Paulatic wrote:Thanks for identifying the climb.
#1 So it’s OK to ride in this manner for at least the first 8 mls?
#2 RAB have a crystal ball and can predict traffic volumes? No I doubt it, they were lucky there was no traffic.
Strathdon to Cock Bridge is 14 mls , isn’t the Lecht after that?
The picture was taken at 7:49am so still no traffic then?
They’ve been on the road since 6:30 and there’s been no traffic?
I didn't say it was OK, I simply pointed out that releasing 750 riders onto a road, even over the course of an hour or so is still going to result in a bunching up on any major climb and The Lecht is a major climb! Some riders did it in about 7 minutes, there were plenty who took nearly 40+ minutes. By the way, plenty in that picture are stationary or walking.
And yes, RAB actually do thorough risk assessments, they ride and drive the routes in advance at the times the riders will be on them and they take advice from local Safety Advisory Groups, police etc. I saw no traffic on that climb other than the event support vehicles and if you look at it, you can see the sightlines are really very good indeed. I could have driven a bus up there without coming near anyone. One of the reason for chaging the route this year (to go via Edinburgh & Cairngorms rather than Glasgow & Glen Coe) was because of the traffic. Even the previous day going over Spittal of Glenshee there was virtually nothing on the roads, saw hardly any traffic.
3-abreast is a funny one - the HC states "SHOULD NEVER" without actually going so far as to ban it outright because a) it's simply unenforceable and b) there are occasions where it WILL happen. Plenty of times I've been out riding (alone or in groups) and passed or been passed by a group and it's unrealistic to expect a group to single out every time they pass a lone rider, or pull out to pass a parked car or obstacle on the left. Consider what happens in a car - you overtake someone (or pull out to pass an obstruction), you are effectively 3 or 4 abreast for a short time! If you're going through any village, town, city etc you'll be pulling out or pulling in to allow passage of vehicles. Try replacing that oncoming Tesco home delivery van in your mind with 6 riders, 3-abreast. No difference in size is there?! From what I saw the vast majority of riders were pretty well behaved but there are occasions when groups are catching, passing etc or when riders swerve out to avoid something or even when viewed from behind and an untidy line of 2-abreast actually appears to be wider.
I've worked on the event for 4 years as one of the chaperones / Ride Leaders so I get to see both sides of it - the rider view and experience and the work behind the scenes that goes into it. There are many aspects of it that I like, there are some that I'm not so much a fan of but can "adapt to" or put up with. I fully understand that the event will not appeal to everyone but I also don't especially get the "giving cyclists a bad name" rubbish or the disruption. One day a year. That's it. Compared to the tens of thousands of hours of cumulative disruption caused daily by drivers.
By the way, outside Ludlow, we came across a 2-vehicle RTA that had just happened. No cyclists involved in any way (so it wasn't a misjudged overtake to pass these vast hoards of 3-abreast riders...), it was simply bad driving in wet conditions. The first group of cyclists on scene one was Fire & Rescue, one was a paramedic and one was a doctor. Thanks to the ride, the relevant knowledge and medical services were on scene in literally seconds.