Horse put down after it was scared by sportive riders

quite disgusting for any riders, in a sportive or otherwise, to totally disregard other road users' in this manner. Gives us all an even worse name than we already have ...

As a fairly reasonable standard rider I find horses probably the hardest things to go around on the roads.

I take the approach that speed isn't necessarily the issue, as long as I'm freewheeling past (no sudden stamping on the pedals) and give a very wide berth then I'm doing my duty of care to the rider as well as getting out of the way of anything coming the other way.

Slowing to a stop and then having to suddenly 'power up' if something comes the other way is surely far worse than a responsible, clean, ease off freewheel through.

British Horse Society guidance for Horse riders and cyclists is fairly readily available on the interwebs

http://www.bhs.org.uk/~/media/BHS/Files/PDF%20Documents/Safety%20leaflet...

Largely common sense, don't creep up in silence, call out, ask permission to pass, if in a large group split up, et cetera. All common sense around large animals that are highly strung and hard to control. Sadly a rare commodity for town dwellers who usually only otherwise encounter horses from within the safety of their tin box on wheels.

And far too many sportive riders/weekend warriors ride with the same mindset they use when they drive.

It seems to me that everyone is in the wrong here.

Sportives are basically BS. If you want to race, then race. Race entry is about half the price of sportive entry and although you need a race licence the cost all evens out over the course of a season. If you don't want to race and just want to ride for fun or to challenge yourself just get your bike out and go for a spin. Want to know how fast you are? Get a stopwatch. I just don't see the point of sportives apart from to make money for the organisers.

Horses are another issue. I encounter horses a lot whilst on the road in the area that I live. I'm always very considerate and 9 out of 10 times have no problems when I meet them on the road but sometimes they seem to get spooked very easily, moreso by bikes than cars. Too many times the rider seems to have less than full control of the animal and things start to feel dangerous. We all need to be considerate but when we start debating details such as whether to pedal or coast when we go past them we have to consider if the balance of responsibilty is really what it should be.

So what's the answer? Ban Sportives? You may as well, they're junk anyway and do nothing for the sport of cycling or the promotion of utility cycling. Ban horses from the road? This seems a bit heavy but maybe it would be good to see some standards established before horses and riders take to the road (maybe the same could be said of cyclists).

Sorry, I've gone a little off-topic here....

Having only ever ridden 1 sportive, my preference would be to just go out and ride. In their defence, I would say that they are a good way to discover new rides and regions but the timing business is nonsense as it turns it into a pseudo race and for some, they leave their brains in the car park when they set off. If you want to time it, use a stopwatch/garmin/strava.
When I punctured on the sportive, countless riders whizzed by asking if I had everything I need. Kind but not very genuine -imagine if I had said no ?! I had a similar experience later when I stopped to help someone with a broken chain.... all it tells me is that the culture of the sportive is not quite right.

On horses we should remember that they are vulnerable road users like ourselves. There are plenty of people who want the roads clear of cycles and and horses (something I do not endorse). The horse racing industry also employs quite a few people and sometimes horses have to be taken on roads -eg Epsom. All I can say is that extra special care should be taken around young stallions and kicks can be fatal.

There’re a fair few elitist comments in this thread. Fact is, arrogant idiots will rise to the top in any situation. Just because you have a ‘number pinned to your back’ and are in a road race doesn’t give you any more right to be a dickhead, and certainly I’ve seen some total dickheads in races (exactly the same comments levelled against these sportive riders applies to many freshly minted cat4s). Go to the time-trial forum and you can find similar discussions about ‘nutters’ cutting blind corners to save a few meters and a fraction of a second. The red-mist descends…

Sportives are not races, but they are timed, and often have time limits or threshold times/standards. Although many riders will be aiming just to finish, I can see why some entrants would be pushing themselves to their limit just like any other road race/TT, and good luck to them, so long as they aren’t a danger to others and show some consideration to those around them. Same applies to strava-junkies. Same applies to club chain-gangs. Same applies to you and your mates going for a thrash around local lanes. Same applies to everyone really

I find it funny how people elitism comes out with stories like this.

Everyone here wants people to cycle to reduce congestion and motorised road traffic but as interest in cycling increases (especially with sports cycling), all people here seem to do is moan about them.

The amount of bollocks being posted in this thread with elitist accusations backed with anecdotal evidence is astounding.

No-one here can comment on this story because the evidence is conflicting and even the woman whose horse was destroyed has contradicted herself. Until a more fuller report is posted (Im awaiting the organiser publishing the side given by the policeman that was taking part), all everyone is doing is spewing their prejudices.

