When I decided to take cycling more seriously, the hardest thing wasn’t improving my fitness, toughening my resolve on climbs, or getting comfortable with clipless pedals. Rather, it was deciphering the vocabulary I needed—specifically Romance language-infused jargon—to get a basic understanding of the sport and its technology.
It’s easy to forget how hard it is to understand cyclists when you’re not one, or just starting out; the words involved in discussing our sport are often just as obscure as the rules that govern it. We asked non-cyclists to define a few bike-related words, and their answers were smart, funny, and reminded us just how inaccessible cycling language can be. (Challenge: Ask your non-cyclist friends for their answers, and let us know the results!)