Cyclists slam “dangerous” THINK! advice suggesting parents move kids into “single-file” to let traffic through; Dave B’s back on Strava; Star-studded gravel World Champs startlist; Danny MacAskill being Danny MacAskill + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Cyclists slam Cycle To School Week advice suggesting parents move kids into "single-file" to let traffic through
THINK! road safety’s third day of Cycle To School Week started with the following advice for parents cycling with their kids…
#CycleToSchoolWeek Day 3 🚲
Cycling 2 abreast (side by side) with children/inexperienced riders can help keep them safer on the roads.
Remember to be aware of people driving and allow them to overtake (for example, by moving into single file or stopping) when safe to do so. pic.twitter.com/7sMTScVqG6
— THINK! Road Safety (@THINKgovuk) October 5, 2022
Followed by a full pile-in over the second paragraph, which many suggested was inappropriate and unsafe advice…
— Lockdown Cyclist (@LockdownCyclist) October 5, 2022
If I’m riding two abreast to protect a child from traffic, why would I move to single file every time a car appears? Drivers can wait until it’s safe. Or just wait.
— Katy (@TheBlueUlysses) October 5, 2022
If I’m riding two abreast to protect a child from traffic, why would I move to single file every time a car appears? Drivers can wait until it’s safe. Or just wait.
— Katy (@TheBlueUlysses) October 5, 2022
Please focus on the real problempic.twitter.com/A4weE6zMfI
— cycle guy- strays off topic (@thecycleguy3) October 5, 2022
So where did this advice come from? THINK!? Nope, this heavily-criticised advice came directly from… well… the Highway Code…
Be considerate of the needs of other road users when riding in groups. You can ride two abreast and it can be safer to do so, particularly in larger groups or when accompanying children or less experienced riders. Be aware of drivers behind you and allow them to overtake (for example, by moving into single file or stopping) when you feel it is safe to let them do so.
This revelation made it a smidge more understandable (to some) why THINK! had used that wording, but others pointed out protecting children cycling on the road should probably come slightly higher on the ol’ priorities hierarchy than abiding perfectly to the code.
Is the key point “if you feel safe to do so” and/or do parts of the Highway Code still need updating?
This is not a great piece of comms because, whilst the second sentence is straight from the Highway Code, when I’m riding on the road with children/inexperienced riders, I pretty much always judge it to be safest to be a little further out than they are. https://t.co/W8MNC9fTjK
— Jon Owen (@anotherJon) October 5, 2022
No. You go in the next lane to overtake even a single cyclist. Singling out doesn’t help overtaking. It only encourages dangerous squeezing past cyclists. pic.twitter.com/oLwtjdBy8t
— CyclingMikey (@MikeyCycling) October 5, 2022
These Think! tweets aren’t terribly real-life useful but they’re compliant with current Highway Code (which remains duff in many respects and needs further revisions.)
— Carlton Reid (@carltonreid) October 5, 2022
Sagan, Van der Poel, Van Avermaet, López, Lutsenko... Star-studded startlist for gravel World Champs
— Jacob Vaughan (@JacobVaughan14) October 6, 2022
Coming to you from Veneto, north-east Italy, first on Saturday afternoon for the women’s race, then on Sunday for the men, the 2022 UCI Gravel World Championships has attracted some startlist…
Can an iPhone 14 survive Danny MacAskill landing a jump from a telephone box?
Forgive the clunky TikTok embed, guess it serves me right for sharing something from the godawful favourite of the youth…
@danny_macaskill Putting a slight twist on the usual iphone drop test! @Mous keeping things nice and safe… #livewithoutlimits #iphone14 #droptest #edinburgh #royalmile ♬ original sound – Danny Macaskill
Turns out this one’s a few months old, and yes, it did survive…thanks to its Mous case…yes, it was an ad…
Santander Cycles adds e-bikes to its fleet
Transport for London and Santander Cycles have expanded their fleet of hire bikes in the capital to include 500 e-bikes. They can be used for up to 60 minutes, have been distributed across central London, and can be docked as normal at any of the 800 docking stations.
