Live blog: Alex Dowsett’s top tips for a rapid commute, three riders taking on Britain’s 100 best climbs (and riding between them) in 29 days, driver ‘forgets’ he’s not a bike + more
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Wed, Jun 20, 2018 13:49
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Jack is group editor across road.cc, off.road.cc and ebiketips, overseeing all three sites in the F-At Digital group to make sure everything’s up to scratch. He’s been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of road.cc including tech, news and video, and also contributed to ebiketips before being named editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town, and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master’s degree in print journalism, and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it’s a long story).
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Latest Comments
imajez 25 minutes ago
@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.
imajez 35 minutes ago
@SecretSam Hence the rise of gravel bikes, which are just less capable drop barred bikes.
miksmith 2 hours ago
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?
Rendel Harris 4 hours ago
@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.
Andrewbanshee 4 hours ago
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.
eburtthebike 7 hours ago
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.
ktache 8 hours ago
"neither student laughed..." Well, it elicited a wry smile from me...
Rendel Harris 13 hours ago
@60somethingcyclist Unfortunately there are a couple of problems with that: firstly in order to try to manage some of the chaos in the Italian political system, for several decades when a mayor wins an election in large towns they are automatically given a guaranteed majority of 60% of the council seats, and also if a decree of the mayor's is overruled by the council that automatically triggers a no-confidence vote which then dissolves the council and forces a new election. So in order to vote down this decree not only would opponents need to persuade a considerable number of the mayor's own party to vote against him but also effectively to vote themselves out of office with no guarantee of return.
matthewn5 1 day ago
My first road bike was a Raleigh, too. A 1976 Raleigh Record. I dragged it out of the shed a few years ago and got it working again. 14kg it weighed! A 52/42 crank and a 14-28 five speed 'cluster' at the back made hills pretty hard work...
5 thoughts on “Live blog: Alex Dowsett’s top tips for a rapid commute, three riders taking on Britain’s 100 best climbs (and riding between them) in 29 days, driver ‘forgets’ he’s not a bike + more”
To be fair the vast majority
To be fair the vast majority of the overtakes I get are of this variety. I can definitely recommend the thumbs up and wave also. If you commute or otherwise travel the same route at the same time a lot, over time you can help build the goodwill in the local area. Also I think if there is a line of cars and the first overtakes well, some highly visible thanks can encourge those following to do the same.
Morgoth985 wrote:
Completely agree!
Morgoth985 wrote:
This is true, and most overtakes are at least reasonable, but the problem is that it only takes one bad overtaker to kill you, and there are still a lot of them out there. If you are a novice cyclist, and you get passed badly at least once every ride, you are likely to give up and go back to the car.
The reverse of what you say about good passing being copied by the following drivers is also true of bad passes. I’ve lost count of the number of times the first driver in a convoy passes me dangerously close, to be followed by the other five.
While I take your point about most drivers being not too bad at passing, we need all of them to be good, so that cyclists don’t feel their lives are threatened on every ride.
Burt, I don’t disagree with
Burt, I don’t disagree with any of that, and I’m conscious that I might just be lucky in having a slightly lower density of nutcases in my area than elsewhere. I’ve still had enough close passes that I don’t minimise the issue by any means. I’m just saying that positive reinforcement of good behaviour is one tool among several that we can adopt to change attitudes.
Alex Dowsett in not having a
Alex Dowsett in not having a clue about safe cycling shocker.
Advising that cycling right behind someone in their slipstream and then shoot out quickly only to then count to three and simply pull back in front of them is a good idea is fucking bullshit. You don’t know the person in front, slipstream if you are in a chaingang or you’ve asked for a tow and they’ve ok’d it, optherwise stay the fuck off someone elses back wheel, it’s not wanted and it’s dangerous.
Sorry but advice like that comes from a cretin with no idea whatsoever about safe cycling, stick to what you know because safe commuter cycling isn’t one of them!