Cycling Cultures blog

I have been doing some online surveys, as part of a project on cycling advocacy and activism (with Maria Bühner).

One of the surveys asked people who joined the pop-up campaign Londoners on Bikes about their experiences of the campaign and views on cycling. One question was ‘How would you describe yourself as a cyclist?’

The answers are below…

100% cyclist
100% legal
8 mile commute in a suit
A commuter and leisure cyclist
A commuter who tries to take the sensible path through london on a daily basis
A competent but respectful commuter
A cycling cyclist!
A cyclist
A feminist cyclist – pedalling against the patriarchy
a happy agressive..
A happy one
a Londoner
A novice, but keen transportation cyclist
Absolutely
Addicted!
All-weather commuter + Recreation
average middle-aged slow
avid
Aware of my surroundings and considerate to other road users
beginner/intermediate – not that confident but would be if it were more like Amsterdam!!
born again cyclist. started commuting 2 years ago after 20 yrs off a bike.
careful, assertive and fairly experienced
careful, slow, respectful of pedestrians and scared of cabs and mad drivers
Casual A-B cyclists, no lycra!
Casual for pleasure
Casual/leisure/summer
cautious
Cautious
Cautious but confident
Cautious, confident
commited commuter
commuter
Commuter
Commuter
commuter
commuter
commuter
commuter
Commuter
Commuter
Commuter
Commuter
commuter
Commuter & family cyclist
Commuter & Leisure cyclist
Commuter & leisure rider
Commuter & lesiure riding
Commuter / Weekend rider
Commuter + leisure for health + environmental reasons
commuter and holiday cyclist
commuter and leisure
Commuter and leisure cyclis
Commuter and mother
Commuter and mountain biker
Commuter and recreational
Commuter cyclist interested in longer weekend rides
commuter on a bike
Commuter, and getting around practically.
commuter, female, cautiously speedy (on a road bike)!
Commuter, leisurely, it’s not a race
Commuter, long distance and passionate cyclist
commuter, recreational
Commuter, social
Commuter/transport cyclist
Competent
Competent daily cyclist but cautious
confident
Confident
confident
Confident and experienced.
Confident and rather aggressive for my own safety road bike rider
Confident but cautious
Confident but cautious.
Confident but sensible
confident but wise
confident commuter
confident in spite of London’s roads and traffic!
Confident, safe
Considerate to other road-users
Continental raised, cycled all my life since childhood
courteous commuter
Cycle a fair bit for work and pleasure
Cycle to get to work
Cyclist merely describes one of the many modes of transport I use
Daily commuter
Daily commuter cyclist
dutch cyclist
elderly
Employee
Enabled, healthier,happier,richer,more sociable.
Enthusiastic commuter and more.
Enthusiastic!
Every day transport
Everyday
Experience, considerate and careful.
Experienced
Experienced
Experienced
experienced
Experienced
experienced after many years of riding
Experienced amateur
Experienced and red light jumper
Experienced but probably cycle too fast. Generally courteous
experienced by cautious
Experienced commuter. Ex-fixed-gear rider.
Experienced fixed-gear rider, hot too!
Experienced long distance commuter
Extreme commuter doing as many trips with cycle as possible even outside work hours
fair weather
fair weather
Fairly experienced, commuter cyclist
Fast and law-abiding
Fast but lawabiding
fast but safe commuter
fast, safe, caring.
father
Focused
functional
Getting from A to B
graceful
Habitual
Happy
Happy, safe, aware
Hardened but happy
I cycle to get from A to B
I have a bike-based lifestyle & upright Dutch bike
I wouldn’t describe myself as a cyclist. I’m a person who uses a bike. Our mode of transport shouldn’t define us, and the word ‘cyclist’ dehumanises the person on the bike.
I’m not a cyclist – I’m a person who sometimes rides a bike (I also use bus, trains and even drive a car but that doesn’t make me a bussist, trainist or motorist!)
improving
Irregular cycling commuter on outskirts of SW London
joyful
keen
Keen
Keen and experienced
Keen but no lycra
Keen, and assertive.
Keen, happy, occasionally angry.
keenbean!
lapsed regularr…
Law abiding.
Law abiding/determined
law-abiding
Lightweight leisure cyclist!
middle aged !
Middle aged skirt wearing female
Militant
Mountain Biker
new cyclist
Non-lycra commuter cyclist. Slow and steady, always wearing helmet and lights. Its the only excercise I get.
non-lycra pootle along cyclist
not a cyclist as much as possible
Novice
Occasional
Omnicyclist
Ordinary
passionate
passionate
Passionate
passionate cyclist
Person on a bike
Pootler
Pro-cyclinig enthusiast and commuter
proficient
Progressive
Prosumer
Quick but courteous
racer/commuter/sometimes slow
Rapha glad, carbon frame, stylish, advocate
Recreational, one day a commuter, confident but not strong
Regular
Regular
Regular
Regular cyclist
regular, leisure, business
Ride as fast as possible but safety goes first
Routine, not a lycra clad racer
safe
Safe, aware of surroundings, irritated by pedestrians who don’t look when crossing the road!
Safely assertive
Short distance and shopping cyclist
Since moving to London: aggressive vehicular cyclist. Before London: I’m Dutch, with all Dutch cycling expectations.
slow and steady
Slow fair-weather cyclist
social
someone getting from a to b
Sometime commuter; leisure
Sporadic
sporty but safe
steady commuter and shopper
stress free and chilled. accident free.
Stylish
Sustainable and cost effective
urban cyclist
Use bike as fastest, healthiest means for short journeys
Utility / commuter
Utility and touring
utility cyclist
Utility/Tourist
Very cautious, just want to get where I’m going but not bothered about high speed
Wannabe Dutch
Weekday commuter and weekend distance rider.
Weekender 30 to 80 miles
Yes
yes, commuter/leasure not racer

