11-year-old has ridden bike to school every day for 6 years; Promising U23 pro’s statement on quitting; Team car runs over bottle + sprays rider; Aus bike lane ripped up for ‘causing congestion’; Driver says cyclist was doing 60mph + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Californian Cadillac driver hit cyclist and carried on with injured rider atop of his roof
The Lincoln Fire Service say the injured cyclist was atop of the car for a quarter of a mile before somebody notified the 85-year-old driver, who wasn’t aware he’d hit someone according to the police quoted in the Sacramento Bee.
The cyclist was taken to hospital, abd although the driver was reported to ‘not appear intoxicated’ the officer on scene placed a request for re-examination on his behalf.
Cycling Australia's Argon 18 Electron Pro track bike officially unveiled
We saw teasers last week, and now the Australian national track team have officially revealed all the details of the track bike they will be using at Tokyo 2020.The Electron Pro is the result of two years’ research and development, a joint effort from Cycling Australia, Zipp, Monash University and the University of Adelaide.
They say the fork drag has been reduced by 30% compared to the previous Electron Pro, and further aero gains have been made for each individual rider by speccing custom-moulded sprint handlebars and pursuit extensions and optimising rider position. The wheels are custom-designed Zipp Super-9 Tubular Track Disc, and the bike also features an integrated timing chip.
What do you reckon compared to the cutting-edge Hope/Lotus track bike that the British squad will use in Tokyo? Check that bike out in more detail here.
"If I could go at 60mph, I'd be in the Olympics": US driver attempts to sue cyclist he knocked over, claiming he was riding at 60mph
Only in America, as they say – as the Rochester City Newspaper report that a driver who rear-ended a cyclist had the audacity to sue for damage to his vehicle… and claimed the incident happened because the cyclist was riding at 60mph and “came out of nowhere.”
Bryan Agnello was cycling home in Rochester, NY last month when he was struck from behind, leaving a mangled bike and Agnello heading to hospital mostly with minor injuries. A month later he received a notice from Rochester City Court stating that the driver Jovonte Cook had filed a $700 claim against him for damage to the vehicle.
“I felt like I just got punched in the gut again. It was painful. I was angry”, said Agnello.
Agnello claimed Cook hit him as he slowed down to make a left-hand turn, but Cook’s version of events differed wildly: he said that Agnello was riding his bike “at about 60mph” and “came out of nowhere and splashed on my front windshield”. He says he didn’t see Agnello because of the bad weather. When asked if he thought it was possible a cyclist could be riding at 60mph, Cook told the City Newspaper over the phone: “Of course, depending on if it’s an expensive bike.”
Agnello commented: “If I could go 60 mph I wouldn’t be here, I’d be in the Olympics”, while an attorney advising him in the case said “there is no legal basis for this ridiculous claim.”
Cook and Agnello are scheduled to appear before a City Court judge on March 25, with Agenello saying he wants drivers to pay better attention to their surroundings and have more respect for cyclists. He is counterclaiming for $2,500 to cover the cost of his destroyed bike and time spent recovering, but says he would settle for Cook dropping the claim.
“I’m not about this stuff. This is not me at all. I just want to ride my bike”, said Angello.
eBikeLabs launch upgraded anti-theft system to stop thieves targeting e-bike sharing schemes
The eBikeLabs system pairs the motor and battery uniquely, so the bike won’t work and the battery can’t be sold on if a thief tries to steal a bike. Full story over on eBikeTips.
Meanwhile, experts are calling for cycling superhighways in the state of Victoria
While Geelong’s city council have voted to rip up 200m of cycle lane, infrastructure experts have argued that miles of cycling superhighways should be built in the state of Victoria to ease congestion and provide safe routes for cyclists.
Australia’s infrastructure advisory body has backed the plans, which would see superhighways stretching from the Melbourne suburbs to the city centre. Infrastructure Australia’s priorities list says they should be built within five years, reports ABC.
