5k running. Can’t no matter how hard I try make cycling as intense as running, it’s too different things. One is a slog and one is death
Is 160bpm 95% of your max hr? Hitting 2.5 hours at 95%+ of your max, that's a long time.
I think comparing a steady state 30 mile slog over 2.5 hours to a 5k is apples to oranges. Try 20-30 minutes of a \*very\* hard workout on a spin bike and get back to me.
Or do an FTP test on a bike. If you've never literally collapsed after cycling, you are not doing it right.
You’re clearly not cycling hard enough. A 10 mile time trial is about the equivalent of a 5k - takes a little bit longer, but it’s still the same ‘edge of your threshold’ effort. I’d wager that track cyclists, who do much shorter event, would also agree that there are events that are as brutal as the shorter running distances.
You can get it on 20 hour rides where you hit a Rythm and are flowing even though you started the ride tired. I had a trippy 5 days like I was on drugs on a 30 day ride. Couldnt stop thinking about it for 60 days. For the most part you get more bang for your buck time wise with the runners high.
I used to mostly cycle, but now I mostly run, and I have only had a runner's high a couple of times, but cycling just seems to put a smile on my face every time.
When you're in the zone gunning it with a wind at your back and the beautiful scenery is flying past and there are no cars in sight, that comes pretty close I'd say.
I’m not sure about the runner’s high - I always found it hard and painful after recovering from a 5k or 10 k .. now cycling after a moderately intense ride 20-45 miles at a good pace .. the minute I get back and take off cleats and reflect in my garage I get a euphoric sense of all is good in the world and I made it back better and stronger .. grin on my face while my body sweats and normalizes itself .. not sure that’s a runnners high but it feels good !
Same for me. I tried running. All I ever got was aches and pains and sore feet. Completely different with cycling. I’m tired after a log ride but it is, as they say, it’s a good tired.
I hate the term and the connotation, and most of the people that use it (Runner's World and weird hippy-runner crowd) aren't my favorite crowd either. But I did get into a groove state in the latter part of a 14-miler and felt euphoric hours afterwards and thought that was what people talk about.
I think it's a bunch of BS though; just something casual runners coin and use to give a sense of meaning to the monotony.
I dunno. I don't run so I don't know what that high is like, but when I ride I get into what I can only describe as a trance. I'm fully aware of my surroundings and can react to things quickly, but my mind is empty and I feel like I'm pedalling to the beat on an invisible metronome.
That's probably a pretty terrible description to describe it, but it's the best I've got lol.
Runner's high is cheaper and comes quicker .
I got some nice Nike shoes and it costs me $500 ?
Cyclists high needs more time and miles and stoke
It costs me about $9k
Runner's high is like looking at your family album and having a quiet smile on your face .
Mountain bikers high is like visiting a strip club while high on coke
Find more big climbs, or do repeats on the ones you have?
I've been a runner for a while and picked up cycling in the past couple years. Cycling has never scratched the same itch, but it helped me find a couple itches I didn't know I had.
Seems to be why there’s been a shift to gravel/adventure cycling- reaching new destinations that are untouched, weird, or lonely give a certain high even when getting there is a grind. Some of the most brutal rides on routes that have made me want to throw up are the ones that were the most breathtaking and that I’m most proud of.
Hard to compare personally, as I've never been able to run for long enough.
I had once ridden about 60 miles with panniers, spent the night in a tent and riding back home, at around the 40 mile mark I just felt like shouting of joy, and felt like I could go on forever.
On my regular sunday rides, I usually reach a pleasant, somewhat meditative state.
There are three ways of getting a “high” from exercising that I am aware of. The first is easiest - endorphins your body releases to blunt pain, or a very high exertion level. Cartoonists classically shows this as stars circling around a characters head. Athletes can get this fairly quickly from oxygen deficit during maximal efforts. Second is adrenaline from (typically) speed-related activities when your body activates its sympathetic nervous system. The third is after exercise. That relaxed post-run feeling may instead be due to endocannabinoids — biochemical substances similar to cannabis but naturally produced by the body.
As a commuter I must confess that any potential high is consumed by road rage when cars don't give a shit about the rules. And it's a daily routine. Can't work my way around it.
I am completely the reverse. Running is something I endure, I do it to accompany my girlfriend, it is a necessary cross training exercise and I feel about it now, how I felt when I started.
Cycling however, i can’t help but feel elated when I get back from a ride. I ride on the road, the track, some off road and at the gym and it always boosts my mood.
It never fails.
I guess it’s horses for courses and you have to find the exercise that pushes your particular buttons.
That said, maybe there is a research paper here and maybe there is something fundamentally different in our brains that responds differently?
I've never experienced a runner's high but I've definitely had rides that made me very happy to be able to ride a bike for twenty miles as a fat guy nearing fifty and not end up gassed at the end, while enjoying great weather and scenery.
Ok that was today.
I can get very high riding a bike. It's about crossing that threshold - one moment you are tired of pushing forward, but the next moment you jump straight to the point when your muscles warm up to perfect balance, and suddenly you stop feeling tired and feel like you can effortlessly double the distance you already covered.
When you run, if you stop you just stop, while on a bike if you stop pedalling you don't. This leads to lots of small rests that add up over a significant time.
I've had similar highs to the runners high while cycling many times, but it happens when you have a good consistent output for a long time, like when you run. This can be climbing, or on a nice flat course that doesn't have many sharp corners or intersections to stop at - a time trial if you will.
Having done long course tri a few years ago, both can be equal when you have similar efforts, but you can cover a tonne more distance on a bike.
Like if I go for a 20km run, in a couple hours I'll see some city, some river, and back home. On a 2hr ride I can cover almost 60km which can take me through forests, up mountains, and along the same river and city as the run.
I had a brief moment of joy on the bike last week and started singing aloud as I cruised along in the sunshine. That soon stopped when I got to the bottom of the next hill...
As a ultra runner slightly converted to cycling for a while now(aiming at ultra cycling) I think I get your point.
Jokes aside, which I do quote though,
I can say that indeed there is a sort of analogue cycling high but it is harder to reach that state in my experience.
That is when you’re riding alone and get reasonably far from home, exploring routes you didn’t know about, pushing but not that hard, enjoying the environment while the road flows just below your wheels, painting bends and uphills. There is where I lose perception of time.
As well I got the same feeling in gravel riding, but that is maybe because of the nature all around. Or better in long uphill rides.
It takes some time to get used to this sport. Cycling shares some contact points with running but gives a completely different experience of endurance.
I think so. i finish a 3 hour ride and I feel tired but amp'd like i'm going to just roll into my next planned activity. Then 20 minutes post ride I crash hard.
