“Make your current car your last car”, says Green Party Cllr; Man has bike nicked outside Wetherspoons after finishing 400km charity ride; Ineos “not quite on it this year” says Wiggins; Cycling not popular on Tinder + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Imola confirmed
The new venue for the 2020 UCI Road World Championships is Imola – Emilia Romagna! 🇮🇹
🗓Sep 24-27th
🌈 Featuring only elites races in the ITT & Road Race.
📄 More info 🔗 https://t.co/mIixxS4QPm#Imola2020 pic.twitter.com/zrqwpyBvSc— UCI (@UCI_cycling) September 2, 2020
Bloody lions, think they own the roads
Walking down the road like he owns it! 🦁 🔥pic.twitter.com/9LfL2WC5XN
— QT@Anon 🌟🌟🌟 (@QTAnon1) September 1, 2020
Ineos are "not quite on it this year" says Bradley Wiggins
In his latest podcast, Wiggins said that Primoz Roglic “looked invincible” yesterday, but hasn’t been encouraged by the performance of the newly-named Ineos Grenadiers over the first four days of racing. Wiggins said the departure of coach Rod Ellingworth and the tragic death of directeur sportif Nicolas Portal could have had a big impact.
“There were two big losses there, two major players in the organisation of that Tour de France team”, he said.
“Rod wasn’t at the Tour de France last year because he’d already left before then, and last year was the first sign even with Geraint Thomas in the team where they didn’t look (like) the old Sky train.
“I wonder if they have to start trying to win the Tour in a different way; but two major players, it clearly has an impact on that team.”
The Tour de France lead car is now electric
🚘 The view from the Tour’s first 100% electric lead car, the @SkodaFrance ENYAQ iV!
🚘 La vue de la voiture n°1 100% électrique sur le Tour, @SkodaFrance ENYAQ iV @WeLoveCyclingFR #TDF2020 pic.twitter.com/jiTafd2pev
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) September 2, 2020
From today, the new Skoda Enyaq iV will now be at the tête de la Course for the remainder of this year’s Tour. The SUV was officially unveiled last night, and has a claimed range of up to 316 miles with the larger battery size option.
Peter Sagan (virtually) loses green jersey
🇮🇪 ☘️ @Sammmy_Be wins the Intermediate Sprint and the 20 points that go with it. He is now the virtual holder of the green jersey.
🇮🇪 @Sammmy_Be remporte le sprint intermédiaire et les 20 points qui l’accompagnent. Il est donc virtuellement le nouveau Maillot Vert du #TDF2020 pic.twitter.com/yvLcHMhyhS
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) September 2, 2020
Sam Bennett has just won the Intermediate Sprint to net himself 20 points, and is currently in virtual green… is this the year Sagan loses his grip on the jersey he has won a record seven times?
Tour de France latest
L’étape résumée en une photo 🥱 😂#AllezTotalDirectEnergie⚡ #TdF2020 pic.twitter.com/4xl4PnZkmp
— Team Total Direct Energie (@TDE_ProCycling) September 2, 2020
Boring af, if we’re being honest.
The Danes take cycling punditry to the next level with crazy good augmented reality graphics
Not got a clue what he’s saying but this is fucking brilliant #TourDeFrance pic.twitter.com/O5CEXxqVad
— Bands FC (@_Bands_FC) September 1, 2020
The guest on the show appears to be showing how riders in the peloton shield themselves from crosswinds, and the futuristic augmented reality explainer appears to go incredibly smoothly. Alan Partridge on the Day Today News circa 1994 would be very jealous of this technology…
Any Danish speakers out there who can transcribe the most salient points for us? There’s a pair of road.cc socks in it for you!
*We’ve now discovered this clip was from 2018. Anyone know if they’re still using it, and why can’t we have it on British TV?
"We need to tackle forced car use and ownership", says Caroline Russell
If you can, just make your current car your last car, use cars less, don’t buy an SUV and if you have to buy a car make it a small electric one. We need to tackle forced car use and ownership, make streets healthier and safer for walking and cycling and get more public transport. https://t.co/SbJkFfc5dz
— Caroline Russell (@CarolineRussell) September 2, 2020
The Green Party London Assembly Member and Councillor for the Highbury East ward in Islington was replying to a comment about the environmental problems posed by electric cars; and said that a better idea would be to promote more walking and cycling and reduce car use overall, rather than replace petrol cars with electric ones.
