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A good reason not to go full gas in Richmond Park (CC BY-NC 2.0 aglet:Flickr)"Selfish cyclists" blamed for litter that caused Richmond Park deer deaths
Richmond Park conservationists have asked cyclists taking part in organised events to dispose of litter more responsibly. Recent post-mortems of some deer found their stomachs contained a large volume of litter that could not be digested and which then denied the animals the nutrition they needed.
It is estimated that around five deer a year are killed as a result of eating discarded rubbish and The London Evening Standard reports that events such as RideLondon and the London Duathlon have been identified as times when a lot of gel wrappers and the like are discarded.
Richard Gray, trustee of the Friends of Richmond Park, said:
“It’s a real health issue. What we have identified with these two particular races is this phenomenon of the gel packs. Lots of our members are cyclists, I’m a cyclist, but you get a number of slightly more selfish cyclists who aren’t getting rid of it responsibly.
“They are doing the Tour de France thing, seeing people tear off their gel packs and spitting them out. But unlike other races, it doesn’t get picked up. It’s a new phenomenon, particularly because so many more people are taking up competitive endurance cycling and use gel packs.”
Friends of Richmond Park said they found 182 gel wrappers and opening strips in just 600m after RideLondon passed through in July. A similar exercise following the London Duathlon on Sunday saw more than 160 empty gel packs left behind in the same area.
RideLondon organisers admitted there had been a communication issue with litter patrol teams after this year's event but also said they were considering installing cameras on the route next year to identify and ban those who litter.
Friends of Richmond Park chairman Ron Crompton welcomed greater prevention measures and said he hoped that the duathlon organisers would also make efforts to ensure that all competitors were clear that this sort of behaviour was unacceptable.
“Finding this large extent of litter 24 hours after the event is very worrying for the Park's wildlife and particularly the deer. The irresponsible disposal of gel energy bar packaging and their tear-off opening strips seem to be creating a particular problem,” he said.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
- hawkinspeter 5 hours 33 min ago
Interesting theory - how many points does it take for them to drive carefully?
- eburtthebike 5 hours 56 min ago
At the end of the consultation in May 2025, a decision will be taken.........
- Grahamd 6 hours 20 min ago
The absurdity of it deepens when you realise that those points were acquired by the age of 26.
- David9694 7 hours 54 min ago
BAM!
- IanGlasgow 8 hours 30 min ago
"Polartec Power Shield RPM fabric – which has a 10,000mm hydro head to keep wet weather out, and an industry-leading breathability spec of 30,000g...
- mdavidford 9 hours 34 min ago
Oxfordshire councils are quite capable of letting you down too!...
- levestane 9 hours 48 min ago
'each spoke' (single) and 'leaf spring' (made of many leaves) seems contradictory.
- PenLaw 10 hours 40 min ago
I guess Morrissey could claim it.
- wtjs 11 hours 5 min ago
I do see a lot of delivery riders (on illegal e-motorbikes) with their faces covered...
- David9694 11 hours 46 min ago
Stuff like this seems more relevant than ever after the Trump victory. sorry not a funny
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68 comments
If it fits in your pocket when its full it will fit in pocket when its empty. Take the rubbish home.
I cycle a lot. I use gels.
There is no need to litter
Venison is tastier than gel.
I eat gels...even when I'm not riding my bike....in fact I'm slurping down a SIS Green Apple one right now...inbetween my wagon wheels and pot noodle...stoopid deers....bwhahahahahaaahahahhhha
Anyway, about these deer...
Awfully sorry Captain Sensible, as you were.
Zip them up chaps, you'll have someone's eye out.
I hate litter bugs, but as some who took part in the Duathlon last sunday, I can confirm that there were plenty of warnings and signs about not dropping litter both in the pre-race info and around the course.
Inevitably a few are going to come out of people's pockets accidentally during the race and I know the organisers had litter pickers out. My wife worked at Richmond Park and it would have been an absolute condition of the licence that a post-race sweep be carried out. If FoRP set out to find gel packets on the course during the race then of course they are going to find them, but I suspect that they wouldn't find any after the race at all.
As for the 'I'm so 'ard I don't need gels' brigade, well good for you Mr superhuman, but for many people the Duathlon/ ultra-duathlon is a high intensity effort for several hours and refuelling is important. There is 15-30K of serious running involved, never mind just poncing about on your bike for a few hours
What time does the ultra-duathlon start in Richmond Park? Might give it a go, but all I see is folks cruising at about 28kph whenever I go. I tell a lie, the guy sitting on your wheel usually gives it the beans going down Sawyers.
The word "cyclist" doesn't even appear in the FRP press release. Move along.
