Idiots on the A1

Artleknock said:

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.

Shocking, cyclists on the road, whatever next.

--
Mike
Van Tuyl titanium Dura ace 10
Fausto Coppi aluminium Ultegra 10
Raleigh Record sprint mongrel
Huissoon project bike (in bits, natch)

Artleknock said:

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.

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. Since its not illegal to ride a bike on
A roads I would suggest they were doing nothing wrong, though they
could have picked a better day to do it. That said, why should one set
of road users not do something just because another assumes they have
priority?

Artleknock said the following on 15/08/2007 11:45:

Quoted message said:

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!!

No! Not riding on the road, surely? How dare they? They don't pay
road tax, so why should they be allowed to use the roads? Disgraceful!

(All of the above is tongue in cheek, including, I hope, the OP's quote.)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

mb said:

Shocking, cyclists on the road, whatever next.

Riding on the road is one thing. Holding a race on the
A1 is madness. But as long as uk time trialing is
fixated on set distances and times, it'll stay that
way.

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
The struggle of people against power is the struggle
of memory against forgetting - Milan Kundera

On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 10:45:46 GMT someone who may be Artleknock
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

riding on the carriageway!!

Gosh!!! How terrible!!! A cyclist RIDING ON THE ROAD!!! Whatever
next?

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

Artleknock said:

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.

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.

Roger Thorpe

Quoted message said:

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.

So the OP was whinging about a short delay to motorists on one of the
quieter days and times of the week (Sunday afternoon/evening would have
been a lot busier). Reminds me of the nonsense we get from the tabloids
every Bank Holiday as they whinge about the engineering works all being
done on one of the quietest days of the year. Humbug!

--
Mark T

CoyoteBoy said:

Artleknock said:

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.

Quoted message said:

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

"Artleknock" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

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.

How utterly shocking! A cyclist, on a main road! How dare he get in the way
of important stuff: like cars! The very idea!

It's a time trial with strict limits on the *brief* number of hours over
which it can be run and has been going on for years and years... with no
hassle... but heaven forbid you be held up for a second or three.

On Aug 15, 1:31 pm, "wafflycat" <w*a*ff£y£cat*@£btco*nn£ect.com>

Quoted message said:

How utterly shocking! A cyclist, on a main road! How dare he get in the way
of important stuff: like cars! The very idea!

It's a time trial with strict limits on the *brief* number of hours over
which it can be run and has been going on for years and years... with no
hassle... but heaven forbid you be held up for a second or three.

Why do all these motorists insist on going to/from holiday when time
trials are on?

On a slightly different tack, what difference does it make that it was
a time trialist, as opposed to someone cycling alone to get somewhere
on that stretch of road? I wish I had a marshall to help me through
busy road junctions!

PhilD

--
<><

Artleknock said:

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 said:

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

Quoted message said:

CoyoteBoy said:

Artleknock said:

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.

Quoted message said:

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 - [censored]

Quoted message said:

CoyoteBoy said:

Artleknock said:

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.

Quoted message said:

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.

Artleknock said:

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 🙂

Quoted message said:

CoyoteBoy said:

Artleknock said:

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,

Sunday morning, busy time?

Quoted message said:

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.

I can only see roads getting busier with the passage of time, UK
cyclists need to push their rights a bit more if they don't want to be
forced onto ever more remote country roads.

--
Mike
Van Tuyl titanium Dura ace 10
Fausto Coppi aluminium Ultegra 10
Raleigh Record sprint mongrel
Huissoon project bike (in bits, natch)

Quoted message said:

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?

Quoted message said:

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|
|/ \|

mb said:

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.

Quoted message said:

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.

Quoted message said:

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 said:

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.