This past week on various commutes I've been distracted. I saw an older heavy set cyclist wearing a "Dark Side of the Moon" cycling jersey. All kinds of thoughts ran through my head. First of all I was not previously aware that such kick ass cycling jerseys existed! I had been under the assumption most cycling jerseys were designed to make the rider look like they were dressing up as a NASCAR for Halloween. "I have to go home and google this!" I thought as the man in the jersey sped past me the other way. While I thought this I could have easily run over a kamikaze squirrel on the trail. So perhaps the lesson here is that prog rock cycling jerseys should be banned! (So should Led Zeppelin jerseys, something google has since informed me exists as well)

Also, I saw an attractive, fit young women riding with a very short mini skirt. This sort of attire is clearly a menace to all straight male and bi/lesbian cyclists on the trail, and should be banned! Just imagine if she'd been wearing a "Dark Side of the Moon" jersey as well! The squirrels would have no prayer.

Okay, snark mode off. My point is, cyclists have a responsibility to remain focused despite the fact that distractions present themselves to us. What may be distracting to one person may have absolutely no effect on another person. I wonder why it's so hard for some people to respect other people's individuality and personal decisions. I see people riding with ear phones all the time, and they've never been a danger to me. If someone has had a personal encounter with a cyclist wearing ear phones that has caused a danger to them or the cyclists themselves because they couldn't hear a warning, lay it on me. But my guess is that such anecdotes are rare and most of the people objecting are simply assuming that because music would be distracting to them, they must be distracting to everyone. Well I'll counter that with my own assumption that there are plenty of cyclists who can listen to music and remain focused.

If there's one thing I've noted about the cycling community since I dove headlong into cycling not too long ago, it's how prone so many are to elitist dogma... and that's really the nice way of saying it. The surly way would be to call this group the "cycling taliban". Though I'm sure that would only be appropriate for a fraction of this group... like say a third.

Just ride the way you want to ride, don't assume that everyone who doesn't ride exactly the way you do is a menace to you or others. In other words, chill out.