Apart from...
I've never had a gel. What am I missing? I did 115km this morning with only a bottle of water. Should I have had a gel? I was pretty hungry when I got home, so I had a burrito for lunch. What does that mean?
It means you should consult a doctor immediately.
That you need to grow a pair?
Try this:
Get up on Saturday morning and go for an uninterrupted 120 mile ride in Zone 3 to Zone 4 with just your bottle of water.
People use fast absorbing carb sources for really good reason. You'll can tell us why when you're back on Sat.
why would I do that? That's just bad planning. I'd probably have a breakfast first, and take a banana.
Go on then. This saturday. Breakfast, take your banana, water and do a 100mile + ride at Z3 to 4.
Lets see your Strava when you're done. Seriously do it.
Not like it's a big deal, just go out on your bike on the weekend and record the ride with a heart rate monitor on, so no problem.
Can we count on you to ride your bike?
why are you so keen on me doing this? Are you employed by the Gel Defence Force? I never said they were bad guv'nor, just that I've never needed one.
If I had a 120 mile ride planned, I'd take some food. Your nonsense challenge is about as unrelated to my statement as it's possible to be.
Nonsense = Are you employed by the Gel Defence Force?
Sensible = asking someone who says they never needed a gel to go for a big ride to find out why.
Let me just spell out what the rest of us were thinking when we read your original comment. "This guy and his burritos thinks he's clever but just marked himself out as someone who doesn't do long threshold or tempo efforts and doesn't understand the basic science behind carb absorption/limits."
I wasn't keen on you doing it because you and your banana skin would be stuck in the middle of nowhere.
You wouldn't. He's just being an arse.
Even a top time triallist wouldn't ride 100 miles that way. Based on that post it makes me think that either he's being provocative or possibly doesn't even understand what the zones mean.
Yeah, why would anyone go for bike ride on a Saturday? Better to whine about people using gels on forums.
But he's not interesting, just a wise guy that got called out acting kewl.
So tell us, oh expert in heart rate zones, a top time trialist wouldn't ride between zones 3 to 4?
Now you're going to have to qualify that.
This ought to be good.
Nice try!
I'm not going have to qualify anything.
Since you seemed to be telling the previous poster what to do and in which zones to ride 120 miles I thought you must surely know it all, so there's no point me trying to help you. Blimey, I'd never claim to be an expert on anything, no-one would believe me if I did!
Read: you dug a hole you can't get out of.
oh unconstituted, you provocative arse, even top time-trialists don't ride 100 miles in zones 3 to 4, what are you talking about, you know nothing hurr durr
Knock 15 to 20% off your LTHR puts you squarely in between Z3 to Z4. Why would you ride in Zone 2? Or do you think a time trialist can ride 3 hours + at threshold ie Z4 and over? It wouldn't be called threshold then. HODOR.
Not sure who's more clueless, you or the guy who doesn't know what gels are for and is too scared to ride his bike.
Was it a sports nutrition burrito with added science?
Mar hinal gayans (said in a Spanish/Mexican accent)
A rank, lingering taste in the mouth.
Two other things:
It's a response to an awful lot of marketing gumpf and event sponsorship telling people what their nutritional strategy should be. Two minutes talking to your dentist should put most people off gels for good.
We've already done this one. The FORP are enemies of cycling in the park. This is more of their fact free propaganda designed to maintain a constant level of background "no" to any proposal that involves a use of the park that they don't agree with.
Among other things, is there any evidence that the deer the subject of the post mortem were killed by the litter in their stomachs? Any attempt made to separate causation from correlation?
The FORP are just as selfish as the people they complain about.
It would be interesting to see the evidence that cyclists are to blame, or it's just trash from the general public. That being said, there's no excuse for throwing gel wrappers on the floor.
SiS, High5 and the like market their gels and advise having 'one every 20 minutes' which is obviously quite retarded. Gels should be only for emergencies, not for a 20k cafe run.
Not unique to Richmond, or cycling, unfortunately. I've really enjoyed doing a few triathlons over the years, but there really are too many alpha-male-middle-manager-types trying to demonstrate they've 'still got it'. A £5k carbon tri bikes won't compensate for those extra 12kg around the waist and no amount of caffeine gels will provide the EPO-superpowers they crave.
Traveling around Europe, makes you realise the UK is a filthy, littered place to live. It has the unenviable title of being the grubbiest country in Europe, sad, but true.
The likes of Germany, Austria, Denmark and Norway are so clean, I am always so embarrased when I return home to see litter down the side of roads, in rivers, carparks and even around bins. How difficult is it put it in the bin properly.
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