Welcome to Wednesday’s live blog, with Jack Sexty, Simon MacMichael and the test of the team.
Live blog: Bike shop Brexit sign… divides opinion (but not how you’d think), Danny MacAskill launches YouTube channel (+ showreel video), Wear cycling shorts? Vogue says you’re a fashionista + more
All today’s news from the site and beyond…
Wed, Mar 27, 2019 19:26
SUMMARY
27 March 2019, 19:26
This is one hell of a thread
Back in 1896 men didn’t call women sluts.
They called them “bicycle face”.
Why? Because bicycles <gasp!> helped women make their own dating choices.
IOW bikes were the first dating app. That scared men.
Let’s talk about it.
Hold on to your bodices people, THIS IS A THREAD
— Article Group (@ArticleGroup) March 24, 2019
We’re a bit late to spot this, but check out this thread detailing some of the history behind women, bicycles and dating apps (it all makes perfect sense after reading it!)
27 March 2019, 19:26
This is a great idea
There was a slow moving vehicle on the cycling path earlier this week. Turned out to be a two-person bike which is part of a social project, aimed at reducing loneliness. pic.twitter.com/eBmRiJRniZ
— Sjors van Duren (@Sjoess) March 26, 2019
Although you might not get the same levels of patience in some countries…
27 March 2019, 19:26
Extra cardio for the Dutch national football team
It’s not just Dutch politicians and royalty who ride their bikes!
Nowadays, national football team players—including Virgil van Dijk, Frenkie de Jong, Memphis Depay, Ryan Babel, and Jasper Cillessen—no longer take the bus, but cycle to training sessions.https://t.co/CDy88S817u pic.twitter.com/b2458zLYDS
— Dutch Cycling Embassy (@Cycling_Embassy) March 26, 2019
27 March 2019, 19:26
Asmara, Eritrea's capital, is a "cycling paradise" according to BBC feature
The reasons for it may not be all so positive, but the BBC reports that Asmara has unintentionally turned itself into a great place to ride a bike. Factors such as conflicts, diplomatic isolation and lack of funds to buy cars for the average Eritrean have led to the situation, but with cycling easily being the most popular sport in the country, brought over by the Italians in Eritrea’s colonial days, you don’t see too many locals complaining. The few cars that are on the streets are often old and buses are even few and far between, meaning the bike rules in Asmara.
The feature also details how Eritrea is one of the only countries in the Horn of Africa with an extensive environmental policy, with the government limiting plastic production and usage, running reforestation campaigns and distributing bikes imported from Dubai and China.
The country has also produced numerous pro cyclists, including Daniel Teklehaimanot Girmazion who last rode for Team Confidis.
27 March 2019, 19:26
It's called fashion, darling. Look it up.
Embarrassed when you have to nip into a shop in your lycra? Now you don’t have to be.
This was spotted in Vogue so it must be true. But remember to style with killer heels and a top that complements your neckline.
27 March 2019, 19:26
Bike shop Brexit sign divides opinion (shocker)
Won't be buying a bike from there then! pic.twitter.com/GxdcXuftRW
— LukeB_MTB (@LukeB_MTB) March 23, 2019
A tweeted picture of a pro-Brexit sign displayed in the window of a Welsh bike shop has – predictably – divided opinion, although not in quite the way you’d expect.
“I DON’T MIND BEING POORER AS LONG AS WE ARE OUT OF THE EU FOR GOOD”
proclaims the prominent sign in the window of East End Cycles in Colywn Bay, North Wales (not to be confused with shops of the same name in London and Edinburgh) which also points out that people under 70 won’t remember rationing and living on bread and dripping… er, no.
The main focus of online debate so far – hasn’t been around the rights or wrongs of Brexit or indeed any inconsistencies of the poster’s argument (someone has picked up on the …ahem, slight, over-estimate of the current UK population) but whether it’s valid to say you won’t be spending any money with East End Cycles because you don’t agree with the sentiments or undermining free speech by taking your money elsewhere, a somewhat moot point given that most of those commenting live at the other end of the country and quite a few of them are assuming East End Cycles is in the East End of London.
Conwy voted 54% to 46% for Brexit in the 2016 referendum. East End Cycles in Colwyn Bay does not appear to have a presence on social media, but you probably guessed that.
27 March 2019, 19:26
Motorcycle racer Albert Arenas in intensive care following a cycling accident
Albert Arenas suffers spleen injury while cycling. https://t.co/a6JPXkrpwi
— MotoSBK (@MotoSBK_) March 26, 2019
The 22-year-old Spaniard, who competes in Moto3, suffered a lacerated spleen and various other injuries, and in a statement his team said: “On Monday night Arenas underwent a procedure overseen by Dr Muxart that involved the embolisation of the bleeding vessels in order to avoid the necessitation of a spleen removal. Arenas will be kept in the Intensive Care Unit for between 24 and 48 hours.”
27 March 2019, 19:26
Jonny Bellis suspended from role as Directeur Sportif of Drops women's team after being convicted of assaulting his girlfriend
Former Olympian Jonny Bellis is suspended as sporting director of Drops Cycling Team after being convicted of assaulting his girlfriend. https://t.co/RvAWo8Wg8I pic.twitter.com/huN5FFVh3a
— I Gloucestershire (@ILoveGlosUK) March 27, 2019
News broke last night that the 2008 Olympian had been convicted of assaulting his girlfriend, and now Bellis has been suspended from his current role as Directeur Sportif of the Drops pro women’s team pending their own internal investigation.
The 30-year-old told Cheltenham Magistrates Court he struck his partner at their home after a night out drinking, and he was fined £635 and ordered to pay £100 victim compensation. He was also given a five-year restraining order from the victim and told he must not make any contact.
27 March 2019, 19:26
Dylan Groenewegen wins Brugge-De Panne
#3daagse
What a sprint! what a victory. @GroenewegenD wins @Driedaagse_ Brugge-De Panne #samenwinnen pic.twitter.com/igKu96KVTv— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) March 27, 2019
The Dutchman held off Fernando Gaviria, Elia Viviani and Nacer Bouhanni to win in a furious sprint to the line.
27 March 2019, 19:26
High5 launch new energy gummies, with no added gelatine
Coming in Berry or Caffeine Tropical varieties, the new gummies pack a carb-loaded punch in a resealable pouch. High5 promise a great taste, and both flavours contain the electrolytes sodium and potassium with added Vitamin B6.
They’re also free from artificial sweeteners and include only natural flavourings, so are suitable for veggies and vegans. You can pick up multi-packs on High5’s website now, with a box of 10 berry flavour priced at £14 and the caffeine tropical at £15.
27 March 2019, 19:26
Fantastic sportsmanship by Michael Hepburn here
Sportmanship! @MitcheltonSCOTT @michael_hepburn pic.twitter.com/90AbPwVABU
— Daan van den Berg (@daanvandenberg) March 27, 2019
His Twitter bio is “it’s just a bike race”, and fittingly Hepburn selflessly stopped to help a stricken rider in this horror crash at the Volta a Catalunya earlier this afternoon. His teammate Adam Yates won the hilly third stage, with Thomas De Gendt of Lotto-Soudal retaining the overall lead.
27 March 2019, 19:26
Danny MacAskill launches own YouTube channel
Trials ace Danny MacAskill – catapulted to fame almost a decade ago by a short film shot in Edinburgh and who has featured in videos that have collectively racked up more than 300 million views, has launched his own YouTube channel.
Up until now, the Scot’s showpiece videos have featured on the social media channels of partners including Red Bull, Santa Cruz and – in the one that kicked it all off – Inspired Bicycles. Some of the highlights of his career to date appear on the showreel above, produced to coincide with the launch of his channel.