> E-bikes finally coming to London’s Santander Cycles Hire Scheme
The rollout had been due to happen last month, but was postponed due to the Queen’s funeral. TfL’s chair, Sadiq Khan, said it was a “momentous” day, and he is “determined to make cycling as accessible as possible as we continue building a safer, greener, more prosperous London for everyone.”
Santander Cycles now joins Lime, HumanForest, TIER and Dott in offering Londoners e-bike hire.
David Lappartient 'addresses' sportswashing in pro cycling
Here we go…
Question: What is the UCI doing about ‘sportswashing’, where countries with poor human rights records host major sporting events?
David Lappartient: “That’s of course a potential danger. The money involved in cycling is not very high compared to, say, football, even if we are one of the biggest sports when it comes to the number of fans.
“If you aggregate budgets for the teams and the race organisers, we have not so much more than €800 million, which is not so high. When you are in a closed stadium you sell tickets, but when you are on the road and the road is completely free, you can’t sell tickets to have people there.
“This means we have to combine potential markets wich are key for us and the passion for the sport, but of course we have to balance that with human rights, which is also something key for the UCI and sport globally.”
I’ve summarised this response to save time for everyone.
*Not a lot* pic.twitter.com/UQrzp0ZXhm
— Andy Noble (@andy24noble) October 6, 2022
At least that’s cleared up… right, where was I? Oh yes… checking UAE Team Emirates, Bahrain Victorious and Israel-Premier Tech’s Il Lombardia line ups…
THINK! plays it safe on day four
Looks like they’re playing it safe and uncontentious today!https://t.co/sSjaQzaqxk
— Peter Clinch (@pj_clinch) October 6, 2022
No such drama today…
Could most road safety advice be boiled down to...don't be a knob? Your thoughts on THINK!'s Cycle To School Week message
Does backlash to THINK! advice highlight issues with the Highway Code?
Road safety campaign advises parents to “be aware of people driving and allow them to overtake (by moving into single file or stopping) when safe to do so” during Cycle To School Weekhttps://t.co/zVx68tyDaE pic.twitter.com/byLpuBs61h— road.cc (@roadcc) October 6, 2022
Big suggestion from Jetmans Dad in the comments this lunchtime… can we boil most road safety advice down to, quite simply, don’t be a knob?
The suggestion came after Patrick9-32’s comment: “If you look at these things from where a lot of people are coming from which is: ‘My convenience is roughly equivalent in importance to anyone else’s safety’ the arguments start to make a lot more sense. So many of those ‘but what if I have to stay behind a cyclist for a mile???’ comments that seem insane suddenly make sense, they are just coming from a person who is broken.
What THINK! and other organisations need to push isn’t: ‘Cyclists, improve the convenience of motorists where you can please…’ That builds up that equivalence further, but instead: ‘drivers, your convenience is less important than a human life, slow down, wait, don’t be a knob’.”
HoarseMann suggested the way the advice was edited caused a problem: “The problem with that THINK! tweet is they’ve done what most drivers do when reading that sentence from the Highway Code; they’ve missed out the YOU FEEL.
“The rule is not ‘when safe to do so’, it’s when YOU the cyclist FEELS it’s safe (which might be never if you’re riding with a child).”
LeadenSkies added: “They have tried to take a snippet from the overall rule and ended up taking bits out of context and changing the overall meaning/ emphasis. The first sentence in the Highway Code paragraph itself is general advice about being considerate to other road users, the second sentence adds clarification that you can ride two abreast and indeed they give two scenarios where it is safer.
“The third sentence returns to general advice and doesn’t build on sentence two at all. By only paraphrasing sentences two and three in their tweet THINK! have changed the emphasis and meaning. Poor on their part.”
