As many of you know, the Velothon took place in Cardiff last Sunday, which meant that roads were closed across a significant area of Southeast Wales.

Thankfully I wasn’t directly affected this year, and the route passed just to the East of where I needed to be on Sunday morning, but last year, I had to negotiate passage across a closed road in order to get to where I really needed to be.

I’ve always been quite forgiving about the whole thing because, well, it’s about bikes. But I do hear from merchants in Cardiff that it can be a right PITA, and that they see almost no economic benefits from it (and other, similar events).

Now someone has started an online petition, requesting the organisers reconsider how they map the route and maintain access, and I am inclined to sign as I agree with many of the points raised. At the same time, I don’t want to betray the cycling community and the huge number of people who are involved in what is otherwise a great event.

Thoughts?

Depends, how much does it benefit ALL locals vs just shops. If its all people driving in and spending no money then you are right, but if a huge number of locals benefit from the enjoyment of riding closed roads or it supports more people cycling locally then its worthwhile. Its not all about trade done.

There was a similar thing with the New Forest a few years back, organisers said locals should be happy as it brings in people who spend money.

Locals said nobody spends a penny, they turn up, do the ride, leave litter and go home.

Seems like nimby cobblers tbh, what’s an ordinary resident?

Closing the roads in an area for 1 or 2 days out of 365 seems like no big deal whether it’s for bikes or runners or some other activity doesn’t really matter. The benefits shouldn’t be purely judged in financial gain to local businesses you also need to take into account the amount of money raised for charities and the promotion of healthy active lifestyles.

With regard to active lifestyles it’s not just about the participants on the day, seeing these things happening in the local area normalises the activities and makes them seems more approachable, loads of people take up cycling or running in order to enter a sportive a 10k or a (half) marathon.

I get that it can be an inconvenience, but we can manage, it wasn’t so long ago that most shops were closed for a day and a half every week I’m sure we can manage with a couple of days a year.

Locals said nobody spends a penny, they turn up, do the ride, leave litter and go home.

My niece and i did a sportive in the New Forest a few years back. We made a weekend of it, rented somewhere to stay with both our families, bought meals and drinks in the local area for three days, overall we must have spent around £1,000 locally.

There’s also non cycling related income that happened due to that trip, I’ve recommended the place to a few people and I know at least one other family that’s rented the same house for a week the following year based on that recommendation. Now I can’t say they wouldn’t have ended up in the New Forest regardless but it couldn’t have hurt that they could hear about somewhere first hand.

We didn’t drop any litter either.

At the Velothon you have pretty much no option but to spend Money in the local economy by having to register on the Saturday for the Sunday ride, no numbers sent by post, no collection on the day.

Hotels seemed ridiculously expensive this year but all were full, so assuming 10,000 entrants all with average spend of £200 (Hotel, evening meal, couple of beers, Post ride eat) puts £2m into the local economy.

To be honest the above is why I sat it out this year, Hooli has a point, where there is no captive audience I don’t think there is that much spent locally.

I did the Velothon last year with a bunch of mates, staying two nights. The hotel, restaurants & bars that we frequented won’t be complaining one bit. In particular the little privately-owned Italian restaurant where we ate the night before had a queue out the door and down the road!

It’s a good event, two fairly tough climbs and the rest is lightning fast, and the city centre staging makes a very civilised change from the usual middle-of-nowhere venues.

I had to negotiate passage across a closed road in order to get to where I really needed to be.

You can cross the route on foot or with your bicycle easily, no negotiations required ? Cars are another matter, but the vast majority with a bit of planning could park their cars somewhere that gives them access to wherever they need to go.
It’s a great event and does bring benefits to S.Wales as a whole. For me trying to work is a write off !! But there’s always the other 364 days for that 😀

Wow one day you found it hard work and now you’re considering signing a petition.

As already said of course it brings lots of revenue in with people visiting having to book hotels, liking the city and possibly coming back with family. The healthy live styles we are encouraging and money raised for charity.

