[Closed] Are you a ‘cyclist‘?

The point is like it or not you're probably defined as a cyclist by others

Locally I'm known as John The Bike.
I'm hoping they know about the cycles. I haven't had a car for 18 years and there is no bus service through the village so not a lot of choice really. And offroad riding, even round here, is a delight.

The point is like it or not you’re probably defined as a cyclist by others

Probably. Unless you cycle in The Netherlands or some other country that has ‘(re)accepted’ the bicycle as a ‘normal’ mode of transport and ‘cycling‘ simply as ‘something that people do’. Like shopping, or walking, driving, or catching a train etc.

ie the label is not applied/defined equally and sometimes not at all (depending upon where you happen to be riding a bike)

But for some reason in mainly English-speaking countries (?) it’s a label that carries derision/hate at worst, mockery in the middle and degrees of snobbery at best (I refer to BillMC’s comment/internecine interactions )

I am definitely a cyclist, from the intro of that vid - I geek out totally on bike stuff, I race (well I did pre covid), I go out for bike rides. I also happen to use my bikes to get about and explore and stuff - things anyone can do with or without lycra, unsightly paunches, and oodles of carbon.
I really want to try and make the transport part more normal though - getting on a bike in whatever you're wearing to get wherever you want to go. To that end, the bike shop I'm opening up (whenever the council will give me my keys to the unit I'm trying to lease) is going to attempt to market bikes for getting about on. I know I'll sell a number of MTBs and gravel bikes to people like me, but I really want to broaden the appeal. I'll be selling ebikes, urban bikes etc. alongside all the rest, and I really will be pushing the marketing - of course to make a living (I'm not selling BSO's!), but also because it will make a positive difference to the area I live in if more people choose to ride about.
I've never had the sort of reaction the OP gets - my dad still rides his bike, as does everyone on his side of the family, my mum doesn't (lack of confidence and eyesight problems) apart from the odd spin on a tandem, but did first take to 2 wheels against the wishes of her father (sexist reasons) back in the 50s/60s 🙂

But for some reason in mainly English-speaking countries (?) it’s a label that carries derision/hate at worst, mockery in the middle and degrees of snobbery at best

That's one of the core things the video talks about.

Given what we have learned about what a lot of ‘normal’ people think about Brexit & Covid etc recently, their views on cyclists a: isn’t surprising & b: doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

I’ve never had the sort of reaction the OP gets – my dad still rides his bike, as does everyone on his side of the family, my mum doesn’t (lack of confidence and eyesight problems)

Yes, normalisation in the family. For my part growing up in the West Mids in the 1970s/80s the only adults you’d ever see on a bicycle were either on the piss or had lost their driving license or both.

I began cycling as a child for fun/getting around/exploring places, and it just carried on into working life as I enjoyed it (and didn’t have much interest in driving) I remember the looks as I’d filter alongside mile-long morning motor-vehicle queues in Dudley, Birmingham, Wolverhampton. I don’t ever remember seeing another cyclist. There must have been one or two but I don’t remember them. Even nowadays at the local supermarket there are hundreds of local cars parked yet only one or two bicycles at most.

Dad had a Raleigh Wayfarer in the garage until a few years ago. Don’t think that I ever saw him ride it once in all my life! I always wondered why he had it. Mum thinks riding a bike is a risky, childish and most of all embarrassing business. She never learned to ride one. Siblings have bikes but they are strictly ‘keep-fit’ fixtures and as such remain in storage gathering dust.

I do remember meeting a girl when in my early twenties (friend’s GF) and she was known locally as a ‘cyclist’. This was the first ‘cyclist’ I’d ever met. Turned out she was in a track cycling club. It was so novel, we thought of her as a bit weird, possibly ‘tomboyish’. Definitely an odd one simply on account of ‘cyclist’ yet adding ‘female’ into the mix was a double-take. The fact I rode my bike everywhere (and was a bike-geek) it never occurred to me or my peers that I was a ‘cyclist’. The term was (in my neck of the woods) reserved for competitive road/track events.

Even when I got into MTBs (in the 90s) my MTBing mates never rode a bike (or different type of bike) elsewhere, just MTBs for MTBing. By the late 90s they’d be putting their bikes in vans and cars and driving them to other places to ride. Bikes were seen as big boys toys, first and foremost.

When I get the "You all go through red lights" comments I tend to respond with "You all throw MaccyD wrappers and cans out of your car windows'. And when they say that they don't I point out that I don't go through red lights either.
Then if they continue to go on about stuff cyclists all do I start a discussion about how serial killers and paedos usually have driving licenses.
Doesn't usually go well.

