Originally Posted by Don Cook
H Roark, you've noticed something that very few on this forum will admit is true. In the mid 70's to early 90's I didn't detect much "class warfare" or snobbery amongst cyclists. It would be interesting to explore what might have contributed to the changes. Though many other cyclists on this thread make a valid point that most cyclists aren't any more snobbish than any one else. But, with that being true, there still seems to be many more than you'd expect.
In the early 70's, when I started riding in San Bernardino/Riverside area of Southern Cal, cycling was about as popular as pole vaulting. I think all of us waved at each other because it so seldom occurred that we would actually encounter another cyclist on the road!
Somewhere, around the late 80's, early 90's, the road/mountain bike schism was born, some of it fueled by journalists writing for either side in an attempt to define one or the other as being "cooler' than the other.
Zapata Espinoza of Mountain Bike Action in particular liked to turn the whole thing into a sort of class warfare, wherein the yuppie element was largely the roadie crowd and the mountain biker was the underdog forever fighting to get the respect he deserved. Sorta like the Cars vs. the Harley crowd (when the Harley crowd was mostly outlaw!). At any rate, it sold magazines and some (roadies and mountain bikers both) cloaked themselves in the mantle of self-righteousness and stopped acknowledging those not readily identifiable as being part of their own tribe.
For my own part, riding always makes me feel good and part of this includes waving at any cyclist I happen to see. The best part is, I see a lot more than I did in the 70's!