Fresh row in New Forest as council's safety group calls on mass rides to revise routes

For once, I think that the 'non-cycling' voice is speaking in pretty fair terms. They've only put the idea out there that it would be best if the two events remain separate, either in terms of timing or routing. It's actually quite a sensible and reasonable thing to suggest.

The point of SAGs is as the name implies to advise, they cannot sanction or ban.

It is feasible that the 2 sportive organisers were unaware of each other's event and had not made any allowance in their own risk assessments for the other event, in terms of potential confusion to riders?

I was on LEL last year, when the route coincided with the London-Cambridge whose marshals kept trying to usher all cyclists along their route.

The 2 organisers simply need factor into their risk assessments, and providing they have considered any hazards and mitigated will be OK?

Obviously should anything go wrong the SAG will refer to their advice at any enquiry

Whilst we have every right to ride on the road, why not just ride elsewhere?
There are many thousands of miles available to ride on, so why always ride on the same ones?
I do have some sympathy for the locals who seem to be besieged so much.
It also applies to the Box Hill events.
For heavens sake, just use somewhere else!

I wonder what you would think if every weekend a major event involving thousands of people passed your door, in addition to the usual traffic?
It wouldn't be long before you got a bit fed up with it.

So the council think there's a problem and ask the organisers to look into it. Earlier it was thought there was no problem.

Where's the row here?

Whilst the very vocal community raising objections to these sportive events seem illogical in their vitriol towards cyclists, it must be conceded by the cycling community that there are elements of sportive rides who feel they are "racing" and hence have specific relief from the highway code.

How many times have you seen cyclists riding aggressively in these events, as if there were some grand prize on offer. They do seem to attract the worst element of the casual cyclist, who then mar the event for the vast majority of participants.

This isn't to justify, or exonerate the rabid persecution meted out by those seeking to own the public forest; merely as a group we should aim to enforce proper road craft in our own ranks to avoid the hyper critical attention of those who cannot see we're not the threat to wildlife, or inconvenience, they think we are.

Surely these people have big dents in their cars?

Every week the Verderers release details of livestock involved in accidents.

In this case, unusually, they released the full details. See below.

On Tuesday, 16th September 2014, at approximately 8:30pm a dark bay mule was hit by two vehicles and killed, on the B3055 at Latchmoor, Brockenhurst.

The first vehicle, an Audi, hit the mule with such force that the car left the road from where Agister Maton recovered broken Audi trims. The vehicle drove off leaving the mule dying in the middle of the road.

A witness saw a second vehicle, a silver Mercedes type, hit and kill the mule which was in the road struggling to get up. The driver failed to stop and neither driver has reported having had a collision with a Forest animal.

If anyone has any information that might identify the drivers involved in this accident, or noticed damage consistent with striking an animal, to an Audi or silver Mercedes type vehicle, we would be very pleased to hear from them. All information will be treated in the strictest confidence.

A reward of up to £1,000 is payable to anyone providing information which leads to the successful conviction of a driver who fails to report an accident involving Forest livestock.

but did you see from that BBC link,under the related articles, the thing that killed the most ponies in the new forest last year, even more than cars, the humble acorn, which is toxic to the ponies, so its the actual flipping forest thats killing them

frankly as a prospective visitor to the area, this persisting campaign it seems against anyone daring to ride a bicycle through the place,totally puts me off ever wanting to go anywhere near the new forest as a cyclist or not. which annoys me because Im sure theres a whole bunch of local businesses who utterly rely on visitors. and the fact they are not only denied a voice it seems by these self interest groups, but then bear the brunt of visitors voting with their feet to stay away.

Anyoune fancy taking a personal trip down to Brockenhurst with say a couple of friends and going for a leisurely bike ride. Of course it is very popular, what with the '00's of hire bikes all being hired, and every train coming down from London filled to capacity with bikes. Who knows you might even meet up with someone you know with the same idea of having a day out on the bike....

