I think everyone who rides should go [url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-11448473 ]here [/url]for lunch.
Dr Tony Hockley, of the New Forest Equestrian Association (NFEA), said there was "immense risk" to horses and riders, especially when cyclists came up fast and silently from behind
It such a great quote. It is of course strictly speaking true. Although there is no implication that riders ever have approached silently from behind or caused a problem.
Its hard to say an event you've never seen is a problem. But even if it does clog things up a bit does that matter once a year. its not like the que for lego land which must blight some peoples lives every day for months
Not sure about this really..
On one side - events like the cheshire cat, 3600 riders on open roads. Lots of congestion with a large profit going to the organiser.
On the other side - you could ban any mass partipation event that people travel to. Music festivals, football matches all cause congestion as most people drive to them.
So I've answered my own question. It's NIMBYs moaning and the events should be allowed to go ahead.
Thanks
no response from that website I contacted yesterday.
no response from that website I contacted yesterday.
I've just had this email:
[i]Please be aware of the following:
1. there are roads works with traffic lights on Lyndhurst Road Landford any cyclist going through a red light will be film and reported.
2. Lyndhurst Road Landford is a 30 and 40 mph limited area. Any cyclist caught above the speed limit on our speed camera will also be photograph and reported.[/i]
Came from one of the more prolific NIMBYs. If only they spent as much time and effort curbing the number of speeding cars there might not be so many of their treasured ponies killed every year...
Suggested replies welcome. 😉
Lyndhurst Rd 30 and 40 mph, is it flat? Is Wiggins entered?
Dear NIMBY ****,
If you see a cyclist going over 40mph, please report them to Sir David Brailsford, c/o Team Sky
There's probably a job for them.
😉
Perhaps if you had proper control of an animal that gets spooked and throws it's rider into a hedge because it caught a glimse of a plastic bag it didn't like the look of!
MOT's for all road users...
Cant see a horse ever passing an MOT! Imagine if a car manufacturer produced a car where the steering was via a couple of leather straps, was a bit vague with lots of play and a tendancy to have a mind of its own.
probably best to hide your number if you're planning on speeding or rljing then...
2. Lyndhurst Road Landford is a 30 and 40 mph limited area. Any cyclist caught above the speed limit on our speed camera will also be photograph and reported.
might pop along and insist they photograph any speeding cars too 😆
- crazylegs, do you live near the NF ?
- crazylegs, do you live near the NF ?
Sadly not but I'm aware of the "issues" going on down there.
My slightly sarcastic responses would be something along the lines of...
1. there are roads works with traffic lights on Lyndhurst Road Landford any cyclist going through a red light will be film and reported.
I completely agree that all vehicles should stop at red lights, I assume you'll be applying this monitoring and reporting effort even handedly and will also be reporting anyone jumping the lights in a motorised vehicle.
2. Lyndhurst Road Landford is a 30 and 40 mph limited area. Any cyclist caught above the speed limit on our speed camera will also be photograph and reported.
Given that the typical Tour de France stage is ridden by professionals at the peak of physical fitness at less than 30mph and that Lyndhurst road does not appear to run downhill at any significant incline I think it unlikely that many casual cycle enthusiasts will be troubling your speed cameras.
crazylegs, can I have a copy of your email ? - I might turn up to their speed-camera party if it's in Landford.
perhaps I could take along a video camera of my own
It makes me giggle!
I'm off down there on Sunday to promote the big bike bash, a whole weekend of cycling in the new forest with no roads in sight!
Its also rather cheap... £50 for an adult, £100 for a family for a whole weekend of fun and camping too!
(Sorry for the shameless plug!)
Scardy... Will send it over later. Out at the moment, can't access that email from the phone.
They've BOUGHT a speed camera? Just when did nimbyism become an actual hobby? I wish this was near I would have endless fun with an encouraging banner standing in front of the miserable ****ing twunts. Also asking them every time a cyclist went past how fast they were going.
"How fast was that one?"
"21"
"What about that one?"
"24"
"That one?"
"19"
"Woah he was going fast what was he doing, 35, 40 45?"
"25"
"Why are you here again?"