Dave B's back on Strava
The news I know we’ve all been on tenterhooks for. Dave B is back on Strava…
> Sir Dave Brailsford reveals his personal diet and training regime on Strava
road.cc Simon on the ground at Gran Piemonte
Broke off work for 15 minutes earlier to catch start of @GranPiemonte, great atmosphere in Omegna, little town at Northern end of Lago d’Orta pic.twitter.com/5LAS7eQep6
— Simon MacMichael 🏴🇮🇹🇪🇺❤️💙🚲 (@simonmacmichael) October 6, 2022
Who’s that lad in the white?
And a certain someone was looking both very relaxed and very focused at the start … lethal combination 👍 pic.twitter.com/zAEZxuIOKj
— Simon MacMichael 🏴🇮🇹🇪🇺❤️💙🚲 (@simonmacmichael) October 6, 2022
The bike of the next Hour Record holder?
😍
🥰 https://t.co/nHi6HAKJkI pic.twitter.com/HF7YTmi2MA
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) October 6, 2022
How’s that for an aero machine? Pretty darned good, we’d say…
> Pinarello unveils “the first high-performance 3D-printed bike” for Ganna’s UCI Hour Record attempt
Pinarello unveiled Filippo Ganna’s ride, “the first high-performance 3D-printed bike”, a Bolide F HR 3D, earlier this week. It was developed with the help of Ineos Grenadiers’ performance engineer, and current Hour Record holder, Dan Bigham, who rode a prototype in his record-breaking ride back in August.
“The frame was only five parts, with the front triangle made in three pieces and the seatstays/chainstays as two more pieces,” says Pinarello. “These pieces were made individually and after meticulous cleaning and support removal, the parts were bonded together using an aerospace-grade epoxy.”
The bike’s elite, so is Ganna… the only question now is: how far he’ll go?
The Italian will take on the UCI Hour Record in Grenchen, Switzerland, on Saturday 8 October at 8pm CEST (7pm BST). The attempt will be broadcast free on Ineos Grenadiers’ YouTube channel.
The Richmond Park survival video game
Here’s a niche one for the select group of readers familiar with Richmond Park. Shout out to the Twitter follower who forwarded it to us (apologies, it was way back this morning and I can’t find it now)… this video game clip appeared on the Nature in Richmond Borough Facebook page by someone “currently developing a Richmond Park video game”. “Crazy cyclists and drivers are next to be added as enemies”… apparently.
Each to their own, I guess…
Peloton set to sack 500 staff, 12% of workforce, as part of "transformation journey"
More bad news coming out of Peloton today…
On the slide since gyms reopened following Covid-related lockdowns, Peloton cut the cost of its exercise bike by 20 per cent last year after posting worsening losses. The bad news kept coming in 2022 too – in July, the company announced it would stop making bikes in the US as its share price hit an all-time low (and has dropped further since).
In August, Peloton reported a $1.2 billion fourth quarter loss… and now is set to sack 500 staff. The Evening Standard reports the move represents 12 per cent of the fitness brand’s workforce, and is the second major round of job cuts in the last few months (adding to an August statement that 784 people would lose their jobs).
A spokesperson said: “A key aspect of Peloton’s transformation journey is optimising efficiencies and implementing cost savings to simplify our business and achieve break-even cash flow by the end of our fiscal year.”
Utrecht's bicycle graveyard
While riding across Utrecht’s Wittevrouwenbrug today, we spotted what at first glance seemed to be some kind of cool new art installation.
Then we suddenly realized it was simply that time of year when the municipality fishes the weesfietsen (“orphaned bikes”) out of the canals. pic.twitter.com/DbEqGvr4TP
— Melissa & Chris Bruntlett (@modacitylife) October 5, 2022
Cyclist who went missing in the New Forest found safely
A cyclist who went missing while out for a bike ride with his wife in the New Forest has now been found, Hampshire Police confirmed.
72-year-old Charles Pugh got separated from his wife at around 12.30pm on Tuesday near Beechen Lane in Lyndhurst, prompting a search. The pensioner was found overnight and Hampshire Constabulary thanked those who helped with the appeal.
