Stravagate: “It’s never been more important for us to become self-sustaining”; App developer pans Strava overhaul strategy; BBC reporting of Carol Kirkwood collision criticised; Cyclist spotted on M25; Time > distance says Boardman + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Sir Bradley Wiggins announces separation from his wife Cath
It is with deep sadness my wife Cath and I have decided to separate. Our two children remain our priority and we ask for privacy at this time. Brad & Cath
— Brad Wiggins (@SirWiggo) May 18, 2020
Wiggins took to social media to announce that he and his wife Cath have split after 16 years of marriage.
BBC weather presenter Carol Kirkwood says she was knocked off her bike by a car
Been off following an accident. Got knocked off my bike by a car and got injured. Biggest thanks ever to the Police (Chris and Faye), the Ambulance Crew (Miranda and Stewart) who tended to me and took me to Hospital. And especially Peter Foskett-Tharby at Wexham Park Hospital ♥️
— Carol Kirkwood (@carolkirkwood) May 19, 2020
The presenter announced live on BBC Breakfast this morning that the reason she’s been away from the show is because she was knocked off her bike by a car driver.
It's all kicking off, as Strava announces sweeping changes that takes away the full segment leaderboard for non-paying users
Global pandemic? Economy collapsing? It all paled into significance at some point last night when Strava announced a whole host of sweeping changes to their platform that means the full leaderboard for segments are no longer free… a devastating blow for the casual KOM hunter.
Local master rider on $17,000 Pinarello Dogma F12 outraged about changes to Strava. pic.twitter.com/g8Ux7X8zRh
— Lockdown Cycling Snob (@thecyclingsnob) May 18, 2020
Cycling Twitter: I DON’T CARE ABOUT STRAVA SEGMENTS ANYWAY I ONLY RIDE TO FEEL THE WIND IN MY HAIR
Also cycling Twitter: pic.twitter.com/U3YG7rZMFs— Cobble King of Calderdale (@JohnBaker1975) May 18, 2020
If it’s not on Strava….
….it’s because you didn’t pay for it.
— Daniel Lloyd (@daniellloyd1) May 18, 2020
I’ve happily been paying a small annual @Strava subscription to get some basic functionality. Now they want to jack that price up 250% and give a load of features I don’t want. I’m all for Strava making money, but I won’t bother renewing. Wonder who else is like me?
— Colin Lynch (@FormerTTchamp) May 18, 2020
Cue furious responses across social media; and perhaps even more devastatingly, the changes have now made a whole host of third party apps essentially useless overnight (for free Strava users anyway), because the ones that are based around segments without the Strava Live Segments feature (such as Wahoo or Garmin computers) have just had that functionality removed.
1st world issues today. £1000+ bikes✅, £200+ trainers✅, Netflix✅, Amazon Prime✅, NowTV✅, £50-£200 race entry✅, Cheap medal and t-shirt✅, Sprint 1/4 mile sections for Kudos✅, etc, etc…
Pay £4 a month for Strava❌.
How very dare you start charging to pay people’s wages! pic.twitter.com/hJTWxNNMgQ
— Mark Highland (@Lost_Pirate21) May 19, 2020
For 8 years I’ve gotten way more than $5 / month of value from @Strava. There’s nothing wrong with charging a little money for a good product.
— Fat Cyclist (@fatcyclist) May 18, 2020
As you can see above plenty have leapt to Strava’s defence; at the end of the day, the company needs to make money. Last night founders Mark Gainey and Michael Horvath also sent out a refreshingly honest email explaining their reasons for the changes. Here it is in full:
If nothing else, 2020 has been a year of regaining perspective. A silver lining of hard times like these is that they inspire introspection and focus – What matters the most to us? And how do we live up to that?
