Another good article about the 'rules'.

[oldpotatoe]

BUT, anybody that really takes all of these seriously, are seriously gooned up, IMHO. BUT, when I sat back and watched(me-old fart, gray beard, plain jacket, steel bike) and listened to the large gaggle at the market in Hygiene last Saturday..well, road cycling 'may' be seriously gooned up.

https://cyclingtips.com/2017/03/commentary-forget-velominatis-rules-youre-not-wrong

[pcxmbfj]

As I get older the less other peoples opinions matter.

[Hilltopperny]

:hello: I have always abstained from following too many silly rules. I ride for good health both mentally and physically. Since I hit my 30's I definitely try not to take myself too seriously. I am of the train of thought that as long as you are happy with yourself and your surroundings f#€k what everybody else thinks. I do think that this stretches far beyond cycling culture though:beer:

[shovelhd]

Eff the rules.

[Black Dog]

This part of the article sums up some realities very well:

Paradoxically, an attempt to celebrate the refined subtleties of road cycling is suffocating it. Look at how participation for recreational road racing is flat. Look at the struggle to get more women and minorities and young people engaged with riding as a sport. Look at the way so many potential riders look at road cycling as too exclusive or complicated or intimidating to try. In any case, the subculture that “The Rules” and its supporters inhabit is making itself increasingly trivial.

[gemship]

When I first registered on this forum it was to sincerely be able to view images of bikes. I was obsessed with lightweight high end bicycles. Well that gets kinda boring so in time I soon took interest in call it what you want the lifestyle, the rules, this cycling sub culture. Not to mention taking an interest in all this OT on here. I sorta envy people that live in the city and maybe use a bike more because it makes more sense and of course wear bike parts out faster and have more dealings with the rules. Currently I still enjoy looking at bikes but I get more curious about the OT stuff on here, our shared opinions and interests here. When I get on here it's usually to pass the time before or after working outside to make ends meet. I work so hard for my money and spend so much time outside that getting on a bike is a challenge. I really have nothing to prove on a bike so I spend little money on bikes these days but I envy those otherwise and still find humor and interest in all this bicycle. I don't know if I could ever really relate to the rules but I would like to someday make cycling a more practical, focused activity in my life. Getting on this forum really isn't the same as actually riding a bike and that's maybe not the same as riding in a group and sharing the love of cycling with others.

[colker]

Velominatti rules is about FUN. It´s crazy humour. It´s about obsession. It´s about laughing at ourselves.
Either the writer of the article in the link is too dense to get it..
or a hypocrite; Velominatti is the bad guy and the journalist is fighting the good fight. Not. He is not a freedom fighter, just playing one on the internet. It´s just another way to make a living: Velominatti steals readers so let´s bring them down. Let´s throw people against them. It´s about clicks on line, it´s about money... not any freedom.

[William]

https://media.giphy.com/media/26uf65IKtUY89rd4s/giphy.gif







William

[unterhausen]

There are about 10 of those rules that make sense, and the rest are just a batch of indefensible opinions. And I'm glad the mtb community was too stoned to reply. Hard to believe they have been around that long. I don't think participation in road riding is going down because of the rules though. There has been a big exurbanization of the population. A lot of the nice, quiet roads we used to ride on are now treated like freeways by half-crazed nitwits. Most of us have gotten used to it, but I can see people not wanting to participate in a sport that looks as dangerous as cycling can look from the outside.

As I get older the less other peoples opinions matter.

it was a happy day when I realized I didn't have to gaf what anyone else thought. And passing my 2 minute man in the local time trials with my giant seat bag and dyno lights from randonneuring was also a good day.

Do the guys that wrote the rules get a kickback from jersey companies? Stuffing your jersey pockets with junk that would be much better off in a bag is just silly, especially because you read some rules somewhere.

OTOH, I think that riding without your knees covered below about 65F is stupid, not tough. I see the college kids out riding bare-kneed on sunny days in the winter and shake my head. Then again, I wouldn't tell them that unless I knew them.

