99er Close call.

[Slowbee]

As an outsider to all this, what they are doing wrong is using the entire road. And not keeping left as much as possible. The bike with the camera is close to the white line.

 

As a non cyclist looking at this, these guys could have all been closer together, strung out in a close bunch keeping left and allowing space for trucks/cars/busses/other bunches to pass on the right. Does not matter to me that this is a race sanctioned by whomever with road permission etc etc etc. They should be doing a better job of not using the entire road. Look at how much space there is between them.

 

As a cyclist looking at this video, knowing it is a race, its balls to the wall, suck wheel as much as possible and stay off the brakes. Hell even if that means a quick stint out the bunch on the right where it is safe from other silly cyclists cause my free wheel deep sections get me to squeeze a few places up the bunch. Traffic ? What traffic ? Cant they see we are a huge bunch? Cant they just be a bit patient and wait till we get over the hill? And dam them for overtaking when it is so dangerous, risking my life.

 

And that is the problem, common sense, emotions, blaming others for our own safety (including organisers) and then of course the law.

[Breezer]

Good on you. Doubt they will be able to help or did you manage to catch the container number?

 

They are a shipping company; other importers exporters use their containers and book their own transport. Containers are collected by transporters against a shipping agents account who deals with a customer who deals with Maersk. 

 

I was trying my best to catch the name or logo of the transport company on the side of the truck. COuld only get a "fleet number"...think 737...will look again a bit later. 

 

Will try and screenshot the side of the cab as they truck zipps passed and send that to a guy or seven I know in the trucking game. Best bet would be to try and get hold of them direct to deal with the driver.

 

FWIW, what time did this happen?

The truck is one of Mcdonalds Transport's in Upington

[Eldron]

The riders COULD have ridden two abreast in an orderly fashion inside the yellow lane then trucks, cars and anyone else could have overtaken without any issue at all. But they didn't. Presumably because they were "in a race".

 

The truck driver COULD have overtaken when it was safe but he didn't. Presumably because he was sick and tired of driving at 37kph behind a bunch of cyclists taking up the whole lane.

 

I'm going to go with 64.3481752187% the truck's fault and whatever the remainder is the rider's fault.

[Dicky DQ]

The truck should have waited until it was safe to pass. It didn't.

 

Thats the point.

Agreed, but he probably got frustrated at having to wait, look for a gap  through the alphabet soup. Remember this is C bunch.

 

as an Aside I do not really see a problem, the truck from the front pulled off for the car already... 

[Dicky DQ]

A big cycling group is a "living" thing with constant overtaking speeding up and slowing down.

 

That group would be strung out on the left and then bunch up all the time. 

 

There is NO reason why the truck had to do what he did. Just look how big that groups was.

 

Note: Most of the time the group is only the left of center the roadway.

 

The person with camera start moving up on the right from 2:10 and see where the camera ends up. To me it looks like he was overtaking other cyclist but remaining carefull as they are clearly going fast.

 

Here you go. Judge away.

 

Again, I still don't see the problem except wheel sucking a lady. Seems like you folks don't drive much either.

[Zatopek]

Is there so much freewheeling in all road races? 

 

(the truck could have waited)

[greatwhite]

The "partly wrong" part, it's not being defined.

What are they partly doing wrong?

I'm not fighting, I'm asking... what in GreatWhite's opinion, or yours, are they doing wrong? Hell I might even agree wth you, but just saying somebody is wrong without substantiating it.....

They are all over the road. Gaps easily closed. Regardless of some rule that says you allowed to ride all the way to the midline of the road, common sense needs to prevail. It's about making sure you are not the next post on the hub about a cyclist knocked down.

 

Someone else made comment about people at this level not having the skills of the pro peleton. Fair comment, but there is still room for improvement. I've had the misfortune of being hit be vehicles (not in a race mind) and watched someone get killed in race by a car. If I can motivate others to change, just a little, so they don't suffer the same, but I annoy some people in the process, to me it's worth it.

 

In short, we can debate this plenty, but the question everyone should be asking themselves is, assuming you can take change all motorists, what can I do better to avoid becoming a Stat.

['Dale]

The message that I take from the opening poster is:

 

Be careful out there at all times, even in a race situation.

Do what you can to manage the risk of sharing the tarmac with motorists, even when in an event.

 

The racers are clearly obeying the 'white wall rule'.

Finito.

 

Please take the essential message home. ????????

We, cyclists, are vulnerable out there.

[Eldron]

The message that I take from the opening poster is:

 

Be careful out there at all times, even in a race situation.

Do what you can to manage the risk of sharing the tarmac with motorists, even when in an event.

 

The racers are clearly obeying the 'white wall rule'.

Finito.

 

Please take the essential message home. ????????

We, cyclists, are vulnerable out there.

Logic? On a Friday? Oi vey!

 

Well said. On closed road races we can get silly spread all over the road and have fun. On open road races we still need to adhere to the rules. The white line rule is kinda pointless if only the cyclists know about it - not every car/truck on that road knows/cares. In a perfect world every motorist would know (and care even if they didnt).

