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news
2023 Tour de France stage one Bilbao (Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)Cycle campaign group says cycling needs to be for everyone, not just Tour de France peloton
As a peloton of the world's strongest and fastest 180 cyclists race stage two of the world's biggest bike race, millions more around the globe will similarly take to their bikes today. And while a tiny fraction of that number will ride as far at as great speeds as the pros, nor will many wear fancy kit aboard carbon race bikes worth thousands, cycling as a sport is unique in that people from quite literally every corner of the globe also enjoy and rely on the humble bicycle to get around.
It's a fact demonstrated by the breadth of topics covered on this website, cycling is so much more than just the sport, and at its heart is and always will be a mode of transport that became a leisure activity and something to be competed at. For 99.9 per cent (you can add as many nines to that as you wish) of people who ride a bicycle, it will never be about wearing a yellow jersey although, of course, the transformative effect of cycling for transport, leisure or fitness can still be enormous without pinning on a race number.
Penning a piece for Oxford-based cycling campaign Cyclox, Andy Chivers, a trustee of the group asked the question: 'Does elite cycling get people onto their bikes?' and suggested "we need to get a different message across – that cycling is not the preserve of the super fit but is for (almost) everyone".
Recalling seeing the Women's Tour visit Oxford last year, Chivers was quick to point out the view is not a dig at pro cycling, "It is impossible not to admire the strength and stamina of those riders," he wrote.
[Zac Williams/SWpix.com]
However, the point is, "does cycle racing encourage ordinary people to get on their bikes?"
"Maybe not," he suggested. "Seeing elite cyclists in gruelling events may reinforce the belief that cycling is for other people – mainly fit young men in Lycra, on bikes that weigh nothing and cost the earth. Cycle racing must seem to most of us a world apart from riding your bike around the city.
"Somehow, we need to get a different message across – that cycling is not the preserve of the super fit but is for (almost) everyone. It can be done slowly, at your leisure, and you don't need to be particularly fit to ride for several miles."
It is a point we heard earlier in the year from BBC and Channel 5 presenter, and London cycle commuter Jeremy Vine, who called for the media portrayal of cyclists to move away from Lycra and race bikes.
"[It's] guaranteed to make 99 per cent of people think 'that looks like a professional," Vine suggested about a news story reporting the health benefits of cycling illustrated with a picture of a 'sport cyclist' in Lycra, wearing a helmet, almost certainly riding a bike costing multiple thousands. "Hey, cycle in anything you like and get just a fit as helmet guy," Vine said.
Leicestershire Loves Cycling, a campaign group promoting cycling in the East Midlands county, added: "Those images entrench attitudes around 'cyclists'. We will never get the cultural change we need to see unless people understand from pictures that cycling is for children, women, the elderly, the disabled. It's not just for those who are on racing bikes and sporty. That's niche."
Cyclox's Chivers continued: "Cycling has the potential to become ingrained in our way of life. It offers more than just sport. It can get us to work or school, help us shop and visit friends. Cyclox aims to make it easier for everyone to get on a bike and ride safely in and around Oxford, so we are interested in what encourages people to take up cycling.
"Seeing ordinary people happily riding bikes around the neighbourhood makes it seem possible for others to try it. Example and word of mouth is the best advert."
Promoting some of the campaign's work, notably the women-only JoyRiders initiative, the trustee explained, "It not only shows that bikes are for women as much as for men, it also helps new cyclists choose routes that feels safe and pleasant."
"And here is a conundrum," he wrote. "Most people driving cars are on main roads. They don't see the happy cycle rider on the quiet cycle path nearby, but do see the cyclists who are battling with traffic on the main road. Their impression is inevitably blinkered by the route they take. They are unaware of the lovely quiet alternatives that exist.
"The elite Tour de France cyclists are probably not the best ambassadors for cycling. Those of us riding bikes around the city take on that role. By example we may encourage others to think riding a bike is possible for them. We need to remember this as we ride and think how we can offer a positive image of cycling: smile, be considerate of others, ride confidently and take the lane when you need to, wear normal clothes.
"And imagine that each ride you go on might convince a car driver to become a bike rider. Now that's something to smile about."
Check out the full piece and Cyclox's work over on their website, here.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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24 comments
A great public alternative to a road race is the Annual Melburn Roobaix event in Melbourne Australia.
https://theclimbingcyclist.com/a-day-in-double-denim-at-the-2023-melburn...
Perhaps we could try the Swiss SlowUp model. If your French/German/Google is up to it, have a look. Closed roads and fun for all the family...
https://www.slowup.ch/national/fr.html
I like to think in the near-future, when active travel and public transport make the majority of journeys, people will complain about Nomex clad F1 wannabes.