[moobikes]

"Respect the Earth, don't litter" is the only one worth following.

[El Chaba]

I've always viewed cycling as an activity that I enjoy, and it has been very good to me. I've never viewed it as-and will resist efforts to turn it into- a social engineering project.

[colker]

This part of the article sums up some realities very well:

Paradoxically, an attempt to celebrate the refined subtleties of road cycling is suffocating it. Look at how participation for recreational road racing is flat. Look at the struggle to get more women and minorities and young people engaged with riding as a sport. Look at the way so many potential riders look at road cycling as too exclusive or complicated or intimidating to try. In any case, the subculture that “The Rules” and its supporters inhabit is making itself increasingly trivial.

That part is exactly what i call demagoguery and money making disguising as the good fight.
Cycling is what you want it to be. The bicycle is a great invention and does not need to be promoted for everybody.. Everybody loves a bicycle and if they don´t it´s their own feeaking problem.
Velominatti is fun, playing like a cult of road riding.
It does not bring down touring.
Or mountain bike.
There is BMX.
There is space for all kinds of bicycle riders.
Cycling tips is just trying to steal the thunder from Velominatti.

[colker]

I've always viewed cycling as an activity that I enjoy, and it has been very good to me. I've never viewed it as-and will resist efforts to turn it into- a social engineering project.

:hello::hello::beer:::D:D:D
Awesome post-

[Black Dog]

Velominatti rules is about FUN. It´s crazy humour. It´s about obsession. It´s about laughing at ourselves.
Either the writer of the article in the link is too dense to get it..
or a hypocrite; Velominatti is the bad guy and the journalist is fighting the good fight. Not. He is not a freedom fighter, just playing one on the internet. It´s just another way to make a living: Velominatti steals readers so let´s bring them down. Let´s throw people against them. It´s about clicks on line, it´s about money... not any freedom.

Did you read the article? The writer is talking about how people are taking the "rules" seriously not the rules themselves. He explicitly said that the rules were written tongue in cheek. :confused:

[colker]

Did you read the article? The writer is talking about how people are taking the "rules" seriously not the rules themselves. He explicitly said that the rules were written tongue in cheek. :confused:

I tried to read but i got disgusted by the pseudo seriousness of it all.
Anyone who srsly mock others for their sock length is an idiot, an a$$hole and does not deserve an article, never mind a serious article.

There are a$$holes everywhere. The less we talk about them, the less power they have.

[nalax]

I never heard of the "Rules" until today but I'm only 67.

[gemship]

I tried to read but i got disgusted by the pseudo seriousness of it all.
Anyone who srsly mock others for their sock length is an idiot, an a$$hole and does not deserve an article, never mind a serious article.

There are a$$holes everywhere. The less we talk about them, the less power they have.

You're not alone, I didn't read the article either. So I guess I am legitimately ignorant but I get the gist. All I can say is it's the best to have you health to ride a bike. A luxury to ride a bike and a luxury further still to be able to take time read and talk about riding bikes. If I seriously rode bikes I would probably be too engaged to really know or care about the rules or even spend time reading anything about bikes. forums, news, the web in general is as they say talk is cheap, as I say a waste of time. It's all interesting junk food for the mind. I like the rule a previous poster posted about not littering, that makes sense.

[fignon's barber]

Funny. Cycling Tips is against The Rules, yet they send me weekly emails urging me to join their "exclusive" Velo Club for only $200 per year. This apparently allows me to ride on my roads for free and the opportunity to purchase an Exclusive Velo Club kit for $300, to set me apart from "average" cyclists who have not purchased the exclusive package.

[earlfoss]

Cyclingtips was having a slooooow news day the day they threw that thing out there. Basically trolling the entire cycling community. Guaranteed clicks!

Freds!

