Happy ending for NHS worker whose bike was stolen while he worked in Covid ICU; Richard Carapaz lays down some watts; Sir Dave Brailsford helps England’s rugby team; Summer’s coming; Bike thief caught; Record viewing figures + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Richard Carapaz's superhuman training intervals up a leg-shredding climb in Ecuador
Ahí va Richard Carapaz entrenando para estar en forma este 2021. pic.twitter.com/90Kjt89bcQ
— Diego Vos ~ Ciclismo (@diegovos_) February 1, 2021
So what does it take to be one of the best climbers in professional cycling? This fatigue-inducing training footage shows the 2019 Giro d’Italia winner prepping for the upcoming season with some brutal intervals. Some amateur detective work of the graffiti at the start of the video points to the brutal climb being in the Pablo Arenas area of the Ineos Grenadier’s native Ecuador…Considering how camera footage usually makes gradients look less severe, it seems fair to speculate this climb looks like it touches upwards of 20% on the ramps.
However, the 27-year-old is filmed making light work of the hill, sprinting out the saddle and only slowing just before the top. Very impressive. Carapaz had another successful year in 2020, proving himself to be one of the strongest climbers at the Tour before narrowly finishing second behind Primoz Roglic at the Vuelta a España.
Bike theft stopped by police in Leyton who arrest suspect
#CCTV spotted a male interfering with a bicycle in #Leyton #E10. SC 5107NE attended location stopped and searched the male. Subsequently arrested the male for going equipped, points & blades, attempted theft of bicycle, theft by finding of a freedom pass & possession of class A. pic.twitter.com/uJUevyOOwb
— MPSSpecials: #StayAtHome #ProtectTheNHS #SaveLives (@MPSSpecials) February 1, 2021
Bern's new e-bike certified Hudson MIPS helmet
Bern has released a new helmet specifically designed for commuters using e-bikes. Off the back of recent data which showed e-bikes had the highest year-on-year growth of all bike categories, Bern wanted to offer an e-bike certified helmet. The brand claims the new Hudson helmet is their safest yet and is rated for use up to 27mph. It provides 10 per cent more impact testing coverage for the most sensitive parts of the brain, as well as 21 per cent more velocity and 43 per cent more impact energy absorbed than traditional standards. It also comes with MIPS to protect against rotational motion and has an integrated LED light on the back to keep you visible. The Hudson is priced at £109.99.
An uplifting thought for UK cyclists
in one week there will be 26 minutes more light per day (compared to today) and the sun will set after 5pm. in two weeks there will be an hour more light every day
— roland barfs (@rolandbarfs) February 1, 2021
Here’s a nice reminder for all the UK-based cyclists reading this…We’re getting closer to those long, dry (sometimes) summer evenings…Only eight more weeks until the clocks go forward.
SweetSpot announces five-year deal to exclusively broadcast the Tour of Britain and Women's Tour on Eurosport and GCN
🗣 @lizziedeignan: “Adding live television coverage really takes it to the next level!”
The Tour of Britain and Women’s Tour have announced a new partnership with Eurosport and GCN 🤝
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) February 2, 2021
Eurosport and GCN + will be the only outlets to broadcast the Tour of Britain and Women’s Tour in the coming years. Previously, ITV has broadcasted the Tour of Britain but now the race, alongside the women’s edition, will be live and exclusive on Eurosport and GCN’s platforms.
As part of the five-year agreement the race organisers, SweetSpot, will introduce live coverage of the six-day Women’s Tour including additional video content such as previews, features and analysis. Lizzie Deignan, the 2019 Women’s Tour winner, said: “The Women’s Tour is already a highlight of the Women’s World Tour calendar with fantastic crowds and support in the UK but to add live television coverage will really takes it to the next level.
“It’s great to see the race has partnered with Eurosport and GCN and it being live means there will be even more exciting racing throughout and adds to the already brilliant atmosphere.”
Both events were cancelled last year due to the pandemic but restrictions depending the Women’s Tour is scheduled to take place in the second week of June, while the Tour of Britain will run over eight stages during September.