“Forced car use” “more public transport”
She is literally highlighting the same issues you are. She realises that people in rural areas has no other option and that is why it’s called “Forced” it’s someone’s decision not to provide public transport and that’s what needs changing— Cameron Taylor (@cmtlr) September 2, 2020
Not everyone was in agreement, but it appears some misunderstood Russell’s point. She added: “That’s why I said we have to make streets healthier and safer and tackle forced car use – many people live in places without public transport and where roads are so hostile you have to be brave to walk or get on a bike.”
Another commented that since they had stopped driving due to ill health, their shopping bill had increased; presumably due to more expensive local shops and high costs of public transport. Russell replied: “It illustrates all that is wrong with our transport system that without a car you are paying more for food and essentials. The health and societal dis-benefits of driving are not born by car users which is why these inequalities persist.”
Russell is well known for her activism on cycling and walking, and penned a blog for road.cc back in 2018 in which she question if the Met Police were doing enough to bring down the number of cyclists and pedestrians injured or killed on London’s roads.
Are we ‘forced’ into car ownership in the UK? Let us know your thoughts in the comments as always.
Tour de France: Wout van Aert wins stage 5
Is there anything this guy cannot do?!
Wout van Aert wins stage 5 of the Tour de France 🚀#TDF2020 pic.twitter.com/uM5EUwRck5
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) September 2, 2020
It’s cyclocross for the win, as the three-time world CX champ has just added a second individual Tour de France stage win to his growing palmarès.
Full stage report here.
Man has bike stolen outside a Cardiff Wetherspoons... just after finishing 400km Lon Las Cymru challenge for charity
Liam Owens had just completed the challenging route that stretches from Holyhead to Cardiff with friends from university, when the group decided to have a celebratory drink in a Cardiff Bay Wetherspoons pub.
Rory Fish told In Your Area: “We finally reached Cardiff at about 4.30pm and decided to go to the Wetherspoons there.
“We left our bikes outside and thought they would be safe because there were CCTV cameras around, but when came back we realised Liam’s had gone. To make it worse, he had his car keys in the back.”
Mr Fish says he doesn’t expect his friend will get his grey Avanti Giro bike back, but has urged anyone with information to contact South Wales Police on 101. Mr Fish noted on the group’s JustGiving page that they had faced much adversity on route as well as the disappointing ending, writing: “Well we made it through Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons… but not without their ups and downs.
“1x broken arm (James), 1x broken derailleur (Ross), 1x rear wheel buckled but on James’ bike (Ross) 1x bent disc brake (Rory) 1x bike stolen (as we had our celebratory meal in Cardiff – Liam).
“All in all quite the ordeal, but we’d do it all again in a heartbeat to raise more money for these great charities.”
2 September 2020, 08:33
Have tubular tyres finally had their day?
Tour de France tech trends: Why tubeless tyres now rule the peloton
Are we witnessing the death of the tubular and the takeover of tubeless tyres? Find out what the pros are using in this year's race
2 September 2020, 08:33
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Latest Comments
And maybe a planning obligation to have traffic Marshalls controlling access out of the site not obstructing the path and restricting it if cyclists are likely to be obstructed …one can hope
I'll stick to my low rider with Karrimor Kalahari dry bag panniers and Karrimor Kalahari barbag thanks.
How is the Hover Air X1 Smart more jersey pocket friendly? It doesn’t fold, like the original Hover Air X1 (which is excellent BTW). Are your jersey pockets larger than standard? You did read the part about this also being available only for Japanese market?
Presumably your bike has the legal restriction to 25 km/h, in which case you're not dangerously close to the line at all, it's the high speed achievable by illegal electric motorcycles (there is a plague of them at the moment in my area of London that, I would estimate, are capable of at least 45 mph) that's causing the collisions, the actual power is fairly irrelevant.
