Irish Times: The revolution has arrived - and it's on two wheels

tomasrojo

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/0226/1224290903991.html

Peculiar, uneven tone to this article. Not all that negative, though, as these articles go.

serendip

That phrase "MAMIL" (middle-aged man in Lycra) showed up in a similar British piece (forget where) about six months ago. It really lights my fuse. Why is it that the media are so sensitive and politically correct in their treatment of almost every group within society, except middle-aged men? Well, if a middle-aged man chooses to dress up in Lycra and go cycling, then what's the problem? He could buy a motor bike, or take up diving (and wear a different figure-hugging outfit), or whatever. It doesn't matter. There's nothing wrong with a good healthy mid-life crisis, and there are far worse things that middle-aged men could do with their time. (End rant.)

Lumen

serendip wrote: »

That phrase "MAMIL" (middle-aged man in Lycra) showed up in a similar British piece (forget where) about six months ago. It really lights my fuse. Why is it that the media are so sensitive and politically correct in their treatment of almost every group within society, except middle-aged men? Well, if a middle-aged man chooses to dress up in Lycra and go cycling, then what's the problem? He could buy a motor bike, or take up diving (and wear a different figure-hugging outfit), or whatever. It doesn't matter. There's nothing wrong with a good healthy mid-life crisis, and there are far worse things that middle-aged men could do with their time. (End rant.)

I think you need a 19 year old girlfriend and a sports car.

Raam

I take issue with this.

who become giddy within 100 yards of a rack of ankle-length socks

Victor

Raam wrote: »

I take issue with this.

Imperial measurements not Euro enough?

Raam

Victor wrote: »

Imperial measurements not Euro enough?

This is the only acceptable height for cycling socks...



This is important.

Chips Lovell

Noooo!! Those socks look ridiculous.

Raam

el tonto wrote: »

Noooo!! Those socks look ridiculous.

Not from up here they don't.

serendip

Lumen wrote: »

I think you need a 19 year old girlfriend and a sports car.

No, I don't need a sports car.

midonogh

"IT’S THE WEEKEND: have you seen your father in Lycra yet today? Has he wandered down the hall in an all-in-one cycling bib, not caring for your sniggers, knowing that soon he will be happy in the company of other middle-aged men squeezed into clothing that the men of 1916 did not die for?"

The journalist lives in my estate, wonder where he gets his subject matter from?

Just back from a lovely Saturday spin with Robfowl and others who frequent this board.

Esroh

Not sure about the Men of 1916 but I bet Mick Collins would have loved to have had padded bib shorts when he was flying round Dublin:D

Hail 2 Da Thief

Will somebody please paste the article in this thread?
For some reason I always have difficulty getting onto the IT website.

-Chris-

The revolution has arrived - and it's on two wheels


PRESENT TENSE: If Green Party TDs meet catastrophe today, they will probably ride into the sunset on a bike, writes SHANE HEGARTY

IT’S THE WEEKEND: have you seen your father in Lycra yet today? Has he wandered down the hall in an all-in-one cycling bib, not caring for your sniggers, knowing that soon he will be happy in the company of other middle-aged men squeezed into clothing that the men of 1916 did not die for? Somewhere, deep in the retail statistics, there must be a figure that tells a story of the jump in Lycra sales among men who stopped buying their own underwear years ago but who become giddy within 100 yards of a rack of ankle-length socks. And, somewhere, there is a graph with a line on it that tracks all the way from a swarm of weekend cyclists to John Gormley climbing up a south Dublin ladder in 2007.

If, as expected, the TDs of the Green Party meet some kind of electoral catastrophe today, they will probably ride out into the sunset on a bike, via a cycle lane which then merges with a bus lane, which then jumps on to a footpath and then becomes a cycle lane again before ending at a wall.

Green politicians have always cycled in a manner that makes bikes seem the ultimate in mobile self-satisfaction. Lit up, their bike clips keeping the suit trouser from being sucked into the chain, upright to the point of haughtiness. After their arrival in government it was a novelty when Green ministers first turned up at their departments, solo, on a bike. The expectation of Fianna Fáil ministers in such circumstances would be for them to turn up on the back of a tandem, with all the work being done by a Garda pedallist.

If there is going to be a physical legacy of the Greens’ time in government it will surely be the bikes found rusting in sheds across the country in a decade or two. And it is not, of course, only men who have been taking up biking, even if their get-up makes them the most obvious adopters. How many people have availed of the cycle-to-work scheme since it was introduced in 2009? We don’t know, because the Department of Finance, which administers the scheme, hasn’t kept count . But it must be well into the tens of thousands.

In the UK 400,000 bikes have been shifted through a similar scheme. Here, after a slow start, bike sales have grown strongly. Even as Ireland’s cycling infrastructure remains half-thought-out, sometimes nonsensical, often dangerous, the Greens have helped to sustain a boom in the activity. Anecdotally, this boom has continued to ignore the recession; the number of cyclists on the roads, especially at weekends, has increased visibly.

When I rang Rob Cummins, owner of Lucan store Wheelworx early on Thursday, he had already sold eight bikes that morning – every one of them through the cycle-to-work scheme, which offers tax relief on a spend of up to €1,000. He reckons that if the number of cyclists has doubled in the past couple of years, perhaps one-third of these could be attributable to the scheme. In the recession, the bike, he suggests, has become the new second car.

