Welcome to Tuesday’s live blog, with Jack Sexty, Simon MacMichael and the rest of the team.
Spanish women’s team say it was THEM who ‘mimicked’ Bahrain McLaren jersey and apologise; Can distance measured in KM’s still be called ‘mileage’? Epic reindeer Strava art; Corbyn’s ‘Maoist bicycle’ +more on the live blog
All today’s news from the site and beyond…
Tue, Dec 10, 2019 22:11
SUMMARY
10 December 2019, 22:11
The E.T bike is coming to Edinburgh in the new year
You can get your photo taken with E.T. on his bike in Edinburgh at Capital Sci fi Con 2020! https://t.co/VwpvIYKk9j
— Capital sci fi con (@Capitalscificon) December 9, 2019
If you’re Edinburgh-based or happen to be visiting between 14th-16th February (maybe your spouse really loves E.T?) then be sure to check out the Capital Sci Fi Con, where a realistic E.T set will be recreated featuring the famous bike, complete with E.T in the basket.
The event takes place at Edinburgh’s Corn Exchange and some of the proceeds will go towards children’s hospices across Scotland – find out more here.
10 December 2019, 22:11
Cyclist Anthony Hoyte creates epic reindeer Strava art
Mr Hoyte, who describes himself as “that bloke who drew the giant Strava Snowman… and Santa… and a whole bunch of other stuff” on Twitter, spent nine hours pedalling round the capital to create a reindeer in his latest epic Strava stunt.
His total mileage was just under 128km as he painstakingly pedalled around London, beginning in Hammersmith and finishing on Euston road.
It’s that time of the year again when I cycle round congested streets in the rain looking for some festive cheer!: https://t.co/4u80fR8eNt@Strava @cyclingweekly #stravaart #stravart #gpsdoodle #gpsart #cycling #Christmas #reindeer #Rudolph pic.twitter.com/Nzm3Rch9nJ
— Anthony Hoyte (@anthoyte) December 9, 2019
The 51-year-old ‘drew’ Santa Claus in 2017 and a snowman in 2018, and his non-festive works include two elephants in Birmingham and a flock of birds in Bristol – check out his profile here.
10 December 2019, 22:11
He's doing what?
The Rafa Nadal sports centre is the perfect spot for training. Not just cycling but any sport is welcome. It’s a great location and if you are lucky you can see Nadal playing with his balls.
— Thomas De Gendt (@DeGendtThomas) December 10, 2019
If yours are fluoro yellow and fluffy, please consult a doctor.
10 December 2019, 22:11
Astana are out on their new Wilier bikes
Out for a training #AstanaProTeam pic.twitter.com/At9Ja9DKUW
— Astana Pro Team (@AstanaTeam) December 10, 2019
Last week the team announced a partnership with Wilier Triestina for 2020 – switching from Argon 18 – and here’s a swish-looking Wilier 0 SLR out in the wild.
Bahrain Merida have also unveiled their team’s bikes for 2020, which are still provided by Merida but in the new team colours – more here.
10 December 2019, 22:11
Mark Cavendish backed to return to the top at Bahrain McLaren by Rod Ellingworth
Former Team Sky and British Cycling coach Ellingworth and Cavendish will link up once more at the newly-named Bahrain McLaren with Ellingworth as Team Principal, and he believes his former main man can rediscover the previous form that made him one of the greatest sprinters road cycling has even seen.
Ellingworth told a news conference: “When Mark is in good condition, in good form and really motivated, he is one of the best in the world technically. It’s a challenge, but a good one to have.
“I presume he still has the ambition of beating the Merckx record – actually I know it’s there. He is such a winner, that’s his mentality.
“I even believe in the last two years he has still gone into races thinking he’s going to win and wondering why he hasn’t. For me it’s all about winning any race. Any race would be a marker and then we go from there.”
Ellingworth says he would “love to see” Cavendish at the 2020 Tour de France, if he is showing the form that will make him impossible to overlook. Cavendish said:
“These people are good at what they do. I’m fortunate I’ve worked with these guys and they are some of the hardest working and most brilliantly-minded people in cycling. I’m excited and full of confidence.”
In the last hour, Cavendish has publicly thanked his current team NTT (previously Dimension Data) and praised them for their charity work.
