Daniel Whitmire

Professor Arnold
UWRT 1101-051
9 November 2014
Hitting the Streets: Ethnography of Cyclist
To most people, cycling is a less expedient way to travel from point A to point B, but to a
member of the cycling community it is a way to see and feel the world without being
encapsulated inside of a steel box on wheels. As in many human societies, there are schisms that
break within a culture, and cycling is no exception to this. Differences often arise in the
community as to which brands of bikes and gear are best to ride. Everyone has their own
opinions as to what company makes the best bike for the price range and this is due to what bikes
they first rode when first introduced to cycling. Though this discourse will echo through out
eternity, riders will always have the shared commonality of how much they love to cycle on the
open road.
Upon learning about the cycling community, I went on several group rides with riders
from the triathlon team, cycling club, and bike line staff who set up a ride every weekend. But
before I rode, I consulted the laws that bicyclist have to obey when riding on the road in North
Carolina. These laws ranged from using your arm to turn within 100 feet of a turn, to staying on
the right side of the road when possible (Assembly). As I read through the laws, they seemed
really flexible as to what a cyclist can do. For example, if there is an available bike lane on the
right shoulder, it is up to the riders digression if they want to use it or if they would rather ride
on the right side of a car lane. This as a cyclist makes a lot of sense to me since often times there
is a lot of debris on the side of the road that could potentially puncture a tire. When riding with a

group over the past couple of weeks, we chose not to use the bike lane provided since there was
gravel and shards of debris that made it a really rough ride due to no suspension. This led to the
aggravation of car drivers who yelled and honked their horns at us. As a cyclist we saw them as
ignorant because they didnt know the law that we didnt have to use the bike lane.
Neighboring on, as my group ventured from campus into uptown Charlotte, it was an
exhilarating experience shared upon all of us cyclist. It is one thing to drive through uptown
Charlotte inside of a steel box with windows on wheels, but to ride through, and around the
center of Charlotte on a bicycle is something completely new. It was a warmer day that afternoon
in the mid seventies, but once we entered the heart of Charlotte, the buildings provided the shade
and cool air needed that rippled through our jerseys. In this experience, we were able to look
around from a street view and see everything in the city without being separated by a piece of
glass, or a piece of metal in our way. This is something that a lot of cyclist talk about and is the
main reason why they ride the bikes around rather than drive. Though a car will get you from
point A to point B faster, the experience is not the same.
Having the vision of seeing everything outside of the car, we can see why there is a Tour
de France and a Tour de Italy each year. Besides the racing aspect of it, the tours are about
seeing the country from the saddle of your noble steed. The cycling community group motives
are to explore what the country has to show. His or her motive is that anyone can do it in a car,
but you never sense the air change, wind, or sunlight inside of a car. A driver of a car might
argue that the way to fix the imbalance is to roll down the windows, but it is still possible to
drive too fast and miss the true beauty around you. While on a bicycle, the world slows down
allowing cyclist to take it all in.

Lastly, the last issue between cyclist and those who dont cycle is the practicality of
going to work or running an errand on a bike. Much of the riders that I ride with on a weekly
basis get to and from work on their bikes. They find that with the money that they save from gas,
they spend on their bikes and still have a lot left over. No longer do they have to worry about
expensive parts breaking down on their cars, because bike parts are a lot cheaper. Moreover,
these riders dont have to pay for overpriced parking passes such as the ones that UNC Charlotte
issues for a back breaking, kidney selling, 450 dollars (Parking). Though this is only practical for
those with a short commute, and weather permitting, it is often a much cheaper alternative that is
often overlooked by those who are uneducated with cycling community.
Though there is a large misunderstanding between the discourse community of cyclist
and those who dont ride, this doesnt mean that all cyclists are on the same page and agree with
what is the best gear and products to use on a bike. This schism was clearly visible to me when
visiting three different cycling shops in North Carolina. At Motion Makers in Asheville, they
primarily sold Specialized gear, while at Carolina Fatz cycling center, 10 miles away; they sold a
lot of Scott, and Santa Cruz bicycles.
As I was in Carolina Fatz, I stayed in the shop for most of the day walking around,
listening to the shop owners talk to customers about the bikes and what would suit them the
best. Customers noted off different types of bikes that they had noticed wasnt in the store, and
one of the owners for over ten years, Jason Posey, responded with the reasons why they didnt
carry the brand. All of these reasons put down the particular brand itself. Reasons ranged from
how they made the bike wasnt right such as how made the frame caused it to be unable to
withstand a lot of pressure, to reasons such as, it is all about the name; meaning that they use a

