'Organised' cycle racing on the roads ...

[thinfourth2]

Diderot said:

Try living in West Sussex...

No thanks

thinfourth2 said:

Nobody You Know said:

Why is it that it is an offence to race cars on the road (even if you don't speed) yet if you race a bicycle (which follow the same highway) it's fine?

fking outrageous.

Oh god you are starting to sound like a bloody rambler who want everything fun banned so they can go rambling in abject misery.

Be thankful the cyclists still have the right to go cycling and show them some respect and courtesy

Can you imagine the screams of horror from the motorists if they did close the roads completely so the cyclist could race?

The motorist won't be happy until the cyclists are completely banned from the road.

So let the lycra clad men have their fun as if you set the fun police on them the fun police will come after us next.

Oh and how would you feel if they stopped tarmac rallys on public roads so that the bloody motorist wasn't held up or delayed.

Get a life and let some other folk use the roads as you don't have a exclusive right to them

Quite why you are unable to see the difference between being allowed to ride a bike on the road and being involved in a bike race on an open major A road on a busy Sunday is beyond my ken.

I can see the difference between being allowed to ride a bike on the road a major road race

And i find it very very difficult to object to another mans sport and pass time on a sunday that hurts nobody

So what if it took you five or ten more minutes to get where ever you are going

Its a sunday whats the hurry?

[Ecurie Ecosse]

Up here in Scotland I can't remember the last time I was irritated by a cyclist.

However, i think cyclists are to be encouraged as they provide one of my favourite sights on the road...

It's just fantastic watching buses being held up in bus lanes when they have to drive behind a cyclist at 10 mph. Even when I'm on the actual bus being held up it makes me smile Such an ironic twist for the bus drivers in their VIP lane.

[Diderot]

Cyclist in inability to see logic, reason and the nuances of an argument shocker.

[Flanders.]

thinfourth2 said:

Diderot said:

Try living in West Sussex...

No thanks

thinfourth2 said:

Nobody You Know said:

Why is it that it is an offence to race cars on the road (even if you don't speed) yet if you race a bicycle (which follow the same highway) it's fine?

fking outrageous.

Oh god you are starting to sound like a bloody rambler who want everything fun banned so they can go rambling in abject misery.

Be thankful the cyclists still have the right to go cycling and show them some respect and courtesy

Can you imagine the screams of horror from the motorists if they did close the roads completely so the cyclist could race?

The motorist won't be happy until the cyclists are completely banned from the road.

So let the lycra clad men have their fun as if you set the fun police on them the fun police will come after us next.

Oh and how would you feel if they stopped tarmac rallys on public roads so that the bloody motorist wasn't held up or delayed.

Get a life and let some other folk use the roads as you don't have a exclusive right to them

Quite why you are unable to see the difference between being allowed to ride a bike on the road and being involved in a bike race on an open major A road on a busy Sunday is beyond my ken.

I can see the difference between being allowed to ride a bike on the road a major road race

And i find it very very difficult to object to another mans sport and pass time on a sunday that hurts nobody

So what if it took you five or ten more minutes to get where ever you are going

Its a sunday whats the hurry?

"So what if it took you five or ten more minutes to get where ever you are going"



Sorry but some of us have to work on Sunday's aswell. 5 or 10 minutes is a big differnce to me.

[Nolar Dog]

Hammer67 said:

Who the fk watches this st anyway? You drive out somewhere, park up, some tosser closes the road so you`re fked if you have a better offer. You sit there and all of a sudden a great bunch of nandroloneheads dressed like Bucks Fizz fire past at stupid mph
followed by a huge traffic jam of citroens with spare bikes strapped on in case someone needs another hit of anabolic. No one knows who`s who or whats going on apart from the leader who is wearing a nice yellow shirt bought from Gay Central.

Go on then. What is your hobby so we can all rip that to shreds.

[chris.mapey]

Having been in the vicinty when some of these racers were scraped off the blacktop...

I have no issue with cycling as a means of transport on the roads at all.

I just question about the sense in having orgainsed time trial racing on open public roads.

IMHO It's a bit like holding a Marathon without closing the roads first

[Diderot]

chris.mapey said:

Having been in the vicinty when some of these racers were scraped off the blacktop...

I have no issue with cycling as a means of transport on the roads at all.

I just question about the sense in having orgainsed time trial racing on open public roads.

IMHO It's a bit like holding a Marathon without closing the roads first

Precisely.

[Parrot of Doom]

Diderot said:

Parrot of Doom said:

Since when were the roads the preserve of motorists?

I seem to recall that cyclists have a right in law to use the roads, and that motorists do not.

Don't let that stop your silly little rant though.

Pardon me for expressing an opinion about whether it is right to race on the road or not.

If you're too thickheaded/ignorant/obdurate (delete as appropriate) to conceptualise the difference, then that's your fault.

So what risks to the general public do you perceive there to be, in a cycle race on public roads?

[Diderot]

Parrot of Doom said:

Diderot said:

Parrot of Doom said:

Since when were the roads the preserve of motorists?

I seem to recall that cyclists have a right in law to use the roads, and that motorists do not.

Don't let that stop your silly little rant though.

Pardon me for expressing an opinion about whether it is right to race on the road or not.

If you're too thickheaded/ignorant/obdurate (delete as appropriate) to conceptualise the difference, then that's your fault.

So what risks to the general public do you perceive there to be, in a cycle race on public roads?

If you really have to ask such a question then I'm assuming you didn't delete anything...

[Parrot of Doom]

Diderot said:

If you really have to ask such a question then I'm assuming you didn't delete anything...

Don't avoid the question, answer it.

