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?

Cyclists getting roads closed off for them and their entitled friends yet they don't pay any road tax...how does that even make any sense?

They should be organised in such a way that access for residents isn't compromised. That should be of paramount importance.

Cyclists getting roads closed off for them and their entitled friends yet they don't pay any road tax...how does that even make any sense?

Because roads are not just for use by vehicles (should that be "entitled vehicles"? Oh, and their friends )

@Vivianebrookskoviak You're right, cyclists don't pay road tax. But neither does anyone since it was abolished in 1936. What some road users pay is vehicle excise duty, which is based mainly on road weight and emissions. Heavier vehicles with more emissions pay more, lower emissions less. Hence way electric cars are VED exempt. So cyclists would therefore be as well... Regardless, VED is not a hypothecated tax, it does not pay for just roads, it goes into the general taxation pot. Only Highways managed roads get central government funding, and they're motorways and major A roads. The roads ridden on this route are all funded from Council Tax, which most people do actually pay. Most cyclists will also own a car too, so will pay your imaginary 'car tax' anyway. The councils will all also have approved these road closures, so people should be complaining about them, not the people participating.

It might helps to have some idea about what you're talking about before objecting about it.

Cyclists getting roads closed off for them and their entitled friends yet they don't pay any road tax...how does that even make any sense?

You do know that road tax hasn't existed since the 30s? General roads are paid for out of council tax, motorways by the government. VED is a tax on vehicles, according to the amount of damage they do to the environment.

Plus many cyclists are also motorists, so also pay VED (unless, like me, they drive a low emission car like a Fiesta, and therefore VED is a princely £0.00 a year. Huzzah!). So even if you applied VED to cyclists, they'd still pay nothing, as they produce even fewer emissions than the most environmentally friendly of cars.

This is probably going to be a really silly question, but I'll ask it anyway ... is there any good reason why cyclists, road runners, etc, can't just hire a race track for these events? Googling reveals that there are plenty of them throught the UK, of all sizes and surfaces, and most have parking, catering, loos, you name it

Granted local authorities wouldn't get the fees - which I suspect is what motivates a lot of these closures anyway - but couldn't this be made to work?

Puzzledandpissedoff
Track is a different discipline.

For example in running there's athletics/track, road running, cross country, trail. For cycling there's road cycling, mountain biking, downhill mountain biking, cyclocross and so on.

Longer distance road runs will involve road closures (usually for local to regional events this is a set start/end is closed and then the rest is a rolling road closure with marshalls who let residents out when there's a gap. For national scale events such as London Marathon, Great North Run it's a bit more formal with large diversions in place).
Cross country tend to be on fields, large parks with grassy areas.
Trail events tend to be on footpaths and bridleways in more rural areas, sometimes passing through villages (not often a village road closure though unless it's at the start or end).

Different disciplines have different challenges and experiences. It's a bit like saying people who do open water lake or sea swimming should do lengths in the pool because it's the same thing.

This is probably going to be a really silly question, but I'll ask it anyway ... is there any good reason why cyclists, road runners, etc, can't just hire a race track for these events?

Numerous reasons, the main one being capacity. The London Marathon has over 40,000 runners, Ride London over 24,000 cyclists, etc. There's no track that can cope with those numbers, especially when you consider that most tracks are sub-five miles. You'd quickly get the elite runners/riders piling into the amateurs at the back.

MetalMidget
Capacity is also true.

I think the longest UK race circuit is around 3 miles. That would be 33 laps of a flat boring circuit for the equivalent of the Ride Surrey 100 mile. Hardly very enticing. People want a bit more scenery, hills, and a sense of accomplishment than going round and round.

Yes, I totally accept the point about capacity ... so how about running the events in heats over a number of days?

Or even if we accepted that some events were so enormous that only the roads were suitable, couldn't tracks be used for some of the smaller ones, which would at least reduce the number of obstructions?

So what youre saying is let's ignore the range of disciplines in running and cycling and remove the ability to compete in them because some people want to bitch and whine that they don't have 24/7 access to the roads of their choice?

I have a hatred for Lycra wearing cyclists since I lived next to the Bristol and Bath railway path (people called it the Cycle Path).

The aggression and general dangerous behaviour coming from cyclists was out of this world. They would often scream "this is a cycle path!" At the pedestrians using the path to walk on....
I fact pedestrians had right of way over the bloody cyclists.

Can't stand the bastards.

Roads aren't just for cars. What a narrow view of life.

Not sure if that was for me, Lola, but if so I'm not looking for that at all ... I'm simply trying to think of ways at least some of the disruption could be avoided and things balanced out for everyone

FWIW I'm no more bothered over folk who "bitch and whine" at the slighest inconvenience than I am about the type of cyclist who wants it all their own way, all the time, but I DO care about folk put at real risk for the sake of someone else's jolly

And if it matters, I'm a cyclist too

It was with the suggestion to shift non track events onto a track to appease the whingers.

As a cyclist you know as well as I do that velodrome isn't the same as road riding any more than open water swimmers should be moved to swimming pools or trail runners moved to athletics tracks.

Ultimately, the way I see it is that there are lots of different events that involve closed roads or diversions. Some are sport related, some are fairs, some are festivals and general social drinking events. They aren't all going to float everyone's boat, but we can all just get on with it knowing that us not liking an event doesn't justify a shitty attitude (like some on this thread and offline) towards others who are enjoying the event.

If specific issues need raising with specific events and organisers then that's right and proper, but the hysteria and whining about car tax/MAMILs and so on every time bikes are mention is just boringly predictable.

Same in Brighton the London to Brighton cycle rid e me And you'd better not need to go to work see a doctor or get it have any need to leave your house it's not about car access you can't even walk in of a designated area

I can't quite believe how worked up some people get and the hatred they spout - they just can't seem to understand any viewpoint their own very narrow point of view (and, yes, I do live near the Ride100 route and am affected by road closures - and also near a horse racing track which causes major traffic snarl ups on race days).

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.

Actually it is a community event. On Saturday the roads in CENTRAL LONDON are closed for the community FREECYLE event which is quite simply fabulous. You can ride around with your children on traffic free roads past major london landmarks. Real party atmosphere. There are even things like trikes and adaptive cycles for hire/use for people that can't cycle.

Then on Sunday, you can watch the pro's and the keen amateurs cycling heir little hearts out for 100 miles.

You might even manage to enjoy yourself if you tried.

Jesus, I don't know why I read threads like this. Just bring the morons out.

I'm going to annoy @UrsulaPandress and others by reminding them that:

Pedestrians, Cyclists, and Horse Riders use the road by right.

Motor vehicles use the road by license.

But, of course, let's not inconvenience entitled car drivers, shall we? (P.S in any road closure situation they would let the emergency^ services^ through. For any other situation there's always a detour)

As a cyclist you know as well as I do that velodrome isn't the same as road riding

You're quite right, but then velodrome cycling doesn't usually involve closing roads. I'm probably at fault for not making it clear enough, but it's such as the flat races I was thinking of racecourses for rather than shoving everything onto them, suitable or not

Interesting point about fairs and festivals though; round here they used to have a lot of these on roads too. Now, however, the organisers are mainly obliged to hold them on parks - another example of tweaking things in a way that works better for all

@DurexCertified Folks like you seem to cry more over your precious motor vehicles being briefly blocked from some
roads, Chuck.