Us and Them

I was talking to a woman today and discovered that she was a ‘hard core’ cyclist. She cycled to work everyday from South to West London. She loved to cycle in all weathers and had been trained to do hills and distances by her grandfather. She had three bikes once of which was over 1K. I was impressed.

I then said I had a Brompton and I used it to get to North London. She then said that she didn’t take cyclist like me seriously. (’I’m not being funny’.) I think she said ‘fair weather cyclists’. I laughed and said something like I know that I am not in the same league and I knew my limitations.

But now I am wondering that I should have something more affirmative. It is the Us and Them game that exists amongst cyclists. The ‘hard core’, hard men and women who have specialist bikes and specialist equipment and they ride in all weathers. They also look down on cyclists like me. Cyclists who don’t clock up serious distances, think twice whether it is worth getting wet, wear our own everyday clothes and cycle around on bikes as if we’re extras in an episode of ‘Miss Marple’. (More cake Vicar?)

I like to cycle and think that being a fair weather cyclist is better than not doing any cycling.