CM – what was the Saturday event in Aberfeldy like?

Thanks for your feedback CaptainMainwaring. Good to know we are wanted, as I thought, by the majority of the local population. Also very good to get the lowdown from someone who is actually local, rather than someone who bases their opinion of being local but isn’t.

druidh, unfortunately I couldn’t go, but a number of friends who took their kids along said it was really good. Danny MacAskill (spelling?) couldn’t have been more encouraging and obliging. Demonstrations, workshops, bunny hopping competitions etc, and went on most of the day. Definitely to be repeated next year, hopefully on bigger scale.

’Not the end’ for sabotaged race

I think it was down to the “wee free” personally.

Got to love this guy…

Paul Bright from Fortingall said: “How refreshing to see that the public has taken direct action to halt an unwanted event forced on them by the local county council.

Hmm, don’t know of Paul Bright, but it is a fact that 80% of the houses in Fortinghall are holiday/weekend homes, so he is probably not even actually local. Also his comment on unwanted only refers to a tiny minority, not the majority.

I’d have to seriously consider taking part in that event if there’s people prepared to do that kind of thing up there. I assume that Paul Bright is quite happy that I’ll spend the £500 or more that it would cost somewhere else instead.

Wouldn’t mid a crack at that one next year. When they catch the muppet responsible they should make them roll naked on a floor covered in tacks.

I’m another local’ish rider (originally from Gilmerton) and I can say that the whole area is shocked about this (including non-cycling public). A lot of local ‘fun’ riders take part in this for charities and the local press is raging about this today, 3 of our national papers have this on the front page. I’d go as far to say that we, the Scots, are embarrassed by this – especially as the Scottish government are totally pro-cycling and this being “the year of the homecoming”.

This is going to be a swift criminal case – especially since there has been criminal damage to 2 police motorbikes and also the chief for perth & kinross police who is an active roadie himself, will be making sure they get convictions.

A chap in the office who was going for a top finish said they had to airlift some riders out although the mainstream media hasn’t reported that. He got 2 front punctures and finished riding on a flat rear tyre. Another guy in the stirling bike club says he saw someone scattering the tacks on the road.

The organiser of the protest has had his wikipedia page ‘added to’ already: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hounam.

Please come to Scotland mountain biking – you’ll find a warm welcome and the best trails in the world.

Rapiddescent, even if it goes to court they’ll end up with a suspended sentence at worst and a slap on the wrist, think there should be a STW style lynching personally.
Subtle use of wikepedia there.
There is a large group of us coming up tomorrow to do an off road CTC from Stonehaven to Dornie, hopefully we will get some decent weather and no punctures….

Hang on- is there the possibility of Mossad involvement in all this? 😯

The plot thickens…

I’m actually very surprised that there hasn’t been an e-mail sent out by the organisers yet. Obvioulsy they are completely blameless in all this butyou would have thought some form of communication would have been sent by this time.

One of the complaints about the etape was that it stopped people from getting to church. Someone could have been killed here – doesn’t the church frown on that sort of thing?
Another is the impact on local tourism, but the etape was an event which receives wide coverage showing what a nice place Perthshire is (and it is) and how supportive the locals are (and they are). Instead this year, the coverage is about idiots putting carpet tacks on the road and causing even more disruption than would have been the case. Result? “Perthshire – the place where there’s tacks on the road” Hardly an enticing prospect for a holiday.
Find the fekkers and make them pay for the tubes, and some compensation for the spoiled weekends. then strip them, tar and feather them and make them run the London Marathon.

from Wiki

A Peter Hounan is also a director of “Iain Burnett – The Highland Chocolatier” based in Grandtully. It is not known if this is the same Peter Hounan or if this shop sells carpet tacks

Unfortunately, like everything else it is the loony vocal minority (in this case probably less than 1% of the local population) who get more headlines that the silent majority

Gary_M – Member
I thought Poly was just playing Devils Advocate and that his/her words were to be seen in that context – i.e. what one of the disgruntled locals might have said.

Perhaps, but this is the internet and it’s not easy to get this kind of thing across.

Gary – sorry if I have upset you – thought I had made clear that I was supportive of the event, disgusted by the carpet tacks, and was simply trying to present balance (devil’s advocate as Druidh says) against a backdrop of people who can’t understand why they might not be welcome by a small minority who they inconvenienced. You also seemed to take offence at my Lycra comments – they were also meant with tongue in cheek (like many people here I wear Lycra, although i’m not that skinny so find black more flattering!).

So calm down – its a bike race – its really not that big a deal. Some idiot(s) did their best to disrupt it and in so doing acted recklessly and dangerously, Tayside Police and the Procurator Fiscal will deal with them – I wouldn’t rule out custodial sentences either.

