I think cycling removes 1 degree of separation on average. The cycling community around here cuts a wide swath through the entire socio-economic spectrum. A lot of community leaders can be accessed directly through cycling events (our mayor actually holds a weekly ride from April to October, plus there are several other events where people can rub elbows with movers & shakers).

But even on a less grandiose level, I find that I'm meeting more and more acquaintances at the group rides. Friday's Critical Mass was fairly small by standards of CM rides in other cities; I think we had 80. But a guy that I work with showed up. I haven't really talked too much with him in the past, but now we have that connection.

We typically have 3 or 4 dozen people on our pub crawl rides, and I've closed the gap of separation with several people who post here on BF. I also ran into a woman that I knew in a totally different context previously, when she was in marching band with my son. I think that is one of the cool things about these group rides- they cut through generational barriers. People turn more of a blind eye to a lot of the traditional barriers like age, race, class, gender, when united by riding in a group.

At first I'd be quite surprised by running into people I knew on rides, now it feels normal.

Where do you get this term "Normal"?

Was CM 80 people? I figured it was at least a good 50+. That was a fun ride. My wife will enjoy that and the night riders, if I can ever get her riding further than around the block.

My favorite quote was after the CM ride, when I was asking around to see if anyone was pedaling home in my direction, and someone replied: "This is Texas, we drive to ride our bikes!". The funniest things are that way because they have an element of truth to them.

One of the reasons i don't do events is that i would need to drive to them. We need a bus company that caters to cyclists and events. Further reducing the separation

Cycling is not unlike other group activities in this regard. Join an athletic league/amateur sports team, get involved in group community activities, participate in continuing education at a local college or junior college, ....

Wow, dude. . . I guess you have a lot of people riding CM that don't GET CM.

Can't HELP but laugh at that degree of ridiculous.

Turns out Kevin Bacon & wife Kyra Sedgwick are distant cousins ... https://www.people.com/people/article...6pLid%3D149468

No kiddin'. My son went with his university choir to China for a sister cities trip. When I found the local sister cities facebook page, I saw several people I already knew participated in that organization, too.