Good value? How Santander Cycles e-bikes stack up against the capital competition
On 12 September 2022 we’ll be adding e-bikes to Santander Cycles for the first time. Bike hire prices will change at the same time to help secure continued investment in cycle hire in London.https://t.co/bNo9BTyIKo
You can see how our e-bike offer represents good value: pic.twitter.com/ArhJncjiS9
— Will Norman (@willnorman) August 26, 2022
Our first reaction was £3.30 seems steep…BUT in comparison with other schemes, for longer dockless journeys, £3.30 comes out looking pretty decent…
6 October 2022, 08:13
6 October 2022, 08:13
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Latest Comments
I'll counter that by saying the Bryton 750se I have drives me nuts at times. Inconsistantly picks up on routes created on Komoot and the app re-syncs every few seconds when trying to set up the device and sends me back to the home screen. The most infuriating one is that I turned live track on. Once. It now won't turn off and repeatedly flags up the live track is starting, and then disconnecting every few seconds whilst riding. I haven't timed it but it wouldn't suprise me if 10-20% of the time the the screen is covered with an error message. That's been about 6 weeks now. Other than that it's great :/
RE: Police launch road safety operation... by clamping down on cyclists using footbridge Meanwhile in Glasgow, Police Scotland are riding their motorbikes over the pedestrian and cyclists only bridge. https://x.com/FietserGlasgow/status/2065106152917012523?s=20
@Paul J Van Schip certainly seems a bit of a dick, but he's a European and multiple World Champion on the track, pretty sure you don't get there without having some talent in your legs.
Poor Vincent cannot get over the simple fact that given the choice people prefer dedicated cycling spaces, rather than pretending to be cars like vehicular cyclists.
What is the point of the fancy air sensor if it can't account for changing weather conditions?? If all you care about is a delayed approximation of aerodynamic watts in steady conditions, you don't need any special sensors for that. Just your speed on a decently flat course is enough to approximate rolling resistance and drivetrain losses. And the rest must be aero. If you assume a less aero body position at the same watts, your speed will drop while rolling resistance also drops, which means approximated aero watts goes up. And that's enough to demonstrate what you've shown in your testing protocol ("I sat upright and the number went up a little while later").
Your correction is accurate - it's almost always been "the (lack of) thought that (doesn't) count". "Massive" - less than a billion a year spent on active travel (trying to catch up / building a network across the entire country) Not massive - 6 billion every year (2026-2030) spent on road *maintenance* of existing "already built, goes everywhere, very convenient" road network for inactive travel Ultimately the reason "cycle infra" is *needed* is those unbelievably colossal amounts spent every year (and for more than a century now) on making mass motoring not just viable but apparently the "best choice" for most journeys. As the Dutch and others have shown, the majority of people *are* prepared to cycle and even mix with very light, slow local motor traffic *if* cycling is also made safe and convenient for the whole of their journey (including secure parking at both ends). (The history of the financial drivers of the current situation are a complex topic but note that while people complain about "crumbling roads" and underfunded motor infra - with some reason - by us continuing the fuel duty escalator freeze (for example) we're actually helping motorists pay *even less* for that activity / subsidising more of the cost of driving than ever.)
yes, but people will still object - which was my point.
So ' Priority of Road Users' and 1.5 metre clearance at 30mph has been been reduced to 'sharing'? NCN route 2 here in South Hams is an absolute scream with white vans, tractors and total idiots who refuse,or are totally incapable,to reverse on high Devon banked lanes ...means you have to get off and pedal back to a passing place....could be at that all day...so I don't bother...
@MaxiMinimalist Agreed. The big problem I see now is today's parents grew up being driven to their schools, and therefore, see private motor vehicles as the only viable form of transport. The vast majority of UK infant and primary schools have a catchment area that is within easy walking distance from home to school. Yet, the traffic caused by pupils being driven to/from school is astonishing. Banishing the "School Run" should be a priority for all schools.