My prime reason for joining was to have an impact on something much greater than bike racing. So proud on any difference I could make & what we’ve achieved in helping @Qhubeka deliver 100,000 bicycles to genuinely change lives. Thank you for the opportunity https://t.co/Y4W8fdsV1s
— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) December 10, 2019
10 December 2019, 22:11
Mileage, kilomtre-age? Let's sort this out with a poll
Over on Facebook, Phill Prince someone picked us up on referring to the ‘mileage’ racked up by Anthony Hoyte in his epic reindeer Strava art ride (see it further down this page)… when we’d reported Anthony’s distance in kilometres…
Because we’re bitter and petty, we’ve took the time to make a poll to decide if Phill has a point, or we’re within our rights to use the word ‘mileage’ even if we’re working in metric. Simply make your selection, and let us know what a better word would be for metric adopters in the comments below if you think there is one…
10 December 2019, 22:11
The UCI have (finally) registered women's World Tour teams for the 2020 season
The UCI have announced that for this first time, Women’s World Tour licences will be granted. Initially the period will run from 2020-2023, and the teams awarded the status are:
Ale BTC LjubLjana (Italy)
Canyon//Sram Racing (Germany)
CCC – Liv (Poland)
FDJ Nouvelle-Aqutaune Futuroscope (France)
Movistar Team (Spain)
Team Sunweb (Germany)
Trek-Segafredo (USA)
The maximum number of licences that can be awarded is eight, with space for another team at a later date. The UCI say they are “delighted to witness the development of women’s cycling at the highest level.”
10 December 2019, 22:11
Jeremy Corbyn denies 'Maoist bicycle' claims in Mean Tweets video
Jeremy Corbyn reads mean tweets pic.twitter.com/4kS29k0kHk
— Real Change Lab (@realchangelab) December 9, 2019
Jeremy Corbyn released a spoof video yesterday in which he dissected mean tweets directed at him. On his ‘commie hat’ (actually just a hat), Corbyn said: “What is a commie hat? I wear a cap! It’s a bit like when I was told I was riding a Maoist bicycle. It’s a bicycle!”
10 December 2019, 22:11
Social media accuses Bahrain McLaren of drawing 'inspiration' from the jersey of Spanish women's team VIB Natural Greatness
Equipe espanhola Vib Natural Greatness (esquerda), que lançou seu kit 2020 em 29/11/2019, foi copiada pela @Bahrain_Merida ? pic.twitter.com/P0uJpNjezm
— País do Ciclismo (@DoCiclismo) December 10, 2019
We’re saying nothing, but according to some cycling fans the newly unveiled Bahrain McLaren jersey looks more than a bit like the jersey that will be worn by the VIB Natural Greatness women’s team in 2020.
Bahrain McLaren’s new kit is made by British brand Le Col, while the VIB Natural Greatness kit is from Spanish manufacturer Ulb Sports. The women’s team is ran by the charity Funda Marcelino Oliver, which supports cyclists who have been in traffic accidents; their 2020 roster includes Irish talent Jennifer Neenan.
What do you reckon, simply a big old coincidence?
10 December 2019, 22:11
Head of Rwanda cycling federation resigns due to corruption and sexual abuse scandal
The BBC reports that Aimable Bayingana and his entire executive team are said to have stood down, following corruption and sexual abuse allegations. Mr Bayingana has denied wrongdoing, however the Rwanda Investigative Bureau said they are investigating the allegations but provided no further comment.
The scandal began when Jonathan Boyer – the former pro cyclist who was instrumental in popularising cycling in Rwanda – fell out with Bayingana and went public with alleged misconduct within Rwanda’s Cycling Federation.
Rwanda’s sports ministry are also going to investigate the allegations, and said they plan to introduce a policy against sexual abuse that would apply to all sports in the country.
10 December 2019, 22:11
New report predicts 130 million e-bikes will be sold in the next three years, far surpassing electric car sales
The forecast from Deloitte also predicts cycling to work will increase by 1% globally, and that e-bikes will continue to hugely outsell other electric vehicles in the 2020’s and beyond – full story over on eBikeTips.
10 December 2019, 22:11
Looking forward to riding home?
According to the forecasts and from just looking out the window, it looks like it’s going to be very much like the above (and dark of course) for most of us! Not only that, but there’s also the angst of getting your kit off the radiator/in the drying cupboard etc and preying it’s not still soggy from the morning. Have you taken the day off bike commuting or do you really ride in all weathers?
10 December 2019, 22:11
Bahrain McLaren and VIB Natural Greatness jersey likeness: women's team admit to "inadvertently and mistakenly mimicking" Bahrain McLaren jersey
Remarkably VIB Natural Greatness have now admitted it was them who copied Bahrain McLaren, not the other way around as speculated by some on social media. The Bahrain McLaren jersey was only launched yesterday while the VIB Natural Greatness team unveiled theirs in November as far as we can tell, which may be why many assumed the ‘mimicking’ was done by Bahrain McLaren.
VIB Natural Greatness said: “The VIB-Natural Greatness UCI Continental Women cycling team would like to clarify that its proposed 2020 jersey design has inadvertently and mistakenly mimicked the jersey design of Team Bahrain McLaren and the Bahrain Cycling Academy. The team apologises for this error and will change its jersey design for 2020.”
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Jack is group editor across road.cc, off.road.cc and ebiketips, overseeing all three sites in the F-At Digital group to make sure everything’s up to scratch. He’s been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of road.cc including tech, news and video, and also contributed to eBikeTips before being named editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town, and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master’s degree in print journalism, and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it’s a long story).
