Some Professional Cyclists don't follow traffic laws.

[funkyrobot]

yonex said:

Burn them.

Seriously though when did PH become the home of anti-cycling? It is literally every other day...

It's been rumbling for a while now:

Someone on a bike knocks a pedestrian over = all cyclists are evil bds
Cyclist with helmet cam = road menace who is only going out looking for trouble (but a dash cam on a car is 'required')
Cyclist on the road = cyclist with no insurance or road tax (even though some cyclists insure their bikes and also drive vehicles that they pay VED on)
Etc.

Anyway, back to the topic. It isn't just cyclists that misuse level crossings:

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/4817.aspx

[civicduty]

yonex said:

If your claim of being involved with the 'London Olympics Cycling Team' is true. It doesn't add up? If that were the case you would likely understand a bit more what was probably going on in that incident, and not try and turn it into a general slur against cycling? You can't see a reason why any of the racers would have crossed that train track, not one, but you can see the 'damage' it does to their fans....their fans who probably realize it was something a little out of the ordinary and some dubious decisions made in the heat of the moment, you can't see that, despite being involved with the 'London Olympics Cycling Team'?? Nope, not buying any of this.

No stick and wrong end of, that suggestion was in reply to Herggebbeggtee's (whatever his name is;) ) response that I couldn't say Pro Cyclists should be role models due to there drug taking.

I was merely suggesting that the Olympic team could be role models as any drug taking would have been discovered by now wouldn't it?

[anonymous-user]

civicduty said:

No stick and wrong end of, that suggestion was in reply to Herggebbeggtee's (whatever his name is;) ) response that I couldn't say Pro Cyclists should be role models due to there drug taking.

I was merely suggesting that the Olympic team could be role models as any drug taking would have been discovered by now wouldn't it?

I don't know, but I do know that there's not another sport that works harder to catch people and that when other sportsmen/women get caught out there doesn't seem to be half the fuss. So to sum up;

Poor thread about a racing incident where nothing happened which led to the usual rounds of discussion.

/end

[LocoCoco]

yonex said:

Keep digging.

The fact is you posted something up hoping to get universal approval but it didn't really go to plan. You don't really cycle and don't really know much about the mindset of racers, cyclists or otherwise. I suggest sticking to what you do know in future, whatever that may be?

BTW it's 'arguements'...I know you're quite particular when it comes to spelling.

Don't wanna argue with you but it's pretty obvious your fact is incorrect. Anybody with half a brain cell can predict the posters who will chime in on every anti-cyclist thread.

[aidb]

yonex said:

I don't know, but I do know that there's not another sport that works harder to catch people and that when other sportsmen/women get caught out there doesn't seem to be half the fuss. So to sum up;

Poor thread about a racing incident where nothing happened which led to the usual rounds of discussion.

/end

Why can't you just accept that what the riders did was wrong? Apart from putting their lives in danger, they're setting a very bad example. Also, maybe spare a though for the poor train driver.

[aclivity]

yonex said:

BTW it's 'arguements'...I know you're quite particular when it comes to spelling.

Not sure if you meant this or I am going to get a "whoosh" parrot, but:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/engli...

[walm]

aclivity said:

yonex said:

BTW it's 'arguements'...I know you're quite particular when it comes to spelling.

Not sure if you meant this or I am going to get a "whoosh" parrot, but:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/engli...

Christ, now THAT is shocking.
Don't fret I have reported it to mods.
And we should all be ashamed it took over 2 pages for someone to point it out.
[/obligatory dumbing down reference...]

[RobinBanks]

I'm agreeing with civicduty here.
It's a fact that the cyclists broke the law - no one should be able to dispute that.
As such they should face the penalty that I would face were I doing the same.
Clearly those who passed the level crossings despite the barriers being down and knowing that they were breaking the law consider themselves more important than the law.
I would also disqualify those who wilfully crossed a blocked level crossing and leave them open to prosecution.

'Race' is not an excuse. I can understand that it's frustrating if you get there first and you're held up and all the others can catch up but I still don't see how that's more important than the laws that the rest of us happily follow every day.

[walm]

RobinBanks said:

It's a fact that the cyclists broke the law - no one should be able to dispute that.
As such they should face the penalty that I would face were I doing the same.

