JoeyBike

I ask this question because I have a problem with it. I don't like people referring to me as a "cyclist" in general.

It seems when I go to a party, or gathering where plenty of strangers and a few friends may be mixing, I sometimes get introduced as a cyclist, which sometimes precipitates a huge discussion about wearing helmets, breaking traffic laws, or being a staunch liberal/environmentalist/tree hugger. (Remember, I live in very conservative Louisiana).

The problem for me is that I am so different from my friends, and cycling is perhaps the only thing they can use to describe me. I bike to everywhere - commute, vacations, errands, exercise, and fun. Yes, I have cycled to all four corners of the USofA but many people have driven cars on vacations and don't get introduced to me like this: "Hey Joey, I would like you to meet my old college buddy Jim...he's a motorist and sometimes he rides a bus".

Some of us (car-free/car-light) folk, I would bet, actually enjoy being touted as a cyclist and identify with some mythical definition of "a cyclist". I don't even like being called a cyclist when I am riding the danged bike to be honest. I am just me - getting somewhere.

How do you feel about being labeled Cyclist?

lasauge 

I don't mind being introduced as a cyclist because it's true: I spend a lot of my free time mountain biking or out of the road for pleasure and fitness as opposed to riding to work or running errands. A cyclist is anyone who chooses to ride for the sake of spending time on a bicycle.

In your case, Joey, it's absurd to hope that people won't call you a cyclist - if you're a long-distance touring rider, you have clearly elected to spend many, many hours in the pleasant activity of riding a bicycle, and that sets you apart from most travelers who only use cars, buses, trains, planes, etc., as a means to an end (excepting of course car enthusiasts, train buffs and private pilots).

ka0use

dude, you got me laughing so hard i 'bout honked up a lung or three!
'motorist' indeed!!

i need no introduction at social affairs- my reputation precedes me: america's most wanted,
john tv (station that airs pics of those arrested for soliciting for prostitution), village idiot,
the list goes on. women are fascinated, their hubbies infuriated.

Smallwheels

As long as I'm not labeled with something sinister and reeking of criminality I'd be fine with it. If I were meeting people for the first time and probably never seeing them again, any label would do. It just wouldn't matter. Though it would be fun to be introduced as "The master of all things including time and space."

JoeyBike

Maybe I'll change my name to Moe - Master of Everything. At least that wouldn't jam me into a conversational corner too much.

charbucks

I couldn't imagine being introduced as a cyclist without some context. It would be fine if it came up in a conversation about transportation (e.g. "You're a cyclist, what do you think about the new bike lanes?") but I admit, I'd be a little offended if I were introduced as a cyclist as if it were my only accomplishment in life. Could you imagine... "This is Jim, he's an electrical engineer. This is Sally, she's a professor of English literature. This is Jim, he's a cyclist."

I would say that introductions usually don't include a qualifier... a simple "this is my friend" usually suffices. However, if the person I'm being introduced to shares a common interest, then it seems reasonable to say "this is my friend, she bikes everywhere too!". But in general, I've never gotten the "cyclist" label unless there was a reason for that particular habit of mine to be singled out.

ilynne

I tend to refer to myself as a cyclist. Bicycle collector might be a better description.

terrymorse 

"Are you crazy?"

"No, I am a cyclist."

(NSFW language)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47cGzu6-q40

wolfchild

No I don't like it when somebody else starts talking about me and telling everybody that I ride a bike everywhere, it's not their job to tell everybody what I do, If I want other people to know about it then I will tell them myself.... I also don't own or use cycling specific clothing, so when I get off of a bike and walk inside a store or down the street nobody can tell that I am a cyclist.

JoeyBike

I use the same tactic. Except the part about calling myself a cyclist!

wolfchild

Actually I think of myself as a "guy on a bike"... To me ,a bicycle is just a very useful and cheap tool that allows me to lead a very enjoyable, fulfilling lifestyle and get around just about anywhere. My cycling style is completly different from the more "traditional" type of cyclists.