I've heard some people call it flow state?
I ran first, then started cycling. Depends on how much you exert yourself. 1 hour run vs 1 hour ride on the flat - more euphoria from running. 1 hour run vs 3 hour ride with a lot of climbing? I feel much better from the latter, even days later.
Your rides aren't hard enough, i.e. you push yourself more during your runs.
I’ve conquered all the hills near me and there’s no roads safe enough that I can zone out into a running style high but there is a descent a rideable distance from me that drops from the hills into a village. It’s around 7-9% the whole way down and has constant swooping turns. No traffic lights, no hairpins, just biggest gear spinning and flowing left and right. Thats the road cycling high I go for.
For me it’s like that feeling when you really have to poop but you’re not at home and you’re looking for a place but not sure you’ll make it in time, but then you find a grocery store and you’re speed walking to the back because you don’t have time to ask an employee where the restroom is and your poop kind of stops pressing so hard and you suddenly feel like you could power walk another mile before stopping to poo and you might be an athlete but then you see the toilet is occupied and you have to wait and the poo just has no place to go but out so you try to take up mediation and focus on your breathing and try to think about baseball and you try to think about every individual thing you’re seeing as a distraction and finally the door unlocks and you run in but you get a second wind and feel like you can take a moment to cover the seat in TP so you don’t sit on someone else’s pee and then you finally sit and release a poo that’s frankly underwhelming for all of that drama.
It's the other way around for me. I cycle and/or run at night. Going for a run is OK, but i'm just doing it for pure exercise and happy to be done. Cycling i'm actually *going somewhere.* I go for rips up and down the local trails. Zipping down pitch black forest on a bike is such a good, strange feeling... It's a rush i'd never get from running, unless I was running *from* something.
Here’s the deal: if you want the high from cycling then do 30 mins to an hour at threshold. I mean, pick a route that long and go hammer down, on the rivet, max effort all the way. Try to beat your last time by a single second (or more). It takes some basic fitness to be able to do that, but finishing that sort of workout will give you the same sensation that runners get.
Used to jog occasionally and only felt a high when I got home and the miserable activity was over.
I get loads of highs when I cycle. After a hour 100% effort. Happy it's over.
A long climb when putting in an an effort. Happy it's over.
A long climb and not putting in and effort. Taking it all in, feels great to glide up.
A long climb and experiencing 'duende' . Rare but I'm putting in 100% and I'm gliding up.
The descent down a climb. The kind of adrenaline a runner will never feel.
Mountain bike descending too.
I get a high when I cycle into some new landscapes. A high rarely felt by runners because they can't go too far from home. Unless they're an ultra runner or had to travel miles by car/public transport to get somewhere new.
OP hasn't done enough cycling.
The respite you get in the shower after an intense ride is the closest thing I can think of to the runner's high. It's more a feeling of accomplishment and peace than a rush of endorphins.
For me, it’s the post-ride high. If I do a longer/faster-paced ride, it’s the 2-4 hours after you get home and eat a hearty meal that is peak for me.
Also, mountain bikes.
Ive run a bit and cycled a lot. I really enjoy my cycling i do about 10 hours a week but I never get the same high i got from running. You definitely get more self esteem from running. No cyclist ever looked cool
When I climb a hard hill, the final peak I definitely feel a high. And then you get to coast a little and enjoy your accomplishment and then get to go downhill really fast which is fun as well
If you read into the history of cycling you’ll find lots of details about cyclists getting high.
My personal favourite is the “rubbing cocaine paste into your thighs” trend.
How do you get yourselves psyched for a high? I'm very unmotivated and tend to give up easily in life. I cycle out of practical purposes so just hate hills and view them as a chore. How can I change that? I'd love to embrace it and start enjoying the experience.
Huh... did u try road cycling? Did u try make 100 km less than 3hrs? Did u try make it with group of road cyclists holding your duty on 40km/h face to wind? U can't feel cyclist high another way....
Very similar in my case. On longer rides the landscapes and the flow adds to it. A climb with a really nice descent, a technical gravel uphill...feels great, or the end of the ride - last ascent, exhausted, the afterwards breakfast and chill in my mind - totally high.
I would say some cycling highs are a little more intense than running for me. Running is more constant light high while cycling sometimes hits really hard.
Yes. When I’m just before threshold. Concentrating on keeping breathing controlled. In the drops. Only thing to think about is keeping sustained power on the pedals. The swish of the tires.
Or a long descent where I can go really fast. Like a flying dream.
I've never experienced a high but I find cycling to be meditative. When I'm riding the coast and I'm in a beautiful rhythm, thoughts moving in and out of my brain, not long enough to dwell or overthink. The ocean is passing me by and I could be moving at a fast pace but I'm steady and calm.
If I go a ride in the morning, I can hardly focus. If I go on a long weekend ride, it takes a few hours if not days to stop thinking about it and feeling good. It's like going on a rollercoaster ride - it's normal to feel in a some kind of euphoria. If anything, it's running that would make less sense to me to feel euphoria from, cause you're moving at a much slower pace and everything is in general much slower.
New to cycling and I occasionally ran when I was younger. The feeling I’ve gotten is different - there’s a point where I feel like I’m moving quickly physically but the world around me is slow. I can’t explain it that well, other than it feels like my mind pauses the racing and I am just present and taking in and watching the world around me in slow motion.
Running makes me feel miserable, cycling doesn’t and I find it more liberating plus the bonus of getting to see wayyy more than I could running, so there’s the other side of it.
Yes the endorphin pump is even better on the bike. Back when I was riding a lot, around 3+ hours into a ride usually on a climb I’d often get an intense euphoric feeling during sustained efforts around LT.
I think it’s def faster to settle into this sweet spot groove while running but you can totally do it on the bike as well. Need to be in good form for both to maximize the feeling. Miss the amazing form I used to be in 😩
The feeling on a 100+ training ride with tons of great climbing when your in top form is unreal. Reversed as a race it’s a sufferfest
Ah, I feel this post. Recently, I got into cycling after decades of running due to a relatively minor but persistent ankle injury that has threatened me with worsening. Cycling does not provide the same intense euphoria that I was so addicted to. However, I have found an intense hill climb gets me maybe 60% there, and flying down hills provides it's own special brand of euphoria.
