[Closed] litter dropping while racing

It's up to the organisers to either (a) make sure that are all cleaned up or (b) impose penalties on anyone reported to have dropped litter.

I think something like this should be introduced as a deterrent.. I can't stand litter..

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Agreed. The worst littering at an event I have seen is during a sportive. One of the reasons I will not ride a sportive again.

I know it's one of the flashpoints for the Gorrick races / Swinley area - talk to any of the Tunnel Hill Trolls - simply put if there is too much litter, and it isn't cleared away or taken away, then the landowner is likely to withdraw support for riding - grim

druidh - Member
It's up to the organisers to either (a) make sure that are all cleaned up or (b) impose penalties on anyone reported to have dropped litter.

Not really mate. It's up to the invdividuals. How hard can it be to take it away with you?

Yeah shove it up a leg or jersey, you'll not notice if you're in the zone.

stratobiker - Member
Not really mate. It's up to the invdividuals.

druidh - Member
It's up to the organisers to either (a) make sure that are all cleaned up or (b) [b]impose penalties on anyone reported to have dropped litter.[/b]

would that be time penalties ?

Its disgusting!

I ride in Swinley most weeks and its becoming very noticeable

I managed to do a 50km enduro today and all my energy gels wrappers ended up in the washing machine

Its not too difficult is it?

If your caught at a triathlon your out, race over. Its in every race brief.

Tough to police though - but you could put some marshals on the likely places where people 'power up' and then jam a stick in their front wheel

Disqualify anyone seen by an official littering.

Thetford Winter Series organizers have a big gel bin a few hundred yards after the arena. Seems to help.

It's quite hard to get a gel wrapper actually into the bin though if you're going at any kind of speed.

and why do leisure riders feel the need to jam bottles into rabbit holes, and wrappers into tree forks or hedges.

@druidh - Lol!!!

Not really mate. It's up to the invdividuals.

No beerios!!! 🙁

Well spotted.

I've found my glasses now!!!

SB

Should have a drop-zone. Anything outside of that & you get penalised etc.

The threat of expulsion sounds like it should work pretty well on its own tbh - you wouldn't really need a special litter police. If you're seen littering you're out of the race, end of. Surely that would put a huge dent in the amount of shite that gets tossed on the trails.

It's tough to police but it costs you nothing to say up front if you do it's instant DNF and please leave...

If this was widely known I think people would think twice, I don't think people are naturally bad they just lose the plot a bit when racing, mind elsewhere.

I had this on a half marathon in Windsor great park, bloke next to wme hen finishing his handout Isotonic drink threw it into some bushes. Now if you were walking along or even on a training run you wouldn't do that so ht when your racing do people do it? One for the psychologists?

Tiger6791 - Member
Now if you were walking along or even on a training run you wouldn't do that so ht when your racing do people do it? One for the psychologists?

Alternatively, make sure all your gel and energy bar wrappers are yellow. Then they'll not be spotted in amongst all the daffodils.

so, out of all the people saying just put it in a pocket, how many of you have entered a race?

Should have a drop-zone. Anything outside of that & you get penalised etc.

i think this is the best solution.

I reckon it's partly just thoughtlessness... Some people seem to think different rules apply when you're racing. You're in an event, you're paying for it- no different to leaving a glass at a pub table or something. Obviously that's cobblers but I don't think everyone that drops a wrapper rides off laughing maniacally at having destroyed teh natures.

I've noticed race organisers making a big noise after the fact but I can't remember ever hearing them do the same [i]before [/i]the race. It might help- at least it'd stop people doing it out of stupidity.

float - Member

so, out of all the people saying just put it in a pocket, how many of you have entered a race?

Me. And I put my gels in my pocket (I did end up with a pocket full of gel, but then I also ended up with a fairly demolished bike so it wasn't a major concern)

Racing makes them feel all self-important and aloof, like they are a superstar. Normal considerations of cleanliness and respect therefore don't enter into it.

