I notice that the CEoGB site has carried Freewheelers satirical piece " Minutes of Crapburgh Cycling Campaign - August. Would CEoGB therefore please clarify whether it endorses Freewheelers view of other cycling organisations? Simon Geller, Secretary, Cyclenation
It seems I have my answer on that one as you have re-tweeted " ne'er a truer word".
Simon, is this fear of yours still rumbling around unsettled? It really is time to let it go. I met a Cyclenation rep last year who told me he would never support the building of cycle tracks because it would "lead to more children being killed". Can you confirm this is the official policy of Cyclenation?.. You see, just as Cyclenation (or CTC or LCC or BC) can't control what their own representatives say out loud on a whim neither should we try to stop what Freewheller writes either. Yes, he / she or they write in an aggressive and sometimes confrontational manner but as public bodies we should all of us expect to come under the critical spotlight. However, the Crap Cycling blog is read widely and linked to by many many cycling blogs and stimulates discussion in all advocacy circles I've come across. Perhaps we should try less to establish strawman arguments or to censure those who speak their mind and ask more why what they say - no matter how confrontational - apparently has so much purchase compared to our own official policies?
Mark, I would like to know who this "Cyclenation Rep" is - we don't have any official positions of "Cyclenation Rep", only board and group members. If they said that they must have been expressing a personal view and they should have made that clear before speaking. I would be more than happy to take that up if you would like to contact me personally about that - secretary@cyclenation.org.uk
Neither do we have a policy that suggests that more children are killed on cycle racks - if true it is probably because children are virtually excluded from the UK road system by speed and volume of traffic - in fact we have been criticised for a lack of clear policies, as we believe that our local groups are best placed to determine what is best for their area - what might work in Birmingham, for example, probably wouldn't in Dorset.
The principles we are agreed on are:
•cycling is an ordinary, everyday activity that only needs a bike•Informed choice on helmets•Slower urban traffic speeds•Stricter liability for drivers•Cyclists’ priority at junctions•High-quality cycle networkBikeability training for all. On the topic of linking, if you post a link to a blog or website, or re-tweet without a disclaimer it does imply that you endorse the views expressed on that site. In the case of this particular post there was an outburst of glee that freewheeler was "having a pop" at "traditional" campaigners that I personally found distasteful. We've visited 19 of our 70-odd groups this year - I've personally visited 7 - and the picture that freewheeler paints doesn't ring true. What I have found is a lot of committed and hard-working people who, perhaps surprisingly to you, are as much in sympathy with the aims of CEoGB as they are with ours. I don't quite see why you would want to alienate these people. Freewheeler is at his best when he is attacking the deficiencies on his home turf and I think we should turn our anger onto the people who have allowed the current lamentable conditions for cycling in the UK to come about, not those who have tried to prevent it from happening.
err ... was this not satire?
It was written as a satirical piece that I certainly chuckled (and cried) to as an ex-CTC Right to Ride Rep, an ex-CTC Information Officer, and a local campaigner that has been banging his head for a decade.
If you want to create trouble where there is none then be my guest. This organisation has no allegiance to Freewheeler as we have always maintained and you seem intent on ignoring, it would appear. I personally find it fascinating as he/she represents the 'Primal Scream' of cycle campaigning. He/she may write stuff from time to time that may be close to the knuckle, but to suppress it is wrong.
Thats certainly an interesting idea you have there about linking. The CEoGB has on occasion linked to my blog too, which using the same logic would suggest that my personal preference for hub gears over derailleurs, Pepsi over Coke and coffee over tea is also somehow officially endorsed by the CEoGB.
Coke is MUCH better than Pepsi. Everyone knows that
I think that Freewheeler's perspective of the goings on of a CTC / Cyclenation local meeting bears about as much resemblance to reality as the PCC Meetings in The Vicar of Dibley did to real PCC Meetings and as such could be viewed as mildly amusing but far from the truth. As an active member of the Anglican Church (Church of England etc) I wasn't too disturbed by the Vicar of Dibley and as an active CTC RTR Rep and Sustrans Ranger, I can't get excited by Freewheeler's rants.
