Welcome to Tuesday on the road.cc live blog with Simon MacMichael and the rest of the team.
Live blog: Can an e-bike pull a car? UCI Track Worlds schedule, Col Collective vid, and … I’m Alan Partridge … appearing on a cycle safety poster near you soon + more
All today’s news from the site and beyond
Tue, Feb 26, 2019 21:49
SUMMARY
26 February 2019, 21:49
Aha! Move over, Ainsley – Alan Partridge is the new face of safe cycling in Bournemouth
Remember last year when someone doctored placards near Bournemouth University urging drivers to give cyclists at least 1.5 metres of space when overtaking cyclists by slapping stickers of TV chef Ainsley Harriott’s face on the image of a bike rider?
Well, the TV personality-loving japester is back – and this time round, it’s none other than the man of the moment, back on our screens as of last night in his new BBC One series This Time With Alan Partridge, who fronts the spoof campaign.
Aha! someone has stuck pictures of Alan Partridge on signs urging drivers to keep their distance when passing cyclists in #Bournemouth https://t.co/ZuxidqZzoh We wonder what Alan would make of it pic.twitter.com/EC4dhaOrFh
— Bournemouth Echo (@Bournemouthecho) February 25, 2019
The Ainsley Harriott unofficial iteration of the campaign got taken down very quickly, with a council official saying: “We are aware that the cycle safety signs near the university have been defaced with stickers and they will be removed as soon as possible.”
The point is though, that the guerrilla campaign last year got way more people talking about the posters – and hopefully, taking note of the message – than would otherwise have been the case, and hopefully the new, albeit unofficial endorsement from the UK’s best-loved TV show host will push awareness even higher.
And on that bombshell …
26 February 2019, 21:49
Top Gear host throws cycling question out on Twitter
Still on the issue of BBC presenters, Chris Harris, co-host of Top Gear – a show that Alan Partridge would dearly love to work on and of that there can be no doubt – has got a bit of a convo going on Twitter with this tweet. The replies – including from pro cyclists such as Alex Dowsett and Rob Hayles – are worth a browse.
Question: Driving a car and overtaken by a cyclist in a 20mph zone do you a) congratulate them, or b) scowl?
— chris harris (@harrismonkey) February 25, 2019
26 February 2019, 21:49
The Col Collective - Albulapass
Mike Cotty takes us to the Swiss Alps for some dreamy scenery.
Sunshine, perfect tarmac and incredible views, what’s not to love?
26 February 2019, 21:49
Arrest made after cyclist killed in Surrey hit and run on Sunday
Surrey Police have arrested a 49-year-old man after a cyclist was killed in a hit-and-run incident in Lingfield on Sunday evening.
As we reported yesterday, the fatal crash happened at 5pm on Lingfield Common Road at the junction with Cobham Close. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers have now confirmed that a man was arrested yesterday on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, causing death by careless driving whilst unfit through drink or drugs and failing to stop at the scene of the collision.
Police have repeated an appeal for anyone with information to contact them on 101 or online quoting reference PR/P19044029.
26 February 2019, 21:49
Canyon Pure Cycling Weekend Forest of Dean
Canyon has announced its first ever UK Pure Cycling Weekend which will take place over two days at Forest of Dean on the 11th & 12th May 2019. Modelled on the annual Pure Cycling Festival which takes place at Canyon’s HQ in Koblenz each Spring, there will be a wide selection of road, mountain and gravel bikes to demo alongside various ride-outs, competitions and athletes and partner brands in attendance.
Over the past couple of years, the Canyon UK team have run a number of demos and expos around the UK (including at our own BikeLive Demo Days), offering consumers the opportunity to see and try the German-engineered, award-winning bikes.
The event will be ticketed at £5 per head and will be available to purchase soon, 100% of the ticket sales proceeds will be donated to the Dean Trail Volunteers who work in partnership with the Forestry Commission to develop and maintain the mountainbike trails in the Forest of Dean and are raising money to build a new Downhill track. The complete program, demo bike list & partners will be announced soon on Canyon’s website.
This is definitely one to watch if you’re interested in buying a Canyon.
26 February 2019, 21:49
UAE Tour 2019 - Stage 3 Highlights
Highlights from today’s stage as the riders head through the desert (again) before heading uphill for a summit finish on Jebel Hafeet.
Tomorrow’s stage heads up the Hatta Dam, an incredibly steep finish that favours the most powerful rouleurs.
26 February 2019, 21:49
UCI Track Cycling World Campionships start tomorrow - here's the BBC schedule
The UCI Track Cycling World Championships start tomorrow in Pruszkow, Poland.
18 months out from the Tokyo Olympics, it’s a chance to benchmark Great Britain’s progress as the next generation of riders comes through.
Follow this link for BBC Sport’s coverage of the event.
26 February 2019, 21:49
Can an e-bike pull a car?
