Police Kettling Cyclists outside Olympic Opening

yossarian– the only thing in common with a few on here is that we share a languauge– every thing else seems almost diametrically opposed, whats that saying about empty barrels ?……..

What are ‘our’ goals? Are yours the same as mine or is owning a bicycle the only thing we have in common?

Well mine are better provisions for cycling, yours are beginning to sound like any excuse needed to be anarchic.

yossarian– the only thing in common with a few on here is that we share a languauge– every thing else seems almost diametrically opposed, whats that saying about empty barrels ?……..

Yes well done, you’re so smart you can’t even persuade cyclists that your doing the right thing, whats that saying ….doing the same thing again and again, expecting a different result?

I think what some of us are taking offence at is the way that CM are being attacked based on what they wear and the bikes they choose to ride as much as their actions.

From reading this thread the comment on the clothing was a throw-away comment somewhere near the start, and hardly indicative of the majority of the criticism. Still, it’s easier to focus on that (IMO poorly chosen) comment, than the remainder of the thread.

I commented on their clothes and bikes, but frankly that’s a side-issue I was using to make the point that they don’t exactly look like they ride much further than to the pub.

My main issue, however, is the fact that they’re a bunch of juivenile reactionary half-wits, who have patronisingly elected themselves as some kind of spokespeople, and are now happily setting about destroying our collective image by being pointlessly confrontational, and just generally annoying! Stupid is as stupid does!

My main issue, however, is the fact that they’re a bunch of juivenile reactionary half-wits, who have patronisingly elected themselves as some kind of spokespeople and are now happily setting about destroying our collective image by being pointlessly confrontational, and just generally annoying! Stupid is as stupid does!

And you’ve come to that conclusion without having actually met any of them?

And you’ve come to that conclusion without having actually met any of them?

This is a bit silly. You realise juries never meet defendants, right?

Well mine are better provisions for cycling, yours are beginning to sound like any excuse needed to be anarchic.

I don’t need an excuse to be anarchic, making your own decisions based on your own opinions and doing things for yourself isn’t reliant on an excuse.

my goals are pretty simple really. Yes, I’m pro bike but not exclusively.

I think we need to radically review the way we approach road and trail usage for the betterment of everybody. More bicycles? Yes please but as a by-product of less cars. Less cars means far fewer road deaths, far less congestion and pollution and would be the first tentative steps to making our streets ours again rather than somewhere that’s divorced from the majority of people and is just something we use to abandon our vehicles and use as a route to our destinations. Roads used to be important, they used to matter to communities, not just as a means to an end but as a meeting point and somewhere for business to congregate. If you lived on a main road it was a priviledge not a hindrance. When you look at out of town shopping centres and the damage its done to high streets up and down the land the car and its usage is at the centre of the problem. So yes provision for cycling please, but geniune deep seated measures to reverse the damage done to our country by the motor car and OUR use of it and a reinvention of our public transport network with the emphasis on delivering services that people want not just profits for operators. In this sense I’m no anarchist because I recognise that we need the support of government to create legislation that makes this happen.

no doubt some will delight in pulling this apart, but thats fine. I’m not asking you to agree with me.

BruceWee – i used to watch the parade of buffoons ride past me in Manchester city centre every time they had one of their little self-defeating jaunts. You could predict their arrival by the collective eye-rolling of everyone who set eyes on them, more so if they were ‘fellow (comrade?) cyclists. So I’ve a pretty good idea of who they are.

And if the patronising self-righteous, right-on, la-la-la-I’m-not-listening twoddle of the avowed CM member on this thread is anything to go by, I doubt meeting every last one of them would be a particularly enlightening experience

This is a bit silly. You realise juries never meet defendants, right?

STW is now the equivalent of the cyclist justice system? It certainly seems that way on here quite often but for me I’d rather judge people’s motives based on their actions as well as meeting and talking to them rather than making assumptions about their motives based on their actions and their appearance.

I thought mikeconnor tried to make some good points despite the fact that most seemed more interested in ridiculing him.

I’d rather judge people’s motives based on their actions as well as meeting and talking to them rather than making assumptions about their motives based on their actions and their appearance.

