There are indeed quite a few heavy people who are very interested in
cycling. "How is a 300-pound person going to ride a bike?" People do
it, and not just to lose weight. Lots of related discussion in the
Clydesdales/Athenas section of BikeForums:
<http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=248>
Of course, there are some who are interested in cycling for weight
loss. Check out Scott C's "Large Fellow on a Bicycle" blog. He
started at 501 and is now down in the low 200's:
<http://istanbultea.typepad.com/largefellaonabike/>
(see also <http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/16782826.html>)
Rivendell was working on a bike for larger cyclists, and ran a
feature in their magazine about a company (whose name I can't
remember at the moment, but it may have been Rans) that was working
on a more mass-market version. Frankly, I think the mainstream
manufacturers are foolish for not tapping what could well be a
sizable (pun intended) market. Their loss.
Michael Lemberger
Madison
On Apr 9, 2008, at 1:07 PM, Dar Ward wrote:
My point was that the council person's comment and vote are only
vocalizing what most people feel.
We all know that heavy people can bike...witness Tim's 4:30
biker...but you don't see images of heavy people biking in any of
the promotional literature out there. As an obese bicycle advocate
who had to write grants on a regular basis for years that
essentially said that fat people are fat because they are lazy and
if they would just get on a bike they would get skinny...I have to
say that the problem in large part isn't the comment and vote
mentioned...but the fact that, even though the bicycling community
SAYS it wants to encourage large people to bike...they don't walk
that walk (or bike that bike).
I dare BFW or Trek or anyone else trying to sell bicycling to find
the fattest regular bicyclist in the state and put that person on
the front of their webpage or on their brochure. I guarantee it
won't happen. If that isn't internalized fat phobia...I don't know
what is.
If you are passionate about bicycling and want more people to
bicycle, you have to accept that there are lots of fat people out
there. And that they ought to be biking whether it helps them lose
weight or not. If you are fat and all you see are images of skinny
people on bikes...you think to yourself..."that isn't me."
Mike...you shouldn't have to say that you don't look like the
typical bicyclist. That's the problem right there...there ought
not to be an image of "a typical bicyclist"...we are diverse and it
is a disservice to the promotion of bicycling to propagate the myth
that bicyclists are thin or ought to be thin.
-Dar
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