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We’re fed up of subscribing to be a cyclist — how much does cycling really cost in 2025?

After the announcement that pro cycling coverage will be moving to TNT next month (who charge £30.99 a month for a subscription) we thought we'd see how much we could save off our cycling-related subscriptions

If you like participating in and watching cycling, then like us, you've probably been bombarded with subscription price hikes in recent years. The death of cycling on Eurosport - and the £6.99 subscription that came with it, replaced by a £30.99 a month TNT paywall in its place - might have felt like the final nail in the coffin for some of you, but there are ways to soften the financial blow slightly and save money on other cycling-related regular payments.

Cycling coverage

ITV Eurosport logo

From: £30.99/month

New price after saving: £10/month

I guess we might as well start with the bombshell that kicked this discussion off, the cost of watching our favourite sport. Many people were already very disappointed when GCN+ closed, meaning they would have to pay extra for Discovery+. To be honest, that jump up to £6.99 a month now looks like a drop in the ocean compared to this latest change!

Unfortunately, if you want to legally watch professional cycling in the UK then you really don’t have a lot of choice but to subscribe to TNT Sports. 2025 is the final year that there will be live coverage of the Tour de France on ITV, and we all know how little of everything else cycling-related you can find on Freeview.

EE TNT Sports TV offer

There are a few ways you can legally reduce this cost. You can get TNT Sport for £20 a month as a Sky or BT add-on, or £18 through Virgin Media. We also spotted this deal if you’re an existing EE pay monthly mobile customer, a whole telly and TNT Sports subscription for £10 a month. Now that seems like much better value!

Because there has been so much reaction to this, we've actually published a whole other feature on ways you can watch cycling for less in light of the TNT subscription bombshell. 

Strava

Strava app icon in iPhone

From: £8.99/month

New price after saving: £4.59/month

Also making its way out of our bank accounts each month is a Strava Premium subscription. This also used to be a fair bit less, but unfortunately for me I’m just too invested to quit. I like seeing how I’ve done on segments and comparing my times to a few years ago, and I also like to use Strava to make cycling routes.

To reduce the cost this year, I’m going to bite the bullet and pay for a year up front. That will set me back £54.99, which although painful works out to be quite a lot cheaper at about £4.59/month. 

Other things you could try to wean yourself off Strava is using a free platform such as Garmin Express or the Wahoo app for post-ride analysis, and use the free version of Strava to stalk your mates. I’m also a big fan of Strava sauce, a free Google Chrome extension that gives you all kinds of additional nerdy data!

British Cycling/personal insurance

British Cycling (Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

From: £7.50/month

New price after saving: £7.50/month  2

Whether you race like I do, or not, you may also be splashing out on a British Cycling membership. Personally, I’m shelling out £50 a year for a standard membership and then £40 on top of that for a race licence, which enables me to spend even more money entering local road and criterium races. That £90 annually works out at £7.50 per month.

If you want to race in the UK then you don’t have a lot of choice but to pay this. Even if you don’t then the standard membership is a pretty good idea as it gives you third party liability insurance. Having had plenty of acquaintances make use of this it really is worth its weight in gold, giving you one less thing to worry about if anything bad does happen while you're out cycling.

Paul Tuohy (Cycling UK)

The only thing that you might want to look at, if you don't race, is switching to a Cycling UK membership. If you’re a student, want cover for the whole family or are on means-tested benefits it could work out much cheaper. In fact, some Cycling UK membership plans start from £2.84/month, and you still get that all important third- party cover.

Beyond insuring yourself, if you want to insure your bike against theft and damage then be sure to use our handy comparison tool to find the best deal. 

Zwift

2024 Zwift Camp: Baseline

From: £17.99/month

New price after saving: £0/month

Call me what you want, but I find that I train much harder during the winter months when I’ve got access to my Zwift account. At £17.99 a month though, this is yet another subscription-based service that has seen a massive price increase in recent years.

There are plenty of cheaper alternatives out there. Rouvy, for example, costs about a third less at just over £12 a month. If you're really trying to cut down on your subscriptions then it's hard to look past switching to MyWhoosh (below). It's a free indoor training app with nearly all the functionality of the big paid ones. 

