http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Cycling is the new golf. en Sun, 31 May 2026 21:00:19 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251&page=2#post-216583 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 11:23:02 +0000 Stickman 216583@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Didn't Kim Jong Il invent golf? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251&page=2#post-216581 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 11:21:24 +0000 Cyclingmollie 216581@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"...and then the imperialist running dog and enemy of the people stymied me on the 17th". </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251&page=2#post-216579 Thu, 14 Apr 2016 11:10:02 +0000 crowriver 216579@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Golf is no longer a crime, decrees China's Communist party</p> <p>Once rejected as the sport of millionaires by Mao, China now says there is is ‘no right or wrong’ about playing golf</p> <p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/14/golf-is-no-longer-a-decrees-chinas-communist-party" rel="nofollow">http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/14/golf-is-no-longer-a-decrees-chinas-communist-party</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251&page=2#post-216458 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 10:49:39 +0000 cb 216458@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>"Are you aware of cross-country golf?"</em></p> <p>"Birnham Hill, above the small town of Dunkeld, about 10 miles North of Perth. We had noticed a patch of clear ground, roughly two miles square on crest of the hill"</p> <p>? They must have a different map to mine.</p> <p>He's perhaps not the only one, but <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Par-000-Scotlands-Mountains/dp/1840184442/ref=la_B001K8EDT0_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1460540667&amp;sr=1-2">this person golfed across Scotland</a>.</p> <p>Might have to read that, although only one 2-star review. Mind you, doesn't sound like the reviewer has entirely bought into the concept.</p> <p>There is also Trig Cricket (on Lendrick Hill in the Ochils):</p> <p><a href="http://angrycorrie.t15.org/Tac65/tac65omyh246r.htm">http://angrycorrie.t15.org/Tac65/tac65omyh246r.htm</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251&page=2#post-216415 Wed, 13 Apr 2016 08:07:48 +0000 I were right about that saddle 216415@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>Much better to build a trail - often an old railway line or drover's road - that takes up very little room than cover acres of land with over-tended monoculture. This brings some money to remote areas building bunk-houses and offering food.</em></p> <p>Rosie - I have sworn not to rest until you can cycle from Dundee to Mallaig and from Gala to Wick off-road. Coupled with serious land reform it would transform our country.</p> <p>@gembo</p> <p>Are you aware of <a href="http://sabotagetimes.com/football/cross-country-golf-a-good-walk-improved">cross-country golf</a>? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251&page=2#post-216404 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 22:15:08 +0000 gembo 216404@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Golf in Scotland on municipal courses has always been an accessible sport for the common man and occasional common woman.</p> <p>Cycling has a long proletarian tradition from the clarion through to HG Wells </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251&page=2#post-216399 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 21:46:32 +0000 Rob 216399@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>The cycling he's complaining about (organised groups riding high tech bikes along planned routes with good roads to a pub/cafe) has been going on since the bike was first invented.</p> <p>Sure, the technology has advanced and expanded into clothing but it's basically the same. You'd be mad to think there wasn't a competitive element back then too.</p> <p>In the early days cycling was for well off people with plenty of spare time so really, cycling is the new cycling. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251&page=2#post-216394 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 20:33:05 +0000 Rosie 216394@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I heard the mantra "cycling is the new golf" when I was in New Zealand a few years ago. There are more and more cycle trails and the older well-off types go on tours rather than take up golf. All to the good. Much better to build a trail - often an old railway line or drover's road - that takes up very little room than cover acres of land with over-tended monoculture. This brings some money to remote areas building bunk-houses and offering food. </p> <p>I recognise the competitive culture the article talks about and as golf was once corporate entertainment, etape cycling can be offered to clients. But I don't know what he is moaning about. Competitive cycling has as much to do with the wandering about on the bicycle through the countryside as marathons have to hill-walking. They are different activities and one does not dispossess the other. </p> <p>The advantage of having more people taking up cycling, whether racing or mountain biking is that there are cycle shops in unlikely places, which is useful for the touring cyclist who needs a repair. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251&page=2#post-216387 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 17:40:47 +0000 crowriver 216387@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"Perhaps cycling is the new squash as well as the new golf. Squash had a reputation as being something businesspersons did whilst having chats about business and being all sweaty and competitive. "</p> <p>Yes, I think that analogy holds water as it appeals to a similar demographic. An old friend of mine used to play squash regularly in the 90s and zeroes. I bumped into him a couple of years ago and he was getting into road bikes, had ridden a few times with PortoVelo and was training for the Étape Caledonia... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251&page=2#post-216386 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 17:39:17 +0000 Stephan Matthiesen 216386@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>May I bring a continental perspective? At the time that he (I think) is talking about, the 1980s or 90s, in Germany many people cycled for their daily transport (not everybody though), but very few for sports or touring.</p> <p>You did meet many cyclists, but there was little group feeling as it was just transport, people and bikes were diverse just like people you meet on the bus, walking or in cars. </p> <p>Out in the countryside, that was very different. When on a tour, you basically never met anybody else, the only other people on bikes were typically locals on the way to the next village.