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Pub landlord apologises for anti-cyclist comments

"I have made a big mistake" says contrite publican...

A Cirencester pub landlord at the centre of a social media storm about anti-cyclist remarks on Facebook has apologised unreservedly for his comments.

James Walker of the Bathurst Arms says he had intended to highlight the risk he felt cyclists were taking while riding three abreast, after he encountered a group of riders on the A435.

But since then he has been targeted by angry cyclists who have called for a boycott of his pub and even threatened him and his family.

Among the comments Walker has received:

“Unbelievable a person with your callous and wreck less (sic) views on human life still exists.”

“I hope your restaurant burns to the ground with you in it and your 4 by 4 rolls in a ditch while cyclists laugh and then go on their merry way.”

“Hoping something very nasty happens to you and your family. Scum.” (From someone pretending to be Bradley Wiggins)

“C*NT”

“Unless you make amends, action will be taken against you.”

“I have contacted the police about you, you ignorant twat.”

Walker told road.cc that he later realised how bad his comments looked. He is an ultra-marathon runner, who has competed in the 150-mile Marathon des Sables.

“This was between me, a runner and some triathlon and cyclist friends. It wasn’t meant to be a cars versus cyclist thing,” he said.

In his original posting Walker wrote: “Cycling is for weak-kneed individuals who hide their lack of athletic ability behind thousands of pounds of hi tech gear. Your need for a low impact form of activity will be rudely negated when I smash my four by four into your rear tyre at sixty miles an hour on a surface paid for by me the motorist. The impact will be far from low I tell you. Buy some trainers and go for a run in the fields. Cycling is for the French, Belgians and Spanish. Leave it alone.”

Doesn’t sound good does it? But Walker explains that the cracks about weak knees and hi-tech gear were aimed at his friends, and the three-abreast riders were a group he’d encountered while out for a drive.

Walker saod that he had been doing 60 mph on the A435 when he came round a bend and there was a group of riders in front of him. He just slowed down and went round them, but it got him thinking how bad a crash would have been if someone were speeding along there and hit them.

A screenshot of his posting was copied to another Facebook group and spread rapidly from there.

Contrite

Walker comes across as genuinely contrite and deeply embarrassed.

“I am not anti-cyclist at all,” he said. “My best man is a cyclist and last night I even gave a cyclist a lift home because he was going to try and ride home without working lights.”

“I have made a big mistake and I have publically apologised on Facebook. I am also responding personally to everyone who is contacting me via email over the issue.

“I am taking this extremely seriously and am very regretful.”

And while the hostile comments he has received have not been any fun, “On the plus side, I have had a lot of pleasant correspondence with people who took the time to contact me properly and I am grateful for their more measured responses and genuinely admire the spirit of camaraderie that seems to exist in the world of cycling.”

Walker asked road.cc to publish this statement in full:

“The comments made on my private Facebook page were taken out of the closed circle for which they were intended by a third party and posted without my knowledge. I have the utmost respect for athletes of all disciplines and all road users.

“The anti cycling banter is between some cycling/triathlon friends with dodgy knees and me, an ultra runner. I met some of these guys doing the Marathon des Sables last year. I take athletic endeavour seriously. I stand ashamed and now corrected over the issue of road funding. I am sure that this ignorance annoys cyclists all the time. 

“Everyone has a right to use our roads and with that right comes a responsibility to use them safely whatever your preferred method of transport. 

“I know that there are those that will not forgive what has been written but I am very sorry for any upset that this has caused amongst the cycling community. It was never my intention. This was initially meant to be rival banter between runners and cyclists not cars and cyclists.

“I take full responsibility for what was written, just wish I had written it a little differently. A lesson in the power of social media learned. The hard way.”

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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50 comments

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Bez | 11 years ago
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On most rural roads it's not safe to squeeze a car past even one cyclist with oncoming traffic so for a *safe* overtake there shouldn't be any additional delay by riding n-abreast; though going more than two wide tends to make even the widest possible pass a bit close.

*Personally* I think riding in groups larger than about 3-4, tightly packed, is inconsiderate and it's best to leave a 50-60yd gap between groups of that size to allow passing. Trying to drive along the same country road as a sportive is infuriating.