I use this cycle path regularly. It is used by commuters during the week but it is used more and more by families with young children evenings and weekends when the weather is fine. The car boot takes place on a Sunday which conflicts with this leisure use. One problem is with cars stopping on the cycle path to wait for a gap in traffic (as in the picture). Even if the car is stopped and there is space behind it, as in the picture, you can't be sure that the driver won't reverse or the driver behind won't close the gap so you have to slow down to almost a stop to get through safely. You would have to dismount as well as you would be using the footway part of the path. This isn't a huge problem going up the hill into Cheltenham, (coming towards you in the picture) as it is relatively steep and usually against the prevailing wind if there is any, so you are going slowly anyway. Going down the hill however it is easy to reach 30mph and this is where cyclists are going to be seriously inconvenienced by having to slow down and dismount. I don't think it's a huge safety issue but it will be annoying. Obviously the driver should not be blocking the cycle path at all and should wait in the entrance, which has good visibility, until there is a gap in both the road and the cycle path traffic. This is obviously beyond the skill set of the majority of motorists who would not dream of blocking the road but can't see any problem with blocking the cycle path. The main problem, however, is with drivers from Cheltenham crossing the oncoming traffic to enter the car boot sale. There may be nothing blocking the cycle path and the drivers will be looking for gaps in the (usually continuous) oncoming traffic. When a gap appears they will go but will they have checked that there are no cyclists on the track who will expect the driver to give them priority as instructed in the highway code. A cyclist coming from Cheltenham down the hill will be travelling at speed from behind the driver and the driver will cut across them from their left if they are not seen. Experienced cyclists will be watching out for this but that is not who the cycle path is intended for, it is intended to encourage new cyclists to get on their bikes. Another concern is when a driver is turning into the site and does notice a cyclist and does give way. The driver behind may not be expecting the car in front to stop and there is potential for a rear ending incident. The speed limit is 40mph but it is only adhered to in heavy traffic. I rarely drive but I did drive the road recently and I was doing exactly 40mph when I was overtaken. None of these would be a problem if drivers could be relied upon to obey the highway code but it seems to me that it is asking too much in today's "drivers come first" and "must drive as fast as possible" mentality. Finally one time I cycled when the car boot was on there was a person in a hi vis jacket directing the traffic. If the individual has received training then it should be safer but it will still inconvenience cyclists unless we are given priority.
@KiwiMike Respectfully, I don't think "oh well people can afford it" is a valid excuse for blatantly overcharging for a product. Yes of course it's people's choice whether they want to pay for it or not, just as it's my choice to point out that in my opinion, as with so many cycling products, it's a rip-off.
I guess you’ve never been for a ride in the countryside, and wanted to stop somewhere there isn’t a perfectly-positioned tree, fence or wall? Or have always had the good fortune to have a bike rack or wall positioned perfectly where you need it, and been happy to balance your bike and trust no-one will nudge it. I accept that’s a valid use case.
If you can afford a £3000 ebike you can almost certainly afford this. Especially as it’s the last one you’ll ever need to buy. Of course people will value the utility in their own way, there’s no definitive right / wrong, there’s just choice.
@jackcycles "The idea that you need a dedicated cycleway in order to ride a bike is ludicrous and false" You might not need one because you're a brave cyclist. There are many people in this country who aren't brave, who don't like mixing with traffic, and who won't cycle if they have to. So they need a dedicated cycleway, despite your protestations. "Just be more assertive" will never, ever work as a tool to enable more cycling.
@neilmck Other studies have shown different results, however, e.g. a 2025 study in Barcelona showed injury rates on uni-directional cycle paths were slightly higher than on bi-directional ones - I'll post the link below as otherwise might end up in the black hole of link approval quarantine. The study you cite is from 1990 when in many areas cycle provision was very much in its infancy and drivers were much less accustomed to watching for cyclists in separate infrastructure than they are now. As ever, in my experience at least, the issue is not the cycle lane per se but junction design, with proper mitigating measures e.g. raised tables at junctions, different surface colours, warning signage, set back give ways etc there's no reason bidirectional lanes should be more dangerous.
33 thoughts on ““Make your current car your last car”, says Green Party Cllr; Man has bike nicked outside Wetherspoons after finishing 400km charity ride; Ineos “not quite on it this year” says Wiggins; Cycling not popular on Tinder + more on the live blog”
Tinder matches.
Tinder matches.
I guess it depends on the kit?
Thinks that’s a Grindr match!
Think that’s a Grindr match!
