Vicious Bikers roam the streets before daybreak
By Mackenzie Sunday Cub@TheColumbiaStar.com

Photo contributed by Mackenzie Sunday Vicious Bikers (l- r): Doug Ryan, Emily MvDonald, Darren Bawnight, Nick Witkoski, Myron Barick, Leighton Lord, Jeff Rubel, Tom Kotona, Lucas Mpcain, and George King meet before their early morning bicycle ride. See Vicious, page 2

Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 5:45 am, around 15 "middle- aged" men wearing spandex and maybe a woman or two meet at a gas station to cycle around Columbia. They are the Vicious Bikers, a group of Columbia cyclists who have trained and raced together for many years.

In 2000, Leighton Lord and Matt MacGillivray decided to take the friendly competition that had developed between the riders to the next level. The trash talk previously took place through emails became a website. As the site says, "Newcomers may find this to be comical and shallow. We recommend maintaining that perception, otherwise you may risk missing that which is most important within the Vicious Bikers, a good sense of humor."

On the site, the bikers, using nicknames (Leighton Lord is Warlord and Matt MacGillivray is Donkey Kong) post comments that generally fall under the "smack talk" category. One vicious biker chose to describe another as, "the only one just vicious on the computer, never on the bike."

The blog may be almost entirely "smack talk," but the cyclists do not use profane language, instead using less- insulting and more comical names. They even enjoy a friendly rivalry with the A.C. Flora Cycling team, who they have coined Team Sippy Cup because the high school cyclists are younger. While the Vicious Bikers enjoy the website, www.viciousbikers.com, as a way to display their "childishly competitive nature," they do not forget their "deep appreciation of cycling."