Chris Froome suffers stem staring envy; “Get your bike fixed’…Theresa May gets post PM advice from an ex-PM; Bottle snatching badness at the Giro; Walking is faster; Plus – Rapha, Fizik & lots more
SUMMARY
Uber data shows it might be quicker to walk
The INRIX 2018 Traffic Scorecard showed that in a number of UK cities the quickest way of getting about is by bike. It found that last-mile traffic speed in London is just 7mph.
It’s a growing trend. Last year The Telegraph concluded that the average speed of an urban driver will be less than that of a cyclist within a decade.
We’ve now got Uber data that suggests the same thing. In fact Forbes points out that in some areas driving is slower than walking.
The company has released Uber Movement Speeds, which shows that London motorists trying to get through Trafalgar Square rarely exceed 4mph, while those on Northumberland Avenue average 3mph.
Summit finish in the Giro today
Stage 13 | Tappa 13
24 May | 24 maggio
Pinerolo – Ceresole Reale (Lago Serrù)
196 km
Start: 11.30 PM CEST
Finish: 4.50 PM ca CEST
https://t.co/Ya57WStdrk#Giro pic.twitter.com/TlMmdvVGS3— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 24, 2019
Marco Haller wasn't in the best of moods yesterday
And fair enough really.
O bicho pegou com Marco Haller @mhaller91 pic.twitter.com/63kJ8a6vDq
— Junimba (@junimba) May 23, 2019
Spin to win
Narvaez setup for S13 pic.twitter.com/vEP0LQj0f3
— Andrew Hood (@EuroHoody) May 24, 2019
It looks like granny gears aren’t just for us mortals, as Jhonatan Narváez of Team Ineos appears to be running a pretty big cassette for today’s mountain finish of stage 13 of the Giro.
Lance Armstrong "wouldn't change a thing" about his doping – it’s all about learning and growth and all that…
“I was asking for them to come after me,” he said.
A fast start to Stage 13 then...
.@DeGendtThomas @Lotto_Soudal on the attack as he tries to make the breakaway on #Giro Stage 13. It's the only way he knows! #VelonLive
First 25km:
Time: 36’48"
Avg Speed: 40.8km/h
Max Speed: 78.8km/h
Avg Power: 330W
Normalised power: 385W
Max Power: 1090W
Avg Cadence: 80rpm pic.twitter.com/06mUbKcB6l— Velon CC (@VelonCC) May 24, 2019
Belgian breakaway specialist Thomas DeGendt’s numbers are pretty impressive, especially given the climbs to come in today’s stage.
Advice for May - 'Get your bike fixed'
“You have the blues and don’t quite know where to go” – Former Danish PM @HelleThorning_S offers words of advice to Theresa May
Political Thinking with @BBCNickRobinson
[Tap to expand] https://t.co/VrbXxiSBrI pic.twitter.com/8gItflvYYB
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) May 24, 2019
Former Danish PM Helle Thorning has some ways to beat the blues when you resign as Prime Minister. It’s advice for a niche audience but we’re all for shoehorning in a cycling reference!
Thorning was speaking about how she dealt with the period following her time as the Danish PM, saying that she started cycling around Copenhagen and figuring out how the bus system worked.
So who knows, Londoners, you might just see Theresa May pedaling around Parliament Square on the 8th of June…
Or she might binge-watch Game of Thrones. Spoiler alert, Brand the Broken wins…
Tao Geoghegan Hart abandons the Giro
Hart break: Picture of Tao Geoghegan Hart after his crash and before his withdrawal has just dropped on the Getty wires. He crashed on the descent of the first climb after getting in the day’s break #Giro102 pic.twitter.com/G3Atiqvsat
— Felix Lowe (@saddleblaze) May 24, 2019
A crash on a descent early on in the stage forces the Londoner out of the Giro.
Ineos says that he is being accompanied by a team doctor and his injuries don’t appear to be as bad as first thought.
Sadly we can confirm that @taogeoghegan has been forced to abandon the #Giro after a crash. He is OK and our Team Doctor is with him. A full update will follow. pic.twitter.com/ETox5lfmYE
— Team INEOS (@TeamINEOS) May 24, 2019
Heal up fast Tao!
Rapha has launched a new commuter backpack
Rapha has launched a new backpack aimed to meet the demands of commuting cyclists.
The Roll Top Backpack is made from tough hard-wearing fabrics, the roll top opening provides large access to the contents and is secured by a retractable clip. A single loop of webbing over the front provides a handy place to hang light and locks. The back panel features three padded panels to provide comfort and prevent too much heat buildup, and the straps are similarly padded.
Visibility is a big concern when battling through busy streets on the commute so Rapha has given the backpack reflective tabs on the straps and the entire bottom panel is reflective.
Luggage capacity is 15 litres and extends to space for a 15” laptop inside a dedicated padded sleeve, and there are smaller pockets for essentials and an external pocket. Pink lining inside the main compartment apparently makes it easier to locate things.
