In my short thirty years on this earth, I have learned some universal truths not just about myself, but about people in general. If you're not doing what other people are doing, you're not going to get the respect you deserve from them. This all comes from bigotry. The same kind of bigotry that pits blacks against whites, muslims against jews, cats against dogs, etc. The only problem is that with bicycles, those lines should be erased completely. If you're on a two-wheeled vehicle, you're cool with me. My experience with this phenomenon comes not from cycling per se, but from snowsports. I have skied since I was five years old. Skied my whole life, 60+ days per year every year, and still do. About six years ago, I began to get bored with simply alpine skiing, so I decided to make a change. I was attending college in Montana, and decided that a good way to fill blocks of free time in my week was to take up snowboarding and telemarking, since they were both offered on the curriculum for one phys. ed. credit each. I have never looked back. I now spend equal amounts of time on all equipment. Alpine is for hardpack days when I want to go really fast, snowboarding is for the days when it's deep and I want to float, and tele is for the days when I want to get the hell away from the ski area and into the woods with my friends. My enthusiasm for each sport multiplied tenfold, and each sport provided an avenue to improve upon the others. My alpine improved after I learned to tele, my snowboarding improved because I knew how to carve an alpine ski.... you get the idea. The same thing applies to bikes. I got news for you downhillers: if you're not training part time on the road, you're never going to beat the best downhillers who do because their stroke will be much stronger than yours. And I got news for you roadies: if you're not practicing your bike handling skills on the trails, you're going to get smoked on the downhills every time. I recently bought a new road bike because I wanted to improve my fitness. I never really considered it for the fun aspect. Guess what? It's a blast. I'm not going to say that riding on the road can be as fun as a long, technical downhill on my Rocky Mountain, but fun nonetheless, and my leg strength has improved by about 25% in just two months. On top of road riding, I also pulled my hardtail out of the dustbin, put a bunch of new parts on it, and started tearing up the climbs again. Let me tell you downhillers that used to be cross-country riders: you need to experience the rush of a 24 pound bike again. No, you can't hit every little drop on the trail like you can on the squishy bike, but you can come back out the next day with your out-of-shape friends and do that the next day. What I'm preaching here is diversity, people. Stop sneering at roadies when you pass them on your way to the trailhead. Roadies, stop making fun of the gravity guys simply because they would rather descend than climb. And gravity guys, learn a little humility. If you don't know what that means, pick up a dictionary and stop screaming "That was so F#ckin' rad!" in the liftline. There are usually kids around. Nobody's impressed anyway. Speak softly and carry a big stick. I'm all of you guys, and I'm quite proud of it, actually. When you pick on others because they're not on the same bike as you, you're being a bike bigot. That's regression and nobody needs it. Not on the road or the trails. Get out there and try something new because you might like it. That's progression, and it's contagious, as it should be.
