Grant Shapps panned for Bikeability tweet; Want to buy a bike shop?; 90-year-old aiming for 5 hour 100 mile TT; Govt underspending on cycling; Impatient cyclist climbs level crossing barrier + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Katusha mark entrance onto women's World Tour with made-to-measure kit for Bigla-Katusha women's team
After years of partnership with teams on the men’s World Tour (most recently Katusha-Alpecin) Katusha are now providing bespoke, made-to-measure kit for the Bigla-Katusah women’s pro team riders in 2020.
Katusha’s CEO Alexis Schoeb said: “Working with an open brief we were able to design a truly stand out kit, different and unique in the peloton. To be able to bring our technology driven methodology in, and balance it with a bespoke design has been a great experience.”
The aqua blue colourways fit in with the colour scheme already running through the team’s Chapter2 bikes, Tacx bottles and Endura helmets for some top notch colour-matching style.
Those confetti photos from the CX World Champs? It's all down to one man...
Dream’s don’t work unless you do 👊🏻 WORLDCHAMPION 🌈 pic.twitter.com/fxaX18hdry
— Mathieu Van der Poel (@mathieuvdpoel) February 2, 2020
If you happen to have noticed confetti in any of the photos from this year’s cyclocross world champs, you might be forgiven for thinking it was placed there as part of an official photo op of some sorts… however Sporza have unveiled that it’s simply because of a bloke called Andy, who rocks up to races with a confetti cannon and waits for the perfect moment for when the photographers are prowling.
“The timing is crucial,” he explains in a video on Sporza’s website. “If the riders come, then 10 meters is too early. 8 meters is too early. 3.5 meters? That’s when you go. If the rider is at 3 meters that’s perfect to let the cannon go off, then the confetti is nicely spread over the rider.
“If the photographers can get pictures at the finish line with the riders coming through the confetti, you have to admit that’s unique.”
For your services to improving cyclocross photography, we salute you Andy…
Mobile disc brake bleeding solution
Here’s a top tip if you ever need to bleed your disc brakes at a race or event and you don’t have a handy workstand. Just use the boot lid of you estate car.
Dutch cyclocross star Manon Bakker fired for allegedly using DT Swiss wheels instead of team-sponsored Miche
Veldrijdster Manon Bakker amper vier dagen na vijfde plek op WK op staande voet ontslagen door haar team https://t.co/tZbuf6D0zn pic.twitter.com/yYY2bg9AgO
— Sportwereld.be (@sportwereld_be) February 6, 2020
Dutch and Belgian media are reporting that 20-year-old Bakker, who finished 5th in the U23 category at the world championships last weekend, has been sacked with immediate effect four by her team Experza CX Pro Team.
Speaking to Omroep Flevoland, Bakker has responded by saying: “I didn’t see it coming, everything seemed normal. I have never experienced anything like this before and I do not know what is wise to say and what is not. That’s why I don’t want to say too much about it. “
Her now ex-team manager also said “it’s not about doping, it’s not that bad”, and from looking at the photo above and scouring social media, it would appear that the use of using non-sponsored equipment without permission is the most likely reason…
Manon Bakker fired while she was in the shower at Maldegem yesterday. For using DTSwiss wheels at Worlds when the team is sponsored by Miche, perhaps? https://t.co/aW9STiyCCR
— Ben Atkins (@benatkins_uk) February 6, 2020
Quite clearly in the photo Bakker is using DT Swiss wheels, when her team’s wheel sponsor is Miche – Ben Atkins also notes that she’s using Ducast tubular tyres instead of team-sponsored Challenge rubber.
Harsh to jeopardise a promising young rider’s career at the drop of a hat, or should Bakker have at least covered the decals? Let us know your thoughts as always…
Zwift Richmond update
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With a raging storm set to batter many parts of the UK this weekend, many of you lot will be firing up Zwift for a spot of pedalling. And just in time, Zwift has issued an update to its Richmond course, the first ‘world’ that was based on actual roads used for the world champs a few years ago.
It’s fair to say it’s not been the most possible world since those early days, but Zwift has given it a refresh. You can now ride the routes in both directions, which means new timed KOM and sprint sections, as well as three new routes, according to Zwift Insider.
Scottish Government to face public inquiry because £3bn A9 upgrade doesn’t include cycle path
The 273-mile A9 runs from Falkirk in central Scotland to Thurso in the far north. The Scottish government has plans to dual the section between Aviemore and Carrbridge at a cost of £3bn, but The Scotsman reports that these plans do not currently accommodate cyclists.
The Cairngorms National Park Authority chief executive Grant Moir said: “The authority along with Highland Council and three community councils has objected to the A9 Dalraddy to Slochd section because the scheme proposed does not have a multi-use path linking Aviemore with Carrbridge.
“One of the objectives of the entire dualling project is to facilitate active travel and this section provides the opportunity to create a segregated multi-use path, either on or off route, similar to that already provided between Aviemore from Kingussie.
“Increasing active travel is an important part of tackling the climate emergency in Scotland and delivering public health outcomes.”
Government "on a highway to failure" in getting more people active says Cycling UK
We’ve just updated our story about the expansion of the Bikeability training programme with the response from Cycling UK.
Chief Executive Paul Tuohy said: “Projects like Bikeability and the Big Bike Revival provide the skills for safer cycling to some of the people who need it the mos. It’s fantastic to see the Government continue to back programmes that deliver and are helping thousands of people every year on their cycling journeys.
“However we won’t get millions more cycling unless there’s further significant investment in infrastructure. Without it the Government is on a highway to failure in getting more people active. Funding for cycling and walking between 2020 and 2025 must increase to between £6 and £8bn to meet the Government’s own targets to double cycle use and increase walking.”
Video: Impatient cyclist climbs over level crossing safety barriers
It’s been suggested that we describe this as ‘not the most level-headed decision’.
The Liverpool Echo reports that the incident took place at Aughton Road level crossing at Birkdale station, near Southport. The footage was shot by a motorist waiting on the opposite side.
A Network Rail spokesperson said: “Ignoring the warning lights, sirens or barriers at a level crossing is not only incredibly dangerous, it is also illegal.
“You may be in a hurry. You may use a level crossing every day. You may even think you know when the train is coming. But if you take a chance you’re putting your life, and train passengers’ lives, at risk.”
A spokesperson for British Transport Police spokesperson said: “Misusing level crossings is very dangerous and can have disastrous consequences.
“We ask anyone who witnesses such incidents to report it to us by texting 61016.”
Thought cycling in the UK was a struggle? Try Botswana...
“hostile attitude of local drivers towards cyclists emanates from a deep-seated belief that cycling is for the poor. In modern Botswana, drivers have enjoyed the respect that comes with owning a car as opposed to a bicycle, which is now considered archaic” https://t.co/bieDYWw2Qr
— Andrew Laird (@ReclaimAnglesea) February 6, 2020
BBC Future Planet report that cyclists face particularly bad hostility in the landlocked Afircan nation, because bikes are seen as ‘archaic’ and cars are viewed as prestigious. With the number of cars registered in the past decade doubling partly as a result of these feelings, pollution is on the rise. Wiston Modise, a physicist at the University of Botswana, said: “The state of air pollution in Gaborone is worrisome. The city is growing, and urban migration means more cars.
“High traffic congestion can result in high levels of pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, lead and hydrocarbons that pose major threats to human health, especially in the morning and afternoons during peak hours. City dwellers could suffer from respiratory diseases.”
Cycle campaigner Mpaphi Ndubo wants cycling to be encouraged in the Botswana’s captial city Gaborone as an affordable and emissions-free method of transport, and for the country to “fall back in love with cycling.”
