badfishgood

Those were the words uttered by my girlfriend today as a cyclist rode by us while we sat outside the local cafe. The rider clad in a florescent yellow jacket, was indeed a fred.

uspspro

Better dead than Fred

Pedaleur

Wow. She's a keeper, all right...

nachomc

He's a "fred", yet you were sitting at a cafe and he was riding.

SwordMonkey

I guess it's just "cooler" if you're riding on a street and vehicles can't easily see you from a distance.

Let Darwin do his work. The gene pool will deal with internet elitism one collision at a time.

unbelievably

Better Fred than dead...

roadwarrior

They'd just finished a double century and were eating for recovery...

I guess the need to be seen by cars now is also "fredlike"...

FriendlyFred

And I'd much rather be seen by the drivers when I'm on the road and be regarded as a fred than be dead.
As I see it, whether it's a bjillion dollar bike or a Wal-Mart special, no matter how they look or how they're dressed, as long as people are out riding, that's a good thing.

ff

RT

Werd.

TeleJohn

The thread, the.

Scummer

All sense of humor is lost in this thread.

condiment

I cycle. I'm a Fred. Deal With It.

The Weak Link

Perhaps he caught up with his wife, Betty and said, "Did you see those poseurs sitting at the cafe back there?"

Tulex

LOL

EventServices

Better thread than Fred.

jrockway

Well, a reflective jacket doesn't necessarily make you more visible. A lot of jackets I see are less bright than my white jersey. If you want to be seen, get some lights. (There are lights that are visible during the day. If you are paranoid, pick one up. I seem to be able to live without one though.)

I think Freds would be safer if they learned how to ride safely, instead of wearing reflective vests stolen from construction sites.

KinjaBoy

Drop dead, Fred thread.

Pedaleur

The funny thing is, I deliberately wrote that ambiguously. On the one hand, it is comical that his (presumably non-cycling girlfriend) has picked up his lingo and elitist attitude. On the other hand, pointing one out as if you just saw a yellow-crowned night heron fly by the window is a bit silly.

Though I try not to be judgmental of other cyclists (I am, however, judgmental of idiots who happen to be cyclists), I will admit that Freddism, Fredosity, and Fredangelism can be comical. BUT, Freddishness should never be directly labeled. True Elitist Road Nazis(TM) do not point, nor do they gawk, nor do they say "Hey, check out the Fred." A simple head nod is all that is needed; the silent mockery is quietly shared.

Or at least that's the way it should be...I can't take the ridicule...

Spreggy

This is truth. Every group ride I go on, I see adults who forget how to drive when they switch from gas power to human power.

eippo1

There are plenty that can't drive with gas power as well.

timmhaan

this thread is a black hole...sucking in all the humor around it.

bryroth

In order not to be labeled a Fred, I ride like this:
local-bike_0.jpg

Tulex

Just goes to show, I read it as sarcasm. I find it very humorous that bikers can be so cliquish. It's like being in highschool all over again. I just thought that people were supposed to out grow that.....

Longfemur

The real Freds are the ones who suddenly decide they want to bicycle and then go out and buy a carbon-framed road bike in the thousands of dollars and then start using the lingo on forums, sounding like they've cycled around the world by way of the Himalayas.

I guess I was a Fred yesterday. After a forecast thundershower didn't materialize, I decided I wanted to go for a ride on a short loop I often use. I didn't feel like dressing in any special way, so I just went in the street shorts and short-sleeved shirt I was already wearing. Basically, just put the shoes on and hop on the bike kind of thing. Nice road bike, but the lugged diamond frame probably looks antique to most youngsters except some of the fixed wheel riders. I doubt that anyone in any café even noticed me passing by, but I suppose an older guy like me might have looked like a Fred to some. My "short" ride ended up being a 20-miler, some MUP along waterways, some very busy inner city streets... a bi of everything.

Some days I just ride like that, and on other days, I may dress the part more. Who cares, really? Anyone who would characterize other people as anything probably isn't worth having coffee with in the first place, girlfriend or whatever. One day I'm a "roadie", and another, I'm a "Fred". Real cyclists don't really care what anyone is wearing or what they look like. Me, I just ride... and I don't wave to anyone because I'm usually just focussing on where I'm going and what hazards might suddenly pop up in front of me.

Kabloink

Let me guess, your girlfriend has 100 to 200 pairs of shoes.

High visibility is one of the most important things to consider when cycling in traffic. Cagers are often distracted by cell phones, yapping friends, noisy children and their lunch. That extra bright jacket may be just enough to catch the eyes of such drivers instead of being run off the road or even worse.