Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

news

Which is the worse Ferrari?; 18-time British national champion alleges racism; Rui Costa criticised for use of the arm in Saudi Tour; A bike ribbed for your pleasure; Jeremy Vine on driverless cars; One lane, 39 seconds, 100 commuters

Alex Bowden is on today's live blog with maybe a smidge of Simon MacMichael this evening...
06 February 2020, 16:42
Dublin docklands (via StreetView)
Dublin to clean its roads after 200 cyclists come a cropper in just one month

“Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.”

In Dublin’s case, the scum is actual, physical filth and it seems no amount of literal rain will wash it away. The Times reports that the council has pledged to clean a number of the city’s streets after over 200 cyclists came off their bikes last month.

According to Dublin Cycling Campaign, many of the falls came in dry conditions near construction sites at the Docklands, Grangegorman and close to St James’ Hospital.

Dublin city council admitted that in one area there was evidence to suggest that an “oil spillage related to construction activity” had made the road hazardous.

So rejoice, Dublin cyclists. Pretty soon all you’ll have to contend with are bad drivers, potholes and poor road design.

06 February 2020, 16:14
Washington DC to fine drivers $150 for parking or stopping in bike lanes

The Washington Times reports that parking enforcement officers are going to start taking photos of vehicles that are stopped in bike lanes. They’ll then send those photos to the owners, along with a $150 fine.

A spokesperson for motoring organisation AAA Mid-Atlantic, described the change as “gangsterism in the name of traffic safety.”

They reckon that badly-designed streets force taxis and delivery vehicles to stop in bike lanes because stopping anywhere else would be unsafe.

06 February 2020, 15:39
Ferrari poll
 
06 February 2020, 15:33
Ferrari driver given fine and points for using phone at the wheel

We imagine the points will have more impact than the fine.

06 February 2020, 14:38
The rider of Wuhan

CBC reports on Steven Li, a Canadian living in Wuhan who recently took a bike ride through the city and videoed it.

He'd spent the previous 11 days holed up in his flat. He said he saw "probably 20 people" and "maybe three, four cars" during his ride.

The population of Wuhan is 11 million.

It has been two weeks since authorities in Wuhan declared that the city would be locked down as they tried to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Earlier today health officials said that 563 people had died from the virus, up from nearly 500 people the day before, and that 28,018 cases had now been confirmed.

06 February 2020, 14:02
Rui Costa criticised for use of the arm after mass pile-up in the Saudi Tour

Former world champion and race leader Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) has been criticised by fellow riders for raising an arm to NTT Pro Cycling's Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg with a little over 10km to go on Stage 2.

The Dutch rider fell into his team-mate, Enrico Gasparotto, who also went down, along with a number of other riders.

Writing on Twitter, Gasparotto said the move was “not fair,” adding: “Hands MUST stay on handlebar."

Roman Kreuziger, who also rides for NTT Pro Cycling, also weighed in, expressing his hope that the footage would come to the attention of the UCI: “I think using hands is not correct, even having leader jersey!”

You can see the incident for yourself here.

Costa said that the move was only to protect himself and said he and Van Rensburg had since cleared the air.

“Feeling sad about the crash during the stage of the mate from NTT, which led to the accidental crash of other riders.

“I would like to clarify that it was Van Rensburg who accidentally came to my side and my gesture was to protect myself from crash.

“After the stage, Van Rensburg came personally to our bus to clarify that this situation happened due to a team mate touch him and his gesture is really appreciated.

“Everything is clear to both of us and hope it's also to everybody.

“Thanks for all your support.”

06 February 2020, 13:30
Dotwatching news: Helen Langridge to attempt to become the fastest woman to cycle around the world

She's setting off in May.

“I want to show people that ill mental health doesn't mean you can't achieve great things,” she says. “I want to push my limits and really see how fast and far I can go. I’ve been at my lowest, now I need to be at my best.”

06 February 2020, 13:22
Today's big question

 

06 February 2020, 12:42
Ford's Emoji Jacket, the road.cc edition
poo ford emoji jacket-edit

That's better... if you want to put yourself through reading a whole story about the actual Ford Emoji Jacket, you can read Simon MacMichael's summary here

06 February 2020, 12:07
This is a really, really weird bike...

So weird.

So, so weird.

What possible reason is there for having a cassette on the front wheel?

Outside a chiropractor office. from r/bikecommuting

06 February 2020, 11:31
Which roads should be car-free for Manchester Day?

Surprisingly few people have replied suggesting every last one of them.

Manchester Day is on Sunday June 21.

06 February 2020, 11:21
New power source for cars

What about all the driverless cars?

06 February 2020, 10:45
Homes of 2008 Lithuanian Olympic road race cyclists: Episode one in a series of one

Modesta Vžesniauskaitė is married to the billionaire founder of Phones 4U, John Caudwell.

