Cycling hater

[Cunobelin]

falloverpete: I think it might have been better posting this to raise the issue of major cycling events and their effect on small traders and residents rather than singling out one business owner. He has a legitimate view even if not well expressed and one indeed that is shared by lots of people (q.v. New Forest etc). Personalising it in this way is IMV below the standards of the forum.

The hypocrisy of the New Forest is another matter altogether

Amazing how the New Forest Show that causes Gridlock in a 15 mile radius apparently has no effect on the locals, nor do the thousands of vehicles that gridlock Lyndhurts and surroundings every weekend..... but a few bicycles and the world ends

[mjr]

My sympathy is with the owner of the small business. How on earth can closing the roads into and around Cardiff to cater for the influx of a bunch of cyclists riding out of the city centre (where his business is based) be a good thing for him? Why is his opinion, as a business actually affected by this disruption, not valid?

Because it's bigoted bile? That fool is running a business in a capital city where the roads get closed for various special events (and have done for as long as I've known Cardiff - Velothon may be recent, but the rugby and football and various other events used to close down big chunks of the city probably more than they do now) and then he seems to have failed to cater for that in his business plan, preferring instead to howl at the moon and try to make it go away.

For the avoidance of any doubt, I'm not knocking the Velothon as it has brought many people into the sport including some who are now passionate about cycling and contribute to the sport by joining clubs, competing and organising events. Indeed, I might ride the Velothon myself one day but I certainly wouldn't go as a spectator so just who exactly is going to make it all worthwhile for such a business?

People like me! I've been to watch the London one four times in various places, but never ridden the sportive. The rest of it is just a big good-natured cycling party and great fun. They could make it like the London one and attract three times as many non-sport riders, many of whom stick around to be spectators, but if they did, what would there be for people to buy to eat and drink if all the cafes are run by sour cycling-haters like the one in the OP? So what exactly is going to make it worthwhile for the Velothon business to try to do anything that would benefit people like that? They've set their jaws against it.

[pete75]

My sympathy is with the owner of the small business. How on earth can closing the roads into and around Cardiff to cater for the influx of a bunch of cyclists riding out of the city centre (where his business is based) be a good thing for him? Why is his opinion, as a business actually affected by this disruption, not valid?

Because it's bigoted bile? That fool is running a business in a capital city where the roads get closed for various special events (and have done for as long as I've known Cardiff - Velothon may be recent, but the rugby and football and various other events used to close down big chunks of the city probably more than they do now) and then he seems to have failed to cater for that in his business plan, preferring instead to howl at the moon and try to make it go away.

You're right. There is bigoted bile in this thread and it's not all coming from "that fool".

[Spinners]

I cannot believe that the business owner is really a cycling hater at heart but that's exactly what the organisers of the Velothon and the local authority have now made him. Calling him a fool and trying to ridicule his business acumen is pretty low in my opinion.

Equally, I cannot believe that a 'one post wonder' has been allowed to start a thread on here that closes with an invitation to forum members here to post comments "in his review section". Shame!

[Graham]

Upon reflection, this "one-post-wonder" is using this forum to incite a response on Fakbok.

I have removed specific names from the original posting.

[ambodach]

Mjr I do not understand the point of your final paragraph. Why does it matter who owned the shop? I was also involved. The fact that I am now retired makes no difference. Whether I currently run a shop or not is of no relevance.

[mjr]

Mjr I do not understand the point of your final paragraph. Why does it matter who owned the shop? I was also involved. The fact that I am now retired makes no difference. Whether I currently run a shop or not is of no relevance.

I don't know why it matters! Owning and running a small business oneself was the qualification you suggested in viewtopic.php?p=1188944#p1188944 - one that it turns out I meet (although I think it's irrelevant because it's not a business that depends on the roads being open because most of our travel is visiting customers and by bikes and trains) and your example not only doesn't (as you are now retired) but never did! (not your business - my family ran businesses too, so I near-miss it about as much as you.) Perhaps you should go ask yourself why it matters?

[Cyril Haearn]

Are there any car haters here?


There was a big fire in a "parkhouse" in Liverpool recently, more than a thousand vehicles were destroyed, for a moment the number of registered vehicles fell, +1!

If my vehicle was destroyed, I might take the chance to go car-free after claiming the insurance money

Maybe some of the Liverpool "victims" will do that too, one hopes so

BTW I hate cars, I have one too

[mjr]

Are there any car haters here?


There was a big fire in a "parkhouse" in Liverpool recently, more than a thousand vehicles were destroyed, for a moment the number of registered vehicles fell, +1!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42571828 says the numbers being registered have fallen, but implies that this something that someone should be blamed for, rather than a good thing cutting pollution

[old_windbag]

The thing i thought about when i heard about that fire was that i hoped no dogs etc were in any of the cars. Well it turned out a day or so later on the news, that cars on the top floor were undamaged and dogs were rescued from some of those vehicles. Why leave animals in cars and why put dogs in the most likely part of a car to get crunched in a crash too. Do these people care about their animals?

I really hope no pets were killed in this event......... Though how time was lost in stopping its spread who knows. I'd have thought the fire brigade would be well practiced for such an event happening. It could happen in all of thousands of multistoreys across the country.

[pwa]

The thing i thought about when i heard about that fire was that i hoped no dogs etc were in any of the cars. Well it turned out a day or so later on the news, that cars on the top floor were undamaged and dogs were rescued from some of those vehicles. Why leave animals in cars and why put dogs in the most likely part of a car to get crunched in a crash too. Do these people care about their animals?

I really hope no pets were killed in this event......... Though how time was lost in stopping its spread who knows. I'd have thought the fire brigade would be well practiced for such an event happening. It could happen in all of thousands of multistoreys across the country.

On that last point, if saving and preserving life are the priorities, rather than saving property, the correct response to a well established blaze of that sort must be to get people out and not put more people, in the form of fire fighters, in. What you have in such a fire is hundreds of fuel tanks and rubber tyres evenly spaced in a structure that has excellent air circulation. If no human lives were lost the fire brigade did their job.

[reohn2]

Are there any car haters here?


There was a big fire in a "parkhouse" in Liverpool recently, more than a thousand vehicles were destroyed, for a moment the number of registered vehicles fell, +1!.......

I heard a report by the police on local news last night.
The loss of people's cars were being described like the loss of a loved one,terms like distressed were used as if their car was a living thing,all very strange.
The loss of our car would be an inconvenience that would be replaced by the insurance,words like stress and distress wouldn't come into it.

[Graham]

. . . or very normal . . . . ( and part of the cultural problem ).

Beyond a convenient means of transport :
Your status symbol.
Your comfortable private space in public.
The messages it sends to others . . . e.g. I'm sporty : I'm sexy : I'm powerful . . .I got loadsa money . . .

The marketing people love this situation as they can focus, project and manipulate those messages.

The majority of car owners appear to willingly participate in this sort of stuff.
Out-group members, like us, are probably more aware of this nonsense.

[Flinders]

Wife no.2 hated cyclists and anything associated with cycling....she went so far as giving me an ultimatum; "it's me or your bikes"....shame really as the bike takes up most of my new bed

Variation of a joke shared by horsey people:
Husband to horse-owning wife 'It's me or the horses'. Wife goes out for a ride to think it over.

[Cyril Haearn]

It will be interesting to know how the parkhouse fire started, there will surely be an inquiry
I think it is surprising that such fires are so seldom