New word needed to differentiate cyclists

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lane

Veteran
Most cycle commuters I've seen in Belgium and Holland are of the pootle variety on upright bikes and are in normal clothes riding quite short distances into work as cities are smaller.

A significant proportion of London cycle commuters are lycra clad speedsters riding longer distances on their commute, hence discussions here about showering facilities etc at work. Many (see discussions on here) seem to use commuting as training.

Yes exactly my experience as well. In Holland the Lycra cyclists are out at the weekend especially Sunday rest of week mainly see the "pootlers"
 
Why do we need yet another label, if someone is riding a bicycle then they are cycling , therefore a cyclist
 

rugby bloke

Veteran
Location
Northamptonshire
This is an interesting idea, however I feel that the subtle differentiation will be lost on the average angry, knuckle dragging cyclist hating road user and I fear it would be a test of both patience and imagination trying to explain.

Personally I feel conflicted - by the week I am a semi lycra dressed commuter, by the weekend I am a full on lycra lout ... do I get to have 2 names ?
 

Gravity Aided

Legendary Member
Location
Land of Lincoln
I was accosted by a fellow parishioner at church last Sunday, asking me why I, and my liberal friends, had to take up part of street to ride our toys. I explained to him that there was room for both his and our toys on the street, as it's quite a wide street, and that some people, even in this paradise of capitalism, had no other means of getting about than riding their "toy" everywhere. Even to clean and prepare food for workers at a company that insures all such toys. Which is why that street, and not others.
 

lane

Veteran
Yes any differentiation (not that's it's valid) will be lost on most people. I work with a BMW driver who doesn't really like cyclists. His comment one morning was that on his drive to work he saw a cyclist riding in the rain - "what is that all about?" was his honestly mystified response.
 

swee'pea99

Legendary Member
At the risk of derailing a discussion on terminology (which, in passing, is IMHO a bit daft), it does seem to me to raise a substantive and significant issue. People often look at me like I'm crazy when I say I don't wear a helmet. (I got a lot of this from medical professionals recently after my accident.) I say I am at much greater risk from motorists than I am from anything I'm likely to hit my head on, and my best protection against motorists is to appear not as a 'cyclist' but as a bloke, who happens to be on a bike. Helmets, again IMHO, do more harm than good, in reinforcing this kind of us & them mentality - far more dangerous to any cyclist than head impacts.
 
OP
OP
Dogtrousers

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
Sharp intake of breath ...

@swee'pea99 you're treading on thin ice there. I hope you've got your tin hat on. Or not ... as the case may be. ;)
 

snorri

Legendary Member
.) I say I am at much greater risk from motorists than I am from anything I'm likely to hit my head on, and my best protection against motorists is to appear not as a 'cyclist' but as a bloke, who happens to be on a bike. Helmets, again IMHO, do more harm than good, in reinforcing this kind of us & them mentality - far more dangerous to any cyclist than head impacts.
Agreed, and even more so when cyclists wear coloured goggles which further conceal their identity, and gender!
 

swee'pea99

Legendary Member
I agree.

Anyone using the meaningless word 'substantive' should be banned.

Well, the Oxford & Cambridge dictionaries don't seem to have any problem with it:

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But hey, what do they know?
 
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