I've heard the same argument against charity rides and other bike challenges - it makes cycling sound like a major physical challenge over long distances, rather than a quick and easy way of getting around the neighbourhood
Why though? When I watch the London Marathon or hear about my mates doing 30 mile fell walks I don't think well, there's no way I'm walking down to the shops, that's for certain.
I think it mostly depends on the individual... years ago I had really wanted to get into cycling or any form of exercise for ages, for health reasons (overweight, type 2 diabetes, sedentary job, etc usual story) and it was spending a couple of weeks a year over several years going around Europe with a bunch of work colleagues, driving the van with all the gear and playing at DS & soigneur while they rode across France & Italy, that helped convince me that if these mere mortals at work could ride the same(ish) bikes on the same roads as the pros, then maybe it wasn't as hard as it looked. Got a hybrid, did the first few months apprenticeship on that to lose some weight, before getting a road bike. Just 9 months after that, I did my first 100 mile sportive. Unfortunately, I was looking for flat sportives with low elevation, managed to find one, but I'd naively already paid up and booked the Eurotunnel before finding out that the event I'd entered was described by Sean Kelly as "hard" and by Bernard Hinault as "bullshit", yes I'd been cycling properly for less than a year and I was on my way to Paris-Roubaix. Undeterred, I carried on in the subsequent years since, and for me it's always been about challenging myself to go further & faster. Not for everyone, but it's keeping me fit in mind and body and I love it.
I have tried to encourage other people at my work to cycle, with almost no success. I don't understand why more people don't. It feels like most people dismiss it without giving it any thought. When the Cycle2Work scheme was started there a few months ago, I thought some people would ask me about cycling. Not a single query. It is baffling.
Now flipping to the other side - if one of my kids said they wanted to cycle to work/school I don't think I would be happy. I know I would live in constant fear of receiving "that" phonecall.
I know at some point a drivist is going to hit me, either through negligence or anger. For me - this is what stops people cycling more.
Nothing stopping lots of people taking up running (maybe even to work) but most don't...
I also "didn't get it" for time but I think I do now. People are smart, they figure out what's pleasurable, convenient for them and enhances their social status. They're also smart in knowing that being too different won't serve them socially. Any alternative also has to do *better* (at least for some trips) than what they already practice (car for majority).
Cycling doesn't "work" here for most. It's pleasurable but not for many journeys for most (cars, longer distances, weather, socially unsafe spaces, dodgy parking). It can be convenient but not for most in UK. It's not social - you're even expected to go single file unlike ANY other way of getting around except motorbike - unless your friends are also cyclists (not many).
Me too but most people cycle until they pass their test or save enough for a car. Some of my colleagues even live on the housing estate next door and if I unlocked my bike and got my kit on before clocking out I could be on the estate before they've even left the car park but they still can't understand the benefits of cycling, even in the summer.
Personal experience it can take a fundamental change elsewhere.
I had tried cycling one stop down the train line to save a bit of money and gave up. There's a couple of hills and it just wasn't worth it, I was that unfit and it was easier to just go back to paying more and forget it.
Then in 2019 Southeastern changed the timetable and there were less trains at my stop. So this time I tried again and stuck at it. The first time I was a mess after just cycling the two miles. That September I did the London to Brighton, and now I'm cycling more of the commute.
That said as with your kids, I'm reluctant to suggest anyone else in the family cycles.
They also know how they "sometimes" pass and generally treat cyclists and they definitely don't want that happening to them.
They do have a point.
Cycling is seen as elitist, rather than for everyone regardless of age, fitness, or income. It is unfortunately considered the choice of relatively high income white males, or low wage esarners. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground.
And another thing - have you ever wondered why Strictly Come Dancing is still on TV? Another plot from the hard left that's why
And another thing - this sizable minority of cyclists are all loony lefties you know, altercating here there and everywhere they are. You can always tell who they are with their uncouth ways, blah, blah and once more, blah.
Over and out.
I
Glitch in the matrix Nige?
I get confused sometimes, I don't know who I am anymore
You've only got yourself to blame... but there are others here to help.
A bike ride is good for your mood and your memory.
I can't remember where I left my bike. I know it's somewhere in Essex.
I hope it comes back to you. It's a terrible feeling when they abandon you. One of mine did - I left it locked in the bike shed last year and it ran off somewhere for 6 months ... but finally turned up at a LBS.
Maybe ask ktache... I think he saw it once in someone's shed.
Was it parked up on a particularly leafy lane?
You're confused? I've only just this minute realised the 'm' is not an 'n' 🤣
Sorry but what is the point of all this waffling? If you want to get more people to cycle then make infrastructure better and safer and penalise drivers more. Until you do that you won't get loads of people cycling.
Agreed. Banging on about the Tour de France is irrelevant.
I think it does have a limited effect, perhaps somewhat masked by the fact that with the improved weather that typically occurs about the start of July. Much as Wimbledon does increase people giving tennis a go, try getting a tennis court in the middle of the tournament.