Dutchy,

No offense taken, like I said just because they call you a duck...
My point is even if they're posers they are riding. Its better than
sitting at home on the couch, watching australian rules football,
or the rugby, or cricket, quaffing fosters and developing a huge
gut!
I do know what you mean about the foreshore tho, we have a
circuit here (that I sometimes drive to) where I see
lots of colnago, litespeed, high end treks,
and riders doodling along at 8, maybe 10 mph if full team kit.
I do like the team jerseys tho, they are really bright and
highly visible which is good, unless it makes me more of
a target...hmmmm

oh well, pax and Go BOKS!
Marty

As velocipedio pointed out in a much earlier post you have to be careful who you label just because they are wearing team kit and riding slowly. I don't do it so it's not a problem, but here's an illustration. I was riding one day and saw that I was slowly gaining on a pair of cyclists well ahead. I picked it up a little to close the gap. Since I'm not very fast I was pretty proud of myself for catching them up. I asked if I could sit in a minute. They said "Sure." We didn't talk, and I had to turn off in a couple of blocks. They were wearing team kit of the premier amateur club in the region, and riding slowly enough for me to catch them from pretty far back. Some might think, team kit, expensive bikes, going slow - Harrumph! However, these two are one of the premier men and perhaps THE premier woman racer in the state. Her jersey had a state emblem on it so at the time I thought it might be one of those state flag jerseys from Voler, but it had the team name. In retrospect it might have been the state champion jersey! Even the best don't go 25-30 mph all the time. They were probably spinning down after a workout or just doing an easy day.

Personally, I consider anyone on a bike a comrade whether it's a construction worker on his way to work or a racer-type who won't even give me the time of day.

Raymond,

I'm not applying a label to anyone,
although from the tone etc. I could see how
what I said could be taken as such. I'm much more
forgiving as I spend lots of time "doodling around"
especially when my wife is with me (no slight,
she's just honing her skills).
If that makes me a fred, so be it.
like I said, if you're riding, it works for me.

Marty

Exactly. Although I do sometimes get a little upset with my comrades when they run stop signs, or ride on the wrong side of the street, or ride at night without lights. But still, at least they are on bikes. You have to start somewhere.

andy

Marty,
My thing wasn't aimed at any specific post, just kind of a conglomerate of several.

aturley,
You must have been reading my mind! I actually started to add to my statement, "...even when they (the exact things you mentioned!).
Raymond

I agree with Lotek; at least the Freds are out on their bikes, and not sitting at home and stuffing their fat faces with Cheesies and beer on a nice day. I even say that about dumb roller bladers even though they annoy me and get in my way. But I see guys like the ones Dutchy describes at the beach, and while I think it's great they're out on bikes, it seems like it's just a big showoffy thing. I mean, why spend all that money to sit around and drink coffee on the beach? Oh well, it's their money.

Um, the thig I came away with from the last few posts was that, in fact, Fred's don't actually exist.

I haven't been riding as long as some on this forum, but I've been riding long enough to realise that the longer I ride, the less the urge to apply labels arises. One could conclude from this that labelling some people as freds, some as poseurs, some as real cyclists, some as disqualified drivers etc. is really just the voice of inexperience.

In the end, given enough time, we all figure out that a)human beings are a lot more diverse than the few labels we choose to apply, and (paradoxically) b) we're really all the same. This means that a) the labels we think define the world are too vague to be of any usefulness and b) every time we aim an epithet at someone, we aim it at ourselves in equal measure.

I'm still going to keep an eye out for some Fred Flintstone socks next time I'm in K-Mart.

We should all be proud of ourselves at Bikeforums, 6 pages of discussion and not one post became a personal attack or turned into the pathetic degrading statements you can see at other boards. Very impressive.

Uhm, you mean like rec.alt.bikewars or whatever they are calling
it today (roadbikereview.com?).
I'm with Allister, I suggest we get some FRED DeFeet socks to
go with the BikeForum jerseys.
as the tagline goes : "This is who we are" (if I may paraphrase).

Marty

How about this on the jersies/socks:

Bike Forums.
YABADABADOO!

You know... I just had a mental image of a Fred Flintstone jersey. Imagine Fred's suit in Coolmax, with three back pockets:



You know... this could SELL...

As for RBR, I think you'll find that the cyclocross forum is much saner than the general forum... Although I must admit that we have a higher class of Freds here.

New to the market Fred Flinstone YABADABADOO socks.

You have to admit that the helmet rocks!

How about:

The Fred team strip. Cool jersey... basic black shorts. Blue furry Limar helmet.

Of course, to complete the picture, we'd have to start riding bikes made from sticks with stone wheels and propelled like the old hobby horses. Or is that going too far?

Sheldon Brown has already provided us with the perfect saddle for this.

I say we should all just embrace our Fredness and go on with oour lives. I didn't get into cycling just to be part of an in crowd, I got into it just because I found it fun and practical.

If people have a problem with that, it's their problem.

Long live Fred the Thread!

hurah!

i am a newbie when it comes to paved cycling. MTB guy trying out road biking. in fact i am expecting my first road bike tomorrow. i am so glad to hear that some people think this way. ride and wear what u want.

would people shun me if i don't shave my legs and don't wear cycling shorts? it doesn't really matter does it?

7ripp

As long as you wear some sort of pant-wear it's fine by me.

Where I'm at Bicycle Shorts and jerseys are a rare site.

So tru Allister, wouldn't want to "bare" myself to everyone.

It's not just that. If you do decide to shave your legs, you'll have to shave them up to your waistline.

On the way home from work today a guy passed me and said, "hello." I caught up to him and recognized him as a guy I saw on my route before.

He had hairy legs and toe-clips, just like, "moi." (And a blinkie flashing in broad daylight, just like...)

could I have entered a, "parallel universe?"

:confused:

It was probably this weirdo that used to post here. I think he went by the name of "Pete Clark" or something.

lol gotta order NADS or sumthin like EPIL stop