Road Race Markings

juuge

Can anyone tell me what is the position regarding road race organisers painting signs on the roads? Some of their handywork takes more than a year to fade. Do the organisers need Garda approval to do this?

easygoing39

What sort of signs are you seeing? I only see the sprayed arrows at junctions.Normally gone within the month.

Macy0161

Wicklow 200 signs still all around, if anyone fancies it as a spin at the weekend. Shay Elliott ones still around me too. They really don't bother me - I'm more bothered about the street post signs - there's some still up that are months old at this stage!

Speaking of the Shay Elliott and Road Paintings, I'll miss "Hammer Time" when it eventually fades away...

juuge

easygoing39 wrote: »

What sort of signs are you seeing? I only see the sprayed arrows at junctions.Normally gone within the month.

There was a road race at Russborough House last weekend and some of the minor roads around the lakes had arrows, distance markings, comments and even a smiley face painted on the road. Some markings from previous years are still visible.

buffalo

juuge wrote: »

There was a road race at Russborough House last weekend and some of the minor roads around the lakes had arrows, distance markings, comments and even a smiley face painted on the road. Some markings from previous years are still visible

What race was it? It's rare you get to choose between a 50km and 125km route in a race - I'm sure the riders doing the 50km would win!

Wishbone Ash

juuge wrote: »

There was a road race at Russborough House last weekend..

That wasn't a race!

on_the_nickel

juuge wrote: »

a smiley face painted on the road

This is the sort of thing that is RUINING society. :mad:

neris

on_the_nickel wrote: »

This is the sort of thing that is RUINING society. :mad:

what smiley faces?

Inquitus

07Lapierre

juuge wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what is the position regarding road race organisers painting signs on the roads? Some of their handywork takes more than a year to fade. Do the organisers need Garda approval to do this?

No Garda approval needed to mark the roads.

DirkVoodoo

I can't believe that people are destroying the natural beauty of our badly maintained roads.

Cycling through France, the road markings were a way of connecting you with the history of some of the iconic climbs. I can understand if they annoy some locals on Irish roads though, these are minor events and not exactly "iconic". But really, out of all the things to pick up on (trash, roadside dumping, "donut" marks from car/motorbike tires, badly maintained surfaces) this would be low down on my list. We used to have kids drawing hopscotch marking everywhere during the summer.

Maybe CI should encourage people to use chalk for races, or some kind of temporary marking for sportives?

juuge

buffalo wrote: »

What race was it? It's rare you get to choose between a 50km and 125km route in a race - I'm sure the riders doing the 50km would win!

Accepted that it wasn't a race, is it ok to call it a cycling event then?
Anyway it was organised by 'The Reservoir Dog Sportive' www.thereservoirdogsportive.ie/

easygoing39

I find it ironic that the charity involved is for a tidy town!! But I think the OP should be more concerned about countryside dumping of rubbish as opposed to road marking that will be gone soon enough.

Wishbone Ash

juuge wrote: »

Accepted that it wasn't a race, is it ok to call it a cycling event then?
Anyway it was organised by 'The Reservoir Dog Sportive' www.thereservoirdogsportive.ie/

Read all about it! http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057607783

juuge

easygoing39 wrote: »

I find it ironic that the charity involved is for a tidy town!! But I think the OP should be more concerned about countryside dumping of rubbish as opposed to road marking that will be gone soon enough.

OH! I most certainly am concerned with dumping and fly-tipping which is a plague in our area also. But I believe the act of spray painting the roads outside my house is a serious issue also. There are markings from past cycling events that are still visible after two years I see these every day when I’m out walking, whereas the cyclists only see them once. I wonder what would happen to me if I were to go to a Dublin residential area and paint arrows etc. outside people’s homes.

rollingscone

juuge wrote: »

OH! I most certainly am concerned with dumping and fly-tipping which is a plaguepin our area also. But I believe the act of spray painting the roads outside my house is a serious issue also. There are markings from past cycling events that are still visible after two years I see these every day when I’m out walking, whereas the cyclists only see them once. I wonder what would happen to me if I were to go to a Dublin residential area and paint arrows etc. outside people’s homes.

