AIBU to think this event should never have happened.

[DaisiesAreOurSilver]

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mare-newborn-foal-die-because-15637103

Big cycle race of 100 miles in our area yesterday. Road closures from 5.30 am till 12.30 pm. Some streets were totally cut off for the whole time.

Residents were just told they should have parked outside the area the night before. For some that would mean a walk of a mile, given how many roads were closed. One family escorted through because they had a flight to catch but had to wait 25 minutes for an escort.

Carers were unable to visit the housebound clients, meals on wheels couldn't get through and the stewards didn't give a stuff. For some people it wasn't a question of finding a way around there were areas that were totally cut off for the duration.

But worst of all the stewards wouldn't let a emergency vet through and a mare and her foal died. The foal would have been worth a lot of money as was the mare. I hope the owner sues for every penny she can.

Residents are very angry and cannot understand why permission was granted for this to happen. If they try it again vigilantes have said they'll force the roads open if they try to close them. Feelings running very high.

But would it have been ok if the roads were blocked due to a marathon? Or a protest march?

Nice strawman. Obviously the answer is no, it wouldn't have been ok.

There are an awful lot of people who seem unable to imagine that not everybody shares their own personal circumstances. Just because it wouldn't bother one person to have to park a mile away from their house and walk, or not have vehicular access all day, that doesn't mean it's not hugely inconvenient or even dangerous for someone else. As many (many!) PPs have said, how would someone with mobility problems who lived alone have managed to walk a mile? How would an elderly person with no relatives who relies on carers to assist with medication/personal care/food have managed when their carer didn't have the time to carry out their visit with the added two miles of walking involved? There are so, so many circumstances which are not "emergencies" where these ridiculously extensive road closures could have (and will have) caused harm.

Yes it's great to raise money for charity, but it doesn't have to be at the expense of people's safety. There are many other ways to do it that don't involve closing so many roads for such a long time.

It's possible Londoners are smug and entitled, it's also possible they've developed a thicker skin wrt personal inconvenience, because a lot of threads tend to conclude it'd be intolerable to live here precisely because of how difficult it can be to get around. If there's a big event on you can't go about your normal business because the sheer numbers of people make public transport impossible, and traffic congestion and road closures make driving and buses impossible too.

As I suggested upthread - let's just hold all these events in London. A great solution all round.

Hammersmith bridge is closed so it doesn’t collapse into the river with a load of cars on top - most people will see the point. The roads here were closed down so people could do their hobby and rich people could get richer- not exactly a great comparison!

One for the people who’re talking about how much money their spouses raised for charity doing these rides. Are your husbands per chance managers? With a lot of direct reports who were up for annual reviews at the time?

I do find it odd that people get sponsored to do something that is their hobby and they enjoy.

Our old head used to do this to us- sponsor me for this very long bike ride (erm, don’t you ride that far every weekend anyway).

People should give to charity anyway but this whole sponsorship thing seems a really male way to do it- sponsor me to show off how good I am at cycling.

Surely you could have the cycling competitions and raise the money doing something actually challenging or helpful.

I used to live in London. Travelling around London by public transport is so easy in comparison to anywhere else I have ever lived longestlurkerever. Some Londoners have no idea how easy they have it.

When I was 18, in the days before mobiles and Uber, I got a call on the home landline that my Dad had had a serious accident and was at at Thomas's Hospital. He was being prepared for surgery. I ran out of the house, but my road and all surrounding roads were closed to pedestrians and cars due to an event. Believe it or not, I now can't remember now if it was runners or cyclists. I only remember pushing through stewards, cordons and police in a veil of tears. I was like a charging bull, nothing could have stopped me.
The whole area was deserted of cars, taxis and buses. I had to run about half a mile before I could get a taxi. I remember thinking that if my dad does alone because I couldn't get to him in time, then I would hunt down whoever had organised this and make them pay. That by the time I'd finished with them, they wouldn't ever dream of preventing access for emergencies for sport. There are life and death situations and human heartbreak caused by shutting down an area an curtailing freedom of movement. What have them the right to imprison me for their sport.
If I curtailed the freedom of politicians into a building for a day, or business people into their offices, while thousands of roller bladers skate past, I doubt they would welcome the event.

My dad lived, not a full recovery, but the staff at At Thomas's and The National saved him. So grateful to them and to the NHS.

We had this last year for running. An ambulance was prevented from getting to an emergency (rammed the road block in the end), a nurse was blocked from attending an end of life call (residents picked up the barriers while Marshalls shouted at them), no notice given that my entire housing area would not be able to go in and out of the single road access while I was 9 months pregnant, entire sections of town cut off with no way in or out, people missing their jobs.

