Leave it to the British to come up with a name...

Mamils. A few days ago the BBC news magazine published an article about the rise of the mamils (middle-aged men in lycra). If you have not seen it yet, it is a fun little read, good for a laugh during the day. Funny thing is, there is also a lot of truth in there. For instance, I can not recall seeing a whole lot of these 'mamils' during the 1980s and 1990s; maybe I was just too preoccupied with hanging-out with the racer crowd to notice, maybe I was still young enough to ignore them, perhaps I thought they were some sort of weird anomaly in the cycling universe, sort of like soft-ride, or Scott drop-in bars (more on that later). But now, you do see them all over on any day of the week, but especially on the weekends. They ride into the Claremont Village area from points both far and near. Buy their morning cup of Joe, relax for a bit, talk about how carbon is becoming out-dated, being replaced by old steel bikes, and then hit the road again; they are usually friendly creatures, having cast away pretenses and hang-ups years ago, and are therefore quite approachable and willing to talk about their latest passion.

I feel confident that I can distinguish the "them" from the "me" - even though I fall into the correct age category, I lack the other defining characteristics, to whit: (#1) no excess disposable income with which to spend on (#2) the latest high tech carbon fibre frame with professional grade componentry. Nor am I (#3) coming back to cycling after a period away from the activity. I believe that the mamilization of America needs to be encouraged - these fellow cyclists are doing something good for themselves, by leading more active, healthy lives, while showing the masses that, yes it is possible. In turn this is good for their families (the whole setting a good example for the kids thing), and good for the communities in which the mamils live and ride, for the same reasons. But, whatever you do, do not underestimate them - things like this (cycling) tends to turn into a passion, and in no short time they may end up kicking your rear on the weekly training ride.