I agree, I would too. However, the people CM are trying to reach will not meet them and have nothing but CMs actions (important) and appearances (trivial and irrelevant in my mind, but hey) to judge them by.
It’s a sad fact that we can’t meet everyone (in a community, with bongs while weaving hemp rugs optional).
Therefore, CM have to be careful about their actions and image and ensure it is conducive to the point they are trying to make. I am unlikely to see eye to eye with a group of people with a culture that promotes the behaviour documented on Twitter and this thread.

That’s good but I just had a quick scan over the first page this thread to see what people’s immediate reaction to the news that it was a CM ride and straight away people were calling them hippies, new agers, and putting up Young Ones clips. As well as all the other insults.

Seems to me that a large proportion the STW massive had made their call before any of the facts were available to judge their actions. After all, everyone hates hippies, right?

That’s good but I just had a quick scan over the first page this thread to see what people’s immediate reaction to the news that it was a CM ride and straight away people were calling them hippies, new agers, and putting up Young Ones clips. As well as all the other insults.

What do you think the point of the thread was? It’s been an open space to discuss the ins and outs of it. If it were as simple as reactionary insults, the thread would have died days ago. For the record, I was the person who said Hippies first (posed as a question). Look how much I’ve learned 😉

Seems to me that a large proportion the STW massive had made their call before any of the facts were available to judge their actions.

Do you think, by any remote chance, that’s because as cyclists we’ve encountered them plenty of times before, that the “hippies, new agers, and Young Ones clips” are pretty accurate?

Just a thought. Feel free to disprove it

Evreybody hates hippoes. 😯

You meen you saw thek over rhe road while having a beer with your mates.

Do you think, by any remote chance, that’s because as cyclists we’ve encountered them plenty of times before, that the “hippies, new agers, and Young Ones clips” are pretty accurate?

Aye, I remember you saying you used to sit in a bar and watch them ride by. If you mentioned anywhere that you actually talked to them then sorry I missed that.

Aye, I remember you saying you used to sit in a bar and watch them ride by. If you mentioned anywhere that you actually talked to them then sorry I missed that.

Haterz gonna hate 😀

Twerps gonna twerp… 🙄

Hmm. I rode with the Leeds CM a couple of times, a good few years back. I’d been knocked off my bike by a taxi driver, and after throwing the remains of my bike at his windscreen and uttering a few choice obscenities, I felt full of righteous indignation and a flaming desire to sock it to all the dangerous, inconsiderate drivers out there. A friend pointed out a CM ride coming up, and I vowed to join in.

On arrival, I had by bike criticised by a young gentleman on a bullhorned fixie, because it had nobbly tyres and purple bits, and gears. “Fair cop” I thought “You get a percentage of nobbers in any group, maybe others are different”. We moved off and rode for a while, and then stopped. In the middle of a junction. Blocking a right-turn, a straight-on, and a bus lane. “Hmm.” I thought. “Not only is this hacking off the car drivers around us, but it’s also holding up the people who are using public transport. Tell you what, I’ll step off my bike and stand on the pavement.” This action was greeted with a mixed response from my riding peers, some chose to simply snigger at my apparently ‘noob’ faux-pas, a couple quietly but politely told me that blocking junctions was what we were there for, a larger number offered the same sentiment but with, shall we say, coarser language and more emphatic gesturing.

I blushed slightly, got back on and rejoined the group, and we rode on slowly, a large number of vehicles gathering behind. Three or four stops later, a police van appeared behind, simply monitoring the progress of the group as far as I could tell. A couple of people in the group turned an interesting shade of white and cycled off slowly, in different directions to the main peloton. A couple of (admittedly shorter) mid-junction stops later, two young officers stepped out of the police van. One went to the rear, to have a quiet word with a couple of drivers behind who were making their displeasure known somewhat vociferously. The other approached the group and asked very politely if someone was in charge that he could have a word with, to be met with a mix of mumbling, plain ignoring and the odd not-very-clear bit of profanity. He asked again, to much the same response. A third time, and the not-very-clear profanity got a touch louder and a bit clearer. He shrugged, and wandered back to the van to consult with his superiors.

Two junctions later, the group stopped and the police van stopped behind us. This time, the other officer approached the group and asked, again politely, if anyone was in charge with whom he could have a word. At the now usual derisive response, he simply stated, loudly and clearly “then would you all mind, please, clearing the junction to allow traffic to pass.” I don’t remember the wording exactly, but mentions of the Roas Traffic Act (1988) occurred. In my opinion, rightly so. More derision, more profanity, more jeering.

