When I rode to work through central London, I used a fireman's whistle, particularly when coming off Trafalgar square; the swarms of pedestrians totally ignoring the lights at Charing Cross made it impossible to head down the Strand; a blast of the whistle froze them in place...
Growing hostility towards Mountainbikers and Cyclists
- Thread starter M-Power
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We_are_Stevo
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I used to love London in the late 70's, when rents, indeed propertys, were cheap and you didn't have to be an asylum seeker or a Russian gangster to be able to live there: my younger brother, though, hated it...
'Everybody rushing around with nowhere to go!'
...was how he described it.
Well that is more prevalent today than ever: except everyone is also much more self-absorbed now than ever before.
Anyone brandishing a selfie-stick in public BiTD wouldn't have lasted five minutes! :twisted:
I used to love London in the late 70's, when rents, indeed propertys, were cheap and you didn't have to be an asylum seeker or a Russian gangster to be able to live there: my younger brother, though, hated it...
'Everybody rushing around with nowhere to go!'
...was how he described it.
Well that is more prevalent today than ever: except everyone is also much more self-absorbed now than ever before.
Anyone brandishing a selfie-stick in public BiTD wouldn't have lasted five minutes! :twisted:
Wold Ranger
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it's not just the towns and cities, I live way out in the countryside, (rural Yorkshire) and I both run and cycle every week and have done for 50 years plus and have seen a growing/worrying downhill change in attitude towards both cyclists and runners, I am regularly "run at" when out both road running and cycling by motorists. This happened even last night, while on a 10K run down a country lane, saw me coming miles off, yet tried to force me off the road. I think it's a UK problem.
It's not just a lack of respect, but almost a latent aggression, I feel a lot of this is down to Jealousy and lifestyle choices of the bulk of the population, who are now vastly over weight and extremely un healthy.
I even get this now in every day life, with people having "an attitude" towards you because you are slim and fit, despite approaching my sixth decade.
They seem to think your just "lucky" to be built that way, so can enjoy sport, they don't see (or want to see) the buckets of sweat, the getting soaked and filthy, or Frozen in Winter, the black toe nails and other nasties that go with being an endurance athlete.
Strangely, I am lucky enough to travel a fair bit and I have found the opposite in many other Countries, in the Caribbean or Africa and many European Countries. If you are a Runner or a Cyclist, you are a hero, respected and treated so by other road users, particularly the indigenous population, where these sports are seen as an "International language" I've had locals "high Fiving" me in Jamaica and Barbados as I run/bike past or shout "respect" at me. Don't see this in Britain anymore much. Wonder why I want to leave?
it's not just the towns and cities, I live way out in the countryside, (rural Yorkshire) and I both run and cycle every week and have done for 50 years plus and have seen a growing/worrying downhill change in attitude towards both cyclists and runners, I am regularly "run at" when out both road running and cycling by motorists. This happened even last night, while on a 10K run down a country lane, saw me coming miles off, yet tried to force me off the road. I think it's a UK problem.
It's not just a lack of respect, but almost a latent aggression, I feel a lot of this is down to Jealousy and lifestyle choices of the bulk of the population, who are now vastly over weight and extremely un healthy.
I even get this now in every day life, with people having "an attitude" towards you because you are slim and fit, despite approaching my sixth decade.
They seem to think your just "lucky" to be built that way, so can enjoy sport, they don't see (or want to see) the buckets of sweat, the getting soaked and filthy, or Frozen in Winter, the black toe nails and other nasties that go with being an endurance athlete.
Strangely, I am lucky enough to travel a fair bit and I have found the opposite in many other Countries, in the Caribbean or Africa and many European Countries. If you are a Runner or a Cyclist, you are a hero, respected and treated so by other road users, particularly the indigenous population, where these sports are seen as an "International language" I've had locals "high Fiving" me in Jamaica and Barbados as I run/bike past or shout "respect" at me. Don't see this in Britain anymore much. Wonder why I want to leave?
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I haven't experienced any of the anti-cyclist attitudes that some of you describe, partly because I live in the Lincolnshire Wolds - little traffic once you're off the main roads and I live in a small village off the beaten track.
However, I've ridden bicycles and motorcycles regularly in France and Spain, and have experienced very positive attitudes, so much so that upon arriving in the early hours at a motel in France I asked the receptionist where I could leave my motorcycle - he suggested I park it reception where he could keep and eye on it until the morning!
Imagine that happening in the UK?
Off to Cherbourg for the opening days of the TdeF on the last day of June, keep you posted as I'll want to take the bicycle to the room overnight.
Jon.
I haven't experienced any of the anti-cyclist attitudes that some of you describe, partly because I live in the Lincolnshire Wolds - little traffic once you're off the main roads and I live in a small village off the beaten track.
However, I've ridden bicycles and motorcycles regularly in France and Spain, and have experienced very positive attitudes, so much so that upon arriving in the early hours at a motel in France I asked the receptionist where I could leave my motorcycle - he suggested I park it reception where he could keep and eye on it until the morning!
