Cycling has been ruined by carbon and strava (or so says the Guardian)

No more hippies and explorers: a lament for the changed world of cycling

Really? I don’t remember them being banned from two wheels… Cycling is a broad church with room for everyone IME.

I enjoy riding bicycles, all sorts of bicycles, for all sorts of purposes, and yes I do uploaded my rides to the Strava… So what?

I don’t feel like I am destroying cycling, if anything I am still participating in and exploring different aspects of the sport/pastime/social activity that I have been doing one way or another for 30+ years or so…

Fixating on a few newer things GPS logging and carbon bling (basically Stats geekery and expensive bikes, so neither are totally new ideas really) tells you more about the author that the state of cycling…

You’ve not done the Friday morning VF ride then?

Oh dear, no, I’ve not had the pleasure! Might go along for a laugh 🙂

Actually, I do it a disservice. Very inclusive, generally a few women, good range of bikes and abilities and very little Rapha. There still tend to be a few attacks off the front up the hills though. You’ll know a few of the attendees.

A pretty fair article. I spent years chasing kit rather than where and the actual experience. I’ve always questioned n+1 though when it comes to multiple bikes.
All mags are focused on product reviews and top 10 lists.

I guess it sells but how about being brave and re educating the reader? Leave product advertisements to the mag ads and not ad another.

Hora plenty of mags do that now e.g. Cyclist, Rouler, and to a lesser extent the mag from this place

I think the author just grew up. Riding crappy bikes to new places was a teenage thing to do because that was pretty much all you could do, unless your folks bought you bling kit and took you to races. Personally I don’t get his anti kit thing. I took my carbon bike out yesterday for the first time in months and boy was it fun, it’s fast, handles amazing and is the best bike I’ve ever owned. I just wanted to ride and ride, massive grins 😀

He’s a grumpy old bellend who liked defining himself as a “cyclist” – and by cyclist, he means that slightly weird, socially inept oddball you see around.

Used to see similar “it’s not like it was, it was better when it was underground” bullshit from weird purists when I worked in the club and dance music industry.

Needs to learn some social skills and cheer up a bit, not moan about everyone else enjoying a sport.

As far as I’m concerned, more people riding and being healthy is good, whatever their motivation or subset of enjoyment. Nothing else matters.

And he forgot to include the latest bête noir “road disc brakes”.

I switched to Strava from Endomondo as the best tracking app on my Smartwatch 3 uses it. I rarely look at segments but I did notice most of local peak district climb KOMs were set by Alex Dowsett so I doubt a fat bloke on a gravel bikes going to be troubling him anytime soon.

Who is “Strava”, and is “Lycra” his Greek girlfriend?

I ride with two clubs, one is a dangerous, shambolic and slow the other well disciplined, safe and swift. The difference is the leadership not the demographic of new riders.

You ever tried to “lead” a bunch of middle managers who base their view of cycling on W/Kg, sufferfest scores, TSS and who has the most expensive (or lightest) bike.

We ended up with 1 ride leader, and 10 excitable dickheads. Who think they are leading the ride.
Talking to them doesn’t work, shouting at them doesn’t work, pointing out that knocking people off wasn’t on resulted in exactly no change in behaviour, not turning up was the end of a very very long process.

Which is a shame, as it used to be one of the biggest/most successful clubs on the west coast.

Ah well. Not my problem anymore.

It’s a poor article but obviously it serves a purpose as clickbait. But the fact is, that nothing has actually changed regarding the type of people who cycle, just that there are now a lot more of them. You always had the over keen sporty types, the race-obsessed, the worker who can’t afford the bus/train, the casual summer weekender, the sensible-shoe environmentalist, and the bored middle aged blokes with more disposable income. And all the other types in between. If the writer is talking about London/urban areas, then he’s not particularly observant, as by far the largest growing group are the young student/educated middle class kids on fixies, Dutch bikes and shoppers, who think cycling is ‘cool’ and see a bike as a bit of a fashion accessory, rather than being the kind that allow cycling to dictate their style. Some of these might tour, race road, enduro or BMX. The MAMIL/Stavathlete is a relatively small minority.

So to say ‘cycling has been ruined by Strava’ is just bollocks. Cycling hasn’t been so healthy in the UK since the 1950s. Like with car drivers; the more you get, the larger the number of arseholes. I’m pretty sure the proportion of arseholes has remained reasonably constant though.

Used to see similar “it’s not like it was, it was better when it was underground” bullshit from weird purists when I worked in the club and dance music industry.

But in that case they were right!

PS. I do know there’s still an underground, but is “more dance music” as obvious a social good as “more cycling”? Especially if it means David Guetta?

is “more dance music” as obvious a social good as “more cycling”?

It was fine until Americans got involved.