Welcome to the penultimate road.cc live blog of the decade with Simon MacMichael and the rest of the road.cc team.
Banged Up Abroad – NZ Olympic medallist locked up in Thailand for coaching without visa; Sheffield bike shop ram-raided twice in 48 hours; Darwin Award video; Gong for man who gave Wiggins, Cav & co first taste of racing abroad + more on the Live Blog
All today’s news from the site and beyond
Mon, Dec 30, 2019 20:38
SUMMARY
30 December 2019, 20:38
Some stories you may have missed at the weekend
Met Police seize 30 rickshaws modified with motors
York cyclists petition for two-way cycling on one-way streets
Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross founder John Rawnsley dies at 81
British women looking to set tandem round-the-world record
Near Miss of the Day 345: Lorry driver in ultra-close pass (includes swearing)
Boris Johnson wanted a bicycle for Christmas – he got a dirt bike instead
Police in Dublin find more than 100 stolen bikes worth €250,000
30 December 2019, 20:38
Take a look at Mathieu van der Poel's custom Fortnite-themed shoes
It would be a shame to get them muddy, really …
30 December 2019, 20:38
Jeff Goldblum rides in a wind tunnel for his TV show
Jurassic Park and Independence Day star Jeff Golblum hasn’t ridden a bike since he was a kid – but he has taken to two wheels for the latest episode of his Disney+ show, The World According to Jeff Goldblum.
The episode, called Bikes, sees the actor try out a BMX track in San Jose, California, before heading to Specialized’s Morgan Hill headquarters where, in a wind tunnel, he learns all about the importance of aerodynamics with the help of lab director Chris Yu, as shown in this trailer.
“I feel sleek as a panther,” says Goldblum as he switches to Lycra after earlier trying out the wind tunnel in normal clothes, jacket dragging behind him.
Finally, the 67-year-old heads to Detroit, where he takes part in the weekly Slow Roll ride, which attracts as many as 5,000 cyclists. Goldblum visits local bike maker Detroit Bikes to pick up the bike he uses for the ride – and, apparently bitten by the cycling bug, gets to keep it afterwards.
30 December 2019, 20:38
What a 2019 Mathieu van der Poel has had
Recap of @mathieuvdpoel 2019 season
CX: W/W/W/W/W/W/W/W/W/W/W/W
Road: W/16/67/16/DNF/W/4/W/4/W/14/23/5/W/W
MTB: W/W/2/W/W/W/16/W/W/W/W
Road: W/2/32/23/4/17/2/W/14/6/W/W/19/43/12/6
CX: W/W/W/W/W/W/W/W/W/3/W/W/W/W/W/W69 racedays
46 victories (45 'stages' + Tour of Britain GC) pic.twitter.com/L5lDIxYlO5— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) December 29, 2019
30 December 2019, 20:38
Team Ineos stars join Welsh club run over Christmas
Lovely gesture by Geraint Thomas, Luke Rowe and Owain Doull. Everyone starts somewhere, and it’s great to see they haven’t forgotten their roots.
At our live show on Friday @LukeRowe1990 offered to go out for a ride with a young lad who needed a bit of help with descending.
This morning they headed out with @GeraintThomas86, @owaindoull and 40 riders from local clubs for a lap of Cwmcarn. Proper pic.twitter.com/zQXltDBtjp
— Watts Occurring (@Watts_Occurring) December 29, 2019
30 December 2019, 20:38
Great reply from Thomas De Gendt
It’s worth clicking through on the Pro Cycling Stats tweet too, some surprising findings there.
If you race a lot, you don’t have to train that much. pic.twitter.com/LA8I9HLtXE
— Thomas De Gendt (@DeGendtThomas) December 29, 2019
30 December 2019, 20:38
British Empire Medal for John Barclay, who gave many of today's stars their first taste of racing on the Continent
A volunteer who has helped some of the Britain’s top cyclists get their first tace of racing on the Continent has been recognised in the New Year’s Honours List through being awarded the British Empire Medal.
John Barclay has been organising trips to France and the Low Countries for up-and-coming cyclists for almost five decades, giving up his own time and money to do so.
Among those who have benefitted from such trips, according to British Cycling, are Sir Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish, David Millar, Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard and Adam Blythe.
Thomas, winner of the 2018 Tour de France, said: “John played a key role in my early racing career. As a junior he would take a group of us over to Belgium most weekends.
