New bike day turns into £2,000 Brexit nightmare for British cyclist; Another helmet debate; M40 cyclist warned; Shimano poetry; How to avoid saddle sores in 1895; THOSE white shorts; Wiggo predicts Ineos success; Halifax-Roubaix; + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Home World Championships logo
The 2023 World Championships will see some huge changes to the event, most notably combining all 13 UCI World Championships together over 10 days for the first time. Glasgow will play host to thousands of athletes competing across the road, track, mountain bike, BMX, trials and indoor disciplines in what the governing body are calling the biggest cycling event in history.
Held in August too, a month earlier than usual, means we may see the newly crowned road race world champ showing off their stripes at the Vuelta…To mark the event, the UCI and design agency Stand have created a fun squiggly bicycle logo to “portray a sense of playfulness, inclusivity and positivity. A symbol of the event’s lasting legacy for Scotland”.
The UCI’s Director General, Amina Lanaya said: “The event logo and visual identity we are unveiling today illustrates the excellence and universality of the UCI World Championships combined with the expertise, hospitality and vision of our hosts. This unique event will leave a lasting legacy in Scotland for generations to come and will make history for the UCI and our sport in all its forms – competition, leisure and transport.”
How to alleviate saddle sores in 1895
Back in March 1895 The Manchester Guardian ran a weekly cycling column that recommended anti-friction paste and avoiding double-seated riding breaches as a nailed on bet for escaping the pain of saddle sores. It sounds like the origins of chamois cream to me…The author also recommended experimenting with the tilt of your saddle too…
And how about some Victorian wisdom on saddles in general. “The saddle that will exactly suit one man may be even as anathema to another”…
THOSE white shorts
When there isn’t much to talk about for the first six hours of Milan-San Remo, cycling fans spotting a potential fashion faux pas is about as entertaining as it gets. Mathieu van der Poel donned the white shorts again, along with matching leg warmers to the disgust of clothing snobs everywhere…
However, it probably wasn’t a fashion statement from the Dutch champion. In 2019, he opted for white shorts at the Tour of Flanders to help his team car distinguish him from Luxembourg champion Bob Jungels in the helicopter pictures. Current Luxembourg champ, Kevin Geniets is having an impressive season and was regularly at the front of the pack alongside Van der Poel on Saturday so my best guess is it was another tactical kit choice…
That’s my AC-12esque detective work done for the morning…Or perhaps he just likes white shorts…
Bradley Wiggins talks up Ineos Grenadiers' chances ahead of Volta a Catalunya
Bradley Wiggins spoke about his former team on The Bradley Wiggins Show and talked up their chances of “doing something big” this week at the Volta a Catalunya. Wiggo said the team has settled into the season and now look ready to translate those positive early signs into results.
“There’s a feeling that they’re going to do something big at the moment and I think it could be this week,” he predicted. “Maybe not with G [Geraint Thomas], I’m not too sure where he’s at. I get the feeling they’re poised to do something, you get the sense that they mean business this week.
“I think this time next week we’ll be looking at a performance. I think Yates will probably be the leader based on his form up to this point. He’s ridden well at this race before and I don’t think G will be concerned about needing to be the leader, there’s plenty of time for that with what he’s gunning for this year.”
Ineos have taken an incredibly strong team to the week-long race including Adam Yates, Richard Carapaz, Geraint Thomas, Richie Porte, Rohan Dennis, Luke Rowe and Jonathan Castroviejo.
🚩 Comença la #VoltaCatalunya100❗️
Segueix l’etapa en directe al nostre race center: https://t.co/N7kgYDBNrp
🚩 #VoltaCatalunya100 is underway❗️
Follow the stage live on the race center :https://t.co/GWfYZReHvH
#VoltaCatalunya100 🚴♂️💯 pic.twitter.com/VRsX30wldB— Volta a Catalunya (@VoltaCatalunya) March 22, 2021
Paris-Roubaix in Halifax?
