Welcome to road.cc’s first live blog of 2019, brought to you by Jack Sexty, Simon MacMichael and contributions from the rest of the road.cc team (assuming they’ve recovered from New Year’s Eve hangovers by now!)
Live blog: Mail columnist examines “crazed prejudice” against cyclists, Farmers Weekly in e-bike review, 12 speed Campagnolo EPS spotted on Valverde’s new bike? Strava reveal ‘Quitter’s day’ when we give up on New Year fitness resolutions + more
All today’s news from the site and beyond as we start 2019 with a two-wheeled bang…
Wed, Jan 02, 2019 16:45
SUMMARY
2 January 2019, 16:45
Meanwhile...
Dude is simply amazing. Mind-blowing save from @mathieuvdpoel #GPSvenNys #cyclocross #MVDP pic.twitter.com/kN3Wfy0qXq
— Cycleboredom (@Cycleboredom) January 1, 2019
Check out this save from Matieu Van der Poel, as he straddles his saddle and somehow manages to dismount with the ground crumbling beneath him. That’s why they say he’s ‘too good’ for cyclocross.
2 January 2019, 16:45
Mesmeric CX stair climbing skills
Thibau Nys rode the stairs in the race! #skills pic.twitter.com/IdTdZBua94
— Cyclocross24.com (@cyclocross24) January 1, 2019
Thibau Nys decides to ride the stairs instead of make a run for it, and it works a treat. Somehow don’t think the result would be quite the same if I tried it!
2 January 2019, 16:45
Battle on the Beach and the Peaky Grinder open for entries (and lots of other sportives no doubt)
The 1st of Jan and with it all the New Year’s promises we make to ourselves mean that inevitably, sign-ups to sporting challenges will have gone through the roof in the past 24 hours. Two cycling events that have caught our eye include the Battle on the Beach, returning to Pembrey in South Wales for the sixth time in 2019. It involves three laps of a very gnarly course that features sand dunes and lots of fun singletrack, with entrants tackling it on everything from mtb’s, to cyclocross bikes and everything in between with a cash prize of over £1000 for the winner. It takes place over the weekend of 6-7 April, you can enter here.
Entries are now open for the Peaky Blinder. Our reliability ride taking in some of the Peak’s most iconic climbs. Something for you to aim for in ’19 ! https://t.co/TVoKoPG3FF @roadcc @100Climbs @cyclingweekly @BritishCycling pic.twitter.com/JFePv1r4L8
— Velotastic (@Velotastic) January 1, 2019
The Peaky Grinder takes place in Derbyshire’s Peak District, incorporating some of the county’s most fearsome climbs (trust us, the Peaks ain’t for the faint-hearted). There are 115km and 85km routes to choose from, and feed stations are purposely omitted until the finish line to encourage riders to support local businesses on route. It’s probably the polar opposite of the above event in that there are strictly no winners and it’s totally unsupported… “the challenge is riding up some of the Peak’s iconic climbs within the 9 hour time limit”, say the organisers Velotastic – it’s happening on the 15th September, entries here.
For a comprehensive list of every type of cycling event you could wish to do/not do in 2019, from 25 mile countryside pootles to outrageously long self-supported audax epics, head over to road.cc’s events page.
2 January 2019, 16:45
Chris Froome heading out for first training camp of the year in prep for 5th TdF victory attempt
Big goals for 2019! Going for @letour win number 5 #TDF #TDF2019
Heading to my first training camp of the year today
“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success” https://t.co/pLIeljYt83— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) January 2, 2019
Froome confirmed earlier this week that he’ll skip the Giro in 2019 to focus on going for a fifth Tour de France victory, with teammate Geraint Thomas doing the same in a bid to defend his yellow jersey. Definitely not at all awkward…
2 January 2019, 16:45
A couple of lumps on route...
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico, USA pic.twitter.com/R4aaNTZ1Bi
— Back To Nature (@backt0nature) January 1, 2019
Wonder how far we could ride up this?