MyWhoosh esport champs

However, with many of teammates using Zwift for group rides, workouts and race leagues, I just can’t tear myself away. If, like me, you begrudgingly pay for Zwift each month, then I'd say always remember to cancel or pause your subscription over the summer if you’re not using it - set a reminder in your calendar now!

Also, don’t buy a new turbo trainer without taking advantage of the year's free Zwift that many come with. As for paying for it on a yearly basis, well yes, you’ll save two months, but for me paying monthly works better. 

TrainingPeaks Premium

TrainingPeaks Premium subscription RCCR

From: £16.10/month

New price after saving: £5/month

If you’re serious about training plans, fitness, and fatigue, chances are you’ve at least considered using Trainingpeaks Premium. This online platform and app is what many of the pros use to track and plan their training in minute detail. It's also a favourite among coaches.

Up until recently, I was paying out for this. If you pay monthly then that’s about 20 dollars a month, or £16.10. Once again this is a platform that rewards you for paying annually. You can get it for half the price at £100, or about £8.40 a month.

2021 TrainingPeaks Athlete Premium Calendar.JPG

With British Cycling memberships you can then get 25% or 40% off yearly subscriptions, but even if you’re not a standard or premium member it’s worth looking out for discount codes online as they do often come up. If, like me, you’ve decided it's all a bit excessive but still love to plan your training, then I’d recommend checking out Golden Cheetah. It's free and although definitely not as user-friendly, it does have much of the same functionality.

Nutrition apps

EatMyRide nutrition app RCCR

From: £8/month

New price after saving: Free

Quite a few of us on the road.cc staff are also subscribed to nutrition apps to help track and monitor what we eat. 

MyFitnessPal is a very popular option, its premium subscription costing £5.99 a month, and EatMyRide is a cycling-specific app that we rated very highly for on-bike nutrition insights. It's priced at just over £8 a month.

To be honest, it's hard to see anyway of reducing these costs - but you could try Cronometer which is free, or do the labour intensive job of tracking macros manually.

Bike insurance

Bike insurance answers

From: £5-£60/month

New price after saving: Same price

The exact amount that you'll be spending on bike insurance depends on many factors: how many bikes you have, the value of your bikes, where you live and the type of coverage you're after.

To reduce this cost we recommend shopping around each year to ensure you're getting the best deal, trying to find discount codes to reduce your premium and not just accepting renewal quotes without haggling. Just like with car insurance, insurance firms will reduce your premium if you threaten to take your business elsewhere. Our final tip is to see if you can get your bikes added to your home insurance, which can sometimes save a significant amount. 

Cycling coaching

EF Education-Nippo coaching service

From: £20-£150+/month

New price after saving: Same price

And finally, a very popular expense is a coach. Don’t get me wrong, a good coach will likely make far bigger difference to your cycling performance than spending more on your bike, but they also don’t come cheap. In the office, we have riders spending from anything between £20 a month to £150 a month on coaching to keep them accountable and doing the right kind of training.

Unfortunately not all coaches are as good as others, so if you are spending money on this then make sure you find a reputable coach that’s communicating how you want them to, and is backed up by lots of genuine reviews. 

Why does it matter?

How much money can you save by cycling to work? Sept 2024

Personally, I don’t think that any of these things are too luxurious. I realise that I could definitely live without quite a few of them, and you can let me know if you think I’m being excessive in the comments below.

I guess the point is, is it really any wonder that people aren’t getting into cycling any more? Running has a much smaller barrier to entry, to give one example. You don’t need a bike for starters, although a coach, Strava and a nutrition app are equally as useful. It's less likely that you’ll be paying for an indoor training app or expensive streaming service, though.  

> 6 of the best value bike upgrades

Hopefully, at least some of those people put off by the price will see at least some of these tips and realise that there is plenty of money to be saved if you search around. Feel free to give us your recommendations on how to save money without compromising on all these lovely things in the comments below...

