At what point do you become a Cyclist?

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Right then, Ms Mickle rides over 2000 miles per year for fitness and leesure, always on her own. She has a very sweet bike which has inherited some nice parts as I upgraded my bikes, Hope hubs, XTR mech, Pace rigid carbon forks and the like. However she resolutely refuses to accept that she is a 'cyclist'.

I on the other hand, to my eternal shame, ride less than a third of her mileage. Most of it on an (whisper it) electric bike. Part of this I can blame on my job, part of it I can blame on my dodgy hips. I used to do the high mileage, would think nothing of riding 150 miles in December when I was younger and have always worked in the cycling industry. I spend my days talking about bikes, surrounded by bikes and thinking of ways to get more people riding bikes. I am a Cyclist. No doubts at all, in fact if I were to describe myself I would probably list 'cyclist' right near the top of the list just after 'Mountain Biker' (though I havent been off road for more than a year! Jeez). I think if I was confined to a wheelchair I would still think of myself as a cyclist, but what does the word mean?

To be fair she has no interest in the bike apart from its ability to be a bike, she cant fix a p******* or even get her head around a front mech but she is a proper rider, a roulleur, day in day out, in all kinds of weather and all year round. She'll get up at six on a Sunday to ride 30 miles yet she doesn't consider herself a cyclist. Maybe I havent provided a good example for her, I suppose she thinks that being a cyclist means being obsessed like me!

I reckon that with a very few exceptions its fair to say that we members of CC are 'cyclists'. Its not a badge we get when we go over a certain mileage, I guess it's an attitude.

What got me thinking was that she stopped off at a friend's house recently and their next door nieghbour (a 'cyclist') went nuts over her bike. She was quite chuffed but didnt know what the hell he was talking about! She said to me afterwards rather sheepishly 'Is my bike good'? And I'm like 'Hello!?! Its proper lush! Look at it love, its got a complete SRP bolt kit in green ferchristsakes!
 

snorri

Legendary Member
mickle said:
its got a complete SRP bolt kit in green ferchristsakes!

:biggrin:^_^:biggrin::becool::biggrin: (inserts most impressed smiley)









snorri thinks wtf SRP Bolt kit????? maybe I'm not a cyclist either then:sad::sad::sad:
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
I reckon about the point someone goes out the door with the bike. This fits in as you have presumably never asked your wife whether she is a cylist during cycling. However it seems you lot probably aren't on your bikes at the moment so we must all be virtual cyclists.
 

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
I like to use the description 'enthusiast'

It infers a dedication, love, interest, whatever...to cycling.

The guy down the road who rides an old MTB to work with no lights, on the path is also a cyclist...but i wouldnt want to be put in the same group as him.

Perhaps msMickle thinks the same.
 

gambatte

Middle of the pack...
Location
S Yorks
At what point do you become a Cyclist?

Don't know. I commute by bike, about 50% of the time. I occasionally get out on the avalanche and in summer I'll pootle around on the cruiser. Never really think of myself as a cyclist.

Then today in JEJames talking to a cycle copper about commuting, his mate comes over and theres some comment about me being a 'proper cyclist' as opposed to them knocking round the town center? :biggrin::biggrin:
 

barq

Senior Member
Location
Birmingham, UK
mickle said:
I reckon that with a very few exceptions its fair to say that we members of CC are 'cyclists'. Its not a badge we get when we go over a certain mileage, I guess it's an attitude.

Yep, I'd agree with that. Also note that on CC we have discussions about pavement cyclists, chavs on Apollos and so on where the riders aren't deemed to be proper cyclists. So simply using a bike isn't the only criterion for being a cyclist.

N.B. I went for a walk with my 77 year old father recently and we bumped into a load of cyclists in a cafe. Despite him not having ridden a bike during the course of my lifetime (i.e. 29 years!) he nattered away about his old roadie club as if he were still a keen rider. They absolutely accepted him as a cyclist, but although I ride thousands of miles a year, go on cycling holidays, build wheels and so on... wasn't accepted as a cyclist because I don't belong to a club. There was a slight roadie vs MTB issue, but still I think it shows that the materiality of cycling is quite separate from being a cyclist. :biggrin:
 

barq

Senior Member
Location
Birmingham, UK
mickle said:
She has a very sweet bike which has inherited some nice parts as I upgraded my bikes, Hope hubs, XTR mech, Pace rigid carbon forks and the like.

That is a very nice bike. :biggrin:
 
OP
OP
mickle

mickle

innit
...1996 and a half Kona Lava Dome in satin green, Syncros seat post, Mavic ceramic with DT black stainless spokes and Gold nips on black Mono hubs, Terry Laberator saddle, USE XC riserbars, XTR rear mech and shifter, XT cranks with Syncros 36t ceramic chain-ring on a REAL ti BB, green anodised SRP Al bolt kit including crank bolts and rear mech hanger bolt and C-R bolts, green MachineTech alen-key skewers, Avid Arch Supreme brakes and levers with Flack Jackets, XT front mech set up as chain device and SRAM stainless chain.


And does she fecking appreciate it??????




Well yes she does actually...
 

bonj2

Guest
Bigtallfatbloke said:
if you are on anything less than 4 wheels you qualify as cyclist.

motorcyclist isn't really a 'cyclist', he's a motorcyclist. (although funnily enough they do call them 'cyclists' in america)
 
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