General Cycling Discussion - What kind of cyclist are you?

'Goose's thread made me wonder... how would you describe yourself as a cyclist... Interpret the categories in your own terms.

Eh, I ride to get places. What does that make me?

andy

I'm with you, Andy, I ride to get places.

As with other of Velocipedio's threads, the right answer will come clear after meditation... (VP, we be commuters, man.)

I said, "enthsiastic." Hardcore?

If I were young, single, no kids, etc., etc., etc....

I don't know, to me, hardcore means hard-focused, and I think that implies 1) a gifted cyclist, 2) the necessary discipline to develop that gift and 3) time to develop it.

I only fit one of those descriptions... ;)

I reluctantly voted "I like to get out and ride when the weather's nice, but I don't push it". I say reluctantly because I fancy myself a hardcore cyclist but in reality I am (right now) a weekend warrior. I have thoughts and dreams of doing much long distance touring if I ever get the time. :( :eek: :rolleyes: :) :D

I'm just a regular cyclist.

Riding my bike is my favorite form or transportation, recreation, and exercise.

I clicked on "I'm an enthusiastic sport or fitness cyclist" but maybe should have clicked Hardcore.
I don't ride for transport, only for fitness and health. So far this year my minimum length ride has been 42km/26miles.
So in other words, when I get on a bike I ride 40k+ or not at all. This is becoming a problem though,
as somedays I don't feel like it. So I won't ride at all.

It's like I've said before, I'm just bored with my current routes, but will be moving soon to a whole new bunch of roads.:D

CHEERS.

Mark

I voted enthusiastic. To me hardcore would be someone who actually races. I'm not good enough for that. But cycling is a major part of my life.

I think that enthusiastic sport and fitness rider should be two categories. I equate the enthusiastic sport as someone who rides much harder than a fitness rider --which is what I am. I don't see that riding 20 to 25 mph as any more satisfing than riding 15 to 20. Therefor I choze the "I don't push it category." But I do ride in all weather --except snow.

I ride my bicycle because I like to ride my bicycle; I ride my bicycle when I want to ride my bicycle, which is most of the time, because I like to ride my bicycle; I ride my bicycle even when my knees tell me that it isn't such a good idea to ride a bicycle...because I like to ride my bicycle; I ride my bicycle even when motorists let me know that it isn't such a good idea that I ride a bicycle and apparently get in their way...because I like to ride my bicycle; I ride my bicycle even if it is raining upside down...because I like to ride my bicycle.

I'm not hardcore; I just like to ride my bicycle...and I'm a little bit weird.

I'll ask joe to add commuters to the poll... I ain't no steenkin' moderator...

tough choices....
I'd like to believe that I'm an enthusiastic sport or fitness cyclist,
but I just can't say that honestly.
I ride weekly when time and weather allows,
and if not I'm on trainer minimum of 4 nights a week.
I kind of think sport etc. connotates a club rider.
Hardcore as licensed (UCI) rider who actually races
(I could get license, wouldn't mean much tho if I didn't use it)

Marty

Originally posted by velocipedio
I'll ask joe to add commuters to the poll... I ain't no steenkin' moderator...

Done, and would you like to be? :)

Tough choices, as there is lots of overlap.

I picked "enthusiastic sport and fitness...", but by some definitions it would be hardcore, but then again I put the bikes away in the winter, so....?

I also commute, and once the weather is reasonably warm, do that in all conditions and traffic, so is that a hardcore commuter?

...ah,I just like to ride my bike!:D

I commute to work.

I ride with a bunch of local guys - many who race (but not me) - a couple of times a week.

I ride long distance charity rides. (Thousands of km)

I guess that puts me in a few categories. I picked "Enthusiastic sport or fitness" even though I'm not as fit as I'd like to be.

I chose number two. But I really am (or will be soon again) a commuter as well. And I am also hardcore about cycling. Hmmm ... as someone said, indecision may or may not be my problem. :)

Not necessarily hardcore in the execution, but about the overall subject. Coming to this very late, I find that it has provided the perfect solution for many of my "twilight years" needs: something to keep me mentally (lots to learn) and physically (lots to tinker with) busy; a beneficial physical activity to keep me healthier; an inexpensive way to commute; a sport to follow through various media and in person; and a very satisfying way to spend my hours - riding through the countryside and enjoying the experience to the fullest.

