So recently I jumped to the defense of Brisbane’s poor cycling community. Well I think now its probably fair to offer a few reasons as to why they suffer the bad rap that they do. You see this weekend I made a trip to the west-end market, as I often do on a Saturday morning. For those unfamiliar with it’s location, the market is located just in from the river, close to a cycleway, which forms part of the infamous “river loop”. West end, as most brisbanites are aware is fairly trendy, and is home to many hippies and yuppies who frequent this market, often arriving by pedal power. So what is this sight im greeted with? A group of said hippies is crossing the cycleway to the sound of “you f*&#ing pin head”. Quite funny really that this much aggression is necessary.
I think this all boils back to a very basic principle that is clearly missing in Brisbane. Cars should respect cyclists, and cyclists should respect pedestrians. Pretty simple really. This also works two fold. The said pedestrian who is abused not only hates cyclists now and is more likely to side with silly courier mail style “get registered” campaigns, but is more likely to take that rage behind the wheel with them the next time they go driving and get held up by a cyclist.
Now to ask the question- where is all this rage coming from? I think it lies in the fact that brisbanites are deeply territorial – they must own their own piece of dirt, and god help you if you get in their way. I personally think it is silly to assume you have exclusive access to a bikeway near a busy market – it’s presence shouldn’t really disturb a Sunday cyclist, and as for the fast guys - do your intervals elsewhere. I get the idea that Brisbane is suffering a pretty bad case of passing anger down the vehicular food chain at the moment – cars hate cyclists, and cyclists hate pedestrians – which leads to everyone hating cyclists. The question I think that needs to be asked is, where and when did cyclists become aggressive like this? In the 80’s it was golf, now, its cycling. Yep it’s the new ‘team bonding’ activity for edgy over-stressed corporate types. These are the kind of cyclists who race home at 5 pm, scaring the living daylights out of pedestrians in the “punter grand prix”, these are the ones overcrowding popular training routes and turning commuter paths into a raceway, not to mention jamming up suburban streets with their inability to ride in a coherent group.
By saying all this, in no way do i condone the poor treatment of cyclists in the courier mail, nor by equally abusive motorists. I can however sympathize with where they are coming from with these kind of cyclists. Problem is you cant tar everyone with the same brush, and by and large the number of aggressive motorists outweighs these corporate wannabe’s. I think these pretender pros need a good crack up the backside – its time to stop passing the buck down the foodchain – show a bit of patience everyone, look in your own backyard, and maybe learn to ride your bike. The classic saying “all the gear and no idea” springs to mind. No wonder the courier mail rips cyclists to shreds for wearing lycra. If you aint sponsored by them, or got their Jersey for a ridiculously cheap deal – Don’t wear it!
This idea that these wanabe cyclists cannot ride was highlighted to me a few weeks by an incident involving my coach (who I might add is a former world champ), who had the misfortune of a nasty accident in a QLD masters event recently, having encountered one of these said cycling corporates or the like. Incompetent riding was most likely the cause of the accident, taking down 5 riders at 50kmhr. Yet when confronted, the accused seemed to think it was not too much his fault. I think the whole incompetency thing stems back to the cycling culture we have here – training is a smash fest that you squeeze in at maximum speed before work. In other parts of the world, where sports have seasons, and there is actually a less frantic season, where riders spend time together learning to ride as a team. That is a tight coherent bunch that does not occupy the whole road. I think there is a great need in Brisbane for experienced cyclists and clubs alike to start pulling their fingers out and encouraging appropriate riding, rather than ‘smash fests’. It would probably solve whole heap of accidents, not to mention limit road rage, and reduce overtraining injuries. Just a thought…
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