[veloduffer]

I don't care what you wear on a ride. So many riders just don't know how to ride! - can't hold their place properly in a paceline, much less a double paceline; can't make a clean turn; can't make a turn without leaning their bike in bad weather or sand in the corner and resulting in a slide out; over react if they get bumped in the pack; etc.

The Rules were mostly tongue in cheek (I think), except #5.


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[Lewis Moon]

BUT, anybody that really takes all of these seriously, are seriously gooned up, IMHO. BUT, when I sat back and watched(me-old fart, gray beard, plain jacket, steel bike) and listened to the large gaggle at the market in Hygiene last Saturday..well, road cycling 'may' be seriously gooned up.

https://cyclingtips.com/2017/03/commentary-forget-velominatis-rules-youre-not-wrong

I saw the article and immediately went into a catatonic eye roll.
My take: someone needed some column inches to pay for their double mocha lattes and Rapha skinny jeans. I guess necessity is the mother of faux pearl clutching outrage too.
Anyone who takes "The Rules" seriously is seriously bent.

[pbarry]

BUT, anybody that really takes all of these seriously, are seriously gooned up, IMHO. BUT, when I sat back and watched(me-old fart, gray beard, plain jacket, steel bike) and listened to the large gaggle at the market in Hygiene last Saturday..well, road cycling 'may' be seriously gooned up.

https://cyclingtips.com/2017/03/commentary-forget-velominatis-rules-youre-not-wrong

That's a funny scene in Hygiene. I've fixed a few flats for people there on the latest zoot bikes who had no idea how to not pinch or blow out a tube.. It's a lot more interesting to talk to the occasional farmer who stops in. ;)

[chiasticon]

Eff the rules.basically this. that whole site/community is just one massive eye roll every time I happen across it.

[Clean39T]

Funny. Cycling Tips is against The Rules, yet they send me weekly emails urging me to join their "exclusive" Velo Club for only $200 per year. This apparently allows me to ride on my roads for free and the opportunity to purchase an Exclusive Velo Club kit for $300, to set me apart from "average" cyclists who have not purchased the exclusive package.



Pro-tip: it was $79 USD, and you get a monthly 10% off code for ChainReactionCycles that's on top of their sale prices.

I did it as a way to show support for the podcast, which I find entertaining and hope continues.

I have yet to engage w the Aussie "community".


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[El Chaba]

The funny and ironic part about the rules -possibly intentional- is that the deep cycling culture that is governed by such rules would strictly prohibit ever putting said rules in written form....

[colker]

The funny and ironic part about the rules -possibly intentional- is that the deep cycling culture that is governed by such rules would strictly prohibit ever putting said rules in written form....

It´s a secret handshake.

[Schmed]

OTOH, I think that riding without your knees covered below about 65F is stupid, not tough. I see the college kids out riding bare-kneed on sunny days in the winter and shake my head. Then again, I wouldn't tell them that unless I knew them.

Don't you mean "55F"? 65 is short sleeves and shorts, man! (except for the SoCal folks who wear sweaters and ugg boots when it's 65)

[Gummee]

"Respect the Earth, don't litter" is the only one worth following.

I disagree

Rule #5 is the only one worth following

M

[Anarchist]

Don't you mean "55F"? 65 is short sleeves and shorts, man! (except for the SoCal folks who wear sweaters and ugg boots when it's 65)

I think he meant 65*.

I never go out with knees uncovered below 65*. Makes sense, only 1 pair of knees.

[berserk87]

A few highlights, for those that didn't want to read the whole thing:

"Now, eight years later, the list has stopped being useful or funny. It has instead become source code for a culture of semi-clueless exclusion in the cycling universe."

"The outermost layer of the problem is that many of the rules are empirically stupid."

"I’ve come to realize that I don’t have to conform to a secret code to be a proper road rider. As long as you’re safe and having fun, you’re in the club."

"As time has passed and The List has gotten longer (and painfully more earnest), an insidious thing has happened: More people have started to take the document, and what it represents, too seriously."

