It’s the fact that those tiny little seats really crush your b@llz that attracts them.
Cuz they think they’re better - “see, I’m saving the environment and you - you are destroying it with your car” swish ....
Silly peon. They are better than the dirty lowers and probably shop at w(hole) foods.
It took them this long to notice? Cycle-snobbery has been an issue here since the 1970s. And I say that as someone who used to cycle 30km a day for my commute.
I generally suspect a significant percentage of the guys dressing up in plum snuggling spandex and venturing forth on the highways do so to attract other guys.
I’ve always wondered that.
Every pastime has some jerks in it.
It’s what humans do best.
You find snobs in also every sector of life.Bowling snobs were the first I noted. Ignoring those who used a ball from the racks and judging how shiney the balls were of those who had their own. I am sure their are homeless bum snobs. Thinking about the other bums. Look at those idiots, I have never peed on my self.
I think a certain amount of the snobbery comes to bear because it really is friggin hard to do what the really good cyclists do, especially on the tough hills, the long rides, and the crashes. And I’m not talking about the pro-quality guys—they’re just freaks of nature. I’m just talking about the tough, everyday riders you see around town and in the hills (like in the Santa Monica Mountains north of Malibu... tough rides!) Some of these people are amazing.
It takes some guts. As the completely disgraced Lance Armstrong nevertheless truthfully once said (paraphrased): “If you want to know what it feels like to crash on a bicycle when you’re racing, just take off everything but your skivvies, climb into the back of a car going 35 miles an hour, bind your ankles together so you can’t move them, and then jump out.”
Though I’m not a great rider, I do enjoy testing myself on very hard rides, and until I started this kind of cycling, I really didn’t realize how much it takes to get up the long, hard hills, and to stay in that saddle for a few hours at a time. But I’m a lone wolf, I don’t travel in packs... maybe cuz I don’t really care much for the snobbery part!
So yeah, I agree that there are many snobby cyclist types, and I don’t like them much, but every affinity group (cyclists, hunters, equestrians, sailors, tennis players, motorcyclists, etc) has their own special snobbery built into their endeavor.
Just my opinion... I’d say don’t be so hard on ‘em.
I think the real issue, something that sociologists, or scientists should look into, is why cycling is the only hobby, or sport that actually has snobs. (sarc) This is ridiculous. Any interest, sport or hobby has people that go over the top. Read any firearms forum, where people get slammed for only spending a thousand dollars on a pistol. Go to any automotive forum where people with cars in factory condition are ridiculed. Heck, look at how many posts here at Free-Republic get slammed for grammar. Personally, I chuckle at guys in their 60’s riding bicycles that cost somewhere in the $6,000 - $8,000 range. They are probably too old to take advantage of the performance the bike is capable of, but if they have the money to spend, good for them.
Cyclists, by my own observations, are a pain in the butt. A considerable fortune in public funding has been spent to make bike lanes on some of our roads, and the cyclists still tend to fudge into car space, as if they somehow have priority.
I thought of myself as an avid outdoorsman, then went into our new REI store. Outdoor store, right?
No! Just stuff for the people who like to run, or bike, or hike or climb cliffs for the sake of running, biking, hiking and climbing cliffs. Not for doing outdoor stuff once they get where they’re going.
No fishing gear, no hunting equipment, no knives, bows and arrows, or guns and tackle.
Just stuff for people who like to exercise outdoors.
I don’t get it. No fun for them, just exercise. It’s like jazz music, pretending there’s something there to enjoy while we the unwashed scratch our heads.
It is indeed a most wonderful sight to see these preciously self-righteous storm troopers of terminal specialness advance boldly in the cultural vanguard of vast hordes of self-absorbed gluten-free gender-unique embodiments of incarnate narcissism. The rest of us peons can only hope to look on in wonder, thankful to have caught even a glimpse of these most divine radiances.
Silly question — probably because these bikers ARE snobs and libs?
Too many raisins and Bananas make ‘em grumpy.
We have some really nice bike trails here in Ohio. I’ve gotten back on the bike recently since my quad bypass in January, and I’ve noticed these Tour wannabees have lost some of their courtesy this year. No more “on your left” as they blow past you. When I get back to being myself, I’ll try to latch on to their draft and see how I do.
It’s been like this in Boulder County now for decades. Boulder County is practically the bicycle capital of the U.S., and while the vast majority of bikers are pretty much just regular folk, there’s a significant percentage who are professional or semi-professional, and a rather large part of these latter groups are obnoxious pricks.
Every year or so one of these pricks so enrages a motorist the motorist decides to run the prick over on purpose. I think many of us silently sympathize with the poor bastard who ends up in prison because of this. The sad thing is that the dead biker isn’t hung up on a fence as a warning to the others.
Cyclists, the Jews of FR.
If you see cyclist with over the top equipment 10% of the time he is a serious competitor in the sport. The other 90-% are self-righteous snobs who shop at Whole Foods, think they are saving the planet, and think their bony ass actually looks good in spandex.