onefastgear said:Lance seems to have legitimized the sport for a lot of middle aged men outside of Europe (I'm speaking here about my opinion from east coast Australia). Lance's attitude, accessibility (speaking English) and celebrity, made cycling more macho.
We might have lagged a bit behind the trend here, but I see lots of guys in their 40s-50s out riding now, decked out in their MJ kit atop their $5k bikes. More cyclists on the road is a good thing.
To be honest I find these chaps rather embarassing.
It's all very well being a "cyclist" when you're in your fifties if you've been a racer since your teens and are still damn good at it, and really know what you're talking about.
Being an overweight know-nothing with expensive gear riding around at 25km/h on 52x17 in a Discovery jersey with your knees flailing outwards and your thighs connecting with your belly on every pedal stroke is very uncool.
By all means go for a bike ride, and enjoy the health benefits. but one has to wonder about trying to look like a "pro", at least as far as the gear is concerned.
Personally I worry that quite a few of these guys are actually playing some sort of game in their heads that they are some sort of "racer" (obv in the "racing against themselves" category) and that Lance is riding with them in spirit or something....
They already invented a great game for middle aged wealthy men anyway, it's called golf, and its really fu&*ing boring. Similar to cycling, having really expensive gear doesn't make you any better either.