Windsor "Incident"
Discussion
I am a cyclist/runner who.kives on the route and have a horse which is at our house so I'm the perfect storm for this incident.
- the roads were not closed and Whilst I did see the signs I know that all locals in my village did as many people were surprised. Yes the event happens every year and people know about it but not all were aware until the event happened.
- the cycling was a disgrace on the video but it's an isolated incident and the horse rider really would not want to be around all those bikes.
- as a horse owner had I seen the race I would have turned back
- some of the cycling was not great from What I saw (spectator this year rather than marshalling) . Drafting was common and even people trying to prevent overtaking!!!!
-human race should have closed the roads and make enough to do that
The event is a good one and the horse rider would not have wanted to be there at all but the standard of cycling is not that I have seen on most Tri's or other cycle races
- the roads were not closed and Whilst I did see the signs I know that all locals in my village did as many people were surprised. Yes the event happens every year and people know about it but not all were aware until the event happened.
- the cycling was a disgrace on the video but it's an isolated incident and the horse rider really would not want to be around all those bikes.
- as a horse owner had I seen the race I would have turned back
- some of the cycling was not great from What I saw (spectator this year rather than marshalling) . Drafting was common and even people trying to prevent overtaking!!!!
-human race should have closed the roads and make enough to do that
The event is a good one and the horse rider would not have wanted to be there at all but the standard of cycling is not that I have seen on most Tri's or other cycle races
The jiffle king said:
-human race should have closed the roads and make enough to do that
This. It's too big an event to run on open roads, especially in that part of the country at that time of day. I will be very reticent to enter it next year if it's run on open roads again. It isn't a cheap event, so there really isn't any excuse to not close the roads.Usget said:
ReallyReallyGood said:
(apparently a lot of them) consider their behaviour acceptable, perhaps even normal?
Who's said that? I haven't seen a single person making this statement. But you give that strawman a good thrashing nonetheless.Bad riding indeed by the cyclists, should have backed off and just thought ‘w
ker horse rider and passed slowly giving room’ but come on what a load of crap the horse rider didn’t know an event was on. Who in their right mind thinks riding a horse when a bike race is on in the same area is a good idea, anyone with half a brain would have though ‘oh horse won’t like this i’ll turn around’. Do cyclists turn up at point to points?
I regular see horse riders out and there is certainly an element of ‘horse has absolute priority over every other’ from a good portion of them. Usually the same ones that wear the “Polite” high viz and use A roads in rush hour.
A local wood has allowed mountain bikers to purpose build trails away from Bridleways, win for everyone, bike and horses separated - what do horse riders do? Walk up the purpose built separate trails, churning them up and coming in to conflict with bike riders. Always mountain bikers fault according to the horse riders when the horses get spooked by bikes appearing heading at them. WTF do they thing is going to happen?
I almost got T boned by a horse a couple of weeks ago on my commute to work, I was cycling slowly along a bridleway in wood land churned up by horses so going properly slow, little more than walking pace. Path parallel to a hedge on the right, horse rider thought they’d let their horse gallop down the field on the other side of the hedge (where there is no right of way) then cut in at full speed through a gap in the hedge. Horse spotted me at the last moment (the rider didn’t), horse st itself and took off uncontrolled down the path, it took the rider a good 300m to calm the horse down and stop it, when I caught up the rider angrily said ‘you scared her’, I replied it scared me almost being hit by an out of control horse, conversation ended there.
There are idiots in all groups but horse riders do seem to put them selves in positions of conflict either though being blind to the world around them or on purpose as ‘it’s their right’.
ker horse rider and passed slowly giving room’ but come on what a load of crap the horse rider didn’t know an event was on. Who in their right mind thinks riding a horse when a bike race is on in the same area is a good idea, anyone with half a brain would have though ‘oh horse won’t like this i’ll turn around’. Do cyclists turn up at point to points?I regular see horse riders out and there is certainly an element of ‘horse has absolute priority over every other’ from a good portion of them. Usually the same ones that wear the “Polite” high viz and use A roads in rush hour.
A local wood has allowed mountain bikers to purpose build trails away from Bridleways, win for everyone, bike and horses separated - what do horse riders do? Walk up the purpose built separate trails, churning them up and coming in to conflict with bike riders. Always mountain bikers fault according to the horse riders when the horses get spooked by bikes appearing heading at them. WTF do they thing is going to happen?
