Female cyclist says male e-bike wheelsucker “exponentially creepier”; Laura Kenny shuns op on broken shoulder to ride Track Worlds; Gossip special; Anti-cycling London councillor in talking bollocks shocker + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
An egg holder on the handlebars to punish bad driving?
There’s biker on youtube who has fixed an egg holder to his handlebars and throws eggs at people who pull out on him etc. Can’t remember his name but I think that’s bloody brilliant 🤣🤣
— ♡PrizeBITCH♡|🌈♊️ (@char_watt) February 17, 2020
Heard worse ideas!
Australian ABC documentary tells remarkable story of how police caught a hit-and-run killer
‘Closing in on a killer’ tells the story of how the killer of Dr Martin Pearson was eventually brought to justice, after the police set out on an extraordinary complex mission to find the suspect. It was found that the killer was the same man who had been involved in a mysterious death almost six years to the day – a tough watch but a fascinating one.
Dealer jailed after being caught cycling through York with £2,000 worth of drugs
He claimed he had just been to a house party, but refused to say where and police could smell cannabis.https://t.co/pSmuvUbJni
— The Press (@yorkpress) February 17, 2020
The t-shirt might not have helped his case (click through to see the slogan), as the York Press report that 29-year-old Joseph Mark Hambier was caught with almost £2,000 worth of drugs including ecstasy and cannabis while cycling through York city centre at 1.25am.
Officers were searching for suspects on an unrelated matter when they stopped Hambier and another man on bikes and searched their bags, finding drugs and drug paraphernalia in his rucksack; 79 ecstasy tablets were found in total, and police also found messages related to drug dealind on his phone.
Hambier pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply ecstasy and possession with intent to supply cannabis, and was jailed for 28 months. The judge took into account his “long-standing complex mental health problems” and mild depression; however a psychiatrist decided his mental health difficulties were unrelated to his drug dealing.
Egan Bernal becomes first cyclist since a certain American to win a Laureus Sports Award
The 23-year-old Colombian won the Breakthrough Award at the prestigious ceremony yesterday, becoming the first cyclist to win a Laureus Award since… a certain Lance Armstrong, who won the Comeback Award in 2000 and the overall Sportsman of the Year gong in 2003 (both were rescinded after his doping confessions). Other nominees in Bernal’s category were Andy Ruiz (boxing), Bianca Andreescu (tennis), Coco Gauff (tennis), the Japan men’s rugby team and Regan Smith (swimming).
Lewis Hamilton and Lionel Messi shared the 2020 Sportsman of the Year Award, while gymnast Simon Biles won Sportswoman of the Year.
Breaking: Driver who killed cyclist in 2014 has appeal rejected against ten year driving ban
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Andrzej Wojcicki was looking at pictures on his mobile phone when he caused the death of Owain Jones in July 2013 by crashing his minibus into him, and today a judge has rejected his application to have a ten year driving ban rejected – Wojcicki was also jailed for five years in August 2014. Full story to follow.
Could rubber pavements help keep cyclists safer?
“An environmentally-friendly rubber pavement could prevent thousands of injuries in the UK by cushioning the blow when people fall”
An interesting way to make our streets more #AgeFriendly! Would you like to see rubberised pavements in the UK? Read more: https://t.co/bUxNjJAwGX pic.twitter.com/zpjDHOKuNz
— Age UK London (@ageuklondon) February 17, 2020
The idea was first conceived to cushion the blow when people fall, but iNews reports that the rubberised paving made from old tyres could also be used on cycle lanes too. It’s been trialled in the Swedish cities of Lund and Helsingborg, and if successful the developers hope it could become common throughout Europe in the next five years – full story to follow.
Newport's hero bike mechanic offering to repair flood-damaged bikes for free
If you have a flood damaged bike I may be able to fix it for you.
Not everyone has insurance.
Some people rely on their bikes for transport.
If I have the parts you are welcome to them and I will do the work for FREE if it helps.#cycling #recycle #freebikes #community #newport pic.twitter.com/UPvnczIgC6— PuffaJones (@PuffaJones) February 18, 2020
The big-hearted mechanic who goes by the name PuffaJones picks up and restores bikes to be given out for free, and believes ‘every child deserves a bike’. He’s now helping out those affected by flooding, offering free repairs to fix flood-damaged bikes if he has the parts to get the bike up-and-running again.
Mr Jones is regularly on the hunt for unwanted bikes that can be given out to those who need them – if you have anything suitable you can contact hm via the Twitter profile above.
