and therein lies a large part of the appeal of soaring...

The writer of the following linked essay reflects on how biking in Manhatten is different from everything else that he does in his life. Substitute "soaring" for "cycling" and enjoy it.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com...r-and-cycling/

Excerpt from the essay:
Eventually we have to descend back to street level, rejoin the milling mass and take up our lives; you lock up your bike and become hostage to the hours again. But it’s at those moments that I become briefly conscious of what I actually am — a fleeting entity stripped of ego and history in an evanescent present, like a man running in frames of celluloid, his consciousness flickering from one instant to the next.