NYPD launching 100-person unit 'solely focused on reducing cyclist and pedestrian deaths'
New York’s Police Department say they are fully committed to ‘Vision Zero’, the aim to end cyclist and pedestrian deaths in the city, and are backing this up by deploying a 100-strong unit focusing on traffic enforcement at hot spots where cyclists and pedestrians have been killed, reports the New York Post.
Deaths actually increased for the first time in 2019 since Vision Zero was launched by Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2014, and he admitted that there was a lot more work to do to make the streets safer; the ‘Vision Zero Unit’ is set to be launched in Spring, with enforcement focusing on speeding drivers, failure to yield and catching drink drivers. Cycle campaigners have been sceptical, and in the past the NYPD have been accused of reacting to deaths by increasing enforcement on cyclists, rather than punishing poor driving.
Transportation Alternatives spokesman Joe Cutrufo said: “We’re starting to see the city understand that trucks are disproportionately dangerous.
“I hope that this unit focuses its efforts on what’s truly causing dangerous conditions on our streets, and not on cyclists and jaywalkers.”
The courageous Josh Quigley picks up a bike from Shand Cycles to complete his round-the-world quest
27-year-old Quigley’s dogged determination to complete his mission despite having a bike stolen, having to return home from Australia to replace a sweat-damaged passport and getting hit by a car at 70mph amongst other stumbling blocks has been rewarded by Scottish bike brand Shand Cycles, who have sponsored him and supplied a custom-built Shand Stoater for the rest of his trip.
Quigley’s most recent setback was a horrific crash in Texas just before Christmas, when a driver hit him at 70mph. He says: “I’m very excited to be working with Shand Cycles and very grateful to them for building me a new custom-built bike.
“If all goes to plan this will be the bike that I finish cycling around the world on and I look forward to getting back out there when my rehabilitation is complete. I never once doubted I would finish this challenge after the crash and when I’m fit and well, we’ll go out there and finish what we started.”
The mental health campaigner’s story has been one of remarkable bad luck, and equally remarkable resoluteness to one day achieve his goal: Quigley first set off to cycle the world five years ago, and once got 10,000 miles in before abandoning one of numerous attempts in 2016. After setting off in April 2019 for attempt number six, he was fined for cycling in a pedestrian zone in Bedford and had his bike stolen before he even crossed the channel. After cycling through Australia, he was then unable to fly to the US to continue because his passport was too damaged by sweat. After returning home to get a new one and flying to America, Quigley was then nearly killed in the December crash.
A true British hero if there ever was one, who has more than earned that handsome new steed…
The Government update Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy... and reveal they only spent half what they said they would on cycling last year
This table is amusing. Big assumptions in the footnotes. pic.twitter.com/jL4KqxrURk
— Alex Ingram (@nuttyxander) February 7, 2020
With credit to Alex Ingram for delving into the report before we’ve had the chance (a full story will follow), the updated document reveals that of the £2.4 billion allocated to cycling and walking between 2016/17 and 2020/21, only half has actually been spent with less than two years of the plan to go. The government says they realise they aren’t investing enough to meet their target of doubling cycling by 2025, and that “substantial further investment is therefore required over the next five-year period.”
90-year-old Peter Hornell is aiming to ride a 100 mile time trial in a shade over 5 hours
The East Anglian Daily Times reports that this year at the age of 90, Mr Hornell is looking to beat the incredible mark of 5:19:45 he set in 2019.
He’s been a competitive cyclist since 1946, starting out for Chelmsford CTC at the age of 14 before moving to the Chelmer CC club in 1947, who has has competed for ever since – in total, Mr Hornell has ridden competitively for 74 years.
In more recent times, he counts 2015 as his best year when he won the Veteran Time Trial Association’s best all-rounder award aged 85.
