Sit back and have a good........

[Pantani]

There isn't prize money for the VA rider who finishes 10th because he missed the break when it crossed the white line!

[TXS cyclist]

Skye, Yes i have to agree with you. That first picture with the oncomming car gave me goosebumps..

 

I am also very proud of the fact that you could have been there for your godson to do his first race with him. Also tell him I am soo proud of him and a BIG thank you to his dad and mum for allowing him to do it. It must take a lot of guts for his parents. I salute you guys. I dont think I would have been able to do that.

 

But as they say, actaully there were an incident with a cyclist being hit head on.. his lucky day. Unfortunately it put us cyclist in a very bad light.

We just cannot accept this kind of behaviour and someone need react to this lunacy. Mr Bellairs we await yor comments. Would like to see the PPA's comments and reaction also.

 

Ronelle, yes we cannot single out persons and it might seem to be not acceptable but we need to start somewhere. Unforuanately only a few people appear in the photo's while 80% were quilty and they now take the flack for the rest. Maybe we need to start with them indeed. Maybe they will next time get the rest in line. I would have been very unhapy if I was one of those in the photo's whose being blamed and shamed, but if I am big enough cyclist I would see the bigger picture and accept the fact of being blamed and shamed and next time make sure I make sure that the rest adhere to the rules.  So yeah we should start somewhere.. even though this might be seen inappropriate to single out a few individuals. 

 

 

Texas Sally2007-12-03 10:55:30

[Skye]

 

Bla bla bla.... Whatever... it's a race... if they are fun riders then that's their problem.. But I'll be damned if I get dropped because a bunch of guys cut a corner and I "did the right thing"... or... the gutter forces us across the road and I decide to sit up and get dropped because... yes.. I was "doing the right thing"...

 

Pantani, I never thought I would hear something like this from a educated man like yourself.I have heard a lot of good things about you but with a post as negative as yours it makes me wonder. Basically you are saying this is OK to do this as a win/podium or prize money is worth more than your life.

 

[Pantani]

These arguments about safety and loss of life are emotionally loaded... I don't think you can compare these transgressions in a race versus those that occur in a training ride. I believe that there are fundamental differences in the psyche of the rider that need to be considered since they have a pivotal influence on rational behaviour!

[rello]

I agree here they should be disqualified,

 As for the VA bunch...how come all through the spring league we proved that you can stay on the right side of the white line whilst racing and on Sunday there were riders who were just as bad as in these pictures?

[supertorro]

 

There isn't prize money for the VA rider who finishes 10th because he missed the break when it crossed the white line!

 

oh well, as jy dom is moet jy maar k@k

 

 

[Skye]

 

These arguments about safety and loss of life are emotionally loaded... I don't think you can compare these transgressions in a race versus those that occur in a training ride. I believe that there are fundamental differences in the psyche of the rider that need to be considered since they have a pivotal influence on rational behaviour!

 

Pantani, you are clearly very immature in your reasoning, how dare you say a loss of life is emotionally loaded. I know your wife is a medical Dr. maybe you should consult with your wife what loved ones go through when they loose family members due to accidents.

 

You are one hard man...... my conversation with you is closed

 

[Omar]

it just to show that you put some people on a bike and all logic dissapears. from some of the fotos it seems as if these riders were dropped on Hels. as you exit hels there is a slight rise to the top around a bend and then its a downhill thru Pniel thru to the railway lines. so why ride on the wrong side of the road. these guys would not have gained any advantage at all. dumb donners!! i say name, shame and ban them.

[Pantani]

Bla bla bla... Until people get disqualified I'm following the wheel in front of me.... I really can't see the correlation between me racing all over the road and riding sensibly on weekends or during my training rides. If you want to propagate a culture of safe cycling, then by all means do so, and I agree wholeheartedly that we should all work collectively towards that goal...

 

But to castigate a bunch of cyclists in a RACE... I think the question begs asking... "If they do this in a race, ride on the opposite side of the road, do they do this all the time?"

[TXS cyclist]

Pantani.. Please stop it. this is not appropriate. Sit back and think straight.

