“Don’t call me a cyclist!” How many times have you heard that demand from dudes who want utilitarian urban biking to share no similarity with bros in spandex zipping through stop lights? “We’re people on bikes, we’re NOT cyclists!”
Okay, whatever.
Recently I saw an even more confounding preamble in a StrongTowns article. The author declares, “I don’t ride a bike because I love bikes. I ride because it’s a convenient and economical mode of transportation to accomplish my daily tasks.”
I left a comment that failed to illustrate the puerility of such a sentiment. Like, you LIKE a thing because of reasons but you refuse to be associated with people who like said thing for identical reasons. Seriously, what’s up with that?
Are we truly holding such internal shame that we can’t celebrate the fact that yes, we’re doing something real to save the Earth – or at least devoting some semblance of rationality to city commuting? You’ll never hear a soccer mom declare, “Oh, I just use this 4,000 lb van for its practicality, but don’t call me a car lover!”
Well, actually you might hear that one. I admit knowing a few.
https://www.facebook.com/strongtowns/posts/10153542323606603