Gobsmacked

robert88

'Horse hit' as Windsor Triathlon cyclists passes

Gotta say I would never dream of passing a horse like that.

The [horse]rider calling herself "Jennifer Katherine" posted the footage showing the moment she and her horse were hit during the Windsor Triathlon on Sunday.

She said she wanted the video to raise safety awareness among different road users.

Who are these idiots riding like that?

diplodicus

That is unbelievable.

Why would you undertake a horse?

imposter2.0

Lots of discussion about this on FB yesterday. The riders (if you can call them that) were 'competing' in the Windsor Tri. Probably the worst, most selfish, most outrageous riding I have ever seen.

bobmcstuff

Triathletes for you

pblakeney

oxoman wrote:

I'm not the most horse friendly person on the planet, I have an ex to blame for that. I cannot believe the stupidity of the racers, that horse would have been more than capable of killing anyone one of those numpties had it kicked out properly. It's only down to the quick thinking of the rider that didn't happen or worse she lost control of it. I hope the idiots are caught and prosecuted for stupidity and endangering life.

I agree 100%. But, in the report I read she faced the cyclists in her vehicle, then she faced them as a pedestrian, then she went out on her horse. Read like she was looking for an argument.

DavidJB

Been in several road races where horses have been on the course...most of the time sense prevails and the bunch passes safely

DavidJB

Also this

"I nearly had a heart attack as I nearly got hit by a car which had been forced to overtake cyclists who were riding four-abreast," she said.

"Forced" to overtake...I.e overtake dangerously without a clear way ahead...I also very much doubt that people were riding 4ab in a tri.

svetty

:shock: :shock: :shock: Stupid idiots!! What cyclist would risk being kicked/knocked off by a horse? It's tempting to post something about derogatory about Triathletes in general after watching that.

Would hope the culprits are prosecuted......

Beatmaker

I agree 100%. But, in the report I read she faced the cyclists in her vehicle, then she faced them as a pedestrian, then she went out on her horse. Read like she was looking for an argument.

Where did you see this? In the initial Facebook post she made, she claimed to have been riding from one property to another, and had no idea the triathlon was on, and there had been no signs locally on the run up to the event to alert her. If she had been out in the car and on foot already, that somewhat contradicts her initial post.

That being said, it doesn’t take away from the fact that I’ve never seen such selfish riding, and those triathletes could have seriously harmed the horse, rider and themselves. I hope they’re banned from competing for life (though in my opinion, a worse punishment would be being forced to ride triathlons for life, they are just a good bike ride spoiled by a swim and run).

If her intention was to create animosity and confrontation at the event, they played right into her hands.

imafatman

Absolute plonkers. I have to say, having been to a few amateur cycling events, there are quite a few people who could do with learning some bike skills and etiquette. All the gear and no idea.

pblakeney

Beatmaker wrote:

I agree 100%. But, in the report I read she faced the cyclists in her vehicle, then she faced them as a pedestrian, then she went out on her horse. Read like she was looking for an argument.

Where did you see this? In the initial Facebook post she made, she claimed to have been riding from one property to another, and had no idea the triathlon was on, and there had been no signs locally on the run up to the event to alert her. If she had been out in the car and on foot already, that somewhat contradicts her initial post.

That being said, it doesn’t take away from the fact that I’ve never seen such selfish riding, and those triathletes could have seriously harmed the horse, rider and themselves. I hope they’re banned from competing for life (though in my opinion, a worse punishment would be being forced to ride triathlons for life, they are just a good bike ride spoiled by a swim and run).
If her intention was to create animosity and confrontation at the event, they played right into her hands.

Apologies. Bad writing led to an incorrect interpretation of two stories merged into one.

cougie

Riding riding. But don't tar all triathletes with the same brush.
We don't like it when one knob on a bike does a stupid act and somehow all cyclists are the same.

I did a different triathlon at the weekend. 600 racers - I didn't see any dodgy riding and successfully passed a horse and trap thing with no drama.

I believe the organisation at Windsor are finding the athletes concerned and banning and DQing them. Quite rightly too.

tangled_metal

Reports quoted at least two people, the rider and a second who was the motorist. I think taken from the Facebook page but I read it in online news pages. The rider came across as being level headed.

The motorist came across as having a bit of an issue with cyclists IMHO. The "having to..." bit was messy thinking / phrasing or a sign of her attitude to cyclists irrespective if their behaviour.

In this situation I reckon there was some really bad riding and judgement from the racing cyclists. I hope they end up facing the consequences of their actions.

kingstongraham

There have been cyclists on other social media looking to put some responsibility on the horse rider for being on a road that was not closed to traffic. I can't believe any cyclist would blame the more vulnerable road user just for being on the road.

tangled_metal

Personally I suspect a cyclist is slightly more vulnerable than a 500kg animal with hooves and a skittish nature. Put it this way, it wouldn't take much to send one of those riders flying, a stiff kick would do it.

But you're right about it being unreasonable to blame the horse or rider.

In some ways racing is about going fast so we shouldn't be surprised when racers go fast. The issue is distance from other road users and safe riding practices taking into account the speed involved. How can you ensure that.

kingstongraham

Tangled Metal wrote:

Personally I suspect a cyclist is slightly more vulnerable than a 500kg animal with hooves and a skittish nature. Put it this way, it wouldn't take much to send one of those riders flying, a stiff kick would do it.

