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Live blog: Ford’s ‘smart’ cycling jacket (video), Michael Goolaerts family appeal for help finding the sunglasses he wore at Paris-Roubaix + more

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@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.
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.
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").
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.)
yes, but people will still object - which was my point.
So ' Priority of Road Users' and 1.5 metre clearance at 30mph has been been reduced to 'sharing'? NCN route 2 here in South Hams is an absolute scream with white vans, tractors and total idiots who refuse,or are totally incapable,to reverse on high Devon banked lanes ...means you have to get off and pedal back to a passing place....could be at that all day...so I don't bother...
@MaxiMinimalist Agreed. The big problem I see now is today's parents grew up being driven to their schools, and therefore, see private motor vehicles as the only viable form of transport. The vast majority of UK infant and primary schools have a catchment area that is within easy walking distance from home to school. Yet, the traffic caused by pupils being driven to/from school is astonishing. Banishing the "School Run" should be a priority for all schools.
When I was a kid (that was during the previous millenium when phones were connected to a plug in the wall), I rode my bicycle to school, music academy, sport grounds, parties even during the winter. The government didn't have to spend, correct that, didn't have to think of spending massive amounts of money to build cycling specific infrastructures. Over the past 3 or 4 decades, cars have grown bigger, taller, safer (for their drivers) and faster. Meanwhile, motorists have become abusive, aggressive, hypersensitive to people moving on two wheels, aka cyclists. Spending billions upon billions on new infrastructure won't address the crux of the matter. Sadly.
Obree had some actual talent in his legs though, in addition to his bike/aero engineering talent.
Малко като опит за доказване е излязло... Никой няма нужда от толкова голям въртящ момент и мощност на шосеен велосипед с тънки гуми, които дори трудно ще предават тази мощност върху пътя. А ако има и ограничение от 25 км/час е още по-безмислено.
7 thoughts on “Live blog: Ford’s ‘smart’ cycling jacket (video), Michael Goolaerts family appeal for help finding the sunglasses he wore at Paris-Roubaix + more”
So encouraging a young girl
So encouraging a young girl to do risky stuff on a bike, no hands, catching things whilst pedalling and a bunny hop to get off, get fucked! I bet she wouldn’t do any of that crap nor the parent if she wasn’t wearing a helmet, sorry but that’s just fucked up and not clever at all.
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
Ffs, the girl is quite famous and even sponsored by Specialized, she knows what she’s doing. Also, how do you think children grow up to be professionals if they don’t practice when they’re young? You sound like a complete tool.
Ooh the danger !! Is she on
Ooh the danger !! Is she on a clifftop or surrounded by crocodiles ?
Oh no she’s on the lawn.
Presumably you were never a child and rode no handed or climbed trees.
Trolls just hatch fully formed and ready to spout rubbish even if it is about a kid…
I’d love to be able to do
I’d love to be able to do that on rollers.. or teach my daughter to do that (wearing a helmet of course)…
Cycling whilst female is a
Cycling whilst female is a crime in Iran? So there is somewhere that hates cyclists more than the UK. And they were wearing helmets.
Ford Smart jacket. Looks to
Ford Smart jacket. Looks to me like a few gimmicky lights, with the main focus on a phone app that encourages cyclists to get off the road – presumably to free up space for proper traffic – like Ford cars.
I naively assumed a smart
I naively assumed a smart jacket would have radar, alert for close passes and flash up, ‘ don’t even think of trying to squeeze past me at that pinch point – moron’. Or flash up some don Simon, btbs sweary statement.