"Sadly it doesn't give any guarantee of safety": Transport Secretary Grant Shapps panned for Bikeability tweet
Bikeability training (aka cycling proficiency) gives children the skills they need to be safe & confident cyclists. Now we’re doubling this scheme to open it up to EVERY child in England – so all children can have a healthy and active future 🚴♀️🚴♂️ #cyclinglife pic.twitter.com/EV2naDKH45
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) February 7, 2020
We reported this morning that the government has announced Bikeability training is to be significantly expanded so that every child in England will be offered access to it. Campaigners welcomed the news, but said that without safe places ride, the investment could not be maximised. Twitter appeared to agree in response to the Transport Secretary’s post on the matter…
Utter useless unless driving standard and laws are enforced. As a London bus driver, Please, please don’t risk your innocent child on a bike in the streets of London
— Steve Byrne (@Fishthemod) February 7, 2020
If only you’d put money into driver training and making roads (aka murder strips) safer. If only you hadn’t cut police numbers by over 20,000 the roads might be less lawless.
— Cycleguy (@Cyc1eguy) February 7, 2020
Sadly it doesn’t give any guarantee of safety, that’s in the hands of intolerant/inconsiderate road users and the infrastructure lottery
— Martin Cowgill (@m_cowgill) February 7, 2020
Do you think Bikeability is essential to keep children safer on the streets, or is it just papering over the cracks? Let us know your thoughts and any alternative suggestions in the comments…
Pssst - wanna buy a bike shop?
If you do, we know of one for sale! Green Park Bike Station, in, erm, Green Park Station in Bath. Where we live.
Pros: It’s a good little shop with a nice line in servicing and bike rentals
Cons: It’s two doors down from us so we’ll always be popping in to borrow the torque wrench.
https://www.rightbiz.co.uk/buy_business/for_sale/254965_somerset.html
7 February 2020, 08:38
The Government has announced that its Bikeability training programme will be significantly expanded
Every child in England to be offered cycle training – but where will they ride?
Campaigners say streets need to be made safer for cycling to back up the investment
7 February 2020, 08:38
We can’t come up with any reason why this manoeuvre was carried out if not to deliberately cause a collision.
Brake-checking motorist deliberately causes crash: Hertfordshire Police tell cyclist video evidence “does not provide a realistic prospect of conviction”
Motorist clipped cyclist when overtaking then hit the brakes in the middle of an empty roundabout
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“I agree near schools and places like that but all these road [sic] elsewhere are ridiculous,” Leon began. “You had cars in the 80s that had no power steering, ABS, all manual cars, and 30 mile an hour limit. “Now you have cars with every gadget under the sun, stops on a dime, and they wanna drop it to 20mph." I feel that this is part of the problem... modern cars are, if anything, too refined. They accelerate more quickly, are more comfortable at speed, have aircon, airbags, power steering and decent radios - all of which make the driving experience more relaxing and requiring a little less input/attention from the driver (who doesn't really realise how fast they are going, or how quickly they got there) The "stopping on a dime" argument is particularly worrying, as all this means is the the driver's false sense of safety, so they can tend to push things further. As for the "cars weren't designed to do 20 mph" angle, design aims and capabilities are not mutually exclusive...in fact, I'd say that modern cars are better, in this respect, due to engine refinements.(and how many older cars are there, nowadays, in this leading age that we live in?)
I think this case is a lesson for us all, cyclists and pedestrians to be careful and mindful of others when we're out and about, especially on shared paths. Both groups have as much right as the other to be there. Mutual consideration and respect will help a lot.
I’d say that colour was more like fuchsia (and coming soon to a Rapha Pro Team jacket near you).
@yodhrin I believe the fairer summary is "we don't know - but making the main point advocating a form of PPE with relatively limited protection - and to a group of likely experienced cyclists - isn't very helpful..." I've only read one of the reports but that suggested the skull removal was to alleviate pressure from major brain swelling. And a given helmet *might* be better than the standard. So I think "don't know" is fairest.
