tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3242221516885796514.post3810921992686584665..comments2023-10-10T07:14:46.504-07:00Comments on Two Wheels Good: London's Olympic Legacy: why is Utility Cycling being ignored?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16240236972847891777noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3242221516885796514.post-16285250098254638702012-08-31T09:37:33.872-07:002012-08-31T09:37:33.872-07:00Hi Paul,
I think you cynicism is well-founded, bu...Hi Paul,<br /><br />I think you cynicism is well-founded, but I would argue that it is in this case too severe. Our elite cyclists could certainly be far more supportive of utility cycling. Goes without saying. However, they aren't quite as bad as you suggest; Mark Cavendish, for instance, has called for tougher sentences on drivers that hit cyclists (something British Cycling themselves are now taking up 6 months later).<br /><br />Moreover, even if our elite cyclists themselves did absolutely nothing deliberately and publicly for utility cycling, they would still have a positive effect on overall cycling levels. This is because they act as 'brand-reminders' for the general idea of getting on your bike. They put 'cycling' as a concept, an option, a possibility, into the heads of ten million Londoners. And even if only 0.1% of those Londoners actually follow through with the (sub)conscious impetus to 'be-like-Brad' in their own tiny way, that's still 10,000 more people cycling around London and 10,000 more voters asking for the infrastructure and road incident liability you rightly point out that we need. (Given how low cycling levels currently are that's a pretty significant increase).<br /><br />So I would argue that some sort of Legacy will be created whatever the government do. What I suggest in this article is if the government, the press, and indeed all of us, really push for it, the legacy for Utility Cycling could be so much greater than it otherwise will be. It's just people in power and people in the press seem to be slightly missing a beat with regards to this opportunity and the way that Utility Cycling can meet so many of the goals encompassed in LOCOG's tagline: 'inspire a generation'.<br /><br />I think essentially we're completely in agreement. It's just that I'm looking at the glass half-full while you're looking at the glass-half empty.<br /><br />Yes, British Cycling haven't done much lobbying before. But at least, as you point out, they're doing something now. And that's better than nothing (don't look a gift horse in the mouth). Moreover, given that they were getting 150 new people joining a day during the Olympics, with their support we might just see some of the meaningful legacy actions which you described.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14407671402630861625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3242221516885796514.post-81380116384864694122012-08-31T08:49:06.412-07:002012-08-31T08:49:06.412-07:00I can’t actually imagine how anyone could seriousl...I can’t actually imagine how anyone could seriously believe that our Olympics and Paralympics cycling successes, delightful and worthy of celebration as they are, could generate any form of “legacy” for transport cycling. Actually, I can’t see them generating much of a legacy for sports cycling either.<br /><br />Why? Because the focus is entirely on elite, professional athleticism. Professional in the sense that cyclists, unlike, say, rowers or canoeists, will probably acquire sponsorship and endorsement contracts which will make them rich. Wiggins and Trott certainly are predicted to do very nicely, even if the number bandied about for Wiggins is 10 x the size of that for Trott. Elite in the sense that they are a vanishingly small group on which literally millions will be spent over the next four years, as it has been spent over the last 4. Jeremy Hunt is talking about £500m for Team GB overall between now and Rio.<br /><br />Our elite cyclists, with the notable and noble exception of Chris Boardman and perhaps Victoria Pendleton, are not connected with transport cycling and are not role models for it. They ride on velodromes, or closed road circuits protected by marshals, officials and police. They occasionally make silly remarks about helmets. They wear funny clothes and funny hats, they have improbably big thighs and improbably concave chests. Really, do you imagine that the average man or woman in the street wants to look like THAT?<br /><br />The only meaningful legacy would be an exponential increase in expenditure on infrastructure, following careful consideration of how that money can be wisely spent, and coupled with root and branch reform of the law on road incident liability – civil and criminal. None of that seems, currently, likely, and if it came about I can see no evident link to our medal tally anyway.<br /><br />I’m glad British Cycling is lobbying for a change. I wrote along the lines they suggested to my MP, who just happens to be our Sec of State for Culture Media and Sport, but I added that those £500m would be put to better use making ground level physical activity, including transport cycling, more appealing to millions of people.<br />Paul Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07929808238663838155noreply@blogger.com