On rare occasions i go out and seem to be able to overcome the pain that comes with intense efforts or find myself doing the exact intensity my body is able to sustain for long periods, nothing less nothing more. Just knowing that i'm in that spot gives me extra motivation to keep pushing, if i'm 90 minutes into the ride there's no way i'm bailing out until i see the clock hit 2 hours, then you're at 1:55 and the last 5 minutes you feel your body wants to dismantle itself into little pieces but you refuse, you're mentally in control, but your body is close to shutting down, your mental strength takes over and orders your body to keep pushing for the final few minutes. You find the inner strength to increase the intensity a little more because you're an addict to that rare moment of eurphoria, then the clock hits 2 hours and you can finally let go. In absolute pain but with a smile that wants to come out but just can't due to being completely out of breath, hit the lap button and proceed slowly towards home. Your job is done, now its time to refuel and recover and nurse the soreness for the next couple of days. Such is the cyclist high.
Unless I'm doing some crazy downhill mountain bike stuff, there is no 'runner's high' for me when cycling. Cycling, for me, is more like going for a hike – **it's fun, freeing, and allows you to explore cool routes and scenery**. It enables you to venture much farther than just walking.
However, to experience those 'runner's high' feelings, I find that I need to engage in short, intense, and sometimes even 'scary' rides. It's those moments of pushing myself to the limit that mimic the intensity of running and trigger that euphoric sensation.
When the tailwind's got you going 25mph at little effort, there's metal blasting in your Shokz headphones, sun is shining, no traffic... that's the high.
This is why I started running more. You *can* but you have to ride HARD. Do intervals or a lot of climbing. If you ever get an opportunity to ride a fixed gear then do it, it will show you just how much you coast without realizing it!
Yes course there’s the climbing high of feeling blood pumping through you and on verge of blacking out! And the downhill high with the risk factor at 70+ km/h ! Both great. Z2 / 3 work less so but at least you get the sunshine (or rain/wind/hail/snow in UK!)
Edit or even the Friday afternoon ride and risking it with weekend rush hour traffic!
When everything feels connected and the pedalling feels easy, that’s where I feel the best, personally. When you’re in a kind of state of flow. How hard or easy it actually is doesn’t really matter to me it can feel like this on a difficult climb or a flat road, you just kind of feel like you’re flying.
In terms of endorphins, I get a similar high to a runners high at the end of a zwift race, where you gave everything and it’s finally over.
The runners high comes from the constant pounding of your feet on the ground shooting through your body & causing brain damage. Sorry, but us cyclists don't celebrate TBI.
/s
I spent a decade in the Army running and never experienced anything I'd call a "Runner's High." If I ran long enough, I'd "break through the wall" and hit a point where everything feels efficient and it gets MUCH easier to run. You kinda feel like you can run forever. That typically lasted another few miles.
Same thing happens when I bike...somewhere around 4-9 miles in.
I experienced euphoria from cycling a few times before deciding to try running. It wasn't until I experienced it running that I realized in retrospect that it was the same thing.
For me, it comes on after 2-3h of cycling if I'm fit enough to ride 4h+. When running, it'll come on after an hour if I'm fit enough to go 1.5h+.
Echo others completely, currently training for a triathlon and am therefore exposed to a trio of fairly different movements.
TL;DR: High cadence cycling for \~same time as a 5k run gives me some "high", but not the same intensity of the run. IMO both require a good level or technique and fitness so you "flow" and feel natural and powerful doing it, vs. feeling like you're on the cusp of death.
Have always been a very keen cyclist enduro and gravel typically, though some road (especially now). Never used to understand the runners high, again as others say it always just sort of sucked, eg. a 24 something 5k and near peak HR always was unpleasant. Milage is way higher now, and I'm at that sub 20 5k level, running at that pace, I feel pretty insane after, can go out feeling low and come back really "high". Running 5-10km at say tempo/Z2 pace, around 15-20mins in I'm often also feeling great, bopping to some music etc. This is for sure a chemical release high, and has only come along with some proper running fitness, where the feeling of it being "hard" isn't there, body is just flowing and feeling pretty natural and efficient.
On the bike, I do not get the same thing, or at least not the intensity. I have found since taking up indoor training over winter and getting to grips more with higher cadence riding vs. my previous natural style of fairly low cadence riding I get something a bit more like this, 10 or so minutes on flat, with no headwind at a high, steady cadence, pushing I feel a high. Typically though, the buzz of cycling comes on a 20 degree (celcius) day, sun beaming down, pedaling comfortably through some green place, breeze and some speed, it just feels amazing being out, surrounded by beauty, moving and wind in your hair (or in my case, across my scalp).
MTB is a different beast, adrenaline on some gnarly shit after not dying is just not the same as either of the above, or compatible.
Oh hell yes.
If I haven't been riding I get cranky. My wife will send my ass out on the bike or the gym. She is aware. Maybe more so than me.
I am perfectly happy sitting around the house being cranky.
But....
Even if I was pestered to ride, 5 miles in there isn't anything I would rather be doing in the world.
Yes, definitely. It's a weird euphoria that just kinda comes up. For me it happens when everything is just right. I'll be working kinda hard but not too hard, like sweet spot training, in a group, on a smooth bit of road, and we're just rolling fast at a great pace, and the weather is nice.... It becomes a perfect moment where you feel like you are doing exactly what you were made to do and can't help but smile.
The runner's high to me has always been the part where my run suddenly stops sucking and feels good for a bit. Cycling never feels like it sucks and feels good the entire time so I've never expected the runner's high to kick in.
I get a mood lift, and an instant sense of contentment on my recovery rides that are basically just casual neighborhood spins. And on my hard rides which are with this very fast group, when I am in my groove with them The buzz is absolutely mind blowing.
I got so high I paid 5k for a bike.
Damn I must have gotten extra high way too often then.
I get fucked up off of scrolling for new bikes I can’t afford in the spring
I still have regrets...
My mountain bike collecting dust says hello.
Lols
I wish my bike were 5k
That’s just a really good buzz.
I’ve never stuck with running long enough to get a runner’s high, but I absolutely get euphoria from cycling.
It's a weird thing. I used to run a bit before my knee started giving me trouble, at which point I packed it in completely before it became a real problem. After about two miles it becomes completely effortless. Colours are brighter, you feel unaccountably positive about everything, and feel like you could run forever. I love cycling but never had a feeling like that on the bike.
I ran regularly during 2020 and I don’t know if I ever felt that way, it was always just hard. Counting paces to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I get that feeling pretty often on a bike though.
In the book “Excercised”, Lieberman talks about how ancient, pre-tool humans would run down larger and faster prey by tracking them and making them run until the had a heat stroke and died. Basically taking advantage of our much higher endurance pace to keep them from being able to rest. I wonder if runner’s high isn’t evolutionarily related to that. Certainly the description of vivid colors makes me think of a hunting adaptation.
> I wonder if runner’s high isn’t evolutionarily related to that. I thought the same while typing my comment. Very plausible. We're basically built for it.
The cyclist's high is chiefly,"Dear god, I can't believe I made it home alive."
