FOR me, 2016 was a series of rather brutal shocks. Although, policitally, I have rarely been on the winning side, the EU referendum and the US election left me profoundly depressed.

It wasn’t just the result but the way the winners won, and the apparent gulf that had opened out between the Brexit and Remain tribes, and the Trump and Clinton camps.

Each side shouted louder and louder into their echo chamber and the increased use of internet news and social media resulted in ‘post truth politics’ becoming somehow normal and accepted.

What does this have to do with riding bikes around Oxford?

On a smaller scale, cycle campaigning suffers similar problems of echo chambers.

We recruit and engage the converted, but struggle to have a meaningful dialogue with those who don’t cycle.

From the outside cyclists are seen as a homogenous group – often associated with Lycra-clad fast road cyclists who would brave most road situations; and, unfortunately, much of the infrastructure for cycling in this country is based on this model.

In reality, people who ride bikes are a diverse and complex group who choose to cycle for a range of reasons and experience our roads and streets in very different ways.

In this column during 2016 we have had articles about young, old, women, blind and sporting cyclists.

These individuals are also pedestrians and, mostly, drivers.

We have had articles about road bikes, commuter bikes, tandems, triplets, cargo bikes, trailers and folding bikes.

These bikes will be ridden at very different speeds by different people.

Lumping them all together as ‘cyclists’ will not help us to design streets that will encourage active travel.

As people who ride bikes we need to reach out to those who do not, we need to break down the stereotypes about who we are, and dispel the myths about the realities of travelling on two wheels.

We also need to present the evidence that fewer cars on our streets and more people either walking or cycling short distances is better for everyone.

It is not about one tribe winning over another, it is about building healthy streets where all people can live, work, shop and travel whilst breathing clean air.

One of my resolutions for 2017 is to reach out of my echo chamber and try to engage with someone who sees the world from a different angle. It could be Brexit, immigration, climate change, education, economy or even cycling.

Happy New Year.