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Live blog: Is this the new Ronnie Pickering? The Mirror make epic Tour de France preview fail + more

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Latest Comments
Suggest you pull this article, fix it, then bin it.
@ajd As well as confusing George Orwell with Orson Wells - clearly not proof read (at least, not by a different person)
@mdavidford One assumes it's referencing Nancy Mitford's famous "Noblesse Oblige" with its concept of U and non-U language, U being upper class and non-U the more flowery attempts to sound posh from the middle classes. I recall her decreeing that bicycle and bike were U and cycle was non-U, though she was of course a little early to rule on the difference between ATB and MTB.
On the subject of mountain biking, terrific rides by Tom Pidcock and Charlie Aldridge to take gold and silver in the UCI World Championships yesterday.
Most puzzlingly: Firstly for the closing off of parentheses twice, but also, who are these people "in the U"? Is this some kind of slang the kids are using that I'm not down with?
As I recall it made cycling more popular rather than doing for it...honestly, this article is an absolute dumpster fire of factual errors (Orson Welles did not write 1984 and Warner Bros do not organise MTB races) and grammatical and syntactical mistakes ("TV coverage is also, in no short order, what rings in the lion’s share of sponsorship money" - what?). What on earth happened?
@Sriracha It is indeed ridiculous that one can buy these illegal machines just on a promise that one won't use it on public roads; almost as ludicrous as being able to buy a motor car that can do 230mph with a promise that one won't ever do more than 70mph. By all means let's have a crackdown on illegal electric motorcycles, but there should be simultaneous legislation restricting all cars to 70mph maximum with severe confiscate/crush penalties for any vehicle that has been modified to circumvent the restrictor.
Yes, let's send in the army to go after the group that kills 1750 people a year and seriously injures 25,000 more, 85% of whom admit to breaking the law when it suits them. Shocking that these thugs have been allowed to get away with their illegal behaviours for so long and at such devastating cost to their victims and their families.
@Steve K Yep, at the time I had a back wheel conversion ebike, fully legal kit from a reputable UK supplier, all three of my LBSs refused to do a front brake fluid replacement for me; they were very polite and apologetic but they all had a policy of only working on purpose-built ebikes from well-known manufacturers. One explained that there were plenty of falsely-badged dodgy kits around with 750W motors masquerading as 250W and they didn't want to risk any potential legal issues if they were found to have facilitated getting an illegal machine back on the road.
@leedorney Nowt wrong with inner tubes, but if you'd have spent £100 buying tyres to use them tubeless I bet you'd be at least marginally annoyed.
18 thoughts on “Live blog: Is this the new Ronnie Pickering? The Mirror make epic Tour de France preview fail + more”
Mirror – chateau!
Mirror – chateau!
davel wrote:
Chateau!?
UK Cycling Expert daftness.
UK Cycling Expert daftness.
Well canal guy was, err, what
Well canal guy was, err, what I can only describe as a throwback. I was into eugenics I’d be round his with a pair bricks to the knackers to stop the line.
Trouble with pricks like that they are looking for any ‘good guy’ excuse to be a bad guy.
“but the cyclist was doing 11mph, I had to drown them so nobody got hurt”
Yorkshire wallet wrote:
there was a time, before British Waterways was turned into the charity Canal and Rver Trust that it is now, only in 2012, when you were supposed to have a permit to cycle on the towpat. So perhaps he’s emerged from a pre-2012 time tunnel. Don’t tell him the Olympics have been and gone.
I thought the cyclist did
I thought the cyclist did very well to keep so calm with that idiot by the canal. you know some people are trouble just by their cammo shorts and T. It sounded like he’d been on the booze too just to add to his already minimal IQ.
DrG82 wrote:
— DrG82you know you’re unintelligent when boozing increases your IQ.
I look forward to the video when I get home.
The term ‘mouth-breather’
The term ‘mouth-breather’ springs immediately to mind…
I still have my permit, sits
I still have my permit, sits in my bag.
never ridden on a tow path,
never ridden on a tow path, can’t say this would ever lure me to do so either.
Pedestrians should walk in
Pedestrians should walk in single file on the side of shared paths, and wear a bright yellow jacket so they can be seen.
kingleo wrote:
They should have clanging bells too, like Alpine cows.
PRSboy wrote:
And helmets and Mae Wests.
Its actually difficult to
Its actually difficult to tell if Canal Guy is genuinely trying to be doing something for the public good or if he’s just a bit pi$$ed and being an @rse. Even the worst of the “This. Is. A. Footpath!” type people don’t ever actually stand right in front of you with their arms outstretched (at least, not in my experience).
(BTW – is that his boat or is he just nicking something from it?
)
brooksby wrote:
Dunno, but there is something oddly compelling about his “Dismount when there’s pedestrians!” and the rallying cry “Pedestrians have the privilege!”
His camouflage outfit adds to the aura of canal path commando.
Less impressive was the cyclist pedalling off and leaving the lady cyclist in the clutches of the bloke who’d threatened him.
“Angry Canal Man”. One too
“Angry Canal Man”. One too many Cs in that.
burtthebike wrote:
No there is definitely one C in that picture.
Leviathan wrote:
Canal! Do I win a prize?