Live blog: Olympic track champ Kristina Vogel airlifted to hospital after serious crash, big news on the way for Greater Manchester cyclists + more
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Tue, Jun 26, 2018 14:33
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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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Latest Comments
flowboy 56 minutes ago
Too much time on my hands obvs!
HoarseMann 1 hour ago
@OnYerBike "illegal e-moto" should do it for the non-pedal variants and "illegal e-moped" if you want to get particular about those DIY conversions with pedals.
chrisonabike 1 hour ago
Seems like there's way too much "tech" here (braking distribution?) ... ... but of course the target market seems to be folks who are looking to replace part of "car" and certainly aren't fussed about getting into bike mechanics, so perhaps the more of this the better? Anyway, slightly surprised this is (apparently) popular in what is AFAICS a pretty crowded market; Cube probably setting the pace * with their "little big longtail" bikes, which many others seem to have borrowed from. * I'd bet that this isn't a new idea but they seem to have very good designs, albeit heavy on the tech themselves (ABS was it?)
chrisonabike 2 hours ago
@mark1212123 Or even "what are our transport needs, what do we think we'll need in the future, what other important properties may impact that" etc. The latter might be not paying millions to keep repairing public infra, resilience (eg. less reliance on products from "difficult" regions, less impermeable surfaces which cause rapid run-off), local "places" and businesses, public safety, health... And on that perhaps encouraging people (and especially children) to get out more for both physical and mental health, which would suggest we need places where people find it feels safe and pleasant for young and old to be moving outside, where you can hear others speak, where you're not breathing in particulates or stopping and waiting for a minute every time you go to the other side of the street... Motor vehicles are space inefficient and also take over spaces - hence the urban "geometry problem". FWIW while it's hard to imagine in the UK that conversation has happened elsewhere. In places like eg. Amsterdam ("Amsterdam makes space" - a plan removing thousands of on-street parking spaces and narrowing roads - which people have voted for!), Utrecht (removing the inner ring road etc), perhaps Paris...
chrisonabike 2 hours ago
@mark1212123 Well, yes, in that there are more people now than say 1990, and (I think) more of them drive... ...but also it just so happens that some road users are more equal than others, allotted a couple of living-rooms' worth of space. Plus as private motor vehicles get bigger and people are not all piling in one mini anymore they're getting even more space. And also those "small roads" were often "streets" not long back. We've kept the "through-access" available even though they weren't designed for it and they can't easily be expanded for that. And/or the "smallness" of the road is because there are actually three or four lanes of motor vehicles - one or two are all the parked cars we can't "see" when we think "narrow street"...
Xenophon2 2 hours ago
@Rian_constant : I have the exact same issue with a totally different light: the Lupine SL Grano. Has a cutoff to avoid blinding oncoming traffic and also throws out a carpet of light. It’s ok 80% of the time but my commute takes me through a couple of pitch dark stretches where it’s simply not enough, certainly not riding at road speeds around 30-33 kmph average. It’s great in every other respect but that’s simply something that needs fixing. I’m willing to pay but want to be certain that it works and I’ve seen too many long exposure beam shots that appear to show unrealistic levels of illumination.
Steve K 2 hours ago
Mark's a great bloke. He and I have done similar football related cycling challenges (mine around Crystal Palace) and we met when he cycled to Palace a few years ago. I'm gutted for him.
Chris RideFar 2 hours ago
I'd call it more of a pick-up truck than an SUV, but I expect they want to market it more to people who are trying to replace their SUV rather than a pickup. I own a longtail e-cargo bike that I'm very happy with and would never want a front loader. It's going to be tricky to make the rear suspension work well and not compromise other aspects. Not something that I would trust to a kickstarter project.
wtjs 2 hours ago
@Peterjbdk Even the Government’s Road Safety Strategy says that – Vision Zero... The January 2026 Road Safety Strategy says lots of things- almost none of the important ones are even taken seriously by the government itself, which is why they're 'consulting' on them for long enough that the document is sunk without trace in a sea of digital dust. The police will sabotage anything they don't like, which includes anything to the benefit of cycling and cyclists- how much more evident that they won't lift a finger can it be when Essex and Kent police collude to refuse to even look at close-passing videos when there has been no collision NO MATTER HOW CLOSE. This is 'get yourself KSI'd and we'll see what we can do': Vision Zero?! Sod That for a Lark is the police vision. Pretty much the whole 'strategy' is complete fiction, with no expectation that anything will change if drivers wouldn't like it. As for the 'consultations' on whether driving without MOT or insurance, or with illegal/ fake plates are genuinely a bad thing deserving more than joke punishment...?! Lancashire Police were informed regularly, with photos, for over a year that HN21 VXB was without MOT or VED. I've put many of the photos on here. The police refused to respond after PC Mike Duff of Garstang Neighbourhood Policing Team told me back in January 26 not to tell him about such 'alleged offences' because he didn't have time to look into them. It was only when I sent the Bent Coppers this without comment, taken at the driver's house, that they got worried and suddenly something changed:
13 thoughts on “Live blog: Olympic track champ Kristina Vogel airlifted to hospital after serious crash, big news on the way for Greater Manchester cyclists + more”
Interesting development in
Interesting development in Melbourne. Are the Aussies finally waking up to the disaster of their anti-cycling policies of the past thirty years?
