Welcome to Thursday’s LiveBlog with Liam Cahill, Simon MacMichael and the rest of the road.cc team
Riders delighted as Belgian team signs zero-alcohol beer brand as sponsor; Top Aussie cop says minimum passing distance hard to enforce; Amsterdam cyclists help improve infra through app; Ride with Lance for $30k + more on live blog on our shiny new site
All the news from the site and beyond
Thu, Jan 23, 2020 13:08
SUMMARY
23 January 2020, 13:08
If in doubt, attack
Richie Porte from Trek Segafredo shows off his climbing legs at Paracombe in @SubaruAustralia Stage 3 #tourdownunder pic.twitter.com/9anRWmD6Lh
— Santos Tour Down Under 🚴🚴♀️ (@tourdownunder) 23 January 2020
Richie Porte of Trek-Segafredo didn’t take long to throw in a big move up the final climb on stage 3 of the Tour Down Under.
The Tasmanian ended the day with a 6 second lead in the GC over Mitchelton Scott’s Daryl Impey. Brit Simon Yates, also of Mitchelton Scott, took 3rd on the stage, 5 seconds down on Porte after doing much of the chasing.
23 January 2020, 13:08
It was a long day for the voice of cycling
phil liggett counting the seconds gap on a slow mo replay
— Maximus (@clivusmaximus) January 23, 2020
We’ve all have an oops moment at work from time to time. Luckily for most of us, there’s not a global audience to our c*ck ups.
23 January 2020, 13:08
Anyone for a coffee?
Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and its 22nd season as a sponsor in pro cycling, @QuickStepFloor surprised recently the team’s riders with its own mobile coffee bar, which will be found at several races in 2020: https://t.co/Da7Gh4jcGx
Photo: ©https://t.co/R5Vncs3F9X pic.twitter.com/gLmt2La79Y— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) January 21, 2020
Deceuninck-QuickStep have taken their coffee obsession to a whole new level. The Wolfpack now have a coffee machine following them around on group training rides.
Who wants to tell them about the latest invention, cafes?
23 January 2020, 13:08
Holiday with a disgraced doper.
@100Climbs Have you seen this? pic.twitter.com/nCa18TQnbm
— Bill Jessup (@billjessup) January 22, 2020
If you’re looking for a ‘lit’ holiday in Mallorca then there’s a very ‘well-connected’ former pro cyclist now doing holidays. This won’t be a tour of Magaluf’s nightclubs though.
Armstrong is teaming up with former teammate George Hincapie to offer 6 nights/5 days of guided riding on the lovely island of Mallorca, taking in all of the famous cycling spots on the island.
You can join the US Postal train for a paltry $30,000. For that, you get you accommodation, meals and bike hire included. Bargain.
23 January 2020, 13:08
Shiny New Site
Overnight the internet pixies (Dave) transformed the site into this shiny new format.
We think it looks lovely, but we really want to know what you, the reader, thinks of the design.
If you spot any glitches, do let us know. Now, someone get Dave a coffee!
23 January 2020, 13:08
Shocking pictures of Aussie fire destruction
Awful to see how the Australian countryside that we have been racing through has been affected by the recent bushfires. 📸 by @cyclingimages pic.twitter.com/xih29mlbHs
— Sam Bennett (@Sammmy_Be) January 23, 2020
Today’s stage of the Tour Down Under rolled through some of the areas affected by the bush fires that ripped across Australia and continue to burn in places.
These images speak for themselves.
23 January 2020, 13:08
Skier vs Cyclist - Who's the better cook?
Naturally, when you have a 3 x World Champion on the bike, and the same on skis, you put them in a studio kitchen to find out which is the better cook.
23 January 2020, 13:08
What a sh*t deal...
23 January 2020, 13:08
Ride London looking for new title sponsor
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To go along with the issues that the domestic race scene is facing, the UK’s only UCI one-day race is now looking for a new title sponsor after Prudential announced that they will stop sponsorship after this year’s edition.
Ride London race announces it is searching for a new title sponsor, insurer Prudential will stop sponsorship after the 2020 edition. Tour of Britain and Women’s Tour races also looking for replacement title sponsors too
— the Inner Ring (@inrng) January 23, 2020
This isn’t the first bad news to hit British racing this year. Earlier this month, the owner of the Lincoln Grand Prix blamed Brexit for the financial struggles faced by the elite one-day race.
23 January 2020, 13:08
Cycle lanes found to be much more effective for moving people around a city
Economically, socially, environmentally or sustainably, this is the only kind of road widening that makes sense. 👇 https://t.co/gAmDecOOJp
— Chris Boardman (@Chris_Boardman) January 23, 2020
This tweet, shared by Chris Boardman, contains a great little stat. Studies have found that cycle lanes can transport 5 times the number of people as a motor traffic lane.
