cycling culture – FIT IS A FEMINIST ISSUE

I went back to Sam’s Thursday post in the third week of April 2015 (11 years ago): The rules of cycling rewritten. It was composed of three linked posts and Phil Gaimon’s 3-minute video, New Rules of Cycling.

Sam’s two linked posts describe observations about some negative aspects of cycling she was seeing at the time, focusing on machismo and fussiness.

I found through the Wayback Machine the youth sport UK’s 27 rules for young cyclists, which emphasize respect, consctientiousness, and reality checks during training and races. The rules advise young cyclists to reject egotism and meanspiritesness and embrace competition while still seeing the bigger picture.

Finally, conplete with a makeshift outdoor office, a Cookie Monster mug, and his bike behind him, Gaimon shares general etiquette cycling rules that reject elitism and encourage safety and inclusion. And waving, as Sam notes in her OP.

If I had to boil it all down, the “new” cycling rules in 2015 were to Be Kind To Others and Be Kind To Yourself.

I think Sam’s post from eleven years ago is evergreen, not throwback. As a curious but hesitant road and gravel cyclist, I might not have even joined the sport of cycling a few years ago if I’d have known how gate-keepy it could be. I’m grateful for these posts because the culture of any sport is learned behaviour. As a novice, I only benefit from more seasoned riders who model and encourage unlearning the “old” rules that would have excluded me. Marc and Fred at the LCC lead in this way.

Longtime FIFI cyclists: have the “new rules” from over a decade ago become just “the rules” today? What’s changed, and what’s still the same in your cycling world?

I’ve long been an advocate for cycling infrastructure. Bike lanes, give us bike lanes. And bike boxes at intersections. And cycle paths that connect towns that don’t follow the road, that meander through fields and forests instead. I’ve thought “build it and they will come.” I’ve thought that women are key to cycling safety and that we care a lot about safety. Guess I still think all that.

But it was interesting this week in Northern England, Yorkshire to be precise, home of the Tour de France start for 2014, to see attitude overcome a lack of infrastructure. There are no bike lanes and very narrow roads, twisty and winding over hill and around dale. And not just no bike lane, no shoulder, paved or unpaved. And yet, and yet, lots of bikes.

In Sheffield this Sunday morning I watched loads of road cyclists out to play, some singly, others in large groups. There was no room for cars to pass and they seemed to wait patiently behind them. I’ve got two thoughts about how cycling culture thrives despite these roads.

First, the roads and their challenges (sheep crossing, anyone? ) mean that no one expects to go fast. Even without bikes traffic moves slowly on the back roads here. That’s different from North America where even in the city traffic can move very quickly.

Second, there seems to be more appreciation here in England for the sport of cycling. Lots of people are keen about the Tour de France start in Yorkshire.

So maybe a good attitude can overcome a lack infrastructure if the other conditions are right.

I’m still thinking about this.

Now 47 days to go!