Ask a stupid question… Cyclist’s amusing edit to homemade sign; Could you keep up? Yet more drivers struggle with Highway Code changes; Training with MVP; More considerate drivers? Just tow a coffin-like box; Festive skivehundred + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Could you keep up? What it's like training with Mathieu van der Poel
Nice cyclo-cross training ride in Winter Wonderland today 😍
Starring @MerlierTim, @mathieuvdpoel and 📹 @GVermeersch pic.twitter.com/GbBmUkUYXB
— Alpecin-Fenix Cycling Team (@AlpecinFenix) December 22, 2021
This is probably just an ‘easy’ spin for the great Dutchman…
Gearing up for his cyclo-cross return at the World Cup round in Dendermonde on Boxing Day, Mathieu van der Poel has been out shredding the trails with Alpecin-Fenix teammates Tim Merlier and Gianni Vermeersch. Based on this footage we reckon we’d sprint to the first corner to stay in contact and then very quickly give a shout of ‘see you at the cafe!’ before being unceremoniously dropped…
To make matters worse this apparently isn’t even Van der Poel in top shape…he’s been recovering from a wound on his knee sustained in a “stupid crash”.
“I wasn’t even training, I was just cruising with a friend through the forest and I just lost my front wheel on a slippery part that I didn’t expect and I hit a gravel section first with my knee, so I was wounded pretty bad. I immediately felt that it wasn’t good,” Van der Poel explained.
The world champ has delayed his cyclo-cross return until this Sunday when he’ll go head to head with Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock. road.cc Liam has already claimed it’s the biggest event of his week…you sure there’s nothing happening on Saturday, Liam?
“Wout is in really good shape. I expected him to be at the immediately and win, but not in the way he did it,” Van der Poel told reporters ahead of the Boxing Day scrap.
“Maybe [I can race] for the win. The level behind Wout is something I would normally be able to follow. When I came back into cyclo-cross and could see how far he rode away sometimes, I don’t know if I have that kind of legs already to follow him but I should be able to be in the group behind. Hopefully I can surprise myself as well.”
Just another ordinary day...
Just another ordinary day at Robin Hood Island. pic.twitter.com/UNnlvQG0F0
— James Goes Cycling🚴🏻⛵️🇪🇺 (@JamesKPatterson) December 22, 2021
It's not just Mathieu van der Poel laying down the watts
3…2…1… GO 🚀
🎥 @BVP88 pic.twitter.com/y3t2SkqlCp
— Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert (@IntermarcheWG) December 23, 2021
Mathieu van der Poel’s Dutch compatriot Boy van Poppel is also putting in the work this winter. If we thought we’d get dropped on the gravel, we’d definitely get dropped here…enough watts to do your morning toast.
We’d rather take Egan Bernal’s approach…just surround yourself with so many dogs you can’t do anything…
La manada 🐶🖤 pic.twitter.com/AGrEnse4yn
— Egan Arley Bernal (@Eganbernal) December 22, 2021
Are you feeling unfestive? Try the festive skivehundred...
I will not be taking part in the Rapha Festive 500. Even though I’m a RCC member and would probably buy a binbag if it said Rapha on it, I find the whole concept nauseating. Just go for a cold, long ride in January and don’t shout about it. I consider the matter closed. Thank you pic.twitter.com/L9D86JbAhj
— Simon P. (@thepuncheur) December 22, 2021
I won’t be participating either. No moral objections here, I just can’t be asked to get out on my bike eight times in as many days at this time of year…and forget doing it in less than eight rides…maybe I’ll do an ode to Australia and do a June 500 next summer when the weather’s nice…
Major kudos to any of you lot prepping your routes ahead of the start tomorrow. What’s on the menu for day one? An easy opener? A big day to get as many miles out the way early? Or one of eight perfectly even 62.5 kilometre rides? Let us know in the comments…
Want drivers to be more considerate? Just tow a coffin-like box
Hmm, I’m left wondering why drivers seem a bit more respectful and less impatient around this. Maybe I should have just bought or made a more coffin-like shape? pic.twitter.com/vFWqDH3ODt
— CyclingMikey tired of road crime. 🇪🇺🇳🇱🇿🇼 (@MikeyCycling) December 22, 2021
Honestly, I’m more intrigued by what’s in the box? A pig in blanket for every driver Mikey has caught using their phone behind the wheel?