In short, this is great stuff!

Cheers...Gary

I voted commuter because that's how I clock up the majority of my miles, but I use my bike for all sorts of things: a country ride with my wife, a grocery run, a ride for the sake of riding, riding to try and isolate the annoying squeak, riding to see people....

I'm a convert :D

Richard

I did'nt vote .. as I'm not sure on which one ! . I work as a bike mechanic .. so I talk bikes and work on bikes all day, for just about every bike I do work on I take for a 5 Km test ride afterwards .. ~10 bikes = 50 Km's per day x 5 days = 250 Km's a week . I get home, sometimes I go ride my own bike usually Mtn, maybe 30 Km's ( I live at the bottom of a mountain range) , after the ride , I'll shower , eat , and check out the BF.net for an hour or so... go to bed ..then do it over the next day ! :)

I ride to get where I'm going; I keep riding because I like it, because I like being fit, and because I notice I take better care of myself and am less stressed out on the days that I ride versus the days that I don't. I also ride so I can keep riding.

I might be considered hardcore by those who don't cycle a lot because I'm pretty stubborn about riding whatever the weather, and because I'm pretty adamant about my rights and responsibilities with respect to driving my bike in traffic. I also love accessories (I'm a gadget freak, doesn't matter what context) and finding out whatever I can about the aspects of cycling I'm interested in, which are mostly about how to get where I'm going in the most efficient and enjoyable way possible. I like thinking about cycling, and sometimes when I run out of my own thoughts I like to listen to other people think about cycling, which is why I come here.

I'm not really hardcore, though, in the sense that I am right into all other aspects of cycling as a sport, however, and in the sense that I see cycling as the absolute bestest thing I could be doing with my time if I had any other choice. The urge to do a cycle tour has yet to possess me, and I doubt that I would ever be interested in racing, unless it's me against the bus, or me against me yesterday. There are too many other things I like doing -- it's just cool for me that cycling can help me do them and that I can like cycling, too. I define myself more as a cycle commuter than a cyclist...does that make any sense?

-Cathy

I am a bicycle commuter, 22+ miles round trip every workday, rain, shine, heat, cold. Occasional weekend rides. But it goes deeper than that. I fell in love with bicycles and riding. I would like to try racing some day.
Regards,
Raymond

I voted 'like to ride when the weather's nice but I don't push it'. Well, I haven't pushed it YET. This is my year to really get in shape though. My plan is to get out and ride a LOT this spring and summer -- maybe even join some organized rides just to see what I can do (and learn). My boyfriend is an avid cyclist (road & MTB), so we'll be riding together, too.

I've also decided to get in shape so that I can run several 5k races this year -- my goal is one per month starting in April.

Hmm...after writing this, I guess I'm in transition from fairweather rider to fitness rider? I hope so anyway...

I ride for transportation and for sport. I sometimes commute to work by bike, but usually ride commuter rail and walk/jog a total of 4.5mi / 7km per day to and from my stations. Even though I do not consider road cycling to be particularly dangerous, concern about the competence of local motorists does restrict my cycling distance far more than any other single factor. (Unfortunately, being struck by an inattentive left-turning motorist in 1976, at age 26, was an attitude-changing experience. I now pick my routes, travel times, weather conditions, etc. rather carefully.)

Commuter for sure! 12miles daily M-F, plus whatever fun I can muster on the weekend. April I'm going on a double century with some friends. :beer:

I voted hardcore.

I suppose that definition depends on your age and ability. I may be pushing 50, but I still ride hard, long and put a lot into myself and equipment. I have a garage full of bikes (for myself and the family), I focus on staying fit, still shave my legs, train on a spinning bike during the winter (hard to ride in the Midwest U.S. during the cold months) and have commuted a lot for over ten years.

I started riding a French racing bike back when I was 14 and basically haven't stopped (only slowed down when we had a family). Now that they are grown and almost gone I see it as more of an opportunity to ride more, travel a bit and start tandeming with my spouse more. I guess that is how I define hardcore. You don't have to race to be in that category IMO.

