Sick people

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
ChrisButch
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Joined: 24 Feb 2009, 12:10pm

Re: Sick people

Post by ChrisButch »

flatout wrote:The fact that you could be doing exactly the same route at exactly the same speed, with the same level of enjoyment says more about the power of marketing and it’s ability to change the mindset and/or perception of the individual.


Rather more than that. I've now ridden a good few sportives after many years of Audax and an otherwise mixed cycling portfolio. I happen to have reached the age when I enjoy (and, I sometimes tell myself, deserve) a bit of cossetting. To be able to relax and concentrate just on the riding, without lurking anxieties about route-finding or where I'm going to find something to eat, is not to be sniffed at. I find my fellow participants, too, to be a pretty diverse bunch with diverse expectations, and by no means dominated by the 'wannabe idiots' referred to in another post (although they're undoubtedly there and inevitably all too visible).

As for marketing - most sportives, with the obvious exceptions of a few of the bigger ones, are promoted by small companies working to tight margins, without significant marketing budgets. Such marketing as there is is the most effective kind of all - word of mouth, or rather these days word of social media. The remarkable growth would not be happening unless a previously unmet need were being addressed. The downsides mentioned here are now familiar, and indeed deplorable and lamentable: but I prefer to celebrate the sportive phenomenon as a glass half full rather than reject it as a glass half empty, and an opportunity to be seized and built upon. To dismiss it with the implied contempt often expressed when the subject crops up here risks, once again, the narrow sectarianism which has so often held back cycling in this country, and that I find disappointing.
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661-Pete
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Re: Sick people

Post by 661-Pete »

As I said, I'm not interested in doing audax or sportives myself, I prefer to do 'my own thing' - but I respect the fact that for many cyclists (including one of my colleagues) they are a good way of keeping the mojo alive... If participants think of the money spent as a donation to a good cause, fair enough.

But remember, this act of mindless sabotage could have caught any cyclist who happened to be passing along that route - not just one taking part in the sportive. I have, on occasion, found myself going along the same way as a sportive (and getting overtaken by a lot of cyclists in consequence :oops: ). Sprinkling drawing pins is an act that endangers anyone on a bike - and other road users besides.
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--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
reohn2
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Joined: 26 Jun 2009, 8:21pm

Re: Sick people

Post by reohn2 »

ChrisButch wrote:
flatout wrote:....... To dismiss it with the implied contempt often expressed when the subject crops up here risks, once again, the narrow sectarianism which has so often held back cycling in this country, and that I find disappointing.


I've no problem whatsoever with anyone who wishes to pay for a route sheet,and feed stations,if it strums their strings all well and good.But I can only relay my experiences when I/we've encountered such rides which hasn't been positive.
I'm sorry if I implied it was all sportive participants,my post wasn't meant like that,just mine and Mrs R2's experience when encountering four separate sportives.
I've no kind of sectarian agenda and will acknowledge and or offer help to any cyclist I happen upon on the road,though I wish I could say the same for some other cyclists which tend to be,though not exclusively, the black 'n red attired,minimum spoke,stripped down race bike,anorexic,variety.
Just my observations.
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
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Dave W
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Joined: 18 Jul 2012, 4:17pm

Re: Sick people

Post by Dave W »

You're a bundle of laughs aren't you?

I have done a sportive but don't do them any more because the cost is rather extortionate these days. I used to do the Bath to London for charity too but that's got too dear. I've nothing against anyone who enters one - it's quite an achievement for many and a bit of lighthearted competition for some, at the end of the day it's cycling so can't be bad.
reohn2
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Joined: 26 Jun 2009, 8:21pm

Re: Sick people

Post by reohn2 »

Dave W wrote:You're a bundle of laughs aren't you?

Unlike some :?

I have done a sportive but don't do them any more because the cost is rather extortionate these days. I used to do the Bath to London for charity too but that's got too dear. I've nothing against anyone who enters one - it's quite an achievement for many and a bit of lighthearted competition for some, at the end of the day it's cycling so can't be bad.