Nothing.

The roads are frequently marked because of roadworks engineering etc.

Some nice areas still have kids making hopscotch grids etc.

Instead of playing the martyr why not raise it with your local authority who might do something less dramatically satisfying like insist that event organisers use a substance that is more easily degraded and removed.

It'll be a story with no heroes or villains, just an effective resolution.

07Lapierre

juuge wrote: »

I wonder what would happen to me if I were to go to a Dublin residential area and paint arrows etc. outside people’s homes.

Nothing! It Happens all the time...

Chips Lovell

A few years ago I was in the Pyrenees to see a stage of the Tour de France. Some bright spark had painted a massive mickey on the road. Shortly before the race was due to arrive, a few lads in a mini-van pulled up, hopped out, and quickly painted it over with black paint.

Some job, driving around France for three weeks, blacking out offensive things on the road lest they appear in TV footage.

I'd say it was probably 90% mickeys.

Lumen

From the Vuelta coverage... (possible NSFW)

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vOImO3sUdu0/V7yekVc9BLI/AAAAAAAAC50/BDi4hMHuu4sZRaDe23mOFSM1tQCkgtIXACJoC/w1060-h1414-p-rw/f8996d24-254c-4f16-9746-b470b8d4edbf

robyntmorton

Jep Gambardella wrote: »

Some job, driving around France for six weeks, blacking out offensive things on the road lest they appear in TV footage.

I'd say it was probably 90% mickeys.

That's quite the job description - "I paint people's mickeys"

mossym

robyntmorton wrote: »

That's quite the job description - "I paint people's mickeys"

is it not more that he removes peoples mickeys?

PaddyFagan

robyntmorton wrote: »

That's quite the job description - "I paint people's mickeys"

le coq paintif

Paddy

PS Sorry, I'm already leaving....

smacl

juuge wrote: »

I wonder what would happen to me if I were to go to a Dublin residential area and paint arrows etc. outside people’s homes.

You'd probably get duffed up in the suspicion you were about to fit a water meter.

robyntmorton

mossym wrote: »

is it not more that he removes peoples mickeys?

Yeah, I think you have me there!

mossym

the claim that they are gone in a month isn't always the case either. NTW run a cycle around lough derg every summer, their markings from the previous years are often visible yet new ones are painted. suir valley 3 day went outside the front door of where i work it would seem as there are plenty of markings, and despite heavy truck traffic they don;t go away.

JBokeh

Jep Gambardella wrote: »

A few years ago I was in the Pyrenees to see a stage of the Tour de France. Some bright spark had painted a massive mickey on the road. Shortly before the race was due to arrive, a few lads in a mini-van pulled up, hopped out, and quickly painted it over with black paint.

If that was done by the council here they would paint directly over the white paint with the black paint, and all you'd have is a load of mickey shadows on the road


Spray painting is so overplayed, I power washed a 6" twig 'n berries onto my brothers driveway last year, the sister in law hates me for it


OP if it offends you so much get some graffiti remover to the one outside your house, or say it to the council and see does anything get done. I had a nice bit of junk in my garden and the ditch on my land next to the house after a sportive (and stuff tipped from cars) , the council gave me a black bag with the CoCo crest on it, I filled it with the junk, left it out, and the boys in the van collected it at some point, didn't cost me anything only a half hour

ThisRegard

Can you believe that a commercial outfit that organises off road runs around Ireland paint the ground and rocks with big stupid arrows on the likes of the Wicklow Way, despite those already being waymarked. That takes all sorts of stupidity, both on behalf of the organisers, and the people that need such markings.

DirkVoodoo

Things I can understand:

Angry about painting rocks/ground along scenic trails
Painting mickeys or other lewd images/comments on the roads

Things I can't understand:

Getting angry about people painting direction or distance markers on the road - do you hold the same feeling towards standard road markings? Is it spoiling the natural beauty of smooth black tarmac (I'll admit, I get a bit warm and fuzzy when I see smooth, fresh tarmac) or is it that the road markings no longer serve a purpose?