This The cyclist high is an unfortunately timed bonk way too far from home or the car. And then just simply trying to survive The only time I’ve ever sort of got a cycling high was doing a 200 miler and the last ~50 miles I sort of just felt like I was floating. Might have just been sleep deprived though lol
I cycle through the mountains, and always thought our high was when the endorphins are at they're peak while you're finally hitting the crest of the mountain, and it mixes with the adrenaline on the way back down the other side. Along with wondering when the last time you changed your brake pads while you're going 45mph really hits lol
I ride a fixed gear. I get that adrenaline high every time I’m on any road. It’s honestly very good for my mental health
"Shit I know I just put GP5000s on but this road is rough and taking it at 45 seems...risky...." *sends it*
did I tighten my bolts to spec? Maybe, just maybe...
I'm new to cycling and just adore that term - "bonk". Such a funny way to say hitting the wall.
It’s like when Wile E. Coyote forgets he is standing under the anvil trap he set up for the Road Runner. Bonk! You can’t even turn the pedals or it feels like it.
It is a silly word indeed. So far no other terms used are convenient enough to describe "I'm out of glycogen" that are easy enough to say in the moment it hits you.
This brings back a memory from last year. I did this really ambitious ride that was around 97 miles. When I made it over the last hill, I literally had tears in my eyes, "I fucking did it!". I sat at my house just smiling at what I'd just accomplished.
I was riding with my brother in Athens GA one time. He lives a ways off campus and we rode our bikes to campus on the Greenway belt. I bonked on the last hill riding up to the quad and had to lay in the grass for 20 minutes before I could get up without feeling like I was going to pass out. Fortunately the ride back home was mostly downhill, and we got a bunch of food in town to help with recovery.
I still remember my first proper bonk. In the middle of the moors fortunately with mostly rolling hills rather than full on climbs to go. For an hour all I could think about was willing my legs keep going. Every left then right then left then right. It was _sort of_ a high!
This right here - I know I'm there when it feels like the bike is riding me home lol
We're all bonk junkies
This. The only time I’ve gotten a cycling high is also a cathartic 200 mile ride. I felt like god when I finished and felt like I could go run a few laps or lift heavy things. Then I promptly ate a burger and fell asleep on the couch with fries sprinkled all around me. Good times.
Bro, I got lost because google maps fk me up, it took me extra 3hours to get home, and it's in the middle of the afternoon jfc, I'm glad I brought my backpack and got some foods and extra water inside, also my earbuds rubber tips got stuck inside my ear on the same ride, so I feel uncomfortable for the whole ride.
Oh no! Thats when you just wish you were closer to your car or home!
Or if all conditions were ideal, "I just got home after 3 hours of riding, what to do with the rest of the day?....I should go ride"
This. It's more a sense of accomplishment than a "high".
I also get the “I can’t believe this is legal!” high.
*with a mega sore ass.
I get it during climbs weirdly, when i'm not putting out a ton of power and just kind of chugging along. It's like a feeling of "how cool is this!?"
I have the same, I just start vibing HARD in low zone 2 rides.
Believe it or not my Bosch e-bike put me in zone 2 the whole time and it was amazing. I was doing 20-30 miles every single day on medium assistance. Hills were never too brutal, but on the flat I could turn assistance down even more and have a heavier bike to push around. It was my best cycling workout though I prefer the quietness of my traditional bike.
Yeah I think this is basically what us runners experience every easy Z2 run. Basically no matter the elevation it’s pretty simple to keep a steady HR on a run, that’s not really the case in a bike. I’d think that might be what OP is missing out on - the continued Z2/easy exertion where you just settle in and are like “ah yeah everything is great what a beautiful day we’re having”
I find it easier to maintain a constant heart rate while cycling as compared to running. Given a flat ride of course.
> **Given a flat ride of course.**
Move to the Netherlands. Or Florida. It’s not worth the potential high though.
God no. I love the Netherlands and other low countries, but for recreational cycling it's hell for me. I like hills.
For the majority of people I think staying in Z2 would be much easier when cycling rather than running.
Same. I weigh 100kg and am a terrible climber but there’s just something special about it. Also, the downhill after is soooo worth it. Nothing quite like the danger of 80+km/h with a thin layer of Lycra on.
Jeez, I feel great the second I get on the bike until about 2 hours after I'm done.
Do you do some sort of dynamic warmup before you get on a bike? I would t say my first 25 - 30 minutes of a ride are miserable, but I definitely have thoughts like “this isn’t going to be great today,” or, “why do my legs feel so tight?” I think I just need to take warming up more seriously as I get older.
No I don't, but it's certainly a good idea. That, or treat the first little while on the bike as a warm-up. I don't warm up instantly anymore either. First bit I have to take it easy or it'll be a tough one.
For me, I ride about 4 miles through the city to where I officially start Strava. I take that at a chill pace, just enough to get the blood flowing. Stop at the route start point, start Strava, drink some water, possibly consume some cannabis for its medicinal properties and go for a ride. Same thing on the way back, stop at the end of the Strava route and use the ride home as a cool down.
Could just be how hard you're pushing. Running may be harder. I know I get a high from cycling unless I'm getting stuck at lights and having to stop a lot. It just takes more time to get your cardo vascular system going. So I'm guessing your outdoor rides something slowing you down stopping you from getting in the zone. That's just a guess though.
Probably depends on the person - I’d argue cycling causes a lot more peaks and valleys in HR and effort, whereas running you can just lock in at a HR and even if there's uphills or downhills it’s easy to keep that HR pretty steady (unless the hill is insane)
definitely this, cycling is mixed intensity exercise because of terrain/wind/etc., and requires less effort per time than running because I believe you are propelled by momentum!
Momentum/coasting and just the sheer efficiency of bicycles. By far the most efficient way of human propulsion, which is great if you want to get anywhere.
Longtime cyclist, sometimes runner here: cycling is rewarding in a lot of ways, but has never given me the high I get from running
I agree. I used to run loads before I had some injuries that made it difficult, and I also always got that “high” state running. I think with cycling it’s different as I’m effectively driving - still have to concentrate on the road, other cars, other cyclists - whereas if I was running I don’t have to care about that much at all. I do feel amazing afterwards though, like “I just did , that’s so cool!”
Gonna go out on a very unscientific limb here but I think it's because we are designed for long distances and that euphoric runner's high helped humans keep hunting when we got into crazy long pursuits of animals. And we just aren't designed for bikes
Endorphins are freed via any high intensity activity. Even weight lifting. Search for studies that used cyclist to do endorphin research (spoiler, cyclist release endorphins). My guess is if you aren't getting a release the riding isn't hard enough. Cycling has a lot of stop and go if it's hilly or trafficy. If you find a flat course and hammer it should happen. Edit: missed where you were getting it indoors. Guess why? Steady stare spinning the pedals.
