Tour of Britain cycle race

baz · Sep 7, 2023

Yes I know I'm a miserable old bastard but what is this race about? Can it not be carried out on weekends when less people are at work?
I knew the road near me was closing but having had a look on the council website most of roads where I live will be closed from 5am until 7pm tomorrow
It's a very long way to skirt around it plus there's one road that I'm going to have to use
And this road is going to have a rolling road block!
It wouldn't be so bad but the cyclists are expected at 3.15pm
So why close the roads for a whole day!!
I'd take a day off work if I had any holiday left!!!
Ok rant over

kommando · Sep 7, 2023

I once went for a Saturday morning shopping trip in the car on a normally deserted rural road, around a blind bend came 60 odd cyclists in a peloton racing each other and using both sides of the road. I had to stop whilst they pulled over the white line and crashed into the rest, the looks they gave me suggested I was in the wrong to be stopping their race.

Grandad · Sep 7, 2023

I feel your pain, just had the Iron Man Triathlon farce in West Wales with countless roads all blocked off and damned inconvenient

If it was all for an amateur event I’d not moan but the organisers will be making a profit with little to no local benefit

Fast Eddie · Sep 7, 2023

They regularly run a timed event on the A420 between Oxford and Swindon.

Anyone who knows this road knowsvits a main trunk road, fast traffic, heavy traffic, holiday traffic, trucks, the lot.

They wobble along, side to side, head down, utterly oblivious to other road users.

I simply don’t get how this is legal.

But then again, I discovered recently that even speed limits do not apply to cyclists!

How f*cked up is that when our councils are busy installing 20 mph limits wherever they can ??

baz · Sep 7, 2023

Fast Eddie said:
They regularly run a timed event on the A420 between Oxford and Swindon.

Anyone who knows this road knowsvits a main trunk road, fast traffic, heavy traffic, holiday traffic, trucks, the lot.

They wobble along, side to side, head down, utterly oblivious to other road users.

I simply don’t get how this is legal.

But then again, I discovered recently that even speed limits do not apply to cyclists!

How f*cked up is that when our councils are busy installing 20 mph limits wherever they can ??

Yep there's been some talk recently about cyclists breaking the speed limit
This dosent bother me as much as them running through red lights
And riding 2 sometimes 3 abreast stopping people from passing
I really don't get the mentality behind that ?
I regularly see two or three cyclists on their way to work in the morning
They ride well and I have no issues with them whatsoever
The ones that are clad in the brightest lycra tend to be a pain
They're out riding for their leisure with no regard for anyone else
Always have a go Pro strapped on their heads and own the road

daveforty · Sep 8, 2023

Re. bicyclists and speed limits - an explanation by the Blackbelt Barrister;

baz · Sep 8, 2023

Sure enough the roads were closed at 5am this morning
But strangely the cycle track that runs alongside all of them remained open
Not that anyone uses them anyway
One thing I do wonder about is the signage to the finish line was marked in KMs !!????
Never seen that in the UK before

concours · Sep 20, 2023

Fast Eddie said:
They regularly run a timed event on the A420 between Oxford and Swindon.

Anyone who knows this road knowsvits a main trunk road, fast traffic, heavy traffic, holiday traffic, trucks, the lot.

They wobble along, side to side, head down, utterly oblivious to other road users.

I simply don’t get how this is legal.

But then again, I discovered recently that even speed limits do not apply to cyclists!

How f*cked up is that when our councils are busy installing 20 mph limits wherever they can ??

The "Karen" & "Ken" mindset now...

They give not a single fook, about those around them, that need to actually GET SOMEWHERE, and DO SOMETHING.

We're doomed

Richard Tool · Sep 20, 2023

Tread lightly now gents - I once incurred the wrath of a cyclist here on Access Norton by referring to them as ” Lance wannabes “…

Grandad · Sep 20, 2023

With the greatest of respect to cyclists despite usually being scathing the truth can hurt

oldmikew · Sep 22, 2023

when I started out on bikes it seemed our 4 wheeledfriends wanted tokill me,nowadays they donotseem tomind bikes but hate cycles

baz · Sep 23, 2023

oldmikew said:
when I started out on bikes it seemed our 4 wheeledfriends wanted tokill me,nowadays they donotseem tomind bikes but hate cycles

Things have changed a little
There used to be plenty of 250s flying around with L plates up annoying people
Nowadays it tends to be either scooters or big bikes
The scooters are still annoying but the big bikes tend not to be
And in the main they don't slow you down
Bicycles however slow you down,get in the way, ignore traffic lights etc
And are almost impossible to overtake legally on British roads in many instances

oldmikew · Sep 23, 2023

Today i rode about 10 miles sufficient to get 2 lots of verbal abuse... Baz the issue is that motor vehicles are wider ,soon the average Aroad there isnot room for two vehicles to pass withoutcutting up the hapless cyclist who ia struggling near the kurb

baz · Sep 24, 2023

oldmikew said:
Today i rode about 10 miles sufficient to get 2 lots of verbal abuse... Baz the issue is that motor vehicles are wider ,soon the average Aroad there isnot room for two vehicles to pass withoutcutting up the hapless cyclist who ia struggling near the kurb

Yep cars are generally wider
I myself have got wider !
Today on my commando I got stuck behind 3 cyclists
The ones at the front were riding two abreast with one on his own behind
I just don't get why they do it ?

Richard Tool · Sep 24, 2023

baz said:
Yep cars are generally wider
I myself have got wider !
Today on my commando I got stuck behind 3 cyclists
The ones at the front were riding two abreast with one on his own behind
I just don't get why they do it ?

Not all act this way but the ones that do - and I have seen many - seemingly do so out of some sense of entitlement or have something to prove . I live in a seashore resort community. The population for 9 months of the year is something like 10 - 12 k . On a holiday weekend in the summer that number often exceeds 250 k . The same size police force and volunteer emergency services are now heavily burdened. It doesn’t take long for everyone’s patience to wear thin when cyclists ignore traffic laws and common sense.
” Hey honey - let’s go to the shore and leave our brains at home - it’s a holiday weekend ! “

oldmikew · Sep 25, 2023

Well i do not doubt there are foolhardy cyclists but there are millions of motorists trying to stay a head in the race of life. Many will overtake whether there is room or not... threecycles in single file will get cutup or knocked off.

Tour of Britain cycle race

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