The Strange World Of Cycling

[bonsaibilly]

What does it matter if there are few non-white cyclists? It's there if they want it, they obviously don't want it that much.

They might have different priorities, which is fine.

 

[DaveReading]

Everyone I pass always says Goodmorning or hi. You never get that when driving or walking the streets (im some areas)

When I'm driving I always say Good Morning to other motorists, but sometimes I worry that they can't hear me.

 

[clid61]

View: https://youtu.be/vVoFNlVv4Pg

Shinny ! My lad used to race with her and got wupped time and time again !

 

[clid61]

As a newbie to the cycling world I have noticed a strange world unfolding before me. Things I have noticed.

1, How polite and friendly other cyclist are. Everyone I pass always says Goodmorning or hi. You never get that when driving or walking the streets (im some areas)

2, Why are there so few ethnic cyclist? How come you never see a chinese cyclist out on the road? Pakistan? Asian? Africans? It seems to me that 99% of the cyclist out on our UK roads are all white? I wonder why this is?

3, Sport shops, never been in these places until recently, but as soon as I walk in, some young assistant runs over "You ok Sir? Need any help?" Well yes I do but if I have got no idea what I want, how can you help! Just let me browse please!!

4, How and why has this cycling took over my life! Lol.. I find myself watching the bike channel while browsing Amazon looking at cycling gear whilst wondering where and when my next ride will be ! I am loving my rides and wonder why I never got on the saddle sooner after a 22yr break!

5, Is it just me or do you find that when you are out and about without your bike and see other cyclist, You're looking at their bikes and weighing up the specs to see how serious they are about their ride. Before I got back on the bike every other cyclist I saw were just the same. People who could not aford a car. I know, that attitude stinks. But now I realise how ignorant I was, Which now makes me wonder if the majority of other motorist think the same when they now see me. Am I a burden on the road, am I in the way, these are the thoughts that rush through my head when I hear a car behind me waiting to get past.

But saying that. I am loving my cycling, and actually loving life a little more. Something I have not felt in a long time.

Being in Silverdale , you're a little isolated . Love silverdale , cycle up to Gibraltar Farm from Wigan and camp in the woods there

 

[YahudaMoon]

Hmmmmmmm......

Raceist?

 

[Globalti]

You won't see many African or Asian cyclists around Silverdale! I'd be willing to bet that the ethnic makeup of cyclists is a close reflection of the ethnic makeup of that geographical area.

That said, Many second-generation Africans or Asians in the UK have probably inherited their parents' attitude that a bicycle is a poor person's transport. There is the economic factor as well that we enjoy extravagant spending power in Europe. Look at the Strava Heatmpa of the world to see what I mean: http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#3/4.57031/24.04646/blue/bike

Sad to say also we had a couple of Pakistani lads who joined a mountain bike club, to which I once belonged and a couple of the older members of the club did not make them welcome.

 

[jarlrmai]

If you want to meet the non white non middle class cyclists go to the canal paths early morning and late evenings week days, they'll be commuting on old MTB's to their jobs plenty around here, they just don't do the "Sunday road ride to a cafe" and they certainly won't feature on a Strava heatmap.

Additionally if you're already in an abused minority why add being abused for being a cyclist to your list of problems?

 

[Globalti]

I think that as habitual cyclists we forget that we have undergone a sea change in our attitudes and joined a very exclusive social group. The vast majority of the population would no more buy a bike than a surf board or a kayak or a motorbike; we are viewed as a rather odd minority with a bizarre preference for a poor man's mode of transport when we could be demonstrating our social status in the comfort of a motor car.

My boss is a boorish loudmouthed golfing buffoon and he thinks I race around the pavements on a BMX, he has absolutely zero comprehension of sport cycling.

 

[mjr]

Do not under any circumstances, go looking at other mens calves. Unless you want to visit a hospital.

Are you ogling hospital patients because they're probably too ill to fight back or have other things to worry about? That's a bit mean!

That's exactly what I meant. There's nothing to stop anyone buying and riding a bike and if ethnic minorities are "Under represented" it's because they are not interested.

But why aren't they interested? And it's in the interests of the nation's health to get more people interested, across the whole range of people. If cycling is being promoted mainly to white anglo-saxon men, accidentally or not, then something should be changed.

