from the original article: "So pervasive is this trend that it seems to be sucking the life out of other parts of cycling. It’s hard to find the hippies and the explorers any more. It’s all about the competition and the conformity."
Oh, man. Not my experience. The Lemond effect brought me to road racing. Then life got in the way (or my knee decided to keep me from my destiny as a journeyman cross-country racer, anyway), four years of military discipline, second and third degrees, a first marriage, and commuting on a mountain bike. The Lance Effect brought plenty of Freds into the market, and cycling was touted as the "new golf". My brother-in-law hedge-fund manager bought a Pinarello to ride in Central Park. Then the fixie punx started hacking up my favorite bikes, mountain bikers got sick of clogged gears, the singlespeeders started crashing every party, Grant started building bikes for medium-reach brakes, and now they've all gotten a decade older, and are riding my kinda bikes all over the place (though they've got this weird appreciation for disc brakes that I just don't understand). I'm a snob with the best of 'em, enjoy a good session of the narcissism of small differences, but the bike world (outside of the pro- and wanna-be master's road racing scene, increasingly irrelevant to my life) is bigger than ever. Come on out next year for the 2016 Winter Ralleye if you're in Fort Collins, the Single Speed Open, or, for that matter, any Wednesday Night Lights. The youth are there, the MAMIWWC (Middle-aged man in Wool with Children) are well-represented, and we're having a ball. Cheers, Will William M. deRosset Fort Collins, CO On Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 8:26:39 AM UTC-6, Addison wrote: > > It's funny, I saw that article a few days ago and it feels displaced in > time in my experience. I know that side of the "sport" exists but it feels > more appropriate for an article written 10 years ago. Today it feels like > biking has grown more multi-faceted as far as types of riding and bikes. > Maybe more accepting of people who want to ride whatever for commuting, > road biking with a bit of dirt thrown in, etc. I know some of these facets > of the industry are just marketing ploys but a byproduct of them seems to > be an opening of eyes regarding multi-dimensional approaches to riding. > > Just my perspective... > > > Addison Wilhite, M.A. > > Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology > <http://www.washoeschools.net/aact> > > *“Blazing the Trail to College and Career Success”* > > Educator: Professional Portfolio <http://renorambler.wix.com/portfolio> > > Blogger: Reno Rambler <http://reno-rambler.blogspot.com/> > > Vice Chair: Regional Transportation Commission, Bicycle Pedestrian > Advisory Committee > <http://www.rtcwashoe.com/public-transportation-22-124.html> > > > On Thu, Apr 21, 2016 at 5:36 AM, Garth <gart...@gmail.com <javascript:>> > wrote: > >> >> It's just a personal opinion, nothing more. >> >> Cycling to me is just like surfing. The ocean and waves is the ground >> and the wind is everywhere .... it's pure adventure . I ride just like >> I'm surfing . . . . there's reefs and fishes and plants and endless >> adventure. Even if one wants to make it a production, regimented and >> timed and conditioned to the max .... that's simply another sense of >> adventure . There is nothing wrong or right about it. Life is the >> adventure and nothing can ever change that. >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. >> To post to this group, send email to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com >> <javascript:>. >> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
