Cycling

Cycling is a rebellion.

Looking from the viewpoint of a man who drives, cycling is many things; at best a misapplication of energy, at worst a pain in the ass waiting to be run over.

I happened to participate in a cycling expedition last week, in one of the Capital city’s satellites. It was a leafier suburb that is often ruined by the passing of industrial trucks along wide roads more reminiscent of Western suburbs than a country in Asia. What set me off in this train of thought was a very specific moment: the moment when we had to make a turn in a very busy roundabout.

I was stumped. No way was I going to cut in front of speeding cars in an inadequate tin can powered by the pedaling of my legs. My moment of hesitation ended when the Team Leader steadily pedaled forward, arm raised towards the traffic and, like Moses in the Red Sea, the cars stopped and we crossed the road like a herd of sheep.

It was nothing short of an epiphany.

Are cyclists, that vermin of the road that are hated by everyone, consciously or unconsciously giving the finger to everything and everyone?

Consider the following:

When you ride a bike you are exposed to the outer environment.

When you ride a bike you don’t necessarily value the fact that you are increasing your risk of maiming

When you ride a bike you mostly ignore traffic rules (stop signs, traffic lights, etc)

When you ride a bike to work, your outfit, not to mention your body odor, will announce it louder than a bullhorn

When you ride a bike to work every day, you get the privilege to judge unfit people.

When you ride a bike you are a user of the road, but the laws don’t necessarily apply, since most people will do anything not to hit a guy on a bike.

In short, riding a bike is the most attention-seeking, passive-aggressive act you can do. People can’t ignore you; they will evade you and curse your very being but they can never ignore you.

It’s not just people that cyclists flip off. Cyclists challenge nature to do their worst. Cycling used to be a method of transportation for the poor, for whom using public transportation or a car was too expensive. Now cycling is a choice, a repudiation of the automobile as a method of transportation.

Gone are notions of comfort and safety in your metal cocoon, cyclists embrace the discomfort and inherent dangers of cycling as an act of war, a slap in the face of modern conformity.

The act of cycling fuels and feeds on the cyclist’ innate narcissism, he cycles because he is special; he is special because he cycles.  Every day a cyclist challenges his own nature, his innate behaviors and hard-coded genetics and every other driver and nature itself. The cyclist is special, he is his own breed, by no means is he a soulless sheep, but a free man striking back and conquering distance, nature and cultural norms.

A cyclist is a neutered adrenaline junkie, a narcissist who seeks to display his dominance of nature in a way most inconvenient for everyone he comes across. An act of supreme psychopathy.