Journalism and Cycling 2: the difficult second album

cletus

I kinda get where he's coming from, though. I love cycling my bike, but have little enough interest in pro racing (and definitely no interest in actually racing myself).

You won't find too many people who like kicking a football, but don't have any interest in competitive football as a sport

magicbastarder

i don't watch cycle racing, i find it deathly dull. but there's plenty of things for me to read and watch online. i guess he may be talking about the cycling periodicals, and it's not surprising if they're focused on the sport end of things, because they'd probably soon run out of things to say if they focused on what he seems to like.

not saying at all there's anything wrong with what he likes, it just doesn't generate 'news'.

cletus

Me too, I enjoy the stuff Rapha put out with the alternative races thing, like watching guys like Dustin Klein just going out for a cycle.

I suppose I just thought it was interesting that what I would have considered the more niche end of things is being pushed more, even if it's only opinion pieces

magicbastarder

i'm taking the piss out of my own interest in sport, but even cycle racing sometimes can feel a bit like this to me - in the 'oh look, one man cycled 200km eight seconds faster than another man' way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MusyO7J2inM

that said, i have enjoyed multiple books about the history of the sport; possibly because it doesn't involve me having to watch it.

cletus

😂😂😂

Have to say, I quite like documentaries about cycle racing

magicbastarder

me too - and can recommend william fotheringham's book about 'a sunday in hell', if you enjoyed the documentary. a book about a documentary about a cycle race, it's getting quite meta.

Cetyl Palmitate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117708524#Comment_117708524

The documentary of the same name was screened in Axis, Ballymun a few years ago with Mr. Fotheringham present.

Regarding the article, I love watching Pro cycling: road, track, BMX, whatever, but agree with the author regarding having no personal interest or need for cutting edge, expensive technology.

magicbastarder

yep, i was at that (and asked the question he seemed to most enjoy that night)

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117721877#Comment_117721877

Well? We're all waiting...

magicbastarder

Something along the lines of whether, while doing all the research for the book, he got the impression from anyone that their memories of the day had been influenced by or replaced by the film.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117673026#Comment_117673026

A letter in today's Irish Times in response to one of the above letters...

Sir, – May I express sympathy and admiration for Clare Hartwieg (“Give cyclists space”, Letters, July 28th) for her common sense regarding cyclists and motorists.

However, I have reservations when it comes to recreational cycling on narrow country roads where the motorist is often obliged to break the law and cross the continuous white line in order to overtake, either this or wait behind groups of weekend cyclists for miles, for example going over the Conor Pass in Kerry.

I’m sure we would all agree that the purpose of roads is to enable people to go from place to place on necessary business, be that economic, social or cultural, and not for recreation.

In an ideal world we should all be doing these journeys on bicycles and not in cars but failing that I cannot see how recreational cycling and motoring can safely co-exist on country roads. – Yours, etc,

EOGHAN O’LOINGSIGH,

Castlegregory,

Co Kerry.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/sharing-the-road-1.4642116?mode=amp

hesker

What utter tosh. Yet another motorist annoyed they can’t drive at maximum speed on our roads

I drove over the Conor Pass on Sat afternoon. Passed about 15 cyclists in different groups of 2 or 3 on the ascent from Dingle.

Took me on average about 10 or 15 seconds to pass each group safely.

I’d say about 95% of the traffic going up there was recreation judging by the numbers stopping at the viewpoint. One person’s recreation is another person’s business.

Grassey

I must write back and ask where does a drive of the RoK, along the Dingle Peninsula or parking up for a surf in Inch etc fit into 'economic, social or cultural'

magicbastarder

'economic' covers tourism, i'd be he'd say. while painting himself into a corner.

Stark

Well, crap, now I need to think of a way to get to my recreational activities without using roads.

cletus

When I walk my dog on the roads, I always make sure there's a cultural context...

Duckjob

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117726513#Comment_117726513

Cool, looking forward to the roads and footpaths of the seaside village where I live being nice and clear of cars (moving and parked) next time there’s a nice sunny day.

I mean, it’s agreed that nobody’s going to be going to the beach recreationally in their cars, right?

Grassey

https://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-city-council-to-appeal-high-court-sandymount-cycleway-refusal-5518738-Aug2021/

When the matter returned before the judge on Monday for final orders, Stephen Dodd SC for DCC said that his client intends to appeal the court’s judgement.

Counsel said that the judgement has implications for current and future cycleways. DCC will be seeking an expedited hearing of the case before the Court of Appeal, counsel added.

The judge, following an application by Neil Steen SC for the applicants, said he was prepared to grant an order quashing the council’s decision to construct the cycleway.

Tombo2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117729020#Comment_117729020

Anyone know what was the legal basis for the original decision?

Tombo2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117695381#Comment_117695381

I think this is a really unfair comment, Dublin City Council have really stuck their neck out here and have faced huge and concerted resistance from a lot of very well connected people in the wealthiest part of the country; but they have stuck with it.

I think you'll find that putting the boot into public servants without consideration is a much more conventional line of least resistance.

Tombo2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117673287#Comment_117673287

Thats a very fair point, and while an adult can comfortably enough get out on the roads in most parts of the country - I do have a lot of sympathy for people I know who live rurally, and they say they just cant bring the kids out on the bike.

What I would look at here is speed limits - a change in mindset is needed here. Its not good enough that roads with several dozen houses every kilometre can have 80k or 100k speed limits.

Large bottle small glass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117729284#Comment_117729284

https://www.courts.ie/acc/alfresco/9d7d13aa-9c80-4d78-951a-5538ba628142/2021_IEHC_544.pdf/pdf#view=fitH

Is that it, edit yes it is.

Some light reading. Impressed with Councilor Flynn's environmental credentials

buffalo

The Mannix effect echoes around the country (well, to the other side of the city at least):

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/high-court/woman-seeks-injunction-reversing-malahide-pedestrianisation-1.4642969

The High Court has reserved judgement on an application for an injunction reversing Fingal County Council’s decision to pedestrianise part of Malahide village in north Co Dublin.

...

Ms Byrne, who lives on nearby Old Street, Malahide, claims the council’s decision is flawed and should be set aside as it lacks the legal authority to implement the development.

Rechuchote

There's an interesting letter on the subject in today's Irish Times. Aaron Cassidy of Chapelizod writes, under the headline "Infrastructure and local buy-in",

Sir, – David McKenna writes, in relation to the Sandymount cycleway, that “there must be as much buy-in as possible from everyone it affects” to ensure democratic accountability (Letters, August 6th). Nobody disputes this.

However, such a view, when applied to infrastructure and local building projects in general, is idealistic and ignores the hidden cost of local want being able to outweigh public need.

Public buy-in can only go so far. Every reader can think of at least one person in the locality who vehemently opposes any change to the area in general. The problem is that the law as it stands allows these people a huge amount of individual leverage to prevent projects on ostensibly noble grounds that it rarely, if ever, affords to those in the locality in favour of infrastructure.

This is not a democratic situation. At some point the public need for infrastructure or housing projects to be undertaken must outweigh the local desire for them not to proceed. Of course, these projects must be within reason too.

Our infrastructure, however, is in need of upgrading across the board. Preventing it now only pushes up the cost later and in the interim we are still without the infrastructure we all agree is needed, during which time the current infrastructure becomes more and more obsolete and unfit for purpose. Defunct infrastructure harms the functioning of the state. That goes without mentioning the positive effects local infrastructure connections have on property prices.

Nobody wants cyclists on the same lane as cars. Everyone knows we need more renewable energy plants. The need for housing is felt acutely all across the country.

Yet as long as we keep indulging local and even non-local objectors none of these things will happen and we sell the future short.

Local buy-in is important, it must be sought and robustly so, but the joined-up thinking that is required to provide these projects properly simply cannot please everyone. We have to face up to that if we want a city, and a country, that functions better. – Yours, etc…

Heraclius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117729472#Comment_117729472

Depressing :(

Wildly Boaring

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117729302#Comment_117729302

Yep fair enough. DCC are a leading light right now and should be commended.

I'm going off pervious projects I have experience of. I have experienced several projects put on ice once there was a slight bit of resistance. Mainly minor capital works. It is exasperating when funding is secured etc and then........

Large bottle small glass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117729587#Comment_117729587

Not as depressing a living somewhere where you can't object to any authority be they police/health/revenue/infrastructure or whatever.

The Mannix Flynn case above is really clever; it gave the judge an easy out which he outlined in the second page of his judgement

" It should be stated at the outset, lest there be any doubt about it, that the Court in determining this application is not concerned with policy matters, such as the appropriateness or otherwise of the aims and objectives of the transport policy of the City Council"

After that it is only a matter for a SC to find some technical issue with the legal basis the Local Authority used to build infrastructure.

These things happen all the time; there has hardly been a felling license granted in Ireland for a couple of years (with the resultant revenue loss for growers, private foresters, importing of wood, contractors idle etc etc) all because one man used a piece of EU legislation to object to ever single license application and then appealed every approval decision.

Be careful what you wish for when lamenting an individual right to take on a a public authority.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117726513#Comment_117726513

...and a response to the above letter in the Irish Times...

Sir, – Eoghan O’Loingsigh (Letters, August 8th) has reservations about sharing narrow country roads with cyclists. As a mainly urban cyclist, I have similar reservations. Galway’s narrow streets are often filled with lines of single drivers, many making social or leisure trips, taking up the full width of the lane and surrounded by three or four empty seats. They rarely pull over to allow me to pass, forcing me to come to a halt or to try and squeeze past them, often delaying me in my important business. It seems that “sharing the road” is in the eye of the beholder.– Yours, etc,

DAVE MATHIESON,

Salthill,

Galway.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/sharing-the-road-1.4643963

Seth Brundle

Siobhan McSweeney rides Northern Ireland on "Thunderclap"

https://twitter.com/GoToIreland/status/1425065650192625667

buffalo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117736263#Comment_117736263

And he has another letter in on the climate crisis. Most of us old farts can only dream of having two letters published in the paper of record on the same day!