This year it was better planned after mass complaints last year. There were signs last year but they just said road closed for a certain time, Not at all saying that all of the surrounding roads would be closed and that people would be trapped in their homes!

I don’t know about this particular
Event, but I have seen people spend more on participating in the event (entry plus travel, hotels, expenses) than they raise for
Charity. That feels disingenuous to me. If your goal was really charity, you would just skip the event and donate the money.

Belle I raised a load of money for GOSH by running a marathon as I had a child treated there, is that wrong? I'm female so don't fit your stereotype. I love sponsoring people to do stuff, my criteria is that it has to hard for them though, a proper challenge and that they spend months training for it and don't just rock up on the day. I'm afraid I neglected to check with the organisers as to whether it inconvenienced anyone but judging by all the lovely folk lining the route, bringing out drinks and snacks they seemed pretty ok with it? There were about 1000 of us doing the race and I know of at least a dozen friends who travelled to the area and stayed in all the local b&B's, ate out both nights and stayed on to do a bit of local sightseeing. Everyone's a winner. I'm assuming a few locals were annoyed but hopefully not too inconvenienced. Oh and the charitable trust that run the event - Braithwaite Trust, raises ££££'s for young people's mental health charities.

If your goal was really charity, you would just skip the event and donate the money.

Exactly!

“Give me money so I can do what I enjoy doing anyway.”

Ivana I raised well over a thousand for GOSH and my husband for MIND, we don't have that kind of money to just donate funnily enough. The entry money goes to charity too, thousands raised.

@Nightingalesinging your event and many others are for charity but the Velo, under discussion here, is run by a for-profit company

Purple most people, myself included, would donate in the vicinity of £10-£25 maximum. By doing the event I raised £1500 for my charity plus my £49 entry fee which went to the mental health charity, far more doing it this way then just little ole me sending a bit in if I remembered.

Grimupnorth I ran for the charity separately, it wasn't organised by the race people. Anyone can run/race for any charity they choose in any event. You're right that my entry fee went to another charity though which isn't the case with the Velo.

And that is great. If you raise more for the charity than you spend on the event, it is a net win. I was speaking specifically to some events friends and family have done where they spend more on the activity than they raise for the charity. So they spend 3k to do a race, and raise 1k to donate. They could have just donated the 3k if charity was really the goal.

Purple wow yes that's crazy! I spent a few quid on b&b and fuel. Felt like I wanted to give something back. As for doing something I enjoy, well I'm an ok runner - a totally crap swimmer or cyclist so wouldn't have raised much!

DH has just told me he’s going on another 8 hour bike ride this weekend, , but this one will not involve road closures. It’s in the Henley area.

I told him that people are livid about the Velo on MN and he says he actually has some sympathy as, unlike other rides, this one is run by a for-profit organisation.

He said the ride was by no means “full of Londoners” - he reckons 9 out of 10 people there were northern or Midlands, judging by the accents. There was no need for people to travel there as it wasn’t a particularly scenic ride, unlike many others.

He also said the ride was badly managed from a cyclist point of view because, unlike in other races, there was no initiative to let faster people go first, They just let everyone go together which puts everyone under pressure and at risk of collisions because people are trying to overtake all the time.

He is very sorry indeed to hear about the horse and any inconveniences caused. He said he probably won’t bother with this one again as it was poor organisation all round.

We have a cycle event passing through our town every year.

Yes, they do the rolling closures, but even walking was a non starter. The estate I used to live on had two access roads that were so close together thst they were both blocked. And so was the pavement, as our side of the road just had a tiny bit, and we couldn't cross the road to go anywhere.

This is the same husband who completely takes the piss about his hobby and treats you like shit?

Well, I’m glad we have his thoughts on the subject. Thread over.

"There was no need for people to travel there as it wasn’t a particularly scenic ride, unlike many others."

there's often "no need" to go to these events, but people go because they want to. The point is that such a poorly thought out event needs to be dramatically rethought.

good to hear from the OP that there is strong opposition though. The whole country will become a PITA to navigate with all this shit going on, it seems, every fucking weekend.

Ivana - I’m sure there is practically nothing any cyclist could say that you could ever find it within yourself to accept with good grace, instead of petty, spiteful comments.

Maybe ask yourself why that is rather than making assumptions about others?

Are you sure of that? Why?

You’re the one who posted the thread about your husband, OP. I got my opinion of him from you...

Agree Ballistic the hatred and contempt from Ivana is most peculiar.