Should we stop using the word 'cyclists'?

[landsurfer]

I was told i was not a proper cyclist and that people like me make life hard for all other cyclists .... because i don't wear a helmet.

Wow. I entertain a vain hope that didn't come from an actual cyclist- but there again, it wouldn't surprise me if it did. The fact that most people who are cyclists on the planet don't seem to have helmets seems to have been missed by such comments.

I shall keep riding sans helmet on my ancient steel bikes and Carradice saddlebags- with mudguards, and of course wearing lycra- even when going to the shops, just to wind such people up..

I don't wear glasses when riding as well .... keep getting told I should ... expensive , multi colour lens, safety glasses to be honest .... any ideas why ???

[RickH]

I don't wear glasses when riding as well .... keep getting told I should ... expensive , multi colour lens, safety glasses to be honest .... any ideas why ???

I wear glasses, I can't really see to ride safely without. I find the wraparound ones make my eyes water less & nose run less in cooler weather. I've also been hit in the glasses a few times by objects, mostly kamikaze insects but one or two flicked up stones too, that have made me glad I was wearing them.

I wouldn't like to claim my anecdotal evidence as universal. I'm starting out from a starting point of wearing glasses anyway, just different ones for cycling. They are also photochromic so are sunglasses when it is bright out, which I personally also prefer.

[Vorpal]

IMO, the biggest benefit of wearing glasses is not having eyes irritated by road gunge.

[Cyril Haearn]

Someone taking up cycling referred to himself as a "cyclist" in inverted commas, Plus One!
I think I shall refer to myself as a "motorist" because I am not a passionate driver/motron
Language is such fun

[pjclinch]

I was told i was not a proper cyclist and that people like me make life hard for all other cyclists .... because i don't wear a helmet.

Wow. I entertain a vain hope that didn't come from an actual cyclist- but there again, it wouldn't surprise me if it did. The fact that most people who are cyclists on the planet don't seem to have helmets seems to have been missed by such comments.

I shall keep riding sans helmet on my ancient steel bikes and Carradice saddlebags- with mudguards, and of course wearing lycra- even when going to the shops, just to wind such people up..

I don't wear glasses when riding as well .... keep getting told I should ... expensive , multi colour lens, safety glasses to be honest .... any ideas why ???

For racers, especially on those routes where you can see the peloton coming by the attendant dust cloud or the lack of 200 pairs of mudguards means everyone but the leader gets sprayed with gunk, they're in the same bracket as track-mitts: not necessary, but a good idea that makes life more comfortable. For Normal People, not typically so much although there are certainly rides when they're nice to have.

A few years back now, before Chris Boardman's provision of Applied Clue to the policy folk, British Cycling launched an "everyday cycling" initiative. Helmets were, of course, "essential", and so was "eyewear", with the reason given something along the lines of "a bee in the eye at 20 mph is bad news". I somehow manage to get by without them on most rides.

(Prescription) glasses are good if your vision needs correction, of course. I like sunglasses on sunny days because my eyes seem to do gloomy better than bright, and on very cold, dry days some glasses help stop my eyes watering. Summer they can be good on long rural rides to keep wee flies out.
You mention safety glasses to be honest, and it turns out that for those jobs where (non prescription) glasses are handy, safety glasses are cheap and effective for the job. They're also available from the same sorts of people as make expensive sports eyewear for an order of magnitude less (e.g., Google for "Bolle safety"), but very similar looks.

Pete.

[landsurfer]

Over the last 50 years of cycling i've swallowed an order of magnitude more bugs that ever hit my eyes .....

[reohn2]

I find eyewear helps a lot with after ride eye irritation and during a ride protection from insects and on offroad track side tree intrusion at head height,which sometimes aren't noticed when concentrating on picking a way through a stoney singletrack.You haven't lived until you've been stung on the eyelid 20 miles from home.
Mostly I use Bloc Stealth sunglasses with a warm 81B equivelant shade lens,if it's dark overcast I use Bollè clear safety specs that cost about £4.The only times I ride without eyewear are for short journeys or if it's raining heavily.

[Cugel]

Over the last 50 years of cycling i've swallowed an order of magnitude more bugs that ever hit my eyes .....

A surgical mask, Japanese-style? A-one o' them balliclavers - although you may be reported to the rozz by Line of Duty fans confused about the demarcation atween reality and the tele.

Myself I like the prescription specs - and had the non-prescription ones before I lost 20-20 vision - for these reasons:

Keep liquid cowmuck out of the eyes, as well as the other grots, insects and car dust.
Stops the rain stinging (I am a softlad).
Polarised specs in winter allows one to spot pothole through low winter sun wet-road glare....
As does the prescription, now my eyeballs have gone queer.
UV filter may help stave off cataracts as I age.

Cugel

[Cunobelin]

We had this a few years ago.

The DoH decided that you must stop using "scary titles" such as "Nuclear Medicine"

After many attempts with "Radionuclide Imaging", "Radioscintigraphy", "Scintillation imaging, Department of Magic Sparkles", we simply went back to the simple original name because it is exactly "what it says on the tin"

"

[Carlton green]

The trouble with using the term ‘Cyclist’ is that it unhelpfully lumps together people of completely different behaviours.

When I cycle I try to do so in a responsible way but when driving my car I too often come across people on bicycles who behave in idiotic ways. I recently came across a night time rider with no lights or reflectors on his bike. He had a hoody on which would reduce his visibility of the road and stoped me having any idea of where he was looking. He cycled on the wrong side of the road, crossed in front of me without warning and then disappear off onto the pavement.

There is a conversation to be had about who cyclists are and about how putting an irresponsible idiot on two wheels doesn’t (or rather shouldn’t) make him or her a ‘cyclist’ in the accepted use of the term.

[kwackers]

There is a conversation to be had about who cyclists are and about how putting an irresponsible idiot on two wheels doesn’t (or rather shouldn’t) make him or her a ‘cyclist’ in the accepted use of the term.

I quite like the term "motard" as opposed to "motorist" for exactly that reason!

Turns out some cyclists on here got upset by it though...

[Mike Sales]

I quite like the term "motard" as opposed to "motorist" for exactly that reason!

Turns out some cyclists on here got upset by it though...

I have tended to use "moton" .

[Cyril Haearn]

Motron is the word, or moturd perhaps

Motard is French for motorcyclist, a two-wheeled friend

[rfryer]

I've not seen many examples of people using a derogatory term for motorists in a way that doesn't give the impression that they would apply the term to all motorists.

For example, "Motards/Motons are all idiots" reads to me as a general statement about motorised road users, rather than a tautology.

As I don't wish to be misinterpreted more than is strictly necessary, or spread my ire too thinly, it's not a term I would use.

[pwa]

Motron is the word, or moturd perhaps

Motard is French for motorcyclist, a two-wheeled friend

(my bold)


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-48826650