"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Does anyone pick up the water bottles riders throw out on the side of the road?

Was watching and the Tour of CA, and sure enough, just like in the Tour de France, riders throw out their bottles when they're empty.

I consider this littering, and i think it's pretty ridiculous how these guys get away with turning the roads they race on into their personal garbage bin. Yesterday's stage was 130 miles, do team personnel actually go back and analyze both sides of the road for 130 miles and pick up water bottles ??

There were long section without any fans on the sides to pick them up...

Was watching and the Tour of CA, and sure enough, just like in the Tour de France, riders throw out their bottles when they're empty.
Well it's not like they can carry all the empties...



I consider this littering, and i think it's pretty ridiculous how these guys get away with turning the roads they race on into their personal garbage bin. Yesterday's stage was 130 miles, do team personnel actually go back and analyze both sides of the road for 130 miles and pick up water bottles ??
I HIGHLY doubt it. Such is life.

I'd be willing to bet the city requires the event cover costs to clean up after the event - including those water bottles.

I consider this littering, and i think it's pretty ridiculous how these guys get away with turning the roads they race on into their personal garbage bin.

Puh-Lease! Gimme a break.

There's plenty of OCD types who are as obsessed with free bike schwag as you are with the enviornment. :D

Everyone tries to get those water bottles. I have some for pro races. Discovery does not toss their bottles, they don't want anyone to analyze the contents.

Are you really trying to say that bike racing has a negative environmental impact? Should people drive pickups around looking for bottles?

Was watching and the Tour of CA, and sure enough, just like in the Tour de France, riders throw out their bottles when they're empty.

I consider this littering, and i think it's pretty ridiculous how these guys get away with turning the roads they race on into their personal garbage bin. Yesterday's stage was 130 miles, do team personnel actually go back and analyze both sides of the road for 130 miles and pick up water bottles ??

There were long section without any fans on the sides to pick them up...

It's a Euro tradition to pick up and/or collect discarded bottles. Know a guy in Frahnce who has something nutty like 500 of 'em, dating back to the early '70s. I'll admit, the population density in Yurp is even greater than that in Cali, but they're considered to be like candy thrown by the homecoming queen to curbside waifs, or beads at Mardi Gras, or sech like.

Oh, no. I may have opened a whole other can of worms, now...

caltrans will pick 'em up. or the race organisers. or fans. or the team.

they won't be left on the side of the road for long. you just don't get to see that part on TV. it'd be pretty boring.

if you're so inclined, call the tour and complain in addition to ranting here. that'd be pretty responsible of you. they'll give you a straight answer that none of us here can answer.

Are you kidding? Pass up a free water bottle? They charge 2 bucks for those things at the LBS. For every 45 free bottles I pick up, I save enough to buy the CF bottle cage to hold it on my bike.

Those discarded water bottles are like foul balls at a baseball game. Even fat, middle-aged old guys race little kids to retrieve them. I have a Tour de Georgia water bottle that Mario Cippolini discarded on Brasstown Bald a couple of years ago. I had to trip a kid that was about to beat me to it.

you just don't get to see that part on TV. it'd be pretty boring.


Funny!

Actually, at the 03 World Championships, some guy was in the crowd telling his buddies some stupid theory about carbon fiber when a tossed bottle bonked him right upside the head.

If only Bike Forums was like that.

Was watching and the Tour of CA, and sure enough, just like in the Tour de France, riders throw out their bottles when they're empty.

I consider this littering, and i think it's pretty ridiculous how these guys get away with turning the roads they race on into their personal garbage bin. Yesterday's stage was 130 miles, do team personnel actually go back and analyze both sides of the road for 130 miles and pick up water bottles ??

There were long section without any fans on the sides to pick them up...
In all races I was in weather it was a running race or cycling race, the participants sure wasn't ask to carry thier empty water bottles.. it is custom to throw them on the ground, makes you feel guilty at first but I quickly realised that part of the volunteer's duty was to pick them up. I did speak with friends of mine who volunteer and it was expected that the participants would do so and picking after racers was not frustrating but something that came along with helping out at a race. I think it's pretty clear that racers are not littering out of being inconsiderate but more as an understanding that someone will have thier backs and let them be as lite and safe as possible. Can you imagine racing long distance and not throw them out? that would be exactly how many empty bottles to carry? might as well pick up juggling to go along with cycling.

