CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 14years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
No. Not at the same time. It just occurs to me that campaigners & campaigns for both have similar issues. Like cycling, advocates of breastfeeding say it is easier, cheaper, and better for those involved. Not to mention that I bet breastfeeding rates in copenhagen etc are higher. But, they both struggle to change attitudes and behaviour. Not sure what the answer is, but was amused to reflect on similarities!
I support both, btw!
"No. Not at the same time."
Phew.
But don't get me started on attitudes to breastfeeding.. }:-(
our wise administrator suggests this is totally random. sorry everyone. am just curious about public campaigns, why people don't do things that are 'obviously' good for them etc. just a social scientist at heart. sorry for any confusion caused.
As a European it baffles me why people in the US vote against health care proposals which would be good for most people... nonetheless they do.
Was just checking IF it was random - or whether there had been a press release.
On a related topic, there has been plenty of 'discussion' about cycling and pregnancy.
In the old days of course the advice was to lie down in a darkened room for nine months.
Unless of course you worked in the fields, in which case you just got straight back to harvesting etc.
(I exaggerate.)
General concensus seems to be that cycling is good/desirable exercise, even late in pregnancy - subject to general health and reasonable safety considerations.
Some women have been know to cycle to the maternity ward.
But presumably, like breastfeeding, there are women who 'wouldn't do that'?
A change in lifestyle requires effort, even if it is good for you and will make you feel so much better. It is this effort that puts people off doing it. It's kind of weird but I wonder if it is some sort of throwback to our caveperson days when it was better to conserve energy as much as possible. If you can drive to the corner shop, throw some ready-salted lasagne in the microwave and chuck some formula in a bottle for baby then you may as well.
It really comes down to which is easier, if you want to encourage people to make the "right" choice, you first have to given them the choice, and the then make the "right" one the easiest one...
Sorry, I was off-line there for a while.
Min is obviously right about lifestyle change being difficult. But surely it is attitudes of others that also hold us back?
It used to be perceived as unacceptable for women to breastfeed in public. This is no longer the case in most areas, I think? I certainly never encountered any explicit hostility/rudeness etc. And of course, it is now illegal in Scotland for people to not let you feed in restaurants etc.
But, as we have noted, it is certainly still acceptable to vent anti-cycling attitudes in public. Perhaps that's what has to change. Another lesson must be that the breastfeeding lobby moved beyond their image of hippiedom and had the WHO, NHS on-side. Now a much largeer proportion of mothers at least start breastfeeding, but often don't carry on for as long as they 'ought' to. This is where I think the comparison with cycle-chic and cycle-training comes in. If you make it look glamorous and easy, then people are surprised that it is uncomfortable to start with, and get discouraged easily. So you need people who can advise, support and help you. Now breastfeeding clinics and trainers are much more widely availaible - at the ERI and at GPs clinics etc.
We need attitude change, but realistic attitude change -- there will be setbacks, you might have a fall, get sweaty, your bike will breakdown, etc, but wit support, you can keep cycling. That way, attitude change might translate into lifestyle change.
So my two lessons for cycle campaigns are (1) we need the NHS, govt, etc on board and (2) maybe we don't need 'training courses' so much as 'cycle advisors' that you can ring up and ask for advice, when the going gets tough. Rather, in my case, how this forum has encouraged me to cycle in the snow, when I probably wouldn't have, and given other bits of advice!
(an aside: I cycled my toddler to Sick Kids after she'd had a fall earlier this year -- it was the only practical thing to do as we were out on bike at time -- and can certainly imagine myself cycling to check-ups; actually cycling there in/for labour strikes me as a bit more difficult! I would not want to cycle home again afterwards!!)
Cycling advisors, what a great idea!
I'll happily buddy anyone starting out, I'm no guru but I can generally find the answers to questions and help out with the normal run of the mill probs :)
As to peoples inherent laziness, a very wise instructor once warned me "People are like water, they will always take the path of least resistance". He's been proven right more times than I can remember! :-o
Humm, 'cycle advisors' isn't that a role which forums like this already offer?
Of course I am going to say there is a need for cycle trainers, maybe we should call them cycling mentors, people who can go out and ride along side and give advice to those who are starting out.
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