It’s been a sad week for anyone who looks to sportstars or entertainers for inspiration or as an example of what can be if you put your mind to it and have a bit of talent.
Anyone who read my rant about Shane Warne the other day would realise that he isn’t exactly my idol. And that’s a pity. I love cricket, always have and particularly enjoyed watching Warne bowl and got a kick out of his success and through him, the country’s success in the game.
I was even one of those silly people who was prepared to look past his on and off field transgressions, as bad as they were, simply because I got such a kick out of watching him play.
All of us have flaws and the great in any endeavour seem to suffer from feet of clay, perhaps more so than us regular punters but sometimes fools like Warne go too far and alienate those who were prepared to forgive them for their mistakes.
His rant against cyclists isn’t just ignorant. It’s dangerous. And irresponsible.
If he had problems with cyclists on the road then it is a private matter that he should approach the police about and let them go about their job.
As it turns out his story may not be as snow white as he is making out and it appears he may have deliberately hit with his car the cyclist he was having a dispute with. If that is the case then he deserves all the vitriol from the cycling community that he is getting.
The worst part is the ignorant people, those who follow him on his Twitter account and those who agree with him anyway about his belief that cyclists should be registered. It is just more of that terrible “follow the flock” attitude that a significant number of people seem to have and who make their feelings known without thought, knowledge or experience of what they are talking about.
I’ve ridden bikes since I was ten years old. Long before it become the sport of choice for yuppies or businessmen seeking to get fit and scaring us all by wearing tight lycra shirts over larger than average bellies.
I’ve raced bikes seriously and have done thousands of kilometres over the years in all sorts of places trying to get myself fit enough to race at a reasonable level.
Right from the beginning there were always fools who wanted to drive too close to you, wanted to hurl abuse or cans or bottles or stones. Wanted to come up behind you and blow their horns just to scare you or otherwise just laugh at you.
And that was when I was just riding along obeying road rules and minding my own business. Slowing down for five seconds just to avoid hitting a cyclist often seemed to be a bridge too far for these sorts of people.
And this was when there were far fewer cyclists than are on the roads today.
Now I realise that there is a problem with the cycling culture in Melbourne and to a lesser extent Sydney at the moment and it comes from the growth of cycling not only as a sport but as a pastime.
The international exposure of the Tour de France over the last fifteen years has seen an explosion in the numbers of cyclists donning racing gear and heading off onto the roads and clogging the city and suburban coffee shops.
The Beach Road in Melbourne apparently sees many of these faux champions strutting their stuff, ostenibly trying to emulate the sprinting prowess of Mark Cavendish on the open roads conveniently forgetting that Cavendish is a professional sprinting on closed roads doing stuff that I’m sure he would never consider doing in the traffic when he is out training.
In the old days, even fifteen years ago, when you went out training in a bunch everyone knew each other and if there were fools acting up in the traffic they were told by the old hands in no uncertain terms to “sod off” and not to come back until they knew how to conduct themselves properly.
Thus cyclists were very much self regulating and if you started to gather a bad name for your riding style, it soon perculated through the local cycling clubs and you either cleaned your act up or found another sport.
That is not the case nowadays.
Many of those who ride in big bunches or break the road rules have never raced or never been exposed to the old club traditions and when they are told to “pull your head in” they react angrily and ignore the advice of those in the know.
There is also the case of “white line fever”, experienced cyclists who should know better riding in big bunches, being challenged by younger,eager cyclists thus doing things on the open roads that are dangerous and completely out of line.
None of the rest of us condone any of this behaviour and I would certainly hope that anyone behaving like that is prosecuted under the full weight of the law.
That brings us back to Mr Warne and his ignorant rabble rousing.
I feel that promoting his cause publicly only incites trouble between cyclists and drivers and people who otherwise may just shake their head at a cyclist doing the wrong thing may be now compelled to take matters into their own hands and no one, even if they make a mistake should be killed or badly injured as a result.
And Mr Warne should know a thing or two about making mistakes. Taking money from an Indian bookmaker, taking illegal drugs and being suspended for it, publicly humiliating his wife time and time again through his inablity to be monogomous are all socially unacceptable yet he has moved on and still enjoys a high public profile and popularity.
He should cut cyclists some slack and keep any problems he has private.
