Sportives and public intolerance

[Stu99]

Two recent sportives I completed had parts of the well-organised signage either stolen or modified to cause disruption (i.e. turned the wrong way round etc).

What is it with UK society that makes it so intolerant and disrespectful of people who are out enjoying themselves and trying to stay healthy in the process?

 

[zimzum42]

I don't think it's people being intolerant, they're just having a laugh.

Cos we're cyclists, it seems bad, but if it was golf flags being stolen some on here would be having a good old chuckle....

 

[Dayvo]

I don't think it's people being intolerant, they're just having a laugh.

Cos we're cyclists, it seems bad, but if it was golf flags being stolen some on here would be having a good old chuckle....

Yep! Flags have been nicked throughout the season, quadbikes ridden across the greens, and other incidents.

But, generally speaking, it's the same kind of people (if they're to be desrcibed as people); they get their pleasure and kicks by depriving/disrupting others from getting theirs!

 

[yello]

All of that said, I reckon I do know what stu99 means. I've ridden sportives in both the UK and France. People pinching signs just does not happen here, in my experience.

 

[RedBike]

People pinching signs just does not happen here, in my experience.

I wish that was the case. I went wrong on the Cheshire Cat, Llangollen ride and the Penrith Merida because someone had very kindly removed one or two of the signs.

It's increadably frustrating when you're no idea which way you should be heading to try and pick up the route again.

 

[Jonathan M]

I wish that was the case. I went wrong on the Cheshire Cat, Llangollen ride and the Penrith Merida because someone had very kindly removed one or two of the signs.

It's increadably frustrating when you're no idea which way you should be heading to try and pick up the route again.

I think Yello means France when he talks about "over here"

 

[yello]

Yes, sorry, I do.





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[Landslide]

If it really pees you off (as I suspect it would me), why not give audax a go?

 

[ColinJ]

If it really pees you off (as I suspect it would me), why not give audax a go?

In a sportive, you are guided round the route by signs until you come to a junction where someone has stolen or redirected a sign and then you get lost.

In an audax, you are guided round the route by another rider who you think is correctly following a route sheet, until (s)he makes a mistake and then you both get lost. Tradition has it that you are then responsible for improvising a 10 km detour to get back on the correct route. The other rider will follow you until you in turn make a mistake. Route-finding duties alternate until you somehow turn up at event HQ 15 minutes after the last piece of cake has been eaten.

I signed up for A Mere 200 and discovered that there are more lanes in Cheshire than there are people, so I treated myself to a Garmin Etrex GPS to navigate by - problem solved.

Before I tackle any sportive or audax ride now, I plot the route and upload it to my Etrex. The only times that I've gone off course using the GPS are when I've been chatting to another rider and not looked at the screen in time. It's only been a few hundred metres at worst, and it is very easy to go back for the missed turn.

 

[John the Monkey]

I signed up for A Mere 200 and discovered that there are more lanes in Cheshire than there are people...

Great innit?

They mostly join up, eventually, although sometimes I do worry that my jelly baby stash is going to run out before I pick up a road heading home again...

 

[Landslide]

In an audax, you are guided round the route by another rider who you think is correctly following a route sheet, until (s)he makes a mistake and then you both get lost. Tradition has it that you are then responsible for improvising a 10 km detour to get back on the correct route. The other rider will follow you until you in turn make a mistake. Route-finding duties alternate until you somehow turn up at event HQ 15 minutes after the last piece of cake has been eaten.