Cyclist who “refuses to give kudos on Strava for indoor rides” sparks lively online discussion about winter training; More BBC Panorama “attacking” e-bikes reaction; Wout van Aert cheered on by butchers wins cycling pic of the year + more on the live blog

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The fallout to that Panorama episode has continued into the second half of the week, Ryan shortly bringing you an update on the Bicycle Association’s response.

In the meantime, we thought we’d share some of your comments under George’s opinion piece about the episode. 

the little onion: “The problem is not Chiles. Don’t make this about Chiles. The problem is the wider team of producers, programmers, staff, advisors, editors etc. that go into commissioning, creating, fact-checking, etc. these programmes.

“The fact that none of them really engaged with the fundamental problem that the majority of the cases in this programme were not about e-bikes, but about e-motorbikes. It reflects a culture whereby news and current affairs reporting on cycling is driven not just by ignorance of the basic facts, but by deep prejudice which automatically sees cycling and cyclists as a ‘problem’.”

Rome73: “I’m off to work soon to central London — on my TERN eCargo bike. Carrying all my tools and my spare clothes because it’s so cold today. And I will have a flask and biscuits in the pannier and a work stand. E-bikes are brilliant. And legal. And game-changing for some business operating in urban areas.”  

Garmin Connect was down for periods yesterday and this morning, with users unable to transfer data or upload to Strava. The Garmin status page does now suggest all its services are back online. A good excuse for me to get out on the bike at lunchtime and confirm that…

Anyone have any issues?

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Pro cycling reporter Matthew Mitchell shared a screenshot on Twitter this morning, highlighting new rules that will apply in races this year, the UCI introducing fines for: “Rider decelerating during a sprint and endangering other riders (knowingly staying within the line of other riders, celebrating in the bunch, talking on the radio or taking hands off handlebars while in the bunch).”

The maximum fine will be 500 Swiss francs and riders could also be relegated to last place in the group and/or receive a yellow card.

> Yellow cards introduced to pro cycling to clamp down on dangerous riding and driving during races

In stage races, offending riders can also receive a penalty in the points and/or mountains classification. How the rule is implemented remains to be seen. Will it just be if you celebrate a teammate’s win and endanger other riders in the process? Or will there be zero tolerance to the behaviours listed? 

The wording seems to suggest you’d have to decelerate and endanger other riders, but this is the UCI we’re talking about. Who knows… I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

> Bicycle Association formally complains to BBC over Adrian Chiles’ e-bike Panorama “misrepresentation”, claiming episode “unjustifiably damaged” legal e-bike industry

Bristol City Council is working with the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority to install 40 cycle hangars on streets across the city next month, the bike parking facilities to be rolled out in areas such as Ashley, Bedminster, Cotham and Eastville (full list of 40 locations here).

As with similar schemes in other cities, each hangar will house six bikes in a secure storage unit that takes up about the same amount of space as one parked car, and allows residents without space at their homes to rent a bike parking spot on the street.

Councillor Ed Plowden, Chair of the Transport and Connectivity Committee, said: “It’s great news that so many new cycle hangars will be on our streets soon, offering our residents a safe place to store and access their bikes. I hope this will encourage even more people to start cycling regularly, which has so many benefits for your health and wellbeing, as well as helping to reduce congestion and air pollution across the city.

Lockit-Safe will install and manage the hangars once they are in place, residents invited to apply for spaces once the units are in. It will cost £55 a year for one space in a cycle hangar, plus a £25 refundable key deposit.

Despite the funding coming from Active Travel England, not the council’s budget, some of the comments under the social media posts communicating the scheme are fairly depressingly predictable, accusing the local authority of wasting money. Example A (credit to Barry)…

Anyway, we’ll leave another comment, this one from Lucy Dallow, here too…

“Bring it on! Loads of people on my street are going to benefit from one of these in February when it’s installed. Loads of young people who are packed in expensive shared housing will have somewhere safe to lock their transport, to the centre where a lot of them work in the service industry. Six bikes instead on one car parked.”

> New £100m “car-free” Brompton factory set for green light – despite bike brand’s profits collapsing by over 99%

Traffic regulation orders have been approved for a major £11m project to transform Harrogate town centre with new bus access, cycling infrastructure and pedestrian facilities. North Yorkshire Council has rejected calls for an inquiry into the scheme which aims to boost sustainable travel options, the Harrogate Advertiser reports.

Some local businesses have formed a campaign to oppose the plans, mainly due to a loss of parking and claims about congestion during construction. Solicitors for the group sent a letter to the council calling the plans “unfair and unlawful”.

