Sportives - are they out of control?

[oldroadman]

Reading reports about disruption of sportives by locals, actual attempted sabotage, and constant complaints from resident, are sportives simply too big and out of control?
Are there simply too many in some areas (New Forest, Surrey around Box Hill, for instance)?
Are some very stupid riders treating the events as a "5th category road race" (very dangerous and inconsiderate to all)?
Are these events harming the image of cycling?
And if all this is not fixed, is legislation likely to be the outcome, so that a sportive will need a proper risk assessment, permit, and officials with powers to penalise up to DQ, just like a road race?

I ask because it is looking likely that if enough influential people (please don't shout NIMBY!) get brassed off, legislation which we won't like might get imposed.

Discuss SENSIBLY....(posted in hope).

 

[Archie_tect]

The Cyclone was disrupted 2 years ago by tack throwing morons passing Newbiggin...

 

[mcshroom]

It's amazing how irate people can get if they get to a road junction to find it closed or get to a road and find they have to follow cyclists. It's as if you are personally insulting them by using a road and not cowering out of their way.

The mud on road thing strikes chord with me as a local farmer leaves a cycle path I would like to use like that for months on end, on a 90 degree bend too.

 

[the_mikey]

Sportives are no worse than the constant trail of cars that would take up the road if they weren't temporarily interleaved with people on bikes.

 

[michaelcycle]

The majority tend to get a bit irate when a minority group want to share their toys...

 

[400bhp]

As I said yesterday.

Balls to em. (locals and car drivers).

So long as the cyclists aren't being anti social it is what it is - a bunch of people doing like minded leisure activities on a weekend.

 

[Banjo]

As a commited cyclist who commutes does club , audax and CC rides I can still see the problems of mass participation events.

Locals are seriously inconvenienced by events, tons of crap such as gel wrappers old innertubes etc are left behind.

IMHO events should be limited to 1000 riders set off at intervals.

 

[PK99]

Reading reports about disruption of sportives by locals, actual attempted sabotage, and constant complaints from resident, are sportives simply too big and out of control?
Are there simply too many in some areas (New Forest, Surrey around Box Hill, for instance)?
Are some very stupid riders treating the events as a "5th category road race" (very dangerous and inconsiderate to all)?
Are these events harming the image of cycling?
And if all this is not fixed, is legislation likely to be the outcome, so that a sportive will need a proper risk assessment, permit, and officials with powers to penalise up to DQ, just like a road race?

I ask because it is looking likely that if enough influential people (please don't shout NIMBY!) get brassed off, legislation which we won't like might get imposed.

Discuss SENSIBLY....(posted in hope).

I rode a number of Sportives 3 or 4 years ago with a various members of my club. I stopped when a smidsy and 9 months off the bike made a rather large dent in my fitness. Fitness is now back to what it was and i spoke to the keenest of the sportive riders, noting that she did not do so many these days but was riding as much as ever. Her view "A few years ago Sportives were 'a good day out on the bike', now they have been taken over by wannabe racers who can't hack it in the real thing. They are aggressive and dangerous"

Plus in the past 3 weekends I've ridden two 70 mile Charity rides in Surrey. On each ride we criss-crossed a number of other sportives/organised rides covering the same terrain. I can certainly see how overuse of some roads could be very frustrating for locals.

 

[slowmotion]

Lots of cyclists, blinged up on narrow roads on a regular basis, piss people off. It isn't that hard to work out, is it? It might seem unreasonable, but if you can't see why it happens, you lack an understanding of human nature.

 

[fossyant]

I suppose its how often these events run in a particular area and the numbers involved. That said, places like the New Forrest are full of tourist traffic, so what's a few bikes ?

Admittedly, there are riders who treat these events like races, and will aggressively ride and not allow others to join their group on the road. These aren't my type of event.

Part of the reason I joined my club was to partake in friendly events and club runs rather than the huge Sportives.

 

[Globalti]

We gave up family Sky rides thanks to the terrifying behaviour of a small number of cyclists, though they were usually teenagers on BSOs rather than wannabe racer MAMILs. My elderly mother had a sportiff pass through her Wiltshire village last weekend and she was shocked at the behaviour of a small number of the cyclists; she even telephoned me to complain about them!

 

[Born2die]

I Nearly got wiped out Sunday by a landy on a single track lane local race going one way me the other not enough gap to overtake safely but guess what numpty did yup I wound up going off-road at speed

 

[DiddlyDodds]

id shoot the lot of them ,,, cyclist and locals .... I blame it on the government and the rise in self tanning booths in rural areas.
If only we could all live together in harmony, share our coke (the drinking kind) and wrap a blanket of happiness around the shoulders of the non believers and golfers .

I blame it on Henry Ford , he said any colour as long as its black , well that's the mood we are all in on the queens highway a very black one, with flashes of brightness.

Bring back penny chews , that's the answer I tells ya.

 

[Boris Bajic]

My feeling (and my experience) suggests that many Sportive riders are 'high net worth' individuals who are happy to pay and happy to live with the dichotemy of a race which is pretending not to be a race.

I do not do them, but many cyclists I know are keen Sportive riders. They are generally more 'golf club' than 'cycling club' - indeed almost nobody at my son's relatively traditional cycling club does them.

Activities pursued by this slice of socoety tend not to attract broader public hostility. There will be fringe contras who rail and moan and shout about them, but the press and the broadcast media will not get behind any sort of campaign for legislation and the moaners themselves will not have the gumption.

Most of us on these pages are motorists and cyclists and can see both sides of the coin. The inconvenience is relatively small and seasonal and the activity that would be subject to any legislation is currently surfing a massive wave of public adoration.

I think there will be dark mummerings, but no action will be taken.

 

[Dan B]

I think there will be dark mummerings

Othello?