Ask a stupid question... Cyclist's amusing edit to homemade sign
You know what they say about asking a silly question…well, one of our readers spotted this sign in Friston Forest, East Sussex…
Clearly a popular spot for walkers and cyclists, one member of the community decided to politely request cyclists give a little bit of notice that they’re there. You know, maybe a ‘hello’ or some aggressive freewheeling…
What our sign maker certainly didn’t have in mind was this sharp reply. Top marks for comedy value and creativity, although we’re pretty sure we’ve seen this joke before.
These sort of sign battles periodically pop up on our live blog, usually when NIMBY locals take the time to protect their precious village from the barbarians on bikes by creating such masterpieces as this…
“Sorry, Phil. You can’t come through here with that freehub buzzing like that”… “Ah, never mind, the sign says ‘cyclist’. We’re in a group so must be fine…”
> Homemade sign tells cyclists to ‘ride quietly’ through village
Elsewhere in the archives we found this gem…who could forget the “passive-aggressive sign battle” one cyclist had after their NIMBY neighbour put up ‘no cycling’ signs. Cue: cycle path, beware of the kangaroo, beware of the dragon, beware of the troll, mind the gap, think bike and beware farm vehicles signs being strewn across every post on said farmer’s road…pettiness personified, but fantastic entertainment for the rest of us.
Primož Roglič extends Jumbo-Visma stay until at least 2025
Primož Roglič will be wearing Jumbo-Visma yellow until at least 2025 after confirming a new contract with the team. Roglič has been with the team since he joined the WorldTour in 2016, and will have completed a decade by the time his new deal expires.
During that time, the Slovenian superstar has won three Vuelta a España titles in a row, the Olympic Games TT, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and more one-week stage races than you can shake a stick at.
“I have grown with this team since I arrived in 2016,” Roglič said. “We already have quite a history together that I am very proud of. I made my debut in the World Tour peloton at a somewhat later age. It may have looked easy, and the best moments surface the fastest, but it wasn’t always easy.
“Still, things have moved forward rapidly for me and my development. I am not solely responsible for those beautiful moments. I did that together with my teammates and the staff. It is great to be part of this team in the coming years as well.”
Looking ahead to 2022, Roglič didn’t name any races in particular, instead asserting his “goals are independent of results”.
Electric vehicle delivery lane
🚳, its an EV delivery lane pic.twitter.com/pMbpat64ID
— Brum Bike Cam (@TheBrumBikeCam) December 22, 2021
Cambridge news #1: bike thief jailed for six weeks and is not allowed to be in possession of bike unless he notifies police first
35 year old Stephen Neal was caught trying to steal a £900 bike from a Cambridge store, and has now been sentenced after previously pleading guilty to bike theft and criminal damage.
Neal was seen taking a bike on 4 August, and on 6 September was caught using bolt cutters in an attempt to steal a bike in a shop window in Cambridge’ Beehive Shopping Centre.
Neal was given his six week prison sentence on 30 November, and on Tuesday was handed a rather specific two-year Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO). The CBO says Neal must not “be in possession of any pedal cycle part or pedal cycle unless having notified the police within 24 hours of his lawful possession, providing any details of the possession”, or “go to Superdrug, Boots or Go Outdoors stores in Cambridge within the boundary of the M11, A11 and A14.”
Bike theft has become a serious issue in Cambridge, with the city recently being named the UK’s bike theft capital.
PC Kayleigh Rocca ensured fed up residents: “We’re working hard to address cycle crime in Cambridge. This includes reviewing and identifying bike-theft hotspots, catching offenders, recovering stolen bikes with proactive patrols and education.
“All reports of bike theft are taken seriously, and we would encourage people to report offences so we can build up a picture and deploy resources accordingly.”
