I rode the Kielder 50 yesterday and a great event by SIP in an amazing setting . so why oh why after been told to NOT drop gel wrappers in the riders briefing did I see so many on the trails. Thats how to make life difficult for SIP. Well done hats off to all those litter bugs.

Aye, that proper pi*ssed me off too.

Was feeling pretty rough and seeing those of the floor was setting me off, if I’d witnessed anyone dropping them I’d have had words!

Saldy, it’s all to common, not exclusive to events either, see them on my local trials/road hills =(

I could understand one or two being dropped by mistake but not as many as there was.

The Whinlatter challenge was terrible for it this year, much worse than the K100.

I did the Grizedale Challenge a few years back & SIS had a feed station at the fire road junction just before you go up the singletrack to Parkamoor, & along said singletrack were loads of discarded empty gel wrappers. 👿

Sounds like the market for biodegradeable wrappers is wide open…

Saw the same thing in the Manx end2end. People just suck.
It’s just so unnecessary.

Time penalty if caught littering, maybe?

they would still take too long to degrade and be an eyesore for a good while.

I don’t understand why it’s too hard to put a wrapper in a pocket?

Time penalty if caught littering, maybe?

This is what was said in the briefing but you got to catch the buggers first.

I reckon there should be a greater incentive not to drop them, something like; hand in 5empties and get a new one.

Not dropping them in itself should be reason enough not to do it but it still happens despite efforts in trying to stop people doing it.

And as andyl says, bio ones would still take too long to degrade sadly.

I picked up an empty packet of instant oats at the top of hope cross the other week. Got to have pack big enough to get it up there why not take it back?

…and I thought this thread was going to be about the marshall who was saying it was 4 miles to the 50 mile feed stop when it was just around the corner!

Agree totally about the gel wrappers. Gives organised events a bad image when you turn up at forest a week or so after and find litter everywhere. No excuse really as bins available at every water/feed stop round the course.

I thought it was going to be about the Marshall at 92 miles saying it was all downhill from here 😆

Got to agree that gel dropping is a bit annoying though.

Sounds like the market for biodegradeable wrappers is wide open…

Don’t give them an excuse to drop them. Banana skins are biodegradable but take years to break down.

Any one been to Llandegala lately? It seem that it is the local competition top see how far from the trail you can throw you rubbish. The place is covered in gel wrappers, juice bottle, emery drink cans etc. It is a bit tip like to be honest.

yes if you carry it out you can carry it back! not only is it a eye sore, wild life can be put in danger as well.

BUT saying that with the increase in viewers of the ToF and ToB, and you see lots of riders throwing bottles, gel wrapers etc away.
People might think that is the norm and the done thing! (well the stupid ones might)

Banana skins are biodegradable but take years to break down

That’s not true though, is it? Banana skins take up to 6 weeks to degrade.*

I agree about the wrappers/rubbish though, how hard is it to put it back in the pocket it came from?

*Edit: I do not condone the dropping of said skins.

People get confused about that one- banana skins can take a long time to degrade at high altitudes, so it’s not a good idea to chuck one away if you’re up ben nevis or an alp. But down lower, especially in more fertile areas, and they’ll go faster. But i think some folks got the message about high altitudes and just applied it to everything. Which is cool, better not to throw things away if you’re unsure obviously.

Likewise, it’s a bad practice in relatively unmolested areas/ecosystems but that’s just a nonissue in most of the UK.

I’m disgusted by littering in any form.. but sometimes it’s just utterly baffling..

Out for a ride on Dartmoor, miles from any event course, and I see two gel wrappers.. this must have been from guys out for a bimble, the same as me, there’s no way that they were desperate not to lose vital seconds or any other bollocks excuses.. what on earth could have been going through their minds to consider that just chucking their rubbish on the ground is acceptable..?

I find the whole littering thing hugely disappointing – whether you’re at an event or not. You’d have thought that we’re all out in the hills / trail centre / wherever because we enjoy the natural beauty that we’re playing in, so why the hell do people have to deface it with litter? There was obviously room to bring a full gel, banana, jam butty with you, so take the sodding wrapper back home. I just don’t get it. There’s very few things that make me angry, but littering is one. </soapbox>

Yeah… I mean, the “Racing, costs me seconds” excuse is pathetic, and I’m not really convinced anyone believes it, but a pathetic excuse is better than none at all. Watching the jump kiddies just finish a can of monsta then chuck it on the ground, while standing around chatting… Aaargh!

What really shocked me was when I got all old-mannish and told a bunch of them off, they weren’t hostile or defensive, just totally surprised- “Oh! Yeah, I suppose we should take our rubbish away! Good point!”.

I dropped my gilet somewhere around mile 10. It was there at the end 🙂

Odd, but I thought the message had got through cos I only saw 5 or 6.

