Divorced from road racing

[cachagua]

There is nothing inherent about road racing that dictates there needs to be a dickhead attitude/jerk-circus/whatever. I'd be curious if different regions/countries have a more friendly scene... I sure as hell have noticed the difference...

So have I. I raced in the Boston area, with the uptight, pushy, surly, just-as-soon-kill-ya-as-talk-to-ya East Coasters, and everybody was telling jokes and having a great time on the bike and off. The "upperclassmen" were welcoming and supportive, and the newbies were all sympathetic to each other's struggles, "Aw dude, you should have seen how much glue I got on me the first time I put on a sew-up!" I moved to the laid-back, mellow Pacific Northwest, and nobody will talk to each other or even look at each other at the start of a race, or afterward. The atmosphere of passive-aggressive hostility could be cut with a knife.

Lotta, lotta solo miles for me since then. Of course all this was many, many years back and I have no idea how either of those scenes may have changed, but my $.02 is that attitude can vary widely from one group of people to another.