Where is the cycling equivalent to Parkrun?
They're different things, there's not always going to be equivalents. Is there a runners equivalent for going out for a nice ride? I've never met a runner who doesn't measure it in some way, then tell everyone (Usually after telling them they just do it for fun and are not competitive). There may be some who do, I've just never met one, even the social Parkrun includes timing chips and published results.
Most cyclists I know, are more likely to tell me where they've been, who with, what they saw... then maybe the distance, though sometimes I'll ask for that if it sounds like a ride I might do.
As for arseholes, we've all got one.
Cycling doesn't have weekly gatherings of cyclists of al ages and abilities who can take as long as they need to get around and not have to pay a membership fee for the pleasure. As for the timing: the vast majority of runners I know use their time purely as a guide for themselves as to their state of fitness.
I once did an audax. I got in with about five minutes remaining. Everybody except two organisers had long gone and the organisers were surprised when we turned up. At Parkrun the Marshall and organisers stay for the last person home and then some of them come for a coffee with many of the participants afterwards who have also stayed and usually cheer the tail home.
Cycling could do with something on the same lines to raise it's popularity with the wider public.
To be fair, Mike, how long does it take for the field to complete a Park Run? Aren't they c. 5 miles or less? I don't know how long your audax was but I should think the organisers will have been hanging around for a lot longer than those at the running event. And they did wait! And it's a sample of 1, I think?
Me? I just wish my legs would still let me run!
Well actually, it was a mere 100km and the organisers didn't wait as such. They had packed up and were just leaving as we arrived. They didn't expect us nor anybody else and had to dig out their paperwork just to register us home. They were not happy bunnies either.
As Jaded says, Parkrun is inclusive because that was key to the project. Cycling doesn't have that feel about it at any level. There are plenty of groups of mates in cycling but nothing beyond this.
Parkrun isn't immune to arseholes (runners or organisers).
I've seen runners shove other runners. I've seen runners shout obscenities at other people walking on the same paths "Get out of the way! There are hundreds of runners coming through!" (despite the weekly reminder from the run director that everyone needs to be polite and share the paths with other users), etc. People running with loose dogs that bother lots of the other runners. Generally it's people who are more concerned about their time than their behaviour.
Then again, I've seen the tail end walker leave 400m before the end (as they wanted to get home) leaving the last people completely unaware of what to do or where to go as almost everything else had been packed away (someone complained as they had to ask for directions from random people to get to the end). For a parkrun with sometimes 600 people there were just a handful of people left at the finish, no clapping, no cheering, not even a well done, finish funnel cones/tape packed up, just a grumpy timekeeper (not obvious as they weren't in hi vis) who was annoyed they'd been kept waiting an extra 10+ minutes.
(None of this was me, but I have come last in the parkrun when I ran it with my 5 yo daughter, and it was a freakish week where no-one was walking so we were last by quite some way, but the tail end walker gave some great encouragement to my daughter and there were still enough people around to clap and cheer her in on her debut.)
I think every prospective run director should have to do the tail end walker job with someone finishing in over 1h just to see how underwhelming the finish can be if the remaining volunteers don't get it right.