[Hackster]

No comment to pass on OP, I wasn't there, I can't really assess the situation from the video.

 

But this is the reason why I've pretty much stopped doing road races that take place on shared roads.

 

I talk from the perspective of someone who rides mid-field, and my experience is this:

 

Put us in a bunch, we lose a couple of IQ points.

 

Put us in a bunch on a race, we lose even more IQ points.

 

Add vehicle traffic to that scenario and you have tragedy waiting to happen.

 

I'm really glad no-one was hurt here.

[Maaknplan]

"Here lies the body of William Jay, 

Who died maintaining his right of way. 

He was right, dead right, as he sped along, 

But he's just as dead as if he were wrong."

 

Same applies to not being prepared to share a dedicated cycle lane because of "slow riders"

[Skubarra]

Logic? On a Friday? Oi vey!

 

 The white line rule is kinda pointless if only the cyclists know about it - not every car/truck on that road knows/cares. In a perfect world every motorist would know (and care even if they didnt).

 

I see it as a perfectly logical rule. If you keep left of the white line you avoid colliding with oncoming traffic, you also avoid colliding with motorists passing the group in the right lane when it is safe to do so.

 

The cyclists are not breaking any rules (seems everybody can at least agree on that). The only party here breaking a rule is the truck passing when it is not safe to do so. If the truck stuck to the rules everybody would have been safe.

 

The big group of cyclists was very visible to all other road users so their presence on the road did not pose any immediate danger to themselves or any other road users.

 

Seems their mortal sin in the eye of hubbers was that their presence on the road was an inconvenience to the more important road user (aka thetruck) behind them. How this is not enforcing the idea that cyclists are lesser road users is beyond my limited understanding. The way I see it we are doing victim blaming in the name of "logic"

[Eldron]

I see it as a perfectly logical rule. If you keep left of the white line you avoid colliding with oncoming traffic, you also avoid colliding with motorists passing the group in the right lane when it is safe to do so.

 

The cyclists are not breaking any rules (seems everybody can at least agree on that). The only party here breaking a rule is the truck passing when it is not safe to do so. If the truck stuck to the rules everybody would have been safe.

 

The big group of cyclists was very visible to all other road users so their presence on the road did not pose any immediate danger to themselves or any other road users.

 

Seems their mortal sin in the eye of hubbers was that their presence on the road was an inconvenience to the more important road user (aka thetruck) behind them. How this is not enforcing the idea that cyclists are lesser road users is beyond my limited understanding. The way I see it we are doing victim blaming in the name of "logic"

I guess it comes down to the rules saying "keep left, single file" versus "we're in a race so the whole left lane is ours"... Your right to race your bike versus the rights of other motorists to get where they're going without delay and frustrating.

 

The other question to ask yourself is how you would react if you were trying to get some where and there were groups and groups and groups of runner, skateboarders, vintage trucks slowing you up. Would you also kick back at roll at 25kph up hill for a few km without getting frustrated?

[Wannabe]

I guess it comes down to the rules saying "keep left, single file" versus "we're in a race so the whole left lane is ours"... Your right to race your bike versus the rights of other motorists to get where they're going without delay and frustrating.

 

The other question to ask yourself is how you would react if you were trying to get some where and there were groups and groups and groups of runner, skateboarders, vintage trucks slowing you up. Would you also kick back at roll at 25kph up hill for a few km without getting frustrated?

 

Have you ever driven the N2 to Mosselbay or back over the festive season?

Even though it is a 120km zone, the slow ass trucks keeps you at between 70-80km/h for kilometers on end.

You get frustrated, but stay behind them till it is safe for you to overtake.

So what is different to this?

Remember, each and every group had a Bike Marshall shepherding them, so this truck obviously ignored the SAFETY MARSHALL. 

[Skubarra]

I guess it comes down to the rules saying "keep left, single file" versus "we're in a race so the whole left lane is ours"... Your right to race your bike versus the rights of other motorists to get where they're going without delay and frustrating.

 

The other question to ask yourself is how you would react if you were trying to get some where and there were groups and groups and groups of runner, skateboarders, vintage trucks slowing you up. Would you also kick back at roll at 25kph up hill for a few km without getting frustrated?

 

A link to the photos of the race, notice how in just about every photo cyclists use the road and don't hide left of the yellow lane. This is how it is when you take part in a cycle event with 4K people and why you have bike marshalls, traffic officials, other marshalls and big signs on the route the whole week preceding the race informing motorists about the date & time of the race. (Maybe you could show us capies how to race single file next time you visit  )

 

https://www.facebook.com/pg/99erCycleTourAndMtbChallenge/photos/?ref=page_internal

 

Add to this that we are talking about early saturday morning on the back roads in the countryside (this incident probably happened around 7h00), so you are not going to sit 10 minutes behind a bunch waiting for an opportunity to pass. You can also add that less than a kilometer ahead of where this video was taken the road widens into a double lane so there was no reason for this truck to take this chance

 

I think the peeps bashing the cyclists here are really misguided.

[J∆kk∆ls]

Is there so much freewheeling in all road races? 

 

(the truck could have waited)

Hence the term 'Wheel Sucking'!