So now we are fascists

http://www.timeout.com/london/features/2897/Two-wheeled_fascism-the_trouble_with_London-s_cyclists.html?DCMP=EMC-London-18-May-2007

and I quote
"the government actually gives our money to the new fascists; funding for cycling has doubled in the last two years and there is now a Cycle to Work scheme to provide VAT-free bicycles. Why should pedestrians’ taxes pay to put more cyclists on our paths and support organisations committed to making our lives harder?"

don't worry i hear that Michael Hodges has an incredibly small dick

He's paid to be an opinionated wanker - it's just that usually he manages to be funny at the same time, whereas this is pretty lame. The funny thing is that he is a smug, white, middle-class journalist. At least if he got a bike he'd be healthy too.

is that guy for real?
i don't use the library and i don't swim, however i don't think they should close the local library or the swimming baths
he's a prize cockmuncher thats fo sure

time out sucks ass anywhay who the hell reads that?

middle class office workers who's lives are so devoid of anything interesting, that they need things like Time Out to tell them what to do with thier pitiful free time

I've never seen a pedestrian cross with a red man showing or, say, randomnly walk across the road with ipod blaring and phone stuck to spare ear..

What a load of twoddle! If overtly accusing a significant section of Londoners of fascism weren't so offensive it would be amusing in a ridiculous way.

We all know cyclists are fickle, fixedwheel one week, nazism the next. Cyclists will have forgotten the fourth reich come June. Fakescists, pah!

his rant falls down a bit when you realise that cyclists are pedestrians too.

the whole things is tedious beyond belief, when will these shit-stirring fuckwits just piss off with thier pointless, junk "journalism" ? it's time this country accepted that individuals make thier own decisions, we're not in groups or herds like animals.

Blimey! This was all over the blogs two weeks ago.

http://www.movingtargetzine.com/article/role-reversal-shameful-time-out-comlunist-calls-cyclists-fascists-standard-highlights-killer-hgvs

nobody looks at that moving target thing or posts on the forum there it's full of public school drop-outs.

Yeah, it seems some people on this forum are just slower than couriers, welcome to my world

couriers are too busy to post on forums all the time ;)

I rarely come to a complete stop at traffic lights, I avoid cycle lanes, I like to ride as fast as the cars in the traffic, I do this because because it is safer for me and safer for everyone else, as a cyclist you must be seen at all times and that means high visibility, but it is exactly this high visibility that gets up some peoples noses.

do you mean riding where you can be seen, or dustman's vests?

if the gov ever make wearing hi-vis on bicycles compulsory, I'm gonna piss on the prime minister's shoes, and then on the Queen's head

when cycling in a city there are two ways to ride safe - riding passively or riding aggressively- passively involves a wearing protective helmet and hi -vis clothing obeying the rules of the road and hoping that the road users see you and behave accordingly - aggressively means that you assume that no-one can see you unless you make yourself seen by placing yourself immediately in front of them - weaving helps - because the eye is attracted to motion - jumping lights is not about being arrogant & trying to get from A to B quicker - it is about being seen - unless you are directly infront of the other road user you must assume that you haven't been seen and act accordingly - lights and reflective clothing are prudent at night or in low visibility - put basically you want to ride the same speed as the traffic and take up a car sized space of road -

the-smiling-buddha take up a car sized space of road -

maybe you should get one of these?

lol@glow, i think you're right, tho budda. But you have to be quite good on the bike to travel at the same speed as traffic, a lot of newbies will be glad of the hi vis and cycle lanes/junctions...

lpg lol@glow, i think you're right, tho budda. But you have to be quite good on the bike to travel at the same speed as traffic, a lot of newbies will be glad of the hi vis and cycle lanes/junctions...

I don't disagree and I think women in particular are often intimidated off the road. The bottom line though is that if we as 'cyclists' tend to come across as being 'aggressive' road users it is lagely because the envirnoment we ride in forces us to be aggressive for our own safety.

that's the truth of it.

I know that most of us actually get a kick out of the potential danger, speed and concentration required to ride fast in the city.

riding in a city is different from A roads and stuff, unless it's 5AM and all the traffic lights are out, YOU are the fastest thing on the road, traffic is so fucking slow

some days I can't be arsed to ride fast

so I take it nice and slow

sometimes I even allow myself to daydream a little

and it is always the same

just as soon as you back off

you got buses cutting you up

scooter buzzin you from behind

pedestrians meandering out on red lights

it is actually less stressful

just to go balls out everywhere you go

was that a poem?? i agree tho, i feel i have to act as the trafic not as a cyclist (if you know what i mean) i deffanatly get seen more due to this.....the cars can smell fear!!

the-smiling-buddha when cycling in a city there are two ways to ride safe - riding passively or riding aggressively- passively involves a wearing protective helmet and hi -vis clothing ...

Why is wearing a helmet passive? I don't ride in London, because I don't live there - but when I do come to London I bring my bike (£4 for a travelcard? pftt). i wear a helmet everywhere.

No matter how agressively you ride there's the possiblity an arsehole doesn't see you, and if a helmet might save my life, well, i might as well.

£ 4 for a travelcard! dude when's the last time you came over here Ken made public transport so expensive that spending £800 on a bike is still cheaper than getting travelcards montly for a year or so!
I don't wear a helmet coz i don't have one and because in London drivers actulally pay less attention to helmeted cyclists.

Uh, let's steer this away from the old helmet debate, it's tired and off topic...

...Unless you mean this kind of helmet: