Ride London 100 litter: 96 gel wrappers found in 600m in Richmond Park

Littering is awful and I'd vote for culling the wrong doers.

But we are talking about the tops of the gels - It is easy for those to be dropped as you ride along.

We need to put pressure on the gel manufacturers to stop making them this way. I know SOME gels come with a catch strip - so even when the strip is ripped off - the top is held captive.

If we all used those gels - everyone would change.

Clif Shots - those are the ones.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=aps&field-keyw...

Mmmmm, I have said this before but there are too many people who would normally be driving a motor vehicle now riding bikes ! After all just look at any roadside verge and you will see large amounts of litter, not to mention the fly tipping, tyres old furniture you name it I have seen it. The problem is of course not cyclists or motorists who litter, but people who litter.

Tour of the Borders made the decision not to supply gels at the feed stops. They did also warn entrants that littering was unacceptable. And, apparently, according to their clean up crew there was very little rubbish to pick up.

I appreciate that the occasional accident will happen (probably done it myself) but surely those of us who enjoy getting out and about in the country should try to leave it as we found it. If not better!

While 3 article does say it was just the rip off tops to gels which were found and there's a good chance that there are 50 of them dumped in RP every weekend (unfortunately) so may not have been RideLondon litter and I seriously doubt that these are going to kill deer it's still pretty simple. DON'T F*****G LITTER.

No need to drop anything at all, if you can bring it with you, you can carry it home.
I used Gels at the feed stops and binned the wrapper then used Clif blocks on the bike which have one big wrapper that stayed in the bag on the cross bar.

If you want to see what unintended consequences non-biodegradable litter can have on wildlife then watch this video. If everyone did so, I think people might have a bit more respect for the environment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wH878t78bw

Back pockets are home for my used gels. You take it out, put the empties back in. How difficult it is.

It comes out of a pocket, so return the empty wrapper etc to the pocket. Those small tabs can even be tucked under the leg of your shorts.

I went via Box Hill a couple of days after the event and the number of discarded wrappers was a disgrace. Fortunately Leith Hill seemed to have escaped the littering from what I could see.

I agree the litter is disgusting, but aren't energy gel manufacturers capable of selling their products in biodegradable containers just for these kinds of events?

When I did the Manchester marathon, there were areas of pavement where people were chucking their drinks, just after the feed stations. Easy to clean up, but that didn't stop one stupid woman in front of me pitching her bottle clear into the park over a big fence, in the undergrowth. I almost booted her up the arse.

Hang on, we're not talking about empty gel packets here, if I understand correctly.

We're actually talking about the couple of mm strips at the top which people will usually rip off with their teeth and spit away, because they're so small and tiny.

96 of them, from the 25,000 riders who passed through, or 0.4%. And it's entirely possible, given the size and location, some of them were there before the ride.

I would be surprised if that was any more than the normal litter residue of a sunny weekend in Richmond Park.

I also call bullshit on the idea that a bloody great deer is going to be affected by a few millimetres of foil, unless a particularly odd specimen went around hoovering them up.

Are these people are yet another NIMBY group trying to ban anything that they don't do.

I would volunteer to help clean up, if that were organised.

On RideLondon this year, on the approach to Rich' Park, I saw someone purposefully screw up a gel wrapper and throw it at the pavement. I was quite surprised, and yelled at him for it (I won't repeat, it was a blunt message).

I've never seen that from the any of the regular cyclists that use the Park. If RideLondon had a system for it, I'd quite happily report his number.

I also saw quite a few tubes discarded in the road, out in the Surrey Hills. Some people!

Extreme littering seems to be a problem with a number of mass start sports events, especially when consumable freebies are involved. RideLondon did already launch a campaign with lovely Boardman (http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/sport/other-sport/cycling/chris-boardman-back...), which possibly makes it even more despiriting that it was still a massive issue this year.

The only ways of trying to tackle it that I can see are making it an increasingly big part of the pre-ride briefing, in literature, and in the speech before the riders depart. It should me made clear that any rider caught littering gets chucked out. Impossible to police, but at least in sets a precedent.

Also, the disposal of junk should be as much a part of the system as the handing of it out. At a few events I've been to, there've been massive sponsored stalls handing out energy goop, yet no extra bins provided. Bring in giant, sponsored, very, very obvious disposal units at every feed point if need be (I've never actually ridden RL so they might already have them). Maybe even put intermediate ones along the route. They could even have 'X miles until next disposal point, Y miles to finish' signs stuck on them to use them as checkpoints.

Lastly, the cleanup idea in interesting. If every 1 in 10 riders is a stubborn dork and drops a bar wrapper, you only need 1 in every 100 to be a saint who picks up 10. It might be a nice way for some riders to return to the event and give something back.

Why don't they put in dump zones, areas where riders can dump rubbish and it can all be collected. Might discourage dumping elsewhere for those that can't be bothered to hold onto it.

No excuse for littering at all, the organisers should make it clear that anyone seen deliberately dropping litter will be disqualified and removed.
I have done it for the last two years and whilst the weather conditions were attrocious last year, there were just as many dropped bottles this year.
I found it astonishing that so many lacked the basic skills to handle a bottle or realise what a hazard to others they are.
That said, the organisers do give out a comprehensive briefing on safety and riding in groups which a large number of riders elected not to read.

Ah you want to do the Paris-Roubaix Challange for accidental drops. Lights, tubes, tyres, pumps, gels, bars, bottles, brains, balls, bikes.... You name it and they will be scattered all over the first few sectors.

Stories like this just shows how far towards a throw away society we have become.

Something I was told as a child and has stuck.

Take nothing but photos and memories.
Leave nothing but footprints and tyre marks.

Simple solution - Riders must declare how many they are taking with them when they get to the start line, and wont be given their little medal or time if they can't produce the empties at the end.

Suddenly there won't be any accidents because people will carefully put them away.

Second rule, anyone with a load taped to their top tube should be shot on the spot for idiocy - this isn't a race its a sportive

Parts of the route back into London were shameful last year - totally carpeted in gel tubes. Just stuff the wrapper down your top, folks!

Unfortunately there are always a few that think that the weight of the empty tubes will slow them down. One of Norway's largest rides, Nordsjørittet, attracts around 12000 riders through beautiful scenery, but the number of discarded drinks bottles on the length of the route is horrific. Not "accidental" loss for many of them are they are the branded "pre-filled with energy drink" single use bottles mainly.
Over the rougher gravel sections there are also hundreds of lights, pumps, etc that fall off . . Those I accept as accidents as I lost my pump in the first 30km on the 2014 run.

Unfortunately there are always a few that think that the weight of the empty tubes will slow them down. One of Norway's largest rides, Nordsjørittet, attracts around 12000 riders through beautiful scenery, but the number of discarded drinks bottles on the length of the route is horrific. Not "accidental" loss for many of them are they are the branded "pre-filled with energy drink" single use bottles mainly.
Over the rougher gravel sections there are also hundreds of lights, pumps, etc that fall off . . Those I accept as accidents as I lost my pump in the first 30km on the 2014 run.

There were a depressing amount of discarded gel tubes all around the route. Just put it in your pocket FFS. I realise some will get dropped out of jersey pockets by accident when taking something else out and that it isn't really safe to try and stop and pick it up, but there were way too many for them all to be accidental.

Must've seen nearly ten minipumps too!

Kindof reminds me of this post from last year...

http://road.cc/content/blog/127318-transcontinental-race-stelvio-pass-th...

and we wonder why there is so much resentment towards cyclists.