UCI reports zero hidden motors found during 700 Tour de France tests; Jeremy Vine breaks down pointless punishment pass; Top notch junction; UK’s most bike-friendly cities; Penny-farthing Deliveroo; Rest day round-up + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Jeremy Vine breaks down pointless punishment pass
This happened on a street where, for reasons to do with the width of the road, drivers simply cannot accept that the person in front of them is on a bicycle. They will try a risky pass — as this one did — despite there being no advantage in doing so. I tried to stay calm. pic.twitter.com/XWiaR5uxIZ
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) July 10, 2021
This driver was seemingly so keen to sit in traffic he just had to race past Jeremy Vine, barely missing the presenter as he passed. After getting a ‘get out my way’ beep from the driver, Vine continues to ride a safe distance away from the cars parked on the left. The 360-degree camera then shows just how close the driver came to hitting him as he speeds through…only to get stuck behind more drivers and watch Jeremy pedal off into the distance.
Back in January, Vine shared a video of a 4×4 driver pushing through on a narrow residential street with the caption, ‘Every. Single. Day’…
Penny-farthing Deliveroo
You see the strangest things… pic.twitter.com/LlOou1PPre
— Dr Streetlove (@Iwalklondon) July 10, 2021
Study picks out five of the UK's most bike-friendly cities
Leisure Lakes Bikes has done some digging to compile a list of the UK’s five most bike-friendly cities, based on data and routes from Bikemap. Edinburgh topped the table with 1,751 routes on Bikemap and 164,913km of mapped ways, green space and of course, cobbles…
London came second despite having the most amount of mapped ways (223,429km) and 1,730 routes, while Bristol was third with a similar number of routes (1,612) in a considerably smaller area. Glasgow was ranked fourth and York rounded out the top five. Where do you think the UK’s most cycling-friendly city is?
Bottle banter
When you have a flight with Ryanair but didn’t buy the extra baggage. pic.twitter.com/EoIgmn9002
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) July 11, 2021
Tour de France rest day round-up from Andorra: Pros put their feet up ahead of gruelling final week
Rest day at the #TDF2021 😁 pic.twitter.com/VpkpSOoUR4
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) July 12, 2021
No stage today so the pros can put their feet up before a brutal final week of the Tour de France. Tomorrow looks another good opportunity for the breakaway with the double second-cat climbs of the Col de Port and Portet d’Aspet either side of the first category Col de la Core.
Wednesday takes the peloton back above 2,000m with a summit finish at the HC Col du Portet. Stage 18 on Thursday is the final of the mountain days and sees the race traverse the Tourmalet before another summit finish, this time at Luz Ardiden. Friday is the penultimate ‘sprint’ stage but could be hijacked by a breakaway if Cav’s troops are too tired to chase, before a 30km flat TT and the traditional Paris finish round off the Tour at the weekend…
To get that full rest day experience check out our feature on what the riders get up to on their day off…
Did someone say it’s a rest day tomorrow? 😁 #TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/ccnJiBblVY
— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) July 11, 2021
A junction worth making a detour to visit
When in Cambridge . . . must detour to do a lap of this. pic.twitter.com/IsUEtqxgs0
— filter more streets (@iambrianjones) July 11, 2021
You could go round on this all day…
Deceuninck-Quick-Step becomes Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team for 2022
Same team, high ambitions, new name in 2022!
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
Read more about this, here: https://t.co/4xVLrGx95k pic.twitter.com/Cn9bBJpzhm
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) July 12, 2021
After teasing us with the promise of big news our imagination ran wild and left us wondering if a Cav contract celebration was imminent…alas, not today. Quick-Step’s big news is a change of sponsor and a new name for 2022….introducing…Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team. Out goes Deceuninck from the name and is replaced by Quick-Step’s Alpha Vinyl floor…”rigid, 100%-watertight, ultra-strong vinyl flooring solutions that are almost indistinguishable from real wood or stone – and they can be installed on different types of surfaces, level or fairly irregular.” That’ll set pulses racing…
Cheltenham & County Cycling Club celebrates centenary year
Cheltenham and County Cycle Club got in touch to share the news that it is their centenary year. The club offers regular evening and weekend runs and has over 300 members covering road, mountain bike, cyclo-cross and gravel. The club will be celebrating its special year by organising a few 100km and 100-mile rides as well as timed laps of a cyclo-cross course and slalom runs at a local mountain bike centre…
The picture above was taken at the start of the first club run in 1921 and shows the impeccably dressed founder members…
All 720 motor doping tests come back negative during first 15 stages of Tour de France
The UCI has published the numbers from the opening two weeks of the Tour de France. 606 tests for hidden motors were carried out on bikes before the start of stages using magnetic scanning tablets (like seen in this old photo from the Giro) and a further 114 at the end of stages. All 720 were negative. The stage winner and leader of the general classification are checked post-stage every day…so the testers must be getting sick of the sight of Tadej Pogačar’s Colnago.
