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A guy names John wrote me and said only, “Fat is the new thin.” And he linked to this article in the NY Times titled The Bicycling Paradox: Fit Doesn’t Have to Mean Thin .
Good news from where I’m sitting fat, round and happy.
“When I first got into cycling, I would see cyclists and say, ‘O.K., that’s not what I perceive a cyclist to be,’ ” said Michael Berry, an exercise physiologist at Wake Forest University. Dr. Berry had been a competitive runner, and he thought good cyclists would look like good runners — rail-thin and young.
But, Dr. Berry added, “I quickly learned that when I was riding with someone with a 36-inch waist, I could be looking at the back of their waist when they rode away from me.”
All hail the 36 inch waist.
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“Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”
Not unless you’re a cyclist! HA! Take that, Dean Wormer!
Ha! All hail the 38 inch waist! Oh wait, I hardly ever ride away from anyone, but I’m working on it. Of course I’m also working on getting that 36″ waist.
If that’s the case, this guy is the new Rasmussen…
https://www.birdseyeview.net/cgi-local/store/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Cycling/20070704_FAB/Passed%20Clock%2003_00%20to%2003_14&image=FAB_1900.jpg&img=50&tt=&tfile=tn_FAB_1900.JPG
Borrowed from some blog long ago: Sorry no credit for it here I just saved it a while back:
(Dear Large And Fit Society,
Little folks just don’t understand. I don’t mean children or those whose growth was stunted by some unfortunate childhood pituitary issue. I mean all those people who can walk into a store and find a pair of pants that fit.Those people who don’t have to wait six weeks for new shirts because they changed jobs and the uniform company doesn’t stock anything that big. Neither does their supplier. How many little people can’t button the top button or the cuffs on their sleeves of shirts that otherwise fit… well, at least I could get it around my chest. No, little folks could never understand what it’s like to be big. Little people decided what a BMI chart is and what is healthy and what isn’t. If I lost 80 lbs. and cut off one leg I could get into the yellow zone on those silly charts. I’m not lean by any measure. But I’m not morbidly obese as described by the evidently sight impaired medical community. Sure I drive an SUV. Ever see a big guy in a Miata? I have to put the top down just to get in. Then I’m stuck straining to see over the top of the windshield or trying to scrunch down in the seat to look through the windshield. No thanks. No room in a Miata for all those fast food wrappers, 12 empty extra large energy drink cans, 3 pairs of size 13 shoes and a change of clothes. And just because we can’t touch our elbows together in front of us doesn’t mean we should be laughed at. After all, one of the best parts about being big is knowing that the little mouthy guy is about one bear hug away from a collapsed ribcage. )
Perhaps we could add something about the sixe of Jonnys headtube but ……
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Yea but there is no room for the kooks with the extended steer tube or extended quill stems and upright bars and gel seats on a road bike
Pingback: NYT: The Bicycling Paradox: Fit Doesn’t Have to Mean Thin » señor taco’s travels
Refrigerated panniers full of chorizo burritos. Cool. This changes everything.
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Three groups of people to be wary of: Locals, old guys, and single-speeders. Even when I was racing expert, I’ve had guys from each of those groups and 15lbs heavier than me rip my legs off (and I already don’t fit the classical physique of a cyclist.