To think I should be allowed to access my road 24/7?

[poopypants]

Cycle event. Road closures. I mean why is this s thing? People have lives. What if my holiday return flight booked a year ago before cycle events were published flew me in on this day! What if my pet needed the vet? What if I was pregnant and needed to get to an antenatal appointment ? What if I had a shift job that required me to leave home or I finished smack in the middle of the event? Hospital appointment? Dialysis appointment? Chemotherapy session? It's endless. People have lives that require them to be able to come and go. How is it ok to hold people hostage?

Entitled MAMIL again, had to be!

I used to have a flat in my city centre and there were many times in a year our street was completely blocked out and our car couldn’t be used.. Often, it wasn’t advertised properly (a leaflet shoved through the door a weekend before) and was just a total nuisance. My DH and I rarely use our car anyway, we use public transport/walk to work, but use the car occasional weekends for leisure - which always seemed to correspond with these events. We could have parked several streets away, but in a city centre, you either pay a lot to do that or leave your car overnight somewhere precarious. It was hardly the end of the world for us, but annoying all the same. We had a neighbour with mobility issues who just couldn’t go out at all at these times.

I agree with OP.

Roads around here are shut for a full 12 hours, making any travel hard.

The idea that charities depend on these things is ridiculous. The amount cyclists spend on (ridiculously expensive) bikes and kit dwarfs the amount raised for charity. If they really cared, they could slightly economise on the kit and (collectively) give hundreds of millions to charity.

Someone upthrrad said Cycle London raised £13mio. That sounds a bit pathetic to me. I wonder how much it costs to run and where these funds come from.

A couple of hours, yes, 12 is just way too much to indulge enthusiastic hobbyists.

I don't get why people get so pissy about this. Just park slightly further away than usual? Walk the short distance to car? Or just enjoy the event? My road has events fairly often, especially in summer. Doesn't bother me. People can still get to appointments. Anyone who is seriously unwell and can't walk the short distance to the car presumably will have a wheelchair or something because for example cars aren't allowed inside shops, supermarkets, etc. So they obviously have SOME way of going short distances without the car.

Some of these comments are so funny, anyone would think you were physically being blocked into your houses with bars on the door and windows, not just asked to park elsewhere or walk for a few hours 😂😂😂

8748 hours a year you get the roads to use and you begrudge then being used for a sporting event for 12 hours. Talk about not wanting to share, car drivers really do take the biscottis

Name,

But why should they? It is not a community event where all can have fun. It is solely for the purpose of a small group of hobbyists, mostly from outside the area.

Surely the transport system should be managed for the benefit of the community?

A pro cycle event is pretty dull to watch but a bunch of amateurs in Lycra, this is not a fun day out for the vast majority of people as testified to in this thread.

I live in an area where most of the roads are closed by cycle 100. My dd is very upset by it as it means shes losing money as she cant get to work (not walkable as it's in the middle of nowhere on a closed road). I think most people round my way are only fed up with the number of hours the roads are closed for. A few years ago some roads were left shut well after the riders had gone and it seemed ridiculous.

Reading threads like this, seems to break up into two groups of people (maybe 3 - including those who've not experienced it). Those who have experienced well-organised events, well-signposted, not closing more than they need to, in areas where there are work-arounds, with proper procedures to deal with those who need access. And those who have experienced inadequately signed events with no information available, closing more areas than necessary for longer than necessary and refusing to make allowances for anyone no matter what. These two groups seem unable to understand each other ...

Near us a half-marathon route blocks a village all morning; our church has had to give up on morning service that day as so many people can't get there. The first year it happened "brand new route" - they didn't even notify the church. Promised it was "just a trial" but I believe there was never any response to feedback about the problems and the same route has now been used several years running.

Another running event around here, I have frequently needed to know when our routes - for walking and cycling into town - would be accessible. The website and phone numbers advertised for information have lead to nothing other than "how to participate". It makes me very cross.

But why should they? It is not a community event where all can have fun. It is solely for the purpose of a small group of hobbyists, mostly from outside the area

My road has been blocked off twice in the last 12 months for a funeral.

Definitely not a community event where one can have fun and no advanced warning!

Namechangedonceagain.... twenty streets off one stretch of road that are cul de sacs where I live. I've previously rung the council and Prudential asking where I could park our car (son had a football tournament) neither could give me a answer. Public transport is virtually non existent and unreliable. So stop giving unhelpful comments you have no idea!

I'm just trying to imagine the outcry if cyclists were banned from using roads for a day! Or runners for that matter.

It's about common sense. If you need to, bollard off a lane for traffic during a race, or have a sensible detour, but don't close the road. And you must warn people in advance. Basically, you do what people digging up the road have to do.

Here when they close roads you can still get out with your car if you live within the closed section and they allow people through in emergency. Happens a lot where I work as it's closed perhaps 10 times a year for events

I'm just trying to imagine the outcry if cyclists were banned from using roads for a day! Or runners for that matter
Probably none.

Runners, cyclists etc are drivers too and (like most reasonable) manage to understand that sometimes there are events that are of interest to some people but not to others and sometimes that's inconvenient.

In my experience, the only people I find who get very het up or angry to the point of frothing about road tax and so on are people who drive only and like to whine about cyclists/runners at any given occasion.