Race organisers do a quick sweep behind the caravan to pick up stuff, but other than it's free game for everyone. And who cares if it's littering! It'll be picked up eventually.

Just don't pick up the rolled up hats they discard.

*hangs head*

Well there are some pretty odd answers here like, "And who cares if it's littering! It'll be picked up eventually." I wonder if you have ever volunteered to go out and pick em up? As a race organizer and newly trained official, this is one of the headaches of trying to put on a Road Race. People complain when they see racers in local races tossing bottles onto the side of the road. And I'll guarantee you there are not a bunch of people fighting over a bottle discarded by a cat 4 or 5 racer. In order to try to minimize the impact, we do ask our volunteers to pick them up. But our RR is 85 miles long and it would take a WHOLE bunch of volunteers to check the entire route. So the American Cycling Association has this rule, "18.1.5: Riders are not permitted to discard water bottles, food wrappers or other litter except in designated feed zones or designated bottle discard zones. All such zones will be clearly marked by the promoter." If the racers do that then the zone volunteers can easily pick them up, the navtives are happy and the racers will help the organizers to keep the races going.

Are you really trying to say that bike racing has a negative environmental impact? Should people drive pickups around looking for bottles?

I don't care who ya are, that's funny!

Was watching and the Tour of CA, and sure enough, just like in the Tour de France, riders throw out their bottles when they're empty.

I consider this littering, and i think it's pretty ridiculous how these guys get away with turning the roads they race on into their personal garbage bin. Yesterday's stage was 130 miles, do team personnel actually go back and analyze both sides of the road for 130 miles and pick up water bottles ??

There were long section without any fans on the sides to pick them up...

Is this a joke???

Discovery does not toss their bottles, they don't want anyone to analyze the contents.


That's just plain wrong! Everyone knows Discovery doesn't toss their bottles so the riders can't be cloned for racing in the year 2030.

They just sit on the side of the road and eventually, in a couple million years or so, they rot away and become part of the earth again.

Don't worry your pretty little head about it. :D

Are you really trying to say that bike racing has a negative environmental impact? Should people drive pickups around looking for bottles?
Well, actually, after spectating at the Tour of CA and seeing the sheer amount of support vehicles/cop cars/cop motorcycles hauling ass uphill, downhill or pretty much anywhere they could haul ass I realized that the athletes might be cycling, but the surrounding organization is causing a good amount of polution.



Those discarded water bottles are like foul balls at a baseball game. Even fat, middle-aged old guys race little kids to retrieve them. I have a Tour de Georgia water bottle that Mario Cippolini discarded on Brasstown Bald a couple of years ago. I had to trip a kid that was about to beat me to it.
LOL



Well there are some pretty odd answers here like, "And who cares if it's littering! It'll be picked up eventually." I wonder if you have ever volunteered to go out and pick em up? As a race organizer and newly trained official, this is one of the headaches of trying to put on a Road Race. People complain when they see racers in local races tossing bottles onto the side of the road. And I'll guarantee you there are not a bunch of people fighting over a bottle discarded by a cat 4 or 5 racer. In order to try to minimize the impact, we do ask our volunteers to pick them up. But our RR is 85 miles long and it would take a WHOLE bunch of volunteers to check the entire route. So the American Cycling Association has this rule, "18.1.5: Riders are not permitted to discard water bottles, food wrappers or other litter except in designated feed zones or designated bottle discard zones. All such zones will be clearly marked by the promoter." If the racers do that then the zone volunteers can easily pick them up, the navtives are happy and the racers will help the organizers to keep the races going.
Exactly. It make sense during a circuit race since there is one feed zone and bottles can be discarded there. In a point to point race things become complicated, and like you said, no one is fighting over bottles discarded by amateur racers.