Labour Councillor says "going Dutch may not be such a good idea" due to greater number of cycling deaths (he may have omitted some vital statistics)
The Government proposes mini-Hollands for all as a part of its cycle plans. The Netherlands is a country of 17 million where there were 228 cycle fatalities in 2018. In the U.K, a country of 65 million there were 99 cycle fatalities. Going Dutch May not be such a good idea. pic.twitter.com/MEwO9szqvt
— Vincent Stops (@VincentStops) February 18, 2020
Vincent Stops, who is a councillor in the Hackney Central Ward, claims that the 228 cycling deaths in the Netherlands in 2018 compared to Britain’s 99 despite our much higher population means it “may not be such a good idea” to adopt Dutch cycling infrastructure; however as many have pointed out under his post, Mr Stops appears to have omitted stats regarding how many Dutch people actually ride compared to the UK; cycling made up just 1% of mileage of all vehicular traffic in 2018 here, while in the Netherlands cycling accounts for 27% of all trips. There is also 1.3 bicycles per person in the Netherlands and 84% of the Dutch own a bike, so it’s far more likely people who die in traffic accidents will be on a bike.
oops.
NL average cycling mileage is 13 TIMES higher than UK— Bryan (@Bryan13571) February 18, 2020
In the same way that England is a much safer place to ski than Austria
— Jim Stanley (@flat__stanley) February 18, 2020
Mr Stops regularly shares articles warning against implementing Dutch cycling infrastructure, and also appears to be wholly against the sight of Jump dockless hire bikes in his Hackney locale…
Somebody should be clearing these off London’s streets. pic.twitter.com/6NMwonToUR
— Vincent Stops (@VincentStops) February 14, 2020
Julian Alaphilippe dating former pro cyclist-turned TV presenter Marion Rousse, who recently separated with husband Tony Gallopin
Forgive us for not picking up on breaking news about the love lives of French professional cyclists straight away (the story came out last week in European media) but it’s been confirmed that French ex-pro and now TV presenter Marion Rousse has separated from husband Tony Gallopin… and it’s reported that she is now in a relationship with Julian Alaphilippe.
Rousse and AG2R La Mondiale rider Gallopin were together for 12 years and married in 2014, however Rousse recently took to Instagram to announce they had separated a few months ago. Neither Rousse or Alaphilippe have announced their relationship on social media (the photo above was posted during the 2019 Tour de France) but Sporza report that the pair weren’t attempting to hide their affection during the Tour of Colombia last week.
Cyclist love life gossip, part 2: Tiffany Cromwell now dating F1's Valtteri Bottas
In the second instalment of this series, on what was once the road.cc live blog and has today turned into a gossip column, is the news that Finnish Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has confirmed he is in a relationship with Australian pro cyclist Tiffany Cromwell.
Bottas recently announced his divorce from Olympic swimmer Emilia Pikkarainen, and judging by the hashtags in his Instagram post above, has faced some criticism regarding how fast he has moved on. Cromwell has rode for Canyon-SRAM since the team’s launch in late 2015, and used to date fellow Aussie pro cyclist Richie Porte.
It appears Cromwell has converted her new partner quickly, with Bottas posting the above pic from a bike ride two days ago; although cycling to keep fit amongst F1 riders is already fairly commonplace, with Mark Weber and Jenson Button both known to be very handy on the bike.
Victor Campenaerts donates winnings from race in Namibia to charity
The Hour Record holder Campenaerts took part in the 100km road race the Nedbank Cycle Challenge, crusing to victory by a margin of eight minutes after breaking away from the pack early on.
He donated his winnings of 12,000 Namibian Dollars to the PAY (Physically Active Youth) charity, which helps to get kids cycling after school, and along with his new team NTT Cycling a total of 52,000 was donated (approximately £2666).
Former track Vicky Williamson says she's going for bobsleigh gold
Williamson suffered a broken back, neck and pelvis in a horror crash before Rio 2016, and after back pain resurfaced which forced her out of this year’s summer Olympics, she announced her switch to bobsleigh in December last year – the next winter Olympics will be in 2022, giving her just under another two years to prepare.
In an interview with Sky News, the 26-year-old said: “I’m not here to finish 10th. I’m not just one of those athletes to say I’m here because I represent GB.
“I’m here because I want to be in that top percentage and be the best at what I want to do – it’s definitely going to be a difficult task but I reckon I can do it, I reckon this will be the Olympics where we can definitely the medals back.
