The local radio phone-in show had a piece on it today. You know it's going to go well when the presenter starts with 'I'm all for cycling but...' I didn't hear a 'Some of my best friends are cyclists' so just missed out on a full house.
Here's some of the gems:
Caller: Tax cyclists like you'd tax a dog. I pay £5 a year for my dog license, why shouldn't cyclists be the same?
Host: Why do cyclists insist on going so fast and not using cycle lanes?
Sus Trans Guy: A lot of the cycle lanes are in bad condition with pot holes or signs/obstacles placed in them. The average speed in Belfast is below 20mph. Cyclists can do 10-15mph so there isn't as big a discrepancy in speed as people think.
Host: Well they should just go slower and ride round the potholes, they're not in The Giro.
Host: The majority of people who are late for work have been held up by cyclists.
Host: I know there's no such thing as road tax but I pay a lot of money to put my car on the road and cyclists pay nothing.
The funny thing was in the ads between segments there was one for McConvey Cycles in town. If I were them I'd be re-assessing my media spend.