Idiots on the A1

Artleknock wrote:
Before I start a rant - I have been a cyclist all my life.
On Sunday morning the 5th I was driving down the A1 about a couple of
miles short of the first A1M after Scotch corner when I joined a long
tail back of traffic. On finaly reaching the hold up it was a bloke on
a bike, drop handle bars, crash hat, lycra budgie smugglers, the
works, riding on the carriageway!! A bit further on there was a
marshal at the next turn off. The idiots were doing time trials on a
major trunk road on the same day that all the holiday makers were
heading home from up north.

Who in their right minds would go up north for a holiday?

Roger Thorpe wrote:

This looks a little like the Pennine CC event. In which case the start
was at 6:30, the last rider off would have been at 8:30 and they would
have finished at about 10:45. On a Sunday.
It's been going on all over the country for years, and only happens with
the permission of the local police who can - and do withdraw permission
if they feel that it's either dangerous or obstructive.


There are frequently cycle events on the A1 in Beds/Cambs, again on
a Sunday morning. It doesn't seem to cause any problem.

Surely it's better to use a relatively quiet dual-carriageway like
the A1 where the motorised traffic can be put onto another lane than
a single carriageway where the event would take up the whole road ?

-adrian

wrote:
On Aug 15, 12:13 pm, CoyoteBoy wrote:
On 15 Aug, 11:45, Artleknock wrote:
The idiots were doing time trials on a
major trunk road on the same day that all the holiday makers were
heading home from up north.

I tend to agree with the OP. I'm strongly in favour of cyclists having
the right to use all roads, but having a right doesn't mean it's a
good idea to exercise it all the time. This event amounted to reducing
a major trunk route to a single lane at a busy time, probably for a
substantial distance (I'm guessing the time trial used the road for a
greater distance than a typical stretch of road works). The
authorities go to some trouble to avoid peak times for road works.

There are two consequences to this: there are probably a few more
motorists now who hate cyclists, and some more with their prejudices
reinforced; and if it happens a lot, there will be moves to ban
cycling altogether on this sort of road, which would set a bad
precedent, and make life difficult for the times where there really is
no alternative to cycling on these roads. (There was a cycling ban on
the A40 Cheltenham-Gloucester for a while, but this has now been
lifted.)

I guess dual carriageways that are quieter at the weekend than on
weekdays are probably very good places for time trials, because
traffic can pass safely. However, the A1 doesn't fit into this
category. I support the club's absolute right to hold time trials on
public roads, but it seems likely they could have chosen a better
location.

There are always holiday makers heading home at some time or other,
if people stopped for that there would be month-long periods where
no-one rode in case they hit traffic.

No, a time trial is different from other sorts of riding. Somebody
going out on their own for a pootle/commute/shopping, wouldn't have
caused this sort of disruption. A club run would have consisted of one
or two clumps of riders, which would be a much shorter disruption.
Because it is spread out, a time trial takes quite a lot of capacity,
it's a planned event and the organisers should have known better.

I want to keep the right to cycle on all roads, to do that we need to
be sensible about how we use the right - we want drivers to be
considerate and treat us with respect, we need to do the same for
them.

*DING* on all counts.

--
Paul - xxx

On 15 Aug, 13:21, wrote:
On Aug 15, 12:13 pm, CoyoteBoy wrote:

On 15 Aug, 11:45, Artleknock wrote:
The idiots were doing time trials on a
major trunk road on the same day that all the holiday makers were
heading home from up north.

I tend to agree with the OP. I'm strongly in favour of cyclists having
the right to use all roads, but having a right doesn't mean it's a
good idea to exercise it all the time. This event amounted to reducing
a major trunk route to a single lane at a busy time, probably for a
substantial distance (I'm guessing the time trial used the road for a
greater distance than a typical stretch of road works). The
authorities go to some trouble to avoid peak times for road works.

There are two consequences to this: there are probably a few more
motorists now who hate cyclists, and some more with their prejudices
reinforced; and if it happens a lot, there will be moves to ban
cycling altogether on this sort of road, which would set a bad
precedent, and make life difficult for the times where there really is
no alternative to cycling on these roads. (There was a cycling ban on
the A40 Cheltenham-Gloucester for a while, but this has now been
lifted.)

I guess dual carriageways that are quieter at the weekend than on
weekdays are probably very good places for time trials, because
traffic can pass safely. However, the A1 doesn't fit into this
category. I support the club's absolute right to hold time trials on
public roads, but it seems likely they could have chosen a better
location.

There are always holiday makers heading home at some time or other, if
people stopped for that there would be month-long periods where no-one
rode in case they hit traffic.

