“People like to travel: that is why the grass is greener over the
fence. We are walkers — our natural means of travel is to put one
foot in front of the other. The bicycle seduces our basic nature by
making walking exciting. It lets us take 10-foot strides at 160 paces
a minute. That's 20 miles an hour, instead of 4 or 5... It is not only
how fast you go — cars are faster and jet planes faster still. But
jet-plane travel is frustrating boredom — at least the car gives the
pictorial illusion of travel. Cycling does it all — you have the
complete satisfaction of arriving because your mind has chosen the
path and steered you over it; your eyes have seen it; your muscles
have felt it; your breathing, circulatory and digestive systems have
all done their natural functions better than ever, and every part of
your being knows you have traveled and arrived.”
—John Forester, Effective Cycling