Infrastructure Australia’s chief executive Romilly Madew said: “There are some great health advantages of cycling ways, there’s also some congestion-busting examples as well, because if we can get more people who can safely cycle in our CBDs (central business districts), that’ll be taking cars off the road and there’ll be less crowding on our public transport.
“So it’s really about identifying what are the possible pathways around Melbourne’s CDB that could be identified for a cycling superhighway.”
A city council in Australia will spend $2 million ripping up part of $8 million cycle lane because it was 'causing too much congestion'
Long thread ahead …. As the former manager of Central #Geelong who oversaw the implementation of the Green Spine and tolerated the abuse and vitriol that inevitably comes with disruptive infrastructure upgrades, I am gutted by Council’s decision to destroy the intent (1/6)
— Dr Fiona Gray (@FionaGrayPhD) February 26, 2020
The council for the city of Geelong in the Australian state of Victoria has decided to rip up part of an $8 million ‘green spine’ designed to protect cyclists at a cost of $2 million… because it was deemed to be causing too much congestion.
ABC reports that the council narrowly voted to partially change the tree-lined street in central Geelong with 6 votes for and 5 against, with Mayor Stephanie Asher saying the separate bike lanes were adding to traffic congestion. State MPs from all three of Australia’s major parties have slammed the decision, with Lisa Neville MP threatening to take future funding away from the council.
You can’t make this stuff up – Geelong council votes to spend $2 million to rip up part of the city’s brand new $8 million ‘green spine’ https://t.co/om1h6Mt5Jf
— Steven Schubert (@senorschubert) February 26, 2020
The 200m stretch of ‘green spine’ in Malop Street removed some parking spaces and lanes for cars to turn in and replaced them with two bike lanes, a seating area and garden, but the costly overturn will see one bike lane removed and car parking spaces reintroduced.
Ms Neville has even threatened to make the street a state road to prevent the council from ripping it up, saying: “We spent the $8 million of taxpayers’ money and now they are about to spend $2 million to rip it up — it’s unacceptable.
“Everything is on the table to make sure that they cannot overturn a decision that they supported every step of the way.”
In the tweet at the top of the post Dr Fiona Gray, who oversaw the project, said: “No infrastructure project is ever perfect and there are undoubtedly ways in which the Green Spine can be improved. But still I fail to understand why my 10 years of education and 20 years of practice in the fields of urban design, architecture and place making was treated with such disregard and even contempt by elected lay people. If only I had known that being elected to Council was a means of automatically becoming an expert on such matters, I could have saved myself an extraordinary amount of time, effort and expense in acquiring the skills and knowledge that other government orgs, NFPs and private sector clients engage me to provide.
“Finally, all of this just makes me sad because the Geelong community deserves so much better.”
Local authority cycle spending just £2 a head in England, finds study
Nottingham Trent University made freedom of information requests to 55 English Unitary Authorities about their cycling infrastructure project spends and just 25 provided data, according to Cycling Industry News. Of the 25 who did reply the average spend per head of population was £2.02, with some going years without spending anything at all on cycling projects. A full story on this will follow later today.
Humble Chris Froome straightens new teammate Andrey Amador's race number
When the seven-time Grand Tour winner helps you straighten out your race numbers. @Andrey_Amador is quickly finding out what a great guy @chrisfroome is #UAETour pic.twitter.com/5VCOTWvxz3
— Team INEOS (@TeamINEOS) February 26, 2020
The four-time Tour de France champ was pictured giving the Costa Rican a helping hand ahead of today’s UAE Tour stage. We’re still not too sure how Amador is permitted to ride yet due to the UCI’s mid-season transfer rules, but we can only assume the matter was resolved; Team Ineos declined to comment when we enquired.
Vitus goes big on electronic shifting in 2020 road bike range
Vitus has introduced several new models for 2020, all of them with electronic shifting from Shimano and SRAM and based around existing frame platforms: Vitesse EVO, ZX-1 and Zenium Carbon.