Our answers to those questions have only gotten clearer in the past few months, and we’re now leading the company with a single purpose: rededicating Strava to our community.Strava athletes deserve an affordable and constantly improving experience, and we hope you’ve noticed how focused we’ve been this year on delivering that. Our small but mighty team of 180 has released 51 athlete-facing improvements already in 2020, from Apple Watch syncing, to new maps and metrics for snowsports, to a huge update to our Routes features, and a lot more. We’ve also removed some distractions, such as Sponsored Integrations (the closest we’ve ever come to putting ads in the feed). And we returned the option to sort your feed in chronological order. We heard how much that change drove you nuts, and admit it took a really long time to respond.
Dedicating Strava to the community is also a commitment to longevity. We are not yet a profitable company and need to become one in order to serve you better. And we have to go about it the right way – honest, transparent and respectful to our athletes.
This means that, starting today, a few of our free features that are especially complex and expensive to maintain, like segment leaderboards, will become subscription features. And from now on, more of our new feature development will be for subscribers – we’ll invest the most in the athletes who have invested in us. We’ve also made subscription more straightforward by removing packs and the brand of Summit. You can now use Strava for free or subscribe, simple.
This focus on subscription ensures that Strava can serve athletes decades from now, and in an up-front way that honors the support of the athletes we serve today. We plan to take what we earn from these changes and reinvest straight back into building more and better features – not devising ways to fill up your feed with ads or sell your personal information. We simply want to make a product so good that you’re happy to pay for it.
“A monthly subscription costs as much as a couple energy bars, and we think that’s money well spent. But we also know, especially lately, that there are athletes struggling to make ends meet and that the free version of Strava must remain high quality and useful. Rest assured that we will always offer a version of Strava for free, and you belong in this community whether you subscribe or not. We’re betting all our chips on you, either way. We hope you’ll bet on us.”
Are you sticking with Strava?
Take part in our poll. No subscription required…
This week's motorway cyclist is on the M25
Cyclist in shorts and vest rides along hard shoulder of M25 https://t.co/zvVZn7mpSC pic.twitter.com/x1RdbjQMiU
— Siglov Freudivan (@DerangedRadio) May 18, 2020
The latest one to join our growing archive is this chap, who was seen pootling along near junction 25 of the M25 this morning. The Daily Mail’s headline reports that the cyclist was riding along the hard shoulder ‘without a helmet’, although we’re not sure that’s entirely relevant…
Strava changes: Veloviewer confident most of their users "won't be affected at all"
Over 70% of VeloViewer PRO users are already Strava Subscribers so won’t be affected at all. Non-Subscribers will no longer be able to see their placings in VeloViewer but 99% of the site will work just as before. See that link in the tweet above for full info of differences.
— VeloViewer (@VeloViewer) May 18, 2020
As previously mentioned, it’s not just Strava users who will be hugely affected by the sweeping changes to the platform, as many third-party apps based around segments will be hugely impacted, or at worst will cease to function at all. Veloviewer – an app that provides visuals of Strava data – are one of the few that will come out of this relatively unscathed, as a good proportion of their users pay for Strava and the claim 99% of their site “will work just as before.”
Veloviewer have summarised the changes here; essentially non-paying Strava users will no longer see segment placings on Veloviewer, and the ‘Veloviewer Score’ – which estimates your ‘prowess’ across all your Strava segments – won’t be available to those who aren’t paying for Strava either.
A summary of the Strava changes
For those who are reading about all the changes to Strava and are confused about what they actually are, here’s a brief summary – you can also find a more detailed breakdown on off.road.cc:
– For non-paying Strava users, only the top 10 of the leaderboard will now show on Strava segments
– The segment leaderboard soon won’t show on most third-party apps
– You can no longer use Strava for route planning unless you pay for a subscription
– Non-paying users on an Android device or desktop can no longer view their training log
– Strava’s subscription model is no longer called ‘Summit’, you’re now just called a plain old subscriber
– ‘Sponsored integrations’ (essentially paid content) have ended
Not sticking with Strava? Here are some alternatives suggested by you
Surely that depends on what aspects of @Strava you use?
