‘Why don’t cyclists use the cycle lanes?’ International edition; Primož Roglič, an advertiser’s dream; Cyclist uses clever car overlay to highlight poor driving; Psychopath to Inverness sign mystery; Van Aert to miss Strade Bianche + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Fed up Froome denounces disc brake wheels, part 78
Just in case you missed it last night, Froome-doggy-dog has started his 2023 season as he means to go on – complaining about disc brakes.
> Fed up Froome denounces disc brake wheels on Instagram Reel
Well, at least it gave some of his current and former colleagues – such as Rick Zabel and Phil Gaimon – a laugh in the comments.
Never change, Chris, never change…
Though I take great exception to the Instagram user who commented that rim brakes “are medieval junk”. You wash your mouth out, sir!
Yep, that pretty much sums the whole thing up…
I think we’re all struggling to get our heads around the bizarre, and rather grim, news that Trek-Segafredo’s great Italian hope, Antonio Tiberi, has been fined for shooting dead a San Marino politician’s cat (not the kind of sentence you expect to be writing on a Tuesday morning, but here we are).
Bit late to this story but I’d just like to express my feelings on it and they are as follows: what the actual f***? https://t.co/5Kk3Qa6tN0
— Katy M (@writebikerepeat) February 28, 2023
That is putting it quite mildly.
— 🌈 evy cuypers 🌈 (@TheCignalu) February 28, 2023
Meanwhile, somewhere in east London, a French centre-half breathes a sigh of relief…
“When you’re good, it works good. When you’re not, it doesn’t work good”: Primož Roglič, an advertiser’s dream
So, imagine for a moment that you’re the head of marketing at, say, sports fuel company Maurten, and you’re looking for a pro cyclist to promote your new, alarmingly silver sodium bicarbonate product.
What you want is a rider who just finished a training session, looks like he doesn’t want to be there, is ambivalent about the product’s benefits, and reckons it tastes horrible, right?
Well, look no further than (former ski jumper) Primož Roglič:
New product alert -> @MaurtenOfficial Bicarb System🚨
Let’s find out what @rogla thinks about #maurten Bicarb🎥 pic.twitter.com/0fI0L6jXc7
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) February 27, 2023
Not a natural sales man that Rog. 😅 love it.
— mark collop (@MarkCollop) February 27, 2023
One Twitter user astutely pointed out that the Jumbo-Visma rider’s apparent lack of enthusiasm for the Bicarb system may be down to one familiar culprit:
It tastes bad and it’s all Fred Wright’s fault. Got it.
— Simon Stearn (@Stearnside) February 28, 2023
Of course, the whole thing could be (and most likely is) just a clever bit of marketing from Maurten, playing on the Slovenian’s characteristically droll public persona – “We will see how it goes, ha” – and growing fondness for extremely dry comedy routines.
In any case, a slew of nonchalant advertisements will at least keep Roglič busy before his season debut next month at the Volta a Catalunya, his only race before he attempts to finally secure that elusive Giro d’Italia title in May.
“You wouldn’t have done it were it a car”: Cyclist uses clever car dashboard overlay to highlight poor driving
I wonder how the online conversation around poor driving would change if all clips uploaded by cyclists to social media of near misses and scares were framed in this way:
Motorist pulls across other road users and forces them to brake to avoid a collision.
You would fail your driving test for doing this.
So don’t do it! pic.twitter.com/K8oQJGFZ7f— CycleGaz™ (@cyclegaz) February 28, 2023
“Superimposing a car view on a cyclist’s journey and suddenly a majority of people would blame the car turning. Funny that,” wrote Twitter user Cycling in Kilkenny.
Meanwhile, Snake Pass trespasser said: “We’ve done it. How to make car-brained people understand what it’s like to cycle – put a car overlay over your cycling view.”
This is excellent – totally confused me as to why you were in the cycle lane ha!
— MD Parkins (@mattparkins) February 28, 2023
I wonder how this will be viewed by the folk who tend to excuse this behaviour. The Car POV mask is quite striking.
— Matt Lafferty (@LattMafferty) February 28, 2023
Clever illustration of how inbuilt prejudices need to be set aside, for an objective view
— Let’s be part of the solution (@let_part) February 28, 2023
Although I reckon it wouldn’t be too long some would start calling for that pesky cartoon motorist to wear a helmet…
But the car looks to be a dark colour to me. This could have been avoided of it was hi-viz yellow.
