Retro (ie crap) cycle parking infra spotted; retro club run to Worlds (1922); Haute Route goes Swiss; Freeman ‘adverse reaction’ to Sutton’; Serena Williams needs a bike fit; Boardman on BBC QT + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Morning
Welcome to Thursday’s road.cc live blog.
We’ve a couple of bits to update you on and then let’s have a quick recap of what happened yesterday (which will be largely for my benefit, not yours, because currently I haven’t a clue).
No idea what will appear on here after that – that’s very much the point.
Is the Dr Richard Freeman tribunal still going on? We’ll keep you posted with all the doping allegations, erectile dysfunction claims and stormings-out if it is.
Croatian Kristijan Durasek becomes latest rider sanctioned off the back of Operation Aderlass
Not unexpectedly, Croatian rider Kristijan Durasek has been handed a four-year ban.
4-year ban to Durasek. (via @UCI_media) pic.twitter.com/7HMffdlHzg
— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) November 13, 2019
Operation Aderlass has been looking into alleged doping practices carried out by Erfurt-based German physician Mark Schmidt. A number of cyclists and winter sports athletes have been implicated.
In August, Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi – who won Milan-Sanremo and the points jersey in all three Grand Tours – was handed a two-year ban for blood doping as a result of the investigation.
Austrian cyclists Stefan Denifl and Georg Preidler were banned for four years by the Austrian anti-doping agency in June and more recently, Slovenian cyclists Kristijan Koren and Borut Bozic were given two-year bans.
Durasek had been under investigation and provisionally suspended since May.
Buckle in…
Boardman’s doing Question Time tonight.
Question Time is in Brighton tomorrow. On the #bbcqt panel we have @JamesCleverly @labourlewis @LSRPlaid @BrexitAlex and @Chris_Boardman. Join us from 10:45pm on @BBCOne pic.twitter.com/eu1Do2gZzm
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) November 13, 2019
Peter Sagan dicking about in a wind tunnel
Did you wake up to snow this morning?
Might be time for the winter bike to come out, or if you haven’t got one maybe it’s time to consider one? David looks at the reasons for a winter bike, what to look for in a winter bike (hint: involves mudguards) and gives you five top choices.
So that recap I promised several hours ago…
Just quickly.
- Jess Varnish about Shane Sutton’s performance at Dr Richard Freeman’s tribunal
- Sweary driver learns from police that cyclists are not obliged to use cycle lanes
- Driver acquitted of killing cyclist after Crown Prosecution Service decides to offer no evidence at trial
- The least e-bike looking e-bike ever
- Five-time Paralympic champion cyclist Kieran Modra killed while out on a ride
Fleetwood Mac section (rumours)
Dr Richard Freeman is not at Dr Richard Freeman's tribunal today
He’s not there because of Shane Sutton, who is also not there.
We are back at the Dr Freeman tribunal. Freeman is not here having had an ‘adverse reaction’ to Shane Sutton’s appearance on Tuesday and is ‘not in a fit condition’ to be at the tribunal. His lawyer says he is seeing his psychologist today. Dr Steve Peters due in shortly
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) November 14, 2019
(Ingle later clarified that that should say ‘psychiatrist’.)
Here’s a relevant nugget from cycling journalist Richard Moore.
When I worked on the BBC documentary about Sky and British Cycling with @Atomiumfilms in 2017 we met a couple of times with Richard Freeman. He said he’d do an interview but in the end didn’t. That seemed to be because he was terrified of Shane Sutton.
— Richard Moore (@richardmoore73) November 12, 2019
Freeman’s lawyer says there could be a ‘humdinger of a debate’ over whether Sutton’s evidence should be struck from the record.
Mary O’Rourke, QC for Freeman, says she is very disappointed Shane Sutton not here. Hints there could be a ‘humdinger of a debate’ over whether Sutton’s testimony should struck from the record – or whether she can introduce evidence she was going to ask him about to the panel
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) November 14, 2019
To very quickly sum up the state of play. Freeman has admitted ordering testosterone and trying to cover it up. He denies it was for an athlete and claims it was to treat Shane Sutton’s erectile dysfunction.