@robgodd The poor guy himself suffered a traumatic brain injury and his skull was so badly shattered a significant portion of it had to be removed - do me a favour, have a look around cycling helmet manufacturers and see if any of them claim the foam hats they produce will protect against or even mitigate that level of injury. I'll wait if you like, but I can save us both the time and tell you what you'll find: none of them. Not a single one of them will. Because they don't, and they *can't* based on simple physics. Once the point of failure in a material is reached all(or as near as makes no odds) of the additional force beyond that necessary threshhold transfers through to the object beneath. Since bicycle helmets are rated for forces roughly equivalent to being dropped straight down from a stationary start 1.5m above a hard surface. Now, I'm not an expert in vehicle crash investigation, but I'm *fairly* sure that any impact or series of impacts powerful enough to render a quarder of your skull into gravel, put you in a weeks-long coma, give you massive amnesia, and leave you with ongoing symptoms of traumatic brain injury are a little bit, a teeny-weeny amount, a little smidgeon-widgeon more than what bike helmets are rated for. That's why none of the companies that make them claim they will help in such circumstances: because they know it would be a lie, and that unlike uninformed punters, carbrained journalists, or "medical professionals" who think wearing a helmet would save you from a broken arm(an actual scenario encountered by a mate, who's nurse at the A&E tutted and harrumphed her way through his whole treatment due to his lack of helmet despite his bonce having come through *being hit by a car* - another scenario bike helmets are worthless in - completely unscathed), the lawyers for those companies know their business and understand that if you lie in advertising you will get sued into the ground.
The Battle of Ypres April 1915. The German infantry division advanced using das Brumptstadt Fahrarden. The slow speed kept them behind the cloud of chlorine gas as it drifted towards the Commonwealth trenches. The offensive cleaved a two mile gap in the Western Front. The use of cycles was copied by the Japanese as they invaded Singapore and Burmah. By then war technology had embraced wider low pressure tyres, carbon frames and hydration gels. The German forces decided not to incorporate cycling as part of Operation Session, as bike theft in London and the South East was rife and would have caused huge casualties. Ironically superior advancement of tyre technology led to a British victory at El Alamein. This technology played a key part in the US Marines victory at Iwo Jima.
The appropriate response to Google pissing on your cereal is not a fancy new sugar that removes the taste of urine. Stop using Google products where you can. Firefox browser and DuckDuckGo search engine have had noticeable upticks in market share by explicitly NOT pushing AI.
my thoughts exactly...I wonder how that approach is working, with motor vehicle drivers...🤔
I do not wish to diminish the personal tragedy, but one never hear calls for pedestrians or even hikers to wear clothing with integrated lightening rods.
RE Andy Burnam / Heidi Alexander - this is the best thing in many ways - set an example (even if currently it leads to lots of online name-calling). And imagine some of the political alternatives! The folks in the apparently second-placed party seem incredibly unlikely to be doing so. And even the current "new Greens" seem less interested in ... y'know, environmental things. OTOH I wish Heidi could be bolder. And I fear that like anyone ambitious enough to get to the top (exception B Johnson - well, I guess there was the Corbyn bicycle...) Burnam will be trimming his transport policy sails to fit the wind (should that be "bunker-fuel-burning engines"?)
15 thoughts on “Grant Shapps panned for Bikeability tweet; Want to buy a bike shop?; 90-year-old aiming for 5 hour 100 mile TT; Govt underspending on cycling; Impatient cyclist climbs level crossing barrier + more on the live blog”
Regarding the “wrong wheels”
Regarding the “wrong wheels” I’m reminded of a certain Mr R Dennis who used the “wrong” TT bike. Didn’t work out too badly for him. In her defense, she wasn’t representing her team (strictly speaking) while riding at worlds, she was representing her country. Maybe due a conversation but I hardly think a sacking is called for.
Wasn’t Rohan Dennis out of
Wasn’t Rohan Dennis out of contract at that point and therefore not sponsored by anybody?
Should I point out that Rohan
Should I point out that Rohan’s bike was also at worlds, where he was also racing for his federation?
I also thought it was also a
I also thought it was also a pretty common conflict in CX due to riders being more in umbrella team organisations,rather than being properly supported by teams,and the Dutch (or it may have been Danish actually) federation specifically had rules about what riders could do when representing them which inevitably led to sponsor conflict, so Im surprised it led to a sacking, because she wont be the first..or last, for this to have happened to at all. But we dont know the full details obviously.
