so, even though we avoid the bike paths as much as possible on our organised training rides, we are getting some grief on one of the cycle forums. after trying to explain that we don’t have a group ride that goes along the freeway bike path, it didn’t seem to matter at all and spr is now a danger to other cyclists and our intimidation and my apathy to police anything is damaging our reputation.
so, when you are riding home AFTER the group ride, please be aware that the bike path is single file and by wearing the spr kit you are representing the club and your actions form peoples opinions about us.
see the details on the link below. let me know what i did wrong.
http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=37866
Just as an aside, the cycle paths really are a hazard.
Coming off the narrows, minding my own business, heading south, coming round the bendy bit I had a head-on with a guy who had dropped his head and was blocking my side.
The impact was pretty impressive, can’t recall how it all rolled, but I do remember the lying on my back on the concrete holding my arm bit.
Not sure if the worst bit was presenting home bleeding and dazed, the buckled wheels or not being able to recall my phone number properly at the bike shop.
As they say “be careful out there” – it doesn’t matter if you are riding safely for you, others make mistakes and you can still suffer.
Pete, i’ve been following that thread for a while & you didn’t do anything wrong. I fully support you in what you’ve tried to do but someone just has a bee in thier bonnet now.
SPR’s been great so far & will continue to ride with you guys.
I have to say…I’m frightened of large groups of riders when i’m on my own & stay away from most of the bike paths. I’ll take side roads.
Thanks Pete!
One thing that I have been noticing a lot recently is people’s unwillingness to stop when the lights are turning to red on our group rides. It’s been getting progressively worse over the last few months. On Monday’s PH ride I split the group in half early on by stopping at a red and someone actually started whinging about it! Not good enough. As Bill said at the time, is going through the light just to stay on the bunch worth your life? Nope, so don’t frickin’ do it.
Note to Pete: I live just off Winterfold, near to Farrington and I ride a Cervelo, but that certainly was not me that the happy forum member was talking about – I avoid Farrington Road like the plague and haven’t ridden on it for about 2 years. However, when he started talking about using a hockey stick and bull bars to clean up groups of cyclists, he lost all sympathy. Still, even though we’ve only heard his side of the story we have to always ride as courteously as we can, especially when riding in the kit.
Do not think it would be the development group as only one rider usually is wearing club kit. early bird ride doesnt use the bike path on Saturday. Could be wrong but is it likely that 10 or so SPR kitted riders would be on the bikepath as a group following the coffee stop? Did this guy see the “incident” or just hear it from his mate Mark? A time and accurate location on the bikepath might assist in verifying this “incident”. As for the Cervello rider on Farrington road – if this is happening on a daily basis why can’t Funkymonk flag the offender down and discuss the problem or report the rider to the police. Bit frightening when regular bike riders talk about using weapons to assault other riders and mowing down groups with bullbars.
The main thing here has nothing to do with groups, in/out of kit, incidents, red lights or revenge (lessons?? – I’ll leave to Mike B to judge validity and usefulness of crowbars/bats as a learning resource….).
At the end of the day we are ALL individuals making our OWN choices to ride our bikes when and where we choose. Fundamentally it comes down to every single person making the right CHOICES about safety and courtesy. We are accountable first and foremost to ourselves. How others behave is, at the end of the day, their CHOICE. We may not agree or condone, but it’s theirs to make. ALL we can do is be faithful to our own conscious and act accordingly.
Look inside for the answer – it’s there; you just have to extract it and implement!!
“…in/out of kit…” – now there’s an idea, rob – if we’re not wearing any kit, they can’t associate us with a particular club! Would sure save some of us a bit of money, and spare Pete the headache that he’s going to have tomorrow night! 😉
The best thing is, it wouldn’t have to stop us racing either – just ask these guys (vague nekkidness warning)!
DISCLAIMER: I, for one, am happy to stay with the new kit, whatever colour it happens to be!
Haha! Brutal….”Toerags”. What a great word. I’m going to use the word ‘toerag’ tomorrow. Somehow. Someway. 🙂
I don’t suppose Funkymonk will want to come to the AGM and stand outside and mind our bikes. ;P
P.S. You’re too civilised Pete. I’m not sure the subject deserved the diplomacy it got.
That is why I don’t take part in forums. People are keyboard worriers and to little too actually man up and bring there issues up offline.
Now time for sleep. Got to get up and do another one of those dangerous spr rides in less than four hours.
I was going to put up a post about this forum in general and say what a good resource this is, but all the members of the forum are a bunch of complainers and so I’m not going to recommend it now…..
Oh hang on a sec, that sounds just like one person on the forum. Oh I’ve just committed Gross Generalisation. That will be 10 hill sprints and 5 lead outs as pennance. Oh the shame…..:P
Why is it that just one person can destroy the fantastic reputation that this club has…well two actually. The Cevelo guy in our kit, and Fu*$ingmonk….sorry funkymonk.
@katieL I think someone suggested that he come down for a saturday group ride.
Interesting read guys – like many of us I have frequently experienced approaching ‘idiots’ in packs of 2 abreast on the freeway bike path (especially Tues & Thurs mornings) as I head down the ‘wrong way’ (ie: south) on my 2 wheel 17 kg tank with wide handlebars and bar ends that protect my hands. I use a bright flashing light, wear my fluro yellow jersey and I find that more and more regulars have come to realise that I hold my line on my side of the path and won’t be intimidating into taking to the sand. My experience of oncoming SPR guys has been very good of late – they call and signal to riders behind to tuck in.
Seems apart from egos – two main failings is that (i) many riders don’t know that its illegal to ride two abreast on a shared path / psp / dual use path (ie: ignorance factor) and (ii) they still think the ‘morning race’ is still on when it should have finished at Raffles. I spoke to a couple of guys a few weeks ago about riding two abreast on that stretch and one said they were allowed to ride like that because they were on a training ride !
The only way to change attitudes is to lead by example and ‘verbal’ the selfish out there. Threats of violence just breeds agro and is counter productive.
Can i suggest that if anyone in the club has an issue with the way we ride or act as a club or members of the club, that they talk to those involved face to face and not air it on a public blog. This also goes for issues you have with other clubs and riders from other clubs. Please always remember that anything written in email, blog, facebook, twitter etc. can be used in a legal situation.
Nothing directly actionable in all of the venting… he could have at least suggested that if we find Cervelo Guy (aka Spock or Secret Rebel Base), he won’t destroy SPRs reputation (aka Vulcan or Alderaan).
The good news is he didn’t say anything about a backpack
Do you even own a SPR jersey Andrew? Never seen you in them before 😉
I’m not worthy…
I wouldn’t judge all SPR riders on one or two incidents and I would hope that people reading the forum wouldn’t just the rest of the members on the basis of a couple of angry posts.
I used to ride regularly with SPR and hope to do so again soon. My experience of SPR rides is that the ride leaders try very hard to make sure all riders ride safely and obey the road rules. I have also seen other riders looking out of each other – making sure they are riding safe and obeying road rules. From my point of view it is part of the culture of the club.
Of course, not every rider will rider perfectly all of the time and sometimes new riders join in who don’t know the rules yet. However, in reality just how many complaints have you had about the club in the last couple of years? I think that speaks for itself.
i have to admit, i pity the guy for what he’s got himself into
biggest club in perth on one side, him on the other 🙂
as an aside note: i just avoid bike paths completely unless i’m commuting, half the time the lumps and bumps are no good for my baby anyways 😀