New Forest sportive organiser responds to threatened crackdown

Just seen the latest local story as highlighted by Joeinpoole. Beyond fiction. Drop your bibs in the middle of a village green for a pony and trap? I don't think so.

Personally, I can see the argument for both sides. However, comments like...

Mr Thornber said the New Forest was the jewel in Hampshire’s crown: “We will share it, but it must be on our terms.”

...certainly don't help the cause from the anti-sportive or anti-organised large cycling event side.

I believe Mr Thornber will find that The New Forest is not owned by him or any of his colleagues. It belongs to commoners - myself included, and is CARED for by New Forest National Park Authority. So, I may just exercise my rights, buy a few donkeys and graze them in front of Mr Thornbers house - but that's probably in London.

It gets worse. Now there are claims that 'Lycra Louts' are having a dump on the village green;

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/10812525.Cyclists_used_New_Forest_...

I'm fortunate enough live on the edge of the New Forest and in the past have taken part in local sportives before. As a local cyclist I can pretty much guarantee being shouted out, horned, cut up by some motorist (most typically an older resident or a working 4x4 driver) on every ride either on my own or out with the local club. I believe that most of this anger is being fuelled by comments from individuals like Mr Ken Thornber (who's only interest is making sure he gets re-elected by making sure he appeals to his local electorate in Brokenhurst which is prime New Forest nimby territory), the media (local press stirring things up otherwise they only have cats stuck up trees to report about) based on the bad behaviour of a minority of sportive riders.

Littering is not restricted to cyclist and I've seen beer cans, soft drink bottles, fast food wrappers careless discarded at the side of the road around the Forest. But some riders certainly don't help by discarding items such as gel wrappers and old tubes. The difference between other rubbish is these can be traced back to "a cyclist" tarring us all with the same brush. A few months ago I stopped to pick up a couple of discarded tubes and then put them in a bin which was only a 100m down the road - why couldn't the originator of this rubbish done the same? For gels UK cycling events are encouraging riders to take empty wrappers back to the HQ where they can be swapped for replacements, so these guys are trying to come up with solutions to stopping this littering.

At the end of the day it comes down to riders getting it into their heads that they're not racing, they're not in the TdF, they're not on closed roads. If you want to race do it properly, get yourself a BC licence and find proper races via the BC calender.

So mob rule and sabotage works.

Sportive bandwagon is way out of control, with organisers generally motivated by money, not much else, definitely not grass roots cycling or the support of locals, no matter how vituperative the locals might be. Knowing what a 30 rider club run looks like, 3000 is excessive. Even 500 is excessive.

The level of disruption caused by actual races is not comparable. 6am time trial on Sunday? Not even the racers realise it's happening. Rolling escorted spectacle of a 27mph road race peloton of 100 riders with many wearing colours of local established clubs vs dribbling 7 hour parade of choppers with bad bike handling and a self righteous attitude and not a local club jersey in sight, which in its unlicensed bullying swagger caused the cancellation of the local memorial road race anyway.

Licensing. Fewer events, fewer riders.

No such hostility on Hell of Hexham do that one instead.

Neil753

Yes I agree with you, it is all a bit too adversarial.

From the comments above of the Wiggle Sportif organisers they are making some changes to improve the event (for riders and locals).

However it does seem that the New Forest has a small, but well organised, group of 'anti-cycling' protesters who are really stirring up the ill feeling. And raising concerns and issues that just don't exist such as danger to animals.

They probably are, but we could all learn to share.

It is no wonder people are irritated though is it?

I am only assuming that the figures are similar in the New Forest, as mentioned above we need to learn to share the resources we have.

Sounds like the usual arguments put up by 'inconvenienced motorists' who feel they are being deprived of their God given right to continue driving in a way that results in 'only 82 animal deaths', supposedly a record low. How many animal deaths have been caused by the lethal cyclists I'd wonder?

Usual case of one rule for the protected motorists and one rule for the vicious cyclists. As for the 'we'll share it on our terms' nonsense proof alone as to the type of over blown sense of entitlement some people have on the roads.

How about banning general motoring in the national parks all together?

We could create one safe zone in the entire country where anyone can go cycling in complete safety. Oh, to have the luxury of simply going cycling without the fear of being killed by a speeding 4x4 driven by an orange lady updating her Facebook page.

Isn't is dire that there are no motorist free roads of any length for cycling in the entire country? Can't all local councils surrender lesser used rural roads to create a large patchwork of cycle routes across the UK?

Unfortunately most of these have occurred I would assume on Saturday and Sunday when families want to spend some time together and possibly go out.

Is that so selfish when the parents are at work Monday to Friday?

I know you don't want to see this but in Surrey there have been so far in 2013;

191 Time Trials
46 Road Races
70 Sportiv Events
9 Triathlons
(Source Surrey Police)

That is heading towards one event per day

Cycling (and other) large scale events are already registered and monitored in the New Forest.

The New Forest Safety Advisory Group (run by New Forest District Council) consults with all large event organisers.

http://www.newforest.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=8426

The Wiggle Off-Road Sportif in December is shown on the forthcoming events list.

Ken Thornber is a Conservative Councillor for Brockenhurst.

Most of the large sportif rides are based at Brockenhurst.

As far as I can tell, there are only a few large sportif events in the New Forest.

The Wiggle Spring Sportif (2 day)
The New Forest Rattler (1 day)
The Wiggle Autumn Sportif (2 day)

So there are only 5 days in the year that a Sportif ride might cause some level of disruption.