"Paradoxically, an attempt to celebrate the refined subtleties of road cycling is suffocating it. Look at how participation for recreational road racing is flat. Look at the struggle to get more women and minorities and young people engaged with riding as a sport. Look at the way so many potential riders look at road cycling as too exclusive or complicated or intimidating to try. In any case, the subculture that “The Rules” and its supporters inhabit is making itself increasingly trivial."

I accidentally put the last quote in bold. Can't seem to get it to quit.

[sandyrs]

OTOH, I think that riding without your knees covered below about 65F is stupid, not tough. I see the college kids out riding bare-kneed on sunny days in the winter and shake my head. Then again, I wouldn't tell them that unless I knew them.

I'm going to venture a guess that not wearing knee warmers on cool days doesn't even register as a blip on the radar of ways collegiate cyclists are unkind to their own bodies :)

[Anarchist]

I'm going to venture a guess that not wearing knee warmers on cool days doesn't even register as a blip on the radar of ways collegiate cyclists are unkind to their own bodies :)

This.

I saw a group out the other day. A whopping 3*C and there they all were. Bare knees. Bare fingers, but jackets and ear coverings.

I just watched them go by and thought, man in another 10 years they aren't going to have a clue why their knees are so bad, it wow.

[mhespenheide]

I know that most people already understand that "The Rules" are a joke, to be taken only as seriously as you want to take them. Some people don't, so I'll offer a few words in Velominati's defense. They're a bunch of bike geeks, almost entirely roadies, who idolize Merckx and the Merckx era (and anything up to the pre-Armstrong era, really). The rules are public secret handshake, and a way to create some community amongst themselves. Just as important are the love of beautiful bikes and coffee before a ride and a beer after a ride, bemoaning a lack of fitness, and the understanding that no matter how many bikes you own, there's always another one that can be added.

When I was living in rural central Utah, it was fun to "hang out" with them online. When I moved to Seattle and was actually able to join one of their rides, absolutely no one gave me any grief about unshaved legs, or cutting a ride short from lack of fitness. On that same ride, we had a young local marine who was clearly new to the sport; he showed up with a sleeveless jersey, bottles behind the saddle, and other triathlete markers. He was welcomed, hung the whole ride, and stayed for beers and whisky over the campfire afterward. On another ride with them, I crashed on a rain- and oil-slicked descent; two other riders rode back to my car with me to make sure I got home alright.

"The rules" can be stupid, even intimidating if you don't get the joke. They swear a lot. And no one should be using them as an excuse to insult another rider. But if you want to engage their community, I've only had good experiences with them.

[colker]

The article renewed my enthusiasm for velominati as one of the few places showing intelligence and sense of humour in the WWW.
I can´t stand anymore selfrighteous bS like "we need to bring minorities, women etc.. to cycling. we need to stop intimidating beginners". Why??
Cycling is dangerous. Stay away!

If i am a shop, i need to bring people to the sport. I need to sell stuff. I understand. I am not a shop and neither is cyclingtips.

[ceolwulf]

in defense...

Very good response.

And the Cycling Tips troll-post (precisely what it is ... and I'm taking the bait, sigh) goes *way* too far. This ...

At a moment in time in which outsiders of many kinds face exclusion or prejudice in our society, this kind of behavior is embarrassingly off-key.

Seriously? An inside joke about sock length is now to be mentioned in the same breath as racism and prejudice? :confused:

And the implication that a few guys with a secret handshake of sorts are solely responsible for the decline of road cycling is so preposterous that the hardest thing to believe is that there are apparently people that agree with that.

[rousseau]

Seriously? An inside joke about sock length is now to be mentioned in the same breath as racism and prejudice? :confused:


You can never be too careful. Prejudice over sock length may seem innocuous, but we all know where that kind of thing leads. I mean, look at the Nazis.

[Macadamia]

You can never be too careful. Prejudice over sock length may seem innocuous, but we all know where that kind of thing leads. I mean, look at the Nazis.

I bet they mostly wore quite long socks, not ankle length...
https://ridingthirdrail.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/hitler-youth.jpg
wow, pro!

