Making life harder for yourself

The race organisers clearly must employ more police and official marshals. Leaving it up to spectators to tell drivers that the race has passed is not acceptable, especially in a society dominated by the culture of impatient motorists. Helmet design is another contributing but separate factor - why is it the title of this article? It’s barely mentioned.

It is perfectly legal to buy an electrically assisted pedal cycle that has a cut-off higher than 15.5 mph or a continuous rated motor in exces of 250W or indeed has a throtle. It just isn't legal to use it in a public place. The term e-bike has no legal definition; it can mean, in popular usage, an assisted pedal cycle (legal or not) or a moped or a motorbike. Likewise e-scooter is not legally defined, although the electric scooter legislation relates to the thing without pedals that you scoot, not a motor scooter.

Chapeau, Mr Vaughters. …and why can’t everyone see that this example is also reflective of the general attitude by motorists towards cyclists on all our roads? It’s the same cause, whether racing, training or cruising with the family. The need for separated cycling infrastructure (and closed roads) only stems from one issue - arrogant drivers disdain for cyclists, breaking the law and putting cyclists lives in danger. In the absence of an AI algorithm that deletes all human ego, the solution is clearly in effectively policing the road rules that protect cyclists, not the wilful denial blind spot pervading our race organisers, police, city councils and courts.

@mctrials23 With a failed jump, you can sue whoever owns the field, who has the broken fence that "allowed" you in, the bike manufacture, the helmet maker, the knee pad maker, ...... and the list goes on! But who can you sue if you sit around eating junk all day?

Unfortunately, in this wildly litigious society, I have to side with the Forest Service. In the end, it's not the most culpable that are found the most responsible, but the deepest pockets.

It’s all half-arsed, from the clickbait title of this article, to the unsafe design of the bike track. …Why do we live in such a world? Capitalist fantasies of exponential growth vs conservative nimbyism - within the one Range Rover shopping cart world view! The Greens are trying to do it right. Everyone else has their knickers in a knot because their world view is small, and wilfully / selfishly half-arsed.

Yes ... although while still trying to remain in the middle (and thus offending everyone) from my limited knowledge Hamas won an election there. That was a long time ago of course * Hamas may well have been declining in popularity before the 2023 attack and killing of Israelis. I'm sure they've became even less popular after years of Israeli retaliation (and as their organisation was weakened / people became more desperate). Of course folks hating Hamas doesn't mean that they therefore have moderated any ill-will towards Jews, or Israel. * Exactly how "free and fair" is moot ... since shortly afterwards they had a civil war with / murdered the main opposition. And nobody in a position to will allow Fatah / the PLO back.

All he had to say was 'modified e-bike' since unmodified e-bikes are made to be compliant with the law. Obviously the modification to remove 15.5mph assistance restriction makes it an e-scooter not a compliant e-bike.

@mitsky The gridlock would certainly make it safer.

@ErgoKnees Presumably the family didn't ask for it to be neutralised? Personally I'm not a fan of neutralised stages after such tragedies, I remember Bjarne Riis had the guts after Casartelli was killed in the '95 tour to speak out and say it had done nobody any good to ride at a snail's pace under a blazing sun for six hours with nothing to do or think about but the death and tragedy. Save the commemorations (apart from a few simple marks of respect like a minute's silence at the start, black armbands etc) for the church. I'd reckon a lot of racers would say the best tribute that could be paid to them was to go out and race the next stage hell for leather in their memory.