I really want to try and make the transport part more normal though – getting on a bike in whatever you’re wearing to get wherever you want to go. To that end, the bike shop I’m opening up (whenever the council will give me my keys to the unit I’m trying to lease) is going to attempt to market bikes for getting about on.

I can't help feeling that the council's need to make cycling easier.
Really the main reason I when don't is locking the bike somewhere.
Others ... the cycle paths are unusable (you can't actually go anywhere and the usual stopping in the worst places) .. that's not really a concern for me but I'm sure it affects others.

The council has installed some (non working) bike pumps and some loop type bike places but no effort is put into making them safe. The station has some locking Brompton cupboards .. anything else just gets stolen or parts removed.

Cameras make no difference as they won't review footage (I'm sure the one outside the Halifax would get removed if someone robbed it) and the 'community enforcement officers' abjectly ignore it. [apparently that's a police matter, they are there to make sure people don't drop litter and fine them]

One of the local schools (not my lads) had 2 bikes stolen last week... (not by students) ...

The other half for me is school... if Jnr rides in with a helmet he has to carry the helmet round all day. Contrast that with Copenhagen...where I worked you could borrow a helmet or lights from reception.

Yes, I ride all sorts of bikes quite a lot for pleasure and as practical transport. Though a bit less of a cyclist as I age, I've done more kms in a car than on a bike this year, for about 30 years it was the other way round. I walk a lot too, I've pretty much given up cycling in town prefering to walk even if it takes three times the time.

Junior is the same in Paris, between the risk of getting hit by a vehicle and having the bike nicked it's better to walk.

I'm not just a cyclist I'm a 'bloody leisure cyclist' on one side and a MAMIL menace who needs to pay road tax or get on the cycle lane on the other. I just ride bikes. It amuses me that the pre-gravel era my Road-rat was a hybrid to be viewed with disdain now it's a niche - faddy that.

the cycle paths are unusable (you can’t actually go anywhere and the usual stopping in the worst places)

‘Painted bicycle-gutters’?

For anyone who has decided to brave the roads cycling (for local transport) in an English-speaking country and/or has any interest in cycling infrastructure, then this video (by same bloke as OP) is mind-blowing:

Given what we have learned about what a lot of ‘normal’ people think about Brexit & Covid etc recently, their views on cyclists a: isn’t surprising & b: doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

Unfortunately their views on all of those things have real world consequences. C’est la vie/mort.

Junior is the same in Paris, between the risk of getting hit by a vehicle and having the bike nicked it’s better to walk.

I had a bike nicked from here... bolt cutters, middle of the day
https://www.google.com/maps/ @48.8381844,2.348136,3a,75y,107.2h,92.84t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7Yc7eRuCu6wfVFCgPu4kTw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

(right next to 24 hour Police Nationale)

You know what I had a think about this on my cycle into work this morning, I think what I put earlier was a bit glib and simplistic, like most peoples thoughts...

I suppose you really have to examine what the term "cyclist" actually means. the dictionary definition I just looked up gave "a person who rides a bicycle" which TBH seems pretty straight forwards and inoffensive. And by that definition I would only technically be 'a cyclist' when I was on a bicycle riding it, which seems fair enough really.

But I think the problem is that the word, like many others, has taken on further meanings for different elements of society, to the regulation 'office bore' a cyclist is some RLJing, lycra lout, tree hugger type that simultaneously wants to spread themselves across his Car bonnet and complain about his driving, while campaigning for cycle lanes and congestion charges. The word is used for "othering" people who they perceive to have a contrary value set to their own...

To many people who ride bicycles purely for utility "cyclists" are the over-competitive, obsessives that sort of ruin the simple pleasure of riding a bicycle. The word is used for "othering" people who they perceive to have a contrary value set to their own...

For the Enthusiastic "Bike Nerd" who reads up on all the kit, spends too much of their income on Shiny trinkets and likes to race and compete "cyclists" refers to those angry helmet-cam toting arses on YT simultaneously ranting about "Motorists" while looking for conflict with them. The word is used for "othering" people who they perceive to have a contrary value set to their own...

Pretty much all of those definitions describe people you may encounter to some degree, but they're hardly nuanced pictures of a personality, they're lazy stereotypes, and we're all guilty of that to some extent.

