pp.
Racing another cyclist while commuting to or from work.
—competitive commuter n.
Example Citations:
A recent article in Good magazine about competitive commuting has sparked lively conversation on cycling blogs and across the Web. Some cyclists cheered the notion, admitting to frequently speeding up to challenge others, while many, including racers and the die-hard all-weather commuters, thought the whole notion was laughable.
—J. David Goodman, " Let's Race! If Only in Our Minds: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/11/lets-race-if-only-in-our-minds/," The New York Times, December 12, 2010
I love your blog and the feminine perspective and I always forward it to all my female cyclist friends...and as a male I agree the competitive commuting attitude is a little irritating from my perspective too.
—Willis, " Out of My Way, Boys!" (comment): http://letsgorideabike.com/blog/2010/04/out-of-my-way-boys/\#comment-11352, Let's Go Ride a Bike, April 28, 2010
Earliest Citation:
My cycling to work is about saving money and losing inches from my waist. It is a way of getting to work, it is not a race! It is not a race! But.......
—James Cleverly, " Competitive commuting: http://jamescleverly.blogspot.com/2007/01/competative-commuting.html," jamescleverly.blogspot.com, January 30, 2007
Notes:
In competitive bike racing, each event is divided into five "ability categories," where Category 1 is for elite cyclists, and Category 5 is for beginning or inexperienced racers. This explains why some people refer to competitive commuting (also called commuter racing) as Category 6 (or Cat 6) racing:
Cyclists have a joke about "racing in cat 6," which, despite the name, is not exactly a race nor does it refer to an official category of cyclists. Cat 6 refers to commuter cyclists, and racing each other to work is their sport. Also called "the great commuter race" and "hipster racing," cat-6 racing is the unspoken urban tradition of trying to go faster than, and not get passed by, a stranger on your bike.
—" Cat 6: Competitive commuting Turns Bike Rides into Races: http://www.good.is/post/cat-6-competitive-commuting-turns-bike-rides-into-races/," GOOD, November 9, 2010
Related Words:
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Of course certain auto drivers have been competitively commuting for years.
New words. 2013.