Oh, we do have something similar in our nice dublin estates...they are called election posters. It's like wall-to-wall mickeys, old and wrinkled, winking at you and claiming they are the best mickey you'll ever have.

chimmy chonga

ThisRegard wrote: »

Can you believe that a commercial outfit that organises off road runs around Ireland paint the ground and rocks with big stupid arrows on the likes of the Wicklow Way, despite those already being waymarked. That takes all sorts of stupidity, both on behalf of the organisers, and the people that need such markings.

I fully agree...What is very sad is that the OP is being made out to be a grouch. FFS is the cycling community purposely not getting this? Spray painting a public road without permission is vandalism plain and simple.

magicbastarder

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Getting angry about people painting direction or distance markers on the road - do you hold the same feeling towards standard road markings?

to be fair to the OP, there's no suggestion of anger about it.
and there is a bit of whataboutery going on with the 'well, fly tipping is worse'.
it'd be a bit silly to come into the cycling forum to complain about non-cycling related fly tipping.

ThisRegard

chimmy chonga wrote: »

I fully agree...What is very sad is that the OP is being made out to be a grouch. FFS is the cycling community purposely not getting this? Spray painting a public road without permission is vandalism plain and simple.

In fairness I don't have an issue myself with them on the roads.

chimmy chonga

chimmy chonga wrote: »

I fully agree...What is very sad is that the OP is being made out to be a grouch. FFS is the cycling community purposely not getting this? Spray painting a public road without permission is vandalism plain and simple.

Probably because it falls into the category of minor annoyance rather than massive problem?

Lumen

chimmy chonga wrote: »

I fully agree...What is very sad is that the OP is being made out to be a grouch. FFS is the cycling community purposely not getting this? Spray painting a public road without permission is vandalism plain and simple.

No, the objective of vandalism is to degrade something.

In this case that's a side-effect (mickeys notwithstanding). The intent is to help people.

Actually, even the mickeys could be arguably motivational.

Esroh

Op. I'm not sure how long the Res, Dogs is running but I know from experience that the person who marked that route has probably a stencil for those distance numbers and tried to make it obvious to participants with as little impact on the road as he could. If it had been a road race they would have been bigger and most probably at 200m, 100m,50m and at the corner.
Once the event is running sucessfully there maybe some cash in the kitty to actually get signs but to begin getting your local Hardware to sponsor the paint is how its done.
My own club which is based in a secnic part of the west now mark our routes with signage we have built up . But it has taken a number of years as we would prefer to give as much as possible to our Charity Partners .
Maybe a word with the organisers and if you can do it an offer to donate the cost of Direction Arrows for the junction near your home would set them on the way to getting signage for the route.

chimmy chonga

ronoc wrote: »

Probably because it falls into the category of minor annoyance rather than massive problem?

Massive or otherwise it is still wrong!

juuge

Esroh wrote: »

Op. I'm not sure how long the Res, Dogs is running but I know from experience that the person who marked that route has probably a stencil for those distance numbers and tried to make it obvious to participants with as little impact on the road as he could. If it had been a road race they would have been bigger and most probably at 200m, 100m,50m and at the corner.
Once the event is running sucessfully there maybe some cash in the kitty to actually get signs but to begin getting your local Hardware to sponsor the paint is how its done.
My own club which is based in a secnic part of the west now mark our routes with signage we have built up . But it has taken a number of years as we would prefer to give as much as possible to our Charity Partners .
Maybe a word with the organisers and if you can do it an offer to donate the cost of Direction Arrows for the junction near your home would set them on the way to getting signage for the route.

Thank you for that considered response. I too wondered why they could not have had signs printed on cards and positioned appropriately and then easily removed afterwards. I can say that the recent event did little to warm the local community towards cycling.

smacl

juuge wrote: »

Thank you for that considered response. I too wondered why they could not have had signs printed on cards and positioned appropriately and then easily removed afterwards. I can say that the recent event did little to warm the local community towards cycling.