Many pro CX teams don’t have
Many pro CX teams don’t have a tyre sponsor, to allow the riders to pick the tyres they want for the conditions. MvDP doesn’t have a tyre sponsor, and while he usually runs Dugast, he has run other manufacturers within a season.
But if your team is sponsored by Challenge, you need to be running Challenge, even if you don’t rate them as much.
Were they in the wrong to use
Were they in the wrong to use another company’s equipment? It’s a contract so yes. Should they have been fired? On the basis that it’s a marketing/PR exercise for Miche, it looks bad, terrible backfire, absolutely not.
Quote:
How does a dual carriageway ‘facilitate active travel’? It might ‘encourage’ active travel, I suppose, because anyone not in a motor vehicle will have to take the long way around or go off-road…
I definitely don’t think she
I definitely don’t think she should be sacked, but if you’re going to ride non-sponsor equipment surely you just take the decals off the wheels and black out the tyres?
Much as I am appalled at the
Much as I am appalled at the impateint lady cyclist climbing over the level crossing barriers, and that would never ever do it myself, whenever I’ve looked there are always a few damaged barriers by the side of level crossings.
And I would like to bet that it’s not cyclists that are destroying them.
I’ve spent a long time at North Camp station, watching the level crossing, it’s not the cyclists and pedestrians that are the danger, as also evidenced by the pile of mangled barriers that sit under the bridge that allows motorists to completely avoid the level crossing. And it REALLY is not a pleasent bridge to ride over, the double white line makes for an even more insane driver.
It would be bad for the person hit by the train, and AWFUL for the driver, but how many passengers have been seriously injured or killed by such a thing?
Hitting a large vehicle may result in a derailment, but does using the trains brakes result in many passenger deaths?
At Farnborough North there is an electronic magnetic gate for peds and cyclists, and lights and even a bloke in a little shed controlling the locking and to have a proper go at anyone climbing over. Just less than half the trains stop at the station and everything slows down. At the other end of the hatches, a shared use path going from Farnborough North station to the outskirts of Frimly Green, there is a gate where you must take your chances on the very fast SWT line to London.
“The government says they
“The government says they realise they aren’t investing enough to meet their target of doubling cycling by 2025, and that “substantial further investment is therefore required over the next five-year period.””
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Ha. No shit Sherlock. But it’s all going to be OK, Boris the Liar has said so.
Not sure whether to laugh or
Not sure whether to laugh or cry. The BBC finally report cycling
, in Botswana
.
Err..am I the only one
Err..am I the only one thinking that the day the gov results hit the news and it turns out they’ve spent half of the paltry amount they said they would.. that it’s a bit coincidental that some bloke in gov announces that it’s ‘free bikeability’ for all kids… hmmm so that’s how to make up the shortfall and keep the books more balanced.It’s not their fault if cyclists still don’t cycle on the roads after all that bikeability training!
Pete Hornell is a bloody
Pete Hornell is a bloody LEGEND. This is SOOOO impressive!!
This has made my year and shamed my lazy, lardy arse into action.
And I absolutely LOVE the pink jersey
Pete if we ever meet up you’ve got a night of free drink.
His name is Peter Horsnell,
His name is Peter Horsnell, with an ‘s’.
There is plenty to commend
There is plenty to commend about Bikeability. However the one thing it has not and does not achieve is modal shift. There are not more children cycling to school or anywhere else. And that’s simply because there is no infrastructure – no segregation, no traffic filters, no secure cycle parking. There is no enforcement of speed, mobile phone users, red light jumping (and if you think I mean cyclists jumping red lights think and look again). There are no Police on the roads.
Also Bikeability is cheap – it doesn’t cost much to subsidise and it provides plenty of ‘cheap’ publicity for local authorities and central govt to exaggerate their green and road safety credentials.
It’s still better than nothing though.