Southern California - Are you viewed as a SERIOUS RIDER to your friends?

I was talking to some guy that brought up cycling, not me for once. He was going on and on about his riding. I asked about his bike. He's more into MTB right now but said he used to roadbike more. I was listening to his stories then he said, "I got pretty serious about the time I did the Rosarito ride". Then he asked if I had ever done it. I mentioned I had a few times. Then he went on about doing the ride but having to walk up the hill cause it was too much for him, too tough. I said, "Yup, that's a tough hill".

After his stories I began to wonder what he would think about my riding or the others on this forum. Do you think we are serious riders? I've always hesitated to label myself as serious, more of a fun rec-rider.:)

If someone were to ask your mother if you were still riding bikes, would the answer be, "yeah, Johnny is a real serious rider now"?...OK, so your name isn't Johnny, youknow what I mean!:D

By your friends! Dam my grammar and proof reading sucks!:P

My local friends don't think I'm serious. But then again, they are always training for the next Ironman, Xterra or Ultraman.

My non-cycling/non-tri friends don't think I'm serious, either. They think I'm insane.

The spectrum is very very wide. Most of us here are "serious" in that we are making a conscious effort to get faster/go further/ climb better at least to some degree. When I talk to some family and friends about the rides I go on they think I am a superhero, whereas in the food chain of cycling I am somewhere between pond scum and slime mold. But no, I wouldn't label myself as a "serious cyclist". A recreational/fitness rider sounds more like it.

Yep. When my non-cyclist friends asked, 30 miles normally won't trigger much reaction. The 3 hours it takes (total time including breaks), will normally trigger a "wow!". 100 miles/7-8 hrs are crazy stuff.

However, I think their impression is based on extrapolating a normal 1 hour gym session into 3-7 hours, which I think is an overestimate of the effort needed to ride outdoors.

Serious? No. As stated by Happytime, crazy? Yes. :lol: Well, most of them anyways. Only my sister's husband thinks i'm relatively serious since he's quite the cyclist himself.

One day one of my co-workers with a shocked expression on her face thought I was seriously insane for riding my bike SIX MILES to work. :p

Ironically, so serious I don't have any friends.

I'm considered hardcore by my friends and family. But they realize that I get many needs met from this sport, not just physical ones, so they are very supportive. Every once in a while, I'll have a friend or loved one get impatient with my "need" to ride. But overall, they get it.

Depends on which friends you talk to. My cycling friends know that I'm a wuss...my non-cycling friends think I'm a superwoman...

My mom just thinks I have too many old bikes...;)

The spectrum is very very wide. Most of us here are "serious" in that we are making a conscious effort to get faster/go further/ climb better at least to some degree. When I talk to some family and friends about the rides I go on they think I am a superhero, whereas in the food chain of cycling I am somewhere between pond scum and slime mold. But no, I wouldn't label myself as a "serious cyclist". A recreational/fitness rider sounds more like it.

Pretty much what he said.

Joy considers me a poser.

Joy considers me a poser.

Only because you call yourself one. :)

As Indo implied, it's a very relative term... but I think the most useful way to look at it is "what would the general public think?" And in that regard, everyone here is a serious cyclist. At the very least, it is a hobby that you (everyone here, that I know of) takes seriously and puts enough thought/effort into to be labeld serious by the general public. Just my take.

Joy considers me a poser.

You say that like it's a bad thing. :)

The spectrum is very very wide. Most of us here are "serious" in that we are making a conscious effort to get faster/go further/ climb better at least to some degree. When I talk to some family and friends about the rides I go on they think I am a superhero, whereas in the food chain of cycling I am somewhere between pond scum and slime mold. But no, I wouldn't label myself as a "serious cyclist". A recreational/fitness rider sounds more like it.

+100

But if you are between pond scum and slime mode....I dont even want to think where that leaves me...

Edit: Peloton poop!

What I dont like are the LBS' that call me a weekend warrior...I think we are all a bit more serious than that!!

You say that like it's a bad thing. :)


Well, I guess since I actually spend more time riding than posing on most rides I do, I shouldn't feel bad about it...:D

I think everyone in here is hardcore. Anyone who spends 4 hours a day in bikeforum has to be hardcore ... oh wait ... I'm describing myself ... even though I struggle to keep up with everyone ...

:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:

Most of my friends don't ride at all, so I had to find some new internet friends that did. The former group thinks I'm serious.

My non-cycling/non-tri friends don't think I'm serious, either. They think I'm insane.

My non-cycling/non-outdoorsy friends think I'm insane too.

Them: "You biked all the way here? Are you crazyyyyyyyyyy?"

And it could be a short distance of less than 2 miles. No need for me to drive a measly 2 miles to meet up with friends for dinner.

Then if I tell them I do ride 25+ miles, some of them look as if they are about to experience a heart attack.

I don't consider myself a "serious rider"...it's not like I train constantly or enter races every week nor am I going to limit my food choices or not pig out now and then...lol. Then again I have nothing to prove to anybody nor have the need/desire to brag about anything. Burn out too quickly if one has to live up to all of that and have seen too many develop a "sore loser" attitude...not very fun to be around those types. Do I have or set any personal goals? Well that depends on the day...lol. Just call me a commuter/rec cyclist that likes to have fun while getting exercise and saving some coins.

I consider myself a serious recreational rider.
Others probably consider me nuts...

Friends I know that don't ride are always in awe at my statement "went on a quick 30 mile ride".
or, "did a 3 hour MTB ride".
I tend to forget that when I started riding, 4 miles would kick my ass.
I know a few that have bought bikes because I like to ride, and one friend purchased
a bike as a direct result of me sending him the "weight loss" thread.

I only wish I had more time to get out.

When I talk to some family and friends about the rides I go on they think I am a superhero...

So which is it, Slacker Man, or Silver Slacker? :)

So which is it, Slacker Man, or Silver Slacker? :)

I think it's Silver Slacks

My friends and family started calling me serious once I had the word SHIMANO tatooed onto the back of my neck.

I consider myself a serious poser.

I have no friends, except for my wife... she thinks I'm nuts! "Why did you ride all the way to the mountains, and then to the top of the mountain, just to ride back home!?!?!?" she said, "You're nuts!!"

The non cyclist friends starts with "Wow... amazing... you are crazy" but a week later, they accelerate and ask "So, when I am going to see you on TV in the Tour De France"
People that I chat about cycling (I actually only talk about it....) soon asks "R U going to do RAAM next year?"
So, the 'general public' don't get it from both sides; from the 2 miles to the RAAM in one week.
I consider this hobby/sport very serious just in comparison with the time I invest in it. For example, I am a scuba diver that purchase over the years all the equipment, but I maybe dive 2 times a year now, and in its best I did 20 times a year. Cycling I do 5 days a week (or 20 times a month)

I consider myself a serious recreational rider. A lot of my friends are into fishing just as much as I'm into biking. But there's a slight difference... a vow I shared with my mom. After a friend of a friend died in last December (killed by a car), I had to do a double check on my hobby.

I vowed that should I happen to die while riding, whether falling of a cliff, being torn apart by a mountain lion, or plowed over by a car, that I want my family and friends to accept the fact that I was doing what I love to do with friends who share the same passion in my last moments of my life.

I went on to ask myself the question, "Does that make me selfish?" Am I so selfish about my own desires that I would risk leaving behind a family and friends to pursue my own happiness? I don't think so. We all die. But not all of us die with passion in our heart at the moment of death.

So yeah, I'd say I take the sport pretty seriously.

---mark

I don't have any friends who have bicycles, so they all think I'm way past serious - a little bit on the crazy side. To a real cyclist, I'm no more than a dabbler.

My friends know I'm seriously obsessed with cycling. When I'm not biking, I'm thinking about biking

Just putting on biker shorts and riding more than 20 miles in one day makes me a serious rider to my friends and co-workers.

Same her Shprung! I've had friends seriously as me if I might be in the TDF!:D

I don't tell my friends what I do. I'm more interested in what they're doing, and they're human, which means they're so self-involved that they don't ask about me.

/to be honest, I reveal more about myself HERE than I do to friends...probably because it's somewhat anonymous.

My non-biking friends and family think that I am crazy, and anyone that rides a bike considers me on the lazy side of average.