Our final report for the Cycling Cultures project will be launched in Bike Week (when else!) at UEL Stratford, at 5:30pm on the 19th June. Please sign up to attend here .

Interested in studying sustainable mobilities at PhD/MSc level?

Candidates can apply for bursaries to study the MSc Transport, Sustainability and Society . You should apply for the MSc itself first; more details of bursaries here and here .

Also this -

PhD studentship

The School of Law and Social Sciences is pleased to invite applications for one PhD Studentship in the Social Sciences SCLSS2012: This is a major award, for a period of THREE years, for UK and EU students covering the full cost of the fees plus a living allowance of £15,590 per year. Overseas students will receive the amount of the UK/EU fee plus a living allowance of £15,590 per year, but will be expected to pay the difference between UK/EU and overseas fees.

The School offers excellent opportunities for postgraduate education and contains four internationally renowned research centres and a number of vibrant research groups. Much of its research has been classified by the 2008 RAE as ‘internationally excellent’ as well as ‘world leading’.

To find out more about research opportunities at the school, please visit our website at: http://www.uel.ac.uk/lss/research/

To obtain application information please visit the website and follow the link to download your application form. We encourage you to review the sample PhD proposal on the link above in writing your application.

Please e-mail the application form and the research proposal to Phil Rees at

Please note that only completed applications with full references will be considered.

Closing date for applications is Friday 1st June 2012.
Interviews of the short-listed applicants will be held on Monday 25th June, 2012.

Two events coming up (for more details/to attend, email )

16th May, 5pm: MSc Transport, Sustainability and Society Q&A session at UEL Docklands. Find out more about the MSc here and bursaries here .

19th June, 5:30pm: The final report for our Cycling Cultures project will be launched at UEL Stratford, in Bike Week.

One of our two current UEL undergraduate research internship projects is looking at Cycling Activism and Advocacy in London. Maria and I will be attending the LCC Big Ride tomorrow, and asking participants to fill in our short online survey (questions include why they’re on the ride and their experience of cycling in London). It should be an interesting day.

The Big Ride Survey is available online here .

We are very pleased to announce the provisional programme for the 2012 Cycling and Society Symposium , and to open registration. You can see the programme and register here . Thanks to all who put in abstracts and to the peer reviewers – there were lots of good quality abstracts and some difficult decisions to make.

Our paper on ‘group rides’ ( Constructing Mobile Places Between ‘Leisure’ and ‘Transport’: A Case Study of Two Group Cycle Rides ) is now available online from Sociology for those with journal access. If you haven’t got access, feel free to email me for a personal copy, or you can read an earlier version on the papers page .

