I'm a brazilian biker who lives in So Paulo. In my city we have no place to ride safely. The traffic is caothic and the pavemt is awful. The only area where we can ride with no problems is the Universidade de So Paulo campus.
Many people rides every day there, triathletes, cyclist, etc...
Now, due to a bad behaviour of a small group of riders (60), known as Peloto da Morte (Death Platoon), who rides in an agrssive way at high speed, isulting drivers shouting to other cyclists to get out of their way.
Now the campus is closed to all cyclists in week days. We only can ride on saturdays from 5:00am to 3:00pm.
Its a shame that everybody who rides there (about 600 athletes) have to pay for bad education of few.
I have ro drive about 40 km to get to alternative trainnig spot.
I hope things change, the prohibiton ends, and of course, "game over" for Pelotão da Morte.
Sorry for my english...
SeeYa!

That sucks. I'm lucky enough to live an in area where I can be out in the country with 10 minutes riding from my home.

I'm a brazilian biker who lives in So Paulo. In my city we have no place to ride safely. The traffic is caothic and the pavemt is awful. The only area where we can ride with no problems is the Universidade de So Paulo campus.
Many people rides every day there, triathletes, cyclist, etc...
Now, due to a bad behaviour of a small group of riders (60), known as Peloto da Morte (Death Platoon), who rides in an agrssive way at high speed, isulting drivers shouting to other cyclists to get out of their way.
Now the campus is closed to all cyclists in week days. We only can ride on saturdays from 5:00am to 3:00pm.
Its a shame that everybody who rides there (about 600 athletes) have to pay for bad education of few.
I have ro drive about 40 km to get to alternative trainnig spot.
I hope things change, the prohibiton ends, and of course, "game over" for Pelotão da Morte.
Sorry for my english...
SeeYa!

A perfect example of the importance of courtesy and riding etiquette. That's too bad, hopefully things clear up for you and you can get back on the bike!

Yes, that stinks. Not just because the campus policy punishes everyone for the behavior of a discrete group, but that there's not a lot of options for riding safely.

But as to your English. Your English is miles and miles ahead of my Portuguese! We understand what you're saying just fine. No need to apologize for being multi-lingual!

Thanks for nice words about my english... I try hard to maintain it...
About cycling in campus we're having some progress. University administration will register all riders and allow us to use campus as training field in week days on specific hours, an on weekends. Before the prohibition it wasn't possible to ride on sundays, now it will be.
There's nothing concrete till now. Let's wait and see.
SeeYa and.... sorry for my english

A cycling friend of mine visited a few cities in Brazil awhile back - Campo Grande and Cuiaba - and about the only bikes he saw there were single speed cruisers with "truly awful" brakes. Apparently the brakes are actuated by a series of rods, and force the pads onto the top surface of the rim (where the spoke holes are)? Is this true? I hope in Sao Paulo you have access to better machines?

The key message to deliver to the authorities is that they need to use the rifle, not the shotgun. The shotgun is what they have done - a wide blast that hits everyone whether they were the cause of the problem or not. The rifle is a narrow shot that hits only those causing the problem. The Death Platoon is the problem, and "everyone" knows who they are. So, rather than causing problems for every bike rider, the Death Platoon should get the punishment. Perhaps the authorities can understand the idea when it is explained this way. Good Luck!