Hi. I am Greg and I want to grumble about bike riding – and I do this having just completed a 9-day ride along the Great Ocean Road with about 5,000 others. My grumble is not about the lycra – yes I know it looks appalling and turns people into lurid billboards, but it is by far the most comfortable clothing to cycle in, and over a long distance that matters.
And my grumble is not about bike riders not obeying road rules – most of the rules and road infrastructure were not made for bikes and are often inappropriate ‘car-thinking’, and sometimes unsafe. Although having said that, I do support helmet laws as I have twice cracked a helmet on the road without any harm to me. That’s two points for the so-called “nanny-state”.
My grumble is about the commercialisation of riding. I know that large groups of middle aged men combining high disposable incomes and a sport full of machines and gadgets is a marketer’s dream. But now the charities have got in to the market and I am sick of being asked to ride to cure cancer or some other injury, disease or condition, or to help a particular charity. They may be good causes, but if I really wanted to “ride for a reason”, it would be because it is cheap, keeps me healthy, is good for the environment, saves the community money, gets my brain working and is just plain fun.
The charity imperialism reached a farcical point for me earlier this year, when I went to register for a major community ride – on public roads I have ridden many times – only to find out I needed to raise several hundred dollars for a charity first. Frankly, if I was going to raise money for a charity, it would not be for that particular one. But the bigger issue is, what is it that requires us to ride, run, walk, shave, wear a ribbon or grow a ridiculous moustache to get donations for good causes.
It is the logic of a contract – that there must be an exchange to make it legitimate, or that you must do something to “earn” the charity dollar.
Personally, I dream of a community beyond such commercial logic, a community which gives what is needed, simply because it is needed, not because of some sporting indulgency. Imagine that, being able to fund good things on the basis of issues, not gimmicks!
I am Greg and I am grumbling – and riding, for fun.
This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast at https://radio.adelaide.edu.au/gregs-grumbles-20/
First Broadcast: 17 December 2013
Greg's Grumbles can be heard on Radio Adelaide during SACOSS' Small Change program - 6pm every Tuesday night. 101.5FM or online.
