The Link Between Cycling and Coffee – A Storm In A Teacup?
Cycling is exploding in popularity and so is drinking coffee – clearly there is some kind of relationship.
We are not entirely sure for how long civilisations have been smoking cigarettes, but as a worldwide habit, it probably took off in the 18th century. Certainly, the poms were at in the early 1700’s with around 7,000 tobacco outlets in London.
England’s vehement anti smoking James the 1st, tried to nip it in the bud with a 4000% tax – to no avail. Some things just can’t be stopped. Helped along by the invention of cigarette making machines, by the end of WWII, smoking was as common as rotten teeth.
However, by the 1950’s they started to prove what a killer tobacco was, and since the mid 60’s cigarette smoking has largely been in decline in the western world.
So what has this talk of smoking got to do with cycling and coffee?
Well here’s the thing. A big part of smoking’s popularity, is that it was cool.
Those who smoke today, especially the young, do so because it makes them feel cool. Smoking was, and still is, an overt symbol of adulthood. Yes, there are those skinny French women who smoke in lieu of inhaling calories, but by in large, smoking is an act of self-expression.
Even standing huddled in windy drenched doorway, smoking for some seems to be worth it. Yes, yes, yes, nicotine is addictive and so a rain soaked ciggy can’t be helped – but come on, we all know the real reason is because it makes the smoker feel sophisticated, slash, cool.
Which brings me to coffee and cycling. Cigarettes are quite clearly yesterdays cool, so how do we today express adult sophistication?
Coffee of course.
Coffee is the new smoking. The art of grownup contemplation and civility – best expressed in uber trendy coffee cafes such as London’s Ozone Cafe in Shoreditch.
Such coffee houses are frequented by the young and the fabulous – facial stubble, odour cologne and iPads abound. House music gently pumps from the ceiling and life is complete.
Those of us in the urban design professions are facilitating the proliferation of these funky coffee joints in a continual process of urban renewal. Our cities have never looked so good.
Ok, coffee-replacing cigarettes is all very predictable, but where does cycling fit into all this.
The group that has given up smoking in the greatest and fastest numbers since the 1960’s is middle aged men – primarily because us middle aged blokes are terrified of death. In the never ending search for immortality, us blokes have not only given up the smoking habit but have jumped onto the exercise wagon faster than you can say ‘midlife crisis’. And…the sport of choice? Cycling.
Yes cycling is the new golf.
The place where lycra clad gents meet in the wee hours of the morning for a group ride (homophobics not welcome). Despite the fact that none of these fellows receive sponsorship, nor do they ride fast enough to justify ergonomic helmets and shaved legs, they nonetheless don full cycling kits and give every appearance of being the real deal – content in the knowledge that they are engaging in healthy activity, networking as they spin.
After their rides, instead of pints of beer on the 19th, these new age men now meet in cafes and drink Colombia’s finest.
And how do they feel? Well …..Cool of course.
Sipping their coffees within funky slick cafes, their $10,000 Cannondales leaning nonchalantly on the pavement. The exercise complete and the double shot latte somehow seems to be a bit like a post-coital cigarette – all done here, feeling good.
Interestingly, this close link between coffee and cycling extends to the cycling and coffee industries themselves. Many coffee roasters seem to be keen cyclists, many sponsor cycling teams and some even have teams of their own. They just seem to go hand in hand. Two fine examples of the finer things in life.
Coffee and cycling. Both are modern, both are cool; it’s as simple as that.
Richard Alexander Bain
Self confessed urban critic