Perhaps it makes more sense to just accept the term as per the dictionary definition; "a person who rides a bicycle" what's so bad about that, it's accurate, it's also broad, The OP and the American chap (who felt the need to post a 12 minute video explaining why He's "Not a cyclist") seem to have gotten a bee in their bonnet about the "label" and it's implied, negative, meanings. But actually that's all in the head of the labeller, and you can insist you're not a cyclist all you want, when they see you on a bicycle, they will apply their definitions and stereotypes regardless of what you insist on being called. So why not just accept the label but on your own terms, I prefer the very simplest definition myself YMMV of course...

So Sod it, I am a "Cyclist" I happen to ride a bicycle (various bicycles actually), and yes I'm quite enthusiastic about bicycles, I'm also a car driver, walker, bus user, parent, home owner, etc, etc. Feel free to dissect my personality based on whatever fleeting glimpses you get into my life... You'll almost certainly be wrong and tell me more about yourself in the process.

No.

I ride a lot and I currently have six bikes, but I also walk, run, paddle, swim, ski etc.

I reserve the term "cyclist" for those folk who are so into the culture that they can almost define themselves. A good example would be someone who has bike-related tattoos (especially more than one or the majority of tattoos they have).

I've had bikes of one form or another for as long as I can remember, the earliest I can specifically recall was a yellow BMX from around Xmas '80/81 (when I was 7/8) that I had when we moved from the outskirts of Tilstock to Dolgellau.

Besides when we were given two old family cars between 2005 and 2012, bikes have been my principle transport method for getting around locally, a whole mix of bike types. However, ironically, I've had some nice road bikes in the past (Principia RSL, Felt F5C) that I didn't use "properly" because of the bumpy route that life took (gaining a lot of weight and becoming rather unfit in the late 90s, later injuring my lower back muscles rather badly in 2008).

It was the realisation of my poor health and excess weight by summer 2016 after reducing my cycle commute frequency following my Xmas 2013 RTA just days after my 40th birthday, feeling absolutely shattered after jogging for ~30secs to try and catch a bus, that led to me starting to cycle for fitness in 2017 on my fatbike. In May 2017 I got my first ever hydraulic brake road bike and after being in Southampton nearly 25 years I discovered just how close the South Downs were and it's easily covered more miles than any other bike I've ever owned, ~13600 and counting. Surprisingly, from joining Strava in Sept 2016 until the crank sheared in June 2020, the fatbike covered ~7200 miles through commutes and local road loops.

I am not a cylist, I am a human beig

Definition of a cyclist: you know of and attend the seasonal rituals of Aldi and Lidl bike days, both scoffing and marvelling at the goods offered.

Edit: these days when I play embedded video on here I get sound but no picture. Anyone know how to fix (Windows, Firefox, Adblock+)?

I am a countryside bicyclist.

I suppose you really have to examine what the term “cyclist” actually means

What it ‘means‘ to the (societal/cultural) majority is the ‘true’ definition inasmuch as how it affects/effects the experience/life of those who ride bicycles/would otherwise ride bicycles.

What it means in the dictionary/to me is largely irrelevant. I don’t ‘insist‘ that people call me anything, whether I’m biking, walking, driving, scootering or swimming or hopping! same goes for ‘on my own terms’. It really makes no difference what label I apply to myself.

The OP and the American chap (who felt the need to post a 12 minute video explaining why He’s “Not a cyclist”)

So did you feel that the video was without merit/point?

The disaster for the economy one is from quite a good article..

Here’s why a cyclist is a disaster for the economy

He does not buy the car and does not take a car loan.
Does not buy gasoline.
Does not use the services of repair shops and car washes.
Does not fear “civic responsibility”.
Does not use paid parking.
Does not become obese.
They do not buy drugs.
They do not go to private doctors.
They do not increase the country’s GDP
Cycling is also a disaster for the environment. Cyclists tend to live a lot longer, and therefore consume resources longer

Funny how there's a lot of utter garbage to be found on the net if you go looking eh?

They do not go to private doctors.

Say what now.... i don't go to public doctors if i can help it.... Private ones, sure.

A good example would be someone who has bike-related tattoos (especially more than one or the majority of tattoos they have).

If I wanted a tattoo I wouldn't regret, it would absolutely be bike related.

So did you feel that the video was without merit/point?

Oh it had lots of merit, but I tend to see YT as being more and more of a side gig for "Meeja Creator" types now and that's sort of what it was, pick a lefty topic you know will get clicks and likes and the metrics for your channel get a boost...

So I'm cynical about all youtuber's motives but also the title, premise and the thesis didn't really match (IMO).

