Armistead Down And Out................

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NATURAL ANKLING
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Armistead Down And Out................

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi I always cringe when I see Motorcycles and Cars pass riders on tour with Recklessness.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/33170616
_83696173_armitstead_darrylmorgan_before.jpg


So why oh why does the finish of races always have obstacles in the path of speeding cyclist :?:
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Tonyf33
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Re: Armistead Down And Out................

Post by Tonyf33 »

Yeah, i watched that and thought that was a crash waiting to happen given the road narrowed after the finish line anyway and was further narrowed with the press far too close to the finish line IMO.
And why the hell was the race director standing so far out? :x
Sure Armistead swerved a bit but if they had being further back and that clown in the blue shirt not right in her line of sight this probably wouldn't have happened.
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: Armistead Down And Out................

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Yeh, I did not know that was the race mang.
The other two camera men were taken down............no other info so I assume they were all too embarrassed.................

All ways look where you are going to end up.....................
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Flinders
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Re: Armistead Down And Out................

Post by Flinders »

When I saw the footage of that, I thought that none of the people on the race side of the barrier should have been allowed there.

IMHO, the one who was getting on for half way across the road should have been publicly horsewhipped.

If they wanted photographers to be able to get head-on shots, or a judge to get a head-on view, the barrier ought to have been slightly curved there for that purpose, which would have given the riders more warning, the photographers protection, and would have limited how far out they would get, and stopped the morons just going further and further across the road to get round each other. Between them they must have taken up nearly half the road width- with a group sprint finish where bikes could easily have been more than four abreast. It was idiotic.

I photograph other types of racing, and not cycling; in the amateur sector, unlike the pro where there are always barriers, if there aren't barriers, some damned fools will always creep further and further out to try to see round each other - and even if there are ropes, they push them forward or, in extreme cases, cross them. Just two or three people doing that ruins the view for many more others, as well as being potentially lethal to competitors. I have noticed that the people who go as far as to cross them are usually people who are involved with those in the race- who of all people should never be excused such stupid and dangerous behavior, but they seem to think the rules don't apply to them (in the case of the racing I do, those rules do apply to everyone).

In my kind of racing, where difficult shots are needed remote cameras are used - safer for everyone.
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Re: Armistead Down And Out................

Post by Flinders »

It also looked to me like the riders were finshing into the sun, which would have made it very difficult for them to see the idiots in the road. In horseracing, special precautions are taken to avoid tricky situations where the sun is in jockeys' and horses' eyes- they'd never allow hazards and the drastic narrowing of a course at such a point.
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Paulatic
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Re: Armistead Down And Out................

Post by Paulatic »

Don't think the sun was a problem. Her line was avoiding people until I thought it was a cross wind which blew her over?
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Tonyf33
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Re: Armistead Down And Out................

Post by Tonyf33 »

Paulatic wrote:Don't think the sun was a problem. Her line was avoiding people until I thought it was a cross wind which blew her over?

Maybe it was a crosswind but reading some criticism of her on other forums basically saying don't take both hands off your bars if you can't control your bike are extremely unfair. No bods in the way = no crash whether she was blown off course or just lost a little control.
Whomever risk assessed that finish & decreed that positioning the paps where they were wants shooting second in line to the race director, who was a complete idiot.
Bonefishblues
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Re: Armistead Down And Out................

Post by Bonefishblues »

OTOH they didn't just jump out and risk avoidance is a two-way street.

Six of one etc
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: Armistead Down And Out................

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
I see that at the finish there were media on the road but they were only 1/4 across and all moved in when the bikes were passing.

We have seen plenty police, camera and spectators bring down cyclist even kill.

I always think that the cyclist are given second priority to the Team cars, photo bikes and the ever so urgent police marshalling the road.

Remember Indurain on a mountain corner
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Redvee
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Re: Armistead Down And Out................

Post by Redvee »

Is this the same rider as Lizzie ArmiTstead ?
Tonyf33
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Re: Armistead Down And Out................

Post by Tonyf33 »

Well at Stevenage yesterday there were ZERO photographers or race directors hovering in the road or line of sight, completely free for riders to battle it out and not have to think a split second later about some twit running in front or standing within a bars width of my line at 40mph :roll:
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: Armistead Down And Out................

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Tonyf33 wrote:Well at Stevenage yesterday there were ZERO photographers or race directors hovering in the road or line of sight, completely free for riders to battle it out and not have to think a split second later about some twit running in front or standing within a bars width of my line at 40mph :roll:


If you look closer the camera angle was high and cut off what was further on :?:
Or maybe they were'nt there.
Or the camera director etc thought he wont show them silly people.
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Flinders
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Re: Armistead Down And Out................

Post by Flinders »

NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Hi,
Tonyf33 wrote:Well at Stevenage yesterday there were ZERO photographers or race directors hovering in the road or line of sight, completely free for riders to battle it out and not have to think a split second later about some twit running in front or standing within a bars width of my line at 40mph :roll:


If you look closer the camera angle was high and cut off what was further on :?:
Or maybe they were'nt there.
Or the camera director etc thought he wont show them silly people.


I thought that maybe they chose an angle where the idiots wouldn't be visible, but of course I can't be sure.
IMHO photographers should never be beyond the barriers. If they need a better view than the public, pen off a section of the area behind the barriers for them. Armistead could have been seriously injured, or killed, as could any of the photographers, or other riders.
Flinders
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Re: Armistead Down And Out................

Post by Flinders »

NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Hi,
I see that at the finish there were media on the road but they were only 1/4 across and all moved in when the bikes were passing.

We have seen plenty police, camera and spectators bring down cyclist even kill.

I always think that the cyclist are given second priority to the Team cars, photo bikes and the ever so urgent police marshalling the road.

Remember Indurain on a mountain corner


Certainly on tours some places seem to be able to keep spectators off the road and some don't. The rule should be, keep right off the tarmac unless there are barriers that allow you on it, and always - everyone - keep behind any barriers that are there.

When I've seen the police marshalling the Tour of Britain round here they have been very slick, professional and safe- actually very impressive to watch, in fact.
ferdinand
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Re: Armistead Down And Out................

Post by ferdinand »

The video is here:
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/video/ ... tour-video

The Guardian has put a "disturbing content" warning on it, so consider carefully before watching.

Ferdinand
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