Golden Cheetah, Training Peaks, Komoot, Ridewithgps they all offer some of the Strava functionality better than Strava, but none are direct alternatives— Daniel Rootes (@RootesRacing) May 19, 2020
Garmin Connect? Records your rides, has connections, does route planning, has segments. What am I missing?
— Rich (@BikeRider365) May 19, 2020
Ordnance survey map
— Kie Foster (@ZuluEleven) May 19, 2020
We had a number of shout-outs for Komoot, Golden Cheetah, Garmin Connect and the Ordnance survey maps; although for the majority of you there isn’t an alternative, and Strava is four quid a month well spent…
Just pay for it! Amazed at the outrage because something isn’t free – if you don’t like it design your own platform to use or shut up and pay up! #moaners
— Tambini_Bikes (@Tambini_Bikes) May 19, 2020
If you can afford £3.99 a month to support a small business that has given so much to so many, there’s nothing that comes close.
— Darryl (@Juppopovic) May 19, 2020
One less Costa a week and keep strava?
— Tim (@Priceyt) May 19, 2020
The best alternative to free Strava is the less-than-a-pint per month subscription Strava. Simple.
— Ben White (@BenWhite5) May 19, 2020
Why did Strava never go down the ads route?
We’re a small team that can only focus on making a few great things each year. Implementing ads would take away from the time we could spend making Strava better for athletes.
— Strava (@Strava) May 19, 2020
Like Facebook, YouTube and other internet giants who still operate a service that is largely free to use, adverts surely would have filled a huge hole in Strava’s finances; after all, they admitted last night that the company still isn’t profitable. Why is this? As they state above, with a small team of just 180 and operations focussed on development, this would have taken much valuable time and effort away from improving the platform.
The free version of Strava is, and always will be, high quality and useful for athletes. All athletes can still record efforts on segments, see if they got a PR, and view the top-10 overall and top-10 women.
— Strava (@Strava) May 19, 2020
Taking to Twitter to defend the changes this morning, Strava insist that the free version will always be “high quality and useful for athletes”, as users can still record segments and see the top 10 on the leaderboard.
"I understand why Strava did it, but I don't really agree with the way they have gone about it": app developer gives thoughts on Strava updates
An app developer has been in touch with road.cc to give their opinion on the Strava updates that has seen the segment leaderboard been reduced to the top 10 for non-paying users, plus a whole host of other changes that put subscribers first.
Our anonymous source confirmed that the changes don’t affect their app, but said:
“I’d be pretty annoyed if they did. I feel bad for all the 40,000 or so apps it will affect. I understand why Strava did it and I know they needed to do something to become profitable, but I don’t really agree with the way they have gone about it.
“I woke up this morning to stories all over my news feed about it but didn’t hear anything from Strava until after midday. I think Strava should have given developers much more notice. To just cut off some API endpoints like that out of the blue is not a nice move.
“But I get why they are doing it. As a developer I often feel like people don’t understand the effort that goes into making apps and the cost of running them. There will be huge costs for Strava running databases and backing up those databases, and data transfer costs, and hosting costs and API costs. I’m a paid up Strava member now and I feel happy to pay for apps and services that are well developed and useful. The problem is that we as a society have seem to become stuck on the idea that everything online should be free.
“Facebook is free, Gmail and Outlook are free… so why can’t Strava be? The answer is you pay for facebook and gmail by forgoing your privacy. I’d happily pay a small subscription to keep my privacy.”
Do you agree?
Wold Top Brewery are holding a virtual sportive
To replace the Wold Top sportive that would have taken place this year, Yorkshire brewery Wold Top are holding a virtual event instead. Participants have to log 60km over the course of five days to complete ‘The Lockdown 60’, then £10 of each £15 entry fee will be donated to charity. Thoe who complete it then get a 10% discount code for online orders at woldtopbrewery.co.uk.
Let’s hope participants who want to indulge in some of Wold Top’s beer to get into the spirit of things do so after the virtual miles, or at least sip gradually until it’s over… you can enter here.