2 January 2019, 16:45
Got a cycling-related New Year's Resolution? You'll have packed in by the 17th of Jan, according to Strava...
The world’s foremost social media platform for cyclists analysed data from nearly 100 million UK uploads in January last year, and discovered the day that shown a significant drop in activity was the third Thursday in January (which falls on the 17th this year)… dubbed ‘Quitter’s Day’ by Strava. The data shown that women are in fact better at keeping to their New Year’s fitness resolutions, keeping it up for two days longer than men on average. When it’s broken down by age, the 18-29 age group tend to stick to their regime longer than older folk. The graph below also shows that group activities tend to help us stay motivated for longer, say Strava, with cyclists riding 13 extra miles per ride with a group than alone.
If this all sounds like doom and gloom, then in mitigation Strava do say this year’s Quitter’s Day is five year’s later than it was projected to be last year… meaning its users are clinging on to their fitness plans/uploading things to Strava for a little longer than in the past. Will you be proving them wrong? Perhaps a very long ride on the 17th is in order to give the data a good old shake-up…
2 January 2019, 16:45
Mayor of San Jose Sam Liccardo recovering in hospital after being struck by a motor vehicle while cycling
At 12:30 p.m., Mayor Sam Liccardo was cycling when he was struck by a motor vehicle. He suffered minor fractures, but his injuries are not considered overly-serious. He is currently resting & in good spirits. Please find his statement below.
-Team Liccardo pic.twitter.com/7u4dTCuJaC
— Sam Liccardo (@sliccardo) January 2, 2019
The Mayor of the Californian city, the tenth-largest in the US, was cycling on New Year’s day when he was struck by a motor vehicle, and is currently recovering in hospital with his injuries not thought to be ‘overly serious’. Liccardo, who describes himself as a ‘cycling geek’ on his Twitter bio, joked: “All defects to the head were pre-existing conditions”.
2 January 2019, 16:45
Valverde's new Canyon Ultimate... with a little extra something?
The World Champ’s new bike has been revealed, and it appears its rocking Campagnolo’s new Super Record 12 speed components… it’s only available as a mechanical groupset at the moment to our knowledge, but we’ve noticed that front mech looks a little different. Something new coming soon perhaps? We’ll have more on this later… in fact we’ve got more on this now – you can read our full story here.
2 January 2019, 16:45
“Oi’ve got a brand new electric bicycle … “ – Farmers Weekly reviews … an e-bike
We wouldn’t normally flag up a review from another publication, but this one has been grabbing some attention on social media, given it comes from an unlikely source – Farmers Weekly, more likely to be found rating balers, combine harvesters, muckspreaders and other assorted items of agricultural machinery.
The bike in question is an MBM Metis, imported from Italy by Powabyke, and gets the verdict of being “a nippy farm runaround.”
The review says: “An e-bike obviously isn’t going to do any serious work on a farm, but it is a pleasant way of getting around the place and the exercise is a bonus.
“It could also be useful when ferrying machinery back and forth when there isn’t a spare person available to run you around.
“On rough ground, we found the lack of rear suspension made for an uncomfortable ride, so we would probably spend a little more and get a full-suspension version.”
While we may cover Raleigh Choppers here on road.cc occasionally, we’re unlikely to be reviewing mangelwurzel choppers any time soon.
2 January 2019, 16:45
Mail on Sunday columnist examines "crazed prejudice" against cyclists
We’re used to seeing anti-cyclist rants on Mail Online and its sister print publications, the Daily Mail and Mail of Sunday – so it makes a nice change to see one of the latter’s columnists penning a piece under the heading How Prejudice Against Cyclists Can Make Normal People Go Mad that comes from a bike rider’s point of view and in the process addresses myths such as cyclists “don’t pay road tax” and must ride on shared-use paths where provided, and not the road.