He tells us He's not a cyclist because he's not extra passionate about cycling or bicycles, fair enough, Not actually the true definition, but never mind. He goes on, that he's just someone trying to get to work the easiest way possible. And goes on to highlight the challenges and negative culture surrounding cycling as a transport choice... Except of course The fella IS quite clearly a cyclist (and a Canadian, sorry not an American), he's just too caught up with how other people apply that term as a negative label, rather than as a simple statement of fact.

But for someone who doesn't care, and doesn't want to campaign or be seen as an "advocate" He's put a fair bit of thought and analysis into the topic, and made a video (a couple as it turns out) on the topic which seem ideal fodder for pro-cycling/cycle advocacy type people. But He's "not a cyclist"...

If you can't put up with being called a "cyclist" despite being "a person who rides a bicycle" it means the arseholes have achieved their goal and turned an otherwise innocuous word into a negative label to be avoided and shunned...

I am a cyclist, so what?

American chap (who felt the need to post a 12 minute video explaining why He’s “Not a cyclist”) seem to have gotten a bee in their bonnet about the “label” and it’s implied, negative, meanings. But actually that’s all in the head of the labeller, and you can insist you’re not a cyclist all you want, when they see you on a bicycle, they will apply their definitions and stereotypes regardless of what you insist on being called.

That's exactly what the video is saying!

That’s exactly what the video is saying!

It's title is wrong then...

Think I'm with cookeaa here. Its all a bit "making up a viewpoint to get a reaction". There seems to be a lot of playing with language and making up various interpretations (other than the obvious) in order to make some point or other going on these days.

Im someone who cycles so i am a cyclist. No need to overthink it.

I must admit I don't like the word 'cyclist'. For whatever reason it conjures up images of deeply uncool beardy middle-aged men riding touring bikes. Whereas I've always thought of myself as a cool / rad / edgy MTB rider and occasional BMXer. As I get older, it's harder and more tragic to self-apply those adjectives of course. Disliking the word cyclist is silly, and it's all society's / the media's fault and of course it's daft that I think that, but I do. I can't help it.

If you can’t put up with being called a “cyclist” despite being “a person who rides a bicycle” it means the arseholes have achieved their goal and turned an otherwise innocuous word into a negative label to be avoided and shunned…

It's already happened. I don't consider myself a cyclist. I suspect most people who know me do, though. So if someone who is demonstrably a cyclist (I.e. me!) can hate the word, then you can bet that other people (who don't ride) have much more negative connotations attached to it. Pretending otherwise is naive IMO.

Who's pretending?

Do you ride a bicycle?
If so you're a cyclist...
That doesn't really mean much though.
It's just a simple fact, neither good nor bad...

I mean most of us posting on this thread know full well that "cycling" covers a huge range of activities.

It's a bit like asking someone their nationality, say the response is 'Spanish', it's a simple statement of fact.

If I were then to go on and infer lots of negative characteristics for that person, from that single piece of information, citing the fact that "Franco was Spanish!" as the sole basis for my negative characterisation, you'd rightly file me under the 'weapons-grade bellend, best avoid in future' category. But you wouldn't stop telling people your nationality when asked would you?

If someone goes off the deep end because you happen to ride a bicycle, and they once saw a bicycle ridden through a red light, That's their character flaw on display.
Don't let other's stupid issues rule you*.

*(Often easier said than done, I know).

Do you ride a bicycle?
If so you’re a cyclist…

I do, but I'm sat at a desk currently. Am I still a cyclist? What period of time needs to elapse between rides before the descriptor no longer applies, am I still a cyclist if I had a BMX when I was 12 and haven't ridden a bike since? I've got a grow bag in the shed but it doesn't make me a tomato plant.

I find the whole conversation very weird if I'm honest. Prior to CV I was into playing escape rooms, a thriving community has sprung up around it and the term they use is "escape room enthusiasts." Maybe that's what's needed here? If you're on a bike then you're a cyclist, if you're walking you're a pedestrian, and if you feel the need to join a cycling forum to talk about mountain biking* all day then you're a cycling enthusiast.

(* - or, y'know, abject bollocks)

I find the whole conversation very weird if I’m honest

Probably best to give the vid a view tbh. There’s a lot of straw suddenly appeared in here!

Lefty topic

🙄

I thought his video was pretty much straight up. I cycle (outside the office I identify to a point as a cyclist). I cycle to and from work, and over the years have had colleagues call me a ****ing cyclist, tell me about how they saw a cyclist riding through a red light, ask me if I have insurance, why I don't pay road tax, say that I should have number plates, complain that cycling facilities were stopping them from driving to work, asking why their taxes were paying for ****ing cycling facilities, etc etc. And that is in an office where about 40% of staff cycle in, and where about 50% of turnover is generated by transport projects. Which is what I do.
There is a media driven rift between the users of transport types, which some people have taken on board wholeheartedly. Which is disappointing.