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mingmong | 11 years ago
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I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt as I'm skewed by pubs and beer.  4

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rivitman | 11 years ago
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Pint anyone? Bathurst Arms, Cotswolds. Make mine rhesus negative.

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tired old fart | 11 years ago
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For some one who initially came across as anti-cyclist he really can do a good job of back peddling. I am not sure I take his apology seriously but i am not going to issue any death threat. I just wont go to his pub.

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arfa | 11 years ago
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Gordon Bennett ! He made a stupid comment and apologized. If we're to take him to task for anything it is the idea that driving around a blind bend sub 60mph is good driving then let's correct that (check the highway code). Otherwise he's just a bit of a plonker who had a moment of muppetry and apologized thereafter. All this "some of my best friends are cyclists" is getting a little bit embarrassing.....

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Jimbonic | 11 years ago
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And this is why this (comments on the odd forum like this, which I have to say I'm starting to reconsider) is as far as I go with social media!

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Posh | 11 years ago
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"Weak kneed"......You bet. I also used to run long distsnce, not the ultra marathons but 50 miles mountain marathons and orienteering. That was until my knees finally gave out after a history of injuries and abuse.............then I found cycling. Still get twinges but recovery time is much reduced. Don't knock cycling as a therapeutic excercise...............it's bloody marvelous.

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duc888 | 11 years ago
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He's just shitting himself cos it will effect his crappy business. So the apology means nothing

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step-hent | 11 years ago
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This is all a bit daft, isnt it? He made a tongue in cheek post to his mates (possibly in poor taste, but hardly threatening when seen in context), because they have a bit of competition as to which is hardest out of their respective sports. The sort of thing that, if it was said in the pub, would be taken as light banter and forgotten immediately. Unfortunately, he wrote it down instead, and one of his 'mates' put it up somewhere else. The the world went a bit bonkers.

Why? Because nobody saw the context. And that is the general issue with social media storms - they mostly result from people's comments being taken from their original context and published elsewhere. Sometimes the comments are horrifying even when in context - and sometimes not. But it's so difficult to judge without the context, there's no way of knowing. But people go nuts about it anyway.

Sometimes I just wish everyone would calm down. It's nice to see a measured report of it here, and many measured responses, but the fact it made the news just seems daft to me. The world would be a much nicer place if only everyone would stop being so oversensitive... But perhaps that makes me oversensitive too!

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bfslxo | 11 years ago
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Free pints for cyclists - am up for that  4

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craggie | 11 years ago
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Boycott his pub!

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farrell | 11 years ago
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His pub looks smart, I'll store that away as a place to visit if I'm in the area.

I find his comments distasteful, but they weren't aimed at me. If someone took comments I'd made to my mates I'd sound like a right hateful individual and some of the comments I've received from mates are, to put it very lightly, pretty caustic.

It could be the sort of people I associate with but we've never been shy to say stuff that is hugely offensive, but we only say it because we all know its not meaningful, there isn't any real intended offence or malice behind them. This could, and I think is, that sort of situation.

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mrmo replied to farrell | 11 years ago
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been there a few times, decent food IMO, big selection of wine.

As for the A435, seen cars facing the wrong way a couple of times where they screwed up the corners. Holes in hedges. Been on a bus that had to do a three point turn when the Police closed the road after someone impalled themselves on a branch. It is a very fast road with some VERY fast corners! it is much nicer than the new road (A417), much quieter but the cars do shift. riding two abreast while legal isn't very sensible, particularly around North Cerney/Rencombe where his pub is,
three abreast is illegal and is quite likely to end badly.

He has made a stupid comment granted, but most people do.

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Gkam84 | 11 years ago
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I wasn't going to comment on this as I didn't think it was worth my time. I just wanted to say, I agree with what Bez has said.

I see it day in day out on twitter, cyclists taking the moral high ground, searching the word "cyclist or cycling" and retweeting ANYTHING the do not agree with.