Pretty sure you own personal camera wouldn't count for anything without it having been properly calibrated etc given previous "get me off my speeding ticket" threads.
oh, absolutely not, but they'll likely present the local "newspaper" with some pics and lists of speeds regardlessPretty sure you own personal camera wouldn't count for anything without it having been properly calibrated etc given previous "get me off my speeding ticket" threads.
maybe we could run a side event to see who could get the fastest recorded speed 😆
Newcastleton Sportiv is supported by the locals. Then again the roads it uses I seen a handful of cars driving the route to check signs about 30 minutes in front of the riders.
You cant get done for speeding on a bicycle as there is no legal requirement to have a speedo,I think you can get done for riding furiously though !
NIMBYism certainly seems to get more rampant the further south you go.
I'm in Hove and I don't want any of that NIMBYism round here.
Its similar to Hurtwood in some ways. New money from London moves out to the countryside after a few years of big city bonuses enabling expensive property purchace. Immediatly start throwing weight around about activities the 'their' backyard as if they have worked the land for hundreds of years and inherited it from their great great grandfather.
Shame really as its a nice bit of the country but the Verderererers get alot of say . 'Its a working Forest'. right , lets remove tourism and EU / UK Gov grants and see how well your Forest works then shall we.
I have some knowledge of the set up of the Wiggle Sportives and they are not simply turn up , cable tie 3 dozen signs round some lamposts , relieve Joe Public of £18 and make a few cups of Tea.
Many weeks of work goes into route planning. Working with local council and the Police to ensure safety of everyone involved and the public.
Risk assesments are carried out , due dilligence and all that malarky.
Shame, as has been mentioned , the reluctance of a few local people to let somebody else enjoy themselves within 20 miles of their house puts a downer on the event.
maybe we could run a side event to see who could get the fastest recorded speed
Just confused myself trying to work out if it would be irony if even people who were trying could not exceed the legal speed limit for the nimbys and their [s]electronic cockwangle[/s] speedgun.
A sportive is not a race, at [b]all[/b]
A race is a race
A sportive is just a big organised mass ride, where you happen to be timed
****in' hell, when did cyclists become such arseholes? It is not our god-given right to use the roads as we wish. Look at this: "Perhaps if you had proper control of an animal that gets spooked and throws it's rider into a hedge because it caught a glimse of a plastic bag it didn't like the look of!". I for one do not want to be associated with such an idiotic ignorant stance. I've done all those damn Stortives, here and abroad, and I'll say it in BOLD, it's a ****ing race, if it aint why have timing chips? Or why not just get on your damn bike and do it on your own? And to be honest, what is the point riding around the New Forest - at least do something with some proper damn hills. Cycling really is the new golf.
*' hell, when did cyclists become such arseholes? It is not our god-given right to use the roads as we wish. Look at this: "Perhaps if you had proper control of an animal that gets spooked and throws it's rider into a hedge because it caught a glimse of a plastic bag it didn't like the look of!". I for one do not want to be associated with such an idiotic ignorant stance. I've done all those damn Stortives, here and abroad, and I'll say it in BOLD, it's a * race, if it aint why have timing chips? Or why not just get on your damn bike and do it on your own? And to be honest, what is the point riding around the New Forest - at least do something with some proper damn hills. Cycling really is the new golf.
How can you say it is a race when it doesn't even require you to [u]have[/u] a racing license, let alone sign on with it, and gain points.
No fear, Norman is actually a very good mp (he is mine...) and will laugh with scorn at these ludicrous propositions!!! Ok not publically but he is not an idiot.
and I'll say it in BOLD, it's a **** race, if it aint why have timing chips? Or why not just get on your damn bike and do it on your own?
Hey chap, nice trolling . looser .
Btw , Thats not BOLD. They are capital letters .
[b]knobber[/b]
For everyone saying that the objections are because the event is too big, bear in mind that this sort of response by locals to bike events is not restricted to sportives.
At last year's [url= http://www.bathcycleraces.co.uk/ ]Bath Cycle Races [/url]series, some of the NIMBY locals chose to express their displeasure at having a short loop of park perimeter road closed for a couple of hours by parking their vehicles on the course, in places where they would endanger the competitors.
I've organised relatively small cycle events for families where car drivers have acted aggressively towards participants.