No, a time trial is different from other sorts of riding. Somebody
going out on their own for a pootle/commute/shopping, wouldn't have
caused this sort of disruption. A club run would have consisted of one
or two clumps of riders, which would be a much shorter disruption.
Because it is spread out, a time trial takes quite a lot of capacity,
it's a planned event and the organisers should have known better.

I want to keep the right to cycle on all roads, to do that we need to
be sensible about how we use the right - we want drivers to be
considerate and treat us with respect, we need to do the same for
them.

Rob


Some fair points I admit, however I dont think the absense of cyclists
from roads makes them MORE tolerated, therefore although the presence
of them might make enemies, if it were more frequent it may make them
more accepted. I wasnt fully aware of the nature of time trials I
admit, but I personally prefer to overtake individual cyclists in
short succession than a single, rather unpredictive mass of a couple
of groups. But then each to his own.

On Aug 15, 11:45 am, Artleknock wrote:
Before I start a rant - I have been a cyclist all my life.
On Sunday morning the 5th I was driving down the A1 about a couple of
miles short of the first A1M after Scotch corner when I joined a long
tail back of traffic. On finaly reaching the hold up it was a bloke on
a bike, drop handle bars, crash hat, lycra budgie smugglers, the
works, riding on the carriageway!! A bit further on there was a
marshal at the next turn off. The idiots were doing time trials on a
major trunk road on the same day that all the holiday makers were
heading home from up north.

I couldn't help but giggle a bit when I saw the OPs posting
history . . .
http://tinyurl.com/38zul6

A complaint about congestion caused by cyclists.. coming from a
Caravan user

On Wed, 15 Aug, wrote:

This event amounted to reducing a major trunk route to a single
lane at a busy time,

Early on a summer-holidays Sunday morning?
When is the quiet time you would advocate instead?

authorities go to some trouble to avoid peak times for road works.

absolutely - and one of the times they consequently choose is ...
Sunday morning in the summer holidays!

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
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On Aug 15, 3:57 pm, "mb" wrote:
Sunday morning, busy time?

My estimate is the queue was over 4 miles. (4.6 miles if you take the
the OP's 2 miles as exact). With one lane fully open and the other
maybe partly in use. Sounds like a fairly busy time to me.

I can only see roads getting busier with the passage of time,

Agreed. Which means we need to reflect from time to time to see if
what was OK 10 years ago is still OK in present conditions.

UK
cyclists need to push their rights a bit more if they don't want to be
forced onto ever more remote country roads.

Agreed. But if we are unreasonable about it, we will be the losers in
the long run. This is a stretch of fast dual carriageway linking two
"almost" motorways. I imagine there are people who would like to ban
us from such roads, we shouldn't given them ammunition by causing 4
mile tail backs.

Rob

Artleknock wrote:
Before I start a rant - I have been a cyclist all my life.
On Sunday morning the 5th I was driving down the A1 about a couple of
miles short of the first A1M after Scotch corner when I joined a long
tail back of traffic. On finaly reaching the hold up it was a bloke on
a bike, drop handle bars, crash hat, lycra budgie smugglers, the
works, riding on the carriageway!! A bit further on there was a
marshal at the next turn off. The idiots were doing time trials on a
major trunk road on the same day that all the holiday makers were
heading home from up north.

It's not very safe but they have just as much right to be there, sorry.

On Aug 15, 3:57 pm, jd wrote:

I couldn't help but giggle a bit when I saw the OPs posting
history . . .http://tinyurl.com/38zul6

A complaint about congestion caused by cyclists.. coming from a
Caravan user


Hahahahaha!!!

On Aug 15, 4:17 pm, Ian Smith wrote:
On Wed, 15 Aug, wrote:
This event amounted to reducing a major trunk route to a single
lane at a busy time,

Early on a summer-holidays Sunday morning?
When is the quiet time you would advocate instead?

Outside school holidays.
Start earlier (they started at 6.45, it had been light for at least an
hour then).
Restrict the field - 120 is quite a lot.

I know there's a great tradition of one minute intervals, but would it
really spoil things that much if for such a long event on an important
trunk road, they set off at 30 second interals instead? It would halve
the time it used the road. Might make it more exciting, you'd feel you
had more chance of catching your "30 second man" than your minuteman.
Yes, I'm sure this is heresy and it won't happen, but in changing
times such things should be considered.

authorities go to some trouble to avoid peak times for road works.

absolutely - and one of the times they consequently choose is ...
Sunday morning in the summer holidays!

Are you sure about that? ISTR reports of road works being suspended on
holiday routes for school holiday weekends. I claim no expert
knowledge, but guess that Sunday mornings would be an excellent time
for commuter routes, but during school holidays they would be avoided
for long-distance holiday routes, which this is. And remember, at its
peak the event used 20 miles of each carriageway, longer than any road
works.

Rob