Note: I want to publicly thank everyone who supported my STP effort this year. My team, my support crew, my friends and my family. Without you guys I'd be nothing. I do plan to blog about the experience but unfortunately personal stuff is getting in the way. Oh you say "well Steve you had time to write this fine post!" - to that I say - I wrote the bulk of this post almost two weeks ago. So there.
My friend John has an interesting yet painful post talking about big guy discrimination over at his blog. Here is a snippet:
...now that I'm actually INTO cycling, I visit bike shops quite often. And every single f-ing time, I don't get any service. I mean a sales person will walk right by me, give me the obligatory "hey" nod and walk up to the guy that came in behind me and say "Can I help you with something?"
I said painful above for a reason. It is painful because I realized that it is true. I, too am a Big Guy™ and while I was reading John's post I realized that I have probably been discriminated against as well. Why did it take reading his post to realize this? Good question. See I've always been heavy (husky, big, thick... all nice was to say fat) my Mom says that when I was little I was skinny - hmmm - she also says that I had light hair at some point. I have yet to see a photographic evidence of either a skinny or a blonde baby Steve! (Love you Mom!). I have a lingering memory of buying "Husky" Toughskins jeans from Sears. I must have been 4 or 5. Yeah, seriously. Sad, huh?
Where am I going with this? Well up until I read John's post I guess I assumed that all bike shops offered crappy customer service. Really. I never once thought that it was because I was considerably larger than the average cyclist. Never crossed my mind. There are a few of reasons for this, I guess.
- I have never been skinny enough to elicit a positive customer service response from a bike shop. In other words - I have nothing to compare my poor experiences with.
- I am a very trusting guy. I just assume that if I get bad service that everyone gets bad service.
- I don't really like people much. I mean I have an awesome set of friends that I enjoy hanging out with but in general I'm anti-social. Give me a computer over a human any day! ;-) I guess subconsciously I have assumed that this is in part why I don't get good customer service at certain places (bike shops, sports stores and the like) - that I am, in some way, a bad customer from the moment I walk in the door. Hell,I may very well exude an aura of "don't talk to me. I hate people." Yet when I consider experiences at places that thrive on fat people (restaurants, ice cream shops, movie theaters, video game stores) I have to conclude that I must not be as anti-social as I think I am. I'd have to say that (on average) I receive great customer services in fat-friendly establishments.
I the past year I've ridden over 1000 miles including over a month of injuries that prevented me from riding at all. Yes I know that you hardcore cyclists ride 1000 or more per month but my point here is that I ride way more than the average Joe Sixpack. I've spent well North of $5000 on cycling products including a new bike for me, a new bike for my son Derek, a trailer for Zoe and many, many extras. I have over $3000 worth of cycling purchases in the budget over the next six months. 
I am still big at 260 pounds. You might even say HUGE by cyclist standards but damnit - I ride and I spend a lot of money! Treat me with respect! I'll never be freakishly skinny like Michael Rasmussen (pictured at right). I don't want to be that skinny. Rasmussen is just gross... but I guess that's what it takes to win the Polka Dot Jersey in the TdF (as I write this he is wearing the Maillot Jaune in the 2007 TdF) and win the Mountain Bike World Championship.
I have one final rant about cycling and Big Guy Discrimination. Cycling Jerseys. Yeah - you big guys know what I'm talking about. Apparently cycling jerseys are made for Rasmussen-like, freakishly skinny, 98-pound weaklings who probably starve themselves and have never lifted anything heavier than their 11 pound bikes. Sure Rasmussen has all the glory, fame, money and hot women but I'm guessing I could curl the guy! Yes I could stand to lose 40 pounds but at 220 I'll probably still wear a 3X cycling jersey. And before you, dear reader, laugh at 260 pound body you must understand that the first place most most jerseys don't fit is around my biceps. For the record, my biceps are not fat.