[Closed] Sportive vs Road Race. That was close.

That's bonkers.

What's really interesting though is this link from the road.cc page; I never knew Hora had a signature shoe!

http://road.cc/content/review/117873-vittoria-hora-evo-fluoro-shoes

[i] I never knew Hora had a signature shoe![/i]

he only wore them twice and then said he wanted something with less rebound.

Jesus that's crazy. How is being held up by like 1 minute on sportive going to cause you a big deal? That guy in the Kelme strip must have a death wish.

That is madness. What were those riders thinking? Someone could have been seriously hurt.

Kelme strip must have a death wish

Guy in the stripes is a complete bell end.

Blimey! The guy arguing with the marshal is the bell end.

Jesus that's crazy. How is being held up by like 1 minute on sportive going to cause you a big deal?

Far too many sportive riders seem to be under the impression that they are in some sort of race 🙄

What mrblobby said. Its why i don't want to ride a sportive & will stick to audaxing - plus its a hell of a lot cheaper.

Gosh, roadies know how to have fun eh? If it ain't bad enough sharing with vehicles.

Far too many sportive riders seem to be under the impression that they are in some sort of race

As evidenced by the fact one of the sportive riders when told "There's a race coming through" said "Yes, I know, I'm in it"

As evidenced by the fact one of the sportive riders when told "There's a race coming through" said "Yes, I know, I'm in it"

A proper LOL moment that 🙂 What a knob.

Vittoria Hora Evo Fluoro Shoes

I WANT those. Not the name thing- they are gorgeous. I could dance on the pedals in those 😀

Anywhere cheapish yet????????????

As evidenced by the fact one of the sportive riders when told "There's a race coming through" said "Yes, I know, I'm in it"

Its why i don't want to ride a sportive & will stick to audaxing - plus its a hell of a lot cheaper.

A choice between pretending its a race and pretending its not a race 🙂

My favourite bit was where one of the sportive riders claimed he was part of the race.

The Eastern Divisionals had a triathlon going on in the opposite direction on Sunday on part of the course, they all obeyed marshalls, and kept well left - not that they needed to, Joe Perret had us all in the gutter... We give Triathletes are hard time, but at least they can act upon basic instructions!

I heard a similar story from a Manchester Wheelers rider - their open cat (national open entry) road race that has a lead car with a flashing light, was on the same day as the Manchester 100 charity sportive. The sportive marshall at a minor crossroads who had been told of both events, stood in the road with hand out shouting 'stop' at the car with the flashing light...

What an infant.

"I don't want to argue with anyone else, I'm arguing with you". Brilliant!

I have marshalled a number of road races. A small proportion of people don't really believe they need to stop when you askthem to. When that happens it is absolutely gut-wrenching.

🙁

fricken cyclists 😈

Good job they don't have the Tour de France in Yorkshire 😀

Seems a bit daft to have 2 events sharing a road, particularly in that way.

That said Mr Kelme should have been wiped out!

Not sure about Yaarkshire but our local federation controls both sportive and road races, and it's still quite common for them to clash. Shouldn't cause a problem though, as sportive riders are just normal traffic (on an open road event) so should give way to the race.

Did I hear sheep around the [url=

mark[/url]?

In fairness to the chap that says'i'm part of it', maybe he got a bit confused given there were no other cyclists to be seen coming the other way, and he had no idea that another race was on the same route...

Just saying like...

bob_summers - Member
Shouldn't cause a problem though, as sportive riders are just normal traffic (on an open road event) so should give way to the race.

No, they are racing 😛

In fairness to the chap that says'i'm part of it', maybe he got a bit confused

shouty men in lycra being shouty..... 😀

I said this on road.cc so I might as well just repeat it here:

---

Not wanting to defend the sportive riders too much, but has anyone considered that they simply didn't realise there was another event on?

Imagine you are on an organised sportive and you see road signs saying [i]"Road Temporarily Closed for Cycling Event"[/i] or some such. It would not be entirely unreasonable to think that might be for the event you are doing and just carry on.

No excuse for ignoring the marshal of course, but it might explain the confusion.

Ultimately the organisers on both sides should have been aware of the other event and sorted things out between themselves, not left it to the marshals and mamils.

