Pub landlord apologises for anti-cyclist comments

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.

I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt as I'm skewed by pubs and beer.

Pint anyone? Bathurst Arms, Cotswolds. Make mine rhesus negative.

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.

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.....

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!

"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.

He's just shitting himself cos it will effect his crappy business. So the apology means nothing

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!

Free pints for cyclists - am up for that

Boycott his pub!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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!

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.

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.

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...

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.

He is sorry.... yep..... Sorry he got caught

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.

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