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New Forest Authority claims cyclists poo on village greens

Police investigation underway for 'public nuisance'...

Defecating on village greens, racing on the public highway and shouting abuse at anyone who gets in their way. Those are the latest accusations levelled at sportive riders in the New Forest at a meeting of the National Park Authority.

According to the Southern Daily Echo, National Park Authority member Maureen Holding, the Conservative member for Brockenhurst and Forest South East on New Forest District Council, said: “I was driving through Brockenhurst at 30mph and was overtaken by cyclists.

“Police say the events aren’t races but the riders are timed and given gold, silver or bronze medals according to how fast they went.

“Some of them go very fast and it’s only a matter of time before an old person is hit by a cycle.

“I’m not anti-cycling but these big, money-making events are getting out of control. The problem has not been managed, it’s simply being looked at in retrospect.”

Martin Barden of UK Cycling Events, which organises sportives in the New Forest on behalf of sponsor Wiggle, told road.cc: “It once again feels like a few anti-cyclists trying to stop cyclists enjoying their pastime. They believe the New Forest is an extension of their back gardens rather than a National Park which was set up for everyone to enjoy.”

UK Cycling Events recently announced that numbers in its sportives would be reduced by 20 percent, the event HQ would be moved outside the park, the number of morotcycle marshals would be increased and the events would be routed away from very narrow lanes and hotspots where conflict had previously occurred. 

Deputy chairman of the National Park Authority Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre said cycling events were causing “enormous upset” in the Forest because of the speed and behaviour of riders and the frequency of events. Mr Crosthwaite-Eyre is President of the New Forest Association  and Vice Chairman of the New Forest Trust.

David Harrison, Liberal Democrat Hampshire County Councillor   for Totton South and Marchwood and National Park Authority member criticised the “anti-cycling” posture of some of his colleagues.

He said: “We should be actively promoting and supporting responsible cycling, a much enjoyed, largely peaceful activity that’s a positive for the Forest, not a negative.”

Peter Roberts, chairman of the New Forest Association, said that a complaint had been lodged with police that sportive events were causing a public nuisance.

He said: “The activity is clearly a race, either against the clock or fellow competitors – whatever name is given to it by the commercial organisers.

“A complaint has been submitted to the police regarding public nuisance.”

Chief Inspector Tony Rowlinson of New Forest police said the  complaint was being investigated by a senior officer.

He said: “The prosecuting authority is the Crown Prosecution Service and we will look to them for a steer.”

Martin Barden of UK Cycling Events said he had not yet been contacted regarding the investigation. 

He said: “I am not aware of the details of the investigation, but we provided clear guidance on how riders should ride considerately and provided four rest stops all with toilet facilities on the route.”

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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51 comments

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bikecellar | 10 years ago
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Intae the wids amongst the trees.
Tam bared his erse, his cheeks to ease.
Nae sinner hud his breeks gan doon.
Than shitty flees were swarming roon.
Intae the wind he bared his baws
And from his erse a big keech faws.
The reek it curled amoungst the trees.
‘twis enough tae make the birdies sneeze.
An’ a’ the bees on bended knees,
Got sick a fricht o’ Tams big erse.

Big Tam wis in awfy pain.
It came oot his erse like a nine pund wean.
Thur wis a tear faw fi’ his eee
For a bigger shite you’d never see.

Big Tams erse wis raw an sair.
Says big Tam I’ll shite nae mair.
Yonder it lay amoungst the grit.
A dirty stinkin’ muckle shit.

Yonder it lat si saft, si fresh.
Nae een, nae teeth, nae brains, nae flesh.
I swear it never drew a breath.
Tams Muckle Turd.  1

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LWaB | 10 years ago
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So cyclists poo on a village green while marathoners poo on London's streets?

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stefv | 10 years ago
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Found myself laughing at the quotes here , "Some of them go very fast and it’s only a matter of time before an old person is hit by a cycle".

Did these come from a real person or some sort of automated cycling-menace-cliche machine?

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Aapje | 10 years ago
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Finding toilet paper with the feces is solid evidence that a bike rider is not involved. Who ever rides with toilet paper? But this story is a good example of how an out-group is automatically assigned blame.

