After Conor disappeared down a rabbit-hole of anti-cycling comments on a local Facebook group, we started asking if we should be concerned about this rising hate against cyclists and if there’s anything we can do about it. What’s causing such extreme anti-cycling views?
Plus, Dan & Si are covering a groundbreaking new bike from Brompton, news from the best ultra-endurance athletes in the world, and the world’s most famous triathlete deciding that he’s not going to try to win the Tour de France after all.
00:00 Welcome to the GCN Show!
00:45 This week in the world of cycling
02:00 The war on cyclists
10:53 What can we do about it?
15:44 Cycling Shorts
15:50 Brompton’s New Bike: The G-Line
17:00 Lael Wilcox Breaks The Round-The-World Record
18:59 Bikepark Wales Rewilding Land
21:17 Triathlon’s Kristian Blummenfelt & Tour De France Controversy
22:17 Lachlan Morton’s Around Australia Attempt
24:32 Our Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Partnership!
25:34 Hack/Bodge Of the Week
32:51 Caption Competition
35:24 Comment Of The Week
38:33 This Week On GCN
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42 Comments
Thanks
No I am not a fascist. I am a human capable of what is known as Critical Thinking.
Playing ‘devil’s advocate’ here……Have you considered that by reporting on ‘cyclist haters’ (when some of us have never experienced this directly), you could be influencing the views and opinions of cyclists so that they start hating literally everyone else?
Congratulations to Si for the FUNNIEST JOKE EVER….
that Si has said.
If a car runs me over, I die. If I run over a car I will still die.
When cyclists skirt the law they usually are very well aware of the risk (also seeing that most road rules are made to only protect cars, and their ability to run as far as possible). When car drivers are in their phones, run red lights, turn right across cycle paths without checking, they know they didn't run a risk to themselves.
Taylor Melissa Williams Angela Lee William
On the "road tax" subject or even the "licence fees", well, if the governing bodies ever decide to go ahead, might as well to this based on total vehicle weight basis. If I'm paying $500 for a 2,000kg car (after all, vehicle weight is what damages the roads the most, combined with climate and other things etc), then at $0.25 a kilo, that means that my 8kg bike would cost $2. Or, put it the other way, if they wish to charge us $50 per bike, then at $6.25/kg that would bring car registration (at 2,000kg) to a nice $12,500. Roads and public transit systems would pay for themselves and more people would probably use active transportation. Utopia, I know. Just proving that more bureaucracy will likely not fix anything in the end.
Timely, Yesterday when I was riding with my daughter to pick up my oldest from school a driver behind me sped up to over take me as I was slowing down to allow a mother and her small child who was riding her bike to cross. I had to actually shout because she would have hit them, she was thinking I need to overtake this cyclist and was so impulsive about it she completely ignored the fact I was stopping at a zebra crossing. She refused to make any eye contact and / apologies to the mother and child who she almost ran down. It was pretty disgraceful behaviour!
re: Hack/Bodge/Single Use Vacuum Pack. I guess it depends upon your definition of "single use." Do you call it single use if it goes in for 27 rides and then gets used for the 28th ride? Is that 28 uses or 1 use? Does that make a difference?
Horses, then horses AND carts, then cars AND bikes, now cars AND bikes AND pedestrians (and streetcars in some European cities). The issue isn’t the mode of transport. That changes with the times. It’s squeezing 10 lbs of shit into a 5 lb bag, to put it bluntly.
Councils that squeeze different modes of transport into the same space are the problem. It’s simply not feasible without slowing one thing down (cars) and endangering the safety of the others (cyclists and pedestrians).
In the aviation world, mixing fast air, commercial aviation and general aviation is a recipe for disaster. This is why you almost never see fighter aircraft, Airbus A320s AND Cessnas and ultralights using the same runways or circuits.
The solution is either a clean sheet approach (total redesign of cities, which requires the lifting of all building protections) or strict segregation of transportation types (which requires wholesale changes to how businesses operate).
So… roads turned over for separated cycling and pedestrian use AND roads for exclusive motor traffic (which may include e-bikes). Insurance and licensing required for all except pedestrians to pay for the changes and upkeep. Obviously, push bikes would be the least expensive to register because their wear and tear on designated roads would be minimal. E-bikes would be mid tier, comparable to small displacement motorcycles. Motorcycles upper mid tier. Passenger cars upper tier. Commercial vehicles top of the upper tier.
Fair, safer, and sustainable.
Wild idea: To achieve a driving license one lesson as a cyclist in heavy traffic is mandatory. Swap perspectives and I bet that car drivers would be more attentive towards cyclists and pedestrians.
