Grant is the man, period.
What a great and classy response.
On Tue, Feb 24, 2015 at 3:08 PM, Jon in the foothills of Central Colorado
row.n.2nowh...@gmail.com wrote:
In the new Adventure Cyclist Mag
PETERSEN RESPONDS TO READER
LETTER ‘UNRACING? UNCOOL’
Racing attitudes, bikes, clothing,
and diets have become the norm and
normal, and are so pervasive that many
adult cyclists, maybe even some you
know, accept the racing standards as
the only legitimate way to be a serious
adult cyclist. What I tried to do in the
book *Just Ride *— and what we do here
at Rivendell Bicycle Works — is offer
an alternative, a model to other adult
cyclists that there is another way. This
letter is not an ad for either. I’m simply
saying where I come from and what I
do.
We are the mice trying to squeak
above the roar at the base of the
waterfall. It is no time to be wishywashy,
but I try hard to not offend.
Inevitably, a declarative position on
any matter is bound to raise a few
hackles with those who have a different
position, but it still hurts to be judged
by a stranger who would probably like
me, and whom I’d surely like, in person.
A good number of our customers are
middle-aged and older folks trying to
fit in some activity as they age. They
often have the means, and they’re
influenced by what they read and see
that promotes racers as a good model —
and that’s something I don’t agree with.
They shop as innocents and come
out of it dressed like racers and riding
bikes that are not only inappropriate
for the kind of riding they do, but are,
on top of that and more egregiously, not
comfortable. We undo that. You may
see ego or evil behind it, but I don’t
feel either of those. I see racing and
racers as fringe and am simply trying
to legitimize an alternative point of
view, one that I feel strongly about. I’m
trying — certainly not singlehandedly —
to make people feel good about riding
without dressing in pro-team gear and
copying so many other affectations of
the racer, and that is what Unracing and
*Just Ride *and Rivendell Bicycle Works is
all about. We’re nobody’s enemy. Some
of my best friends pedal cliplessly and
in spandex. It’s cool.
Grant Petersen
Walnut Creek, California
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Keep the metal side up and the rubber side down!
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