People really need to quit moaning about 1 day of slight inconvenience when we could be living in Syria! Tenby have Ironman Wales AND long course weekend, 2 weekends every year where they are inconvenienced and they flipping love it and come out in droves to support.

It does have a pretty big impact. Last year IIRC people coudn’t get to work, including nurses and emergency services etc. And unlike a pro race where it’s for an hour, this is all day.

Someone was saying this year that Ebbw Vale was cut off all day, although I cannot verify that.

Someone was saying this year that Ebbw Vale was cut off all day, although I cannot verify that.

There’s another net positive.

🙂

I personally wouldn’t sign it – I try not to get offended on behalf of others.

The impact on me was very limited, I had a fairly standard issue Sunday for me, traffic was lighter than usual. The only time I really knew it was one was picking up my Son from Llanishen LC about 5pm, I was stopped about 10m from the entrance, spoke the guy and he moved the cones so I could drive in.

I don’t ride road myself, but I know a couple of people who were involed and they love it – it’s like Passportes for Roadies, yeah you can ride the roads anytime you like for free, but the group even thing makes it fun.

And unlike a pro race where it’s for an hour, this is all day.

We had the same for the TdF when that came through, the TdY and no doubt for the world champs in a few years. Some people moan what ever, because some people like to moan and, in their opinion, they’re much more important than everybody else.

Same reason i got tooted for using the overtaking lane to pass stationary traffic this morning by some bloke who felt he should be able to drive up the empty lane past all the queuing traffic without being held up by a cyclist.

molgrips – Member

It does have a pretty big impact. Last year IIRC people coudn’t get to work, including nurses and emergency services etc. And unlike a pro race where it’s for an hour, this is all day.

Can’t comment on all, but last year Mrs was given a card to put in her windscreen to be allowed past any / all barriers for work, same for the Nato thing too. I don’t know if that was limited to District Nurses and/all mobile personnel or it was extended to single base people for commuting, but it didn’t give her much grief.

At the Velothon you have pretty much no option but to spend Money in the local economy by having to register on the Saturday for the Sunday ride, no numbers sent by post, no collection on the day.

this pretty standard for closed road events – Ride London, Ironman events etc – and is part of the arrangement between the organiser and local authorities so that there is a net benefit, as competitors and supporters have to make a weekend of it.

Tenby Ironman is a great example of the local area embracing it – St Brides Hill is like Alpe d’huez with its crowds and the whole town basically turns into a festival.

Can’t comment on all, but last year Mrs was given a card to put in her windscreen to be allowed past any / all barriers for work, same for the Nato thing too. I don’t know if that was limited to District Nurses and/all mobile personnel or it was extended to single base people for commuting, but it didn’t give her much grief.

Hmm. That’s interesting. If it cuts me off from where I need to get to in future years, I shall have to contact the organisers and ask if they can make provision.

including nurses and emergency services etc

Pretty certain emergency services are intimately involved in the planning stage of these events, and if there was a hint of serious compromise to their ops it wouldn’t take place. Strongly suspect that any member of public on or near route would get a faster turnout from ambo if they had a medical emergency because of inherent medical support…and also the absence of cars, either parked or attempting to move clogging every junction as is often case in South Wales.

The thing that really slows emergency service response in our communities is resources and cars. The velothon haters don’t give a shit about emergency response times for 364 days of the year

Emergency vehicles on call, yes. But if nurses etc cannot get to hospitals that’s not far off as bad. Although it sounds like that has been considered now.

But I do hear from merchants in Cardiff that it can be a right PITA, and that they see almost no economic benefits from it (and other, similar events).

Depends on which merchants you speak to. As has been said above, hotels, bars and restaurants did a massive amount of trade due to the Velothon being in town. Exactly the same as they do when the Marathon is running. The clothing shops etc did well too, mainly from the rider’s partners/family going shopping while they were out on the further parts of the course. Very few places suffered a loss of trade due to this event*. A few people mentioned it being longer to get to work but almost all of those drove in and were just delayed a few minutes, even the emergency services could get around.

