Welcome to Wednesday’s live blog, with Jack Sexty, Simon MacMichael and the rest of the team.
Swiss pro in snapped steerer crash tweets (and deletes) broken Bianchi pic; Strava adds ‘Perceived exertion’ to mobile app; Glitch sees Santander Cycles app users spammed; Oz driver channels Ronnie Pickering in epic road rage rant +more on live blog
All today’s news from the site and beyond…
Wed, Sep 18, 2019 20:31
SUMMARY
18 September 2019, 20:31
If ever you needed yet another great reason to cycle...
I do fear for my life living in London. But it’s not the knife crime or the robberies that scare me. It’s the cyclists, they’re an unruly menace that think the world owes them something!
— Darren Grimes (@darrengrimes_) September 17, 2019
…apparently it scares this person who describes themselves as a ‘Conservative commentator, Brexit activist & podcaster’. Happy riding!
18 September 2019, 20:31
Steve Cummings out for the rest of the season after fracturing vertebrae in Tour of Britain crash
Medical Update: Steve Cummings
Unfortunately following his crash at the @TourofBritain it’s been confirmed that @StevoCummings sustained fractured vertebrae and won’t race for the rest of the season.
Get well soon, Stevo!
Full details: https://t.co/gaRCj4B0Sf pic.twitter.com/oiBh4iCyM7
— Team Dimension Data (@TeamDiData) September 17, 2019
Dimension Data confirmed last night that the 38-year-old’s injuries have forced him out for the rest of the season. They say that Cummings underwent “thorough diagnostics” at Liverpool’s neurosurgical department, and was found to have fractured four vertebrae of the thoracic spine: “Luckily no further neurological damage occurred and an operation is not necessary.”
18 September 2019, 20:31
“Don’t f**k me, motherf**ker!” Extraordinary road rage rant from Australia caught on camera
Somebody come get yo uncle pic.twitter.com/h2LvW9aA8E
— Claudia (@claudiascore) September 17, 2019
Perhaps even eclipsing the infamous Ronnie Pickering, this bizarre rant at a group of cyclists from down under beggars belief. At the beginning of the clip, we see the driver of the Mercedes convertible circling a cyclist shouting “Do you wanna have a go” amongst other unintelligible things, before he tries to retrieve what looks to be a pair of flip-flops that have ended up under his car.
The cyclists ask what they have done wrong, as the man finally realises the light is now green, and gets into his car with the flip-flops back on his feet.
18 September 2019, 20:31
Credit: unkown
18 September 2019, 20:31
TfL-backed Parcels Not Pollution e-cargo bike delivery scheme launched in Hammersmith
Hammersmith BID (business improvement district) has teamed up with Hammersmith & Fulham council and e-cargobikes.com to launch a new zero-emissions freight hub, supported by £50,000 in funding from TfL.
Businesses in Hammersmith town centre signed up to the Parcels Not Pollution clean air delivery service, which launched on Monday, include Kings Mall Shopping Centre, Regus, the Ark building, and the Lyric theatre.
The scheme uses e-cargo bikes to deliver goods locally, with businesses able to receive and sort deliveries at a single location, thereby reducing the level of freight vehicles on the road, especially at peak times.
Patricia Bench, director of Hammersmith BID, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this funding which will help us achieve our objectives to reduce the number of, and emissions from, freight and goods vehicles in our town centre.”
18 September 2019, 20:31
Vuelta withdrawal symptoms? Watch this ...
18 September 2019, 20:31
Strava add Fitness' and 'Perceived Exertion' metrics to mobile app, allowing you to rate your workout for intensity on a scale of 1 to 10
Strava is releasing two new in-app features to their Summit subscribers, ‘Fitness’ and ‘Perceived Exertion’, to help users track workouts over time and estimate their training load.
Fitness will helps athletes understand how workouts are adding up over time, Strava say, with a daily Fitness Score charted on a graph to provide a high-level view of individual fitness trends over time. You can also zoom out to analyse fitness trends over one month, three month, six month, one year and two year periods.