Another track bike drops as Viviani reveals new De Rosa for the World Champs
This one has a pretty unique-looking stem teamed with Campagnolo wheels and drivetrain, and will be ridden by the Italian at the UCI Track World Championships this week. Scroll down to see the Australian team’s new Argon 18 Electron Pro.
"Are you Hagen a laugh?"Lotto Soudal's Carl Fredrik Hagen sprayed by team car running over a water bottle at UAE Tour
[#UAETour🇦🇪] Quand une voiture de l’organisation arrose un coureur en roulant sur un bidon ! 😂#lequipeVELO #LesRP #TwittCyclospic.twitter.com/27agxrRZDm
— Actu Vélo (@ActuVelo_) February 26, 2020
When you’ve just crashed hard this is the definition of kicking a man while he’s down, as Carl Fredrik Hagen is sprayed by a bottle as a team car unwittingly drives over it. Although with temperatures reaching the 40’s (in Celsius) at the UAE Tour this week, it might actually have been pretty refreshing for the Norwegian…
Track World Champs: where to watch and when
If you fancy catching some of the action between today and the 1st March, coverage will be spread across the BBC Red Button, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, and it will also be broadcast on BBC Four (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) and BBC Two (Saturday and Sunday). For a full list of times, dates and channels, check the BBC website here.
Danes break pursuit world record on first day of the Track World Championships
That didn’t take long… the Danish team have smashed the previous record set by the Australian team last year with a time of 3:46.579.
The Team GB quartet of Ed Clancy, Ethan Hayter, Charlie Tanfield and Ollie Wood clocked 3:50.341, but are already out of gold medal contention after the qualifying session.
Britain’s women fared better, setting the second-fastest time of the day behind the USA.
"The training has become a daily grind": Promising GB U23 academy rider posts heartfelt statement on quitting elite cycling
A post regarding my future in cycling. Thanks for all the support and Ciao… https://t.co/yxIXpSd9Yt pic.twitter.com/UxZt9MvFPX
— Adam Hartley (@AdamHartley98) February 26, 2020
If there are any budding young cyclists (or their parents) reading this who think being a pro is a blast 100% of the time, Adam Hartley’s statement posted to Twitter in the last hour might give you food for thought.
The 21-year-old – who broke the British Junior 10 mile TT record in 2016 – said that training had become a “daily grind”, and his enthusiasm to continue a career in the sport has waned over time.
He said: “I stayed with GB for two seasons and had some great albeit tough moments in races such as the Tour of Yorkshire and Tour of Britain, but I also faced some serious setbacks and challenges which made me realise that the sport of cycling is incredibly tough, unforgiving, and certainly not sunshine and flowers. Success is hard fought and not a regular occurrence!
“The training has become a daily grind, and the lifestyle has been dragging me down. I feel like I am living in a world when I’m trying to perform at the highest level and living the elite athlete lifestyle.
“In recent months I’ve spent long periods away from home and I’ve been able to reconcile my thoughts and the desire to step away from cycling has increased. Basically, I’ve decided I no longer want to pursue a professional career in cycling.”
11-year-old from South Dakota has ridden his bike to school every day for six years, and is approaching 1000 days on the bounce
road.cc were alerted to this midweek good news story from a forum post on Slowtwitch, in which proud dad Dan Linde asked fellow forum members for help in getting his 11-year-old son Bodhi recognised for his remarkable streak of riding to school and back, every day without fail for six years during term-time.
The Linde family are from South Dakota – notorious for its brutal winters – but Mr Linde tells us Bodhi has not used a motorised vehicle to get to school once since he started kindergarten at the age of four. In late March, Bodhi will reach 1000 days on the trot.
Mr Linde told road.cc: “We live two miles from school so the miles have racked up over the years – last winter was especially tough up here in South Dakota.
