road.cc live blog – US comedian’s anti-cyclist rant and more
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Wed, Nov 22, 2017 15:30
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Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn’t especially like cake.
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chrisonabike 13 minutes ago
Hope Barcelona keep the transport improvements (they've been making for a while) coming! Better streets, more infra to help active travel where necessary. And while it's a major investment (though can be lower operating cost than busses) maybe more trams where they can. That may be more effective in making places active travel friendly and replacing taxis than mass public bike hire. They've a good start with 6 lines already.
chrisonabike 20 minutes ago
I think this is a positive story. They're not getting rid of public hire bikes - they're expanding their in-house one. They're merely kicking out cowboys who've shown they've a lack of interest in the game they claim to be playing. It seems logical that companies whose business model is to extract (venture capital) money by invading public space are even less likely to make the efforts to keep things in order than a local "in house" scheme. (After all the "bikes and riding" part of these schemes always *costs* money, they don't generate it.) So not surprising their experience shows those firms are not particularly motivated to follow the rules - especially when scrapping for "market share". It's nice the European Cyclists’ Federation is thinking about tourists also (i hesitate to say "follow the money...") - as they note, where it's safe to cycle locals will largely get their own bikes. Tourists aren't going to stop coming because lack of public bike share - I think this is mostly a "nice to have" ("hey - why don't we go on one of those bikes there? ").
chrisonabike 45 minutes ago
Harm minimization - at least they're not driving...
Gm_Crop 9 hours ago
I'll counter that by saying the Bryton 750se I have drives me nuts at times. Inconsistantly picks up on routes created on Komoot and the app re-syncs every few seconds when trying to set up the device and sends me back to the home screen. The most infuriating one is that I turned live track on. Once. It now won't turn off and repeatedly flags up the live track is starting, and then disconnecting every few seconds whilst riding. I haven't timed it but it wouldn't suprise me if 10-20% of the time the the screen is covered with an error message. That's been about 6 weeks now. Other than that it's great :/
IanGlasgow 9 hours ago
RE: Police launch road safety operation... by clamping down on cyclists using footbridge Meanwhile in Glasgow, Police Scotland are riding their motorbikes over the pedestrian and cyclists only bridge. https://x.com/FietserGlasgow/status/2065106152917012523?s=20
Rendel Harris 11 hours ago
@Paul J Van Schip certainly seems a bit of a dick, but he's a European and multiple World Champion on the track, pretty sure you don't get there without having some talent in your legs.
Bill H 11 hours ago
Poor Vincent cannot get over the simple fact that given the choice people prefer dedicated cycling spaces, rather than pretending to be cars like vehicular cyclists.
pbunyon 11 hours ago
What is the point of the fancy air sensor if it can't account for changing weather conditions?? If all you care about is a delayed approximation of aerodynamic watts in steady conditions, you don't need any special sensors for that. Just your speed on a decently flat course is enough to approximate rolling resistance and drivetrain losses. And the rest must be aero. If you assume a less aero body position at the same watts, your speed will drop while rolling resistance also drops, which means approximated aero watts goes up. And that's enough to demonstrate what you've shown in your testing protocol ("I sat upright and the number went up a little while later").
chrisonabike 11 hours ago
Your correction is accurate - it's almost always been "the (lack of) thought that (doesn't) count". "Massive" - less than a billion a year spent on active travel (trying to catch up / building a network across the entire country) Not massive - 6 billion every year (2026-2030) spent on road *maintenance* of existing "already built, goes everywhere, very convenient" road network for inactive travel Ultimately the reason "cycle infra" is *needed* is those unbelievably colossal amounts spent every year (and for more than a century now) on making mass motoring not just viable but apparently the "best choice" for most journeys. As the Dutch and others have shown, the majority of people *are* prepared to cycle and even mix with very light, slow local motor traffic *if* cycling is also made safe and convenient for the whole of their journey (including secure parking at both ends). (The history of the financial drivers of the current situation are a complex topic but note that while people complain about "crumbling roads" and underfunded motor infra - with some reason - by us continuing the fuel duty escalator freeze (for example) we're actually helping motorists pay *even less* for that activity / subsidising more of the cost of driving than ever.)
belugabob 11 hours ago
yes, but people will still object - which was my point.
9 thoughts on “road.cc live blog – US comedian’s anti-cyclist rant and more”
Wow that was the least
Wow that was the least original rant ever. I thought as it was (apparently) a comedian then there would be some jokes at some point. But he did just come across as a loud shouty idiot. Maybe he’s a character actor and we’re meant to laugh at the character’s awfulness rather than with him. I doubt it, though, as nowhere else in the performance was there any thought or subtlety. Or maybe there was, and i’m just obtuse.
Bikebikebike wrote:
Haven’t watched the video yet, so I don’t know what he says or the context, but “angry rant” pretty much describes most of Bill Burr’s material and persona. Some of it’s funny, some of it’s not.
gcj wrote:
Wow that was the least original rant ever. I thought as it was (apparently) a comedian then there would be some jokes at some point. But he did just come across as a loud shouty idiot. Maybe he’s a character actor and we’re meant to laugh at the character’s awfulness rather than with him. I doubt it, though, as nowhere else in the performance was there any thought or subtlety. Or maybe there was, and i’m just obtuse.
— gcj Haven’t watched the video yet, so I don’t know what he says or the context, but “angry rant” pretty much describes most of Bill Burr’s material and persona. Some of it’s funny, some of it’s not.— Bikebikebike
So people don’t have to watch, it is essentially him driving round talking/shouting to a camera in the car. It’s pretty much anti-cycling bingo with swear words and a few Americanisms thrown in. There is no overall theme that comes through. It’s just a stream-of-consciousness rant that is not funny and adds nothing to the debate.
Bikebikebike wrote:
Thanks: shame that, as I like quite a lot of his stuff.
A lot of it seems to be him doing an impression of what he thinks his dad should be, though: particularly Frank in F is for Family. Difficult to see where he ends and parody starts.
Slow news day? Or saving your
Slow news day? Or saving your energy for the slew of cycling infrastructure announcements included in the budget later?
Perhaps it would be safer for
Perhaps it would be safer for all concerned, if this internet ranter spent more time concentrating on the road and in proper control of his vehicle, than trying to attract youtube hits.
I imagine the so called
I imagine the so called comedian may profit if I click on his video, so I will not, as I suspect his tirade will bring nothing new. The problem with the internet is that it gives ranty loons like him a voice. It was better when they were stuck drinking on their own in bars so we could edge away when they kicked off.
Comedian? I thought the
Comedian? I thought the point of being a comedian was that you were funny, or am I missing something? Perhaps he’s just trying to show the same level of funniness as Jeremy Clarkson but in American terms i.e. none. I blame Donald Trump.
I suppose that this guy posts his “comedy” on line because nobody with a sense of humour is going to pay to see him.
Loved the video of Viola
Loved the video of Viola Brand. Until she tipped her bicycle onto the saddle.