Are you a cyclist?

[Salsprocket]

No, I don't think I'm a cyclist either. I don't ride for any particular purpose, don't commute, don't compete, don't show off, don't wear all the 'right' gear.
I love my bikes and one of them is one of my most treasured possessions (and I always apologise to it when I fall off).
I love the freedom that riding gives me - I love exploring, going further than walking can take me, finding new places and new views. I love getting the maps out and planning the rides, I love bringing the bike out and setting off. I love the feeling when we get home knackered and filthy.
I feel like a kid when we stand up on the pedals and give it some welly; I feel like I've achieved something when I've made it up a steepish hill without having to stop; I like that I am totally anonymous especially in the winter with helmet on and buff pulled up - no one knows how old I am what I look like or anything . It doesn't matter how broke I am - I can always get out on the bike.
I love shouting 'weeeee' when I go down hill - and long fast bumpy descents always (and I don't know why) reduce me to hysterical laughter (it's got to be something to do with no suspension impacting on the laughter nodules in my brain...); I love riding through fords, across narrow bridges on remote streams, along barely used tracks.
And I love that it gets me away from people.
No, I'm not a 'cyclist' - but I love riding.

 

[legrandefromage]

I ride a bicycle or 7 but am not a cyclist. Non of the gear, no idea.

 

[FMJ]

The only time the voices in my head STFU is when I'm riding moto or MTBs off road and it's unbelievably therapeutic/refreshing (for me, anyway). It's a focus thing. My mind is too damn busy processing information to wander off. It's similar to an extent when riding road bikes, sport bikes, or driving cars, but I have to ride/drive at well past what is considered the hooligan threshold to get the same effect. Skiing does the same, but again, to get to that point where I'm 100% in the moment I'm at risk of sanctions from the patrols.

 

[theredchili]

Had to do a google search to find a suitable answer, I found this:


How to be a Real Cyclist
To be a Real Cyclist, you must:

ride whatever you like
ride wherever you like
ride for whatever reason you like
ride at what speed you like
ride as far as you like
ride with whomever you like
wear whatever you like

So yeah, guess I am!

 

[NeilM]

I absolutely am a cyclist, because I ride my bikes for the pleasure of it.

I don't have to ride a bike, I have perfectly good cars at my disposal and if I want to adventure far off road I can either use my legs or my horse to do that, but instead I often choose a bicycle, and so I am a cyclist.

I have not filled in the poll, as there are several categories I would vote for and I cannot choose between rubbish at team games, can't throw a ball and don't like people.

As for Wiggins, if a man chooses to spend months on end, cycling at altitude, away from his wife and small children, in order to realise his dream of winning the TdF, then at the very least he should be acknowledged as a cyclist, knighthood or no knighthood.

 

[velomaniac]

I'm velomaniac, that says it all I think and thus I am definitely a cyclist. A pee poor one most of the time I'm happy to admitt but a cyclist none the less into every genre of the past time !

Some of the folk who say they're not cyclists go on to explain this in a manner that in my mind says they are cyclists. In my book if you like cycling and ride a bike, your a cyclist

 

[gibbleking]

im a tricyclist........anyone else? :xmas-cool: :xmas-cool: :xmas-cool:

 

[FairfaxPat]

Yes...

 

[daugs]

...........what is a cyclist? ................so, why do you cycle?

Disclaimer: this is clearly a bit of fun (although the fact that there is a disclaimer probably means not clearly enough) so please try to keep answers in that spirit

very different questions so title and poll bit misleading methinks, think you need to add some categories, "none of the above"; "because I enjoy it"

although will soon form part of job recruitment

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25366998

 

[Alison]

I'm not a cyclist, I have an attraction to the bike, to it's form and function, and because I have enjoyed over the years buying frames, choosing parts and attaching those parts and then taking the final product out into the world.

I once, when I first thought of doing it myself, asked a bike shop whether building up a bike would be reasonably easy. He said "no it is not and don't ever think of doing it unless you have been professionally trained, that's why you have bike shops". Well I've put together dozen's of 'em and I've yet to have problems, other than theft, with them.

Alison