I`m done.....

[ColinJ]

Proves you’ve lost touch with the outdoors and become softened by 21st century “comforts”

My dad spent 6 years in the army during and after WWII. He spent much of that time intimately 'in touch with the outdoors'. He slept in soggy tents, dug trenches, helped clear minefields, dig up UXBs, build roads and bridges and so on, often in terrible weather conditions. Later, back in civilian life he got a job in the building trade, again often working outdoors in terrible conditions. He did that for over 20 years before finally getting a job indoors.

The result of this rugged outdoor lifestyle was that his body was starting to pack up in his late 40s. He needed a walking stick by the age of 50 and was using 2 sticks by the time he was 55. He literally spent the 10 years after that limping his way through to retirement and he barely walked again from the day that he retired (near enough my age now).

He spent another 18 years suffering pain and immobility before final dying from conditions related to that.

He always blamed his decline on the many years of hard physical grind in poor conditions.

So... I reckon I'll just stick to avoiding crappy weather where possible and enjoying my 21st century "comforts"! (Even with our poor local weather, there are usually enough acceptable days dotted around that I can afford to be choosy and still get about 6,000 kms a year in.)

 

[roadrash]

ride your bike if you want to,...…. or...….. don't ride it if you don't want to (if you have other means of getting to work) and bolox to what anyone else says or thinks, do whatever YOU want to do.

 

[classic33]

I`ve had it with this thread. Wish I`d never started it now. I`ll do what I want and just keep zipped about it.

TTFN

Just don't give up cycling, when you want to!

 

[DCBassman]

My dad spent 6 years in the army during and after WWII. He spent much of that time intimately 'in touch with the outdoors'. He slept in soggy tents, dug trenches, helped clear minefields, dig up UXBs, build roads and bridges and so on, often in terrible weather conditions. Later, back in civilian life he got a job in the building trade, again often working outdoors in terrible conditions. He did that for over 20 years before finally getting a job indoors.

The result of this rugged outdoor lifestyle was that his body was starting to pack up in his late 40s. He needed a walking stick by the age of 50 and was using 2 sticks by the time he was 55. He literally spent the 10 years after that limping his way through to retirement and he barely walked again from the day that he retired (near enough my age now).

He spent another 18 years suffering pain and immobility before final dying from conditions related to that.

He always blamed his decline on the many years of hard physical grind in poor conditions.

So... I reckon I'll just stick to avoiding crappy weather where possible and enjoying my 21st century "comforts"! (Even with our poor local weather, there are usually enough acceptable days dotted around that I can afford to be choosy and still get about 6,000 kms a year in.)

This. Not everyone is built to take continuous physical work; as said, did my crap weather cycling as a kid, did 12 in tge military too. "In touch with the outdoors " is simply another bs phrase that means, "I love this, and I can't see why everyone else doesn't too".
Not the way the world works, in any context.
End of thread contribution.

 

[confusedcyclist]

Sure, But i think you're overplaying it a little. I don't think there is a disconnection with nature. I walk regularly around a few local water parks and cycle down the canal i see plenty out and about. With so much of these young un's these days getting vocal about climate change, plastic waste and animal welfare i can't help thinking they have more connection with nature than before. A decline in mental health and a disconnect with nature seems a tenuous link at best. As i say, we're seeing more awareness and treatments for such issues that it is that awareness and a prevalence for more mental health help these days i see as a more reasonable link to what is seen as an increase...

I didn't want to go down the path of mental health, because the causes are complex and multifaceted. Just saying cycling in a rain isn't as big a deal as some are making it out to be. It's just that the dial on adversity has been shifted as people have become more accustomed to urbanised living without having to lift a finger in life. Modern convenience trivialises survival. That doesn't mean I'm advocating cycling in a storm and dying of hypothermia.

Nor I am comparing cycling in the rain to a life time of hard manual labour @ColinJ, if that's what OPs cycling feels like, I'm sure he's made the right decision for himself.

