Sabotage of New Forest sportive

[mrcharly-YHT]

Banana skins from the Guardian.

Two years? Orange peel and banana skins - 2 years

Someones talking sh*t

Quite a claim you make there.

Banana skins take sodding forever to break down. Put them in a compost bin and they'll be there unchanged when you dig the compost out 6 months later. Ditto orange peel.

Out on moorland or open ground both take much, much longer to break down and neither will be eaten by wildlife.

[Biff]

 Additionally it took no account of the clash with the time trial element of a local road race - Glen Longland memorial.

Memorial? He was posting on twitter a couple of days ago.

[JBB]

 Additionally it took no account of the clash with the time trial element of a local road race - Glen Longland memorial.

Memorial? He was posting on twitter a couple of days ago.

Sorry Glen Longland Classic ( the Sandie Radford memorial is in spring in the same area - hence my mistake!)

[andyoxon]

It seems to be a regular occurrence...  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/10766062/Cycling-event-targeted-by-saboteurs-laying-nails-in-road.html

[mrcharly-YHT]

What utter pricks.

[Kathy]

It seems to be a regular occurrence...  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/10766062/Cycling-event-targeted-by-saboteurs-laying-nails-in-road.html

Ew! I accidentally read some comments! 

[contango]

It seems to be a regular occurrence...  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/10766062/Cycling-event-targeted-by-saboteurs-laying-nails-in-road.html

Sad to see people resorting to that.

I've seen some truly dismal behaviour by groups of cyclists on the narrow roads of the New Forest, most notably a total disregard for other road users and the oh-so-smooth motion of removing a gel from a jersey pocket, eating the contents and then throwing the empty packet over the shoulder. When I see a sudden increase in the number of discarded gel wrappers and bottles on the road I can usually predict when there's a group of cyclists ahead. Which is sad, because it's the usual problem of the few giving the many a bad name. Just like I notice the one or two motorised morons who pass within touching distance and don't notice the hundreds who give me plenty of space, so people notice the cyclists who act like asshats and don't tend to notice the ones who don't.

Still no justification for laying tacks in the road. It makes as much sense as reading a report about a burglary and kicking ten bells out of anyone who looked remotely like the suspect.

[Jaded]

the event, which sees more than 4000 participants complete 62-mile and 84-mile routes through the picturesque national park

That's a lot of riders...

[andyoxon]

I wonder how much profit Wiggle makes out of an event of this size.

[LEE]

Anyone who knowingly discards a gel wrapper is a total prick.  Hopefully there will be someone reading this who does it and stops doing it because they suddenly realise they area total prick (I doubt people who don't realise it's wrong will stop doing it however).


Anyone who knowingly spreads nails/tacks on a road is a total prick.  You may hate cyclists but it proves you also hate New Forest animals and car drivers.


I despise both groups but I understand less the mentality of the litter-tossing cyclist.

I've witnessed it on an Audax.  Some older guy on a Hampshire Audax.  I think he lived in France or Spain as an ex-pat and visited. 
He discarded his gel wrapper near Whitchurch in Hampshire, near my f***ing house, on the f***ing beautiful lanes I use.

Hopefully you will read this and learn you are a prick.

Of course it only takes one prick, out of a population of thousands, to do this.

[mattc]

Completely agree with your post Lee.

I would add that people will realise its wrong a lot quicker if you tell them IN PERSON, than hoping they will read this thread by chance 

[Fab Foodie]

the event, which sees more than 4000 participants complete 62-mile and 84-mile routes through the picturesque national park

That's a lot of riders...

.... But it's still less than 10% of participants in the L2B which seems to roll on year after year without issue ....

[hatler]

And which now also runs through a National Park.

[Jaded]

But it's mainly for charidee....

[Martin]

perhaps the BHF who organise L2B engage with TPTB and locals along the route more? and spend money on proper organisation?

not ridden it for over 10 years but the entry fee always seemed money well spent; biggest problem I had was trying to wring dosh out of people for sponsorship on an event that I just enjoyed so much

and Jaded yes L2B is the BHF's biggest fund raising event

[Jaded]

Indeed.

Funny how perceptions change the public's view. It would be interesting if a graph of the growth in participation in the LTB over the years was overlaid over one of the same for this Sportive.

Organic, sympathetic growth vs ....

[De Sisti]

I've witnessed it on an Audax.  Some older guy on a Hampshire Audax.  I think he lived in France or Spain as an ex-pat and visited. 
He discarded his gel wrapper near Whitchurch in Hampshire, near my f***ing house, on the f***ing beautiful lanes I use.

Hopefully you will read this and learn you are a prick.

What did he say when you told him off?

[Wascally Weasel]

Discarded gel wrappers, CO2 canisters and various other Mamil fewmets are an annoying sight out in the lanes.  While there is generally a greater amount of motorist generated detritus out there – fast food containers, beer cans and drinks bottles a third full of suspiciously piss coloured liquid,  it tends to be on the actual road less and more at the roadside.

The dumped item that I really don’t comprehend are discarded inner tubes – I’ve picked up quite a few one-puncture discards over the years.  And we’re talking eminently repairable tubes, not ones with burst tubes or broken valves.  Inner tubes are expensive these days and I wouldn’t ever discard one (I would dispose of one that was unusable but not at the roadside because it’s a shitty thing to do).

Sabotaging events is a huge greater order of magnitude of shittiness though.

[mattc]

The inner tubes don't surprise me - lots of people don't bother doing repairs. Even assuming you know how; let's price them at £3-each; a LOT of serious cyclists earn more money an hour than would justify that repair.
[I'm not going to post an estimate of repair time, as it will just start a pointless multi-page debate  ]

So given that they are heavier/bulkier than a gel wrapper, it's not surprising that folk discard them. Not that I actually see many to be honest! And it doesn't seem to be increasing. Also - personal anecdata only - I've hardly ever seen a discarded skinny 700c, just chunky 26"ers.

[marcusjb]

The inner tube thing is a bit sad really - shows we're (humankind in general) more interested in saving a bit of time and effort than recycling/reusing something and creating ever more landfill etc.

Inner tubes aren't ever so expensive, but patching a tube doesn't need doing immediately - I have a little pile of tubes with holes in and when my stock of good tubes runs low, I sit and patch up the busted ones. 

[Wascally Weasel]

The inner tube thing is a bit sad really - shows we're (humankind in general) more interested in saving a bit of time and effort than recycling/reusing something and creating ever more landfill etc.

But then someone like me happens along, finds them, and makes good use of them Womble style.

[Kim]

So given that they are heavier/bulkier than a gel wrapper, it's not surprising that folk discard them. Not that I actually see many to be honest! And it doesn't seem to be increasing. Also - personal anecdata only - I've hardly ever seen a discarded skinny 700c, just chunky 26"ers.

That's my anec-experience too (indeed, I spotted a 26" knobbly discarded in the verge along with its tube recently).  Which suggests it's not actually the sportive weight-weenie dentists discarding them (they're presumably on 700c and fix punctures with a mobile phone), but mountain bikers (who presumably do have puncture kit) and standard commuter/leisure/BSOists.