MacAskill said: “Better late than never, eh? I have been thinking about this for a very long time, because my approach to making videos just seems to be so much different than a lot of videos you see on YouTube every day.
“You won’t see daily edits popping up by any means. The plan is that I have my own space now, where I can chase some passion projects of mine.
“I have so many ideas on my list that I want to bring to life and I think that having my own space will give me more freedom to approach them.”
He added: “I will be kicking things off with a banger soon, just sit tight and watch this space!”
We can’t wait.
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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
Rendel Harris 41 minutes ago
@Rendel Harris Interestingly, and it sort of supports my theory that UAE were being cunning, Pog has the mountains jersey today because he was the quickest up the final climb, which argues that he hadn't burnt all his matches when he got to the finish.
eburtthebike 2 hours ago
@JLasTSR It takes time. I got knocked off nine years ago in broad daylight on a roundabout, by a driver who was wearing very dark glasses, I'm suspicious that he was actually visually impaired. No prosecution. It took me a few years to get my confidence back. I wish you all the best in getting the enjoyment back.
Rendel Harris 3 hours ago
@tomlew That sounds like someone who is thinking about GC to me. I don't think your comparison with 16-year-old footballers is particularly valid, ultimately football at every level is played on roughly the same size to pitch, the goals are the same size and there are eleven players on each team. If professional football was played on a pitch three times the size with goals half the size and for five hours instead of ninety minutes, that might be a good comparison. I have no objection to Seixas riding this tour for experience, I think it's a good idea, but as I've said, I don't think he's got any chance of winning unless something major happens to the big contenders (he's already shipped 39 seconds and 27 seconds respectively to the big dogs) and if he tries too hard he could receive humiliating setbacks that could damage him psychologically throughout his career. You say "If I were a prodigy cyclist youngster with a realistic shot at winning, I might take [the risk] even if I knew it might be the end of my career", but he doesn't have a realistic shot at winning and in taking the risk he might be putting in jeopardy the possibility of winning multiple Tours in future. I don't think this is a situation where a "death or glory" approach is suitable. We shall reconvene in three weeks time and see what happened, and I'm quite happy to be proved wrong and if he does win this year it would certainly mean we had had a thrilling Tour.
tomlew 4 hours ago
@Rendel Harris I absolutely know all that. But that's exactly what I said: he is risking a lot, but the reward might be worth it. It is only a matter of judgment. And by the way, AFAIK nobody said he's going to ride to win the GC. Maybe the plan is exactly to learn his lessons this year so that next year nobody can say he's too inexperienced to really go for victory. Of course, he could ride the Vuelta, but what better place is there to learn the TdF than TdF itself? Times have changed. No more pecking orders, 16-year-old footballers are already shaking the world (even though most of them do indeed get chewed and spat out badly, but again: that's a risk they take). Why wouldn't the same happen in cycling?
darnac 6 hours ago
Sôme interesting comments from Wright and Stewart about 'losing' thé team élément a bit with thé new format
choddo 11 hours ago
And I don’t know when you wrote this but I think it was published 9 days after Onley was confirmed out of the Tour.
choddo 11 hours ago
Paul Seixas’ team is Decathlon CMA CGM
GravelIsNothingNew 12 hours ago
The best thing about the TTT as Stage 1 is that it emphasises the fact that cycling grand tours incl the TDF are a team sport.
mdavidford 12 hours ago
If you click through and read the story you'll see that the first motorist hit the cyclist, and the second, following, motorist then also hit them while they were lying in the road - both were convicted of causing the cyclist's death.
Rendel Harris 14 hours ago
I may be reading far too much into it, but I felt as though Pogacar and UAE weren't actually that bothered about winning today. Not having yellow to defend and all the extra press etc to do this early in the race is an indisputable advantage; I just got the impression that they were out to lose no more than a handful of seconds but not to bury themselves for the win. With about 2.5kms to go I thought that if Pogacar really wanted it he would have gone from there, but he stayed with Del Toro for nearly another kilometre even though the body language was saying that no way was Del Toro in as good shape as Pogacar. Even after the finish he didn't seem as wiped out as Ganna (whom I don't think I've ever seen quite so shattered) or Jonas. As I say, might be reading too much into it but I would not be surprised if UAE had played a very clever hand not to lose any meaningful time but to avoid the burden of yellow from the get go.
