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Live blog: Very slightly weird cycling video; Lachlan Morton takes on Three Peaks; Tour de France time trials in decline; Froome says 2020 route is "brutal"; £27 million cash injection announced for cycling schemes in Scotland + more

All today's news from the site and beyond.....
16 October 2019, 16:02
southend.jpg
Cycle lane kerb intended to stop Southend drivers cutting corner removed for safety reasons

Locals say pedestrians, cyclists and motorists are all hitting raised kerb intended to protect cyclists.

Full story here.

16 October 2019, 15:05
Dave Rayner 1984 National Junior Champs (Phil O’Connor)
Dave Rayner Fund awarded charitable status – renamed The Rayner Foundation

The Dave Rayner Fund has been awarded charitable status by the Charity Commission and will now be known as The Rayner Foundation.

The Dave Rayner Fund supports young riders taking their first steps towards a professional career.

It is named in memory of Dave Rayner, a professional cyclist who was one of the few British cyclists in the late 1980s and the early 1990s to flourish in a cycling team outside the UK.

Rayner rode for the Dutch Buckler team for two years competing in most of the major races on the international cycling calendar, only injury preventing him from a ride in the Tour de France.

During a night out in Bradford in 1994 with friends and his wife Serena, whom he had married just five weeks earlier, Rayner was the victim of an assault that led to his death four days later.

The Dave Rayner fund was set up in 1995 by his teammates and friends. Through its annual dinner and other activities, the fund has so far raised over £1,000,000 to provide financial support for young riders to travel abroad, set up home and safely function on a day-to-day basis.

Riders to have benefited in the past include David Millar, Adam Yates, Owain Doull, Hannah Barnes and Tao Geoghegan Hart.

Speaking on behalf of the Rayner Fund Committee, founder member (and current team manager for the British U23 team) Keith Lambert said:

“Being awarded charitable status has been a brilliant achievement and will ensure we can further enable riders to progress in the sport of competitive cycling, whether that is on the bike or off it.

“The assistance we are able to provide is financial, but it also takes the form of advice, mentoring and mental support to inspire, empower and support the next generation of athletes so they can achieve to the best of their ability.

“We hope this fantastic boost for the fund will help us to encourage more women and riders from underrepresented groups to engage in the sport.”

16 October 2019, 13:58
Richard Flanagan (via YouTube).jpg
Gust of wind foils 100-mile wheelie – but 56-year-old cyclist still manages to set new world record

Rich Flanagan rode 50.5 miles to set his third wheelie world record.

Full story here.

16 October 2019, 13:24
Levenshulme Bee Network
Levenshulme Bee Network named ‘Community Project of the Year’

Levenshulme Bee Network has been handed the ‘Community Project of the Year’ award at the 2019 Healthy Streets Summit.

Residents in the Levenshulme Bee Network group have led proposals to reduce the amount of through-traffic and to encourage walking and cycling.

Greater Manchester Commissioner for Cycling and Walking, Chris Boardman said: “This project is an excellent example of what happens when residents lead the way and are given the opportunity to design their neighbourhood in a way that best serves their needs. With the support of the council, this project will enable local people to move around more easily and safely without cars, and that benefits everybody.” 

There is a £2.5m budge for the project, chiefly provided through the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Challenge Fund, plus a £100,000 contribution from Manchester City Council.

16 October 2019, 11:12
Jason Lowndes (via Israel Cycling Academy Twitter).jpg
Driver who killed Australian pro cyclist Jason Lowndes to be spared jail

Motorist attempted to send text message 68 seconds before hitting cyclist from behind.

Full story here.

16 October 2019, 09:48
Video: ‘Alternative calendar’ sees Lachlan Morton take on the Three Peaks Cyclocross

The latest event on EF Education-First’s ‘alternative calendar’ was the Three Peaks Cyclocross.

Lachlan Morton, the Australian pro who has also raced World Tour events such as Strade Bianche and the Tour of California this season, was the lucky rider. 

EF Education First-Drapac riders have been taking part in a number of off-road and ultra-endurance races this season, stemming from the team’s new Rapha sponsorship.

Earlier this year, Morton has won the inaugural GBDURO, a 1,960km four-stage self-supported bike-packing race from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

He described the experience as “unimaginably hard.”

16 October 2019, 08:45
The world's most normal video

Absolutely perfectly 100 per cent normal throughout.