England head coach Eddie Jones "embarrassed" by Dave Brailsford's brilliance
The head coach of England’s men’s rugby team, Eddie Jones, says he met with Ineos Grenadiers boss Sir Dave Brailsford to help prepare for the upcoming Six Nations. Jones was full of praise for Brailsford, who he said was “absolutely outstanding”. “I’ve been lucky enough to have a couple of conferences with Dave Brailsford and Arsène Wenger, particularly Brailsford,” Jones told Rugby.com.AU.
“I feel embarrassed being at the same table as him. His thought pattern and the way he thinks about preparation and how to take a team forward were absolutely outstanding. I have been lucky enough to learn from those two guys. Arsène – he has got a wealth of experience in how you manage teams and how the longer you stay in the job, what you have got to do to keep your team growing. I picked up a couple of ideas from him.”
Brailsford’s Ineos Grenadiers start their 2021 campaign at French race Etoile de Bessèges tomorrow. The team selected is typically packed full of big names with Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal, Michal Kwiatkowski and Filippo Ganna all named on the startlist for the five-stage race.
Record viewing figures for the cyclo-cross world championships
WORLD CHAMPION 🌈🤩
📸@BelgaImage pic.twitter.com/yR64TodNEJ
— Lucinda Brand (@lucinda_brand) January 31, 2021
Het Nieuwsblad reported that this weekend’s women’s cyclo-cross worlds attracted record viewing figures in the Netherlands and even outdid the men’s race. On average, 864,000 Dutch viewers tuned in to watch Mathieu van der Poel win his fourth title. However, the day before 921,000 had watched the women’s event. In Belgium, the women’s cross hit 800,000 viewers, while the men’s event topped 1.4 million — the highest viewing figures for a cyclo-cross event since the 2013 worlds in Louisville.
Anti-LTN group share photo of 'cycles use the footway, pedestrians use the cycleway' road sign
Anti-LTN group OneWandsworth shared this photo of a temporary road sign in Hammersmith that says cyclists should ride on the footway and pedestrians walk on the cycleway. The picture was shared with the caption: “You can’t make this stuff up”. Unfortunatley for OneWandsworth there’s an explanation for the reverse arrangement, which is actually an old photo from last year. As our road.cc news editor explained at the time…
This was approach to Hammersnmith Bridge before it was fully closed last year (it was already closed to motor traffic but still open to people on bike or on foot), so there’s actually a logic about it, was aimed at reducing potential conflict.
— Simon MacMichael (@simonmacmichael) February 1, 2021
Should have been wearing hi-vis
Regrettably, popular media often focuses on whether people cycling wear “hi vis” clothing. As this incidence shows, “hi Vis” is not a substitute for systemic protections to cyclists’ safety, namely, high-quality cycle infrastructure. More about LCC policy https://t.co/azCrGsEh6R https://t.co/fhrHY5bhSG
— London Cycling Campaign (@London_Cycling) February 2, 2021
Tie Dye cycling kits
Cycling clothing brand Pedla got in touch to share their soon-to-be released Tie Dye cycling kits. The style will initially be available in two men’s jerseys and one women’s as well as a gilet and t-shirt. Certainly something a bit different that will make you stand out on the road…
Could you see yourself wearing a splash of Tie Dye this summer?
Bike stolen from a Covid ICU staff member while they were on shift has been recovered
Thanks for retweets got this message from the guy’s family: “..we’ve got the bike back!” https://t.co/C8h1Fce2cx
— Chris Choi (@Chrisitv) January 30, 2021
Here’s a good news story…The worker at University College Hospital in London got their Genesis Croix de Fer 10 bike back after it was stolen while they were working the night shift on a Covid intensive care unit ward. The original social media post said that it had been seen on Facebook Marketplace being sold by a new account based in Islington. There’s not yet been a mention of whether the person who stole it has been caught, but still, a nice bit of news for your Tuesday afternoon…
Bike thief used fake lanyard to trick security guards and steal Brompton
A burglar managed to outwit security to steal a bike at Hammersmith’s Riverside Studios by using a faked lanyard. Richard Connick made off with a pink Brompton and a staff laptop from the venue having used the lanyard to get into the building, before swapping his own bicycle for the Brompton.
