geplaatst in The Outkast

[T]

The Outcast is a fanzine style singlespeed mag, reknowned for being a bit singlespeed-fascist. http://www.yesweareontheweb.com/outcast/

Bike Bigot

Think I might have got a bit too comfy in this town of happy singlespeeders.
Forgot what itÂ’s like to mingle with the unconverted. Big shock to come home on Friday and find the kitchen occupied by a bike bigot. DidnÂ’t mind the Bullit, taking up half the room slouched against the wall. Decidedly shonky, all mud and dents and surgical-looking devices. Pile of body armour sprawled beneath, quietly oozing goo. Tool for a job, built for a purpose. Wearing its heart on its sleeve and beautiful for it. No, the bike can stay as long as it likes. But the owner, well, IÂ’d suggest that she takes a walk with the pigeons if she wasnÂ’t bigger than me. And drinking tea from my favourite cup.

Staked her place in the field whilst detailing her long and illustrious downhillerÂ’s career. Bragging that sheÂ’s got her own seat in her local A&E. Then looks at the singlespeeds in the corner and says where the hell can you ride one of those. A 24 hour race, how hard can that be? No gears? ThatÂ’s just stupid.

Seems to me that if thereÂ’s anything to do with bicycles that requires you to remove your brain and leave it with a parent or guardian before kick-off, itÂ’s racing downhill. WouldnÂ’t imagine thereÂ’s a lot of time for rational thought in that scant five minutes of gravity-assisted flailing. Just survival, back to the bones of the thing. Lines, power, instinct.

One heck of a lot like the hollow empty of 3am in a 24 hour morning, living on lines, power, instinct, ‘cause you can’t stomach anything else...

How is it that some people seem to be blind to the fact that no matter what uniform you wear, whether youÂ’re screaming down a Welsh hillside or grovelling up the Beacon after 80 winter road miles, youÂ’re still doing it on two wheels under the power of your own two legs (exceptions made for amputees/clever sods/plain lazy boys), and that makes you a cyclist. Part of something bigger and more important than that little closet niche youÂ’ve wedged yourself into. Backwards. Variety the spice of life and narrow-mindedness the vice?

How is it that cliques puff themselves up with so much hot air that they lose sight of what they are? Just the thin end of an unimaginable wedge, just geeks on bikes, part of something vast and magical and altogether more noble than the shinytoyfest thatÂ’s going on down the bike shop where itÂ’s not a way of life but a toy/a lifestyle choice/a recreational pursuit (please delete as applicable).

Next time youÂ’re riding in the pissing rain and hating it, think of thousands upon thousands of people pedalling their way through an Indian monsoon. Filling the streets with wheels and chains and really not giving a toss about how many gears theyÂ’ve got. Just happy to be going home. Kind of humbling isnÂ’t it. Slaps all that bravado straight back to where it belongs. Two wheels, two legs. Just a bike.

Het is een (op onwaarheden gebasseerde) rant tegen een kennis van me en los daarvan, een hersenloze catfight.

MAAR ik heb wel gehoord dat Singlespeeding in de UK verbijsterend veel foute mensen aantrekt en ik wil bij deze de motie aandringen om met ingaande de term SS niet meer te gebruiken maar SiSp. Ik wens namelijk op geen enkele wijze met dat soort lui die zich heiliger dan heilig achten omdat ze "t met één geartje kunnen en ook nog eens foute levenswijze op na houden.

Misschien begin ik nu een naieve hemelbestormende actie, maar juist in een hechte club als singlespeeders onder elkaar ... haal nou niet je schouders op of schud je hoofd, denk niet, waar maak je je druk om, de term "SS" heeft meer impact dan wij inschatten, we denken er dan toch te licht over!!

[JJ]

Ik volg het niet helemaal geloof ik...

Leg eens uit waar jij in dit stukje de relatie ziet tussen foute mensen en het gebruik van de term SS...

[T]

zoiezo snap ik ook niet precies waar de schrijfster zich druk om maakt. Daar gaat "t niet niet helemaal om (hoewel het dus "t gedachtengoed is van singlespeders te UK van Outcast, aangezien ze het artikel anoniem gewoon plaatsen, zonder commentaar)

maar, wat ik ermee wil aangeven, dat deze SiSp trend bepaalde groeperingen in de UK aantrekt, wegens de naam en daardoor Singlespeeders een hele beroerde naam meegeven, dat het de naam heeft van dronken malloten, ach, what else is new maar verder........