I would advise taking a couple of spare inner tubes and a good pump though as at this time of year debris on the road can cause an elevated level of punctures

The New Forest show attracts up to 100,000 people in July (peak holiday season) so to have 3,000 cyclists plus organisers, support, etc. should not really be an issue.
Possibly more of an inconvenience to the locals is a cyclists ability to report accidents and claim damages from the insurance companies when they are knocked off whereas the the ponies probably end up as a tasty treat for the local hunt hounds.

The New Forest show attracts up to 100,000 people in July (peak holiday season) so to have 3,000 cyclists plus organisers, support, etc. should not really be an issue.
Possibly more of an inconvenience to the locals is a cyclists ability to report accidents and claim damages from the insurance companies when they are knocked off whereas the ponies probably end up as a tasty treat for the local hunt hounds.

I understand that the pedestriathon has also been moved to the other side of the road to avoid clashing with the annual poniathon on the same side. Cars will be unaffected.

Bloody police with thier nee fangled infrared speed telling machine.
It'll scare the horses I tell you.
Seriously I am struggling with the nfpa and it's stance. My be they should build a dirty great fence round the place and turn it in to a museum.
I love riding my bike but I and many others will think carefully about were I spend my money as the thought of any of the nimbys getting a penny makes me angry.
I will support any forest businesses that embrace the tourists that choose to visit and work hard to share the area that they are lucky enough to live in

Bloody police with thier nee fangled infrared speed telling machine.
It'll scare the horses I tell you.
Seriously I am struggling with the nfpa and it's stance. My be they should build a dirty great fence round the place and turn it in to a museum.
I love riding my bike but I and many others will think carefully about were I spend my money as the thought of any of the nimbys getting a penny makes me angry.
I will support any forest businesses that embrace the tourists that choose to visit and work hard to share the area that they are lucky enough to live in

Bloody police with thier nee fangled infrared speed telling machine.
It'll scare the horses I tell you.
Seriously I am struggling with the nfpa and it's stance. My be they should build a dirty great fence round the place and turn it in to a museum.
I love riding my bike but I and many others will think carefully about were I spend my money as the thought of any of the nimbys getting a penny makes me angry.
I will support any forest businesses that embrace the tourists that choose to visit and work hard to share the area that they are lucky enough to live in

Bloody police with thier nee fangled infrared speed telling machine.
It'll scare the horses I tell you.
Seriously I am struggling with the nfpa and it's stance. My be they should build a dirty great fence round the place and turn it in to a museum.
I love riding my bike but I and many others will think carefully about were I spend my money as the thought of any of the nimbys getting a penny makes me angry.
I will support any forest businesses that embrace the tourists that choose to visit and work hard to share the area that they are lucky enough to live in

It must be said that no where should be having two big events on the same day.
It has been said many times
Sportives need control.

The pony draft is moved by the pig headed locals to coninside with the wiggle ride to give them another reason to moan.

I'm sure the Wiggle event always used to be at the end of September, until someone complained that it clashed with the annual drift. It was moved to mid-October a couple of years ago to avoid a clash, and now it clashes with the drift again?

Also, and I've said it before, the Gridiron is a much more enjoyable event that has never had issues with NIMBYism. Hopefully that's still the case this year...

The new forest mind set is a strange one, all through the forest are signs saying 'ponies don't dent they die'.No mention of looking out for pedestrians or cyclists. But when it comes to actually doing something i.e. speed bumps to slow the traffic that speeds along the straight clear roads of the forest. The sound of inaction is deafening

I think it is fair to question why 2 big events are taking place in the same area on the same day, but they have known this for months and should have done something about it then. Its too late to change, too much inconvenience.

To aid safety, I suggest the local council introduces a new motoring safety campaign titled 'oih, twat, slow the F*** down'

I'm staying well away from the NF, its full of arseholes.

"after a weekend on which four cyclists were taken to hospital with serious injuries after collisions with motor vehicles in the New Forest."

Incorrect, the motor vehicle driven ran over the cyclists, the cyclists did not collide with the motor vehicle. twats.

Have they read this in the national news yet... No cyclist involved!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-29429498