How Would You Describe "Cycling Culture"?

[CyclingCultureWho?]

I'm trying to figure out how we describe the cycling culture. What makes us unique and have the ability to bond other than the obvious fact we all have a bike, is it the life style, the common interest in fitness...

In a brief sentence or two how would you describe the cycling community and what the shared morals/interests are. Please also state which style bicycle you ride (Road/MT/Fixie)
Thank you

*For College Culture Project

 

[seeratsharma]

Its the best way to love the nature because when we go on bike in morning we are so near at our nature with pleasing atmosphere and If we go with a cycling group so all are in the same like a team.
Infinite Bikes

 

[pwarbi]

There's no doubt that as a cyclist there's a sense of camaraderie that you don't get with other forms of transport.

Maybe that's because we're not cocooned like we are in a car, or on a motorbike with a full face helmet on? Whatever the reason, you do still get a sense that you belong to an elite club, and while it might be less friendly than what it used to be, I still make a lot of passing friends while I'm on the bike.

 

[Corzhens]

I have noticed that a casual conversation is common among bikers. When I am in the park resting with my bike, even non-bikers would approach me for a simple chat. I find the bike as a conversational piece. But among bikers, the topic is confined to biking most of the time unless the other party has a different intention than being an acquaintance.

 

[pwarbi]

You'll probably find that the conversation is restricted to biking simply because it's the one obvious topic that you'll have in common right from the start.

If you see the same people everyday then you'll discuss other issues but I'd suggest that most bikers are quite happy to restrict the conversation to just biking with people they don't really know.

 

[mooray]

I think it is the passion and the beautiful countryside. Sometimes competition is good, when you are just racing against other cyclists.

 

[pwarbi]

I think it is the passion and the beautiful countryside. Sometimes competition is good, when you are just racing against other cyclists.

Competition cycling is a totally different sort of camaraderie I've found, and while of course there's that competitive edge, there's also a sense of winning fairly that people try and achieve at the same time.

While people do want to win, they're also willing to chat with you and share their tips with you aswell, trying to help you and make you a more competitive rider aswell, and in a lot of competitive events, that's something you don't usually get.

 

[cyclintom]

Cycling is unique from all other sports in that it is shared. Even in the most professional of races riders spend most of their time in a tight pack. Do you see packs of 20 runners? Or even large groups of domino players? While it is usual for cyclists to ride in groups. Although some people could quibble these questions usually like in large differences in speed of the riders.

 

[rz3300]

I think that one factor that should be featured in any definition of cycling culture is the variety of workouts. I say this because you can have anywhere from a casual biker to a hardcore, extreme mountain biker to a racer to anyone who just likes to ride a bike. It can be a sport, leisure, relief, workout...anything.

 

[OursIsTheFury]

I don't know if you've noticed, but people really hate cyclists. I think we're immune to the rules of the road, or some cyclist thought so, and it ruined the perception for all of us who just want to ride around enjoying the scenery. I think that's the main thing, drivers especially hate us, since we can still "go" when the traffic lights say "stop" to everyone else, but to be fair, it's not like we're breaking any laws with our cycling.

 

[pwarbi]

I'm not sure if I'm following you here my friend? Cyclists are immune to the rules of the road? No we're not. Well, over here in the UK we're not anyway. If a traffic signal turns red, then a road user has to stop. Doesn't matter if you're on a bike, in a car, truck or on a unicycle, a red light is a red light.

 

[OursIsTheFury]

I'm not sure if I'm following you here my friend? Cyclists are immune to the rules of the road? No we're not. Well, over here in the UK we're not anyway. If a traffic signal turns red, then a road user has to stop. Doesn't matter if you're on a bike, in a car, truck or on a unicycle, a red light is a red light.

Cyclists in the Philippines really don't stop for traffic lights, and people (well the drivers) hate that idea. I'm not sure in other countries though, but here it's basically just see if you're safe to move on and just go. And here we have lots of traffic jams, and bike riders can just weave through the ocean of cars, which also irritate the drivers who are stuck waiting for the traffic to move along.

