A horse rider has posted video to Facebook of competitors on the cycling leg of today’s Windsor Triathlon passing her at speed, one of them striking her and the horse as he passed them on the inside, causing the animal to rear up and leaving the woman with a bruised ankle.
Organisers of the event in Berkshire, Human Race, have launched an investigation and have promised to ban any riders they identify in the footage from future events.
Shot on a helmet camera , the footage was originally posted this morning by Facebook user Jennifer Katherine, who wrote: “No warning to local residents, signs, etc …
“Went out at 7:30am to our other farm down the road and came back on same road 9am. I have lived here all my life and never had a problem with cyclists – as with my horse, who is bombproof on the road.
“I am wearing a yellow hi-vis hat silk, coat, gloves and gilet. My horse is wearing a yellow hi-vis rug and breastplate. The cyclist smashes along the side of my horse, taking my stirrup in the handlebars and bruising up my ankle. My horse rears and bolts forward, taking off one of his back shoes.
“Not a lot I can do I think but what should I do? I had no knowledge of the event and repeatedly had near misses where cyclists failed to slow down and put themselves, me, my horse and drivers at risk.
“No-one stopped to see if I or the horse was ok after this hit. I’m still in shock and feeling very sore along one side of my ankle,” she added.
The event was today’s Windsor Triathlon, organised by Human Race, who said in messages posted to social media: “We are currently investigating an incident at the Windsor Triathlon involving a group of cyclists and a horse rider.
“We are taking this very seriously. Riders will be identified and disqualified from this event, and banned from all future Human Race Events.
“All riders are briefed to follow the Highway Code, and we do not condone dangerous cycling of any kind. We offer our sincere apologies to the individual involved.”
Rule 215 of the Highway Code, among other things, instructs road users to “Be particularly careful of horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles especially when overtaking,” and to “Always pass wide and slowly.”
The behaviour of the cyclists has been condemned by commenters on the original Facebook thread, many of them horse riders who have highlighted their own experiences of some people riding bicycles far too close to them.
Other cyclists too have been strongly critical of the riders with one urging Human Race on Twitter to also report the incident to the British Triathlon Federation (BTF), saying: “Those cyclists should not be racing as dangerous to all on the roads.”
Human Race replied: “BTF are on site with us, and have provided all of our race referees. They are aware of the situation and will also be taking action.”
69 thoughts on “Video: Horse and rider struck by undertaking cyclist participating in triathlon”
What a bunch of absolute
What a bunch of absolute fucking tools.
StraelGuy wrote:
Well, they are triathletes.
Joking aside: these effers should not be allowed to cycle or drive. A danger to themselves, and more importantly, other road users.
What an idiot, horse could
What an idiot, horse could easily have got of control and then been a danger to following riders.
That’s fucking disgusting.
That’s fucking disgusting.
They are ALL too close, bar one.
FFS.
What gets me about this is
What gets me about this is that it’s vulnerable road users endangering another vulnerable road user. Both horse riders and cyclists know what it’s like to be treated badly on the road, yet these cyclists feel this is appropriate behaviour around a horse. There wasn’t even anything coming on the other side of the road. Disgusting =/
Something seriously wrong
Something seriously wrong with those cyclists. OK, so you’re riding in a race, but you still have to share the road with other people, not act like the total selfish dick heads like the drivers we so hate. At the very least, you’ve given the petrolheads another reason to attack us.
Do the right thing, fess up, stop racing and grow up.
Wankers, the pair of them.
Wankers, the pair of them.
@Grahamd
@Grahamd
To be fair it wasn’t just one idiot – there’s several others who’d get a mention on road.gg’s [*] “Near miss of the day” feature.
It would appear, that being a AFT is transport mode independant.
[*] – If no one owns this yet, I’m calling dibs.
Those triathletes who did
Those triathletes who did this are utter dickheads and need to be brought to account.
And the organiser has questions to ask too. How did she get on to a closed road event? How did she not know it was happening? Did the council take the money and do nothing with it I.e. tell people/get human race to put up signs/Marshalls etc?
