When the problem is at the side of the road

[Armchair Cyclist]

At @Netserk 's suggestion, a thread to discuss issues arising from roadside spectators (and when they fail to stay on the roadside. Protestors or puppy-walkers; Selfie-takers and sleep-walkers. Hopefully sometimes it can be light-hearted, I suspect that in the light of stage 11 of the 2025 Vuelta (the day before the thread was started: look it up if you come to this thread in several years time) it will start very seriously.

And in relation to that, as moderator I must remind you and insist: no politics here. This is where we can talk about fears for riders, inconvenience to fans, implications of incidents for future cycling events, incompetence (and who knows, maybe even efficient competence) of race organisers and security staff: it is not a place to discuss issues that lie far beyond cycling as to their cause or where the solution is to be found. This thread will be watched, and no politics allowed.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

A couple of messages that didn't really belong in the moderation thread to get you started

The fact that I both missed todays stage and the discussion here makes me relieved. I first saw it on the cycling escapist discord chat.

I would like to say something as an actual cycling noob, and by that I mean as the one I was before I watched race after race after race. Please don't kill me as I do not want to provoke anyone, I'm merely trying to help.

I'm not sure that everyone that gets endangers a peleton knows what a peleton is and how it works. This is not about protests, but rather about Opa Omi and similar cases. What I mean is; to understand the danger of disrupting a peleton one has to understand at least a tad about either physics or cycling. For example; a noob (not me but an actual nobody) will still know that it's not wise to step in front of a bicycle, but they might not know the force of 30 or 100+ bicycles and the domino effects regarding a crash. They also might not anticipate the spead.

I'm not talking about Belgians here or any other nation where there's a lot of cycling races. I'm talking about the understandings of a noob visiting a race as it's a happening in ones city and having no idea what a race is. For them it might just be another spectacle.

When I started watching races I had no idea how on earth it could be allowed to run along cyclists on a climb, I was absolutely shocked about it. But that the tiniest thing can crash a peleton; I don't think people are aware of that. They might think the cyclists could hit the breaks or something. What I mean is I'm not alone in having once been a complete noob.

So if you want people not to disturb a race for whatever reason one also might need to educate people about how dangerous and unsafe cyclists are; both about the dangers to the person getting in the way of the peleton but also about the domino effects, the speed, how long it takes for a bike to stop if one hits the break in 45 km/h etc etc etc.

So I'm suggesting there might also be an educating problem with the public. I think a show like Unchained did wonders for people to understand the sport. It's really sad that it got canceled.

There was a "respect the Riders" publicity campaign to coincide with the Tour: was it done quickly after the Opa Omi incident or for the following year? I've no idea how successful it was in reaching the people who needed to be told: I suspect those who should have paid attention all thought it was good advice to people who weren't them.

But this really belongs in @Netserk's "The problem is on the roadside" thread: I'll move them when he gets around to starting it.