A new backscatter technology will also be brought into use at the Tokyo Olympics…for those, like me, who have no idea what that means…the UCI says it is a light hand-held device that can provide instant images of the interior of a bike that can be shared in real-time to anywhere in the world via secure platform…
Former pro and UCI Innovation Manager, Michael Rogers confirmed tests would continue during the final week of the Tour.
Maybe England would win this...
Last night’s football was 🔥… but have you seen Cycle-ball? ⚽️ 😮#Euro2020 pic.twitter.com/9SCFP8YTuA
— UCI (@UCI_cycling) July 12, 2021
Thanks for the reminder, UCI…
12 July 2021, 08:21
12 July 2021, 08:21
12 July 2021, 08:21
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Latest Comments
@imajez Brake adjusters mainly deal with pad wear whilst gear adjusters fine tune shifting during set-up and after fitting a new inner cable. Brake outer housing is spiral-wound and compressible giving compliance at the lever and the false impression that the inner cable somehow stretches whereas the metal strands in gear outer housing are laid axially and as such the outer housing doesn't easily compress over time keeping shifting precise. I find that a previously well-adjusted rear derailleur system that needs adjustment likely needs a new inner cable.
I ride expensive bikes wearing expensive helmets, my bike equipped with an expensive bike computer, fitness watch and cell phone. I carry my debit card. I worry. You would expect anyone living in Chicago to worry about bike jacking. Yet, for some strange reason. The Chicago land criminal community has not caught on to bike jacking. They like retail break ins and ATM smash ups.
@mattw "footpaths" Hmm... true this is an underappreciated resource and indeed in danger. But I think this is very location dependent. If we're taking in urban locations, are you talking alleys - narrow almost always no room for expansion? Or "footways" - also often not ample and we're back to "fighting over scraps" with pedestrians or even forced-conflict with "shared use"? In the countryside - perhaps? If what goes in NL applies more generally (and why wouldn't it - they're humans too) more people may be prepared to travel on bikes there than UK opinion holds. ("people depend on their cars... nobody cycles or walks ... the non-existent footway beside the A-road!"). Although that may depend on "cyclists and walkers get the direct route" which isn't always how we do it...
@james-o Cable brakes and gear shifters have have barrel adjusters to deal with the inevitable cable stretch, that most certainly occurs over time.
@mattw I believe this is exactly the kind of thing that The Ranty Highwayman and Robert Weetman worked on for Manchester City Council. Fixing it for pedestrians *ought* to be uncontroversial. It *ought* to be a path that actually "works" to move forward for the UK. I believe Chris Boardman had success in Manchester with an approach which largely emphasised this (plus buses). BUT... I do wonder if this leaves us stuck at pretty much the status quo - because it reinforces the current "either walking, or driving" split. First we'd get "can't have cycling infra because cycling gets in the way of cars and threatens pedestrians". Then most people simply won't walk far (especially if eg. carrying shopping). Which leads to "we still really need cars!" even for very local trips. Which then kills off active travel again, because cars take up too much space and suppress active travel.
@Geoff H, electronic shifting, like disc brakes and tubeless tyres is more reliable and less faff. A spare battery in with my tools, means I never have to worry about a flat battery. Only time I've ever used it was to lend to a mate just in case. The only two times I've had a torn tubeless tyres I was able to slowly and safely stop. It would have been a disaster with an instantly flat tube and loss of control when surrounded by cars or speeding downhill off road. In dozen years of using tubeless, I have had as many tubeless flats as I have had with tubes in that time. Except I've only used tubes for a few weeks in all that time. Plus and this is the really, really important thing, my ride is way more comfortable. I also have way more grip and more speed due to being able to use the correct tyre pressure - doing so with tubes would be constant pinch flatting. So a win, win, win win situation. Never been covered in sealant either. Which only happens if riding with too high a tyre pressure.
@quiff I think all human generated text should have the disclaimer "I am human and can make mistakes. Please double-check responses."
