Wider Acceptance

I feel it might be worth chiming in here as the handcycling community shares a similar situation. I've been trying to work with British Cycling for ages and have just had some success after a phone call with them and things look promising so far.

Regarding safety, one only has to compare your HPV's to the handbikes as we are probably in the same boat, there.

Now, one of my riding colleagues had nearly been turned away from a CTT affiliated TT because it was perceived that the route was too dangerous for an handcycle. He ended up having to have a quite detailed discussion (as I understand it) on the day even though the race was open to paracycling and they had been informed that two of us might be there. After a discussion where he descibed the route that he'd ridden a few times before and some persuasion by the race host's spouse, it was accepted that my colleague would be OK to ride.

After the Derby velodrome event last year, I contacted the Glasgow velodrome to see about riding there. They asked for a description of my bike and after that, simple ignored me.

I've had a few other interaction in the same realm including my phone call with BC and from having a long interest in HPV's and having seen the interaction of the public and the cycling community to them, I can see that there are similar threads to what handcyclist deal with.

Put bluntly, I think that most people think any bike that deviates form the "standard" upright is "weird," the people that ride them are "crazy" and therefore people don't know how to deal with them. Because of this, it seems to instil some subconscious sense of fear and avoidance because the public and other cyclist don't understand them. They don't understand the similarity to the familiar bikes, the need for them, or the desire to ride them.

I think this is the key ground level situation to deal with when trying to make changes. You have to change people's perception of the bikes and the riders because likely, those perceptions are wrong. The more I talk to people about why I ride the bikes I do, and the benefits that they have, the more they understand them and the need for them, and the more they can relate to their own bike experience and need for things that work for them.

Beyond that, if you're looking at inclusion for racing, I think as a group it would be useful to have categorisation of the HPV's in terms of design and performance, and try to work out some sort of race factor such as the para-riders have. In paracycling you can compare actual times, but also more able-bodied riders with essentially have a penalty added to make their times more comparable to a less able-bodied rider. Doing this will allow race times to be evaluated at a more equal and relatable way, as there is always going to be the issue that people will be put off including you simply because you're so fast and they won't want to be beaten. The TT's that I've done with uprights in my club, we've used that factoring and it makes it a bit more enjoyable for the handcycles as we fel more competitive, but we also know that we can try to beat the uprights with "real time".

But all in all, I think the most critical thing is that as a group, anyone other than an upright rider needs to take the time to talk to people involved, educate them, and demonstrate what your form of cycling is and the advantages and also the similarities. A lot of this will likely require first hand experience such as going to events and showing off some of the bikes, even giving people a chance to try them. When you make a personal connection, something that someone can relate to, that's when it's easier to invoke a change.

It's been a long, long time that HPV's have been at the fringes, and a lot of opinions and assumptions have been formed that need to be broken. Plus there may be some bad blood. Wouldn't be the first time.

I know I'm coming from the outside of BHPC and from a different type of riding so perhaps my observations and opinions aren't "right." But, I've had a bit of experience with HPV's in the states and have seen both sides of things. And with my current riding, I'm seeing similar things and dealing wiht similar situations.

I just keep in mind: Introduce, inform, and chip away.

Just my 2 cents worth.