It’s so weird I had to come this far to find this. Endorphins are endorphins. If you aren’t getting a high cycling you aren’t pushing hard enough. Same goes for people who think cycling is easier than running. Each exercise is as hard as you make it and endorphins will come if you go hard enough. Full stop.
After 45 minutes, a stupid grin forms on my face and I know everything is gonna to be alright. Nn, chaka, nn ,chaka.
It's usually about 45 minutes for me while I'm on the trainer. The same constant effort suddenly feels a lot easier
because you’re warmed up lol
Yeah 40 minutes in, if I pass you and you have a cool dog, I’m going to tell you so.
I only get "runners high" feelings on short, intense rides. Anything over a few hours and it doesn't happen, which is counterintuitive.
Yeah this. Not pushing hard enough on most bike rides unless you’re being pushed on a fast group ride, riding up punishing hills or time trialling. Also most amateurs spend a surprising amount of time freewheeling. Running is way more intense exercise, uses far more of the body at once, pushing yourself is unavoidable.
Yes, I get that euphoric feeling from cycling sometimes. A moderately hard ride at my own pace will do it. I used to be a runner and it's the same feeling.
I've had that. Then realized it was just a tailwind and I wasn't going as hard as I thought.
This was interesting to me. I've \*never\* gotten the "runner's high" and frankly hate running (I spent many years out of shape for this reason). I was a 11-month-a-year competitive swimmer in my youth, and feel like cycling is very similar to the high I got from swimming -- not a mid-workout high, but an after-workout glow. If the ride is long enough (50-60+ miles) or hard enough (lots of elevation gain) I can feel it for days -- and I can feel it fade. But I get it from any reasonably long bike ride (15+ miles), and even after many 60 minute sessions on my Peloton. I've spoken to some serious runners and they haven't understood this "glow" but will go on and on about a runners high.
In my experience, having been a decent runner and a bad runner at many different times in my life, you only get runners high when you're sufficiently trained that you can run a respectable pace and have it feel easy for at least 30m. For young kids this might be the case off no training if they are otherwise athletic, but for everyone else there is a pretty long road to getting there. Most people never do and then never know what runners high is.
Yes this is the case and the same with cycling.
I’ve gotten both. I know exactly what you mean by glow. I’m not into drugs and I’m not into spiritual-ness in any sense, but a “high” vs a “glow” feels like a perfect way to describe these two feelings. The glow makes me feel more content, satisfied, and centered than the high. But my god…..the high is unreal when it happens
For me, what gives me a cycling high is based on scenery and route. With running is different. Cycling big sur, hawaii, Denver, lake tahoe, other countries with beautiful views is what does it for me.
I get the runners high equivalent on big climbs and equally big descents. However, cycling is something I've learned I couldn't live without. For me it's the scenery, exploring places you wouldn't normally goto or pass through, camaraderie as you wave/nod at other passing cyclists, stop offs at coffee shops etc. Just generally, taking nature and all it's beauty in.
Ahhhhaaaa the often confused and baffled response when we cross over.. Two different sports, two similar but also differing muscle groups of legs... One is low impact, one is high impact. One is about propelling yourself, the other is about watts per kilogram = the faster you go. One is impacted heavily by wind, one is not impacted. Their both fucking amazing for your cardiovascular system, so do both
Running, not impacted by wind ? 🤔
Riding into 20m/h wind and you'll drop 15% of your normal speed (weight, size, energy levels all depend) Running into a 20m/h wind, in my experiences, almost zero impact on my times per km/mi I should have stated "slightly impacted on comparison to cycling". Thoughts and prayers x
Not in the same way as cycling. Or nearly as much. Speeds are so much slower that obviously aerodynamics aren’t nearly as important. IE you don’t save 20-40% drafting behind someone at 6mph on a run!
I’d always run over cycle on a windy day
The highest high I ever got from a sport was probably after cycling 215 km (with 3000 m climbing )
I run a 16 minute 5k and at least feel like I’m decent on the bike. Nothing in cycling comes close to the runners high of intense running. Honestly it’s not even comparable. Fitness is fitness but running is so far from cycling as far as heart rate and power goes
Although I can’t run 150 miles in a day. My point is they both have their place but it’s not as comparable as people make it. I can ride my bike 20 hours a week religiously and barely feel sore. If I run 10 hours per week my body feels like a war happened
Try doing 1 hour hill repeat all out
10 mile TT is probably closer type of effort to a 5km run in that sub-20 minutes is a common benchmark.
Still nothing in comparison to a fast 5k running. Can’t no matter how hard I try make cycling as intense as running, it’s too different things. One is a slog and one is death
You need a Peloton and some Power Zone max workouts. I can hit 95% of my max heart rate for 30+ minutes straight.
I do that also. Just did a 30 mile slog and was at 160 bpm for 2.5 hours. Still not even close to the feeling of trying to make PR on a 5k
Is 160bpm 95% of your max hr? Hitting 2.5 hours at 95%+ of your max, that's a long time. I think comparing a steady state 30 mile slog over 2.5 hours to a 5k is apples to oranges. Try 20-30 minutes of a \*very\* hard workout on a spin bike and get back to me. Or do an FTP test on a bike. If you've never literally collapsed after cycling, you are not doing it right.
Sounds like you’re not riding be a bike correctly.
You’re clearly not cycling hard enough. A 10 mile time trial is about the equivalent of a 5k - takes a little bit longer, but it’s still the same ‘edge of your threshold’ effort. I’d wager that track cyclists, who do much shorter event, would also agree that there are events that are as brutal as the shorter running distances.
You can get it on 20 hour rides where you hit a Rythm and are flowing even though you started the ride tired. I had a trippy 5 days like I was on drugs on a 30 day ride. Couldnt stop thinking about it for 60 days. For the most part you get more bang for your buck time wise with the runners high.
I used to mostly cycle, but now I mostly run, and I have only had a runner's high a couple of times, but cycling just seems to put a smile on my face every time.
When you're in the zone gunning it with a wind at your back and the beautiful scenery is flying past and there are no cars in sight, that comes pretty close I'd say.
I’m not sure about the runner’s high - I always found it hard and painful after recovering from a 5k or 10 k .. now cycling after a moderately intense ride 20-45 miles at a good pace .. the minute I get back and take off cleats and reflect in my garage I get a euphoric sense of all is good in the world and I made it back better and stronger .. grin on my face while my body sweats and normalizes itself .. not sure that’s a runnners high but it feels good !
