New Forest anti-cyclist campaign

Dezza

Unsure if this has been mentioned elsewhere - I was alerted to an earlier ukcyclingevents post on FB regarding Wiggle's new forest sportive. I'm not taking part but still feel annoyed that a local group are planning to protest the event for the usual BS reasons.

The local rag has also picked the story up http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/ ... lemmings_/

I imagine this sort of action will increase as cycling becomes more popular. Its pretty sad.

peat

To be honest, i think it would be better to ignore it.

I saw the release on FB and it was immediately swamped with comments about 'moron car drivers' and 'dogs off the lead'. You can't beat bigotry with counter-bigotry. Let this frankly ridiculous 'campaign' fester and wear itself out without any of us throwing ourselves into the flames, with albeit good intentions, by resorting to name-calling.

slowbike

Peat wrote:

To be honest, i think it would be better to ignore it.

Indeed - the womans website (which is a franchise business!) is promoting cycling events on the front page ...

I would like to just say to any cyclists that participate - please give other cyclists room when passing them ... if they're slow then there's a reason - they may not ride in straight lines - don't cause an accident! Oh - the other one - please take your rubbish home with you ... don't just throw it in the hedgerows ...

team47b

I used to live in the New Forest, the sportives are held on the public roads and not in the enclosures or on the open forest, so how do they propose stopping these?

Riding across open forest on MTB's does less damage than the horse riders, but the biggest vandal by far is the forestry commission itself when removing the pine tree crop, you would not believe the damage they leave behind.

Mendip rouleur

She has apologised apparently (according to a post on Fordingbridge journal page) and is also advertising the event on her own website:
http://www.vizzitnewforest.com/business_news/new_forest_cycle_events_2013.html

If I was a cynic I might say it was all manufactured to generate publicity for her website. But I'm not so I won't.

Anonymous

The NF sportive was also given bad press in our local paper - the New Milton Advertiser (I live in Burley) and I spoke to mum about it - mostly the sheer number of cyclists who block the roads. There is a certain sense of entitlement cyclists can sometimes display, which understandably causes drivers to become irate. Generally you aren't in the car for the fun of it, and it costs nothing to move over into file.

She said it is a shame having read the sensationalist headline, but basically the reason is that the few bad cyclists give them all a bad name, much in the same way that certain cars have their stereotypes due to a select few bad drivers.

I remember this time last year overtaking 2 abreast cyclists with my brother ranting about riding 2 abreast on the road through Brockenhurst.
This year he was ranting at a car driver overtaking too close while we were cycling 2 abreast not far from the same place.

Funny.

There is an interesting story about a woman who was vehemently anti-hunting. She went to all the protests and marches and campaigned pretty strongly. A politely worded letter was written to her inviting for her to join the sender's hunt for a day and see what its like - to help better inform her of what she was campaigning about, and possibly enlighten her.
She now campaigns with the same determination for the pro-hunting lot.

MountainMonster

So they want the New Forest to be enjoyed by all, but are trying to get cyclists banned? Some people are very interesting.

Advertiser & Times

coriordan wrote:

The NF sportive was also given bad press in our local paper - the New Milton Advertiser (I live in Burley) and I spoke to mum about it - mostly the sheer number of cyclists who block the roads. There is a certain sense of entitlement cyclists can sometimes display, which understandably causes drivers to become irate. Generally you aren't in the car for the fun of it, and it costs nothing to move over into file.

She said it is a shame having read the sensationalist headline, but basically the reason is that the few bad cyclists give them all a bad name, much in the same way that certain cars have their stereotypes due to a select few bad drivers.

I remember this time last year overtaking 2 abreast cyclists with my brother ranting about riding 2 abreast on the road through Brockenhurst.
This year he was ranting at a car driver overtaking too close while we were cycling 2 abreast not far from the same place.

Funny.

There is an interesting story about a woman who was vehemently anti-hunting. She went to all the protests and marches and campaigned pretty strongly. A politely worded letter was written to her inviting for her to join the sender's hunt for a day and see what its like - to help better inform her of what she was campaigning about, and possibly enlighten her.
She now campaigns with the same determination for the pro-hunting lot.

