[Closed] Has cycling got more "serious"?

I think it's all down to marketing. As much as I love those bike marketing video's most have very skilled riders in them that make the average rider feel less of a rider and people think, I am not a proper mtber.

I think there's a large proportion of riders who know they are cyclists whatever they ride although I am sure some do not want to be branded'serious cyclists' for some reason.

there’s what most cyclists do. Then there’s the so-shall MEeeedyuh version 😉

I ride to tearoom or a pint often, commute, or even carry my tent 50-100miles on occasions. Also go shopping. Often ride around woods and down trails/hills. Nothing changed for me in 35 yrs except for less jumps/dropoffs now overweight but then again I never took it up as primarily airborn sport or cash-sink. Midrange bike, transport, pastime, hobby. Not competitive.

No I totally see this. It put me off BMX in the early 00's too, that got waaaaayyyy too serious at some point and I didn't pick up MTB until about 2008, in the middle of the singlespeed boom, which seemed to be a return to what I remembered in my teens. Singletrack seemed to reflect that better than the glossy mags too. I do think the last few years have gotten more "serious" with the advent of Strava and the need to spend more time in the air than on the ground. The tech side of it seems to be getting out of reach of more and more people.
This is all highly subjective of course and only how I see things.

15 years later i have to be picky about groups to avoid the too fast ones despite riding more than ever.

Cycling hasn't got more serious, just your body has gotten older. I used to ride between 200 and 300 miles a week with no ill effects. 15 years later I cover about 150 miles a week and need all weekend to recover.

 not identifying themselves as a propper / serious / real cyclist because they didnt race, have more bikes, do enough miles, werent 4% body fat, only rode one a particular discipline etc.

I don't identify as a cyclist because it's just one of many hobbies. I'm just someone who rides a bike. I've often wondered if those who choose bike-related tattoos are on the other side of that divide.

I wouldn't want to be a serious cyclist, it's meant to be fun.

Oh, and another thing. There's a local cycle club. I thought I might join to be social and go on some nice rides. The focus is almost exclusively on TTs and hill climbs. Even some non-racing friends who joined have been caught up in it. It's all a bit "serious" 😊

Yep, it all just serves to put me off being a cyclist. I just go out on my bike with my mates instead and have some fun.

I quite like being beasted on a long group ride; ideally one full of riders slightly stronger than me, so I'm pushed on every climb etc. But yes, the fast groups in most clubs are (and always have been) full of very keen cyclists, so the pace is normally too high for those who train less. If there wasn't a fast enough group to push me, I'd just ride on my own as there's nothing worse than idling along in a bunch and not having to work at all......

For some bizarre reason, I have concluded that all the people doing the 3 Peaks CX are "proper cyclists" therefore I am not a proper cyclist until I have finished this race. At this point I will probably be wearing a club top and arm wamers. 🙂

I intend to remain entirely frivolous.

I think casual cycling has: see power meters, strava, turbos, aero etc for folk that don't even race.

Maybe.

Back then "you" were the serious cyclist racing for the lamp post or the top of the hill. You've just got older and (subconsciously) realised that you can't really compete with the new generation. A friend said to me that at 66 he could go out on the club 'A' ride on a Sunday and keep up, but he couldn't do it the following week as he couldn't recover in time.

As for power meters, etc. what do you reckon that the top club riders from thirty years ago would have done if they'd been available then? I got a set of (clip on) aero bars from the States 25 years ago as they weren't available in this country, or if they were then they were stupid money. Amateur participants in every sport tend to seek to copy the professionals, mostly in the aim of "getting one over on your mates"!

@geomickb - there's absolutely nowt wrong with arm warmers!

screw big home or go home.

go average, go often.

Are arm warmers the mark of a serious cyclist? I am serious (and don't call me Shirley)

i thought the mark of a serious cyclist was a lack of natural leg warmers

Surely a Rapha RCC jersey is the sign of a 'serious' cyclist 😉

I've got to the level where I just lift a finger off the bar to acknowledge other cyclists.

I'm pretty serious.