“It opened my eyes to what racing was truly about. Not just with the intensity of the races but the tactics and whole atmosphere of them. In those days you couldn’t compare the racing abroad to that back in the UK.
“He did it all off his own back, with rarely any thanks. It was purely for the love of the sport and helping us out.
“Those races as a junior really brought me on as a bike rider and set me up for later in my career. He deserves every bit of the recognition he gets.”
30 December 2019, 20:38
Yet more evidence that cycle lanes don't harm businesses - they benefit them
The latest evidence that #bikelanes are good for business. A Toronto study supports what other cities have found: trading street #parking for a bike lane doesn’t hurt the local economy, and often helps https://t.co/xTYeRSv7kP @Medium #cycling #econdev #completestreets #planning pic.twitter.com/AGOzkJws8Q
— TCRPC (@TCRPC) December 30, 2019
30 December 2019, 20:38
More info on just how Geraint Thomas, Luke Rowe and Owain Doull ended up riding with a bunch of youngsters in Wales
Here’s the background to how Team Ineos stars Geraint Thomas, Luke Rowe and Owain Doull ended up going for a post-Christmas ride with some youngsters from Cardiff – lovely stuff.
30 December 2019, 20:38
Sheffield bike shop ram-raided twice in 48 hours
A Sheffield bike shop that next year celebrates its 130th anniversary was ram-raided twice inside 48 hours in the days before Christmas.
In the first incident, at around 4.14am on Sunday 22 December, a silver Ford Focus car was reveresed into the front of Langsett Cycles on Infirmary Road, reports The Star.
The newspaper reports that a number of high-end mountain bikes were taken, as well as a cancer charity collection box.
The shop, founded in 1890, was targeted again on the evening of Monday 23 December, with police called to the premises at 11.05pm. On that occasion, it is believed that the ram-raiders fled the scene empty-handed.
Shop owner Andrew Elston said: “It is just so disappointing. It is no secret that retail is having a tough time at the moment and this feels like a hammer blow.
“We have survived two world wars and the Super Tram being put right outside our shop, but things are as difficult now as ever.
“The shop is 130 years old in 2020. We were planning on celebrating with lots of special events.
“Having a sale of damaged stock in January was not in those plans.”
Anyone who has information is requested to contact police on 101.
30 December 2019, 20:38
Domenico Pozzovivo signs for NTT Pro Cycling
Domenico Pozzovivo has signed for NTT Pro Cycling on a two-year contract. The Italian joins the South African team from fellow UCI WorldTour outfit Bahrain-Merida.
A stage winner at the Giro d’Italia and twice a top-five overall finisher at that race, the 37-year-old has been out of action since August when he sustained a broken arm, leg and ribs when he was hit by a driver while out on a training ride.
30 December 2019, 20:38
Banged Up Abroad: NZ Olympic medallist locked up in Thailand for illegal coaching
A double Olympic medal-winning cyclist from New Zealand has spoken of how he spent four nights in an immigration detention centre in Thailand following allegations he was working illegally as a coach at an indoor cycling studio.
The NZ Herald reports that Marc Ryan, who won bronze medals in the team pursuit at the Beijing 2008 and London 2014 Olympics, was arrested in Bangkok on 9 December.
The 37-year-old was accused by immigration officials of breaching his visa by working at the Bangkok Get Fit cycling studio, with their raid coming after a tip-off that foreigners were working there illegally as coaches.
Ryan moved to Thailand on a working visa two years ago after completing a coaching course at the UCI World Cycling Centre. However, he had to apply for a fresh visa earlier this year after switching jobs, and at the time of his arrest was on a non-immigrant B visa, under which he was not allowed to work, while waiting for his working visa.
He was taken to an immigration detention centre where he shared a cell with six other detainees, sleeping on the floor.
He told the NZ Herald: “It was like a jail and the first two nights were bad. I was lucky to get out. Some people had been in there a long time.”
He was fined 5,000 baht (£127) and spent another night in the cells – this one holding between 70 and 80 people, sharing just two toilets – before being deported.
He is unsure whether he will return to Thailand, despite having a girlfriend there, saying: “Money basically talks there.”
30 December 2019, 20:38
"I had a crash today." "Oh dear. But how was the bike?" "Erm ... "
Hold my beer while I ride down this mountain.
