Everybodys got an opinion about whats wrong with the Tour de France and what the organizers need to do in order make it more popular. More doping controls! Fewer doping controls! Get rid of the bikes and make them compete in a stadium with a ball! And so forth.But heres a rather surprising opinion from the worlds second-most ridiculous bike publication:Who suggest that the problem with the Tour isexpensive bikes?Road cycling has become more elitist than ever. Top-end bike prices are astronomical. A pair ofbib shortscan cost several hundred pounds. The best roadcycling shoes are a rip-off. None of this encourages youngsters and their cash-strapped parents to get into the sport. Wait, Im sorry, arent you this guy?Do you really get to dry-hump all the new tech while at the same time decrying the disappearance of the simple and affordable bicycle?Apparently you do:But thats the media for you. One minute theyre contradicting themselves, and the next theyre writing headlines that sound like the setup for a joke:Come on, the headline answers its own question. Were talking about cycling here, the dorkiest of all sports! Why even read the article? This is like asking, The High School Valedictorian Is Really Good At Math. So Why Isnt He Getting All The Chicks?And heres a headline that preempts its own article even more aggressively:What else could you possibly need to know that is not contained in the words naked bike ride? They even call it a nude event, just in case you were still confused. However, I do think its worth exploring why people who ride bikes seem to be uniquely susceptible to this behavior. For example, too my knowledge at least, there are no large scale nude fishing or golfing eventsboth of which are activities far more compatible with being in a state of dshabill. And yet cyclingsomething so punishing to the taint that companies successfully market bib shorts costing hundreds of dollarsinspires thousands of people to foist their bodies upon the populace and their bare perinea upon their saddles.Every so often I wonder if maybe the world has finally moved on from thinking of cyclists as a bunch of entitled childish attention-seekers, but then along comes the World Naked Bike Ride to hit the reset button.Perhaps the reason cyclists go in for this sort of behavior is that were undertaking a journey every time we get on a bike, and therefore we cant help crafting a narrative for that journey, hence all the theme rides. And when it comes to theme rides, things can swing wildly in either direction, as any pantsless male cyclist can tell you. On one end youve got your goofy naked bike ride, on the other theres the classics-themed luxury bike tour:This is an extremely rare example of someone putting an education in the liberal arts to use:Though his background is in Roman archaeology, Wood developed cycling routes inspired by famous journeys throughout history, following the path of Richard the Lionhearts Third Crusade, the expansion of the Venetian empire and Alexander the Greats conquests. But when it came to naming his company, there was one route so well-known, it has become a byword for any adventurous undertaking.I studied the Odyssey back at university and loved it, Wood says. The very word is a theme that resonates with our journeys, so it was always a trip I wanted to do. In addition to naming his company Bike Odyssey, he based its logo on Argos, the faithful hound who is the only one to recognise Odysseus on his return to Ithaca.And this does seem rather Homeric, or at the very least like a poignant metaphor forsomething:But the greatest challenges often come from guests who choose to keep vital information to themselves. Weve had multiple people turn up with no bike experience after telling us otherwise, he says. One had only ever ridden in a bike trailer and another had no peripheral vision so she went straight off the edge of the road at the first corner! She was fine and she kept riding but I had to stay close to her for the rest of the journey.Of course, not all bike rides are journeys, and some people prefer to ride to nowhere by using Zwift. No doubt youve already purchased a Colnago watch, and an Eddy Merckx watch, but just in case you sprout a third wrist (or want to utilize another appendage on your next naked ride) you can also buy a Zwift watch for some reason:They say its a natural fitbut why?I can only assume the second hand moves around and around, but the hour and minute hands ust stay in the same place forever.