It makes a valid argument for widening roads to accommodate protected cycle lanes or simply prioritising them over motor traffic lanes when designing new roads, or updating current ones.
23 January 2020, 13:08
Cyclists in Amsterdam reported 31,000 problem areas for improvement
Last year, @amsterdam equipped 700 cyclists with a device that allowed them to “ping” when encountering a complicated, clumsy or unsafe traffic situation.
31,000 events were registered, which will inform upgrades to their bike network in the coming years: https://t.co/JuPbZUkZ3c pic.twitter.com/wr5mFU1l4J
— Dutch Cycling Embassy (@Cycling_Embassy) January 22, 2020
The 700 riders were equiped with devices that allowed them to report cycle infrastructure that wasn’t working properly. This will allow the local councils to improve the infrastructure and shape future projects.
What progressive thinking.
23 January 2020, 13:08
Difficult to police, maybe, but surely worth trying?
The Assistant Commissioner of road policing in Victoria, Australia, Libby Murphy has played down talk of a law that would see drivers obliged to give cyclists at least a meter when overtaking.
Speaking on 3AW Breakfast with Ross and John, the Senior Manager of Transport for the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV), Peter Kartsidimas called for a trial of the law citing the simple aim of saving “lot of cyclists lives”.
Victoria is the only state in Australia that doesn’t have a close passing law, making it hard to understand why one hasn’t been brought in.
The proposed law would require drivers to pass cyclists with a meter of space when travelling under 60kph (37mph) while leaving 1.5m or more when travelling faster.
The breakfast show hosts weren’t so keen, pointing out that many people are bad at judging distances while the Assistant Commissioner of road policing in Victoria, Australia, Libby Murphy said that the law would be very hard to police.
Responding later to the interview, Murphy suggeted that cyclists could incur an offence for a drive with “the slightest movement”.
23 January 2020, 13:08
Chrome launches 25th anniversary BLCKCHRM limited edition
Founded in a garage in Portland, Oregon in 1995, Chrome is celebrating its 25th birthday this year – and to mark the occasion, it has launched a limited edition BLCKCHRM heritage collection.
“Forged from the toughest and lightest materials Chrome have ever created, new methods of craftmanship have been deployed in the innovative new BLCKCHRM collection to push the limits of mobility and performance in the city,” says the brand.
“Inspired by technical sailcloth material, a Nylon Shell with cordura TPX durable laminate technology with a distinctive diamond embossed finish delivers Chrome’s signature water resistance, toughness and durability to a whole new level.
“Sleek and stealthily constructed, these resourceful urban warriors are sculpted to fit your body and adapt to securely transport a wide range of cargo during your everyday excursions.”
Included in the range are the 3.0 BLCKCHRM edition of the Bravo rolltop (RRP £180) and the Yalta 3.0 daypack (RRP £160). Find out more information plus details of stockists or order online here.
23 January 2020, 13:08
Top Belgian team signs zero-alcohol beer sponsor
A Belgian UCI ProTeam has signed up a beer brand as one of its sponsors – nothing to see here, really. Except, the beer in question is alcohol-free, and don’t the Circus-Wanty Gobert-Tormans riders shown above look delighted?
The brew, Bière des Amis 0.0%, 100 per cent blond beer, “will support all convivial moments of the Belgian cycling team in 2020,” according to the press release.
There is good news though, for anyone who prefers a bit more oomph to their beer and who is invited along to hospitality.
“This dealcoholized beer is perfect for the recovery of athletes and will also be shared with friends of the team in a 5.8 per cent version throughout the whole year. With guests, with partners and with fans, Bière des Amis, to share without moderation!
“No matter the time or place, there’s always a good opportunity to take some time to share a beer with friends.”
The team’s general manager, Jean-François Bourlart, said: “Our team is always distinguished by its convivial and family aspects. After the first sips of Bière des Amis I knew it was a perfect match.
“It was proven scientifically that beer without alcohol has benefits for the recovery of athletes, because there’s a combination of the nutritional qualities of beer and the absence of the negative effects of alcohol.
“The Bière des Amis will be shared throughout the whole year with friends of the team: guests, partners and fans, just like at our team presentation in Spain.”
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Son of a Marathon runner, Nephew of a National 24hr Champion, the racing genetics have completely passed him by. After joining the road.cc staff in 2016 as a reviewer, Liam quickly started writing feature articles and news pieces. After a little time living in Canada, where he spent most of his time eating poutine, Liam returned with the launch of DealClincher, taking over the Editor role at the start of 2018. At the weekend, Liam can be found racing on the road both in the UK and abroad, though he prefers the muddy fields of cyclocross. To date, his biggest race win is to the front of the cafe queue.
