Originally Posted by
JoeyBike
Don't get your Spandex(R) in a wad.
I too sometimes costume up and ride my Cinelli Supercorsa dripping with Campy for fun. It ain't the same thing as utility cycling in the "real" world. When I ride for a workout or pleasure, I pick the time, I pick the place, I pick the day of the week, I pick the smoothest roads, I pick the path, I pick the weather conditions, or I pick the stationary trainer indoors, or I choose not to ride that day at all. Time is rarely a factor during my pleasure ride. I am in total control of my time and my environment. These are situations I am not interested in for THIS particular Poll. Yes, now and then other road users affect me negatively in the park, but much less than during my forced march commutes.
"Real" cyclists are committed to the bicycle no matter what. We must get to work, drop the kids at school, get groceries, visit doctors, the post office etc., on the bike regardless of how we feel that day, often on roads not of our choosing, and in weather that sucks. We have a time commitment. "Real" cyclists don't want to leave home a freaking hour early to avoid the rush hour, take safer roads, or appeal to the tender sensibilities of every motorist along the way. We just want to arrive alive. Often our bikes are tools, not toys. We don't necessarily commute for enjoyment. Honestly, I don't even consider myself a cyclist at all. I just ride my bike to work and everywhere else because I don't want to own, maintain, insure, protect, park, and gas up an automobile for the privilege of doubling my commute time by sitting in line behind a bunch of cars watching the same traffic signals go red/green three times before I can get past the confounded things.
So my interpretation of "Real" cyclists still stands. Sorry the word "Real" has other meanings for you. None of the real cyclists here seem to be complaining about my nomenclature. I simply want input from a certain group of cyclists MOST of whom visit the Commuting Forum regularly. I think the comments here have been quite educational and on topic so far within that demographic. "Real" cyclists, as defined by me for THIS poll, seem to know who they are.
Gimme a friggin break. I ride from my front door the vast majority of the time. I MUST take certain routes in order to get out of town to the best riding. I ride whenever I can find the time. I ride 5-6 days of the week. The choices I make for commuting are identical to the choices I make when training: how so I get to where I'm going quickly while avoiding the worst traffic and most dangerous roads? The large majority of high-mileage recreational and racing cyclists share my experience. We are on the same roads. We deal with the very same risks as anyone else out there - often more, because we are doing more miles and spending more time on the road. We are all in this together. If you want to pretend that the experiences of recreational riders are unimportant because of some pointless prejudice or need to feel special, fine, but you're a damn fool.
Edit: let me explain. There's a longstanding history of all kinds of different cyclists trying to draw a line between what "we" do and what "they" do. Roadies. Commuters. Mountain bikers. Fixie kids. You know what I mean. It's poison to any effort to have some cultural and political unity. For those groups of riders who use the roads, it's especially problematic because it gets in the way of understanding that we face the same dangers, have many of the same needs, and most importantly, that we have shared experience and shared power to make the roads a safer place to ride a bike. I am sick to death of people convincing themselves that somehow a group of people who use the road must not have relevant experiences because their bikes look different or they wear funny clothes. It is asinine. It's time to move the F on from this crap. Rant over.