Gary – sorry if I have upset you Just to put your mind at rest you haven’t upset me, you ain’t even on my radar. And I’m perfectly calm thanks.

As for ‘its a bike race – its really not that big a deal’ – can I suggest you try telling that to the other 3500 who had their day ruined by some straw chewing dimwit.

As for ‘its a bike race – its really not that big a deal’ – can I suggest you try telling that to the other 3500 who had their day ruined by some straw chewing dimwit.

And the thousands of people directly or indirectly employed by local businesses

What tyres for carpet tacks? 🙂

Would prefer something that’s also good on wet roots, grass, mud & rocks & is light, fast rolling & long lasting.

No more than a fiver [a pair]

A lot of the riders don’t see this as a race, a lot of them see it as a fun day out and many of them were raising cash for Macmillan Cancer, the charity estimated the event would bring in £225,000 to help fund its work. Did these people not think of that when they carried out this act of sabotage!

Someone in the office just passed me the Daily Record – Scottish national newspaper. Front page headline – I’m actually quite shocked by the media coverage.

Yeah, I saw the local papers in a Scottish service station today on the way home, was front page news on three of them. There were loads of cars with road bikes in/on them, people heading home from the event. I was chatting to a few in the service station (they were reading the papers too), they seemed fairly philosophical about the whole thing.

the etape laid on minibuses to take everyone to church and they also provided tea & biscuits for the congregation afterwards as a thankyou before whisking them home with a motorbike escort. It has all been organised for weeks in advance with the congregation.

The local minister was not happy about his flock being brought into this because they are well catered for…

“they are well catered for…”

tea and biscuits.

2010 entry now in.

Mine too.

Another small update, IMG may be issuing a press release this evening regarding the outcome of the matter.

“”they are well catered for…”

tea and biscuits. “

Perthshire – yes, it works.

There’s a couple of press releases on the website now.

http://www.etapecaledonia.co.uk/

Strangely, I’m quite keen on riding it next year, hadn’t been that bothered until now.

6 of us took part and are more determined than ever to go back. Cannot let these guys beat us. We will try and double our group for next year.

With the obvious exception it would have been hard to been made to feel more welcome in the area

I took a trip to A&E as a result of the tacks. Thankfully nothing too serious but my helmet is now in the bin.

Pretty much every local I spoke to after the event was expressing embarassment at what a very small minority had done and how it would reflect on the area and Scotland.

The indirect benefits of this event are probably immeasurable. 1 member of our group was in the area for the first time and is already certain his family will do a week in the summer based in Pitlochry.

Poly – You say this is just a bike race and not a big deal. It could easily have caused a crash that could have killed or very seriously injured someone. What is your definition of a big deal? I really hope custodial sentences are dished out

Poly – You say this is just a bike race and not a big deal. It could easily have caused a crash that could have killed or very seriously injured someone. What is your definition of a big deal? I really hope custodial sentences are dished out

No the event is just a bike race. The idiot who tried to disrupt it committed a criminal offense and I hope they charge him with Reckless Endangerment or something similar.

No the event is just a bike race

Well it’s not actually a bike race, it’s an event that raisies almost a quarter of a million pounds for a cancer charity and brings half a million pounds into the local economy. Clearly if you think it’s ‘just a bike race’ then you really haven’t a clue what it’s all about.

I had posted this acre git’s email, but I have now removed it

Duckman – the best response to that guy is to completely ignore him. Let’s not try to legitimise his complaints by responding to him as if he’s some sort of “spokesman” for the area.

Fair point druidh, edited.

Nobody in the local area pays any attention to him. He is just regarded as a bit of a lunatic. He makes out that ACRE is actually a big group but it is actually him and a couple of other equally blinkered mates

Tayside Police can confirm that a 62-year-old man from the Rannoch area of Perthshire has been charged in connection with an incident that resulted in a number of bicycles being damaged during the Etape Caledonia cycle race on Sunday, May 17.

Edited: I should point out this isn’t Peter Hounam of ACRE

FWIW, here’s a link to a local(ish) paper’s reporting of it. Personally, if the locals find out who it is and the locals get to him, I wouldn’t fancy his chances much
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2009/05/19/newsstory13161718t0.asp
Sorry, linky thing no workin just noo.

quick update – http://www.tayside.police.uk/newsitem.php?id=1665

“tayside police can confirm that a 62 year old man from the rannoch area has been charged….”

It looks like he has been scheduled to appear at perth Sherrif court tomorrow – might be useful to get details so that small claims can be made for those that travelled to the event and have to replace tyres and tubes.