I finally feel like in am a proper cyclist now I have joined cycling uk 😉

“Strange,” mused the Director, as they turned away, “strange to think that even in Our Ford’s day most games were played without more apparatus than a ball or two and a few sticks and perhaps a bit of netting, imagine the folly of allowing people to play elaborate games which do nothing whatever to increase consumption. It’s madness. Nowadays the Controllers won’t approve of any new game unless it can be shown that it requires at least as much apparatus as the most complicated of existing games.”

It's not just cycling and Aldous Huxley saw it coming

As for power meters, etc. what do you reckon that the top club riders from thirty years ago would have done if they’d been available then?

I think Al summed it up:

I think casual cycling has: see power meters, strava, turbos, aero etc for folk that don’t even race.

15 years ago I dont think anyone went away for MTB coaching, now its a thing.

I should point out im only 33, and would guess that most people I ride with are older than me. So its not an old and past it thing. Just seems more common to have a turbo, coach/training plan or skills coaching, etc than it ever used to be.

Zwift and powermeters are new and probably drive people to get turbos and commit to training plans, but im sure turbo training used to be the preserve of hyper-committed roadies. Mountainbikers just got a road bike or singlespeed.

I agree with thisisnotaspoon.

But I guess this would depend which area of the country you are in.
I think it would be especially true for cities and areas with growing populations.

Also I think its even more true for other sports than cycling.

I remember doing the local half-marathon in 2001 and being really pleased with myself.

Now adays many of my mates have done iron men in some exotic location.

I would say to some extent that im now more aware of people who do alot of exercise and my group of friends has self selected to some degree. But I dont think this is the whole picture.

But you can see that numbers involved for marathons/triathlons etc have increased. Also some cycling events like ride London 100 and so forth didnt even used to exist.

At least some people are pushing them further than they used to.
Im sure the spread of information ie Strava/you tube/facebook is allowing like minded people to meet, measure and push themselves further.

Again like thisisnotaspoon, if I look at my stats on strava Im doing more and more exercise but falling further behind my peers (never mind younger people).
I often see friends doing about 10,000 km of cycling a year on Strava.

33? Ha! I can just about remember being that age! I think???

Going back to the mid 80s turbos were in use by serious, not hyper-committed, riders. I honestly can't remember the prices (see first paragraph) but I doubt they were cheap relatively speaking, probably the equivalent of £300 for a magnetic resistance model. Nowadays like most things the price has come down and the functionality has gone up.

Things change, whether for better or worse it is, like the French Revolution, too early to tell.

Our rides are just a slightly convoluted route to the pub

@whitestone I didn't say there was anything wrong with them, just that I have only see "proper cyclists" using them.

Having said that, I'm not sure I get them. Isn't using them just pulling your sleeves down instead of up? 🙂

Mick

Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy!

I don't think Strava etc has made it any more competetive, I used to race road for my club and everyone in the 'team' was uber competitive (long before Uber had been invented). Every chain gain / reliability ride was a full on race with no prisoners taken; if you punctured you were dropped and no one even looked back 😉

You'd have to have quite baggy shirts/sleeves to be able to roll them up to the mid-bicep area.

They are a very practical item at this time of year (and in spring) when it's pretty cool/cold in the mornings and warm later on. In fact I used some today - thick fog this morning and a bit nippy heading down hills, after about an hour of riding the sun was burning it all away and the latter half of the ride I just stuffed them in my jersey pockets. I'll use them on road and MTB.

Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy!

Is that a synonym for turbo?

In the realm of fitness, no, quite the opposite.
Off road, people are happy to push up hills or twiddle a tiny gear, the joy of climbing and pursuit of fitness of any sort is limited to those who race XC, which is a much lower proportion than previously.
In the drop bar world, previously the dominant 'culture' of the uber hardman roadie dominated, either pounding out paceline drop rides, or mega distance rando/brevet stuff. Now (last 5 to 10 years) we have sportives that aim to bring the excitement of supported pack riding to the non racer, the rise of "gravel"/adventure roadie - taking the path less travelled for the scenery and fun of it.

In terms of tech - I'm inclined to agree. The arms race of bike capability and the rise of the trail centre, downhill uplift centre and so on has redefined XC/trail. Its probably no more difficult than what people used to do on a twitchy seat up bike with crap brakes, although the higher speed and drops involved will mean the consequence of crashing is higher.

