Oh baby! I think you look cool. Did you have a briefcase, too? Or a pocket-protector?

I often wonder why so many adults do NOT ride a bike. I live in a town where it is possible to ride 365 days a year, yet among adults over the age of thirty, probably less than 5 % or so of adults ride a bike on a regular basis. Many of those "non-riders" spend big money on health club memberships, to sit indoors on a pretend bike.

I see some adult non-riders when they come into a bike shop. They can seem embarrassed. A bit like a nun who has wondered into an "adult" bookstore by mistake. They say stuff like "I'm kinda thinking of getting a bike, but I don't know if you have any bikes for someone like me, and I don't know if I can afford it".

These non-riders seem intimidated by the image of cycling promoted by the BLL crowd with mega-buck pretend race bikes wearing BLL clothes, official shoes, and fancy helmet. Some folks develop the sense that riding a bike requires being a 25 year old male who weighs 150 pounds and who has $2,000 in his pocket for bikes, clothes, and gear.

The BLL guys in Houston ride in groups of five, ten, or twenty. "Joe Average" and "Mary Middleaged" have gotten the notion that riding a bike ALONE is perhaps illegal, or at least, highly uncool.

Do the BLL "pretend" racers outnumber the bike riders in jeans and t-shirts in Houston? No. However, a guy riding along in blue jeans just fades into the background of the chaos of bumper to bumper traffic in the world's most motorized city. But, ten guys in a pace line with shaved legs, tight shorts, bright yellow shirts, red aero helmets, and "Bug from Mars" sunglasses would get noticed even in the middle of the "Gay Pride" parade. They are the public "face" of cycling that has the greatest impact on non-riders.

In order for riding bikes to become something that MOST adults do everyday, the "Poster Boy" for cycling needs to be changed from "Lance Armstrong" to "Mary Armstrong". She is a slightly chubby fifty year old lady who rides wearing jeans, an old tee-shirt, and sandals. And, the "poster" should show Mary riding to her job with her briefcase strapped to the back, or returning from Krogers with a basket full of groceries.

There is a "chicken and the egg" thing that keeps the MAJORITY of adults from riding a bike. Most adults would be willing to do it, IF they saw the majority of their friends and neighbors doing it. If it looked "normal". If it had nothing to do with "racing". If it had to do with with easing the pace of life, relaxing, getting fit, and enjoying life in the slow lane.

So your saying non-riders see riders in spandex more than just an average joe riding in a t-shirt? Around here and in most cities I have visited the racer to tooler ratio is 1 out of 20.Sorry I don't buy it.

It is the racers that bring people to the shop. Lance has done alot to bring the sport out. Now maybe they see him and think the options are limited. But the normal american sees bikes at Walmart and knows there are options.

You keep coming up with ideas that make no sense. Most non-riders I know would never guess my road bike cost $1500. They usually guess $300-$400.

I don't buy it either. In fact, I have never seen a paceline of riders in my city. College kids on mountain bikes in jeans is by far the largest bike riding group. What ever the role that high end riders play in discouraging new riders, it must be far outweighed by the generally car-centric and cycling is dangerous mindsets that many adults have.

I have to second that on the Sacramento area. I'll see 50 or 60 riders at a time riding Auburn-Folsom road on the weekends and everything from spandex pacelines to grannys on hybrids. Most of the time everyone has a good time and nice when you greet them. I've had very few experiences with the proverbial "bad apples" on bikes.

BTW Caloso...you might not "look" cool but when you're on a bike you don't really need to!

See thats the difference between you and me. To me cycling isn't a sport its a mode of transportation and a way of life. I cycle because I don't believe in making wars for oil. I cycle because internal combustion is killing our planet and I'd rather not contribute to it. I'm not saying I never drive a car, or ride in a car but I'd very much like to limit how much I do so and do it when absolutely necessary.

It sickens me when I see these middle class psuedo political individuals on their three pound road bikes pushing hard and working thier bodies for a few hours around the Rose Bowl jump into thier SUV with the War is not the answer bumper sticker and say that they're a cyclist. To me, you might that's not what it takes.

I have respect for racers and don't hate them in the least I just don't hold them in the same regard as the person that is willing to take on cycling as something more meaningful in thier life than a weekend excursion.

I live in Los Angeles, one of the most spread out cities in the world and hardly drive a bit.

And the few people I have in mind actually live closer to thier jobs than I do. There is just such a car culture that people will literally drive two blocks the video store.

I'm not a racer, but I have been known to use digital communication from time to time (ex: extending your middle digit of your left hand to display disgust at the motorist who chose to come within 5 inches of you and scream "sidewalk" and immediately followed by frying his tires off)

Damn your worse than the racer types you dislike. See some of the racers say the same about you. It is sad that you think a guy who rides only on the weekend is not a cyclist. Some people don't live close enough to ride to work. Some people have to work 50-70 hours a week to make ends meet. The people that only ride on the weekends might not have any other choice. You ever thought of that? At least their not wasting the weekend sitting in front of the tv. I would think that you being a liberal would be more tollerant of the less fortunate.

Well here in TN we have a lot of farm land. People live a good trek from stores and work. It would be impossible for them to ride a bike everywhere. There is always going to be people that waste. I think that anybody that rides (even on weekends) is wasting less.

Are you listening? I'm talking about these rich overprivleged fools driving in thier Mercedes SUV's. They're hardly struggling to make ends meet. Oh and I did say I didn't hate racers. Oh and I'm not sitting in front of the TV during the weekends.

Oh but you're right. I need to be tolerant of the less fortunate seeing as I'm so fortunate myself with the hundreds upon hundreds of dollars I make each month.