Jamie has been riding bikes since a tender age but really caught the bug for racing and reviewing whilst studying towards a master's in Mechanical engineering at Swansea University. Having graduated, he decided he really quite liked working with bikes and is now a full-time addition to the road.cc team. When not writing about tech news or working on the Youtube channel, you can still find him racing local crits trying to cling on to his cat 2 licence...and missing every break going...

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31 comments

Avatar
EM69 | 3 weeks ago
0 likes

Just wondering what to spend my £6.99 subscription saving on!

 

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cyclisto | 4 weeks ago
0 likes

Watching sports seems super boring to me, so not a problem.

But when I commute faster with bicycle than car (that is the norm), I feel like a world champion.

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espressodan | 4 weeks ago
0 likes

This current issue feels a lot like the music piracy boom in the 90s. The thing with entertainment is that it’s different from physical goods; it’s intellectual property that’s available to everyone. The real distinction isn’t ownership but access—getting your content in front of eyes and ears, not necessarily in your hands.

Back in the 00s, music piracy was rampant because albums and singles were expensive. The model of pumping out hits and expecting people to pay full price for each release started to fall apart, because the value just wasn’t there anymore.

The solution came when the music industry realized that a reasonable monthly subscription was the way to go. Once streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music entered the scene, music piracy dropped off significantly. People were willing to pay a fair price for easy, full access to music—something that wasn’t just convenient, but also made more sense financially.

Now, HBO Max is making a similar mistake in the digital age. They seem to think people are still stuck in the old model of "either you own it, or you don’t," treating entertainment as though it's a tangible item rather than information that’s readily available elsewhere if you're not interested in buying it.

I honestly thought Discovery+ had figured it out. They were offering full, easy access at a reasonable price, and most people didn’t hesitate to pay for the convenience. Everyone was happy with the arrangement—it was a win-win for consumers and the company.

But now, with the latest move from Discovery (or Warner Bros. Discovery), it seems like they’re backtracking. From a consumer perspective, this feels like a step backwards, not just in terms of cycling, but across the board.

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MattieKempy | 4 weeks ago
2 likes

Currently watching the Cyclocross Worlds on www.Sporza.be using my vpn, which I have anyway, free through my bank account. OK, so it's in Dutch, but cyclocross sounds better in Dutch anyway.

Just cancelled Discovery+ because it wouldn't stream rugby on my appleTV (I don't live in the UK) even with vpn, and I couldn't be bothered to keep hooking the laptop up to the TV. I got bored of watching road cycling on TV a couple of years ago because outside of the Classics, it's all the same, but kept the 6.99 Discovery+ subscription for the Classics and Cyclocross, but that's now been cancelled and I'll watch on Sporza instead.

Cancelled Strava premium because I didn't really get any additional benefit from it once I stopped training properly. I find cycle.travel is good for navigation and I occasionally subscribe to ridewithgps on a month-by-month basis when bikepacking.

Gave up Zwift for MyWhoosh recently as well. I miss the racing and the social side a little but not enough to pay out 18 euro-bucks a month for it.

I do however subscribe to Epic Cycling Weather because I like to be able to predict the wind etc on rides, and it's about 9 euro-bucks a year, and also TrainingPeaks as I'm training for a half-marathon and it's the only way to get running workouts onto my Wahoo watch. I used the Irish Cycling code for 40% discount off annual price.

No insurance because UK insurers won't insure in the EU (another delightful benefit of Brexshit, just like having to pay duties and tax on Christmas presents sent to my kids by their grandparents - f*ck you you c*nts who voted for Brexit, I'll never forgive you).

Therefore my total monthly cycling suscription spend is zero, but if the Epic Cycliing Weatherm occasional ridewithgps months and TrainingPeaks subs were spread out over 12 months, it would equate to around 12.50 euro-bucks per month. 

My weakness is new tyres . . . if only I could subscribe to those!

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iso2000 | 1 month ago
0 likes

This article says that TNT sports is £20 for Sky customers. I have Sky Signtaure account and TNT is an additional £30 not £20.

I'm also an EE customer and that offer of TNT for £10 is really tempting. I could sell the TV they give for £200 so TNT will cost £40 for 2 years. Have I got that right?