The Wiggle events attract about 3000 riders per day, and the Rattler around 1000 riders.

There are some other much smaller sportif and charity rides.

So all told, there are about 15000 sportif cyclists per year visiting the New Forest.

The New Forest has 13.5 Million visitor days per year. So even if each Sportif rider came for 4 visitor days it would be less than 0.5% of all visitors.

http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk/learningabout/whatisanationalpark/factsa...

The majority of visitors arrive by car. (So that is a lot of cars).

There is no evidence that cyclists are causing a significant nuisance or danger to other users and animals.

What is happening the New Forest is that a very small, but influential, group of residents are trying every possible route to restrict cycling events.

The last effort was via car parking permits at the showground. Now they are trying to pull the political strings in the (wrong) council.

They can never actually produce any evidence to support their claims, just turn out the same tired statements, "3 abreast", "high Speed", "danger to animals", etc, etc.

Good point Neil753.
I intended to do sportive every month this year but some costing £40 for a banana on a 60mile ride is ridiculous. Making a few quid is one thing but paying someone of a timing chip and a broom wagon is out of odds for me now.
Joint the audax rides at a fraction of the cost and the challenge is still there along with the added benefits of a Brevet too.

Some valid points above to which I will now add my own. I have lived in the New Forest for all of my life and therefore have ridden the roads and forest tracks for many years. I have competed in a couple of the new Forest Wiggle Sportives, and although well organised, I cannot help but think that the shear volume of riders on the narrow Forest roads are going to annoy many residents living along the routes used. Drivers become irritated and bad tempered when trying to negotiate and overtake many riders – and riders become impatient with slow vehicles and those that pass too close (due to the road widths) so it really is a recipe for disaster.

Yes, you can say that everyone should respect each other and show consideration to other road users, but when there are so many riders using the same routes in high Summer (usually) then tempers are bound to fray. But what really annoys me is the fact that horse riders tend to use these roads too although they have unlimited access to ALL of the forest - so why aren't they off-road using the bridleways? I've given up on these Sportives now as it does seem to have gotten out-of-hand and I personally think that they are giving cyclists a bad name.

I think part f the reason that sportive riders can be inconsiderate is that many are not used to riding in groups, and often fnd themselves riding near a group but not in the group. If they aren't regularly on club runs etc, then the ettiquete and other knowledge is, in some cases, lacking. Organisers should be more explicit in instructions before the start and advise people to be considerate, such as not riding 3 a breast - which whilst legal can make it hard for other vehicles to pass.
I wouldn't do a sportive in the New Forest because of the attitude to the 'locals' but that probably is just what they would want.

"“Every event would have to be licensed, which would enable us to insist that there’s a limit on the number of cyclists taking part, plus more stewards and a greater number of police to police it,” he said."

All added to the cost of the sportives themselves of course!
Guess we will end up voting with our wheels and letting the horse riders and locals have their way and cycle elsewhere. Plenty do sportives in Dorset, Wiltshire etc. leave the locals to their cream teas.

I'm not a fan of the well heeled horse owning Nimbys in the New Forest, but Tony Hockley, chairman of New Forest Equestrian Association, has a point when he says,“Just crossing the road is extremely difficult if the cyclists won’t give way, which most of them don’t.”

I came across a woman trying to get her mother (who was in a wheelchair) across a road during last year's London to Brighton ride. She told me she had been trying for 15 minutes. When I stopped the stream of riders, so she could get across, I was met with the nastiest of reponses from just about every cyclist, and some of them looked like they were club riders.

Sportives do much to encourage cycling but, with human nature being what it is, in the euphoria of organised events, we must be careful not to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

You need one big event, once per year, in each area, perhaps even as big as the London to Brighton, on closed roads (wouldn't you all prefer riding on closed roads, with massive pelotons, police outriders, people cheering as you go by) but once only. And ALL profits should go to a local cause (like filling potholes on the route, for instance), not private organisers who will take your cash and disappear up the motorway. Endless events in popular areas, where (apart from a few cafes) there is no benefit to the local comunity, interupting local businesses, and leaving a river of gel wrappers for wildlife to eat, is not the best way to improve relations with drivers, and will surely precipitate us into a whole heap of red tape quite soon I suspect.

I just read that 31 New Forest ponies have died so far this year. From eating acorns! But of course the horses in question here are the ones being ridden by folk who would prefer the roads were reserved for them. A certain percentage of horse riders seem upset that anyone else disturb their isolation, whether it be a car or bike or rambler.

That being said, almost any "mass" cycle ride is a disturbance and IS competitive. Unless no men are allowed, there will be silly little races riding five-abreast trying to overtake on a blind corner. That's because there are a lot of stupidly competitive men out there, and some of them ride bicycles.

I agree that events (basically, ALL events) should be regulated to mimimise impact on nature and other users. Ideally, sections could be closed off for scheduled events or at least use moderated so that anyone entering a specific area knows an "event" is occurring, which would have priority at that time.

To be honest, there's a lot that cyclists could do to be less of a pain on large sportives. For instance riding 3 abreast on a main road where it's difficult to overtake - that kind of riding must really tick off local people trying to get somewhere. I don't see that it's a massive change to riders and it is part of the Highway Code as well to be considerate.

Many ponies dying on the New Forest through eating acorns at the moment, owners won't take them off the forest and very few pigs released onto the forest this year, which is supposed to be the solution. Animal welfare does not seem very high on commoners' priorities, which leads to the question of whether free-roaming horses can be justified. The New Forest was established as a royal hunting park, not a playground for people playing farmers.