Lots of things wrong here. Hopefully they can identify the triathletes and ban them – and force them to pay damages to the woman who got hit.
And fuck Facebook and the bigoted fuckwits who comment on stories like this. Hypocritical, law breaking mugs the lot of them…
@StoopidUserName
@StoopidUserName
Wasn’t a closed road event…
TedC wrote:
Really? I’d read it was. Closed road or not there’s no excuse whatsoever for what that Muppet did. But still, signs should be been up, Marshalls out…communication sent out months in advance and so on.
There was plenty of room to
There was plenty of room to pass the horse and rider safely. I do wonder if the cyclsits had their heads down over the bars and only looked up at the last minute? Whatever happened, it’s seriously bad cycling. The rider who hit the horse maybe should take up another sport.
OldRidgeback wrote:
Bet you anything it’s a combination of that and the fact he/she(?) seemed to be in a slight group so was *possibly* slighly unsighted. Horse is in primary position which is correct and normal, gives them space to move.
I’ve seen similar in TTs where riders have gone into the back of parked cars cos they’re head down being aero or looking at their computer – in fact I’ve seen it on group rides too where a rider at the back has been so busy fidlding with computer (or occasionally Go-Pro, music player etc) that they’ve failed to notice the group has slowed and run into the back of a fellow rider or an obstacle on the road.
Atrociously bad cycling – hope they get banned from all future triathlons. Glad the horse was OK too, that could have been really bad.
crazy-legs wrote:
but ok unless they are using the force to navigate, surely they must look up at some point to check they arent about to end up riding straight into a hedge or a tree because the road has turned into a corner, a horse + rider isnt exactly a small thing not to notice on what looks like a fairly straight road with a good sightline, and its not just one rogue rider there, I count nearly 10 of them,and there are 2 doing the undertake ?! they cant all be blissfully claim to be stem gazing or not paying attention to whats infront of them on what they know to be open road.
crazy-legs wrote:
That’s pretty much what I thought, but you went into more detail. It just goes to show that cyclists can indeed behave like utter morons too. The horse rider was in primary position and clearly doing things properly. There was even room for the cyclsits to give the horse and rider a wide berth, that’s what’s so annoying about the incident.
I expect the people that were involved are keeping their heads well below the parapet right now.
Absolutely stupid.
Absolutely stupid.
Majority is far too close to the horse rider. They would complain if a car did that.
Undertaking too!
Saying that, they would moan if a car did that.
I wouldn’t ride my horse near a race either.
No Bell?
The best result would have
The best result would have been the 2nd undercutter binning it into a tree and the horse kicking him in the nuts.
Outrageous drafting for a Tri
Outrageous drafting for a Tri event too?
How is it that when cyclists
How is it that when cyclists see other riders we call them out for being absolute dickheads.
That was some of the most dangerous riding passed a horse and rider I’ve seen. I hope they find responsible and prosecute them
Now if only car drivers would accept and castigate other drivers for their dangerous overtaking.
Absolutely nuts, all of the
Absolutely nuts, all of the cyclists passed too close and fast. As for the undertaking cretin….
But have to ask how a horse rider got onto a tri course? Surely there must have been some signage, etc
Stueys wrote:
Poster if the footage says not.
A lot if close passes, I can understand the temptation not to slow down as it is a race but there was a lot if space and almost none if them using it. And the two that undertake… there are no words for that kind of stupidity.
But statements about vulnerable road users showing more consideration for each other are naive, a lot if my worst close passes are at the hands of horseboxes
Stueys wrote:
.
Was a non closed road event. And while signs may have been up they would have been for the benefit of the ‘athletes’. They are under obligation to adhere to the Highways Act due to it being open road. That bunch is also in contravention to the drafting rules for TT.
Stueys wrote:
From the event guide: ‘Please note that the Olympic distance will be a 2 lap course with a lap of the top loop on the map before continuing back to transition. The roads are open to live traffic and you MUST obey all Highway Code Rules and road regulations at all times. You must give-way where required at junctions and roundabouts, be aware of your fellow cyclists and other traffic users, and obey all road regulations, highway signage and any specific event signage.’ Absolute tools!
