Saturday, November 28, 2009

boobs=boring, muffin tops=cool: hence bikes are all about preference...

boobs=boring, muffin tops=cool, bikes are all about preference...
By Fixed Tubes Fred...


Nowadays what with the proliferation and popularity of the bicycle "Craze", everyone involved seems to have their own take on what they think is best, or the coolest, or is lighter, stiffer, better. Roadies race to lose weight and gain prestige whilst enamouring themselve in lots of money, expensive carbon fiber, shiny trophies combined with small (i mean hypoxic dick small) race payouts. Mountain bike racers fall (sometimes into dirt and rocks as opposed to asphalt and car bumpers) into more or less the same bourgoise category. Somewhere in there fall the elite and not so elite CX racers (read cyclocross for those of you who don't know). Their identity is hard to describe. Occasionally it's an off season training exercise, sometimes they are just odd folks who like going from sober to puking in less than half an hour. As a sidenote, beer chugging types are not exclusively included in this category. Either way, these folks seem to have one negative gentic trait in common: taking themselves too seriously.

In the seamlingly endless growth of the popularity of cycling there are too many different and divided takes upon the idea of rideng a bike. Whether or not you thnk or you know, you share one common trait, which is the bike. maybe, and maybe, one should blend these lines to incorporate everyone that is riding a bike into the same culture. Does it matter that most fixed gear riders first experience with riding a bike beyond their mom and dads driveway is that of riding a color coded fixed gear? Why does and why should this matter? Is their any advantage to dividing ourselves into seperate and distinct categories?

NO.

The beauty exists in the fact that we all share in common the simpliciy of two wheels. Be it a fad during college or your midlife crisis, or as an enduring lifestyle, their exists a commonality; two wheels. To what advantage does a class division bring us? IS it the difference between ordering espresso at a coffee shop early in the morning or drinking swill at a greasy diner at noon after a long night of boozing, riding, and crashing? No.

As the world revolves with all of us on board we are all in this shit together. To divide serves only to weaken us as a community. Yes.Wherever your passion lies in the world of the bicycle, remember to enjoy. Enjoy yourself and what you are doing; learn to appreciate others around you that share in the same passion, in whatever form they choose. This is not a negative pursuit like investing, politics or war. This world of cycling is something beautiful.