I’ve had a few people ask, ok- so it was just one and a fellow cyclist at that, “Why’d you start cycling?”.

There are two reasons really. One- my car blew up. Turns out that if you don’t put water in them they do that sort of thing.

Two- the mirror.

Both of these were out of necessity. Granted one was the catalyst for the other, but that’s why.

There’s a little more to the how.
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Sprinters. The elite of the cycling echelon.

What is most ironic to me, a n00b to competitive cycling in general, is how nearly five hours on a bike can be considered a sprint- or a ride that would favor sprinters. When I think of sprinters the likes of Carl Lewis, Usain Bolt, and Tyson Gay come to mind.

And I’m not that far off for cycling’s part. Sprinters, both of the cycling and track varieties, share some key characteristics; mostly their body composition. Having a higher portion of fast twitch muscle fibers aids the sprinter to their need for quick bursts of speed and acceleration. Typically sprinters are considered bulkier and are often heavier than their sport counterparts. In cycling the peloton will tend to pull away from them in hilly or varied terrain, and I’m sure a similar conclusion would be there if track and field had sprinters and endurance athlete going head to head.

I can see the parallels drawn between the two sports.
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Pulitzer Prize winner William Saroyan (Wikipedia link) said, “The bicycle is the noblest invention of mankind.” Spot on. I suppose now could be a time to stroll down the history of the bicycle lane, but I’ll leave that to The History Channel or Wikipedia.

The fact remains however that the bicycle is still the world’s number means of transportation*.

Still.

Nearly two centuries later, the noblest of inventions is still at the top.

With all the thought towards the past I began thinking of my own journey to present day- to starting a blog about said inventum nobile.
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“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!”

I don’t remember ever having the mix of emotions I encountered this afternoon. I was angry, scared, and empowered- all at the same time.

A city bus came too close for comfort for me while I was commuting to work today.
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Wow. Props to Jed Mildon on such an incredible achievement- both personally and for the sport!

~NickShoe

For the past two or so months I’ve been on a bike. That is to say- I gave up the car (or it gave out, rather) and have been using a bicycle as my primary means of transportation. In those two months I’ve been yelled at (by an old lady that will not pass her next driving test- if she lives that long), cut off (by a chick talking on her phone), honked at (by rednecks- mostly), forced off the road (by a garbage truck!), argued with (by a city bus driver) and even told to get a job (by a cheeky fellow in a mercedes – really?). I’ve also been smiled at, waved through, nodded towards, and otherwise accepted as a member of the road.
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