Motivation for cycling

Billy Connolly had an abusive father, and is an avid cyclist.

While my own father was by no means a terrible man, he could be classed as having been overbearing
and bullying when I was growing up. I'm into cycling, along the lines of 3000 miles a year avid (not
sure if that's a lot or not).

A friend of mine also is an avid cyclist, who also had an overbearing, authoritarian father.

So my point? My wife was talking to me yesterday and said she has heard it said that often keen
cyclists have had overbearing and bullying fathers. I'm not after gory details, since it is not my
place to ask for them and I wouldn't be so rude.

I just wondered what folk thought about this theory - i.e if you're mildly screwed up about your dad
you might be more inclined to get into cycling, to perhaps:

-- prove yourself? -- get away from your father? -- have some control over a certain part of
your life...

Thanks

Burton

 

I know I took up cycling because I could kick the school bully in the back and then make a speedy
getaway before he realised it was me. I was 7 at the time. Afterward primary school I took up
cycling full time because I enjoyed Sprint Road Racing. (My coach said I had a good turn of
accellartion but cr*p stamina for long races) Now I cycle off road mainly because I like the
solitary feeling you get from bombing down a trail or jumping a cliff drop by yourself.

That's my history of cycling, if it helps.

Gadget

 

Burton Figg wrote:

> I just wondered what folk thought about this theory - i.e if you're mildly screwed up about your
> dad you might be more inclined to get into cycling, to perhaps:
>
> -- prove yourself? -- get away from your father? -- have some control over a certain part of
> your life...

No, I just gradually got keener on (various) sports and after leaving university, cycling was by far
the easiest one to fit in with Real Life. Can't row myself to work...

James

 

I cycle because I enjoy it. Had a great relationship with my father. He was the best Dad anyone
could want. My mother, on the other hand ...

Cheers, helen s

~~~~~~~~~~
Clean up the waste & get rid of the trapped wind to send a reply

Any speeliong mistake$ aR the resiult of my cats sitting on the keyboaRRRDdd
~~~~~~~~~~

 

In article <[email protected]>, one of infinite monkeys at the keyboard of
"Burton Figg" <[email protected]> wrote:

> I just wondered what folk thought about this theory - i.e if you're mildly screwed up about your
> dad you might be more inclined to get into cycling, to perhaps:

Hmm, my father doesn't answer your description. I took it up relatively seriously as a student at
Cambridge, where cycling is *the* way to get around (I was at Girton, so walking would have taken
far too long for an impatient young chap

If everywhere had Cambridge's mild pro-bike and anti-car incentives, I'm sure we'd have a lot
more cyclists.

--
Axis of Evil: Whose economy needs ever more wars? Arms Exports $bn: USA 14.2, UK 5.1, vs France 1.5,
Germany 0.8 (The Economist, July 2002)

 

"Burton Figg" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
> I just wondered what folk thought about this theory - i.e if you're mildly screwed up about your
> dad you might be more inclined to get into cycling,
to
> perhaps:
>
> -- prove yourself? -- get away from your father? -- have some control over a certain part of
> your life...

No, my dad was a great bloke and not only gave me my first adult sized bike but taught me how to use
it on the road (early 1960s) safely and legally and also managed to take me on rides despite working
long hours (he owned a car but used one of my older sisters bikes). I also went out with an older
sister on occasion but was happy to extend my frontiers on my own, whether this was a result of
being independent or a cause of it I don't know. My family is very large so maybe there was an
inherent need to find some space.

Some 40 years later I still ride the same lanes with at least the same amount of pleasure despite
being an unapologetic car owner since 1970 and having been around a bit

(If I weren't doing an 80km off-road enduro tomorrow I'd be riding right now rather than sitting
here punching keys)

Pete

 

My Dad is great, he used to cycle tour too. There are some great old photos of him, his sister and
her husband on tour in Belgium in about 1950. I have been a bikey forever, I do it mostly alone for
the bliss of solitude. I do it to get some exercise to keep me healthy. I do it to get into the
countryside in a countryside friendly way. I have always pedalled for these reasons.

