Corporate Bicycling, The New Golf?

Golf has, for many years, been the de-facto sport of choice among corporate executives around the world. In many circles it’s almost criminal not to love golf and play it every weekend – the golf course has become the informal boardroom where deals and relasionships are really made. And why not? It’s a fun enough game with challenges both physical and mental and it amounts to a nice walk in the park.
Of course, the golf industry uses wild amounts of pesticides and fertilizer to maintain the illusion of perfectly controlled nature. In places like Arizona and Nevada, golf courses use obscene amounts of water, creating a totally artificial world that has no place in the desert.
Enter the corporate bike outing. A story in yesterdays Milwaukee Journal Sentinal entitled “Is Bicycling the New Golf?” has really got me excited. A number of companies are now sponsoring cycling events for employees, collegues and partners as a way to connect socially – the same sort of thing that has been done for years with golfing events. Cycling is a far more environmentally sustainable sport than golf, and if it gains popularity among the corporate elite, then the likelyhood of improved cycling infrastucture in our cities and suburbs is bound to improve, not to mention our health. Bring it on!