The complainers are always the locals who refuse to look at the road closures and plan accordingly. They’ll find an excuse to moan about anything that disrupts their lives and routines. With a bit of thought you had no reason to get stuck, all my colleagues managed to get around all day! The only place we struggled was the immediate area round the start and the finish, that was unavoidable. The only hardship for me was it took me 5 minutes longer to get to work despite working in the city centre all day.

Compare this to the week-long problems the Champions League caused and the chaos the Coldplay concerts tonight and last night have caused and you quickly realise that it’s nothing worth moaning about, at least it is on a Sunday!

* I’m a courier round Cardiff and the South West and have spoken about the Velothon to most of my customers, very, very few have anything bad to say about it. It’s on course to be an annual event like the Marathon.

Is the issue not more about the places out around the circuit though? They get all the disruption with non of the benefit. And from comments friends in the area, they didn’t notify people very well unless you were right on the route.

It’s on course to be an annual event like the Marathon.

But for whatever reason, the marathon is not near so disruptive to the city’s movement. I assume it’s because the runners don’t cover near the same distance, and at near the same speeds, but regardless, it makes for a more manageable affair. Of closer comparison would be the triathlon that went through only a couple of weeks before the velothon. It was harder to get through that than anything I had experienced prior.

Tough. That is what living in a society is all about. People have the right to do things which may affect others. As long as what they are doing is reasonable (& closing some roads once a year seems ok to me) then stop making up piffling excuses to prevent them doing it.

In terms of prior warning, all the communities on the route had two mailshots through the door in the months before the event.
There were yellow Highways Agency signs out along the route for at least 2 weeks prior.
On the mailshots, and online, and in the press coverage prior were contact details for those who would need to get through; nurses etc.
I had friends down for my birthday and in order to go home, they just waited until the road was open again. It was lovely walking through, and seeing plenty of others doing the same, the closed roads of Usk.
I think it’s planned well, with being on a Sunday.
There’s other events as mentioned that have more impact; the NATO conference was on another level, the Golf at Celtic Manor too.

It’s great to live in a City with so many to events taking place. I’m happy for a bit of inconvenience a few times a year.

Plan ahead.

For 365 days a year I’m hindered by the roads around my house being open to traffic. The cars and lorries and vans make it slightly harder for me to get to where I want to go on my bike, and none of them spend any money at all in my house.

Will anyone sign my petition to have it stopped?

I find it incredible how short sighted so many people can be when it comes to road closures. I live in Whistler and the highway gets closed a few times a year for the Ironman, Grand Fondo, marathon etc but this is buttons compared to the winter when it’s closed unexpectedly every other week due to crashes. It’s also a resort town, and if it wasn’t there wouldnt be anyone here so they’d all be out of a job. On top of that we have a brilliant cycle/walking network to get around on, but no, everyone *needs* to drive.

It was a great event – 3 friends & myself spent 2 nights in a Cardiff hotel & spent money in Restaurants, shops & pubs. It was really well organised & much easier moving than the Tour of Cambridge – I recently did too. I assume most of the hundreds (?) of stewards that were on every blocked road must have been recruited locally too. I understand 15000 riders entered plus all the support staff – which must have made a significant contribution to the local economy.

As long as what they are doing is reasonable

That’s just it though. Some of what happened wasn’t really reasonable, at least in the first year. And I entered the event.

Some people who lived on the route in the countryside were basically stuck in all day. Couldn’t even cycle anywhere even if you were fit and willing. And other people were blocked in to their valleys or towns and weren’t even told about it, since only the people directly on the route were notified.

It’s pretty disruptive for some people. And remember most of the disrupted towns aren’t even in the same county as where all the riders are staying and eating.

I’m all in favour of closed road events, but this one I think needs a bit of work. Or at least needed it. I have not heard any feedback this time.

Some people who lived on the route in the countryside were basically stuck in all day. Couldn’t even cycle anywhere even if you were fit and willing.

Sorry to dig this up again but I had to laugh at this 😆
Probably hundreds of local riders just ride onto the route and join in. Nobody’s going to stop you riding a bicycle on the route whether you’ve entered the event or not.