Is this the worst cycling event EVER?

I'm going to take a very wild guess that helmets are compulsory for this "event".

Cock and Wombles spring to mind, I really hope not one person turns up, people should black ball this crud.

Disgraceful waste of money and the local roads will still be a load of shite to ride on. They should stop up these roads to motorvehicles and only allow passage through for pedestrians, bicyclists and equestrians, after all 'they' have their motorway so should bloody well be forced to use it.

If i was a local, i wouldn't waste time turning up at such an event. Same way I dont go to my own office parties because its full of managers circlejerking and slapping each other on the back for who can treat their staff the worst. 

“The event organising team has consulted with a number of local cycling groups....."  That number being one person from one group who told them where to shove it.

“However, the benefits to cyclists and pedestrians of the project are to be found in the local road networks which will be relieved of strategic traffic, with all the environmental and safety benefits this will bring.”  It won't.  Anyone who has even briefly looked at the evidence from the past 60 years will know that new roads don't reduce levels of traffic on other roads, they merely induce extra traffic, thus creating more traffic on those roads.  Unless absolutely draconian measures are taken to reduce local traffic, exclusion zones, stopping up roads etc, local traffic will increase.

As the best quote I've ever heard about this says "Curing congestion by building more roads is like loosening your belt to cure obesity."

This has to be the saddest "cycling" event ever, and to add injury to insult, cyclists will be banned from it when they should have constructed wide, segregated parallel cycle routes. 

How about turning up with black armbands and riding off with their bikes?

It's a non event and a non story. The real issue for me is that they are building miles of roads without decent cycle routes (with proper solutions at slip roads). The only reason they build roads without segregated cycle paths to the side is cost. Unless they do something to improve the 'non strategic' roads- it wont make any difference to the safety of cyclists. What will actually happen is the maintenance regime on the other routes will be downgraded (as they are seen as secondary routes) and they will deteriorate...

Pah.  In the Netherlands, this would be the cycle path! 

(So I've been led to believe...might be over-egging the Dutch pudding slightly)

And I complain about events where I have to wear the jersey of the event!

I would just show up a day early for this one and sneak a few km of riding in.

Zermattjohn is bang on it's a load of bollocks.

Contractors hate cyclists, they don't give a monkeys about anything except their bottom line and hitting the programme. Exemplified by this joke quality half arsed "community event".

The Headline wrote:

However, people will not be allowed to bring their own bikes “for everyone’s safety

Event Website wrote:

A selection of bikes will be available to borrow for all that wish to cycle a section of the new AWPR B-T route. Please note, for everyone’s safety visitors will not be able to bring their own bikes on site.

Oh dear, they seem to have forgotten that not all cyclists are on two wheels or, for that matter, cycle using their legs...

I wonder, what provision have they made for disabled cyclists using, for example, Handcycles...?

"Strategic traffic....": a well-used phrase without meaning used by traffic engineers (guilty.....).

What it means is that estimates/guestimates of motorised traffic volumes and types (private car, HGV, etc) going from points A, B, C, etc to A, B, C, etc have been plugged into a model. They've then plonked a massive new link in the middle of the network and after even more assumptions and guesswork come up with a reduction in average travel time for these important people. None of it is real, it's all done for the business case to support the funding bid, which was probably done 10 years ago, and any link to the current real-world driving patterns in the area were lost long ago. It would be interesting to see where the original traffic flows were derived from - sometimes from previous models with as little link to reality.

This explains why, when a new route is finished and open, the change to traffic flows is absolutely nothing like predicted. But, by then, it doesn't matter as it's too late to do anything other than build another one. Perfect for the next local elections.

Then it's back to the strategic model again....

PS - I quit this shambles of an industry a year ago. It really is all bollocks, sadly.

Just a waste of space.

The "never ride it again" bit is just click bait from this website. So what? There are other routes that are prohibited to cyclists. Would there be moans about this element if it was a new motorway link? Nope. Just whinging here.

Only use provided bikes. Well its their ball so they decide the rules.

Shuttle access only. Is there any other way? No one is mentioning that just moaning. Perhaps there is no other way if the road has no cyclist and its not open yet.

None of this is worthy of complaint. If you don't like it you don't have to go.

Havings said all that , is a bit bloody daft to have the latter 2 restrictions if they want to promote cycling in the area isn't it?

Possibly even dafter is doing it in the first place. Who the hell will really bother?

Shame it's in Aberdeen. Somewhere with a larger local population could feasibly support an act of large scale civil disobedience.  Would be amusing to see the faces of the hi-viz not-police trying to stop a few thousand bikes descending on the road.

Theres a few few Strava segments on the AWPR where the KoM and Qom could reign supreme once the road is opened

The status of special road (Not a motorway but no bikes or tractors) has been applied to a few dual carriageways over the years in Scotland, as far as I am aware they have all been in place from when the road was opened having been built on greenfield sites and thus not closing any existing routes (Edinburgh city by pass and Glasgow Southern Orbital). not sure about the Edinburgh By Pass but in the case of the GSO the old routes are very quiet and I believe accptable. However in the case of the long awaited AWPR there has long been a demand for cycling facilities to the South of the city and I believe an opportunity has been ignored.
Further to that the Deeside way (well used old railway tarmaced cycle track 6 miles direct from Peterculter into city) has now been crossed by the AWPR and the originally promised bridge quietly forgotten so users now need to cross a dual carriageway with NSL (70mph)

Bear in mind that this is not a missing link in the motorway network (the nearest Motorway is nearly 100 miles away), perhaps if it had been built to MWay standards the cycling facilities would ironically have been better
And the answer to your headline question YES it does sound like one of the worst events ever

What would happen in a bunch of MTBers rode some of the country tracks to get to the route and just turned up? Would some officious do-gooder in high viz chase them down?

If I lived in the area, I'd be tempted to cut across country and ride the route on a muddy MTB. It might even be worth encouraging some locals to do so!

This was always going to be a cr*p event.  It was not going to be an opportunity to access all 27 or so miles of the new road by bike for one day (and enjoy the nice new smooth surface), it was just going to be a small section of it.

What is really annoying is that even that meagre event was massively downgraded (from a cyclists viewpoint) very recently.

The FAQ on the website has changed in past few weeks.

I had copied and pasted the text from there and posted on Aberdeen Cycle Forum FB and also a Scottish Cycling Grampian FB page when the site went up (c. 8 weeks ago).

Here is what it said back then (I've made some bits bold) :

"The Sunday morning will offer a unique opportunity for cyclists to access the new AWPR road with options being finalised to link in with the pre-existing National Cycle Network.

During both event days, we are planning to have a selection of bikes for use in a “come and try” arena. This will give an opportunity for novices and the more experienced to cycle a short section of AWPR B-T. Cyclists of all levels can wiz, wobble or weave on the closed road, promoting active travel and greener transport."

"Options are being finalised to make use of the National Cycle Route providing access to the section of road being used for the event and will be advertised to encourage cyclists to enjoy a ‘day out’ cycling to visit the event and reduce pressure on transport provisions while promoting active travel and greener transport.

For the Sunday morning cycling additional transport will be arranged from a designated departure site to bring cyclists and their bikes to the event site, this will be arranged by our events team. No personal cars will be permitted to the event arena."

P.S. Sorry I didn't take a screen cap, but the text quoted above is the original text straight off the old FAQ.

Fucktardary of monumental proportions.

Surely dreamt up by someone on monkey dust 

*checks date*

So, whose idea was this and are they allowed out in public without an adult?

"This what you could have won". Tell 'em to shove it, patronising b*****ds.

What a load of bollocks.