Quantification of Cycling Experience

People naturally try to quantify everything. Its a perfectly normal way of comparing data in numerical terms. In cycling, it can be way of proving yourself to others when it comes to certain topics. Here are a few examples:

1) How many years you've done A, B, or C.
2) How many charity rides you've participated in.
3) How many miles you rode last year.
4) How long you made a particular component/bike/part last.
5) How long you've worked at X,Y, or Z.

You get the idea.

Of the above scenarios, there are a few that bug the crap out of me, since they aren't really relevant to anything. This one comes up fairly frequently from speaking to customers at the bike shop, so I'll begin my rant here.

Contrary to popular belief, the number of charity rides a person has participated in, is not indicative that the person is a better cyclist, better bike mechanic, or even more knowledgeable about anything (besides charity rides).

Please don't get the wrong idea here- I don't mean to knock the plethora of charity rides out there, nor the people who participate in them (plenty of my friends do), since they are meant for a good cause, and help people set a goal and achieve it, which I support fully. I'm specifically talking about the chaps who aim to quantify their cycling experience by "number-dropping" how many of these events they've participated in.

Standing alone, the fact that someone signed up for 1, 2, 5, or even 100 charity rides thus far in their lifetime and completed them, only signifies one thing. . . that they did 1, 2, or 100 rides of varying length. Cool. Sure, the distance and duration of the rides vary and there can be training requisites ranging from a little bit to pretty fucking hardcore. And its noteworthy that all participants in these events must make a minimum monetary contribution, as well as raising a minimum monetary donation goal, through soliciting friends, family, and coworkers. After all, this is where the money that (allegedly) goes to charity comes from. (I can't find a source but I read once that only a disturbingly small percentage like 10% actually goes to the charities, since organizing, advertising, and running such big events is so costly, but this is a totally different topic.)

But as a whole, "number dropping" the number of events in which someone has participated does not lend to their credibility, nor knowledgeability of cycling or bicycle mechanics, since they are not really requisite to participating in these events. All you have to do is show up and ride the bike. Ride it. You aren't race tuning your bike, drafting and using race team tactics, building wheels, or even learning anything about bicycles, bike maintenance, or racing at all. Its not bike school, and its certainly not a race either. Sure you may learn a lot from your experiences, and that's great. But Its still not a legitimate quantification of cycling experience. Charity rides are nothing more than that- a bike ride, raising money to benefit a charity.

It also makes you sound like an idiot.