</p> <p>I did a couple of longer tours, but it was a very niche activity, some tours I did on my own, some with my best friend, and some in groups or 3 or 4 friends, starting from home for a couple of days or a week with a tent. My longest tour was a 3 months. </p> <p>We didn't have money for special bikes, we just went off on the same bike that we used every day to get around in town. Basically we all knew basic mechanics and could fix everything, but most of us weren't that interested in the technology as such as long as it worked.</p> <p>Occasionally I met another lonely rider on a tour similar to myself and also on some standard bike, but it was really very rare. I don't think we talked much about bikes but rather we exchanged sightseeing or routing tips (no GPS back then...). </p> <p>I don't think I've ever encountered a club on any form of training, that just wasn't popular at all, perhaps a few professionals but not as mass sport.</p> <p>As it was so niche and few people really went on longer tours, the locals were often really impressed and very helpful. We got a couple of free breakfasts or lunches. Once I cycled with a friend through Austria, and as it was getting dark and we were looking for a place to pitch the tent, we passed a lonely house and somebody suddenly shouted "Hey you guys, do you want something to eat?" Turned out some neighbours were having a barbeque and had more sausages than they could eat, so they just decided to stop us when they spotted us through their garden fence. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251&page=2#post-216382 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 16:53:51 +0000 rust 216382@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I worry that if cycling becomes or is the new golf the increased number of middle aged businessmen dying of heart attacks while participating is going make cycling look more dangerous than it is... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216378 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 16:40:33 +0000 amir 216378@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I don't think golf or squash have anywhere near enough cake </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216374 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 16:14:26 +0000 wingpig 216374@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Perhaps cycling is the new squash as well as the new golf. Squash had a reputation as being something businesspersons did whilst having chats about business and being all sweaty and competitive. Cycling-in-costume-for-fitness is a lot more like squash than golf, which is more akin to pootling extremely slowly to the shops, except that you carry a heavy bag in both directions. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216371 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 15:28:15 +0000 Min 216371@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>And that way was MC Hammer??? </em></p> <p>The Emperor of daft troosers. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216366 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 15:10:10 +0000 PS 216366@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Round my way in the 80s/early 90s general northern man culture would only allow a male child to ride something suitably rugged and knobbly. Said child would possibly not be allowed to wear a coat by the prevailing mores, neither.</p> <p>The growth in road cycle sport has made it more acceptable for fellas to ride less draggy bikes, which is all for the good. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216365 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 15:00:51 +0000 wingpig 216365@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>MTBs with amazingly low gears were also weirdly popular in the early/mid nineties in one of the non-Woldy bits of Lincolnshire, not just amongst people who might have used them to travel between boggy fields. All the woodland paths in the area were perfectly navigable on a three-speed. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216363 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 14:51:39 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 216363@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"Although to my mind, any thread containing golf and trend obsessed Londoners could only go one way"</p> <p>And that way was MC Hammer??? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216360 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 14:47:20 +0000 crowriver 216360@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Probably true. What we now call road bikes would have still been 'racers' then and thus deeply unfashionable, redolent of the late 1970s/early 1980s 'bike boom', Milk Race, etc. when every teenage boy wanted a drop bar bike with skinny tyres.</p> <p>I think by late 90s we're heading into the era of the hybrid, which carried forward into the zeroes... Perfect for pootling along a Sustrans route near you. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216358 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 14:29:50 +0000 Min 216358@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>Magnificent thread drift. </em></p> <p>Aye thangyew. Although to my mind, any thread containing golf and trend obsessed Londoners could only go one way.</p> <p><em>Darn Sawf there are not many mountains to MTB on. </em></p> <p>True, however, there seemed to be a lot of them in Oxford in the late 90's to me although no doubt outpopulated by 3 speeds. Those don't make much money for bike shops though so they would still be dominated by MTB stuff? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216346 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 12:58:26 +0000 crowriver 216346@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@Min</p> <p>"It must have been a REALLY long time since he last cycled because for a large tract of my cycling life, cycling was taken over by mountain bikers and mountain biking and all the gear and bike shops revolved around it."</p> <p>"Don't forget he is talking about London"</p> <p>I think this latter explains a lot. </p> <p>Mountain biking was incredibly visible in Edinburgh during the 1990s because of Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op (importers of some of the first MTBs to the UK back in the 1980s) and also because the local terrain lends itself to the pursuit (Pentlands, lots of unpaved tracks around various hills, the Border, Glentress, etc.)