Court News UK reports the 49-year-old appeared in Westminster Magistrates’ Court earlier today for the offence. The building’s security officers said they had spotted Connick walking around the site on December 15 with a company lanyard, and that he was waving at staff. He took creative director Rachel Tackley’s pink Brompton which, along with the laptop, totalled a value of £2,300.
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"Landcross Road is now like a rat run, cars bomb through there. Surprised that there hasn’t been a smash there or somebody hasn’t been knocked down yet." Is that a vote for a modal filter there? Or - better - seeing how this could be fitted into a broader pattern of LTNs for residents? Or even starting a conversation on what they expect from travel locally / regionally and how could that be delivered. If the answer is - predictably - "like now but driving is more convenient" how much is that *really* going to cost / affect them going forward? Spoiler - they might well get lucky and have a few more years of "help for the hard- pressed motorist". (Particularly through the influence of Reform moving the conversation at a national level). But with more people here, more bills from people living longer (and all the other changes, the wars we're paying for...) the *real* costs of mass motoring may come back to bite pretty soon.
Scrapbook or it didn't happen?
This make me think of the early days of the bicycle - European countries which at the time still had prescriptive and quite restrictive views of female roles and appropriate behaviour and there were certainly outpouring of concern about the idea of women cycling. (Although I believe there was more acceptance of the zoo of "wheeled self-propelled contraptions" of the Victorian era). And ... maybe they were right in that perhaps this did lead (eventually) to some social liberalisation / young people mixing? Also thinking about an example the other way where NGOs working to help people have provided bicycles to eg. assist women bringing produce to market, only to find that these are all appropriated by men. (Perhaps a bit like "the man drives the car" which can still be seen to some extent in the UK). Of note is that Dutch women on average make more cycle trips than men. That's nothing to do with ebikes, but the efforts made (infra and built environment) to make driving not be the default for shorter trips. Plus women still do more of the admin / (child)care than men there.
Even better, there's a 4 hour rolling road block on this afternoon as the carnival parade travels through the town. Those on social media complaining about this work have known about it for months and despite what they may claim, they are not the silent majority but a vocal minority.
Indeed - and before *that* Abellio who had the franchise for Scotrail had bikes ("Bike and Go") at (a few) stations. At the time I didn't understand this, not being cognizant of the Dutch OV Fiets system which presumably this was based on. Unfortunately I don't think many others understood it either. Given the small numbers of people braving Scotland's unfriendly and inconvenient cycling environments it was a case of "too soon for the location". Didn't help that these were unpowered public hire bikes (so robust and heavy * ) and some of the places they were offered are hilly. Plus there's the UK expectation of people cycling on the road accelerating like a motor vehicle and flowing with the traffic. * Ones I tried were something like the Batavus Personal bike with all the trimmings, racks etc. They had been sensibly given them a large number of gears (7) for a hire bike and who knows what you could carry. But even just carrying me they were ponderous.
Yes, clearly it would have been preferable for him never to have ridden a bike and driven everywhere, then he could have ended up an obese, bitter and spiteful specimen stuffing his face with crisps and fizzy pop sitting in front of his keyboard in mummy's basement leaving stupid comments on other people's obituaries. That would have been a much better use of a life.
"The Voi bikes have been much more successful than their predecessor, the Just Eat Cycles run by Serco which ended in 2021." The predecessor to VOI bikes in Edinburgh was not - as your version says - Voi bikes.
Wow. It takes a very miserable person to come to a cycling website, read an obituary of a very sweet, smart, kind man, and think that it's a good opportunity to post some sarcastic drivel, with a smiley no less. I bet your mom is real proud of you. Good luck with your weird little personal vendetta, I guess.