“I want to let the performance do the talking we’ve got two years to slicken up and get the team running really well.”
"The future": Gary Lineker tweets support for Paris Mayor's 100% bike-friendly city plan
The future 👌🏻 https://t.co/CDcgsaW6aA
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) February 18, 2020
Anne Hildago recently revealed plans that would make Paris ‘100% bike-friendly’ by 2024, transforming streets by building a vast cycling network… and it appears Britain’s foremost football presenter/self-confessed crisp salesman is fully on board. Let’s just hope they don’t resort to VAR to okay any of the decisions, else we’ll be waiting until the end of time…
Aus Cycling's performance director reveals fierce new Argon18 track bikes
Exciting to have new bikes to use in training ahead of 2020 Track Worlds!
— 𝙿𝚊𝚘𝚕𝚘 𝙼𝚎𝚗𝚊𝚜𝚙𝚊’ (@MenaspaP) February 16, 2020
Paolo Menaspa gave us a teaser of the mean-looking bars on the bikes that will be used by the Australian track team this year – what do you reckon compared to the crazy Hope/Lotus track bike?
Laura Kenny forgoes op on broken shoulder to ride Track World Championships
Laura Kenny has turned down surgery on a broken shoulder to ride next week’s UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Berlin as part of her preparation for the Tokyo Olympic later this year.
Already Great Britain’s most successful female Olympian with four gold medals – two apiece in the team pursuit and omnium at London 2012 and in Rio four years ago – the 27 year old
She sustained the injury when she crashed during the Track World Cup at Milton in Canada last month.
BBC Sport reports that a surgeon told Kenny that aiming for the Olympics was “pretty much off the cards” since she would need an operation.
“I told him, ‘An operation’s not for me, thanks’,” she said. “Did I want an operation to get it fixed, but with a two-week delay in me getting back on the bike, or did I want to just see how it goes?
“I decided to see how it goes and the next day I got back on my bike.”
Kenny aims to defend her Olympic titles this year as well as riding the Madison which has been added to the programme, but will only ride the omnium and scratch race in Berlin.
“I wanted to put my hand up for all three events in Berlin but I can’t physically do the Madison and I can’t do a standing start in the team pursuit,” she explained.
"Exponentially creepier": Female cyclist says 'wheelsucker' who upped assist to catch up is "inappropriate, rude and creepy"
PSA: If you’re a middle aged dude who gets passed by a young woman cyclist, jumping on her wheel is inappropriate, rude and creepy. It is exponentially creepier when you’re on an Ebike and need to turn UP your e-assist to do so.
— Molly Hurford (@mollyjhurford) February 17, 2020
It’s generally accepted that ‘wheelsucking’ (sitting on someone’s wheel to save energy and block out the wind) is poor form unless you know the person or have asked them if it’s a-ok… and author Molly Hurford claims the incident she described above was particularly uncalled for, being as the ‘middle aged dude’ was riding an e-bike and cranked up the assist to catch up with her.
Do you think all forms of anonymous wheelsucking are rather impolite, or was Ms Hurford right to call out this particular gentleman more so than others? Maybe you don’t see a problem with the practice at all? Let us know your thoughts as always…
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Latest Comments
In his closing speech to jurors on Tuesday, Jaime Hamilton KC, defending, said: "You are likely to hold Simon Richardson in contempt. That contempt may well manifest itself in a loathing of Simon Richardson and, in fairness, you are probably right to. Because it is right that we acknowledge it was the actions of Simon Richardson that led to the death of Michael Mullins. Not only is he responsible for the death of Michael Mullins, he acted in the most selfish of ways with one thought in his mind – himself. But that does not make him guilty of the homicide offences on this indictment." (emphasis mine) what a piece of shit.
@mctrials23 yeah ... but that's when we look at places like car parks and conclude that in fact 10 or even 5mph does in fact make a lot of sense!
@Mr Blackbird where can I find photos of this study? Asking for a friend.
@Gd29 I was waiting for the classic "why don't we just ban driving completely by reducing the speed limit to 5mph or 0!" argument and here it is. The statistics are very clear on the benefits of reducing the speed limit from 30-20mph. It doesn't remove bad driving but it mitigates the damage. It also makes fuck all difference to journey times. Everything with driving is risk vs reward. Sure, dropping it to 10mph would save a lot more people but it would make travel by car ridiculous and have minimal benefit vs 20mph. The reward wouldn't be worth the cost.