Is this a joke???
nope, not a joke.


It seems to me that the whole cycling establishment could be more efficient about this. Why do the riders carry such tiny bottles in the first place? No wonder they are always throwing them out, you finish a bottle like that in no time. If they carried larger bottles they might last longer, long enough for them to hand them to a team car or to the domestique handing them the bottles he got from the team car...

Larger bottle = more weight?

I was just thinking about this on my ride to school this morning. About how cool it'd be to have a waterbottle of some pro racer sitting in my room. I even thought of selling this waterbottle on Ebay but its one of those things that you can't prove. I just thought it'd be kinda cool. :) Glad I'm not alone.

but the surrounding organization is causing a good amount of polution.


the organizers are trying to offset the pollution by purchasing renewable resource credits so that the race will have a zero impact on the environment. if you saw the clif bar "green" green jersey spots it'd make you laugh how funny the it was. but they're trying. they know the impact they're creating. this might very well be the "cleanest" pro tour ever.

What, exactly, is a "renewable resource credit"? I've seen the commercials, but being a mid-western, hillbilly, eco-terrorist, I have no idea what that means.

Oh yes, and we shouldn't forget that bike races help the environment because we are, well, riding bikes. This always attracts other people into bikes and away from gas guzzling vehicles. I think road races are perfect for fighting pollution.

:)

Well, actually, after spectating at the Tour of CA and seeing the sheer amount of support vehicles/cop cars/cop motorcycles hauling ass uphill, downhill or pretty much anywhere they could haul ass I realized that the athletes might be cycling, but the surrounding organization is causing a good amount of polution.


as opposed to motorsports?
give me a break-just keeping traffic off the roads for the day more than offsets this.
I wish more environmentalists would knee-jerk less and think more.

I'm sure the amount of fuel the 747's use to get all the europeans and their bikes to cali is more than the support vehicles will use, but I don't want this evolve into anti-oil thread.

My teams runs a road race in eastern San Deigo county everyyear, on 24 mile course. cat 5s only do one lap don't get any feeds so they shouldn't have emptys to discard, but they certianly get droped quite frequent. After the race, we devided the course into about 5 mile segments and patrol the course for bottles, bar wrappers ect. We also end up picking up a lot of beer bottles/cans too. If we didn't we would no longer we permitted to run the race. This year I'm told we had to get some extra porta potties, beacuse of complaints from neighbors about racers using their bushes.

That being said, we need to be good neighbors, because their aren't many places that will let you hold an ametuer race. I'm sure there were even some communties along the Tour de Cali who weren't too keen on having the bikers come through. It sounds like everything has gone well, but I wouldn't want to see the race not happening becuse of litter problems.

I highly doubt one of those bottles will sit around for more than a day without some cyclist spotting them.

as opposed to motorsports?
give me a break-just keeping traffic off the roads for the day more than offsets this.
I wish more environmentalists would knee-jerk less and think more.

Actually, motorsports are responsible for many of the advances that have been made in automotive fuel efficiency.

Actually, motorsports are responsible for many of the advances that have been made in automotive fuel efficiency.

nonsense.
how many small turbodiesel formulas are there? hybrid touring cars?
racing is not about fuel efficiency or emission controls.

nonsense.
how many small turbodiesel formulas are there? hybrid touring cars?
racing is not about fuel efficiency or emission controls.
Not to hijack the thread, but a fast racecar with good mileage wins races. Granted the mileage is relative to the mileage a racecar gets.

On topic: Spectators usually pick up discarded water bottles. I have a Jelly Belly one from a crit raced in Walterboro.

as opposed to motorsports?
give me a break-just keeping traffic off the roads for the day more than offsets this.
I wish more environmentalists would knee-jerk less and think more.I'm not an environmentalist.

I just think it's funny that a bike race with 130 racers has to have, uh, 40 cars and motorcycles. It's midly hilarious seeing all those vehicles wipping by. Couldn't they run it with, three support cars (that serve as neutral support and provide water), 2 mavic support bikes, 2 cop bikes (one in the very back, one in the very front). No need for soigneus, coaches, mechanics, doctors to pile into cars and all follow along. It's a bike race... get rid of the radios too... just race the bikes.