Extending the car analogy, the scheme mirrored the scrappage schemes by taking rusting old bikes off the road and replacing them with gleaming new machines. People became familiar with the idea of a “hybrid” as being something far cheaper than a Prius.

“People were suddenly on something they could be proud of,” says Cummins. They will go back to the shops later, attracted by the idea of upgrading, often spurred on by envy of a friend’s new wheels. Men will be boys after all.

The scheme is not entirely responsible for the cycling boom though. There have been other factors. The Dublinbikes scheme has made it acceptable to cycle around town in a suit on a surprisingly attractive scut of a bike with three gears, a large basket and suspension not much better than that on a wheelbarrow. There is also the swing towards middle-aged sport, a rebellion against the stereotype that once we hit our 30s we should let nature take its toll. Instead, the middle-aged have become runners, kite-surfers, kayakers – and cyclists.

Finally, there is one major boost for bikes: the recession. People have more time but less money and have found the bike fits neatly into that gap. The Greens helped create the problem, and out of it has come an opportunity for some, even if it was a clumsy road to success.

Anyway, the Greens will go, only to be replaced by perhaps our best-known “mamil” (middle-aged man in Lycra). Perhaps it says something about how things have shifted that Enda Kenny will be the first taoiseach we can be comfortable with seeing in skin tight Day-Glo shorts. Revolutionary indeed.

.

DirkVoodoo

Perhaps it says something about how things have shifted that Enda Kenny will be the first taoiseach we can be comfortable with seeing in skin tight Day-Glo shorts. Revolutionary indeed.

Eh, no:



No:



Just, No:

el tel

Any time I hear Enda Kenny I can't help but think of The Savage Eye's Minister for Breathlessness to Appear Earnest.

RobFowl

midonogh wrote: »

The journalist lives in my estate, wonder where he gets his subject matter from?

I work with his wife and know he has donned lycra himself !

Fortunately he's a triathlete and as such cannot be taken seriously.....

Caroline_ie

we have this twat back home. Not sure if having a fred is better... tho. I m sorry ireland has gone so low.

http://www.ina.fr/politique/elections/video/2826616001036/sarkozy-a-velo.fr.html ... on a 'steffan rawsh' bike

michael196

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Eh, no:



bike position ? what bike position ?

No:



looks very uncomfortable: F R E DDD


Just, No:

poor bike position ! careful enda u will do urself an injury !!!!!!

michael196

RobFowl wrote: »

I work with his wife and know he has donned lycra himself !

Fortunately he's a triathlete and as such cannot be taken seriously.....

poor journalism when you state the elephant in the room ''MAMIL'', sooooo 2005......


give us new creative insights .......... then we will listen or read ur writings ........ where is the original thought ?

michael196

Caroline_ie wrote: »

we have this twat back home. Not sure if having a fred is better... tho. I m sorry ireland has gone so low.

http://www.ina.fr/politique/elections/video/2826616001036/sarkozy-a-velo.fr.html ... on a 'steffan rawsh' bike

''President de lump'' WTF !!! ( president de l 'ump '' )

manwithaplan

Thought the article was a bit of a laugh myself and, even before RobFowl's confirmation of the fact, it was fairly obviously written by a cyclist. Anyone who takes up cycling to escape the recession needs their head examined though. I'm off to tell the escort agency and the cocaine dealer that I won't be needing them for a few more years as I am only in the foothills of my mid life crisis.

michael196

manwithaplan wrote: »

Thought the article was a bit of a laugh myself and, even before RobFowl's confirmation of the fact, it was fairly obviously written by a cyclist. Anyone who takes up cycling to escape the recession needs their head examined though. I'm off to tell the escort agency and the cocaine dealer that I won't be needing them for a few more years as I am only in the foothills of my mid life crisis.

:D:D

if u been cycling for years, then in ur 40's u get to enjoy all the new technologies : Carbon frames, GPS, HRM, energy drinks...Sportives, races , cameras,

why give up ? as long as u can still hack it to some extent.

anyhow u need to fit into those trim trousers when the date arrives.......;)

Grimpeur

And coming up in tomorrow's Irish Times Health supplement...

...''Is there a way to cycle safely in the city?''

Should be interesting.

unionman

I thought you were joking...but here it is - http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2011/0301/1224291075826.html

Grimpeur wrote: »

And coming up in tomorrow's Irish Times Health supplement...

...''Is there a way to cycle safely in the city?''

Should be interesting.

unionman

It's actually quite good. Not the usual scaremongering nonsense.

Scous_tache

Here is a Q&A with the author of the first piece

http://www.rundirectmagazine.com/2009/11/questions-answers-thoughts-trivia-shane-hegarty/

Piercemeear

unionman wrote: »

It's actually quite good. Not the usual scaremongering nonsense.

Agreed. I thought it was excellent. Emphasis on education, consideration and obeying the rules of the road.

unionman

Best line - “How do you know a triathlete at a party? He’ll tell you!”

Scous_tache wrote: »

Here is a Q&A with the author of the first piece

http://www.rundirectmagazine.com/2009/11/questions-answers-thoughts-trivia-shane-hegarty/

doozerie

Caroline_ie wrote: »

we have this twat back home. Not sure if having a fred is better... tho. I m sorry ireland has gone so low.

http://www.ina.fr/politique/elections/video/2826616001036/sarkozy-a-velo.fr.html ... on a 'steffan rawsh' bike

Do they make cycling shoes with high heels now, just for Sarkozy, or is Virenque really a tiny little man too?