Rule #1 Superheros Wear Tights

Cycling, it seems, is often looked down upon by many. Perhaps because we shave our legs (yes, I admit it...I shave my legs regularly), or perhaps because we wear spandex when we ride, or maybe its the fact that the drivers INSIST upon having that extra 12 inches of a lane that is plenty big enough for the both of us. Maybe it's really none of these things; maybe what people really hate is that we enjoy our meager existence and thrive off the competition. This really hit me as a thing today as I was nearing the end of my ride. I had mistakenly missed my turn, and being in downtown, quickly ended up in the ghetto. I didn't much notice at first because I was lost in the pure enjoyment I get from riding (or I was really tired and my mind had done a trademark wander at a particularly crucial moment...either option is completely viable) none-the-less, I began to notice when I almost got run off the road by a police car; then I noticed 2 police cars at the corner of a seemingly inocuous intersection; and finally I noticed that even the 2 foot tall black children walking by themselves were giving me dirty looks. I suddenly came to the realization that I had missed my turn and ended up in about the worst possible place. Needless to say I pulled a quick U-ey and sprinted back to the street I meant to turn onto.

So really the question is, what is to hate about a finely tuned athletic machine? Perhaps people are uneducated about the sport. Quite possibly, it is the old 'we are afraid of what we don't know'. There is a good chance that the sport would be more respected if the masses knew to what extent we push our bodies.

Also, these negative feelings towards the sport could just have easily stemmed from the media. The only Time America hears about cycling is when 56 cyclist get ejected from the tour the night before because of blood doping, or when the american stud that just won the race gets disqualified because he used artificially created testosterone. What gets me most though is that even when an american who has reached the highest achievement, even further than what the greats of the sport dreamed ever possible, and does it without ever failing a drug test, gets accused by the french press (of course they would, an american is dominating their race) of using EPO (a performance enhancing drug) the american public believes it.

Anyways, thank you to whomever read this feeble attempt to sound somewhat intelligent. I appreciate the gesture.