— Robert Bury (@robertbb87) February 28, 2023
That car should be wearing high vis, a helmet and have to pay bike tax.
— biofanatical (@biofanatical) February 28, 2023
Rogue ‘Psychopath to Inverness’ sign pops up on Scottish cycle path
Quick, somebody ring up Peter Kay. I have a new stand-up routine which I reckon would go down a treat with his audience: Misheard road signs…
Mystery surrounds ‘psychopath’ road sign on Black Isle https://t.co/ijM9PQecRI
— Ross-shire Journal (@Rossnews) February 27, 2023
Unfortunately, despite the hopes of the Ross-shire Journal reader who spotted the sign on the A9 just outside North Kessock, on Scotland’s Black Isle, the eyebrow-raising cycle path directions didn’t turn out to be the work of a hard-of-hearing council worker, but a local joker.
“We have looked into the sign, and it appears to be a rogue installation that has appeared in the past ten days,” a spokesperson for road maintenance and management firm BEAR Scotland has said.
“It has since been removed. We would like to apologise on behalf of BEAR Scotland for any offence caused.”
Sorry Peter, I guess you’ll have to stick to the old Shania Twain and ‘Does anyone remember’ gags…
@theJeremyVine saw this and thought of you… 😂 (in a cyclist way of course 🚴) https://t.co/t4CGU1A3KL
— Yellows 🏴🇬🇧🐾 (@yellowsrock) February 28, 2023
Wout van Aert set to miss Strade Bianche after falling ill
2020 Strade Bianche winner Wout van Aert won’t be taking to the scenic gravel tracks of Tuscany this weekend, with illness disrupting the Jumbo-Visma rider’s start to the road season.
The 28-year-old, whose last race saw him lost out to longstanding rival Mathieu van der Poel in a thrilling world cyclocross championships showdown in Hoogerheide at the start of this month, is currently training at altitude at Tenerife’s ever-popular Mount Teide and will instead return to road racing at Tirreno-Adriatico, which starts next Monday.
🗣️ A message from @WoutvanAert, who’s preparing his road season at the Teide.
Change of plan: his first race to come is Tirreno-Adriatico!🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/jzgUekuMe4
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) February 27, 2023
“I won’t be at the start of this year’s Strade Bianche. I will start my road season in Tirreno-Adriatico. Unfortunately, I was not feeling very well for several days last week during the start of my training camp. Fortunately, it wasn’t too bad, and I felt better shortly after. However, it affected my training,” Van Aert said in a social media video.
“After taking a break following the cyclocross world championships, I again lost a few training days in preparation for the season. We decided it’s better to stay at altitude longer so I can reach my best shape possible for Tirreno-Adriatico.
“We think it’s not possible to perform at my best in Strade Bianche. I want to race to win, but that isn’t possible right now. I need a bit more time, but sometimes changing plans is necessary. That’s how things are.
“For the upcoming Flemish spring classics, I am in good spirits and I’m looking forward to seeing my fans by the roadside again soon.”
Update pic.twitter.com/wcLtwyGoIx
— Eemeli (@LosBrolin) February 27, 2023
Van Aert’s absence means that Van der Poel will be the only Strade winner of the 2020s to take to the start in Siena on Saturday, with last year’s victor Tadej Pogačar instead preferring to focus on an early season head-to-head battle with the reigning Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard at Paris-Nice, which gets underway on Sunday.
But don’t despair, as while the two grand tour heavyweights slug it out at the Race to the Sun (it’s basically all my Christmases come at once), MvdP and WVA will clash at Tirreno, 29 days after the battle of Hoogerheide.
My mouth is watering at the prospect of it all…
It’s not quite spring yet: Snow falls at Le Samyn
The spring classics season may be underway, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the weather is co-operating with the UCI’s race schedule:
Snow in Le Samyn ❄️ pic.twitter.com/RDM11uOZiA
— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) February 28, 2023
Fortunately, as the women’s peloton enters the final 30 kilometres of the cobbled Belgian semi-classic, the snow seems to have abated – though let’s just say that there are plenty of arm warmers on show in the bunch…
‘The whales deserve royalties!’
