Who is Tom Marriage?

[Exit Stage Left]

http://www.copaseticresearch.co.uk/about-us/tom/

Tom Marriage
In his career Tom has worked as an NPD consultant, trend analyst and qualitative researcher on agency and client side.  He loves exploring the mundane: helping clients by unlocking insights into people’s unconsidered behaviour.  When not researching, Tom can be found looking after his children, experimenting in the kitchen or running the highways and byways of South East London.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I was thinking "neurological pathway development" but it seems to be a market research company, formerly National Purchase Diary, which is suitably mundane.

[Exit Stage Left]

New Product Development I think.

'Adventure Cycling' is a new product in development I suppose. It has a cluster of specialised equipment around it, the luggage mainly.

The original blog post was rougher around the edges.

This entry was posted on 06/04/2016 by tommarriage in Uncategorized and tagged bradley wiggings is a twat, bradley wiggins victim blamer, cycling, cycling culture, i hate cyclists, lael wilcox, mammil, sheldon brown, sidetracked, sportive, strava.

http://wp.me/p4E8cc-9u

[Cudzoziemiec]

New product development, yes, but as a company name:
UK: http://www.npdconsultants.co.uk
AU: http://npdconsulting.com/index.html
probably others

Adventure cycling as a new product? His view seems to be that it's an old pastime being squeezed out by new, shiny fads.

[Exit Stage Left]

I read it more as 'What's wrong with cycling?' Answer, MAMILS in Sky and Rapha kit, pretending to be Wiggo, in Surrey. 'What's good?' Adventurous young women being followed around a desert in Arizona, by drones.

[slope]

It's an easy rant with some elements of reality, but it doesn't really sum up 'the cycling experience'^TM

On a cautionary note, we humans seem to call people who make different (more expensive) choices 'poseurs' at the drop of a hat. Of course the marketing men appeal to our desire to have the best or not to feel left behind (there is good evidence that, broadly, not having a pool doesn't make you unhappy unless you believe everyone else on your street does), but to tar everyone with the same brush is just a bit dim really.

Mike

I read it more as 'What's wrong with cycling?' Answer, MAMILS in Sky and Rapha kit, pretending to be Wiggo, in Surrey. 'What's good?' Adventurous young women being followed around a desert in Arizona, by drones.

+1 cos I is lazy at commentinginess

[Bledlow]

http://www.copaseticresearch.co.uk/about-us/tom/

Tom Marriage
In his career Tom has worked as an NPD consultant, trend analyst and qualitative researcher on agency and client side.  He loves exploring the mundane: helping clients by unlocking insights into people’s unconsidered behaviour.  When not researching, Tom can be found looking after his children, experimenting in the kitchen or running the highways and byways of South East London.

Ah, a professional bollocks-talker, then, not a mere amateur. File under ignore.

[EMnut]

I saw this, and a lot of it did resonate with me, so I posted it up as a link on our local cycling club forum.

What really saddened me was the reaction by some people that saw it. The majority of people did not read it fully, or seem to get he basic gist that it was sad the one voice seemed to be drowning out all the others.

I actually do see the point about the Alpha males, the cycling is the new golf bit, along with all the petty snobbery it brings. Now that road cycling is fashionable, it has bought in some people who do have very competitive personalities, who might have played golf or bought flashy cars in the past (but thought that cycling was a bit of sad past time)

Of course the older beard and sandals cyclists that encouraged me to give cycling a go are a distant memory, and there has to be room for new things. I remember the buzz around MTBs in the 1980s, and that was fab at the time, and definitely piqued many peoples interest, who later moved onto to other things.

It also great that there is a tremendous diversity, and certainly not true that MAMILs and flashy bikes are dominant in cycling. Any doubters just need to look at the variety of stuff posted up here.

But the point the author of the Gruaniad makes about the ‘pernicious strand of macho sport orthodoxy is creeping into all parts of cycling’ was one thing that I could agree with, In a sense one very loud voice, drowning out all others.

So it was quite ironic, that the strengh of feeling was generally so strong against this article, that the link on our forum posted ended up having to be deleted due to some incredibly negative personal comments that it caused. There was just no willingness to even partly accept some of the points in this. It was very much a with us, or against us view, and even ended up as a political rant that could have been printed in the Daily Mail.

So, although I don’t totally 100% agree with Tom Marriage, I think he has a point, a certain type of cycling does seem to dominate, and there is are a very vocal minority within in it that will not tolerate the view of anyone else.

This depresses me. :-(
http://

[Karla]

The article basically doesn't seem to like either road racing on the one hand, or Strava-bashing wannabe road racers on the other. He says these have grown in number and become more visible in the last few years.

Well yes,they have.  For a long time road racing was banned in Britain, and by the time it was eventually allowed (after WW2), it had a lot of catching up to do - both with the levels of skill and proffesionalism in other countries and with the culture in this country, where other things had filled the void.  It's only now that racing (and its spinoff wannabe culture that he describes) are really catching up.  So the ideal he describes from past years was an artificial one, the product of regulation, and the current state of play is more the natural state of things.

