Welcome to Monday’s live blog, with Jack Sexty, Simon MacMichael and the rest of the team.
Man buys stolen bike for £80, tracks down owner online; Dutch PM gives cycle parking attendant a surprise; Peloton van blocks bike lane; Brailsford rides 460 miles during Team Ineos training camp; New Rapha EF kit + more on the live blog
All today’s news from the site and beyond and we start a new week…
Mon, Jan 20, 2020 18:05
SUMMARY
20 January 2020, 18:05
Weekend catch-up
If your frozen hands haven’t quite been able to operate a phone or computer to read all the essential news on road.cc this weekend, here’s what you’ve missed assuming you’re in a warmer room now…
“Alarming” rise in doping cases in cycling last year
Great-grandmother takes on bike thief
Eroica founder discussing launch of pro gravel race series with UCI
“No evidence” drug-driver caused teen cyclist’s injuries, says CPS
20 January 2020, 18:05
Every back-of-the-packer can relate to this...
20 January 2020, 18:05
LNER gate: Doctor who was refused bike space to make formal complaint
Thanks Louise,
I probably should, referencing the tweet and all the responses
Hopefully LNER will address the substance of these comments & make useful changes
Thanks for getting in touch,
Graham— Dr Graham Mackenzie (@gmacscotland) January 19, 2020
LNER refused Dr Graham Mackenzie on a train with his bike after working a long night shift, even though four spaces were available. Despite showing a stringent adherence to the rule that no bike can grace the train without being booked on – even if there is space – it appears they’re more relaxed about how that booking is made, telling Mr Mackenzie to simply hit them up on Twitter to reserve a space… totally standard and normal policy, of course.
Since our article was published Mr Mackenzie told road.cc he intends to make a formal complaint to LNER, and said their responses “weren’t useful.”
20 January 2020, 18:05
Sign him up: Dave Brailsford puts in monster week at Team Ineos training camp, covering 460 miles
The team’s head honcho appeared to have simply done the full week’s training that his team were tasked with doing, covering a few miles less than Michal Kwiatkowski posted on Strava from last week’s big week in Gran Canaria.
It appears Brailsford’s only rest day was on 14th January, and he began the week by riding 85 miles (136km) with nearly 3000m of climbing. It all culminated in a monster 111 mile (180km) tour of Gran Canaria yesterday, where he climbed over 4000 metres and averaged 232 watts over the seven hours of riding – he even bagged a KOM on the Barranco La Aldea-Entrada Tunel section
Brailsford was diagnosed with prostate cancer and wasn’t able to ride while he recovered in the summer of 2019, but it appears the 55-year-old has well and truly kicked it into touch if these latest stats are anything to go by.
20 January 2020, 18:05
"It's too cold to cycle"
“People won’t cycle in the cold.” pic.twitter.com/rjdwWYyKF0
— Adam Tranter (@adamtranter) January 20, 2020
And bloody cyclists always run red lights, so I’m told…
20 January 2020, 18:05
“It’s just like waves creeping up a beach – but there is no beach", says Bristol man who has started naming local potholes
The Bristol Post’s interview with James Anthony revealed the 56-year-old has started to name potholes in the Bristol suburb of Hartcliffe. Mr Anthony calls the one hanging over the cycle lane in the photo above as “The Wave”: “It’s just like waves creeping up a beach – but there is no beach”, he said.
On his pothole tour, he also introduced the reporter to Mega Crater and the broken eggshell; Kyle Dudd of Bristol City Council insists they are committed to road maintenance, saying they repair 4,500 a year across Bristol’s 650 mile road network.
20 January 2020, 18:05
Ghent residents say 'streets are more alive' after city centre car ban
The centre of Ghent has been car-free since 2017, and The Guardian have interviewed locals to ask them how it’s affected their day-to-day lives:
“A city where you can hear people walking and talking mixed with the quiet zoom of bikes is such a vast improvement over the incessant noise of cars”, said IT manager Manu Joye, while University research assistant Moritz Gallei says: “The expanded area has made it much safer for cyclists. Complementary policies have been introduced like the cycle streets which have led people to cycle more. There are also fewer accidents and the city has become quieter to live in.”
The only negatives mentioned are that public transport could be improved further and that it was perceived the city was quieter when the ban was introduced because of ‘negative communications’.