You're an idiot. :rolleyes:

He's got a point about the number of vehicles required for a major road race. I don't have a problem with the number of official and support vehicles. I've never felt that there were too many of them. However, the VIP vehicles and helicopters that tag along are just ridiculous.

As for the bottles, I'm willing to bet that at the TDF, 99% are picked up withing 24 hours of the stage end and rest will eventually get picked up by farmers, road workers, other cyclists, etc.

Oh yeah, there is no way you will ever convince a big budget team to entrust their mechanical support to the boys in yellow. You ever seen a rider race well on one of those bikes? Teams need their own mechanics on the road as they are the only ones who know their riders bikes and have the proper replacement parts.

Shoot, I usually crouch real low and assume the running position when I'm at the races. I can't wait to get my hands on a water bottle!

I don't think they have anything to worry about- there are lots of scavengers like myself willing to fight for a water bottle. I got one at the Giro a couple of years ago- Aqua e Sapone, I believe. I nearly lost my mind and the whole crowd was clapping for me. It was crazy.

Koffee

+1 to what laggard said about team mechs. Look at what happened to Sebastian Lang yesterday.

... just race the bikes.

Good intentions, but pro cycling has evolved into big dollars for the sponsors and media. While folks can wish it to be different, such is the world we live in; being the ToC is a world class event. The need for all the support vehicles and people comes with territory. This isn't your local supported century.

Remember, the organizers do what they can to make this as close to a "green" event as they can. That's much more than what other sports even consider. I love we have the oppurtunity to have events like this in the states. I wouldn't complain.

I always thought it would be nice to require all the support vehicles to be powered by some clean fuel-- like LNG or Ethanol or big battery hybrids or something. It really bugs me when I'm out on a ride and some stinking tail pipe goes by, fouling the air I'm sucking in.

Those discarded water bottles are like foul balls at a baseball game. Even fat, middle-aged old guys race little kids to retrieve them. I have a Tour de Georgia water bottle that Mario Cippolini discarded on Brasstown Bald a couple of years ago. I had to trip a kid that was about to beat me to it.
:roflmao:

b-b-but, THE ENVIRONMENT!!!

I thought that Clif Bar said this was an Environmentally Neutral tour?

To the OP: Do you comprehend the amount of pollution generated to create the computer on which you're typing? Or the Starbucks cup from which you're drinking? Or the rubber/aluminum/carbon/steel on which you ride periodically?

Also, don't you think that area cyclists on the routes that the Tour hit this year will be clamoring to ride the same roads for weeks to come? They will scour the side for even Cyprus' rolled up hats! I'm sure that within the month, there will be no remnants of Goo, PowerBar, Clif, or water bottles to worry your little head over. But there will be millions of 10 year old cigarette butts, fanbelts, truck tires, MacDonalds bags, condoms, and diapers for you to keep ignoring.

b-b-but, THE ENVIRONMENT!!!

I thought that Clif Bar said this was an Environmentally Neutral tour?

To the OP: Do you comprehend the amount of pollution generated to create the computer on which you're typing? Or the Starbucks cup from which you're drinking? Or the rubber/aluminum/carbon/steel on which you ride periodically?


I remember seeing a post last summer from a guy who wraps his clif bars and other riding food in giant grape leaves. He said it was much easier than trying to unwrap a clif bar's normal packaging with your teeth while riding, and when you drop the grape leaf, it biodegrades very quickly, if some wildlife doesn't eat it first.

I remember seeing a post last summer from a guy who wraps his clif bars and other riding food in giant grape leaves. He said it was much easier than trying to unwrap a clif bar's normal packaging with your teeth while riding, and when you drop the grape leaf, it biodegrades very quickly, if some wildlife doesn't eat it first.

Grape leaves are good people food, too. I've never tried one right off the vine but the Greeks, who know how to make anything edible taste good, can do wonderful things with them.