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@moth
I recently joined the LCC, partly because of the protest rides they organised this summer, and donated extra towards their HGV campaign fund, but i'm feeling more and more they've been hijacked by a sanctimonious group who'd rather blame actual current cyclists for everything rather than address anyone with real power and authority. The back-slapping, out-group attacking, pack mentality of these self-appointed spokesmen for the unconscious hordes of potential future cyclists is increasingly sickening.
I'm not usually a fan of Boris, but he seems more focused on actually addressing the HGV problem here and now than the LCC. This stuff http://transportoperator.co.uk/2013/09/14/boris-and-dft-announce-hgv-crackdown-in-capita/ is good and should be engaged with and supported. Instead all we're hearing right now is this nebulous 'space for cycling' crap.
The kerb nerds will never win everyone over because cycling on real roads is just too much fun, and anyway, there is no fairy waiting for cycling to achieve sufficient ideological purity before she waves her magic wand and grants us dutch infrastructure.
More cycling would be good because of cost, climate, congestion, pollution, health and empowerment and the sheer joy of it. Cycling is growing partly just because its time has come again, but also because of all the things that nurture it like like training and awareness programs and filtered permeability and 20 zones and the cycle to work scheme and yes, off road routes for those who won't start riding on the roads and safer links across busy roads and so on. In turn those all rely to some extent on political support, which in turn relies on there being an actual growing constituency of people feeling the benefits of increasing cycling. The way to grow cycling is to grow cycling. Slagging off cycling instructors isn't part of that. Dividing the cycling community against itself isn't part of that. Grrr.