I am not a cyclist.

[Riley Casey]

Way too much sturm und drang about this fellow and his article. He was writing for a general audience web newszine ( well a hipsterish one anyway ). I’m not a cyclist either if it’s a them or us choice. I ride practically everywhere I can, driving only when there is no reasonable alternative. I am vociferous about supporting WABA’s efforts to make safe and practical spaces for bikes to avoid the dangers of riding on roads designed for motor vehicles. I’ve been a key carrying member of CABI since it opened. I enjoy riding because it seems to me the most sensible way to get around in a densely packed urban environment – but I’m not a cyclist on just the terms he has described cyclists as being caricatured.

[bobco85]

The article is just strange to me. So it’s really that big of a deal that he dislikes being referred to as a cyclist that he must write an entire article about how he does not consider himself one?

This makes me think of how angry I used to get as a kid if someone called me by anything other than my full first name. (I go by Bob now, but as a kid, it was Robert and I ONLY went by the name Robert). I (and all my friends and family) remember that if someone were to call me something different like “Bobby,” “Rob,” “Robby,” (one of my sisters still likes to call me “Bo-bob” with the first “o” like in “rainbow”), I would get mad and say, “My name’s not (Bobby), it’s Robert! R-O-B-E-R-T!” Now, I don’t get angry or even distressed if someone uses a different name for me (as long as it’s not an insult).

To sum up, it seems like he’s lacking in maturity and needs to just deal with the fact that people (unless they are purposely teasing him) use labels (i.e., words, language, etc.) to describe things, and a person who rides a bicycle is labelled a cyclist.

[ShawnoftheDread]

I am not a cyclist. I’m you.

[Drewdane]

@NicDiesel 65826 wrote:

Makes some decent points but comes across as an insufferable windbag in need of a serious dressing down by Don Cherry. His comments on helmets and performance wear are really misguided and bizarre. He reminds me of this schmo I used to work with that didn’t see the purpose of helmets and wore his sweaty commuter clothes the entire day instead of deigning to the level of the rest of us and showering and changing at work.

No kidding. Dude’s got a serious case of the Grant Petersons.

[mstone]

@Drewdane 65958 wrote:

No kidding. Dude’s got a serious case of the Grant Petersons.

I think Grant would argue more that cycling is a big tent than that people shouldn’t be called cyclists just because they are, in fact, cycling.

[5555624]

I’m just a fat guy on a bike.

[cyclingfool]

@5555624 66082 wrote:

I’m just a fat guy on a bike.

Amen! That makes two of us.

[NicDiesel]

@cyclingfool 66266 wrote:

Amen! That makes two of us.

And I make three.

[JorgeGortex]

Funny, I clicked the link expecting some loud mouth disparaging cycling in some fashion or making light of those that take seriously… but I found neither. Frankly I thought it was pretty well written and from an interesting point of view. Seemed pretty honest, level, and not a statement of defacto reality, but one of personal opinion lending to worthy discussion.

G.

[lordofthemark]

@JorgeGortex 66319 wrote:

Funny, I clicked the link expecting some loud mouth disparaging cycling in some fashion or making light of those that take seriously… but I found neither. Frankly I thought it was pretty well written and from an interesting point of view. Seemed pretty honest, level, and not a statement of defacto reality, but one of personal opinion lending to worthy discussion.

G.

well first of all there was his notion that riding in casual clothes and sans helmet (and with fewer gears) somehow distances him from the students, the hipster, etc. Which AFAICT is exactly backwards. He seems to have conflated high speed/long distance/on road/etc cycling with hipster cycling. Thats a common meme among the “stop the war on cars set” but I think its a statement about “de facto reality” that is mostly incorrect. He sounds plenty hipster, tooling around helmetless on his 3 speed in casual clothes. And the notion that riding sans helmet distances him from the suicidal, or that riding on segregated infra makes him less on the public dime, mystifies me (note that personally I support segregated infra, and oppose mandatory helmet laws for adults). Though both those (cyclists in the road are suicidal, and cyclists are subsidized by drivers) are also memes used against biking. It sounds fishy, to me.

” because I refuse to ride where I’m clearly not welcome.”

This has to be parody, right? Grovel, grovel, grovel. Its pre-Stonewall, pre-Montgomery Bus Boycott, pre-Herzl. I will be a good assimilated Jew/Negro/faerie(?) and not bother the whites/gentiles/normals. But applied to biking. I would find it repulsive even if I knew nothing about biking. Its not impolite to insist on ones rights. I mean this kind of thinking has been on the decline, more broadly, for generations. (I mean does “Slave Morality” come to me mind only to me?)

Will cyclists ride the roads less when there is better seg infra? Sure. Will they obey the law more when law and infra are more designed with them in mind? Sure. Will they ride in casual clothes more when distances and conditions make that more appropriate? Sure. But its hardly the case that this groveling mindset is spreading.

If you wanted to write something about biking, from the POV of an oppressed driver who resents the all powerful bike lobby, you could hardly do better.

[JorgeGortex]

LoM,

Well, to each their own. I didn’t read the piece that way, and didn’t see any reason to take great offence over it. Its easy to read a lot of things into it that aren’t there. With respect… I think you take the piece way to seriously, and sorta make his point. Its just riding a bike. Everyone does it for their own reason and in their own way. I don’t think anywhere did he disparage anyone doing these other things, but indicated it wasn’t his preference. Maybe he’s saying that you don’t have to do all these things, which for some might be intimidating or daunting, to get out and do your thing.

PS- no need for the dislikes (a feature I, uhm, dislike). It seems petty in an arena of open discussion and sharing of ideas amongst bike happy people.

G.

[lordofthemark]

@PeteD 65911 wrote:

^– Truth… And Bicycling. Or.. Bicycling is Truth…

The Master is a Master, because he will die to retain the privilege of being a Master. The Slave, is a slave, because he will not die to cease being a slave.

–half remembered Nietzsche.

But no, I don’t bike suicidally. I don’t think thats the point though.

edit – this may actually be half remembered Hegel.

[lordofthemark]

@JorgeGortex 66324 wrote:

LoM,

I don’t think anywhere did he disparage anyone doing these other things,

I think he clearly meant to disparage people doing those other things. He just chose to write it in a way that he couldn’t be directly called out for it. It would have been less cowardly to just be more direct. But someone who won’t go where he is not wanted, is not likely to show that kind of courage. Its an unfortunate kind of style that is too common these days, that won’t make a judgement, but does so by innuendo and implication.

[KelOnWheels]

@NicDiesel 66279 wrote:

And I make three.

Jeez, no wonder it’s been so hard to get up my commute hill lately! Get off mah bike, you three!

[lordofthemark]

@JorgeGortex 66324 wrote:

LoM,

Well, to each their own. I didn’t read the piece that way, and didn’t see any reason to take great offence over it. Its easy to read a lot of things into it that aren’t there. With respect… I think you take the piece way to seriously, and sorta make his point. Its just riding a bike. Everyone does it for their own reason and in their own way.

If thats his viewpoint, why make a big point of describing how other people bike, and how he does so (with many mentions of how law abiding and polite he is?).

Try this on

“I’m not a Black. I don’t wear an afro, I don’t sit in at lunch counters, I don’t smoke ganga, I don’t ask for affirmative action welfare. I wear a suit, go to work politely, speak standard English, attend a and I refuse to go where I’m not wanted. I am a good negro. The tide is turning, there are more and more people like me”

One can call that a mere self description, completely tolerant of all views one likes. I can call that reading BS though.

(and yes, I know the difference between cycling and race)

[Author]

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