I can identify with a lots of what was in the article, not all of it and opinion pieces like this often seem to push the point a bit far. Cycling has changed a lot in the last 20 years, being a fairly serious cyclist uses to be a bit left field, now it seems like half the world is at it. The diversity seems to be a lot less visible, the magazines and industry seem to concentrate on the new popular sector of cyclists. This is mainly because there's money to be made of the back of the new golf. I think the diversity is still there but lost in the exposure that carbon and sportives gets. The fact the "armpit on the wold 200 Audax" doesn't get the same focus could well be down to the fact that the 2 products most associated with the breed haven't changed in the last 250 years and some audaxers are clearly using kit that Noah threw overboard to save weight (and going a lot quicker than me with it).
In my area bike shops are springing up every 5 minutes and high end kit is everywhere. There must have been marketing geniuses at work to persuade that a bicycle can somehow justify being the price of a motorcycle
He does sound a bit grumpy about children but I'm sure most of us who are parents remember wistfully those days when you could finish work and just go for a three hour ride (or to the pub).
His other blog post do show that he's a bit of a grumpy old man in training. However even Bradley Wiggins said recently that he though a lot of people were taking at a bit to seriously and should ease up an enjoy the view.
On the plus side the changes have got a lot of people onto 2 wheels and hopefully they have had some great days out.
Also on the plus side if cycling is the new golf, sooner or later something or other is going to be the new cycling and when it does ebay will be flooded with carbon fibre
