Had an interesting conversation via email with an acquaintance yesterday regarding the fallen demi-god of professional cycling. He opined that
More people own bicycles because of lance, more people ride their bikes because of lance and there are more bike lanes nationally because of lance. He has increased the awareness of cycling more than any other single person in the U.S.
The context of the conversation was whether the Lance Armstrong Sidewalk Bikeway should be renamed.
I offered some skeptical contrariness, in my usual snarky demeanor, and our conversation devolved from there. Might be true, might not. Certainly he has had some influence on fitness culture and I have no doubt a lot of people bought bicycles because of him. I will confess to a little adulation of his exploits. And then there is the whole cancer thing. Whatever the motivation for creating LiveStrong, I applaud that effort and will continue to support it. I’m particularly pleased that LiveStrong focuses on health and fitness, despite the fact that the organization’s namesake did some very unhealthy and, dare I say, unsafe things in his pursuit of greatness.
His “confessions” of the last two days has me wondering about the rest of the professional peloton, particularly my personal hero Jens Voigt.
Positive effects? Probably. But there are also troubling negatives.
Bicycle Racing
The increased awareness of “cycling” is on a narrow segment of the bicycle world. Racing has it’s place. I enjoy watching. I applaud all the amateurs who strive to better themselves. But it is not the alpha-and-omega of cycling.
I believe that professional racing has had a negative effect on the U.S. bicycle industry. The silly pursuit of ever more light weight, and very expensive bicycles with throwaway components that can’t be repaired and require professional mechanics to keep in working order. Do we need carbon fiber, electronic shifting 11 speed racing and time trial bikes? For those involved in that sport, maybe. For the vast majority of people who want to ride, even for fitness, do not. Racing’s influence has even found it’s way into mountain biking and trail riding, where the entry level price of a bike makes most people choke. Ridiculously expensive bikes, that cost more than my first year of college, are seen on the bike racks of cars everywhere.
Exaggeration? Probably. But I would love to walk into a mainstream bicycle shop and see racks full of affordable, reliable transportation bikes. I would love to open a bicycle magazine and not see insane advertisements for $10,000 bikes and $150 cycling jerseys. I would love to see the bicycle industry stop selling bicycles without lights.
Culture of Fitness
Then there is the cult of fitness. Driving to the gym to get on a stationary bicycle for a spin session. Driving 50 or more miles with a bike on the rack just to go on a bike ride. Fitness as fashion instead of healthy living. Lance is not to blame for that. But he certainly hasn’t helped.
Perceptions
I tire of hearing some dolt in a motor vehicle yell at me
“Hey Lance! Get off the road!”
I’m guilty of donning the lycra and heading out on a road bike for hill repeats, intervals and long rides in the country. And truth be told I would rather be confused for him than most other sports “heroes.” But it also happens on city streets when I’m dragging groceries home on the cargo bike or on the folding bike heading to a meeting. Only time will tell if these exhortations by fat lazy people will cease. Or will this latest drama cause a resurgence?
Advocacy
I have a sense that Lance probably doesn’t care one whit about normal people on bicycles. His is an insulated world of SAG vehicles, police escort and spare bicycles. As for true bicycle advocacy — bike lanes, trails, traffic calming, complete streets, etc — can’t say. He might have said something sometime. It just doesn’t come to mind. Certainly there was glaring silence from him when a fitness cyclist was killed on 360 last year. A highway segment I know he’s ridden.
As far as I know he’s not a member of the Austin Cycling Association. What about Bike Austin or Bike Texas? League of American Bicyclists? Adventure Cycling Association? Anything? Did he publicly fight for the 3-foot passing law that our esteemed governor vetoed two years ago? Where was his public voice when the House of Representatives gutted the Safe Routes to School funding?
But he does offer opinion from time to time about traffic engineering.
Do We Rename the Bikeway?
I don’t give a crap. Just stop calling it a bikeway until it becomes one.
Admiration for the good. Sadness at the cheating and lying. Weariness.
Well said. I don’t really see this post being from a “curmudgeon” though. I think it’s fair and realistic. I wear the wristband for the organization, not the founder. I was a bit if a fan too, but not so much now.
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts. Keep em comin’.
I have to disagree with some of the things you say here. The quality of the bikes has improved immensely. You don’t have to buy a $10,000 bike. I think in a lot of ways you confuse the idea of a utilitarian bike and cyclist with a hobbyist.
Randall Bott
http://www.chubbyforlife.wordpress.com
Not confusing anything and I’m not alone in my opinion. I share it with somebody who has far more experience designing and fabricating bicycles than either of us will ever have. Take a look at what Grant Petersen says
http://oldguy2wheels.com/2012/06/24/unracing/
and
http://oldguy2wheels.com/2013/01/20/racing-ruins-the-breed/
Just Ride: A Radically Practical Guide to Riding Your Bike
No, you don’t need to buy a $10,000 bike. But I witness, almost daily, the breathless exclamations of weekend warriors and amateur fitness people over the latest “advance” in cycling: 11 and 12 speed cassettes, electronic shifting, flimsy spoke configurations, etc.
I also witness this effect in the community bike shop I volunteer at. People come in to find a bike. Many of them ask me for a “road bike” without really understanding why they think they need a “road bike.” Often what they need is a simple city bike with upright geometry and places to put fenders and racks. I would bet you my next retirement check that a lot of bicycle shop employees see the same thing.
I can repair stem shifters. I can repair bar ends. I can even repair the crappy grip shifters found on department store bike-shaped objects. I cannot repair the vast majority of “brifters.” They are throw away components that have only one purpose: racing.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. There are brights spots: Surly, Salsa, Linus to name a few.
What your friend said in his email is accurate, however, I question how much Lance actively worked to make cycling better, safer and more accessible for everyone outside of the race circuit. I feel that it is much more likely that what he symbolized enabled passionate cyclists across the country to enact improvements to laws and infrastructure in their communities. People were either inspired by the Lance story or became motivated in spite of him.
After all, his most (in)famous quote about bicycle infrastructure in Austin was quite defeatist: “A city like Austin is growing so much, cycling is ruined there,” he told U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, and other members of the group. “In just 10 years — ruined. A place like Boulder, Colorado, is just ruined, also.” This attitude is completely opposite to the ‘win at all costs, I’m a fighter’ attitude, ideology that he brought during his race career. While he may be intimidated by the challenge to “unruin” Austin for cycling, my fellow ATX cyclists and I will certainly not back down from this task.
Did Lance start the 21st Century Bicycle Boom all by himself or was he just at the front of the peloton wearing yellow when it all began to happen? I am of the latter opinion, because, well bicycles are bigger than any one person, team, event, city or blog. This does not discount his talents as a racer and the spotlight he brought to it, if anything it shows that racing was his singular focus and perhaps he was more of a reluctant symbol for advocacy. He has been notoriously absent from both local and national advocacy groups, like Bike Austin or People for Bikes. Their focus is the everyday cyclist instead of the CAT 1 roadie (in fairness, they want to help every kind of cyclist). We ride for many diverse and personal reasons from transportation to health to financial to fun. Heck, even some of us want to sharpen our competitive edge at the Driveway, and then want to ride safe streets to our homes!
No matter how this scandal plays out or what happens to Lance’s legacy, it will not stop the ever increasing number of cyclists that I see riding Austin year after year. Road racing and ‘space ship’ bikes may suffer from the fallout, but that will allow the fast-growing and diverse Commuter/Hybrid/eBike/Cargo/Utility bicycle segments to flourish and mature. My hope is that the new generation of cycling “heroes” will be the unsung ones that are not connected to celebrity and fame. The parent who takes their kids to school in a bike trailer, then buys groceries on the way home; or the 50 year old man who rides 40 miles during his lunch break every day because he loves it; or the retired Marine who spends his free time teaching kids to fix their bikes. Tour glory, space bikes and yellow jerseys will fade as time moves on, but that 30 year old Scwhinn World Tourist patiently parked in someone’s garage only needs air in the tires, chain love and a willing rider to start his or her own Tour, whether it is across the country or across town to work or school.
Nicely said…thank you