Pretty much nail on the head.

If your caught at a triathlon your out, race over. Its in every race brief.

Something like that would probably go a long way to rectifying the issue.

You could have s system whereby all your gels and bars are counted before he race and you have all leftovers and wrappers counted at the end.

In our races it's a DQ for littering, it's in the rules and the race brief. It also includes the dumping of kit that "you're going back for". Essentially you start with it,you finish with it.

We have DQ'ed riders for outside assistance (don't blog about it if you get away with it) we would do the same if a rider was caught littering.

float - Member
so, out of all the people saying just put it in a pocket, how many of you have entered a race?

i say "put it in a pocket" and it's something i've managed to do in every race i've ever done

so, out of all the people saying just put it in a pocket, how many of you have entered a race?

Me. And it's a damn sight easier to stuff a wrapper back in a pocket than it is to get it out in the first place. And in any case 'oh it's a little difficult' is not an excuse. MTFU.

so, out of all the people saying just put it in a pocket, how many of you have entered a race?

I've done a few races and I'm firmly in the 'put it in a pocket' camp. Is the extra fraction of a second it takes going to ruin your podium chance?

JoB +1

I reckon having a drop bin helps people at least put them all in one place, even if they're not in the bin specifically, at least they're within a 5ft stretch to clear up. I have used those.

You could have s system whereby all your gels and bars are counted before he race and you have all leftovers and wrappers counted at the end.

That'd be a nightmare! Ignore the time it would take to do it you've got riders who'll take gels in the feedzone.

DQing riders works for me, I reckon Northwind is spot on saying about people feeling a moral superiority because it's an event and they've paid to be there.

Zero tolerance - disqualification is the only way to motivate people who are so selfish.

Who the hell eats gels anyway. Have a word with yourselves, you bunch of Lance Armsofts!

Thing is though I've done races where I've put my wrappers in my rubbish pocket only to finish the race to find this pocket empty or a lot less than I had put in there.

NPS races have the Gel bin which works best IMO.

Thing is though I've done races where I've put my wrappers in my rubbish pocket only to finish the race to find this pocket empty or a lot less than I had put in there.

Yes I was thinking that too, particularly if you put them in the pocket where the fresh ones are - take out another one and drop the old wrapper. Short leg works, you get sticky legs though.

XC-steve and njee20 - you admit to being litter-droppers then? Would you be more careful if they were all counted out and back in again?

There was a thread recently about the rising costs of entering events, if the organisers have to spend two days after the event cleaning up wrappers discarded on the trails, its no surprise.

I can see how its possible to lose the odd wrapper while fishing around in a jersey pocket, but that shouldn't be used as an excuse to just wilfully discard them always. That kind of behaviour can only lead to resistance for permission for events being given in the future.

XC-steve and njee20 - you admit to being litter-droppers then?

Insofar as I can think of an occasion where I've got home and found there's fewer wrappers in my back pocket than I've eaten. They could well be in the car. I merely posed a situation I can see where they'd fall out, and weighing nothing you wouldn't notice.

Things can fall out of your pocket when you crash too.

Judge me as you see fit!

Would you be more careful if they were all counted out and back in again?

That really is impossible to implement. Yesterdays Gorrick (the race in question) had 580 entrants. So you need an army of people to count everyone's gels, and then like I said above, what do you do about the people who take them in the feed zone? There's no policed feed zone or area at the Gorricks anyway, so you'd need marshals on every inch of the course counting the riders who take gels and how many. And what about riders that don't finish and don't come through the finish? Where do 'count them in' as it were?

Instead of employing the army of people, you could just send a couple of them out afterwards to pick up the litter. You shouldn't have to, but it would be a far easier solution to implement.

Thinking about it some more... how do disqualifications work? Is it just on word of mouth? I'm having a good tussle with someone, he wins, can I go to the commissaire and say "he dropped litter" and get him DQ'd, or does it have to be a marshal that sees it? If so surely it's easy to circumvent?