Imagine that happening in the UK?
Off to Cherbourg for the opening days of the TdeF on the last day of June, keep you posted as I'll want to take the bicycle to the room overnight.
Jon.
Rod_Saetan
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I guess then I'm really lucky that I'm able to live here by having an extremely lucrative, massively paid job in a bike shop. Oh, no, wait...
Anyway, I can't argue with the first hand experiences some of you have had, I just find it hard to parlay with my own experiences. Don't get me wrong, I see plenty of stupid but I don't see a general hostility, nor do I when riding outside of London.
A more pertinent point to me though is for all of the "it's the bleedin' media what's doin' it", the constant pernicious murmur of anger by ordinary people on social media, web forums and comments pages on newspaper articles is probably doing as much to perpetrate the myth that cycling is dangerous and is therefore putting other ordinary people off getting out there and riding. And if people don't start getting out there and riding it ain't going to get any better. It's a vicious cycle*
*pun intended.
We_are_Stevo":7ill23gi said:
I guess then I'm really lucky that I'm able to live here by having an extremely lucrative, massively paid job in a bike shop. Oh, no, wait...
Anyway, I can't argue with the first hand experiences some of you have had, I just find it hard to parlay with my own experiences. Don't get me wrong, I see plenty of stupid but I don't see a general hostility, nor do I when riding outside of London.
A more pertinent point to me though is for all of the "it's the bleedin' media what's doin' it", the constant pernicious murmur of anger by ordinary people on social media, web forums and comments pages on newspaper articles is probably doing as much to perpetrate the myth that cycling is dangerous and is therefore putting other ordinary people off getting out there and riding. And if people don't start getting out there and riding it ain't going to get any better. It's a vicious cycle*
*pun intended.
Rod_Saetan
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EDITED
"we heard you the first time!"
"we heard you the first time!"
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Don't know if facebook links are ok on here but this is the first instance of trail sabotage I've seen in my area. What are these nutters trying to achieve?!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2753960 ... 243632812/
Don't know if facebook links are ok on here but this is the first instance of trail sabotage I've seen in my area. What are these nutters trying to achieve?!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2753960 ... 243632812/
We_are_Stevo
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When I was at JUNIOR school, we had an old teacher called Mr Thresh, very old school authoritarian...
At playtime he would 'supervise' our 'British Bulldogs,' and in the winter he would go out in the playground at the end of the day and chuck a couple of buckets of water along our 'slides' so that they were even better in the mornings!
He'd be sacked and prosecuted today...
...oh yes, and my Mother took first me, then my brother, everywhere in the 'babyseat' on the back of her bicycle: It was then inconceivable that we wouldn't progress through a series of bigger and bigger bikes ourselves!
Now?
PAH!!
When I was at JUNIOR school, we had an old teacher called Mr Thresh, very old school authoritarian...
At playtime he would 'supervise' our 'British Bulldogs,' and in the winter he would go out in the playground at the end of the day and chuck a couple of buckets of water along our 'slides' so that they were even better in the mornings!
He'd be sacked and prosecuted today...
...oh yes, and my Mother took first me, then my brother, everywhere in the 'babyseat' on the back of her bicycle: It was then inconceivable that we wouldn't progress through a series of bigger and bigger bikes ourselves!
Now?
PAH!!
M-Power
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Social Media allows trends to propagate at great speed, as never before. The traditional media live off this new vibrant source of information, stoking up the antagonistic fires and constantly pushing our buttons every day to generate more ad revenue. They have no principals.
If the latest hate group cyclists, become more dehumanised, attacked, maimed or killed as a result of their editorial, all is good, it's just more headline grabbing news. They seem to be beyond reproach citing freedom of speech etc. The truth is, they have blood on their hands, as do those who blatantly refuse to dissuade and punish justly reckless loonies who drive like this. Cyclists are road users and human beings, we need more cyclists and healthy lifestyles. I fear that all this negative publicity will simply put many off, if it hasn't already. Let's hope it ain't so and city infrastructures and traffic systems are redesigned to accommodate safe cycling in the future.
Social Media allows trends to propagate at great speed, as never before. The traditional media live off this new vibrant source of information, stoking up the antagonistic fires and constantly pushing our buttons every day to generate more ad revenue. They have no principals.
If the latest hate group cyclists, become more dehumanised, attacked, maimed or killed as a result of their editorial, all is good, it's just more headline grabbing news. They seem to be beyond reproach citing freedom of speech etc. The truth is, they have blood on their hands, as do those who blatantly refuse to dissuade and punish justly reckless loonies who drive like this. Cyclists are road users and human beings, we need more cyclists and healthy lifestyles. I fear that all this negative publicity will simply put many off, if it hasn't already. Let's hope it ain't so and city infrastructures and traffic systems are redesigned to accommodate safe cycling in the future.
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