New research highlights rise of the MAMIL (that's middle-aged men in Lycra)

I definitely fit the profile and beyond the embarrassment of being so easy to categorise I don't care! I love cycling, have ridden bikes non-stop since I was a kid, and now finally have some money to indulge my passion - hence the 9 bikes in my basement, 5 of which I have built-up myself. Yesterday I took a friend (who was so jealous of me cycling 75 miles to visit him) to buy a 1500 bike. Does his riding justify it? Of course not. Was he the most excited bloke in the county yesterday when we went for a short trip around the lanes? Yes. Another convert, more money into the industry and who really gives a damn if he looks bad in lycra? Isn't cycling about having a good time not conforming to some arbitrary definition of 'cool'?

Absolutely, bring on the mamils. One more biker is one less driver after all.

And every BMW-driving executive that gets on his Colnago/Trek/Pinarello on a Sunday is likely to give the rest of us a tiny bit more space when they drive past the rest of the time. Kudos too to road.cc for giving the backgound to the story, rather than passing it off as a bit of lifestyle journalism.

shouldn't it be 'mamir' (middle aged man in Rapha)...

I guess I fit the profile.

It started just for a bit of recreation a few years back, you know... nothing serious, just a bit of fun.

After a while I started doing it at work. I'm only commuting, I can handle it I thought. I can take the tube anytime. But I started on the hard stuff - rain, even snow.
I even started wearing lycra under my baggy shorts.

Then I hit 40. Someone told me I could get some steel at a place called Roberts not far from me. You just don't know, these places are tucked away in the suburbs. Custom stuff, specially made. I couldn't resist.

Soon I joined a gang called Audax and we used to get together to eat sliced peaches and rice pudding. Nobody talked - we couldn't think of anything except malt loaf. Nobody else I knew understood my longing for lugs.

But it wasn't enough. Next I had to get a fixed.

Then a mate offered me something brought in from Italy. It was red and shiny, I was hypnotised. A bargain he said, doing him a favour to take it from him.

Now I've hit the bottom. Total carbon fibre. My wife doesn't even know it's got Super Record. She even wants me to get rid of another bike to make room.

My name is Chris, and I'm a cyclist.

Arragh, Camelbak. No!

At 43 (though clicking up another digit at the end of the month) I'm well into the 'target' age range but certainly don't fit the profile. A rubbish wage, a 20 year old car that worth even less than my SCR 2 and we certainly don't shop at Waitrose. I have acquired the standard wife and two kids but not a dog, or even a GPS for that matter. I read the occasional non-Tory broadsheet and wear lycra to ride to work every day except in torrential rain.

Most of the riders I know are what I'd call keen cyclists. I've seen a few MAMILs (do a large proportion of them wear team kit?) and I'm sure the bike shops are glad of their business too. At least they're helping the industry and perhaps providing good value secondhand bikes for people who don't have so much cash to splash. Also I hope that when they get behind the wheel of their car these guys remember what it's like for cyclists on the road.

The more the merrier is my view I'd like to think that there are plenty of new cyclists reading road.cc

To most people of course one middle aged man in Lycra is going to look very much like another, they won't know whether he's been riding for years or since last week.

I also have lots of respect for big-boned types in Lycra too, good for them at least they're giving it a go. It's pretty easy to look good in lycra if you're a skinny fella. Much worse in my book is getting stuck behind a long time rider in lycra shorts that are so threadbare they've started to go see through… the mental image is putting me off my lunch.

Plus I'd much rather have a middle aged bloke roar up behind me on a country lane riding a five grand bike than sitting at the wheel of a sports car like that numpty telly chef… whose name I've just forgotten

Ah so that's where this story originated. Mintel have done well out of this story, the number of times this stuff's been repeated.

I'm well into middle age (more like old age at 51) and my lycra is hidden under sensible shorts

Middle age starts at 35?????

Lycra should be a privilege - not a right!

I'm the wrong shape, so I don't do lycra...

and the other end .... me, 47, Trek 1.9 that's out as often as poss (which is less than I'd prefer )
and capable of repairing most mishaps on the road side
whilst in me lycra

I was in a bike shop in Bristol last year and there was a guy, maybe 50-55, walked in, looked at a £4500 orbea orca with DA and zipp 404's, asked if it was a road bike...then bought it.

I would have loved that bike, cleaned it every day, kept it in the warm...its probably in a shed not being used now.

Unfortunately I came across quite a few of these MAMILs yesterday.

Really are all the gear and no idea. A few of them had the road sense of a 6 month old baby.

And as for the guy with a £5k BMC who had no idea how to repair the puncture he had.

It is lovely and I really support more people getting out on bikes but please remember when buying Bradley's bike it doesn't also come with his legs!

Edit: and please can we have caption quote competition for the pic above?