Besides almost everyone I know that isn't a cyclist always asks me if I'm still riding even if I hadn't seen them for years. It is just something that identifies me as a person. Family first, job second (hey you have to eat!) and cycling next. Of course there are other interests in life, but cycling fulfills me.

Hardcore! :p

I'm hardcore, babe.

I commute 28 km (one way) 2 or 3 times a week from the beginning of April to the end of Dec. The bridge over the St Lawrence river is closed to bikes during the winter because the sidewalk is too narrow for snowplows. However I also have a keen interest in other aspects of cycling, but dont do much except in my dreams.

Hey Andrew... I'm a Montrealer, too. What side are you on, and which bridge is it? Sounds like the Champlain to Nuns Island, or the Ice Bridge to the South Shore...

Originally posted by velo
Hardcore! :p
Uhhhh... yeah... You don't REALLY get much more hardcore than a stars-and-stripes jersy, now do you? :)

Another Hardcore here. Eat, sleep and dream bikes when not riding and racing them :D

Buddy Hayden - what a marvellous life you have :cool:
Rainman - you are Hardcore! :thumbup:

Hi,

I fall between the enthusiast and the guy that doesn't push it...but I voted the latter, for reasons of form.

I go to a gym in foul weather (read very cold, snowy)but I always long for the smooth intensity of our sport.

There should be statue of the guy who invented the bicycle. Who did by the way?

Cheers,

Louis T

I like to pootle to the shops on my bike and pick up the daily newspaper...

I guess you could call me a fair weather rider!

Rich

Originally posted by Louis T
There should be statue of the guy who invented the bicycle. Who did by the way?
It was really an evolutionary process more than anything else. There were two-wheeled scooter-type vehicles [toys, really] as early as the late-17th century. In 1779, a couple of Frenchman names Blanchard and Masurier announced a velocipede, but no one knows exactly what that ws like, except that it was probably a variation of the "lazy walker" concept [the "rider" is supported on two wheels and pushes himself along by his feet]. The bicycle ancestral line seems to begin definitively with le Comte de Sivrac's velocifere in the 1790s, followed by Karl von Drais's draisine shotly after the Napoleonic wars. The draisine was significant in that, unlike previous velocipedes, it could actually be turned... but it was still driven by running your feet along the ground. A Scot named Kirkpatrick MacMillan devised the first pedal drivetrain in the 1830s, though it took a Frenchman named Michaux, in the 1860s to develop a rotary pedalling system. From that point, the velo really took off, with innovations coming every couple of years. The "modern" bicycle owes its immediate ancestry to the "ordinary" or "penny-farthing" machines and H.J. Lawson, whose "safety bicycle" was the first in 1874 to use differential gearing so it could have the maximum gear inches on equal-sized wheels. I suppose it's also worth noting John Boyd Dunlop, who invented the pneumatic tire in 1888. Without pneumatics, the bicycle would never have become as successful as it has.

By about 1895, by the way, the bicycle had pretty much attained the form that we know today. A cyclist from 1895 would be mystified by shifters and derailleurs, but he'd recognize your bike right away... And considering that he was used to riding a 50-lb machine, he could probably ride circles around you.

Wow...

I tip my hat to you sir! :D

Rich

Id have to say im hardcore, I race every chance I get and train every chance I get.
http://www.mtbmind.com:beer:

Originally posted by velocipedio

It was really an evolutionary process more than anything else....
A cyclist from 1895 would be mystified by shifters and derailleurs, but he'd recognize your bike right away... And considering that he was used to riding a 50-lb machine, he could probably ride circles around you.

Well done, Velocipedio!

I'd argue for Kirkpatrick MacMillan as the inventor of the Bicycle, since he was the first to put reciprocating cranks on a two-wheeled vehicle. Besides, I just like saying "Kirkpatrick MacMillan."

The chain driven "safety" bicycle was a great advance and fueled a boom in bicycle manufacture and sales in the 1890s. I have long stood in awe of those hardy souls who rode centuries...and even coast-to-coast rides...on heavy, single speed bicycles with no brakes over unimproved roads.

And to think I feel tough when I complete a century.