That’s shocking to watch.
That’s shocking to watch. What a bunch of knob ends.
Although it is not the first time that triathletes have pissed off other road users with their “gotta rush; I’m in a race behaviour”.
Whose fault is it? Clearly the rider on the bicycle whose inconsiderate action has probably done more to set back the relationship between horse owners/riders and cyclists than he knows or cares. No doubt, there were loads of other riders in that race,who rode appropriately, but will probably have to suffer because of the action of one twat.
I get that they think they’re
I get that they think they’re in a race but invariably they’re all monumental entitled wankers. Been caught out a few times myself around here (there are a couple of Tri’s run per year from Sandy Balls) and the risks they take are eye-watering given they could encounter anything from a squirrel to a cow roaming free around here. It’s not like they’re racing the Brownlees is it?
This morning I was out and encountered a horse and rider on a fast descent. Slowed down, said hello, steered well clear, got a “thanks very much”. I’ve seen horses kick out at bikes that have surprised them, that’s got the potential to end badly for both horse and cyclist.
kil0ran wrote:
Horses are unpredictable and I always back off and give them plenty of room. I grew up near a riding school and used to see horses trotting past regularly. One day a horse with a young girl riding it got spooked and collided with a bus. The girl was not seriously hurt but the horse broke a leg and had to be put down. I was walking my dog and saw the immediate aftermath. It was an unpleasant sight and I do wonder if the girl ever rode a horse again. That made me realise how careful you ahve to be when riding or driving past horses.
In the car I’ll keep my distance until it’s safe to pass. On my motorbike I’ll even hold in the throttle and coast past, so as not to frighten them. On my bicycle, I’m highly aware that horses can kick out if they’re frightened.
I’m definitely not one of the horsey set but I don’t like to see animals being mistreated in any way. And I know too that horse riders suffer from a lot of the same poor treatment by motor vehicle drivers that us cyclists have to deal with.
Dull pricks.
Dull pricks.
The Daily Mail will be all over this tomorrow.
Now on national news too –
Undertaking a horse – WTF??
Now on national news too – well done, bellends.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-44512967
Duncann wrote:
Pressure needs to be put on the BBC for not reporting similar close passes on cyclists in the same way.
Tweet away my loverlies…
We have a few videos here that they could have reported on in the same way.
don simon wrote:
Only 7 comments on the car pass video from the horse riders feed.
Saddened to see this. Closed
Saddened to see this. Closed event or not. There should have been plenty of signage and marshalls making the rider aware that there was a competition going on. This might have allowed the rider to make a decision as to whether to go on the route or not. The riders, undoubtedly are even in an event like this subject to the law. I do hope the competitors ALL who failed to slow down and even more so those that close passed the rider are talked to by the Police and those who flagrantly disregarded the law prosecuted.
Appalling. None of those
Appalling. None of those triathletes were slow or wide enough when passing that horse.
Another example of the benefits of riding with a camera.
Not closed roads, but I doubt
Not closed roads, but I doubt there were no signs to let residents know of the event. Pretty sure I heard there were signs. I saw signs for the smaller Henley Triathlon in the middle of nowhere the other week. I think I read somewhere that there was a late change to the bike course though.
It’s made the BBC Berkshire news site… (Edit: third story on BBC site, slow news day?!) For a bruised ankle, I know it could have been worse, but it doesn’t make the news every time a cyclist is barely injured by another road user. Anticyclist bias? One driver is blaming the cyclists for another driver nearly hitting her head-on, false logic, find a way to blame the cyclists. Oh, and “dangerous cycling”, strange one given it’s virtually impossible to convict killer drivers of dangerous driving, despite the driving test and licencing standards.
Looking at the video, shame it isn’t higher resolution to identify the idiots. Most of the cyclists are in the drops and more upright, but the first “undertaker” looks like they are still fully going for it, second appeared to be an unwilling participant, possibly forced to that side by others. I suspect it was different riders/groups overtaking each other in a bit of a mess and a lack of planning ahead etc by some which caused everyone to be caught up in the incident. Banning all in the vicinity could be a poor kneejerk reaction.