Perceived Exertion allows you to manually note how intense a run, ride, swim or other activity felt on a scale of 1 to 10. Strava say: “Whether an athlete trains with or without a device or heart rate monitor, they can now capture their effort and track their Fitness Score over time.”
They will be available to use on both the iOS and Android versions of Strava’s mobile app, for those who pay the subscription for Strava Summit.
18 September 2019, 20:31
Santander Cycles are REALLY excited about free bike hire next Sunday
@SantanderCycles sort it out guys… #spam pic.twitter.com/TYh4qaP8L8
— Chetan Taylor (@chetantaylor87) September 18, 2019
It appears the popular London hire bikes may have some sort of glitch with their app, as numerous people are complaining on social media of endless notifications telling them about the apparently unmissable offer…
I think @SantanderCycles are trying to tell me something… pic.twitter.com/XAO5GqZLmK
— Michael Potts (@MichaelPottsRT) September 18, 2019
Not sure but I think next Sunday it’s a free cycle day @SantanderCycles pic.twitter.com/GVqavB4T8A
— Ashot (@AshotLovesShots) September 18, 2019
Really any need for that many notifications @tfl @SantanderCycles ? pic.twitter.com/Lr5zSMRw8c
— CyclingMikey aka Bike Gandalf (@MikeyCycling) September 18, 2019
Santander Cycles have replied to numerous complainants on Twitter to say they are aware of the issue and “can appreciate that it’s a bit much”.
The cycles are affectionally known as ‘Boris Bikes’ after Boris Johnson, previously Mayor of London and now Prime Minister, and he could do with some good PR at the moment; subliminal messaging? Now where’s my tin foil hat got to…
18 September 2019, 20:31
Sir Chris Hoy backs Doddie Weir's fight against Motor Neurone Disease
Sir Chris Hoy is backing retired Scotland rugby great Doddie Weir’s fight against Motor Neurone Disease, taking to Twitter to urge followers to show their support by buying a cycling jersey or bottle of gin, profits from which will go to the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.
I’m supporting @MNDoddie5 in his mission to tackle Motor Neuron Disease! Be part of the cure and buy the new Doddie Cycle Jersey. All profits from each sale going directly to the Foundation! Buy here: https://t.co/cY9EeQEpmu (or the gin here: https://t.co/Ll08jSegkH’5-gin-launch pic.twitter.com/PwBgg4zdcV
— Chris Hoy (@chrishoy) September 17, 2019
49-year-old Weir, who played 61 times for Scotland, set up the charity which has its own distinctive tartan after announcing in January 2017 that he had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, and so far it has raised more than £1 million for research into the condition and to support people living with it.
18 September 2019, 20:31
North Yorkshire road gritter gets rainbow makeover for World Champs caravan
An 18-tonne road gritter has been given a makeover in rainbow colours ahead of next week’s UCI Road Cycling World Championships, when it will form part of the first-ever publicity caravan to feature in the event.
The vehicle, which will carry the slogan, North Yorkshire – Salt of the Earth, will precede the women’s and men’s elite road races, respectively being held on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 September.
If you’ve ever been present when the publicity caravan has passed by ahead of a big race such as a Tour de France stage, you’ll know each vehicle is traditionally accompanied by people dishing out freebies, and you have to admire the lateral thinking that’s gone into this one – there will be natural sea salt crisps from Yorkshire Crisps, as well as salted fudge from Harrogate brand Stirrd.
Andy Hindley, CEO of Yorkshire 2019, said: “We are very excited to be the first hosts of the UCI Road World Championships to have a publicity caravan because it’s such a great way to engage the thousands of roadside spectators before the riders arrive.
“We are enormously grateful to North Yorkshire County Council for the role they have played in the planning for this huge sporting event and it is great to have them in the caravan.”
18 September 2019, 20:31
Move over Batman and Superman...
…because now we have Lawnmower cyclist man! Definitely a more fun way of keeping the lawn in check.