I almost got T boned by a horse a couple of weeks ago on my commute to work, I was cycling slowly along a bridleway in wood land churned up by horses so going properly slow, little more than walking pace. Path parallel to a hedge on the right, horse rider thought they’d let their horse gallop down the field on the other side of the hedge (where there is no right of way) then cut in at full speed through a gap in the hedge. Horse spotted me at the last moment (the rider didn’t), horse s
t itself and took off uncontrolled down the path, it took the rider a good 300m to calm the horse down and stop it, when I caught up the rider angrily said ‘you scared her’, I replied it scared me almost being hit by an out of control horse, conversation ended there.There are idiots in all groups but horse riders do seem to put them selves in positions of conflict either though being blind to the world around them or on purpose as ‘it’s their right’.
swerni said:
The problem is, your comment implies that's how all cyclist behave, which is a huge generalisation and incorrect.
My comment is not saying that all cyclists are a**holes, but that such behaviour by cyclists happens enough to not be shocked.swerni said:
It's like me saying everyone who drives a diesel Audi is a bellend and has no idea what indicators are for...
Having witnessed many Audi drivers not indicate (and of other marques), I would tend to agree.No excuses for the riding, terrible judgement and he should be held accountable. Not to mention the failure to then stop after making contact with the horse.
As with lots of other comments I can understand (but not agree) with the judgement that lead to the poor riding.
But ultimately an event of that magnitude is an accident waiting to happen on open roads and the organisers need to take some of the responsibility for this.
3000 people is a huge number of participants for an open road.
I've done open road running events that can be sketchy enough but when you factor in speeds of up to 3x more with cyclists and the view angle of the road it's a no brainer. Whoever did the risk assessment for this and decided they didn't need closed roads should be having a word with themselves.
As with lots of other comments I can understand (but not agree) with the judgement that lead to the poor riding.
But ultimately an event of that magnitude is an accident waiting to happen on open roads and the organisers need to take some of the responsibility for this.
3000 people is a huge number of participants for an open road.
I've done open road running events that can be sketchy enough but when you factor in speeds of up to 3x more with cyclists and the view angle of the road it's a no brainer. Whoever did the risk assessment for this and decided they didn't need closed roads should be having a word with themselves.
For some reason the footage won't load at the moment, so I can't comment on the specific cyclists' behavior. However, it is worth remembering that these riders are racing. When you are racing, you are racing: focused, head down, intent on doing your absolute best, having trained for months and sacrificed normal living. Further, your judgment is severely impaired, through lack of oxygen and or low blood sugar. To suddenly come across a horse on the course, that's crazy. I can imagine the chaos that that would cause.
For the Windsor Tri to be open road is crazy. It's a big event.
For the Windsor Tri to be open road is crazy. It's a big event.
ReallyReallyGood said:
Usget said:
ReallyReallyGood said:
(apparently a lot of them) consider their behaviour acceptable, perhaps even normal?
Who's said that? I haven't seen a single person making this statement. But you give that strawman a good thrashing nonetheless.Mave said:
ReallyReallyGood said:
Usget said:
ReallyReallyGood said:
(apparently a lot of them) consider their behaviour acceptable, perhaps even normal?
Who's said that? I haven't seen a single person making this statement. But you give that strawman a good thrashing nonetheless.simonpieman said:
For some reason the footage won't load at the moment, so I can't comment on the specific cyclists' behavior. However, it is worth remembering that these riders are racing. When you are racing, you are racing: focused, head down, intent on doing your absolute best, having trained for months and sacrificed normal living. Further, your judgment is severely impaired, through lack of oxygen and or low blood sugar. To suddenly come across a horse on the course, that's crazy. I can imagine the chaos that that would cause.
The event is on open roads, why wouldn't you expect to come across other road users? 
All you've done is to show that holding these events on open roads is a bad idea if cyclists can't manage to be aware of anything around them.
Mr2Mike said:
The event is on open roads, why wouldn't you expect to come across other road users?
All you've done is to show that holding these events on open roads is a bad idea if cyclists can't manage to be aware of anything around them.
Wrong, you just need to say, "Sorry mate I didn't see you.", and everything is fine!All you've done is to show that holding these events on open roads is a bad idea if cyclists can't manage to be aware of anything around them.
Mr2Mike said:
The event is on open roads, why wouldn't you expect to come across other road users?
All you've done is to show that holding these events on open roads is a bad idea if cyclists can't manage to be aware of anything around them.
Holding an event like this on open roads is a bad idea full stop. All you've done is to show that holding these events on open roads is a bad idea if cyclists can't manage to be aware of anything around them.
Greg66 said:
Mr2Mike said:
The event is on open roads, why wouldn't you expect to come across other road users?
All you've done is to show that holding these events on open roads is a bad idea if cyclists can't manage to be aware of anything around them.
Holding an event like this on open roads is a bad idea full stop. All you've done is to show that holding these events on open roads is a bad idea if cyclists can't manage to be aware of anything around them.