“He’s been quite an inspiration for the local riding community as he never complains and always rides no matter what the weather. He also plays a couple musical instruments so he had to come up with inventive ways to haul his instruments to school.”
If you’ve been moaning about Ciara, Dennis or whatever relatively mild weather event we’ve been experiencing in the UK recently stopping you from riding your bike, let young Bohdi be your inspiration!
Thanks to CEO of Parcours wheels Dov Tate for alerting us to the Slowtwitch thread.
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I'm always in favour of vigorous condemnation of the police, but not when they're doing the right thing. 'E-bike' means nothing to the law, unlike EAPC which is a good term as is 'fully legal, licensed taxed and insured electric motorcycle' which is what the police are using. This must be a good thing and a worry to the little b******s wearing face masks while riding illegal electric motorcycles, unless the Met is running the whole operation from the Charing Cross station
The Velcro tabs on the Pro Discover saddlebag are useless, no wonder it’s only 10 quid.
@jackcycles One should be informed by speed limits, not ignore them. Nevertheless, the limits per se are applied to motorised vehicles, and not to pedestrians, horses, or cyclists, and initially for the most obvious of reasons.
@Ben Graham It is about energy, and to a degree momentum. Kinetic energy is m*vv/2 so yes, a cyclist and bicycle (say 100kg) at 40kph has noticeably more energy than one at 31kph (50 times 40*40 vs 32*32) a driver and car at say 2000kg firstly has vastly more energy than the faster cyclist, and secondly the increase in energy of the car from 32 to 40kph is also a lot more significant. One might think about frontal width and so on as well, but mostly consider the differences in energy involved. Actually, specifying the limit in terms of energy might have a salutary effect on Range Rovers and suchlike.
There is zero moral equivalency between a speeding driver and speeding cyclist. The capacity for harm and the likelihood of causing harm is so much greater for the driver, and this is bourne out in the statistics. 1,700 dead every year and 30,000 seriously injured; a tiny fraction of which can be blamed on cyclists not following rules.
I feel all cyclists need to grow up on this issue. Cyclists cannot claim that 20 limits save lives, and in the same breath they don't apply. Morally they do. The legal position is a little greyer. Speed enforcement doesn't work the same way, and it requires a Police Officer to make a non-endorsable charge where speed may be a factor. Highway Code rule 69 is quite explicit - obey all traffic signs and road markings - all though of course this is simply a statement not the actual law and there are other errors in the Highway Code too (MUST stop at an advanced stop line on amber for example). We need other road users to respect and look out for cyclists and pedestrians, and all following the rule book and looking out for one another is all part of this.
Not only does this seem to be an inadequate amount, it's a one off token gesture that ignores the need for a constant program of updates and improvements that will start to redress the 50 year head-start that the Netherlands have on us.
Those who complain about the cost of these measures should simply Google "cost of road traffic collisions" and work out how long the ROI takes (and then add in the safety benefits)
Wouldn't giving them legitimate arrangements ... legitimise them though? If you're representing a party that holds there's a war on drivers, major "green climate scams", too much petty bureaucracy stopping people going about their lives etc ... then doesn't it stand to reason that encouraging cyclists to get in the way of drivers cannot be part of the solution? Or even encouraging them at all - as if not on the roads won't they endanger pedestrians by going far too fast? Or when their bikes spontaneously combust? (I know there *are* a few Reform councillors who appear to have quietly ignored some of the company's - er, i mean organisation's - core policies).
19 thoughts on “11-year-old has ridden bike to school every day for 6 years; Promising U23 pro’s statement on quitting; Team car runs over bottle + sprays rider; Aus bike lane ripped up for ‘causing congestion’; Driver says cyclist was doing 60mph + more on the live blog”
Lets get this straight…….
Lets get this straight…….
The 85 year old driver of a left hand drive car, with about 80% of the windscreen directly in front of their face was obliterated – but they weren’t aware they had hit something.
