Safety and Style.

Yesterday I had occasion to upset a segment of the cycling community by driving during the rush hour.

It confirmed to me just why cycling to work is such a good idea, as bike after bike glided past me, but I challenge anyone to pick up a girlfriend, plus luggage and a week’s New York shopping, from a tube station on a bicycle.

Two further things were different about my journey, the route I took, which wasn’t on my normal morning journey, and the time which was earlier than I ever leave for work. I’m not sure which of these explained my discovery of what might be the least stylish commuter cycle route in the city.

Everywhere there were ill-fitting high-viz tabards and none of the smattering of well cut and thought-out cycling gear that I usually see mixed in on my normal journey. To top it all off, one morning rider was even in elbow pads. While I’m all for safety and wouldn’t argue against helmets for those who feel safer in them, surely elbow pads are a step too far? Fair enough if you’re thrashing down a rock strewn mountain at 60mph, or maybe even in a concrete BMX park as you aim for that double flair, but for a saunter to work? What did he really think was likely to happen? If the pads had come into use, then wouldn’t some sort of protective trousers have been useful too, or was he just legislating against the chance of a full-on superman flight over the bars. If that happens at a speed to need your elbows protected might you not be more worried about a transfer fracture of your collar bone?

Or, perhaps, I’ve got the guy all wrong. Maybe I’ve misjudged his elbow additions. Perhaps he corners so tight and low that he uses them like motorcyclists use the scuff pads on their knees, or maybe they’re there to fend off cars that get too close. I reckon if you’re seriously going to put an elbow through a car window in protest then elbow pads might be just the ticket.

I hope he’s a bicycle warrior, kitted out to literally fight his way to his right on the road, but I fear he’s far more likely to just be super cautious.

The question left in my mind is now whether there are more and less stylish routes that cyclists take? Do you get a different type of bike rider on different roads and if so where are the most and least fashionable areas to be?

A