...after giving it about 19 seconds of thought, I came up with a criterion (not a criterium) for what constitutes silly recreational cycling behavior--at least for me. It's not meant to be a judgment; rather, it's my own personal way of qualifying my own opinions. Basically, my criterion for silly cycling is this:
If it's a type of riding that is already well-established, only you're using the wrong bike for it, then it's silly.
See? Simple. For example:
--Doing tricks on BMX bikes=not silly. Doing tricks on fixed-gear bikes=silly.
--Riding downhill fast on bikes with brakes=not silly. Riding downhill fast on bikes with no brakes=silly.
Sure, I know what you're thinking: "Who's to say what's the 'wrong' bike? What about my rad-tastic mountain-bike-trail-on-a-cyclocross-bike 'epic,' or my compulsion to be the token singlespeeder at any competitive cycling event?" Well, rest assured I don't mean using a bike that's perhaps not optimal--I mean, we all enjoy a challenge. Still, I do think there's a point at which the bike you're using is just wrong, and one of the signs of this is when you like riding bikes downhill but your tire frequently explodes in high-speed situations, leaving you with no other means of slowing the bike
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2011/08/subjective-realities-lifestyles-of.html
So riding around town delivering parcels on an 80's lo-pro track frame with double aero-spoks = ?