Rowers, roads and cycle paths

I rode through them sometime between 11 and noon, dinging at them to move. Only a few of them were consciuos enough of their surroundings to do so. Some guy starting yelling “bye, bye” at me, I think he thought they had exclusive use of the area.

One of the children in a group sitting on the path decided to stick his hand out to try and hit me. Charming. Interesting to note I wasn’t the only one who picked up on their attitude.

I was riding through there Sunday arvo. I’m more at the casual end of the riding spectrum and had a friend from overseas riding with us so were slower than normal. Constant use of my bike bell as I traveled through the regatta seemed to be enough to get people out of the way at the speed I was doing.

To clarify some questions others are asking. On ABC news Saturday morning I heard it said that the lake was closed due to blue green algae but the regatta had been granted an exception. That I don’t understand. Either it’s unsafe to be in or it’s not. And I would think that the demographics of rowing types are the ones most likely to sue the territory government if they got sick – and that would only impact us poor territory residence, not the out of state private school people who sued us.

By and large I don’t have a problem with them racing here, but maybe barriers on either side of the bike path with only a few gaps would help to focus their minds on the need to keep the path free.

Happens every year. I too get annoyed by the attitude of the crowds as they monopolise the space and wander willy nilly all over the bike path. But it’s no worse than triathlon days etc further round the lake. At least the path is open, albeit for a slower pac.

What really gets up my nose is the opera mob who park a flocking big marquee over the bike path at the bottom of Anzac Parade once a year without providing an alternative path. Talk about arrogant selfishness. They make the rowing mob look like the most perfect angels ever to stroll around on earth. IMHO.

I drove through the melee twice on Saturday morning and it wasn’t too bad at the times I went past. I was driving to Woden and on the way got through without too much bother. On the way back, though, there were a couple of rowing-mums stopping in the middle of the road, asking for directions I presume, and the dear old biddie in front of me wasn’t sure enough to drive around the stopped car in front of her. That’s fair enough I guess and I was starting to get moderately cranky, but the two or three minutes of life I lost have been made up by posting this account, haha.

What was funny, as mentioned, was the line up of cars parked on the side of the road. At least 50%, if not more, were 4WD/SUV thingys and you would be a social outcast if you ordered a colour that wasn’t silver, dark silver or black. There was an orange Commodore there that stood out like dogs balls. One, for being quaint enough to be an Australian car and, two, for being so garishly coloured (comparatively). The dark silver Aston Martin V8 Vantage looked pretty spesh though.

I happened to drive down Lady Denman Dr on Friday evening as well and it was clear then that there was going to be a rowing regatta over the weekend, so Saturday morning wasn’t a surprise to me. There’s usually one or two large events like that on the Lake each year. As a road user it’s generally not too bad. But the OP may have a point if the rah-rahs were making more than a nuisance of themselves around the bike paths etc.

Live and let live I say, for both sides of the argument.

so leave all the dead carp on the rowing pontoon 🙂

And you can have a Carpathon…..

I’m interested that you can apparently have a rowing regatta on a closed lake, but not a dragon boat regatta.

jimbocool said :

Isn’t the lake closed at the moment owing to toxic algal blooms?

is it ever open?

Isn’t the lake closed at the moment owing to toxic algal blooms?

Does anyone else smell inferiority complex?

captainwhorebags said :

Tolerance all round people!

this would solve so many problems. not just cyclist/rower aggravation!

Nobody has rights to the road. In fact we’re privileged to have the facility 🙂


…yeah it’s a privilege until somebody wants to justify taxes. Then it’s a public good/right.

Agreed. The government doesn’t provide anything as a “gift” to the public, despite what Sonic and Big Kev would have you believe.

Everything provided to the community by the government is paid for by the community in the first place. Well, the taxpayers anyway. (but that’s another sh1t storm altogether).

Back on topic, I encountered this event (or one similar) last year when walking around west basin. Yes, the lack of organisation and abundant self-righteousness was evident then too. Mind you, the lycra peacocks didn’t look too happy about having their god given right of way slowed down either. Tolerance all round people!

G-Fresh said :

“Looked like a private school thing” – waa

Nobody has rights to the road. In fact we’re privileged to have the facility 🙂

…yeah it’s a privilege until somebody wants to justify taxes. Then it’s a public good/right.

tortfeaser said :

And what a top idea it was closing down the Parkway near Glenloch at that time (so that all traffic had to use Lady Denman Dr). Parkway traffic + regular Lady Denman Dr traffic + two rows of parked Range Rovers doesn’t make for a safe or efficient roadway.

Bleargh, glad I stayed away from that.

And what a top idea it was closing down the Parkway near Glenloch at that time (so that all traffic had to use Lady Denman Dr). Parkway traffic + regular Lady Denman Dr traffic + two rows of parked Range Rovers doesn’t make for a safe or efficient roadway.

Oh dear.

“Looked like a private school thing” – waa

Nobody has rights to the road. In fact we’re privileged to have the facility 🙂