Clarkson praises cyclists

custardy

well sort of


http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/world-to-end-clarkson-joins-twitter-praises-cycling/012865

Motormouth Jeremy Clarkson has joined Twitter & in today's Sunday Times heaps praise on cycling (in Copenhagen, that is)

The InGear section of today's The Sunday Times carries a big plug for the Bike Hub cycle satnav app and then a few pages later there's a massive plug for safe city cycling from...Jeremy Clarkson. But not cycling in Britain: here cycling is a "political statement" and cyclists all have beards.

Vintage Clarkson, really.

Mr Motormouth has just joined Twitter and is already amassing hundreds of thousands of followers. He's not yet ranted about cycling on his Twitterfeed, but he will.

In today's column he reveals he has been in Copenhagen, and the girls' bottoms there - and the cycling - are lovely.

He writes:
"I suspect even the Danes are baffled about why they keep being picked out as a shining example of humanity at its best. Just last week a newspaper in Copenhagen suggested it must be because, while cycling from place to place, visitors enjoy looking at all the pretty Danish girls’ bottoms.

"In fact, I’ve decided that the world’s five best cities are, in order: San Francisco, London, Damascus, Rome and Copenhagen. It’s fan-bleeding-tastic. And best of all: there are no bloody cars cluttering the place up. Almost everyone goes almost everywhere on a bicycle.

"Now I know that sounds like the ninth circle of hell, but that’s because you live in Britain, where cars and bikes share the road space. This cannot and does not work. It’s like putting a dog and a cat in a cage and expecting them to get along. They won’t, and as a result London is currently hosting an undeclared war. I am constantly irritated by cyclists and I’m sure they’re constantly irritated by me.

"City fathers have to choose. Cars or bicycles. And in Copenhagen they’ve gone for the bike.

"In Britain cycling is a political statement. You have a camera on your helmet so that motorists who carve you up can be pilloried on YouTube. You have shorts. You have a beard and an attitude. You wear a uniform. Cycling has become the outdoorsy wing of the NUM and CND.

"In Copenhagen it’s just a pleasant way of getting about. Nobody wears a helmet. Nobody wears high-visibility clothing. You just wear what you need to be wearing at your destination. For girls that appears to be very short skirts. And nobody rides their bike as if they’re in the Tour de France. This would make them sweaty and unattractive, so they travel just fast enough to maintain their balance.

"The upshot is a city that works. It’s pleasing to look at. It’s astonishingly quiet. It’s safe. And no one wastes half their life looking for a parking space. I’d live there in a heartbeat."

AnythingButChardonnay

He's right.

custardy

AnythingButChardonnay wrote: »

He's right.

one part I take some issue with

"In Copenhagen it’s just a pleasant way of getting about. Nobody wears a helmet. Nobody wears high-visibility clothing. You just wear what you need to be wearing at your destination. For girls that appears to be very short skirts. And nobody rides their bike as if they’re in the Tour de France. This would make them sweaty and unattractive, so they travel just fast enough to maintain their balance.

well,why would he think cyclists are wearing these?
check out most reports on cycleist vs cars incidents
normally there will be a mention of helemts/clothing colours or the like of the cyclist.
the inference being that a cyclist with (for example)no helmet is at fault from the off

interstellaflyer

custardy wrote: »

one part I take some issue with



well,why would he think cyclists are wearing these?
check out most reports on cycleist vs cars incidents
normally there will be a mention of helemts/clothing colours or the like of the cyclist.
the inference being that a cyclist with (for example)no helmet is at fault from the off

I think he is making the point that everyone gets on and give consideration for all road users, you don't get the Lycra [STRIKE]Morons[/STRIKE] terrorists charging through with no thought for anything other that how fast they can complete the journey.

custardy

interstellaflyer wrote: »

I think he is making the point that everyone gets on and give consideration for all road users, you don't get the Lycra [STRIKE]Morons[/STRIKE] terrorists charging through with no thought for anything other that how fast they can complete the journey.

you seem to be falling into the trap
are you saying a cyclist doing 20mph is a danger, while traffic is limited to 30?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEXD0guLQY0

see this happening in the UK?

interstellaflyer

custardy wrote: »

you seem to be falling into the trap
are you saying a cyclist doing 20mph is a danger, while traffic is limited to 30?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEXD0guLQY0

see this happening in the UK?

