This may sound strange, but I often envision riding a bike as dancing. Perhaps it has to do with listening to music while riding. As a teen, I would ride with a radio on a touring handlebar basket. It wasn't really a basket, but a boxy, red cordura thing, very technical at the time, with a vinyl sleeve on top for maps. I would flip the top back and position a large transistor radio for optimal listening on long rides. I had gotten the idea that pedal stroke was key to quality riding and the music made for a smooth, fast cadence. Incredibly, I'm still concerned with my pedal stroke, but now I have an iPod.
On the road, it's mostly about cadence and I'm drawn to latin music. I think it has to do with latin dance beats or the precision I associate with latin dances. But I'm not ready to rule out a subconscious conflation of Spanish climbers and Phil Liggett's description of "dancing on the pedals". In any case, I don't have enough latin music to fill a typical road workout, so I fall back on music with groove. M,M&W, Galactic, Fatboy Slim and the Stone Roses all have groove. The trainer lead to an uncharacteristic taste for electronic/dance, such as The Chemical Brothers, BT, Moog Cookbook, and Moby. I guess the regularity of electronic lends itself to the tedium of the trainer. On the trails, I've been digging funky, jazzy stuff, like Robert Walter, Diplo, Flow Dynamics or Deela.
On the road and trainer, music provides a groove; it's all about forward momentum. The trail is where riding really feels like dance. There's more manipulation of the bike and more interaction with the trail. The lifting, leaning, balance and rhythm combine to become a very personal interpretation of how to negotiate each section. The dance is maintaining balance and rhythm while committing to various lifts, leans and turns. I guess real dancing would be riding on a level field and using music to dictate the rhythm, leans and lifts. In my mind, the terrain is the music. The iPod mostly provides audible adrenalin.
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