Today’s news that SRAM has lost its patent case against Princeton Carbon Works concerning the company’s undulating rim design – inspired, in part, by the humpback whale – has stirred one road.cc reader to campaign in favour of the dispute’s silent, and some might say most important, party:
> Court rules SRAM patents not infringed by Princeton Carbon Works’ aero wheels
Marta Bastianelli leads Italian podium clean sweep at Le Samyn des Dames
Victoire de @martabasti 🇮🇹 chez les dames devant @confa_mg 🇮🇹 et @VittoriaGuazzi1 🇮🇹👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻#GPSamyn #gpsamyndesdames pic.twitter.com/3hKpxsBTb5
— LeSamyn (@GPSamyn) February 28, 2023
After finishing third at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday, and then second at Omloop van het Hageland the day after, Italian veteran Marta Bastianelli (UAE Team ADQ) finally stood on the top step of a Belgian podium today at Le Samyn des Dames, after attacking on the cobbles in the final three kilometres.
Instead of relying on her sprint, the 35-year-old former world champion, a perennial cobbled classics contender who won the Tour of Flanders in 2019, attacked from a reduced peloton on the Rue de Belle Vue, the race’s final section of cobbles, with only Uno-X’s Maria Giulia Confalonieri able to follow.
Having established a race-winning gap over the bunch, Bastianelli duly sat on her compatriot’s wheel in the final few hundred metres – a tactic she apologised for in the post-race interview – before duly dispatching her in the sprint.
A frustrated Vittoria Guazzini (FDJ-Suez) easily won the bunch sprint for third, completing an Italian one-two-three in Belgium.
First win of the year in Europe for us. Super @martabasti #Bastianelli who with an attack in the finale won #LeSamyn2023.
It was in the air and today we took it with head, legs and heart! Well done ladies!
📸@SprintCycling #UAETeamADQ #UnitedToBeStronger #WeRideToInspire pic.twitter.com/dh805ODtqq— UAETeam_ADQ (@UAETeamADQ) February 28, 2023
“Belgium is my second home, I think,” Bastianelli, who will leave the sport later this year after already postponing her retirement for 2023, laughed after the race.
“Today was a very hard day for me, I was not feeling well but I followed the team’s plan and attacked in the last part of the cobbles.
“With me was a very big rider, Maria Giulia Confalonieri, and I am sorry because I didn’t help her very much – but I am a sprinter and I didn’t know what was happening behind because I wasn’t listening too much to the radio and I didn’t have a gap. I did my best in the sprint and I’m happy for me and for my team.
“This year, I am sure [I will retire]. I am happy to finish my career with a victory and I hope that this the best from me.”
Trek-Segafredo suspend Antonio Tiberi for 20 days for killing cat with air rifle
Team statement regarding Antonio Tiberi case: pic.twitter.com/vFpxHPXazW
— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) February 28, 2023
More details here:
Lotto Dstny’s Milan Menten sprints to breakthrough win at Le Samyn – as Victor Campenaerts shows off massive chainring with attack
🇧🇪 Milan Menten gets his first win for @lotto_dstny with a fantastic 𝒔𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒕 finish in Le Samyn as Kasper Asgreen 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙨 out! 🥇 #LeSamyn | @MilanMenten pic.twitter.com/QWZhVnT51X
— Eurosport (@eurosport) February 28, 2023
After Arnaud De Lie’s flying start to 2023, Lotto Dstny today proved that they’re not short of tough classics riders with fast finishes, as fellow Belgian Milan Menten secured the biggest win of his career this afternoon at Le Samyn – and promptly hurt his shoulder while celebrating (not that he’ll care too much).
26-year-old Menten, who joined the team this year from Bingoals Pauwels Sauces, overhauled 2020 Le Samyn winner Hugo Hofstetter on the slightly uphill sprint to the line in Dour, after a late move – instigated by Alpecin- Deceuninck’s Søren Kragh Andersen and driven on by Trek-Segafredo with their best Jumbo-Visma impression – was brought back in the final kilometre.
Kragh Andersen’s attack on the race’s final cobbled section came after another dangerous looking move, containing Menten’s teammate Victor Campenaerts, along with Jasper Stuyven and Stan Dewulf, was neutralised.
My legs hurt just watching you, Victor…
Campenaerts’ time off the front allowed him to showcase his new Classified rear hub and ridiculously big 62-tooth chainring – which, if we’re honest, looked a bit of a slog of Le Samyn’s rather benign hills…
Meanwhile, Soudal Quick-Step’s woes from Opening Weekend continued, as sprinter Fabio Jakobsen crashed out, landing in a ditch, before Kasper Asgreen, who missed Omloop Het Nieuwsblad with illness, touched wheels in the final kilometre and hit the deck himself.
Always tough to identify a rider when they’re sat in a hedge and only their legs are sticking out but unfortunately it’s Fabio Jakobsen#LeSamyn pic.twitter.com/hiEE3nB9Qm
— Mathew Mitchell (@MatMitchell30) February 28, 2023
I’m not sure I’d want to bump into Patrick Lefevere this evening…
Not all TV coverage is good coverage
More of the racing, less of this, please…
Even @ the highest level of #cycling , interviewers still feel the need to comment on a woman’s appearance instead of her #performance. How can we all do more to change the narrative? @OmloopHNB @eurosport @sporza @UCI_WWT @Cyclists_All @cpacycling @HomestretchFdn pic.twitter.com/pf1RXWLFwc
— Deena Blacking (@DeenaBlacking) February 27, 2023
Exciting start to the women’s classics season – but are we seeing enough of it?
Incredible power! 😲
There was no stopping @LotteKopecky at #OHNwomen after she launched an unstoppable attack on the Bosberg. 💪🥇
#OHN23 pic.twitter.com/i4IcMJpelP
— GCN Racing (@GcnRacing) February 25, 2023
The women’s cobbled classics season started with a bang at the weekend, with SD Worx – courtesy of star riders Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes – sending a warning shot to all their rivals thanks to the duo’s dominant wins at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Omloop van het Hageland, respectively, before UAE Team ADQ’s Marta Bastianelli rolled back the clock with a tactically astute victory at Le Samyn today.
The racing, then, has been as exciting as usual – but are we seeing enough of it?
EF Education–Tibco–SVB’s British rider Lizzy Banks certainly didn’t think so on Saturday, as she waited patiently for coverage of the women’s Omloop to start after Dylan van Baarle had done his thing in the earlier men’s edition:
Hello Twitter, The men’s omloop was great. It’s finished now so please can we watch the women’s race now. It would be nice to see some of the action instead of just the finish 🙃 #OHNwomen #OHNmen
— Lizzy Banks (@ElizzyBanks) February 25, 2023
Pleaaaaaaase please pleaaaaaaase let us see the god dam race 😭😭😭😭😭#OHNwomen
— Lizzy Banks (@ElizzyBanks) February 25, 2023
Well, at least the lack of coverage got my blood pumping and HR up ready for the final of #OHNwomen 😅
Place your bets now! Who’s your money on?! ⬇️✍️
— Lizzy Banks (@ElizzyBanks) February 25, 2023
In the end, we were treated to a whole 28km of racing (but at least we didn’t miss the Muur and the Bosberg I suppose).
Today wasn’t much better, with just over 32km of the women’s Le Samyn broadcast on TV. And this time, they didn’t even have the excuse that the men’s race was on beforehand.
So, altogether, the entire televised coverage of Omloop and Le Samyn amounted to just 60km of racing, or around an hour and a half of viewing time.
32.3km of Le Samyn des Dames. Yes, I’m going to log how much coverage of women’s races we actually get. Some is good. Doesn’t mean they don’t deserve more #LeSamynDesDames
— Katy M (@writebikerepeat) February 28, 2023
In contrast, this afternoon’s coverage of the men’s Le Samyn started with over 90km left to the finish.
The distinct lack of coverage, especially compared to the men, has been branded a “disgrace” by some fans on Twitter, who view the missing action as a barrier to properly progressing the sport:
Didn’t think in 2023 that we’d be applauding equal prize money with one…set of hands and then also having to deal with the bare minimum 45 minutes of WWT live coverage 😞#OHNwomen
— Mathew Mitchell (@MatMitchell30) February 25, 2023
It’s a bit of an insult isn’t it?
— Bromley Parsons (@bromley_parsons) February 25, 2023
I’m waiting with baited breath for how pathetic the strade bianche coverage is this year
— Natalie (@TrixNat) February 28, 2023
it’s 2023 and women’s cycling still only gets an embarrassing amount of coverage https://t.co/PSVoOudaKE
— Lächeln im Frühling (@anewcd) February 28, 2023
Of course, as others noted on Twitter, some coverage is at least better than no coverage at all. And it’s really not that long ago (the pre-2012 era, to be precise) that 30km of live TV of a men’s early-season semi-classic would have been welcomed with enthusiastic cheers by cycling-starved fans in the UK.