It could be as simple as "Got held up by a cyclist today, bloody annoying"

Yes it can be bloody annoying, so there is nothing wrong with saying it. But when these people retweet it, then some of their followers do reply with some amount of nasty stuff. There is NO need.

The Emma Way thing was different, she had actually done something. But most of these tweets are simple statements, without any malice or hate in them, they get a retweet from a known cyclists some of whom also posts youtube videos. BOOM, other cyclists get on their high horse and verbally attack.

This one came from this man's PRIVATE facebook, so that means, some arse has taken it and made it public. If I found someone posting my private facebook things around the internet, I would be kicking someone's arse. What's the point in having facebook private if someone makes it public for you.

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banzicyclist2 | 11 years ago
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I think the comments sent by some cyclits are shameful, and do nothing to further the cycling cause in the UK.

Everyone should take a bit of time to think before posting inflamatory comments that do nothing to help, just put cyclists in a bad light. We should not lower ourselves to the level of the Jeremy Clarkson cheer leading section of the motoring community.

Marathon running vs cycling? ?........... each to their own I think.  39

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Bez | 11 years ago
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Ok, here's an idea. A bit of googling shows that James ran the Marathon des Sables to raise money for Hope for Tomorrow, a mobile chemotherapy charity. Here's his JustGiving page:

http://www.justgiving.com/mds2012hope

But it's expired, so... I made another one:

http://www.justgiving.com/the-anti-witch-hunt-thing

I'm sticking some money in as a gesture to offset the hatred from the people who fired off shitty, ill-considered, vengeful and spiteful comments with absolutely no attempt to improve anything for anyone.

If you're sick of the witch hunts then why not do likewise? Hell, if you sent in a shitty, ill-considered, vengeful or spiteful comment then why not do the same and reflect on it? James gets nothing from it, cyclists get nothing from it, it's a cancer charity and victims of cancer that win from this.

And to anyone who's purely into hating the haters, even the ones who don't hate, and won't lift their wallet to hate cancer - well, that's your lookout.

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crazy-legs | 11 years ago
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What Bez says ^^ +1000000.

We really really don't help the cause sometimes. Yes, he said something stupid to his mates (one of whom then went and posted the private comment publically).

But the response - the abuse and death threats - went WAY too far.

I'm impressed by the publican's actions actually in holding his hands up to his mistake and inviting open debate and email. To be honest, if I was in his shoes I think I would actually be aiming for cyclists cos it's clear from the responses that a very high percentage of them are self-righteous wankers. To all those who replied wishing harm on the landlord and his family rather than engaging in constructive debate and education - thanks for increasing the anti-cyclist sentiment out there on the roads.  2

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Bez | 11 years ago
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The witch hunts depress me. The vitriol of the individual comments and veiled threats, the pack mentality of the attack. People attacking not from any moral high ground, nor with any dignity or reason, but flinging their own rancid shit from a moral pit at least as deep as one from which the original messages, such as they interpret them, come.

No-one is free to make a joke or post with irony about cyclists anymore, no-one is given the grace to retract their words whether they were formed through malice or not. There are many cyclists who go on these attacks with no intention whatsoever to seek to change anyone's mind or to achieve a positive outcome, but purely as some form of inevitably escalating mutual hatred and destruction: We Do Not Negotiate With Terrorists.

Yes, we are all mortally vulnerable on the road. Yes, hate speech exists and must be addressed. Yes, it's clear why people feel anger at these comments. But if you do not believe in tasteless jokes, if you do not believe in leopards changing their spots, if you do not believe in constructive argument, then I am not with you and the interests of anyone who cycles on the road are not with you. Take your incendiary, counter-productive fury away from a discussion that affects the risks we all face daily.

I am grateful and impressed that in the face of the responses given above, it was the person who made the original post that put out the flames, because a bunch of idiot cyclists did a proper job of throwing petrol on it.

Cyclists as petrolheads. Who knew?

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Leviathan replied to Bez | 11 years ago
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Quote:

Cycling is for the French, Belgians and Spanish. Leave it alone.

*Checks the Olympics medal table* NOPE!

