Catch the right wave when surfing and you feel what a Wired.com article calls an “unmistakable zoom.” But for every right wave there are dozens of wrong ones.

During a segment of his sports talk show, “The Herd,” Colin Cowherd recently shared that he’s watched highly skilled surfers wait 30 minutes for a real whopper. Catching one, however, seems to be well worth the wait.

According to Wired.com, it’s “one of the most exhilarating feelings to be had on Earth.”

Now I’m not a surfer, so I can’t say this is true. I am a bike rider who also lifts weights.

But I can say for sure that riding hard, getting into a good rhythm, giving all I got to get up a hellacious hill and then screaming down the other side at 50 miles per hour exhilarates me. Same for when I’m squatting in the weight room and believe I’m about to crash to the ground, but I scream and strain and somehow complete that rep.

Your exercise can produce “exhilarating feelings” as well. Just do with your thoughts what surfers do with waves.

Let the bad ones pass. Wait for the right one, focus on it, and get zoom from it.

It works. I know.

Because of my age, the aftereffects of injuries, and sometimes the workout I did the day before, I often begin my day by teetering to the bathroom like an impaired old man whose cane’s been stolen. As I brush my teeth, I sometimes think about the ride or the lift I’ve planned for that day.

More and more frequently, my next thought is “No way.”

During a weekend and these recent work-from-home weekdays, I usually spend three hours on the computer before exercising. If I forget to stop and walk around every 30 minutes or so, my god, do I ever ache.

The belated walk leads to more than another cup of coffee. It leads me to once again think: “No way.”

But I recognize that as a bad thought and replace it by remembering of one of the most demanding workouts I’ve done since I fractured my left femur four months ago. Then I smile, savor that next sip of half-caff, and feel more hopeful when I recall that before most of those I thought, “No way,” as well.

So when no-way thoughts persist as you prepare to exercise, do as I do. Recognize them as bad thoughts, consciously replace them with a good one, and focus on it.

Don’t panic, though, if you don’t immediately feel a zoom as you warmup. I didn’t, for instance, on the Saturday I started this article.

But there were good reasons why.

In the eight days before, I had ridden six times and averaged three hours per ride. On one of the two weightlifting days, I did leg and abs exercises for two hours.

As a result, my legs ached, particularly near the top screws running through the rods attached to both my femurs.

I wondered if riding as hard and as long as I had planned to actually might be counterproductive. To add a bit of mental malaise, a steady, chilly rain meant I’d spend at least three hours riding (my minimum for a Saturday) while staring at a wall.

As I warmed up on the wind trainer, another bad thought entered my mind: that I would have to junk the article I just started unless its advice allowed me to ride really well right now.

So I searched for a good thought to give me some juice and remembered something I had read two days before about ultra-distance cyclist Lon Haldeman, who was so good that he won the RAAM, the Race Across America, twice.

To build strength and power in his legs, Haldeman would ride for an hour or more indoors in a monster gear - without a seat on the bike.

Suddenly, I was no longer thinking about how fried my legs felt. I wanted to know for how long could I be as hardcore as Haldeman - even though I knew my left leg was still less than 100 percent.

The answer: nearly 34 minutes, the length of the six Bruce Springsteen songs on my archaic iPod shuffle.

The demand it placed on my body and mind was certainly taxing and reminded me of the time I walked up and down the stairs of a parking garage for 45 minutes wearing a weighted vest.

But it certainly created zoom.

After I pedaled easily for a while, I stood and mashed that same monster gear as I listened to those same Springsteen songs. (“Jungleland” seems to never end when you’re maxed out, by the way.) By the end of the second go-round, I was exhausted - and exhilarated.

Bear in mind, my friend, that constantly feeding your mind good thoughts is akin to chowing down on complex carbohydrates. Either provides a steady source of energy for any sort of activity throughout the day.