34 thoughts on “Live blog: Bike shop Brexit sign… divides opinion (but not how you’d think), Danny MacAskill launches YouTube channel (+ showreel video), Wear cycling shorts? Vogue says you’re a fashionista + more”
I wonder whether high heels
I wonder whether high heels or SPDs are harder to walk in across a wet tiled floor…
“I DON’T MIND BEING POORER AS
“I DON’T MIND BEING POORER AS LONG AS WE ARE OUT OF THE EU FOR GOOD”
My mom had this saying:
– Why are you poor?
– Because I’m stupid.
– Why are you stupid?
– Because I’m poor.
BBB wrote:
‘Not all tories are stupid, but all stupid people are tories’.
Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:
*cough* Diane Abbott *cough*
FrankH wrote:
Not sure what point you’re making.
That she’s stupid? I personally don’t think she is.
That she’s a tory? Well, she’s a supporter of Corbyn, which probably puts her further to the left than the pink tories like Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Blunkett etc.
I don’t know enough about her voting record to determine for sure.
Still have no idea what point you’re trying to make, though…
Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:
Tom Bower, the highly regarded biographer, has recently published his book on Mr Corbyn and the lovely Diane figures in a couple of chapters. Reading it may inform your opinion of her, and several other leading Labour personalities.
mike the bike wrote:
From wikipedia “In 2019, a biography of Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn was published.[30][31] The book has been seriously criticised by Peter Oborne, writing in Middle East Eye, for its lack of referencing and factual errors.[32]”
mike the bike wrote:
He was on the radio talking about it. It did sound like a character assasination. Used the word ‘loser’ a lot. (It struck me that Mr Bower has the most public-school-sounding voice I’ve ever heard.)
He might be right – everyone is flawed. You aren’t going to find the perfect human to lead you. One reason why I don’t favour a Presidential system, which seems to encourage that futile search for the perfect person to save us all.
I’m not especially a subscriber to a cult of Corbyn. And I’ve never been that impressed by Diane Abbott (as seen on TV). But we have the choices we have.
And I also suspect Bower has an ulterior motive – the guy clearly has his own self-interests to look after. There aren’t any neutral judges in politics.
That sign truly is authentic
That sign…
Authentic frontier gibberish
That sign and the debate
That sign and the debate around the neatly sums up so much of the leave campaign.
Not just poorer. Dick.
Not just poorer. Dick.
This the residents of Swindon would vote leave again?
Why isn’t the sign written in
Why isn’t the sign written in Welsh?
don simon fbpe wrote:
Its in Colwyn Bay. On the highway from the (English) Midlands to the ferry port. Welsh would just confuse the tourists…
brooksby wrote:
They’d struggle to see it from the A55.
It’s from the english Northwest too, unless I’ve been relocated.
Quote:
Well, I d@mn well do mind! And if I ever happen to be in Colwyn Bay, I know one place I won’t be shopping…
Am I looking at the same sign
Am I looking at the same sign?
All I can see is this:
Funnily enough my daughter
Funnily enough my daughter mentioned that one of the on-line retailers she uses has started selling non-padded cycling shorts for fashion.
I suspect it comes from Spin classes, where I see the keen ladies wear lycra cycling shorts for their sessions at the gym, but draw the line at padding on aesthetic grounds presumably!
I think he’s making th point
I think he’s making th point that she’s stupid. I think she’s presented plenty of evidence of this of late.
alansmurphy wrote:
Spot on.