They did. Zero penalty.
Or did you want the Gendarmes to stop the race and hand out some FPNs to a bunch of foreigners?

[k-ink]

If they organised an F1 race which crossed a railway line multiple times what do you think will happen? Would all the cars queue up patiently a full minute before the train trundled by? Not a chance. They would gun it if there was 1 second gap. This would not be the train drivers fault, or the racing car drivers fault. It is an entirely predictable outcome from the stupidity of the planned route.

[RobinBanks]

walm said:

They did. Zero penalty.
Or did you want the Gendarmes to stop the race and hand out some FPNs to a bunch of foreigners?

I thought that the French rail service was planning to prosecute following the race?
I think that that's the correct route.

I also feel that an armed police response would be fairly drastic.

[Europa1]

k-ink said:

If they organised an F1 race which crossed a railway line multiple times what do you think will happen? Would all the cars queue up patiently a full minute before the train trundled by? Not a chance. They would gun it if there was 1 second gap. This would not be the train drivers fault, or the racing car drivers fault. It is an entirely predictable outcome from the stupidity of the planned route.

I'd say it would 100% be the racing drivers' fault.

[k-ink]

Europa1 said:

I'd say it would 100% be the racing drivers' fault.

For turning up and doing his job - winning? Hardly. It is a race, not a cycling training day for primary school kids.

[masermartin]

Steven_RW said:

masermartin said:

Of course, the cyclists all knew that they'd stopped a good 10 seconds early, didn't they?

Only they (the cyclists who did actually stop..) would know what level of visibility they had to make the decision and based on that set of circumstances and information they took a choice based on their risk appetite.

It all seems quite simple really. Your statement is not really that relevant.

SRW

I disagree. I suggest that they had no idea where the train was or what speed it was going and, in fact, probably had no idea there was a level crossing there unless they knew the course really well. They had no basis on which to make a risk judgement.

mpkayeuk said:

Yes, because they have eyes!

You don't watch much professional cycling, do you? They spend very little time watching where they are going (they let the first person do that for the most part), let alone looking over the hedge for a train that might be coming from two different directions at any speed. Everyone else is down on the wheel of the guy(s) in front of them.

[ewenm]

See here for decent informed analysis: Inrng Level Crossing UCI Review

[anonymous-user]

aidb said:

Why can't you just accept that what the riders did was wrong? Apart from putting their lives in danger, they're setting a very bad example. Also, maybe spare a though for the poor train driver.

Did I say they did right, if you read back I said it was a dubious decision but one I get, much like 99.9% of the people who post on PH who speed, catch the odd red light and maybe have half a beer too many before driving. The issue is how it has been blown out of proportion and how 'normal' people turn into unbelievable hipocrits when faced with any kind of discussion relating to cycling, cyclists...etc

No one was hurt, no one was close to coming hurt, end of the story and Daily Mail-esque reactions.

[anonymous-user]

aidb said:

Why can't you just accept that what the riders did was wrong? Apart from putting their lives in danger, they're setting a very bad example. Also, maybe spare a though for the poor train driver.

Did I say they did right, if you read back I said it was a dubious decision but one I get, much like 99.9% of the people who post on PH who speed, catch the odd red light and maybe have half a beer too many before driving. The issue is how it has been blown out of proportion and how 'normal' people turn into unbelievable hipocrits when faced with any kind of discussion relating to cycling, cyclists...etc

No one was hurt, no one was close to coming hurt, end of the story and Daily Mail-esque reactions.

[wolves_wanderer]

civicduty said:

As for the other dig you had, I won't let you belittle my participation in the Motorsport discipline of Sprinting.

[NoNeed]

GreatGranny said:

NoNeed said:

It's shocking that organisers can't read timetables, i'm not one to usually side with cyclists but they should never be put in a position where the race depends on a train.

The race is scheduled to miss the trains but as had been mentioned previously in this thread their average speed was alot more than normal due to a strong tailwind.
Happens occasionally, nothing to get your knickers in a twist over.

What makes you think my knickers are in a twist? All you are saying is that the organisers did read the timetable but not the weather forecast. The Organisers failed.

[TankRizzo]

Do PH cyclists have some sort of Godzilla button they press to summon their colleagues to form Devastator whenever an anti-cycling thread is posted?