Something happened today.

It’s happened before & will likely happen again.

Some snot faced arse on a bike sneered at me riding an upright Dutch bike!!

I know right, what a cheeky sod!.

I was minding my own business, riding to work on the cycle path (I know, I hate them but we’ll come to that later …)
Sat on my bike waiting to cross the road, when along came this woman on a bike, looked me up & down & gave me this look that said “what the hell is that you’re riding”. Well if I’d been on a faster bike I’d have raced past her slow moving ass & pulled her off the bloody thing (joking).

It struck me that there is an awful lot of snobbery when it comes to bike riding. I see it in real life, I see it on my twitter timeline, I hear it in conversations.
The Lycra roadies whine about the MTB’ers, the MTB’ers whine about the Dutch pootlers, the cool fixie riders whine about the cheapo Halfords bike riders.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?!

Why do people have to be so frigging nasty to each other?

Let’s look at my riding.
I have 2 bikes of my own, a £1000 Specialized road bike & a £200 fixie that I’m customising myself.
I’m also involved in a bike hire scheme where a variety of Dutch & tourers reside at my house.
It’s fair to say I can have my pick of which bike I want to ride.

I used to always ride my road bike, on the commute, long distances, triathlon training. I love that bike, it’s ace but sometimes it’s so boring!

It’s nice to be able to try something new – I’ve really got into riding the fixie, it’s so much fun, no daft spd shoes to clip in & out of, no complicated gear systems to mess up, just get on & away you go.

It’s a bit broke at the moment though so this week, I’ve borrowed one of the hire bikes. SHIT ME IT’S COMFY!
It’s a sit up & beg so I can look around at the scenery when riding.
It’s got a simple grip shift gear system & a bloody chain guard! That means I can just hop on in my work clothes, chuck my handbag in the basket & trot along to work.

Things are very different on this bike, pedestrians smile & say good morning – motorists give you a wide berth & actually stop to let you cross the road!

Other cyclists frown

Being so lucky to have access to a number of different types of bike is great & it let’s me try different riding styles according to my mood.

I don’t give a flying fart WHAT kind of bike people ride. Whether it be a £3000 MTB, a recycled steel wreck, a £100 Tesco special (other supermarkets are available) or a super slim aerodynamic, carbon fibre road bike.

I care even less what you wear on a bike – Lycra, work civvies, jeans, baggy padded shorts, jackets with a thousand pockets, converse or road bike shoes.

What I DO care about is people getting out on 2 wheels & ENJOYING themselves!
We need to start uniting & embracing the fact that we are one less car on the road.

So do me a favour – next time you’re on your bike, throw a smile at fellow cyclists, say hello as you pass each other, acknowledge that we’re all as good as each other.
Most importantly, pull your heads out of your arses & stop being so snobby!