Is it imasculating for a grown man to ride a bicycle? (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

Well, I haven't been told otherwise, until now anyway, or corrected and there are no signs telling me not to, I see signs for no skateboards or rollerblades, but they mention nothing about bikes.

The route to and from work is an extremely simple one and I stick to the sidewalk on two instances during the trip, one is through Elsmere, that's about 2 minutes and the other is right before I hit Maryland Avenue, about 3 minutes, before I cross Maryland Avenue to get to the road that will lead me to work, which is in a quiet residential neighborhood with nice wide roads and where I rarely even see another soul, but i'm on the street through there, anyway.

I never plan on riding the bike to anywhere but work, that's why I bought it, and when I encounter a pedestrian I slow up, not that i'm going fast mind you, and go around giving them plenty of room, I even say "excuse me" as I pass, but as I said being on the sidewalk comprises only a few minutes of the journey, the rest of the time I am on blacktop.

To me, it doesn't matter if I use the sidewalk occasionally as long as i'm careful about it and I am, I don't speed like a maniac and am very aware of others who might be walking, I don't see a problem with it and haven't encountered opposition from either pedestrians or the police.

As a sidenote, this is a route that I have walked countless times and one that I know like the back of my hand, I have encountered only 3 pedestrians in the entire two weeks i've been riding and I knew beforhand that I wouldn't see many people on foot if I went that way, that's why out of the three ways I could get to work, I chose that route in the first place.

Point is, as long as the pedestrians are cool with it, the local police are cool with it and i'm careful, who cares?

As for a helmet, I may not have a choice but to get one, both my father and a neighbor said that there is a law here, although it must not be enforced very well, of all the riders I see around, only about 3 out of ten are wearing one.

 

[gary*w*]

It's cool to ride a bike.
Not only are you getting exorcise, but if anyone in a car does laugh at you immediatly bring up the $4.00 a gallon gas prices.


My Ride:
Trek 7100

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Sweet, Gary.

BTW, could a mod please correct the spelling of 'emasculating' in the topic header? It irks me when I do that sort of thing.

 

[Dave_Brown]

Only two problems with riding the bike in;
1. don't stink when you get to the office. It's bad enough you're going to be "weird bike riding guy" you sure don't want to be "weird bike riding guy who stinks!"

2. where does your date sit when you ride by to pick her up?

 

[Jay H]

Jay has been in Vermont/Massachusetts this past weekend hiking on the Long Trail/AT with a hike up Greylock from North Adams.

Jay didn't ride to work today cause I got back too late last night and went to bed so I had to do a bunch of crap this morning and this whole DST thing this past weekend.. ugh.

I'd answer your question about grown men and bicycles but I forever plan to be a kid at heart.

Jay

 

[Jim_F]

In the back

 

[PhillJones]

Here in Boston, if you ride a bike in the street you get verbally abused by motorists. Seriously, they honestly think bikes aren't allowed and will drive in a dangerous manner to try and run you off the road and shout obsenities at you.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Nah, they don't single out bikes. The average Boston driver thinks any other vehicles of any kind are not allowed and tries to run them off the road. Bikes are just easier to hit than others.

 

[Paul McElligott]

Kind of emasculating, isn't it?

 

[Chu Gai]

This guy was no sissy!

 

[Anthony Hom]

It may be emasculating if you:
wear those lycra biker shorts (that look like women's shorts)
wear those pointy shoes
shave your legs (some do it to cut down on drag, no pun intended)

or should it could look more effeminate, but not emasculating.

In my area, you cannot ride a bike unless you are decked out to look like you are riding Tour de France.

 

[Ron-P]

Here's what I ride, imasculating or not, I love it.

 

[Jay H]

Lycra shorts are used mainly because cyclists will wear them under long pants.. Wearing baggy shorts under long pants sucks. Wearing long pants that aren't tights suck cause your pant legs get sucked into the chainring.

Pointy Shoes??? My shoes, cycling and non-cycling, aren't pointy. Although if they were, I could really do some damage to cagers!

Shaving legs has nothing to do with drag which is insignificant to the 99.99% of us out there, it has to do with not getting an infection when you crash (i.e. road rash). The #1 common cycling myth!

Jay

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I knew that it was only a matter of time before Pee Wee found his way in here.

Cool ride, Ron.

As for my riding wardrobe, I wear jeans mostly and i've had zero problems so far.

 

[Jay H]

I can probably safely assume you don't use Clipless pedals:

A clipless pedal will generally always be closer to the crankarm (therefore the chainrings) than any platform pedal, including those with toe clips. So, since I use clipless on all my bikes, if I were to wear jeans (and I have in some cases) I usually have to be real careful of the right leg. Sweats are guaranteed to get eaten up. Unless you do the rubber band thing, but that's a PITA every time too.

jay

 

[Citizen87645]

They also make these handy elastic straps with velcro for this purpose. Much easier than trying to slip a rubber band over your foot or tucking it into your sock (ala 40 Year Old Virgin).

 

[Ron-P]

An example of my riding wardrobe...













Thanks John.

 

[Alf S]

Whatever you do...DON'T turn into THIS kind of cyclist!!




More freakish stuff about him HERE

We're SO proud to have him in our city...not

 

[Kevin T]

wait. you felt weird about a comment made on vh1's "i love toys", but you didn't feel weird about actually watching vh1's "i love toys."

*shakes head in disbelief*

kevin t

 

[Jerome Grate]

Actually, bike riding can be linked to stamina and endurance which can also be linked to sexual abilities that women would find attractive. The only thing that I recall was the difference between the banana seat and the wider seat. My recollection is that the banana seat can cut off circulation to a vein that leads to the genetals and can render you impotent. Other than that ride away. However, that picture of Arnie makes him look like a goofball.