Sutton (quite angrily) denied this and then stormed out of the tribunal when Freeman’s lawyer accused him of being a doper.
Freeman had reportedly been diagnosed with bipolar mania
“…in respect of Dr Freeman…I presume he has not seen his GP notes, his psychiatric notes, his drug or medical history. I wonder where this is going…we are well & truly off piste..to try and turn this individual into an expert on Dr Freeman’s bipolar mania is unacceptable.”
— Dan Roan (@danroan) November 14, 2019
Peters is back & recalls an incident at the national velodrome “some years ago” when he says an incident distressed Dr Freeman who couldn’t deal with it and “disappeared to a remote location”. Peters says he went to pick him up, let his stay at his house and helped him recover.
— Dan Roan (@danroan) November 14, 2019
Canyon to sponsor Pro Continental team Arkea-Samsic
With Katusha disappearing at the end of the year, Canyon has decided to sponsor Pro Continental team Arkea-Samsic for the 2020 season. More on this story soon
The results are in
Do you put all your spares and essentials in…
— road.cc (@roadcc) November 12, 2019
Serena Williams could do with a bike fit
— Luke (@Luke16572469) November 14, 2019
The videos were shot by her husband, Alexis Ohanian.
Peters doubts Freeman’s defence that he ordered testosterone for Shane Sutton – floats alternative explanation for why it was ordered
Peters expresses doubt about Freeman’s core defence that he lied about the 2011 testosterone delivery to preserve Shane Sutton’s privacy who he ordered it for to treat his ED. “Shane was a very open man, he confided with me a lot.”
— Dan Roan (@danroan) November 14, 2019
Steve Peters adds: "We have 2 men here, one of them is lying. It is not my position to say who I believe. [But] if he prescribed it to Shane, he would have told me. So I assumed maybe Freeman put Shane’s name for it and maybe used it for himself.
“That’s an assumption?”
"Yes."— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) November 14, 2019
The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has withdrawn its application for an injunction against Velolife
A long-running saga, this one. It was due to go to court, but the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead today withdrew its application for an injunction over a planning dispute.
Full story to follow.
BMC issues recall for 2018 and 2019 Teammachine SLR01 Disc bikes for safety checks
BMC Switzerland is issuing a recall for all Teammachine SLR01 Disc bikes from the Model Years 2018 and 2019 for safety checks. These models first went on sale in June 2017.
BMC Switzerland has identified a technical problem with the fork that could result in a cracked or broken steerer tube, leading to potential crashes and injuries.
To safeguard the user and uphold the brand’s own strict quality standards, BMC Switzerland requests that these bikes are no longer ridden and are brought to a BMC retailer for a safety check.
The retailer will carry out an identification process to determine whether the bike is cleared to ride, or whether the fork needs to be exchanged.
The following models are included in the recall action:
Model Year 2019
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC EDITION AXS – Stealth
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC ONE – Race Grey
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC TWO – Steel Blue
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC THREE – Team Red
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC FOUR – Carbon Red
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC MODULE – Race Grey
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC MODULE – Steel Blue
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC MODULE – Team Red
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC MODULE – Aqua Green
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC MODULE – Stealth
Model Year 2018
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC TEAM – Team Red
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC ONE – Carbon Grey
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC TWO – Grey Blue
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC MODULE – Team Red
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC MODULE – Carbon Green
Teammachine SLR 01 DISC MODULE – Carbon Grey
Bikes produced in Model Year 2020 are not included in the precautionary product recall. Teammachine SLR02 bikes and SLR01 models with rim brakes are also excluded from the recall.
Shane Sutton still a favoured subject at the Freeman tribunal
More from the Shane Sutton Dr Richard Freeman tribunal.
Adds Peters: “Richard might say ‘Shane is on the warpath again, he is doing his usual shouting at me again’ to me and Phil Burt. Richard and Phil found it very hard to stand up to Shane’s aggression and that was true of a lot of the athletes.”