I've been on a sportive when part of the route was also being used that day by a race/event. The briefing at the start informed us what was going on. Of course some people think they know it all or forget but the signs were distinctly different to those used by the sportive so should have raised some suspicion even for the most forgetful rider. It wasn't a closed road event though so participants of both events were on the correct side of the white lines.

I think it's quite normal for events to share roads. Why those people thought it right to argue with the marshal stopping them I have no idea. I can see maybe there was some confusion with the signs except for the fact that someone was telling them to stop.

Even in major road races, such as Paris Roubaix, riders have to stop if instructed to do so, such as at a level crossing. It's almost funny that these people thought their event was the most important thing in the world.

Being fair to Mr Kelme, so many people had passed through that he just followed through like a sheep. Part of the pleasure of riding is turning the brain down a level or two.

Why those people thought it right to argue with the marshal stopping them I have no idea.

They were probably busy chasing a "gold" time standard 😉

It's almost funny that these people thought their event was the most important thing in the world.

But, but, but.....they're riding a [b][i][u]sportive[/u][/i][/b] donchaknow. That makes them like, you know, like [b]REAL[/b] cyclists. Far more real than anyone else, some of them even wear retro clothing to show how real they are. So much more real than you.

Sportive riders = Boring asshats*

*Yes, that is a massive generalisation. Sue me. Most of those that I meet are neo-roadies, who've all rushed out and bought full crabon fribe Fredvagens, Assos and Sidi just to show how in to it they are, when they only started cycling after Wiggo won the Tour. They're as bad as golfers.

traildog - Member
Being fair to Mr Kelme, so many people had passed through that he just followed through like a sheep. Part of the pleasure of riding is turning the brain down a level or two.

Not really, he rode past others that had pulled in, straight into the oncoming bunch. With the commotion going on, I'd expect a rider to be slightly MORE alert than one should be on an open road, not less.

This is ridiculous. What is even more ridiculous is that a local Road race in Bristol that has happened on the same weekend for about 50 years had to move their race because a sportive wanted to use the same roads on the same day. As the RR needed police permission and the sportive only had to inform the police the conflict was managed by not giving the RR permission...

Bit more detail emerging on Facebook, sounds like the sportive riders were not told of the road race.

The first I heard about the race was at a checkpoint a little further back down that road (there were three routes; 20+ 30ish and 60miles), and then saw them just after this turning as they sped past on the other side, but there was no mention at the start, so I'm guessing the organisers MIGHT not have known

Also..

The event gets police support with road closures at the start and St John's Ambulance.

So the sportive had road closures too and no knowledge of the race event. No wonder the sportive riders were a bit confused.

Yeah, if your not told there's a road race on it must be easy to miss a lead car with flashing lights and a 'race' board on top, a couple of motorcycle outriders, marshals standing in the road with high vis and flags and cyclists racing in a bunch!

Yeah, if your not told there's a road race on it must be easy to miss a lead car with flashing lights and a 'race' board on top, a couple of motorcycle outriders, marshals standing in the road with high vis and flags and cyclists racing in a bunch!

It's not too hard to get confused after a few hours riding, a bit tired and hungry, when a marshal tells you to stop as there's a bike race on and be absolutely convinced that he's talking about the sportive (after all, you think some cyclists believe sportives are races, and the marshal is probably a cyclist), so you carry on thinking the marshal has mistaken you for a member of the general public and is being a bit of a jobsworth anyway in trying to close the road completely for your sprotive, that makes no sense to you, after all every other marshal and sign so far has said to go this way, this marshal must be a bit confused or just wrong.

Having said that, no one comes out looking good after that argument!

Having said that, no one comes out looking good after that argument!

Yeah, I think there are many sides to this one. Riders were clearly, and understandably, confused. The race marshal was overly aggressive. But the overall organisation is really what led to this chaos in the first place.

They guy in the stripey get up, he isn't wearing a helmet. I've never seen a sportive that allows anyone to ride if they aren't wearing a helmet. I don't think he's part of either event and is just out to wind people up.

^ there might be something in that. He does seem to deliberately move into the centre of the road..

[quote=butcher ]The race marshal was overly aggressive.

What was he supposed to do when riders started ignoring his instructions and potentially causing a massive pile up?

That guy who rides right out in to the middle of the bunch.
Haven't I seen him somewhere before?

[img] ?1396293588[/img]

How about BC who did entries for both events making sure the two didn't coincide?