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Video: Thor Hushovd stars in Norwegian cycle safety clip

We've always thought he was a cool cat, now here's the proof...

‘Cyclists don’t have nine lives’ is the payoff line of this video from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration featuring pro cyclist Thor Hushovd. In the video, Hushovd just survives a number of on-bike scrapes including throwing himself over the bonnet of a car.

We wonder if he did he own stunts?

Spotted by road.cc forum user SM who says: "Video doesn't take sides and demonstrates dangers of not being a considerate road user to both cyclist and driver. Like it. Come on Wiggo, get your acting make-up on and do your country proud!"

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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25 comments

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GoingRoundInCycles | 10 years ago
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To me, the message is pretty clear.

Unless you are like Thor Hushovd and have nine lives, don't ride like an inconsiderate moron and don't assume that you have been seen by other road users before you make a manoeuvre.

In Norway there is a strong culture of personal responsibility where people are expected to do what they can to look after themselves before looking for help from others.

I expect in our blame and rights culture, this video would not go down so well.

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skippy | 10 years ago
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Would ask that " videos " offered , be a case of the viewer STARTING the video !

as a result of some " glitch " the video MBs came & went , i saw NOTHING !

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geargrinderbeard | 10 years ago
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Am I the only one watching repeatedly just because of the catchy tune in the background...?  1

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jamtartman replied to geargrinderbeard | 10 years ago
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yes

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Fran The Man | 10 years ago
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The message is, I agree, a bit complicated. But at least it exists. It would be great if we had something similar to argue over!

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RTB | 10 years ago
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The man is a legend.

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ir_bandito | 10 years ago
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Quote:

Amazing insight. Really. Nuff said.

Seriously. Did you not read the description at the top, which I paraphrased in the second quote of my comment?

it "demonstrates dangers of not being a considerate road user to both cyclist and driver."

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flobble replied to ir_bandito | 10 years ago
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ir_bandito wrote:
Quote:

Amazing insight. Really. Nuff said.

Seriously. Did you not read the description at the top, which I paraphrased in the second quote of my comment?

it "demonstrates dangers of not being a considerate road user to both cyclist and driver."

Yes. But most people watching the video won't have the benefit of either.

Message is too complicated for most I fear, given the tendency for people to see what reinforces their existing perspective rather than the messy nature of what's really there.

Or maybe I do the Norwegians a disservice and they are are more sophisticated in their thinking on this matter than us Brits. Having ridden, raced and done business there, that's quite possible.

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Matt eaton replied to flobble | 10 years ago
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flobble wrote:
ir_bandito wrote:
Quote:

Amazing insight. Really. Nuff said.

Seriously. Did you not read the description at the top, which I paraphrased in the second quote of my comment?

it "demonstrates dangers of not being a considerate road user to both cyclist and driver."

Yes. But most people watching the video won't have the benefit of either.

Message is too complicated for most I fear, given the tendency for people to see what reinforces their existing perspective rather than the messy nature of what's really there.

Or maybe I do the Norwegians a disservice and they are are more sophisticated in their thinking on this matter than us Brits. Having ridden, raced and done business there, that's quite possible.

I have no experience of Norwegian culture but for the average Brit you are spot on; this will just reinforce existing predudices for most people.

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nod | 10 years ago
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F*** me! Who would've thought it? An educational video! We should be showing it in the UK, rather than endlessly whining about who's more to blame: drivers or cyclists.

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ir_bandito | 10 years ago
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Quote:

Am I the only one who finds the message rather confusing?

In about half the incidents our 'hero' was at least partially at fault

Yes.

Quote:

"Video doesn't take sides and demonstrates dangers of not being a considerate road user to both cyclist and driver.

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flobble replied to ir_bandito | 10 years ago
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ir_bandito wrote:
Quote:

Am I the only one who finds the message rather confusing?

In about half the incidents our 'hero' was at least partially at fault

Yes.

 41 Amazing insight. Really. Nuff said.

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jimmyd | 10 years ago
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Love it!

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racyrich | 10 years ago
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That pic disturbs me. Cat in BMC kit. Looks like an extra from the 'What Does the Fox Say' video!

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flobble | 10 years ago
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Am I the only one who finds the message rather confusing?

In about half the incidents our 'hero' was at least partially at fault. e.g. Pulling out of alleyway without looking, turning off without signalling, riding in the middle of the road with a vehicle approaching.

Or was that supposed to be part of the message (ie cyclists shouldn't be irresponsible either)? Puzzled...

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mrhallorann replied to flobble | 10 years ago
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flobble wrote:

Am I the only one who finds the message rather confusing?

In about half the incidents our 'hero' was at least partially at fault. e.g. Pulling out of alleyway without looking, turning off without signalling, riding in the middle of the road with a vehicle approaching.

Completely agree. In about have of those scrapes, he's riding like a div.

The same video with Sir Brad would do nothing for motorist/cycling relations in this country.

mrhallorann

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chickeee replied to flobble | 10 years ago
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everybody on the road has to be careful - that is the message

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aclucas | 10 years ago
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That was very good - a UK version would be awesome

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GoingRoundInCycles replied to aclucas | 10 years ago
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aclucas wrote:

That was very good - a UK version would be awesome

In the UK version, that unlocked BMC Teammachine would have got nicked before Thor Hushovd even got his key in the front door!

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badback replied to GoingRoundInCycles | 10 years ago
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GoingRoundInCycles wrote:
aclucas wrote:

That was very good - a UK version would be awesome

In the UK version, that unlocked BMC Teammachine would have got nicked before Thor Hushovd even got his key in the front door!

Nah, he'd have had multiple cameras on his bike and got shouty at each near miss.  36

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IanD | 10 years ago
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Great video. Did show it from both sides so quite fair.

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sm | 10 years ago
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Thank you for the hat tip - when I saw this I thought, that'll look great on Road.cc news. And so it does! Seriously, we need a similar video here in the UK, would do wonders for driver/cycling relations. Imagine, Hoy, Wiggo, Cav, Trott, Pendleton and co in something similar? Certainly beats a poster campaign.

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netclectic replied to sm | 10 years ago
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sm wrote:

Imagine, Hoy, Wiggo, Cav, Trott, Pendleton and co in something similar?

Imagine Hoy doing the bonnet roll, that'd be hilarious!

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Colin Peyresourde | 10 years ago
0 likes

 16  41

Quality

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Rouboy | 10 years ago
0 likes

Great Vid.

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