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Angry farmer on tractor disrupts hill climb event

Get orrf moi lane!

Hill climbs are usually the most innocuous of cycling events as riders toil up one by one at - even for the best riders - uncontroversially low speeds. But that didn't stop a farmer from getting irate at the Mercia Cycling Club hill climb on Sunday and trying to disrupt the event by driving a tractor up and down the course.

On its Facebook page, the club said: "Unfortunately a local mad, angry farmer and his tractor intervened immediately following the event, swearing profusely and reversing said tractor up and down the course."

On the afternoon of the race, the club's Twitter account showed the rather large tractor on the course: 

The 23-rider hill climb on Woodruffes Cliff, Marchington was not affected but club officials thought better of trying to mix the planned freewheel contest with an angry man on a tractor and cancelled it.

They added: "Hopefully he will be locked up before 2015 Hillclimb."

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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30 comments

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stealth | 9 years ago
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My District HC has a temporary road closure in place for the competition. I've seen one or two upset/angry RangeRover (other unsuitable vehicles for the road are available) drivers, blowing their stack because they 'have' to get their Mail on Sunday at 10:47. 11:00 just will not do...

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IHphoto | 9 years ago
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I remember some idiot trying to drive their car through the crowds on Yorks Hill , scene of The Catford HC a couple of years back .... they almost certainly cooked their clutch ....

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Dnnnnnn | 9 years ago
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And he doesn't even pay "road tax"!
www.gov.uk/vehicle-exempt-from-vehicle-tax

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picko | 9 years ago
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Hilarious! This is a local climb for me and the road is wide enough in plenty of places for a bike and tractor. The Mercia lot are a very friendly bunch as well - a quick chat is all it would take to sort this. This is a public road which is paid for by everyone and not a private road for exclusive use of anyone at any time. However busy anyone might be, they do not have the right to exclusive use of a public road. Single file cyclists riding up an exceptionally quiet bit of lane on a Sunday for an hour are not causing disruption. Perhaps the farmer got out of the wrong side of his sheep

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drfabulous0 | 9 years ago
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Obviously he wasn't particularly reasonable, more likely a total lunatic.

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Percespb | 9 years ago
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If the farmer was a reasonable man and had a problem why didn't he stop and talk to the riders?

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Bokonon | 9 years ago
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Not sure if any of the people commenting have ever ridden Woodruff's Cliff - it's a public road, not privately owned, and isn't all that small - it's not as big as Marchington Cliff up the road, but big enough that it can handle a steady stream of riders and vehicles going up and down.

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fenix | 9 years ago
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Farmers are incredibly busy. He may have been ferrying stuff to and from the farm or fields down the lane. He might not have been disrupting it on purpose ?

It's perfectly feasible he had to do this at that specific time. Just like the cyclists had to hold their HC at that time.

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drfabulous0 replied to fenix | 9 years ago
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fenix wrote:

Farmers are incredibly busy. He may have been ferrying stuff to and from the farm or fields down the lane. He might not have been disrupting it on purpose ?

It's perfectly feasible he had to do this at that specific time. Just like the cyclists had to hold their HC at that time.

Are you taking the piss? Farmers spend most of the time doing fuck all and get a three figure salary from the EU to do so. My dad's a farmer as was his dad who had to work hard for a living, nowadays if he actually grew crops or reared livestock on a commercial scale he would barely earn the minimum wage so instead he drives his tractor around Cheshire holding people up and spreading shit on the road because it's the cheapest way to dispose of it. Sure my dad's a tosser but you gotta love modern society.

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kraut replied to drfabulous0 | 9 years ago
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Farmers spend most of the time doing fuck all and get a three figure salary from the EU to do so.

Well, for a three figure salary - let's be generous and call that £999/year - you can hardly expect them to do very much, can you?

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drfabulous0 replied to kraut | 9 years ago
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kraut wrote:

Farmers spend most of the time doing fuck all and get a three figure salary from the EU to do so.

Well, for a three figure salary - let's be generous and call that £999/year - you can hardly expect them to do very much, can you?

Oh shit! From they way he brags I always assumed he was talking about thousands of pounds, now I realise I've been looking at things totally the wrong way my entire life  40

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fenix replied to drfabulous0 | 9 years ago
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Riiiight. So all the farmers I see working weekends and evenings and mornings - they're doing fuck all ? Why not take it easy and do fuck all at home and reap the cash in ? Seems to me they're out working usually whilst we are off having fun ?

