Hain’s Pt peleton rides

[KLizotte]

This is from today’s My Evening Commute thread. Am hoping it will be informative to the pelotons that routinely ride around HP.

Me: Riding at a leisurely pace heading north on Ohio Drive and approaching the stop sign at Buckeye with the intention of going straight.

You: A large peloton overtaking me at high speed and presuming that I am going to turn right.

Me: Already assuming some cyclists will cut me off so slowing down in anticipation and curious as to whether anyone will 1) follow the law, 2) employ common sense and assume anyone *not* signaling a right hand turn is going straight, and 3) show common courtesy.

You: FAIL, FAIL, FAIL on all three counts to an extent that it beggers belief. No one slowed down at all, people passed within inches by cutting me off, and a few people even swore at me. For once I wish the NPS police had ticketed each and everyone one of you. I was forced to continue along with the crowd to avert a crash then eventually turned off at the next road. Every stereotype of the Lance wannabees was confirmed today.

I’m pissed because I greatly fear for any novice rider or tourist who is unfamiliar with how pelotons use HP and innocently (and lawfully) comes to a stop at the intersection and then continues straight through. I couldn’t even slow down for the stop sign because I would have had someone riding up my back.

This is simply unacceptable behavior by aggressive cyclists. I have no problem with Idaho stops at that intersection but their behavior was *very* dangerous and their attitude was simply appalling. HP is not your personal training ground folks. Whoever runs the Thur night peloton needs to take control of the situation.

Always assume a cyclist is going straight unless they signal otherwise!!!!

Topic

[dasgeh]

It’s been a couple years since I’ve done it, but on Thursday evenings there is an impromptu “sprint” practice popular amongst local racers, typically around 6 or 6:30. Someone mentioned it, but the sprint point is one of the yellow signs along Ohio drive before that stop sign. As someone who races and participates in these sorts of mass group rides on public roads I find the behavior you’ve described as reprehensible. I see some names I recognize on the Strava fly-by, including a couple teammates who I would never think were the ones who were so rude and unsafe, but I will reach out to them.

FWIW, long before this post I decided I’ll never do the Thursday night again. It collects a decent number of newer racers and boneheads who don’t know how dangerous they are when traveling at 30+ mph and there have been a number of pretty major crashes in recent memory.

[gtmandsager]

It’s been a couple years since I’ve done it, but on Thursday evenings there is an impromptu “sprint” practice popular amongst local racers, typically around 6 or 6:30. Someone mentioned it, but the sprint point is one of the yellow signs along Ohio drive before that stop sign. As someone who races and participates in these sorts of mass group rides on public roads I find the behavior you’ve described as reprehensible. I see some names I recognize on the Strava fly-by, including a couple teammates who I would never think were the ones who were so rude and unsafe, but I will reach out to them.

FWIW, long before this post I decided I’ll never do the Thursday night again. It collects a decent number of newer racers and boneheads who don’t know how dangerous they are when traveling at 30+ mph and there have been a number of pretty major crashes in recent memory.

[MattAune]

@Starduster 92329 wrote:

I have not seen it, but I understand cyclists have used the RFK north lot to ride. If they want to race, perfect place for it. The course outline and the FIA-spec curbs from the American LeMans Series race of 2002 are still there.

We are not welcome there. Security gets called rather quickly. There used to be one of the biggest Crits in the area held at RFK, it would attract national level pro’s and was known to be one of the deepest women’s fields on the east coast. The Permit process to hold an event there is basically impossible for anyone without a six figure budget.

[creadinger]

@hozn 92327 wrote:

Wow. That is the first I had heard of this creepy use of flyby. I thought it was just used to find folks that you see on a ride that Strava doesn’t track as having “ridden with you”.

I use flyby to check out the rides of other people I see out in the boonies. The last time I really checked it was a climb up in PA where I caught up to 2 guys. We rode together for about a mile (full disclosure, I caught up to them and was promptly dropped. Oh well, they turned off soon afterward). The flyby showed me their route though, which I could use for a future ride if I want.

[Author]

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