Rodriguez Kimberly Thomas Sandra White Scott
‘Cycling shorts’ is how I get my weekly news on all the cool non-racing happenings in the cycling world. Keep up the good work!
Regardless of day, time of day and what bike I'm riding, road or hybrid, I experience some kind of unpleasantness from car drivers. I rode to our local seafront 2 days ago, got beeped at for being in the straight on lane when I was going straight on but my friend who I had been cycling with was turning left! A part of the esplanade is supposedly cyclist/pedestrian friendly, cars are supposed to give way when we want to cross, we got halfway across and a car driver turning onto the esplanade from the right of us speeded up and almost driving right into me, then glared and swore at us, the traffic in front was traveling at about 6 mph! I try not to let these incidents put me off but sometimes it's very hard
This issue is directly related to the sudden flood of e-bikes and e-scooters on roads, paths and sidewalks. It is very difficult for most people to differentiate between human powered bikes and two wheeled vehicles disguised to look like a traditional bike, but with a motor. As such and in concert with the ability for e-bikers to easily achieve speeds on flats and hills only an experienced and fit cyclists could attain, non-motorized cyclists are unfairly feeling the anger that should be directed towards e-bikers/ mopeders. In my area, e-mopeds have taken over mixed use paths and sidewalks, making it difficult and dangerous for pedestrians. They have also made bike paths virtually unridable for cyclists. And even commuter trains suffer the same affects, especially with e-delivery bikes taking up so much space, dominating elevators meant disabled individuals, and generally being a nuisance. The lack of differentiation even extends to statistics related to bike accidents, as incidents involving real bikes, e-bikes and scooters of all types, are included within same category.
There is an urgent meed to regulate motorized bike and related vehicles and as well to clearly differentiate them from 100% human powered bicycles. If it has a motor, whether used full or part-time, it is a motorbike and should follow the rules that apply to this class of vehicle.!!!
They aren't mad that we're breaking the laws or being a nuisance, they're mad because they think we are slowing them down and inconveniencing them. All the arguments about cyclists breaking the law aren't because they are concerned about safety, they are mad that we are in the road at all and are looking for ways to punish us for being there. Ultimately they are trying to get us to leave so they can go back to treating residential roads like their own personal highway. You rarely hear this kind of language from pedestrians or runners on sidewalks and mixed use paths, even though they are the ones who actually need to be concerned about being injured by us. (side note: some of y'all need to stop treating pedestrians the way cars treat us)
Ultimately the only way it will get better is if cycling, walking, etc. become more normalized and infrastructure is built to support that. And sadly the more that happens the more certain people are going to push back and they are going to push back hard because they hate change. So best case scenario this gets much worse before it gets better.
It's the British way built up over the last 15 / 20 years. You have to blame someone, the miners, the EU, immigrants, cyclists, it's always someone else's fault. No one wants to accept responsibility for their own actions/ stupidity.
Caption contest:
It began with the winning of the Great Races. Two were given to the Pogačar, immortal, wisest and fastest of all racers. Two more to the Evenepoel, great rider and Olympian of the Belgian halls. And stage nineteen, stage nineteen was gifted to the racing of Primož Roglič, who, above all else, desired to win that exceedingly hot race. But they were, all of them, deceived, for another champion was born…
Cyclists are as guilty as others for tarring with the same brush. Blaming ‘lorry drivers’ and ‘car drivers’. I’ll say it again and prepare to be slammed but we all need to be more tolerant.
The attitude against cyclists may be due to the fact that drivers behind us cannot see our faces, they see the back of our heads or helmet. Our faces make us human. Without that recognition we are just an object in the way. The way to win over drivers is for cyclists to behave well, obey the rules of the road, and set an example to others.
Anderson Jessica Perez William Lewis Brenda
Caption competition: uh uh uh, we'll 3D print your own when get home.
Today It´s way more stressfull being a participant in traffic. And if there are some not following the rules, then it´s even more stressfull. Maybe @GCN should have a look on the traffic in other big cities like Vienna, Amsterdam or Berlin. It´s possible to ride bikes with low stress together with scooters and cars.
