If anyone saw it there were a fair amount of lycra-clad types on the A1 near grantham last night, I understand they’ve got to do it somewhere but the A1! Surely that’s just an accident waiting to happen!?
Still, could’ve been a single carrige way I suppose.
i’m a cyclist (more mountainbike than racing whippet though, and NO lycra!) but i do have to agree, especially after we had to “rescue” a load from a recovery yard at melton mowbray last year, off a czech drawbar which had hit and killed an elderly cyclist on the A1 near grantham early on a saturday morning 
exactly, I’m not taking any sides here but surely there’s better roads / times - this was about 18:30 so not as busy as it could be but imo, first thing on a sunday would be much better.
why dont they just do it down the ■■■■■■■ M4■■?
Even that might be safer, they could use the hard shoulder most of the time 
Why don’t they just pack it up, they could do something sensible like… morris dancing. 
…
darkseeker:
:lol: Even that might be safer, they could use the hard shoulder most of the time
you could be on to someting there fella!
they could join the muppets that drive around the M25 for fun
i wonder how long it would take them to “do a lap” 
seriously though, the A1 is a bloody dangerous place to be riding a pushbike. how many people have lost their lives on it in the past few years? not just cyclists, but pedestrians too.
Im a cyclist as some of you probably know, and i do(although not so often now) racing. It would have been a time trial.
The reason they use the A1 is for a few reasons. Faster times because you get the drag of the cars and trucks, normally smoother roads aswell, and because these circuits/courses have been used for years, they are still being used. You will probably see the people riding on very expensive bikes, with all very expensive kit, trying to beat their PB.
Personally, i wont race on the A1 or any of the others, but to some they see it as fine, most are chasing that faster time anyway and circuits with sections on the A1 are often the ones that are the fastest.
The Police are notified well in advance, forms filled out etc so alot of work and organisation goes into organising them, and the Police give it the OK.
There are also normally Marshall’s and signs up to attempt to warn drivers.
If you look on the bridge somewhere along the stretch of the A1 used then there should be someone on the bridge counting the traffic. This got brought in a few years ago, if the number of units(car is 1unit, truck is 2 units, or something like that) goes above a certain limit then that circuit then cant be used.
That was brought in by someone who people think wants the courses off the A1.
The counting is normally done by a helper of the club, and will either be done truthfully, or changed slightly. 
There are people killed doing it, there was a guy last year killed when a woman exited, didnt see him and just took him out. No idea what it will take for people to stop using the courses…
Doing a TT on the A1 isnt for me though, nor is it for other people.
This was the last event i did, road was completely closed off for it and it was quite abit nicer.http://www.monsalhillclimb.org.uk/
sharky007:
they could join the muppets that drive around the M25 for funi wonder how long it would take them to “do a lap”
Quicker than a ferrari most days, knowing that fantastic bit of tarmac. 
darkseeker:
If anyone saw it there were a fair amount of lycra-clad types on the A1 near grantham last night, I understand they’ve got to do it somewhere but the A1! Surely that’s just an accident waiting to happen!?Still, could’ve been a single carrige way I suppose.
This is the thing which is fascinating for me. I’ve been driving in quite a number of places arround UK, and I saw cyclists and joggers… But only jogging/cycling along main/trunk roads. I never saw a cyclist on the one of the small roads in HIghlands I used to drive. Even on Outer Hebrides, they seems to do not leave the main road (single track with passing places - they are a nightmare out there)
I can understand some of the reason mentioned by JoeG (except the drag from passing lorries - I always thought that using something more than power of your muscles and gravity for cycling is cheating 
) for racers, but people who are doing it for tourism?
I used to cycle a lot on racing bicycle in the past and I was able to find many empty roads with good tarmac even in Poland all these years ago… Now I am not cycling a lot, but If I would want to, I would for sure choose some empty back road rather than main trunk road full of trucks…
The same for joggers - if they do it for health, why they do it along main roads? Do they think that inhaling all that exhaust smokers will do them any good?
Same thing with tourist. I can’t count how many time I saw people camping just literalry out of the shoulder of A82 on Loch Lomond… If I would loose control and leave the road, I could kill some of them, as they were camping in so stupid places…
I myself like to go to Highlands with my tent from time to time, but what I do is finding some quiet back farm lane or sth like that and camp there. Not just on the shoulder of A9 or whatever…
Theres loads on the A50 on Thursday evenings between the A516 turn & Uttoxeter
May well be a club evening time trial circuit if its the same time every thursday night.
Round here the cycle club im in use the A6097 just about Oxton Island, you go to the A614 and do a left. Down to the first island and go straight around it and back the way you came. You then do a right at the island of the A6097 and the A614, go down the A6097, over Oxton Island and finish just before a turn off for Southwell.
Its pretty much every Tuesday night between 6:45 and 7:30/8. If you have been along there you will have seen the riders.
Most weekends there are time trials on in some place or other with people chasing times. These riders usually have a number pinned to their back though.
As for people commuting or going for a leisure ride down main roads, i cant think of anything worse There are some lovely back roads to cycle along.
Put this in to Google a1 killed cyclist a1 killed cyclist look through them most are the motorist and of course the big bad lorry driver to blame I didnt go through them all but I didnt find any that said the cyclist was to blame, the A1 is a dangerous road as it is but to cycle on it is ■■■■■■■ madness not only for an organised cycling group but if I was stupid enough I could take mi kids on there for a bike ride, along with the 17 year olds driving the 40 ton tractors madness eh?.
I mentioned this in the anti cycling blog last week about time trials. However being sad yesterday I watched Top Gear again and it was a race from Putney to the city Airport or some such malarky
The Stig went by bus and train,
May went by Car
Hammond by Cycle
Clarkson by powerboat up the Thames.
Result:
1.Cycle
2.Powerboat
3.Train
4.Car
The figures were than seasonally adjusted to make sure that the bike appeared to have come last
I was a time trial club rider nearly 40 years ago. We used the dual carriageway A85 between Perth and Dundee. The police stopped us from using that course after a fatality .A rider wont do a fast time on a single carriageway with wee hills and bends on it,