# How many water bottles are scattered...



## BassNBrew (Aug 4, 2008)

across the countryside if France? 

I realize you're a pro and I'm in awe, but is it really necessary to discard your bottle off a bridge into a river or into the woods down a mountian side? 

Is it just me or are more of these riders launching their bottles this year into places they won't picked up? In the stage two days ago there was a helicopter shot of the peleton crossing a large river and you plainly see the splash of a bottle in the river below.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

The ASO actually pays a fair chunk to the various govt's for cleanup costs, I recall a few years ago they were really making an effort to get the riders to not do that... haven't seen anything on that lately.


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## Rundfahrt (Jul 16, 2012)

Creakyknees said:


> The ASO actually pays a fair chunk to the various govt's for cleanup costs, I recall a few years ago they were really making an effort to get the riders to not do that... haven't seen anything on that lately.



I believe this is wrong. I was looking at the financial number for ASO and saw nothing about this.


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## Cinelli 82220 (Dec 2, 2010)

A lot of those bottles get grabbed by spectators. So there may be less lying around than one might think.

Riders throw them hard to make sure they are well off the road. A discarded bottle on the course is a hazard.


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## Oxtox (Aug 16, 2006)

yeah, I disapprove of the way the bottles are indiscriminately discarded...no sense jettisoning them into inaccessible places where they can't be retrieved and properly disposed. Phil says they're all picked up by fans looking for souvenirs, but that's bs....

besides, there are so many jerkface fans doing stupid schitt like waving smoke bombs and interfering with the racers' lines that the riders should just wait until they can throw them at high velocity into their faces.


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## Kodi Crescent (Aug 3, 2011)

I saw that pitch off the bridge into the river a few days ago. It was blatant. It was somewhat funny, somewhat disgusting.

A day or so I saw Sagan drop back to his team car to drop off some food and empty his pockets instead of tossing it on the road. Classy move. I became a fan of his right there.

There was another guy a day or so ago who at least held on to a wrapper long enough to toss it at some fan's feet. I'll give him credit for that.

France must be covered with litter from these guys. Ironic that cycling tries for this "environmental" image, but these guys are throwing trash all over the place.


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## Special Eyes (Feb 2, 2011)

I've heard that each team averages about 800 bottles for the Tour. I don't remember how many teams there are, but let's say 15 teams would scatter twelve thousand plastic bottles across the country. I'd say that's a major recycling responsibility.


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## robdamanii (Feb 13, 2006)

22 teams.

I'd wager it's true that most of those bottles get picked up as keepsakes.


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## cnskate (Nov 8, 2011)

I have a Tacx team bottle like the ones many of the Tour teams use. It's actually made of biodegradable plastic, so the very small percentage that aren't picked up by fans will decompose. http://www.tacx.com/en/producten/bidonhouders/Bidons/Bio-Bottle.dot


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

cnskate said:


> I have a Tacx team bottle like the ones many of the Tour teams use. It's actually made of biodegradable plastic, so the very small percentage that aren't picked up by fans will decompose. http://www.tacx.com/en/producten/bidonhouders/Bidons/Bio-Bottle.dot


eventually. until then they are for everyone to enjoy the sights of.


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## FlandersFields (Jul 16, 2010)

den bakker said:


> eventually. until then they are for everyone to enjoy the sights of.


They are all picked up by fans sooner or later. I live near a nutrition zone for the Scheldeprijs. Tons of bottles are thrown, tons of bottles are picked up by fans. I have more Tacx bottles then I will ever use. Too bad they always use the small size...


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

FlandersFields said:


> They are all picked up by fans sooner or later. I live near a nutrition zone for the Scheldeprijs. Tons of bottles are thrown, tons of bottles are picked up by fans. I have more Tacx bottles then I will ever use. Too bad they always use the small size...


yes all near the feed zones are. too bad they are scattered over the full 200km. 
a bottle thrown in the mountains; some fan will surely crawl down after it.


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## Ripton (Apr 21, 2011)

cnskate said:


> I have a Tacx team bottle like the ones many of the Tour teams use. It's actually made of biodegradable plastic, so the very small percentage that aren't picked up by fans will decompose. Bio-Bottle


Elite make bio-degradable bottles as well, 9 months to five years dependant of conditions.

It's a step in the right direction.


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## spookyload (Jan 30, 2004)

Ask Cancellara why they get launched. His spring season was changed do to a bottle that was dropped on the road. Having been to six separate stages in the Tour, I can promise you that even when a no-name person drops a bottle, it is fought for. On the climb to Avoriaz from Morzine a couple years ago, somebody threw a bottle that went down the side of the mountain and guys were scaling the cliff to get it.