The women’s versions of Omloop and Le Samyn are also only 17 and 11 years old respectively, so the clamour for proper coverage of both is at least a sign of the lightyears women’s cycling has travelled in that period.
This year has also seen the advent of equal prize money for the men’s and women’s winners in all of Flanders Classic’s races, a move welcomed by Omloop winner Lotte Kopecky as a “nice gesture”.
Lotte Kopecky wins the 2022 Tour of Flanders (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
“Well, it’s not always an important thing. But in the end, I mean, if you saw what it was the last years, it was just that in the end as a rider there was almost nothing left,” the Belgian said.
“I think it’s a very nice gesture from Flanders Classics that they are raising the prize money. Because in the end, although we do less kilometres, I think we still have to work for it as hard as the men and I think it’s a very nice thing that this prize money is the same now.”
Kopecky’s argument that the women work just as hard as the men – and often race in a more exciting fashion – is all the more reason that they should be given the TV coverage they, and the fans, deserve.
AVV’s Tour-winning move – except we didn’t see it
Last year’s Tour de France Femmes was heralded as a pivotal moment for women’s cycling – but, even though line-to-line coverage has existed for the men’s Tour for the last ten years, the decisive move of the entire race, Annemiek van Vleuten’s attack on stage seven, was not broadcast live.
If the women’s side of the sport is to continue grow and build on the positive steps forward in recent years – and especially if big races continue to be held on the same day as their male counterparts (which is also an argument for another day) – coverage needs to be expanded to ensure that none of the excitement and drama so inherent in women’s cycling is missed.
‘Why don’t cyclists use the cycle lanes?’ International edition
We’re kicking things off this Tuesday with a special, international edition of a much-loved live blog favourite…
road.cc reader Ashley, having viewed the dozens (hundreds, thousands?) of motorists spotted abandoning their cars across the UK’s cycling infrastructure on this site over the years, decided to get in touch to prove – though we may have suspected it, given the country’s attitude towards other aspects of cycling culture – that “disrespect for bike lanes happens in Victoria, Australia too!”
Ashley’s courteous bike lane blocker was snapped yesterday on Geringhap Street in Geelong – the site, you may remember, of Thor Hushovd’s victory at the 2010 world road race championships (which I miraculously managed to stay awake for after a big night on the town – but that’s a story for another day).
Geelong’s recent record with bike lanes, as Ashley pointed out to us, isn’t great either. In November, the city’s council was forced back to the drawing board after councillors voted down plans to build new cycling infrastructure along the High Street of the southern suburb of Belmont.
The project, which was also delayed by councillors earlier in the year, formed part of a wider strategy to “provide cyclists with safe, accessible, and connected cycling routes within Geelong” – but, unsurprisingly, was opposed by local traders.
> Why don’t cyclists use cycle lanes?
“We support bike lanes, what we don’t support is developing infrastructure that creates division in the community,” one councillor told the Geelong Times.
Now that Ashley has thrown down the gauntlet, can anyone come up with an example of bike lane blocking from even further afield? Antarctica, perhaps?
28 February 2023, 09:51
28 February 2023, 09:51
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Latest Comments
"All that's required is an to roads policing" - that's a big all... Although no doubt the "idiots just keep coming" aspect does apply: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz9lel2wz93o "Man charged after car crashes through bowling alley" - luckily they only skittled over skittles.
Almost any change to roads and streets is accompanied by a period of heightened danger, and in the UK "look out for cyclists" will need to be learned... practically. And over the time it takes for cyclists to become a regular feature. OTOH once (if...) good designs are in and frequent enough such that drivers encounter them AND the cyclists on them regularly (another big if) I don't think they should be much more difficult than a footway to deal with. These things are all over NL - don't have the collision stats but they should. (NL isn't perfect but collecting info on the safety of designs to feed back into better designs as required is part of the "sustainable safety" philosophy - if they're really a killer I think they'd be altering these.)
I'm in the happy position of agreeing with everybody here! I've never considered a bike with a stand, yet I'm impressed by the ingenuity and adaptability of this axle. I tow a Yak Bob with a Robert Axle, employing my El Cheapo Vitus gravel bike and I just have to be very careful where I stop. Hedges are generally a dead loss, and I seek walls, telegraph poles and signposts and generally lean the widest part of the Bob against it. One very awkward task is removing the two steel pins which lock the trailer arms onto the special mounting slots on the Robert axle, and when you have one out, the sodding weight in the trailer can twist the whole caboodle and bend the Bob fitting before you can get the other out and unhitch. I doubt if a stand would help with that. You can imagine that this combo is a real pain when you have to get it over the bridge at railway stations, and it nearly resulted in Merseyrail nearly parting me and the trailer on the platform from the bike on the train. It's a long story for another time. Another axle example recently featured on here, with a 12mm front axle bearing the Herculean weight limit of a monster American front rack.
This has nothing to do with the type of bike - it's the type of behaviour that's the problem. Banning the sale of such bikes will not curtail the behaviour. They'll just find another type of vehicle and continue to drive dangerously as there's such a lack of enforcement. I'd sooner see them ban the bally. But really, all that's required is an improvement to roads policing.
The EAPC Bill is welcome, but full of holes. What's to stop an overpowered but temporarily limited e-bike being sold and subsequently delimited? This is often a trivial process.
@KiwiMike Yeah, in my over four decades of riding all over Europe I've never 'been for a ride in the countryside'. That must be it. Or, and I know this is a wild concept, you just accept that I just voiced my personal experiences and never missed a kickstand, like I wrote. Anyway, what's the big horror of laying your bike on its side for the very few occasions where there is nothing to lean your bike against?
They may have looked, but did they see?
Ds2025: where they are going wrong is that they are crushing the motorbike rather than the person sat on top of it. If they did the latter this issue would be solved in less than 24 hours.
I came this way today with the car boot sale in operation. There was a marshal at the entrance, who stopped a car turning right across the cycleway as I was approaching. So that certainly works. I think it necessary for the marshal to be there, I couldn't say if the driver would have turned if he hadn't been there but you always have to suspect the worst. Unfortunately there is no marshal at the exit, and there was certainly a car stopped across the cycleway as I was approaching it. But he pulled onto the road before I reached it, and the following car stayed off the cycleway as I went through. Ideally there should have been a marshal there too. On the whole, though, it's a really high standard piece of infrastructure. Just a pity it doesn't extend a bit further.
“absolute carnage” So right! Just look at the bodies piled up, blood running in the gutters and injured people limping away. It's a bit of a problem with a road, delaying some people for minutes at a time: it isn't carnage, let alone 'absolute carnage'. Anyone who exaggerates so ridiculously really shouldn't be allowed to comment in public, unless they want to demonstrate their idiocy to all and sundry.
23 thoughts on “‘Why don’t cyclists use the cycle lanes?’ International edition; Primož Roglič, an advertiser’s dream; Cyclist uses clever car overlay to highlight poor driving; Psychopath to Inverness sign mystery; Van Aert to miss Strade Bianche + more on the live blog”
‘Why don’t cyclists use the
‘Why don’t cyclists use the cycle lanes?’ – because the food delivery scooterists all think that its a bl00dy parking lane!
I’m not sure this is a
I’m not sure this is a brilliant example – there’s a bloke with a sack trolley so it’s a bona fide delivery/collection rather than an “Ooh I can park there for free all day”.
There may or may not be a loading bay round the back he could have used if he’d been prepared to spend an extra minute doing the drop, or he could park on the pavement; presumably incurring the wrath of our pedestrian brethren over on pavement.cc.
I’m sure he wants to spend as little time as possible parked there so he can get back out to the altogether more satisfying business of running cyclists off the road rather than merely forcing them to pull out into the main lane for a couple of seconds.
Surely the solution here is some sort of restriction on stopping during hours when the road is busy and people are trying to cycle on it so that the business can get its deliveries with minimal impact to the safety of the road users?
I’m talking about blokes on
I’m talking about blokes on motor scooters parking at right angles to the kerb, waiting outside a cafe or a kebab shop for a collection.
panda wrote:
Actually, I think that’s what makes it the perfect example. Had there not been a cycle lane there, had the loading instead necessitated blocking wholesale a live traffic lane, it would not have been so easily tolerated. I’m not saying it would not happen ever, but if it proved to be a regular occurrence then something would be done. But a cycle lane, nah – that’s kind of what there’re there for, general overspill to keep the roads clear for motorists, whilst also counting as a cycle lane for the books. Sort of shared use, with priority for vehicular use.
Sriracha]
Too true. Cycle lanes are there to ghettoize cyclists, not to protect them. King car of course can enter any realm he desires.
Absolutely correct. If
Absolutely correct. If anything this reinforces the claim that cycle lanes are car infrastructure, not cycle infrastructure.
I’ve said this before but
I’ve said this before but most cycle lanes signify to most people is “this road is wide enough for you to park in it without blocking traffic too badly”
I can sympathise with people who say that cycle infrastructure isn’t helpful, but I don’t think you are the target market for it. Decent cycle infrastructure, which is part of a network, just might be a way of getting people who currently drive to ride a bike, especially those who think cycling is “too dangerous”.
What we need is some degree
What we need is some degree student to do their dissertation on the entitled attitude of drivers, featuring extensive interviews with people who park in cycle lanes, various anti-cycling media presenters, and the BBC. It would be interesting to hear the reasons why people think that it is acceptable to park in cycle lanes, so we need someone to do the research.
I can think of few notable
I can think of few notable national newspapers that would be included in a literature review for this
eburtthebike wrote:
No, no no.
How about instead of all this terrible, virtue signalling, “cycling” infrastructure which (for the most part) doesn’t work and causes ever-more danger, councils and government focus on filling in the ridiculous number of potholes which blight every town and city across the UK?
At the moment, cycling down the road feels like a slamon run where an super-mutant mole has burrowed wheel-smashing craters at random intervals in the tarmac. It’s entirely disgraceful in a country which is supposed to be first-world.
Hale fancier of terrible,
Hale fancier of terrible, virtue signalling (how now?) “cycling” infra fan here!
I particularly this kind to maximally signal virtue – they’ve even forced the poor old people, ethnic minorities and children to use it. Oh, and the disabled – how sick can you get? Disgusting.
I don’t recommend this kind (much in favour in the UK).
I don’t have a problem with getting them to fix the potholes, although fixing them where you’ve got lots of motor traffic is a bit like sweeping sand off the beach. Better to have cycle infra where no or few motor vehicles go – that lasts for ages!
On infinitessimally wide
On infinitessimally wide roads, this kind of infrastructure works. However, with our existing road system, unless you fancy going round knocking down people’s houses, you get shoddy second-rate compromises like cycle paths into lamp posts and narrow shared areas ripe for unseemly conflict between pedestrians and cyclists.
Also, your point on potholes is entirely fictitious: when there was budget and willpower, potholes were nowhere near the level they are today. Of course roads will need repeatedly fixing (as does any infrastructure, cycle lanes included), but some of the more cavernous potholes near me have been there for month after month without a plan for fixing them.
The Accountant wrote:
Infinitesimally, when spelled correctly, means extremely tiny. One suspects you mean infinitely.
If only there were some sort of third way, perhaps involving repurposing some of the road space currently excessively and unnecessarily devoted primarily to the most polluting and most dangerous form of transport.
Ah – I think I remember the
Ah – I think I remember the old days!
That’s bingo! for the first part (although do you mean “infinitely wide roads”?). It must be our narrow historic town centres. But of course knocking down buildings and other amenities for transport infra is to be avoided.
Alas, like myself, you maybe forget what time has passed. I suspect you’re recalling not just a time when there was more budget and “willpower” (?) but also those days when there were fewer vehicles on the roads and their average weight was less.
There is quite a bit of difference between a cycle path and a busy road! Or are you worried about bikes being worse than the effects of landing a plane on the surface? Seems that cycle paths (even in a busy place) last pretty well [1] [2].
Can’t argue that potholes seem to be lacking plans for fixing or cash for doing so at the moment. Maybe we should be campaigning for people to help save the roads by cycling some of those short journeys?
chrisonatrike wrote:
“willpower” (?)— The Accountant
Indeed, The Accountant seems to think everything comes down to the moral fortitude of right thinking people like himself vs. the weak-willed self-indulgance of everyone else. And he is utterly unable to explain what any of it means or what to do about it.
eburtthebike wrote:
I’m pretty sure it would come back with their not considering a bicycle to be a ‘proper’ form of transport – any fule kno it’s just a toy or a form of exercise equipment – and therefore any space put aside specifically for cyclists is thoroughly illegitimate and can be used by the ‘proper’ road users wot paid for it all anyway. Something like that
I agree that the majority in
I agree that the majority in UK view cycling in the categories of “hobby” / “exercise” or “transport for the poor and criminals”.