Originally posted by velocipedio

Uhhhh... yeah... You don't REALLY get much more hardcore than a stars-and-stripes jersy, now do you? :)

Nah, not quite old enough to go for the rainbow-colored jersey yet...:eek:

Velocipedio
I think we are almost neighbours - I ride from Mo-West to Atwater market, along the Lachine canal, St Helens island, Jacques Cartier Bridge, to the far side of St Hubert airport.

Andrew... Cool! I'm in NDG... Monkland Village. What kind of cycling do you do?

I didn't know what to vote either(like a few people have mentioned).

I ride my bike to ride my bike.
I ride my bike to work and to run errands.
I ride with groups.
I ride alone.
I ride on dirt.
I ride on pavement.
I race.
I'm on several bike-related-issue committees.
I work in a shop.
I live with a bicycle designer. We have three workstands and a Tig welder in our house. We pretty much live, eat and breath bicycles.

I didn't see "bike freak" listed....

Velocipedio,

Thanks for the history lesson...

This argues for statues in France , Scotland, England and other places where significant developements to the "vélocipède" occured, followed by the organization of an annual pilgrimage linking all the dots on the European map...

Each year, at a given time to be chosen for the Celebration of the Cycle (along the lines of Canada week), thousands of cyclists would clog the highways and byways leading to the pilgrimage sites and give motorists a snub for a change...

Imagine...

I am like between hardcore and enthusiatic. More than just enthusiatic, because if I miss more than I set as a minimum goal, I am miserable to live with.
Almost an addiction, but not quite. Hardcore, would I get out in a blizzard, no. Entusiatic, not quite strong enough for my needs. But then I live in an area, where cycliing is so compatible to the environment and climate.

Originally posted by Louis T
This argues for statues in France , Scotland, England and other places where significant developements to the "vélocipède" occured...
How about a statue high atop Mt. Tamalpais (California)? Home of the mountain bike! :)

I guess I'm a bike freak. Anything to do with cycling and I'm there. Whether on the road solo or in a group makes my adrenaline soar --I just have to ride. This will be my main focus of my upcoming retirement. I'll still be young enough to race with many years ahead! Ahhhhh1 The joys of early retirement -- now I get to be a kid!!!

Velocipedio - most of my riding is commuting on a Peugeot hybrid. Occasionally I will go for a solo ride to the west island, or even the Oka Hudson circuit. I usually cruise along between 25 and 28 km/hr. My average is a lot lower because I am incapable of putting on a blast of power to get up hills. I have taken a few short rides in the last few weeks, when I had to work overnight and had the day free, just to enjoy the feel of the bike again. Up to Summit Circle Westmount, and up Clarke in Westmount. On the latter I had to stop half way and get my breath back, before I had a heart attack. I only ride Marinonis in my dreams. Call if you want to meet - I'm in the phone book under Purves.

Originally posted by A F Baker
I ride my bicycle because I like to ride my bicycle; I ride my bicycle when I want to ride my bicycle, which is most of the time, because I like to ride my bicycle; I ride my bicycle even when my knees tell me that it isn't such a good idea to ride a bicycle...because I like to ride my bicycle; I ride my bicycle even when motorists let me know that it isn't such a good idea that I ride a bicycle and apparently get in their way...because I like to ride my bicycle; I ride my bicycle even if it is raining upside down...because I like to ride my bicycle.

I'm not hardcore; I just like to ride my bicycle...and I'm a little bit weird. :roflmao:


WOW...are you me? that sounds like something I would say.

I voted "I'm an enthusiastic sport or fitness cyclist" WHY? because I like to ride my bicycle!! :beer:

I say "hardcore"...
cause there was no cat. for"crazed, fanatical, sleep in cycling shorts and drink chain lube for breakfast".

hey joe, where is the "Maniac" smiley.

And to illustrate; I ride every day I can...
A LifeCycle in the bedroom for those cold and wet days (hardcore or not, I don't like winter), next to the weights and bench to give me the strength to be a better, stronger rider, and owner of two road bikes, and a mtn. bike , cause you never know how you're gonna feel when you wake up.

... and there are many more like me out there... I've met a few.:fun: :roflmao: :fun: