discrimination against cyclist rage

i'm on a soap box, and i'm not getting off until the completion of this post. warning.

i am *so* tired of being discriminated against for being a cyclist. most of the time it happens, i'm not even on my bike, i'm just next to it, looking like a cyclist. if you'd gather i'm raging about a specific incident, i am. here it is;

on thursday i was on a mammoth cycle around london with friend lisa. we realise we're running out of time to get home by dark, and voila; we see a DLR station (that's london's light rail network). lisa is pretty sure she's known others to use it with bikes, so we go to the station and look for signs. nothing. no train guard either. we're on the outskirts of london and it's not peak hour, so we make the assumption it's a go-er. we buy our stupidly expensive-for-what-we're-getting tickets, and go to the platform.

the train arrives. it has around six people on it, and we board the train. instantly, an announcement tells us to get off. we're like WTF? come on! non peak hour? six people on the train? outside of central london? no signs at the station??

we get off and when i look back there's a woman sitting on the train, she's got an incredibly smug look on her face, twinged with contempt, and she's shaking her head.

i felt slight rage at having to get off the train, but this woman *really* tipped me over the edge. what gave her the right to shake her head at me?? i wasn't doing anything knowingly wrong, and i was the one who had now wasted my money, *and* would now need to cycle home in the dark without lights. and i deserve the look of death??

i'm tired of people treating me like shit because i have a bike.

i'm pissed off because my bike is smaller in space than 85% of baby buggies out there, and yet they're allowed to travel at free will.

when are we going to shift our attitude towards cycling in this country? in so many countries you're permitted to take your bike on public transport, though sometimes not at peak hour. i get the peak hour thing, that makes sense, but the rest of the time? come onnnnnnn

Our mayor of london, Boris Johnson (above) is supposedly cycle friendly, well it's time to get your finger out. if you want to encourage cycling, stop discouraging us.