Thats What I Get For Being Helpful Or The Clothes Make The Cyclist
Written by Boston Biker on Aug 12I was riding my bike through Harvard SQ yesterday (I just happen to be wearing nice cloths, cause sometimes I like to be classy), and while stopped at a red light the following scene happened.
Cope standing on the corner.
Lady with kids walks up: “Excuse me officer. Do you know where Ben and Jerry’s is?”
Cop has no idea, calls to other cop, other cop can’t hear him, this happens several times, finally I get tired of watching and say
Me: “There is a Ben and Jerry’s in the garage” points “And there is a JP licks down there” points “And a pink berry over there” points again.
Lady: “Thank you so much!”
She walks off with her kids, to enjoy some ice cream
Cop: “You know your ice cream huh?”
Me: “ha ha yea I do, you got to know where you can refuel after a long ride.”
At this point the whole thing was some serious Mayberry non-Bostonian friendliness shit, not the kind of thing you see every day. I think the cop must have realized that we were all being way too nice to each other so he then says to his buddy.
Cop: “See he isn’t one of those annoying cyclists that wear all those stupid clothes…”
WHAT!?!
Me: *in my head* “See you aren’t one of those fat lazy cops that act like dicks”
Me: *out loud* *nervous laughter* “Yea I try to wear whats practical.”
I then rode off, but seriously why would you say something like that? I think he was trying to be nice, but it displayed a serious lack of respect for a whole class of road users. For all I know this guy felt the same way about pedestrians and car drivers as well…but his utter lack of respect made me feel a little wtf for the rest of my ride.
It also opens up a whole can of interesting worms for how people feel about cyclists based on how they are dressed. I was in nice clothes, and I was “good.” The spandex roadies were “annoying” and I would bet if I had been on my fixy in cut offs I would have been “dangerous.”
We clearly still have a lot of hearts and minds to win over to the cycling cause. My ultimate goal would be to have cycling be as “boring” as any other mode of transport. By this I mean I want cycling to be seen as just as valid, useful, and normal as walking/driving/taking the train. Till then watch out for the cops in Harvard Square if you are in full kit.
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