What kind of a cyclist am I?
We’ve been asking people in interviews how (and if!) they would define themselves as a cyclist. This has produced a variety of responses – and sometimes, it seems like it’s easier for people to define themselves in terms of what they are not than what they are. Often, cycling identities come up unprompted too. It’s fascinating how they’re connected to other social identities, to other modes of transport, to strongly held views on good and bad cycling behaviour, and to much else.
We received this response in an email by one of our interviewees later on – and thought it would be an interesting post.
What sort of cyclist am I? An interesting question that has had me
thinking over the weekend.There are at least two ways of answering this. Firstly what am I like as a cyclist. In this case, I would say I am fairly steady, safe and assertive. So I stop at wear reflective bib and helmet, use my bell, stop at red lights (given I expect others to obey traffic lights so should I) and use lights at night – and generally cycle a couple of yards from the kerb, not in the gutter. Trying not to get myself injured.
The secondly it is about identity. I am a cyclist. Being a cyclist is part of being me. Taking the stance that the personal is political, it is about cycling as a political statement and an expression of my values, about concern for the environment. So part of that is about cycling being normal, not something odd, special or different. So it is about cycling in my normal clothes, not Lycra; claiming cycle allowances; turning up at meetings with a cycling helmet; writing bike in forms asking for a car reg no; having a one less car sticker; being a visible cyclist.