18 September 2019, 20:31
"No words": Chris Froome on Gareth Thomas revelations
No words. It’s absolutely appalling the way the British media treats their athletes.@gareththomas14 @benstokes38 @Mo_Farah @SirWiggo @paulajradcliffe https://t.co/sk1F21gAMW
— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) September 18, 2019
Froome tweeted in support of the retired rugby star, who claims to have been forced into going public with his HIV status due to a blackmail attempt from a tabloid journalist: “It’s absolutely appalling the way the British media treats their athletes”, Froome added.
18 September 2019, 20:31
Dealclincher mega deal: 30% off Garmin watches to celebrate 30 years of the brand
Garmin are celebrating their 30th anniversary, and are offering 30% off some of their top GPS watches to mark the occasion. That includes the new Forerunner 645 Music, and the Fenix 5 – check out the deals and bag yourself a bargain here.
18 September 2019, 20:31
Madison-Genesis post farewell video after riding final race
Saturday’s concluding stage of the OVO Energy Tour of Britain marked the final race for Madison-Genesis – and by means of farewell, the popular UCI Continental team with one of the most distinctive kits in the peloton has put together this video charting its seven seasons in the sport. It’s well worth a watch.
18 September 2019, 20:31
Swiss pro tweets (and deletes) pic of his broken Bianchi
Swiss pro cyclist Simon Pellaud tweeted – and swiftly deleted but not before it was screengrabbed – a picture of the Bianchi Specialissima bike he was riding when he crashed spectacularly as he sprinted for second place at the Tour du Doubs on Sunday.
The incident has got plenty of attention – crashes in bike races aren’t unusual, unfortunately, but ones involving a single rider apparently due to equipment failure certainly are.
There’s been a lot of speculation about what caused the steerer tube of the IAM Excelsior rider’s Bianchi Specialissima to snap at the French one-day race.
As our tech editor David Arthur explains here, such equipment failures are more often than not due to human error somewhere along the line rather than an inherent defect.
Our suspicion is that the stem bolts holding the steering tube in place may have been tightened beyond their maximum torque tolerance, putting excessive stress on it and causing it to break.
Here’s the crash itself in case you missed it.
La vidéo de la potence de Simon Pellaud qui casse après le sprint final (via @LNC_CYCLISME ) pic.twitter.com/VGTUQm3ZOC
— Bertrand Guyot (@bguyot1982) September 15, 2019
18 September 2019, 20:31
#WhereisWout? Bahrain Merida...
We’re thrilled to announce the signing of race-winning rider @WoutPoels, as we build an exciting new chapter for the team with McLaren. #WelcomeWout
Full story: https://t.co/DBZ3yun67K pic.twitter.com/9QI9XIabWo
— Team Bahrain Merida (@Bahrain_Merida) September 18, 2019
It’s been rumoured for a while, but now it’s official that Poels has left Team Ineos to join Bahrain-Merida. Coinciding with the team’s recent partnership with the British automotive manufacturer McLaren, Poels said in a statement: “It’s impossible not to admire what Team Bahrain Merida has achieved in less than three seasons, and I’m very excited about the opportunity that its joint venture with McLaren offers.
“Combined with Rod Ellingworth’s expertise, McLaren’s involvement promises to make Bahrain Merida one of the best and most captivating teams in the peloton, and I look forward to playing a key part in its future success.”
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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
mdavidford 54 minutes ago
Given the first item on today's blog, that doesn't sound encouraging.
mdavidford 56 minutes ago
"consideration is a two-way street" Perhaps it could be made one-way and use the other half for a cycle route?
Shades 1 hour ago
I recently had 2 weeks cycling in France. My first ride back in the UK was commuting to work; on return I said, of all the great things about French cycling (eg amazing climbs and descents, views, quieter roads, considerate drivers (mostly), cafe stops etc), if there was only one thing I could pick out then it would be the vastly better road surfaces; makes such a difference. I was on one French road with UK standard tarmac (ie potholed and bumpy) and there were temporary signs by the side of the road saying 'Chaussee Deformee'; probably resurfaced by now. Even their bike paths are silky smooth.