At this point, I left, hearing a couple of choice words slung at my disappearing back by other riders (enter People’s Front of Judea joke here), for frankly, I was embarrassed to be part of it.

I tried again a year-or-so later, because I was still passionate and pee’d off with drivers, and much the same happened, save for the criticism of my bike. Again, after some frankly borderline illegal (and if not illegal, then just plain rude/stupid) actions by those ostensibly but not confessedly leading the ride, I again left shortly after a police van showed up. I was expecting the profanity by this point, but the blog comment spotted by a mate a couple of days later saying “and if that < exp.del > on the purple mountain bike turns up and < exp.del > ‘s off at the first sign of trouble again, I’ll < exp.del > him myself” came as a bit of a surprise.

Draw what conclusions you like from that account. The ones I drew were that CM in Leeds were a bunch of trouble-courting cowards, who banded together to annoy people, but hid behind the lack of structure in the “organisation” to avoid ever having to take responsibility for their collective actions. I won’t be going back, and I inform my friends of this when a couple of them have suggested going on CM rides. They’re free to go and make up their own minds, but so fast the only one who has, on one of the London rides, came back with the comment of “See what you mean. Won’t be doing that again…”

my goals are pretty simple really. Yes, I’m pro bike but not exclusively.

I think we need to radically review the way we approach road and trail usage for the betterment of everybody. More bicycles? Yes please but as a by-product of less cars. Less cars means far fewer road deaths, far less congestion and pollution and would be the first tentative steps to making our streets ours again rather than somewhere that’s divorced from the majority of people and is just something we use to abandon our vehicles and use as a route to our destinations. Roads used to be important, they used to matter to communities, not just as a means to an end but as a meeting point and somewhere for business to congregate. If you lived on a main road it was a priviledge not a hindrance. When you look at out of town shopping centres and the damage its done to high streets up and down the land the car and its usage is at the centre of the problem. So yes provision for cycling please, but geniune deep seated measures to reverse the damage done to our country by the motor car and OUR use of it and a reinvention of our public transport network with the emphasis on delivering services that people want not just profits for operators. In this sense I’m no anarchist because I recognise that we need the support of government to create legislation that makes this happen.

Spot on.

The point is that most people think that the London CM is counter-productive. Particularly the one on Friday which apparently was an attempt to disrupt the Olympics.

I dont think cm is great.
But, if we want more cyclists on the road, we’ve got to stop slagging each other off.
Imagine if a normal person read this. Knobsters hippies crusty skinny jean **** etc. mixed with 15pages on another thread of slagging off roadies, they’d be right in thinking cyclists are a bunch of elitist snobs.
They’re not going to start cycling, because they wouldn’t want to be asociated with other cyclists,.

The point is that most people think that the London CM is counter-productive. Particularly the one on Friday which apparently was an attempt to disrupt the Olympics.

I think some people get to utterly pissed off with the situation in cities that they are prepared to annoy people to make their point. If you don’t agree don’t do it. The core issue is does it make any noticeable impact on how cycling is percieved by the general, non bike riding public. Again I seriously doubt it. There isn’t a unified cause for cycling, there are lots and lots of disparate little groups all pushing their own agendas. The bigger, corporate sponsored ones have no connection whatsoever with CM. The issue that most people, in their haste to mock hippies, direct activists, hipsters etc etc, have forgotten is that bicycles and their riders span the entire range of society and all views and opinions. What other machine does all the things what a bicycle does? What type of person rides a bike? Do they all want the same thing?

We think we are ‘serious cyclists’ and somehow we should set the agenda for everyone else. total bollocks. All this thread has achieved is to show quite how meek, law abiding, conservative, intolerant and afraid of confrontation middle aged mountain bikers with access to a computer during work hours are. Is anyone really that surpised?

The core issue is that a very small, nay – tiny – number of baby-pram revolutionaries are making life a misery for everybody around them by acting like a lot of silly Kevins.

Time for bed, children.

I went on a cm ride about 15 years ago.
I wouldn’t discribe a 50 something, suit wearing, brompton riding businessman, as a baby pram revolutionary.
😀
He was just another cyclist

But, if we want more cyclists on the road, we’ve got to stop slagging each other off.