Using the time, location, known bike start and bike finish times, shouldn’t be too hard to narrow down potential riders if no witnesses are forthcoming. If they do identify the riders, they should be given a chance to give their versions of events, automatic ban if they don’t, then go from there.
Must have been plenty of poor road/race craft though, probably by more than one.
ChrisB200SX wrote:
Chip timing data could help.
ChrisB200SX wrote:
I drive part of the bike course twice a day almost every week day, getting to and from work. I saw no signs indicating the impending event this year. I have done in previous years (as far as I can see, if there were changes to the course, it was largely the same as previous years). I don’t know if this is representative of the entire course or not. I also don’t know if warning signs were put out over the weekend. Certainly whatever might have been around were absent again this morning.
Dickheads are dickheads
Dickheads are dickheads whether they’re on a bike or not. There’s absolutely no excuse for buzzing a horse and rider. They should have been in the centre of the opposite carriageway, doing 15mph tops.
Rule 42 applies.
srchar wrote:
Always bring a towel? Not sure how that would help…
Would be nice to think that
Would be nice to think that some of those in the bunch can remember or had their own cameras to show the numbers of the tools if this video can’t ID them.
But why had a bunch formed in a triathlon anyway?
I ride on those roads
I ride on those roads regularly, and have raced that very same triathlon several times.
My thoughts:
1. There is no excuse for either undertaking the horse or the close passing by others. It’s just plain wrong, and the riders who did either should be disqualified under British Triathlon rules and banned (organisers’ discretion). It sounds like the organisers are taking this seriously, and I’m certain BTF will too.
2. Windsor tri is a large, long-established and well organised race. The roads aren’t especially narrow or twisty. Nonetheless, packs almost always form, often where faster riders from a later wave catch slower riders in the previous wave, often complicated by cars being in the mix, also stuck behind slower riders. It’s virtually impossible to avoid at times.
3. On-bike cameras are banned under triathlon rules, so there shouldn’t be any footage.
4. It shouldn’t matter whether there was signage – the horse rider was perfectly entitled to be there. Whether they were wise in doing so isn’t relevant either – that would be blaming the victim.
Unless it has changed over
Unless it has changed over the years this is a BIG event, every farm and stables will have been written to. I mean we do that for our itsy bitsy road races and the Windsor tri is way bigger. Its been run for more than twenty years how did she not know, by ignoring all the signs deliberately.
I’m very sorry for the horse but the rider is performing provocative behaviour knowing she will get this type of action. Not condoning the dangeous riding by any party including the horse rider. No way she’d be able to not know the race was happening. Back when i competed in it there was one section that was closed road with cycling out and back on it, the rest was full of idiots in metal boxes
FatBoyW wrote:
You’ve never ridden a horse if you’re seriously suggesting that the rider took her horse into a dangerous situation deliberately to get provocative video footage? Please explain what the rider did that was dangerous?
FatBoyW wrote:
I believe your viewpoint is not without merit and worth exploration.
I would like to know, from the organisers, what efforts they did make to inform local land owners etc. of the event. How realistic would it be for the rider to really not know?
This is surely an area the organisers would be keen to address. As it stands, without evidence that contradicts the rider statement, it has to be taken at face value.
However, why would the horserider enter / continue on that road as soon as any bikes appeared? I have ridden horses enough, and cycled around horses enough to know that the one thing that’ll always spook a horse is a cyclist. as an adide, this is often for the same reason motorists are so inept around cyclists – during their respective training, they are not exposed to cyclists or cycling so simply don’t know what they are or what to do.
My gut feeling, from my personal experience is that the horserider was indeed there on purpose, either to make a point or to create a situation. Above there is a comment questioning why anyone could believe a horserider would put themselves in these situations deliberately. I believe they would, from 40+ years living in and around horsey folk.
I would also suggest that maybe the ramifications of the impact have been egged up. She talks of being injured from the impact, however in the video the cyclist does not appear to be knocked off balance at all. To me it doesn’t quite add up and I can’t help feeling this has been exagerrated for effect.
