It’s become the norm for regular, otherwise quite friendly people to declare “I hate cyclists”.

What might have started as a dislike for lycra-clad commuters or riders skipping red lights in city centres has spawned to the point where most non-cycling drivers in the UK will tell you they do not like cyclists, that cyclists should stick to the pavements, be forced to sit a road test or need to be more careful on the roads.

As a mountain biker who also regularly commutes on the city roads, stops at red lights and lets cars pass when appropriate, I can absolutely attest to the fact that if you cycle regularly, you will attract far more abusive shouts, honks of the horn and dirty looks – more often than not for absolutely no reasons – than if you use any other form of transport.

I would go as far as to say that the hatred of cyclists has boiled over to the point where commuter cyclists actively bring out the worst in certain drivers, and because so many people keep saying the “hate” word, it’s become a completely acceptable thing to say.

Sure, the majority of cars and cyclists co-exist perfectly fine, but as it becomes more and more common to openly admit, or even joke, “I hate cyclists” when driving, the minority continues to grow.

And this is now spanning beyond the roads. It’s an accepted, shockingly unsurprising turn for someone to say they dislike cyclists now; and when they say that, they’re not discriminating between road cyclists and mountain bikers or BMXers. A lot wouldn’t know the difference. They’re just saying that they dislike cyclists in general, and if it’s acceptable to dislike cyclists on the roads then it’s acceptable to dislike cyclists on the back roads and on the forest trails and, for the simple reason that there is a deep public ignorance among hikers and dog-walkers of what mountain biking actually is in certain areas, even on designated mountain bike trails as well.

Largely, mountain bikers and hikers and horse riders and dog-walkers have been able to co-exist well and with relatively little issue.

But just as that minority of drivers are becoming more and more extreme in their treatment of road cyclists, to the point of harm, danger and abuse, the minority of trail users who do not take kindly to mountain bikers riding where they deem is not appropriate are going to further extremes to try and keep them away as well.

The brigade mumbling ‘bloody cyclists’ under their breath are now thinking less about the harm they could physically be causing another human being when they chuck a log onto a trail, because when more and more people are actively pigeonholing cyclists as a negative force, it’s just less of a stretch for one or two of those people to do something drastic and act on it.

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