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) November 14, 2019
A reminder that in 2016 British Cycling cleared Shane Sutton on eight of nine charges of misconduct stemming from the allegations made by Jess Varnish. Presumably Peters told them all this sort of stuff.
Another weird details from Peters: apparently, on a trip to Australia, Sutton made the decision to send Phil Burt’s physio bench back to the UK “so that Phil couldn’t function.”
"Why aren't you using the cycle lane?"
Cycle lane full of leaves the whole way up pic.twitter.com/L3JHCuLUby
— Sticky Bottle (@sticky_bottle) November 13, 2019
Chris Boardman hails “victory for common sense” as council withdraws Velolife cycling café injunction application
He says it was an “insane waste of public money” which is a 100 per cent correct assessment.
Video: Haute Route goes Swiss
The three-day Haute Route Crans-Montana course is 236km long with 8,280 metres of ascent. The event will take place from July 3-5 next year.
Highlights of the inaugural course include a climb up to the Barrage de Moiry and its stunning glacier on Stage 1 as well as the 26-kilometre climb of the Col du Sanetsch on Stage 2. With 1,770 metres of climbing, the Col du Sanetsch is one of the toughest climbs in Swiss Romandie.
The event finishes with riders setting off one by one from the time trial ramp in Sierre to take on the 16.5km ascent of the Col de Crans-Montana.
Here’s a video.
Love e-bikes? Love Paris Saint-Germain Football Club? This one's for you...
We realise the chances of this are slim at best, but if a rebranded Super73 Z-Series e-bike in PSG club colours does float your boat then you can pre-order it for 1,670 euros. Full story over on eBikeTips…
Katusha-Alpecin riders still waiting on October wages
Katusha-Alpecin riders and staff are still waiting for their October wages, reports Cycling News.
“Everyone has been paid for September but we have a bit of a delay for October,” said the team’s lawyer, Alexis Schoeb.
“It’s a normal delay due to cash availability at the end of the season. I don’t think that there’s any issue at this stage. Riders and staff have been informed of the delay and been told that it’s just a matter of one or two days. So tomorrow or Monday at the latest.”
He said the delay was down to a payment from sponsors, but wouldn’t say if it was due to an outstanding payment from one in particular.
One rider said that September’s wages were also late.
Have you ridden any of these?
Awesome to have made this list
Anyone ridden any of the others mentioned? https://t.co/GiWWyAt72c
— Herne Hill Velodrome (@HerneHillVel) November 14, 2019
It is now legit to arrange a 'cyclist meet' at Velolife; who's in?
A huge thank you 2 every person that has supported us! The community we serve is phenomenal, we simply would not be here if it wasn’t for your support. Your voice and actions have been overwhelming. @LeighDay_Law @MartinPorter6 @BritishCycling @WeAreCyclingUK you are awesome!
— Velolife Cafe (@thevelolife) November 14, 2019
Fantastic
#throwbackthursday Details a little thin on this but it’s a Balham CC club outing to the World Trials in 1922. The Worlds were actually held in Liverpool that year. #heritage #cyclinglife pic.twitter.com/L7S7cNCWmE
— BalhamCyclingClub (@BalhamCycling) November 14, 2019
Oof ... what is this, 1995 ... ?!
Evolution of the wheelbender. Seen at a council leisure centre. Bikes can be parked like slices of toast obviously pic.twitter.com/Xd6AScSmll
— Horsham District Cycling Forum (@CycleForumHorsh) November 13, 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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I can't remember the figures, but I believe there is a significant return on investment when active travel is well funded and good infrastructure is put in place. Dare I say that, given Streeting's previous role in the nation's health, he is using taco-trumpian logic/numbers to justify his current "position"?
More political BS. It's not "there's not enough money for defence" it's "there's not enough money for an increase in spending of more than £6bn in one year on defence". And that follows similar increases in previous years. Compared to a total active travel budget of £0.9bn per year.
