Cycling is replacing golf as the power-networker’s sport of choice. At least, that’s what the Australian Financial Review said today in an article by Mathew Dunckley. Apparently all across Melbourne “city professionals”, executives and heavy-hitters are trading in their goofy plus-fours, argyle socks and ridiculous hats for … umm, lurid lycra and skid-lids.

This is good news for plonkers like me – I’ve managed to miss my “annual” game of golf for at least the last ten years in a row.

Sign o’ The (NY) Times

This follows a similar article a few weeks ago in the New York Times (There’s also a freely available copy of the NYT article at Cadence Cycling.)

Big

The AFR article names CEOs John McFarlane (ANZ), Chip Goodyear (BHP Billiton), John Stewart (NAB), and Chris Corrigan (Patrick) among those regularly to be seen cranking their way around Melbourne of a weekend. Apparently there’s a real middle-age trend to the pedals as bodies start to get a bit too rickety for jogging.

Where

David Churbuck identifies a fundamental problem with cycling as a golf substitute:

[Golf] is certainly a much more social sport — you’re never out of breath and you get to chat amiably during the cart ride from hole to hole … Cycling however, well, there is little or no opportunity to chat a person up while drafting their rear wheel at 30 kph or dogging it up a hill standing on the cranks.

But as Dunckley points out, a hard hour or two on the road entitles the rider to a long, lazy coffee break – it’s not in the saddle but back in the cafe where the serious chit-chat happens.

Apples and Oranges?

Mind you, with John Kennedy saying in the article that you need to spend at least $3500 to get a decent bike and all the kit maybe golf is the cheaper option? A quick look over at gBay indicates that you should be able to set yourself up with a set of whacky-sticks for about a grand – but I suspect this isn’t an apples-with-apples comparison I’ve made here.

Anyway I think I’d still prefer to ride…

Overall, it’s a good positive article although there’s a sting in the tail where it gets onto “tension on the roads between cyclists and motorists”.

More on related topics

• Is the “new golf” actually the old “new golf”?
• Cycling goes mainstream all over the place
• Connect East Malvern Station footbridge to Argyll St?
• Missing link on Gardiners Creek
• Gardiners Creek Trail and tollway widening