One neat detail is the base which ensures the backpack will stand up without falling over.
If you like what you see it’s available now from www.rapha.cc and costs £100.
Sadiq Khan reveals quality criteria for new Cycleways and criticises boroughs ‘wedded to the status quo’
Chris Boardman pleads for national cycling infrastructure standards
Relating to the story below…
Couldn’t agree more, without standards that ensure safe and attractive routes, why would people get out of the car? Shame we are doing it region by region… https://t.co/1UCbyNHumI
— Chris Boardman (@Chris_Boardman) May 24, 2019
Pedal like a Movistar pro with new Fizik Vento Powerstrap R1 shoes
Fizik is launching its new Vento Powerstrap R1 Movistar Team racing shoes on the 7th June so you can get that pro look. They’ll cost £224.99.
They first debuted in the Tour Down Under earlier this year and are being worn by the Movistar Team and Movistar Women Team riders throughout the 2019 racing calendar
The shoes use a new twin Velcro strap arrangement, the lower one crossing the foot twice. This Powerstap design is claimed to provide a more secure fit with a great range of customisation.
They’re also very light thanks to a full unidirectional carbon fibre sole and lightweight fabrics.
If you like the look of the shoes but are wondering if any other colours are available, you’re flat out of luck I’m afraid, as this Movistar colour is the only option.
“Like all equipment at the level we race, we all need to totally rely on our shoes – to be comfortable, predictable, and always perform as we need, whatever the race, the time of day, the effort, the incline. The Vento R1s just suit me beautifully. I put them on, and I forget all about them,” says Movistar Team’s Mikel Landa.
“The popularity of this new shoe with the Movistar Team riders led us to look at producing them for general sale to the public,” added Carlo Maria Ferrero, fizik’s Marketing and Communications Manager.
“We always like to give our athletes the choice of the best equipment and it’s an interesting experience to discover what suits which rider – it’s part of our ongoing feedback and development program. We ask them to try different shoes and stick with what works for them.
“It’s a generalisation, because everyone’s different, but there’s a consensus that some riders prefer the new Vento Powerstrap R1 because of the predictable practicality, while others may prefer the Infinito R1’s double-Boa closure system so they can easily tighten mid-ride for intense effort. Whatever shoes each rider prefers, we wish them the best of luck this year.”
Vandals target Edinburgh hire bikes – 100 trashed in a fortnight
Most bikes repairable but some dockless bikes more badly damaged.
Froome keeps tabs on the Giro
When you want to watch the @giroditalia but you have a 7-hour training ride #GirodItalia #Giro2019 pic.twitter.com/YVCZWEQ9nN
— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) May 24, 2019
As he says himself…
…if anyone should be capable of riding while staring at their stem…
— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) May 24, 2019
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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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Latest Comments
"All that's required is an to roads policing" - that's a big all... Although no doubt the "idiots just keep coming" aspect does apply: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz9lel2wz93o "Man charged after car crashes through bowling alley" - luckily they only skittled over skittles.
Almost any change to roads and streets is accompanied by a period of heightened danger, and in the UK "look out for cyclists" will need to be learned... practically. And over the time it takes for cyclists to become a regular feature. OTOH once (if...) good designs are in and frequent enough such that drivers encounter them AND the cyclists on them regularly (another big if) I don't think they should be much more difficult than a footway to deal with. These things are all over NL - don't have the collision stats but they should. (NL isn't perfect but collecting info on the safety of designs to feed back into better designs as required is part of the "sustainable safety" philosophy - if they're really a killer I think they'd be altering these.)
I'm in the happy position of agreeing with everybody here! I've never considered a bike with a stand, yet I'm impressed by the ingenuity and adaptability of this axle. I tow a Yak Bob with a Robert Axle, employing my El Cheapo Vitus gravel bike and I just have to be very careful where I stop. Hedges are generally a dead loss, and I seek walls, telegraph poles and signposts and generally lean the widest part of the Bob against it. One very awkward task is removing the two steel pins which lock the trailer arms onto the special mounting slots on the Robert axle, and when you have one out, the sodding weight in the trailer can twist the whole caboodle and bend the Bob fitting before you can get the other out and unhitch. I doubt if a stand would help with that. You can imagine that this combo is a real pain when you have to get it over the bridge at railway stations, and it nearly resulted in Merseyrail nearly parting me and the trailer on the platform from the bike on the train. It's a long story for another time. Another axle example recently featured on here, with a 12mm front axle bearing the Herculean weight limit of a monster American front rack.
This has nothing to do with the type of bike - it's the type of behaviour that's the problem. Banning the sale of such bikes will not curtail the behaviour. They'll just find another type of vehicle and continue to drive dangerously as there's such a lack of enforcement. I'd sooner see them ban the bally. But really, all that's required is an improvement to roads policing.
The EAPC Bill is welcome, but full of holes. What's to stop an overpowered but temporarily limited e-bike being sold and subsequently delimited? This is often a trivial process.