(via @AlaskanCourtney) pic.twitter.com/6MV4E4wZ1c— Darwin Award (@AwardsDarwin) December 30, 2019
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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
mdavidford 10 minutes ago
Or maybe he just said he wasn't using it and the judge believed him.
mdavidford 25 minutes ago
It's targeted action against specific retailers - they may well only be selling complete machines, rather than conversion kits. Of course that wouldn't prevent them coming back later and using further orders against those selling kits.
bikes 27 minutes ago
The judge's comments say there was no phone use... I don't know how the process works for checking if there was phone use after a collision. Maybe he has two and the police only checked one?
Rendel Harris 1 hour ago
@andystow The whole initiative is aimed at online retailers though, isn't it, so no harder to police those selling illegal conversion kits than those selling complete bikes, one would have thought.
Rendel Harris 2 hours ago
@Smoggysteve It needn't be the case at all that all arms of the company will fold if there's no overall buyer, and I'm sure it won't be. The creditors will most likely split the company assets up to maximize returns; some, like sadly Raleigh, might well die but a standalone popular brand with three factories making 90,000 bikes a year and a WT supply contract is unlikely not to attract a buyer.
matthewn5 2 hours ago
Someone I met at a walking, wheeling and cycling conference said the way to sell active travel to Tory and Reform types is to talk about dog walking. Then they suddenly get its importance.
andystow 2 hours ago
@mitsky most of those are probably bought online, so that will be tough to do anything about.
mdavidford 2 hours ago
Not sure being a marquis brand is a good strategy - even though most of them probably have a fair bit of disposable cash to chuck away on a bike, there can't be that many of them around, and the subset of them that are interested in cycling must be vanishingly small.
mitsky 3 hours ago
Not sure if I'm missing something but presumably this extends to those selling modification kits too, not just vehicles that are already illegal out of the box?
Smoggysteve 3 hours ago
@Rendel Harris As a subsidiary company, unless there is a buyer then they all die. I would hope there is a buyer but the bike industry is difficult to predict. Lapierre are neither a budget brand or a full on marquis brand either. That makes it a lot more dangerous for them as a brand. The shift towards people buying Chinese bikes is contributing and these are the brands which are hit hardest. Cheaper chinese bikes are not going to effect Colnago or Pinarello, the attract a different market. Lapierre could easily go and if no one sees them as a viable worthwhile brand to rescue.
5 thoughts on “Banged Up Abroad – NZ Olympic medallist locked up in Thailand for coaching without visa; Sheffield bike shop ram-raided twice in 48 hours; Darwin Award video; Gong for man who gave Wiggins, Cav & co first taste of racing abroad + more on the Live Blog”
Cwmcarn is just up the road
Cwmcarn is just up the road from Wattsville.
Opportunity missed for some serious punnage.
break the regulations of
break the regulations of working without the correct authorisation to do so, expect to get banged up just as you might anywhere else in the world. deliberately breaching the regs so got everything he deserved, now won’t get let back into the country I bet, stupid boy, if only you’d done things properly!
Typical of too many hat wearing cyclists, put a helmet on and then go play in an area you clearly have nowhere near enough experience of being able to stay safe in, ridiculously lucky not to be following the bike down the side of the ravine and likely a broken neck, legs etc!
The thing that annoys e about the gongs is that high end sportspeople are getting the highest awards simply for doing their jobs very well and getting paid handsomely for doing so, meanwhil, the likes of Barclay and so many others dedicate a lifetime to helping others on a pittance and barely get a mention or a much lower level recognition.
Active sportspersons should NEVER get into the nhonours list, once they’ve retired and done work within their community or for charitable based orgs then you can start handing out awards for serivces to whatever it is.
All went downhill after Kelly Holmes got a gong for winning two races at the Olympics, just ridiculously over the top! Recogn ise the effort but they are rewarded enough surely without giving them civil awards for doing actually nothing for society/communities.
CyclingInBeastMode wrote:
Guess who got cocaine for Christmas?
Kids, don’t do drugs.
billymansell wrote:
Aye.
Sure it’s that Behind the Bikesheds bloke again. Tiresome as fuck the first time around. On and on and on and on about the same old shite.
Not much more interesting reincarnated. Zzz
As a former member of the
As a former member of the Festival, I was aware of John Barclays work in taking young riders to Belgium and was staggered as to how many years he had done so. Chapeau JB!
He is also good with wheels.