I-Like-To-Bike

I've found that when introductions of adults are made at a gathering the most frequent addition to a person's name is their line of work/profession, i.e. Doctor, lawyer, Indian chief, butcher, baker, student, etc. Or whom the person is related to if that helps in the introduction. Since you profess to no regular line of work, ambition or profession and you are so different from your friends, they are probably saying the only noteworthy thing they know about you.

JoeyBike

Yeah, just introduced out of politeness I guess. I never liked being introduced by my profession (when I had one) either. Never liked to be cubby-holed.

Ironically, there is a commercial on TV at present where a fellow gets introduced to another older man. The older man asks the younger one "So, what do you do?" Then the young fellow has a flashback of his life - all of the things he does (with his pickup truck) for work and fun - a vast collage of things from pulling a boat to playing with his kids to hauling lumber. The younger fellow never answers the older man's question - too much territory need be covered. I really like that commercial. The pickup truck driver didn't identify with any specific part of his life but the whole enchilada.

Stealthammer

+1

I really don't care what others have to say about me when introducing me to someone else, as long as it is true, but to be honest though, I would much rather be described as a "cyclist" than for them to say that I "work with computers" or "can fix anything", because fewer people have any use for a cyclist's advice.

Smallwheels

This was hilarious!

JoeyBike

Ahhh...the introductory decoy! I like it. I get it. If I were introduced as a dermatologist (I am not a doctor btw), people would be showing me spots on their ears, forearms, etc. "Hey...does this look blotch funny to you??" Although, on the other hand, if I were an insurance agent (I am not) my friends would introduce me to people just to see them RUN from me!

Maybe they are doing me a favor with the cyclist intro after all.

gerv 

Thu guy sounds like Stephen Hawking.

Roody

Face it, Joey. You are a cyclist, a fairly well known cyclist in fact, and probably crazier than the one in the YouTube video. (And I totally mean that as a compliment.)

bragi

When I first became car-free, some people who knew me thought I was becoming eccentric. There was even a bit of tension when I showed up places with panniers and a helmet. It was annoying and fun all at once. Lately, it never comes up in conversation at all. My bicycling life is still the same, but bikes have become so commonplace that others no longer think it's remarkable. I might as well be driving a minivan. Especially since I tend to ride in non-bicycling clothes, no one ever refers to me as a cyclist, and I'm OK with that. Guys in pickups still tend to gun their motors when they encounter me on the road,though. Not sure what that's all about.

no1mad 

I don't have that problem. As an introverted social misfit who despises large, crowded, noisy environments, I rarely find myself in a social setting that requires my introduction to anyone.

jolly_ross

"Yes I ride a bike everywhere. I sold my car to buy a pistol to knee-cap the back street abortionist who ruined my best hooker"

It'll stop them lecturing you about bikes.

contango 

I like this answer. One of my many hats is IT-related and it really gets tiresome to be introduced to someone only for them to assume that "I know about computers" is synonymous with "I'm happy to spend my evening giving a stranger free advice".

contango 

Practise the following line... "Hi, I'm Joey, carrier of a few infectious diseases. Hare Krishna. Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

wahoonc

They can call me anything they want, but late for lunch...

I have worked in many different positions over the years and really could care less what I am currently known as. In most cases they have no clue what I am really capable of, and I don't mind keeping it that way in a light social environment.

Aaron

Drv1913

I don't feel strongly one way or another about other people identifying me as a "cyclist". I do think it's a little weird to identify someone by what they do, though. Outside of custom user titles on internet forums, I tend to phrase it, "I ride a bike" or "He teaches at _____ school" or "She works at XYZCompany doing ________". The person is separate from the action. In my case, however, the fact that I ride a bike to actually get places is #2 on the list of 3 things that people associate with me, so it's understandable that they shift that action from verb to noun when describing me.

*shrug*

I don't really consider cycling to be a major part of my identity (unlike the other two things on the list), but it doesn't bother me that others do.