@KiwiMike Yeah, in my over four decades of riding all over Europe I've never 'been for a ride in the countryside'. That must be it. Or, and I know this is a wild concept, you just accept that I just voiced my personal experiences and never missed a kickstand, like I wrote. Anyway, what's the big horror of laying your bike on its side for the very few occasions where there is nothing to lean your bike against?
They may have looked, but did they see?
Ds2025: where they are going wrong is that they are crushing the motorbike rather than the person sat on top of it. If they did the latter this issue would be solved in less than 24 hours.
I came this way today with the car boot sale in operation. There was a marshal at the entrance, who stopped a car turning right across the cycleway as I was approaching. So that certainly works. I think it necessary for the marshal to be there, I couldn't say if the driver would have turned if he hadn't been there but you always have to suspect the worst. Unfortunately there is no marshal at the exit, and there was certainly a car stopped across the cycleway as I was approaching it. But he pulled onto the road before I reached it, and the following car stayed off the cycleway as I went through. Ideally there should have been a marshal there too. On the whole, though, it's a really high standard piece of infrastructure. Just a pity it doesn't extend a bit further.
“absolute carnage” So right! Just look at the bodies piled up, blood running in the gutters and injured people limping away. It's a bit of a problem with a road, delaying some people for minutes at a time: it isn't carnage, let alone 'absolute carnage'. Anyone who exaggerates so ridiculously really shouldn't be allowed to comment in public, unless they want to demonstrate their idiocy to all and sundry.
13 thoughts on “Chris Froome suffers stem staring envy; “Get your bike fixed’…Theresa May gets post PM advice from an ex-PM; Bottle snatching badness at the Giro; Walking is faster; Plus – Rapha, Fizik & lots more”
A totally understandable, but
A totally understandable, but perhaps unwise, reaction from Haller in the heat of the moment. He was no doubt knackered after working hard in the break all day and then came away with nothing much to show for it so feeling a little disappointed, I’m sure. He probably regrets that reaction now, although the “fan” seems like a complete muppet who deserved to get an ear full.
portec wrote:
“perhaps unwise”? I think not.
This kind of crowd behavior deserves an immediate confrontation, and shame on the Tour for appearing to be protecting the knucklehead from the competitor. Bottle Boy got off way too easy.
ChuckD wrote:
“perhaps unwise”? I think not.
This kind of crowd behavior deserves an immediate confrontation, and shame on the Tour for appearing to be protecting the knucklehead from the competitor. Bottle Boy got off way too easy.— portec
The tour steward wasn’t protecting the fan, he was protecting the rider. If Haller had decked the guy then that would be it for Haller… Also, I don’t recommend a confrontation, as who knows what kind of nutjob you’re confronting. Report to the stewards and let them do the legwork.
Lance Armstrong article in
Lance Armstrong article in the Grauniad
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/may/24/lance-armstrong-it-wasnt-legal-but-i-wouldnt-change-a-thing
Discuss
brooksby wrote:
Most people are salty with Lance because he was better at cheating than them. He was to cheating what Sky were to getting your shit together in cycling.
It’s not like anyone else wasn’t one the sauce. Pantanti’s mother can come up mafia theories and whatever but he was still on it and so were most of the other big hitters in that era. Some like Indurain just didn’t get greedy and annoy people.
I suspect Haller has been
I suspect Haller has been learning English from some of the British riders.
“Visibility is a big concern
“Visibility is a big concern when battling through busy streets on the commute so Rapha has given “
……….The top cyclist a rucksack that sticks up over their shoulders???
Ratfink wrote:
Those rucksacks need a message on the back – “drivers keep your distance – Dlocks hurt”
Froome should submit that
Froome should submit that picture to GCN’s Hacks and Bodges feature .
Former Danish PM who actually
Former Danish PM who actually takes a massive salary from Save the Children and her husband is one of the Kinnocks children who are pro EU (though NK was against being in the ECC before his ‘conversion’), especially since they’ce been in that gravy train for over two decades and raked it on very nicely, not to mentiion the lovely annual £1/4M pension pot from, most/all of it from the EU/public purse. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3636143/Greediest-snouts-EU-trough-Not-sure-vote-Read-stinking-wealth-hypocrisy-Brussels-fat-cats-Kinnocks-help-decide.html
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
Take your Euroskepticism and links to the Daily Hate elsewhere. We don’t need politics on Road.cc. We come here to get away from it!!
matthewn5 wrote:
I don’t. Cycling is unavoidably involved with politics. On the other hand, BTBS is going a long way off-piste here. The politics of personal transport isn’t the same as a general political discussion.
(And I doubt a leaver could come up with any negative comment about the EU I haven’t said myself at some point, but personally I think leaving, at least now, in the current circumstances and context, is still going to go much worse, despite the EU being a bit rubbish).
I think if I am going to
I think if I am going to carry a kilo of d-lock I would rather it was slung low on the bike somewhere rather than high up on my back.
Then again those 2kg I have put on since last year are being carried higher up than my bike…