Perhaps most people don’t remember a specific reason for the distrust of those Lycra-clad roadies, but some mutation of a sentiment conceivably lives on subconsciously, a copy of a copy of a copy whose original is long gone and had nothing to do with today’s bicycling enthusiast. Yet, somehow written deep in our collective mind, alive through the centuries, interwoven with the very history of this great country we keep at it; feeling a twinge of distaste when we happen upon one, an intrinsic urge to harass those people who ride bicycles on our roads with, at the very least, a cruel thought, or raising the bar...a dirty deed. Bullying perhaps?
World War II…could there be a bigger unbleachable shit stain on the britches of humanity than the atrocities that took place during these dark days? Here we are nearly eighty years later and the name Hitler still rattles the very soul of our collective humanity, a bleak reminder that we all harbor truly wicked potential deep within. A malevolence thankfully remaining most of the time safely ensconced behind the sanity of our good conscience yet that sadly peeps out now and again in a violent thought or subtle act with a cruel intention.
Europe depleted and America the savior: a pervasive belief existing in America that without D-Day, Hiroshima, and American sacrifice all those years ago, the entire globe would be celebrating the fermentation of kimchi or sauerkraut all the while sprechen Deutsch. A fact perhaps–but one that only added to the feeling of superiority the United States had toward Europe that began well before the framers began to frame, good Earl Gray began to steep in the cool waters of Boston Harbor, or quill hit parchment in the penning of the US constitution.
Years prior to any shots being fired at Lexington and Concord, the British colonies along the east coast of the future US were filled with English and other European immigrants Whether they themselves made the trans-Atlantic journey or were born into the colonies, they were well versed in the centuries of war between England and their neighbor across the English Channel. As such, the English colonies almost certainly still harbored an ill trust toward the French, and the royal lineages that sent so many invading troops across the English Channel, weaving their thread of suspicion into the fabric of the toddling colonies. Could this seventeenth century distrust of France still persist in American culture after four hundred years?
So what am I saying? Does the current cold war between cyclists and motorists in America have its roots in colonial America? In the distrust ex-pat English had for England and by extension, France and monarchs like Louis XIV? Does it begin to heat up centuries later with the Eisenhower Administration’s move toward interstate highways and Detroit’s move toward faster cars to cruise them…the bicycle's return to the streets in a time when muscle cars and motor heads ruled the pavement and for decades prior, bicycles were what children rode before they were old enough to drive? Could it run that deep? Think about it. What country comes to mind when you think of the word "bicycle"?
Could the aura of the Tour de France and the fervor it brings to the countless swarms lining the French mountaintops or millions watching on television once a year cast a shadow on the entire sport of cycling in the collective American psyche? Perhaps it works to drive a wedge that deepens the division between cyclists and motorists? I mean, it plays so perfectly into deep seated American fears…Does it awaken those long simmering, centuries old feelings of European distrust, or perhaps more contemporary, indignant feelings of a counter-American way of life–dare I say it–socialism?
Cycling enthusiasts watch excitedly as nearly two-hundred fit men suffer through twenty-one consecutive days of oxygen-deprived agony. Their attractive physiques, muscles and shaved legs straining under skin tight and colorful Lyrca garments that taken out of context, or taken away from their bikes could certainly resemble something of a gay pride parade to the eyes of the uninitiated...a threat to someone's "manhood"?
The race now over, the fans have gone home or turned their TVs off yet are still full of enthusiasm for a good long spin on the bike. They’re gung ho to dress like and emulate their cycling heroes, little different from wearing a team jersey on game day to show your loyalty. Then take these same enthusiasts-turned subconscious incarnations of European, socialist, peculiar looking men and women and place them on an American road (indeed now truly out of context) that was paved never meant to feel the light touch of a bicycle tire, full of American cars and American love of all that’s auto, an America that cries foul at the mere word “socialism”, an America that has real issues with discrimination, and what do you get? You get what we have here today. A reflection of the closet intolerance we have become as a nation all wrapped up in a moment of time on the edge of the road...the passing of car and bike. Pay attention.