Do you speak for all of the local community though? I ask this because a lot of the cyclists and volunteers were local, and the event was run to raise money for a local charity (tidy towns AFAIK). As an event, it seemed to benefit the local community rather than detract from it.

FWIW, quite a few of the markers on this event were signs rather than road markings.

Wishbone Ash

smacl wrote: »

Do you speak for all of the local community though? I ask this because a lot of the cyclists and volunteers were local, and the event was run to raise money for a local charity (tidy towns AFAIK). As an event, it seemed to benefit the local community rather than detract from it.

FWIW, quite a few of the markers on this event were signs rather than road markings.

....and organised by a Co Wicklow based club.

juuge

smacl wrote: »

Do you speak for all of the local community/QUOTE]
No I don't...but I do know that having spoken to many of my neighbours they feel the same as I do. Speaking of which, a neighbour of mine contacted 'Cycling Ireland' and they do not condone such behaviour and recommend that clubs holding events do not do this.

Carawaystick

The cops sprayed yellow x's on all the manhole covers and utility boxes within a few miles of the routes Barrack Obama travelled when he visited here in May 2011 and they're still about.

Actual cops actually graffiting the place. I'd be more concerned about that.

Chips Lovell

chimmy chonga wrote: »

I fully agree...What is very sad is that the OP is being made out to be a grouch. FFS is the cycling community purposely not getting this? Spray painting a public road without permission is vandalism plain and simple.

@chimmy chonga. Do not post on this thread again. You're not allowed to use more than one account.

GabbaTheHutt

For our club event which runs though DLR and Co. Wicklow we send the route and Event Plan to the County Council in advance. Both Council Roads Dept always come back with having no issues with the route but specifically ask us not to spray paint the roads. We have used corri-board signs for the past few years for this reason.

magicbastarder

different CoCos can have different attitudes to signage; i'm involved with an organisation which has asked re putting signs up in a couple of different counties, and wicklow were quite strict, seemingly based on the sheer proliferation of signs around the roads already. another local authority we approached re signage put the signs up for us!

seamus

I would certainly concede that some routes around Wicklow started to get a little crazy, with road markings for 3 or even 4 different events overlapping eachother at some points. That's just going to be confusing more than helpful for participants.

In some locations though where potholes and hazards are marked, this could be argued to be an act of social good, improving road safety where the council has failed.

This practice seems to be dying out in favour of printed signage, not least because it takes no more effort to put signs up than paint markings on the road, and signage is easier to see. And signage can be re-used provided that you're swift about collecting it afterwards.

Wishbone Ash

Carawaystick wrote: »

The cops sprayed yellow x's on all the manhole covers and utility boxes within a few miles of the routes Barrack Obama travelled when he visited here in May 2011 and they're still about....

...and the little metal flag holders are still evident on the street lights from Dublin airport to the city centre from the Pope's visit in 1979.

juuge

GabbaTheHutt wrote: »

For our club event which runs though DLR and Co. Wicklow we send the route and Event Plan to the County Council in advance. Both Council Roads Dept always come back with having no issues with the route but specifically ask us not to spray paint the roads. We have used corri-board signs for the past few years for this reason.

That sounds very reasonable and as it should be.

juuge

seamus wrote: »

I would certainly concede that some routes around Wicklow started to get a little crazy, with road markings for 3 or even 4 different events overlapping eachother at some points. That's just going to be confusing more than helpful for participants.

In some locations though where potholes and hazards are marked, this could be argued to be an act of social good, improving road safety where the council has failed.

This practice seems to be dying out in favour of printed signage, not least because it takes no more effort to put signs up than paint markings on the road, and signage is easier to see. And signage can be re-used provided that you're swift about collecting it afterwards.

This is another example at Humphreystown Bridge near Blessington..

juuge

...and another...

greenspurs

I'm outraged at all the outrage ......
Outrageous ................

07Lapierre

juuge wrote: »

That sounds very reasonable and as it should be.

It is reasonable..but people still give out about temporary signage.

smacl

juuge wrote: »

This is another example at Humphreystown Bridge near Blessington..

Goddamn adventure racers, have they no shame...