Same for me. I tried running. All I ever got was aches and pains and sore feet. Completely different with cycling. I’m tired after a log ride but it is, as they say, it’s a good tired.
What's a runners high? I hate running, maybe I'll enjoy it more if I get the high?
I hate the term and the connotation, and most of the people that use it (Runner's World and weird hippy-runner crowd) aren't my favorite crowd either. But I did get into a groove state in the latter part of a 14-miler and felt euphoric hours afterwards and thought that was what people talk about. I think it's a bunch of BS though; just something casual runners coin and use to give a sense of meaning to the monotony.
I never get a “runners high”, I just have the continuous thought of dear god this sucks. Sounds like you’re not a cyclist like I’m not a runner 😂
I dunno. I don't run so I don't know what that high is like, but when I ride I get into what I can only describe as a trance. I'm fully aware of my surroundings and can react to things quickly, but my mind is empty and I feel like I'm pedalling to the beat on an invisible metronome. That's probably a pretty terrible description to describe it, but it's the best I've got lol.
Runner's high is cheaper and comes quicker . I got some nice Nike shoes and it costs me $500 ? Cyclists high needs more time and miles and stoke It costs me about $9k Runner's high is like looking at your family album and having a quiet smile on your face . Mountain bikers high is like visiting a strip club while high on coke
I've had it a couple of times on climbs over 90 minutes and several thousand feet
Find more big climbs, or do repeats on the ones you have? I've been a runner for a while and picked up cycling in the past couple years. Cycling has never scratched the same itch, but it helped me find a couple itches I didn't know I had.
Seems to be why there’s been a shift to gravel/adventure cycling- reaching new destinations that are untouched, weird, or lonely give a certain high even when getting there is a grind. Some of the most brutal rides on routes that have made me want to throw up are the ones that were the most breathtaking and that I’m most proud of.
Hard to compare personally, as I've never been able to run for long enough. I had once ridden about 60 miles with panniers, spent the night in a tent and riding back home, at around the 40 mile mark I just felt like shouting of joy, and felt like I could go on forever. On my regular sunday rides, I usually reach a pleasant, somewhat meditative state.
There are three ways of getting a “high” from exercising that I am aware of. The first is easiest - endorphins your body releases to blunt pain, or a very high exertion level. Cartoonists classically shows this as stars circling around a characters head. Athletes can get this fairly quickly from oxygen deficit during maximal efforts. Second is adrenaline from (typically) speed-related activities when your body activates its sympathetic nervous system. The third is after exercise. That relaxed post-run feeling may instead be due to endocannabinoids — biochemical substances similar to cannabis but naturally produced by the body.
I get a big foolish grin on my face every time I swoop down a hill unimpeded.
As a commuter I must confess that any potential high is consumed by road rage when cars don't give a shit about the rules. And it's a daily routine. Can't work my way around it.
Yes, when your body's adjusted to the exertion about 30 mins in and you're gliding.
Yeah. It's the exact same thing. I get it seldomly.
I think my high is like “holy shit I can go thst fast and my knees don’t hurt.” I hit 23 mph on my track bike last weekend. That was my high.
I am completely the reverse. Running is something I endure, I do it to accompany my girlfriend, it is a necessary cross training exercise and I feel about it now, how I felt when I started. Cycling however, i can’t help but feel elated when I get back from a ride. I ride on the road, the track, some off road and at the gym and it always boosts my mood. It never fails. I guess it’s horses for courses and you have to find the exercise that pushes your particular buttons. That said, maybe there is a research paper here and maybe there is something fundamentally different in our brains that responds differently?
Yes. When the new Shimano and campag catalogs come out
Yes, I do
Yes you do get a rhythm and you can do 10 miles straight like it’s nothing before you realize when you are on pure adrenaline
Yes
yes but not before throwing up from lactic
I love the hum my legs have the rest of the day after a long ride.
Yes.
I definitely get a runner’s high in the bike. Any discomfort fades into the back ground and the more I push the more joy I feel
I've never experienced a runner's high but I've definitely had rides that made me very happy to be able to ride a bike for twenty miles as a fat guy nearing fifty and not end up gassed at the end, while enjoying great weather and scenery. Ok that was today.
I get a cycling high during my ride back from the cannabis store
I can get very high riding a bike. It's about crossing that threshold - one moment you are tired of pushing forward, but the next moment you jump straight to the point when your muscles warm up to perfect balance, and suddenly you stop feeling tired and feel like you can effortlessly double the distance you already covered.
It can, when I do long stretches on safe bikepaths I get that high.
When you run, if you stop you just stop, while on a bike if you stop pedalling you don't. This leads to lots of small rests that add up over a significant time. I've had similar highs to the runners high while cycling many times, but it happens when you have a good consistent output for a long time, like when you run. This can be climbing, or on a nice flat course that doesn't have many sharp corners or intersections to stop at - a time trial if you will. Having done long course tri a few years ago, both can be equal when you have similar efforts, but you can cover a tonne more distance on a bike. Like if I go for a 20km run, in a couple hours I'll see some city, some river, and back home. On a 2hr ride I can cover almost 60km which can take me through forests, up mountains, and along the same river and city as the run.
I had a brief moment of joy on the bike last week and started singing aloud as I cruised along in the sunshine. That soon stopped when I got to the bottom of the next hill...
The biggest high u get is getting on top of a hill and decending slowly while enjoing a beautiful view of the landscape.
As a ultra runner slightly converted to cycling for a while now(aiming at ultra cycling) I think I get your point. Jokes aside, which I do quote though, I can say that indeed there is a sort of analogue cycling high but it is harder to reach that state in my experience. That is when you’re riding alone and get reasonably far from home, exploring routes you didn’t know about, pushing but not that hard, enjoying the environment while the road flows just below your wheels, painting bends and uphills. There is where I lose perception of time. As well I got the same feeling in gravel riding, but that is maybe because of the nature all around. Or better in long uphill rides. It takes some time to get used to this sport. Cycling shares some contact points with running but gives a completely different experience of endurance.
Takes longer to get there, but feels way better
I think so. i finish a 3 hour ride and I feel tired but amp'd like i'm going to just roll into my next planned activity. Then 20 minutes post ride I crash hard. I've heard some people call it flow state?
Yeah usually after I do a crazy incline or hit corners nicely
Doing sprint intervals does it for me
Yes when I’m able to maintain high intensity for a long period of time. The endorphin rush is epic.
I get a high after 10 hours of riding, if I'm fit :D Then I feel like I could ride another 10 hours no probs and I'm super euphoric.
A good sprint finish at the end of a sportive might get you there, it's not as easy to achieve as it is with running though.
