Cycling seems to have become very "upper crust"

[iateyoubutler]

That`s how it appears to me

Doesn`t feel like I fit the criteria any more, almost as though I have to talk posh!

I`ve never been one for "keeping up with the Jones`s" or worrying about other people, but lately in various encounters I`ve noticed that the standard criteria is to be a private consultant, or doctor, or similar, live in a "rustic" residence with at least a double garage (or gararge, let`s get it right!!), a swimming pool, a minimum of 4 brand new cars, plenty of log burners, a coffee machine that cost more than my house did, a lifelong subscription to radio 4...etc etc etc, the list goes on

I, and my semi-detached WITH SINGLE gararge, tools based job, a liking for Lidl`s groceries, a 15 year old car, and a lacking of the cyclists accent (there is one, I know), seem to be feeling a little bit out of place

Maybe I should take up jigsaw puzzles, or get a flat cap and keep pigeons!

Seriously, the whole thing does seem to be getting rather "select", nowadays

 

[S-Express]

a lifelong subscription to radio 4

Radio 4 is free to air...

 

[ocianbricles]

cycling has always suffered a little touch of "elitism" not, perhaps, so much now, but in the days when we had various groups: NCU, BLRC, RTTC and so on there was plenty of elitism. Some clubs wouldn't even let women join, and you had to be sixteen years of age to join a club. That all changed when sponsorship started to infiltrate the sport. In fact when did you last hear the word Amateur?

 

[lutonloony]

I've got no car,I commute on my only bike, I do club runs on same bike, and am thinking of doing club TT on selfsame bike. I take the P on some posts,learn from other posts, and get occasionally mocked ( in good humour). Should I leave then?

 

[Oxo]

I'm rough as ar*~holes and I still ride me bike.

Perhaps a new saddle would help.

 

[graham bowers]

You're obviously having the wrong "encounters" - ride in rougher areas ;-))

 

[Lonestar]

You are posh round ere if you've got a beemer.

 

[Ian H]

I think you need to consort more with 'proper', club cyclists.

 

[Will Spin]

Radio 4 is free to air...

I'm a radio 3 man myself

 

[Jackmaster]

All depends where you live I guess. If you can afford to live near where all these "upper crust" people do maybe you haven't done so badly yourself?

A semi detached with a garage in Chelsea ain't cheap!

I don't have the time or inclination to have a "stop and chat" with other cyclists when I'm riding my bike in my own little world.

I will agree with you in the fact that I just want to ride my bike and help out other cyclists if I can but have noticed a cliqueishness, snobbery and inverted snobbery and people who think that just cos you are riding a bike you have to nod to them or they get offended.

I don't flash my lights at every motorist I encounter or say hello to every runner I see....

How on earth you get to the point of a conversation where you even ask or know what these people do is beyond me? Maybe you are too friendly?

I don't even know what some of my mates do.....

If ever I have the misfortune to speak to some random pleb I usually say, nice bike, good ride?

 

[Apollonius]

Lidl is posh. High quality at low prices. Plenty of otherwise difficult to obtain German and French delicacies. Esoteric wines at low prices.

And where else can you get fresh baked French bread?

 

[srw]

And where else can you get fresh baked French bread?

From your local Boulanger in France.

 

[Apollonius]

Why didn't I think of that?

 

[Drago]

2 houses.

2 garages.

2 cars, one new.

Inglenook fireplace.

Wood burners.

Nespresso machine.

Private healthcare.

A Radio 4 junkie.



Oh my God! I've become everything I ever hated!

You are posh round ere if you've got a beemer.

They're considered rather gauche around here. Indeed, monocles drop into glasses of single malt every time my Ford Fusion charabanc rattles up the road.

 

[FishFright]

Radio 4 is free to air...

Cor nowt gets passed you does it mate