16 October 2019, 07:41
Decline of the time trial: TT kilometres decrease from a peak of 176.5 in 2002 to just 36km in 2020

Pro Cycling Stats have reminded us how the time trial has been in steady decline since the turn of the century at the Tour De France, with the routes increasingly favouring big summit finishes and sprint stages with little in between. It means perhaps the days of a rider relying on their time trial performance and hanging on in the mountains are gone, yet on the other hand it means GC contenders are often fresher for the mountains so it's harder for an individual to split the pack. 

What do you reckon... are you glad to see the back of long time trials or should this purest form of racing a bike be more significant in the sport's biggest race? 

16 October 2019, 07:13
Froome says 2020 TDF route is "brutal"

Speaing at the 2020 route unveiling, Froome said it's "probably the hardest Tour route I've seen in the past five or six years", with a lot of elevation but "plenty of opportunities for the general classification to play out."

16 October 2019, 07:09
Singer Lloyd Cole has bikes to thank for weight loss

The singer songwriter thanked Marin Bikes for his recent transformation.

16 October 2019, 06:57
16 October 2019, 06:53
Nicola Sturgeon announces £27 million fund for cycling schemes
Cyclist in Edinburgh (licensed CC BY-2.0 by Mark Morgan on Flickr).jpg

At the SNP conference in Aberdeen, Scotland's First Minister says the cash injection will fund more than 200 schemes to make it easier for people to cycle and walk: “We want people to walk and cycle more too, reducing our carbon footprint and improving our health.
“So I can announce today new investment for local projects the length and breadth of our nation. From Ayr to Aberdeen, a fund of £27 million will support more than 200 schemes to make it easier for people to cycle and to walk.
“That is acting locally as we lead globally in making our contribution to tackling the climate emergency.”

16 October 2019, 06:50
Copenhagen leading the way with cycling infra

Once again we can only look on in envy as the Danes invest in quality cycling infrastructure left right and centre. 

16 October 2019, 06:25
Recycling old jokes?

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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9 comments

Avatar
Bmblbzzz | 4 years ago
1 like

At long last, that video of my commute has found a wider audience... 

Avatar
ktache | 4 years ago
0 likes

As a biologist I particularly enjoyed the Krebs cycle gag.  Never learned it though.  

Avatar
burtthebike | 4 years ago
2 likes

I thought Nicola Sturgeon despised Westminster, but she doesn't seem above adopting their imbecilic tactics.  Just like them, she announces a massive investment into cycling, £27m over the whole of Scotland; 200 schemes.  I think we can safely assume that £27m divided by 200 is sweet fa, and all the schemes are a few dabs of white paint and a sign or two.

Add a couple of zeros Nicola and stop pissing about.

Avatar
peted76 replied to burtthebike | 4 years ago
1 like

burtthebike wrote:

I thought Nicola Sturgeon despised Westminster, but she doesn't seem above adopting their imbecilic tactics.  Just like them, she announces a massive investment into cycling, £27m over the whole of Scotland; 200 schemes.  I think we can safely assume that £27m divided by 200 is sweet fa, and all the schemes are a few dabs of white paint and a sign or two.

Add a couple of zeros Nicola and stop pissing about.

It's a fair point, 27m won't go far, literally, that's about 12miles of dedicated cycleway..  

Avatar
Rick_Rude | 4 years ago
2 likes

France must have a TDF winner! This is the latest attempt.

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kingsouth | 4 years ago
3 likes

I would love to see a proper 50km time trial in the tour again. When the stages become too brutal it does tend to neutralise the racing or turn it into a war of attrition with little attacking

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Kendalred | 4 years ago
0 likes

So next year's Tour is designed for a grimpeur who can't time-trial that well?

My tenner is on Bardet.

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EddyBerckx | 4 years ago
1 like

Bring back TT's else grand tours will be won only by people with the physique of children or normal sized people with a serious danger of developing eating disorders only.  Not good for the health of riders, not good for variety or the principle of a grand tour being won by the best all round rider. Bring back some balance!!

 

But...maybe consider replacing the TT tech with 'normal' kit. Let the riders ride on their normal bikes and use their normal helmets etc. Let it be more a test of strength than a test of who has practiced to hold an unnatural position the longest.

 

Personally I prefer a TT stage to a long, boring flat stage tbh. The best riders start last and so there is a constant build up of anticipation and pressure as the times keep falling and so on. 

 

 

Avatar
peted76 | 4 years ago
1 like

I like a TT in a grand tour, I think an hour and a half at max effort should be included, anything less misses the point. 

I hope that the route being brutal doesn't neutralise the contenders racing too much. 

 

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