To summarise, I believe that this person may not be quite as whiter than white as portrayed, that there is a possibility that she knowingly put herself in a situation where a situation could realistically take place.
Which takes me to my final and key point. She may have potentially set these triathletes up here, but, and its a huge but, these triathletes more than fell for the trap… they jumped in gamely with both feet. They gave her exactly what she was potentially looking for and lots more.
You can question / blame the victim if you want (and to a level I do want to as I don’t like to be treated like a mug), but the reality is that the problem is with triathletes.
I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed an act of greater and more willing stupidity by a cyclist on the road. Touch wood they are identified and made an example of.
Noddy.Hat.Wankers.
Noddy.Hat.Wankers.
typical behaviour by the ‘modern’ noddy hat attired cyclist who only just got into the sport in the last few years, very probably drive their cars in exactly the same manner they ride a bike, like selfish cunts.
This behaviour is replicated all over the place not just racing but sportives, grand fondo’s, weekend chain-gangs, commuting, the lot.
Yes it is tarnishing all people who rides bikes with the same brush sadly.
And yet, this still pales into insignificance when compared to motorists actions and the harm that they do, yet this will be focussed on by the media as opposed to yet another tosspot avoiding jail for killing a human being with their metal box due to an incompetent/bent judge and a failed justuce system!
C’mon the lot of you – get
C’mon the lot of you – get off your high horse. That rider didn’t plan that move, we see none of the build up to it you’re all sat in kangaroo court presiding a judgement over something you weren’t involved in. Dangerous? Yes. Avoidable? Who knows. Consequences? Realistically not much. That all said, the horse is bombproof, a different horse and it would be an entirely different story.
37monkey wrote:
I’m hoping this is a comedy post.
37monkey wrote:
All normal people with an ounce of common sense and decency wouldn’t be within 10 ft and more if you decide to carry any speed passed the animal.
37monkey wrote:
This.
Undertaking a large quadruped at speed on a bike seems to me to be a stupid thing to do. difficult to imagine the thought process that went into doing so, maybe the cyclists swerved to avoid a cyclist in front who was slowing (because of the horse) and were unsighted and had nowhere else to go. The fact that there was sufficient room down the inside to pass (whether or not safely) suggests that the horse was more centrally positioned than it shoudl have been given the road was full of people on bikes see below.
Riding a horse down a road filled with triathletes is also a stupid idea. I don’t care if you are not prohibited from doign so. I have no idea of the total number of people who participated in the Windsor tri but if you go to Human Race’s website there are 31 pages with the names of entrants. Even if you were illiterate and lived in a cave without wifi and had somehow failed to get the warning about the event, that’s an unmistakable number of people on bikes, certainly enough cyclists going past with sufficient frequency to make anyone think “maybe I should go a different way today”. Unless I am mistaken, the equestrian wasn’t carrying urgent medical supplies to save the life of a dying child. If I was cynical, I’d suggest this is the equine equivalent of trolling, guaranteed to get critical mainstream media coverage. (Which it has, because every English person loves a f*&king horse. It never ceases to amaze me that the same motorists will tiptoe around a horse, all the time tugging his forelock only to cut up a group of cyclists seconds later. Truly bizarre. Some kind of historical throwback to the days when the aristocracy came on horses.) Ride your horse somewhere else for the day. I get the same crap at the start of most cross races or mountain bike races – “this is a public park, people might be walking their dogs”. Really? Really? If you can’t take them on a different walkies today, then f@c{ you and your dogs. It’s one day, for f*c{‘s sake.
There’s a good little route through the local common which makes for a good workout on a cross bike. But I don’t turn up there at 9.00am on a Saturday morning because that’s when they do park run (every week) and (notwitstanding the replies below) I’m not a dick on a bike with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement.
The decision to undertake the horse was pretty stupid. The decision to ride the horse on the same route as the triathlon was pretty stupid. Neither bit of stupidity justifies the other.
surly_by_name wrote:
Nothing indicates that the horse rider decided to just pull out in front of them, and the horse rider has claimed that they didn’t in any case know that they were on the same route as the triathlon. It looks like the cyclists were riding a bit faster than the equestrian, so I’d imagine they caught up with the horse and rider (and then undertook and close passed at speed like complete @rses).