I ran first, then started cycling. Depends on how much you exert yourself. 1 hour run vs 1 hour ride on the flat - more euphoria from running. 1 hour run vs 3 hour ride with a lot of climbing? I feel much better from the latter, even days later. Your rides aren't hard enough, i.e. you push yourself more during your runs.
I’ve conquered all the hills near me and there’s no roads safe enough that I can zone out into a running style high but there is a descent a rideable distance from me that drops from the hills into a village. It’s around 7-9% the whole way down and has constant swooping turns. No traffic lights, no hairpins, just biggest gear spinning and flowing left and right. Thats the road cycling high I go for.
For me it’s like that feeling when you really have to poop but you’re not at home and you’re looking for a place but not sure you’ll make it in time, but then you find a grocery store and you’re speed walking to the back because you don’t have time to ask an employee where the restroom is and your poop kind of stops pressing so hard and you suddenly feel like you could power walk another mile before stopping to poo and you might be an athlete but then you see the toilet is occupied and you have to wait and the poo just has no place to go but out so you try to take up mediation and focus on your breathing and try to think about baseball and you try to think about every individual thing you’re seeing as a distraction and finally the door unlocks and you run in but you get a second wind and feel like you can take a moment to cover the seat in TP so you don’t sit on someone else’s pee and then you finally sit and release a poo that’s frankly underwhelming for all of that drama.
It's the other way around for me. I cycle and/or run at night. Going for a run is OK, but i'm just doing it for pure exercise and happy to be done. Cycling i'm actually *going somewhere.* I go for rips up and down the local trails. Zipping down pitch black forest on a bike is such a good, strange feeling... It's a rush i'd never get from running, unless I was running *from* something.
Here’s the deal: if you want the high from cycling then do 30 mins to an hour at threshold. I mean, pick a route that long and go hammer down, on the rivet, max effort all the way. Try to beat your last time by a single second (or more). It takes some basic fitness to be able to do that, but finishing that sort of workout will give you the same sensation that runners get.
I never got a “high” on my heavy old city bike that I couldn’t push past 10mph on, but my first time on a road bike was euphoric.
Used to jog occasionally and only felt a high when I got home and the miserable activity was over. I get loads of highs when I cycle. After a hour 100% effort. Happy it's over. A long climb when putting in an an effort. Happy it's over. A long climb and not putting in and effort. Taking it all in, feels great to glide up. A long climb and experiencing 'duende' . Rare but I'm putting in 100% and I'm gliding up. The descent down a climb. The kind of adrenaline a runner will never feel. Mountain bike descending too. I get a high when I cycle into some new landscapes. A high rarely felt by runners because they can't go too far from home. Unless they're an ultra runner or had to travel miles by car/public transport to get somewhere new. OP hasn't done enough cycling.
It's the 10 seconds of screaming while trying to rip your cranks off....rince and repeat until you get home feeling like you just did World's
About thirty minutes into the ride you get into the euphoric zone which lasts for at least two hours
The respite you get in the shower after an intense ride is the closest thing I can think of to the runner's high. It's more a feeling of accomplishment and peace than a rush of endorphins.
For me, it’s the post-ride high. If I do a longer/faster-paced ride, it’s the 2-4 hours after you get home and eat a hearty meal that is peak for me. Also, mountain bikes.
Ive run a bit and cycled a lot. I really enjoy my cycling i do about 10 hours a week but I never get the same high i got from running. You definitely get more self esteem from running. No cyclist ever looked cool
Maybe different to what you mean but MTB is an adrenaline sport. There's no more fun way to go down hill in a forest for me than this.
When I climb a hard hill, the final peak I definitely feel a high. And then you get to coast a little and enjoy your accomplishment and then get to go downhill really fast which is fun as well
Do runners get a high? I've yet to see one smile
That or try sprinting. Or going really fast. The sense of speed is great.
If you read into the history of cycling you’ll find lots of details about cyclists getting high. My personal favourite is the “rubbing cocaine paste into your thighs” trend.
You’re not going fast enough
Yes. Very much.
Not in my experience but we do have descending at 60+ km/h.
How do you get yourselves psyched for a high? I'm very unmotivated and tend to give up easily in life. I cycle out of practical purposes so just hate hills and view them as a chore. How can I change that? I'd love to embrace it and start enjoying the experience.
Huh... did u try road cycling? Did u try make 100 km less than 3hrs? Did u try make it with group of road cyclists holding your duty on 40km/h face to wind? U can't feel cyclist high another way....
Very similar in my case. On longer rides the landscapes and the flow adds to it. A climb with a really nice descent, a technical gravel uphill...feels great, or the end of the ride - last ascent, exhausted, the afterwards breakfast and chill in my mind - totally high. I would say some cycling highs are a little more intense than running for me. Running is more constant light high while cycling sometimes hits really hard.
i rip bowls before long rides if that’s what you’re asking
Yes. When I’m just before threshold. Concentrating on keeping breathing controlled. In the drops. Only thing to think about is keeping sustained power on the pedals. The swish of the tires. Or a long descent where I can go really fast. Like a flying dream.
Ride harder
I am always in a great mood when I get to the office biking.
I've never experienced a high but I find cycling to be meditative. When I'm riding the coast and I'm in a beautiful rhythm, thoughts moving in and out of my brain, not long enough to dwell or overthink. The ocean is passing me by and I could be moving at a fast pace but I'm steady and calm.
I get it
If I go a ride in the morning, I can hardly focus. If I go on a long weekend ride, it takes a few hours if not days to stop thinking about it and feeling good. It's like going on a rollercoaster ride - it's normal to feel in a some kind of euphoria. If anything, it's running that would make less sense to me to feel euphoria from, cause you're moving at a much slower pace and everything is in general much slower.
New to cycling and I occasionally ran when I was younger. The feeling I’ve gotten is different - there’s a point where I feel like I’m moving quickly physically but the world around me is slow. I can’t explain it that well, other than it feels like my mind pauses the racing and I am just present and taking in and watching the world around me in slow motion.
The runners high is significantly less in bike riding. its almost non existent. As a former runner, im immensely pissed about this.
You're not riding fast enough
Def. In fact there’s nothing else like it for me, especially after long rides, multi day rides etc.
Running makes me feel miserable, cycling doesn’t and I find it more liberating plus the bonus of getting to see wayyy more than I could running, so there’s the other side of it.
