Question on group ride setup etiquette

[Cicli]

So, the Tour De Cure went through my neighborhood. No big deal.
We as cyclists try to get the public to ride with us, not aginst us.
Well, while setting up their route they decided to paint their arrows on the street with construction orange paint. There are like four of them in two blocks and they are big.
Would your raise this concern with an organizer if this happened? My neighborhood is beautiful and very clean. Now this.
Thoughts?

[Cat3roadracer]

Chalk would have been a better idea.

Find graffiti remover at your hardware store, might work on the pavement.

[SpeedyChix]

Dan Henrys work well and are unobtrusive. Paint for these can work.

This TDC marking for a one day ride: chalk. I've noticed that happen locally as well. The one-day ride with all level of riders tends toward huge signage. Not good. In some areas that kind of marking = a ticket and fine.

[ultraman6970]

Probably was just somebody just trying to help in that area you know, probably is not even a thing of the organizers to use paint. I would not worry because after a week that thing will be gone.

[bikinchris]

Doesn't that kind of paint wear off pretty quickly? If that's not fast enough, why not get some paint that is roughly the color of the road and paint over it?

[unterhausen]

I helped mark a 1200km route that came through my area. Four years later, there are still some of my markings left, albeit a little faded. They are pretty unobtrusive though. I don't think the paint has changed since then, it was the water based stuff. The older, oil based pavement paint was a lot more robust.

Funny thing was, I think about half the riders were oblivious to the markings. I know I missed some. I was riding with some guys that kept getting lost when they weren't with me. One time I said, "next left" "but it wasn't marked" "you just rode directly over the marking." The whole 1240 km route was marked, which is quite an undertaking.

[FlashUNC]

You're worried about the aesthetics of the pavement?

[Tony T]

I haven't seen painted routes for organized rides in my area for years.
Printed signs are put up and then removed by the organizers.
(and since most (all?) rides have GPS routes available for d/l, most riders don't even need signs)

I would mention this to the organizers.

[Red Tornado]

Our local tour paint arrows (a little smaller than pictured) on the shoulders of main roads. Anything going through small towns or neighborhoods with no shoulder or where paint would not be "welcome" is handled with small but brightly painted signs that can obviously be removed when ride is over. Nothing fancy. Where sags are in parking empty lots or in a park, usually use big balloons or other to mark the spot. This method has worked for at least the 10 years I've lived here and ridden the tour.

[Dead Man]

Any paint remover should clean that up. Bristle brush and acetone/xylene/lacquer thinner would make short work of it, but you'll still have a faint orange cloud lingering for some time. I don't know what the graffiti removers are made of (probably xylene), but if water based, you could then hose the orange away after scrubbing

In hilly neighborhoods around Portland you might find little Orange Lions of the annual De Ronde Portlandia painted off to the side at intersections. They are very small and classy enough looking and I don't think anyone has ever complained about them.. But that crap you posted above is large sloppy and unsightly. If I lived in a nice/clean neighborhood (I don't) id probably be annoyed too.

[Tickdoc]

At least you didn't get hit by wanksy:

http://motorchase.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Wanksy-7.jpg

Our roads are littered with charity and group ride event markings, but they are much smaller than that, and I don't see many in neighborhoods.

They fade away in about four years.

[carpediemracing]

That mark seems big. A more discrete one, with a template for example, would probably be better. With a template arrow they wouldn't even need to put TDC, they could just tell people "for the 100k follow the orange, 50k the blue, 25k the green" or something like that.

When I've marked routes for rides I've generally sprayed chalk paint on sand/dirt/etc next to the road, rather than pavement. In CT we have the "advantage" of having winter and a lot of sand/leaves/etc on the sides of the road. One ride (took place Feb/winter with a bunch of dirt roads) I would usually spray the sand, the dirt road, snow banks (big arrows on those).

Sometimes the marks don't make it overnight or even through the day.

I've sprayed paint by accident (the cans looks virtually identical).

[bewheels]

I would absolutely tell the organizer that this is not OK.
As others have mentioned, there are several ways to mark events without this type of result.

I ran a lot of large events and something like this would have negativly impacted the reputation of the events. The organizer may not be aware of this marking...unless they are all like that.

And if this is real road paint, it ain't comin' off for a long time without intervention. Where I ran events there was a serous amount of snow in the winter. And even with very large plows scraping feet of snow several times a month the marks (small in my case) would just be somewhat faded.

[OtayBW]

I would absolutely tell the organizer that this is not OK.
As others have mentioned, there are several ways to mark events without this type of result.

I ran a lot of large events and something like this would have negativly impacted the reputation of the events. The organizer may not be aware of this marking...unless they are all like that.
Correct. With marking like that, we would not be permitted back through several localities for my Club's signature century. In the countless sponsored events that I've attended or helped to run over the years, I ain't never seen anything like that...