Having said that, as someone who has competed in triathlon since the 90s I feel quite angry after watching it. Pathetic behaviour from the triathlete. I fact, bike riding in triathlons nowadays is generally rank. It's basically just a few hundred random people on bikes who don't necessarily have any more skill than someone riding to the shops. In fact their behaviour is often worse because they have the red mist that comes from thinking they are doing something clever and important.
Randy Winkman said:
Surely that would effectively prohibit the vast majority of such events where people raise money, keep themselves fit and basically enjoy themselves doing something much more beneficial than what most other people are doing at the time?
Not at all. Windsor used to be on closed roads so I'm not sure why it's changed. Every HIM event I've done has been on closed roads, big sportives are on closed roads...Greg66 said:
Randy Winkman said:
Surely that would effectively prohibit the vast majority of such events where people raise money, keep themselves fit and basically enjoy themselves doing something much more beneficial than what most other people are doing at the time?
Not at all. Windsor used to be on closed roads so I'm not sure why it's changed. Every HIM event I've done has been on closed roads, big sportives are on closed roads...Greg66 said:
Not at all. Windsor used to be on closed roads so I'm not sure why it's changed. Every HIM event I've done has been on closed roads, big sportives are on closed roads...
Human Race also run the Tour de Yorkshire sportive and that's never been closed road. A rough count & calc based on the results for the long route suggests 2800 riders. That was £48 this year on the "early bird" pricing.Closed roads adds to the organisers costs - look at Velo Birmingham was something like £75.
Closed roads also upsets a few people with restricted access to / from properties & businesses. Etape Caledonia has twice (at least) had problems with somebody throwing tacks / pins / staples on the course.
Some random points
I've done Windsor 5 times (though not this year) Drift Road was always closed, but the rest of the course was open. And there were marshalls on the roundabout near Legoland and a few other places. Closing 42K of roads is expensive (which will push entry price up) Though it doesn't stop IMG doing so with London. But also it irritates the locals. Witness the push back every year about RideLondon.
Human Race issued a statement pointing out they put signage upon the 7th June. The last min road closures didn't affect this since they were redirected onto another part of the course where there was already signs
Horse rider said she went out at 730 to ride to their farm. Then came back at 9am which is when the incident happened. Given Windsor starts at roughly 6am (to limit local disruption) I find it odd she had no idea there was an event on.
Whilst the people on the right are too close, I find it curious that people would deliberately go down the left of the Horse, I suspect this was "avoiding action" Whether that was because they were too busy starting at a power meter or because other racers were prohibiting them from moving over who knows.
I came from Mountain Biking to Tri. I like to think I have a reasonable level of bike handling skills. The quality of riding on Triathlons is fairly bad. I've lost count of the near misses over the years because people just aren't paying attention. And lets not get into the arses that draft and the moto marshals that ignore it. 3 thousand people on a short course will always result in packs though.
The Horse rider herself to be fair has said she's received support from the cyclist and Triathlete communities, thankfully, it doesn't sound like she wants the event stopped.
I've done Windsor 5 times (though not this year) Drift Road was always closed, but the rest of the course was open. And there were marshalls on the roundabout near Legoland and a few other places. Closing 42K of roads is expensive (which will push entry price up) Though it doesn't stop IMG doing so with London. But also it irritates the locals. Witness the push back every year about RideLondon.
Human Race issued a statement pointing out they put signage upon the 7th June. The last min road closures didn't affect this since they were redirected onto another part of the course where there was already signs
Horse rider said she went out at 730 to ride to their farm. Then came back at 9am which is when the incident happened. Given Windsor starts at roughly 6am (to limit local disruption) I find it odd she had no idea there was an event on.
Whilst the people on the right are too close, I find it curious that people would deliberately go down the left of the Horse, I suspect this was "avoiding action" Whether that was because they were too busy starting at a power meter or because other racers were prohibiting them from moving over who knows.
I came from Mountain Biking to Tri. I like to think I have a reasonable level of bike handling skills. The quality of riding on Triathlons is fairly bad. I've lost count of the near misses over the years because people just aren't paying attention. And lets not get into the arses that draft and the moto marshals that ignore it. 3 thousand people on a short course will always result in packs though.
The Horse rider herself to be fair has said she's received support from the cyclist and Triathlete communities, thankfully, it doesn't sound like she wants the event stopped.
I have never raced a bicycle but I used to race motorbikes, once the red mist descends judgement gets distorted, usually the self preservation part of your brain kicks in and pulls you back from doing something really dangerous, unfortunately it doesn't work every time and incidents happen.
Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff