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Free beer from CHPT3 (we think); Deliveroo explains why its riders don't need number plates; Specialized to close website and global HQ to mark Global Climate Strike; Georg Preidler charged with fraud; Rapha + Gore Shakedry jackets + more on the Live Blog

All today's news from the site and beyond.....
19 September 2019, 16:34
Want to watch slo-mo footage of David Millar swigging a pint in Wetherspoons?

Course you do.

19 September 2019, 16:33
CHPT3 Truck - artists impression
We *think* CHPT3 are giving away free beer at the World Championships…

This was one of the more, um, ambitious press releases we’ve received recently.

Headed “CHPT3 announce great plans for the World Championships” it reads…

Marking CHPT3’s first physical activation of their promise to ‘make good, great’, the World Championships in Harrogate will be a chance to showcase a series of Yorkshire-themed products and for cycling fans from all over the world to enjoy a monumental week of racing with CHPT3

While racers have had their sights set on Yorkshire’s World Championships for many months, preparing to do battle with the best in the world for the ultimate recognition, CHPT3 have been honing their marketing efforts – the industry’s equivalent to the rollers – since God’s Own County was announced the 2019 host.

Feverishly arranging a carefully constructed schedule of activities, conceptualising outlandish stand designs, negotiating partnerships with pioneering global brands, calling on the country’s best creative talents and allocating thousands of ££££ in media spend, by late August, their plans were set.

There was, at this point, nothing more to do than to patiently wait until the right moment before unveiling the ambitious plans that would soon, finally become a reality and show the world that CHPT3 were ready to make good, great.

Niall Russell, Marketing Manager for the brand explains: “With over a year of scrupulous planning, consulting with some of the industry’s heaviest creative hitters and pulling many a late night, it’s safe to say that we are prepared for greatness at this year’s UCI World Championships – perhaps even more so than the athletes who will be competing.”

But then... the Financial Director said “no”.

Russell continued: “Sure, it was a bit of a blow at first. We had some really cool things up our sleeves and were super excited to share them with our fans, but at the same time, it’s been a real pleasure working with the likes of Elon Musk and our ambitions won’t be wasted – we’ll get this off the ground in the future, that’s for sure.” Adding cheerily, “we’ve still got plenty of bananas and a massive flag.”

Owing to their ambitious nature, CHPT3 have confirmed that they will still be attending the 2019 UCI World Championships, albeit in a more conservative capacity, choosing instead to allocate some hidden budgets to making fans experiences great in the simplest way possible... ...with free beer.

And the truck pictured above? “An artist’s impression of the futuristic CHPT3 truck where fans will be invited to join Founder David Millar and other representatives to enjoy true greatness.”

Basically, if you purchase one of CHPT3's limited edition 'Yorkshire' T-shirts, you can claim a free beer. More details on that in a minute.

David Millar and “CHPT3 representatives” will also be hosting ride outs from Grantley Hall. Complimentary pre- and post-ride refreshments will be provided, while partners, OTE Sport and Fyffes bananas will be on-hand to ensure riders stay fuelled.

The free-to-attend rides will depart on Wednesday 25th and Friday 27th. CHPT3 say, “while the wearing of CHPT3 clothing is not mandatory, customers will be rewarded with on-the-spot prizes.”

19 September 2019, 16:06
A warning for Saddleworth cyclists
19 September 2019, 15:51
Paris (CC licensed by Moyan Brenn via Flickr)
Mixed team time trial could be part of cycling programme for Paris Olympics in 2024

First mixed team time trial world champions will be crowned in Harrogate on Sunday.

Full story here.

19 September 2019, 15:18
A179 (via StreetView)
Hartlepool MP says 'craze' for pushing cyclists off is “tantamount to attempted murder”

We’ve reported on yet another incident where a cyclist has been deliberately pushed off today.

The story references a Hartlepool cyclist who suffered a dislocated shoulder and fractured collarbone after being pushed off in July.

Three such incidents in as many months have led the local MP this week branded such attacks “tantamount to attempted murder”.

Mike Hill told the Hartlepool Mail: “There are plenty of people out there like me who grew up with the Cycling Proficiency Test at school and, like me, are angry and annoyed by irresponsible cyclists using our pavements as cycleways and running red lights with impunity. But such irresponsible people represent the minority, whereas normal cyclists stick to and respect the Highway Code.

“For them to be targeted by people in fast moving vehicles and literally shoved off their bicycles is not only unacceptable, but is tantamount to attempted murder.

“Three incidents in as many months shows a pattern developing and as such I will be bringing it to the attention of both Cleveland and Durham Police.

“Decent law abiding citizens need to know our roads are safe. This is an example of that not being so.”

