As a middle aged man in lycra who enjoys riding road bikes fast for sport and is comfortable riding in traffic:
That Forester guy sounds like a dick. One of the things that makes bikes so cool is that they come in all kinds of different shapes and sizes, optimised for different use cases. Road bikes are cool, but so are mountain bikes, cargo bikes, fixed gear bikes, dutch style upright bikes, etc. And even if countless near death experiences while cycling around cars have made me feel comfortable (or complacent?) riding in traffic, I still appreciate good cycling infrastructure. People deserve to be safe and every trip taken by bike instead of by car is a win.
I’d highly recommend the “well there’s your problem” podcast (which is a YouTube-based podcast with slides) that jason (not just bikes guy) was a guest on.
I think in the beginning, guys like him were responding to what they thought was a real threat to their sport. If municipalities all started making Dutch-style good bike commuting infrastructure in cities, and kicked bikes off roads entirely, it would effectively kill the sport of road biking. You aren’t intended to do high speed lycra-biking on those types of bike routes.
The problem is that he, and guys like him, rather than forming a coalition with other vulnerable road users to advocate for good bikes infrastructure and the right for cyclists to use roads, chose to sell out all other users to secure their own continued access to roads.
Obviously, as Jason points out this video, good Dutch bike infrastructure does not actually kill hobby biking, cause you can ride all you want on country roads and country bikepaths.
I agree. I live in a city and cycling for sport in the city sucks, regardless of whether there are bike lanes or not. There are too many traffic lights and traffic gets in the way. The good cycling spots are outside the city like you said and bike lanes are great to get out of the city and to those spots. Plus, I’d wager most people who cycle for sport also do a lot of other trips by bike too.
I also just want my loved ones to be able to get from point A to point B safely. That’s way more important than my sport.
As a middle aged man in lycra who enjoys riding road bikes fast for sport and is comfortable riding in traffic: That Forester guy sounds like a dick. One of the things that makes bikes so cool is that they come in all kinds of different shapes and sizes, optimised for different use cases. Road bikes are cool, but so are mountain bikes, cargo bikes, fixed gear bikes, dutch style upright bikes, etc. And even if countless near death experiences while cycling around cars have made me feel comfortable (or complacent?) riding in traffic, I still appreciate good cycling infrastructure. People deserve to be safe and every trip taken by bike instead of by car is a win.
I’d highly recommend the “well there’s your problem” podcast (which is a YouTube-based podcast with slides) that jason (not just bikes guy) was a guest on.
I think in the beginning, guys like him were responding to what they thought was a real threat to their sport. If municipalities all started making Dutch-style good bike commuting infrastructure in cities, and kicked bikes off roads entirely, it would effectively kill the sport of road biking. You aren’t intended to do high speed lycra-biking on those types of bike routes.
The problem is that he, and guys like him, rather than forming a coalition with other vulnerable road users to advocate for good bikes infrastructure and the right for cyclists to use roads, chose to sell out all other users to secure their own continued access to roads.
Obviously, as Jason points out this video, good Dutch bike infrastructure does not actually kill hobby biking, cause you can ride all you want on country roads and country bikepaths.
I agree. I live in a city and cycling for sport in the city sucks, regardless of whether there are bike lanes or not. There are too many traffic lights and traffic gets in the way. The good cycling spots are outside the city like you said and bike lanes are great to get out of the city and to those spots. Plus, I’d wager most people who cycle for sport also do a lot of other trips by bike too.
I also just want my loved ones to be able to get from point A to point B safely. That’s way more important than my sport.