MP: 2-speed cycle lanes would get more women riding – and let them avoid “Lycra clad mad cyclists”

To be honest, it feels like someone had to meet the minimum word count for a press release and the padding gave them enough rope.

All this really needs to say is "Cycle paths would be better if there was plenty of room to overtake safely", and we'd all be nodding and saying yes, except it never would have made the press. As it is, instead of saying "ooh yes, wider lanes would be nice", the MP that suggested it is being called an idiot and folks are recommending she get slapped about a bit. Really? She cocked up a bit, but it's so obviously well-intentioned.

"Cyclists generally look after each other." - yup. The ones that call themselves cyclists and acknowledge other people on bikes as cyclists, anyway. The sort that join clubs & forums & communities.
Not so much the ones on a creaking third-hand Apollo they only bought because they're on a drink-driving ban, or the ones on carbon-everything that sneer at baggy shorts :p (and yes, I realise I'm indulging an element of hypocrisy in drawing those two examples!). Having wider lanes (not necessarily delineated for fast and slow) would allow one to pass the other with minimal fuss and muttering.

[[[[[ Look, I've had enough of this "Lycra-clod" nonsense. I shall now appear in brown corduroy trousers, a Greenspot Nomad touring jacket, flatcap and plimsoles, with a huge overstuffed bonk-bag on me back, and shall change my name to "Mr Pootler". Will all that confuse Meg Hillier, or make Meg Happier? I rarely pootle, but don't spend as long on the rivet as I used to....am I falling between two stools?

Jolly good show, old chap!

http://www.tweedrun.com/

It seems that there isn't a Tweed Run planned for some time, unless you apply to organise one. There's also one here in Manchester on 24th August, and it's a Bank Holiday weekend as well. Perhaps we'll see you there?

[[[[[ Argos74---ta very much. Yes, I've seen those Tweedrun riders, and they do look very nifty, but I'm not sure the look is for me....and I've not been back to Rusholme, Manchester since "pootling" on me little blue bike there, at the age of four. Lycra Lout? I was a Romper Lout!

stupid idea. just make cycle lanes wide enough to allow overtaking.
i also think this article is trying to take our attention away from the real danger which are lorries and cars, not other cyclists

I had a ride yesterday morning and thought it would be interesting to try to get to the next town along and back using as many cycle lanes and quiet roads as possible instead of the main roads that I usually use (it was a recovery ride so a slow pace was in order anyway). This is a bit off-topic but skip to 14 minutes for an example of the narrow-lane problem. I should add that only the section on the left is for cyclists going in both directions (the other part is for pedestrians)and I am positioned as far to the left of the lane as possible. Going by recent reports from London the bloke coming towards me is due a FPN for crossing the line

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT1qr78TdUw&feature=youtu.be

I put my critical head on when I added the notes to the vid. I'd advise against watching the whole thing (boring) but I'm not as much of a whinger as it might appear!

Well this MP is definitely an idiot. Not to mention sexist. Imagine asking for women only lanes on a motorway???

However it does raise the thorny old issue of cycle paths and their use. In my opinion cycle paths and lanes are for "pootling". By which I mean travelling. If you need to ride everywhere with your hair on fire then just slow down when you get slower riders in front of you, pass them safely when you can. You know a bit like what we tell motorists to do when they come across cyclists or other slower moving traffic. And how most people behave on a footpath when walking. And if you just can't get bring yourself down to the level of behaving like someone travelling normally rather than racing everywhere then get in the lane with the traffic.

I'd settle for a separate lane for people on bikes without mudguards.

I'm a woman.
I cycle to and from work every day, dropping my son off at and picking him up from out-of-school-hours / holiday club (he has ridden his own bike since he was 5). I did the same when I returned to work after maternity leave when he was 6 months old - walking to nursery, holding my bike in one hand and pushing him in his buggy or on his trike with the other hand (mtbs don't like child seats and a carriage was too large to store at nursery).
I have always, out of choice, worn lycra and trainers. They're more comfy, practical, safe and sensible than a blouse, skirt and heels. And if I really wanted to wear a skirt, all I'd need would be a penny and a rubber band. I usually pass work when I'm out and about doing the shopping in the car at the weekend, so drop off clean clothes for the coming week then. If I don't, I can always pop things in my tardis-like rucksack (which leaves a space between it and my back to help reduce sweating).
It takes me less than 10 minutes when I get into work in the morning to wash away any road muck, freshen up and get dressed for work.
I ride fast. I pass slower cyclists on their right, giving them plenty of wobble room, as I'd like the occasional even faster cyclist to do to me. Because I ride fast, I'm often further out in the lane anyway, like most fast cyclists. Riding assertively makes you more visible to other road users and enforces the fact that you have as much right to be there as they do.
I've been doing it for nigh on 20 years, enjoy it, and hope to still be doing it in another 20 years time.
So no problems at all whatsoever with room to cycle, clothing, childcare commitments, or 'muck sweat'. You crazy lady.

Here endeth today's sermon. Thank-you for listening.

Cyclists - one tribe!
Cyclists generally look after each other.
Race or pootle (warming down)... seize the road, or bike lane if you prefer (if it is fit for purpose).
Got to finish now before my sweaty, mucky, lycra-clad girlfriend gets home.

I think this is well-intentioned, but just didn't come across very well and/or was lost in translation. I believe there are a good many more people who would cycle to work if it were a little more 'normalised'.

