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Pedal for Scotland advice

(120 posts)
  • Started 9 years ago by Greenroofer
  • Latest reply from paddyirish
  • This topic is resolved

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  1. jdanielp
    Member

    Nice to meet you Arellcat and to experience the ominous rumble of the red torpedo approaching from behind (I had assumed that I was about to be overtaken by another bus).

    I thoroughly enjoyed today's cycle, despite concerns about consigning my Charge Grater to a TNT articulated lorry to begin with (necessary perhaps, but unfortunate in terms of green credentials/cycle friendliness) and stress about the number of cyclists squeezing along 'interesting' roads (or somewhat less than single lanes along various stretches). The route was quite lovely in places in terms of views and surfacing, and I was feeling increasingly on form after I stripped off my long outer layers at the first rest stop, at least until the lunch stop at Linlithgow. I was pushing harder than most up the hills which was very satisfying. I perhaps ate a little much for lunch and then struggled to get into quite the same rhythm again thereafter, starting to flag noticeably on the final stretch through Edinburgh, but I did catch up with my friend who vanished away early on while I was limited by my hub gear on long, fast bits.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  2. fimm
    Member

    Congratulations to all, especially mini-Greenroofer and mini-SRD.

    Tacks on the road? That's appalling. How would the person have felt if a child had come off as a result?

    A (triathlon) club-mate of mine lives in Barnton and apparently had some problems getting home on Sunday (I do not know where she'd been) because of the road closures.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  3. deckard112
    Member

    I took part in the 110 mile ride yesterday and had a great day (weather was perfect!) although there are a couple of gripes. Whilst the direction signs were fine, there wasn't a single other information sign warning of steep decsents or dangerous junctions which I would expect and have seen in every other event I've taken part in. My ride was delayed helping a guy who took a corner took quickly, waited for 40 mins whilst an ambulance arrived. Whilst it was his own fault to an extent I can't help think that 'Slow Down' signs might have helped (very common on the Etape for example). I also didn't see a single marshall on the whole route which there has been in previous years. There are a few steep decsents on that route, several of which end at T Junctions.

    Oh...and no medal. Ony a certificate like the one my 8yo got for swimming 10 lengths. (Ok, a minor one but I like collecting medals! :D )

    Posted 8 years ago #
  4. SRD
    Moderator

    my 8yo was very disappointed not to have a medal

    (I thought it was a bit excessive to have medals for all last year (including those of us who rode a tiny circuit of about 2 miles)

    MrSRD said that the marshalling on the 53mile route was much better this year than last.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  5. Arellcat
    Moderator

    I think the medal idea is much more valuable to those for whom 47 miles is an enormous undertaking.

    At Linlithgow Palace I chatted to a mileage monster guy who said that the ride for him was 'just playing' - he hadn't yet even drunk any water from his bottle! I daresay a medal would languish in a drawer. In fairness, I think he was accompanying his OH for whom the ride was a big deal.

    I made sure to give nods/waves of appreciation to all of the Police who were controlling the junctions. With one exception they all did a great job.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  6. gembo
    Member

    @srd check at water of leith visitor centre to see if any medals left for doing all the brass rubbings from balerno to shore place. It is a great medal (two rubbings nicked now, the first at roseburn within seconds)

    Shouted my congrats at greenroofer today and well done to everyone else.

    If someone is starting out on road cycling and they had a day like yesterday that is them hooked for life.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  7. Neil
    Member

    I think I was probably the slowest person there on any downhills with even a hint of a corner :P

    I had a great day, my first event like this, and I was pleasantly surprised when I saw my chip time to have done better than I'd hoped for. The surprise feed station before the worst climb was a highlight - old ladies waiting in the middle of nowhere with cupcakes and traybakes.

    There was a guy standing mid-way up the worst climb, at the corner before the final climb to the top. I thought he was a marshall, although he was slightly odd- it was hard to tell whether he was mocking, taunting or encouraging. He may have just been a local, like the wee kids shouting good luck at the bottom of the hill.

    There were signs warning of loose surfaces and I'm sure I saw one warning of a steep descent- in fact I'm pretty sure there was one at the start of the descent where the guy crashed (I passed after it had happened- hope he was ok!)

    Posted 8 years ago #
  8. gembo
    Member

    @arellcat, we had one police officer getting very slightly stroppy with us. She was policing a busy Linlithgow junction and we were declining to follow her signal,,as we pointed out we were not doing the route. However, further explanation produced good humour and I thanked her for her good offices.

    Earlier before we gatecrashed the event, I was asked in blackridge Can ye dae a wheelie? Be a wee malkie on his bike. I love it when they ask you that. My riding mate from norn Irn had no idea what he was saying.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  9. fimm
    Member

    Re: medals: I'm very slightly sad that I don't have any souvenir from my first triathlon. However these days I do similar events and am very happy to pay less and not get yet another medal for finishing a sprint tri! We have a big pile of "medals that don't mean very much but we can't quite bring ourselves to throw away"...