lot of advertising making the brand seem good so that they can increase the bike proce for the
consumer.
As I traveled from western North Carolina back to Charlotte, I stopped by Bike Line,
who sells Trek, to see what they had to say about their bikes compared to other brands. Their
reasonings were the same that I had experienced in Asheville. I believe that when the shop
workers talk about other brands in a negative connotation it is because that is the brand of bike
that they first spent a great deal of money on. Bicycles in general, increase significantly as the
parts become better, so when a person comes into a shop and asks to see bikes in a certain price
range, they have to pick a bike that has the best equipment such as, front and rear derailleurs.
Many companies are able to strike deals with other companies that provide the gear and can get
the equipment below MSRP because of the quantity they are buying. So do to this reduction in
price, the bike company is able to charge less for the bike reducing the competition for a bike
with the same equipment. But with all of this opposition, it is truly a personal preference as to
what the cyclist wants to ride.
Even though it might sound that there is this schism between cyclists, there is common
ground that all cyclist know about. One piece of common ground is that no matter what the other
person is riding; always complement something about the bike even if the only good thing is the
pant job. Never will two riders get into an argument over whose bike is better because it is a
personal preference as to what each rider wants to ride. As I was on a ride by myself, I passed a
rider on a time trial bike, which is a bike known to be one of the fastest styles bikes produced
because of the aerodynamics and overall weight (P5).
I soon caught up to him, and began to ride with him. After a few miles, we stopped at a
traffic light and began to talk about our bikes. He commented about how he liked the paint job

and asked if it was aluminum. I responded with a, Thank you and yes. But I was much more
interested in his bike. His was custom, made to fit, and the entire bike was made out of carbon
fiber. I had spent 1,500 dollars on mine, while I estimate that he had forked out well over 6,000
dollars for his. Even though we both knew this, there was this common ground to say something
about the other persons bike.
Another piece of common ground is that were all in love with cycling and want to help
others enjoy what you, as a rider, enjoy so much. As I first got into the cycling scene a few years
ago, I went on a couple of shop rides with Carolina Fatz Cycling Center. I was incredibly
nervous on the first ride and didnt think I was going to be able to keep up. Sure enough, I was
right, but the strongest rider in the group, which happened to be the shop owner, Jason, stayed
with me the entire time so that I didnt end up hating it after the first time. This generosity is a
feature that Ive seen with all of the group rides that Ive been on where the strongest rider will
drop back to the back of the pack to help out a new, or lesser fit rider. Now that I myself have
become a stronger rider, I have dropped back to help others from time to time with words of
encouragement.
In conclusion, cyclist cannot be summarized just by one point of view. Cycling is much
more than that and there are different opinions that everyone has, whether that be from a car
drivers point of view, or one from who has only ridden one brand of bike their entire life.
Though a car drivers view may contain a negative connotation to cyclist, it is still a view that
must be interpreted and noted as a cyclist, and an interviewer. Though negative connotations
about riding equipment might also come from other cyclist in the community, they all believe in
the idea that, Life moves pretty fast. If you dont stop to look around once in a while, you could
miss it (Ferris).

Bibliography

Assembly, G. (2004). Bicyclist and the Law. In A guide to North Carolina Bicycle
and Pedestrian Laws (pp. 1-15). Raleigh: Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian
Transportation.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off [Motion picture on DVD]. (1986). United States of
America: Paramount Pictures.

Parking Services. (n.d.). Retrieved November 9, 2014, from http://pats.uncc.edu

P5 Triathlon and Time Trial. (n.d.). Retrieved November 13, 2014, from
http://www.cervelo.com/en/bikes/p-series/p5.html