Welcome to today’s live blog with Simon MacMichael and the rest of the team.
James Cracknell injured while cycling after “altercation” with minicab driver; Cracking DiData TdF vid; Hundreds attend Bjorg Lambrecht’s funeral; Lord Sugar’s new cycle helmet; Police Scotland busts #CycleMyths on Twitter + much more on the live blog
All today’s news from the site and beyond
Wed, Aug 14, 2019 18:55
SUMMARY
14 August 2019, 18:55
Police Scotland bust #CycleMyths on Twitter
Police Scotland’s Roads Policing Unit has launched a campaign on Twitter using the hashtag #CycleMyths, aiming to set the record straight on many of the misconceptions that many people have about cyclists and the law.
Over the next few days we’re going to bust some #CycleMyths. We see the same comments come up again and again whenever a bicycle is mentioned, so it’s time to #SetTheRecordStraight.
Keep an eye on our feed and we’ll start with a real doozy!#OpClosePass#SafeSharedSpace
— Road Policing Scotland (@polscotrpu) August 12, 2019
#CycleMyths 1 – “No pay, no say. I pay Road Tax, so should cyclists”
Truth – Road Tax was abolished in 1937. You pay emissions based Vehicle Excise Duty, which goes straight to the Treasury Fund, with other taxes such as alcohol and fuel.
See https://t.co/jXDpNAMg1Z for more. pic.twitter.com/a344Ul7YT1
— Road Policing Scotland (@polscotrpu) August 12, 2019
#CycleMyths 2 – “Cyclists should always ride single file near the kerb”
Truth – @HighwayCodeGB Rule 66 – never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends
Excellent video by @BritishCycling herehttps://t.co/MdL8ufC4fK pic.twitter.com/0m7nC9RB2d
— Road Policing Scotland (@polscotrpu) August 12, 2019
#CycleMyths 3 – “So it’s ok for cyclists to come right up beside me when I’m at traffic lights?”
True! It’s called filtering. Cycling is a great way to beat the traffic, stay fit and help the environment! Back to @BritishCycling with another great video:https://t.co/UjA1nAlZ2n pic.twitter.com/23029dbIO7
— Road Policing Scotland (@polscotrpu) August 13, 2019
#CycleMyths 4 – “Police unfairly target drivers over cyclists”
Truth – @transportgovuk data for 2017 shows that 2 car drivers were killed per billion miles compared with 31 cyclists, meaning a cyclist is 15x more likely to be killed on a road.
We target the highest risk areas. pic.twitter.com/2pBG5pqG2C
— Road Policing Scotland (@polscotrpu) August 13, 2019
#CycleMyths 5 “Cyclists should use cycle lanes and stay off the road”
Truth – There is NO legal requirement for a cyclist to use one.The only legal requirement relates to drivers. When a cycle lane has a solid white line, vehicles must stay out of it during its time of operation pic.twitter.com/gl0oBZCcge
— Road Policing Scotland (@polscotrpu) August 13, 2019
14 August 2019, 18:55
E-bike riders who caused driver to crash sought
Merseyside Police are seeking two people who were riding a black e-bike who crashed into a black Ford Focus, causing the driver to swerve off the road and sustain minor head and arm injuries.
The incident happened at 12.05am yesterday morning on Upton Road, Birkenhead close to the junction with Bidston Road.
PC Craig Williams of the Matrix Roads Policing Unit said: “We want to identify those on the bike as a matter of urgency, to ensure that they are safe and well and receive the appropriate medical treatment. If you know who was involved, please do the right thing and let us know.
“I also want to urge anyone who witnessed this incident, or has home CCTV or dashcam, and captured this collision to get in touch, so we can establish the circumstances and take the necessary action.”
14 August 2019, 18:55
Win nearly £3k of bike goodies!
We put this competition up yesterday, but a few site gremlins were chewing away at the entry form. We’ve managed to lure them into the microwave now, so you should be able to enter just fine. And you should! You can win a Focus Izalco Frameset, a Rotor Vegast Crankset and a Topeak Joe Blow Elite pump, together worth £2,893!
14 August 2019, 18:55
Desperate measures
Hopefully no-one will be needing the first aid kit any time soon…
14 August 2019, 18:55
Cube launches 2020 road bikes
Cube has revamped its road bike range for 2020. Here are the quick highlights. The flagship road race bike, the Litening C:68X, has been completely updated and elsewhere in the range, there are new paint jobs and spec options.
Here’s the brand new C:68X. It’s all aerodynamic with disc brakes and integrated everything.
This is the Nuroad which looks ideal for UK winter training and commuting with G-One tyres for tackling any terrain and mudguards to keep you dry.
#crossiscoming and there’s the Cross Race ready for an hour of lactic acid hell around a school playing field.
The C62 SLT its below the C:68 and looks really good. Expect some competitive prices.