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## juno (Jul 18, 2008)

I hope folks aren't losing sleep over it.


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## brianmcg (Oct 12, 2002)

Thats like asking how many baseballs are littering our baseball stadiums from homeruns.


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## Ridin'Sorra (Sep 7, 2004)

Save the planet, make them use camelbaks.


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## juno (Jul 18, 2008)

I sent a nasty letter to the Mayor of New Orleans after I saw all the beads in the street at Mardi Gras.


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## robdamanii (Feb 13, 2006)

People are complaining about the environmental impact of the water bottles, but ignore the impact of the giant caravan of vehicles following the guys on bikes?


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## tlg (May 11, 2011)

I understand tossing the bottles well off the side of the road. But I just don't get when they're in rural areas / farmland and they launch them into fields with no spectators around. Just plain stupid.



Kodi Crescent said:


> There was another guy a day or so ago who at least held on to a wrapper long enough to toss it at some fan's feet. I'll give him credit for that.


I saw that too and thought that was pretty darn awesome. He was waving for his car but they weren't coming up. Then he went to stick it in his pocket but threw it to the fan's feet instead.


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## spookyload (Jan 30, 2004)

robdamanii said:


> People are complaining about the environmental impact of the water bottles, but ignore the impact of the giant caravan of vehicles following the guys on bikes?


Well said Rob.


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## qatarbhoy (Aug 17, 2009)

I also saw the bottle tossed into the river and wondered why a rider would do that - it wasn't as if there was any pressure at the time. That was pretty lame. 

I do my bit to clean up after the Tour of Qatar, but it's pretty easy finding brightly coloured plastic bottles in a flat, grey, featureless desert. Here's my current collection (I bought the black Sky and Euskaltel bottles, though, because they match my bike).

[URL=https://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/593/summerterm2012002.jpg/] Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/URL]


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## Ripton (Apr 21, 2011)

tlg said:


> I understand tossing the bottles well off the side of the road. But I just don't get when they're in rural areas / farmland and they launch them into fields with no spectators around. Just plain stupid.


They launch them into fields or where ever to avoid them ricocheting back under someones wheels and causing a pile up.


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## tlg (May 11, 2011)

Ripton said:


> They launch them into fields or where ever to avoid them ricocheting back under someones wheels and causing a pile up.


You obviously didn't read what I said....
"I understand tossing the bottles well off the side of the road."


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## Sylint (Jul 27, 2009)

tlg said:


> I understand tossing the bottles well off the side of the road. But I just don't get when they're in rural areas / farmland and they launch them into fields with no spectators around. Just plain stupid.
> 
> I saw that too and thought that was pretty darn awesome. He was waving for his car but they weren't coming up. Then he went to stick it in his pocket but threw it to the fan's feet instead.


they do get picked up though. I've heard quite a few stories of people scouring the course after the race for bottles. As well as people such as Spooky who tell stories of people fighting over them to the point of scaling down mountains.

I doubt it's as much of a problem as are trying real hard to make it out to be.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

Sylint said:


> they do get picked up though. I've heard quite a few stories of people scouring the course after the race for bottles. As well as people such as Spooky who tell stories of people fighting over them to the point of scaling down mountains.
> 
> I doubt it's as much of a problem as are trying real hard to make it out to be.


and in Tour of Utah? I think I saw a spectator 20 miles ago


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## LostViking (Jul 18, 2008)

@System - Wow, nice collection!

This is a returning thread - usually right after the TdF.
A featured argument is: "Okay, that is nasty but atleast cycling has a lighter carbon footprint than most other sports. Want to get upset, look no further than NASCAR."
Another is "Not to worry, the fans pick it up!"
Then there is the "Yeah, but who picks up the wrappers and all that other junk the riders jettison - sure ain't the fans!"
Hats off to the riders mentioned here who think twice before throwing stuff away in the beautiful French countryside (not to deminsih those Desert races like Oman and Qatar - deserts are beautiful in thier own way) or Tuscany or California or anywhere else they race. Perhaps this is a generational thing and younger riders like Sagan will be more careful about this?

When one thinks about it, do you ever really 'need" to throw away an empty bottle in a rural location - can't it find a place in a back pocket? When surrounded by fans, no problem - I'm sure one of them will pick it up and give it a new home - it's the out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere tossed bottle that irritates.

IMHO - Not a huge problem on the scale of things like global warming or oil spills, but something Cycling should be more proactive about.


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