How about some clear, mutually agreed guidelines for both horse riders and cyclists about how to share the road? As a cyclist in a rural area with no experience of horses except as other road users, I'd find this useful. Personally I take the approach of slowing down and making my presence known before passing slowly, but I've no idea if that's the best approach.

I also think that all organisers should issue sportive-specific guidelines on road use covering, for example, passing horses (in both directions), riding in large groups, etc. I know that will be teaching experienced riders to suck eggs (don't use that expression if speaking to a German, by the way), but many sportive riders don't have much experience of his sort of stuff and I bet we could all do with a bit of a reminder about good practice.

Quote:

If you can't ride a sportive [or a race] properly, don't ride one.

Thing is that they don't actually *know* they're doing anything wrong.

They've followed everyone else - taken their brains out - and there's a pack mentality that develops. Add to that the general lack of thinking required (everything signed, junctions marshalled, food provided) and you end up with head down hammer mode.
Try this little experiment - ask a Sportive rider where they've just ridden. Names of villages, landmarks etc. Bet you anything that they won't have a clue. Head down and hammer - no idea of where they've been, the scenery or anything. That's quite sad really.

More rider education is what's needed. Not necessarily the extra complications and costs of licences.

Well, if I wanted to something to provide confirmation bias for my prejudiced ideas as to the sort of person who does a sportive and the sort of riding that sportives encourage, this would probably be it.

How would cyclists feel if cars or motorbikes undertook an unlicensed race (yeah, yeah, ok, it's not a race, it's just timed and with awards for being faster, so it's definitely not a race, just so we're clear, not a race) on public roads of a weekend?

The problem is, like in all walks of life, you get some right numpties taking part who care little for anything else. You just have to look at this forum to see some of the comments directed at other users and cyclists to see that.

Mind the title is a little bit confusing, i had a picture in my mind of a rider slamming into a horse and giving it a heart attack.

In the end we all have a responsibility when using the roads and whilst vehicle drivers will say otherwise (the usual crap about excise licence, insurance etc etc) the more we, as cyclists, behave correctly the less people can complain.

These lycra-clad thugs are a menace to all... It's the same story on main roads... They have no respect for anyone or anything... Not even the law..
#MENACE

PS If it was a motorist who had caused this, it would never have reached the papers.

Cyclist dies on road. Everyone shrugs shoulders and says RIP.

Horse breaks leg and is put down by vet. ALL HELL IS LET LOOSE.

If only there was the same reaction when a cyclist is injured or killed.

Put a timing chip on anybody and they will try to go as fast as their little legs will take them. The worst part is, most new cyclists are keen to try this racing lark out if they have ever watched a professional race.

To echo earlier comments, I don't think this is what sportives should be about at all. They should be about meeting up with other cyclists, socialising, participating in a fun group ride over a challenging distance at your own pace, with the added benefits of signposting, support and sustenance provided by the host organisation.

Leave the timing chips to those who wish to obtain racing licences and enter certified events, and these sorts of unfortunate road rage stories will hopefully be a thing of the past.

as far as I can tell, we seem to have heard only one side of this sad story so far.

It does seem that a minority of participants in sportives are actually wanabee racers but simply don't have it. So they pay a lot of money to ride a sportive and then pretend they are "racing". A few years back I stopped to help out a lady cyclist who had simply run out of road in a small lane and was a bit shaken, only to have all kinds of grief from a group hammering round a blind bend. They had to brake and change course - oh dear! - morons. Luckily I knew the local roads and they were taking a roundabout signed route, guess what, we met about 40 minutes later at a "food stop", and had a little public chat about manners. Which I suspect did no good at all because they probably just thought "another old fart who knows nothing". They were all from a large and well known London (I think) based club, and did nothing to enhance the reputation.

I do think that sportives are races for the average rider, which is why I am quite happy to pay to enter closed road events and get ideal conditions. The idea of riding competitively; overtaking or taking turns and racing lines on open roads is crazy and asking for trouble. If it is on open roads I might as well just go for a Sunday morning ride on my own wherever I want to go and give horses a wide berth.

Presumably as this is an organised ride, carried out with insurance cover, and the riders caused the outcome - the destroying of a horse, there is a civil case likely to come from this, and consideration of whether a traffic offence of some kind has been committed, although it would be difficult to bring to courts as the individual riders cannot be identified.

Road racing requires a licence, but sportives and charity rides - can Road CC enlighten us? Most club rides are covered by club insurance, and CTC's cover was up to £5m last I checked, how much cover are sportive organisers required to carry?