Cycling UK Forum

I attended last years south Wales velothon, as a spectator. I took a fair few photos as i was testing my new lens. I posted to photos on facebook under the title 'photos of the velothon'. The only contact i have had from the page has been anti cycling rants and anti velothon rants even though it is quite obvious i am not affiliated or representing whoever does organise the Velothon.
When i receive this anti cycling or cyclist rant i always share it with the community so they can make an informed choice where their custom is not welcome.
The business concerned is this: A [deleted] cafe in Cardiff

The owner's thoughts about the Velothon are :
"So you will be destroying small businesses best day of the week by wrecking havoc over the streets of cardiff yet again but this year on a Sunday’s"


Photos of the Velothon July 2017
" I should think that small businesses which have selfish, grumpy owners will be ruining their businesses all year round and won't need any help from me.
Like · Reply · 1 · Yesterday at 9:28am
Manage

The cafe owner's thoughts:
" Ha ha ha ! Your so funny, I’m actually talking about myself and ten other small independent traders who have a community spirit like no other in cardiff we have little old ladies and gentlemen along with young mums and students who are all happy to have us work and live and thrive in our community then suddenly fit one day several days a year we get huge events in Carfiff such as the Velethon come and destroy our businesses with Rd closures and diversions stopping us get to work or stopping our lovely customers get to us , in 2016 Cardiff closed Rd’s in and around the city 17 times at weekends one of them being Easter Saturday then in 2017 cardiff closed Rd’s 23 times for different events such as Velethon.
If you Lycra clad cyclists cared about the environment as much you proclaimed then you would be concerned about the entire environment including small businesses like us and all our he good work we do in the community and in only using organic produce with s lowest carbon footprint as possible but in reality you are not interested in community or environment your all only interested in your selves.
You are the ones who are sad for we shall rejoice take a day off and go away from cardiff to avoid the lot of you
Like · Reply · 2 · Yesterday at 5:36pm

Take a deep breath and mentally walk away. It's not worth you stressing about it.

Indeed. You should be feeling sorry for the poor chap's illiteracy, more than anything, you callous [inappropriate term removed] .

I fear a lot of people drive to Velothons, it is not my sort of cycling, don't really like masses of people
23 road closures seems a lot, is Caerdydd the new Berlin?

falloverpete wrote:I find it hard to put into words how i feel about him, but if you can then do leave yours in his review section.

Thank you

You can try, but I think Tripadvisor weed out hostile reviews especially if they're not about the food etc.

Cyril Haearn wrote:I fear a lot of people drive to Velothons, it is not my sort of cycling, don't really like masses of people
23 road closures seems a lot, is Caerdydd the new Berlin?

+1
The cafe owner is an idiot. But it's the same with sportives ... Hundreds of car miles to take part in a cycling event ..... Mmm?

falloverpete: I think it might have been better posting this to raise the issue of major cycling events and their effect on small traders and residents rather than singling out one business owner. He has a legitimate view even if not well expressed and one indeed that is shared by lots of people (q.v. New Forest etc). Personalising it in this way is IMV below the standards of the forum.

Cycling-hating is seen as legitimate on this forum now? Shame!

Wife no.2 hated cyclists and anything associated with cycling....she went so far as giving me an ultimatum; "it's me or your bikes"....shame really as the bike takes up most of my new bed

mjr wrote:Cycling-hating is seen as legitimate on this forum now? Shame!

Velothon hater rather than cycling hater, perhaps. He does have a legitimate reason to object to road closures if they impact adversely on his business, but venting his vitriol via social media is a poor way to handle it. Poor communication, not leading to understanding. His hostile attitude would put me off using his business.

One would have thought the whole thing might be good for business, lots of non-cyclists like to watch such events

Otherwise it could be a good chance to plan a day off

Cyril Haearn wrote:One would have thought the whole thing might be good for business, lots of non-cyclists like to watch such events

Otherwise it could be a good chance to plan a day off

Yes, it was quite shocking last year for Ride London, with many things in Putney closed despite the crowds on their doorsteps. Even the cafe some distance away in the Bishop's palace park seemed to be doing a roaring trade! I really don't understand the mentality of shopkeepers who seem to grossly overestimate how much of their trade is motorists and seem determined to fail rather than try to sell to people cycling or watching cycling.

Unless you own and run a small business you really have no idea of the impact events have. My wife had a tourist orientated plus local sales shop. We had an annual influx of about a couple of hundred cars for a car ” rally”. Good for business you may think but in practice turnover for those days did not even cover the lighting bill far less heating and staff wages. After a couple of years we just shut the shop during this event as the less bad option.

And yet, plenty of small businesses, including pubs run by my relatives from time to time (including one I helped in), hold events to make money and they do make money. Whether a car rally is good for a particular business probably depends on what it does, but it seems pretty obvious that large crowds of people in an area for most of the day who haven't brought large amounts of stuff with them (mostly arriving by public transport, cycling or walking) are a fantastic opportunity for food and drink sellers. You just have to make the right offer to the crowds... that seemed very much the attitude in Kingston when I watched it there, but it seems like places like Putney and apparently parts of Cardiff would rather just take a day off and whine about taking a day off.

I do co-own and run a small business, but it's business-to-business, not retail, so not really relevant - but I note it was only "your wife" and "had" a shop is the past tense, so you don't own and run a small retail business either and by your own argument, therefore must "really have no idea" either!

My sympathy is with the owner of the small business. How on earth can closing the roads into and around Cardiff to cater for the influx of a bunch of cyclists riding out of the city centre (where his business is based) be a good thing for him? Why is his opinion, as a business actually affected by this disruption, not valid?

For the avoidance of any doubt, I'm not knocking the Velothon as it has brought many people into the sport including some who are now passionate about cycling and contribute to the sport by joining clubs, competing and organising events. Indeed, I might ride the Velothon myself one day but I certainly wouldn't go as a spectator so just who exactly is going to make it all worthwhile for such a business?