It's another symptom of "cyclists" as a group in society being ranked somewhere between new age travellers and locusts.
"SevenPillarsofIgnorance" - either you don't know what you are talking about or you are a very poor troll -= maybe both
SevenPillarsofIgnorance - appropriate name cos you're either thick as shit or trolling. Or both.
This kind of NIMBYism isn't restricted to the New Forest although down there it's exacerbated by the ancient feudal rights and class system of "verderers" and "commoners".
Get the same at the Etape Calendonia but it's noticeable that it tends to be confined to the newer events.
The Fred Whitton doesn't get any of this angst at all yet that's 1500 cyclists on narrow country lanes and the locals actually welcome it. One day of disruption (although realistically not much worse than any other large event or sunny Bank Holiday in a tourist hotspot) and it's offset by the amount of money that the area gets in revenue as people stay over, eat in local restaurants, even something as simple as filling up the car at a local services.
The NIMBYism is always lead by one loudmouth self-appointed local "name" - often just a retired busybody with nothing better to do although such people, by their very nature tend to have worked their way up to a position of "influence" on the local parish council or they are the deputy editor of the village newsletter or something.
It is not our god-given right to use the roads as we wish.
It is if you are a cyclist and stay within the law. As subjects of her majesty cyclists have the inalienable right to cycle on the queens highway, motorists are merely licenced and this privalidge can be revoked at any time.
It's beyond me what the appeal of doing a 'sportive' is (is it for people scared to ride on their own?).
But we're all citizens of our country and all have equal access to our country's roads. I don't see motorists have any right to whinge about congestion caused by cyclists when almost all congestion is actually caused by cars.
Everyone has the same rights, and responsibilities.
I've taxed worse.mduncombe
MOT's for all road users...Cant see a horse ever passing an MOT! Imagine if a car manufacturer produced a car where the steering was via a couple of leather straps, was a bit vague with lots of play and a tendancy to have a mind of its own.
Vizzit's 'PR' woman in identity crisis? 🙂
It's just absolutely bizaare that someone who's business is promotign visitors to the New Forest chooses to be so anti everything anyone does once they actually get there.
It's beyond me what the appeal of doing a 'sportive' is (is it for people scared to ride on their own?).But we're all citizens of our country and all have equal access to our country's roads. I don't see motorists have any right to whinge about congestion caused by cyclists when almost all congestion is actually caused by cars.
Everyone has the same rights, and responsibilities.
Presumably you'd be happy if somebody organised a car race with 2000 entrants using public roads?
Presumably you'd be happy if somebody organised a car race with 2000 entrants using public roads?
That analogy falls down on several levels but if correct road closures were in place (as happens in Grizedale Forest and some of the Welsh forests/mountain roads) then yes, I would be happy to see a car race for one weekend a year.
Equally, I'm quite happy that the London Marathon has 20,000 participants on public roads. And that public roads around me are chock-a-block Monday to Friday with mindless car-driving commuters...
Presumably you'd be happy if somebody organised a car race with 2000 entrants using public roads?
Sounds like rush-hour in any area every weekday.. it's a free country )
[i]Presumably you'd be happy if somebody organised a car race with 2000 entrants using public roads? [/i]
there's a London to Brighton every other weekend durign the summer;
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there's even quite a large cycle ride;
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There's always a few whining in the local paper but most people see it as both part of the fun of living in a place others like to visit and part of the pleasure of living there.
Oh, and there's a marathon this weekend. 12,000 runners to frighten the horses plus approx 100,000 spectators.
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Marathons are different as they use closed roads.
Good to see the universal support of all open road races, regardless of format. 🙂
[i]Marathons are different as they use closed roads.[/i]
So Mrs Vizzit would be happy if Wiggle got the roads closed for the day?
[i]Good to see the universal support of all open road races[/i]
Except, bar the marathon, none of them are actually races.
Just people enjoying their hobby on a Saturday or Sunday.
No idea. It does amaze me you can organise a race without closing roads. I'm all for it, but it is really bizarre in our nanny state.
It does amaze me you can organise a race without closing roads.
a) it's not a race, it's a Sportive.
b) every weekend up and down the UK, there are dozens of proper road races, almost all of them run on open roads (admittedly there are marshals, NEG motorcycles, Lead Car, etc creating a "race bubble" but basically, it's an open road.
