Can I be an Avid Cyclist when I grow up Mom?

wrong, the writer is assuming that 'avid' is a designation cyclists use to describe themselves

I've never called my self an avid anything, nor I have I heard any person I've cycled with use it to describe their cycling. The only time I've heard the term 'avid' to describe one's biking was in this exchange I had with a motorist who honked at me and closed passed me several times in the same location on the way to work:

me: excuse me.
mot: yes
me: did you know you almost hit me coming down rural road?
mot: no i did not
me: i am positive because you honked at me before you passed me
mot: only cause I don't wanna to hit you
me: you should move over to the other lane
mot: should you be in the middle like a car?
me: yes I should because I shouldn't be in the right turn lane, because I'm not turning right
mot: its, that's not a right turn lane
me: yes it is
mot: its all
me: no it isn't, i ride down there every day
mot: well you shouldn't be in the middle of the road 'cause you will get hit
me: no I won't, your the only person, you've done this to me three times
mot: no you, i have not
me: yes you have
mot: that's the first time I've ever seen you on a bike in the middle of the road
me: tell ya what I'm gonna call the police because you passed me closer than three feet, I've a video camera here so I have evidence of it
mot: i don't care about your video camera
me: i know you don't but it's some, you've got to look out for people, you know
mot: i do look out for people
me: no you don't
mot: i certainly don't want to hit a biker and have that on my conscious
me: then why don't you move over, there was no other cars
mot: you know i am an avid bike rider I know how to ride a bike
me: i...
mot: obviously you think you are an automobile and belong in the middle of the lane
me: no, i ride in the safest position on the road
mot: you ride like you own the road
me: no, you, come on you had a whole left lane open to you
mot: well i'm turning right, i don't need the left lane
me: then you can go around me you can easily done that
mot: I did go around you, you don't think i went around you
me: no you went right in the same lane as I was
mot: i'm in my lane
me: then move over to the other lane
mot: why?
me: because it is the proper thing do to you give people three feet clearance, it's state law, you pass a cyclist with three foot clearance
mot: if you've got a bike lane,
me: no i do not,
mot: and i miss you..
me: not on that road i do not
mot: you do up until this point [gestures to areas where close pass occurred] and..
me: right in which case...
mot: then there's stripe-ed, there striped lines
me: in which case I do not ride in the right turn lane
mot: come on
me: please look out for people
mot: i do look out, i've been driving for 53 years
me: well maybe you could take a refresher course
mot: and i think you should too

An avid character shouldn't be required equipment for a bike ride across town!

I agree with steve that urban design can influence the rideability of a cityscape. I disagree with steve that prices of motoring have to go up considerably before ridership in american cities increases significantly. 30 percent of my states population does not drive as an example, but why is ridership so low?

US Cities could easily triple ridership thru tweaks in transportation infrastructure and other interventions that support populist roadway bicycling without any additional disincentives to car ownership or usage.



Make roads in towns and cities more amenable to bicycling for everyone 8 to 80. less avid, more everyday. less yellowjackets churning out 17mph on bedazzled and reflectorized urban commuter machines, more seniors on upright bikes riding for health to bingo, the senior center, the farmers market.

Thinking of bike amenable improvements to transportation infrastructure as providing 'passing facilities' so cars can more easily pass bicyclists is a continuance of the dated, autocentric paradigm that has left road cycling in america the field of the lofty 'avid' and less of the 'everyday' citizen simply getting on a bike and riding to the store, to visit friends, to go to work.

"AW SHUT UP!"

-Kurt

I agree, the LBS I go to won't even work on them.

He says both. But he is incorrect that the media uses the term "avid cyclist" more than just "cyclist". And, amongst the commuters and utility cyclists that I know, nobody uses the term "avid cyclist". I don't hang out with recreational cyclists, and I won't pretend to know what the majority of cyclists refer themselves as.

And here he is correct, except that he assumes that most of these people are being identified as "avid cyclists". His argument that the term "avid cyclist" is harmful to bicycle infrastructure hinges upon the fact that society views everyone on a bike as avid, thereby alienating cycling from the general populace. But I don't think that society views every biker as such, and I'm pretty sure that Mr. Druker is making an issue out of nothing. Who cares if people self identify as avid cyclists? If someone is dedicated to a sport, then they are, by the definition of the word, avid.

This thread is the antithesis of the "What defines a cyclist?" thread. Except that they're both fairly pointless.

Would not one think a shop might have a problem with the fact, replacement parts are worth more than the bike when new.?

I'm just riding my bike, sometimes to work, sometimes for exercise and enjoyment. I see no reason for a cyclist to disparage another cyclist. And that goes all the way from the guy riding because he got a dui all the way up to the top pro racers and everyone in between.

I couldn't disagree if someone called me an avid cyclist, I doubt anyone would though.

Seems to me you see plenty of 'uncolorful' utility cyclists about town all the time.. So, I sort of disagree with the premise of the discussion.. My problem with utility cycling, the addiction.. I think I am just going to go about town for errands. But, I end up 25 miles away because I'd prefer to go to store X and it's too nice a day to not do the 25 miles.... Without the colorful clothes , i find my ass hurts too much.. My solution, when I enter the store far away, I put on knee length nylon shorts and who knows the difference..