Bicyclist

I was giving my friend a ride the other day. He has no car and I knowingly let him use me for occasional rides to places. I would say we are good friends but it seems that when he calls he usually wants something. This is not to say that he doesn't actually value me as a friend but I have more value in owning a car. I know that if I ever had a serious problem he would listen and help. And he is usually good for a good laugh on some opinion he has about women, fashion or some other random thing.

Anyway, so as we were driving back and we started talking about bicyclists and how he doesn't like them when he is a pedestrian. To which I replied that as a bicyclist I don't much like stupid pedestrians that get in the way. (Note to pedestrians: the worst thing you can do is stop walking. I won't hit you as long as I know where you are going.) He promptly told me that I was not a bicyclist that I was a pedestrian. I ride my bike to class everyday why am I not a bicyclist? He told me that to be a bicyclist I would have to have a "nice" bike and go riding for the sole purpose of riding not just for class. He also mentioned the dress of the "real" bicyclist as the wearing of those skin tight shorts and such. That is a pretty narrow stereotype of a bicyclist. I told him that my brother owns a very nice bike and will ride it to work but he can't be a bicyclist by his standards because of those shorts. Haha! At this point we had reached the destination and the conversation ended.

I thought about the way he approached the topic of being a bicyclist. If we applied it to being a woman by picking ridiculous items that we had to do or have it would be funny to see who would and would not fit into that category. For example you have to be able to walk well in high heels and enjoy wearing them out and about, you have to have a skirt or dress or something equally feminine in the way of clothing and you have to have a real nice purse. By these standards only the women of Sex and the City would be real women.

What makes us women or bicyclists has nothing to do with what we wear or how much time or money we dedicate to the task. I am a bicyclist not by the virtue of those spandex shorts or the quality of my bicycle but because I do ride my bike just like being a woman doesn't mean you are completely feminine all the time.