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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/31/meg-hillier-cycling-lane-pootler-proud-women-cyclists-bike-ride
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| Meg Hillier is right to call for an extra cycle lane – I’m a pootler and I’m proud | Meg Hillier is right to call for an extra cycle lane – I’m a pootler and I’m proud |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The women in my cycling club were very cross this morning with Meg Hillier. According to the Telegraph, the Labour MP has called for an overhaul of Britain’s “rat run” roads to allow women to “pootle” at their own speed. | The women in my cycling club were very cross this morning with Meg Hillier. According to the Telegraph, the Labour MP has called for an overhaul of Britain’s “rat run” roads to allow women to “pootle” at their own speed. |
| “Well this isn’t patronising at all…” began the Facebook thread. “My Sunday afternoon ‘pootle’ was a little over 80 miles,” offered one woman, while another said Hillier clearly hadn’t met “the fastest granny in the world” – the dear founder of our ladies-only club, Glynis Francis, who last year won gold in the velodrome at the World Masters Track Cycling Championships, aged 59. “I completely agree that we need to have more lanes to cycle in,” began one of my more hardcore team-mates: “These Lycra-clad men just get in the way and it would make it much easier for me to ‘pootle’ on past.” | “Well this isn’t patronising at all…” began the Facebook thread. “My Sunday afternoon ‘pootle’ was a little over 80 miles,” offered one woman, while another said Hillier clearly hadn’t met “the fastest granny in the world” – the dear founder of our ladies-only club, Glynis Francis, who last year won gold in the velodrome at the World Masters Track Cycling Championships, aged 59. “I completely agree that we need to have more lanes to cycle in,” began one of my more hardcore team-mates: “These Lycra-clad men just get in the way and it would make it much easier for me to ‘pootle’ on past.” |
| Hillier, vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary cycling group, said women are put off cycling by busy roads populated by cars, lorries and “Lycra-clad mad cyclists” whizzing past at high speeds. Men are three times more likely to cycle than women – a fact Hillier also blamed on ladies finding the “muck sweat” of cycling a turn-off. Plus, she said: “Men arrive at work in flat shoes and a suit if you are going to an office job and so it is easier to turn up on a bike – for a woman there is the worry of wearing a skirt, or a dress, maybe high heels, then you have to think about something else to wear on your bike, how to carry your work clothes.” | Hillier, vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary cycling group, said women are put off cycling by busy roads populated by cars, lorries and “Lycra-clad mad cyclists” whizzing past at high speeds. Men are three times more likely to cycle than women – a fact Hillier also blamed on ladies finding the “muck sweat” of cycling a turn-off. Plus, she said: “Men arrive at work in flat shoes and a suit if you are going to an office job and so it is easier to turn up on a bike – for a woman there is the worry of wearing a skirt, or a dress, maybe high heels, then you have to think about something else to wear on your bike, how to carry your work clothes.” |
| To be fair to Hillier, she didn’t actually single women out as the pootlers, despite what the Telegraph headline suggested. What she actually said is that, “When cycling is planned ideally, you have a fast and a slow lane, so those that want to pootle along at a normal pace can do so.” | To be fair to Hillier, she didn’t actually single women out as the pootlers, despite what the Telegraph headline suggested. What she actually said is that, “When cycling is planned ideally, you have a fast and a slow lane, so those that want to pootle along at a normal pace can do so.” |
| She is absolutely right. Though I spend many Sundays going as fast as I can on my road bike in Lycra bib shorts and clingy jersey, this morning I pedalled into the Guardian’s office in Manchester at a snail’s pace, taking every bike path going. I was wearing an above-the-knee shift dress (my modesty protected with nifty padded hotpants) and three-inch wedge sandals, my handbag stashed in a pannier on the back of my fire engine red sit-up-and-beg number. When I reached the nasty roundabout leading into the city, I was very glad to avoid the hellish junction by veering off on to a segregated bike path that bisects it. | She is absolutely right. Though I spend many Sundays going as fast as I can on my road bike in Lycra bib shorts and clingy jersey, this morning I pedalled into the Guardian’s office in Manchester at a snail’s pace, taking every bike path going. I was wearing an above-the-knee shift dress (my modesty protected with nifty padded hotpants) and three-inch wedge sandals, my handbag stashed in a pannier on the back of my fire engine red sit-up-and-beg number. When I reached the nasty roundabout leading into the city, I was very glad to avoid the hellish junction by veering off on to a segregated bike path that bisects it. |
| That’s why I welcome Hillier’s remarks. Not everyone treats a bike ride like a time trial. Many of us simply want to get from A to B quicker than walking or taking public transport, and we don’t want to have to put on a whole new outfit to do so. I don’t want to have to shower when I get to work. I’m a pootler and I’m proud. | |
| I know male cycle commuters who take the same relaxed approach, though they are in the minority – partly, I think, because men love a bit of kit, and partly because, contrary to what Hillier said, their work outfits are generally less cycle-friendly than women’s. You don’t want to ride in a dry-clean-only suit, but a 1950s-style sleeveless sun dress is perfect. | I know male cycle commuters who take the same relaxed approach, though they are in the minority – partly, I think, because men love a bit of kit, and partly because, contrary to what Hillier said, their work outfits are generally less cycle-friendly than women’s. You don’t want to ride in a dry-clean-only suit, but a 1950s-style sleeveless sun dress is perfect. |
| What Hillier is really arguing for is the normalisation of cycling. Her constituency, in Hackney, east London, is already the most cycle-friendly borough in the capital, with more residents riding rather than driving to work. When I lived there, I could follow bike lanes along quiet roads all the way from my house to King’s Cross. I have no doubt that if other towns and cities followed suit, more people would saddle up. | What Hillier is really arguing for is the normalisation of cycling. Her constituency, in Hackney, east London, is already the most cycle-friendly borough in the capital, with more residents riding rather than driving to work. When I lived there, I could follow bike lanes along quiet roads all the way from my house to King’s Cross. I have no doubt that if other towns and cities followed suit, more people would saddle up. |
| Many women are scared to death of going out on a bike when they join our club – even if they’re eating up 80 miles a day after a few months. Anything the town planners do to make them feel safe on a bike should be applauded by us all, pootlers and speed freaks alike. | Many women are scared to death of going out on a bike when they join our club – even if they’re eating up 80 miles a day after a few months. Anything the town planners do to make them feel safe on a bike should be applauded by us all, pootlers and speed freaks alike. |
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