On the table for the topic “hipster races from classic moved in other locations”, another race would like to see is a race in Britain, on Halifax zone. There are some cobbled bergs, flanders-like all over around it. pic.twitter.com/lwT1GdZANY
— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) March 22, 2021
Paris-Roubaix looks increasingly likely to be called off as per our story this morning…What about a British equivalent? This looks more like Flanders than Roubaix with all those steep cobbled climbs but Peterborough to Halifax anyone?
@chris_greenwell pic.twitter.com/fo9zCl4YN7
— Dom (@domvasey) March 22, 2021
I’ve always wondered why the Tour De Yorkshire has never had a Flanders style stage on the Saturday/Sunday – would be Epic
— Arrière du peloton. (@reardupeloton) March 22, 2021
Shimano celebrates their 100th anniversary with a bizarre poem
Of all the creative ways to mark your 100th anniversary…Shimano went for component-inspired poetry…After all, who hasn’t been moved to poetic expression by the click of a perfectly indexed rear derailleur. There’s also a timely reminder that Shimano make fishing gear. Presumably “with the click of each gear shift with each cast of a line” isn’t an endorsement of a new cycle-fishing event…
Shimano are doing a giveaway of 2,000 fancy commemerative photobooks, minus the poetry, if that’s your thing…
"Incredible" helmet stats spark debate about making riding without one illegal
Three incredible stats on cycle helmet use.
(via @London_Cycling magazine) pic.twitter.com/sbt51ZA1v2
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) March 21, 2021
The London Cycling Campaign’s latest magazine featured some helmet statistics which have got people talking on Twitter. London has the highest helmet usage of the nine European capital cities researched at 60.9 per cent, in comparison in Amsterdam just 1.1 per cent of cyclists use them. What should we take from this? That helmets aren’t necessary for riding your bike?
Plenty of people taking the opportunity to suggest the opposite, that wearing a helmet while cycling should be made mandatory like in Australia where a crackdown on speeding cyclists saw 33 riders fined for riding without a helmet in Melbourne last week…
That’s the very worst thing you could do for cycling safety. Here’s NZ’s mandatory helmet law, which resulted in greater risk to the remaining cyclists, a huge reduction in cycling, and a massive net loss to public health. FAIL. pic.twitter.com/I3xw9iOzoD
— Vaccinated CyclingMikey is so happy. 🇪🇺🇳🇱🇿🇼 (@MikeyCycling) March 21, 2021
All cyclists should wear a helmet.
— Andrew Robertson Hands, Face Mask, 2m Space 💙🌈 (@arobertsonphoto) March 21, 2021
This tells us of how safe cyclists feel in London. Having lived in both Amsterdam and London, I can say that London can’t be even compared to Amsterdam safety wise. I never felt a need to wear a helmet in Amsterdam and in London I don’t go even 5-10min cycling without one.
— Milan Vrućinić (@mvrucinic) March 21, 2021
Research presented at the National Road Safety Conference in Telford in 2019 found that wearing a helmet may put cyclists at more risk of being injured in a road traffic collision. The researchers concluded that helmet use increased accident rate by more than 40 per cent.
Meanwhile, a 2015 study from Canada found no link between cycle helmet legislation and head injuries, and instead recommended governments focus on providing bike infrastructure to protect cyclists.
Thoughts?
Your thoughts on the main debate today over helmets...
Better infrastructure and more cyclists on the road are what we need for safety. The helmet debate mostly comes from people who think that cyclists are safer if they don’t ride a bike and get out of the way of cars. https://t.co/jfQ466mSez
— Marc Prevot (@MRPVT) March 22, 2021
— London Cycling Campaign (@London_Cycling) March 22, 2021
And in the comments here…Compact Corned Beef asked: “Can’t we just all say personal choice in grave tones, then nod our collective heads, certain we’ve sagely avoided the obvious trap?”