19 September 2019, 14:23
Fewer New Yorkers are cycling, according to latest stats
Cyclists in New York City (licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by Billie Grace Ward).jpg

Data released this week by the city's Health Department has shown that the number of residents who 'regularly cycle' has dropped by 5% on the last two years. Around 787,000 adult residents rode at least once a month in 2019, down from 828,000 in 2017. 

The disappointing stats come after a spate of cyclists' deaths in 2019, with 19 already killed by motorists this year. Mayor Bill de Blasio has recently announced extra funding for protected bike lanes, increasing by at least 30 miles per year. 

19 September 2019, 14:20
Long Nuke Road (via StreetView)
Birmingham club cyclist deliberately pushed off by masked motorbike passenger

Andrew Marsden suffered horrendous wound “where the bone was exposed”.

Full story here.

19 September 2019, 14:16
Collision involving driver and cyclist in Waterloo

No further news as of yet, but the cyclist has been taken to hospital. 

19 September 2019, 13:43
190911_Gortex-Reflection_0099-for-web
Rapha teases new Gore-Tex clothing range

Rapha uses all its own fabrics for its clothing range, but on a page titled “coming soon” on its website it has revealed it’ll be using Gore-Tex fabrics for the first time.

That’s a good thing, the latest ShakeDry waterproof fabric from Gore is hands down the best waterproof material currently available. That Rapha has likely decided to utilise it would be no surprise, but it’ll be interesting to see what twist Rapha puts on it.

PGI01XX_BLK_H2-19_Pro Team Insulated GORE-TEX Jacket_Black_COMING SOON_macro-details_2 (1)

There’s not much to go on at the moment, but we’ll hopefully know more soon. Check out the Rapha new season reveal page here.

Also on the coming soon page is news of other highlights, including a collaboration with Byborre, an Amsterdam-based textile company.

Rapha_AW20_Mechanics_Ricky_Feather_GM_9

There’s also a mechanics collection which looks like celebrating the work and impact of bespoke frame builders.

There’ll be more Pro Team clothing, following development this season with EF Education First and CANYON//SRAM. The Transfer collection apparently uses “engineered knit technology to be more comfortable and breathable than ever” which has us intrigued.

Tour-de-France-Grubers-1-49
19 September 2019, 13:34
Nice Canyon Grail with Grinduro paint job

Here's a bit with a high level of want. It's a Canyon Grail AL painted up in Grinduo colours, the hippest gravel event around right now, being shared over on Canyon Poland's Facebook page. No idea if you can buy it, but we do hope you can. 

19 September 2019, 13:23
Georg Preidler has been accused of doping during the 2017 Giro and Tom Dumoulin is not happy about it

There's more about the Preidler case further down the page.

19 September 2019, 11:21
Near miss
Near Miss of the Day 309: Perhaps the quickest close pass we’ve seen (on a country road, with oncoming traffic)

Just a normal day slaloming between cyclists at 70mph on a country road.

Watch the video here.

19 September 2019, 11:07
Kent councillor calls for Deliveroo and Uber Eats riders to have number plates
800px-Peaceful_Parkway_Deliveroo_(26967441621)

Councillor Gill Gower told the latest Canterbury Forum meeting that Deliveroo and Uber Eats workers should be more easily identifiable, after an 85-year-old was recently hit by a delivery cyclist on a pedestrianised high street. She said: "I appreciate the cyclists are under enormous time pressure, but they’re quite often cycling on the pavement, cycling without lights, and cycling in a generally reckless behaviour.

“It’s very difficult to describe a cyclist who is wearing a hood or helmet and travelling at speed. If you can actually say ‘this is this person’ it makes it much easier to call them into account.”

A Deliveroo spokesperson told Kent Online: "Road safety is of utmost importance to us and we operate a zero tolerance policy towards any riders who are found to have broken the law.

"As part of our commitment to road safety, we make hyper visible kit - designed to ensure riders can be seen by all road users - available to every rider free of charge. Free helmets are also available to all cyclists.

"We would ask people to share any complaints with us so that wherever possible, we can use our technology to identify whether a Deliveroo rider was involved in an incident and take action."

19 September 2019, 10:46
Geraint Thomas will ride TT and road race at the World Championships
Egan Bernal and Geraint Thomas

The Welshman has been named in GB's squad for both the road race and the individual time trial. Alex Dowsett joins him in the TT start list, with Owain Doull, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Ian Stannard, Ben Swift and Adam Yates completing the road race squad. 

19 September 2019, 09:56
Barcelona blocks - image CC licensed via shawnleishman on Flickr.jpg
Report advocates expansion of Barcelona’s ‘superblocks’ plan to reduce motor traffic and encourage more cycling

Barcelona announced its ‘superblocks’ plan to reduce motor traffic in 2016.

