"Old School" to me is more about how one approaches a sport and frame of mind, not so much how long one has been in the sport. "Old School" means you approach the sport straight-up, no BS, no whining, no excuses, no complaining, no arguing, no cheating, and most of all, you live for the sport; not because it's cool but because you love it.

To me the equipment is irrelevant. A rider could ride a $12,000 dollar carbon dream bike and still be considered Old School if the rider approached cycling in the manner I described.

The opposite of old school is an athlete who is wishy-washy, yacks all the time, whines, makes excuses for poor performance, complains, argues, tries to cheat the "system" and rides because he can show off his cool equipment. In other words, a Poser.


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