Re the mobility scooter / road race incident. What are the chances of the Daily Telegraph running with this one? : "Disabled Pensioner Mowed Down By 85mph Speeding Cyclists." "How many more pensioners must be killed or injured before number plates and insurance are made mandatory for cyclists, asked Nigel Farage, from his £5m crypto donation enquiry hideout?"
I mean, they could probably just only sell them to people with legitimate licenses for the ebike they are selling them. ie. they have passed their motorbike test. Worrying about private land proof etc just sounds like a nightmare and a huge amount of work. People would be saying "oh yeah, this ebike is just to ride at my local dirt bike track". Link the purchase to the buyers license and if they want to sell it, they have to sell it to another licensed rider. I think the core issue is perhaps the delivery riders however. I see a tiny proportion of them with what I would think is a legal ebike. Most of them are going way over 15.5mph and many of them don't even have to pedal to work them.
@Pub bike - stating "the scrotes will find a way around any rules regardless" is pretty much agreeing with me that introducing new rules around the sale/purchase is the wrong way to tackle the issue. With sufficient traffic policing, the scrotes will get nicked, whereas introducing additional rules is pointless without increasing the enforcement.
@hawkinspeter The scrotes will find a way around any rules regardless. I frequently see riders speeding along with bicycles with enormous motors in the rear wheels where the chainsets have been removed altogether and foot rests have been installed into the bottom bracket. The bill being introduced under the 10 minute rule is about the marketing, sale and supply of them including conversion kits. I suspect it will be difficult to write a bill that simultaneously allows the sale of motorbikes whether electrically powered or not for private off-road use whilst restricting them for on-road use. Better surely to make it really hard to buy any kind of motorbike without it being registered with the DVLA and the keeper having the correct licence and insurance. But the police need play their part as well in stopping the riders and confiscating what they are riding. It is not like they are difficult to spot.
What "tougher regulation"? The clue is in the name: these things are illegal (and, I agree, an absolute menace).
Thanks for the excellent review - I know it's just one Google search away, but I think any bike review in this day and age should include max tyre clearance.
Yesterday, I organised "On Your Bike", a christening of this new cycle spine from Pittville to Bishops Cleeve. Between 11.30 and 14.30, we recorded 539 cyclists using this cycle path whilst the car boot was still busy. Everybody was kept safe and moving by the car boot sale's excellent stewards. I don't see any risk to users of the bike path. I also think its an excellent opportunity for cyclists and other road users to rub shoulders in a positive and friendly way. I cannot see why a cycling community would want to try and stir and stoke friction with an article like this.
"I know in NL they have trialled semi-portable “test stations” to check max motor speeds." Worth noting, the dutch police have long had dynos to test mopeds for power/speed limits. Maybe generally kept at the station usually. But the newer portable ones do not look very different from the one my own moped got tested on at a station in the 90s.
14 thoughts on “Retro (ie crap) cycle parking infra spotted; retro club run to Worlds (1922); Haute Route goes Swiss; Freeman ‘adverse reaction’ to Sutton’; Serena Williams needs a bike fit; Boardman on BBC QT + more on the live blog”
Please make it stop! No more
Please make it stop! No more Richard Freeman reportage. I don’t care who said what, who lied to whom and I certainly don’t want to know about Shane Sutton’s virility issues. I know it’s important to know what went on at Cycling GB and Sky, just sum it up once it’s over, please. I don’t need the full soap opera – this has been going on for years!
You don’t have to read it
You don’t have to read it arcuk.
I say keep ‘up’ the good work on reporting the Shane Sutton/Richard Freeman comedy antics
Reading the comments from
Reading the comments from Steve Peters it’s getting to the point where the only people who don’t think Sutton is a bully is Sutton and the people who didin’t support Jess Varnish and cleared him in the BC Investigation; I can see Varnish deploying her lawyers again and good luck to her!
Shouldn’t Chris Boardman’s
Shouldn’t Chris Boardman’s picture be captioned with ‘Lord of common sense’, rather than just boardman bikes?