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Rendel Harris | 1 month ago
1 like

It's only a small point but, you know, standards: you're not fed up of subscribing to be a cyclist, you are fed up with subscribing to be a cyclist.

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mark1a | 1 month ago
4 likes

My current subs:

Strava £55pa
Happy to pay this for what it does, been on for years, developers and hosting bills need to be paid, plus it feeds...

VeloViewer £20pa
Also happy to pay for this, love the analysis from Strava data and want to support Ben and what he's doing.

NutraCheck CC £30pa
Moved to this from MFP a few years ago and their UK food database is spot on and cheaper.

Cycling club £0pa
A recent breakaway from an established club in my area has no membership fees and is still fun as most of the members I ride with went too. Although the previous tenner a year wasn't a big thing, associated "affiliated" club rules & bollocks went as well.

Zwift £180pa
Went from monthly to annually when they gave the option last year, not just used in winter when there's ice on the road, it's a great way to train indoors, well worth it IMO. 

Racing on TV £0pa
Used to have GCN+ until it ended, watched also on ITV4 highlights for the Ned/David/Gary factor, have/had d+ sub free with Sky, I won't be getting TNT Sports out of principle so may explore elsewhere. 

British Cycling £50pa
Been a member for years now, happy to support the pro scene, despite recent sponsor issues.

Cycling UK £9.35pm
Member of CUK because I like the advocacy and the mag, plus I do their lottery to support the organisation too.

Other mag subs ~£120pa
I get Cycling and Cycling Plus mags through the door every month - because I like reading them.

road.cc £20pa
No ads and website actually becomes useable across all devices. 

Insurance £££pa
Not going to say what Laka charge for the bike fleet, I'm happy with it, let's just say it's way more than I pay for my van, and slightly less than my car. Need the peace of mind despite the secure garage. 
 

 

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ktache replied to mark1a | 1 month ago
2 likes

I think many motorists would be shocked how much, what essentially is theft insurance, is for bicycles. Though mostly for the priciest, the cheaper ones almost seem thrown in. Because Butterworths stopped taking my money, (I will miss my yearly chat to Jean) the new one throws in the third party, essentially for free. I think I now have three, if my home contents also comes with it. CTC of course. Representing as it does the likelihood and likely costs of inflicting harm to others.

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Simon E replied to mark1a | 4 weeks ago
1 like

I've used mark1a's post as a template. My current subs:

Strava £0
I have an account so I can see some friends' activities and club routes. I don't have a GPS and I doubt anyone wants to see my commutes or occasional weekend rides. I can't bear indoor training so no Zwift for me either.

Cycling club £20pa
Unlike mark1a, for me this is worth every penny. It has given me competition (club TTs), lots of other bike-related fun and volunteering, some very good friends and many good acquaintances.

Racing on TV £0
ITV was a staple for years but I don't bother watching TV and cancelled the TV licence. I'm not invested in pro road racing, I'm not really bothered who wins. It also means more time to actually do something. I find ~1 hour of cyclo-cross on Youtube is the one thing I enjoy (yesterday's CX worlds race was fantastic). I'd be prepared to pay something to watch that on-demand but not TNT level of ripoff.

British Cycling £50pa
I really resent paying this but unfortunately I need BC membership to handle the club's membership renewals that are done via the BC website.

Cycling UK £55pa
Like mark1a, I joined CUK for the advocacy. The magazine is one of only two I think is worth paying for nowadays.

Singletrackworld £29pa
I started buying the mag in the early 2000s. I don't ride offroad but have always loved the aesthetic, the vibe and the community (oh, and the PDF mag downloads).

Other mag subs £0pa
A waste of money and paper. I stopped CW (£120pa?) in September after 4 years. Most articles were forgettable while the reviews of £5k-£12k bikes, £2k+ wheels, overpriced clothing, electronic groupsets etc etc were of no interest to me. CUK magazine's reviews are much more my thing.

road.cc £20pa
What mark1a says. 

Escape Collective £60pa
Long-form articles and excellent reviews (I even read the reviews of really expensive stuff as they are very well-written), extended 'deep dive' analysis and discussions, engaging podcasts. It's £5/month well spent. I hope it stays that way.

The Cycling Podcast £35pa
My main source of pro cycling-related news for the last number of years, particularly during the 3 Grand Tours (though I often find the 'colour reporting' and cultural stuff more interesting than the race itself). A subscription isn't strictly necessary as most episodes are free.

Insurance £0pa
My 3 bikes are worth naff-all and are covered by household insurance while in the garage. That'll do.

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richliv | 1 month ago
0 likes

"It's less likely that you’ll be paying for an indoor training app or expensive streaming service, though"

Maybe or maybe not. When IRL is brassic, it's unlikely I'll be out running or cycling so Zwift is a easy way to keep either going - though investment in treadmill and turbo needed.

But as has been said, if you don't care about weather, just go out regardless. Might be more expensive in components but it's a trade off

Avatar
Sredlums | 1 month ago
6 likes

I'm not saying you are doing it wrong, I am saying you don't have to do it that way.
This is a rundown of my subscription costs:

Cycling coverage: 0 (Tiz cycling to the resque!)
Strava: 0 (a fun/rewarding ride was a good ride, I don't care about the numbers)
British Cycling/personal insurance: 0 (don't live in the UK, don't do races, have personal insurence through general Health Care)
Zwift: 0 (I ride outdoors year round)
TrainingPeaks Premium: 0 (I don't train, I just ride when I can)
Nutrition apps: 0 (I know how to prevent bonking, I'll survive)
Bike insurence: 0 (I ride 90s bikes, even if I wreck something, replacing the parts or even the frame will cost me €100 at most)
Cycling coaching: 0 (I can keep up with my slightly younger friends; I'm good)

So the grand total is 0.
I do use Komoot sometimes, and bought a map pack once, so there's that.
My point: you do you, but don't do things just because 'real cyclists' do them.

Avatar
Cugel replied to Sredlums | 1 month ago
1 like

Sredlums wrote:

I'm not saying you are doing it wrong, I am saying you don't have to do it that way.
This is a rundown of my subscription costs:

Cycling coverage: 0 (Tiz cycling to the resque!)
Strava: 0 (a fun/rewarding ride was a good ride, I don't care about the numbers)
British Cycling/personal insurance: 0 (don't live in the UK, don't do races, have personal insurence through general Health Care)
Zwift: 0 (I ride outdoors year round)
TrainingPeaks Premium: 0 (I don't train, I just ride when I can)
Nutrition apps: 0 (I know how to prevent bonking, I'll survive)
Bike insurence: 0 (I ride 90s bikes, even if I wreck something, replacing the parts or even the frame will cost me €100 at most)
Cycling coaching: 0 (I can keep up with my slightly younger friends; I'm good)

So the grand total is 0.
I do use Komoot sometimes, and bought a map pack once, so there's that.
My point: you do you, but don't do things just because 'real cyclists' do them.

Just so - it amazes me that someone thinks they need to pay the sort of amounts for endless suspect "needs" such as those listed at the start of this thread. It also surprises me that people want so badly to watch other people doing sport on a TV. If one likes an activity, you do it yourself don't you?

All of this subscription thing seems to be a rather desperate attempt to belong to a mythical virtual group and to signal the fact by being abe to do the group-talk about irrelevances such as Stava striving or what some overpaid cycling sleb did in a race somewhere. Sad, really. Why not just go out riding your bike, with others or all alone and untroubled by "my image as a real cyclist"?

And yes - this website also wants a subscription - to read adverts for overpriced cycling fashions and Daily Mail style monstering of motorists! Cuh!

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to Cugel | 1 month ago
5 likes

Cugel wrote:

It also surprises me that people want so badly to watch other people doing sport on a TV. If one likes an activity, you do it yourself don't you?

Excellent point as usual, I must absolutely stop watching sport and I shall also stop spending a fortune at the Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall and so on each year to watch my favourite classical pianists, I'll just stay at home and play the pieces on my own piano instead, that will be just as good. Might as well stop going to the movies as well and do amateur theatricals at home. Rugby might be a bit of a problem, having smashed half my body to hell in my playing days and being very much of a certain age now I can't play anymore, is it okay if I watch other people playing that? You don't half write some old drivel.

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PRSboy replied to Rendel Harris | 4 weeks ago
7 likes

Rendel Harris wrote:

Cugel wrote:

It also surprises me that people want so badly to watch other people doing sport on a TV. If one likes an activity, you do it yourself don't you?

Excellent point as usual, I must absolutely stop watching sport and I shall also stop spending a fortune at the Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall and so on each year to watch my favourite classical pianists, I'll just stay at home and play the pieces on my own piano instead, that will be just as good. Might as well stop going to the movies as well and do amateur theatricals at home. Rugby might be a bit of a problem, having smashed half my body to hell in my playing days and being very much of a certain age now I can't play anymore, is it okay if I watch other people playing that? You don't half write some old drivel.

I enjoyed the America's Cup so much that I bought my own carbon-hulled racing yacht. Going to try F1 next. 

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Rendel Harris replied to Sredlums | 1 month ago
3 likes

Sredlums wrote:

My point: you do you, but don't do things just because 'real cyclists' do them.

Where did Mark say anything about "real cyclists" doing those things? He's just listed for interest the things for which he pays which he either needs or feels enhance his cycling experience and good luck to him. I hardly have any of those things he pays for (theft insurance, BC membership and the occasional posh magazine if going on a long train journey) but if he likes/needs them who am I to say he's some sort of mug who's trying to be a "real cyclist" (we've all seen pictures of his garage, if he's not a real cyclist I don't know who is!)? Can we stop this reverse snobbery willy-waving as exemplified by certain posters, and one in particular, where anyone who deviates from the bare bones way they choose to enjoy cycling is somehow a gullible fool. To quote yourself, you do you and don't judge other people because they choose to do things differently.

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Sredlums replied to Rendel Harris | 4 weeks ago
1 like

Uhm, what?
Maybe you should read my comment again. I never said or insunuated any of the things you hold against me.
I didn't say the author of the article said anything about real cyclists. I used it as a way to descibe the folks in the cycling community who tend to take things very seriously, and to be honest, I can't imagine that you haven't experienced those people yourself.
"Your legs should be shaven, your socks should be long and white, a white bib short however is a faux pas, your stem should be slammed', etc. etc.

I also never claimed people who do the things mentioned in the article - or the things I mentioned above, for that matter - are gullible fools.
I literally started my comment with "I'm not saying you are doing it wrong".

My point was, and I think I did my best to be clear about it, that there are also other ways to enjoy cycling. Nothing more, nothing less.

And I wrote that, because the intro of the article said "but there are ways to soften the financial blow slightly and save money on other cycling-related regular payments." and then only mentions ways to do those things cheaper, but not once point out that you could also choose to not do those things at all.

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Rendel Harris replied to Sredlums | 4 weeks ago
0 likes

Sredlums wrote:

I also never claimed people who do the things mentioned in the article - or the things I mentioned above, for that matter - are gullible fools.
I literally started my comment with "I'm not saying you are doing it wrong".

My point was, and I think I did my best to be clear about it, that there are also other ways to enjoy cycling. Nothing more, nothing less.

You did. But you also said "don't do things just because 'real cyclists' do them" which implies, well it doesn't so much as imply as much as state, that people are doing things that you don't agree with because they want to conform rather than because they give them pleasure and enhance their cycling experience, and I don't think you or I or anyone else are in a position to judge that.

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Sredlums replied to Rendel Harris | 4 weeks ago
2 likes

Let me start with a real life example.
At a bike store where I worked, someone came in and bought her first road bike. And then she asked help with choosing clipless pedals and cycling shoes. It became clear very soon that the very thought of being clipped in absolutely horrified her.
She told me she was only used to our Dutch, upright bicycles, and she already found riding in a bent over position and handling all the gears daunting, and she was also very affraid to go over the handlebars when braking. Being clipped in only amplified that fear.
So I told her to first use the stock 'placeholder' pedals for a while, wearing sneakers, until she was comfortable on the bike, and felt safe and in control. And if at that point she felt like she was missing out she could consider getting another pedal/shoe setup.
But she insisted she absolutely needed clipless pedals, because that was what she heard and read everywhere.