"Burton Figg" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Billy Connolly had an abusive father, and is an avid cyclist.
>
> While my own father was by no means a terrible man, he could be classed as having been overbearing
> and bullying when I was growing up. I'm into cycling, along the lines of 3000 miles a year avid
> (not sure if that's a
lot
> or not).
>
> A friend of mine also is an avid cyclist, who also had an overbearing, authoritarian father.
>
> So my point? My wife was talking to me yesterday and said she has heard it said that often keen
> cyclists have had overbearing and bullying fathers.
I'm
> not after gory details, since it is not my place to ask for them and I wouldn't be so rude.
>
> I just wondered what folk thought about this theory - i.e if you're mildly screwed up about your
> dad you might be more inclined to get into cycling,
to
> perhaps:
>
> -- prove yourself? -- get away from your father? -- have some control over a certain part of
> your life...
>
> Thanks
>
> Burton

 

Filling the void.

 

[Interleaved quoting: please read to end for all comments] Burton Figg wrote in uk.rec.cycling:
about: Motivation for cycling

> So my point? My wife was talking to me yesterday and said she has heard it said that often keen
> cyclists have had overbearing and bullying fathers. I'm not after gory details, since it is not my
> place to ask for them and I wouldn't be so rude.

Interesting. Where did your wife hear this from?

There's possibly a grain of truth in this. Yes, my dad was somewhat authoritarian and bullying, and
yes I did get into cycling.

But it might have also been due to the fact that (and this is the only good thing going for the
smalltown hell where I grew up) that I had some good countryside on my doorstep and in 15 minutes I
could be right out in the countryside in the fields, and further away, forests and hills.

Of course, it could also have been that due to being bullied I had no self-confidence and therefore
was very shy about making friends (not helped by living practically on the edge of town and on a
one-sided street only having a couple of immediate neighbours with children) and a good 15 minutes
walk to the nearest other children, and therefore there wasn't a lot else I could do, and it get
provide me with an opportunity to get out, and away, to do something interesting in peace.

Also notwithstanding that, bar a golf course and tennis court, there were absolutely no
leisure/social facilities in the town whatsoever, and no, it wasn't even big enough to have a proper
streetcorner to hang out on..

If there's any truth in this theory, it might go some way to explain why the various organisations
of the cycling world often fall out with each other? If we've been bullied by our parents it tends
to make you somewhat distrusting of others in general, and then if communications break down it can
be harder to bridge the divides again..

--
David Marsh, <reply-to-email is valid at time of writing> | Glasgow, Scotland. [en, fr, (de)] |
http://web.viewport.co.uk/ | Learn usenet and netiquette: read news:news.announce.newusers |
>I scorefile posters who don't quote in traditional interleaved style.<
begin Once upon a time, there was a badly-broken newsreader program...

 

My motivation for cycling?

Simple: I was a ginger stepchild.

Tim.

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In message <[email protected]>, Burton Figg <[email protected]> writes
>I just wondered what folk thought about this theory - i.e if you're mildly screwed up about your
>dad you might be more inclined to get into cycling, to perhaps:

Nope - re-took up cycling in my mid-thirties because I needed the exercise, but luckily found it was
also one of the few sports where the I don't have to enter some senseless competition, but can just
do it for it's own reward.

--
Martin @ Strawberry Hill

 

Usenet <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> In message <[email protected]>, Burton Figg <[email protected]> writes
> >I just wondered what folk thought about this theory - i.e if you're mildly screwed up about your
> >dad you might be more inclined to get into cycling, to perhaps:
>
> Nope - re-took up cycling in my mid-thirties because I needed the exercise, but luckily found it
> was also one of the few sports where the I don't have to enter some senseless competition, but can
> just do it for it's own reward.
>
> --
> Martin @ Strawberry Hill

I took up cycling to lose weight initially. Went from 17.5 stone to 12 and never looked back. Now I
race, ride 300 miles per week and love every minute of it.

God bless cycling!

--
Mark
____________________________
Practice does not make perfect... Perfect practice makes perfect

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On Fri, 30 May 2003 19:53:28 +0000 (UTC), "Burton Figg" <[email protected]> wrote:

>So my point? My wife was talking to me yesterday and said she has heard it said that often keen
>cyclists have had overbearing and bullying fathers.