Funnily enough, the same people I know offline who joked recently about running over cyclists as part of a rolling road block through the main town road (complete with lots of swearing and cheerleading from their equally dim friends), seem to lose all their objections to the same road being closed for local food festivals, music events, fair rides and other social events that involve drinking and socialising. In fact, they're often there, taking their photos without any thought for residents nearby.

They're the types who whine about a regional 10k running race closing some roads (with marshalls waving residents through during breaks in the crowd), but doesn't think anything of travelling to another local city for Big Weekend and the multi day road blocks associated with it.

There's something about any mass participation sport event that brings out the irrationally angry in a way that any other mass event doesn't.

I went to Kingston last year when the Prudential Ride was on. I used the train and was crossing the road with probably 30 other people on my side when we were stopped by marshalls. We stood there waiting for a peloton to pass and 30 seconds later a single MAMIL cycled past us. The marshalls let us cross and straight away closed the crossing for the next MAMIL to cycle past . It's no Tour de France or spectacle for those not involved in it.

Agree op, it's a total ballache. Last year we got trapped in Birmingham as didn't realise rhe marathon was on, took us hours to detour out. We have had visitors trapped due to the road and transport shut downs in London a couple of years ago as we didn't realise then either.

It's ludicrous it's got to thr stage any time you book something you're expected to actually check if the roads will be open and transport running.

I love it when the roads around me are closed to traffic. It's bliss

We have lots of social type events that cause partial road closures, but they are marshalled by local people (volunteers) who know the area well and direct people to alternative routes, and the closures are for a few minutes at a time then vehicles are allowed through. Locals are fully aware of the events, most participate in them, and they know the back routes to use to access their properties. People living close to the activities are issued with resident permits for the event.

The main problems seem to occur with the increase in the velo type events where councils are paid money for blanket road closures and the paid staff are not local and have no idea how to help people to get round the closures. If detours are even in place.

It is these large money making ventures which have upset people, in my opinion.

Ivykaty, like I said if they share I will share. What next can we close the railways so I can take a walk down it?

The hospital near me has a nice long wide corridor with high ceiling which I would love to play squash in, lets close it for the day.

No?

Then they can find a nice park or track to run/cycle on.

The same holds true for markets and everything else. Roads are for cars, marketplaces are for markets and parks are for running/cycling.

Then they can find a nice park or track to run/cycle on.
It doesn't really work for long distance routes though.

Plus, even if you do go to a park there's people bitching about it. If cyclists ride on a cycle path (in the rare places they go anywhere and are rideable for more than 500m at a time) at anything other than a slow pootle to avoid dog walkers, walkers, prams and kids on bikes, people bitch about it.

Some people will complain wherever anyone runs or cycles because they can't get their head around the fact that everyone has different interests and it's totally possible for us all to get along.

Ride100 is a pain where I used to live as it's a part of the route which crisscrosses a fair bit. The road I lived on wasn't affected and it was still a pain in the arse, because it meant I (and some of my colleagues) couldn't get to work - it wasn't a case of parking a few streets away, the roads blocked were in the middle of a 20 minute drive and getting to the other side involved a 30 mile detour.

I don't understand why they can't just vary the route year on year so at least it's not always the same people being disrupted? Do it in Surrey one year, then Berkshire, etc etc

Lola, when I did training for long distance running we did laps round the track. Yes its not as glamorous as a course but I got a time and distance.

Parks are more of a shared multi use recreation area than roads which by definition are for haulage of people and goods.

Lack of dedicated space, thems the brakes unfortunately. I have to pay for dedicated space for one of my hobbies, cyclists can't always have a free ride. They will backpedal when challenged about this and say its the environment etc, buy ultimately it comes down to them on wanting to pay to use a velodrome/track.

I feel exactly the same, had a nightmare last year with the Cycle London event, wasn’t informed of the massive amount of road closures, especially the bridges, why can’t they stick something through the door with full details a few months in advance? The maps online for the area I live are spread across a few different documents as we’re Richmond/Kingston. Found out about it last minute last year and stayed at my parents house for the weekend as husband was flying back to Gatwick. Annoyingly the roads didn’t reopen at the times stated they would so I ended up doing a 3 hour journey home instead of 45mins with young children as roads still closed, would have gone from Gatwick back to my parents’ if I’d known they’d be delayed reopening.

Having a weekend at home this year, we often end up in Kingston paediatric A&E with son’s asthma this time of the year so have planned route to West Mid just in case.

Since the Olympic cycle event we’re besieged by amateur cyclists every weekend as it is. They should alternate the route in my opinion.

DurexCertified
You know as well as I do that track running and track cycling are different disciplines.

If I go for a long run I tend to find myself using a mix of pavements, off road footpaths, shared bike/walk paths. I don't want to run 21km in laps on a 400m track.

Equally, if I go cycling then I'll use bridleways and mountain bike tracks. I don't want to use a velodrome (plus there isn't one near me even if I did). Much as long distance road riding sounds the dullest possible way to spend a morning, I can see that part of the enjoyment is the change of scenery and so on.

Some people simply love to have a bitch and a whine about anything that inconveniences them and fitness seems to be the go to thing for too many of them.

If there's some poorly organised events, complain to the council and event organisers and make suggestions on how things could work well, don't whine about how unfair it is that you don't have access to your road 24/7 and promote the usual evil cyclists/MAMIL digs/go somewhere else/road tax nonsense.

walk for a few hours 😂😂😂
How fun for you i can’t simply ‘walk’