(More positive) Cambridge news #2: new Chisholm trail opens
The Chisholm Trail is Open! pic.twitter.com/sYmyteFh5X
— Camcycle (@camcycle) December 23, 2021
As some on the people who have commented on the post note, this 26km cycling and walking route (when fully completed) has been a long time in the making… here is an article on the proposed route from 1998!
road.cc readers smashes ten virtual metric centuries in ten days to raise cash for sanitation in poorest parts of the world
Job’s a gooden and I’m knackered. 1026kms in 10 days and over £1500 of sponsorship, thank you so much everyone who’s supported this lunacy, you’re brilliant. Happy Christmas one and all! xxx pic.twitter.com/Upn1AvUeCu
— Rendel Harris (@Rendel_Harris) December 23, 2021
On 14 December Rendel Harris set out to cover 1,026km virtual kilometres, which would be the distance between his house in Peckham and Monte Carlo in Monaco. Ten days later, he completed the challenge and has raised £1,230 at the time of writing for the Toilet Twinning charity, who build toilet facilities in some of the poorest parts of the world for just £60 per toilet.
Rendel told road.cc: “…just want to say a huge thank you to all the generous road.cc riders who chipped in almost a third of the £1500 raised so far, and many thanks indeed to road.cc for letting me publicise it through the forum.”
Well done Rendel! If you want to donate the fundraising page can be found here.
Here we go again... police tweet on Highway Code changes gets mixed response
Changes to the Highway Code are set to be introduced by DfT & will see the introduction of a Hierarchy of Road Users & will give pedestrians & cyclists greater priority over cars at junctions and crossings #DriveSmart #FifeRP
Infohttps://t.co/FKNfGGlilghttps://t.co/NbtzsEGKeR pic.twitter.com/3B26SzqeHL— Road Policing Scotland (@polscotrpu) December 23, 2021
We’ve said it, said it again and then at least once more again, but looking at our inbox and social media it seems some people (drivers of motor vehicles it would seem) can’t get their head around having to actually give way to pedestrians and not close pass cyclists.
Only person at fault here though would be the driver behind you not driving with due care and attention. Negotiating a junction is a considered to be a hazardous manoeuvre and requires additional care and attention.
— Craig (@Malesoun) December 23, 2021
The latest organisation to attempt to prepare the public for the impending changes are Scotland’s Road Policing Unit, with the reaction being a mix of sensible and completely irrelevant points about pavement cycling, and being worried about getting rear-ended when obeying the law and waiting for a pedestrian to cross the road. How about the person in the vehicle behind pays attention? We can only hope…
23 December 2021, 09:06
23 December 2021, 09:06
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Latest Comments
I agree, the study was made after cycle paths that had been introduced in Berlin during the 70’s and 80’s caused a big increase in cycling deaths. It is an interesting study for cyclists to read in order to know what dangers exist at badly designed junctions. Here in Paris we have very few bi-directional paths. The ones I have cycled on have no building entrances or courtyards (so no cars crossing the path) and every junction is traffic lights to prevent accidents.
We have enough regulation. They're running a motorbike without insurance/registration and possibly without a licence, and the punishment for being caught with all that is pretty severe already. The problem is lack of enforcement.
In my experience with anything less than one of those serious mid-bike two-foot kickstands, a wall / tree / hedge is the better option, or the bike will sometimes show you the alternative and lie down by itself. Maybe I've got panniers that are just too large and the wrong balance of (too much) cargo though? And of course Edinburgh streets are great at funneling gusts of wind...
I agree there's a clear legal line * but I do see something here. Like much tech it's entirely opaque from the outside (without even invoking things like the VW emissions cheating).** I know in NL they have trialled semi-portable "test stations" to check max motor speeds. However with the latest "but there's no money" crisis I can't see that over here. Indeed it's hard to see the police being motivated to do any more roads policing, with this even further down the priority list. Hope I'm wrong... While I guess many of us *would* be fine with EAPCs as a means to attract "non-cyclists" ... perhaps there's an "attractive nuisance" element to this? We're ushering people into an apparently effortless, easy and minimal consequence mobility mode without the "learning experience" of managing a lighter, unpowered machine on roads. And it's still (busy) *roads* where the new power-assisted riders will often find themselves. Not like in more advanced countries where people usually cycle in much safer and more controlled environments. OTOH we should always balance such concerns against "but cars and full-power ICE motorbikes now" though! Number plates, licences and insurance aren't necessarily mitigating that well... * As soon as there are laws games will be played. How long can you be above the "continuous rate power" for? Can we have *multiple* legal motors on one machine? ** Is the power / speed actually regulated by software, and how long will that keep a child armed with the internet from unlocking it?
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.