"Some of them go very fast and it’s only a matter of time before an old person is hit by a car"

Change 1 word and it's clear how silly this statement is.

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hood | 10 years ago
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"racing on the public highway and shouting abuse at anyone who gets in their way"
.... and motorists never beep their horn aggressively at anyone do they?
im not saying two wrongs make a right, but this does feel a bit like a few anti-cyclists trying to stop cyclists enjoying themselves

"driving at 30mph and overtaken by a cyclist"
.. yea.. and? whats the problem with that?

"Some of them go very fast and it’s only a matter of time before an old person is hit by a cycle."
.... so cars dont go fast and hit old people then? cars even hit young and fit pedestrians too!

... i could go on, but i'll spare you

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bikecellar replied to Aapje | 10 years ago
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Aapje wrote:

Finding toilet paper with the feces is solid evidence that a bike rider is not involved. Who ever rides with toilet paper? But this story is a good example of how an out-group is automatically assigned blame.

"Some of them go very fast and it’s only a matter of time before an old person is hit by a car"

Change 1 word and it's clear how silly this statement is.

Me, in the winter, dock leaves are handy in the summer,  1

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Wolfshade | 10 years ago
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Quote:

“Some of them go very fast and it’s only a matter of time before an old person is hit by a cycle.

Oh no! There is a potential for a collision, what about the collisions between people of all ages and cars? By this logic we should ban all cars, after all they kill far more pedestrians than cyclists...

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PhilRuss replied to Wolfshade | 10 years ago
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Wolfshade wrote:
Quote:

“Some of them go very fast and it’s only a matter of time before an old person is hit by a cycle.

Oh no! There is a potential for a collision, what about the collisions between people of all ages and cars? By this logic we should ban all cars, after all they kill far more pedestrians than cyclists...

[[[[[ Yup. And I just wonder how strenuously Maureen what's-her-name has complained about over-the-speed-limit drivers locally....
P.R.

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Hillsy | 10 years ago
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Interesting comments & reminds me of upsetting the neighbours by playing football with my mates on the village green back in the day when I was in short trousers.

I think I would rather aviod the area & ride somewhere more appealing like Syria or Palestine.....

On a more serious note though, I have avoided sportives in the area because of the grief you can get (friends have had this). There are far better areas further along the coast where we can spend our dosh instead.

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dunnoh | 10 years ago
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Lord knows how he would cope with living Trafford. At least twice a month the whole road system/metro/pavements are gridlocked by people who watch football. They mostly don't even live here!!

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Shouldbeinbed replied to dunnoh | 10 years ago
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dunnoh wrote:

Lord knows how he would cope with living Trafford. At least twice a month the whole road system/metro/pavements are gridlocked by people who watch football. They mostly don't even live here!!

and this season if the angst us anything to go by, there's plenty of poo on offer on the OT pitch.

the New Forest lot do seem to have a longstanding beef about cycling & cyclists tho, any negative would appear to be a good negative regardless of how ridiculous it sounds.

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colin267 | 10 years ago
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Hurrah! At last, someone with some common sense (@700c). Also, perhaps it's time to remove any form of timing by the organisers of sportives. It would remove any accusations of 'racing' by those outside the sport. If you want a time, do it yourself.

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OldRidgeback | 10 years ago
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Sounds like a load of crap to me.

Someone had to say it.

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allez neg | 10 years ago
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I understand Mike Sinyard is developing a function specific integrated excrement collection area into the back of the 2014 range of cycling shorts that will allow all cyclists ( not just Greg LeMond ) to employ on the fly bowel fullness adjustment whilst riding.

Its going to be a heavily-patented system called "Poubaix"

For urination there's a cable operated remote cock out lever and variable damping.

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monty dog | 10 years ago
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I guess we can be grateful there are no wild bears in the New Forest then?  19

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freespirit1 | 10 years ago
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It's a forest. Surely there are some trees to go behind!

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lookmanohands | 10 years ago
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Its not a good ride if I dont get to shit on a village green during the ride. Dont these nincompoops know anything about cycling  19

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lolol | 10 years ago
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“I’m not anti-cycling but these big, money-making events are getting out of control. The problem has not been managed, it’s simply being looked at in retrospect.”

I can guarantee this person also often uses the phrase " I'm not a racist, but...."