To those who say using the term cyclist doesn't matter, I would take a look at the research showing that half of drivers consider cyclists to not be fully human and this directly links to abuse and using their cars as weapons.

Words matter.

I drive because it's a convenient mode of transport whereas I cycle mostly because I like it. I think that makes me a cyclist.

I drive because it's a convenient mode of transport and because I enjoy it.
I cycle because it's a convenient mode of transport and because I enjoy it.
I walk because it's a convenient mode of transport and because I enjoy it.
I run because it's a convenient mode of transport and because I enjoy it.

What does that make me?

(Perchy, STFU...!)

I drive because it’s a convenient mode of transport and because I enjoy it.
I cycle because it’s a convenient mode of transport and because I enjoy it.
I walk because it’s a convenient mode of transport and because I enjoy it.
I run because it’s a convenient mode of transport and because I enjoy it.

What does that make me?

Argumentative 😉

My point was that, to me, cycling is so much more than a useful mode of transport. In fact, now that I'm homeworking, 99% of my cycling is entirely frivolous.

Whereas I wouldn't get in the car just to go for a drive.

Whereas I wouldn’t get in the car just to go for a drive.

Have you never heard of a 'French walk'?

someone with a bike = cyclist.

A good thing, I don't really care if other people attach silly connotations.

I do, but I’m sat at a desk currently. Am I still a cyclist? What period of time needs to elapse between rides before the descriptor no longer applies, am I still a cyclist if I had a BMX when I was 12 and haven’t ridden a bike since?

Then you would no longer be a cyclist. Just like if you no longer regularly climbed rocks it would be silly to describe yourself as a rock climber.

To me if someone was to say they were a cyclist this simply describes someone who regularly actively participates (so with enthusiasm). Whether that is commuting, touring or whatever your poison. Rather than othering I find it uniting but then I've never had family that would give me stick for it and the idiots that start nonsense get a pitying look before having simple facts laid out. I understand how it can work the other way but if black people can reclaim the n word then surely its not outlandish to think we can refer to ourselves as cyclists without giving a toss what idiots think about us?

As I said,

What period of time needs to elapse between rides before the descriptor no longer applies,

I haven't ridden for over a year, am I still a cyclist?

But I plan on doing so again and in fact have my girlfriend's birthday present here which is a new bike still in a box, now am I still a cyclist?

I haven't climbed in maybe three years, after a previous gap of perhaps a decade or more, am I still a climber?

I own a bow and would really like to go shooting again at some point, but the last time I loosed an arrow outside of an "experience" event was probably 20 years ago or more, am I still an archer?

Define "regularly." Daily? Weekly? Annually?

To me if someone was to say they were a cyclist this simply describes someone who regularly actively participates (so with enthusiasm)

Enthusiasm is a prerequisite? What if someone commutes by bike daily because they have no other option, but hates every minute of it?

I'm not trying to start an Internet argument; rather that if you're going to try and define terms then, well, you rather need to define them.

Am I a cyclist? Probably could be. If you want. Yeah.

Just answering questions...

I haven’t ridden for over a year, am I still a cyclist?

Kinda, a little bit, might depend on the reasons why, if injury and you're eager to get back on the bike then yes, if it's because you can't be bothered, then probably not, but if you insist you are then you can be. Do you want to be a cyclist?

But I plan on doing so again and in fact have my girlfriend’s birthday present here which is a new bike still in a box, now am I still a cyclist?

Depends. Is it pink?

I haven’t climbed in maybe three years, after a previous gap of perhaps a decade or more, am I still a climber?

Nope. Ex.

I own a bow and would really like to go shooting again at some point, but the last time I loosed an arrow outside of an “experience” event was probably 20 years ago or more, am I still an archer?

Nope. Ex.

Define “regularly.” Daily? Weekly? Annually?

I don't feel the need.

Enthusiasm is a prerequisite? What if someone commutes by bike daily because they have no other option, but hates every minute of it?

Only if hit by a car and become a statistic/news story/etc.

I’ve spent a couple of days now riding around the streets of Utrecht and I’ve seen tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of bikes. But I haven't seen a single ‘cyclist’. I’ve just seen ‘normal‘ people, in ‘normal’ clothes, doing ‘normal things‘.

- Chris Boardman