If you want an e-road bike, Cube has you sorted with the Agree Hybrid C: 62 SL.
14 August 2019, 18:55
Santini release special edition Yorkshire World Champs kits
Yorkshire 2019, in partnership with @eventmerch and the UCI’s official cycling clothing supplier @SANTINI_SMS, have revealed three special-edition jersey designs to celebrate the 2019 UCI Road World Championships.
Which is your favourite?#Yorkshire2019https://t.co/WmkeB5X0Ms pic.twitter.com/Rb63tmuRt4
— Yorkshire 2019 (@Yorkshire2019) August 14, 2019
Which is your favourite? Or are rainbow bands only for World Champions? Or if you wanna heap the pressure on your kids then there is option to kit out any future cyclists out there.
14 August 2019, 18:55
Lord Sugar's got himself a new cycle helmet
So let’s get this right. Lord Sugar opposes segregated cycle infrastructure and blames London cyclists for getting involved in road traffic incidents, but says a helmet with flashing lights will make the roads safer for him? Okay … (On the subject of indicators for cyclists, see John Stevenson’s blog here).
My new cycling helmet with left and right indication pic.twitter.com/cDu7egWzI2
— Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) August 13, 2019
14 August 2019, 18:55
No. Nope. Nu uh. No thanks
This might have done the rounds before but Vittorio Brumotti doing his daredevil thing on a road bike is always worth another watch
Death wish pic.twitter.com/tgI6rcr07G
— CCTV IDIOTS (@cctv_idiots) August 14, 2019
14 August 2019, 18:55
Hundreds attend Bjorg Lambrecht's funeral
Hundreds of people yesterday attended the funeral of Bjorg Lambrecht, the Lotto-Soudal rider who died last week following a crash at the Tour de Pologne.
Family and friends of the 22-year-old were joined at the service at the church of St. Willibrordus in Knesselare, near Bruges, by Lambrecht’s team mates, as well as former Lotto-Soudal sprinter Andre Greipel.
With the church full, a big screen was erected in the town square, where many gathered to watch the service, reports The Brussels Times.
Tom Van Damm, president of Belgium’s national cycling federation, said: “We have lost a great talent in Belgian sport.
“But today, all my thoughts are with the family and relatives who have lost a son. We have lost several cyclists in Belgium recently. Fate was particularly cruel to Bjorg. If he had fallen a metre farther, he would still be with us.”
Today, the BinckBank Tour also paid its own tribute to him.
Race director Rob Discart and mayor @pieterdecrem
of @gemeenteAalter have stopped at the passage in Knesselare to hand over flowers to the members of the fan club of Bjorg Lambrecht in Knesselare, near the church where the funeral ceremony took place yesterday. #BinckBankTour pic.twitter.com/rH3gHmRcsB— BinckBank Tour (@BinckBankTour) August 14, 2019
14 August 2019, 18:55
James Cracknell injured in bike crash after “altercation” with London minicab driver
Former Olympic champion rower James Cracknell, who earlier this year was back on the water to help Cambridge beat Oxford in the Boat Race, has been injured in a bike crash following what he described as an “altercation” with a minicab driver while cycling in London.
The 47-year-old, who has been signed up to the forthcoming BBC series Strictly Come Dancing, posted a video to Twitter in which he said: “I spent a year riding round Cambridge on a bike and it wasn’t a good day for Jake the Snake, the bike that saw me through Cambridge, or me as my Strictly Come Dancing dreams nearly came to an end when I had an altercation with a minicab driver in London. It was nobody’s fault really.
“Bit of a bust finger, some road rash on my back, but OK.”
Slight wobble – literally – in my @bbcstrictly preparations. Luckily only a bit of road rash and damaged ego – but I need to get ready for the latter. #daddancing #sharetheroad pic.twitter.com/eN9KgvNsjF
— James Cracknell (@jamescracknell) August 14, 2019
Cracknell, who suffered a brain injury in 2010 when he was struck by a lorry as he cycled through Arizona for a TV documentary, and has campaigned for cyclist to wear helmets since then, continued: “Good thing was there was no street furniture around for me to fall into, I was also wearing a helmet and I wasn’t listening to music so I could concentrate and I was focused on what was ahead.
“And that’s the important thing to remember (when) cycling, or riding a motorbike or driving around town; it’s OK if you concentrate on what you are doing and are absolutely focused.
“I now have switched my focus (from) riding a bike, and in fact doing anything else, to learning how to dance and, to be honest I’ve got more chance of winning the Tour (de France) than Strictly Come Dancing, but in for a penny … ” he added.
14 August 2019, 18:55
Team Dimension Data put together cracking Tour de France video
Team Dimension Data’s fifth participation in the Tour de France last month wasn’t their happiest – there was a very public row in the opening days of the race over Mark Cavendish’s omission from the team, and the eight riders who did make the squad barely (to borrow a cricketing phrase) troubled the scorers.