[Schmed]

I'm going to venture a guess that not wearing knee warmers on cool days doesn't even register as a blip on the radar of ways collegiate cyclists are unkind to their own bodies :)

Heck - it doesn't even register as a blip on my 50 year-old radar. I should eat more veggies, stop drinking beer, and quit auto racing, too, but cold knees are the least of my concerns. Damage to my knees riding at 64 degrees in shorts? Heck - if the mogul skiing and singlespeeding haven't done them in by now, nothing will!

[merlincustom1]

Some of the rules have serious merit, but I take most as satire, very inside, written by some old school guys who clearly love the sport, love the ritual, and are maybe railing against it going away.

[Seramount]

Some of the rules have serious merit, but I take most as satire, very inside, written by some old school guys who clearly love the sport, love the ritual, and are maybe railing against it going away.

^this.

[sparky33]

The rules are useful. Someone actually went to the trouble to explain a bit of the odd traditions that are not explained elsewhere. Following tradition is optional, but it exists.

My guns aren't shaved.

That said I won't ride with anyone whose tire labels aren't centered over the valve stem. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

[justindcady]

The rules are useful. Someone actually went to the trouble to explain a bit of the odd traditions that are not explained elsewhere. Following tradition is optional, but it exists.

My guns aren't shaved.

That said I won't ride with anyone whose tire labels aren't centered over the valve stem. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

This....

It seems as though the historical/traditional aspect of "The Rules" had been forgotten. It's a lot of neat little factoids and trivia type of stuff on there.

[jruhlen1980]

I'd like to point out that in my own cycling career I've heard more trash talk and judgment from anti bike snob snobs (and recumbent riders) than I've ever heard from roadies.

Blaming The Rules, or even people who take The Rules seriously, on the decline of road racing in the U.S. is like blaming a forest fire on the guy who tossed a lit match into the flames long after it started.

The Cyclingtips article acknowledged that "The Rules" were written tongue-in-cheek, but then blasted the velominati for the fact that some people take them seriously, and implied that the velominati themselves now take the rules seriously in the interests of page views. (Ironic much?)

[fiamme red]

After a few days when the temperature is around freezing, we'll have a warm day when it goes up to 45°, and you'll see cyclists riding around wearing shorts with their knees exposed. I mind my own business, but they really need to be educated.

[El Chaba]

I'd like to point out that in my own cycling career I've heard more trash talk and judgment from anti bike snob snobs (and recumbent riders) than I've ever heard from roadies.

Blaming The Rules, or even people who take The Rules seriously, on the decline of road racing in the U.S. is like blaming a forest fire on the guy who tossed a lit match into the flames long after it started.

The Cyclingtips article acknowledged that "The Rules" were written tongue-in-cheek, but then blasted the velominati for the fact that some people take them seriously, and implied that the velominati themselves now take the rules seriously in the interests of page views. (Ironic much?)

I'll echo this.....

[fiamme red]

"Shave your guns."

You talkin' to me?

https://blog.hrc.utexas.edu/files/2016/10/Robert-De-Niro_Taxi-Driver_film-still.jpg

[rousseau]

I'd like to point out that in my own cycling career I've heard more trash talk and judgment from anti bike snob snobs (and recumbent riders) than I've ever heard from roadies.

Blaming The Rules, or even people who take The Rules seriously, on the decline of road racing in the U.S. is like blaming a forest fire on the guy who tossed a lit match into the flames long after it started.

The Cyclingtips article acknowledged that "The Rules" were written tongue-in-cheek, but then blasted the velominati for the fact that some people take them seriously, and implied that the velominati themselves now take the rules seriously in the interests of page views. (Ironic much?)
There's a decline in road racing in the U.S.? In terms of numbers?

I don't have numbers for Canada, but in southern Ontario where I am there seems to be more road races than ever. I don't race myself.

Though I do ride with groups of older guys who used to. Oddly enough, in my little city of 30,000 there used to be a strong local club devoted to sponsored racing from the late 1960s right into the new millennium, but it eventually petered out. Now we just have informal rides with no structured racing training in place at all. In the last few years a new cycling club got started up by a group of retirees with rides for different skill and speed levels, but their main focus is on cycling advocacy (definitely a good thing, to be sure).

Sometimes I wonder if the post-millennial cycling boom might not be producing so many teenage kids eager to take up racing because it sometimes seems as if it's being driven by old fat guys on $8,000 bikes in day-glo racing kits. Kids are kids, right? Whatever was cool amongst 40-somethings when I was sixteen was the very last thing I would have wanted to do.

[makoti]

Sometimes I wonder if the post-millennial cycling boom might not be producing so many teenage kids eager to take up racing because it sometimes seems as if it's being driven by old fat guys on $8,000 bikes in day-glo racing kits. Kids are kids, right? Whatever was cool amongst 40-somethings when I was sixteen was the very last thing I would have wanted to do.

Speak for yourself. I am quite sure I inspire many of today's yutes to take up riding as I glide by in my very best lycra.

[FlashUNC]

The Rules don't matter until they do.

[bikingshearer]

Some of the Rules are very important safety measures. Example: Rule #59 - Hold your line. A big amen to that.

Some are obviously tongue in cheek. Example: Rule #24 - Speed and distance measurements must be metric, the better to confuse the uninitiated.

And how about a new Rule #96: Don't waste time with people who are incapable of telling the difference between the two. Life's too short.

[William]

The Rules don't matter until they do.


That's similar to what I say to my guys who show up to train not wearing a cup.





William

[Bob Ross]

"Respect the Earth, don't litter" is the only one worth following.

I detest nearly anything that sounds even remotely like it came from organized religion ...and yet I think The Golden Rule (aka, "Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You") may well be the single greatest invention of mankind. If everybody lived their lives that way 100% of the time, we'd be in so much less guano than we are now.

So that's my favorite rule. And fcuk the Velominati.

[oldpotatoe]

Some of the Rules are very important safety measures. Example: Rule #59 - Hold your line. A big amen to that.

Some are obviously tongue in cheek. Example: Rule #24 - Speed and distance measurements must be metric, the better to confuse the uninitiated.

And how about a new Rule #96: Don't waste time with people who are incapable of telling the difference between the two. Life's too short.

Of course, I think the whole idea of these rules and why I posted them. Something to discuss and laugh about over a beer, not write in stone and bring down from a mountain top.

[chiasticon]

I detest nearly anything that sounds even remotely like it came from organized religion ...and yet I think The Golden Rule (aka, "Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You") may well be the single greatest invention of mankind. If everybody lived their lives that way 100% of the time, we'd be in so much less guano than we are now.

So that's my favorite rule. And fcuk the Velominati.+1

or as a friend puts it: "people should just live by Bill and Ted's advice: be excellent to each other."

[Repack Rider]

Cyclist magazine published my article about "the rules" over 30 years ago. Nothing has changed. (http://www.sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/hey_ed.htm)

[Corso]

Cyclist magazine published my article about "the rules" over 30 years ago. Nothing has changed. (http://www.sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/hey_ed.htm)

Charlie: Nailed it 30 years ago, shows how little things have changed. I’ve always thought “serious” cyclist are their (our?) own worst enemy.

Life’s too short to worry if my kit matches or not. I ride for myself, not for others.

[colker]

Franck/Velominatti turned an unwritten, coded, obsessed niche culture into writting. He says it clearly: he is a writer and a cyclist.
Everyone who is enraged by the "rules" should instead turn their anger to real unjustices brought by the real rule: the law. You know.. the one set of rules which punishes people w/ violence and loss if you don´t obey.
Velominatti is a smart joke. It´s a writer laughing at himself in the best tradition of free spirited writing. It´s rooted in freedom not in obedience. It´s individualism.
IMO it´s better than every piece of journalism who sees cycling as a way to save the world.

[bluesea]

I detest nearly anything that sounds even remotely like it came from organized religion ...and yet I think The Golden Rule (aka, "Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You") may well be the single greatest invention of mankind. If everybody lived their lives that way 100% of the time, we'd be in so much less guano than we are now.

So that's my favorite rule. And fcuk the Velominati.


Hasn't that ethic followed into the same black hole in modern society, that common courtesy (and common sense) had fallen into quite long ago?

[BobO]

Hasn't that ethic followed into the same black hole in modern society, that common courtesy (and common sense) had fallen into quite long ago?

Actually, I think we're actually quite a lot more kind to one another today as compared with various times in history. Can you imagine what the treatment of cyclists would have been during the inquisition? :D

[jruhlen1980]

Actually, I think we're actually quite a lot more kind to one another today as compared with various times in history. Can you imagine what the treatment of cyclists would have been during the inquisition? :D

Well shoot. I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition.

[BobO]

Well shoot. I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition.

https://media4.giphy.com/media/CLrEXbY34xfPi/200_s.gif

[jruhlen1980]

https://media4.giphy.com/media/CLrEXbY34xfPi/200_s.gif

:beer:

[bikingshearer]

Of course, I think the whole idea of these rules and why I posted them. Something to discuss and laugh about over a beer, not write in stone and bring down from a mountain top.

Like the Fifteen Comma . . . er, the Ten Commandments?


Spudman, I think we are on the same page on this. Of course, we can't be sure unless and until we sit down, share a Guiness or two, and hash it out properly. :beer:

[Fivethumbs]

Mel Brooks would approve of this post^


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ronsonic]

Back before forums like this, there were the newsgroups. There we had real people participating and characters like "Fabrizio Mazzolini." Who very hilariously would explain things like "you cannot use a 27 tooth cog, it will be seen and you will be judged."

What I like and dislike about the rules: cycling like all true sport can be uplifting and brilliant, dirty, cruel, and all of that at once. It is also elegant and efficient. That elegance and efficiency is mostly within our control, the rest isn't. Rules just codify what is known to be efficient and simple. There's something to that.

[bironi]

Thanks OldP. Good piece. I think things are looser on the gravel roads and mtb terrain, but perhaps not. I know that a lot of younger riders in my locale carry beer along on some pretty tough gravel outings. I take this as a statement that they don't take it so seriously. They are out for fun. That is my favorite reason for riding.
BTW, I'm about to pass on your left regarding post counts.

[fiamme red]

Back before forums like this, there were the newsgroups. There we had real people participating and characters like "Fabrizio Mazzolini." Who very hilariously would explain things like "you cannot use a 27 tooth cog, it will be seen and you will be judged."

What I like and dislike about the rules: cycling like all true sport can be uplifting and brilliant, dirty, cruel, and all of that at once. It is also elegant and efficient. That elegance and efficiency is mostly within our control, the rest isn't. Rules just codify what is known to be efficient and simple. There's something to that.Thanks for reminding me of Fabrizio Mazzoleni. What a great newsgroup character! Here's another sample of his writing:

"Well ol Mig wasn't looking too swift on stage 7 (Briancon - Grenoble) of the '96 Dauphine Libere now was he. Even Stephane Heulot put some time on him that day.

"Look Jon, Mig only had one speed when doing the big climbs, he was boring, he hardly ever did an acceleration. Those big guys that are described as 'diesels' that just sit and turn a huge gear up the climbs aren't where it's at.

"It's guys like me, and in their day Montoya, Berzin, Escartin, Dufaux, and Pantani, who can put on a forum on how to do brutal accelerations on the big climbs - and that's exactly what women like looking at.

"Go out to the garage and measure your bike - bottom bracket to center of the top tube, if it's over 52cm then maybe you should be thinking about taking up another sport, like Basketball."

[bironi]

I'm liking that last quote, perhaps you can guess my seat tube length.