13 thoughts on “Ask a stupid question… Cyclist’s amusing edit to homemade sign; Could you keep up? Yet more drivers struggle with Highway Code changes; Training with MVP; More considerate drivers? Just tow a coffin-like box; Festive skivehundred + more on the live blog”
Didn’t the police say that
Didn’t the police say that they wanted to hear from people seriously inconvenienced by road blocks?
“Look, mummy – that poor car
“Look, mummy – that poor car tripped up!”
Phew.. 62.5 kms not miles!
Phew.. 62.5 kms not miles!
‘The stopping to give way to
‘The stopping to give way to folk crossing the road you are turning into will potentially have a lot of rear enders.’
Love the fact that the writer hasn’t even acknowledged that this is what the HC already says and that the change is that you now have to give way to people waiting to cross.
I had one the other day. I was already crossing the road when a driver tried to swing off the main road in front of me. I just kept walking, he was already going slowly so stopping wasn’t an issue. Honestly, he looked nervous (like he was worried about holding up other drivers) and confused.
IanMK wrote:
I had one of my drivers ask something along these lines whilst training, “Who has right of way?”. I said ped, but either way you stop. “Even if it’s your right of way?” came the response
“YES! What else are you going to do, run them over??” Saw the lights switch on, also many titters from other drivers present.
Sad but true. People will
Sad but true. People will sensibly look for the biggest / most salient risk – and that’s being hit by another motor vehicle. Probably “getting abuse from another driver” comes next.
Slow down and you risk a rear-end or rage from driver behind – that’s going to be uppermost in your mind.
Also your premiums might go up. Bastards likely aren’t insured / are bigger than you too.
Plow on through – well probably the cyclist / pedestrian will get out of your way. If you “brush” or “skim” them no harm done. If they do throw themselves at your car it’s probably only cosmetic damage to your paintwork.
If only they were properly insured, you’d be able to claim that back too.
Of course an acompanying
Of course an acompanying problem are the dimwits who stop, wrongly flash their lights, and try to let you out. Ignoring the incorrect use of the lights, you should not give away your right of way. Other road users may, quite rightly, not expect it to happen.
If we all stuck to the rules there would be ot accidents. In fact I hate the A word as it implies no fault. Stupidity or ignorance is chosen.
Quote:
Quite right – firstly cyclists don’t have a monopoly on road space and secondly I’d expect them to make way for people who are helping to fight climate change…
That is where I think it is
That is where I think it is slightly wrong.
First the picutre, if the car moving and is ahead of the bike already then the bike should probably slow as would a car have to. To get into the situation shown in the image the car has either been is a queue of traffic or has overtaken the bike very recently and is about to left hook.
This is what will cause the biggest issues and it is understandable. The rules should be clearer and probably include something like.
If turning left or right across a cycle lane or path the cyclist has right of way. Treat a cyclist on the road as any other road user and do not turn left immediately after overtaking or right across the path of an oncoming cycle as you would for any other road vehicle.
People might then actually get what is being asked.
DoomeFrog wrote:
The picture in the tweet shows the (extremely common) left hook doesn’t it? Driver barges half a metre ahead of cyclist in order to immediately turn left, leaving the cyclist with nowhere to go. Looks perplexed and annoyed when cyclist leaves blood all over their precious paintwork.
DoomeFrog wrote:
if the driver is momentarily ahead, it is because they have just overtaken the cyclist even though they know they are about to turn left. EXACTLY what we are trying to stop.
Unless you cycle at 30mph there is no way a bike catches up with a car on an empty road, and of course no cyclist moves into that gapo at that speed.
I’m fed up of trying to
I’m fed up of trying to explain to motorists tht the new changes are an evening up and safety measure and also that they should be doing these actions already. The response is always the same: “I was in the right” is no use when on a tombstone (UK is gravestone or headstone), what about jay-walkers which is not an offence in the UK, and what about the zombie pedestrians, they also throw in the odd comment about pavement cyclists and RLJ’s. Trying to hold a sensible discussion is a waste of time because they refuse to acknowledge any of your comments whilst accusing you of being evasive.
It’s easy to spot who is a cyclist who is also a motorist and who is a motorist who also cycles.
Gus T wrote:
You tell someone about levelling up and run into a wall of scepticism? How very zeitgeisty.