Police hunting for teenagers who knocked cyclist off his bike at traffic lights
Shocking footage shows the moment a cyclist was viciously assaulted on Chesser Avenue #Edinburgh #Cycling campaigners @SpokesLothian have urged the man to come forward in order for Police to identify and prosecute the teenager @CyclingSurgeon #BikeRage https://t.co/Wy2tldHrnl pic.twitter.com/uJPkXpjsOv
— SWD Media (@SWDMedia) May 19, 2020
The incident in Chesser, Edinburgh was caught on camera by a driver, who arrived at a red light during an altercation between a man and two youths. When the light goes green the man is knocked off his bike by the youth in the blue hoodie while the other rides up on the left hand side.
The cyclist in red has been urged to come forward to police according to SWD Media, with Professor Chris Oliver of the Spokes Cycle Campaign commenting: “‘Cyclist to cyclist ‘bike rage’ is very uncommon and is related to other explosive outbursts of anger such as road rage. With such a young person committing this act of violence, one wonders if he will later go on to car road rage later on in life.”
BBC criticised for reporting Carol Kirkwood collision as a 'bike accident'
BBC News report a bike accident – it was a motorist collision, a driver knocked Carol off her bike. Yet headline is misleading https://t.co/RYgzdsUS3Z
— Vicky Sponge (@Noonkemp) May 19, 2020
Carol Kirkwood injured by driver in road traffic collision whilst cycling.
Too accurate for the BBC? https://t.co/CQwiLoQjNE
— IBikeHorsham says ‘Join a union.’ (@ibikehorsham) May 19, 2020
The BBC have been accused of playing down the details of an incident in which their own weather presenter Carol Kirkwood was knocked off her bike by a car driver. The article states in the first paragraph that Kirkwood was “knocked off her bike by a car”, but some have accused the headline of being misleading.
Colleagues and friends from the media have been sending their best wishes to Kirkwood throughout the day, who returned to screens this morning after spending three weeks away to recover from her injuries.
There is a lot of love for @carolkirkwood this morning. She is ok, a little battered and bruised after her bike accident, but it’s wonderful to have her back.
Long may she reign 🙌🏻 #BBCBreakfast pic.twitter.com/9zdOeYnZY0— Dan Walker (@mrdanwalker) May 19, 2020
How to get more people on bikes? Talk in time not distance, says Chris Boardman
👍 a lot of people see ‘5 miles’ and think I can’t do that every day. We should start talking only in journey times not distances. https://t.co/xBpV4LMxOb
— Chris Boardman (@Chris_Boardman) May 19, 2020
It might seem daunting to those new to cycling/cycle commuting who work out the lenghr of their commute in miles or kilometres, and then think of having to do that every day; but it might sound a lot less challenging to talk of journeys in how long they will take, rather than how far according to Chris Boardman. What do you think?
"It’s never been more important for us to become self-sustaining", say unprofitable Strava
We know this is an incredibly tough time for our community. However, Strava is not a profitable company today and it’s never been more important for us to become self-sustaining. We can only do that by putting subscription at the center of Strava.
— Strava (@Strava) May 19, 2020
Another criticism levelled at Strava over the winding down of features on the free version of their platform is the sheer poor timing during a global pandemic; friends of road.cc staffers have reported that their parents, aunts, uncles and cousins have been signing up in droves to record their daily exercise since the lockdown began.
A lot of these casual new recruits could now be put off, especially Android and desktop users who will no longer be able to keep a training log. Strava maintains that they simply have to become profitable or there might not be a Strava; plus, they need to think about their own employees too…
What about the people who work for Strava? If it doesn’t make any money they won’t have jobs either. Companies don’t exist in a vacuum – they have employees who are going through the same stuff we all are.
— Kate Carter (@katehelencarter) May 19, 2020
In response to allegations that the changes will have ‘shut down’ many third-party apps, Strava deny this and say the overhaul “only changes how segment information is displaying.”
