I'm too sexy...

When I say "style" what comes to mind?

Fashion right? 

Maybe, but I think of style as the aspect of how one carries oneself in life.  It is how you live, how you handle yourself.  There are many styles of life and livin' but it is sometimes easy to pigeonhole people into categories, doing this is the absence of style.  True style has no name no label.  I am writing this thinking of my "Style role models".  No! I don't look to the magazines for my input, I look to the people in my life who make me who/what I am.  Real people, and I mean Real, not just flesh and blood, but Real.  And if I must define Real for you then just stop reading now.  I have a hammer for you, just send a S.A.S.E. to the belllap.

I can't help but think of Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club while writing.  Style is deeper than what we see on the surface, "you are not your job, you are not the contents of your wallet, you are not your f______ khakis".  I'm going to point fingers now, but there are so many people who live their jobs, cars, houses, and contents of their wallets.  They may be "high fashion" but they are low on style.  Get real, be real.  "Is that what a real man looks like?"  This is of course my opinion and not a guide to live your life.

Here it comes, the point in the program where I tie this into riding bikes.  Cycling is Vogue.  It is "high fashion".  We are all guilty and should go to the Madonna del Ghisallo and ask for forgiveness.  We judge.  We berate.  We ostracize.  We are as bad as an Opra book club.  "Did you see his bartape?  It didn't match his saddle!"  No, but really?  This is not the point that I want to make, although it is a big part of what we do.  Style on the bike and off the bike relates to life.  Art imitates life and life imitates Art.  How one handles oneself on the bike is a true reflection of the person, even during the heat of battle in a race. 

The bike is a window into ones soul.  It has the ability to strip one down to their core no matter the ability or status.  The butcher, baker, and candlestick maker can all ride side-by-side with the doctor, lawyer and accountant.  Ones style is dictated by who you are on the bike, how you handle yourself on the bike, and how you treat your fellow cyclists.  Style is a lost Art, but it is not dead.  You can't buy it, but you can earn it and learn it.  Next group ride you are on, look for the style.  It will be there, it has always been there, style is timeless.

My goal in cycling is not to win races, but to bare the torch for future generations to follow.  I would like to thank my Roll Models that are Real.  I hope to one day turn the crank with 1/2 as much style as you.