Actually no, I'm refering to the minority of Lycra terroerists that seem to be in every town and city in this country, the ones that go full speed everywhere, including through red lights, over pedestrian crossings and down pedestrianised areas, the ones that think their journey time more important than their own safety and the safety of other road users. I am talking from experience, my daughter and me were very nearly taken out by an inconsiderate lycra clad moron who was charging through a pedestrian area, you seem to go on the defensive every time some-one dares to say that not all cyclists are angels, get real there are some moronic cyclists out there just the same as there are moronic drivers.

custardy

interstellaflyer wrote: »

Actually no, I'm refering to the minority of Lycra terroerists that seem to be in every town and city in this country, the ones that go full speed everywhere, including through red lights, over pedestrian crossings and down pedestrianised areas, the ones that think their journey time more important than their own safety and the safety of other road users. I am talking from experience, my daughter and me were very nearly taken out by an inconsiderate lycra clad moron who was charging through a pedestrian area, you seem to go on the defensive every time some-one dares to say that not all cyclists are angels, get real there are some moronic cyclists out there just the same as there are moronic drivers.

not really
however you have decided someone wearing lycra(you realise its a very efficient cycling material?) is a certain type of person.
my experience tells me its more likely to be the casual type of cyclist who will be going through red lights and pedestrian areas

now,do you see that road set up working in the UK?

thelawnet

interstellaflyer wrote: »

I think he is making the point that everyone gets on and give consideration for all road users, you don't get the Lycra [STRIKE]Morons[/STRIKE] terrorists charging through with no thought for anything other that how fast they can complete the journey.

I cycled to London yesterday, there were indeed quite a lot of people in lycra (it being Easter Sunday and few or no commuters) going through red lights. After about the fifteenth light in four miles, I started to understand why they did it. Woking to Putney Bridge: 21 miles, about 3 traffic lights, Putney Bridge to Grosvenor Square, 5 miles about 15 traffic lights.

I overtook one particular chap two or three times, only to see him disappearing through red lights ahead of me.

Don't really know how they could re-engineer it, but certainly the idea of largely excluding cars from the central area would be one way. Amsterdam is much the same in this respect.

People do say that 'London is so much bigger than these cities', but I don't know how true that is. Certainly if you include places like Uxbridge and Bromley it is, but the central area, that bit that tourists might want to visit, say, is not that large.

It's a bit silly IMO to blame cyclists for going through red lights: when you get a road that people drive like tw@s on, they re-engineer it, they don't say 'motor morons', they say it's a 'dangerous road', when usually the only thing that's dangerous is the driving.For some reason this standard isn't applied to cycling.

custardy

thelawnet wrote: »

I cycled to London yesterday, there were indeed quite a lot of people in lycra (it being Easter Sunday and few or no commuters) going through red lights. After about the fifteenth light in four miles, I started to understand why they did it. Woking to Putney Bridge: 21 miles, about 3 traffic lights, Putney Bridge to Grosvenor Square, 5 miles about 15 traffic lights.

I overtook one particular chap two or three times, only to see him disappearing through red lights ahead of me.

Don't really know how they could re-engineer it, but certainly the idea of largely excluding cars from the central area would be one way. Amsterdam is much the same in this respect.

People do say that 'London is so much bigger than these cities', but I don't know how true that is. Certainly if you include places like Uxbridge and Bromley it is, but the central area, that bit that tourists might want to visit, say, is not that large.

Edinburgh would benefit from cutting down traffic in the centre of town.
doubt it will happen
too many folks want to drive in,(moan about the cost/lack of) park up and go to the shops of wherever.
they are trialing some 20mph zones just now and some foks are up in arms about it.
thats a 20mph limit, in one of the most congested cities in Europe.
yet still complaints,including from the bus service?

monalia

Jeremy Clarkson: "... cycling in Britain ... is a "political statement" and cyclists all have beards."

Someone who thinks that Britain's cyclists are prettier than what Jeremy Clarkson makes of them is trying to prove a proint with pictures: http://iitm.be/ccyclists - The new face of cycling in Britain.

mgdavid

thelawnet wrote: »

............

People do say that 'London is so much bigger than these cities', but I don't know how true that is. ..........

may I recommend researching some facts before expounding opinions, they will have more credence (well, some, anyway).