Etape Caledonia Sabotaged
- Thread starter Isla Valassi
- Start date
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Will1985
Über Member
- Location
- South Norfolk
What's the difference between the Etape and a local marathon or half marathon? Absolutely nothing really - both experience closures for a similar amount of time, but runners get closed roads far more often. If you call cycling a minority sport, then what is marathon running? Remind me how many medals the athletics squad won in Beijing??
Gadgetmind - have you ever ridden a sportive? The groups thin out very quickly as it is, and a staged start would actually exacerbate the problem by prolonging the closures.
An Etape on open roads is just asking for trouble in so many ways. You'll have the chavs out harassing cyclists in one direction and oncoming 4x4s taking up the whole of a singletrack road causing everything to stop. I wouldn't pay to ride something like that.
Gadgetmind - have you ever ridden a sportive? The groups thin out very quickly as it is, and a staged start would actually exacerbate the problem by prolonging the closures.
An Etape on open roads is just asking for trouble in so many ways. You'll have the chavs out harassing cyclists in one direction and oncoming 4x4s taking up the whole of a singletrack road causing everything to stop. I wouldn't pay to ride something like that.
gadgetmind said:
They are being offered a choice. Wait a couple of hours or go about your business by foot or on bicycle.
Also, it worth noting that it is not the good people of Perthshire that are involved here. It's a very few of the grumpy bar stewards of Perthshire.
gadget
apply a modicum of logic
your approach would mean……
no tour de france
no giro, no vuelta, no roubaix
no London marathon, no new york marathon
no urban 10k fun runs
no road works
no rio carnival
no notting hill carnival
no royal wedding celebrations (if you like that sort of thing), no diana funeral procession (probably much beloved of acre spokesperson)
I could go on but its rather tedious
All of the above require a degree of restriction of movement by those affected as we, as a society through our elected representatives, have decided that the sacrifice that a few need to make is less than the overall benefit of what necessitates the road closure in the first place
Its very simple………
As an aside, the road in question is very quiet. The ‘anti-democratic’ Council in question will go and clear it when there is heavy snow (admittedly less of an occurrence these days) or grit it when there is ice. This at a far higher cost than roads in more populated areas and at a cost which would be impossible for residents to manage on their own.. Do the residents of Perth complain about this? Not everyone has the right to do everything all of the time. This is how a ‘civilised’ society works
Please think before typing….
apply a modicum of logic
your approach would mean……
no tour de france
no giro, no vuelta, no roubaix
no London marathon, no new york marathon
no urban 10k fun runs
no road works
no rio carnival
no notting hill carnival
no royal wedding celebrations (if you like that sort of thing), no diana funeral procession (probably much beloved of acre spokesperson)
I could go on but its rather tedious
All of the above require a degree of restriction of movement by those affected as we, as a society through our elected representatives, have decided that the sacrifice that a few need to make is less than the overall benefit of what necessitates the road closure in the first place
Its very simple………
As an aside, the road in question is very quiet. The ‘anti-democratic’ Council in question will go and clear it when there is heavy snow (admittedly less of an occurrence these days) or grit it when there is ice. This at a far higher cost than roads in more populated areas and at a cost which would be impossible for residents to manage on their own.. Do the residents of Perth complain about this? Not everyone has the right to do everything all of the time. This is how a ‘civilised’ society works
Please think before typing….
gadgetmind
New Member
Crackle said:
I'm not in their area so don't really want to get involved.
Ian
gadgetmind
New Member
Will1985 said:
If you're asking me, then don't bother. I have zero interest in sport.
Not yet, but I might join the Great Yorkshire Bike Ride one year. Dunno if it counts as a "sportive" - hard to find a definition of what one of these actually is.
Ian
gadgetmind
New Member
gillan said:
I have been doing, thanks, and I still find myself in the position of being able to emphasis with the locals regards their access to the roads far more than others here seem to. I'm sure some of the locals would still regards me as some kind of pro-cycling nutter, and maybe the more extreme here think that I'm in some way anti-cycling. I guess that makes me a moderate.
As it happens, I live very close to the route of the Leeds Marathon. Yes, it can be a pain, and some junctions are closed, but the vast majority of the roads are open and the joggers are paused at major junctions to allow traffic to pass. Signage is variable but was slightly better this year and overall the planning seems OK with the transport needs of non-competitiors being taken into consideration.
I'm sure that if the Leeds Marathon planners had gone into the planning process with their blinkers on, determined that every road should be closed entirely for the duration because that was the USP of the event, then things would be different.
Ian
gadgetmind said:I have been doing, thanks, and I still find myself in the position of being able to emphasis with the locals regards their access to the roads far more than others here seem to. I'm sure some of the locals would still regards me as some kind of pro-cycling nutter, and maybe the more extreme here think that I'm in some way anti-cycling. I guess that makes me a moderate.
As it happens, I live very close to the route of the Leeds Marathon. Yes, it can be a pain, and some junctions are closed, but the vast majority of the roads are open and the joggers are paused at major junctions to allow traffic to pass. Signage is variable but was slightly better this year and overall the planning seems OK with the transport needs of non-competitiors being taken into consideration.
I'm sure that if the Leeds Marathon planners had gone into the planning process with their blinkers on, determined that every road should be closed entirely for the duration because that was the USP of the event, then things would be different.
Ian
Ian
Are you aware that those against the event make up only a small percentage of the local population and that the roads are not closed entirely for the duration of the event?
Roads are closed in stages and are normally re-opened at a set time (based on maximum course completion time) to minimise the disruption. Also, the event starts at 7am so that the majority of the course will be re-open by noon. The longest any section of road is closed being 4 hrs.
gadgetmind
New Member
adscrim said:
What do you mean by "those against the event"? The only objections I have seen have been to the road closures rather than to an event being held. In fact, those objecting to the closures seem to have gone out of their way to make it clear that they support the event and that they are even prepared to help out with it.
BTW, this issue is also being discussed on the CTC forum. As you might expect with it being a forum for keen cyclists, it has a strong bias against the interests of the locals, but there does seem to be a wee bit more balance than in the discussions here.
http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=24914
Ian
gadgetmind
New Member
Noodley said:
If there is one road, and that road is closed, then every road is closed!
BTW, does anyone know for sure whether the closure is just to motor vehicles? Are the locals still free to cycle around if they so desire or is it a complete lock-down? I've seen conflicting statements on this one.
Ian
