It’s an interesting debate. I’ve been pondering it for a few days after someone on a carbon bike looked at my steel Surly and noted I had it ”well tricked out”. I suspect he was implying it was a bit overloaded: with lights, mudguards, a heavy brooks saddle etc. Despite a bike that weight 10kg less, it’s entirely possibly he only finished the ensuing 380km ride because of all the painkillers he took along the way, but by some people’s measure maybe he was more of a cyclist than me. As in the rest of my life, I honestly don’t care what people think.

But at any rate, it’s a debate as pointless as it is endless. I’ve been riding my bike for the last 25 years, in Sydney, in Melbourne and lately in Hobart. I’ve raced at various levels on the road, the track and on mountain bikes. I’ve ridden custom made racers and off the shelf steel frames and lovely aluminium mountain bikes. These days I mainly commute and I do audax rides for a total of around 6000km a year. I have a shed full of bikes and I miss it when I don’t ride for a couple of days. I have the flu at the moment and pulled my bike out where I could see it to reassure me I’d be back on it soon.

I enjoyed riding my bike when nobody else seemed to and I enjoy it just the same now big crowds of people pass me on my commute in summer (They’re not as much in evidence in winter). I’m glad there are more people riding now, but it has no effect of my enjoyment any more than seeing people driving better cars or living in bigger houses makes me feel I’m less of a person for chosing my own path there are well. I’m not doing it to impress other people, or to bond, I’m doing it because it’s good for my soul.

It’s possible I’m not as much of a cyclist as some of these people who’s taken to the sport with the zeal of the newly converted. Good luck to them all. If they get half as much enjoyment out of this riding life as I have then they’re truly blessed. But I’ll still be riding long after their bikes lie gathering dust and they’ve all moved on to the next fad for the over 50s. Whether it’s popular or trendy and whether I look like a fool or not.

</irony>

Much as I love a good argument, I don’t mind that we’re all pretty much in agreement on this one. There are far more important things to argue about.

And for what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure that Surly Dave wears more than his fair share of lycra…

Holier-than-thou attitudes help no one.

I have nothing further to add to the comment by James, except to say that I agree.

I thought it was obvious but maybe I should point out that I’m not taking a swipe at roadies at all—I’m not personally interested in road racing but I still respect roadies as cyclists. (But then, like James, I respect all cyclists.) And come to that, I’m not really criticising John Lethlean either; I see this blog entry as just a different, non-opposing view.

However I must say that I find the comment by “I Love Bikes” mildly offensive. While I think it’s rather pointless to argue about whose love of bikes is greater or more “pure”, I must note that to this commuting cyclist cycling is no mere “means to an end”—a lifestyle is probably a better description (and I think the very existence of this blog demonstrates my point).

Indeed, “pure enjoyment” is the major motivating factor that gets me to swing a leg over my bike each morning. I just enjoy my cycling in a different way to roadies—or for that matter to mountain bikers or BMXers or cyclocrossers or triathletes or tourers or weekend trundlers or any other subgroup you’d care to name.

So don’t come here and try to tell me that any flavour of cyclist is more pure at heart—we all love our bikes, we all love cycling—we just do it differently.

And I’m happy to be corrected, but for the time being I stand by my view that any non-pro cyclist who has spent $8k on a bike has more money than sense…