It's always been a problem, I reckon much less so than a few years ago, organisers are much better at saying "don't drop litter" and what not, but I'm not sure how you'd ever stop it fully.

What do we do about water bottles and things falling out of cages too? Disqualify? They're more damaging! Pumps, tubes, multi-tools? They all get lost.

"It's up to the organisers to either (a) make sure that are all cleaned up"

Well i'll point the finger at the Gravity Enduro that run in Eastridge last summer. The user litter wasn't to bad but the organisers still haven't cleared up half of their signage. So not much chance of anything else happening.
I think there needs to be a culture change on litter full stop.
Yes, we will all loose something at sometime and that is litter. We don't do that on purpose. i (when i get down off my cross) try and pick something up when i'm out. A karma balance thing.

However, in Eastridge, Stiperstones and the Mynd, my door step rides which have been "promoted" over the last year, its becoming a issue of where to stop!
Its not all from bikers but a fair chunk is and its been thrown away.

What do you think of a person you see throwing litter?
Would you want to be thought of in the same way?

I witnessed a rider at a road race being fined for littering; the Commissaire was adamant that this guy had dropped a gel wrapper, the rider was adamant he hadn't. Turned out of course he HAD dropped the wrapper but unknowingly - when he pulled his hand out of his jersey pocket, it had brought a used gel pack with it.

But yes, littering is unacceptable, especially during a Sportive/Enduro where time is not an issue (unless you're one of those sad "Sportive Racers"...)

oldnpastit - Member
Thetford Winter Series organizers have a big gel bin a few hundred yards after the arena. Seems to help.

It's quite hard to get a gel wrapper actually into the bin though if you're going at any kind of speed.

For those of us who aren't going to be making the podium, can I suggest some kind of shooting accuracy bonus/cash prize? 😉 Plodding towards the end of a 4 hour race, the satisfaction of getting my gel in the bin can be the highlight of the lap!

you throw a gel wrapper away on a ride you are no worse than a chav heaving a maccy d carton out of his corsa in a carpark.
no-one ever seems to admit littering do they. but i see the evidence on the side of the road daily. fag packets, plastic bottles, you name it, and it huge quantities as well.

i was brought up not to drop litter, and was told in no uncertain terms that anyone who drops litter is a complete scum bag. i obviously firmly believe this. i am fairly sure when i was at primary school we had talks etc about picking up litter. when i was a lad etc etc.

what has changed? is it now not socially unacceptable? it boils my p!

so, out of all the people saying just put it in a pocket, how many of you have entered a race?

Yep. Loads of races. Always try hard not to litter. Are you suggesting that you need to have raced to understand the justification for littering? 😯

The issue of empty gel wrappers being horrible and sticky is one reason I prefer to use gel flasks which don't have that problem (though I have lost them in events a handful of times - very definitely not deliberate, it's irritating to lose them).

no-one ever seems to admit littering do they. but i see the evidence on the side of the road daily. fag packets, plastic bottles, you name it, and it huge quantities as well.

I think you'll find the people who do litter are either not the ones you're talking to, or they're keeping quiet.

Are we talking plastic wrappers here or are banana skins included? 😉

I make every effort to put bar wrappers and gels back into my pocket. For shorter races I normally do one pocket for new and old. I can see people dropping stuff accidentally though - I know I've got back with less wrappers than bars I ate occasionally. I've lost bottles without realising it for a few miles as well.

For the crc marathons one year you got half price gels for every wrapper you handed in.

To do it deliberately or knowingly is unnaceptable.

what has changed? is it now not socially unacceptable? it boils my p!

IU blame thatcher! actully you can it goes like this..............

As a response to the IRA bombing campaign litter bins were removed from the streets as a totally ridiculous move by her government , couple this with the me me me attitude she espoused and you get littering

So its all Thatchers fault again 🙂