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Is cycling the new golf?

Pursuing ‘more active activities’ with the help of high-end equipment

It was a snowball effect.

Well, actually, it was a golf-ball thing, as in chasing that little white ball around the golf course – for health reasons, as a symbol of status and even to conduct business.

In the early 1990s, the golf course was a sort of exercise center, boardroom and place to show off high-tech – and expensive – equipment, which proved to be a product of the times. And there was the prestige of belonging to country clubs and playing the exclusive courses popping up around the country.

It all added up to an unparalleled time in the sport – the golf boom.

Many of those pieces remain in place today but on a different course.

Road biking has, in recent years, been regarded as the new golf. That concept will be on display throughout this weekend’s Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, with high-end bikes and equipment to match.

“People are choosing more active activities. They’re transferring away from golf to more cardio, and cycling fits that,” said Gaige Sippy, IHBC director. “And it’s easier on the joints.”

Golf remains technology-driven, with clubs getting lighter and more forgiving, a huge draw for higher-handicap players. And that technology comes at a price.

Golfers pay $500 for a driver, up to $400 for a top-end putter and more than $1,000 for name-brand sets of irons. Then there are additional wedges and hybrid clubs, which can easily cost $150 each. So it’s not unusual for golfers to have $2,000 invested in their clubs. Bags can cost upward of $400.

The same is true of cycling.

“Professionals who might buy an expensive car or golf clubs might buy $10,000 to $12,000 bikes,” Sippy said. “And good clothing. Both (golf and cycling) are equipment-intensive in their own way. Professional people are buying nice bikes – doctors and lawyers and business people. They (bike stores) are selling more high-end bikes than ever.”

“It’s technology-oriented,” Sippy said of the lure of cycling. “There are bikes that weigh 13 pounds. It’s like a sports car, a Ferrari, but you have to pedal. And part of it is a status symbol, too.”

Ron Thompson, manager of 2nd Ave. Sports in Durango, also sees comparisons between golf and cycling – of road biking becoming the new golf.

“It definitely is,” Thompson said. “Road cycling is a social outing. ... Carrying on business and social conversations. And you’ve got to have multiple bikes. It’s like a bag of golf clubs – one for every shot.”

Thompson said a man bought an $8,000 Trek road bike from him earlier this week, although Thompson wasn’t sure if he planned on riding it in the Iron Horse.

“A lot of people are willing to spend that kind of money on golf clubs and bikes,” Thompson said. “High-end bikes are flying out the door these days. It is health-focused. And in this area, you can do it year-round. We’ve moved more road bikes than in recent years.”

Joey Ernst, owner of Velorution in Durango, has long heard of cycling being called the new golf.

“In the cycling mainstream, I could see people would think that,” Ernst said. “I see where they’re coming from. It can be expensive. Bikes can be expensive; racing can be expensive.”

But Ernst wasn’t buying the golf-road biking comparison.

“I dislike when people make that analogy,” he said. “It makes it sound like it (cycling) is something just for rich, white people.”

Ernst said his top-end “niche” bikes sell for around $5,000, which can be considered mid- to low-range in the industry these days, he said.

“We’re not trying to sell the most expensive bike all the time,” Ernst said. “But even that price to a newcomer can still be kind of shocking.

“A lot of it is the attitude, as well. Golf has a sort of unspoken separating of classes of people,” he said. “You see that in the cycling industry – it’s there and has been there. There’s always been super top-of-the-line bikes, always been people buying super high-end bikes.

“But this idea that cycling is the new golf is something to embrace at your own peril.”

bpeterson@durangoherald.com

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On the radio

Live coverage of Saturday’s road race on KIQX 101.3 FM, beginning at 7 a.m.

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