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news
James May (CC BY-SA 2.0 licence by Airwolfhound:Flickr)James May urges Prime Minister Boris Johnson to “bomb us with bicycles” with £80bn HS2 cash
Grand Tour co-host James May has called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to “bomb us with bicycles,” pointing out that the current £80 billion budget for the HS2 railway line would be enough to buy “every adult in Britain a carbon-frame bike.” He also said that he had changed his mind on cycle helmets, which he insists “are now so universal that not wearing one makes you look like someone making a tiresome point.”
Writing in yesterday’s Sunday Times – a week after the newspaper published a column by Rod Liddle who wrote that he found it “tempting” to string piano wire across roads used by cyclists – May also spoke of his experience of cycling in London during lockdown.
> Sunday Times says Rod Liddle “piano wire” column “not intended to be taken seriously”
The motoring broadcaster and writer was filling in this weekend for colleague Jeremy Clarkson, who has regularly used his column, and other platforms, for anti-cyclist comments, even though he often rides a bike himself.
> “Bikes can f*@% off” says Jeremy Clarkson in YouTube rant
May, by contrast, has a long-standing love of cycling, and last year urged motorists not to subscribe to what he termed “road sectarianism” which seeks view drivers and cyclists as polar opposites.
> “Don't buy into the anti-cycling thing” - James May tells drivers to stop worrying about cyclists
In yesterday’s column, he wrote: “I maintain the bicycle is one of humankind’s greatest inventions, because all it really does is empower the pedestrian,” and recounted the freedom they provide from childhood onwards.
“As a younger man, I could easily ride 70 or 100 miles in a day, and did, all over Britain and France. These days, it’s more like riverside jaunts to rewarding pub suppers, and probably not enough of them — the bike rides, I mean — if we’re honest.
“Then something interesting happened,” he continued. “The lockdown came with a qualifier: you could go out walking, running or cycling, once a day. So I immediately bought a new bike, which was a bit self-indulgent, as I already had one.”
The new bike was a Giant TCR Advanced 2, which May has ridden almost every day since lockdown began on local loops of 6-10 miles.
He said that a month after buying it, “I experienced the greatest bike ride of my life,” on a day when he had to go to a recording studio in Soho for voiceover work.
“I made the six-mile journey on my bike, and that was an even odder experience; the capital at the quietest I’ve known it, and by a long, long way. By the time I left, the sun hung in view, and I decided on a wantonly circuitous route home, taking in much of the West End, Park Lane, various monuments, the park, Buckingham Palace and a couple of famous bridges.
“It was utterly idyllic, the whole fabulous cityscape sluiced in sunlight, uncorrupted air and almost complete silence, seemingly there for the pleasure of the hundreds of cyclists exploiting an unprecedented and unrepeatable opportunity.”
Turning to the government’s commitment to provide £2 billion for cycling and walking over the next five years, May said he was still “cynical about convoluted attempts to build bicycle lanes, because they often end up confusing and ignored,” and also highlighted what he saw as the “limitations” of bicycles for people with long commutes, seemingly ignoring the fact that you can use more than one type of transport on the same journey.
“But,” he said, “it’s a lovely vision, and it should start — like most things — with a mindset. That means it should start with bikes. All this talk of bicycle repair vouchers is encouraging; bliss it is in this extraordinary dawn to own a bicycle repair shop (I know a man who does, and he’s looking very happy), but how about a new bike?
“This got me thinking: £2bn is a lot of money. To that, we can add the £80bn projected to be spent on the HS2 high-speed rail link, which is going to be even more unpopular now only four people will be allowed in a carriage. All that cash could buy every adult in Britain a carbon-frame bike.”
Alluding to the use of heart-and-minds campaigns rather than aerial bombings, he added: “People are restless. They want change. So come on, Boris Johnson — you’ve long been known as the bike man. Bomb us with bicycles.”
May also gave his tips on cycling, including what type of bike to buy, the importance of maintenance, correct tyre pressure and gear selection and, finally, wearing a helmet.
Talking to road.cc in 2014, champion cyclist turned cycling campaigner Chris Boardman said: “I think the helmet issue is a massive red herring. It’s not even in the top 10 of things you need to do to keep cycling safe or more widely, save the most lives.”
> Chris Boardman: “Helmets not even in top 10 of things that keep cycling safe”
However, May revealed his personal view on wearing a helmet had changed.
“I resisted this for years, thinking it was the first step towards the back-door regulation of cycling, which I oppose vehemently. But helmets are now so universal that not wearing one makes you look like someone making a tiresome point.”
It’s a curious observation to make right now; certainly, it seems that in the part of West London that May lives in and will have been doing the bulk of his recent riding, many who have taken to cycling for transport during lockdown have chosen to do without one.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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31 comments
I really despise helmet nazis. I hope they get paint chips on their forks.
Vicious! But I can't disagree.
Which ones are those then? The ones who say you must wear a helmet or those who insist they are dangerous?
'He also said that he had changed his mind on cycle helmets, which he insists “are now so universal that not wearing one makes you look like someone making a tiresome point.'
So given that helmet wearing in the Netherlands is a minority thing, are people wearing helmets just making a tiresome point?
If it has got to the stage where helmet wearing in the UK is 'so universal' then the point is that few cyclists feel safe on the roads -- which is the opposite of the Netherlands and doesn't need to be like that. Surely May should be calling for the £80billion to be spent on safe infrastructure, not carbon framed bikes (tiresome though I no doubt sound).
You sound no where near as tiresome as chief twit of fop James May.