My father was definitely abusive - I asked him for a loan of his car and he told me to piss off, so
I had to go by bike :-D

Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony. http://www.chapmancentral.com (BT ADSL and
dynamic DNS permitting)
NOTE: BT Openworld have now blocked port 25 (without notice), so old mail addresses may no longer
work. Apologies.

 

>My father was definitely abusive - I asked him for a loan of his car and he told me to piss off, so
>I had to go by bike :-D

Reminds me of only yesterday. Nathan was due to go round to his mate's and was planning to cycle
there. Last minute he changed his mind and said, "I don't fancy cycling today - you take me Mum." I
told him to think again if he expected me to drop what I was doing and to get on his bike." I am the
mother from h*ll ;-)

Cheers, helen s

~~~~~~~~~~
Clean up the waste & get rid of the trapped wind to send a reply

Any speeliong mistake$ aR the resiult of my cats sitting on the keyboaRRRDdd
~~~~~~~~~~

 

Just zis Guy, you know? <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 30 May 2003 19:53:28 +0000 (UTC), "Burton Figg" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >So my point? My wife was talking to me yesterday and said she has heard
it
> >said that often keen cyclists have had overbearing and bullying fathers.
>
> My father was definitely abusive - I asked him for a loan of his car and he told me to piss off,
> so I had to go by bike :-D
>
> Guy
> ===

LOL!

--
Mark
____________________________
Practice does not make perfect... Perfect practice makes perfect

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Burton Figg wrote:

> I just wondered what folk thought about this theory - i.e if you're mildly screwed up about your
> dad you might be more inclined to get into cycling, to perhaps:

I cycled to start with as it was the quickest way to get my paper round done, and then it
represented free transport anywhere I wanted to go locally, plus it was fun. I was happy enough on a
bike that I only learned to drive when my dad said that rather than repay a loan he'd given me I
could spend it on driving lessons instead as they were bound to be useful[1]. He was quite right
about that, but since I was already 25 I never got out of the habit of using a bike as my default
transport.

Pete.

[*NOT* the action of a man I have issues with!]
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

Burton Figg wrote: <snip>
> I just wondered what folk thought about this theory - i.e if you're mildly screwed up about your
> dad you might be more inclined to get into cycling, to perhaps:
>
> -- prove yourself? -- get away from your father? -- have some control over a certain part of
> your life...

Nowt to do with my dad. More to do with the answer to the question as asked when missing the bus
home from the nearest metropolis on a Wednesday - "When is the next bus to Winforton?", and finding
out the answer is "Saturday"...

Jim Price

 

[email protected] (wafflycathcsdirtycatlitter) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...

> Reminds me of only yesterday. Nathan was due to go round to his mate's and was planning to cycle
> there. Last minute he changed his mind and said, "I don't fancy cycling today - you take me Mum."
> I told him to think again if he expected me to drop what I was doing and to get on his bike." I am
> the mother from h*ll ;-)

I hear the sound of disk wheels becoming more remote.

--
Dave...

 

wafflycathcsdirtycatlitter <[email protected]comfarts> wrote:

: At the end of it, he actually enjoyed it. As I told him - he now has a
: certain degree of freedom he didn't have before. He's even looking forward to his first open TT on
: Wednesday

You need to ensure that he doesn't become trapped in TT-limbo though.

Get him to do a TLI road race. Then explain that he doesn't need a low-prom, disk-wheel yadda,
yadda. The emphasis on time trialing (and in particular on fast times for set distances) is very bad
for cycle sport in this country IMO.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune http://www.clune.org Power is delightful. Absolute power is absolutely delightful -
Lord Lester

 

Arthur Clune wrote:

> The emphasis on time trialing (and in particular on fast times for set distances) is very bad for
> cycle sport in this country IMO.

Couldn't agree more. Also one only has to look at the make-up of many of the fields to see the way
it is going, with so many veterans and so few youngsters. There is no way I would allow my children
to race on some of the courses being used - It would be totally irresponsible, yet CTT permits it.

As for being good for the sport, well, yes i suppose you can always beat your personal best
(dependent on lorry flow of course) but its hardly going to attract sponsors and the media, or
attract more ordinary people out on bikes. It can become a very obsessive sport, for all the
wrong reasons.

BTW I speak as a one-time tester, over all distances. I think I still hold several club records from
10-miles to 24-hours on the trike.

John B