A man who bet his friends that he could cycle from London to Brighton had his ride stopped by police this morning – because he had taken a wrong turn onto the M23 motorway.
In a tweet posted at 9.20am, the Surrey Roads Policing Unit confirmed they had escorted the man – described as “not a regular cyclist” – off the motorway, where cyclists are banned.
They said: “This chap made a bet with his mates that he could ride a bike from London to Brighton. Safely moved off the M23 to continue his way.”
This chap made a bet with his mates that he could ride a bike from London to Brighton. Safely moved off the #M23 to continue his way pic.twitter.com/1KVc3UaYB9
— RPU – Surrey Police (@SurreyRoadCops) May 20, 2017
Officers added: “The rider is not a regular cyclist and had made a bet he could ride a bike from London to Brighton but got confused at the A23/M23 junction.”
The rider is not a regular cyclist and had made a bet he could ride a bike from London to Brighton but got confused at the A23/M23 junction
— RPU – Surrey Police (@SurreyRoadCops) May 20, 2017
They didn’t reveal how much money was at stake.
Last month, we reported how a pro cyclist took a wrong turn onto a motorway in France as he tried to find a shortcut to the finish of Paris-Roubaix after abandoning the race.
> Lost in France – rider ends up on motorway after abandoning Paris-Roubaix
UAE Team Emirates rider Andrea Guardini was escorted off the motorway by a Gendarmerie patrol, who took him to their barracks where he was able to watch the end of the race. I return, he gave them his jersey, complete with his race number.
25 thoughts on “Man bets friends he can cycle from London-Brighton – and gets stopped by police on M23”
Saw a cyclist on the M25
Saw a cyclist on the M25 today, a woman in a bright pink jersey – just before the M25 – A21 junction. Wonder how far she got as there was a police car just behind us….Anyone know what the fine is?
Road.cc seriously is this
Road.cc seriously is this news or clickbait
gbzpto wrote:
Seems like the story is about exactly what it says on the link…
Nearly did this myself today.
Nearly did this myself today.. Scary prospect ending up on a MW
I assume that was at J7 where
I assume that was at J7 where the A23 suddenly becomes the M23. Easy mistake to make, regular cyclist or not. The headline should really read “Lack of safe cycle route from London to Brighton places man in danger”.
ibike wrote:
Surely it should read ” dickhead unable to read road signs or a map puts other road users in danger”
john1967 wrote:
I assume that was at J7 where the A23 suddenly becomes the M23. Easy mistake to make, regular cyclist or not. The headline should really read “Lack of safe cycle route from London to Brighton places man in danger”.
— john1967 Surely it should read ” dickhead unable to read road signs or a map puts other road users in danger”— ibike
Really? How was he putting any other road users in danger? He’s right over against the grass, probably eight or nine feet from the motor traffic.
brooksby wrote:
The statistics on fatal crashes involving the hard shoulder of motorways in the UK proves otherwise. Every year many incidents occur when vehicles career off the motorway lanes into other vehicles stopped on the hard shoulder. This can be due to drivers falling asleep or burst tyres for example. Cycling in the hard shoulder is simply stupid and is banned for good reason. If a car driver lost control inadvertently and hit him at speed, he’d be splattered across the front and the risk of serious injury to the vehicle occupants would be enormous also.
OldRidgeback wrote:
Though you’d have to compare that to the danger of the same thing happening on all the very fast A-roads where cycling is legal.
I used to cycle regularly on one such road (as there was no other route) till while walking along the pavement next to it one evening I witnessed a driver swerve across the road and hit an oncoming car head-on, right in front of me (combined impact speed must have been 80-100mph). If it had been me on my bike coming the other way rather than a car, I’d have been every bit as dead as if it had happened on a motorway.
Anyway, the fellow should have turned off well before that point and gone up Ditches Lane/Farthing Down [used to be my preferred route to Brighton after I decided the A23, never mind the M23, was not for me]. Though that road itself is a bit unnerving to cycle along when it gets to the bit with high foiliage on both sides and not much visibility and drivers going inappropriately fast.
This bit’s good
https://goo.gl/maps/6dMUU1wg8cr
Then not so much
https://goo.gl/maps/Yoqc8aSKyS52
Am I the only one who gets nervous on the latter bit? I suppose that sort of road is pretty typical for country lanes. Is it because I’m not used to cycling ouside cities? Trees and green stuff are just generally unnerving.
FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:
https://goo.gl/maps/9mXBzXxfUjN2
Though you’d have to compare that to the danger of the same thing happening on all the very fast A-roads where cycling is legal. I used to cycle regularly on one such road (as there was no other route) till while walking along the pavement next to it one evening I witnessed a driver swerve across the road and hit an oncoming car head-on, right in front of me (combined impact speed must have been 80-100mph). If it had been me on my bike coming the other way rather than a car, I’d have been every bit as dead as if it had happened on a motorway. Anyway, the fellow should have turned off well before that point and gone up Ditches Lane/Farthing Down [used to be my preferred route to Brighton after I decided the A23, never mind the M23, was not for me]. Though that road itself is a bit unnerving to cycle along when it gets to the bit with high foiliage on both sides and not much visibility and drivers going inappropriately fast. This bit’s good https://goo.gl/maps/6dMUU1wg8cr Then not so much https://goo.gl/maps/Yoqc8aSKyS52 Am I the only one who gets nervous on the latter bit? I suppose that sort of road is pretty typical for country lanes. Is it because I’m not used to cycling ouside cities? Trees and green stuff are just generally unnerving.— FluffyKittenofTindalos
Think it really depends on your style of riding and how you are able to assess the conditions/chances of meeting another vehicle. Fortunately though pretty narrow it looks fairly clear and not rutted/strewn with shale/flint etc, there’s a few similar not too far from me with about a 5/6% downhilly bits that I’ve used in the past but you really can’t get any speed up at all due to the narrowness and the fact that they’re strewn with stones/flinty bits washed off the banking so really have to pick your line, barely do 12-15mph down those.