I agree, with the caveat of “unless they happen to be self-centred asshats.” I don’t want to slag off cyclists, but I’m happy to slag off asshats. If there’s a crossover, what’s a fella to do?

I wouldn’t discribe a 50 something, suit wearing, brompton riding businessman, as a baby pram revolutionary.

Can’t see why not.

Bang Head Wall Brick– the reasoned arguments, and the attempt to engage in dialogue are flying about 20,000 feet to high on here– much better to use tired old cliches, and aim for some sniggery laughs– just like being back at school.

It is a distorted view on here thankfully, and does seem to represent those empty vessels……..

I think the bloke was the polar oposite of a baby pram revolutionary.
The vast majority of people there seemed to be normal. You cant judge 500+ people on a 2 minute video of 6 people on youtube.
Edit. 6 idiots.lO

….But, if we want more cyclists on the road, we’ve got to stop slagging each other off.

Then maybe CM should stop doing things that piss everyone off, including it would seem other cyclists.

Then they wouldn’t be getting a slagging off would they ??

It really is that simple.

Edit.

can’t be arsed with this any longer…

rudebwoy – this thread is dialogue. Your meta analysis isn’t. What’s your point?

uselesshippy – this thread also contains other people’s experiences with various CM groups. Take a look, have a read.

yossarian – you’ve started insulting everybody while preaching tolerance and assumed everyone here is a conservative middleaged mountainbiker while preaching not to generalise. Dude, What’s up with that?

Peace and love.

Read many press reports?
Guardian seems to see it differently.
Typical lefties hey.

CM – proof positive that if you take a weapons-grade bell end and stick them on a bike, they’ll still be a weapons-grade bell end. Then put them in a group with more of the same, and they’ll be 10 times worse

yossarian – you’re at it again 🙂

All this thread has achieved is to show quite how meek, law abiding, conservative, intolerant and afraid of confrontation middle aged mountain bikers with access to a computer during work hours are. Is anyone really that surpised?

Do you see the incongruity of your posts? You do the very thing that you castigate others for doing – making ‘tired old cliches’ (thanks rudebwoy) about the character and circumstances of people that disagree with you.

By the way – on the ‘we’re not a protest, we’re a procession, so the Police cannot impose their law on us

Perhaps you want to check what the law the police actually used to restrict the ‘procession’ says:

12 Imposing conditions on public processions.[/n]

(1)If the senior police officer, having regard to the time or place at which and the circumstances in which any public procession is being held or is intended to be held and to its route or proposed route, reasonably believes that— .
(a)it may result in serious public disorder, serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the community, or .
(b)the purpose of the persons organising it is the intimidation of others with a view to compelling them not to do an act they have a right to do, or to do an act they have a right not to do, .
he may give directions imposing on the persons organising or taking part in the procession such conditions as appear to him necessary to prevent such disorder, damage, disruption or intimidation, including conditions as to the route of the procession or prohibiting it from entering any public place specified in the directions.

so, it doen’t have to be a protest… are you going to apologise to the police now Mike?

CM in Leeds today (8.30am) blocked a major junction(Sheepscar) for ages totally prevented traffic from progressing on green and then all went through on red. There were about 50 of them . Every one of them was dead lazy they left their bikes at home and did it with cars.

Read many press reports?
Guardian seems to see it differently.

In what way do the Guardian see it differently? The only reports I’ve seen quote both the police and the protestors celebraters. Including the line about being ‘peacefully assertive’

Articles in the cycling blog section.
questions the police response, and says what the other300+ were up to.

Do you see the incongruity of your posts? You do the very thing that you castigate others for doing – making ‘tired old cliches’ (thanks rudebwoy) about the character and circumstances of people that disagree with you.

I suspect mine were a little more accurate actually.

yossarian – you’ve started insulting everybody while preaching tolerance and assumed everyone here is a conservative middleaged mountainbiker while preaching not to generalise. Dude, What’s up with that?

I dunno, just to see how they liked it I suppose.

Articles in the cycling blog section

Do you mean the blog written by a participant of the ride. The one where he describes it as a ‘community organised’ event before remembering later that it doesn’t apparently have an organisation. Hardly surprising that the blog ‘sees it differently’