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Squiggle | 11 years ago
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Good God I cannot believe there are so many people who just don't get sporting banter! It's a form of respect between athletes, I'm sure his tri and cycling mates give him just as much abuse. It's not hateful, it's friendly mocking! The only thing that went wrong was that some tit in the inner circle didn't get it (like many of the ridiculous replies above) and decided to make it public. What a complete fool that person must be!  14

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gazza_d | 11 years ago
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regardless of the guy being an ultra marathon runner, joking even to friends about mowing people down is simply not funny.

Anyone who thinks it is has some issues somewhere.

Responding with the same level of hate is as bad though.

Best thing to do is to organise a flashride to the pub & ask for a free pint each as an apology.

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Squiggle replied to gazza_d | 11 years ago
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gazza_d wrote:

regardless of the guy being an ultra marathon runner, joking even to friends about mowing people down is simply not funny.

You do understand the difference between low and high impact sports right???? It's a play on the different meanings between the low impact of cycling and the high impact of running. He's saying that the high impact of cycling would involve being hit by a car... get it????

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Bez replied to gazza_d | 11 years ago
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gazza_d wrote:

joking even to friends about mowing people down is simply not funny. Anyone who thinks it is has some issues somewhere.

Or simply has different friends with different shared experiences and a different sense of humour to you.

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Tony Farrelly | 11 years ago
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It would be laughable if it wasn't so sad that so many people react to a perceived anti-cyslist 'hate' comment with a load more hate without seeming to see the irony of their response. The double irony here is that their hate would appear to be genuine while the pub landlord's was not. As John who actually spoke to him says above if he isn't sorry he's wasting his acting talent behind the bar.

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maryka | 11 years ago
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Screenshot showed his Facebook comment was public (that's what the little earth logo beside the post means).

http://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/resources/images/2541322.jpg?type=art...

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moonbucket | 11 years ago
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Silly sod. The elitist rant regarding his athletic ego fair enough but the daft crap about squishing cyclists and paying for the roads. Especially as a runner he's vulnerable, surely, when out on country roads putting the miles in.

However, he's recanted and hopefully means it.

It's unfortunate that the responses from (some) cyclists were so base - it just gives ammunition to the I-pay-for-the-road motorists.

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SideBurn | 11 years ago
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He is sorry.... yep..... Sorry he got caught

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pwake | 11 years ago
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BBB - thanks for the psychoanalysis.
Shanefutcher - Can you be publicly sorry until you're 'found out'? I hope your comment isn't misinterpreted...
Pepita1 - I'm sure you've never made a thoughtless comment, especially among friends.

Knowing the back story to his, somewhat misguided, comments, this guy does have a point; we all need to act responsibly and keep ourselves safe, when I lived on the UK I used to ride on the A435 regularly; it's not a road I would ride even two abreast on, certainly not three.

There's a strange, worryingly self-righteous mentality in many comments here, but I guess that's the anonymity of the web for you.

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pepita1 replied to pwake | 11 years ago
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pwake wrote:

BBB - thanks for the psychoanalysis.
Shanefutcher - Can you be publicly sorry until you're 'found out'? I hope your comment isn't misinterpreted...
Pepita1 - I'm sure you've never made a thoughtless comment, especially among friends.

Knowing the back story to his, somewhat misguided, comments, this guy does have a point; we all need to act responsibly and keep ourselves safe, when I lived on the UK I used to ride on the A435 regularly; it's not a road I would ride even two abreast on, certainly not three.

There's a strange, worryingly self-righteous mentality in many comments here, but I guess that's the anonymity of the web for you.

PWake: I was one of two cyclists who was run down by a car driver. I'm here to respond the other cyclist is dead. So I think I get to say something about Mr Walker's thoughtless remarks and not be labeled as having a "self-righteous" mentality as you suggest. And just so it's clear to you, we were following the rules of the road, in single file and as close to edge of the road as possible.

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spen | 11 years ago
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Yes, it might have been meant to be funny but in the past few years too many people have died for "Your need for a low impact form of activity will be rudely negated when I smash my four by four into your rear tyre at sixty miles an hour on a surface paid for by me the motorist. The impact will be far from low I tell you." to be remotely funny  14

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