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Latest Comments
chrisonabike 2 hours ago
"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.
chrisonabike 2 hours ago
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.)
wtjs 4 hours ago
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.
HoarseMann 5 hours ago
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.
AidanR 6 hours ago
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.
Sredlums 6 hours ago
@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?
mdavidford 7 hours ago
They may have looked, but did they see?
jackcycles 7 hours ago
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.
Rod Marton 7 hours ago
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.
eburtthebike 7 hours ago
“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.
47 thoughts on “Riders delighted as Belgian team signs zero-alcohol beer brand as sponsor; Top Aussie cop says minimum passing distance hard to enforce; Amsterdam cyclists help improve infra through app; Ride with Lance for $30k + more on live blog on our shiny new site”
Sometimes the top-right
Sometimes the top-right corner displays my username, sometimes it displays what I assume are other people’s usernames.
Yep, mine shows HawkinsPeter
Yep, mine shows HawkinsPeter and I’m definitely not one of those furry tail brigade people.
That’s what they all say
That’s what they all say
I have some trouble finding
I have some trouble finding the content between all the ads.
there aren’t any more than
there aren’t any more than there were. there are less on this page.
Its not really the amount.
Its not really the amount. Its part the new smaller typography that make the ads more pronounced but also the sensation of taking in the newness as a whole that doesnt allow for ad blindness yet. When the dust settles we wont see them and reading will be easier. Overall a good change.
It seems like some
It seems like some functionality has been removed (which is not necessarily a bad thing). There’s no link to go directly to the comments section of an article and comments are displayed most recent first without the ability to change it (on mobile) that we used to have. Both of those would be nice to have back.
We also can’t upload images any more?
Demarcation between items on the front page could also be improved, it’s all very white and minimalist but it makes it a little harder to see what story goes with what image for example.
Sorry for nitpicking but you did ask!
Also, I liked the latest
Also, I liked the latest comments section on the sides of the pages so I can see which ones people have postes on since I last looked.
Most recent comments first is
Most recent comments first is a bit counter-intuitive
Agreed. New should always be
Agreed. New should always be after the old so you can see the context
Pyro Tim wrote:
Agreed, I dont have the patience to review every single comment to see which ones are new or I’ve not seen before. Websites break the KISS rule of usability at their peril
If you click in hte white
If you click in the white space on the right opposite the x Comments under a Save blue button and doubled lined divider for comments, you should get an drop down option to change the order.
This is for a desktop view, no idea bout mobile
Edit same solution on android and chrome – click on the white space to get a menu.
There seems to be no global setting for this.
lesterama wrote:
Sometimes, but it can be useful when you have no direct link to a comment, e.g. from a comment quoted on the main-page, or just want to catch up on a long thread.
Not having a choice is bizarre…Also the previous rewrite got rid of some useful functionality in the comment sections, this one seems to be following the same path thus far – as long time dev, I honestly believe whoever they’re using for the supplying comment functionality doesn’t actually use it broadly out in the real world; it’s either that or they’re incompetent.Edit. Turns out there is a choice via a drop-down menu, but that appears to have a bug in it that means it’s not always visible.
lesterama wrote:
Respectfully disagree. I have always preferred the new stuff at the top so that I can quickly see what has been added since last visit rather than having to scroll all the way to the bottom and then on to the next page.
Each to their own I guess. As long as there is an option to change it to how you want.
theres an option for sure,
theres an option for sure, doesnt do a whole heap on firefox/edge/mobile chrome from what I can see.
Second re-write and the
Second re-write and the individual comment links on the main page still don’t actually link to the comment they show. Really ? You should have the page link in you hand when you create the quote…. FFS. Also agree about lack of comment ordering, the comment link-style images on the article link on the main page, and in the article itself, don’t take you to the comments – and having the comments on the bottom of the page for desktop viewing is an interesting choice…
$30,000 to go to Majorca with
$30,000 to go to Majorca with US Postal? For that amount of money I would expect performance enhancing drugs to be included in the package.
New site design, very clean, will get used to it while still missing the friendly if ramshackle former layout.
Nice new site. Bring back
Nice new site. Bring back the yellow and black colourscheme! 😉 Does the search function work now?
Edit: top right of the screen seems to think I’m srchar. I’m not (and neither is my wife).
yeah, it’s a caching problem.
yeah, it’s a caching problem. it’s not sharing your data, just showing you the wrong name. should be fixed in half an hour or so
Nice
Nice
All a bit Grauniad, with less typos. Looks good on mobile and on a big screen.
kil0ran wrote:
*fewer typos
kil0ran wrote:
I use the Brave browser on my mobile devices (Android tablet, iPhone), which blocks ads. However (as happened when you updated the site once before), if I use that browser then the site doesn’t seem to work for me.
