trailgumby wrote:Where I'm coming from f&o is that there is clearly a particularly virulent strain of prejudice against lycra-clad sports cyclists in some quarters.
Mate, I'll cop that when there's a family bbq on!
One SIL is extremely vocal when it comes to cyclists on the road. I just don't engage the subject.....bad things will happen.
I have not said anything to the contrary, at all. I've been in furious agreement throughout this phase of the thread on the subject of lycra bashing. Go back and look....show me anything that suggests otherwise?
human909 wrote: I didn't say anything about a personal attack.
No matter how many times it is said though people continue to take such comments and observations as personal attacks on the way they choose to ride.
??? Your words, not mine. Look, as I said; I didn't take it that way, so I don't care.
Like trailgumby has said there the prejudice is stronger " lycra-clad sports cyclists". Or in my words there is more hate towards 40 year old MAMILs than there is towards 10 year old children riding to school.
I wouldn't think that is a controversial statement.
Again, as above. Nor is it controversial. It does not reflect on the point I've been making, however. Does it?
But it is pretty clear even by your responses that you are defensive about this
Au contraire, I have nothing to be defensive about. Why would I? I am simply and constantly correcting your (and others) misunderstandings of my assertion.
I'm not sure why that is....maybe I'm not making sense?
I believe that if the same roads that the sports cyclists use....let's take Beach Rd and The Dandenongs as an example.....were populated by the same volume of utility cyclists dressed in an acceptable, Joe Public manner going about their business in an orderly fashion the haters would decrease by a negligible amount. The issues would remain the same; in fact if you were to start having Mary take Sally to Kindergarten on her Byke down the 1 in 20 they'd be worse. There'd be howls of child endangerment. They are not where they belong in the eyes of the majority of motorists.
Every single hate site that I have seen posts up videos and pictures of the Holland experience as an example of "Good" cyclists. Why? Because they in their place....off road, in cycle lanes and on back streets. Every one of them. Every hate site rails against cyclists on the road, not using the cycle lane, or just being there. Every one of them.
The vast majority of Advocacy sites perpetuate this sham that we belong on the paths and in our place on the road as well, further feeding the prevailing POV.
Normal clothes and helmet free heads isn't going to turn Sydney into Amsterdam and it isn't going to suddenly make joe public love cycling. However steps towards normalisation of cycling are small and every step makes a small difference.
Not outside of the parameters I've set. I will believe it when I see it.
Perhaps the issue here is that others are being defensive of their own position which leads them to not only not acknowledge my assertion but to pretend it doesn't exist?