20 January 2020, 18:05
Handcycle shredding
#podporujemehrdiny @NeroDrinks_CZ trail labirint #handbike #nosuspension pic.twitter.com/zQRajAWzc5
— Michal Kosík (@Michalkosik83) January 19, 2020
20 January 2020, 18:05
"I just want to give it one more good go": G commits to 2020 Tour de France, but wants to return to the Giro in the future
@GeraintThomas86 speaks about riding @LeTour again this year and a return to the @giroditalia in the future#ITVCycling pic.twitter.com/CpZTY2exZv
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) January 20, 2020
In the interview with ITV, Geraint Thomas says he wants another shot at emulating his 2018 Tour de France success, all but counting himself out of this year’s Giro d’Italia. Ineos announced last week that Richard Carapaz will have a shot at defending his Giro title (won with Movistar) as team leader, while Thomas and Bernal will once again be joint leaders at Le Tour; however Chris Froome has openly admitted that he wants a shot at a fifth Tour title, which could potentially see a three-pronged Ineos leadership battle if he wins his battle for fitness in time for the Grand Departe on the 26th June.
20 January 2020, 18:05
Close pass face
When you pull up at the lights alongside the driver who just close passed you. pic.twitter.com/GMLXNkle5J
— Beefeater Bend (@tdfbeefeaters) January 20, 2020
20 January 2020, 18:05
You couldn't make it up...
The second best place for your @onepeloton, besides your solarium or vacation yurt, is a bikelane. pic.twitter.com/rU6m2RCjQV
— Kyle Ashley (@theBicyKyle) January 18, 2020
It’s the very expensive gift that keeps on giving, and we can’t work out whether they intentionally seek bad PR or if numerous people working for them just seriously lack self-awareness… but after trying to sue a YouTuber for daring to use the word ‘peloton’, creating a series of cringey bourgeois ads that starred in this epic Twitter thread, posting huge losses on the stock market and making a festive advert widely considered sexist, now photos have emerged of a Peloton delivery van parked in a U.S cycle lane.
.@onepeloton van parked in the bike lane on Washington St in @CityofHoboken. Spinning will never be an ally to people who actually ride bicycles. pic.twitter.com/jSN1ZgFqAL
— Bicycle Progressive (@BicycleProgress) December 14, 2019
While we can’t confirm 100% if the image is genuine there are other photos of Peloton vans blocking bike lanes floating around the Internet, and the sheer irony was not lost on Twitter. Some have made the suggestion that Peloton may even have an ulterior motive in making cycling outside more unpleasant, but we’re saying nothing of course…
It’s @onepeloton job security. They have their delivery vans put real cyclists in real danger, cyclists become too scared of death to ride on the road, but they miss cycling, so their husbands buys them a Peloton bike (because how else is she gonna drop that baby weight, hmmm?)
— Ian Tyssen (@IanJTyssen) January 18, 2020
Gentle reminder from @onepeloton that you can ride a bike indoors then take an Uber afterwards to get to your destination. pic.twitter.com/xddrgkrK9k
— Motorisms (@motorisms) January 19, 2020
20 January 2020, 18:05
Milltag launch Factory Records collection
Milltag have enlisted the skills of legendary graphic designer Peter Saville for their latest custom collection, that pays homage to the first Factory Records poster that appeared in 1978; the label went on to sign bands such as Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays and OMD.
The Milltag x Factory collection includes a jersey, bib shorts, cap, snood and track mitts, with all items available to pre-order from 27th January on Milltag’s website.
20 January 2020, 18:05
New EF First 2020 kit launched
It’s been leaked so much at events already we pretty much knew what was coming anyway, but now the new Rapha kit for EF Education First is officially launched. You can buy it all now on Rapha’s website, and above is a video with some sneak peeks at what the team’s ‘alternative calendar’ will involve in 2020.
20 January 2020, 18:05
Gaerne launch new Carbon G.Chrono road race shoes
Gaerne’s latest high performance shoe has a microfibre upper with ‘laser-drilling’, which they say provides supreme breathability and comfort. Two BOA dials provideva realiable closure system, and Gaerne’s super light and thin carbon sole shoul transfer every watt through to the pedals.
The price in euros is 309.90, more info on Gaerne’s website.
20 January 2020, 18:05
All Party Cycling Group elect new committee and change name
We have renamed the group – we will now be called the:
All Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking
Discussion of cycling issues by decision makers, campaigners and the media, often takes place in an ‘active travel’ agenda, which largely comprises cycling and walking.
— APPCG (@allpartycycling) January 20, 2020
The group will now be known as the ‘All Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking’, with Labour’s Ruth Cadbury and the Conservative’s Flick Drummond serving as co-chairs. The APPCG say that although their main topics for discussion will still be ‘cycling issues’, cycling and walking groups often have similar concerns: “The APPCG Committee therefore decided that a standalone cycling group runs the risk of appearing somewhat anachronistic and detached from the current direction of political and policy debate”, they said.
