Globalti
Legendary Member
I grew up in a mountaineering family that took little interest in team sports so apart from a summer interest in cycle racing I don't follow any team or sport or waste any of my life planted on the sofa watching them. This has put me at a disadvantage all through my life because when blokes gather the banter often turns to footeh, rugby or cricket and I'm excluded. My friends and colleagues in South Africa have learned that there's no point in gassing about sport as I'm clueless although they did introduce me to François Pienaar who I thought a nice chap. My boss is a loud, boorish alpha male type who is openly scornful of cyclists and hates them taking up road space so he and I inhabit different planets. Gotta go to SA with him in April, which is going to be awkward.
I have always harboured a suspicion that a lot of blokes banter about sport because they actually don't know much else and it's safe ground for teasing, probing and finding out more about each other without venturing into areas of conversation that might demonstrate, heaven forbid, sensitivity or compassion towards others.
Do other cyclists see this as a handicap or do they just get on with their own relationships and ignore the excluding banter? How do the woman of this parish deal with it?
I have always harboured a suspicion that a lot of blokes banter about sport because they actually don't know much else and it's safe ground for teasing, probing and finding out more about each other without venturing into areas of conversation that might demonstrate, heaven forbid, sensitivity or compassion towards others.
Do other cyclists see this as a handicap or do they just get on with their own relationships and ignore the excluding banter? How do the woman of this parish deal with it?
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