Originally Posted by
Loose Chain
Good info, thanks. Just to be clear, I am not anti-MAMIL. I only made note of the fact that I saw none. MAMILs mostly ride for fun, fitness and sport and tend to ride expensive hardware and these folks I observed were riding for transportation and their attire is chosen accordingly. I am sure, as I have said, that there are sporting cyclists in Germany, I just did not see any at all and found the contrast to be interesting to home.
Per capita and per square mile there are likely many more racers (road, mtn, and x) in Germany than in the US. As mentioned above they're not as noticeable because of the number of other people riding bicycles.
I'm not anti-MAMIL but I am anti MAMIL culture. 'Cyclists' have become quite hated across the US. And often for good reason. People have learned that someone wearing lycra is very likely to be a jerk. Not always, but often. They are likely to run red lights — when others have right-of-way. They 'take the lane' and block traffic when it's not necessary. They filter to the front of drivers at red lights and stop signs so the drivers have to pass them yet again. Most of the time there is fairly decent cooperation between drivers and people riding bicycles in Europe that you don't see in the US.