People are influenceable, that's a fact - and no, that is not the same a gullable).
The word influencers should ring a bell, but way before that, magazines and other media, and peers in the same sport/hobby/profession etc. have always had an influence on how newcomers or people who aspire to 'level up' in said sport/hobby/profession.
And cycling most certainly isn't an exception of that.

So yes, I do think it's good that sometimes people get reminded that not everybody is doing it like 'everybody is doing it'. Because we both know cycling media for sure isn't showing that very often. Hardly ever, even.

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Rendel Harris replied to Sredlums | 4 weeks ago
1 like

Sredlums wrote:

So yes, I do think it's good that sometimes people get reminded that not everybody is doing it like 'everybody is doing it'.

That is fine. Telling people who are doing something that you regard as "everybody is doing it" just because they are unthinking sheep is not, and that's what your original comment did.

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Sredlums replied to Rendel Harris | 4 weeks ago
1 like

Those are your words, not mine.
I already said that there's a difference between being influenced by things and being gullible. You are putting words in my mouth, or rather, you are giving your meaning to my words.

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Simon E replied to Rendel Harris | 4 weeks ago
1 like

I think you may have misinterpreted Sredlums' comments. As they've outlined below, there is definitely the implication online and in the cycling media that "everyone else does it" or "lots of cyclists are now doing this" which normalises it and plays on insecurity or FOMO. I've always been relatively immune to that (and not having much money spare helps focus the mind). It's fine to buy nice stuff but many people forget that these things do not necessarily make cycling 'better' or more satisfying.

I am very wary of apps and platforms that persuade you take out a subscription to get additional features. They may well want to pull you in but then you are effectively committed to paying up in the long term. They will try to monopolise the market and can then keep increasing the subscription price (often to increase profit after VCs or a large company bought them out). It's a pattern that is being repeated over and over again, not just in cycling.

And of course there's the perennial deterrent to newcomers of the impression that cycling is an expensive activity. It can be horrendously expensive but it definitely doesn't have to be.

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mdavidford replied to Sredlums | 1 month ago
4 likes

Sredlums wrote:

Nutrition apps: 0 (I know how to prevent bonking, I'll survive)

Yeah, but those cafe stops cost money too.

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Sredlums replied to mdavidford | 4 weeks ago
0 likes

I only do cafe stops on century rides. And I don't have time for them all to often, so I'll manage.

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mdavidford replied to Sredlums | 4 weeks ago
1 like

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chrisonabike replied to mdavidford | 4 weeks ago
1 like

Perhaps they're literally a "green" cyclist and are solar-powered (a la the Crakers in Margaret Atwood's fiction)?

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ktache | 1 month ago
2 likes

I didn't really want to watch the six nations game this evening, it's more an afternoon weekend thing for me, but I will miss it next time when it's not on. 

Isn't the french anthem uplifting, so much more than the dirge, and I know it's something washing wrong but I'm quite interested in what Hans Zimmer can do with the Saudi anthem...

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mark1a replied to ktache | 1 month ago
0 likes

ktache wrote:

...but I'm quite interested in what Hans Zimmer can do with the Saudi anthem...

It will all depend on what frame of reference he's been given.

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ktache replied to mark1a | 1 month ago
1 like

I'm guessing he'll be asked to tone down the world destroying oil production, lack of democracy and awful human rights situation.

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chrisonabike | 1 month ago
1 like

Wait - I have to subscribe to be a cyclist?  Who do I pay?

And if I don't, does that just make me a "person on a bike" not a "cyclist"?

Or will I only be allowed to use the recumbent?  (Technically it does have two wheels and is pedal-powered, but some folks seem to be confused as to whether it's a bicycle or not).

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Hirsute | 1 month ago
5 likes

Road.cc £20 a year !

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