Cycle races on dual carriageways !
Discussion
Snowboy said:
You're probably right.
But on the other hand, if someone invented time trials tomorrow they wouldn't be allowed.
Being allowed to use roads for bike races/ time trials is just a quirk of history.
If the groups that organise it don't start policing themselves then sooner or later it's goingtm to get controlled and restricted in various ways.
Just like noisy or highly polluting cars, or card driven dangerously.
They are policed, marshals are there to warn others. All you have to do as a driver is make a small allowance for others. This is the problem for some.But on the other hand, if someone invented time trials tomorrow they wouldn't be allowed.
Being allowed to use roads for bike races/ time trials is just a quirk of history.
If the groups that organise it don't start policing themselves then sooner or later it's goingtm to get controlled and restricted in various ways.
Just like noisy or highly polluting cars, or card driven dangerously.
walm said:
goldblum said:
I have often seen cyclists during time trials swerve to avoid potholes or overtake other cyclists without looking behind them first - because the need to get ahead/beat the time outweighs time consuming normal safety precautions.
I see this all the time on regular commuting cyclists.It is nothing to do with racing.
If one cyclist overtaking another or swerving round a pothole is causing you a problem - perhaps you should leave them a little more room.
It's right there in the highway code: rule 213.
"Motorcyclists and cyclists may suddenly need to avoid uneven road surfaces and obstacles such as drain covers or oily, wet or icy patches on the road. Give them plenty of room and pay particular attention to any sudden change of direction they may have to make."
Oh and if you think its bad now, wait until this happens: http://letour.yorkshire.com/
yonex said:
Snowboy said:
You're probably right.
But on the other hand, if someone invented time trials tomorrow they wouldn't be allowed.
Being allowed to use roads for bike races/ time trials is just a quirk of history.
If the groups that organise it don't start policing themselves then sooner or later it's goingtm to get controlled and restricted in various ways.
Just like noisy or highly polluting cars, or card driven dangerously.
They are policed, marshals are there to warn others. All you have to do as a driver is make a small allowance for others. This is the problem for some.But on the other hand, if someone invented time trials tomorrow they wouldn't be allowed.
Being allowed to use roads for bike races/ time trials is just a quirk of history.
If the groups that organise it don't start policing themselves then sooner or later it's goingtm to get controlled and restricted in various ways.
Just like noisy or highly polluting cars, or card driven dangerously.
I'm happy to make small allowances for others.
Cyclists, tractors, learners, kids every day my driving has loads of small allowances. It's fine.
But an entire cycle group taking up roads and ignoring priority on junctions isn't a small allowance.
Individually each rider might be asking for a small allowance, but as a group it's a bloody great inconvenience for every car driver trying to pass.
It's not individuals that cause the problems.
It's groups and clubs.
Snowboy said:
...as a group it's a bloody great inconvenience for every car driver trying to pass...
It really isn't.The vast vast majority of drivers manage to overtake safely and get on with their evidently more interesting lives than ours!
We have really reached a new zenith of first world problems if overtaking a batch of tiny slow moving vehicles on a dual carriageway is a "bloody great inconvenience".
mcdjl said:
I've never taken part in a race on the road, or time trial, although most times i'm out on my road bike I end up swerving or vering out round pot holes, if i didn't there'd be much more chance of you hitting me as i rolled along the floor having been thrown from my bike. Sometimes i try not to swerve the pot hole as theres a driver too close for this to be sensible: often this results in me swerving anyway. Being aware of this I give cyclists much more space than about 50% of drivers do.
Yep, good practice, and I did the same when I pushbiked. Now imagine your existence for the next hour is only given context by you trying to beat a certain time. Do you think this might distract you from other road skills a bit? walm said:
Snowboy said:
...as a group it's a bloody great inconvenience for every car driver trying to pass...
It really isn't.The vast vast majority of drivers manage to overtake safely and get on with their evidently more interesting lives than ours!
We have really reached a new zenith of first world problems if overtaking a batch of tiny slow moving vehicles on a dual carriageway is a "bloody great inconvenience".
There's an A road near me where a local club uses both sides of the road as they ride between round dabouts at either end, ignoring priority on the roundabouts and making it damn near impossible to overtake due to bikes on both sides sometimes three abreast as they overtake each other.
It causes substantial tailbacks for the several hours they are playing.
It's not a small inconvenience by any means.
walm said:
Snowboy said:
...as a group it's a bloody great inconvenience for every car driver trying to pass...
It really isn't.The vast vast majority of drivers manage to overtake safely and get on with their evidently more interesting lives than ours!
We have really reached a new zenith of first world problems if overtaking a batch of tiny slow moving vehicles on a dual carriageway is a "bloody great inconvenience".