@Gd29 "Speed limits are an ineffective tool when the problem is drivers not driving in an appropriate manner for the conditions and environment. Those drivers weren’t following the speed limit and/or paying sufficient attention anyway!" That is a question, not an assertion. What are the relative numbers of drivers who are eg. "don't care" criminals who may never have taken a test or are happy to take life, how many are "criminally negligent" eg. may have a licence and not intend to break the law regardless, but just aren't fussed about basic safe driving (maybe regularly drive while tired, never slow down when conditions require), how many are just normal humans (who occasionally make unfathomable mistakes)? What are the relative rates of collisions? What are the casualty outcomes? What effect does simply changing a number on a sign have? If any, why? (There's the psychological "anchoring effect", if 70% of people *are* below the limit does that slow down others, do the "don't cares" maybe just overtake dangerously (but would they anyway? ) ) etc. Reduced speed is a mitigation in that it leads to better outcomes in collisions, that's a known I believe. IIRC there's also agreement that it can mean that fewer collisions happen as there's more time to react. "If that is the problem and you don’t deal with it, but you want to keep reducing injuries/fatalities, you have to keep dropping speed limits until you prohibit road use entirely" "If" (plus as noted other safety measures are available)
@Rendel Harris - I think that driver must live near me.
@Gd29 it's good to "point out potential abuse of stats - and for "keeping it concise for the public" no doubt some measure of "lies, damn lies and statistics" applies. But unless you have your own analysis / evidence, this may sound like a "just asking questions!" rhetorical tactic.
@Gd29 exactly what variables / controlled experiments would suffice to convince you, and then how would you believe that would still hold in "real world" situations? We all know there are excellent ways to stop motoring-related KSIs - one being stop humans operating vehicles) but that isn't normally seen as realistic. Then there's another "remove the hazard" approach eg. completely isolate motorists from vulnerable road users (and "footways" alone might not be sufficient, as more people are killed there most years by drivers than eg. by cyclists in total, although that fact doesn't say much ). Though that by itself doesn't address motorists killing themselves / other motorists. Currently the UK - like many countries - is mostly doing a "remove the vulnerable road users" approach, partly by design but mostly indirectly by prioritising convenience for motoring (including journey time, which is seen to involve higher speeds).
Do you really need an AI tool to tell you that 80% of a cyclist's drag is the rider or that getting in a more streamlined position you'll reduce drag etc.? Fabulous for the professional riders who use this site but for the rest of us our money would be better spent on yoga or pilates classes to help you hold a more streamlined position in the first place.
Of course drivers need to be responsible and take care but we are in danger of getting a bit high and mighty when police raise issues like this. Since the clocks went back last weekend, I have been commuting home this week in the dark for the first time this year. I am gobsmacked by the number of cyclists I see who have no lights and no reflective gear, often with no helmets either. It's common sense to take precautions and we've got our head in the sand if we pretend all cyclists are taking appropriate steps to protect themselves and others.
24 thoughts on “Female cyclist says male e-bike wheelsucker “exponentially creepier”; Laura Kenny shuns op on broken shoulder to ride Track Worlds; Gossip special; Anti-cycling London councillor in talking bollocks shocker + more on the live blog”
The Australian film is
The Australian film is fascinating, if horrific; well done to the police who did fantastic work to arrest and convict the killer driver, who got three years in jail. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/nation/truck-driver-geoffrey-sleba-jailed-for-fatal-crash/news-story/b18233b8c4227303639130360083d64c
…but was out after 13
…but was out after 13 months and will be back on the road next year, despite having a terrible driving record and previous ban.
He also did everything he could to avoid taking responsibility – oh, and shot his wife dead in strange circumstances a decade prior.
From his defence, it doens’t seem like he gave cyclists any room when he was paying attention…
https://www.warwickdailynews.com.au/news/hit-and-run-accused-has-no-memory-of-hitting-cycli/3328348/
The story about Wojcicki’s
The story about Wojcicki’s original barrister. That was a bit of a rabbit hole.
Yes, https://www.bbc.co.uk
Yes, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-28979459
Re: throwing eggs. Eh. Not a
Re: throwing eggs. Eh. Not a cycle in the road.cc sense, and morally dubious if potentially cathartic. I’d hestitate to encourage road users to throw things at each other – not just because I don’t think cyclists would get the better end of it.
Side comment: Hardly seems like the most reliable twitter post to include in the live blog, what with the name, picture, and lack of specificity in the post. Slow news day at 08:51?