@jaymack I've seen a LOT of issues with old fashioned mechanical gear shifting/cables in my time. Modern electronic stuff is a lot les faff/more reliable. Personally I went electronic shifting with my new CX/gravel bike after the shifter cable self destructed inside my brifters on my older bike several times, the last two with zero warning. A nightmare to sort out. Astonishingly and thankfully, all three times it happened outside home, rather than the usual middle of nowhere I tend to cycle. Another nightmare with internal cables on my full sus ended up with me buying a wireless rear shifter out of frustration. Much better ergonomics of the shifter too. I hate cables in general, they stretch, get sticky, snap, fray, outers kink..etc. One of the best things about [hydraulic] disc brakes is the absence of flakey cables. My most recent nightmare with cables was swapping to a new dropper. An ostensibly simple 5 min job turned into a nightmare which involved buying a new lever for bars and a lot of challenging cable wrangling inside frame even after BB removal. Speaking as someone who is comfortable and quite competent at fixing bikes, cables can get in the bin. Badly designed internal cable routing can get in the bin, set on fire and dropped in acid.
Tempted until I saw the price.
@mdavidford Nah, only a human could have written this, whatever it means: "Cycling is inherently about people, so I think stuff created by AI shouldn’t mix it, or sports in general."
20 thoughts on “UCI reports zero hidden motors found during 700 Tour de France tests; Jeremy Vine breaks down pointless punishment pass; Top notch junction; UK’s most bike-friendly cities; Penny-farthing Deliveroo; Rest day round-up + more on the live blog”
The more surprising bit in
The more surprising bit in that Vine clip is the cyclist at the start deciding he isn’t allowed in the ASL box and staying level with the cars.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
It looks like he might have stopped to look at something on his phone? Not exactly where I would have chosen to stop, but arguably a more sensible place to faff than further forward.
So Jezza Vine get’s a ‘toot’
So Jezza Vine get’s a ‘toot’ from the knob-head driver. Now imagine what happens when you give the knob-heads a big red ‘bicycle toot’ button under their right thumb! Thanks INEOS for encouraging the knob-heads!!!
zedbedboy wrote:
And I think we can safely conclude, based on the evidence of who currently drives gigantic 4x4s, Ineos drivers will all be knob-heads.
Towing horsey trailers?
Towing horsey trailers?
ktache wrote:
The irony…..
I know this isn’t the point,
I know this isn’t the point, but doesn’t that 360 camera make Jeremy’s arms look funny?
Quote:
Think this is fantastic, although this particular rider has massive balls/trust/naivete [delete as applicable] assuming that the cagers are actually going to give way
Can imagine judges summing up: “You approached the new roundabout at speed, and, not understanding the eh new road layout, made the entirely logical and responsible decision to floor the accelerator. The only reason that I was unable to accept your mitigation that the sun was in your eyes was that you were heading north towards Ruislip at 2300 hrs. A sad case of wrong place at the wrong time. I sentence you to a life of wondering whether you actually did anything wrong”
Wasn’t the footage sped up?
Wasn’t the footage sped up?
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
Spoilsport.
Even so, I stand my view that drivers will blow through the give ways
Edit: have reread that, it’s a bit like saying that “I stand my view that the sun’ll come up tomorrow….”
he’s a witch, burn him.
he’s a witch, burn him.
Edit: Seriously though your future predictions are grimly correct, just watch the rest of the Dashcams video I posted to see the way drivers treat roundabouts and giveways for other drivers.
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:
he turned me into a newt….
Saw this awful driving and
Saw this awful driving and attempted murder of a cyclist on Uk Dash Cammers Youtube yesterday.
Footage is 4:43 in (should start directly there from the link).
https://youtu.be/h_2BwgUhjio?t=283
Wow, seems deliberate, and
Wow, seems deliberate, and far above the posted speed limit.
Just Feck’n Wow! WTF for me
Just Feck’n Wow! WTF for me that stands the test for attempted murder
wached a little further on, and the guy riding down the central reservation seems to be seeking a darwin award
Yep, was going to mention him
Yep, was going to mention him as well but then decided to not water down the seriousness of the incident above.
Clearly very dangerous
Clearly very dangerous driving, but I’m not convinced (and I doubt a jury would be either) that the driver was intending to hit the cyclist. Maybe attempting to scare their pants off, but not actually collide with them. By the time the van reaches the cyclist, it is already drifting back towards the main carriageway and not (IMHO) actively aiming towards the cyclist.
That chicane on the approach
That chicane on the approach to the Cambridge junction seems rather abrupt. Is that a deliberate attempt to slow down approach speeds (can’t make out whether the other approaches are the same)? How negotiable would that be for ‘non-standard’ cycles?
I have a disturbing image of
I have a disturbing image of blue vinyl skinsuits in my head now…
That looks like the same
That looks like the same penny-farthing rider who was racing in the 2017 London Nocturne. We thought then the deliveroo bag was just for a joke or a bet. Obviously not.