Surviving BikesZone and BikesZone Reborn

There is going to be a bit of nostalgia here, so bear with me.  The original BikesZone was emphatically not for everyone - neither is BikesZone Reborn.  This post should give you a bit of an idea what to expect.

Many years ago, I remember someone once accused Bikeszone of being nothing but a "boy's club".   The context was that one poster had asked for advice to remedy his knees hurting after every ride, and was consistently arguing against every single bit of (correct) advice he had was getting.    I remember losing it and telling him to just live with wrecked knees if he wasn't going to listen, which is what provoked this statement of judgement.   Ironically, I was then -and am now - good friends with the rider who had the knee issues (and my snarky response then was intended to jolt him into paying attention).

But fair play - BikesZone original did have an element of dog-eat-dog.     Most of the regulars there were cyclists of varying abilities and interests - but all of us rode regularly, be it to ride fast or count butterflies or whatever.   People had opinions, other people had different opinions and there would be some spirited debates which would get very heated.

BUT:  for starters, the discussions were usually fact/logic driven.     And even when it got heated, everyone was mature enough to keep the disagreement limited to the subject at hand.     I think over time, pretty much all the regulars got into some cycling-related argument or the other - and yet we all managed to remain friends.    There were a couple of meet-ups in Pune and elsewhere (remember - this was the early days of cycling in India and the cycling community was very small:  back in those days, MTBs were de rigueur and it was believed that road bikes would assplode on Indian roads), and a good time was had by all.    That laid the foundation and culture for the group.

Second - because of a culture of fact/logic driven discussion and a focus on actually riding the damn bicycle, as opposed to just talking about all things cycling, the group had a very low tolerance for BS and pretentiousness.     If you wanted to ride your bike, everyone would cheer you on regardless of ability.   If you came in and acted as if your 30 min ride was going to solve global warming, poverty or whatever, you would be challenged very directly and with an abundance of snark.    And heaven help if you were not able to mount an intelligent defense but doubled down on BS.

This was a culture shock to a lot of people.   Some learned from the first misstep and thrived - remember:  it is never personal unless you make it so.     Others got (somewhat justifiably) upset at the reception and either left in a huff, or kept digging their hole deeper, which never ended well for them and resulted in them leaving in a huff.      Which was a shame, because there was a lot of useful information there - and for people looking for help but willing to put in some effort themselves, it was a great resource.

BikesZone Reborn kinda works the same way.    Everyone here likes cycling and beginners are welcomed:  you dont need to have a fancy bike or a huge budget or whatever.      Dont worry about that kind of stuff - if you like cycling (as opposed to merely wanted to be a part of Cycling Culture without actually doing any cycling), you'll fit right in.

That is an important distinction.

People who like cycling enjoy the act of getting on their velocipede and riding it, for the pleasure of riding it.     Whether it is a fast sufferfest, a relaxed scenic ride, some crazy MTB stuff or even triathlons (even though that is a violation of The Rules), the main thing is that these people make an active choice to ride their bicycle.

People who want to be a part of Cycling Culture love talking about cycling.   They share cycling related memes.   They ask questions like "why cant Indian cities be more like Amsterdam".   They are Ambassadors of Cycling.    There is nothing wrong with that.    However, if that is your main interest in cycling, this may not be the correct forum for you.

That is not to say cycling activism is bad.   But activism actually requires effort.    Genuine activism - trying to implement some realistic actionable policy - is welcome but do expect critical questioning.   Hand-wring and pie-in-the-sky nonsense is not.  If all you are doing is just forwarding memes and whinging on a cycling forum, you aren't an activist but a wanna-be.    If you do stuff like "I rode from Point A to Point B to raise awareness for XYZ", you better be able to quantify exactly how your bike ride made a difference - otherwise you will (rightly) be labelled a pretentious jackass and mocked.

So yeah, this isn't necessarily a safe space where you can spew whatever nonsense you want and as long as it sounds warm and fuzzy, people will cheer you.

Lastly, go easy with  forwarding memes, jokes and post shares.    This is a cycling community, not a stand-up comedy theater, and you are neither a clown nor a comic (well not intentionally, anyway).    The general rule to ask is - is my post going to generate productive discussion or provide something of value to the group?    If the answer is "no", it is better to avoid posting.   Remember - we have a very large community here, and maintaining a high signal/noise ratio is important.

Just remember: as with any online community, there is an existing culture in place.    Get a sense of it.   Ask questions.   Contribute.    Argue (sensibly and rationally).    As with any other group, the more others get to know you, the more leeway you get to be a jackass (that's why I am 99% Jackass - I worked hard to achieve this).   And then you'll realize what made BZ so amazing   :)

Also:  the mods arent getting paid for this.   They would also like to be cycling or engaging in cycling discussion, not settling petty feuds between others.    And nor are we sitting down and setting up extensive operational guidelines on how to moderate the group.  So expect moderator decisions to be swift,  capricious and highly dependent on the person doing the moderating.   Sounds horrible, doesn't it?    I agree - so best to avoid doing stuff that gets them involved.

Remember - hardly anyone here is elite.   We are a wide group of people, all united by the fact that we live cycling.   So there are going to be different opinions, views, beliefs, etc.    Be respectful, rely on logic/reasoning and don't take yourself too seriously.

And if this entire post appalls you and makes you write angry posts on social media, then it is a good bet that you may want to find other groups or forums.