"race road for my club and everyone in the ‘team’ was uber competitive"

Yeah but I dont think this is what the OP is trying to compare.
There has always been people who are near the top of their sport who are super competitive.

What the OP appears to be saying is for the average rider things have got more serious.

When I look back to the my Uncles ->
on my Mums side doing any sport past 30 was pretty weird.
My Dads side very was active but Dad and his brother always did out door activities ie
Fishing/Shooting/Golf/Diving/Motorcross.
They never went for out and out fitness type activities.
I guess they were serious too about their activies, especially Diving !, but they were very different.

 there’s nothing worse than idling along in a bunch and not having to work at all……

Speak for yourself on that one 😉

Now (last 5 to 10 years) we have sportives that aim to bring the excitement of supported pack riding to the non racer, the rise of “gravel”/adventure roadie – taking the path less travelled for the scenery and fun of it.

Conversely, those people might just have been the type to commute or do leisure rides with the ctc clubs, now they're pretending to race.

Similalry the 'gravel' rides either with the office guys or local road club are at the sharp end of brisk. There's very little hanging arround looking at the view!

Or to put it differently, i used to be the wierd 'serious cyclist' in the office people would get pointed to if theyd signed up for a 30 mile charity bike ride. Now i'm feeling decidedly second tier, the office cycling club has a >25mph lunchtime chain gang!

At 33 I was definitely a proper cyclist, but at 47 I am a man that rides a bike alot. More kids, pets, work things, ageing parents and other life stuff just means it's one of a lot of things I do.

What the OP appears to be saying is for the average rider things have got more serious.

They now probably wear lycra and have a nice carbon bike; but are just as slow as they always were 😉

I ride my Brompton with attitude - but always end up smiling.
Its just fun.

3000 miles? I haven’t ever reached that in a year, although this year’s commute has increased in distance, so I will be close.

I generally don’t have time to fit much more in, what with dog walking, family stuff, work etc. Happy to ride when I can and try not to take a hobby too seriously, as then it becomes no fun.

I've definitely found more people wanting to lots of arithmetic while riding their bikes.

Is it just me that’s not progressed and still doing 3000miles a year and enjoys the occasional bike length tabletop or 1ft drop rather than doing more miles than an average car and freeride on a ride to the pub?

Mate,I aspire to most of what you say there!

So I am way behind the pack as it were.

My bikes changed a huge amount over the years but my reasons for riding and style of riding (slow and cowardly) has not changed and in the main, I'm ok with that.👍

I think many sports have got more "serious" at the top end of amateur competition/serious participation.

I identify as a 'cyclist' and I'm a bit squashy of middle, I sometimes don't ride for a few weeks at a time and I'm not fabulously talented. My passion for bikes as a means of transport, as a way of seeing the world around me and as a means of accessing adrenaline, positive mental and physical health by bicycle are all part of that. I'm also a "sailor", a "dad", a "husband" and a bunch of other stuff. My love of bikes hasn't changed since I ditched the stabilisers over 35 years ago and I really don't view them any differently.

I ride with a lovely bunch of people and I'm one of the youngest but likely least fit. One thing I do notice is that ultimately they're all out for the fun of it.

I take my bimbling , er , cycling, very,very seriously. Keeps me sane.
I train but in an extremely "analogue" fashion and I don't buy all the new shizzle that the marketeers want you to consume.
As for proper cyclists - there's a bloke I work with ,who has commuted 10 mile EVERY day. For 15 years on a BSO ,in jeans. He has as much respect from me ,as a cyclist ,that I would give, for example,to a Paris Brest Paris finisher.

I think it’s all down to marketing. As much as I love those bike marketing video’s most have very skilled riders in them that make the average rider feel less of a rider and people think, I am not a proper mtber

Whilst I can't deny the impact of marketing in what is very much a marketing driven 'life-style-choice' sport/hobby/activity, I think some of the OP's observations are perhaps because:

[slightly tongue-in-cheek]

- cycling in general is no longer viewed as a predominantly working-class/lower middle-class mode of transportation and weekend & holiday activity. It is now a subsection of the aspirant middle classes, many of whom are cash rich & time poor so strive to maximise their leisure time resulting in a quasi-competitive environment ... whilst not necessarily always a negative this does result in a level of alpha-male 'willy-waving' ... ExhibitA - STRAVA 🙂

- mountain biking itself is a fairly recent activity and has now 'come of age', so rather than a loose collective of like-minded individuals all mucking about on vaguely similar bikes, it has become divided and partisan and like Heavy Metal it now has a bewildering number of sub-genres!