> 10 of the most hysterical anti-cycling Daily Mail headlines
We may not agree with everything Peter Hitchens writes (to put it mildly), but his column published on New Year’s Eve in which he recounts his experience of an aggressive bus driver (and passengers) while cycling in Oxford is well worth a read.
Hitchens says he wrote the story “as an illustration of two things. The first is the madness of crowds, the wild, irrational conformism that infects groups of otherwise perfectly sane people. The second is the crazed prejudice against bicycles and those who ride them, which has infected our country and which (I am sure) the comments on this article will faithfully reflect” (he was correct about that).
Being the Mail on Sunday, there is some unnecessary detail about how the bus driver “was not English,” but Hitchens concludes his column by expressing the hope that “after a bit of thought, he will know better in future” about how to share the road safely with cyclists.
“But will anyone else?” he adds. “Honestly, could this have happened in any country where a prejudice against cyclists was not raging?” He’s got a point.
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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
Oldblokey 5 hours ago
With so many people using and looking at mobie phones whilst driving and other distractions, may I suggest you always wear Hi viz and stay at home.
kil0ran 5 hours ago
The design of the "car" has played a role in this. SUVs and what the Americans call "trucks" are exempt from the pedestrian safety regulations which apply to passenger cars. Had the victim been hit by a car designed in the past twenty years he would have been "scooped" onto the bonnet and either over the roof or off to one side. Still a serious injury risk and potentially fatal but they have the benefit of those passive safety systems to improve their chances. With vehicles with such a high bonnet line as this Volvo has what tends to happen is the person bounces off the bonnet and falls on the road in front of the vehicle where they're then run over. This has happened time and time again and is becoming more of an issue as the numbers of vehicles exempt from the safety standards grows.
whosatthewheel 7 hours ago
@Accessibility for all Reducing the speeds wouldn't have helped in this case as the driver was reported doing 65 in a 40 zone on the approach to the junction, his driving described by the witnesses as erratic and evidently had no intention to stop to give way even though he had been warned by the passenger who apparently shouted "bike" three times just before the collision. He would have likely flown through that junction even if it was traffic light controlled with a red light for him at the time. In my own experience the entire area i.e. east of Lymm towards Warburton and along Dunham Road all the way up to Altrincham and past into Hale Barns, all those wealthy, posh settlements around Manchester Airport are best avoided by road cyclists. A disproportionally high number of psycho drivers must for some reason live in that area because every single time I went there on my road bike in the past, I either got harassed myself or witnessed proper dickhead driving - speeding, close passes, overtaking into oncoming traffic or round a blind bend, accelerating towards pedestrians already crossing the road, you name it. I gave up road cycling in that area years ago and only use the local TPT these days.
Hollis Jones 7 hours ago
In respect of the murder charge: based on him hitting Mr Mullins and making no attempt to help him (this killing him), how would the case compare to a hit and run driver who seriously injures or kills a cyclist, knowingly, and flees the scene without helping? Would this make the cut for a murder charge? Or is there something very different going on here that I’m missing? Genuinely curious because I don’t recall there being a murder charge before for this kind of thing unless it was premeditated. In fact, in my experience most cases like this seem to go the opposite way - where the driver can merely say the sun was in their eyes and get away with a slap on the hands.
jaymack 7 hours ago
@Rendel Harris...and there was me dishing out the praise!
whosatthewheel 7 hours ago
@polainm He must also be an already hardened criminal. It wasn't mentioned during the court proceedings to avoid influencing the jurors and ensuring he had a fair trial, but he had been released from prison shortly before this incident and was couch surfing at his cousin's house days before. Just look at his face, he's only 35, but looks older than his victim who was 56. Must have spent half his adult life in prison.
Rendel Harris 8 hours ago
@jaymack They did offer him manslaughter though but he declined to plead guilty. Without wanting to seem curmudgeonly, yes great that they preferred the most serious charges but hard to see how they could have done differently considering that Richardson got out of the car, saw Mr Mullins was stuck underneath and then got back in and carried on. That clearly moved it above anything that falls under death by dangerous driving.