Even the Tour of Britain runs on a rolling road closure.
I've concluded that 5thelefant is trolling on this thread.
So Mrs Vizzit would be happy if Wiggle got the roads closed for the day?
Nope.
If you look at the link to anorak, you'll see she has also complained about cross country runners causing ponies to stampede.
She also said she has never seen anything like the stampede before, so I'm assuming she somehow manages to miss the drift, where all the Forest ponies are rounded up.
I live near a start point for another one of Wiggle's sportives and generally the issue's with the traffic trying to get in or out rather than the cyclists themselves!
Doesn't bother me in the slightest though and I'm not about to pickett the event just because it takes me an extra minute or two to get anywhere. I just wish there were more localish off-road events.
Why did everyone have to go and get so intolerant? There's much more important things going on in the world than a few people getting together and riding their bikes around for a bit.
As for the race / sportive mix up seems someone needs to read up on their definitions and besides with the likes of Strava every ride is potentially a 'race' and therefore you don't even need a timing chip - they'll be getting that banned next!
[i]Nope.
If you look at the link to anorak, you'll see she has also complained about cross country runners causing ponies to stampede.[/i]
I should have put a 😉 in my post.
😉
Great work, whoever made this.
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I did a lol.
Please put those up that's ace.
It does need a bit of give and take and the most obvious bit of public opinion seems rather anti. Of course I doubt anyone here is interested in all those who live I the New Forest who are not complaining. That would be the thing to be seen doing would it? Nope , we are only interested in those who whinge.
I do see the point to some extent of the objectors. We get the Forest Classic?? sportive round here and the riding is bloody awful. Many of the riders seem to think that they are immune to traffic laws, common sense and courtesy. Its hard to complain about objections when the riders do themselves little good.
Comparisons with other activities are pointless.
I am not convinced that the supposed money that reaches the local economy is of value. None reaches me and I doubt little goes into the pockets of those who really need it.
Like I said it takes give and take and most sportives in my experience give very little. Sad really.
Mr A - that's excellent !
Just been out with my daughter to watch the ride (in the car, we're not daft).
G.R.I.M.
All riders looked thoroughly miserable (but were polite & moved over as we came up behind and many waved thanks for us waiting before passing)
No sign of NIMBY encampments - presumably too wet for them 🙄
(must admit, mattsccm, the idea of wiggle putting up a feed station within 100yds of a pub - which is how it looked according to the signs I rode past on Friday - isn't going to endear them to local businesses)
Why, because sportive riders are otherwise going to stop at the pub?!
Events like this do bring money into the local economy. Entrants need somewhere to stay, somewhere to eat afterwards. Some of them will bring their families with them and make a weekend of it. Study after study has shown this, whatever the opinion of grumpy sods on the internet.
I would - not for a couple of pints and a pie, but a quick sit down and a bag of crisps. More significantly, the [b]perception of the local[/b] pub & shop owners could be massively improved if they could at least put up a sign saying "pub and shop 100yds this way". Christ, they could have invited the local shop to set up a table at the feed zone flogging pop and cakes (must admit, I don't know what feed zones provide but I assume it's a powerbar and a sachet of jizz)Why, because sportive riders are otherwise going to stop at the pub?!
I think it's more about keeping the locals happy than helping out cyclists
Christ, they could have invited the local shop to set up a table at the feed zone flogging pop and cakes (must admit, I don't know what feed zones provide but I assume it's a powerbar and a sachet of jizz)
Not sure what the exact arrangement is with Wiggle but they have sponsors who provide gels, bars, food ect. They have an arrangement with the Farmer's Market at Brokenhurst (in fact, the Farmer's Market was tweeting about how welcome everyone was and what the riders could buy there) and I know some events actively promote local produce/local businesses.
As I say, not sure of the exact arrangement in this instance. It may be that the pub specifically doesn't want 1500 wet cyclists traipsing through but they're happy to hire out some of their land for a feed station? Maybe? I've seen that before.
Well the local rag really struggled to blow it out of all proportion, and only managed this abysmal bit of non-journalism (with pics from a previous year judging by the dry roads - they couldnt even be arsed to go out in the rain to photo the swarms).