Surreyrider 1 hour ago
Please remove this story and replace it with one about ROAD cycling as this is ROAD CC. Stop filling out content with irrelevant stories.
wtjs 2 hours ago
Richard Standing said: “Or maybe the cyclists should find a safer mode of transport…” The memories come flooding back- the day when Blackpool Police wrote on Twitter the thoughts of the whole of Lancashire Constabulary: 'If cyclists don't like the conditions on the roads, they should find an alternative mode of transport'. This was later deleted, but LC has remained true to the sentiment to this day and is also resolute in its determination to protect offending drivers at all costs. HN21 VXB's driver has now exceeded his year without MOT and 2 years without VED, and I've now discovered where he lives- it's half a mile from Garstang Police Station where NPT stalwart PC Mike Duff works at writing letters asserting that he mustn't be told of any more 'alleged offences' because he doesn't have time to deal with them.
Rendel Harris 2 hours ago
@eburtthebike I like the cockwomble telling you that the roads were safe for bicycles in 1826. So all you have to do to be safe is to go back in time about forty years before the pedal cycle was invented and you won't have any problems!
chrisonabike 3 hours ago
@Smoggysteve For me one of the plus points of cycling is in the particular: getting the local knowledge, finding the better route ... ... but I think most of the population are less inclined to "magical mystery tour" (with the possibility of the odd bad trip) and more "just getting from A to B safely". Even when just "out travelling". I haven't done much cycling round Lincolnshire and what I did was mostly about the south. I do know that even trying to get between neighbouring towns there - what a not-unfit person might contemplate as a "journey for transport" - could involve a Hobson's choice of thundering traffic or the poorly maintained alternatives (or going a very long way round). I don't think that's necessarily inevitable (see Dutch countryside and "just don't let the motor vehicles drive over everything"). But I suspect (for several reasons, but especially the "low population density" one) Lincolnshire will be among the last places any transport revolution reaches, if it ever does.
eburtthebike 3 hours ago
Campaign to make endangering a cyclist “as unacceptable as drink driving” I recently had my life threatened by a reckless/inattentive driver, and since I had a bar cam, I posted a still and an explanation on our local website. Whilst I did get some support, there were also some incredibly entitled drivers: 'the one idiot [cyclist] decided to start weaving back and forth across the road, almost collided with me yet I was over the white line in the other 'lane'..... yes, I did beep my horn at them and got told to F*ck Off for the privilege!!!' 'However, had he have collided with me/my car who was going to HAVE pay for the damage to my 26 plate car.....oh yeah that'll be me !!!' 'The public highway is not suitable. In 1826 it was. In 1926 perhaps it was. In 2026 I suggest it really isn’t.' '....cyclists will hold up a significant amount of traffic for quite some time to excercise their "rights" to be on the road whilst making people late for work/school/appointments etc just because its their "rights".' '...all because of 3 cyclists all riding "abreast"...' [I did ask for evidence, but didn't get any.] 'Im absolutely certain that we all get the message that ONLY you matter, ONLY your story is the truth.....' [sic] 'However, I do take issue with Entitled arrogant smarmy cyclists who think only their opinion matters, oh, or thinking about it, do I detect misogyny. [sic] 'My point remains - consideration is a two-way street, and the idiot policy makers who can’t see an issue with mixing 10-15mph traffic with 50+mph traffic are the main problem.' '..by the way, only one contributor in this thread has lowered to thinly veiled prejudices, borderline rudeness and absolute refusal to consider anyone else’s point of view.' All that because I posted about two drivers who put my life at risk and posted a picture of one of their cars. Motornormativity is so deeply embedded in our society that it is going to take generations to change things.
Rendel Harris 3 hours ago
Thanks for all the marvellous entertainment Julien, even though it's always been coupled with irritation as one shouted at the screen "There's no N! It's not Alanphilippe!" as the commentators consistently got your name wrong. Somewhere in an alternative universe there wasn't a landslide on stage 19 of 2019, you caught back up with Bernal on the climb to Tignes, the next day wasn't shortened either and you clung on to the yellow jersey all the way to Paris. You deserved one just for the amount of excitement you generated that year and the peloton will be a duller place without you, plus Mrs H is going to have to find a new piece of eye candy now...