    However, both boyfriend and I also have a smaller collection of medals/other finisher's things which do mean something...

    Posted 8 years ago #
  10. nevelbell
    Member

    PFS2015 was my wife's 1st mass cycling participation event, which she had been training hard for and was disappointed she didn't get a medal. During the ride she had a nasty spill with another cyclist which wasn't her fault (I thought there wasn't enough room on the roads for the volume of cycling traffic, but that's another story) and my encouragement to get her to the finish line was that she would get something at the end to say 'I got through this'.

    I hope they get a new sponsor for next year and provide some 'iron' for the finishers.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  11. deckard112
    Member

    @Smashfacethecat - the guy got up after a while and was sitting on the back bumper of van driven by a kind farmer who'd stopped to help. We left when the ambulance arrived but I got speaking to someone at the next food stop who told us he got back on his bike! Not clever imho as his faced was smashed up pretty bad and he was complaining of diffuclty breathing. I did leave him with my ageing Castelli water jacket though (I'd put it over him when he was on the deck), which by the time I'd left was coated with his blood. Interesting you said you saw warning signs though, I didn't see them at all (badly positioned?)

    Posted 8 years ago #
  12. Neil
    Member

    Someone said his face was pretty tore up and he looked as though he was in shock. If you have his number you could search for it on mybibnumber once the photos are up ;-) :P Might be an "interesting" photo after the crash...

    I may have been particularly tuned in to warning signs after almost crashing at a corner last weekend due to misjudging my speed going downhill ;-) I guess being overcautious only hurts my avg speed but I felt like I had taken a few steps backward in my confidence cornering at any sort of speed... Ah well, only been road biking for 3/4 months :P

    The loose surface warning sign I'm sure of, the steep descent warning I'm not.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  13. Neil
    Member

    Shame to hear about the apparent tack sabotage on the classic challenge route. It seems that this sort of thing is sadly increasingly common at these sort of events?

    Anyone know if the police are investigating this? Pretty bad considering it could have led to someone being seriously hurt and especially with the number of children taking part.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  14. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Pictures available by searching on rider number, location and time:

    http://www.digitaldownloads.prodarkroom.com/index.php?page=c-event&eid=122&topN&bottom=N

    I'm in there, thereby proving that deviant bikes sometimes aren't invisible after all.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  15. SRD
    Moderator

  16. Neil
    Member

    The sort of scum that would do something like this are bound to have boasted about it to someone.

    What could they be charged with?

    Posted 8 years ago #
  17. neddie
    Member

    Attempted murder

    Posted 8 years ago #
  18. Min
    Member

    Outrageous that this just keeps happening. :-(

    Posted 8 years ago #
  19. Neil
    Member

    Yes, a quick Google search turns up a dissapointing number of similar stories. But, this was not a Sportive, this was a family charity event with children taking part! Has there been a case where the person responsible was caught (and charged?)?

    Is there anything worthwhile that can be done to help e.g. pressure the police?

    Posted 8 years ago #
  20. Ed1
    Member

    It does not sound like they have pinned down a culprit yet for this very tacky offense.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  21. neddie
    Member

    I'm pretty sure is very rare for anyone to lay down tacks/nails on a motorway. This is because the Police would take nails on a motorway extremely seriously. They would almost certainly put a lot of resources into tracking down the culprit, prosecuting and applying a stiff penalty (possibly jail).

    Yet the Police see this as "only" a cycle event. And cyclists are not humans in the Police eyes anyway. So why should the Police bother?

    Posted 8 years ago #
  22. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Has there been a case where the person responsible was caught (and charged?)?

    the Etape Caledonia in 2009 was one of the first "big news" events sabotaged by tacks. The police identified and apprehended a suspect, a local community councilor / church elder / retired solicitor / pillar of the community who didn't like the idea of "his" road being closed for a few hours. The crown unexpectedly and without explanation dropped the case against him and it never went any further.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  23. gembo
    Member

    @kaputnik, that chap did spend the weekend in police custody I understand.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  24. Neil
    Member

    Even if he did it's still a dissapointingly lenient precedent.

    Has there been a tack incident at an event involving children before though?

    Posted 8 years ago #
  25. gembo
    Member

    @smashfacethecat, true very lenient and of course not efen a sentence as such. Put his gas at a low peep I heard.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  26. jdanielp
    Member

    Here I am (7207):

    Posted 8 years ago #
  27. chrisfl
    Member

    Think the Etape Caledonia might have been a case of everyone knowing exactly who did it, but actually very little in the way of evidence. In which case a weekend in custody is better than nothing.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  28. Neil
    Member

    What would be sufficient evidence? An eyewitness? Someone they had boasted to dropping them in it?

    Posted 8 years ago #
  29. gembo
    Member

    Lot of receipts for carpet tacks? No sign of the tacks, or any carpets very firmly nailed down.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  30. paddyirish
    Member

    some muppetry here.

    The comment at 13:13 is the perfect riposte...

    Posted 8 years ago #

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