@glasgowcyclist meow

 

[glasgowcyclist]

@glasgowcyclist meow

That was my sanitised response. I deleted my original draft.

 

[roadrash]

Just saying cycling in a rain isn't as big a deal as some are making it out to be.

it isn't a big deal to me, but to some people it IS a big deal, we are not all the same

 

[Ming the Merciless]

My dad spent 6 years in the army during and after WWII. He spent much of that time intimately 'in touch with the outdoors'. He slept in soggy tents, dug trenches, helped clear minefields, dig up UXBs, build roads and bridges and so on, often in terrible weather conditions. Later, back in civilian life he got a job in the building trade, again often working outdoors in terrible conditions. He did that for over 20 years before finally getting a job indoors.

The result of this rugged outdoor lifestyle was that his body was starting to pack up in his late 40s. He needed a walking stick by the age of 50 and was using 2 sticks by the time he was 55. He literally spent the 10 years after that limping his way through to retirement and he barely walked again from the day that he retired (near enough my age now).

He spent another 18 years suffering pain and immobility before final dying from conditions related to that.

He always blamed his decline on the many years of hard physical grind in poor conditions.

So... I reckon I'll just stick to avoiding crappy weather where possible and enjoying my 21st century "comforts"! (Even with our poor local weather, there are usually enough acceptable days dotted around that I can afford to be choosy and still get about 6,000 kms a year in.)

That’s very different to going for a ride in the rain. The two are not comparable.

 

[confusedcyclist]

Lesson in life, "Don't mention the war" - Basil Fawlty

 

[DCBassman]

Just saying cycling in a rain isn't as big a deal as some are making it out to be

And I'm saying it's not for you to say, because for some, it absolutely IS a big deal.
And I said I'd shut up...ah well.

 

[confusedcyclist]

Again, rain does not equate to warfare. Unless it's raining bullets.

 

[DCBassman]

Never remotely suggested such.
Doesn't mean one MUST accept it either.
I don't ride in the rain, period, when riding is for pleasure. Because, for me, and plainly others too, it's not pleasure. If I need to make a utility ride, and it's raining, I'm going to get wet. There might be parts of that ride I'll enjoy. The being-wet bit isn't ever going to be one of them.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I've been wet and frozen at work, I've been wet and frozen on bicycles and I've been wet and frozen on motorcycles - countless times with each.

Do I ride in the rain now? Not feckin' likely, and if anyone thinks riding through winter while well wrapped up and waterproofed makes them some kind of superior hard case they're seriously kidding themselves. Try riding 300 miles on a motorbike in torrential rain wearing "Waterproof" gear that fails in anything above a heavy dew and then come back and tell us how you enjoyed it. And I didn't do that because I'm a hardman, I did it because I had no choice.

 

[roadrash]

bloody hell...….why is it so hard for folk to accept , some folk do like riding in the rain , other folk don't, it doesn't make either right or wrong,

 

[ColinJ]

Try riding 300 miles on a motorbike in torrential rain wearing "Waterproof" gear that fails in anything above a heavy dew and then come back and tell us how you enjoyed it. And I didn't do that because I'm a hardman, I did it because I had no choice.

63 years ago (before the M6 was built) my dad took the family up to Scotland from the Midlands. We didn't have a car at the time - he had a sidecar on his motorbike in which were sat my pregnant mum, baby me, and my 5 year old sister!

We got caught out in a thunderstorm going over Shap Fell and it sounds like my dad developed hypothermia. We had to stop at a pub beyond the Fell for my father to dry out and recover.

I think someone mentioned it earlier in the thread... All this talk about mudguards, the right clothing, 'man up' and so on is all very well, but if you are out in the wilds and have a mechanical problem such as a puncture in poor weather conditions you can end up in serious trouble. I WAS wearing the right clothing on one winter ride and was doing fine until a tyre went flat. Within 5 minutes of stopping I started shivering violently as the sweat on my body rapidly cooled down. My fingers went completely numb once I took my gloves off and I had a long, desperate struggle to fix the puncture. Bad news!