Originally Posted by
DScott
I'm not sure why that term is so offensive. It must feel that it dimishes you in some way to admit to being a recreational cyclist.
It's not that it's offensive. I just have trouble seeing randonneuring, for example, as recreational. Randonneuring is long distance cycling which requires a fair amount of effort, time commitments, money, equipment, planning etc. Recreational is short distance cycling which requires whatever bicycle you happen to have in the garage and an ice cream shop within about 5 km of where you live.
I do recreational cycling too ... when I'm recovering from a randonneuring event. And actually, I'm probably at a recreational level right now.