Despite that, they’ve managed to put together a cracking video that stitches together one-minute segments on each of the 21 stages; it’s well worth a watch.
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Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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Latest Comments
wtjs 1 hour ago
@chrisonabike Someone should check on wtjs… Not sure what CoaB is implying here- is it that I have a secret Aston Martin, or that my stories about HN21 VXB and BF64 TGE can't have been properly presented to the Kickass Enforcers at DVLA, the body which, in real life, makes Border Force look like the Swiss Railways. I don't have any vehicle on the road at present, for the simple reason that I know that the vindictive b******s at LancsFilth would be out to nail me if they could. Apologists for DVLA should know that it's impossible to report a vehicle to them if you don't have the location where it 'lives', and I first reported BF64 TGE to them in May 2022, because I accidentally do know where it lives. It will soon achieve the landmark '5 years without VED' so they haven't exactly leapt into action. It was reported to DVLA by my MP a year ago, so it's encouraging to know that MPs are fobbed-off with complete bollocks from ministers just like the rest of us. There are loads more of them around here: I haven't seen PO64 AUR for a year but that will soon achieve a prizewinning 10 years without VED. DVLA already knows about these millions of vehicles on the road without VED, because many of them keep getting MOT and are easily identifiable from DVLA's own database anyway- such as HY66 ZZB, which I last saw about 3 months ago. Or, a recent discovery where I also know the address, MM10 EOG. I haven't reported that to DVLA, because I know the reports go straight in the bin along with all the others marked 'can't be bothered', and it's only 3 years without VED which would entitle you to a Good Citizenship Medal in Lancashire
Pub bike 2 hours ago
@chrisonabike I wonder if like when HMRC has to make cuts the first thing it does is lose compliance officers that the DVLA is the same, and without sufficient compliance officers all they can do is pursue a small number of high profile cases to get headlines like this one regardless of the actual individual merit of each case? In the BBC article the last line is "He was among 1,451 people across England and Wales to be convicted last week of failing to insure their vehicles.". Given that there are 43 million+ registered vehicles in the UK this seems to be an incredibly small number ie 0.0033% considering how often cars without tax and/or MOT I find when looking up a registration on the DVLA reg check website.
belugabob 3 hours ago
For an indication of how we arrived at such driving behaviour - and the appeasement thereof - you just need to look at the Aug 4th edition of the Daily Mail (which I have to fetch for an elderly person who should know better) - the front page banner and full page story on page 11 defies belief, with respect to the entitlement and total lack of responsibility involved. On second thoughts, don't go looking for it, as it will just spoil your day.
chrisonabike 4 hours ago
I couldn't say ... but hopefully some other road.cc posters will be along to explain.
jaymack 4 hours ago
@hawkinspeter - nice try I'm not that easily fooled, there's no light sabre.
chrisonabike 4 hours ago
@andystow I guess it's good that you can wear these mid-bike without necessarily having to wear them at the end when it gets dark?
mdavidford 5 hours ago
I generally ride mid-bike anyway. I guess they're no good for anyone adopting the superman position or riding on the studs of their bmx though.
Pub bike 5 hours ago
@chrisonabike I would have thought that the owner of the car would have been able to afford a DB5 rather than a DB6. Cost of Aston Martin crisis? PS: I wonder why the DVLA is going after cars that aren't being used on the roads when there seem to thousands cases of untaxed uninsured un-MOTed vehicles actually being used on the roads. Also as a "historic vehicle" this car is exempt from MOT - until the engine is changed to electric - and is zero rated for vehicle tax so there's no revenue to be collected. Seems like they have their priorities wrong. Or they are just going after people who will make the headlines to make examples?
mdavidford 5 hours ago
"Join us - on the grey side..."
Global Nomad 6 hours ago
@Daclu Trelub not sure of the data around aero benefits
24 thoughts on “James Cracknell injured while cycling after “altercation” with minicab driver; Cracking DiData TdF vid; Hundreds attend Bjorg Lambrecht’s funeral; Lord Sugar’s new cycle helmet; Police Scotland busts #CycleMyths on Twitter + much more on the live blog”
Seem to be some formatting
Seem to be some formatting issues
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Argggh this is so frustrating
Argggh this is so frustrating. Rule 66 of Highway Code states that cyclists ‘should’ never ride more than two abreast…… Therefore not a legal requirement. I’m not saying it is right to ride more than 2 abreast (I distinctly agree with it) but if you are going to quote the law, then at least quote it correctly!
tulip_girl100 wrote:
Some good tweets there and to be fair to police Scotland they are mythbusting – not law quoting, ie including best practises, not just what the law says.
tulip_girl100 wrote:
Agreed, and in all honesty, a group of experienced cyclists on road bikes that ride together regularly, can safely ride 3 abreast (especially if staggered slightly) without taking any more space than 2 mates out for a tootle on their mountain bikes having a chat as they ride 2 abreast legally.
tulip_girl100 wrote:
oops
How does one overtake a group
How does one overtake a group of cyclists riding two-abreast if cyclists should not ride three-abreast??