…………….Riding a horse down a road filled with triathletes is also a stupid idea. I don’t care if you are not prohibited from doign so…………..
Using that argument is the same as motorised users saying “riding a bike down a road filled with cars going fast is a stupid idea. I don’t care if you’re not prohibited from doing so….”
That horse and rider had every right to ride down that road and be given due care as a vulnerable road users.
danhopgood wrote:
I agree with you, especially your second paragraph, but would you not agree that there are limits maybe?
For instance, I can ride the A30 here, but I don’t because it is dangerous. Its not the danger that makes me stay off the road though, not directly, its the fact that the ever present danger is shit to be around.
Is this not the same here? She has every right to be there, but common sense would suggest she avoided it that morning.
The fact that the woman feels the need to offer up a back story as to why she was there suggests that she can see her decision making is arguably questionable here.
Would it be fair if, in the
Would it be fair if, in the future, race organizers told participants, “We may set up a sting operation by having something unexpected- but perfectly normal- on the course. If you ride in an unsafe manner and react inappropriately by either endangering yourself or others, you will be disqualified and banned.” This would hopefully incentivize riders to be on their best behavior in case anything they encounter is a trap.
Fair warning has been given, and so long as such obstacles are readily visible, could be anticipated and no malice has been intended, the riders should be able to safely deal with them. So, no putting a oil slick on a sharp corner.
And really, if it’s not a closed course, the riders should expect to encounter almost anything- horses, slow non-participating riders, stalled cars, traffic, debris, the aforementioned wildlife, spectators dressed in devil costumes, etc.
Damn, but there are some
Damn, but there are some stupid fuckers about!
I’m a cyclist, I am not responsible for the actions of those morons, it is not my place to apologise for them but for whatever it’s worth to the horse rider or indeed any other interested road user who may happen across this discussion thread, I hope the posts above show that this is not considered acceptable behaviour by the vast, vast majority of people who happen to ride bicycles.
If this had been motorcycles going past cyclists in a similar fashion, we would be calling for the wrath of God to fall upon them.
M
Human Race say that they will
Human Race say that they will ban the identified miscreants from future participation at the events. That is a fairly wishy washy response. Instead, they should be handing over details to the police to enable a prosecution or to the horse rider for private legal action.
Strava fly-by data probably
Strava fly-by data probably worth a look, if the horserider can say what time this happened?
Is this the bike from the
Is this the bike from the still? Very true. Different bike.
tomdenley111 wrote:
Nope. The seat tube is a different colour, no top tube bag and missing the tri-bars…
tomdenley111 wrote:
Clearly it is not. The one has disc one does not and the one in the still does not have the large black section on the seat tube.
This makes me ashamed to call
This makes me ashamed to call myself a cyclist.
Fatbloke wrote:
Why, it doesn’t me, far worse actions by motorists and pedestrians that ended in adeath or serious injury, would you take that shame every-time when that happens within those groups, if not why not?
Even if they’re selfish
Even if they’re selfish wankers I can’t believe that they’d put themselves at risk like that. They’re extremely lucky to avoid serious injury, I’ve seen what hitting a horse at 40mph in a car does to the car, usually completely written off.
Just stupid , plenty of room
Just stupid , plenty of room to pass by safely with great visbility down the road –
As has been said , us cyclists endure enough seemingly lobotomized motorists to understand how cr4p this must have been for both horse and rider.
I use Tri bars , its no excuse – you should always keep your eyes on where you are heading on a normal public road (not closed event) plus you have all levels of riders around you (pro to amateur) in these events , you dont know what others are going to do..
One word, respect. Thats al
One word, respect. Thats al thats needed on or off the road and we’d all be happier.
Interesting thoughts JRW. I’m
Interesting thoughts JRW. I’m not a horse rider but I was somewhat suprised that a helmet-cam was being used to record a clickety-clop amble down the road.