[Pino]

Uit het stukje proef ik geen associatie met een historische boevengroep.
Wel een afkeer van het elitaire "uebermensch" gevoel dat sommigen ontlenen aan het behoren tot een bepaalde zelfgekozen groep, bijvoorbeeld singlespeed.
Een zelfde elitaire houding zie je op veel plekjes ontstaan en is zeker niet van de laatste tijd.
Om slechts binnen de tweewielergroep te stimatiseren:
Campa liefhebbers,
Freestyle, freeride,
Street,
Fixed,
Plons-adepten,
staal,
anodised fans,
Zocchibabe kwijlers,
tandemrijders,
geschoren wegnichten.

Groepen die zichzelf maar al te vaak te serieus nemen en anderen vanuit hun ivoren torentje beschimpen.

(mijn onderschrijft blijft van toepassing)

[T]

well discribed

[Tartel]

SiSp?!!!

Ik hoop dat dit een slechte grap is ofzo?!

El Tartelino groet zijn onderdanen!

[T]

Ik hoop dat dit een slechte grap is ofzo?!

Ja natuurlijk hahahahaha....

[Tartel]

Trouwens, over goeie rants gesproken:

Downhilling. A Team Sheep rant
Created By: Leon Sheep ( Mon 17 Jan 2000 10:34 )

Lazy man"s sport. My contempt for downhillers means I almost canÂ’t be bothered to write any more. But I will, what a pathetic hybrid of mountain biking downhilling is, granted, DHers may say that the sport was started by a bunch of OAPÂ’s riding down a hill in America, I say bollocks, the sport was started when the same bunch of OAPÂ’s wanted to ride back up the hill to do it again.

Anybody can ride downhill. Anybody can ride downhill fast. WhereÂ’s the skill? WhereÂ’s the training? You want to go faster? DonÂ’t use the brakes as much. Dhers are just unfit neophytes who want to get into the extreme sport of MTBing, but without the fitness, or the dedication. Why bother training when you can sit in front of the latest extreme MTB video and eat pizza? ItÂ’s all just a cop out to make the fat slow people feel good.

But itÂ’s exercise! No itÂ’s not, you sit on a huge bike that cost more than a house, weighs the same and could probably get down the hill faster without the rider (I use the term rider in the loosest possible sense...) DHers just flex their middle and index finger once in a while, they burn more calories at home with Ms Palma and her sisters... ItÂ’s not even as if you could pedal a downhill bike, itÂ’s cos of the placement of the swingarm they claim. The industry has created a breed of bikes that are impossible to pedal so that the DHers donÂ’t have to worry about getting fit.

WhatÂ’s going on with the bikes? They cost a fortune, they weigh a ton, and they handle like a blindfolded pig in a snowstorm. Their only redeeming feature is that you could ride over a rock the size of a car and you wouldnÂ’t notice, just as well, the shock of feeling the rough terrain would cause the average DHers arse to prolapse. After all a bit of singletrack is so much rougher than mummyÂ’s Chesterfield...

Possibly the most irritating thing about DHers though is their attitude. Why are they so arrogant? Why is it that all other branches of MTBing, especially singlespeeders (GodÂ’s chosen cyclists...) are so nice, yet it has spawned DHers, MTBingÂ’s spoilt child. To see their attitude on the trail is really upsetting, they treat everybody with the same utter contempt. DHers are the reason for the trail access problems suffered by all other cyclists. With hindsight perhaps the DH child should have been aborted. It takes nothing to be polite to other trail users. What does it take to slow down a bit to allow walkers, horseriders and the like safe passage? Nothing. Instead, to the average DHer all other people are trespassing on his personal DH, even though it is public path on a busy Sunday afternoon. Possible the only thing a DHer has any talent for, other than eating, is whinging about a DH race, the course was too flat/steep/hilly/pedally/technical/wet/dry/long/short. Well boys if you donÂ’t like the course, why not sod off home and just ride off the pavement? The entire point of MTBing is pitting oneself against nature. DHers are just annoyed that nature wonÂ’t conform to what they want; perhaps mummy could buy it for them?

DHers are not worth the amount of time IÂ’ve spent writing this. But a few points to finish on, IÂ’m a proper cyclist, I ride on the road and off road, none of my bikes have any form of suspension, other than the plush 20 inches offered by my arms and legs, yet IÂ’m still quicker than the majority of DHers, even on my cheap rigid bike. My newest bike cost about half that of a "good" DH Bike and it weighs 18 pounds. Team Sheep went to the local DHers award giving, weÂ’re just MTBers, yet we still outdrank the collected DH masses.

IÂ’ll finish with a rant from a correspondent on the mtbr.com website:



To all of the dickheads who figure that a public cross country trail is the place for full body armour and way to much travel FSR"s can kiss my ass. Get a life clowns, if you"ve got the money to buy a almost useless bike for crosscountry, spend it on gas and go where everyone else is not. Quit ripping up the trail, you"re the reason trails get closed.

Looks like everybody else agrees!

El Tartelino groet u!

[Tartel]

[

Ik hoop dat dit een slechte grap is ofzo?!

