Recently I brought a new bicyle, which is one of the best ways to get around places in Finland. One can literally go from one end of the country to the other on a bike path and they are wide and safe. They afford one the opportunity to see the scenery up close and personal. One sees all manner of people who use their bikes on a daily basis from young people to seniors going to the market. Great exercise and fun to do. Its considered the height of bad manners to steal a persons bike!
Now I can't say that I'm a "cyclist" but my one American friend here is...the words "bike nut" comes to mind. He just turned 40 and I suspect he's in the early stages of a mid-life crisis. Not only does he have 2 quite expensive 99-speed bikes that are state of the art, but all of the accoutraments of the sport, shoes, clothes, heart monitor, hats, books and videos. He was literally glued to the TV during this summers Tour De France. All I heard from him for two weeks was "Lance this and Lance that..." Now, while I applaud his interest in this sport, I'm a little annoyed that he doesn't realize that not everyone is a "cyclist" just because they have a bike (namely me). And advice drops un-asked-for from his lips whenever I mentioned some interesting scenery I saw on a bike ride. When we ride together (which is infrequent) I can barely keep up...nor do I try, since riding to me is just a casual thing. Usually when i do catch up on my miserly 7-speed, I can see the look of exasperation on his face. To him life, including biking, is a competition..first and foremost. No matter what we are doing he will always try to make a competition of it...something I try to ignore. He is a nice guys for all that and I did sway him from the "dark side" by getting him to buy an Apple Power Book, so he can't be all bad.
This got me to thinking about the testerone driven need for competition. I'll be the first to admit I'm no sportsman. My pursuits in that area are mainly individually motivated...hangliding and sailing. I do those things because they afford me the opportunity to challege myself and for the sheer joy of it. Why then, do men feel the need to compete on everything? There never has been any burning desire in me to compete or to prove myself to other men simply for the reason that I could or the need to prove mine is bigger (use your imagination on this one) or I'm faster, I have more, am smarter and can lick you at anything. Am I missing some genetic link? I don't think so. I firmly believe that the world would be a better place if we could stop this testerone driven competition. It seems to bring out the worst in men and it doesn't really define what a man is or should be. Now if I could just make my friend figure this one out. Now where is that X-Box remote cause you are gonna get a gin-u-wine ass-whipping!
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