Windsor "Incident"
Discussion
Can't believe this hasn't been posted yet. It has been all over the news all weekend.
Shocking, shocking riding.
https://news.sky.com/story/terrifying-horse-spooke...
Shocking, shocking riding.
https://news.sky.com/story/terrifying-horse-spooke...
Coin Slot. said:
It has been dude, on the bad driving thread where the usual anti-cycling plebs appeared in numbers.
Those TT riders are being t
ts and she could have moved over slightly. That's about the long and short of it.
Agreed, she should have moved over but absolutely no excuse from the riders for passing so close and especially up the inside. From what I understand she wasn't even aware a race was on so would have had no idea they were racing up behind her. Those TT riders are being t
ts and she could have moved over slightly. That's about the long and short of it.Race or not there is still such a thing as common courtesy on the road when overtaking slower moving traffic, be that a car, pedestrian, cyclist or horse rider.
Nothing about it has surprised me. Not the media reaction and comments that follow nor that people would do that in the first place. I’ve seen the same sort of behaviour on everything from TTs, triathlons, sportives and even at parkrun of all things! Some sort of switch is flicked in people’s brains and they can’t loose a second. A local triathlon organiser here had to force riders, at pain of disqualification, to stop at a junction and put a foot down because people simply couldn’t be sensible on their own.
The comments accompanying many of the articles are exactly what you’d predict. Cyclists being dicks about triathletes. The usual anti-cycling crap. Same old same old. The comments I find a bit rich often come from horse owners. From my experience vehicles towing horse boxes and vehicles with horsey stickers on seem quite happy to inflict a close pass at speed.
The comments accompanying many of the articles are exactly what you’d predict. Cyclists being dicks about triathletes. The usual anti-cycling crap. Same old same old. The comments I find a bit rich often come from horse owners. From my experience vehicles towing horse boxes and vehicles with horsey stickers on seem quite happy to inflict a close pass at speed.
I was pootling up the canal towpath on my way home in the middle of nowhere tonight and as I pulled up the path back to the small lane I overheard 2 people talking in that subtly slightly too loud style about that cyclist and the horse....
I then over took a horse and spent 3 mins chatting to the nice lady about the incident. She was cool, so was her horse.
This isn't doing us any favours.
I then over took a horse and spent 3 mins chatting to the nice lady about the incident. She was cool, so was her horse.
This isn't doing us any favours.
The cycling by the two who go up the left of the horse is inexcusable and several of those who pass on the right need having a word with as well.
This was an olympic distance triathlon race, organised by Human Race Events, one of the biggest event organisers for events of this kind. I was racing in the event and in my view, the roads should have been closed. They have been in the past, but no doubt in favour of saving money, this year they weren't.
I don't buy the horse rider's claim that there were no warning signs, there were plenty of yellow AA type signs warning of a cycling event and cyclists on the roads and there were marshalls at various points controlling some junctions. I have assumed that she would have had to drive to the farm where she was journeying from, in which case she'd have seen signs.
But at the end of the day, this was a race, not a sportive. The roads should have been shut. I was held up several times behind vans / cars who couldn't pass groups of cyclists in front of them. I just bided my time and let them go, or passed them myself when it was safe to do so. Some people however were just piling past, cycling in large groups etc. It was made very clear at the briefing that the roads were open, that road rules did apply and warning signs reminded everyone of this on approach to junctions. But with 3,000 odd competitors (i think), there are always going to be some bellends. There were photographers on course, so i have no doubt they'll be able to trace the riders and they should be rightly DQ'd and banned from future events. They're idiots and give the sport (triathlon or cycling) a bad name.
This was an olympic distance triathlon race, organised by Human Race Events, one of the biggest event organisers for events of this kind. I was racing in the event and in my view, the roads should have been closed. They have been in the past, but no doubt in favour of saving money, this year they weren't.
I don't buy the horse rider's claim that there were no warning signs, there were plenty of yellow AA type signs warning of a cycling event and cyclists on the roads and there were marshalls at various points controlling some junctions. I have assumed that she would have had to drive to the farm where she was journeying from, in which case she'd have seen signs.
But at the end of the day, this was a race, not a sportive. The roads should have been shut. I was held up several times behind vans / cars who couldn't pass groups of cyclists in front of them. I just bided my time and let them go, or passed them myself when it was safe to do so. Some people however were just piling past, cycling in large groups etc. It was made very clear at the briefing that the roads were open, that road rules did apply and warning signs reminded everyone of this on approach to junctions. But with 3,000 odd competitors (i think), there are always going to be some bellends. There were photographers on course, so i have no doubt they'll be able to trace the riders and they should be rightly DQ'd and banned from future events. They're idiots and give the sport (triathlon or cycling) a bad name.
To be honest I was expecting something a bit more 'spectacular' on the video.
However, that said.
The riders should have been much more considerate.