Ja natuurlijk hahahahaha....

Hmmmzzz.... Wij vonden het waarlijk een slechte grap, maar uit beleefdheid zullen we even meelachen:

Hahahaha.....

Lachen is immers gezond!

El Tartelino groet u!

[T]

and we rest our case!

[legion]

Trouwens, over goeie rants gesproken:

Downhilling. A Team Sheep rant
Created By: Leon Sheep ( Mon 17 Jan 2000 10:34 )

Lazy man"s sport. My contempt for downhillers means I almost canÂ’t be bothered to write any more. But I will, what a pathetic hybrid of mountain biking downhilling is, granted, DHers may say that the sport was started by a bunch of OAPÂ’s riding down a hill in America, I say bollocks, the sport was started when the same bunch of OAPÂ’s wanted to ride back up the hill to do it again.

Anybody can ride downhill. Anybody can ride downhill fast. WhereÂ’s the skill? WhereÂ’s the training? You want to go faster? DonÂ’t use the brakes as much. Dhers are just unfit neophytes who want to get into the extreme sport of MTBing, but without the fitness, or the dedication. Why bother training when you can sit in front of the latest extreme MTB video and eat pizza? ItÂ’s all just a cop out to make the fat slow people feel good.

But itÂ’s exercise! No itÂ’s not, you sit on a huge bike that cost more than a house, weighs the same and could probably get down the hill faster without the rider (I use the term rider in the loosest possible sense...) DHers just flex their middle and index finger once in a while, they burn more calories at home with Ms Palma and her sisters... ItÂ’s not even as if you could pedal a downhill bike, itÂ’s cos of the placement of the swingarm they claim. The industry has created a breed of bikes that are impossible to pedal so that the DHers donÂ’t have to worry about getting fit.

WhatÂ’s going on with the bikes? They cost a fortune, they weigh a ton, and they handle like a blindfolded pig in a snowstorm. Their only redeeming feature is that you could ride over a rock the size of a car and you wouldnÂ’t notice, just as well, the shock of feeling the rough terrain would cause the average DHers arse to prolapse. After all a bit of singletrack is so much rougher than mummyÂ’s Chesterfield...

Possibly the most irritating thing about DHers though is their attitude. Why are they so arrogant? Why is it that all other branches of MTBing, especially singlespeeders (GodÂ’s chosen cyclists...) are so nice, yet it has spawned DHers, MTBingÂ’s spoilt child. To see their attitude on the trail is really upsetting, they treat everybody with the same utter contempt. DHers are the reason for the trail access problems suffered by all other cyclists. With hindsight perhaps the DH child should have been aborted. It takes nothing to be polite to other trail users. What does it take to slow down a bit to allow walkers, horseriders and the like safe passage? Nothing. Instead, to the average DHer all other people are trespassing on his personal DH, even though it is public path on a busy Sunday afternoon. Possible the only thing a DHer has any talent for, other than eating, is whinging about a DH race, the course was too flat/steep/hilly/pedally/technical/wet/dry/long/short. Well boys if you donÂ’t like the course, why not sod off home and just ride off the pavement? The entire point of MTBing is pitting oneself against nature. DHers are just annoyed that nature wonÂ’t conform to what they want; perhaps mummy could buy it for them?

DHers are not worth the amount of time IÂ’ve spent writing this. But a few points to finish on, IÂ’m a proper cyclist, I ride on the road and off road, none of my bikes have any form of suspension, other than the plush 20 inches offered by my arms and legs, yet IÂ’m still quicker than the majority of DHers, even on my cheap rigid bike. My newest bike cost about half that of a "good" DH Bike and it weighs 18 pounds. Team Sheep went to the local DHers award giving, weÂ’re just MTBers, yet we still outdrank the collected DH masses.

IÂ’ll finish with a rant from a correspondent on the mtbr.com website:



To all of the dickheads who figure that a public cross country trail is the place for full body armour and way to much travel FSR"s can kiss my ass. Get a life clowns, if you"ve got the money to buy a almost useless bike for crosscountry, spend it on gas and go where everyone else is not. Quit ripping up the trail, you"re the reason trails get closed.

Looks like everybody else agrees!

El Tartelino groet u!

Als Tartel iets niet in z"n eigen woorden kan zeggen maar iemand gaat citeren dan weet je dat het érg moet zijn, maar dit.... Wat een oetmaloot!
Hahaha, en dan lopen mekkeren dat DH"ers zo arrogant zijn...

[Gast]

Er zijn nu eenmaal in alle sporten en beroepen mensen die zichzelf het einde wanen en anderen als drek beschouwen. Gewoon niet op ingaan, rijden zoals je zelf wilt en openstaan voor andere stijlen, zou "k zeggen.