[url= http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/10353989.Thousands_of_cyclists_take_to_the_New_Forest/ ]Report here[/url]
The pics in the link hardly show any dead ponies, scared locals or even a tsunami of cyclists. Disappointing.
Actually, traffic in the East of the Forest has been horrendous, nothing to do with cyclists but because the Motorway access to Southampton was closed for roadworks (with a home match against West Ham too) sending everyone our way.
Great work, whoever made this.
Thanks but obviously as a respectable businessman I can neither confirm or deny anything or be seen to be associated with wiggle.
A village in East Yorkshire toyed with the idea of roadblocking the Milk Race a few years ago. They asked the police what would happen. "You'd be arrested for obstructing the public highway" was the reply.
There's always some nimby with an axe to grind. The village in question hated Humberside County Council and was a regular hotbed of arseyness.
When I say 'village', yes, probably all of the residents!
From echo newspaper comments:
Took part in the event this morning and it was a terrific success. Vast majority of drivers / walkers / observers were really friendly, offering support to cyclists with punctures etc. There was a small group protesting with a placard near Rhinefield and while I don't support the objections I do respect that sort of protest. It contrasts starkly with the small minded minority who had damaged signage or changed the arrows and so on. Didn't make a jot of difference to the event and simply generated more litter in the forest which was a shame on a number of levels. Police and marshals were terrific also so well done to all of the organisers.
What did the protesters have on their placards?
"Down with this sort of thing".
"Carbon kills ponies"
"god invented saddle sores because you are evil".
Best thing is to not engage with these nimby types there just a bunch of good for nothings with an axe to grind about nothing in particular, I mean as if an event thats held for just one day is going to disrupt their sad lives. pathetic.
From echo newspaper comments:
What did the protesters have on their placards?
"Down with this sort of thing".
"Ban the Lycra pony killers"
"god invented saddle sores because you are evil".
😉
From their twitter it looks like there may be problems with field that parking is in. Hope it still goes ahead.
Looks like tomorrow has been [url= http://www.ukcyclingevents.co.uk/events/wiggle-new-forest-spring-sportive/ ]postponed[/url]
That will please the campaigners. Until they realise that 2000 riders will be back in 6 weeks. 😉
Tomorrow's ride has been postponed.. the car park field was pretty ****ed and wouldn't have recovered for tomorrow - we spent a while helping push people out and getting pushed out...
The weather wasn't too bad early on (just misty spray) but later it really set in, made worse by the wind on the more open sections, and there was a lot of standing water.
Ironic that it was the CAR parking that stopped the event.
Just found a few things out...
Anita gresham hale is Collecting advertising revenue from bike shops and bike hire businesses, whilst campaigning against cycling.
And....
"[report] [news] Thursday 21st March
Pah. Silly old cow. She lives in a village that barely existed until the 19th century, yet bangs on about 'damage' to the new Forest.
Does she live in a pretty thatched cottage that has been there since before records began? I hear you ask.
Why, no. She lives in an architecturally bankrupt BUNGALOW, on a cul-de-sac, in a post war estate that was, ironically, built on her beloved Forest. Height of hypocrisy if you ask me. The Forest is a constantly changing thing, which over the years has been used for everything from a Royal Hunting Ground to the site of 10 active airfields and a bomb testing range during the war. It has seen changes from re-forestation during the reign of William the Conqueror, to extensive tree-felling during WWII to support the war effort.
The poor woman would probably explode if she was transported back to the site of her home in June 1944. Tens of thousands of vehicles, hundreds of thousands of troops, all 'destroying' the forest while they waited to embark for Normandy. Add to that the active airfields to her East and West, both operating 'heavies' in support of the D-Day invasion.
She is a selfish NIMBY who couldn't smell her own hypocrisy if it took a dump on her top lip. She is as much part of the problem of 'too many people asking too much of too little infrastructure' as anyone else.
Sway, in 1872, had a population of <700 people living in 150 houses. Now it has 3311 (2001 census) and there are probably more than 150 houses on her stty little estate alone. What has she done to reduce the impact she, and her family have on the Forest? Why, I'll tell you shall I? She's ripped up a perfectly lovely front garden and covered it with gravel, on which she parks 3!!! cars. One of them is a 'gas-guzzling 4x4' (OK, it's just a Freelander, but she started first with the generalising/demonising).