I’m surprised at Rugby
I’m surprised at rugby getting the top spot as I always thought it was a game played by men with strange shaped balls.
Only after they’ve been
Only after they’ve been rucked a good few times.
They’ve missed the obvious
They’ve missed the obvious winner off that Tinder ‘study’ – polo.
Bloody rowers – always on the
Bloody rowers – always on the pull…
Presumably the American
Presumably the American Football kit is attracting some kind of fetishist crowd?
Fag-packet life lessons from
Fag-packet life lessons from a shagging app, what next I wonder? McDonalds Gyms anyone?
Quote:
And how many schools have we read articles about over the last couple of years which have banned – or have created unjustifiable hoops to jump through as regards – travelling to school by bike?
My kids’ school has managed
My kids’ school has managed the double whammy of passing on the govt recommendation to “walk or cycle to school if you can”, and to park at a distance from the school if driving in – while at the same time (a) stating that bikes and scooters must not be brought onto the school premises, and (b) doing nothing to actually stop everyone driving into the little cul-de-sac appraoch to the school, and parking all over the pavement.
So yes, my children, who have always cycled to school, are now in practice prohibited from doing so.
brooksby wrote:
And local authorities which put in cycle lanes one day and take them out the next.
brooksby wrote:
My son cycled to and from school for the few sessions he had there before the end of last term. He was amazed at how quick it was compared to taking the bus. But with his new term starting this Friday, he says he’ll take the bus.
The problem for him is that there’s just nowhere safe for him in the school to lock up the bike.
Regarding the anti low
Regarding the anti low traffic neighbourhood story, there was a twitter thread a few days ago exposing some of the anti lot as far right / football hooligan types, makes sense as they are pretty much all as thick as you know what.
Of all the things to protest against…we’re becoming more and more like Trumps America…pickup trucks at the ready!!
Quote:
Looks like the other option available if Lando hadn’t wanted to fit a Dejarik board in the Millennium Falcon…
I’m going to pretend I don’t
I’m going to pretend I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Photo needs to point out
Photo needs to point out which one Liam Owens is – listing all of them would be best.
Broken arm!! Yek. Get well soon.
Photo is taken from their JG
Photo is taken from their JG page. Can’t see where Road.cc could have got the info from to caption it from. Even the completion post shows two from behind so not easy to see which ones.
Make your current car your
Make your current car your last car sounds simple, but the way new cars are financed makes it’s impossible. Over 90% of new cars are bought on some form of finance with APR, with a lot of people paying monthly for cars they will never be able to make the final payment on when the term expires, meaning they chop it in for a new car on a new deal. The used car then gets picked up at auction by a car dealer and the finance cycle often repeats at a lesser level. The way to reduce car use and production is to stop people being able to buy things they can’t really afford with tighter credit checks, supposedly that were introduced after the 2008 credit crisis….?
I thought the opposite, PCP
I thought the opposite, PCP and lease deals usually allow you to walk away at the end with no penalty so many people are essentially renting their cars.
The lease/PCP deals will allow people to better visualise the costs of their car as it is essentially a fixed fee every month rather than a nebulous depreciation.
With trips to the office now far less frequent for many people the ‘cost per trip’ of those deals has risen significantly.
At £300/month it’s about £7/trip if you’re commuting 5 days a week. If you’re only commuting 2 days a week that rises to over £18/trip.
At that level public transport and even taxis could become cheaper alternatives let alone active travel.
I think this campaign has real potential to reduce car ownership.
Agree, you can walk away at
Agree, you can walk away at the end of the deal and it’s essentially renting, but people then just walk into a new deal on a new car as very few will just stop running a car altogether. That just puts more cars available to be on the road. Every three years seems to be common, so that’s potentially four cars over a ten year period. Purchase outright or with a loan people would keep them much longer due to the personal investment, and probably assess whether they need one at all?
Indeed, PCP faces people with
Indeed, PCP faces people with a choice after three years between paying a lump sum they don’t have, or rolling over into a new car. No surprises that they take the feasible option over the seemingly impossible. Very few seem to have the imagination to refinance the lump sum, pay it off monthly and get off the treadmill.
My point was that the three
My point was that the three year cycle gives people a regular opportunity to review their need for a car.