Right now we're in the foothills of cycling becoming a mainstream transport option as it is in the continental countries we aspire to - I think a lot of people still see it as a minority niche interest which needs 'special equipment' and 'expertise' & there's definitely a very visible hard-core of committed commuters (especially in London) who are indistinguishable from cycle couriers to a passing civilian & could be seen as off-putting to a potential new starter.

I don't see it as any different from the gulf between full-on motorcyclists in race leathers, boots and black visors and the regular folks you see on scooters in office clothes (with an open face helmet).

Still, by definition the crowd here are enthusiasts! Like the Velominati - "we are cyclists, the rest merely ride bicycles"!

It's both irritating and frightning that supposedly well educted people in charge of policy making can come out with such utter nonesense on a regular basis..

Rather than a slightly awkward 'two-tier', multi-laned approach to the contruction of urban cycling infrastructure, perhaps it would be better to consider a 'green wave' style traffic light system. Such a system enables a commuting cyclist to get a green light at traffic lights every time, provided that they cycle at the 'goldilocks' speed of 20kph. The theory is that this has the positive effect of slowing down the fastest riders and speeding up the dawdlers, so that overall everyone gets to their destination smoothly and efficiently (and quite possibly more quickly too!). Plus, it incentivises bike use over motorised traffic.

Search for 'green wave' on youtube or Google to see what I mean.

Just another example of how British politicians or town planners have yet to realise that there are a number of workable solutions already in place just across the North Sea/Channel...

I'm a woman, and I often to commute to work by bike. I'm not your typical road cyclist - for a start, I ride a mountain bike (been pondering getting a road bike though), so that, combined with not wanting to get too sweaty means I normally do about 10mph on the flat.

Lycra clad cyclists don't concern me. You know what concerns me? Cars that try to overtake where there's no space. Cars that try to overtake me and turn left at mini-islands, even though I've taken primary position and I'm going straight on. Drivers swerving around erratically whilst they hold a phone under their chin. Bike thieves. Cycle lanes filled with broken glass.

I'm thinking she might be looking in the wrong direction as to why more women (and people in general) don't cycle.

How about placing a 12/15mph speed limit on the bike lanes, and anyone riding faster (including me mostly) being asked to ride in traffic lanes?
To add to it, reduce speed limit on all non trunk roads to 20mph for everyone.
And enforce it.

As soon as anyone, be they pro- or anti- cycling, pulls out the "lycra-clad" moniker, I switch off.

It's the same mentality that thinks "look how she's dressed, she is asking for it".

The comments aren't completely idiotic, but Meg Hillier is jumping a step. First, give us safe cycle lanes; then, we can worry about whether they are wide enough to allow comfortable overtaking.

(By the way, I suspect her comments are London-specific).

"I want the fantasy, imaginary facilities that are not going to be built to be a much higher standard of fantasy, imaginary facility than the ones we currently fantasise about" is basically what she is saying.

And the higher standard she is imagining is based on how cars drive on main roads.

This isn't helping.

On the other hand, she almost, nearly understands that cycle facilities should be built so that everyone (ie including women, because they are part of everyone) should be able to ride without resorting to "special bicycle gear" (which she characterises as louts' lycra). Sadly she then proposes an alternative style of "special bicycle gear" designed specifically for women, instead of pushing for road layouts where ordinary clothes get worn for the simple reason that ordinary people can ride ordinary bikes to ordinary places.

People may scoff at MPs like this idiot Hillier and their daft student union level identity politics but there should certainly be seperate lanes for MTBers so roadies don't get left over mud on their bikes, and then you have to keep the Cycling Weekly brigade away from the Rouleur crew or things are sure to kick off big time, and nobody would seriously suggest it was a good idea for Froome and Wiggins fans to even be on the same side of town as each other never mind the same lane of a bike route. I hope all the Lib Dems will sign a pledge to adopt this policy so we know they really mean it...

The comments are worth discussion and I'm sure there is a section of the populous that they apply to but there is a bit of generalisation here. I am frequently passed on the cycle lane on the way to work by a women who is doing 25+ to my 20+.

And what is "muck sweat"?

"Ms Hillier said: “One of the big things is… that women don’t want the “muck sweat” of cycling. "

just go over to the Netherlands to see how it SHOULD be done...

I often pootle behind a lycra clad lady

Come on I love a good pootle as much as the next lycra lout but isolating cyclists in groups is wrong with the exception of chavs on BSO's.

So women don't wear lycra or ride quickly.
Modern offices don't have gyms or showers.

And of course I've never seen a woman travel to work either by cycle or public transport in business suit and trainers, and I've never seen that woman on arrival at work take out of her hand-bag a trainer bag and a pair of court shoes. Of course I haven't, women aren't that bright. They should stay at home and raise children shouldn't they and not worry their pretty little heads about complex things like bicycles. After all doesn't strenuous exercise damage a woman's fertility.

I hope that every woman in the country is lining up in an orderly queue to slap this idiot.

It's not derogatory as you can see from a bit of context: "those that want to pootle along at a normal pace ". Pootle - normal.

I agree modifying her suggestion to mean cycle routes wide enough to allow safe overtaking makes it more realistic.

Regarding categorising types of cyclist, it's very important. Different categories have different sets of barriers. If you concentrate on a few barriers that are common to many people you leave all categories with some barriers. If you concentrate on one category and get rid of all the barriers for people in that category you may increase cycling in that category even if other categories don't increase. Read Lynn Sloman's book Car Sick, she talks about plenty of successful projects and how they achieved their success.