Perhaps the same way you overtake a car with passengers sat two-abreast? Ah, suddenly travelling more than two-abreast is allowed!
The two-abreast “rule” is such nonsense.
Execute Rule 66!
Execute Rule 66!
Organon wrote:
That’s right, and if the Jedi had all worn helmets (like the clone troopers) then they wouldn’t have been wiped out!
And everytime that Lord Sugar
And everytime that Lord Sugar is mentioned I can post the excellent, and sadly missed, Atwarwiththemotorists blog about situational awareness.
Good on police Scotland for
Good on police Scotland for actually doing something, unfortunately I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of “whataboutery” from car drivers who can’t bare to be slowed down for all of 10 seconds on their highly important journey.
Perhaps if James Cracknell
Perhaps if James Cracknell had spent all that time, effort and money promoting road safety instead of helmets, the roads would be safer.
Burt, it’s very easy to say
Burt, it’s very easy to say “helmets” or “lights” or “reflectives” or even “bikeability” because that doesn’t in any way affect the drivers who say it. I’m guessing Cracknell drives, and personally has proper knowledge of the need to drive safely at all times, and doesn’t sometimes, he breaks the speed limit, drives while tired, a bit distracted, other things on his mind, maybe a drink (perhaps not drunk, but you know one doesn’t hurt). Now I have decided not to do any of these things, because of my personal experience that mistakes while in charge of a motor vehicle is terribly painful and destructive to those on the outside (and sometimes inside) by never driving. Getting drivers to change the way they drive is almost impossible.
And he does get paid to say Helmets.
ktache wrote:
Cracknell was hit by the wing mirror of a truck travelling at 70 mph and suffered a brain injury which caused severe personality changes, memory loss, the whole shebang. I’m still personally not entirely convinced that his helmet really helped, I think he was just very very VERY lucky (relatively speaking)… But, as you say, he is paid to say “Helmets” a lot.
brooksby wrote:
Is he still paid to promote helmets? I know he was sponsored by the helmet manufacturer when hit by the truck, but is that still true?
burtthebike wrote:
You may be right, actually.
He was a “brand ambassador” for Alpina Helmets (“the helmets that save your life when you’re hit by a truck at 70mph”, or something) but I can’t find that he’s now paid.
He is still however the vice president of Headway, so he’s not exactly an unbiased commenter.
brooksby wrote:
I thought it was the quick arrival of the trauma team and their skills which saved him.
Just got stabbed. Good job I
Just got stabbed. Good job I had a first aid kit. Need to promote the use of first aid kits as stabbings are inevitable and nothing can be done about them.
Nah Rick, Stab resistant
Nah Rick, Stab resistant vests for all pedestrians, perhaps mandatory, only way.
I don’t even want to wear a
I don’t even want to wear a helmet, never mind a stab proof vest. Don’t like impose your restrictions on me man!
Still, a bit more free
Still, a bit more free publicity for Mr Cracknell…I’d almost forgotten about him. Whatever next?
Chris Hayes wrote:
+1. An altercation that is “nobody’s fault”?!? Gimme a break, we’re not that stupid.
Alan Sugar (another hypocrite with a massive ego) can go f..k off too. Worra knob. And I agree 100% with John Stevenson regarding those pointless gadgets. As the old saying goes, a fool and his money are easily parted.
Simon E wrote:
I have a first edition of that helmet, it’s a Lumos – though I run mine in solid lights only, since I believe that blinking lights are actually more dangerous due to the inability to track the cycle they’re on.
It’s very useful since, as a handcyclist, if I’ve stopped at the lights I cannot signal and start off at the same time – I need my hands to crank with.
The inbuilt lights are also useful – the front ones show where your head is pointing and therefore roughly where you’re looking, and I’ve found that staring directly at people with the lights on works better at preventing people stepping or pulling out on you, than without.
From behind, the triangular red lights and their height are quite visible – certainly more visible than most other options available to me as a handcyclist.
Also, I’d struggle to have them nicked (all my lights being fitted to the wheelchair section of my h’cycle notwithstanding); they’re combined lights that come in with you without your having to remember to take them off the bike, and it’s a single item to charge – though since they’re not technically “affixed” to the bike, you’re not technically in compliance…
The brakelights are a waste of time, though, and Sugar is still a tit – but please remember that not everybody has the exact same usecase, and whilst indicators on bikes are kinda daft, putting them on a lid that already had lights on is less so.
Oh, and turning on the helmet starts Strava, so that’s nice.
Simon E wrote:
These things just happen… like car “accidents”.