Sir, – As a cycling enthusiast, I couldn’t let the day pass without penning a response to Brian O’Connor’s cynical diatribe against cyclists and the sport of cycling (Tipping Point, Sport, June 27th). How ironic that the sports section should showcase such remarks on the same day that the main paper includes a worrying feature on the dramatic rise in the incidence of Type 2 diabetes, which is due in no small part to inactive and sedentary lifestyles.
Precisely what point the article is trying to make is beyond me, because it straddles such a wide variety of subjects, from cycling etiquette on Irish roads, to doping in the professional circuit to questioning the point of cycling as a sporting pursuit in the first place!
First, as regards cycling etiquette, I agree with Mr O’Connor to the extent that Irish cyclists generally need to pay a lot more attention to other road users, be they pedestrians or motorists. Equally, motorists need to meet cyclists half way on this issue as there is clearly fault on both sides – the culture of entitlement that Mr O’Connor writes about isn’t the preserve of cyclists alone. Irish roads are generally narrow and cycling lanes are in a poor state of repair, so a bit of give and take on both sides is required if they are to co-exist on a better footing.
I’m not qualified to enter the debate about doping in professional cycling only to say that, regrettably, all endurance sports at a professional level suffer from this affliction to a greater or lesser extent.
Finally, it’s hardly worth engaging with Mr O’Connor’s comment that cycling is a “fundamentally ridiculous” activity. I’d simply say that people are voting with their feet on this point judging by the dramatic rise in the popularity of the sport in this country in recent years. Mr O’Connor concludes it is a “mystery” why the French took cycling to their hearts in the first place. It’s actually pretty simple (aside from the fact that French women look pretty good in Lycra!) – cycling brings out the best in people; whether that’s the environmentally friendly commuter struggling through rush-hour traffic, the aspiring amateur grinding his way up the Wicklow Gap on a Sunday morning or Stephen Roche in oxygen deficit on an Alpine climb on his way to Tour de France victory.
“Why did you climb Mount Everest?” they asked George Mallory. “Because it’s there,” he replied. – Yours, etc,