I think that as habitual cyclists we forget that we have undergone a sea change in our attitudes and joined a very exclusive social group.

Speak for yourself, me duck! Where I grew up, people cycled to work in the factories scattered in the towns and villages until a few years earlier, so there wasn't really the social stigma that many people seem to report and by the time it developed, I was probably already stubborn. Then I moved away from home to a fairly pro-cycling city and kept on cycling... then to a fairly easy-cycling town where people still cycle to the factories... then a beautiful seaside resort where, despite the hills, cycling was often faster than driving in the summer (and much easier to park!)... and back to this town. So I never stopped rolling along. Even when I was driving to commute silly distances, I was still cycling short trips to the shops and so on.

I'm quite aware I'm an oddity in my generation, though, and try to bear it in mind when advocating for cycling. I'm also interested in why people stop or never really start cycling, as well as what other routes lead people to keep on cycling. I'm pretty sceptical about racing as a tool to get people cycling. Racing's fine and fun in itself, but often doesn't seem to last (what happens when you can go no faster and still win nothing?) and doesn't necessarily lead to everyday cycling.

 

[Smokin Joe]

[[/QUOTE]

But why aren't they interested? And it's in the interests of the nation's health to get more people interested, across the whole range of people. If cycling is being promoted mainly to white anglo-saxon men, accidentally or not, then something should be changed.

Cycling isn't being "Promoted" to anyone. It has just become a fashionable thing to do on the back of the recent racing successes and like many fashions it isn't taken up by every social or ethnic group. You can't force people onto bikes neither can you persuade anyone who isn't interested to take it up. People follow their peers, hence the large proportion of middle aged comfortably off cyclists out on the roads. As for the health benefits, most of the ones I see could do with shedding three or four stone in weight instead of worrying about shaving 100 grams off their bikes.

 

[Jody]

I always look at bicycles going past as they are elegant , gracious machines, no matter who rides them.

Hmmmmmmm......

Almost every chav can wheelie for miles on a £30 second hand BSO. Chavs probably have more skillz than some of the serious cyclists!

 

[mjr]

Cycling isn't being "Promoted" to anyone.

Randomly-selected announcement: "A nationwide drive to promote cycling in cities and national parks across England will be launched today." There are tons more. Promotion is one of the few cycling things that seems to get consistently funded, despite the obvious weaknesses in it as a lone measure.

It has just become a fashionable thing to do on the back of the recent racing successes and like many fashions it isn't taken up by every social or ethnic group. You can't force people onto bikes neither can you persuade anyone who isn't interested to take it up.

So it's all hopeless and all advocates should give up and let the nation sleepdrive into early graves?

Nah, I feel we can get people interested and then persuade them.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Nah, I feel we can get people interested and then persuade them.

Five years time it will all be over and we'll be back where we were a decade ago. I'm convinced it is all just a fad.

 

[Brandane]

Five years time it will all be over and we'll be back where we were a decade ago. I'm convinced it is all just a fad.

Perhaps this won't be a popular POV, but personally I look forward to that.
I think the cycling boom (if indeed it has happened - only small signs of it up here) has created its own problems in that we have a higher profile and are seen as a source of congestion (yes I know we aren't , I am looking at other people's perceptions). Drivers in parts of the country see "their" roads and parking spaces being given over to half baked cycle facilities, while cyclists continue to clutter their roads.
Maybe some of the problem is down to jealousy from the overweight burger munchers on their way to another fatfest at the local retail park; I don't know why but it seems to wind them up when they see people actually trying to do something physical.

Yes, I preferred cycling 10 years ago when nobody really cared; cyclists included. Was that because there were less of us?

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Perhaps this won't be a popular POV, but personally I look forward to that.
I think the cycling boom (if indeed it has happened - only small signs of it up here) has created its own problems in that we have a higher profile and are seen as a source of congestion (yes I know we aren't , I am looking at other people's perceptions). Drivers in parts of the country see "their" roads and parking spaces being given over to half baked cycle facilities, while cyclists continue to clutter their roads.
Maybe some of the problem is down to jealousy from the overweight burger munchers on their way to another fatfest at the local retail park; I don't know why but it seems to wind them up when they see people actually trying to do something physical.

Yes, I preferred cycling 10 years ago when nobody really cared; cyclists included. Was that because there were less of us?

Yes I preferred it before cycling was fashionable.