If you own a car outright and it’s sitting unused it’s hard to visualise the monthly depreciation costs, if every month you have £300 taken out of your bank account to cover the car you’re not using it becomes a lot easier.
Given the huge shift in working patterns that has just taken place I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people come to the realisation that their transport needs can be met far more cheaply in other ways. For example, if you and your partner are now both working from home full time you definitely don’t need two cars.
It won’t be an instant thing but I think we may very shortly see the peak in UK private car ownership.
Potentially a means to
Potentially a means to anecdotally measure that would be how long it takes to spot a new 70 reg on the road ?
FWIW I think it’s hard to walk away from a PCP deal with no car & not just keep renewing, as whilst it highlights you’ve been paying X amount for years and ended up with nothing,like renting a flat, it feels like you are losing whatever the value of the car was,or costs to replace. I might be using my car alot less and riding way more but ultimately I still feel I need a car. Its not PCP anymore I’ve had it for nearly 10 years,but I’ve used PCPs in the past,and would consider them again if I felt I could afford it.
If your car is 10 years old
If your car is 10 years old and owned outright then your cost of ownership is likely to be pretty low anyway.
When I changed from a job with a 40 mile commute to one with a 5 mile commute I realised that it made no sense to own a car as I’d be commuting by bike.
I added up all the costs associated with car ownership including depreciation, it ran to thousands of pounds per year.
It meant I could afford to rent cars when I needed one, take taxis when I needed to, pay for train and bus tickets as required and still save nearly £1000 per year.
Indeed, hopefully some people
Indeed, hopefully some people will see the light, but then I’m not sure how many people will continue to work from home once covid is fully over. I can see people choosing a mix, with a few days in the office as humans do need some social interaction, thus necessitating a continued need for private transport. Multi car families/relationships could reduce numbers, but otherwise we are all too reliant on them, myself included despite living in a London suburb with 24hr public transport. I couldn’t imagine being without one and was in the market for a new one pre covid, but my wife and I have decided that a few more years in the Nissan note we’ve had for 12 years won’t do any harm, especially as the kids treat it like a rubbish bin.
Where I work, there seems
Where I work, there seems little appetite to come back to the office. I think we will see people in perhaps 2 or at most 3 days a week (that is until they see their heating bill for the winter!)
But as I mentioned earlier a
But as I mentioned earlier a few days in the office will hugely increase the cost per trip compared to full time in the office.
If I was effectively paying £40/ day everytime I drove to the office I’d be looking at cheaper alternatives. This might include taxis, public transport, active travel or car clubs.
A lot of very big companies have announced that they are downsizing their offices considerably, once working from home has been established the it’s a simple accounting question.
Does the productivity increase from office working justify its much larger cost? I don’t think it will.
Whereas most of my colleagues
Whereas most of my colleagues are not keen, our management is. In spite of our productivity going up since we’ve all been working from home, they can’t get the thought that we might be doing our washing on work time out of their tiny minds…
Depreciation is an accounting
Depreciation is an accounting concept though. You have either bought the car as planned from savings and hence it is a sunk cost or you are repaying the £300 on a loan so you see that in the same way to the pcp.
If you own the car outright
If you own the car outright you have an asset which can be sold.
In this case the value of that asset is decreasing constantly but there is no obvious clue that this is happening. There is an ongoing cost to ownership in that your asset becomes progressively less valuable.
If you own the car there is also no defined end point like there is with a pcp or lease.
There is no ongoing cost. You
There is no ongoing cost. You decided to buy the car in year 1 and you used your savings to do that. In accounting terms, you wrote it off to revenue in year 1.
You can run your own balance sheet and P/L if you want, but cashflow is all that matters.
If you don’t consider asset
If you don’t consider asset depreciation a cost.
I would suggest that it is sensible to do so.
If an easily liquefiable asset decreases in value by £5k it is essentially the same as £5k disappearing out of your bank account.
You are absolutely right.
You are absolutely right.
I think the problem is that people don’t analyse their finances very well. My favourite is when people ‘had to change their car’ because it was beginning to cost them too much in repairs. When you ask about the repairs it turns out to be about a months payment on the new car they have just aquired.
Car purchase and ownership for most people is emotional not rationale….. unfortunately.
New phones on contracts are the same scenario.