"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Do you racers throw rubbish?

When you race do you throw your rubbish into the bush?

No. Put it in your pocket.

Most races I have been to, the neighbors complain just because we are there. No need to make it worse by littering.

no

Never. No need to upset the locals.

I try not to, I put used wrappers back in my pockets, but I've lost a few because they tend to come out when pulling other things.

I try not too however sometimes one slips out of the jersey pockets. I use the gel flask now so it mostly solves that problem.

We have problems enough with the cyclists vs cars/public around here. I dont want to make anything worse. It has actually gotten really bad with cars running riders off the road and throwing stuff at us. I know it is like this at other places but it is new for us up here.

no. never.

Lot of the races here you get DQ'd if you are caught intentionally throwing garbage off the bike. There are the occasional "slips" where you drop something or it falls out of a pocket, but if it's intentional you're out...

I've thrown bottles, but I go back to get them.

The only thing I've thrown is a banana peel, and that is questionable. I've done it once in a race, and probably should have just gone back to the car and handed it to them. It was right in front of the follow car though, and I didn't get a warning... but it might be different depending on who's driving. Throwing litter or bottles is a DQ offense in OBRA land.

Euro pros are a bit different. They have a whole caravan following the race, cleaning things up. And all the bottles get schlepped up by fans anyway.

Some racers do in our race, but the amount has dropped off significantly because
a) permitting authorities said we may lose the course and we told racers that
b) we put in two extra discard zones (total five) in the spot where most of the trash was showing up
c) racers heeded a and took advantage of b

Galling thing is, I'll bet the local beer, soda and plastic bag distributors have never been threatened or even asked to go out and clean up what their "participants" leave behind.

Never

I toss bottles sometimes, but I usually try to ditch them right before the feed zone. The ones I toss elsewhere I go back and look for.

Euro pros are a bit different. They have a whole caravan following the race, cleaning things up. And all the bottles get schlepped up by fans anyway.

But some of those bottles get thrown into the woods where nobody is around - maybe the decomposable bottles aren't a bad idea (for them)..

^^^
Like I said... cleanup crew. Decomposable bottles would just make things more expensive for the teams.

This is a favorite rant.

While I don't doubt anyone who's posted so far, I do know that racers, riders, tirathletes in general are really bad about tossing trash. I did a rally yesterday where the volunteers were handing up water and drinks. Sure enough, everyone but me tossed their empty bottles. Mine I crumpled up and stuffed in my pocket. Not to mention all the gel packs and various wrappers I saw get tossed.

As I remarked to my buddy, I bet every single one of these people considers themselves and environmentalist, a responsible road user and a steward of the earth. Yeah right.

as a moto ref, i get to see the flotsam in the road thru all catagorys. The P123 guys are the worst with the gel wrappers.

It's nice when there is a specified feed zone - even if it's not needed. That way bottles and trash is confined. But really, just pocket your trash. It's not like you're dragging a ton of refuse.

When you race do you throw your rubbish into the bush?

http://communitiesonline.homestead.com/files/troll_2.jpg or http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Carlb-sockpuppet-01.jpg?

What year is this?

1986

I guess I'm not watching too hard, but has anyone seen a pro in the TdF throw anything other than a bottle on TV? I was a little surprised the other day to see one of the guys loading up with bottles hand his empties to the team car. Deprive some fan of a souvenir bottle. I assume they dump musette bags, but I haven't seen that.

I only toss banana peels

I guess I'm not watching too hard, but has anyone seen a pro in the TdF throw anything other than a bottle on TV? I was a little surprised the other day to see one of the guys loading up with bottles hand his empties to the team car. Deprive some fan of a souvenir bottle. I assume they dump musette bags, but I haven't seen that.

yes.

Obvious "drop zones" are really nice. Make it easy for riders to do the right thing.

Everyone here says that they don't litter but after the Mt Hamilton RR this year there's gel wrappers all along the road. So someone is doing it.

Everyone here says that they don't litter but after the Mt Hamilton RR this year there's gel wrappers all along the road. So someone is doing it.

The people who do aren't going to admit it publicly...