Here is the crucial paragraph:
“It was utterly idyllic, the whole fabulous cityscape sluiced in sunlight, uncorrupted air and almost complete silence, seemingly there for the pleasure of the hundreds of cyclists exploiting an unprecedented and unrepeatable opportunity.”
It’s the ‘unrepeatable’ bit I mourn. It’s not coming back; the quiet, the clean air, the road peace. All the bloody motor vehicles are back though. Riding yesterday to the shops - just noise of hooting, shouting, revving, beep, beep, beep . . . . . ‘Kin ell.
Couldn't agree more. Its as if everyone is saying "OK that's covid done now lets get back to destroying the planet"
What a shame. Basically a great article from a big name with hooks into the petrolheads, just the sort of thing we need. Yet the only lasting contribution will be another arrow in the quiver of the "bloody cyclists" brigade. Oh, and Handlebarcam's skit, brilliant.
..
It's far simpler than all the comments.
James May's hairdo can't possibly be made any more untidy by a helmet, so he has no reason to object anymore.
In other question, did this London-centric gentleman demand that the 10s of billions tipped into holes for the London Underground be spent on bicycles instead?
(Leaving aside that giving stuff out for free will make it less valued - a partial subsidy is far better imo).
The Underground is pretty crucial to London. It is an essential service (to use the jargon of the day)
HS2? Well, one of the points of HS2 was to link the Midlands to Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels as well as London (Euston and St Pancras International are walking distance) Solipsism and ignorance scuppered that idea. So HS2 does seem like an expensive folly.
Writing from further North I think HS2 is quite crucial. It's about whether we want a national transport system fit for the 21st century for the whole country or for about 20% of it.
I think that question answers itself.
Agreed, HS2 gets a bad rap because the people behind it havent come up with an easily memorable set of one syllable word catchphrases to sell it yet,so its purpose and benefits gets lost in a muddle of announcements,plus it comes with a big price tag,but it's very much needed and something we should be doing.
A big price tag which goes up every day, currently somewhere north of £100bn.
Given that it didn't have an economic case when it "only" cost £35bn, they are destroying historic woodlands to build it, and they've dropped the associated cycle provision, it should be stopped now, and the money spent on things which actually benefit society; like the NHS, and a massive investment into active travel, not the paltry £2bn currently.
And no, it isn't needed.
I can't disagree with wanting a 21st century transport system. Such a thing would include proper provision for cycles, for a start. But whether connecting the north to London by some sort of high speed drain, emptying the wealth of the region into London, is a sensible policy is something I am not persuaded of. Why not connect up the cities of the north with high speed rail first, not after London? I somehow doubt that the second phase of HS2 will ever get built, frankly, and IMHO that is what should be built to fire up the economic growth of the north and balance the economy of the country instead of merely adding to the wealth, influence and congestion of the capital.
Just my penn'orth.
The largest economic benefit to HS2 apaprently was the cycle path that was to built along side it for a tiny fraction of overall cost. And only part to be dropped.
Along with all those fiddly bits where 'local' roads needed to get across from one side of the railway line to the other. "Why should we build a bridge or an underpass when you can just nip thirty miles up to the next major road crossing place?"
I'm sure some people are trying to make a tiresome point. But the 10% of the time when I'm not wearing a helmet will be the times I'm simply popping to my local shops or park and the risk of head hitting pavement is no worse than if I was walking there.
It's not a statement, it's just doing what is appropriate for the situation.
"someone making a tiresome point"
I suppose you can't have an article simply singing the praises of riding a bike. Being pointlessly divisive and controversial probably increases newsworthiness.
Editor: OK James, I've done a first pass on your article, and it looks great. Really good. Just what we need for "balance" after last week...
James May: I feel a "but" coming.
Editor: Yeah, it just lacks controversy. Can you think of something to get a reaction on Twitter? Just a little sour note so Rod Liddle's readers don't think we've gone too far the other way. This is a News Corp paper after all.
JM: OK, let me think for a minute.
Editor: No problem. I'll do a line.
JM: How about this, I say cycling is great, but anyone who wears lycra while doing it is a mung-bean-eating pillock with a small dick.
Editor: Nah, we're running your piece opposite an advert for Evans, and they sell a lot of that stuff.
JM: Food delivery riders are a menace?
Editor: No. Rupert has invested some money in one of the big delivery firms. You won't believe how big the profits can be when you don't actually employ the people who work for you.
JM: Jeremy is much better at this sort of thing.
Editor: Fuck it, let's just reignite the helmet "debate".
JM: Sure. Pro or anti?
Editor: Doesn't matter.
With the Pics of Queen Lizzie riding a horse /pony around Windor at the age of 94, was there any mention of her not wearing a helmet in any of the comments?
Good spot!
She is eternally tiresome. The Matriarch parasite.
So James isn't concerned about whether they are effective or not, just on whether the cool kids are all wearing one...
Here is a "tiresome point" that needs to made and repeated: cycle helmets are neither designed nor tested to protect their wearers in the event of a collision with a motor vehicle.
xxxxx
He summed you up nicely.
I know that. I just need someone to convince my wife...
You underestimate your powers of persuasion; if you managed to get her to marry you, you should be able to convince her of a simple thing like helmet lies with all the data and evidence, surely?
What that quote of May shows is that he's judgemental; he judged people who wore helmets when he didn't, he judges people who don't wear helmets now that he does.
Oh, and the bit about "you look like someone making a tiresome point" is projection which fits in with him being judgemental.
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