Ok that’s 5 or 6 too many, but with so many riders some will get dropped by accident.

This is the only event I’ve ever entered but think the organisers have done a great job to instil a sense of responsibility and goodwill – everyone who passed me fixing a puncture at 95 miles asked if I needed a tube.

Mind you, I could have done with some midge repellant at that point !!!

Cancel the event next year on grounds of the less educated riders littering. That would help the litter situation police its self the following year.

They are very strict with the penalties for littering at triathlons, and you see far less of it as a result. IMO get caught littering instant disqualification.

When I’ve raced at Thetford they’ve put a dustbin out for gel wrappers, seems to work.

The reasoning in cities seems to be “I’m giving someone a job”, maybe the tossers (see what I did there?) on the trails are trying to provide employment also.

Hardly ambassadors for cycling are they, just providing more ammo for the anti-bike element out there.

Sounds like the market for biodegradeable wrappers is wide open…

Jelly babies are available in paper bags

So who does drop gel wrappers then?

There must at least one person on here who could own up and offer an explanation, or is the problem that the droppers genuinely don’t realise? (in which I wouldn’t expect you own up cos you wouldn’t know)

Did an event in Norway this year; 7500 riders over 80km. Litter bins every 10km.

I saw no discarded wrappers whatsoever.

Ultimately, it’s a cultural thing, but I second the time penalty idea.

I saw hardly any, maybe 5 over the whole event! I can see that you could drop one by accident when trying to put back in a pocket though without realising especially when working hard.

It’s a real shame that it happens, we did notice there was a lot less this year. We spotted one today when picking up the markers posts there was a lot more banana skins though and there is no need for that either.

The Kielder 100 provides bins at every marshall point, I’d have to look for my map to answer how many there is, so there is no excuse at all.

So who does drop gel wrappers then?

I have, on rare occasions.

I can see that you could drop one by accident when trying to put back in a pocket though without realising especially when working hard.

For this reason.

But I’m gutted when (if) I notice. Certainly don’t go out on a bike to strew rubbish around the countryside.

Hopefully doing the occasional post-event litter pick has rebalanced any inadvertent bad karma 🙂

Surely if you can reach around to get one out you are therefore expert and finding small items easy to manipulate and as such a pro at reversing the action?

Seeing as it weighs less as well there is less effort all round.

and I thought this thread was going to be about the marshall who was saying it was 4 miles to the 50 mile feed stop when it was just around the corner!

Yes that we hoped corrected once we got reports back from the feed station guys, the Marshall was right but only for the one direction the other way it was around the corner. Sorry about that.

Sounds like the market for biodegradeable wrappers is wide open…

No, don’t drop litter….

The wrappers are stickier on the way back into the pocket than on the way out, and don’t fall smoothly back into the pocket once there’s no gel inside to weigh them down. Sometimes the wrapper sticks to the hand as you remove the hand from the pocket again.

Still requires a fair amount of clumsiness though, so no excuse…

It’s a problem with road cyclosportives as well. The French ones (including the Etape) have a rule to disqualify people spotted littering by the “eco-patrol”. They also provide occasional nets to chuck rubbish in which seems to help.

There are also movements like “Ne Jetez Plus” which are basically people pissed off with littering

Unfortunately, this is what happens when you get ‘townies’ taking up any activity or sport that involves the countryside. I’m not saying all city or town dwellers are ignorant litterbugs, but if you’ve been brought up in a vaguely rural setting, you tend to have a bit more respect.

When my Grandma and I use to walk around where she lived when I was about 3 or 4, we didn’t stick to rights of way by any means, but we knew which farmers were tolerant and which weren’t (there was one who shot any dog if it was off the leads in his fields, sheep or no sheep).

Close gates, don’t litter, be considerate (don’t tear-arse straight through herds of animals) and as a rule you should be fine.

I was at Cannock a few months ago and some dickhead rode by at the top of one of the climbs with his ‘tunes’ pumping out from mini-speakers mounted on his bars. Listen to music, fine – but to assume everyone else won’t mind is just inconsiderate – unless you’re an attention-seeker anyway (in which case I hate him even more)! And yes, his tunes were rubbish.

This is ironic – right?

Have you seen the amount of litter, abandoned kit / mess many farmer leave behind?

It really annoys me too. I’ve watched a bit more racing than usual this year and I’ve seen a load of riders doing it, usually those who think they are better than they are and also Junior riders. Plus gimpy MTBers in skinsuits with no pockets. In one enduro this year I was riding in a group with a junior rider who threw a gel wrapper on the floor. I stopped, picked it up, caught the group up again and gave it back to him with some choice advice. Of all the little niggles when racing, this and rudeness really annoys me.

GB

Shame our pro cycling hero’s don’t lead by example. Have you seen the amount of bottles being lobbed out of the peloton in TdF, ToB etc…