Surprise win for 22-year-old Andreas Kron on stage one of Volta a Catalunya
📍 Etapa 1 /Stage 1
📄Resultats de l’etapa
📄Resultados de la etapa
📄Stage 1 standing🥇Andreas Kron – @Lotto_Soudal
🥈@LLEONSANCHEZ – @AstanaPremTech
🥉@RochasRemy – @TeamCOFIDIS @continental_esp #VoltaCatalunya100 pic.twitter.com/vgKI7nOsgz— Volta a Catalunya (@VoltaCatalunya) March 22, 2021
A group of four survived to the finish on a typically lumpy opening stage of the Volta a Catalunya. From that group Lotto Soudal’s Andreas Kron managed to beat Luis León Sánchez, Rémy Rochas and Lennard Kämna in the sprint. Kämna and Sánchez should be happy with their 16-second advantage over the main group of riders ahead of tomorrow’s individual time trial.
Back in the peloton, Team BikeExchange’s Dion Smith took 5th ahead of Matej Mohorič. There was also a return to the pointy end of a bike race for Movistar veteran Alejandro Valverde who was 8th.
Tuesday’s TT should have a big impact on who wins the race overall, with the riders taking on a rolling 18km course around Banyoles.
Andreas Kron clinches the biggest win of his career so far!
The 22-year old sprints to victory in the opening stage at #VoltaCatalunya100 🚴♂️💨 pic.twitter.com/bD2ZndgwKi
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) March 22, 2021
Cyclist given words of advice after being seen riding on the M40 hard shoulder
Another weekend with a motorway cyclist incident. This week it was on the M40 northbound between junction 1a for the M25 and junction 2 for Beaconsfield. The cyclist was seen just before 6pm yesterday evening. Highways England said: “Thames Valley Police Roads Policing have stopped the cyclist in his tracks, speaking with the cyclist and giving him words of advice about using the strategic road network for cycling.”
Earlier this month, a cyclist riding on the M62 in West Yorkshire was pictured riding past a sign…warning of a cyclist on the motorway.
Cyclist recalls nightmare of being told to pay £2,000 duty on new £5,000 bike from Poland
Shocker of a letter in today’s Guardian from a cyclist who bought a new £5,000 bike over Christmas. The bike was initially returned to the sender due to the border chaos before being re-sent on 12 January. Here’s where the fun starts…UPS told the cyclist in early February that there was more than £2,000 duty and taxes to be paid…When the cyclist refused, UPS insisted there was still a £1,500 duty to be paid to return the bike to Poland…
Consumer issues and financial journalist, Miles Brignall, understatedly noted it was “perhaps a little rash spending £5,00 on a bike three days before the Brexit deadline”. Some further digging and contact with the courier found that the cyclist would only need to pay an extra £1,000 to get the new purchase to their front door…
Brignall’s explanation of what happened follows: “What a nightmare – not helped by the fact that the government changed the rules after you made the purchase. In early January it stated that duty and VAT, which is what you have been asked for, was only payable on items that were bought from 1 January onwards. HMRC told me this week that items despatched after that were subject to the taxes, hence the bill.”
Have a read of our story on Brexit and the bike industry: how the situation is evolving…
22 March 2021, 09:07
22 March 2021, 09:07
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Latest Comments
I'd like to see some reviews of the IGPSport cycle computers & smart lights which are available on Amazon in the UK. They appear to be well equipped with GPS models in the £150 - £200 price bracket offering great features and very good value for money. If they are good enough to be supporting the Groupama-FDJ United World TourCycling team, we should be looking at them as a contender. It would be interesting how these compare to the Garmin and Wahoo models that are considered the industry standard.
Happens on a regular basis - seems to be one of the many exciting new 'features' of the new platform.
@Rendel Harris Thanks for that - every day's a school day. I had actually put 'Pedant mode off' under my comment but it didn't post and then as we all know, and are frustrated with, we can't edit posts any more. I will not correct anyone again - however, -ize still looks too American English for me. Cheers
We also have a greater volume of traffic, including on residential roads which were once quiet. Spending billions on infrastructure such as protected cycle tracks and modal filters is the only thing that will lead to mass cycling. Look at London. Why is there mass cycling there? Infrastructure. The Netherlands? The same reason. And often the only way to achieve meaningful change is reallocating some space and priority from motor vehicles, which is why the government's 'don't scare the horses' attitude is concerning.
