Barbara Ellen Artcle in today's Observer

xover_runner
xover_runner Posts: 228
edited June 2009 in Campaign
Did anyone else catch this? She doesn't appear to like cyclists. Sounds like her partner is a roadie. It starts off about Cameron having his bike nicked again....

Dave's had his bike nicked again. The thief did him a favour

David Cameron has had his bike stolen again. I bet he's overjoyed. He can have a few days off from all that keen cyclist fakery and so can we. How my heart aches for him when he trundles out on his "ride", weaving about, as unsteady and miserable as a five-year-old who's just had their stabilizers removed and only wants to ring the little bell.

My advice to Cameron is to ditch the bike, which was surely only eco-posing anyway. I know he's not a committed cyclist because I live with one who is. In a recent photograph I saw of Cycling Dave he wasn't even wearing the right gear – cyclists wear ludicrously tight Lycra, which makes them resemble giant insects en route to a gay disco. Cameron had on a jumper and the kind of casual slacks that are advertised among the stairlifts in the back of The People's Friend.Then there's his bike, which resembles something Laura Ingalls Wilder would have ridden to the store in ­Little House on the Prairie. And not to be unkind to ­Cameron, but full-on cyclists tend to be at peak fitness, with lithe physiques. God, do they want you to know about it.

Which brings me to why Cameron should ditch cycling. One, its really rather dangerous – only last week, there was reported an 11% increase in cycling deaths.

Two, it's not the eco vote-catcher it used to be, with most people feeling too broke to care about the ozone layer.Third, and most important, Cameron shouldn't align himself to cyclists at a time when everybody else is realizing what a preening, self-righteous bunch of narcissists they are. Worse than joggers who merely stagger around parks, cyclists are all-out body fascists who sneer at mere mortals who can't manage 50 miles up a mountain with their bodies bent over some overpriced handlebars. I'm not kidding. I've accompanied my partner and his brother on jaunts (them to cycle, me to eat). It's like hanging out with the Aryan super-race.

Cameron should stop pretending to be a keen cyclist. He obviously isn't, which is a good thing. Probably a blessed relief too. I suspect he's been arranging to have his bike stolen all along.

Comments

  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    ...... to cyclists at a time when everybody else is realizing what a preening, self-righteous bunch of narcissists they are. Worse than joggers who merely stagger around parks, cyclists are all-out body fascists who sneer at mere mortals who can't manage 50 miles up a mountain with their bodies bent over some overpriced handlebars. I'm not kidding. I've accompanied my partner and his brother on jaunts (them to cycle, me to eat). It's like hanging out with the Aryan super-race.

    Haha - I think there is an element of truth there.

    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • Barbera Ellen: time to call relate?
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    I have to agree that all this posing on bikes by polticians is simply a vote winning tactic. Did you see the photos of Cameron on his bike? The bike looked like some old racer from the 1970s or 80s that hadn't been serviced since then, he had some humungous old lamp on the front which resembled something a Victorian mining navvy would have used at the coalface and the tyres looked like they couldn't have had much more than 40psi in them. But BoJo is worse. Pretends to be a cyclist but in fact goes all out to help motorists
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    Any vote winning tactic that involves retro road cycling is OK with me.

    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • Philip S
    Philip S Posts: 398
    That article is simply a woman taking the opportunity to have a dig at her husband while filling up the column space she is contractually obliged to do.

    Still, at least it presents cyclists as the ubermensch, rather than pavement-hogging anarchists... :wink:
  • Crapaud
    Crapaud Posts: 2,483
    ... cyclists wear ludicrously tight Lycra, which makes them resemble giant insects en route to a gay disco. ...
    Is there something wrong with that?

    The whole thing reads like she needs some DucloEase "stool softner"!
    A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject - Churchill
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    Nothing wrong with being gay, not sure about the giant insect bit....
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • I must say that as a giant insect I feel discriminated against. Not by cyclists though because my magnificent carapace does resemble a carbon fibre fairing :D
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 26,123
    If pretending to be a cyclist is considered a vote winner, isn't that a good thing? Who cares how genuine it is.
  • pneumatic
    pneumatic Posts: 1,989
    I'm writing to the speaker of the commons to see if I can get a second bike allowance. The necessary spare parts for the carbon Summer bike are costing me a fortune (carbon bottle cages, titanium bolts, Rapha training diary) and I think that the taxpayer should really be helping. :evil:

    Don't get me wrong, I'm quite happy to fund the old Tourer myself. In any case, when I take it abroad, I get EU funding for it anyway. :D

    The fact that I am not an MP should really have nothing to do with it; that would just be discrimination. 8)


    Fast and Bulbous
    Peregrinations
    Eddingtons: 80 (Metric); 60 (Imperial)

  • dave milne
    dave milne Posts: 703
    I'm quite a fan of BE and I find that pretty amusing
  • priory
    priory Posts: 743
    If I look like a giant insect it must be a caterpillar

    http://www.froghatstudios.com/art/caterpillar.jpg
    Raleigh Eclipse, , Dahon Jetstream XP, Raleigh Banana, Dawes super galaxy, Raleigh Clubman

    http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z122 ... =slideshow
  • bagpusscp
    bagpusscp Posts: 2,907
    :lol::lol::lol::lol: I have been seen out on my bike.
    bagpuss