The negative aspect of the charity ride is that non-cyclists see them and assume that they’re races—even though actual bike races involve riders in tight formation traveling at very high speeds, and charity rides are composed of people in sweatpants and pinnies scattered all over the road and barely pushing 14 mph. A charity ride has about as much in common with a bicycle race as a game of kickball has with a major league baseball game. Still, when people see lots of people on bikes they think it’s a race, and no amount of arguing, insisting, or photographic evidence will convince them otherwise. And since anybody can take part in a charity ride, and since people think charity rides are races, naturally people also think that any cyclist can take part in the most famous bike ride in the world, the Tour de France.

The Tour de France is the most elite road race in the world, and only the top professional teams are invited to attend. And even if you’re on a top professional team that’s been selected to ride the Tour, your director still has to select you for the Tour squad. Nonetheless, there’s not a cyclist alive who hasn’t been asked by a non-cyclist if they’re ever going to ride the Tour de France. I was once asked by a friend if I was going to ride the Tour de France, and when I laughed and replied “No,” she scolded me for my bad attitude and told to think positively or else I’d never make it.

Nobody asks their friend who plays pickup basketball if he’s going to be in the NBA All-Star game. But for some reason, people don’t understand that professional bike racing is like every other professional sport in that it’s highly competitive and the athletes are professionals. If the person you’re talking to is not highly paid to race his bike full-time he’s not going to be in the Tour de France. Instead, look for him at the local criterium peeling his face off the asphalt along with the rest of us.

Via: http://www.amazon.com/Bike-Snob-Systematically-Mercilessly-Realigning/dp/0811869989/

Many thing are common with ordinary filmmakers who have commercial for nearest barbershop that had been aired twice at 4 and 5 AM as top achievement and constantly being asked how soon he plan to release his two hours long drama so people could check it out :-)