Live blog: Got 20,000 euros burning a hole in your pocket? (plus a few more stories)

@mjc2669 No. Anti-cyclist prejudice is not "like casual racism" and it's absurd to say it is - go and ask anyone who's actually experienced racism what it's like. It was a stupid attempt at humour and yes these remarks are tiresome and to an extent damaging to cyclists. Enough to lose one's job over? No.

I disagree.. it's like casual racism, little comments all the time dehumanising cyclists. It's the cumulative effect that causes the problems we've all experienced on the roads. You see this 'should have finished him off ' and 'extra points for knocking off a cyclist' type comment every single day on social media and it does set an underlying tone that many people copy.

Right on! Transcontinental Races are continental races!

@ChrisA the surface make up of a path bears zero relationship to it being a footpath/suitable. I once got lectured on why I shouldn't be riding a footpath by a driver of a Range Rover on a lovely tarmacked road. Another time I was lectured by someone blocking my way on a singletrack path that was built by cyclists, who said I should only be on large wide paths. The parallel wide path was a footpath. But these are very rare exceptions. I ride sensibly and most folk are usually entertained by my polite presence. Also most footpaths would have been paths used by horses in ye olde days, they often conveniently got mislabeled/demoted by rich landowners who failed to get path denied altogether when rights of way were being drawn up.

@SecretSam Hence the rise of gravel bikes, which are just less capable drop barred bikes.

You state for the audio for the baofeng that they use an in ear design however they don't ship with any headphones with a mic. What did you use for this?

@Surreyrider Gravel roads are roads.

@eburtthebike One of my best mates, a former rugby teammate of mine, is a Kiwi and a teacher (over here). I can imagine him making precisely that joke and he's a mad keen cyclist! Honestly, if this is the whole story it's a hell of an overreaction to a remark that deserved a mild reprimand about appropriate conduct if that (different if it was coming from a police officer or a driving instructor or similar, maybe). Having worked in a number of schools it's my experience that when senior management take agin someone they'll grab any excuse to get rid of them, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the situation here.

Hi I wasn't implying the ramps were equivalent to a pump track. I was saying many forestry trails are pretty hairy rather than a well designed pump track. The ramps are definitely not suitable and need replacing, but they are replacing with a new design. I suspect much more tame.

Oh dear! With my sense of humour, I should have been sacked a dozen times: every year. The Kiwis I've met all seemed to have a reasonable sense of humour, and one was excellent, but perhaps they weren't working for a school.