Originally Posted by
elTwitcho
I never said the average person should be comparable to a professional track racer, however it isn't unreasonable that a person who rides every day and pushes himself/herself cannot become easily equivalent to a mediocre amateur track racer. There are likely a lot of people riding fixed gears who have never seen a velodrome (be they messengers, serious commuters or just people who like to ride hard) who could likely fit right in to track racing and do ok on an amateur level. There's no reason for you to be so stubbornly committed to sucking.
Ok you've reiterated this like 5 times and it's a really stupid thing to say.
What do you mean "sucking"? Sucking at what? Sucking at commuting? Sucking at staying fit? Sucking at getting to your friend's house? Sucking at having wind in your face? Sucking at enjoying your bike?
I honestly see you going up to a duffer on the golf course who happily shoots his 100's and telling him he "sucks" and is "entrenched in mediocrity" because he hasn't perfected the 3-iron power fade.
I would say a
small minority of people riding bikes give two ****s about racing, and you are saying that ambivalence constitutes "sucking". I'll say it again and it's as true now as the first time I said it: If you don't care about racing, you do not need to be able to spin faster than 140 RPM.
In golf if you don't care about being competitive, you don't need to learn to crush drives 250 yards.
In bowling if you don't care about leagues or tournaments, you don't need to throw a hook.
In pool if you don't care about hustling at the bar, you don't need to be able to hit jump shots or masse.
Spinning at 140+ RPM is an advanced cycling skill, and one that is entirely unimportant for the majority of riders. This does not mean people uninterested in learning this advanced skill "suck at bikes", just that they look for different things in the sport.