Here’s the abstract:

This article contributes to a growing literature examining the sociological significance of mobile places, exploring mobile place-making through an analysis of the practice of weekend group leisure cycling. These rides represent a mobility practice where the main aim of participants may be ‘leisure’ but most infrastructure used is designated for ‘transport’. Using ethnographic methods, the article provides an analysis of rhythm, positioning and communication on two group rides, one from Hull into the East Yorkshire countryside and one in London. External (including motor traffic flow and route type) and internal (including group composition and experience) factors shape the relationship between the riders and their ride, and hence the mobile places that they co-create. The article argues that cyclists riding in groups create distinctively flexible social spaces. These group cycling practices variously challenge, mimic and adapt to the motorized orientation of much road space.

I have had lots of requests for this paper after mentioning it on the blog. Having checked with the publisher, I realise that I am allowed to post a version of the article online now. This is the pre-peer review version so the one eventually published in Mobilities (hopefully in May/June) will be slightly different. Please click here to download the pre-print.

Incompetent, or too competent? Negotiating everyday cycling identities in a motor dominated society

Abstract:
This paper uses the concept of stigma to explore cycling identities in the UK. Drawing on interview data, it argues that people who cycle are caught between two threats: appearing too competent as a cyclist (a ‘proper cyclist’), and appearing not competent enough (a ‘bad cyclist’). Strategies of identity management are discussed, which can include elements of negotiation, disavowal, and challenge. The paper aims to show that transport modes can produce disadvantaged and stigmatised social identities: like other forms of stigma these are mediated both by social environments and by other social identities. Implications for policy and advocacy are suggested.

Quite a diverse range of talks coming up in February:

- Kat’s speaking on The Socio-Politics of Bloomers and Lycra: why what cyclists wear still matters , at an Institute of Railway Studies & Transport History Research Workshop at 2pm, in York, Thursday 2nd Feb.
- I will be speaking with James Woodcock on , at Tent City University, Occupy London, at 5:30pm on Thursday 2nd Feb.
- I’m talking on Cycling, Culture, Place, and Policy: making the connections , at CEMORE, Lancaster University, on February 21st, 4:15pm
- I’m presenting some of the Cycling Cultures findings to the Bristol Cycling Campaign on February 28th, at the YHA Bristol, 7:30pm.

The UEL Sustainable Mobilities Research Group is pleased to be hosting the 2012 Cycling and Society Symposium . Send your abstracts in now! The Symposium takes place on Monday 3rd and Tuesday 4th September, and the deadline for abstracts is 29th February.

About the Symposium
The Cycling and Society Annual Symposium is an informal and interdisciplinary event. It welcomes academics, policy makers and advocates who wish to share research, knowledge and experience of any topic related to cycling. (At previous symposia, participants have discussed cycling in relation to comparative research; conflict; culture; environmental issues; fear and stigma; gender; history; identity; image; inequalities; interventions; legal issues; methodology; modelling; policy; planning; social change; social movements; statistics; technology; transport infrastructure; well-being – and more!)

This year we invite poster as well as oral presentations. Oral presentations should be no more than 15 minutes to allow plenty of time for discussion. Poster presentation may be particularly suitable for those new to presenting or those seeking to raise awareness of new projects. Those wishing to participate without presenting are also very welcome to attend. A programme will be available in April giving details of presentations and additional events including the annual Cycling and Society Research Group meeting. If you require any further information in the meantime please contact Rachel Aldred at .

To submit an abstract, please email your title with an abstract of up to 300 words, stating whether this would be a poster or an oral presentation, to by the deadline of Wednesday 29th February 2012. Abstracts will be reviewed by a panel of members of the Cycling and Society Research Group and decisions will be sent via e-mail to the corresponding author by Friday 30th March 2012. The fee for the event will not be more than £25.

Background to the C&S Symposium Series
The Cycling and Society symposium series was launched in 2004 at Lancaster University, with subsequent meetings at the Universities of Cardiff (2005), Chester (2006), at the offices of the CTC in Guildford (2007), University of West of England (2008), University of Bolton (2009), Oxford University (2010) and Glasgow School of Art (2011). The symposia are linked to the Cycling and Society Research Group ( http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/cycling-and-society.html ) whose members span many disciplines and approaches to the study of cycling. An edited collection of papers presented at earlier symposia was published in the book ‘Cycling and Society’ (eds. Horton, Rosen & Cox, 2007) by Ashgate as part of its Transport and Society Series.