LOTOJA Riders Offending Others

Quoted message said:

I had a sad conversation with a truck driver from southeastern Idaho
yesterday. He told me that people in Franklin County and the town of
Preston are thinking of asking the Franklin County Commission to ban
the LOTOJA from traversing the county.
For those who may not know, LOTOJA is short for LOgan TO JAckson,
one of the toughest one-day races in the world. It has a huge amount
of climbing and descending, traverses three states, and is around two
hundred miles long.
What the locals don't like about the race is the riders. I'm told
that they hog the road, riding multiple riders abreast and not
staying in the rightmost lane. They don't move over to let cars and
trucks pass. And perhaps worst of all, it seems that when they
experience the call of nature, some of them just stop by the side of
the road wherever they happen to be and let fly.
I'm not in the league to compete in a race like this one by any
means, but I do ride in another ride in the same area. So if there's
anyone here who is perhaps one of the guilty parties from LOTOJA, I
can't just say "you're only hurting yourselves." You could also hurt
other organized rides in Cache Valley, one of which benefits a breast
cancer organization, and the other of which benefits the MS Society.
Thanks for nothing, arrogant, selfish, inconsiderate riders.

Bill

Trollometer: 2.1 (out of 10...at least.)

Quoted message said:

I had a sad conversation with a truck driver from southeastern Idaho
yesterday. He told me that people in Franklin County and the town of
Preston are thinking of asking the Franklin County Commission to ban the
LOTOJA from traversing the county.

1,000 people racing on open roads is idiotic to begin with. Shoot, I
don't even like to do fast charity rides due to the prickish behavior--
I can only imagine the behavior if there was a clock involved.

Bill Sornson said:

Quoted message said:

I had a sad conversation with a truck driver from southeastern Idaho
yesterday. He told me that people in Franklin County and the town of
Preston are thinking of asking the Franklin County Commission to ban
the LOTOJA from traversing the county.
For those who may not know, LOTOJA is short for LOgan TO JAckson,
one of the toughest one-day races in the world. It has a huge amount
of climbing and descending, traverses three states, and is around two
hundred miles long.
What the locals don't like about the race is the riders. I'm told
that they hog the road, riding multiple riders abreast and not
staying in the rightmost lane. They don't move over to let cars and
trucks pass. And perhaps worst of all, it seems that when they
experience the call of nature, some of them just stop by the side of
the road wherever they happen to be and let fly.
I'm not in the league to compete in a race like this one by any
means, but I do ride in another ride in the same area. So if there's
anyone here who is perhaps one of the guilty parties from LOTOJA, I
can't just say "you're only hurting yourselves." You could also hurt
other organized rides in Cache Valley, one of which benefits a breast
cancer organization, and the other of which benefits the MS Society.
Thanks for nothing, arrogant, selfish, inconsiderate riders.

Bill

Quoted message said:

Trollometer: 2.1 (out of 10...at least.)

Nope. Dead serious. I wrote a similar message about the behavior of
some participants in the ULCER last month. Cycling is a great sport, one
that could and should be popular and accepted by the public.
Unfortunately, there are some jerk cyclists who give the rest a bad name.
Perhaps they think that what they do when they're in a large group doesn't
matter. My point was that it does.
And anyone who wants to ride the LOTOJA would do well to check before
they make plans. There's a chance that the County Commission will listen
to the complaints and restrict or ban the race.

Bill

__o | Reason has seldom failed us because it has seldom been tried.
_`\(,_ |
(_)/ (_) | --Edward Abbey