There's an A road near me where a local club uses both sides of the road as they ride between round dabouts at either end, ignoring priority on the roundabouts and making it damn near impossible to overtake due to bikes on both sides sometimes three abreast as they overtake each other.
It causes substantial tailbacks for the several hours they are playing.
It's not a small inconvenience by any means.
paranoid airbag said:
Apologies, I was accusing Ozzie of a double standard, not you, my bad.
That's very odd. Do you not allow the world to move on? People used to be allowed to own handguns, now they're not. There are no "grandfather" rights granted to people who've always had a handgun so that they can keep on doing what they've always done.When the motorways were invented bicycles were specifically banned from them. Not to annoy cyclists but because cycling on those roads would be very, very stupid. For cyclists to roll out and conduct their very slow races on 70 mph dual carriageways makes no sense either.
goldblum said:
Yep, good practice, and I did the same when I pushbiked. Now imagine your existence for the next hour is only given context by you trying to beat a certain time. Do you think this might distract you from other road skills a bit?
In my case, no I'm neither competitive nor fit enough for it to matter. Well or i have too much common sense/self preservation. The closest I come is using strava (GPS based route logging which compares runs over the same route) and i'm more than happy (well not happy sometimes but you get what i mean) to back out of any effort rather than put myself in more danger than is necessary for me to be there (i would say in any danger, but if that was the case i wouldn't be there).Well that's conclusive evidence of EVERY group of cyclists causing a "blood great inconvenience" for EVERY driver.
Burn them all!
More seriously - I would recommend contacting the organisers of that group - that behaviour sounds totally unacceptable.
It doesn't sound like a TT though - they usually have plenty of space between bikes and the chance of three abreast is tiny.
Burn them all!
More seriously - I would recommend contacting the organisers of that group - that behaviour sounds totally unacceptable.
It doesn't sound like a TT though - they usually have plenty of space between bikes and the chance of three abreast is tiny.
Snowboy said:
Mr Gear said:
I presume you mean 'invented'.
And I genuinely believe that if the car were invented tomorrow it would be banned before the first one was sold. It is after all, a polluting, noisy, killing machine. A bicycle is none of those things.
You're probably right.And I genuinely believe that if the car were invented tomorrow it would be banned before the first one was sold. It is after all, a polluting, noisy, killing machine. A bicycle is none of those things.
But on the other hand, if someone invented time trials tomorrow they wouldn't be allowed.
Being allowed to use roads for bike races/ time trials is just a quirk of history.
If the groups that organise it don't start policing themselves then sooner or later it's goingtm to get controlled and restricted in various ways.
Just like noisy or highly polluting cars, or card driven dangerously.
It's already exceptionally tightly controlled and restricted. The fact that once in a blue moon you happen to encounter it and fail to cope well/are modestly inconvenienced on your way to the back of the next queue of cars is neither here nor there.
Snowboy said:
There's the problem though.
I'm happy to make small allowances for others.
Cyclists, tractors, learners, kids every day my driving has loads of small allowances. It's fine.
But an entire cycle group taking up roads and ignoring priority on junctions isn't a small allowance.
Individually each rider might be asking for a small allowance, but as a group it's a bloody great inconvenience for every car driver trying to pass.
It's not individuals that cause the problems.
It's groups and clubs.
Having ridden a fair few TT's now I can tell you that in the main drivers are fine. Last week circling a roundabout a woman pulled across, panicked and stopped, I guess this is my fault for daring to perform such a wild move. How she missed the big sign saying 'Cycle Event' and a bloke dressed in orange standing there, not to mention it was my right of fI'm happy to make small allowances for others.
Cyclists, tractors, learners, kids every day my driving has loads of small allowances. It's fine.
But an entire cycle group taking up roads and ignoring priority on junctions isn't a small allowance.
Individually each rider might be asking for a small allowance, but as a group it's a bloody great inconvenience for every car driver trying to pass.
It's not individuals that cause the problems.
It's groups and clubs.
king way, I do not know. I am guessing it cost her oooh 6 secs of her life to wait there? It is my responsibility to keep myself safe and to make sure I do everything possible to be seen. It is your responsibility to give me room and try and pass only when it is safe to do so, easy, same code for all of us.If you struggle with a group of cyclists in any way then you shouldn't be allowed behind the wheel. You must be constantly dealing with road rage throughout your travels with cyclists, horses, trucks, tractors...really life is too short.
Read what you have said. You make allowances as long as it's a small one, as long as it doesn't really hold you up, on your way. You don't understand these inconsiderate assholes getting in your way, causing you problems. These riders should be grateful you give them any courtesy but they aren't, its just so inconvenient for you, it's holding you up, these groups and clubs, why do they do it, why can't they fit in better with your needs?