18 thoughts on “Swiss pro in snapped steerer crash tweets (and deletes) broken Bianchi pic; Strava adds ‘Perceived exertion’ to mobile app; Glitch sees Santander Cycles app users spammed; Oz driver channels Ronnie Pickering in epic road rage rant +more on live blog”
Is that Darren “definitely
Is that Darren “definitely not part of the official Leave campaign, definitely a completely independent person in no way connected to Arron Banks” Grimes?
I wouldn’t trust or believe a word he said (or wrote!).
Quote:
Someone REALLY needs to cut back on their coffee!!
brooksby wrote:
Epic rant. I have moments like that. Particularly after watching the news recently.
Darren Grimes = trolling
brooksby wrote:
no, that’s just how Australian drivers talk. Like a highlight reel from dash cam australia that was! Shows the mid life crisis car doesn’t stop you having a very public mid life crisis either.
Driving is obviously too stressful. He should take up cycling, look how relaxed the cyclists were. And put the caffeine to good use!
Philh68 wrote:
It was the stamping about – I thought he was going to put a foot through the floor like Rumpelstiltskin!
its Australia mate – you’re taught from birth not to stand in one spot for too long or your flip flops melt! You notice he kicked the flip flops under the car to preserve them, it’s cooler in the shade. We don’t call it global warming, the rest of the planet is just playing catch-up.
Oh, the antics is just miming. The fella on the bike is wearing funny clothes so he must be a foreigner who doesn’t understand Strine, and he’s just trying to give him directions. Bikes don’t go in the middle of the road, they belong in the far queue, right next to far queue two. Apparently Mother Farquhar is already there waiting. Once you know the lingo, it all makes sense!
Darren who?
Darren who?
Ah the rant where they find
Ah the rant where they find an attribute to have an excuse not to hit you (e.g. I’d lamp you one mush but you’re wearing glasses”)
Clearly a heavy dose of small dog syndrome there, with a side order of oh fuck, I’m driving a hairdresser’s car in a land of massive V8 utes.
There is something small,
There is something small, convertible, sporty cars and unfit, short and balding middle aged gentlemen.
I saw one the other day and couldn’t not laugh.
ktache wrote:
PEAK GAMMON
And the irony is that they’re so often a Mercedes SLK.
kil0ran wrote:
Isn’t that the car that Clarkson regularly called “a hairdresser’s car” and laughed at, when he was on Top Gear?
ktache wrote:
Indeed I had my worst 1×1 of the year with the balding fat cockney driver of a Mazda MX-5.
I didn’t even know what I did apart from filter up the inside of a queue of traffic at some roadworks traffic lights, but didn’t even pass him as he was at the head of the queue?
He said something, and I made the mistake of responding. When we got through the roadworks, he pulled over and got out of his roller skate and tried to get me. Not nice, but he was too fat and unfit to get me
I honestly thought that Steve
I honestly thought that Steve Cummings had stopped racing this year sometime around March as he was generally to be seen at the back of races chatting with those around him in the same ‘support’ role as per Wiggo on his s
wansong lapTour of BritainI’m giving the cyclist 12 out
I’m giving the cyclist 12 out of 10 for not stepping off his bike (although that part would be optional) and lamping the clown…. I suspect he was awaiting him to make any physical contact, so that a single solid blow to put him down could legitimately be classed as self defence.
“Mother Farquhar” I refuse to
“Mother Farquhar” I refuse to use an emoticon, but my goodness that really amused me.
hmm, Garmin in the deal
hmm, Garmin in the deal catcher. New fenix 5 I see,strange coincidence that my garmin fenix 3 (and others as far as I can tell from the net) has stopped recording gps at about the same time
wycombewheeler wrote:
Garmin 6 is the new one, the 5 is old.
And it’s way cheaper to get it from Blacks even with Garmin discounting: https://www.blacks.co.uk/s:garmin+fenix+5+/?search=garmin+fenix+5+
If he’s channelling Ron
If he’s channelling Ron Pickering, things must’ve changed since We Are The Champions. I don’t think David Coleman would ever have been so potty-mouthed.