When I was a kid (that was during the previous millenium when phones were connected to a plug in the wall), I rode my bicycle to school, music academy, sport grounds, parties even during the winter. The government didn't have to spend, correct that, didn't have to think of spending massive amounts of money to build cycling specific infrastructures. Over the past 3 or 4 decades, cars have grown bigger, taller, safer (for their drivers) and faster. Meanwhile, motorists have become abusive, aggressive, hypersensitive to people moving on two wheels, aka cyclists. Spending billions upon billions on new infrastructure won't address the crux of the matter. Sadly.
13 thoughts on “Cyclists slam “dangerous” THINK! advice suggesting parents move kids into “single-file” to let traffic through; Dave B’s back on Strava; Star-studded gravel World Champs startlist; Danny MacAskill being Danny MacAskill + more on the live blog”
The problem with that THINK!
The problem with that THINK! tweet is they’ve done what most drivers do when reading that sentence from the highway code; they’ve missed out the YOU FEEL.
The rule is not ‘when safe to do so’, it’s when YOU the cyclist FEELS it’s safe (which might be never if you’re riding with a child).
edit: that’s being too kind to most drivers, I think most don’t read past the parentheses. All they see is ‘Be aware of drivers behind you and allow them to overtake’.
They have tried to take a
They have tried to take a snippet from the overall rule and ended up taking bits out of context and changing the overall meaning/ emphasis. The first sentence in the HC paragraph itself is general advice about being considerate to other road users, the second sentence adds clarification that you can ride two abreast and indeed they give two scenarios where it is safer. The third sentence returns to general advice and doesn’t build on sentence two at all. By only paraphrasing sentences two and three in their tweet Think! have changed the emphasis and meaning. Poor on their part.
Also clearly the if safe
Also clearly the if safe proviso to move to single file is never met when immediately before the highway code states that you should ride two abreast with children/inexperienced riders for safety…
Do X when Y for safety;
Change from doing X to Z when safe.
Implies to me that you shouldn’t change to Z when Y.
Remember to be aware of
Remember to be aware of people driving and stop to doff your cap and beg forgiveness for daring to use the road.
their road.
their road.
If you look at these things
If you look at these things from where a lot of people are coming from which is: “My convenience is roughly equivalent in importance to anyone else’s safety.” the arguments start to make a lot more sense. So many of those “But what if I have to stay behind a cyclist for a mile???” comments that seem insane suddenly make sense, they are just coming from a person who is broken.
What Think! and other organisations need to push isn’t
“Cyclists, improve the convenience of motorists where you can please…”
as that builds up that equivalence further, but instead
“Drivers, your convenience is less important than a human life, slow down, wait, don’t be a knob.”
Patrick9-32 wrote:
Let’s be honest … most road safety advice could be boiled down to those four words.
That’s the new Highway Code
That’s the new Highway Code sorted then.
That chart seems surprisingly
That chart seems surprisingly difficult for a lot of people to follow…
This kind of advice comes
This kind of advice comes from a deep seated and subconscious idea that if you drive a car you are superior. This is backed up by the feelings of power, safety and enlarged volume of personal space that being in a car confers. Many of the comments by the ignorati revolve around the fundamental belief that if you drive your purpose is more important than those who chose to cycle or walk.
The fact is that on the list of road situations that hold car drivers up, cyclists are orders of magnitude below such every day occurrences as traffic lights, level crossings, other people in cars, badly parked vehicles, drivers waiting to turn right, collisions, road works, agricultural machinery, etc In many urban environments it is cyclists who flow around cars like water in a rock choked stream.
I’m sure everyone here
I’m sure everyone here remembers the Think! campaign about helmets, not so very subtly implying that it was the cyclist’s fault for being run over; no mention of drivers actually taking care not to run them over.
So, the king of marginal
So, the king of marginal gains, Mr D Brailsford, is using TrainerRoad.
Quite a coup for them.
Or possibly he is frustrated by the Mickey Mouse training user interface on Zwift.
Looks like they’ve tracked
Looks like they’ve tracked down that 180mph Ferrari SF90 driver…
https://www.derbyshire.police.uk/news/derbyshire/news/appeals/north/2022/october/man-arrested-following-reports-of-dangerous-driving/