Is Riding Your Bike Cool?

I'm genuinely asking this question. I mean, I know there's a group out there riding around in tight jeans on fixed gear bikes (like mine pictured above). But I'm not really sure if the reality of cycling is cool. Here are my thoughts...

Pro-Coolness Factors:

• It's Green, and being Green is cool.
• Lots of companies use bikes in their ads.
• Celebrities are seen riding bikes.
• It's counter cultural to an auto-centric culture.
• It requires a level of fitness, and Biggest Loser shows us that being in shape is cool.

Anti-Coolness Factors (a.k.a. "The Reality"):

• You sweat a lot.
• Cold weather gear covers everything, and showing too much skin is cool.
• Even the experienced rider occasionally falls.
• High-school kids at the bus stops make fun of me because they think I don't own a car.
• We live in a fast pace world and biking is, in no way, fast paced versus driving 80mph.
• Al Roker rides a bike.

Well, those are the thoughts off the top of my head. I'm really not sure of my conclusion. I would think that cycling is beginning to breach the main stream culture as a "Wouldn't that be neat?" kind of thing but I don't think it's caught on to the masses.

As far as my experience can tell, no one thinks it's cool that I ride, most people think it's just bizarre.

Either way, I don't do much of anything because it's considered cool (I'm not really a cool guy, if you didn't know). I was just thinking about the topic.

Get out there.