You're comparing the cyclist with the horse. Should be comparing the cyclist with the horse rider.

tangled_metal

KingstonGraham wrote:

Tangled Metal wrote:

Personally I suspect a cyclist is slightly more vulnerable than a 500kg animal with hooves and a skittish nature. Put it this way, it wouldn't take much to send one of those riders flying, a stiff kick would do it.

You're comparing the cyclist with the horse. Should be comparing the cyclist with the horse rider.

But the system as a whole is more vulnerable in the cyclist and bicycle. Same principle when a tonne plus of metal with a driver in it hits a cyclist. Guess which comes out in a better state! The two components (bike and rider; horse and rider; car and driver) are kind of combined. They both hit the other system when there's contact if you want to put it simply.

cld531c

Tangled Metal wrote:

KingstonGraham wrote:

Tangled Metal wrote:

Personally I suspect a cyclist is slightly more vulnerable than a 500kg animal with hooves and a skittish nature. Put it this way, it wouldn't take much to send one of those riders flying, a stiff kick would do it.

You're comparing the cyclist with the horse. Should be comparing the cyclist with the horse rider.

But the system as a whole is more vulnerable in the cyclist and bicycle. Same principle when a tonne plus of metal with a driver in it hits a cyclist. Guess which comes out in a better state! The two components (bike and rider; horse and rider; car and driver) are kind of combined. They both hit the other system when there's contact if you want to put it simply.

A rider is not protected by a horse like a driver is by a car, and horses get frightened whereas bikes don't. Cyclists and Horse Riders are similarly vunerable as unprotected humans. The horse may kick out at a mental cyclist but that is no consolation to the rider who is halfway down the road. Those passes were absurd and dangerous and there was no excuse. They will also have done more harm to cyclists who will no doubt face a similar backlash to the Charlie Alliston case. IMO they were more reckless and furious than he ever was, they were just fortunate the rider was skilled and riding a placid horse

kingstongraham

Tangled Metal wrote:

KingstonGraham wrote:

Tangled Metal wrote:

Personally I suspect a cyclist is slightly more vulnerable than a 500kg animal with hooves and a skittish nature. Put it this way, it wouldn't take much to send one of those riders flying, a stiff kick would do it.

You're comparing the cyclist with the horse. Should be comparing the cyclist with the horse rider.

But the system as a whole is more vulnerable in the cyclist and bicycle. Same principle when a tonne plus of metal with a driver in it hits a cyclist. Guess which comes out in a better state! The two components (bike and rider; horse and rider; car and driver) are kind of combined. They both hit the other system when there's contact if you want to put it simply.

Not much good if one part of the system has been spooked and is running off down the road without the other part.

motogull

Stupid kunnts.

All this does is serve to reinforce the mong drivers' view that we are all vermin.

slowmart

Motogull wrote:

Stupid kunnts.

All this does is serve to reinforce the mong drivers' view that we are all vermin.

Or comments like yours.

vinnymarsden

I cannot believe anyone is trying to apportion any kind of blame on the horse rider, the fools riding down the inside of the horse, on the grass even, have clearly, for some reason totally misjudged their approach and instead of taking steps to slow down they merely "squeeze" through, and by the grace of god no one got hurt.
We cyclists complain about near misses, and rightly so..this is a case of boot on other foot..please, lets not have anyone defending them, their actions are tantamount to the offence of reckless/furious pedal cycling if it still exists!!!

florerider

Must admit I worried that the horse box drivers would not be as courteous as in the past round here, that video sent shivers, not only for its stupidity in itself, but for any adverse reaction it might pose.

We share the small roads here, i treat horses carefully and drivers treat me carefully, they don't want anyone in a car or on a bike upsetting their daughters and wives out on their horses, and so common good behaviour pays off.

Go slow, and speak so the horse knows you are there.

Oh, and I appreciate the time and cost given to my child by riding for the disabled.

awavey

tbh Ive been just as gobsmacked from some of the reaction of people trying to defend the bike riders and blame the horse rider for it, even to the extent inventing convoluted conspiracy theories about it, as much as the video footage itself.

I look at it and think do those people really not get whats wrong with that, and it certainly wasnt the one rider, I dont think any of them passed with any common sense at all.

my sort of hope is the organisers will have enough data from their timings & locations, plus the event photography to be able to identify enough of the group and do the necessary, because it would only take one bored MP with an axe to grind about cycling to use it to gather momentum for all kinds of stupidness relating to organised bike events and how bike riders are a law unto themselves, etc etc, if it ends up appearing that it just gets swept under the carpet.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

As I posted in the "rants" thread before this separate thread started, I thought the way at least some of those cyclists passed the horse was dreadful.

Should I be surprised that four days on, there's been no update in identifying the muppets, especially the the "undertakers" (but there were also some that overtook stupidly close to the right of the horse)?

I bet high definition camera manufacturers are rubbing their hands together, because as much as that video shows stupid and careless passing of a vulnerable road user (the horse and rider in this case), the stills from that clip seem useless to show the race number of any individual.