How can I listen?

Ok now it is the rich,overprivledged, Mercedes SUV owners. Before it was just middle class,SUV owners in general. I personally have never seen a rider with a Mercedes SUV. I'm not saying they don't exist, I just have never seen one. I never said you were sitting in front of your tv. I meant that it was good they were on a bike and not in front of a tv.

As far as money goes, try not to be a hater of the rich either. I am sure if you had a lot of disposable income you would give it all away and have nothing nice. What I meant by less fortunate was the people that don't get to ride as much as you.

Do you work part-time? See us middle class scum work hard for what we have. Paid for college myself and now have a good job that puts me in the middle class realm. I am lucky I live close to where I work so commuting works for me. If I didn't I would be one of the non-cyclist that only ride on the weekend. I ride because I love it, not because I feel it is some self serving way to save the planet.

I ride because I like it as well, I just use it to bolster my self image. I work full time, and damn hard as well. I'm paying for my way through college, I'm fighting the good fight. You keep saying I hate these people. I don't. I have lots of issues when it comes to social class. And you're right I mispoke the first time, and I apolgize for that (in regards to my first post concerning middle class individuals) All I'm saying is, if you think of cycling as a weekend retreat I don't think I can call you a true cyclist. To me a true cyclist is someone that utilizes a bicycle as a viable means of transportation, not a plaything. That is all.

I've driven a Mercedes SUV. It is the only SUV that I have encountered that handles better than a 1959 VW Bus. In fact, it is more competent on the road than many sedans. As a long-time Mercedes driver, I am naturally horrified that the company would dilute their image by making redneck fad cars. (Evidently, not all SUVs are cheap and driven by the "pissing Calvin" crowd, as I had believed)

I have to admit, though, that it would be easier to get my bike to the bike shop in the back of one of those than in my station wagon. And, as noted above, it is the only SUV whose handling, brakeing, and performance are not an abomination. That's not reason enough for me to want them

If it matters, I am a "suit and tie" year-round commuter cyclist who rarely rides for any other reason. I did use to be a runner, though, and I never would have been able to transport myself home from a race without some sort of motorized vehicle. In fact, just walking a few steps was hard. I assume bike racers push just as hard as runners. No reason to be down on anyone just because they push to the limit in a sport. Rather the opposite...

Paul

At what point did labels begin to matter?

You're right. They don't. This thread has gotten out of control. I take back everything I said.

See, I'm in the "I don't care" crowd. I use my bike for daily transportation 14 miles each way to work. I don't own a car nor do I plan on owning one anytime soon. I rather enjoy riding 18-30 miles per day (depending on whether I use public transportation going to work) and have no need for a car. For those that just can't live without a car and don't want to buy a bicycle, that's not my problem. As far as the racer types go, more power to them... They're still training regularly and maintaining good health, which is more than can be said for the early-20's '"ricer" crowd with suped up Honda's playing Fast & furious on the roads and dumping all their cash into their cars.

Monday through Friday, I ride my bike to work, but.... several times a week, I take a 20 mile detour as a training loop on my race bike, wearing the full spandex costume.

Saturdays, I join a weekly group ride that's basically an ad hoc road race, but .... on the way home I usually stop by Safeway for a small bag of groceries or the tacqueria.

So, I ride my bike nearly everyday: training, racing, commuting, running errands. Am I a jerky weekend hobbyist? Or a paragon of virtue transportational cyclist?

I am neither and both. I am a Cyclist.

Hehe, you need your own Nike commercial.
:)

WTG Bill.....I agree.....those damn ricky racers!!!!

remember your mantra, now its oooommmmmmoooommm.mmmooooommmmmmmooooooooooooooommmmmm

lets all join hands, road racers, slakers, mountain bikers. lycra pants, khaki pants. kumby-ya my lord. kumby-ya. kumby-ya, my lord. oh.lord kumby-ya.

About 6 years or so ago myself and a half dozen others wondered how many commute to work downtown in Houston. We kept our eyes peeled on our routes in and while working and while going home. We notated bikes at the racks and their riders and cross referenced to make sure we weren't double counting. We kept it up for two and a half weeks until we were sure we had everyone we could count. (it was late marchish, which is pretty hot in Houston but still just the 80s when hot)
Now we counted downtown as the area between Pierce Elevated and Congress (except also all of the courthouses on the north side of Congress as well as police and county stuff) and 45 and 59. We later discovered we'd missed some late night riders to St Joes Hosp, about 5 of them all immigrant workers.

The original tally was 29. Add the 5 hospital workers for a total of 34.
That's in a city with a pop of 4.9mil in it's greater metro area.
Over half a mil converge on the downtown area to work each day and 34 rode bikes.

That's Houston

I hope it's improved since then.
Now that didn't include ourselves or our compadres. If you added in the bike messengers it came to around 84 bike commuters.
Mostly you only see poor recent arrivals on bikes on their way to work, especially in the barrios. Most cyclists drive somewhere to do it recreationally. There are 2-3 organized roadie rides that take you through parts of the city, including the Death ride which is a popular roadie training group that I think is organized by West End Cycles.
But really, unless there has been some weird law passed that would require Houstonians to lose weight while not driving it's got fewer commuters per capita than most anyplace.

Don't get me wrong if you wanted to establish a bike related industry there, people do buy them, lots! We're just not sure what they do with them all.

Tolerance-2 a : sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own b : the act of allowing something.
Envy-1 : painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage.
From Merriam-Webster.
You're right, you have issues.

Lots of em. Therapy starts next week.