[citoyen]

Adventure cycling as a new product?

The currently fashionable 'adventure bikes' and 'bikepacking' kit are a commoditisation of what people have been doing for years without needing specialist equipment.

[Exit Stage Left]

I think there are two strands. The first is analogous to skiing, the bulk of commercial activity is 'on-piste', it used to be informed by racing. Now the 'cool' skiing is 'Freeride' and 'Back Country'. In the past it was easiest to film set-piece races, but filming technology can now follow the 'cool' disciplines. There's still some 'staging' going on, but the emphasis is on 'self-sufficiency'. It provides inspiration, and affects the kind of clothes, but the bulk of the market is still on-piste.
The original blog post had this paragraph.

Third, it’s just another example of something lovely, free and non corporate being turned into a mega industry. And that makes me sad. Can’t we have some things which don’t get packaged up, branded and marketed? Isn’t there any part of life where I can experience a freedom from corporatism without have my experience re-packaged and sold back to me? Seriously, I see people I know and like buying Sky branded kit. Since when did cycling support Rupert fucking Murdoch?

The author's concerned by the message that cycling sends. Ideally he wants people to be able to recognise 'cool' cycling when they see it, so cool people can project the same message.
This concentration on image is less marked outside metropolitan areas, where cycling is just one component in rural tourism, and cyclists in tea-rooms, or stopped at junctions, looking quizzically at road signs, can sum up the activity.

[mattc]

If this article was written to poke as many people as possible, it succeeded. For every paragraph, someone has leapt to their keyboard to write a scathing condemnation of how the author has totally misjudged society, or cyclists, or the universe. Or seized it as an opportunity to promote their own favourite hobby-horse (movie making, child-rearing ... the list is a long one!)

On a cautionary note, we humans seem to call people who make different (more expensive) choices 'poseurs' at the drop of a hat. Of course the marketing men appeal to our desire to have the best or not to feel left behind (there is good evidence that, broadly, not having a pool doesn't make you unhappy unless you believe everyone else on your street does), but to tar everyone with the same brush is just a bit dim really.

Mike

[my bold]
You've just done it Mike! Feeling dim?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Adventure cycling as a new product?

The currently fashionable 'adventure bikes' and 'bikepacking' kit are a commoditisation of what people have been doing for years without needing specialist equipment.

Which is the kind of thing he's complaining about, I think. Lycra and Apidura replacing using old jeans and army surplus haversack. It's the same in all areas of cycling though, not to mention everything else. zOMG, kids nowadays are playing football in real football boots! But they're still using jumpers for goalposts if you take a look.

[Jaded]

The author's concerned by the message that cycling sends.

Yes. What we really need is for cycling not to be seen as Strava lycras racing, nor beardy madists that go 300 miles, but for normal stuff like going to work.

[mattc]

Shooting down Mr Marriage seems to be today's favourite way to bolster  one's own ego. Of course, you have to bend the quotes until they turn into something you can criticise:

Isn’t there any part of life where I can experience a freedom from corporatism without have my experience re-packaged and sold back to me?

Anyway back to Lael Wilcox. It is beautiful to see someone cycling competitively, cycling seriously, but with the passion for adventure, for challenge, for experience which has been lost from so many other parts of the culture.

It’s hard not to feel jealous of her hardship, of her joy, of the challenge she’s facing. She inspires me to think about cycling in the old way again.

There’s something adventurous, and crazy, and silly about what she’s doing. I would hope that some of her spirit comes back into cycling, some of the madness, some of the diversity, and while I hope that the road cyclists stick around, I also hope they become less the dominant force in cycling, and more just one voice amongst many others.

I just love the idea that Lael Wilcox is an example of the pure non-commercial ethic of the past. She's wholly unsupported. Apart from the film crew, obviously, who seem to be pitching for a Trans Am film, which will consist of moody close-ups of introspection, some action footage, a bit of jeopardy and scenic drone shots. All of which is like shooting fish in a barrel. Whereas a film about the MAMIL phenomenon would be a lot more interesting.

Mis-quoting people so you can put them down? That's like shooting fish in a barrel ESL!

[citoyen]

Mis-quoting people so you can put them down?

Eh? Where's the misquote?

[mattc]

It's in bold.

[Exit Stage Left]

It's in bold.

That's an interpretation of the thrust of his essay. He's inspired by the film, but it's an artefact like any other, and an assemblage of current filming techniques. I took a look at the magazine he found the reference to the film in. I quite like it, and I looked at the contribution guidelines. http://www.sidetracked.com/contribution-guidelines/

People are inspired by the idea of freedom, but if you're hearing about what they've done, they've shaped it in such a way that you'll hear about it. It's a paradox you can't really get around. The article works best as an advert for Sidetracked.

[citoyen]

It's in bold.

That's an interpretation of the thrust of his essay.

Fwiw, I would agree with your interpretation. I don't quite get what axe mattc is grinding here.

[mattc]

It's in bold.

That's an interpretation of the thrust of his essay.

Fwiw, I would agree with your interpretation. I don't quite get what axe mattc is grinding here.

Me grinding an axe? I'm not the one shooting the fella down (over grammatical errors, childcare et al)! I'd say he's tempted lots of axe-grinders and axe-wielders out into the open. It's perhaps an interesting demonstration of human nature, and shouldn't surprise me. But anyway, back to the specific pedantry at hand:

Tom wrote:

back to Lael Wilcox. It is beautiful to see someone cycling competitively, cycling seriously, but with the passion for adventure, for challenge, for experience which has been lost from so many other parts of the culture.

It’s hard not to feel jealous of her hardship, of her joy, of the challenge she’s facing. She inspires me to think about cycling in the old way again.

to which ESL's response is to moan about a fictitious claim:

I just love the idea that Lael Wilcox is an example of the pure non-commercial ethic of the past

I mean, who wrote this?? It's a pure straw man!

[mattc]

I'll predict the next step in this critique to save someone typing it:

"
Aha, but who is HE to complain about commercialization?!?
I bet Mr Marriage was paid for writing this! The Guardian isn't free, is it?? 

"

[Exit Stage Left]

It was originally a blog post, which was tidied up to remove the more controversial bits. It's amusing to compare the two, to see what the Guardian regards as sensitive material.

And the chat is like golf. Men talk about their bikes and their times, the races they’ve completed, Strava segments, listing the achievements of pro- cyclists with that autism spectrum fervour dull men use to talk about football teams. People are less and less likely to talk about experiences, the things the’ve seen, the places they’ve been, the fun and epic hardship they’ve experienced. They’re less and less likely to talk about the joy of cycling. Again, it bores the shit out of me.

This sounds like a reactionary rant, and that’s because it is. I should be able to just let these people get on with it and live and let live, or even just take joy in the fact that there are so many more people who love cycling in any way they like. But I can’t, and I have my reasons. First, I don’t like being looked down on. I don’t like being characterised by these people as less of a cyclist because I’m not part of their culture. In the majority of cases, I was there first and it’s BSkyB and Rapha who are the pretenders. I hate to be thought of as the lesser cyclist because I can’t be arsed with Sportives and would rather get lost than go hard. Or because I love Sheldon and loath Bradley*. I was here first, fuck off.

https://tommarriage.wordpress.com/2016/04/06/what-happened-to-cycling/

[mattc]

It was originally a blog post, which was tidied up to remove the more controversial bits. It's amusing to compare the two, to see what the Guardian regards as sensitive material.

And the chat is like golf. Men talk about their bikes and their times, the races they’ve completed, Strava segments, listing the achievements of pro- cyclists with that autism spectrum fervour dull men use to talk about football teams. People are less and less likely to talk about experiences, the things the’ve seen, the places they’ve been, the fun and epic hardship they’ve experienced. They’re less and less likely to talk about the joy of cycling. Again, it bores the shit out of me.

This sounds like a reactionary rant, and that’s because it is. I should be able to just let these people get on with it and live and let live, or even just take joy in the fact that there are so many more people who love cycling in any way they like. But I can’t, and I have my reasons. First, I don’t like being looked down on. I don’t like being characterised by these people as less of a cyclist because I’m not part of their culture. In the majority of cases, I was there first and it’s BSkyB and Rapha who are the pretenders. I hate to be thought of as the lesser cyclist because I can’t be arsed with Sportives and would rather get lost than go hard. Or because I love Sheldon and loath Bradley*. I was here first, fuck off.

https://tommarriage.wordpress.com/2016/04/06/what-happened-to-cycling/

Heh!

I'm a big fan of Wiggo, but I may prefer the uncensored version. These things are about people saying what they think.
(not what the Grauniad or YACF think they should think)

[Peter]

Quote from mattc:-


Me grinding an axe? I'm not the one shooting the fella down (over grammatical errors, childcare et al)!

matt, I imagined that is aimed at me.  I expressed regret that he seemed to regret that having children was curtailing his cycling.  As someone who longed for children for many many years, it's just a regret from personal experience, hardly shooting someone down.  As you will see from further correspondence with Cudzo, the second point (about grammar) was just a wry observation, though I still stand by it!  As I said in my post, I agree with some of his observations and have suggestions about where he might look to see what else is going on.  I also recognise he's a journalist doing his job.

Hardly shooting the fella down, I think.

However, I'm now bored of this.

[mattc]

Peter,
There are numerous peculiar issues that he's been attacked over - those were just the first two that sprang to mind, I didn't mean to pick on you!

It just so happens that they were also two of the issues that seemed very very far from the main thrust of the piece. I could have mentioned infrastructure, or ... well there's quite a few ...