slowpoke Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 *rant on* i know the entry fee was high. i know it's a "race". but is it really necessary, despite knowing that it is NOT FULL road closure, to ride on the right hand side of the road??? the WHOLE frigging bunch??? ON A BLIND RISE??? i well and truly hope that the whole VE bunch gets DQ's. i have never in my life been so ashamed to be a cyclist. and the VD guys we passed were no better. as to the back markers - majority were great... they see the left-over bits of carnage and that seems to keep them mostly reasonably behaved, but to those that think that racing for 1846th place means they can cross the solid centre line into oncomming traffic and that the pentathnicon trucks can/must just "vaporise" out of their way - do not cry when soemthing happens to you. *rant off* as cyclists we always complain when races get cancelled because the community concerned won't allow us to use their roads, but if we refuse to abide by the most basic of rules and blame it on "race tactics" then it's no wonder no-one wants to let us have events. do "race tactics" include deliberately putting your fellow cyclists' lives in danger?
KlapperKnop Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 slowpoke the route and speed of this event requires full road closure ... down step at 50/60 km/h .. there is just now way the bunch will not take up both lanes ... and then offcourse the "break-away" of each bunch will try up kareekloof hence why they gutter to the right ....
slowpoke Posted January 25, 2009 Author Posted January 25, 2009 KlapperKnop, in that case the race should not take place because they will not ever get road closure so if cyclists can't abide by a simple rule which exists for their own safety then they should quite simply not be allowed to race at all. the attitude of "we want it and we want it on our terms only and "f" the world" is disgusting. quite frankly - why have a race if you aren't going to folow the rules? in that case the whole lot of the guilty riders can just go ride that route that way every week and collect darwin awards - at least the gene pool will be cleansed.
slowpoke Posted January 25, 2009 Author Posted January 25, 2009 Slowbee, after the disgusting and embarrassing behaviour of some of the riders today, yes. that they put themselves in danger is fine - if they want to die on their bikes no friggin problem - they can go ride head first into a truck along the lido route any day they please. but they endangered those that were obeying the rules and they were endangering the other road users and they were endangering those of us who gave up our time to be there to try keep them safe from other people. and then for excuses to be made about it... seriously no wonder so many people hate cyclists and feel that they should not be entitled to use the roads. any sport has its rules, and cycling is no exception. why do we scream and shout when things don't go our way if we aren't willing to make compromises? this "all or nothing" attitude will ensure that we end up with what so many seem to want - nothing.
Pantani Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 We went down this road 2 years ago about the white line... Perhaps what is needed is for someone to take the racing categories and the CSA officials to task about safety... Somehow I can see it falling on deaf ears, something about guttering being a tactic...
turtlek Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 yea we had this issue and were all warned in races previously but the gutter will never work unless its over the whole road was the answer so the CSA official in question just gave up hahaha
Jason Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 Didn't anyone tell Barloworld that we here in SA ride on the left? Did they at least wear their helmets? Just taking the pi$$... Another long thread coming up...without olives please.
slowpoke Posted January 25, 2009 Author Posted January 25, 2009 ok, so then we can all agree that people who buy fast cars and bikes can ignore the speed limit because "what's the point of a fast car/bike if you don't go those speeds" and that everyone who has a loud sound system can turn the volume full blast 24 hours a day because why else did they spend the money on buying it, etc, etc, etc??? (now what about people who've bought guns and condoms... guess these things should also be used the way they were intended, regardless the cost to others?) based on the replies so far it looks like cyclists would rather not have races?
Pantani Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 Yes, saw all the foreigners riding without helmets today... Also saw OB motor pacing on the freeway without a helmet behind what looked like a Vito doing 80km/h in the slow lane and he was gesturing wildly at the driver to go faster!!!
Jason Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 Yes' date=' saw all the foreigners riding without helmets today... Also saw OB motor pacing on the freeway without a helmet behind what looked like a Vito doing 80km/h in the slow lane and he was gesturing wildly at the driver to go faster!!! [/quote'] OB can do what he wants... leave him outta this, I'm actually shocked, I thought the Vitto would be slipping him Saw he came off in the race about 3km's from the end, he also had a $ number on in the VA group like I said, OB can do what he wants
Guest Michelle Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 Here he is pushing the commissaires car -> http://photos-d.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v2093/47/58/594716758/n594716758_1790739_219.jpg
turtlek Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 Michelle thats classic hahahahahahahaha but seriously Slowpoke i can understand completely with you and yes i am now saying this as an elite rider i was almost taken out 7 times today alone by cars because i was hanging on for dear life in the gutter while seeing blue and yellow fairies whizzing past me and if that was not the worst i had traffic officials walking out in front of me and then saying we must slow down in a race on a straight road yes we are breaking the law but in all honesty this comes down to race organisers not stressing enough about the finer details in a race like this if you go to the carousel you cant even miss a crash on the right hand side of the road without being DQ so what is wrong with the rest of the race organisers doing similar stuff!!!
bruce Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 It's quite simple, everybody knows where the gutter section in this race happens!! Get the traffic authorities to put beacons on the centre line on the section past the reserve to ensure that race tactics can happen safely.
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