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700c replied to lolol | 10 years ago
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lolol wrote:

“I’m not anti-cycling but these big, money-making events are getting out of control. The problem has not been managed, it’s simply being looked at in retrospect.”

I can guarantee this person also often uses the phrase " I'm not a racist, but...."

No. I don't think the two views are mutually exclusive. They don't contradict each other.

There is a growing feeling that the number and scale of these events, and the lack of coordination between them, which add to disruption, is starting to harm the image of cycling.

To simply dismiss any objections as being 'anti cycling' is much too simplistic. Putting our heads in the sand won't solve these issues and will further entrench negative opinions on both sides.

It's time these big events were sensibly regulated and planned with local authorities, which will help counter any arguments made by the genuine anti cycle lobby.

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mattsccm | 10 years ago
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Usual one side bollocks here.
Of course too many events are negative for the locals. Are some of you too daft to see that? Of course and its proven that too high a proportion of riders see their time as the priority.
Usual political bias. And just why does the party politics have to be involved. Its the sodding lefty hippies that cause problems round here. Nowt to do with it.
Can you reasonably see the promoter backing the council? Of course not, it would affect his bank balance and lets not forget that why he and Wiggle do it.
Not for one moment suggesting that the resident's are 100% right just that both side needs to be taken into account and this sort of thread here seems to attract the unthinking and inconsiderate. And people wonder why I feel that cycling is going down hill.

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Giles Pargiter | 10 years ago
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I really do think the balance should be redressed here. Hold a couple of motorcycle raleighs and a couple of 4x4 treasure hunts maybe a vintage commercial vehicle parade round the lanes.....

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Argos74 | 10 years ago
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It happens to the best of us. You're grimacing like Sally Gunnell and trying to hang on til the finish. But there's no hope. Get off, prop the bike up, take some bog roll out of a jersey pocket, take off the jersey, unroll the bib tights down to the knees, and squat down to enter a world of transcendental bliss.

And then a moment of blind, panicking realization.

Not a portaloo. It's a village green. And there's a pond, with ducks. Very disapproving ducks. And there's a game of cricket, and they've all stopped for tiffin, and everyone's turned round to look at you and dropped their cups of tea to see a row of cyclists squatting with their bib tights around their knees.

It's okay. It's okay. We've all been there.

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Guyz2010 | 10 years ago
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I don't believe your correct in the assumption that cyclist do not have to comply with speed limits. I could be wrong though. I did set off speed camera once however I think it was the strobe rear light that did it as I was only doing about 34mph.

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pdows47 replied to Guyz2010 | 10 years ago
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Strictly they don't, but other laws concern unsafe riding. Certain roads mean riders can 'break' the speed limit (say a 20 zone) but it's still safe and not endangering other road users. Overtaking may constitute recklessness, but is dubious at best as a charge without objective evidence

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Sit at the back... replied to Guyz2010 | 9 years ago
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Rear light (red presumably) shouldn't set off a speed camera - they don't "see" red light.

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pdows47 | 10 years ago
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Being overtaken at 30 isn't an issue, bikes aren't subject to speed limits.... As for taking a dumping on village greens, why not report it at the time?? And as for racing on the public roads, where else are races going to happen?? (crits and circuit races aside obviously)

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koko56 | 10 years ago
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hahahahaha!

Some proper funny comments!  21

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Guyz2010 | 10 years ago
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Yep come on low speed wobble, it's all banter on a cycling website. However what I don't agree with is human poo being splattered all over my down tube soo sticky.
I was so tied up in the bib tights last week on Richmond Common my butt looked like a piece of toast with Nutella.

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ChrisW | 10 years ago
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I was driving a car at 30 mph once and another car passed me! The next week, the same thing happened again. We definitely need to get rid of these things called cars. I've heard that there are people driving cars that REPEATEDLY break the speed limit. They are totally out of control.

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Low Speed Wobble | 10 years ago
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Some of you guys really should read what you've written here. How can you ever hope cyclists will be respected with comments like most of the above. You're a disgrace, and an embarrassment to the rest of us. When I ride I'd like to feel I'm part of a respected section of society, not a foul-mouthed ill-mannered fool such as many of you have revealed yourselves to be.

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