Basic Etiquette - Andrew Joubert Letter in "Bicycling" This Month

[Sarge]

Hi,

Having now read the article - WTF. Somebody had an opinion and another went ballistic?????

To all the sane people, have a great week

Sarge

[DJR]

Oh, finally, the actual letter.

 

Sorry to say, but I agree somewhat with Andrew Joubert.

 

I have introduced my children to road riding over the last 2 years and that took me into the situations that he writes about. It is truly shocking how stupid people ride, not thinking of their own safety, leave alone the safety of others. If I had a Go Pro I could have posted movies full of riders hogging the whole of the road going up Vissershok, crossing the solid barrier line, with no idea of when the next car might come around the blind corner. All this while the safe left shoulder of the road was as vacant as the brains of those same riders. The truth is, however, that such dumb behaviour is not restricted to the later groups. I see it in the faster bunches also, and I'm sure the racing snakes in the lead see the same idiots in their midst too. It doesn't happen in the first part of the ride when riders are still fresh, but near the end of every race you can see how the brains start to shut down around you and that is when I become hyper alert and expect crazy moves at any time.

[Thor Buttox]

There has to be more reason than that specific letter to be a 'pillik'? And not sure how his contribution to cycling matters is ' legendary' in any way, cos I have no idea who he is. Mounting a molehill?

[Guest Zeitgeist]

Oh, finally, the actual letter.

 

Sorry to say, but I agree somewhat with Andrew Joubert.

 

I have introduced my children to road riding over the last 2 years and that took me into the situations that he writes about. It is truly shocking how stupid people ride, not thinking of their own safety, leave alone the safety of others. If I had a Go Pro I could have posted movies full of riders hogging the whole of the road going up Vissershok, crossing the solid barrier line, with no idea of when the next car might come around the blind corner. All this while the safe left shoulder of the road was as vacant as the brains of those same riders. The truth is, however, that such dumb behaviour is not restricted to the later groups. I see it in the faster bunches also, and I'm sure the racing snakes in the lead see the same idiots in their midst too. It doesn't happen in the first part of the ride when riders are still fresh, but near the end of every race you can see how the brains start to shut down around you and that is when I become hyper alert and expect crazy moves at any time.

what point are you actually making? All cyclists ride like knuckleheads? AJ's point is different - he is "put out" by riders that he considers to be inferior to him - your point is that everyone rides dangerously

[Wyatt Earp]

Do people still really get worked up about what some random fun rider or rather an unknown entity has to say in a magazine ?

[RocknRolla]

ahhh yes, Ye olde Rant posting on an open forum about Ye olde random rant letter to a magazine editor.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

what point are you actually making? All cyclists ride like knuckleheads? AJ's point is different - he is "put out" by riders that he considers to be inferior to him - your point is that everyone rides dangerously

 

Ah. And you got to that conclusion, how? All he's asking is that fun riders take cognizance of the danger they're putting themselves and other fun riders in by taking up the whole road and not riding in an orderly fashion.

 

In short - there is no offence, but you decided to take umbrage at some implied slight which only you can see. It's a perfectly reasonable letter. Start at the back of the Argus or any other fun ride and see how mayhem ensues with disorderly riding...

[javadude]

I "dwaal" at the Argus on purposes just to see how many of the racing snakes in ZZ I can p!ss off. Nothing pleases me more than a shrieking "keep left" coming up behind me several hours after the elites have finished. I heard the top guys in ZZ even have their own blood centrifuges and their musettes contain more than bananas if you know what i mean(wink wink nudge nudge)

[Thor Buttox]

 

 

Ah. And you got to that conclusion, how? All he's asking is that fun riders take cognizance of the danger they're putting themselves and other fun riders in by taking up the whole road and not riding in an orderly fashion.

 

In short - there is no offence, but you decided to take umbrage at some implied slight which only you can see. It's a perfectly reasonable letter. Start at the back of the Argus or any other fun ride and see how mayhem ensues with disorderly riding...

Admitting that Mayhem ensures disorderly riding???

(Oops, read to fast...)

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Admitting that Mayhem ensures disorderly riding???

(Oops, read to fast...)

 

You've never seen me trying to ride, have you? Yeah. Exactly. Lol

[XC Cruiser]

Oh, finally, the actual letter.

 

Sorry to say, but I agree somewhat with Andrew Joubert.

 

I have introduced my children to road riding over the last 2 years and that took me into the situations that he writes about. It is truly shocking how stupid people ride, not thinking of their own safety, leave alone the safety of others. If I had a Go Pro I could have posted movies full of riders hogging the whole of the road going up Vissershok, crossing the solid barrier line, with no idea of when the next car might come around the blind corner. All this while the safe left shoulder of the road was as vacant as the brains of those same riders. The truth is, however, that such dumb behaviour is not restricted to the later groups. I see it in the faster bunches also, and I'm sure the racing snakes in the lead see the same idiots in their midst too. It doesn't happen in the first part of the ride when riders are still fresh, but near the end of every race you can see how the brains start to shut down around you and that is when I become hyper alert and expect crazy moves at any time.

 

There is no shoulder on Vissershok. Its also a really steep climb and not everyone can go up at the same pace especially at the back end of a fun ride, so a more liberal use of the road is to be expected.

[Thor Buttox]

 

 

You've never seen me trying to ride, have you? Yeah. Exactly. Lol

No, but if you ride with Thor Buttox, the disordiliness is bound to be worse (as you try to avoid the saddle)

[DJR]

There is no shoulder on Vissershok. Its also a really steep climb and not everyone can go up at the same pace especially at the back end of a fun ride, so a more liberal use of the road is to be expected.

 

It looks like every slow rider is trying to overtake on the right, a stalemate develops and nobody gets to pass anyone else. All that while the left of the road is near empty with only the occasional smart guy having a clear ride all the way to the top. The only problem is that you get shouted at occasionally for overtaking on the left. Logic says that the slowest should keep left and the faster ones overtake on the right, but unfortunately logic isn't used much on that climb. (Read left shoulder as = left side of the road)

[NotSoBigBen]

You don't have to go to races but if you do that's how it's gonna be - HTFU and get over it

[DJR]

what point are you actually making? All cyclists ride like knuckleheads? AJ's point is different - he is "put out" by riders that he considers to be inferior to him - your point is that everyone rides dangerously

 

No, not everyone are knuckleheads. The point is that the knuckleheads are in all parts of the race. They are behaving like knuckleheads because they are tired and can't think straight. They do put other riders out because they make overtaking dangerous or they cause an unnecessary bottleneck.

 

Riders should be better educated in good road manners, but how exactly, is the difficult question. An announcement at the start of the race doesn't seem to help. Marshalling is ineffective. More experienced riders mentoring young ones and beginners is the ideal. Clubs can do this, but few people want to belong to a club. Shouting at them is counter productive and only get you a middle finger. Asking nicely to move over helps, but it only get you past but does not teach anything. Difficult one to solve

[Uni]

He is cross that cause his rant in Feb went unheeded.