The plan involves limiting traffic to arterial routes, around an area of nine-or-so existing blocks, and opening up smaller streets to bikes and pedestrians.

There are six superblocks at present, but the original plan envisaged 503.

The first was introduced in 2017 in Poblenou, in the north of the city. Predictably, it was met with opposition from motorists and claims it would ruin local business.

The Guardian reports that opposition has since faded with residents warming to the benefits of a traffic-free neighbourhood.

Far more people are walking and cycling and there are 30 per cent more local businesses than before.

19 September 2019, 09:45
Syringe
Georg Preidler charged with fraud in Operation Aderlass doping inquiry

In June, Georg Preidler was banned for four years for blood doping, having been provisionally suspended by the UCI in March as a result of the Operation Aderlass blood doping investigation in Austria.

Cycling News now reports that he has been charged with fraud in relation to his testimony to that inquiry.

According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, because he raced at the World Championships in Innsbruck, he was contractually obliged to abide by anti-doping rules set by the UCI and those of the race organisers. Not doing so, they say, is criminal fraud.

Preidler has two weeks to appeal the charges, but could face between six months and five years in jail if found guilty.

19 September 2019, 08:07
Turbo psychedelia with Alex Dowsett

Dowsett is getting some final trippy sessions in before his appearance at the World Championships time trial, confirming yesterday that he was on the start list for Great Britain.  

19 September 2019, 07:57
"Friday isn't business as usual" say Specialized, as they will cease all operations for a day to mark the Global Climate Strike

Bike behemoths Specialized have announced on social media that they will close their Global HQ and website to support the "youth activists driving the movement": "We hope that you'll join us in participating in your local community, and show that together, we can pedal the planet forward."

It's worth noting that Specialized don't actually own any of the factories where their bikes are produced, so it's unclear whether the shutdown will actually extend to bike manufacturing tomorrow; saying they will shut their website and Global HQ suggests not. With carbon bike production not exactly being an emission-free operation, is this something of an empty gesture from Specialized, or do you think they are setting a good example? Let us know your thoughts in the comments of course... 

19 September 2019, 07:53
Crap drivers beware...

...Cycling Mikey will get you. Here's one on of his latest catches from the notorious Regent's Park spot where plenty see fit to drive up the wrong side of the road. 

Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.  

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19 comments

Avatar
Kendalred | 4 years ago
0 likes

Free pint from Wetherspoons? Nah, I'll pass, given you'd have to be in Wetherspoons to drink it. The pub equivalent of McDonalds.

Avatar
Redvee | 4 years ago
1 like

I was in Barcelona a few weeks back and other the years I've been going there the number of cycle lanes has increased greatly with all the cycle lanes I saw segregated with armadillos. There are also seperate lanes for buses and taxis to use with other motor traffic sharing the rest of the road making the bus journey a lot quicker. The buses now are numbered in three ways, buses with a H prefix, H14, go across the city sort of parrallel to the coast, buses with a V prefix, V14, go to and from the coast and buses with just a number go either way on their route. Public transport is cheap witha  combined ticket for the bus and metro costing €10.20 and that gives you 10 journies.

Avatar
quiff | 4 years ago
3 likes

"it’ll be interesting to see what twist Rapha puts on it"

An arm band, a story on the internal label, and some even larger numbers on the price tag?

Avatar
PRSboy | 4 years ago
4 likes

Indeed... because nothing says 'green' like a non-recyclable consumer good made predominantly of carbon polymers, shipped half way round the world in fossil-fuel burning transport.

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Rick_Rude | 4 years ago
4 likes

Getting of sick of being virtue signalled by massive companies that literally ARE the problem. Burger King....fuck off with your no toy nonsense and maybe go out of business as that would have vastly better environmental effect that deforestation so we can all scoff burgers. Cost cutting wrapped up as something else for Twitter.

If Specialized was that bothered it would market 'a bike for life' or something rather than BUY BUY BUY it now has DISC BRAKES AND AERO SPOKES, THINK ABOUT YOUR STRAVA!!

Avatar
Hirsute | 4 years ago
3 likes

Not surprised deliveroo are getting flak, many riders I see have quite a disregard for rules and other people's safety.

Avatar
LastBoyScout replied to Hirsute | 4 years ago
0 likes
hirsute wrote:

Not surprised deliveroo are getting flak, many riders I see have quite a disregard for rules and other people's safety.

Bizarrely, last night, I saw a bike rider wearing a Deliveroo jacket with an Uber Eats box on his bike!

Avatar
Bmblbzzz replied to LastBoyScout | 4 years ago
1 like
LastBoyScout wrote:
hirsute wrote:

Not surprised deliveroo are getting flak, many riders I see have quite a disregard for rules and other people's safety.

Bizarrely, last night, I saw a bike rider wearing a Deliveroo jacket with an Uber Eats box on his bike!