burtthebike wrote:
All those drivers who look like they’re either really upset or have hayfever… Seems to me that if Australian drivers didn’t seem so keen to run down cyclists (in every sense of the expression) then their authorities wouldn’t have seen the need to put this experimental (for Oz) roundabout layout in.
burtthebike wrote:
Nope, you only have to listen to the old ‘they don’t pay reggo’ bollocks from the fat knacker first interviewed. They still hate cycling, it gets in the way and the perception is that it’s all about the head down lycra wanker when many people just want to get from A-B without being killed/injured/harassed and also to be able to cycle without plod wasting time unlawfully penalising them for not wearing a plastic hat. That is one of the clearest signs of an anti cycling nation. I’m proud to say that I’m part of a campaign group trying to help and put pressure on australian government to get the unlawful helmet rule abolished.
Until that happens and police focus on stopping and arresting those that kill and maim nothing meaningful will change as per the load of bullshit ‘infra’.
That’ll be a “fixed”, not a
That’ll be a “fixed”, not a “fixie”
dreamlx10 wrote:
Also, given the distance, he’s covered far more than just the Fred Whitton route. Chapeau!
dreamlx10 wrote:
Except where people use the term ‘fixie’, which is to say a lot of the time.
To call it cyclist priority
To call it cyclist priority is slightly misleading; that implies cyclists have somehow been given priority over other traffic on the roundabout. Instead, it’s taken cyclists off the roundabout and given them a circumferential lane which has priority over the main carriageway where the two intersect. Cyclists choosing to remain on the main carriageway (I don’t know the law regarding mandatory cycle lanes in Melbourne?) do not have priority! In fact, it’s a “Dutch style” roundabout. I think we might even have one or two somewhere in the UK.
Quote:
The word “impact” is surely being used negatively in this context but they’re looking the wrong way down the telescope. Surely any business would see it as a chance to sell stuff to the thousands of cycling fans hanging around for a day or a long weekend. Use your imagination folks, isn’t that why you’re considered as entrepreneurs and “business people”? Otherwise you might as well give up and get a job in a supermarket.
With regards to the
With regards to the Harrowgate business impact assessment, I’d hope that they have enough time to start collecting data about footfall and conversion rates.
It will probably drive business to catering outlets (restaurants and cafes for example), but if you run something that is unlikely to attract inwards trade (a launderette or a pet shop for example) then you might well be worried about business impacts.
If the council had a clear picture of spending patterns over the course of the year, then they could look at what impacts an event of this type has and perhaps compensate those businesses that lose out (a reduction in business rates for example?). Without this research it’s all meaningless.
Don’t bother cycling anywhere
Don’t bother cycling anywhere around Harrogate, the roads are shocking. Been out that way today, think I’ve vibration white finger now.
The country roads are shit and the urban roads are beyond shit. You get these roads full of £1m houses and the roads look someone lifted them from Syria. Now wonder everyone drives Rangepigs.
Yorkshire wallet wrote:
There may be a correlation between £1 million+ houses and bad roads, I had a bone shaking ride through Alderley Edge this morning.
Apparently it’s an area where huge 4 x 4s are compulsory.
It’s likely that the Range
It’s likely that the Range Rovers have caused the potholes.
I don’t think it’s anywhere near as big a problem as Yorkshire Wallet claims. Maybe you rode Penny Pot Lane? That one has a less than perfect surface, but it is shown as Rough Road on an OS map.
Harrogate is an events
Harrogate is an events/visitor/tourism town. Don’t be surprised if it puts on events. It can’t always be the Eurovision Song Contest.
The moaning about road closures was bound to start – I’m surprised it’s taken them this long. But, as at the TDF, the World Champs will be overwhelmingly supported by local people.
Businesses in town massively overestimate how many people arrive there by car. Just stop complaining, look for the opportunities, and it will be a big success.