[Dead Man]

I noticed some massive graffitiesque ride markings out on my ride today from a local century+ yesterday up in my hills... Already fading to near obscurant ... Must have used chaulk! Good man.

[makoti]

Drag a power washer out there. Done.

[paredown]

Doesn't that kind of paint wear off pretty quickly? If that's not fast enough, why not get some paint that is roughly the color of the road and paint over it?

It does look like the standard markout paint we use for utility markings and such on construction sites--it is not very durable, so it should wear/wash off pretty quickly--maybe a few weeks or less if there is a lot of rain...

[Jgrooms]

Hey lets give the ave motorist even more reason to 'love' cyclist by painting offensive markings on the road?


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[thwart]

It does look like the standard markout paint we use for utility markings and such on construction sites--it is not very durable, so it should wear/wash off pretty quickly--maybe a few weeks or less if there is a lot of rain...

This. I think most groups are now using non-permanent 'paint'.

Give it some time.

[Peter P.]

Spray over it with a can of gray spray paint, like I did HERE (http://hubbardpark.blogspot.com/2016/06/ducks-cruise-about-merimere-reservoir.html). It actually fades quite nicely, blending in with the rock.

[mg2ride]

Thoughts?

You should sincerely be thankful for these 1st world problems.

[Cicli]

You should sincerely be thankful for these 1st world problems.

Yep, good problems to have.

There was a burglury this weekend in my neighborhood too.
The guy around the corner lost a 12 pack of beer, salsa and a bag of chips from his garage fridge. He has a 17yo kid. Everyone is worried about a break in. My dad had the same break in when I was 17. :help:

[beeatnik]

Where are the sharrows?

[Louis]

Maybe they should have used these instead. I saw some on some of my local routes a few years ago. You glue them down and they last quite a while (especially if there isn't much rain).

https://www.routearrows.com/?v=7516fd43adaa

https://www.routearrows.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/routearrows-home-hero-slide-2016.jpg

[cadence90]

So, the Tour De Cure went through my neighborhood. No big deal.
We as cyclists try to get the public to ride with us, not aginst us.
Well, while setting up their route they decided to paint their arrows on the street with construction orange paint. There are like four of them in two blocks and they are big.
Would your raise this concern with an organizer if this happened? My neighborhood is beautiful and very clean. Now this.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?

Yeah, you are not fooling us, not even for one minute.

:D

http://i1360.photobucket.com/albums/r654/traghetter/image_zpsjuxwarlc.jpg (http://s1360.photobucket.com/user/traghetter/media/image_zpsjuxwarlc.jpg.html)

[tiretrax]

Thoughts?

Yeah, you are not fooling us, not even for one minute.

:D

http://i1360.photobucket.com/albums/r654/traghetter/image_zpsjuxwarlc.jpg (http://s1360.photobucket.com/user/traghetter/media/image_zpsjuxwarlc.jpg.html)

+1. The paint will fade soon enough. I see that on every ride I do. I once tried to reride the course a few weeks afterwards without a cue sheet and got lost because the paint had faded in many places.

[Cicli]

^^^^ you are right. I should be good with it. Now, the people who were pissed off about it already hate cyclists for riding two up and pointed out to me. You know, I am the neighbor dressed like a dork going out on his bike and getting in their way. Thats okay, I have to ride with them while they are texting their way to the local "sin wash" on Sunday morning.
Oh, and it looks like $hit too.

[Steve in SLO]

Maybe they should have used these instead. I saw some on some of my local routes a few years ago. You glue them down and they last quite a while (especially if there isn't much rain).

https://www.routearrows.com/?v=7516fd43adaa

https://www.routearrows.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/routearrows-home-hero-slide-2016.jpg

Most of the organized rides near us use these. They are relatively unobtrusive but stick around and get really grubby looking when they get ground into the pavement. I guess there's no perfect option other than volunteers waving signs.

[mg2ride]

Any paint remover should clean that up. Bristle brush and acetone/xylene/lacquer thinner ....

FYI,

This is exactly what we DO NOT want running down our storm drain systems.

The paint being washed down it over time is bad enough.

[shovelhd]

Out here in Happy Valley my club sponsors rides and races. The DOT permit for the race will explicitly state that the roads are not to be marked at all. We use portable signs for the one downhill dicey turn and marshals/cops/pace cars to keep the racers on course. For the ride we are allowed to mark the course turns with paint. These are local or state roads not suburban neighborhoods. The markings are about 6" round and unobtrusive. If I saw that marking on the roads in my neighborhood hanging around more than a few days I'd be pissed. It should not be paint of any kind, and if it's spray chalk, if there is no rain in the forecast then it should be washed off by the promoters.

[Dead Man]

FYI,

This is exactly what we DO NOT want running down our storm drain systems.

The paint being washed down it over time is bad enough.

Being the VOCs that they are, none would make it to the storm drain.

[tumbler]

Would your raise this concern with an organizer if this happened?

Unless they were carving route markings into the trees, I don't think I would even notice.