I've nothing at all against anyone riding sportives,as I've nothing against people who drive 4x4's(check my history on that).
I have however something against people who scatter the roads with litter in the form of gel wrappers and inner tubes.Not exclusive to sportive riders by any means but as I posted above my experience is that when I/we've ended up on the same road as a sportive there's a predominance of gel wrappers and innertubes and a preponderance of bad and dangerous riding.
It is the pack mentality/wannabie culture that exists that spoils cycling IMHO.
It's also like the fact that we've just got back from three weeks caravaning and cycling in France where I find the driving of a much higher standard than here,and without some much as a trace of litter(well perhaps the odd bit here and there)or fly tipping,to be met by the hedgrows strewn with litter and cans of all description,and no less than three separate fly tip dollops in a 10 mile drive when we came off the motorway :? .
And some silly bint in a Focus intent on killing herself by a truly atrocious overtaking manoeuvre on the 100mile m/way drive from Hull to Manchester.
I saw no such behaviour in 1,400miles on French roads.

It's a social problem pertaining to the UK.
And it's my experience YMV,have you got that?
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
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Dave W
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Re: Sick people

Post by Dave W »

:lol: :lol:
reohn2
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Re: Sick people

Post by reohn2 »

Dave W wrote::lol: :lol:


Stuck for words Dave?
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
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Elizabethsdad
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Re: Sick people

Post by Elizabethsdad »

Tacks on the road is one thing, this is on a whole different level of mindless,,,
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/1152154 ... f_the_law/
reohn2
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Joined: 26 Jun 2009, 8:21pm

Re: Sick people

Post by reohn2 »

Elizabethsdad wrote:Tacks on the road is one thing, this is on a whole different level of mindless,,,
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/1152154 ... f_the_law/


More loonies,you just cannot believe that kind of mindset exists :twisted:
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
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Postboxer
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Joined: 24 Jul 2013, 5:19pm

Re: Sick people

Post by Postboxer »

I just wish these people got caught more often, then severely punished but it must be hard to find them, unless the only shop for miles around has someone on CCTV buying tacks and black paint. Also, I think it should be illegal to stand still on bridges directly above carriageways, especially motorways, makes me nervous every time I see anyone doing this, after the occasional stories of people dropping bricks etc.
Bicycler
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Re: Sick people

Post by Bicycler »

Postboxer wrote:Also, I think it should be illegal to stand still on bridges directly above carriageways, especially motorways, makes me nervous every time I see anyone doing this, after the occasional stories of people dropping bricks etc.

That's certainly one of the most unusual "this should be banned" comments I've heard recently. Obviously if someone doesn't care about garrotting cyclists or lobbing bricks off bridges then they won't care about disobeying an obscure law on loitering. Anyway, I take a perverse pleasure stopping for a minute to observe traffic jams I am not a part of 8)
Postboxer
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Joined: 24 Jul 2013, 5:19pm

Re: Sick people

Post by Postboxer »

Yes, but the only people stopped on bridges would be there to throw stuff, so you'd know to avoid driving under them. Ok, maybe not illegal but strongly discouraged.
reohn2
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Joined: 26 Jun 2009, 8:21pm

Re: Sick people

Post by reohn2 »

I once did a job for a woman who'd had someone commit suicide by jumping off a motorway bridge and landing on the bonnet of her car :shock: :shock:
I'll bet she's a bit nervous when she sees someone stood on a bridge she's driving under :shock: :shock:
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Vantage
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Re: Sick people

Post by Vantage »

I spent about 5 mins (actual minutes, not seconds) clearing away broken branches and what seemed like half a small tree that had been strewn across the cycle path at the end of a decent going to my girlfriends this morning. Braking as hard as I dared from 20mph on wet leaves had me stopped an inch from hitting it.
A couple walkers passing by shook their heads in disbelief with me.
It's amazing what passes for entertainment sometimes.
Bill


“Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride.” ~ Eddy Merckx
It's a rich man whos children run to him when his pockets are empty.
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