Not a roadie, not a mountain biker, just a cyclist.

Being that I am not looking, it becomes quite alright that I can't seem to find a real place in the cycling world within which to be compartmentalized.  Sure, I spend lots of time riding on dirt as well as logging plenty of road miles throughout the year, but there seems to be a lack of people to ride with considering the fact that I refuse to choose purely one riding style over the other while often incorporate the two in single rides.  Though the gravel/adventure bike scene has been the hottest thing to hit the market as of late and helps to slightly blur the lines between off vs on road cycling, there still seems to be a road/mountain biker dichotomy that splits the cycling world like a razor blade.  Take your pick; Peleton or Dirt Rag magazine, chamois or shorts, SPD cleats/shoes or platform pedals.  There is very much a black and white, one vs the other mentality that plagues the industry and only perpetuates the division between what at the end of the day are often like minded individuals.  Many of us clearly enjoy riding bicycles, being outdoors and enjoying the wonderful virtues of nature while appreciating high quality things in life such as good food, coffee and beer/wine.  So what is it about a simple thing such as big vs small tires that has us forming cliques, stigmas and often deliberate avoidance and or omission of one an other's presence?

Above is Pauline ferrand-prévot (center), the first woman to hold the road,
 mountain and cyclocross world championships all at one time. 

You ride a bike? Me too..

After having worked in a bicycle shop for the last two months (a very down to earth one mind you), I have seen self proclaimed cyclists of virtually every orientation come through and spread their wings.  From the uber hip, fashionable (?), fixed gear riding youngsters to the snobby, everything-retro-is-better proselytizing grouch and the conversely (and sometimes not so much) well financed, ultra high tech loving road and mountain cyclists, I have watched as they come, spoken their language, and gone.  Bits of dialogue I pick up on range from an absolute religious like worship for tech and new gear, to seemingly rare utterances of praise for the joy the act of cycling in and of itself.  Whispers of things that are undoubtedly indicative of a cyclists attempt at identifying with fill-in-the-blank genre become all to solidified after correlating the talk with the walk.  There is a style and swagger behind the various cycling sub-genres that have genius marketing schemes capitalizing on and further compounding the sub-culture mentality within cycling.  Books such as Bicycle Tribes have come to identify, but (inadvertently?) perpetuate the dissemination of cyclist sects within which one can relate to, and then ultimately become assimilated within.  Conforming to social, cycling, eating and drinking habits, the cyclist who identifies her/himself as a one particular walk of rider vs another has not only hindered their ability to congregate within other cyclists, but literally and figuratively confines their cycling style and riding boundaries.  There are certain unspoken rules and style dos and donts within the cycling community that very much compose the core backbone of what it means to be a roadie or a Mountain bike.  It is the dissolution of such dichotomies that interest me as a cyclist, mechanic and writer.

A cyclist stands by her commuter; a mountain bike equipped with racks for toting, drop bars 
for speed and big, plush tires for comfort. (Image courtesy of http://bikecommutechallenge.com/)

 

Walking the walk

It doesn't take much to spread the good vibes of cyclist inclusion.  Go out on that all day ride with the "roadies" and get your ass kicked a bit while showing them how much fun you are able to have on your not so pure bred road bike.  You could always invite your "fixie only" riding friend to join you on a slightly more adventurous ride to broaden the horizons.  What about taking that "gravel grinder" bike of yours out on some rougher trails and splicing in some love for the die hard mountain bikers?  We all need people to come in and shake things up a bit, blending good styles and aspects of cycling from all genres.  If riding a single speed road bike while wearing tall socks with SPD (mountain cycling) shoes, a messenger bag, lycra shorts and a skateboarding helmet is your thing; please, by all means.  As half of the struggle here is a style war, the further we remove ourselves from various cliques the more we can allow ourselves to be where we want, riding how we really want to with a hopefully increasing number of like minded individuals.