Bike rage
Perhaps it’s because it is Bike to Work day today in San Francisco, but there seems to have been a lot of controversy stirred up on the web this week by the gentle art of cycling.
First, there was the ridiculous assertion that cycling is less efficient in terms of energy consumption than driving, as if we — in developed countries — need to consume any extra food to fuel our cycle rides or as if drivers fast to compensate for the energy not used when driving their cars. I could go on…
And then a post by jwz, offering his own advice for people wanting to start cycling in San Francisco, attracted an enormous pile of enraged comments, many from other cyclists upset by his recommendation to “Never take bike advice from anyone who owns bike shorts, clip shoes, a messenger bag, or a fixie.” I don’t necessarily agree with all his advice either (though he did make it clear that it was specific to the cycling situation in San Francisco), but I wouldn’t get upset about it. People cycle for all kinds of different reasons, and have their own preferences, requirements and constraints. There really is more than one way to do it.
I suppose that I don’t understand why cycling inspires such ire in people. If you’re not being harassed by drivers (or anyone else who seems to take it as a personal rebuke that you are using a eco-friendly mode of transportation), or or pedestrians, or being taunted by gangs of school children, or having your tyres shredded by the glassy remains of outdoor binge-drinking sessions that seem a permanent fixture next to every park bench in Birmingham, other cyclists also seem to want to join in.
Of course, some cyclists act like idiots, just like some drivers and some pedestrians, but does that have to mean that the rest of us who just want to potter quietly to work have to take the rap? In that context, watching this video of a school run in the Netherlands (via Velorution) made me want to cry — it’s like glimpsing Utopia. All those comfortable, sensible, load-bearing bikes! The broad, glass-free, well-maintained cycle paths! The people cycling calmly along in their ordinary clothes, and not wearing helmets! The hordes of children cycling with their parents! Sigh.
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There is a lot of anti cyclist feeling about. A comedian can always get a cheap laugh if he has a go at cyclists who jump lights or ignore one way signs, and you quite often hear it argued that cyclists should have no right to be on the roads anyway, since they pay no road tax on their vehicles.
Why those travelling in the comfort warmth and protection of their steel boxes should feel this about others who are prepared to reduce the number of other boxes cluttering up the road, by adopting a more scary and very vulnerable method of travel baffles me. People are strange.
by ThoughtBadger @ 15/05/2008 10:04 pm • Permalink •
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About 25-30 years ago, a university biophysics group (as I recall) investigated the caloric consumption for a variety of means of animal locomotion: humans, horses, dogs, cats, and rats running; several kinds of fish swimming; cars driving; planes flying; etc. Of all the means they studied, the one that used the fewest calories per unit of weight moved over a given distance was a human on a bicycle.
by Dave_A @ 17/05/2008 12:44 pm • Permalink •
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Not that I´m the kind of guy who´d throw gasoline (petrol) on a fire just for fun or anything (perish the thought!)... But, in todays Dagens Nyheter (newspaper) the chief of Stockholms trafic police was quoted as saying (rough translation) "If car drivers should suddenly start driving like byciclists do, I wouldn`t dare go outside my door. At least not without being in a tank." Not wanting to pour salt in open wounds or anything...
by j.c. @ 18/05/2008 4:17 pm • Permalink •
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I have found Cyclists to be very arrogant and often offensive. Twice as a pedestrian I have been almost knocked down by cyclists who feel it fine to ride through red lights on the roads, regardless of pedestrians walking across the road. When driving cyclists seem to think they can cut across you or simply ignore all road rules. Nope, don't liek cyclists.
by Neil Murphy @ 19/05/2008 5:25 pm • Permalink •
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It always amuses me that a certain percentage of cyclists just seem to act like BMW-drivers without the cars. (As Neil Murphy says above)
Cutting across in front of other road users? Check. Failing to use any signalling method? Check. Ignoring lights/roundabouts/crossings/other road users? Check. Assuming their own right of way in all conditions? Check.
So yep - Cyclists = BMW owners without the BMW.
If you think of them in those terms, it all becomes a lot more understandable- even the despisal of them by all other road users.
Afterthough : Is despisal a word?
by Lyle @ 20/05/2008 1:56 pm • Permalink •
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That's 'afterthought', obviously.
by Lyle @ 20/05/2008 1:56 pm • Permalink •
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ThoughtBadger: I agree, even though I drive as well as cycle (and walk).
Dave_A: Despite the fact that bike design hasn't really changed fundamentally for a hundred years or so, it is a remarkably efficient machine.
j.c.: I don't know about Sweden, but my problem with that statement is that (some) drivers already drive like (some) cyclists do, and that's why cyclists get killed.
Neil Murphy and Lyle: You see, you both did the sweeping generalisation thing. You don't like all cyclists because some cyclists act like idiots. But do you feel the same about all drivers (because some drivers act like idiots)? Lyle, I know that you started your comment with "a certain percentage of cyclists", but your equation at the end was more telling
by bsag @ 21/05/2008 6:29 pm • Permalink •
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Having been a cyclist myself, I definitely don't hold all cyclists in contempt.
Just the ones who hold every other road user in contempt, and think that the world should make way for them, and that the Highway Code may apply to everyone else, but not to them. (The fact that in Cambridge this does equate to 'all cyclists' is neither here nor there)
by Lyle @ 22/05/2008 10:01 am • Permalink •
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Like bsag, I drive as well as cycle, and if you cycle particularly in crowded city streets, you have to have a certain amount of self confidence, perhaps even chutzpah, as there is a small but significant minority of motorists, who think nothing of overtaking you at speed so close that you wobble in their slipstream, cut you up or force you off the road, in the belief that you can stop dead on a sixpence, or are travelling at 0 mph, and in general behave as though you are not there. You can often feel that when not actively disliked, that you are viewed with a mixture of derision and contempt as some kind of dorkish freak. I would note also that in France, where cycling is part of the culture, drivers are much more considerate, and indeed respectful of cyclists.
So I understand if this chutzpah can occasionally spill over into outright arrogance, particularly as for a cyclist the stakes are somewhat higher in the event of an accident. When I am cycling I have to work quite hard at not hating all car drivers, so it cuts both ways Neil and Lyle.
by ThoughtBadger @ 23/05/2008 1:52 am • Permalink •
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