cyclezealot

My bike group rendezvoused with a half marathon in Ceret because some of our club's members were running in it? So we were straddling our bikes just feet from the runners . Up comes one set of runners. They shout out 'cyclists'! . I was at the front. A big dude dripping with sweat grabs my bottle before I know it and gulps down half of my water. Without asking, the others in his group took one of my co-club members bottle and gulps on that. One of my bottles was already half gone. The other bottle now, half gone.
I did not see another water source for a couple miles away. The dude who took my water was dripply and covered with tattoos.
Not knowing his habits, not sure I wanted my water any longer, anyway.
Should I be generous and understand. Twelve and a half miles is a half marathon ? WOuld you loose your appetite? My wife will not even drink out of the milk bottle after me? Well, I only do that if it is 90% gone.

slvoid

That's f**ked up... reminds me of the armies back in the medieval days. Just pour into an area, steal all the food, pour out.

shakeNbake

I respect what they do, it's hard, it's crazy.

But thumbs down for me!

cyclezealot

My cycling partner did not seem to mind. But, I did notice he changed out his water at the first stop, as did I.

kyle!

wait without asking or nothin'. dude that's flippin' ********. i'm sorry but if they need water, they can carry their own.

ken cummings

Not quite as bad as riding your bike without permission but bad enough. With my reflexes I would have been knocking his hand aside as he reached for the bottle, size-no-matter, sheer instinct. He wants a confrontation, he looses ground on his running buddies.

Humbly suggest you write a letter to the local paper and humiliate the @#$^. No writing to the marathon organizers; birds of a feather et alia.

Nachoman

You should have chased him down, tackled him, beat him up, and made him apologize.

Adiankur

Too bad you couldnt rip your chamois out of your shorts and slap him in the face with it. That would probably have made your point.

larue

I would have gripped a co2 cartridge and beat him down on the spot.
You got punked out.

tsl

It's okay. I balanced it out.

Today was the annual marathon here in town. Hours after it ended, the water tables were still set up over most of the route. I'd underestimated the amount to carry with me today, so I stopped and helped myself.

ericgu

Organized races often have water for runners that they can just grab, and spectators often hold out water for them.

So, I guess I'm not surprised.

SimiCyclist

The next time you organize such an event, carry your water in a camelback and fill the bottles on your bike with urine.

slvoid

Thats probably the funniest thing I've heard all day.

Let me get this straight again... they just came out of nowhere, and stole your bottles?

mlts22 

Even better, do the camelbak route, fill the bottles with a fairly dilute blend of Habanero peppers.

I don't care if anyone is used to free water for events... yanking it out of someone's bottle without permission holder is theft, and bordering on robbery.

becnal

Dude, I would have rode after him, and dumped the remaining water on him. Or thrown the bottle at him. (Yeah, I know, I'm a lot of tough talk, and no action.)

cyclezealot

That raises a point. Something I have pretty much forgotten about. A cyclist friend went into a store in Calif. and parked his bike to a lite post in the parking lot. That friend earlier had run into a friend just by co-incidence, who came by car. The friend exited the store earlier.
Well, he noticed someone picked up Mike's water bottle and spit into it. ( You know how in the US many hate cyclists., I guess. What other reasons, would there be for this behavor.?)
THe guy waited for Mike to come out. TOld him of the event. Not being paranoid or thinking this action that common; but, since I note the position of my water bottle to see if they have been tampered with. Could happen.

cyclezealot

No slvoid. He quickly just picked up my bottle and drank from it. Returned it when done. It all happened in a flash. Maybe being from California, we have an obsession with communicable diseases.

I-Like-To-Bike

The bigger question is do you really not know the answer to your question?

catatonic

This is why I always bring my bottle in with me.

Oh, and if someone yanked my bottle from the cage, that's asking for a good slapping. Runners get water from hydration stops, not by theiving from other's supplies.


...at least he put it back though.

classic1

You forgot '**** the women, cut the left hand off all the men, burn the houses down'. I'm yet to witness that at a half marathon.

slvoid

You haven't been to a full scale NYC runners marathon, have you...

Denny Koll

I don't think the OP belonged on the race course to begin with. If it's a running event stay clear of the runners...you are on their territory. This is their race that they have trained long and hard for and they were probably pissed that you were there.

slowandsteady

Very weird. If they were that thirsty, they could at least asked. If they stayed long enough to drink the water and replace the bottles, they had time to ask. It is just plain rude.

cyclezealot

Like to bike, I was just surprised by my ride buddies lack of emotion. Of course, I thought them pretty brazen. Guess, I was just wondering what was within their heads.
As to being in their space, we were well positoned outside of the lanes dedicated for the runners. We were there along with plenty other pedestarians cheering on their favorite runner.

Retro Grouch 

Absolutely you should be offended! The guy disrespected you publically. That's just wrong and there's no excuse for it. He's a jerk.