We’re offering a 60-day trial so athletes can give the subscription a try. Our recent updates haven’t shut down any Strava Apps – only changed how segment information is displayed. With @VeloViewer specifically, we worked together to keep everything going: https://t.co/IvY8dTWbmI
— Strava (@Strava) May 19, 2020
19 May 2020, 08:29
19 May 2020, 08:29
19 May 2020, 08:29
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £2.49. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
31 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
Possible it's been sneakily updated since your comment (though there's no 'article updated at...' bit at the top), but it is mentioned in the current version, albeit quite deep in to the article:
'... fragile man” subject to bouts of dizziness and vertigo.' Not sure what you have to declare to the authorities in the US regarding medical issues and driving but I do hope he has fully complied before making such a public admission, I would hate for a court to pick up on it!
You didn't mention the headline the Atlanta Journal chose to use..." A driver passed too close to cyclists. Now he could die in prison." Talk about car brain...
@Pub bike - kind of the point isn't it. They create demand and expectation by operating at a loss & burning through VC & hedge fund money, then when that dries up, fees go up & costs get cut (ie their gig workers get exploited even more) corners get cut and society gets to deal with the "e.bike" problem (and the contribution to the dying high street). We all know Amazon, Uber, Deliveroo et al are exploitative enterprises, and we all agree that they should treat their workers fairly and ensure laws are adhered to. But equally, we don't want to pay more than we have become used to, or wait longer for that item...... It takes all of us.
@Clem Fandango If the delivery companies were forced to employ the workers (e.g. by HMRC), pay them properly, and ensure the riders didn't break the law I wonder how long the companies would last?
I think there is an important distinction with the use of the word 'bike'. 'Bike' is typically only used to refer to motorbikes where it's already clear from context that that's what's being talked about. If you said, absent any other context, "they were riding a bike", that would generally be understood as referring to a pedal cycle. On the other hand, if you referred to a 'bike' on, say, a motorbike forum, that would be clearly understood to refer *only* to a motorbike, and *not* to a pedal cycle. By contrast, 'ebike' tends to get used either to refer only to EAPCs, or to a grouping that includes *both* electric bikes that are EAPCs *and* those that aren't (and are therefore electric motorcycles). That tends to muddy the waters and lead to people thinking that they all need to be treated the same. So it would be good practice to avoid using the term 'ebike' to refer to things that aren't EAPCs, and prefer 'emotorbike' instead, for clarity. (It might, similarly to 'bike', be fine to use 'ebike' in contexts where it's clear that you're *only* referring to emotorbikes, but I'd suggest that that is (currently) rare.)
@tomlew Got to say I agree. The original Coros had some very good points squashed by major limitations. Those seem to have been addressed in the new model, along with some genuinely innovative stuff like the way it links to your phone and uses its processor and data connection for certain functions. It also looks pretty cool. So yeah, its double in price, but I wouldn't have picked the old one over an Edge 540 at a similar price; and the new one seems to compete square on with the Edge 1050/Ace/Hammerhead. When you look at it like that, it actually seems reasonably competitively priced.
DCR has reported in a hands-on first look that the voice control worked well in varied conditions, presumably as a consequence of putting the mic at the back, out of the wind. I can also see that it’s possible to disable the “OK Garmin” trigger phrase and initiate a voice command after assigning a di2 shifter button. I have one on the way, so I’ll see what it’s like in use.
I thought this an interesting product when it was first launched but I still can't get over the worry of 'will it be there when you get back from the loo/cafe/shop'?
Can you justify your claim that, "Under UK law, the term ‘e-bike’ refers to an electrically assisted pedal cycle (EAPC)"? Because that kind of false equivalence seems to me to be the hub (sorry) of the whole problem. As far as I know, the law actually avoids 'e-bike' and instead refers to EAPCs specifically because 'e-bike' is not a clearly-defined term. In fact, like 'bike', it can mean pedal cycles to some people (including most readers of this article), and motorbikes to others. That is not the law making the two terms equivalent. So the problem is that, properly used, including in UK law, 'e-bike' is not the same as EAPC. If people, including Restore Britain, only understood that, we'd have a chance of the two main types of e-bike being properly regulated under the very different pieces of legislation that apply to each of them. And people who continue to claim the term for their specific use are just reducing the chances of that.