[Diderot]

Parrot of Doom said:

Diderot said:

If you really have to ask such a question then I'm assuming you didn't delete anything...

Don't avoid the question, answer it.

Don't ignore the glaringly obvious, think about it.

[Alfanatic]

R3v 1 said:

Um.. So cycles can hold races on the public roads yet motorvehicles have to attend privatly owned tracks?

So why don't the bicycle people build a track for the purpose of racing bikes?

Seems like 1 rule for one and 1 rule for another.

I have lost count of the amount of times I have been going to pass a group of bikes and as I'm in the process of some moron (Who wouldn't look out of place in the Village People) decides he wants to pass the guy in front and sod the fact that I am along side, passing.

A track would be no good. Road racers push the limits of their own body, not the bike's limits. There's no point building the track as anything other than an oval, since corners aren't generally the challenge on a road bike. An oval track would be uninteresting to a road racer, who is engaged a) in an endurance event, not a sprint and b) is taking on the challenge of the road just like an enthusiastic driver out for a hoon would be. In a car, the challenge of a decent road appeals on a different level to that of a track. On a track, it's all about going as fast as you can, or fast enough to win. If that's what the cyclist wanted to do, they'd be whizzing around in little circles on a velodrome. That's just not every cyclist's idea of a good time.

Scuffers, I'm really curious. What road is it that hosts an organised cycle race every single week? Or are you just really unlucky and keep happening to drive down whatever road the race is on each weekend? Of course, if it really is that bad then perhaps a solution is that the race organisers start spreading the races around the map a bit instead of clustering them. There are plenty of places in the UK where this just isn't a problem.

Don't you all have a similar problem with marathons? Or are they just not as popular?

[skeggysteve]

If my memory is correct it needs an Act of Parliament for a car race to happen on public roads.

So I can't understand why cycle racing on public roads is allowed.
They are using the public highway for racing, so why is it allowed?

[dubbs]

Speaking as a car owner....

first I may be wrong but IIRC there were bike races before there were motorcars.... which came first using the roads/tracks we now use as ours?

Second -Anything that promotes this lazy-arsed, ignorant, junk food eating fatty of a country to get up of its bottom and get interested in anything other than moaning/x factor/junk food/Celebrity news/knifing people, is a GREAT thing and to be applauded imho

If we can have more people getting out to be involved in these sports then it will only help bolster the moral and social fibre that seems to be going down the proverbial crapper in this beautiful isle.

Instead of moaning, use it as a great excuse to try and find an undiscovered twisty B road or stop to enjoy that lovely country pub you've hooned past and never visited...

If this country actually organised these things properly with rolling road blocks and careful logistics (like the French!!) then it'd be far less hassle for all.

P.S A lot of these things also start bloomin' early in the morning precisely to avoid causing the problems you speak of.

P.P.S Anyone comparing bicycle racing with motor racing to assess public safety is being a div. Careful assessment is made before events are arranged and let's face it... if you can't see 50-60 dayglo lycra clad bikes coming at you circa 30mph max followed by support vehicles with flashing lights (if a well organised event) then you've got no chance with that 60mph black saxo on the same stretch of road... sometimes evolution must play its part...

[thinfourth2]

Diderot said:

chris.mapey said:

Having been in the vicinty when some of these racers were scraped off the blacktop...

I have no issue with cycling as a means of transport on the roads at all.

I just question about the sense in having orgainsed time trial racing on open public roads.

IMHO It's a bit like holding a Marathon without closing the roads first

Precisely.

Well i see a stronger case for removing the cars then i can for removing the cyclists

And i would rather they had it easier to close the roads for competitive events like cycling, running or even rallying

[Diderot]

swerni said:

And if all that wasn't enough, the roads were also full of c0cks in Porches and 4x4's.
Should ban the lot of them

That was almost clever.

[Altrezia]

Alfanatic said:

Are you serious? I've yet to have an organised cycle race interrupt my car journey. Is this really happening so often to you that it's worth starting a rant about?

Happens around my way a few times. I've been caught up in them on my way home from work, on tight country lanes - annoying when they are in the middle of the road when you come round the corner, or when you start going up an incline, about to overtake one, and he suddenly stands up, starts pedaling harder, and he drifts into the middle of the road - not fun.

Next time I'll run one over.

[Buzz word]

Diderot said:

I wanted to go and play on the swings but some other boys were there and hogged them and went too slow.

It's all quite legal. It sounds like a classic situation where everyone is out getting on with what they wanted to do and you have aimed the rant at the cyclists because they were slowest and you don't like their clothes.

A classic lack of patience for everyone else and then calling everyone else selfish which is a practice that's really started to grind my gears a bit lately. It's all a bit of give and take. Maybe if people were generally more tolerant situations where loads of different road groups are out trying to enjoy themselves the day wouldn't descend into a death race.

[interloper]

dubbs said:

Speaking as a car owner....

P.P.S Anyone comparing bicycle racing with motor racing to assess public safety is being a div. Careful assessment is made before events are arranged and let's face it... if you can't see 50-60 dayglo lycra clad bikes coming at you circa 30mph max followed by support vehicles with flashing lights (if a well organised event) then you've got no chance with that 60mph black saxo on the same stretch of road... sometimes evolution must play its part...

Spot on!

[Parrot of Doom]

Diderot said:

Parrot of Doom said:

Diderot said:

If you really have to ask such a question then I'm assuming you didn't delete anything...

Don't avoid the question, answer it.

Don't ignore the glaringly obvious, think about it.

So you can't/won't answer the question. I see. You'll probably answer this post with another silly retort.

Edited by Parrot of Doom on Sunday 22 March 21:16