An open letter to all condescending male chauvinist cyclists

[CanucksTraveller]

I can only think Pat thought it was too quiet on the forum, and she chose to make a comedy thread to liven it up.

Just imagine how many pages we'd get if a man wrote a similar comedy broadbrush open letter to women cyclists.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Funny... as a male, I was not in the least offended by @Pat "5mph"'s post.

Me neither. I read it as listing a series of annoying behaviours, exhibited exclusively by male cyclists. If you're a male cyclist and you exhibit those behaviours - time for a re-think. If you don't you can either feel a bit smug, or you can fire off a series of furious "yeah, but what if ..." posts.

 

[Crackle]

[QUOTE 4755240, member: 76"]I teach people.

I teach people that just because a person belongs to a certain group, or looks a certain way, or has a certain disorder or is a certain gender that it is wrong to prejudge their motives, attitudes, behaviours or beliefs.

It's interesting that if someone had written an open letter to 'asylum seekers' saying don't behave like that, or 'immigrants' to stop behaving like the other, or heaven forbid 'women' to pack it in doing that, the very same little group who have rounded on me would all be wittering on about lazy generalisations and stereotyping.

Remind us, what do you do for a living?[/QUOTE]
Well you crack on, my post was not rounding on you, merely an eyebrow raising as I've read enough of your posts to know that you're actually quite empathic and I'm not really sure if you're being slightly mischevious here.

IT by the way, now but working with special needs in the distant past and other things too, not that what I do for a living seems particularly relevant whereas I though yours was but you've not given us a complete answer.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Dear male cyclists,
A wee note to inform you that your attitude is rattling our mudguards.
From you, Hi-Vized to the extreme on a bright day, helmeted on the segregated path, riding on a shared pavement at 20mph, we don't want to hear comments about our cycling.
We don't want you to join us uninvited then commenting on our lack of helmets, we don't want you to tell us not to practice riding no handed on a deserted cycle route, we don't want you to teach us how to use our gears, we don't want you to coach us on how to coast to a stop when our chain comes off, we don't want you to lash out if we get in the way of your Strava segment, we also don't want you to assume we are new to cycling.
In fact, most of us are trained ride leader and year round commuters.
Regards,
The Glasgow Belles on Bikes.

You can count on my support :-)

 

[CanucksTraveller]

You don't get it do you? And I'm guessing you never will. Pat's experiences are real and they upset her enough to write about it. I think it is crass in the extreme to dismiss them as a comedy broad brush letter.

You're right that I don't get something... what I don't get was why her ire was addressed to male cyclists, rather than the cyclists who upset her. As I say, put the shoe on the other foot and imagine the outrage that'd result from that generalisation.

Generalisation to this extent, to any sex is crass in the extreme.

 

[theclaud]

You're right that I don't get something...

I've cut the unnecessary bits for you. There is no charge for this service.

 

[Ian H]

You're right that I don't get something... what I don't get was why her ire was addressed to male cyclists, rather than the cyclists who upset her.

Similar stories, on and off the bike, are regularly related to me by various female friends, and they are without exception about men. It's the male of the species that does the patronising thing. My suspicion is that, if you don't get that, you're probably guilty of it.

 

[ufkacbln]

I had a young lady stop to offer assistance with a puncture

She started to explain how I should be replacing the tyre without levers.......Then stated "But I suppose at your age..... Arthritis would make that difficult!"

Ageism as well!

 

[Sara_H]

I had a young lady stop to offer me assistance when changing a puncture!

Personally I don't see cyclists as anything else. Bike type, gender, serious, roadie, commuter, leisure rider is all fairly irrelevant. If they look to be in trouble I will always ask (even those with single panniers) if I can assist. Usually with "Have you got everything you need" rather than "Do you need help with that puncture"

The only difference I make is that if it is a female rider I stay on the bike and at a distance. I was informed by a female rider that this was less "threatening"

I often stop to offer assistance, I think I've rattled a few cages, but one or two have accepted assistance or just been pleased that someone stopped to pass the time of day.

 

[Spinney]

Similar stories, on and off the bike, are regularly related to me by various female friends, and they are without exception about men. It's the male of the species that does the patronising thing. My suspicion is that, if you don't get that, you're probably guilty of it.

It's not just men. Perhaps the patronising thing when cycling is more often done by men, but in general both sexes can dish it out.

 

[ufkacbln]

I often stop to offer assistance, I think I've rattled a few cages, but one or two have accepted assistance or just been pleased that someone stopped to pass the time of day.

This is my concern..... the possibility that someone may be deterred from offering help or assistance because it is seen as "wrong"

A quick "Do you have everything that you need" is hardly offensive!

 

[Ian H]

Eh? An offer of assistance to someone at the side of the road is perfectly fine. Riding alongside a woman you don't know and providing an unasked-for critique of her cycling skills is almost certainly not.

 

[John the Monkey]

'Not all men'.

Bingo.

Someone should make that a hashtag or something, you know?

 

[jonny jeez]

Classic.

So what. Males tend not to act this way.

Sure some do and some females act disgracefully too (ever watched an episode of Geordie Shore, plenty of evidence of both there). Idiots are idiots, sometimes they drive BMW's, Sometimes they ride bikes, sometimes they possess a penis.


Is your logic that all men are the same. What happened to your insistence that one bad cyclist doesn't alter peoples perception of the rest.

 

[jonny jeez]

Funny... as a male, I was not in the least offended by @Pat "5mph"'s post. I hope I'm not a mansplainer and I hope I would never exhibit such behaviours. However, Pat has clearly witnessed and been the victim of them. My response to reading Pat's post is that I've gained some insight into the daily male-driven behaviours that many women are subject to. Picking an argument about whether she is wrong to write her open letter or not, seems to me a very good way of dodging the important issue, namely how uncomfortable some men (cyclists) make many women (cyclists) feel. It's not a representative sample, but I read the post to Mrs R and she has many similar experiences........which is laughable because she's an experienced cyclist who has raced at the top level in triathlon (she won a team gold medal at the European Ironman Championships in 1987). Come on guys, let's admit that Pat has described an unacceptable behaviour. Let's also acknowledge the major contribution Pat makes through the running of her cycle group. The more we try and criticise her experiences, the more we prove her point.

Happy to admit that Pat has experienced some terrible behaviour, which sounds awful. Not happy to admit that this makes all men guilty of the same. Some maybe, many perhaps.....but not all