Frankly though, even if the situation was deliberately set-up, the cyclists most certainly behaved like idiots. Unbelieveably stupid.
Joeinpoole wrote:
Same reason presumably that an increasing number of cyclists have a helmet cam to record a hopefully mundane commute.
Do people really think a rider would deliberately take a beloved and valuable horse, endangering themselves and the horse, into the midst of a triathlon just to make a point?
PRSboy wrote:
In short yes.
As mentioned, I have a lieftimes insight into the equestrian world would suggest this is exactly the sort of thing they would do.
I’d even go so far as say the video provides some suggestions that this may have been the case. First of all, there are at least two opportunities to get off the road on the video if it was a case thtat the horse rider had been caught out.
The horserider was deliberately exercising her right to be on the road. Which is absolutely her right. The same right that says as a cyclist I could ride the Splatford Split down here. Chances of me doing so without incident are low, but its still my legal right to do so.
Secondly, if you didn’t want to be there, which was I felt was being inferred… she hadn’t been made aware, had ridden to her other farm in the morning and was riding back at 9.00am and was confronted by bikes… then she could have trotted on to get the job done as quickly as possible. its what I always did for the short stretch of busy road I used to ride my horse on back in the day. get it done quick, and if the horse spooks it tend to be a bolt, rather than a turn, rear or buck.
However, as stated, it really doesn’t matter what her motives were for being there, its the actions of the triathletes that made this bad.
Jimmy Ray Will wrote:
Despite your last para, you’ve spent the rest of the post effectively victim blaming. To be honest, I’m probably replying more to earlier comments which were more extreme than yours.
Personally, some of the earlier cyclists in the clip seemed like they were too close, especially given relative speeds, vulnerability of a horse rider and the fact that the other lane was empty. However, horse and rider seemed to be fine with those passes. The final group is just beyond idiotic.
I find it bizarre that that on a cycling website of all places, some people are playing whataboutism and not simply calling it out as shit riding and dangerous use of the public road.
gw42 wrote:
Its an interesting paradigm hey?
I am aware of the victim blaming and the hypocrisy of such, however I also see in this scenario reasons to believe that it was an absolute set up.
Why I feel that relevant is the media attention generated and now the police attention focused on cycling and events organised on the public highway.
In road racing, things tend to be run with a very tight ship; races would be neautralised if a horse should get on the course etc. however I feel my current liberty is about to be taken away due to the stupidity of some idiots being successfully bated by an individual with an agenda.
It’s very frustrating.
As already commented elsewhere, I am interested to see how far the police are willing to take this compared to similar recorded incidents by cyclists.
Joeinpoole wrote:
Many riders around here running cams, and have hi-viz on themselves and horse. Some even run rear lights. Quite a few have those fun “Polite” vests with the blue and white checkers (local stables did a bulk buy). Having spoken to a few they have the same issues cyclists do with close passes and drivers acting like dicks. We even shared the observation that drivers will slow down more and give more space for a riderless horse than they do for a ridden one, or a cyclist. Generally they don’t have much of an issue with road cyclists around here, its the off-roaders appearing suddenly out of nowhere in the depths of the forest that are particularly dangerous. Horses are prey animals and even the best trained will get spooked.
I fear this one could have an Alliston effect, cycling is the only sport allowing racing on open public roads and preventing it is exactly the sort of populist vote-winner this govt loves.
What a shambles by all the
What a shambles by all the bike riders. The other side of the road was clear so why not get as far over to the right as possible and not just skirt past while staying on the L/H side of the road. That’s what I’d do, you saw how the horse reacted, how the rider reacted and it could’ve ended badly.
I’ve encountered a horse and rider once where the horse got a scare, I was closing in slowly unlike those triathletes. I now warn well ahead as I realise how hard to control 750kgs of muscle can be to control.
If they’d been riding a bike and a car over/undertook them like that they’d be crying all the way to the police and facebook. I hope the offenders get charged with some ancient but still useful law to show we don’t need a whole heap of new laws to control road users…
Also I hope the next time they each had a shit, it felt like they were pushing a hedgehog out!