Velo South closed roads sportive - good idea?!?

[Cyril Haearn]

Elite Endurance Team
The LeJoG wimps!

[Marcus Aurelius]

“Short rolling road closures for the elite cyclists only”

What “elite cyclists”?

Er, those that arrive before the end of the closure?

So those that paid more money to start earlier then? Not “elite cyclists” by any stretch of anyone’s imagination, more likely a bunch of tubbie clubbies on Pinarellos, living the “elite cyclist” fantasy.

[Zoeb9522]

Why can’t the sportive be an A to B event. It is the circular nature of the road closures seems to be biggest reason for such long road closures and that so many people find themselves within the event. I have asked and been told that it would be inconvient for the riders.

because then you have a massive logistics test of getting people back, I once did a Oxford to Cambridge ride and took two hours to wait for a coach ....

But at least the riders will have put themselves in that position, the 450,000 residents that are affected by this event havent, and a lot of them are still blissfully unaware it is happening

[ianrobo]

We have to remeber that CSM were novices when it came to last year Phil and if they have learnt thats great.

However any closed road event will lead to disruption and should a few people disturbed for a few hours on a Sunday have in effect a veto ?

Not that I will be doing any more closed road events now

[Zoeb9522]

To Ianrobo, the riders have made a choice to participate paid to take part and there are only 15000 of them. The residents have not had a choice and there are over 250000 of them.

The residents have had a choice and they elected county councillors who agreed to this and should be specifying route crossings and their procedures, taped-off or barriered footways and so on. It ain't the riders' fault if the county council isn't doing what residents want - don't take it out on them, please.

The London marathon impacts millions and no complaints ... this is pure Nimbyism and a few loud empty vessels ...

it is one event in one day of a year and residents have had loads of notice to sort out any urgent issues, work etc.

Are we supposed to have no events that inconvenience people then ? about those that live around a football ground and esp those grounds that have moved into people's area ?

for the vast majority of people the roads will be open after midday

The difference with the London Marathon, is the road infrastructure, there are many routes and roads in London, there is ONE servicing the whole village I live in, and that will be shut for nearly TEN hours. I have livestock either side of the closure, am I supposed to break the animal welfare or the road closure laws?!

Calling people NIMBY’s without knowing the full facts does more damage to your own reputation than what you are trying to portray on your script.

[ianrobo]

you registered here a few days ago and clearly a little campaign somewhere on a FB group to make the same old points. 10 hours on a sunday, enjoy it, pull up a chair outside if sunny, get the beers and food out and enjoy the sight of people enjoying themselves. I guess you will claim you have a sick mother somewhere, or some other spurious thing ?

I do not begrudge other people's activities that may delay me in my metal box or access, we just had a local one day festival by us and you could hear the music all day but was a peaceful day enjoyed by many people, despite some inconveniences to me !

Live and let live for just 10 hours out of one year eh ? After all you have had loads and loads of time to prepare for this eh ?

[Lorrimer12]

No TTRO yet.

[mjr]

No TTRO yet.

As cycling groups have repeatedly encountered, the TRO processes are not democratic. Addressing an objection does not mean solving the problem, even when easily possible. Please push your county councillors for the crossings, access marshalling and so on that you need. Don't wait for a hostile TTRO to be published.

[pete75]

you registered here a few days ago and clearly a little campaign somewhere on a FB group to make the same old points. 10 hours on a sunday, enjoy it, pull up a chair outside if sunny, get the beers and food out and enjoy the sight of people enjoying themselves. I guess you will claim you have a sick mother somewhere, or some other spurious thing ?

I do not begrudge other people's activities that may delay me in my metal box or access, we just had a local one day festival by us and you could hear the music all day but was a peaceful day enjoyed by many people, despite some inconveniences to me !

Live and let live for just 10 hours out of one year eh ? After all you have had loads and loads of time to prepare for this eh ?

Read the post by Zoeb again. She makes no mention of having a sick mother but that she has livestock each side of the closure that needs husbandry.

[Fasgadh]

Worth remembering that there are hotspots for commercial road closing. I live in one which has been plagued by runners. 5 days last year trapped against the sea. We also have a sportive but it does not close the road - yet!

Consistent pressure led to a reduction in number of roads closed (they don’t just close the route, so getting out was more complicated than simply crossing a road) and a reduction in hours of closure. We have even got public transport back, that was always taken down in the past. As a result the events are continuing and residents can actually travel.

It appears that the proverbial will be taken unless a firm but reasonable response is made. These closures are for commercial profit and other businesses can suffer horribly.

[Cyril Haearn]

I agree with Graham, but many humans are herd animals* and like to do things in big groups, not just cycling events, like the millions of bison that used to roam the prairies, most of them are gone now

* why?

[Philip Whiteman]

There are some very worrying aspects about this event from both sides. Many people on Stop Velo South are raising their objections in common with their democratic right but some of the attitudes and comments are quite frankly disturbing, for example, putting up cheese wire across the highway. Rather than concentrating their fire on CSM some of the protesters are focusing their anger on the entrants. On the cycling side, I have seen comments on other boards about riding into pedestrians who may be protesting - which does not help the cycling cause in general.

There appears to be an enormous amount of heat with Velo South and certainly more than I witnessed with Velo Birmingham.

I rather hope that the Police are monitoring social media for criminal incitement as it appears to be going beyond democratic debate towards something more concerning.

[Marcus Aurelius]

There are some very worrying aspects about this event from both sides. Many people on Stop Velo South are raising their objections in common with their democratic right but some of the attitudes and comments are quite frankly disturbing, for example, putting up cheese wire across the highway. Rather than concentrating their fire on CSM some of the protesters are focusing their anger on the entrants. On the cycling side, I have seen comments on other boards about riding into pedestrians who may be protesting - which does not help the cycling cause in general.

There appears to be an enormous amount of heat with Velo South and certainly more than I witnessed with Velo Birmingham.

I rather hope that the Police are monitoring social media for criminal incitement as it appears to be going beyond democratic debate towards something more concerning.

I’ve got as many people as I can to report the Stop Velo South group to Facebook for harassment and hate speech. Hopefully Facebook will can it soon.

[Lorrimer12]

How do I let the riders of Velo South that the ride is not road closed but road shared? No motor vehicles allowed but cyclists and pedestrians will be allowed on the route. Safety of all is my concern and everyone going both ways is dangerous.

[squeaker]

How do I let the riders of Velo South that the ride is not road closed but road shared? No motor vehicles allowed but cyclists and pedestrians will be allowed on the route. Safety of all is my concern and everyone going both ways is dangerous.

(My bold)

As the TTROs have yet to be published (AFAIK - please link to some if they have been) how do you know that non-motorised vehicles will not be included in the road closures? All I can find is from the Velo South leaflet advising of the road closures that plopped onto my doormat yesterday where it says that:

Whilst the cycling route will be closed to vehicles, pedestrian access is not restricted. All we ask is that you take extra care when navigating roads along the route.

This implies that cycles will be included in the closure. However, as a (hypothetical!) participant I might be less than pleased to find a group of dog walkers on the road around the next bend