Matthew Parris of the Times has discovered electric bikes

[lectureral]

A couple of excerpts (I got told off when I copied too much of the Times once before)

They’re brilliant! Belinda, who lives at L’Avenc, the ancient house we’ve restored in the mountains on the Spanish Catalan side of the Pyrenees, has bought four of these bikes from a manufacturer in Barcelona.

But here’s the really cool thing: if you don’t pedal yourself, the electrics won’t kick in to help you. You can’t just freewheel. It’s so Tory! I just loved it.


But you know the best thing? Encountering ordinary sports cyclists in their lurid spandex garments and absurd minimalist crash helmets (ours were disguised, one as a solar topee, the other in hunting tweed). These ciclistas, with angry, spittle-flecked mouths, look at you in shock, glance at your battery, then eye you as one might eye a piece of excrement. And you hum and whirr on up the hill, with all the exultation of an unashamed cheat. Ha!

 

[indalo]

These ciclistas, with angry, spittle-flecked mouths, look at you in shock, glance at your battery, then eye you as one might eye a piece of excrement.

It was nothing to do with electrical assistance; they recognised the silly tory prat, nothing else!

Indalo

 

[eddieo]

It was nothing to do with electrical assistance; they recognised the silly tory prat, nothing else!

Indalo

I am seriously thinking of leaving the forum......but comments like this make me feel like reconsidering!lol

 

[timidtom]

But here’s the really cool thing: if you don’t pedal yourself, the electrics won’t kick in to help you. You can’t just freewheel. It’s so Tory! I just loved it.

Well, all I can say is that my vote goes to the obviously Marxist bikes we ride - they will offer throttle-only assistance when I'm just too knackered to pedal!
May the electric wind be ever at your back.
Tom

 

[JuicyBike]

I know he's a tory but he is actually a very health conscious posh geezer, completing marathons in particular, and one of only a few to whom I am prepared to listen.

Let's not tell them about throttles though... there's always Darwinism, failing the revolution.

 

[Tim]

A couple of excerpts (I got told off when I copied too much of the Times once before)

Excellent - any chance you could paste the lot for those of us on the other side of the Times paywall?

 

[Mussels]

But you know the best thing? Encountering ordinary sports cyclists in their lurid spandex garments and absurd minimalist crash helmets (ours were disguised, one as a solar topee, the other in hunting tweed). These ciclistas, with angry, spittle-flecked mouths, look at you in shock, glance at your battery, then eye you as one might eye a piece of excrement. And you hum and whirr on up the hill, with all the exultation of an unashamed cheat. Ha!

I've never seen this contempt from keen cyclists, could it be that he was expecting (wanting?) to be hated so much that he imagined this from every rider he saw? I think he may have had a grudge against cyclists long before he rode the electric bike.

 

[flecc]

I've never seen this contempt from keen cyclists, could it be that he was expecting (wanting?) to be hated so much that he imagined this from every rider he saw? I think he may have had a grudge against cyclists long before he rode the electric bike.

Or maybe their "hard" expressions were borne of self conscious embarrassment from needing to ride past him in their closely figure hugging spandex? Matthew Parris is a well know gay figure!

 

[lectureral]

Excellent - any chance you could paste the lot for those of us on the other side of the Times paywall?

No, sorry - I got wrong from a moderator last time because of copyright concerns - but check your PM

 

[OTH]

....... I think he may have had a grudge against cyclists long before he rode the electric bike.

This opening sentence from his column in the Times on 27 December 2007 may give you a clue as to his views on cyclists.

"A festive custom we could do worse than foster would be stringing piano wire across country lanes to decapitate cyclists."

 

[Scimitar]

This opening sentence from his column in the Times on 27 December 2007 may give you a clue as to his views on cyclists.

"A festive custom we could do worse than foster would be stringing piano wire across country lanes to decapitate cyclists."

Wow. He really is a piece of work.

 

[lectureral]

He has been taken to task for the piano wire ugliness in the comments section under yesterday's article. For what it is worth, I think the 2007 article was somewhat out of character (and intended to be over the top). I find him, generally, to be thoughtful and decent.

 

[parker]

A couple of excerpts (I got told off when I copied too much of the Times once before)

They’re brilliant! Belinda, who lives at L’Avenc, the we’ve restored in the mountains on the Spanish Catalan side of the Pyrenees, has bought four of these bikes from a manufacturer in Barcelona.

But here’s the really cool thing: if you don’t pedal yourself, the electrics won’t kick in to help you. You can’t just freewheel. It’s so Tory! I just loved it.


But you know the best thing? Encountering ordinary sports cyclists in their lurid spandex garments and absurd minimalist crash helmets (ours were disguised, one as a solar topee, the other in hunting tweed). These ciclistas, with angry, spittle-flecked mouths, look at you in shock, glance at your battery, then eye you as one might eye a piece of excrement. And you hum and whirr on up the hill, with all the exultation of an unashamed cheat. Ha!

Wonderful excerpts. Thanks for drawing this to our attention!!!

 

[flecc]

He has been taken to task for the piano wire ugliness in the comments section under yesterday's article. For what it is worth, I think the 2007 article was somewhat out of character (and intended to be over the top). I find him, generally, to be thoughtful and decent.

Ditto.
............

 

[eddieo]

Wow. He really is a piece of work.

Indeed.......Heard on news this morning tha David Camerons private health insurance is being paid for by non other then Rupurt Murdoch...

If this is the case we really must pay our ministers more, even if they are heirs to a multi billion pound fortune.

 

[indalo]

He has been taken to task for the piano wire ugliness in the comments section under yesterday's article.

Quite right too!

For what it is worth, I think the 2007 article was somewhat out of character (and intended to be over the top). I find him, generally, to be thoughtful and decent.

Sorry Al but you're wrong. Your last sentence makes no sense whatsoever unless you are attempting to justify the indefensible. He's one of the few political pundits who make Peter Hitchens seem credible!

Regards,
Indalo

 

[lectureral]

Sorry Al but you're wrong. Your last sentence makes no sense whatsoever unless you are attempting to justify the indefensible.

Regards,
Indalo

In your opinion - and I fail to see why you cannot understand the sentence: I find him, generally, to be thoughtful and decent.

 

[lemmy]

Or maybe their "hard" expressions were borne of self conscious embarrassment from needing to ride past him in their closely figure hugging spandex? Matthew Parris is a well know gay figure!

That's a pretty crass remark and unworthy of you Flecc. Perhaps other actors are unwilling to wear tight jeans because Ian McKelland is in the cast. Perhaps male staff at Bletchley Park were unwilling to bend over their desks because Alan Turing worked there.

No one who knows me would ever accuse me of being PC and I'm sure you didn't mean it in the way it sounds but schoolboy remarks like that are of another time and better not made in my opinion.

 

[flecc]

That's a pretty crass remark and unworthy of you Flecc. Perhaps other actors are unwilling to wear tight jeans because Ian McKelland is in the cast. Perhaps male staff at Bletchley Park were unwilling to bend over their desks because Alan Turing worked there.

No one who knows me would ever accuse me of being PC and I'm sure you didn't mean it in the way it sounds but schoolboy remarks like that are of another time and better not made in my opinion.

But conversely you have come over to me as nothing but PC with those remarks Lemmy.

Just as sure as you know I didn't mean it that way, I'm sure you didn't mean to be, but that's the danger of today's PC attitudes, the way they infect the social environment and create misunderstandings.

My comment was nothing but the sort of banter on this subject which is still commonplace and widely accepted, including by the gay community who even practice it themselves in the same comedic sense. In my experience it's only their activists such as Peter Tatchell who object.