Rubber pavements, okay… I
Rubber pavements, okay… I know nothing about it, but it sounds like a great way of recycling rubber! Why stop at rubber? what’s wrong with recycled plastic roads too?
I’m sure they can’t be much worse that the usual shoddy corner cutting road surfacing we’ve been stiffed with by most contractors nowadays..
already a thing: https://www
already a thing: https://www.macrebur.com/
Love that! moar moar!!
Love that! moar moar!!
peted76 wrote:
Waste plastic is used in asphalt.
Was just about to mention
Was just about to mention MacRebur, they are a local firm to me, and we have one of the first roads surfaced using their technique. And it is a nice piece of road to cycle on and seems to be holding up about the same as a normal tarmac road
That Labour Cllr > are all
That Labour Cllr > are all politicians mendacious bullshitters or are they all just thick?
Bit of both, generally.
Bit of both, generally.
There’s no actual
There’s no actual qualifications to be an MP….
Love road.cc, my favourite
Love road.cc, my favourite cycling website – can we please stop this recent trend of reporting on cyclists’ affairs, divorces and whatever? It’s prurient, intrusive, none of our business and just plain bad manners. When there’s been such an horrific example of what press intrusion can do to an individual’s mental health this week, can you just lay off the Daily Mail gossip and stick to cycling matters please?
Roubaixcobbles wrote:
Yep, who cares who has broken up with whichever?
Wheel sucking someone you don
Wheel sucking someone you don’t know and without asking first is bad form and not exactly safe. Save it for club rides with your buddies or for racing.
For a male rider to do this unasked with a female rider is plain creepy as well.
wheelsucking and making no
wheelsucking and making no effort to pass after being overtaken must be a member of stowmarket cyclying club !
Errr… just drop the E-bike
Errr… just drop the E-bike riding pussy?!
Yes, assuming it’s a legal e
Yes, assuming it’s a legal e-bike the assist has to cut out at 25kmh, past which you’re just riding a heavy unassisted bike. I find it hard to believe that you couldn’t drop them if you wanted to. And if you’ve passed them and they’re behind you, how would you know what assist level they’re using?
Wheelsucking I hate, and I get that it was creepy. But leave it at that. The e-bike stuff just introduces doubts about authenticity.
Youd have seen the type of
Youd have seen the type of bike and the speed/effort being put in as you passed them, the next time you look back they are sat on your wheel, maybe you try to spin up and dislodge them,but they are still holding on, it’s not difficult to work out how they are doing it.
And 15mph ? depends on the road,the circumstances,bike they were on. Yesterday I was barely able to sustain over 12mph on my road bike due to combo of factors and a strong gusty head wind normally I’d easily be at 15mph,but on my commuter bike I’d probably have been struggling to make even 12mph.
I was thinking headwind, it’s
I was thinking headwind, it’s been windy out there.
I don’t know about the really pricey ones, but the e-bikes I have heard make a lot of noise, and I’m guessing that noise changes as the power levels are changed.
It’s usually the better ones
It’s usually the better ones that make a bit of noise – direct drive hub motors are basically silent, as are direct drive mid drives, while gear reduction motors make some noise. Any of them are quiet compared to freehubs. Direct drive hub motors lack torque, and run out of steam pretty quickly. The better pedelecs use a torque sensor and assist relative to the effort of the rider.
Hills and headwinds can be a different story but you can always drop behind them if they’re annoying you, or alongside and give them a good talking to about their behaviour.
Or you can ride a recumbent – wheelsuckers don’t get any benefit from my Catrike, it’s too low to provide any help to them…
It is clearly rude to tuck in
It is clearly rude to tuck in behind someone you don’t know without asking, except in special situations. But what really bothers me is people using the word “Exponentially” to mean “a whole lot more than I like.” For the record, exponentially is defined as a function where f(x)=ab^{x}
So, I presume creepiness is somehow a function of possibly age^{gender}? Maybe until you are old and maybe look like Father Christmas or Tevia the milkman?
Regardless of how creepy the
Regardless of how creepy the aforementioned incident may or may not have been. I just wanted to say that the comments about wheelsucking all seem very one sided, like wheelsucking is some sort of ‘crime’.
So for the record, I just wanted to say that I couldn’t care less if someone wants to sit on my wheel. If I’m riding solo somewhere, it makes zero difference to me whether there’s someone sat there or not. Of course that’ts not to say I’m ignorant of bad cycling and I expect to keep some personal space. But generally do what you want people, say hi, you never know you who you might meet.