 

[pwarbi]

@OursIsTheFury ahh, ok, I get you now. Here in the UK we pretty much have a camera on every set of lights in the cities and we have to stick to the rules of the road a lot more than what you will do I guess.

Some cyclists do still flout the laws, but all that does over here now is give the rest of the cyclists a bad name, so it's certainly not as common as it used to be anyway.

 

[sharkantropo]

Nothing like feeling the fresh wind soaring across my face. Reaching great speed only by means of my legs's force is a very unique experience. Very enjoyable to share this experience with other fellow cyclist .

 

[jahroberts]

I'm not sure if I'm following you here my friend? Cyclists are immune to the rules of the road? No we're not. Well, over here in the UK we're not anyway. If a traffic signal turns red, then a road user has to stop. Doesn't matter if you're on a bike, in a car, truck or on a unicycle, a red light is a red light.

This,

My dad always told me to ride on the roads when I was young so I would learn how to properly use roads, I'm from the UK too and it really helped me prep for driving, kind of a boost on learning all the road safety.

But anyway, back to the OP;

From what I can tell bike culture is all about having a good time while pushing yourself to your limits. Exhausted? Do more miles and you'll feel great. Bored? You can't be, just enjoy the scenery.

Like one guy said about nature, I love nature so I'm sure I'm gonna love cycling.

 

[pwarbi]

Cyclists do tend to belong to a 'band of brothers' if you want to use that term, and there's definitely a clique that forms when you are with a group of cyclists.

There's that us against them mentality, us being the cyclists, them being every other road user and even pedestrians that seem intent on making us fall off!

 

[Djordje87]

It is not only fitness. At least it is not for me. I like to look at the bigger picture and I am proud of myself and everybody who likes to ride bikes and save the environment thus getting fit in the process. We are choosing to do some good and use our energy as a fuel. Not only that, we also respect other values like slowing our life style to appreciate the beauties around us, we also usually have better temper then people in cars because of the simple fact we do not have to wait for the traffic

 

[Veater]

I'll go against the grain and say I don't really think there's a culture. I think it's the same as all hobbies and sports, that you have a huge range of different people doing it for completely different reasons. Perhaps that's just me. I don't participate in any cycling clubs and, although I occasionally cycle with friends, it's more of our friendship group doing something together because we're friends than us cycling together because we're cyclists. I don't get any great feeling of comeradery with other cyclists, they don't tend to wave at me or chat to me if we happen to be close enough to do so. It's just a mode of transportation and something I love to do, not a part of my identity, cultural or otherwise.

 

[cyclintom]

It is not only fitness. At least it is not for me. I like to look at the bigger picture and I am proud of myself and everybody who likes to ride bikes and save the environment thus getting fit in the process. We are choosing to do some good and use our energy as a fuel. Not only that, we also respect other values like slowing our life style to appreciate the beauties around us, we also usually have better temper then people in cars because of the simple fact we do not have to wait for the traffic

As a scientist I do not believe in most of the values of so-called "environmentalists" since most of them are pretty propagandized people with little real science background. The "Anthropogenic Global Warming" is a completely false hypothesis which I can easily prove. It is being used by political powers to try and control a population that should be free and not victimized.

But that in no way means that environmentalism at it's root is not a proper way for people to think and live.

Intelligent life is basically self destructive since lifeforms of all sorts are self-centered and man is no different. He wants a bigger car than his neighbors. Driving down the road he wants to catch up to the guy in front of him and take any dangerous chance to pass him. He wants to huddle together in large cities which is unnecessary and ends up covering the surrounding land with the excrement of society.

One very small change here and there won't make a difference but it would help. And riding bicycles where ever you can instead of driving cars and trucks and trains and planes reduces a man to closer to his own self instead of the room of 50 people or more.

Besides, "I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike. I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike.".

 

[pwarbi]

I wouldn't say that all cyclists are environmentalists to be honest so that's not really got anything to do with the cycling culture as such. Most cyclists I know cycle because of the love of the sport or the hobby itself, the fact it's better for the environment isn't really an issue for most people, and it certainly isn't for me anyway.