06 February 2020, 10:43
Video: Sweary driver reported to Greater Manchester Police

Features the strongest of language pretty much throughout.

06 February 2020, 10:30
Jeremy Vine is in favour of driverless cars

We’ve covered driverless cars a lot here on road.cc. If we had to sum the safety angle up in a needlessly simplistic devoid-of-nuance kind of way, we’d say that driverless cars probably are safer than human drivers, except when they’re not.

06 February 2020, 09:48
Video: “I could never ride fast enough, or win enough, because of one thing I couldn’t do anything about: the colour of my skin”

Russell Williams, an 18-time British National Champion and an early mentor to Sir Bradley Wiggins, says he did everything that was asked of him to be selected for the Olympics – but he never got to compete.

Speaking from his home in Adelaide, South Australia, the now 58-year-old says that he was continually overlooked because he is black.

You can hear Williams’ story in the video below.

The video arose from research conducted by Dr Marlon Moncrieffe of Brighton University and is part of an exhibition called Made in Britain: Uncovering the Life Histories of Black-British Champions in Cycling.

The exhibition invites people to consider representation at elite level in cycling, amidst concepts of nationalism, 'race' and racism and asks whether this is a microcosm of how racial inequalities function in all aspects of wider society.

Contacted by Cycling Tips about Williams’ allegations, a British Cycling spokesperson said: “Russell’s comments are deeply concerning and we will be inviting him to talk with British Cycling and discuss his experiences in more detail.

“Bigotry of any kind is wholly unacceptable and we urge anyone in our sport who believes they have been treated unfairly because of their ethnicity to contact our compliance team at compliance [at] britishcycling.org.uk. Cycling must reflect the diversity of the society which supports it and we are committed to ensuring the sport in this country is welcoming to all.”

06 February 2020, 09:23
Godawful lever setup

On the left.

Sebastian Berwick of the St George Continental Cycling Team, please explain yourself.

06 February 2020, 09:17
Cyclists require less space than motorists, part 5,467

1,500 cars per lane per hour is apparently the going rate.

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

Add new comment

13 comments

Avatar
NZ Vegan Rider | 4 years ago
0 likes

Russell Williams needs something objective re not being selected rather than pulling out the race card at this late stage ;-(

Avatar
Legin replied to NZ Vegan Rider | 4 years ago
3 likes

Except that is exactly the point; racisim isn't objective.

Avatar
Philh68 | 4 years ago
2 likes

So the AAA in Washington DC think enforcing an existing law is “gangsterism”, f me I’ve heard some entitled crap in my time but that takes the cake.

Avatar
adamrice | 4 years ago
0 likes

No doubt Sebastian Berwick's levers are set up that way to give something to grab onto when riding with ghost aero bars.

Avatar
javi_polo replied to adamrice | 4 years ago
0 likes

Maybe he likes flared handlebars and he wanted to somehow recreate the position... in a non-flared handlebar?

 

 

Avatar
peted76 | 4 years ago
1 like

Modesta Vžesniauskaitė... I wonder, do you think she turns up for early doors hot laps of Richmond park? 

Avatar
Philh68 | 4 years ago
1 like

What reason for a cassette on the front wheel, have you never seen a handcycle? Or a Cruzbike recumbent?

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Philh68 | 4 years ago
2 likes

Or this?

//i.imgur.com/rXlsQCt.png)

Avatar
Cyclolotl replied to hawkinspeter | 4 years ago
1 like

this is pleasingly confusing me, I now want one. The only question is this before or after MTB...

 

Avatar
Philh68 replied to hawkinspeter | 4 years ago
3 likes

That’s neat, but isn’t that a coaster brake hub? That would make for interesting panic stops, when would the panic stop?

Avatar
Pub bike replied to hawkinspeter | 4 years ago
0 likes

Interesting!  On the plus side there no chance of toe-over when wearing big winter boots.  On the minus side the front wheel is not going to have much grip.  If you could drive the back wheel as well it might work, but the frame is not going to last long if riding out of saddle.

Avatar
eburtthebike | 4 years ago
9 likes

"Cyclists require less space than motorists, part 5,467"

A fact with which we are all too familiar, but is almost never featured in the media.  Just this week on BBC R4 they have had a programme featuring congestion, exercise and climate change, which explored many possible answers to these problems, except one; cycling.  Most news reports have featured climate change and always heavily feature electric cars, but never cycling or electric bikes.  Cycling is a much better solution on so many levels to these questions, but is actively ignored.

I've said it before and it looks as though I'll be saying it for much longer, but why is the BBC so utterly biased against cycling?

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to eburtthebike | 4 years ago
3 likes

Is it because they're mainly privileged, rich, white men who get driven around by their chauffeurs?

Latest Comments