</p> <p>Darn Sawf there are not many mountains to MTB on. Not even many decent hills near Londinium. So I imagine that MTBers were less visible at local level because they took their bikes in/atop a car to a place where there were mountains (Wales, Scotland) or decent hills (mainly points west and north in England). </p> <p>Also, the tradition of cycling as transport and for touring declined less rapidly in south east England. Think of Cambridge, Oxford, but also the counties around London, and folk cycling to work, the nearest train station, or heading to the leafy lanes of Suffolk for a weekend's touring. Partly this an effect of the gentler terrain. So English 3 speeds, tourers and the like were likely around in far greater numbers than here.</p> <p>Certainly when I lived in London in the mid-1990s (probably "peak MTB" era in the UK), although I saw a few mountain bikes ridden as commuters around the city (mostly hard tails, rigid forks), they were outnumbered by more traditional bikes. There were not that many cyclists visible in central London at that time due to the horrendous traffic and the large numbers of motorcycle couriers revving at every junction (and roaring off before pedestrians had finished crossing). This is before the congestion charge and the rise of the internet as a means of getting documents etc. from one office to another. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216345 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 12:30:15 +0000 Stickman 216345@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>As a golfist myself, I find other golfists telling me about every single detail of their last round incredibly boring, regardless of the comedic value of their trews. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216343 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 12:23:01 +0000 Edinburgh Cycle Training 216343@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I have never had a conversation with a colleague(s) about cycling where someone air cycled or air crashed.</p> <p>I have witnessed literally hundreds (worked here 30+ years) amongst golfers where they will all swing imaginary golf shots. In fact I don't think I've ever witnessed a golf conversation where that didn't happen! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216342 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 12:22:17 +0000 I were right about that saddle 216342@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>By the way it's my belief that golf is the Scottish pétanque. </p> <p>You should never play entirely sober, all kit should be second hand and contact with a good player should leave you psychologically traumatised win or lose. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216341 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 12:18:11 +0000 Stickman 216341@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I was at a wedding reception at Paisley Golf Club where we were told that they'd have to phone the Captain at home to get permission for the wedding guests to remove their ties. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216340 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 12:17:54 +0000 I were right about that saddle 216340@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"We are talking MC Hammer but tight."</p> <p>Magnificent thread drift. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216338 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 12:03:46 +0000 wingpig 216338@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@Cyclingmollie My Ayrish father-in-law refers to golf as "gowf" but I (6'0") still had to borrow a pair of trousers from him (5'7") when he wanted to take us to his gowf-pitch's gowf-building for some food when we were through one weekend. His other grandchildren (aged 11, 8 and 5 at the time) were also once moaned at by the building's operatives when they were taken in for a similar meal whilst they were wearing trainers.<br /> The practise of golfings in England is fortunately much rarer than up here; unfortunately my childhood village came with a course already attached and was later to become a centre of golfing excellence with an entire extra fieldsworth of holes installed where there used to be some lovely woodland and a lovely pile of straw bales. Down there the people doing it are much more likely to be socially snottier, as exemplified by people barking at children walking along a public footpath that someone was daft enough to build a golf course atop. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216337 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 12:01:27 +0000 Min 216337@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I am pretty sure that 3/4 troosers (the Americans call them "knickers", teehee) for cycling have been going for a very long time and are very practical although, ironically on me they tend to sit at the slightly above the ankle stage..</p> <p>(obviously I am not talking about tall people who struggle to get trousers to fit but with the actual real trend for it) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216334 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 11:57:11 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 216334@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I've seen those! I also saw someone the other day wearing the uber-skinny drainpipes with the 'carrot top' (where the crotch hangs low and the waistband is held up by the middle of your buttocks so that you can display your pants labelling).</p> <p>Truly bizarre. I don't mind the slightly shorter jeans with a wee turn-up. Mainly because being tall I struggle to get jeans that fit properly (save a couple of notable exceptions where I shop now) and at school was always the butt of 'half mast' trouser quips, simply because I outgrew my troos too quickly and we were too poor (violins) to replace them regularly.</p> <p>Not sure where my cycling 3/4 troos sit in the mix - though on my I've noted before that they're closer to 3/5 troos... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216333 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 11:56:00 +0000 Min 216333@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>Did they split into two legs as normal at the gusset then re-join at the knees or did the bodyrise extend from knee to waist, like MC Hammer's harem pants? </em></p> <p>We are talking MC Hammer but tight. They seem to be beloved of parkour persons and look like they could be the worst possible thing to wear for parkour. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16251#post-216332 Tue, 12 Apr 2016 11:55:05 +0000 PS 216332@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>That article is a bit of balls, isn't it? </p> <p>I certainly prefer having all these why-aren't-they-playing-golfers on their bikes than in their BMW's impatiently trying to get past me to make their tee time at Gullane...</p> <p>Besides, a side-effect of these "men with money and power" getting on their bikes is a raised profile of cycling that can be used to bring improvements for everyone else. </p>