Freeman comes across as a
Freeman comes across as a spineless puppet, Sutton appears to be a world class bully who can’t handle not getting his own way (appeared to get British Cycling great results but at what cost?) and I bet there is at least one former tour winner sweating in the background. At least it is more entertaining than Brexit.
Welsh boy wrote:
I think Freeman is very ill; “spineless puppet” falls in to the, “man up” category of stupidity. Either the guy is mentally uinwell or he isn’t and working in an environment where bullying and intimidation were clearly tolerated, it is no surprise he is ill.
Really not sure how ill
Really not sure how ill Freeman is but how come he didn’t have the ‘adverse reaction’ yesterday, why did it take over 24 hours for him to react?
And how come Freeman’s QC now wants Sutton’s evidence struck off – or have I got that the wrong way round?
kinderje wrote:
It’s called POST-traumatic stress disorder for a reason. You can go through some pretty horrendous stuff on adrenalin, nerves, trained reactions etc and then it hits you afterwards. I bet many people on here have experienced a close pass or a near-mugging and got through it on fight-or-flight, sheer terror or instinctive reactions and only after they’ve got home have they sat down in tears realising how close they came to disaster.
I’d hazard a guess that it’s similar in the this instance.
Haute Route – everything that
Haute Route – everything that’s wrong with cycling in one overpriced package.
Sir Vhris talked about how
Sir Vhris talked about how addressing how we move about has a direct impact on the NHS, how we’ve allowed motoring to be the promoted/default mode to move ourselves about and that we could save £8Bn a year by changing that (that’s based on a moderate 10% modal share of cycle travel IIRC).
He says that doing what other countries do like NL and DK by using joined up thinking to address multi faceted problems ticks all the boxes = with regards to obesity and obesity related ailments which leads to better quality of life, lower pollution and saving vast amounts on NHS spending.
Fiona Bruce ignorantly asks which place he was referring to when Chris talks about 62% of people getting about on foot/bike a few hundred miles away from where they are sitting
CyclingInBeastMode wrote:
Like you, I had the misfortune to sit through a bunch of party political animals presenting their case, with a single sensible voice proposing practical solutions; which were ignored. CB was asked to speak four times, and he did so every time with intelligence, independence and authority, and received audience approbation every time, especially about active travel, but it was water off a duck’s back for the politicians who were far too busy slagging each other off to listen to real solutions.
Depressing that the politicians still don’t care, and that CB was referred to every time as an olympic cyclist, and only an olympic cyclist, and his solutions to so many of today’s problems were ignored by the chair and the other panel members.
Edit: I rang Five Live phone in feedback show about QT and spoke to someone about the only person with practical solutions being ignored, but they haven’t rung back.
CyclingInBeastMode wrote:
Will road.cc be publishing a review of the words of St Chris? (I missed the programme).
brooksby wrote:
I missed it too, but if you want to watch it, there’s always iPlayer:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000b9f5/question-time-2019-14112019
On the cycle parking thing, I
On the cycle parking thing, I don’t think its unusual to see those wheel bender type stands, even on modern developments.
Anecdote alert:
I had to go to the dentist a couple of weeks ago, on a relatively newbuild office park outside my village. The last time I went I’d walked and I’d asked if they had cycle parking. The receptionist assured me that they did and told me it was in the car park.
So this time I cycled, so I could then cycle on to work afterwards.
The cycle parking… Ah yes, the cycle parking.
I went round the whole area twice, looking for sheffield stands. Nothing.
I finally found the cycle parking.
Tightly fenced into a tiny compound at the back of one of the car parks (the business park has, of course, lots of car parking), half the open front covered by big commercial wheelie bins, room for maybe five bikes, and the stands were those ones where you have to wheel your bike up and seat one wheel onto a sloping railing/trough thing and then you can only attach that one wheel to a small metal loop thing. I have security skewers, but still wasn’t tremendously happy about it.
(For reference, they looked like these ones that As Easy As Riding A Bike flagged years ago…
https://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/some-parking-issues-at-horsham-station/
except that they were on a angle up, presumably because they didn’t want to use more ‘floor space’ in the car park than they had to…)