You think there might be a clue to that in the name "City Light Set"? Marking it down because it's no good for fast riding on unlit roads seems somewhat akin to buying a micro-hatchback and then complaining that it's rubbish at pulling a plough.
This is like something from a kids' activity book. "The editor has a bit of a hangover this morning. Can you help him match the headline to the correct story?"
@kinderje Are you aware that -ise endings are actually the newer form, having supplanted -ize (as used by Shakespeare, the King James Bible and Jane Austen, amongst many others) in the mid 19th century? Etymologically there is a far better argument for -ize endings for words with Greek and Latin roots than the -ise ending which arose from Victorian publishers imitating French verb endings. Both endings are now regarded as acceptable in British English, although the Oxford style guide recommends -ize. It is most certainly not incorrect.
@Backladder Given that the makers are selling it as being useable on any ride on open roads, it doesn't seem unreasonable to try to test it in those conditions.
'Leasting'? That's a whole 4 letters less.
Although usually the easiest thing of all would be for them just to stop for a few moments while you cycle past them (which requires a lot less space to do safely than them passing you), but most people seem allergic to stopping, even for the briefest time.
31 thoughts on “New bike day turns into £2,000 Brexit nightmare for British cyclist; Another helmet debate; M40 cyclist warned; Shimano poetry; How to avoid saddle sores in 1895; THOSE white shorts; Wiggo predicts Ineos success; Halifax-Roubaix; + more on the live blog”
…and so it begins
…and so it begins
Do you hear yourself saying
Do you hear yourself saying that in a portentious Babylon 5 voice…?
brooksby wrote:
In my head, it’s a Randall Munroe voice which doesn’t actually make any sense as I’ve never heard him speak.
I was paraphrasing this
brooksby wrote:
The avalanche has already started … it is too late for the pebbles to vote.
Jetmans Dad wrote:
Not only is it too late, but how do they even register to vote let alone hold a pen?
A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from the bristles.
brooksby wrote:
The Babylon Project was a dream, given form. Its goal: to prevent another war, by creating a place where
humans and alienspro and anti- helmet wearers can work out their differences peacefully…stomec wrote:
That’s right. Some years in the future, Chris Boardman will actually travel back in time and become the legendary figure known as ‘Richard Ballantine’…
brooksby wrote:
Coffee / Keyboard interface moment….
Can’t we just all say
Can’t we just all say personal choice in grave tones, then nod our collective heads, certain we’ve sagely avoided the obvious trap?
Paging Chris Boardman, paging
Paging Chris Boardman, paging Chris Boardman
Immediate dose of calm, rational, informed, data-driven analysis needed in ward 6, to counter a dose of helmet hysteria.
All helmets should be
All helmets should be required to cycle.
Too many helmets on the road
Too many helmets on the road as it is.
I was under the impression
I was under the impression that the lessons to be taken from Australian helmet-mandating laws are (1) that mandating a helmet puts many people off cycling, (2) that Australian police take non helmet wearing waay more seriously than they do terrible driving, and (3) that Australian drivers think that if the cyclist is wearing a helmet then they don’t need to take any care around them…
brooksby wrote:
You missed the bit about Aussie cops using helmet laws to further their oppression of indigenous communities.
The use of minor cycling laws to intimidate black and other non-white communities is a common tactic in the States too
I wonder what would happen in this country should helmet laws be brought in…..
Personally I’d read this as
Personally I’d read this as cyclists either being afraid of traffic, or wearing a helmet because their nearest and dearest are afraid for them. I can relate to this, though I don’t personally wear a helmet round town but I do carry cameras because I not only feel threatened, but am actually threatened by inconsiderate and dangerous drivers far more often than the mileage I cycle would warrant. In my car or riding my motorcycle, the instances of other road users creating an imminent threat to my wellbeing are negligable to nothing, on a bicycle? – sometimes I feel like a duck in a shooting gallery.