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Latest Comments
chrisonabike 7 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 32 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 10 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 10 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.
Astralstroll 13 hours ago
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...
24 thoughts on “Spanish women’s team say it was THEM who ‘mimicked’ Bahrain McLaren jersey and apologise; Can distance measured in KM’s still be called ‘mileage’? Epic reindeer Strava art; Corbyn’s ‘Maoist bicycle’ +more on the live blog”
Kilometreage.
Kilometreage.
I measure my distances in
I measure my distances in obsolete Russian and Ottoman units, so I call it arshinage. You might call it something slightly different.
It depends on what bike I’m
It depends on what bike I’m on. If I’m riding the pennyfarthing, I measure the distance covered in furlongs and leagues
Unreal. LAZY le Col designer
Unreal. LAZY le Col designer has spent 10minutes on google images searching for Orange cycling team kit. FFS hope he/she gets p45.
Freddy56 wrote:
agedlikemilk
Fluffed wrote:
You reckon? I call bullshit. No way that’s a coincidence, and how can they possibly have copied the Le Col design if they launched their kit last month and Le Col only launchedtheirs yesterday. Unless someone on the team works for Le Col?
Suspect that team might all of a sudden by able to afford a new team car very soon… :
Swedish miles for club rides:
Swedish miles for club rides: ‘We’ve only got another four miles to do’ = ‘You’re not getting a coffee for another 25 miles’
One Sewedish mile = 10km = 6.2 miles
You’re not Northern are you
You’re not Northern are you Hoski?
227g is a quarter of a pound…
Edit it’s half a pound! What is going on beastmode?
Seventyone wrote:
I assumed it was an imperial quarter (which is 1/2 Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays) vs. Metric quarter thing
Terence the Tractor wrote:
Germany has ein Pfund, which is defined as exactly 500g. I find this almost as annoying as the US definition of 100 proof to be exactly 50% ABV. If you’re going to use archaic Imperial units, do it properly rather than re-defining them to something metric.
I’ll use metres, centimetres
I’ll use metres, centimetres but I won’t use km, miles is ingrained and it’s easier to fathom distances (see what I did there) between places, even when abroad I’ll still convert to miles. We did both imperial and metric in maths at school so have always been able to use both interchangeably, having 113.5g of kayli (coloured/flavoured sugar to dip your dab in for you southern jessies) doesn’t sound as good as asking for a ‘quarter’.
and why would anyone use furlongs and leagues, not particularly accurate measures compared to yards and miles, why not use decimetres?
The metre measure in itself is a bit transient, it keeps getting changed and scientists can’t make their minds up, this has been going on over the last near 350 years.
The latest way to give as close to an accurate measure is to use the Ceasium fountain atomic clocks, I bet you can’t get that on your GPS or kilometreometer so god knows how far you’ve actually travelled when you use km
.
CyclingInBeastMode wrote:
…227g…
…a ‘quarter’…— CyclingInBeastMode
You sure…?
hoski wrote:
brain fade post fall at work, maybe I did get a half pound, I was a rather large kid hahaha
Inching towards metrication.
Inching towards metrication.
I call mine kims.
I tend to cycle further and
I tend to cycle further and faster in kilometres so I use those. But nothing wrong with using a bit of archaic language.
Maybe it’s just me, but I
Maybe it’s just me, but I reckon Corbyn would look perfectly at home riding the Maoist “Flying Pigeon” bicycle.
It’s mileage, regardless of
It’s mileage, regardless of units of measure.
If you get confused by “his mileage was 128KM” then you probably shouldn’t be outside without supervision.
Doesn’t matter what you call
Doesn’t matter what you call it – if you’re measuring in kilometres you’re doing it wrong in the first place.
Cycling has been a metric
Cycling has been a metric sport for me for years, perhaps because I’m a trackie.
Small team launch jersey the
Small team launch jersey the month before the multimillion (insert currency) WT team, but the small team take the blame an plead plagiarism. Yeah right. How would the designer of the jersey for the small team who probably got paid a small fee, have access to the WT or Le Col’s design department? I wonder if the small team’s annual budget just went up several large notches yesterday…
Jimmy Walnuts wrote:
Well, if they negotiated a sweetener to change their kit for next season, it’s not exactly a bad outcome for them.
At the risk of horribly
At the risk of horribly simplfying the whole mileage/kilometres debate, would ‘distance’ not cover it all? “The total distance was 161km”…or “100 miles” if you’re a philstine 😉
They’re not kilometres, they
They’re not kilometres, they’re Belgian Miles.
I honestly prefer the VIB
I honestly prefer the VIB version of that kit … really don’t like all those tiny vertical stripes on the Le Col version, give me good old-fashined solid colour blocks any day of the week.