@Dodonline "better off adding capacity to roads" is a well-documented means to increase the volume of traffic overall. If they are built, people drive on them. Take a look at Los Angeles or the US highway system.
@Jitensha Oni I see no misogyny in that abstract. Many communities around the world, particularly those focused on religious faith, demand that women act and dress in what others might see as outdated, unnecessary and restrictive ways. E-bikes might have benefits for such women.
24 thoughts on “Happy ending for NHS worker whose bike was stolen while he worked in Covid ICU; Richard Carapaz lays down some watts; Sir Dave Brailsford helps England’s rugby team; Summer’s coming; Bike thief caught; Record viewing figures + more on the live blog”
That Carapaz video – it’s
That Carapaz video – it’s also taken at 2000+ metres above sea level!
Do ebikes do 27mph ?
Do ebikes do 27mph ?
What does rated for use up to 27mph mean when hit by something over 1.5 tonnes ?
Speed pedelecs assist to
Speed pedelecs assist to 45kmh, and helmets are mandatory for them (as they’re effectively mopeds). The only e-bike helmet standard I know of is NTA 8776 from the Netherlands. It sounds like this is designed to meet that standard.
Helmets aren’t designed for
Helmets aren’t designed for encounters with vehicles.
For bicycle helmets, I believe it’s the vertical speed that the helmet will hit the ground, so forward speed is not relevent. So, the 27mph could imply that ebikers heads are higher up when biking?! Or that the MIPS copes with higher rotational forces when experiencing the friction of the road surface?
Helmets are designed to limit
Helmets are designed to limit head acceleration, not prevent injury. What the impact is with is irrelevant. Neither is the direction, they are merely tested at different angles using a drop test because it’s a simple way of achieving uniform testing.
Philh68 wrote:
Are you sure about your facts? I thought the helmet was designed to dissapate energy during decelleration (ie when your head hits something stationary and goes from moving to not moving)
hirsute wrote:
Not over here, but in the US where preumably this is aimed many states allow a top speed of 30mph.
Really good news about the
Really good news about the Women’s Tour, I hope it goes ahead.
Ive always appreciated ITV4’s
Ive always appreciated ITV4’s support and coverage. I hope this does not herald a move of other cycling events exclusively onto subscription platforms.
Hopefully ITV4 will still do highlights, if not live.
well Ned Boulting seems to
well Ned Boulting seems to have confirmed via Twitter thats still the case for ITV4 (and so it should be), whilst the press announcement specifically does note the deal,though its not clear if it means just the Tour of Britain or includes the Womens Tour as well (but lets presume it meant both) is not exclusive to Eurosport/GCN in the UK or France.
but digging into the press release, it talks about “digital destinations”, aka its the Eurosport/GCN app subscription service isnt it. its not Eurosport turning around and saying hey lets not show that repeat of an 8hr snooker final from last year to fill time on our channels when we have live sport to show, its go subscribe to our app service and then you can watch this stuff live, and hope you can mash up a setup that streams it onto a viewing platform you want.
now some people might be ok with that, live broadcast of cycling on tv isnt cheap or easy, so especially for womens cycling its a step in the right direction, but for all the fanfare of it, come June assuming the race even takes place, alot of people are going to be disappointed I think trying to find coverage, only to find by then theyve got to pay 40quid to watch something they may only have interest in for a few days.
Quote:
Yup, I’m guilty of scanning ahead in my weather app to rejoice prematurely at the prospect of extra daylight to come.
One thing I don’t understand – the clocks go back at the end of October, but they stay back well beyond the point at which the day has recovered to the same length, which comes some time around mid Feb. Even going by sunrise time, we are back to where we switched by the end of Feb. Yet we drag it out another month until even after the equinox before going back to summer time. Why?
Sriracha wrote:
Suspect it has something to do with Scottish farmers? For example, in the middle of February in the Highlands the sun doesn’t rise until 7.50 GMT, so putting the clocks forward then would mean they’d be in darkness until nearly 9am in the hours when much of the work of a farm is done.