The worst of all her crimes is her ****in' website. Despite all the extra wear and tear caused to her precious narrow lanes, which, by the way, are entirely unsuitable for large volumes of traffic, she actively encourages droves of muppets grockles tourists to trek there by car, choking up the roads, and driving so close to the edges of the surfaced road that the tarmac crumbles away. These evil holidaymakers drive at speed around the lanes, mowing down pedestrians and livestock left, right, and centre. And she is worried about the presence of a couple of thousand emissions-free lightweight bicycles for a few days a year? She is a joke.
Still. One good thing has come of this. I've checked googlemaps, and there are no parking restrictions or charges in force outside the house and it's in prime curtain-twitcher territory, so my car will be safe when I leave it parked there to go cycling in the New Forest come the summer. I wonder how she might react to seeing me haul my bike out of the boot of the car, right outside her crappy (and land-hungry) bungalow. Hell, I might even wear my tightest, thinnest, most 'anatomically obvious' Lycra, just for a giggle.
So, Anita Sibley/Anita Gresham-Hale, or whatever you currently call yourself. Take your Hypocrisy, put it in a biscuit tin, then shove it where the sun will never find it."
And according to her (somewhat outdated) twitter feed, she raised money for charity by - you'll love this - riding a charity bike ride round the forest.
40mpg - Member
And according to her (somewhat outdated) twitter feed, she raised money for charity by - you'll love this - riding a charity bike ride round the forest.
Really, she is incredible:
Goes on charity bike rides
Takes money from NF businesses to promote NF tourism, and encourage some of the 13.5 million tourists
Campaigns against cycling events with 2000 cyclists spread over 80 miles of public roads.
Looks like an own goal for someone running a tourism business.
I wonder if the other locals on her estate think she is a bit of a silly old Doris. I certainly would, if I lived around the corner...
Loads of folk still riding the route today, despite the fact its postponed.
But weather much better today and if you've made the effort to come down for the weekend you may aswell ride, as it still signed.
Shame for them, that I switched some of the signs last night! 😉
Had a long road ride planned for today, and went for it despite a killer headwind.
Anyway at about 90 miles I came across an Evans feed station, they offered me food and drink, I explained I wasn't on their ride but they insisted anyway.
So thank you Evans, I still had 40 to go and was dying, your High 5 drink, bars and gels got me round
Just wanted to say like 😐
Odd that there is such animosity towards "cyclists" in the New Forest. It's quite obviously marketed as a cycling destination. My abiding memory of living there was the number of bimblers/pootlers/families for whom riding a bike was something you did once a year on holiday because the roads were mostly flat and the scenery was pretty, and the number of bike hire places making a killing from them.
I don't find it that odd. A lot of the locals treat tourists of any type as a massive inconvenience. Even the people who moved there recently have something negative to say. I live in a touristy place and sometimes the fact I can't park, can't drive home and have to deal with crowds and events all the time pisses me off, I just don't make a point of bleating to newspapers, websites etc about it.
Unless you're a farmer in the NF and tourists piss you off that much, move away. Southampton, Bournemouth and all the places inbetween are close enough to commute in and like it or not, it's rammed with tourists all year round.
http://www.vizzit.co.uk/who-we-are.html
Vizzit is a company who offer web design and media stuff, franchises of Vizzit to other areas etc. Antia 'whatever her real name is' is co-director. All contact details are here - http://www.vizzit.co.uk/news/49-general/174-vizzit-media-on-the-move.html
It sounds like she needs to listen to someone else's PR advice when it comes to tourism and managing conflicts of interest.
Well its all kicked off now:
[url= http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/10354939.Vandals_target_top_cycling_event_in_New_Forest/ ]Pitchforks a-go-go[/url]
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-22150824 ]Nearly national news[/url]
Protesters blocking the route? "What would Hinault do?"
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Ahh the good old days.. the bloke with his hands in the air always makes me laugh when I see that pic )
A lot of the locals treat tourists of any type as a massive inconvenience.
As a Malvernite, all I have to say on the subject is local hills for local people. I'm fairly sure that the majority of aggro cyclists get on the hills is from grockles.