Fun at someone else’s expense
Posted August 30th, 2006 in Culture, The Desk
I was going to post a bit on this from a roadie perspective but Damian has gone one better with a sweeping denounciation of arsehole cyclists. It’s a rollicking read.
Of course, the Australian based blogs and forums are hot with discussion about this incident. But not screaming blue murder like they do when a cyclist is killed by a motorist, instead a whole lot of people are getting defensive that the Hell Ride is copping the blame, complaining about the reporting style or feeling sorry for the poor cyclist who made a mistake.
Placing the Melbourne incident in a Sydney context I can only say that there are a few individuals in our versions of the Melbourne “Hell Ride” who seem to take particular delight in running the reds and taking an entire bunch through the lights, they know who they are and are notorious for it. They should be taking the Melbourne incident as a serious word of caution on their Saturday and Sunday morning rides.
Update; CFSMTB is the place where it all started, go there for the links, Surly Dave concurs and Pedaller talks about solutions.
Update 2: Not to be left out Andrew Landeryou places his own amusing spin on this, he’s wondering if we’re safe from killer leftist cyclists.
Technorati Tags: cycling, bicycles,
What others have to say…
FFS this issue has been brewing up since Saturday arvo. Actually it’s been rumbling in the background for a hellva lot longer than that.
Funny how people can’t see just what is in front of them. Metaphorically speaking.
I don’t know who is involved in the bunch rides on Beach Road, but in Sydney a number of our bunch rides are club training rides. It used to be that disobeying road rules was sufficient grounds for revoking your cycling license, if that is still true, perhaps we could start by enforcing that.
The Hell Ride, and some of the other Beach Road mobs do us no credit. Cyclists in Sydney are a lot more well behaved. It’s been a real eye-opener how big cycling is in Melbourne for this ex-Sydney boy. It might be because it’s a pretty flat town.
Hell Riders (Militant Couriers tendency) are a serious risk to our national security.
[…] Interestingly, Sydney roadie Phil Gomes notes that a minority who seem to take particular delight in running the reds can also be found in other large pack rides—so it’s not just the Hell Ride that needs to get on top of this. […]
September 4th, 2006 at 1:19 am
[…] Spinopsys: :: Fun at someone else’s expense :: “Hell Ride” fallout continues […]
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Jeez, are some mortalities less tragic than others?