Also: “A young man who isn’t a socialist hasn’t got a heart; an old man who is a socialist hasn’t got a head.” David Lloyd George (Today he would probably have substituted “person” for “man” but you get the gist).
alansmurphy wrote:
Prima facie evidence that the tory propaganda in the DM and BBC is effective. Do tell me, given that the current PM has screwed up everything she’s touched in the past three years, is she stupid?
burtthebike wrote:
On the one hand, she’s clearly well educated and is intelligent.
On the other hand, she has been ploughing on with the same doomed strategy despite clear evidence that it’s not going to work well or at all. Some might say that she is determined, but I’d consider it a sign of stupidity.
(Personally, I think she’s a nasty piece of work, but she’s been so stitched up by the rest of her party that I actually feel sorry for her)
HawkinsPeter wrote:
Well of course, you can feel sorry for whomsoever you please, but this is the woman who gave us ‘the hostile environment’ and the ‘go home or face arrest’ vans. She is an unrepetent racist whose entire career has been driven by her abject hatred of immigrants. But of course, it’s much more important that the world know how Jeremy Corbyn refused to wear a poppy!
Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:
Fair point, she doesn’t deserve my sympathy.
I’m not a huge fan of Labour either (not until Tony Blair is held accountable for his war crimes) and although I like Corbyn on a personal level, I don’t think he’s a very effective leader.
HawkinsPeter wrote:
Indeed, Corbyn had a fantastic opportunity, but he has been skewered by the right-wing character assassination campaign, and the largely manufactured ‘anti-Semitism’ issue.
Aside from him, Britain is essentially a one-party state, and has been now since, oh .. since around the time of the death of John Smith. Fair play to Tony Blair in that respect: the UK has shifted so far to the right since 1979 that if he hadn’t moved the Labour Party in the same direction, there’d have been Conservative rule since. Unfortunately, that he did move the Labour Party to the right, means that we have had conservative rule since.
Tony Blair will never be held responsible for what he did in Afghanistan and in Iraq, because even in a fantasy future world where a PM is elected and says, ‘we’re handing him over to the Hague’, there are enough people sympathetic to him that there’d be a Chinook landing within the hour, in Hyde Park to the south of his residence, and he’d be in the US offered ‘asylum’ before anyone could get near him.
The UK is comprehensively and irretrievability broken. You can tinker as much as you want, but the basic system is greed (that is to say: conservatism) and class, and it runs through our society like blue through a ripe Stilton. If you want change, the system has to be destroyed, and built from scratch. And that means armed revolution, which of course, will never happen for obvious reasons.
So we’re fucked.
Which is why I’m leaving.
Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:
Can the last one out please turn off the lights?
alansmurphy wrote:
Dianne Abott’s Wikipedia entry; “Critical of Tony Blair’s New Labour project which pushed the party to the centre during the 1990s, in the House of Commons she voted against several Blairite policies, including the launching of the Iraq War and the proposed introduction of ID cards.”
So more intelligent than most.
burtthebike wrote:
Indeed. I think a lot (if not most) of the criticism aimed at her is because she’s some ‘uppity wog’ who doesn’t know her place.
(that’s not to say that anyone here has criticised her for her colour. I think most of you just parrot the right-wing media playbook)
alansmurphy wrote:
Hmm. You must be watching different telly than me. Of course, she has been smeared relentlessly in the corporate media for forgetting some figures during a couple of interviews.
But of course, ‘Boris’ – as he’s affectionally called by a tame and obsequious press corps – has a car crash interview and even the Guardian just drops it after one article…
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/22/boris-johnson-interview-disaster-diane-abbott
I was going to point out that
I was going to point out that I’d only just noticed the ‘High 5’ logo is in the shape of a hand.. then stumbled upon yet more politics..
Personally, I think Mrs May has been absolutely useless, from when she first made the decision to call a general election right up to now. A woman of little vision or creativity it appears, a linear leader. Although I do believe that she’s probably a very nice person, I can’t imagine the daughter of a vicar with such a lack of style or personality would be anything other than lovely for my Grandma to share a scone with, I bet she can’t wait to bail out of the situation and get on with judging cakes and vegetables in village halls up and down the country.