You guys should change the title. Most of the comments in the video is clear that it's those cyclist who don't respect law that everyone hates. Nobody actually says that they just hate any cyclist even if they are law-abiding respectful cyclists. As a driver-cyclist I actually quite understand the altitude. When there's another car going on the wrong direction or illegal parking or running red lights and almost hit you, what do you do??? You hate the same. I might even chase these people no matter it's a car or bike, if I'm on a bad mood and I will give them a lesson myself. Even as a cyclist when I actually cycle on the road, I hate those other cyclists that running traffic lights, don't slow down at pedestrian intersections, and going on the wrong directions. TBH, the propotion of those cyclists are just too high. This is the cycling industry's No.1 real problem.
its got nothing to do with ebikes. ive hardly ever seen an ebike, let alone a dangerous one. no the rage is actually far far darker. its because drivers know its increasingly wrong to drive a car and so they take it out on the messenger. cyclists remind them of their wrongdoing, but instead of not driving, they attack the source of their cognitive dissonance. its similar to global warming denying and it effects exactly same demographic. white conservative males for the most part. ie, your typical mail, telegraph reader. there is sadly a disdain in our culture for virtue. its ironic that car drivers, vastly less virtuous than cyclists, frame cycling in negative terms. i suppose in a childlike and hilarious attempt to gain the moral high ground. its quite imbecilic, but thats human nature, and why we have no future
lol I identify a liberal and a polite road/trail cyclist … I use my words when I'm passing a walker … politely say "Passing on your left" … er, must admit … when I walk my dogs on a multi-use trail … almost all cyclists blast past me without saying a word and I'm forced off the very wide path … I live in St Catharines, Ontario, Canada
FYI – there have been so so many motorcycle rider and cyclist hit/run over by cars that I parked my motorcycle 7 weeks ago (not feeling like the odds are ever in my favour) and my road bike. I've gone completely trail/dirt … fat bike and trail bike only. to many distracted/angry drivers … distractions include: driving high (weed and/or alcohol or prescription drugs), texting and well, maybe they oops … a bird
Motorists where I live are mostly considerate, but the ones who aren't paying attention are the ones I try to pay attention to. You might be in the right, but you could be dead right. Distracted, hurried, inattentive drivers have seat belts, crumple zones, and air bags, all you have is a helmet. Personal safety is more important than being right.
Can we please have a gcn folding video by Dan?
It boils down to a fight for space and motorists resent cyclists being in their way and don’t want to share space on the road.
Last week I was commuting home from work as I’ve done for many years. Whilst established on the roundabout a car entered from my left and clipped my back wheel resulting in a head injury and a ruined bike for me.
All just to get wherever they were going a few seconds quicker. I completely agree with the sentiment and that people are just irate whenever someone inconveniences them in any way. It seems there is very little patience or understanding of anyone with a different view, the death of moderate individuals has became an epidemic in today’s world.
Really makes me concerned for the future.
Hoping I’m not tempting fate by saying this but my experience with the vast majority of motorists is positive.
I think we all have a responsibility not to give motorists a reason to hate us.
I will always give a thumbs up to those who wait behind me for a safe place to overtake. Likewise when I’m out with others, we move into single file when vehicles approach from behind.
Caption: it is ok, mammy. i got the one you want.
There's nothing like a tin can to reveal the inner pilchard… 😉
We are travelling in Girona and Pyrenees from Western Australia. Motorists here 10/10 patient, give you plenty of room when passing and willing to share the road. Back home there is quite a bit of anger toward cyclists. Australian drivers report card says ´needs improvement 😮´
I find with non cyclists that I meet whilst out riding they expect the worse but if you greet them with a cheery hello and the mandatory British weather talk eg “beautiful day isn’t it???” They are sooo taken a back they actually are quite civil and pleased to meet you!
I love trees🌳
Motorists avoid the generalisation of bad drivers by having BMW to channel all the hate towards. So maybe we need to get a BMW of bike brands and get bad cyclists to drive it, that way the anti-cyclist hate turns into anti that particular brand hate.
I have lived and cycled in several different countries and found that the level of hatred towards cyclists is inversely proportionate to the level of intelligence in that society. The level of hatred is growing as intelligence continues to decrease.
As a cyclist for 40+ years my relationship with cars has evolved quite a bite. A few years ago I came to the realization that most of the drivers probably don't know that they are doing something dangerous; this came from conversations with family and friends. I also think a lot of cyclists probably drive the same way; if you're inclined to run a stop sign on your bike, you're probably inclined to do it while driving. Now, I wave when drivers do me a kindness to reinforce that behavior.
Debating the plastic vacuum packing of a raincoat and whether it is single-use, whilst being sponsored by a car manufacturer. Haway lads 😅
On approaching a small added in low speed round about,I noticed that the driver face was completely covered by driver’s front window and side window metal structure as I approached. Luckily they stopped and looked shocked when I magically appeared in front of them. Watch out for this one!.
When people I come across accuse all cyclists of breaking rules and riding dangerously I very much enjoy blaming them for drunk driving.