[hagar]

for a few bucks really your life is not worth it !!!! Every time I have ridden up helz the hel drivers on their motorbikes that use that road as a race way give me the cold shivers. they go both ways from stellenbosch and from pniel at major speeds. I believe that this is rediclious that the guys should ride in this matter no amount of "breaks or gutters" can justify this. I remember at the tour de winelands last year the same thing happened and the results were with held. 

 

I would rather not be on the poduim than being in a body bag.

 

my r5 worth . 

[Spaceboy]

I think it was 2 years ago at the Liberty Ride for Sight that the entire VA bunch got disqualified after being warned and then still crossing the white line en masse. I think this is the way things should operate. It only really happens in the super-competitive bunches anyway... there is no way a guy in the H-bunch is gonna cut a corber like that to save a few seconds.

[Pantani]

 

 

Pantani' date=' you are clearly very immature in your reasoning, how dare you say a loss of life is emotionally loaded. I know your wife is a medical Dr. maybe you should consult with your wife what loved ones go through when they loose family members due to accidents.

 

You are one hard man...... my conversation with you is closed

[/quote']

 

I think I know, I live with it daily. Delerise has lost 3 family members prematurely in the recent past at 18 month intervals, her mom, dad and younger brother. Sometimes I find myself having to be strong for her because I know that sometimes it tears her apart to the point where she can't even get out of bed . So, in the face of my own experiences I sometimes have to detach emotion from what happens in my own home, it's a mechanism for coping and ensures things get done. Besides her own loss, she also deals with losing patients on a daily basis since she does a lot of work with AIDS patients. Between us we're hard people...

 

So forgive me if I speak of loss of life so casually. If I have offended anybody with this it wasn't my intention but when so many times the conversation around your dinner table revolves around people dying like flies it's kind of hard to think of it in any other way.

 

[Pantani]

However, I don't budge on my position regarding racing. I don't see a single elite rider, top Vet, top lady stepping up to the plate and publicly denouncing the practice of using all of the road when racing, regardless of road closure status. It's the unwritten rule of racing at that level... No, it's not necessarily win at all costs but it's damn close. People can sit at home and choose the moral high ground but until you ride at the front of a race and are consumed by an insatiable competitive spirit... No, I don't think you'll understand the psyche of a racer! Hey, I don't even win races but I have a choice to make when that race crosses the white line... Stay or go... So, as a licensed rider I am going to push the envelope until somebody disqualifies me...

 

Quite frankly I think the principle is the same with Pro cyclists and PED's, we all know it's going to kill them eventually, but yet they continue to 'sail close to the wind' until somebody disqualifies them...

 

[slowpoke]

pantani, i think you and i are about to have our first fight.... what the #$%^&*( is the difference whether you are racing or training???????? riding over the white line is NEVER acceptable unless there is total utter complete and full road closure. if this is not the case is it worth putting your familly through hell for the sake of a "number in the ranks of finishers"???? how the #$%^&* do you think D will feel if, heaven forbid, something DOES ever happen to you and she comes on here and sees these comments of yours??????????????

 

it's simple - if you can't keep to the left of the line expect to be disqualified. I agree 10000000% with the concept of fining them as well... but that should be left to the relevant legal authorities as, being road users, what they did is quite easy to label "reckless endangerment" - due to the hardcore irrefutable photographic evidence accompanied by a reliable eyewitness the penalty is a fine and/or imprisonment. i am not saying that someone who crosses the line to avoid a crash should be subjected to this, but the fools in these photos were clearly deliberately and intentionally crossing the line for the hell of it.

[Pantani]

Slowpoke, I have sat here and watched this thread, I have seen prominent cyclists and officials come and go all afternoon. Surely I wasn't the only person who saw this thread? What does it tell me? They are all too afraid too add their voices, whether for or against... Hey, I know that arguing this case is not going to make me popular... But it's a fate I'll gladly suffer rather than lie to you and say, "Yes, I'm all for riding safe, I even obey the rules of the road when I race..." That sort of hypocrisy doesn't wash with me.

 

Safety starts with me... And here I am saying that I agree 100% that crossing the white line isn't acceptable whether racing or training. So, next time I am racing in the bunch and the bunch crosses the white line I will go with that bunch. If the officials choose to disqualify me for that then I have to respect that decision.