The answer, though, is not to ask cyclists to put on a helmet (which provides very dubious protection when struck by traffic, but might prevent some superficial injuries from a low speed tumble) but to provide decent infrastructure in urban environments where a bicycle is an eminently practical form of personal transport for many people and to educate the operators of motor vehicles that they carry a huge responsibility for the safety of other road users and that that privilege will be taken away if they abuse it.
a helmet (which provides
a helmet (which provides very dubious protection when struck by traffic, but might prevent some superficial injuries from a low speed tumble)
Where do they get these ideas? That the brain injuries are ‘superficial (in their minds = trivial)
So, the “incredible” new
So, the “incredible” new statistic is the entirely credible and previously reported statistic that the Netherlands has high bike usage, low helmet usage, and low accident rate whilst London is the reverse.
How can anyone turn that around to making helmet usage compulsory (or have a missed something?)
Smiffi wrote:
No I don’t think you’ve missed anything, you’ve pretty much summed it up
It’s almost as if the people calling for it are people who know f*ck all about anything related to health or transport policy needs, and merely want to make things awkward for people who ride bikes…
it was posted on twitter,
it was posted on twitter, what do you expect 🙂
Awavey wrote:
A high standard of journalistic integrity, observance of the facts, and posters applying rigorous self-scrutiny as to the motivation behind their tweets, THAT’S what I expect, dammit!
There was at least one person
There was at least one person in the replies claiming that as there were more than twice as many cycling deaths last year in The Netherlands compared to the UK, when the UK has four times the population, the problem is with the Dutch not wearing helmets.
Conveniently ignoring that the key statistic is the number of people who cycle in The Netherlands compared to the UK and the total populations is complete and utterly irrelevant.
Jetmans Dad wrote:
Yeah nothing to do with modal share – 27% against 2% (UK) – or km travelled, 15bn against 3bn (UK)
Nah, gotta be helmets……
Smiffi wrote:
EDIT: phew, that was close. I nearly contributed to a Road.CC clickbait debate.
Why would you order a new
Why would you order a new expensive bike from Europe 3 minutes before Brexit? Insane!
On the other hand, if you are
On the other hand, if you are under the impression that orders before the deadline would not attract any additional fees, you might well decide to get the order in before then!
The anti LTN brigade are out
The anti LTN brigade are out in force today.
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/campaigners-demand-gosforth-bridge-reopened-20218094
just following the Telegraphs
just following the Telegraphs lead at the weekend, again, weirdly Im sure if the Daily Mail had published as many as 30+ anti LTN article in 9 months, often written by the same journalist, there’d be more attention focussed on it, whilst it not only barely gets noticed in the Telegraph, but cycle campaigners actually encourage people to contribute when the Telegraph puts out requests for some help writing more of them.
Consumer issues and financial
Consumer issues and financial journalist, Miles Brignall, understatedly noted it was “perhaps a little rash spending £5,00 on a bike three days before the Brexit deadline”.
Good Golly Miss Molly, a whole five notes on a bike from Poland???? That has to be an absolute steal!
Its a deal. Its a steal, Its the sale of the m************ century.
Depending what the bike is, It might actually be worth paying import duty.
toodlepip!
“Cyclist given words of
“Cyclist given words of advice after being seen riding on the M40 hard shoulder”
Just be careful overtaking on the inside.
GMBasix wrote:
And don’t eat yellow snow…
I wonder whether that cyclist
I wonder whether that cyclist on the M40 joined from the M25, or stayed on the M40 through that junction which would involve crossing several lanes of motorway traffic? Either way, that’s not my idea of fun.
Normally when they stop someone cycling on the motorway, they’re just going between junctions on the hard shoulder, which is probably safer than a lot of roads we do happily cycle on.
Best case is that he joined the M4 eastbound at Langley, kept left onto the M25 and then kept left again onto the M40, in which case it’s surprising it took the police so long to get to him.