Lego cycling infra petition launched; The Tide Is High in car (and bike) parking fail on the Thames; Geraint Thomas thinks of Ironman after retirement; 'Deathwish' cyclist drafts truck; Potholes latest; " Bernie/Cav bromance +more on live blog

Lego may come from the cycling heartland of Denmark, but a campaign to have bike lanes included in the play world has come from the other country that vies for the crown of the world’s best place for cyclists, the Netherlands.

Backed by University of Amsterdam urban planning associate professor Marco te Brömmelstroet regional councillor Marcel Steeman has launched a campaign to have cycling recognised as part of the brick brand’s road infrastructure.

“I was playing with Lego with my kids and there were Lego cyclists, but I wondered where they had to cycle,” he told DutchNews.nl.

“If you are Dutch you are used to having cycling lanes.”

Not one to hold back, Steeman challenged Matthew Ashton, producer of the Lego movies, on the issue a couple of years back.

“Things started happening quickly,” he said. “I had 2,000 Likes on Twitter in two and a half weeks, and lots of positive reactions. I thought that I could get 10,000 supporters for Lego ideas, so I set to work.”

Without success to date, sadly, as he explains. “The problem is that Lego is a worldwide company and traffic rules are not the same.

“You can draw a red Dutch path, but it doesn’t work in the US or Australia, or even Denmark, which has blue cycling lanes.”

He hasn’t given up hope, however. “It touches a nerve with many people,” he added.

It's a head-turner, alright – but what do you think of the combined seat tube/seatstays?

Check out all the details here. 

Swedish electric motorbike manufacturers CAKE are now allowing mtb'ers who have a particularly steep journey to their favourite trail to have their cake and eat it, with the launch of the Ösa. This crazy contraption is described as a "clean and efficient commuter vessel with integrated power", and is capable of going on or off-road. It's also highly modular and can serve many different purposes as well as the trail bike transportation, with loads of space for cargo, skis and you can even turn it into a work bench. 

You can check out CAKE's website here, and the Ösa is available to pre-order now.  

Superb opening keynote from @willnorman, the @MayorofLondon's Walking & Cycling Commissioner

- he wants to double cyclist numbers by 2024
- this will be done by making streets safer + more appealing
- in London last year, we had the highest increase in cycling on record pic.twitter.com/uXMuvAKT5z

— Cyclehoop (@cyclehoop) January 15, 2020

The Mayor's Walking and Cycling Commissioner was speaking at the Cycle Rail awards today, described as "an annual event that recognises how Cycle Rail integration has become a great rail industry success story". Anyone who's ever tried to hook a bike on one of the new vertical racks on a Great Western Railway train might beg to differ, but even so Cycle Rail say an additional 80,000 cycle parking spaces have been introduced at UK rail stations since 2012... so if you cycle to the station and leave it there, you're all good. 

Cycle Rail continue: "Sustrans and the Cycle Rail Working Group are delighted to support these continued efforts to get the population more active (thereby reducing avoidable calls on the NHS), to reduce carbon emissions and to tackle local poor air quality whilst easing traffic congestion."

You're not a real cyclist until you've been told that cyclists travel too fast and too slow in the same meeting. https://t.co/SeXUZHUx26

— HumanOnAHireBike (@WtrlvileCyclist) January 14, 2020

You own a pair of road.cc socks? 

This thread continues to roll on, and it appears most cyclists on Twitter don't have a lot positive to say about riding on the road, particularly when it comes to sharing it with motorists. 

WATCH: Just as the annual safety blitz to protect cyclists gets underway, police have slammed one rider's actions as "irresponsible and dangerous".@ChloeBouras pic.twitter.com/3rixWyIQ3J

— 10 News First Adelaide (@10NewsFirstAdl) January 15, 2020

As the Tour Down Under is set to get going in Adelaide this week, locals who aren't so enthusiastic about cycling taking over their city are even less impressed with footage of this cyclist drafting a truck, that has been widely shared online. The male rider is yet to be identified, but according to 10 First News police have described his actions as 'irresponsible and dangerous and are even considering charging him with a traffic offence. 

But one person's tailgating is another's slipstreaming, and many have come to the defence on various corners of the internet where the clip was shared saying the cyclist was simply sitting in behind the truck to save a bit of time and energy. 

Is vehicle drafting ever ok? Let us know your thoughts of course... 

Celebrity chef Tom Kerridge visited the Gloucester Bike Project as part of his Lose Weight and Get Fit series to find himself a bike... and then got distracted by a pedal-powered smoothie maker. Kerridge cycled up a lovely pre-ride concoction for his brothers-in-law Dan and Alex consisting of banana, oats, coffee, cocoa powder and milk. 

cycling on a frozen Thames near Windsor Bridge in London during the 1947 pic.twitter.com/tZbpPUMnIF

— Flashbak.com (@aflashbak) January 15, 2020

...over the ridiculous amounts of rain we're experiencing in 2020. Are we going to see any winter this winter? 

It’s National Pothole Day, so here’s our favourite pothole related photo pic.twitter.com/bsxzmDCzCK

— Charles Trent Ltd (@CharlesTrentLtd) January 15, 2020

This gem originally came from the York Press a few months back, when a Mr Grant Parker realised a giant crater that opened up after he had driven past in his Volvo Estate car was big enough for him to climb in. 

It's doing the rounds today of all days, as a new survey from Tarmac of 2,000 road users - including cyclists, drivers and motorcyclists - revealed potholes are the biggest bugbear of all on the roads. Eight out of ten said they regularly had to navigate around potholes whenever they took to the road, and a fifth said they had been involved in a pothole-related accident or collision. 

Of the top 20 road annoyances, potholes were first, drivers who don't indicate were second and tailgaters were third. Even though cyclists were included amongst those surveyed, cyclists were cited as the fifth-biggest annoyance. I reckon we can guess what cyclists' biggest annoyance on the road is... 

Paul Fleetham, managing director of contracting at Tarmac, said: “Potholes may seem like a minor problem - but they cause millions of people financial and physical damage each year.

“Our research shows that the vast majority of city-dwellers are fed up with the inconvenience they cause. It is therefore essential that road maintenance in England and Wales receives adequate government funding.

“We need to move to a longer-term proactive approach to funding that focuses on the social value of our roads, managing the network as a vital asset with proper preventative structural maintenance."

Tarmac also found that 700,000 potholes across England were reported in 2018/19, which would add up to an estimated 28km of pure pothole.  

#cycling #yyjbike #recyclistas #bikeshop #bicycle #cyclist #bicyclemechanic pic.twitter.com/g25iiPwpXy

— Recyclistas Bike Shop (@recyclistas) January 15, 2020

Not that we've got proper cold to deal with at the moment in Blighty, just never-ending rain, rain rain. Cheers climate change...