Yes, I know the ads pay for the site, but if I have to spend all my mobile data allowance just to watch ads then I’d rather visit a different site.
(Looks like its back to using the office PC to read the site, then…
)
kil0ran wrote:
Theres alot more scrolling required on a mobile,
Based on some crude
Based on some crude measurements of a screenshot, the first page you see when you visit is now about 8 % Menu/Logo, 38 % Content and 53 % Adverts (the rest is either white space or rounding error).
Bit much?
First impressions…its a bit
First impressions…its a bit white 🙂
Will take a little getting used to!
As others have said, there’s
As others have said, there’s a lot of white space, ie blankness.
Site feedback:
Site feedback:
not taking into account dark mode users for night time reading
please see this as an example: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2019/511/
thx
I cliked on “Bike Live” in
I cliked on “Bike Live” in great anticipation, new stuff and all that, got a Whoa! warning from my virus protection.
I’m not big on change and the changes will take a little time to get used to, but seems generally good. I do miss the developing comment thread from the whole site not being on all pages, it’s the community thing.
I’m very much hoping that the
I’m very much hoping that the changes might reduce the weird multiple posts.
Another problem with the new
Another problem with the new layout is that far left advert column overlays on top of the forum page in anything except a full screen browser. The right hand two columns of adverts seem to be happy to be pushed off the side, but the left hand one goes on top of the content.
Even though there is a lot
Even though there is a lot more going on, especially witht the Home page, my old and slow computer seems to be able to handle it better and faster.
I’m going to miss the What’s Hot section throwing up ancient unrelevant articles. Though often a pleasure. Bike at Bedtime being a wonderful example.
We need to bring that back. I
We need to bring that back. I loved doing that.
comment count in news list
comment count in news list page should link to comments anchor
Maybe the “Top Cop” could let
Maybe the “Top Cop” could let us know what they consider to be easy to police….
Quote:
Is Liam having a stroke or has the new site disabled any spell checkers?
Anyhow, I would suggest to Murphy that motorists not only could, but do cause serious injuries with “the slightest movement”. Still as long as no-one gets hurt (apart from cyclists of course and most of them are aboriginal, so they don’t really count)…
It is their equivalent of the
It is their equivalent of the RAC which is asking for the close pass trial. So an automobile society is asking for a law in the aim of protecting cyclists and the police are saying, no it can’t work. Just seems strangely backwards.
love that the hosts were also against it as people are bad at judging distances! Well yes that is the whole point anyway of bringing it in although 1m at close to 40mph is a close call.
The fuck is going on with
The fuck is going on with this new comments layout?! Truly awful.
You can get to a menu to see
You can get to a menu to see the posts in oldest to newest -see earlier post.
The default is ‘threaded’ whatever that represents.
except it doesnt work on
except it doesnt work on Firefox…
or Edge, even with all the
or Edge, even with all the annoying ads…
I’m looking at your threaded
I’m looking at your threaded comment in Firefox and it’s threaded for me. To go back to the way comments displayed on the old site all you have to do is switch to ‘Oldest first’ by selecting it from the drop down a at the top of the comments which is defaulted to Threaded
But that box is often not
But that box is often not visible. It’s not visible on my phone.
hirsute wrote:
Is there any way to change the default to oldest first? I’m getting rather fed up with have to change it every time.
I haven’t found one but
I haven’t found one but conversely there was no way to change the default to how you wanted on the old site.
I think threaded is generally
I think threaded is generally newest first but witht the replies under the comment being replied to. We can still do newest/oldest first it would seem. We’ll get used to it quite quickly, and the reply thing might mean less excessive quoteing.
Regarding passing distance,
Regarding passing distance, after 2 extremely close calls yesterday, one requiring me to move into a bus stop to avoid getting hit. Its fair to say I have a bone to pick.
With the disclaimer out the way, a lot is made of these arbitrary distances being difficult to enforce, because it can be difficult to know the exact distance, was it 0.95m or 1.01m. So call me crazy but can’t you just make it simple, the vehicle has to move into the other lane to overtake safely. No tape measure required, or fancy guess work. If you fail to have all 4 wheels in the other lane while passing it is an automatic offence, no ifs buts or maybes.
Of course this is just a small part of the overall problem and there may still be issues arising for example around parked traffic. But unless there is an easily enforcable starting point, that gives a lot of power to the camera armed cyclists, I don’t see anything changes.
Just across the state line
Just across the state line ACT police are publicising their intent to focus on enforcement of minimum passing laws….where there is a will there is a way…slow train coming RACV is quite correct to point out that the issue is constantly being kicked into the long grass
https://policenews.act.gov.au/news/media-releases/police-targeting-unsafe-passing-cyclists
(looks familiar)