Whilst club TTs are generally ok on an open road for a). logistics and they can't really do 'owt else and b). everyone can broadly stay out of everyone else's way with a little thought as groups seldom exceed 2 or 3 riders (rarely as many as that) - any competitive event that will result in bunches of riders, like the one in the video, should not be allowed on open roads.
As demonstrated aptly, in competitive mode, the red mist descends, people decide that their race is the priority use on the road and they then make stupid choices which disregard other people's convenience and even safety.
However, that said.
The riders should have been much more considerate.
Whilst club TTs are generally ok on an open road for a). logistics and they can't really do 'owt else and b). everyone can broadly stay out of everyone else's way with a little thought as groups seldom exceed 2 or 3 riders (rarely as many as that) - any competitive event that will result in bunches of riders, like the one in the video, should not be allowed on open roads.
As demonstrated aptly, in competitive mode, the red mist descends, people decide that their race is the priority use on the road and they then make stupid choices which disregard other people's convenience and even safety.
Not sure why the cyclist didn’t stop, must have known he had hit the horse.
Hopefully the organisers will find out who it was and ban him from future races, all he would have had to have done is stop, make sure the horse and rider were OK, apologised and got on his way, and chances are it wouldn’t have made the press and we wouldn’t be talking about it
Hopefully the organisers will find out who it was and ban him from future races, all he would have had to have done is stop, make sure the horse and rider were OK, apologised and got on his way, and chances are it wouldn’t have made the press and we wouldn’t be talking about it
Watched this a few times now.
The first rider passing on the inside deserves to encounter some taut piano wire across the road, frankly.
Other points: This is a huge annual triathlon. Massive. The bike route has changed a bit over the years but AFAIK it's been the same the last two or three.
The bike route takes riders through some prime stabling country. I've lost count of the number of farm houses with proper sized paddocks and stables that line the route when I've ridden it (not on race day day).
There is NO way the horse rider could have failed to realise that there was a race on that day. Absolutely none. So there's an element of wanting to prove a point, I suspect.
The roads are closed (normally) for that event. But of you live on the bike route itself, it's obviously pretty easy to open the front gate and set off. The organisers can't put marshalls on everyone's front gate.
The race itself is a no-drafting race. Competitors are told to maintain a 10m gap between them and the rider in front, unless they are closing to go past. When the incident happens you can see a small bunch of riders pass the horse on the offside and one on the nearside. Those riders were drafting/riding in a bunch, which is a big no-no. At a guess, the bunch cam up on the horse and someone closest to the kerb realised at the last minute that the rider on his right shoulder wasn't going to (or couldn't, because of another rider) mover out to the right to give him space to pass on the right. So he took the sthead option of trying to skim past on the left. Poor riding by the cyclist for riding in a group, poor judgement for not anticipating sooner that he'd run out of space, poor judgement for not braking and making some pace, and spectacularly poor judgement in deciding to go for a nearside pass.
The first rider passing on the inside deserves to encounter some taut piano wire across the road, frankly.
Other points: This is a huge annual triathlon. Massive. The bike route has changed a bit over the years but AFAIK it's been the same the last two or three.
The bike route takes riders through some prime stabling country. I've lost count of the number of farm houses with proper sized paddocks and stables that line the route when I've ridden it (not on race day day).
There is NO way the horse rider could have failed to realise that there was a race on that day. Absolutely none. So there's an element of wanting to prove a point, I suspect.
The roads are closed (normally) for that event. But of you live on the bike route itself, it's obviously pretty easy to open the front gate and set off. The organisers can't put marshalls on everyone's front gate.
The race itself is a no-drafting race. Competitors are told to maintain a 10m gap between them and the rider in front, unless they are closing to go past. When the incident happens you can see a small bunch of riders pass the horse on the offside and one on the nearside. Those riders were drafting/riding in a bunch, which is a big no-no. At a guess, the bunch cam up on the horse and someone closest to the kerb realised at the last minute that the rider on his right shoulder wasn't going to (or couldn't, because of another rider) mover out to the right to give him space to pass on the right. So he took the s
thead option of trying to skim past on the left. Poor riding by the cyclist for riding in a group, poor judgement for not anticipating sooner that he'd run out of space, poor judgement for not braking and making some pace, and spectacularly poor judgement in deciding to go for a nearside pass. NDA said:
ReallyReallyGood said:
Cyclists being a**holes shocker.
Never criticise a cyclist.... you should know better. You'll be called a Roman citizen, which is very hurtful.I would assume then if this is a big race, that these cyclists are fairly serious about cycling, not your casual Brompton commuter types; these cyclists know exactly what behaviour is expected on the road, and (apparently a lot of them) consider their behaviour acceptable, perhaps even normal?
With that in mind, I stand by my first comment.
johnnywb said:
But at the end of the day, this was a race, not a sportive. The roads should have been shut.......... But with 3,000 odd competitors (i think)....
This really worries me and the horse incident just highlights part of the problem. 3,000 people racing on roads that have not been closed shouldn't even be considered. If you organise a race, close the roads or at least get proper marshals. Racing with 3,000 people... forget it.Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff