A solid kick to the cortex. The heart races, the lungs pull, legs suddenly have power to burn. That old fight or flight juice blasts into the system, and it’s goood!
Well, that’s one way to look at it. But the body produces adrenaline for a reason. Fear and anger release the hormone, and the body responds by amping up all of the physical responses. This can be a lifesaver, or it can be a major problem.
Stress is actually a repeated adrenaline response. Daily stresses (fear and anger again) on the job, in the home, on the highway, keep stimulating that response, but we don’t have anything to fight, or anything to run from. Keep this up, and bad things start to happen.
But there’s a fun side to adrenaline.
You’ve been riding for a long time. There have been some ups and downs. You’re warmed up, a little bit fatigued, but moving well. You hit the hill. You power up the bike and hold, just at your anaerobic threshold. The hill becomes a grind, and you start laboring. You manage to stay just barely on the right side of anaerobia, and then the climb breaks. Your legs are screaming, but you upshift. And as soon as the road softens just a little bit more, you give it two more gears. Keep the power on. Keep the pressure on.
Your field of view narrows, and tunnels, but you stay with it, and, as you tip over the top of the hill, transition to the descent, you tuck in tight!
The wind picks up, and then starts roaring in your ears. The bike has that tight, packed up feeling it gets above 35 miles per hour. You check the road behind you, and set up to apex the wicked tight turn at the bottom. You know you’re going faster than you ever have into this particular turn. You drop the outside crank and push down on the bike as it leans way over. And…
You shoot through the turn, tired just barely hanging on. You are alive!
That’s adrenaline. One person’s fear and chaos, another’s fun and candy.
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