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Kapelmuur replied to drfabulous0 | 9 years ago
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drfabulous0 wrote:
fenix wrote:

Farmers are incredibly busy. He may have been ferrying stuff to and from the farm or fields down the lane. He might not have been disrupting it on purpose ?

It's perfectly feasible he had to do this at that specific time. Just like the cyclists had to hold their HC at that time.

Are you taking the piss? Farmers spend most of the time doing fuck all and get a three figure salary from the EU to do so. My dad's a farmer as was his dad who had to work hard for a living, nowadays if he actually grew crops or reared livestock on a commercial scale he would barely earn the minimum wage so instead he drives his tractor around Cheshire holding people up and spreading shit on the road because it's the cheapest way to dispose of it. Sure my dad's a tosser but you gotta love modern society.

You may have the salary wrong but you're right about spreading shit on the road. I've been riding through the evidence.

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Eebijeebi | 9 years ago
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He'd have ended up riding in that fekn bucket.

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Must be Mad | 9 years ago
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What was the farmer's issue? It wasn't a private road was it?

Quote:

if the race impacted on someone's livelihood, they may have a reason to be aggrieved?

The guy was so busy, he had plenty of time to purposely block the road.

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pikeamus | 9 years ago
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Well to be fair those cyclist didn't pay no road tax, while the farmer with his tractor, well... err... hang on a sec...

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sneakerfrfeak | 9 years ago
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They do work hard for what little money they make though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5RrGFBbbSY&channel=dangreen17

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bikesidcup | 9 years ago
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Mind you, that is a nice tractor, and one you would want to show off!

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bikesidcup | 9 years ago
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Good apples and bad apples in every crop. I've had one so polite he disappeared through a hedge to ge out of my way and two who stopped in the middle of the road for a chat oblivious of not just cyclists but all other traffic they were holding up.

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harrybav | 9 years ago
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He's maybe just defending his KOM?

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Hensteeth | 9 years ago
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Perhaps he owns the road as well as the fields.  3

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Airzound | 9 years ago
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I reckon the real reason he was angry was his favourite sheep had a headache and didn't fancy it, so he took his frustration out on the cyclists.

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Guido | 9 years ago
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23 riders setting off at 1 minute intervals so approx 25-30 mins of inconvenience. Oh well takes all sorts.

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dafyddp | 9 years ago
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not suggesting for one minute that his actions were right, but maybe he was trying to get on with his work which involved driving a tractor up and down a narrow lane? From his point of view, that was impeded by a bunch of cyclists blocking it up for a couple of hours.
I wouldn't have much sympathy if it was a general motorist, to be honest, but if the race impacted on someone's livelihood, they may have a reason to be aggrieved?

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Beefy replied to dafyddp | 9 years ago
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not suggesting for one minute that his actions were right, but maybe he was trying to get on with his work which involved driving a tractor up and down a narrow lane? From his point of view, that was impeded by a bunch of cyclists blocking it up for a couple of hours.
 44

Absolutely right. Ban cyclists off the road just incase they slow down trucks, taxis or any other person making a livelihood on the road! Oh I know may be we should ban tractors as well I think they may prevent these other drivers earning a living? ............... Get real the farmer was being a f**king w@*k*r!

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Guyz2010 | 9 years ago
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Not great behaviour but better to cancel than risk injury. Try another day without notice or cycle up and down his lane really slowly when he's trying to do what he wants. NIMBY

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oozaveared replied to Guyz2010 | 9 years ago
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Guyz2010 wrote:

Not great behaviour but better to cancel than risk injury. Try another day without notice or cycle up and down his lane really slowly when he's trying to do what he wants. NIMBY

Well no actually. Better to ask the police to deal with a menacing farmer in a tractor trying to be nuisance and prevent people going about their lawful business. It's a public order offence.

If you cancel then next time he won't even have to waste the diesel. He'll just have to make it known he might be annoyed. If you let people like this intimidate you off the road or into cancelling events then they will carry on with that succesful tactic.

Report it. Video and document it. Get the police to attend next time. But don't try to appease aggressors it doesn't work.

“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
― Winston S. Churchill

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ChancerOnABike | 9 years ago
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Anyone would think it was in France

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GerardR replied to ChancerOnABike | 9 years ago
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What's your logic for this view? I've had no problems riding in France (lived in Toulouse & rode in the surrounding countryside).

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jon86boi | 9 years ago
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This is the first time I've heard of any issues with farmers. Round Surrey/Hampshire they've been consistently the most thoughtful of all the motorised road users and often give me a cheer if I overtake them. They pass me with ample space too.

This guy must have been having a bad day. Inexcusable. Glad he didn't hurt anyone.

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