“The proposals for Harrogate are fundamentally different from those which have previously been consulted upon,” it added. “Without proper public consultation, these proposals are being ushered in through the back door.”

The council has rejected the call for an inquiry however, explaining that the plans will “re-balance” highway priorities in Harrogate.

“The benefits of the proposals are that they will create improved infrastructure for all road users by making better use of available highway space in the interests of balancing the needs of all vehicles, including buses, pedestrians and cyclists,” the council’s assistant director for highways and transportation said. 

“Currently, the highway arrangements prioritise the private motor vehicle above other users – to re-balance this priority, mitigation is also required to maintain the expeditious safe and convenient movement of these private vehicles through the network and the proposals for a bus lane, cycle lane and improved pedestrian facilities seek to achieve this re-balancing.”

Trek has released its sustainability report, outlining the steps it is taking to reduce emissions and, well, be more sustainable. The bicycle manufacturer said it wants to hit its 2032 goals five years early, by 2027, working “to reduce the carbon footprint of every bike we make, and meeting our absolute reduction goal means cutting emissions per bike model by about 50 per cent”.

Using aluminium from manufacturers who use less fossil fuel is cited as a major gain, reducing the carbon emissions by up to 46 per cent. Likewise, Trek outlined an ambition to “figure out how to get old bike tires into the recycling stream to close the loop and keep them out of our landfills and waterways”.

Elsewhere, the report highlighted continued work to “refine” packaging to be “ideal blend of sustainable and effective”, cutting out single-use plastics. It also noted a desire to make e-bike batteries easier to recycle.

> Factor issued cease-and-desist letter from Colombian steel bike brand over “misleading and confusing” Scarab design

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Gaëtan Flamme (@gaetan_sportpic)

Cycling photographer Gaëtan Flamme was responsible for this cracker taken at the E3 Saxo Classic back in March of last year, capturing the moment staff from the Gaston Van De Walle butchers shop in Kluisbergen downed their cleavers to cheer on Wout van Aert as he zoomed past in a beefy gear. 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Ashley Norris Gruber (@ashleygruber)

It’s not the first time there has been a meating* between the butchers and Wout either, with renowned photographer Ashley Gruber also capturing the Belgian being cheered on at the same race in 2022. It seems like this location has been well and truly steaked* out as a cycling photography hotspot. 

* Yes these are intentional misspellings, and yes we want your meat puns in the comments for next time. 

If someone ever decides to put together a ‘How to troll cyclists for dummies’ guide, they’ll need to take note of this one. Strap yourselves in. It all began with a post from a rider on Facebook: “Is it just me who refuses to give kudos on Strava for indoor rides? Get out there in the wind, the cold and the rain and earn your kudos! It’s akin to giving kudos for a round of golf or lying on a yoga mat! Chill. I’m just having fun on FB!”

[Poor Jamie not earning any kudos from random internet man for his hour on the turbo]

That last sentence about “just having fun on Facebook” disappeared pretty quickly in the 200+ comments that have flown in since yesterday evening…

Maybe we should have just read the one asking “who cares?” and moved on with our lives, but the comments intrigued us and before long we’d scrolled through several pages, taking in the lively discussion that followed. We’re guessing the rider who made the post probably hasn’t trained indoors before, a brutal interval session on the turbo vs lying on a yoga mat? I think we all know which we’d find more physically comfortable. Also, anecdotally, I reckon I’ve done hundreds of winter rides that didn’t even reach a tenth of the intensity of a 30-minute turbo thrash.

The comments made a mix of points about just how hard indoor training can be, the fact that for many people around the world the weather (ice and snow in particular) make winter training unsafe, and that indoor cycling is still cycling and anyone doing more cycling is a good thing. 

“Not riding on ice…..I’ll ride indoors and put on Strava. Broken bones…you’re not riding anywhere,” one commenter replied.

“Winter is hard for people. I say whatever motivates anyone to do something when they’d rather be on the couch deserves a kudos,” another added.

> How to increase your cycling motivation in winter — essential tips to keep your spirits up on the bike when the temps drop

“Yep just you. I try and celebrate all wins.”

“I don’t ride (well, rarely) indoors… but let’s be real. It is nothing like playing a round of golf or doing yoga. You can get in a great workout. Watts are watts. Training stress is training stress.”

“Carbon bikes are cheating too. Everyone should ride old steel bikes or I’m not impressed.”

One final comment we’ll include attached the picture below too…”Yeah, no. I’ll be indoors until spring, kudosing everyone else who is.”

So, there. Possibly a bad joke that got a bit too much attention? Probably not worth nearly 250 (sometimes angry) comments, but hey, I lost five minutes of my life scrolling through the comments, so thought I’d drag you all down with me. You’re welcome.