Hi coriordan,

Interesting thoughts. Could you tell me the "sensationalist" headline in question please? I thought we were pretty even-handed with our pieces.

Given that some of the protesters I spoke to on Saturday had a similar complaint that our coverage was biased, I think if both sides of the fence are unhappy, then that at least represents some form of impartiality or compromise.

I'm writing a follow-up piece this week and would be interested to hear more stories about any run-ins people had and thoughts about the sportives in general. If anyone would like to get in touch, please send me an email: adam.parker@advertiserandtimes.co.uk

Regards,

Adam

Anonymous

Hmm just trying to remember when I was home last and might have seen it. Around the 9th March or so?

Either way, why give a voicebox to the kind of people who organise demonstrations who them rally the sort who throw thumbtacks down and block roads?
It reeks of ignorance, narrow minded-ness and general selfishness.

As for the drivel cited by other papers 'horses killed by cyclists' 'fleeing horses trampling walkers' 'people dying as ambulances can't get to emergencies'

If someone can crash into a horse hard enough to kill a horse, I will gladly eat my hat. Not to mention the almost certainty of the cycling him/herself also dying.
As for ambulances, even a cyclist knows what one of those sounds like when it's an emergency and knows to get out the way.
Similarly, even deer nowadays are like cows in the New Forest. They don't move for anything, let alone a few cyclists.

Anyway, something which continues to divide the pro/anti cycling camp is never going to help.

If both people think its totally biased, then its probably badly written, as you have failed to win the favour of either sides of the fence.

I can't think of any genuine reasons why cycling in the NF shouldn't be lauded. The only arguement is 'busy roads' which is a load of rubbish anyway. What about OAPs? Learners? Weekend Traffic? Summer/beach traffic? School holidays traffic? Commuter traffic? White Van Men? Boy Racers?

Ok, I have a heavily biased opinion, but surely something (at least trying) to get a lard-clad-nimby off their backside and onto a bike might discourage such attitudes and start to encourage acceptance of all road users (horses/bikes/cars etc whoever).

And yes, I do realise there are some holier-than-thou douchebags on bikes too. Just like in cars. And on horses.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

topcattim

Advertiser & Times wrote:

Hi coriordan,

Interesting thoughts


[snip]

. ...........

I'm writing a follow-up piece this week and would be interested to hear more stories about any run-ins people had and thoughts about the sportives in general. If anyone would like to get in touch, please send me an email: adam.parker@advertiserandtimes.co.uk

Regards,

Adam

I didn't experience any difficulties with protesters or drivers on Saturday, beyond someone yelling at us from a queue of traffic (ironic, huh?) "Nobody wants you here".

I didn't see your original article but I do hope that your follow up piece will actually investigate the motivation and evidence behind the protest. What exactly do they object to?

The reports suggest that they are concerned about cyclists spooking horses? Of course there are some inconsiderate cyclists who approach horses too fast. But I'd be interested in any data on the number of accidents caused by over-speedy cyclists compared to over-speedy cars. I trust your article will ask them to produce evidence, if this is the substance of their case.

Perhaps it is about litter. And yes, cyclists do drop litter. I noticed some gel packets left on the road on Saturday. But I also noticed as many Costa cups and chocolate wrappers. I doubt these were dropped by cyclists. Can we expect the same protesters outside Nestle and Costa headquarters next week? And while I don't know for sure, I suspect that the organisers UKCE probably go round (or if they don't already, maybe this weekend will make them plan to do so in future) picking up gel wrappers and other cyclists' litter as they collect the signs.

Maybe the concern is about delays caused by cyclists on the road. It must indeed be annoying to be stuck behind a cyclist for 10, perhaps 20 seconds at a time. It probably causes less delay, though, than to be stuck at Brockenhurst level crossing, New Forest Show traffic, Lymington queues, Lyndhurst queues, the temporary traffic lights in Landford this weekend or even, irony of ironies, a pack of New Forest ponies standing in the road.