31 thoughts on “Stravagate: “It’s never been more important for us to become self-sustaining”; App developer pans Strava overhaul strategy; BBC reporting of Carol Kirkwood collision criticised; Cyclist spotted on M25; Time > distance says Boardman + more on the live blog”
Sir Brad announces to the
Sir Brad announces to the world he wants privacy by advertising his marriage break up……
I blame that shaved-head-and
I blame that shaved-head-and-big-beard look he unveiled yesterday (in total privacy, of course).
I expect because if he doesn
I expect because if he doesn’t there’ll be speculation/stories in the press about him/wife/family as soon as theres a sniff of something going on.
It’s “asking for privacy” in
It’s “asking for privacy” in terms of “please don’t contact me for media appearances, book signings, interviews about [whatever] or to request I do commentary for [race] and please don’t doorstep my children outside school (whenever schools might re-open)”
Have said this before, to no
Have said this before, to no avail it seems: road cc is a brilliant cycling website, why can’t it stick to cycling? The personal lives of riders are none of our business and should be left to them.
Clickbait.
Clickbait.
In exactly the same way that if they publish a story about Lance Armstrong, the comment section is full of peoples saying they don’t want to read about a lying/cheating/doping scumbag/arsehole/bastard *
*delete as applicable
However that’s still dozens of people who’ve clicked through, been shown a load of adverts while they vent their rage and have read about him in spite of saying they don’t want to read about him. People are so simple, so easily lead. Controversial news = I will click and vent and rant and froth!
Website = ooh, advertising revenue!
Plus it’s not like road.cc have been snooping round his bins and found the envelope from the divorce lawyers, Brad did tweet it voluntarily to his 67,000 Twitter followers.
crazy-legs wrote:
True, but as MVL notes below, quite probably he’s been forced to announce it to try and preempt speculation and/or invasion from the rags; it be nice if the cycling community could take the high ground rather than side with them.
I’ve just been to the toilet.
I’ve just been to the toilet. But I don’t want it spread around in the public domain mind.
Tim K wrote:
But you did anyway. 🙂
FrankH wrote:
Whoooosh!
Yes, I do hope he flushed.
Yes, I do hope he flushed.
“The Daily Mail’s headline
“The Daily Mail’s headline reports that the cyclist was riding along the hard shoulder ‘without a helmet’, although we’re not sure that’s entirely relevant…”
Of course it’s relevant; everyone knows the magical properties of these helmets will save your life when you’re run over by a 18 wheeler at 60mph. There are thousands of totally true reports about this on the web.
Why does Wiggins or any other
Why does Wiggins or any other ego maniac attention seeker feel the need to post issues about their private lives. Divorce is very high and has been for a ever ,It happens to a lot of people and they don’t have to go on line and tell everyone. How about people keep their private lives ” private”.
What is it with this desperate need for attention. Listen I don’t know Wiggins or his wife I have no idea why they split up and I don’t care ,why should I?
He’s going to get a load of pat on the backs from people who don’t know him because he rides a bike. Complete self serving BS .
Perhaps he’s pre-empting
Perhaps he’s pre-empting rumours and gossip by releasing the tweet. Better coming from him than speculation from the media.
“… without a helmet”? I’d
“… without a helmet”? I’d like to think the DM was using irony to point up the fatuousness of promoting the push towards helmet laws as a paliative to the lethal threat posed by poor infrastructure and driver behaviour. But on balance I suspect they are just trolling.
Sriracha wrote:
So he would have been OK on the motorway if he had been wearing a helmet, gotta love the Fail
The Poll should really have a
The Poll should really have a “I don’t currently pay, but will now” option
Has the blog just gone 12:52
Has the blog just gone 12:52 then 10:24 then 12:54 the 10:02 then 12:53 in some kind of tribute to the Strava activity feed timeline algorithm?