Makes sense to me. If you work for both Deliveroo and Uber Eats trying to make ends meet, sometimes your jacket isn't going to match your box.  

Avatar
Bmblbzzz replied to Bmblbzzz | 4 years ago
3 likes
Bmblbzzz wrote:
LastBoyScout wrote:
hirsute wrote:

Not surprised deliveroo are getting flak, many riders I see have quite a disregard for rules and other people's safety.

Bizarrely, last night, I saw a bike rider wearing a Deliveroo jacket with an Uber Eats box on his bike!

Makes sense to me. If you work for both Deliveroo and Uber Eats trying to make ends meet, sometimes your jacket isn't going to match your box.  

And I didn't mean that in a "collar and cuffs" way, just in case you wondered if I was getting all Roger Moore... 

Avatar
zero_trooper replied to Bmblbzzz | 4 years ago
1 like
Bmblbzzz wrote:
Bmblbzzz wrote:
LastBoyScout wrote:
hirsute wrote:

Not surprised deliveroo are getting flak, many riders I see have quite a disregard for rules and other people's safety.

Bizarrely, last night, I saw a bike rider wearing a Deliveroo jacket with an Uber Eats box on his bike!

Makes sense to me. If you work for both Deliveroo and Uber Eats trying to make ends meet, sometimes your jacket isn't going to match your box.  

And I didn't mean that in a "collar and cuffs" way, just in case you wondered if I was getting all Roger Moore... 

That’s a Sean line, but hey Roger would have loved it.

Whatever, you get a big LOL! Thanks 

Avatar
Sriracha replied to Hirsute | 4 years ago
1 like
hirsute wrote:

Not surprised deliveroo are getting flak, many riders I see have quite a disregard for rules and other people's safety.

I wonder if their pay structure rewards such behaviour.

Avatar
Hirsute replied to Sriracha | 4 years ago
0 likes
Sriracha wrote:
hirsute wrote:

Not surprised deliveroo are getting flak, many riders I see have quite a disregard for rules and other people's safety.

I wonder if their pay structure rewards such behaviour.

Or as per C5 scourge of the streets - deliveroo rider to angry cabbie 'I've been in trouble with the police before, that's why I'm doing this job'.

Avatar
ktache | 4 years ago
5 likes

CyclingMikey submits a great deal of footage, with statements and evidence given in court.  A lot of results too.

He, like many of us, has an especial dislike of phone use whilst driving.

 

 

Avatar
ktache | 4 years ago
3 likes
Avatar
NPlus1Bikelights | 4 years ago
4 likes

If Specialized aren't careful with all the greenwashing they are coming up with in HQ all their 2020-2021 prototype bikes will have green flecks.

Avatar
Simon E replied to NPlus1Bikelights | 4 years ago
4 likes
NPlus1BikelightsNJerseys wrote:

If Specialized aren't careful with all the greenwashing they are coming up with in HQ all their 2020-2021 prototype bikes will have green flecks.

It's easy and entirely understandable to view it as a cynical marketing move.

However, even if it's just greenwashing or virtue signalling or whatever you want to call it, this step is still more than any other brand / manufacturer / distributor / dealer is doing (as far as we know, with the exception of Islabikes, who are some way ahead of the field in this area).

And it may still do some good if it gets people talking about the topic. Perhaps others may do the same or even consider an environmental audit of their own operations.

Avatar
brooksby | 4 years ago
0 likes

On the Specialised story, the Global Climate Strike website says

Quote:

This September, millions of us will walk out of our workplaces and homes to join young climate strikers on the streets and demand an end to the age of fossil fuels.

I think that they mean to say that

Quote:

This September, millions of us will walk out of our workplaces book a day off work and walk out of our homes to join young climate strikers on the streets and demand an end to the age of fossil fuels.

IIRC the vast majority of workers are not unionised, and simply walking out of your workplace is generally frowned upon by your employer...

 

Avatar
ktache | 4 years ago
9 likes

Yeah for CyclingMikey, just wondering if any cycling safety teams might like to try and enforcrce the rules about massive motor vehicles going the illegally wrong way against motor and vulnerable road users there.  There are cycle symbols painted on that road, and many cyclists.

Avatar
Awavey replied to ktache | 4 years ago
0 likes
ktache wrote:

Yeah for CyclingMikey, just wondering if any cycling safety teams might like to try and enforcrce the rules about massive motor vehicles going the illegally wrong way against motor and vulnerable road users there.  There are cycle symbols painted on that road, and many cyclists.

Why not ask them to ? Or better still ask CyclingMikey to submit the footage to them, the Met have issued over 2000 enforcements from dashcam & headcam footage in the first 6 months of this year & also accept mobile phone footage produced by passengers & pedestrians.

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