The folks at online bike shop Tredz decided to find out! Head over to eBikeTips to see what happened next…
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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
wtjs 5 hours ago
@FionaJJ These officers deployed next-level stupidity, and it must be difficult for the police to find people this dim. It doesn't even need rolling-roads or whatever, just a reputable bike computer on a quickly changed mount for the difficult cases where a proper EAPC has been modded, although you would need to look hard in Lancashire to find a police officer who knows how to make a pedal cycle go. Most illegal electric motorbikes are immediately obvious, not least because the crim is wearing a face mask. I saw an obvious one tonight coming out of Garstang Sainsbury's, not pedalling but without a face mask because everybody knows that the police only come into the town to hide away in the police station 200 yards away.
bikeman01 7 hours ago
Gustav Gullholm.. that's not a good look mate
mdavidford 9 hours ago
@Chris RideFar I think what you meant to say was "REMOVE this and put it on PODCAST CC".
jaymack 10 hours ago
As Mary Whitehouse never said - one doesn't have to read the article if one doesn't want to read about an off-road bicycle.
Rendel Harris 11 hours ago
@FionaJJ In London they're allowed to stop on single and double yellows to deliver packages or empty pillar boxes; in practice they take this as carte blanche to park wherever and whenever they want, such as this chap on the Brixton Road who pulled into the bus/cycle/motorcycle lane without indicating, as I approached at 20mph, to park on a red route, response to a remonstrance, "I suppose you never get post delivered do ya?"
FionaJJ 11 hours ago
@Rendel Harris We have a pavement parking ban, but around here at least, royal mail vans are already exempt, subject to certain caveats, such as allowing at least 1.5m, and only being stopped to do their work.
FionaJJ 12 hours ago
It was already embarrassing for the police that they made such a mess of their attempt to determine whether a bike was legal or not, but I had assumed it was a group of well intentioned, but under-trained officers acting on their own initiative, having spotted something they thought looked not quite right. I'm now discovering this was a planned activity, something sufficiently organised to have been given a name - Operation FRISLEN, designed specifically to identify and remove illegal e-bikes and scooters. It's apparent that the officers were sent out without adequate training, never mind the kind of equipment that should be used for this sort of work. I'm not saying they always need specialist equipment to spot all illegal bikes, but at least if they'd been given a demonstration with that equipment, they'd have realised why their approach was not going to end well.
Geoff Ingram 14 hours ago
Have put drop bars on a 2001 B1 mtb, a 2007 stumpy hardtail and a 2010 stumpy full suss. In all cases fairly basic conversións leaving gearing and wheels broadly the same and concentrating on correct positioning of bars and fit. Oddly, with all 3 I was happy with the result when recently done, but after a few months found that the extra speed on easy trails was more than offset by the lack of ability (probably mine) on tougher routes and finally preferred flat bar with slammed and inverted stem as best overall compromise. Good fun playing around, though.
mark1a 14 hours ago
The photos in this review look they are for a different bag?
mattw 15 hours ago
This is a strange reactionary knee jerk overall. But what is this "are essentially motorbikes in disguise" waffle? "One letter claimed that high-powered electric ‘e-bikes’ were “essentially motorbikes” in disguise, with many being used without lights, helmets, or any hi-vis clothing." Surely, they simply ARE motorbikes?
12 thoughts on “Live blog: Can an e-bike pull a car? UCI Track Worlds schedule, Col Collective vid, and … I’m Alan Partridge … appearing on a cycle safety poster near you soon + more”
I would craft a ‘double tap’
I would work in a ‘double tap’ joke, but I’m still upset with SRAM for not offering a road triple 🙁
There are places in Harrogate
There are places in Harrogate where I would like to see these signs – they might make some difference.
Until the Ainsley Harriot story, I didn’t know that councils could put up such signs.
We have these signs in
We have these signs in Cumbria, but unfortunately they have a stylised image, not a photo of a cyclist, so would look pretty weird with a Partridge face stuck on!
They don’t stop close passes though, IME.
Knowing me Alan Partridge, knowing you driver passing too fecking close…aha.
That twitter thread is a bit
That twitter thread is a bit depressing…
Quote:
I sometimes feel like I’m the only person in the country who doesn’t get Alan Partridge…
brooksby wrote:
My wife hated last nights new Alan Partridge show. I am undecided, though there were a couple of funny bits and I will persevere with it as its only half an hour.
The problem is that with today’s presenters and programmes, it actually looked like a normal show. How do you lampoon the likes of Richard Madeley or Piers Morgan?
PRSboy wrote:
True. I suppose it’s like when you look at old episodes of ‘The Day Today’ and then compare it to Any Modern News Show…
brooksby wrote:
Be assured, you are not alone.
brooksby wrote:
Partridge was funny before Brexit. Now its too much like reality…
Would this be the Alan
Would this be the Alan Partridge who once commented,
“There’s a time and a place for cycling. The time’s Summer and the place is Center Parcs”
(And you probably read that in his voice.)
After watching the latest
After watching the latest version of Partidge I can only hope he gets run-over whilst cycling. Terrible ‘comedy’ with no edge at all. R.I.P. vintage Partidge and comedy.
Anyone who can get away with this joke in prime time is alright by me …
Alan introduces a guest as “Alice Clunt”
She says her name is “Flux”
“I think I know what I did there” he admits.