“The answer is you pay for
“The answer is you pay for facebook and gmail by forgoing your privacy. I’d happily pay a small subscription to keep my privacy.”
Is there a difference in the Strava privacy policy between free and paid?
quasijones wrote:
No, and I think this was the point – Strava doesn’t appear to monetise your data (or, at least, if they are doing, they’re doing a pretty bad job of it!) and thus they are not receiving that stream of income that might help to subsidise the service, much like Google and Facebook have built their entire business model around.
I guess it depends whether people would be happier with free Strava with adverts, free Strava with looser controls over how data is protected, or paid Strava with privacy (such as it is in a social-media model, anyway). Take your pick, but getting everything for free just isn’t an option available any more.
Personally, I’ve been a subscriber for 6 years now and don’t plan on changing. I originally subscribed because I believe in supporting services that I value, and still consider it relatively decent value for money. I am, however, somewhat annoyed that my 11yo, performance-and-segment-obsessed son, who doesn’t have a paid subscription, will lose out and I really can’t justify two, full-priced subscriptions. Zwift managed to do free accounts for U16s, what about you, Strava?
I thoughht Strava ToC was
I thoughht Strava ToC was over 16’s /18’s only. I thought this was a fall out from when they did the heat map thing that showed all the military bases etc.
I hope Carol’s ok. We were
I hope Carol’s ok. We were students together a long, long time ago in a galaxy, far, far away.
Shouldn’t that be 3rd party
Shouldn’t that be 3rd party app developer,if I’m reading their comments on Strava correctly, ie they dont work for Strava
Fetcheveryone.com is a great
Fetcheveryone.com is a great alternative to
Strava,and free, though you can choose to become a supporter and switch off ads. Lots of data analysis, plus GPS based games and a great forum. I’ve had a strava sub for several years so will carry on paying for the moment.From personal experience the
From personal experience the hard shoulder of a motorway feels safer than the inside lane of a dual carriageway.
The time I did it was 3:30 am on the M40 by accident, and I made a quick exit at the next exit. But, the motorway spur went from D2(M) to D2 when it became the A40. Suddenly, I was paranoid about making sure my rear light was still working, where I wasn’t on the motorway.
This just in: an unfortunate
This just in: an unfortunate person has been involved in a “pedestrian accident”. They were knocked down whilst walking, by a car. Here’s hoping Carol Kirkwood is well after her “bike accident”.
That BBC report is remarkably
That BBC report is remarkably bland considering a name presenter was knocked off and injured. They can’t even defend one of their own
Miller wrote:
It’s the BBC, which is utterly biased against cycling.
I was listening to R4 yesterday, a prog called “Inside Medicine” and they talked about heart disease, cancer and obesity, and interviewed a professor of medicine. They talked about food, diet, diet, diet, food and food; no mention whatsoever of cycling, which has a much better record on these problems than any diet.
I looked at their past progs on the web, going back eight years, during which time they’d mentioned cycling three times; knees, saddles and helmets, and I couldn’t find a single mention of the overwhelming benefits of cycling, despite decades of reports demonstrating them.
I’ve emailed both the professor and the prog, and my breath is fully bated.
The Scottish kerfuffle. Aren
The Scottish kerfuffle. Aren’t they both on hire bikes? Thought they had GPS and details on who last used them.
The edinburgh hire bikes are
The edinburgh hire bikes are exceptionally easy to steal. Break the lock with a kick and you’re away. I’ve seen it done by a 13 year old. The chances of these being legitimate hires is nil. I’d put my mortgage on it. That’s probably why the gent was talking to them, “stop nicking the hire bikes you little #+>[#”. Bloody Neds.
I was outraged – outraged! –
I was outraged – outraged! – at Strava starting to charge users £48/year to use some of their services.
Then I spent the rest of the morning browsing £2000 wheels on the internet.