I’m sure the local constabulary can handle any incidents much better than he can.
Anyone who read my rant about Shane Warne the other day would realise that he isn’t exactly my idol. And that’s a pity. I love cricket, always have and particularly enjoyed watching Warne bowl and got a kick out of his success and through him, the country’s success in the game.
I was even one of those silly people who was prepared to look past his on and off field transgressions, as bad as they were, simply because I got such a kick out of watching him play.
All of us have flaws and the great in any endeavour seem to suffer from feet of clay, perhaps more so than us regular punters but sometimes fools like Warne go too far and alienate those who were prepared to forgive them for their mistakes.
His rant against cyclists isn’t just ignorant. It’s dangerous. And irresponsible.
If he had problems with cyclists on the road then it is a private matter that he should approach the police about and let them go about their job.
As it turns out his story may not be as snow white as he is making out and it appears he may have deliberately hit with his car the cyclist he was having a dispute with. If that is the case then he deserves all the vitriol from the cycling community that he is getting.
The worst part is the ignorant people, those who follow him on his Twitter account and those who agree with him anyway about his belief that cyclists should be registered. It is just more of that terrible “follow the flock” attitude that a significant number of people seem to have and who make their feelings known without thought, knowledge or experience of what they are talking about.
I’ve ridden bikes since I was ten years old. Long before it become the sport of choice for yuppies or businessmen seeking to get fit and scaring us all by wearing tight lycra shirts over larger than average bellies.
I’ve raced bikes seriously and have done thousands of kilometres over the years in all sorts of places trying to get myself fit enough to race at a reasonable level.
Right from the beginning there were always fools who wanted to drive too close to you, wanted to hurl abuse or cans or bottles or stones. Wanted to come up behind you and blow their horns just to scare you or otherwise just laugh at you.
And that was when I was just riding along obeying road rules and minding my own business. Slowing down for five seconds just to avoid hitting a cyclist often seemed to be a bridge too far for these sorts of people.
And this was when there were far fewer cyclists than are on the roads today.
Now I realise that there is a problem with the cycling culture in Melbourne and to a lesser extent Sydney at the moment and it comes from the growth of cycling not only as a sport but as a pastime.
The international exposure of the Tour de France over the last fifteen years has seen an explosion in the numbers of cyclists donning racing gear and heading off onto the roads and clogging the city and suburban coffee shops.
The Beach Road in Melbourne apparently sees many of these faux champions strutting their stuff, ostenibly trying to emulate the sprinting prowess of Mark Cavendish on the open roads conveniently forgetting that Cavendish is a professional sprinting on closed roads doing stuff that I’m sure he would never consider doing in the traffic when he is out training.
In the old days, even fifteen years ago, when you went out training in a bunch everyone knew each other and if there were fools acting up in the traffic they were told by the old hands in no uncertain terms to “sod off” and not to come back until they knew how to conduct themselves properly.
Thus cyclists were very much self regulating and if you started to gather a bad name for your riding style, it soon perculated through the local cycling clubs and you either cleaned your act up or found another sport.
That is not the case nowadays.
Many of those who ride in big bunches or break the road rules have never raced or never been exposed to the old club traditions and when they are told to “pull your head in” they react angrily and ignore the advice of those in the know.
There is also the case of “white line fever”, experienced cyclists who should know better riding in big bunches, being challenged by younger,eager cyclists thus doing things on the open roads that are dangerous and completely out of line.
None of the rest of us condone any of this behaviour and I would certainly hope that anyone behaving like that is prosecuted under the full weight of the law.
That brings us back to Mr Warne and his ignorant rabble rousing.
I feel that promoting his cause publicly only incites trouble between cyclists and drivers and people who otherwise may just shake their head at a cyclist doing the wrong thing may be now compelled to take matters into their own hands and no one, even if they make a mistake should be killed or badly injured as a result.
And Mr Warne should know a thing or two about making mistakes. Taking money from an Indian bookmaker, taking illegal drugs and being suspended for it, publicly humiliating his wife time and time again through his inablity to be monogomous are all socially unacceptable yet he has moved on and still enjoys a high public profile and popularity.
He should cut cyclists some slack and keep any problems he has private.
I’m sure the local constabulary can handle any incidents much better than he can.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 