My non-biking friends and family think that I am crazy, and anyone that rides a bike considers me on the lazy side of average.

Don't be so hard on yourself. You are on the average side of lazy.

what are friends?

That's a funny question Beanz!

You know me, I'm not serious about my cycling at all! It's just for fun, but maybe there can be "serious fun," I don't know . . .

This is particularly true of double centuries, which I ride for adventure/fun (but not serious adventure!). I know that after 6 crashes last year, I am "serious" about trying to ride within my abilities and not cross over into the high-risk zone (as often!). Still crash-less in 2007!

My friends are (almost) all cyclists too, so they know a double century is no biggie :) and aren't impressed! Which is fine with me! My kids grew up with my long-distance events, so they don't think my cycling is crazy. My grand-kids don't get it yet, so no worries there (eventually, though, they will try to understand what Grand Pa is doing out there on his bike).

Rick / OCRR

Define "serious."

Serious = riding a lot?

Serious = riding hard?

Serious = racing?

Or is "serious" simply in comparison to someone else? Compared to my boyfriend, who doesn't ride at all, I'm "serious." Compared to Canadian National Champion Travis Smith, I'm a dilettante.

I would define "serious" as meaning, "takes cycling seriously" -- seriously enough to conform my life around my racing and training, and to sacrifice other things in favor of it, and to ride with all my might and with 188% passion whenever I get on a bike, seriously enough to spend more than a little money on clothing, tools, bike repairs, gear, bicycles, race entry fees, etc., to fly 3,000 miles to do 2 lousy little races, and to spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about it, talking about it, and daydreaming about it.

Of course, if you define "serious" as "good at it," well, that's another story. No high end, no long distance endurance (and probably nothing in between, either, for that matter). Just that I love it. If serious = passion, then I guess I'd be labelled serious.

vp

I do it all for fun, no races or anything; simply all recreational, even if it is a 2day 180mile ride, or a "long way home" 30mile detour.

My friends are used to it, and 3 of them join in with the weekly rides. My girl will do 12milers with me and not be sore, or tired, but thinks I'm crazy for some of the distances I've done.... I just need to open her mind to what she can do. ;)

Dunno what the people at work think. (I commute by bike most of the time)

what are friends?

Those are the bikers you drop on the big hills but will still talk to you when they catch up to you at Starbucks.

Starbucks?

My friends used to think I'm a nut.

Now, one of them just bought a bike and signed up for a 3 day 270 mile tour of the Natchez trace. Another one is shopping for bikes now. I'm going to make her sign up for the Team In Training Solvang season.

The rest still think I'm nuts.

Starbucks?

Yes, it is a location where slackers recieve a dose of performance enhancing liquid. You might know it as the shop with the green sign and bikes out front.

You might know it as the shop with the green sign and bikes out front.

You left out the patio. :D

Starbucks?

You know, I don't actually like Starbucks. Peet's is much better. That's were I buy all of my coffee beans for home consumption. Still, there is not a Peet's every two blocks in every direction everywhere so I am forced, forced, I tell you, to drink Starbucks sometimes on rides. I feel oppressed by market forces.

I don't think anyone takes me serious. As far as friends go the more I race my motorcycle and the more I train on my bike the less I seem to have, among other things like money and $ek$. Turns out my obsessive compulsive behavior is beginning to become a problem.

Define "serious."

Serious = riding a lot?

Serious = riding hard?

Serious = racing?

vp


I dunno, he said it, not me!:D:p

I don't think anyone takes me serious. As far as friends go the more I race my motorcycle and the more I train on my bike the less I seem to have, among other things like money and $ek$. Turns out my obsessive compulsive behavior is beginning to become a problem.

Hmmm... people on BF obsessive? Really?? :rolleyes::D

the less I seem to have, among other things like money and $ek$. Turns out my obsessive compulsive behavior is beginning to become a problem.

I understand that totally! One reason why I stopped taking Gina on GMR and 100 mile rides! We'd get home, take a shower, kick on the AC then lay down. Then I'd ask her, "how we gonna do this? Do I gotta kiss you first, hug you, or what?", not realizing she was already alseep!:o