But I also think that like many so called 'extreme' sports, the standard of mountain bike riding by many top-level amatuers, privateers, semi-pros etc has dramatically increased over recent years - especially amongst female riders and this is a really good thing.

However what it leaves is an even larger middle ground of reasonably fit, moderately talented but frustrated folk on big bikes who now look distinctly 'pedestrian at best'! 🙂

I'm in my early 50s and still trying to progress, especially with jumps, gaps and drops but the level of skill required for the likes of some Golfie/Enduro/EWS tracks is daunting but impressive, however I just remind myself that I'm doing this hobby for me ... it's supposed to be fun and as long as you are enjoying yourself, there's no point beating yourself up over what you could have been if only you'd put more hours/effort/money in ...

I think all the data devices a lot of us now use (GPS computers, HRM, power meters etc.) along with Strava can easily make many of us push ourselves harder more often, not only trying to beat our PBs, but also "competing" against others.

The internet is another massive factor in this I think, because like with many hobbies and life in general, we are able to communicate with a much broader audiance than the handful of other cyclists we were aware of in our neighbourhoods ~25+ years ago if we weren't a member of the local cycling club.

Bikes have been part of my life for as long as I can remember (at least 40 years of my almost 46), but I only started taking it "seriously" just over 2.5 years ago, starting from a very low baseline following my Xmas 2013 RTA and consequent loss of what fitness I had. Heck, I didn't even have a Strava account until three years ago, when I suddenly realised after ~12 months that I could install it on my Nexus 7 2013! As a youngster, I loved playing verious sports to a reasonable level, but I always regarded cycling as simply a method of transport because none of my mates cycled as a sport and nobody in my family was sporty. It's kind of ironic to me that we lived in Dolgellau for a few years in the 1980s, right on the doorstep of a decent road climb to the base of Cader Idris, but I'm not sure if I ever cycled all the way up to Gwernan lake at the age of ~10 and we were so close to the south facing climb of Bwlch Y Groes that I so want to climb these days.

– cycling in general is no longer viewed as a predominantly working-class/lower middle-class mode of transportation and weekend & holiday activity. It is now a subsection of the aspirant middle classes, many of whom are cash rich & time poor so strive to maximise their leisure time resulting in a quasi-competitive environment … whilst not necessarily always a negative this does result in a level of alpha-male ‘willy-waving’ … ExhibitA – STRAVA 🙂

Sort of, Strava isn't really a single thing it's a data logging tool with a "Social media" bolleux bolt-on, so in many ways it suits both the leisure cyclist just looking to document their enjoyable activities, and the competitive club cyclist looking to prove their mileage and performance to peers and/or strangers and all points in between.

Is cycling "More serious"?
I think it's becoming more popular as a hobby/leisure activity/amateur sport which of course comes with good and bad trade-offs and it's really all down to personality types.
There are people who cannot take anything up without embracing the aspirational/spendy side of things and getting into the competitive "something to prove" mentality.
There are people who just want to go out and enjoy a bike ride at a comfortable pace, escape some of their daily life's pressures and spend time with friends and family doing something they enjoy...
And then there are people somewhere along a spectrum between those two extremes, who enjoy a bit of competition but don't really mind about the outcome, and ride (possibly more) for enjoyment as much they do fitness/training or recognition.

Of course what's missing there is "utilitarian" cycling, commuting to work, doing the shopping, getting the kids to school etc which isn't really a "leisure activity" it's using a bicycle as a tool (arguably it's most appropriate function), and I don't see much evidence of that being either promoted like "Leisure/competitive" cycling or indeed being taken up as much recently.

I do both and I'm still a bit of an outlier at work for actually riding to the office, but then there's more chat about weekend riding plans and club runs than there was a few years ago.

What has been normalized and started to grow in recent years (for the professional middle-classes at least) isn't cycling in general, but spending a couple of grand of your income on cycling as a sport/hobby rather than golf...

All IMO/IME of course.