Mountain bikes brought an unbelievable amount of new participants to the sport of cycling. They had an appeal that their road counterparts didn’t have. It was a friendly sport, which opposed to the racing, and somewhat snobbish, nature of road cycling, allowed its participants to ride at their own pace, without having to invest thousands of dollars to buy an Italian pro bike that they would use maybe once or twice a month unless it was to run errands.
This early mountain bikers quickly started feeling the natural competitive rush of any sport, and started riding more regularly, learning about bike parts, training, cycling heroes and, thanks to a certain Lance Armstrong, eventually where introduced to the event that has dominated the sport for the past century: The Tour de France.
Suddenly, these road cyclists didn’t seem so snobbish, they just had a lot to live up to. Every one of them just wanted to find a way to be the next Eddy Merckx, Miguel Indurain or Armstrong. These cyclists where regular guys with regular jobs who sacrificed a lot to pursue their dreams, and while they suffered incredibly, they surely where still able to enjoy it, and would welcome anyone who would be willing to suffer just a bit to keep up with their pace, and with new, cheaper road bikes available, mountain bikers where suddenly making the cross over to the road.
So now you have all these experienced guys sharing tips and knowledge, telling stories about races that took place all over France, Italy, Belgium, Spain. Racers that would climb up a snow covered pass and next day would be racing under the hot European summer sun. Racers flying down a hill at 60mph.
While sharing a group ride while riding lively down the road (just before someone attacks up the next hill) and sharing with his friends, every cyclist learns something:
Road bikes are about passion. Road bikes are about history. Road bikes are about heroes. And road cycling is back.
