I can go either way on this one. Like the folks who said "Im a dermatologist so people show me their sores" and "I'm in IT, so people want free tech support", I have the same dilemma. I'm a sports writer, so when someone asks what I do, they immediately think I want to only talk about sports. Chuck Klosterman once said "I might have a great opinion on the Middle East, but people only want to hear my opinion on middle relievers." It's bothersome. So being introduced as a cyclist is not cool. I am a lot of things, not just one thing... and to be like "This is Michael, he rides a bike" is pretty stupid if you think about it. "This is Jeff, he drives a Mercedes" is begging for a face-punch... so I mean... cmon. Just like someone else might really not want to talk about corporate finance at a tailgate (if thats what they do), I don't really want to talk about writing sports all the time and actually would rather not. Same goes for my mode of transportation. (When is it ever acceptable to converse about that anyway???)
THAT BEING SAID.....
(disclaimer: everything after this is going to come off as arrogant, but whatever... we've earned it)
I have worked really freakin hard to get into this shape. I mean... really hard. And, I'm sorry... but people I've known for a while ask about it. Like "How did you get in such good shape?" Answer? "Im a cyclist." Again, it sounds peacock-y... but people react a heck of a lot better to that than "I ride my bike everywhere." I have spent a lot of man-hours and man-calories (those are a thing, right?) making myself someone no longer afraid of going to the pool. Using "I'm a cyclist" then butters people up so that when you say "I live car free" they move away from "must be poor or have a DUI" to "Michael is totally health conscious and I wish I had that kind of dedication and if this s.o.b. can do this, then I can for sure jog three times a week."
Honestly, you'd be amazed how many of my friends started jogging/working out on the regular within 6-8 months of me going LCF.
So, I guess I don't want to be defined as a "cyclist", however if it's one of the many things I am.... then that's pretty cool. It's preferable to being called "satan worshiper", "pederast" or "red sox fan"