As to “why do people park there” – because they can. There is about zero enforcement and (maybe more important) zero social pressure not to do so. People park in “non-standard places” simply because they like to take their vehicle from start point to end point. Ideally you don’t have to get out of the car (or even off the bike – it’s the same behaviour) and walk any distance.
People are parking in cycle lanes because there are quite a lot of cars (specifically – they take up quite a lot of space), the drivers don’t really see the point (they don’t cycle) and the cycle lanes aren’t often “full of cyclists”. (Due to the efficiency of cycle lanes a sparse handful of people riding in the bike lane can represent more people travelling than the vehicle lane next to it which is chock-full of vehicles). Several little feedback loops keep things as is e.g. because there are lots of cars and cycle lanes often have parked cars in them people don’t find cycling an attractive option, so …
Agreed – although, funny
Agreed – although, funny enough, when that narrative suits them better, drivers will just as easlily call cyclist rich elitsts.
Drivers park their car in the bike lane for the above mentioned reasons, but also because (as parking it in a car lane is not an option) when parked there cyclists can just ride around it, surely? The are oblivious to the danger that brings to the cyclists – or they just don’t care.
“can anyone come up with an
“can anyone come up with an example of bike lane blocking from even further afield? Antarctica, perhaps?”
Happens anywhere in the world where there are cars and bike lanes.
“Unfortunately, despite the
“Unfortunately, despite the hopes of the Ross-shire Journal reader who spotted the sign on the A9 just outside North Kessock, on Scotland’s Black Isle, the eyebrow-raising cycle path directions didn’t turn out to be the work of a hard-of-hearing council worker, but a local joker.
“We have looked into the sign, and it appears to be a rogue installation that has appeared in the past ten days,” a spokesperson for road maintenance and management firm BEAR Scotland has said.”
I’m not convinced. Having had the ‘pleasure’ of following this psychopath, the sign is here, where a parallel path joins the A9 dual carriageway and uses the old pavement to the next junction. There’s no roadside blue signs to cyclists to use this shared-use farcility instead of the carriageway (which is absolutely advisable given how often drivers kill each other on that road, never mind cyclists). So if a sign wasn’t ordered, there should have been!
Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Mens and Womens racing is not equal, so lets stop pretending it should be treated equal. It might get there in the future, if more women watched it, if it does, good for them. I don’t watch it, I’ve tried, but I find it boring and harder to relate to the Women riders. The commentators constantly banging-on about how great it is puts me off, its not that great. If I think its great, I don’t need the commentator to tell me every 5 minutes; don’t guilt-trip the viewer; not liking womens bike racing isn’t a crime.
Slightly odd to equate more
Slightly odd to equate more women watching it with increased success. I find it equally compelling to watch. Yes the racing and strategy are different but that’s a good thing, variety is the spice of life and all that.
I can understand that pov,
I can understand that pov, though even if you think its not equal, yet, do you think it should be treated fairly ?
because I dont think we are getting fair coverage yet, I was as frustrated as Lizzy Banks was on Saturday with the Omloop coverage, wasnt able to watch Le Samyn today though it hasnt sounded much better, but there was a live race happening the teams were updating what was going on via their social media channels (which felt very old school), and yet what are we watching the usual talking heads post the mens race chewing the fat for 5-10mins. Then when the womens race coverage actually started, we had a 5-10min preamble of pictures of the sign on and some soundbite interviews, fine save that for the highlights, the race is live happening now we are missing the action, get on with it.
And we did miss out, because by the time we got live pictures at least one of the key moves had already been made even if it wasnt the race defining move.
at least we got the interview with the winner, well half a sentence before it cut out, but then it was back to the talking heads in the studio for more analysis of the mens race, they even dumped some random ocean yacht race piece into it !!!
in a 90min programme, they showed only 45minutes of actual racing, the rest was all filler, compared to like the UAE tour showing the same weekend, which felt like all filler but actually was just all racing.
fwiw Im not a big fan of the commentators they use for the womens races,, there is too much focus on “we are showing this event”, rather than actually showing the event.