Tuesday 20 March 2012

Cycling: it's the new golf!

Who would have thought this?  I grew up in Oakville, Ontario or, more precisely, Bronte, which was a village until incorporated into the bigger town in 1961.  It was always the poor end of wealthy Oakville but a good place for kids.  I enjoyed riding my bicycle in the surrounding countryside (there was a 100 acre field directly across the street from our house!) and on longer rides with my friend Karl we never ever saw anyone else cycling.  In fact, after the brief bike boom in the 1970s almost nobody rode a racing bike in our area.

Today Bronte features a high-end bike shop, masses of cyclists on expensive equipment out every sunny day and the provincial park, which is just north of where I lived and is now surrounded by housing developments, is the setting for an annual bike race, the Tour de/of Bronte.  This year's series of races will be on April 28/29.

Is cycling the new golf?  With 23 (!) golf courses in the Oakville/Burlington/Milton area, there is still some way to go but we can live in hope.

1 comment:

Bandobras said...

Cycling may in fact be the new golf. It take up hours on a weekend and like golf from a couple of decades ago it keeps getting more and more expensive. Weeding out the middle class and trying to gain a clientele willing and able to pay thousands for a bike and hundreds for the "correct Clothes". Unless it finds a way to promote itself to the masses it will go the way of all those golf courses now offering deals practically every day o the week cause no one can afford the green fees or memberships.