Velophaart_95 8 hours ago
@thrawed Agree - the UK winters are utterly grim; grey, wet & windy. Not the type of weather you really want to go out and ride. Everything get covered in filth, and takes time to clean it after a ride. Oh for colder, drier & crisper days which can be enjoyable to be out in.
polainm 9 hours ago
@ymm In my view, lax sentencing of dangerous drivers, especially where cyclists are involved, makes the judge, jury and CPS complicit in UK driver culture. This driver is a sociopath.
slc 9 hours ago
@Mr Blackbird i reckon the libido is a bit overrated. I'd let that go rather than a limb or a nice bike.
8 thoughts on “Live blog: Mail columnist examines “crazed prejudice” against cyclists, Farmers Weekly in e-bike review, 12 speed Campagnolo EPS spotted on Valverde’s new bike? Strava reveal ‘Quitter’s day’ when we give up on New Year fitness resolutions + more”
Can’t help noticing the
Can’t help noticing the difference in the language used in the mayor’s collision with that used by our media in the UK. He was “struck by a motor vehicle” but the same incident in this country would be “cyclist collided with car”. Yet another demonstration of quite how car-obsessed we are in this country if even the Americans report car/bike collisions much more objectively.
burtthebike wrote:
Sadly, I’ve had cause to read thousands of US press reports on collisions involving cyclists over the past decade; I’d say this one is very much an exception, if anything the general standard of reporting them is even more prejudiced against the rider than it is here (and for some reason, even more so when the victim is a child).
Simon_MacMichael wrote:
Can’t help noticing the difference in the language used in the mayor’s collision with that used by our media in the UK. He was “struck by a motor vehicle” but the same incident in this country would be “cyclist collided with car”. Yet another demonstration of quite how car-obsessed we are in this country if even the Americans report car/bike collisions much more objectively.
— Simon_MacMichael “Sadly, I’ve had cause to read thousands of US press reports on collisions involving cyclists over the past decade;”
You have my sympathy. A dirty job but someone’s got to do it. I can only hope that it was sufficiently financially rewarding.
“I’d say this one is very much an exception, if anything the general standard of reporting them is even more prejudiced against the rider than it is here (and for some reason, even more so when the victim is a child).”— burtthebike
Thank you for sharing your experience; I doubt that many people have read that many USA cyclist/car collision reports.
Thibau Nys: Mesmeric stair
Thibau Nys: Mesmeric stair avoidance skills, shirley?
In defence of Hitchen’s ‘the
In defence of Hitchen’s ‘the bus driver was not English’ comment, this did come after explaining that he didn’t know if other countries had laws that require cyclists to use cycle paths, where provided, so it was actually relevant to his story.
The link to the Peter
The link to the Peter Hetchins article doesn’t work, but this one should https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2018/12/how-prejudice-against-cyclists-can-make-normal-people-go-mad-.html
Never thought I’d say this about a Mail article, but it describes perfectly the blatant prejudice which has been stirred up by……The Mail. Fortunately the comments return us to the sanity of the normal DM reader, in spades, demonstrating a prejudice and ignorance so massive that they would instantly be convicted of various crimes if the comments were about racial, sexual or religious groups.
And Peter Hetchins has a refreshingly realistic view of helmets https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2017/11/cycle-helmets-for-everyone-that-will-put-more-cyclists-at-risk.html
burtthebike wrote:
Don’t worry, normal service resumed in “Pedestrians, cyclists and bus passengers should get priority when new roads are built to help tackle the obesity crisis – not the motorists who paid for them, health watchdog says”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6555841/Pedestrians-cyclist-public-transport-users-priority-roads-built-upgraded.html
Jimbonic wrote:
Thanks, I think. Who could have predicted that?