Trend Authority Blog

A common phenomenon to grace our roads these days is the regular appearance of men in tight lycra outfits swinging their posterior in the air and holding up the traffic at a snail's pace.

To me a bicycle was a means of transport back in France when I used it to go to school and move around the town.

My bike was a reliable appliance and although we didn't wear helmets in those days it was fitted with all the right accessories which are sorely missed on today's expensive show-off machines.

It had a rear vision mirror so that I could see any traffic backing up behind me.

It had mud guards so that my trousers remained clean if I had the misfortune of riding across a puddle. We wore clasps or tucked our trousers inside our socks so that it wouldn't get tangled up with the chain or pedals.

The handlebar and the brakes could both be used in an upright position as well as a reclined position to minimize the air drag.

There were luggage racks both above the front and rear wheels as well as a couple of panniers.

It had a dynamo producing electricity for the lights. We were not wasting money with disposable batteries.

It had a stand to park it upright in case there wasn't any wall or fixture to lean it against.

It had a bell so that I could warn any pedestrian traffic of my silent arrival.

The railway station had undercover rack cycle parking for 500 bikes to cater for all those workers commuting to work in Paris. People padlocked their bicycle to the rack and no-one would dare to interfere or steal any parts as the local police officer kept watch from a distance. He would also get you booked for an offense if your vehicle didn't have a small plate in the middle of the handlebar engraved with your name and address. No rego plates for bikes but authorities still wanted to know who owned any bike left about.

Men climbed on their bike by standing to the left of it, raising the left pedal to the 11 o'clock position, putting the full weight of their body on it with the left foot and then swinging their right leg over to the right side.

Women were more elegant and rode a bike with a lowered frame. Mature ladies cycled each day to do their shopping down Main Street. They could easily sit on the saddle of their stationary bike loaded with groceries and take off on a low gear.

Since such a large part of the population were cyclists motorists would respect them and give them right of way instead of squeezing them into the gutter. In fact they would slow down, honk at you and say hello if they knew you.

Today cycling is not a means of transport but a sport and that's where the problem lies. You don't want children to play in the middle of the road but when adults do it as a group this is the wrong activity in the wrong place. Go and find yourself a velodrome. Breathing in exhaust fumes and putting your life at risk for the sake of fashion is no sport at all.

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