20 January 2020, 18:05
Ikea without thousands of car parking spaces opening in Vienna
THIS IS BIG — A new 7- storey @IKEA store will have ZERO parking (a typical US IKEA has parking for 1,700 cars). “The whole building is geared towards pedestrians, subway & streetcar riders, & cyclists — there’s no space for cars.” Via @FastCompany https://t.co/AVL51Eg5Wh
— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) January 20, 2020
Plans for a less nightmare-ish Ikea have been revealed for the Austrian capital, with customers only able to get there by bike, walking or using public transport, with no car parking spaces at all. Fast Company report that two of the building’s seven storeys will be used as a hostel, and the open roof will serve as a huge garden for you to chill with a pear cider and a few meatballs. Hopefully the deliveries – which will all be made by electric vans – are going to be slightly cheaper than the current price at UK Ikea branches to have your Billies sent to your doorstep…
20 January 2020, 18:05
Man buys bike for £80 with lock still attached... so he can get it back to its original owner
Has anyone had their bike stolen? Just bought this for £80 and it’s got a bike lock on it. Apparently it’s from the Crosby area. Bought it so I can get it to back to the right owner. I know it’s a £1350 bike and id be heartbroken if it was me. Give us a shout pic.twitter.com/uwb3iFwpx7
— Ste Burke (@SteBurke44) January 20, 2020
It’s only Monday afternoon, but here’s your good news story for the week. Ste Burke was offered a pristine Whyte mountain bike (with the lock still attached) worth £1,350 for just £80. Knowing something wasn’t right, he bought it anyway so he could return it to its original owner: “I’d be heartbroken if it was me”, he said.
Mr Burke believed it was stolen from the Crosby area of Merseyside, and has since been in touch with road.cc to say he is still trying to track down the owner and, will ensure it goes back to the right person – we’ll update as and when that happens. What a gent!
20 January 2020, 18:05
Meanwhile in North Wiltshire ...
Yes, we know there are only three in the picture, that gets explained in the replies (which are well worth a read anyway).
Yes. A family of four out on their PENNY FUCKING FARTHINGS pic.twitter.com/bo0qQjwxSh
— iCod (@icod) January 18, 2020
20 January 2020, 18:05
Nice gesture, organised by Hounslow Cycling Campaign
Look at this. The workers who are building our new safe cycle path #CW9 in West London — heroes every one — and some of us local cyclists have brought them breakfast this morning pic.twitter.com/0czgv2XeuG
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) January 18, 2020
20 January 2020, 18:05
Dutch PM gives cycle parking attendant a surprise
This warden at a Dutch bicycle parking garage -who is of Kurdish origin- was so pleasantly surprised that the Dutch prime minister arrived at the garage alone, without body guards, that he filmed the check-in procedure (apparently with permission of the PM). https://t.co/7G07DFbL99
— Mark Wagenbuur (@BicycleDutch) January 20, 2020
20 January 2020, 18:05
A happy ending on that stolen bike story ...
There’s a happy ending on that stolen bike story from Merseyside earlier – the kindhearted Twitter user who bought the bike (complete with lock) for £80 because he was suspicious about its provenance has been contacted by the bike’s owner who got burgled a couple of days ago and is delighted he will be getting his bike back!
Was messaged on here by someone and it ended up being the fellas who’s bike it was. He had the key to the bike lock and all the paperwork to go with it. Ended up being from dovecot. Said his house got had off two days ago and…. (1/2)
— Ste Burke (@SteBurke44) January 20, 2020
He’d saved up and spent £1250 on the bike last year. Said his house has been had off but he’s made up that he’s managed to get his bike back, so happy days. It’s in the right hands now
— Ste Burke (@SteBurke44) January 20, 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
imajez 30 minutes ago
Not talking about just bikes shops, but any business that cannot afford to pay its staff a living wage, is not a viable business. Big companies whose staff have to claim benefits despite working full time are exploitative. And yet it's 'benefit scroungers' that get attacked and demonised by the press, not the extremely wealthy, tax dodging companies not paying their staff properly. Oh, like large say newspapers businesses.. Smaller businesses like your LBS, are like poor Vs rich folk, their existence costs them more than big businesses it does due to economies of scale etc, just like rich folk can afford to buy better quality suff that lasts longer or stockpile food when it's on offer whilst poor people have to scrape by.