Try and open up the view as far as is possible, particularly on left hand bends so you want to be as far right as possible (this is counter intuative to most), it also means vehicles coming up behind you see you earlier too. Also go at a speed you can stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.
Whilst an oncoming motor will obvs shorten that distance pretty quickly it gives you more time to react and your positioning more time to see and be seen.
this can be a bit cheek clenching at 35mph https://goo.gl/maps/GgY5VeW6HxC2
but has just enough space for two cars to pass at the top but narrows to 1.75 cars width (not as narrow as your one near the bottom. there are a couple of kinks so you have to scrub off 10-15mph before you get to the blind left hander which is best to approach from the absolute right hand side just in case someone is hogging the whole lane and you can see them earlier and simply move right over to the left. like most things, do it often enough and choose when is good to go faster and when it’s not and you get better/more confident.
brooksby wrote:
That photo was taken from the police car that was escorting the dickhead of the hard shoulder.So if nothing else he was putting the police in danger.You may have to remove you carbon tinted spectacles to see the entire danger of this situation.
john1967 wrote:
But that wouldn’t be newsworthy, given that those attributes apply to the majority of the driving population, and they’re generally ‘controlling’ metal deathboxes with a minimum carnagespec of 90mph and 1 tonne.
john1967 wrote:
I assume that was at J7 where the A23 suddenly becomes the M23. Easy mistake to make, regular cyclist or not. The headline should really read “Lack of safe cycle route from London to Brighton places man in danger”.
— john1967 Surely it should read ” dickhead unable to read road signs or a map puts other road users in danger”— ibike
Yeah looks like he missed the, so safe and well marked, cycle route leading you off the M23:
https://goo.gl/maps/NDZVmZ1cGzQ2
a1white wrote:
And beautifully maintained too! A wonderful piece on cycling infrastructure, the dutch would envy it!
DaveE128 wrote:
Yeah looks like he missed the, so safe and well marked, cycle route leading you off the M23:
https://goo.gl/maps/NDZVmZ1cGzQ2
— DaveE128 And beautifully maintained too! A wonderful piece on cycling infrastructure, the dutch would envy it!
— a1white
Can you imagine crossing that?! You’re bascially crossing the M23, on a corner. Insane!
I don’t know that part of the
I don’t know that part of the country- can I presume that the motorway is the most direct route?
Look at that massive cycle
Look at that massive cycle lane! Why is it I get twats cutting me at 70mph in town but its somehow awful that a cyclist goes on a motorway with an 8 foot gap. Christ Im lucky to get a foot sometimes.
Meh. I ended up on an
Meh. I ended up on an autobahn when touring. It happens.
andyp wrote:
Was it fun, fun, fun…?
There are so many nice routes
There are so many nice routes. Love my rides to Brighton/Hove from London.
Beecho wrote:
There really are.
I pity those who can’t scan an OS map and understand the wealth of useful insight it provides.
Can anyone tell me how this
Can anyone tell me how this is less safe than riding on a NSL single or dual carriageway sharing a lane with traffic doing exactly the same speed?
If you do miss this fine
If you do miss this fine piece of cycle infrastructure, there is then the small problem of what to do – presumably push your bike back up a one-way dual carriageway from the pont at which you realsie it’s all gone wrong, which is when you find yourself on a motorway.
Should you manage to cross the traffic from that lovely little refuge they have provided, you do find a reasonable cycle route, on a one-way stretch of road. However, before too long the cycle lane is replaced by hatching on the opposite side of the road that pushes the cars over to where the bikes are, which is a piece of design of breath-taking stupidity.
https://goo.gl/maps/9wTadA3r2MP2
It’s not my own speed or
It’s not my own speed or stopping distance that worries me on such roads, rather nervousness about fast oncoming vehicles (or ones coming round a bend immediately behind me).
I suppose one has to trust that drivers will be cautious because they have to expect other motorised vehicles even if they aren’t thinking of bikes. But I worry that they won’t be looking for something smaller than a car or even if they see me, they’ll carry on at speed, expecting me to move over and then to squeeze past me without slowing down.
I dunno how people get about without a car in country areas where all the roads are like that. And unlit as well.
FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:
statisically the risk of being killed/seriously injured in a head on, on a narrow country road is pretty low, it’s likely to be even less at night time as a decent to see by light will stand out long before the driver sees you.
the more you do it the less daunting it seems, i love night time runs in the country because you can see the motors headlights well before they get to you, giving you chance to adjust your beam, position in the road, speed or all three with more time than you would during the day.