Two Wheel Tuesday: Charlottesville

You know, I have never shared this with anyone. It is nothing I am proud of, but there was a time that I was a mountainbikist. Yes indeed, the cycling world's equivalent of a racist. To my eye there was only one true cycling discipline, that which took place on the road. Those who sought to expand the activity onto the dirt were, well, dirty, unclean, beneath us real cyclists, we dedicated roadies. I could not understand what people saw in riding the narrow trails, the rocky spaces. As if to confirm these views a friend at the time bought a mountain bike, rode it twice, then put it in mothballs. Yup, mountain bikes and mountain bikers were just no good. This friend was also a cussed conservative, and the fact that we could agree on this confirmed things. There was only one true way, and that way was the road.

Well, time slowly passed. Other friends bought mountain bikes, rode them, raced them, talked about them in front of me, and seemed to have a great time doing all that. It was no longer "other" people riding mtb's, now it was people I knew, people I considered friends. My mountainbikist beliefs began to take some serious hits, my sense of superiority no longer so cut and dry.

Eventually, of course, I had to try and, as you likely know, ever since then there has been no looking back. It was inevitable after all; I mean I have a fairly decent and open mind, willing to learn, try new things, forward looking, not stuck in the past. Let me just say unequivocally and without hesitation that it was wrong of me to belittle mtber's all those years ago, to consider them beneath me and an inferior tribe. There, that was easy; the difference between right and wrong could not be more clear. Sometimes all it takes to understand, to be able to relate with, an "other" is, as the saying goes, to walk a mile in their shoes, or in this case try a different bike.

this was supposed to be a serious post, more or less, but then this happened and I realized a bit of an adjustment was necessary. and what happened to the focus anyway? dang it!