Your needs, your issue, your frustrations.
You and others like you are the small minority who make this an issue for all of us. Meanwhile looking out of the window, it's a marvelous day...time for a ride.
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 14th April 16:31
IroningMan said:
Read the history. We have TTs in the UK, and, by the standards of the rest of Europe, a pathetic cycle racing scene, precisely because we made cycle racing virtually impossible in this country for more or less the whole of the 20th century.
It's already exceptionally tightly controlled and restricted. The fact that once in a blue moon you happen to encounter it and fail to cope well/are modestly inconvenienced on your way to the back of the next queue of cars is neither here nor there.
Once in a blue moon?It's already exceptionally tightly controlled and restricted. The fact that once in a blue moon you happen to encounter it and fail to cope well/are modestly inconvenienced on your way to the back of the next queue of cars is neither here nor there.
It's once or twice a week in the summer.
And it turns a normally free flowing 60mph road into a traffic jam.
Although, after many complaints from many people last year I haven't seen that particular group this year.
So fingers crossed they have buggered off.
Snowboy said:
IroningMan said:
Read the history. We have TTs in the UK, and, by the standards of the rest of Europe, a pathetic cycle racing scene, precisely because we made cycle racing virtually impossible in this country for more or less the whole of the 20th century.
It's already exceptionally tightly controlled and restricted. The fact that once in a blue moon you happen to encounter it and fail to cope well/are modestly inconvenienced on your way to the back of the next queue of cars is neither here nor there.
Once in a blue moon?It's already exceptionally tightly controlled and restricted. The fact that once in a blue moon you happen to encounter it and fail to cope well/are modestly inconvenienced on your way to the back of the next queue of cars is neither here nor there.
It's once or twice a week in the summer.
And it turns a normally free flowing 60mph road into a traffic jam.
Although, after many complaints from many people last year I haven't seen that particular group this year.
So fingers crossed they have buggered off.
mcdjl said:
Oh and if you think its bad now, wait until this happens: http://letour.yorkshire.com/
A few roads for a couple of days, but an opportunity to welcome the world's largest annual sporting event to our shores for the first time in years, an opportunity to generate income for businesses small and large along the route and an opportunity to capitalise further on a booming sport for a country faced with unprecedented levels of obesity.Seems terrible. Someone think of the children etc.
Why do we seem to have such a problem with this when every other country in Europe seems to embrace it?
Highway Star said:
A few roads for a couple of days, but an opportunity to welcome the world's largest annual sporting event to our shores for the first time in years, an opportunity to generate income for businesses small and large along the route and an opportunity to capitalise further on a booming sport for a country faced with unprecedented levels of obesity.
Seems terrible. Someone think of the children etc.
Why do we seem to have such a problem with this when every other country in Europe seems to embrace it?
Fat, unfit, angry, poorly educated, miserable old sods who hate anything that appears to be enjoyment for anyone else. Seems terrible. Someone think of the children etc.
Why do we seem to have such a problem with this when every other country in Europe seems to embrace it?
It's an English thing
Snowboy said:
Once in a blue moon?
It's once or twice a week in the summer.
And it turns a normally free flowing 60mph road into a traffic jam.
Although, after many complaints from many people last year I haven't seen that particular group this year.
So fingers crossed they have buggered off.
I hope you haven't sent them my way!It's once or twice a week in the summer.
And it turns a normally free flowing 60mph road into a traffic jam.
Although, after many complaints from many people last year I haven't seen that particular group this year.
So fingers crossed they have buggered off.
Honestly it's pointless arguing with these cyclistists, they either know very well the nuisance they cause or are so oblivious it's abit scary. There was nearly one less yesterday though when he rode through a red light without a care in the world.. I gave him a couple of revs on my bike and he looked at me as though I was in the wrong. Lovely people though!
IroningMan said:
It does? I'm a pretty shoddy TTer and even I can average nearly 24mph - an unlikely speed in anything I would consider describing as a 'traffic jam'.
If there really are such a large amount of cyclists doing that sort of speed that motor vehicles are stuck behind them for mile after mile, that would get old quickly (just like the 35mph dawdler that you can't overtake because of sight lines and oncoming traffic).I can't recall it ever happening to me (with cyclists) though.
Highway Star said:
mcdjl said:
Oh and if you think its bad now, wait until this happens: http://letour.yorkshire.com/
A few roads for a couple of days, but an opportunity to welcome the world's largest annual sporting event to our shores for the first time in years, an opportunity to generate income for businesses small and large along the route and an opportunity to capitalise further on a booming sport for a country faced with unprecedented levels of obesity.Seems terrible. Someone think of the children etc.
Why do we seem to have such a problem with this when every other country in Europe seems to embrace it?
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