Whatever is the source of the protesters' concern, again I trust that your article will examine the evidence.

mercia_man

As a retired journalist myself, I know how common it is for both sides of an argument to accuse the journalist of biased reporting, whether it's a crown court trial or a dispute between cyclists and New Forest "protectors". When feelings are strong, people sometimes get angry when their opponents' views are reported. They blame the messenger (the reporter) rather than their opponent. It's right that Adam should attempt to report both sides even-handedly and I didn't see any sensationalist headline in his newspaper. We live in a democracy and I want to hear the views of the objectors - no matter how misguided or bonkers they might be.

Sadly, it's a continuing struggle to persuade the unfit, car-loving majority that cycling is a good thing and that they might even enjoy cycling if they give it a go.

My experience, living in a rural area, is that cyclists and horse riders get on pretty well - we all suffer abuse for holding up car drivers and are at risk from speeding cars in narrow lanes. Cyclists aren't all angels - aggressive cycling and chucking away empty gel packets don't help our cause.

Sportives are becoming a victim of their rapidly growing popularity. We cyclists can't ignore the fact that mass participation events in popular leisure areas do cause conflict in our small island. It's the same with running. We are getting similar (in my view unjustified) complaints about roads being closed for Shrewsbury's first marathon.

Maybe the way forward is for smaller scale sportives with a limit on rider numbers. And hopefully a smaller entry fee than the very pricey figure charged by some events.

pdstsp

Sportives are becoming a victim of their rapidly growing popularity. We cyclists can't ignore the fact that mass participation events in popular leisure areas do cause conflict in our small island. It's the same with running. We are getting similar (in my view unjustified) complaints about roads being closed for Shrewsbury's first marathon.

Maybe the way forward is for smaller scale sportives with a limit on rider numbers. And hopefully a smaller entry fee than the very pricey figure charged by some events.

Audax??

slowbike

The protest was against "Mass Cycling Events" ... spurred on by reports of 2,4 or 6 thousand cyclists entering the event (it was sub 2k each day and the sunday was cancelled due to the venue being inaccessible by car!) ... and that conjurers up thoughts of 100's of riders in a huge group taking up the whole road whilst riding hell for leather to get back to the start first ...

The reality is nothing like that.
I set off early with my wife as we do not ride the course quickly - so we had a steady flow of cyclists coming past. Sometimes there was a bit of a group, but most of the time it was 1 or two riders every few minutes. A couple of times we had nobody pass us for 10 minutes or so.... so I don't believe there is a huge group that's causing problems.

There is obvious disruption to traffic - especially on the busier roads and it was easy to tell when a driver was frustrated with the stop/start progress made whilst trying to over take the spread out riders - so getting the course right is important.
I'm not aware of any cyclist causing issue with the wild ponies, donkeys or cattle, nor did I see a single horse and rider this time - but the majority of cyclists will appreciate the need to be cautious - for the cyclists own safety as well as the horse & rider.
There were quite a few other groups of riders out as well - how big does the group have to be before they're at critical mass?

So, what we have is a few protesters protesting against something that has minimal impact in a public space trying to ruin an event for the majority of careful & considerate riders because a few may have caused disturbance.

I don't disagree that too many riders could cause a major disruption - and that is something for event organisers to discuss with the authorities as to where that level lies.

Finally - the point about why we need to ride in mass events/sportives ...

It's not a race - although we may aim to better our own times or against our peers - hence the timing is useful (but not vital for the rider).
Signing up for an event gives us something to aim towards - the shortest distance on Saturday was 59 miles - this early on in the season it may be the longest ride many riders have done.
It provides a motive for riding the distance in whatever the weather throws - how many would've bailed out at 10-1030 when it started raining.
It's fun - we're riding with other ppl - mostly strangers, there's a level of camaraderie - from just a moral boosting few words to offers of tools & tubes to those with mechanicals - for those few hours we are "all in this together"
And finally, at the end of the day there is the sense of achievement - we know we gave the best we could and (for most of us) we reached our goal.