Chris RideFar 3 hours ago
The problems mentioned in this article are far more wide-ranging than simply affecting the viability of hiring Saturday lads/lasses. Fixing bikes or selling bikes now requires so much more skill and knowledge than it did 10-20 years ago, but the pay is still rubbish, partly because public perception is that the job is easy and is just a hobby. Therefore people with the ability to be good at the job are not encouraged to stick around and they look elsewhere for a career that can earn a decent wage. I don't enjoy the fact that half the bikes that I work on have almost-unique parts that requires odd techniques, tools, or parts to repair and I first have to research what I need for many of them (despite having 20 years of experience). I'm now getting so much work that I could consider hiring someone else, but it would be impossible to find a skilled person who would work for the wage I can offer and it would take far too much of my time to train someone to a level where they can do more than the simplest 10% of the jobs that come in (whereas 10-20 years ago, after a small amount of training they probably could have done 30+% of the jobs). The complexity and uniqueness of modern bikes is apparently necessary to sell them, but soon there are going to be no mechanics left who will work for the wages that people are prepared to pay. At some point, people are going to have to admit that bike mechanics and salespeople are highly skilled and knowledgeable and should be reimbursed accordingly. Or, everyone can just order bikes online and watch YouTube repair videos and end up with a bike that barely works and isn't safe; but that's fine because they're just simple kids' toys, right?
mattw 5 hours ago
I think the author is trying too hard to "both sides" this one. The basic error is Gove's - he was wandering across a pedestrian crossing on red for him with his head in a cup of coffee, and started well after it was on red. The Highway Code says "should not cross" in these circumstances. He then tried to excuse this by red herrings. Conservatives, including Gove, are supposed to have taking personal responsibility for their actions as a core value. Perhaps having the crooked coward Boris Johnson and Fruit Loop Liz as elected leaders demonstrates that this is merely historical. Gove is permitting a culture war being fought in the pages of his magazine; that is a war where Conservatives are demonising cycling because they hope it will save the rump Conservative Party. One example was their sudden reversal of support for the Welsh 20mph default limit. Should noodles have reacted less sharply - perhaps. A chat with Michael Gove to stop him wandering around the streets like a lobotomised koala may have been beneficial.
Rendel Harris 7 hours ago
@mdavidford Funny, as soon as I saw your comment on the ticker on another article I knew to whom you must be replying.
Backladder 8 hours ago
@mctrials23 People have been suffering for years because they have been unlucky enough to have been hired by bad people, or had the bad luck to become ill. This is just bringing the system more into balance. I don't have a problem with encouraging people to start businesses but I don't agree with doing it by letting them exploit the poor and the desperate, if they need encouragement then offer state benefits for small businesses and use the claims process to make sure that they are doing everything they should to run the business properly including paying and training their employees. If they just want to get rich quick by exploiting others then they should be in the USA.
mdavidford 8 hours ago
One may wonder why you've brought up DEI when it has nothing at all to do with anything in what Lappartient said. Or why you care about the state of the women's sport if you're so down on diversity, equity and inclusion. 🤷♂️
Rendel Harris 8 hours ago
Not quite the first time, I rode over it back in the late twentyteens, just happened to see it was jammed nose-to-tail so thought it would be fun to filter along...turned out there was an overturned lorry at the eastern end blocking all carriageways. I honestly didn't know cycling was banned (the signs aren't very prominent), just assumed nobody rode on it because it would be suicidal in normal circumstances. Fortunately the weary copper at the other end who saw me just cut off my apologies and said, "Fuck off over there [a gap in the barrier to a slip road] and don't do it again."
Backladder 8 hours ago
They're not slalom barriers, they're Sheffield stands for parking your bike.
mctrials23 8 hours ago
@momove I would think that spending time training someone up, putting the time and effort into that only to have most people move on relatively quickly isn't a great business model. I know there is the argument that "if your business has to take advantage of people to run then its not a viable business" but thats the reality of some of these shops. Up to a point, thats exactly what apprenticeships have always been. A business get cheap labour that might help them a bit and the apprentice learns something.
MaxiMinimalist 9 hours ago
One may wonder why bureaucrat Lappartient wants to reinvent the wheel with a massive injection of DEI and drastic reduction of money. Let the best cyclists win, period. Meanwhile, women's pro peloton needs means and support to attract new sponsors, increase TV coverage, improve salaries and prize money.
4 thoughts on “Man buys stolen bike for £80, tracks down owner online; Dutch PM gives cycle parking attendant a surprise; Peloton van blocks bike lane; Brailsford rides 460 miles during Team Ineos training camp; New Rapha EF kit + more on the live blog”
Ste Burke (?) is another
Ste Burke (?) is another person who should be nominated for a road.cc “Friend of Cyclists” award.
The reactions to these
The reactions to these reports puzzle me. I mean, Peleton’s raison d’être is stationary cycling which they ensure by parking in bike lanes, LNER is the short form of Let’s Not Encourage Riders, and why is it considered extraordinary to ride Ordinary bicycles?
The handcyclist is no surprise either – I bought a Catrike recumbent off a guy who was legally blind and had loss of function from a stroke. He used it for mountain biking. They’re not disabled, just differently able.
Well done Ste Burke.
Well done Ste Burke.
A fine tale.
You sir are a true gentleman.
Hats off to Ste Burke.
Hats off to Ste Burke.