Seen some shocking riding on the road, the worst being a group of riders head down sprinting passed some poor sod on a horse – taking up both sides of the road as i was coming the other way.
Saying that I see far more dangerous driving on a much more frequent (almost daily!) basis.
If it was just odd groups it would be ok/better, if it was just Sportives, it might be more understandable, but there’s a *.wheelers club one place I live that I’ve seen blocking an entire road width with their pack – both directions – on a Sunday morning ride
As an organised Club ride in Club kit, this is bad on a number of levels. It’s clearly teaching poor behaviour but it’s also appalling advertising and PR. I much prefer riding offroad and only really ride road for transport but I don’t really want to cope with the fallout of people wound up by fools like these when I do.
Interesting point which may be completely wrong: a horsey acquaintance of mine tells me that they can’t take more than 20 horses out riding on the road in one go without informing the Police and getting clearance/possibly Traffic management. TBH, I’m not convinced this isn’t a decent idea – after all roads are to be shared with other road users and other types of convoy are already legislated against. Sportives are milking it somewhat.