Schoolchildren too…
Schoolchildren too… (remember when they were allowed to go so school), they would have their trip to school in the dark if the clocks did not move later.
Rendel Harris wrote:
Suspect it has something to do with Scottish farmers? For example, in the middle of February in the Highlands the sun doesn’t rise until 7.50 GMT, so putting the clocks forward then would mean they’d be in darkness until nearly 9am in the hours when much of the work of a farm is done.
Surely farmwork is governed by the sun, not the clock. I’m sure the cows don’t know what time it is, even in Scotland.
Sriracha wrote:
My (limited) understanding is that it is also to do with things like getting milk sent off by a specific time in order to get it processed and on supermarket shelves.
Sriracha wrote:
Surely farmwork is governed by the sun, not the clock. I’m sure the cows don’t know what time it is, even in Scotland.[/quote]
Well no, because farmers still have to get their kids to school, go to the bank, do their shopping etc. If all they had to do was work dawn to dusk without any other committments that would work, but they do have a right to a normal life too!
And actually cows do know what time it is, they need to be milked at the same time each day, twice a day, whether it’s light or dark, and obviously the more it has to be done in the dark the more onerous it is for farm workers, the greater risk of accidents, etc.
Rendel Harris wrote:
Exactly – and that time does not change with the clocks (which is what I meant). So the farmer’s day does not change with the clocks either.
Anyway, none of this gets me any closer to knowing why the changes into and out of GMT are not symmetrical. Why do we remain in GMT until days are longer than equinox when we don’t enter GMT until days are well shorter than equinox? By any parity with the start of GMT we should exit some time in Feb, not wait until end of March.
Sriracha wrote:
The simple answer is to align us with other countries, particularly Europe. Though that doesn’t really explain why we or they coalesced around that particular arrangement.
Historically it’s started all over the place – from late Feb up to May, via diversions into double summertime and all-year-round summertime – until the current arrangements were solidified in 1972.
mdavidford wrote:
The way things are looking, we’re more likely to align our clocks with Samoa or New Zealand…
Indeed I do recall years ago
Indeed I do recall years ago there was a month where we overlapped with the continent, before we aligned our changeover dates.
I hear all the arguments about school kids (although dark evenings are the greater danger for them apparently) and farmers and indeed Europe – but none of that answers the question; why do the parameters of day length and sunrise times which trigger the change in October not likewise apply in reverse – why the asymmetry? Whether you be a Scottish farmer, schoolkid or European.
The only thing that comes to mind is maybe Scottish farmers are up to things of a February morning that don’t obtain in October?
The current arrangement with
The current arrangement with Europe wasn’t set in 1972. I was in Germany from1973 on and for years the clocks were moved about three weeks apart from the UK. The Germans still piss and moan about changing the clocks and I’m convinced that those that moan fail to understand that keeping CET (winter time) would mean people on the east side would get daylight around 3am in June.
Hose
Well, yes – I should perhaps
Well, yes – I should perhaps have said ‘particularly European ones’ rather than ‘particularly Europe’ – the EU only fixed a single standard some time in the 2000s, so whatever we did we would still have been out of sync with some European countries.
In any case, though, I more meant that that’s why we’ve hung on to the current arrangement, rather than carry on messing around with it, as opposed to that’s why it was adopted in the first place.
I always loved what the
I always loved what the Indian Chief said about daylight saving time:
“Only the white man could cut a foot off the bottom of a blanket, sew it to the top, and say he had a longer blanket.”
Morevelo did a blue Tie Dye
Morevelo did a blue Tie Dye mountain bike shirt a while back.
It was definitly a lot lighter when I got off the train today, just before 8 (turned my respro anklebands around on the train), and there was a hint of light when I left the house just after 7. I saw catkins this morning, there has been a lot more birdsong the last week, I’ve seen wagtails and heard woodpeckers the past few weeks, and the crazy squirrels are back.
It would be nice if it didn’t rain for a few days.
Spring is coming, though winter may bite a little more before then.