Creating the write image?

[deptfordmarmoset]

So where exactly was the article inaccurate ?

Para 1:

Bradley's victory has triggered a plague of its own

Cyclists are not a plague.

That Sunday, the roads were suddenly packed out with Spandex Boys getting in everybody's way

We don't wear Spandex. No cyclist got in my way that Sunday.

The Olympic victories in the sport just made matters even worse

More cyclists is not worse.

because you even see Spandex Girls now (they used to be rarer than hen's teeth)

So, did all these cyclists suddenly go out and buy bikes and Lycra on Saturday night? I think not.

The mentality of this class of person...

Cyclists are not a class of person, we're a pretty varied bunch.

...is such that finding quiet roads to ride on would be too simple and sensible

The assumption being that cyclists should not cycle on public highways.

as well as lacking the potential attention,

The attention seeking bit of cycling - lights, hi-viz, etc - is largely because of drivers' apparent inability to see us.

I'm bored now. Anyone want to do the second chapter?

 

[lukesdad]

As I thought.

 

[fudgepanda]

It got my goat because although I wasn't particularly sympathetic towards cyclists before I bought a bike (all that changed in September) I used to take a fairly pragmatic attitude towards "them", Driving Instructors are supposed to make their pupils aware of vulnerable road users and foster tolerance all round. I sometimes ride the other kind of 'bike and always thought that if I didn't train my pupils properly it could be me riding down the road when an ex-pupil pulls out on me. And the same goes with the Bianchi. With regards to cyclists, then no-one in their right minds wants to have to stand by their car watching a human being bleeding on the ground while they wait for the emergency services to turn up. Equally, no-one in their right minds wants one of those psychopathic, lycra wearing, attention seeking Wiggins wannabe running brake lever down the side of the driver's shiny car.

 

[Lanzecki]

We as cyclists, just like drivers don't want agrro. I always stand by the line "Two cars hit, it's a visit to a garage, a cyclist and a car : it's a visit to A&E" While there are nutters on the roads, they've always been there and on all sides of the divide.

This constant need to prove "we are better then X, because they smell, or look different, or wear clothes we don't" is pointless. Unfortunatly it's the human condition.

Once we all (drivers, cyclists, cab drivers, ped's, little green men, and random groups of amoeba ) realise that given a change all we wanna do it do what we wanna do without some plank threatening anyone safety, and preferably us NOT doing the same the better.

Life's hard enough without a professional body slagging other people of just because they occasionally like to use the pubic carriage way using a method of transport that's considered strange. Less then 100 years ago it was the other way around.

 

[fudgepanda]

We as cyclists, just like drivers don't want agrro. I always stand by the line
This constant need to prove "we are better then X, because they smell, or look different, or wear clothes we don't" is pointless. Unfortunatly it's the human condition.

A little off topic, but I remember studying the American Civil War at school and being told that the war wasn't about the abolition of slavery, a popular theory at the time, but more about secession. A Confederate state separate from the Union. So what drove the "White Trash", who probably had no real idea of citizenship or politics and certainly had little or nothing to gain if slavery was abolished, to fight on the Confederate side? Was it because they were second from bottom of the pile and if there were no slaves they would be at the bottom? Perhaps they needed to be superior to someone.

I think the roads aren't much different, although in fairness there isn't as much artillery on the roads, yet every category of road user thinks they are better than all the others. That sense of righteousness, of being in the right, sometimes manifests itself as arrogance closely followed by aggression.

 

[Poacher]

With regards to cyclists, then no-one ........wants to have to stand by their car watching a human being bleeding on the ground while they wait for the emergency services to turn up.

Probably explains why so many of them drive off.

 

[fudgepanda]

Not exactly what I had in mind Poacher, but there's much in what you say. Anyone have any idea as to how many drivers do leave the scene after a collision with a cyclist? I'd be interested to know if there are any figures.