Anti-Veloism: Weird, Creepy Bike Hate
Obviously, not everybody likes cyclists. In fact, lots of people actually hate cyclists. If you ride a bicycle you've undoubtedly experienced the sting of anti-veloism at least once. Some anti-veloist attacks are fairly straightforward, like when an irate motorist yells at you for being "in the way." Others though are downright bizarre, and can be so strange that instead of being angry you just find yourself confused. A reader recently forwarded me an instance of the latter from Madison, Wisconsin.
In this case, the anti-veloism took the form of a skit on a WJJ0 99.4 radio program. Basically, some guy with a goofy Harry Shearer radio voice says he's sick of bicyclists, or "spandex cowboys." He then segues into some skit which is a parody of a hunting show, in which the host goes to the "Wisconsin Bicycle Trail of Death," where he kills bicycles instead of deer "because we feel they're flamers and they should be shot at!" He then launches into some weird homoerotic reverie in which he positions himself near someplace "gay and retarded" because that's where cyclists like to congregate. Once he spies some effeminate male cyclists, he then shoots them and excitedly declares that he "bagged me a nancy boy!" Then the host comes back and says that "if motorcyclists...if we did what bicyclists do we'd be in jail and our bikes impounded." Then they go to commercial.
A link to a MP3 recording of the radio show can be found here: <a href="http://www.madvelocity.com/article.php/Don-t-Hate-Me-Because-I-m-a-Bicyclist">http://www.madvelocity.com/article.php/Don-t-Hate-Me-Because-I-m-a-Bicyclist</a>;
An interesting come back from a cyclist to the leather clad motorcycling radio shock jock calling cyclists garb "gay": <a href="http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2009/03/anti-veloism-weird-creepy-bike-hate.html">http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2009/03/anti-veloism-weird-creepy-bike-hate.html</a>;