The Official Rules of the Euro Cyclist

In the world of cycling there is an expert for everything.  A coach can tell you how to become strong and fast.  A nutritionist will help you to stay fueled, to recover and to be the appropriate weight.  A doctor will test your physiology to identify strengths and weaknesses.  But what about style and panache?  Well there is an expert for that too.

Style.  All the great champions have that certain special something.  An ethereal essence that defines them both on and off the bike.  Fabian Cancellara, Jacque Anquetil, Marco pantani, and Mario Chipolini are just a few of the greats who`s pal-mares are overshadowed by personality.  This surreal cycling lifestyle, like the sport itself, is strongly rooted in Europe.  It is the desire of North American amateur cyclists, young and old, to emulate the ways of the European Cyclist.

Without a doubt the most comprehensive authority for the proper European bicycle style is the facebook group OREC or The Official Rules of the Euro Cyclist.  OREC is the largest and most active cycling group on face-book.  With nearly 14,000 members, it is a place of intelligent discourse and study of the Euro way.  The group was founded by Dominic Guiver and Mike Flavell in 2007.  It quickly grew as members brought forth insights, interpretations, and photographs.  The photo gallery now holds 5600 examples of eurocity and the discussion board includes topics such as equipment, training methods, clothing, hand gestures and hairstyles.    Although the group offers guidelines on both acceptable products and mannerisms.  One must always remember that "Euro is not an origin or place of manufacturing. It's a style or an essence."

 perhaps the greatest asset to OREC is that group content is manually curated.  Admins and content officers are selected for their exemplary judgment and taste.  I am privileged to say that one of my good friends, Lincoln Lu, is one of four OREC admins and a religious content officer.  Lincoln has recently stepped up both his commitment and level of responsibility within this actively opinionated community.  In the year 2011 Lincoln Lu will expand OREC beyond the confines of Facebook.  The goal of his actions are to expand the groups membership base while maintaining appropriate exclusivity and to ultimately become independent of Facebook.

Lincoln's First steps in this process has been to launch an Official Rules of the Euro Cyclist video channel on You-Tube.  The OREC channel can be found here.  The pilot episode was launched three days ago.




Training shall be based solely on feel,
while racing shall be guided by sensations and instinct.


Cuylar Conly