Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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34 comments
Sorry it looked like he was trying to slipstream a van and felt why it isn't a good idea.
The only way to take this forward is to wonder whether a helmet/ disc brakes would have made a difference???
Maybe jasecd and alansmurphy could pick sides on that one for us. Does the absence of a helmet signify a deprived upbringing, or can it be interpreted as the expression of a Rousseau free spirit??
If he'd been a middle class workshy druggy (see my comments on Jeremy Hunt) I would have approached him the same way, if his lady friend and circle of friends are as he describes then he's hardly moving in great circles is he?
He has as much right to empathy from the crash as anyone 'normal' person who crashed. My first statement was full of empathy hence my thoughts on him having a tough week.
I'm not prejudice, I begrudge paying for other people's wholly shitty lifestyles in the current climate. If you feel otherwise then that is your right and I wouldn't question your right to your personal attitude as you have mine.
On the one hand he could be a drug addled scrote with a criminal history. Or maybe he suffered foetal alcohol syndrome and an abusive upbringing. Or maybe he was starved of oxygen at birth and has been brought up by a loving single parent in a desperately poor home and never got the chances some of us did. Maybe he suffers dyslexia, autism, aspergers or any number of cognitive impairments but actually has an IQ of 150 and despite all the odds is about to sell the next big internet thing for a $billion. Maybe he spends his spare time working at the local food bank and has a poster of Mother Theressa on his bedroom wall.
But heck, go ahead and fit whatever social narrative fits your own world view and agenda, based on nothing more than a facebook posting allegedly written by the guy.
And FWIW I cannot fathom from the video why the van came to such an abrupt halt, but I'm sure nbrus will be along soon to explain that behaviour.
He was about to perform an overtake with some counter-steering, so obviously had to hit the brakes first to shift the weight to the front axle.
I wonder, having watched the footage a few times, if the van slowed due to the driver of the parked car opening her door, causing him to hit the anchors and stop.
Someone get that man a bottle of Newcastle Brown Fail
"The driver of the van, which some have suggested bears the city council's livery, appears to slow down slightly, but the cyclist following him does not and is sent face-first into the rear of the vehicle."
Last time I checked, doing something tantamount to an emergency stop is not slowing down slightly
But a big chunk of the blame has to lie with the cyclist. Too close to the van to allow him to stop safely.... and I would always leave a bigger gap behind a van than a car because you can't see any potential hazards through or over a van that you can see with cycling behind a car.
I'm another guilty of riding into the back of the vehicle in front of them. I was in a queue at aroundabout and watching the traffic going round and saw a gap appear so started to ride forward but the van in front didn't move so rode into the back of said van, luckily for me it was a 5mph impact and no pain involved.
Seems I'm the only one game enough (or stupid enough?) to admit to having done this myself. Was biking down the road, fiddling with my speedo and apparently paying no attention to what I was doing, and went straight into the back of a parked car. Wrecked my fork, felt like a tit, but otherwise okay. Aside from massage bruising to my ego, of couse.
Thank God no one saw, let alone got it on video o.O
Stephen
That still from the video is so weird. He looks like some sort of amazing plastic accessory (like the way bin lorries always have a soft toy on the front bumper)
He's had a rough week, he just found out he's due on Jeremy Kyle too.
Jeez, society is fucked!
I doubt you have much interest in society, taking cheap shots like that.
For all you know the guy has severe dyslexia or other learning difficulties that result in his inability to write a coherent paragraph. But kudos to you for sneering at him.
Place your bets......
Chances are he's just thick and didn't put in any effort at school and his parents are also thick and did nothing to enhance his education. I went to Tropical World in Leeds one day and a teenager was describing a lizard as a 'land shark' and another thought capuchin monkeys were chimps. Society is fucked. Really stupid people are everywhere.
Intelligence isn't just genetic and is influenced by myriad social and environmental factors. There are significant failings in our education system and society where people are allowed to fall through the cracks. This is compounded if they are poor and even more so if they are from a difficult background.
I find the tone of some of the comments here pretty horrible and reveals quite an insidious contempt for those who are probably in need of some compassion rather than mocking.
Ahhh, bless you and your vision of a World where all scrotes have just had a challenging existence.
If you follow the link above he's a workshy druggie. If you read one of his posts he has 'opened' up about how his latest girlfriend has been sleeping with 2 of his mates.
So no, I wasn't sneering. I was using the evidence in front of me to point out he's had a rough time. The last sentence was based on the observations of a life I know little about, and would prefer not to have to subsidise...
You absolutely were sneering and you've continued to do so in your response to both me and the guy in question.
How exactly is his girlfriend sleeping with his friends proof of his character, or his past? How exactly are you subsidising his life? Are you just assuming he's in receipt of benefits and if so, that is both entirely his own fault and something to be villified for ? Why exactly does he deserve your scorn rather than your compassion having narrowly avoided a really serious injury?
Your perjorative language reveals your prejudices very clearly Alan. If society is indeed fucked then it's in a large part due to attitudes like yours. If John Watson had been middle class then you wouldn't have said a word.
Looks like he was brake checked to me - even so stupid to be going so quick behind a non-transparent object
It checks out, even the cars are the same on google maps.
https://goo.gl/maps/AzQpwNJnob62
Maybe he was after my KOM https://www.strava.com/segments/7753396
Crazy, that segment starts 20m from where I used to live on Lemington Rise estate 88-95. (Now live 150miles away.)
666 riders, unlucky for him.
Bonkers speeds, descending Kudos, who said the mountains only went up.
I imagine that before the crash, he was a wordsmith akin to Shakespeare. Shame.
Still laughing.......comedic genius
Obviously we couldn't see what the van was braking for... (maybe just to catch out the lad on the bike???)...but the bike was utterly destroyed, as was the cyclist's ability for coherent typing.
The bystander was indeed more interested in removing the bike from the road than attending to the cyclist...initially.
Incredible, the person at the driver's door of the SUV (possibly the reason for the van braking) seems to get the bike off the road before seeing to the injured guy.
Must keep the traffic flowing !
Get that man a log in.
My wife is wondering why I'm chuckling to myself.
I think it did. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1394413080674147&set=pcb.1394413...
So did it improve his looks?
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