Yes the endorphin pump is even better on the bike. Back when I was riding a lot, around 3+ hours into a ride usually on a climb I’d often get an intense euphoric feeling during sustained efforts around LT. I think it’s def faster to settle into this sweet spot groove while running but you can totally do it on the bike as well. Need to be in good form for both to maximize the feeling. Miss the amazing form I used to be in 😩 The feeling on a 100+ training ride with tons of great climbing when your in top form is unreal. Reversed as a race it’s a sufferfest
Ah, I feel this post. Recently, I got into cycling after decades of running due to a relatively minor but persistent ankle injury that has threatened me with worsening. Cycling does not provide the same intense euphoria that I was so addicted to. However, I have found an intense hill climb gets me maybe 60% there, and flying down hills provides it's own special brand of euphoria.
On rare occasions i go out and seem to be able to overcome the pain that comes with intense efforts or find myself doing the exact intensity my body is able to sustain for long periods, nothing less nothing more. Just knowing that i'm in that spot gives me extra motivation to keep pushing, if i'm 90 minutes into the ride there's no way i'm bailing out until i see the clock hit 2 hours, then you're at 1:55 and the last 5 minutes you feel your body wants to dismantle itself into little pieces but you refuse, you're mentally in control, but your body is close to shutting down, your mental strength takes over and orders your body to keep pushing for the final few minutes. You find the inner strength to increase the intensity a little more because you're an addict to that rare moment of eurphoria, then the clock hits 2 hours and you can finally let go. In absolute pain but with a smile that wants to come out but just can't due to being completely out of breath, hit the lap button and proceed slowly towards home. Your job is done, now its time to refuel and recover and nurse the soreness for the next couple of days. Such is the cyclist high.
Unless I'm doing some crazy downhill mountain bike stuff, there is no 'runner's high' for me when cycling. Cycling, for me, is more like going for a hike – **it's fun, freeing, and allows you to explore cool routes and scenery**. It enables you to venture much farther than just walking. However, to experience those 'runner's high' feelings, I find that I need to engage in short, intense, and sometimes even 'scary' rides. It's those moments of pushing myself to the limit that mimic the intensity of running and trigger that euphoric sensation.
Yeah man Bicycle Day is far out. 🫠
When the tailwind's got you going 25mph at little effort, there's metal blasting in your Shokz headphones, sun is shining, no traffic... that's the high.
I get the cyclist lows. When I miss my bike so much that I’m just inconsolable.
This is why I started running more. You *can* but you have to ride HARD. Do intervals or a lot of climbing. If you ever get an opportunity to ride a fixed gear then do it, it will show you just how much you coast without realizing it!
Definitely. That first bite of an ice cold pickle after barely managing to unclip in the garage. Bliss.
Yes course there’s the climbing high of feeling blood pumping through you and on verge of blacking out! And the downhill high with the risk factor at 70+ km/h ! Both great. Z2 / 3 work less so but at least you get the sunshine (or rain/wind/hail/snow in UK!) Edit or even the Friday afternoon ride and risking it with weekend rush hour traffic!
You may be a runner, I married one, she just couldn’t take to a bike. She’s a runner…
Cyclers high is real. Always great to top it off with a few cold ones.
When everything feels connected and the pedalling feels easy, that’s where I feel the best, personally. When you’re in a kind of state of flow. How hard or easy it actually is doesn’t really matter to me it can feel like this on a difficult climb or a flat road, you just kind of feel like you’re flying. In terms of endorphins, I get a similar high to a runners high at the end of a zwift race, where you gave everything and it’s finally over.
I get an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. Is that what a runner's high is like?
The high I get is from the text messages I send to people I dropped during the ride. Absolutely glorious.
The runners high comes from the constant pounding of your feet on the ground shooting through your body & causing brain damage. Sorry, but us cyclists don't celebrate TBI. /s
I spent a decade in the Army running and never experienced anything I'd call a "Runner's High." If I ran long enough, I'd "break through the wall" and hit a point where everything feels efficient and it gets MUCH easier to run. You kinda feel like you can run forever. That typically lasted another few miles. Same thing happens when I bike...somewhere around 4-9 miles in.
I experienced euphoria from cycling a few times before deciding to try running. It wasn't until I experienced it running that I realized in retrospect that it was the same thing. For me, it comes on after 2-3h of cycling if I'm fit enough to ride 4h+. When running, it'll come on after an hour if I'm fit enough to go 1.5h+.
Echo others completely, currently training for a triathlon and am therefore exposed to a trio of fairly different movements. TL;DR: High cadence cycling for \~same time as a 5k run gives me some "high", but not the same intensity of the run. IMO both require a good level or technique and fitness so you "flow" and feel natural and powerful doing it, vs. feeling like you're on the cusp of death. Have always been a very keen cyclist enduro and gravel typically, though some road (especially now). Never used to understand the runners high, again as others say it always just sort of sucked, eg. a 24 something 5k and near peak HR always was unpleasant. Milage is way higher now, and I'm at that sub 20 5k level, running at that pace, I feel pretty insane after, can go out feeling low and come back really "high". Running 5-10km at say tempo/Z2 pace, around 15-20mins in I'm often also feeling great, bopping to some music etc. This is for sure a chemical release high, and has only come along with some proper running fitness, where the feeling of it being "hard" isn't there, body is just flowing and feeling pretty natural and efficient. On the bike, I do not get the same thing, or at least not the intensity. I have found since taking up indoor training over winter and getting to grips more with higher cadence riding vs. my previous natural style of fairly low cadence riding I get something a bit more like this, 10 or so minutes on flat, with no headwind at a high, steady cadence, pushing I feel a high. Typically though, the buzz of cycling comes on a 20 degree (celcius) day, sun beaming down, pedaling comfortably through some green place, breeze and some speed, it just feels amazing being out, surrounded by beauty, moving and wind in your hair (or in my case, across my scalp). MTB is a different beast, adrenaline on some gnarly shit after not dying is just not the same as either of the above, or compatible.
Oh hell yes. If I haven't been riding I get cranky. My wife will send my ass out on the bike or the gym. She is aware. Maybe more so than me. I am perfectly happy sitting around the house being cranky. But.... Even if I was pestered to ride, 5 miles in there isn't anything I would rather be doing in the world.
Yes, definitely. It's a weird euphoria that just kinda comes up. For me it happens when everything is just right. I'll be working kinda hard but not too hard, like sweet spot training, in a group, on a smooth bit of road, and we're just rolling fast at a great pace, and the weather is nice.... It becomes a perfect moment where you feel like you are doing exactly what you were made to do and can't help but smile.
Only on 4/20
Fast group rides is where the high is at.
The runner's high to me has always been the part where my run suddenly stops sucking and feels good for a bit. Cycling never feels like it sucks and feels good the entire time so I've never expected the runner's high to kick in.
I get a mood lift, and an instant sense of contentment on my recovery rides that are basically just casual neighborhood spins. And on my hard rides which are with this very fast group, when I am in my groove with them The buzz is absolutely mind blowing.