Corbyn just confuses me, I like that he’s a socialist and comes across a bit nonconformist, when compared to the usual plumy posh folk, but he hides that he is very posh indeed and I’m strongly on the opposite side of where ‘some’ of his thinking is, I just can’t seem to bring myself to put any trust him… also are we really far enough away from the same people who voted us to war back in 2003 (I marched and will never forget).
And therein lies my problem, we have ‘two’ sides to choose from and neither are any good in my eyes. I daresay Labour will win the next election.
Regarding where we are with Britain Exiting the EU, we’re in a bit of a pickle and we’ve been pickling ourselves for two years it seems (understatement). Still faced with the current set of options, I’m of two minds. I would prefer to go back to the people for a second referendum (presumably where the public votes to stay in and we apologise to the EU and get back to the normal bickering issues). However there appears no appitite to do this. So in place of reversing the whole thing, I would prefer to leave with no deal, which is polarising, but I truly think that no deal really is better than wanking £39bil at the EU and then getting in an endless negotiation with the Irish who we all know are lovely people individually but are equally on a similar level to Israel and Iran when it comes to compromise and negotiation.
There, I’ve vented, apologies for those who disagree or who came to discuss Danny MacAskill’s new you tube channel.
peted76 wrote:
That’s one of the problems. In fact, that’s probably the problem. People imagine that tory politicians are ‘just like us’. Ordinary, decent people, but people with whose politics we just disagree. Would you say that Harold Shipman is just an ordinary, decent bloke but that you simply ‘disagree’ on some points?
Every single Prime Minister since … probably since forever, has caused more deaths than Harold Shipman.
Yet we bow and scrape before politicians because .. well, because they’re politicians.
Legs_Eleven_Worcester wrote:
That’s one of the problems. In fact, that’s probably the problem. People imagine that tory politicians are ‘just like us’. Ordinary, decent people, but people with whose politics we just disagree. Would you say that Harold Shipman is just an ordinary, decent bloke but that you simply ‘disagree’ on some points?
Every single Prime Minister since … probably since forever, has caused more deaths than Harold Shipman.
Yet we bow and scrape before politicians because .. well, because they’re politicians. — peted76
I thought you were leaving?
Just out of curiosity, which Socialist paradise are you moving to?
Mungecrundle wrote:
That’s one of the problems. In fact, that’s probably the problem. People imagine that tory politicians are ‘just like us’. Ordinary, decent people, but people with whose politics we just disagree. Would you say that Harold Shipman is just an ordinary, decent bloke but that you simply ‘disagree’ on some points?
Every single Prime Minister since … probably since forever, has caused more deaths than Harold Shipman.
Yet we bow and scrape before politicians because .. well, because they’re politicians.
— Legs_Eleven_Worcester I thought you were leaving? Just out of curiosity, which Socialist paradise are you moving to?— peted76
I’d guess one of Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, New Zealand, or Belgium.
HawkinsPeter wrote:
We thought of Finland and New Zealand. But the cycling in Copenhagen tipped the scales. First interview there on 10th April.
Mungecrundle wrote:
That’s one of the problems. In fact, that’s probably the problem. People imagine that tory politicians are ‘just like us’. Ordinary, decent people, but people with whose politics we just disagree. Would you say that Harold Shipman is just an ordinary, decent bloke but that you simply ‘disagree’ on some points?
Every single Prime Minister since … probably since forever, has caused more deaths than Harold Shipman.
Yet we bow and scrape before politicians because .. well, because they’re politicians.
— Legs_Eleven_Worcester I thought you were leaving? Just out of curiosity, which Socialist paradise are you moving to?— peted76
It’s rare to see such a disparity between how smart someone thinks he is, and how smart he actually is.
You’re an idiot.