The Guardian's bike blog

just more endless bollocks words, media, press, 2015
endless bollocks words mean that blighty dosent need to change the actual culture of what people do, analyse, analyse, analylse, dont just get on your bike for local journeys
invariably sit in queues
they love it
leave em to it

I'm still not entirely sure if this article is serious http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/nov/09/cyclists-urban-bikes-kamikaze-safety-pedestrians

I'd have thought this should maybe have been the focus

Even though the last motorist she swore at pursued her on to a pavement and tried to squash her.

Rather than

Olivia, Rosemary, the dog and I have nearly been sliced through as we stepped out of our front doors in the gloom, by killer cyclists in dark clothes on dark bikes, with no lights, who can’t be bothered to ring a bell. I am in a cold sweat on every drive, with them winging up in my blind spot, doing wheelies or hands-free swirls, coming at me from all sides.

That's an impressive set of skills for these killer cyclists. How do I join up?

I'm doing hands-free swirls right now.

She can fuck off. What a twat.

Is she the one who was trying to justify middle lane driving on the motorway as some kind of right, or am I mixing her up with someone else?

That was Johnny Sharp. Hanson's the Guardian's tame Old Woman and mostly moans about just about everything and then moans more that it's especially bad for old people. Quite often she veers into the territory of it's even more especially bad if you're an old woman.

I've no issue with advocating for older people, I'm fast becoming one myself. However, just endlessly moaning about everything is pathetic. We need more of Dame Bakewell and less of this sorry nonsense.

If I was Angela Epstein (shudder) I'd be looking to sue for plagiarism, or something.

Comments on guardians articles are pure comedy.

They're the middle class, white cycling elite. What did you expect!? Wait till in/out eu referendum time...

She's a cunt. Not even a good cunt, at that.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2016/apr/12/no-more-hippies-and-explorers-lament-for-the-changed-world-of-cycling

tl;dr roadies suck.

Or apparently anyone who isn't that guy sucks. 'Why's everyone doing strava? Why aren't they going on adventures? And why aren't they wearing jeans? And why are they going cycle touring in Cambodia?'

All of my wut.

tl;dr modern roadies suck.

Ftfy as I'd interpreted it.

Or people have finally realised that it's not actually that hard/amazing for the average person to ride 100+ miles in a day.

This sounds like a reactionary rant, and that’s because it is. I should be able to just let these people get on with it and live and let live

He should have stopped here.

I think he's got a point. He's not saying roadies suck, or even that modern roadies suck. He's saying that conformity is boring and that macho combativity fuelled by rampant adoration of pro cycling - which too often pervades modern cycling - is pernicious. He's right about that.

However, I also agree to a point with this rebuttal, which argues that it takes the more experienced to show the less experienced the right way:
http://www.the-hard-road.com/read-1/2016/4/12/in-response-to-tom-marriages-piece-in-the-guardian

this rebuttal

Was ok until he mentioned "the rules".

I still don't get it (well, I do, but not really) - why should he let it bother him if other people are being macho, combative or rampantly adoring pro cycling? There are so many inspirational things still happening in cycling, many of which highlighted via this forum - TCR, TransAm, ludicrous tours, ludicrous bikes, Steve Abraham etc... focus on what inspires you and ignore things that don't interest you. It just sounds like the standard exclusive/nostalgic 'clubs were better when I was young' / 'India was better before people started going' / 'football was better when you could kick people etc...

I think Jay-Z puts it best - "What you eat don't make me shit"

Ha, my exact thought! Kind of suggests he is part of the problem but the rest made sense.

Succinct Jay-Z is succinct...

He does address that himself in the article, perhaps not well enough but at least he's self aware enough to do that. I agree though, the world of cycling is clearly richer and more diverse than it ever has been and that's good.

Has there been a cultural shift though? I suspect there has.

The article reeks of 'I was into cycling before it was cool'. Also, this.

"Also the last time I went out cycling and got baked I pretty much forgot how to ride my bike. It was a fixie too, so there were only two actual options, pedal and move or don't pedal and stop. The A1000 wasn't the place to be having this kind of crisis."

Enjoyed that bit in particular.

An excellent article with many a well made point. I suggest you all read it again.

Unfortunately, the other side of cycling seems to have been ruined. Ten years ago I would have been proud to describe myself as a cyclist, still a slightly odd, marginal thing to do.

It was a world of peculiar achievement, of anoraks and curly cheese sandwiches eaten on forgotten B-road laybys. It was a world of Sheldon Brown, and tales of Sustrans cycle paths.

The author of that piece needs to take these off.

I like that blog post, nailed it.