WTF!!!!
That’s the scary thing, if
That’s the scary thing, if they genuinely had no idea then that’s a pretty strong argument to say they shouldn’t be driving.
It was an 80 year old that
It was an 80 year old that hit me.
He didn’t have a lot of choice not to stop as my head was through his windscreen.
Despite good lighting and bright clothes, he hadn’t seen me either.
Yek!! I hope you were ok.
Yek!! I hope you were ok.
Maybe they’d thought it was
Maybe they’d thought it was one of those fabled sacks of potatoes which (apparently) occasionally drop from the sky out of some weird space/time warp thing… Cough-cough “Gail Purcell”
“He is counterclaiming for $2
“He is counterclaiming for $2,500 to cover the cost of his destroyed bike and time spent recovering, but says he would settle for Cook dropping the claim.”
Bollocks to that – sue him for $3200 then give him $700 back!
I’m surprised the amounts are
I’m surprised the amounts are so little. American lawsuits tend to be huge, and frankly in Bryans situation I’d be going for more if some cretin tried this on me – the fact that he didn’t claim damages initially makes me think he is too easy to take advantage of, probably why the driver thought and their lawyer thought they could try this on.
People who make such rediculous claims shouldn’t be allowed to participate in society.
Loving that front end on the
Loving that front end on the Argon track bike! It’s so mean, if bikes could talk that one would probably say that he ate someones liver with some fava bean and a nice Chianti…
60mph? Reminds me of the
60mph? Reminds me of the public meeting about the ill-considered chicanes on the Bristol/Bath path, where some fool made the same claim, to universal laughter.
I had a similar incident many
I had a similar incident many years ago. Driver turned right across my path and clipped my rear wheel, knocking me off and wrecking the wheel. He then proceeded to claim I was going too fast and when asked to justify this statement he said “you must have been going too fast because I didn’t see you”. He then drove off. Fortunately one my friends followed him and noted his address. I called the police when I got home and they summond him to come to my house to explain himself. When he arrived he told the police officer the same thing, at which point the police officer advised him to say no more and to agree to pay the repairs to my bike, which he did.
iandusud wrote:
Which is a good outcome, in your case, but what about the thousands of others where the driver gets away with it? Assuming your friend saw everything, there doesn’t seem to be any reason why the driver wasn’t prosecuted, but all that happened was he had to pay for a new wheel, he didn’t even get a letter telling him to drive better. I wonder if that has encouraged him to look properly?
Many years ago I got
Many years ago I got overtaken and left hooked on the roundabout at the entrance to the housing estate where I lived. It was one of my not so close neighbours, but as I had had my mind made up for me about which way to go at the roundabout (go left or crash into the side of a car) I followed him to his house and asked what he thought he was doing overtaking in such a dangerous place. His response – “You were going too fast”. When queried why he felt that if I was going too fast, he then went faster in order to overtake me, he corrected his statement to “You were going too fast for a bicycle”.
Mungecrundle wrote:
Ah, yes: the bicycle. The only vehicle that can simultaneously be travelling too fast and too slow.
I suspect that the safety bicycle was actually invented by Erwin Schrodinger…
I have also been accused of
I have also been accused of going too fast, when I was nearly knocked off by a driver pulling out of a side road.
I was doing around 28mph in a 40mph limit!
Geelong council; wow! Utter
Geelong council; wow! Utter cretins. The article doesn’t explain why they think a cycle route causes congestion, but the comments of Dr Fiona Grey are right to the point “But still I fail to understand why my 10 years of education and 20 years of practice in the fields of urban design, architecture and place making was treated with such disregard and even contempt by elected lay people.”
Despite my MSc in Transport Planning and years of experience, I’m regularly told how to solve the transport problem by people with no knowledge, experience or understanding. It’s funny, but transport is something many people consider themselves experts on, and everyone has an opinion on, usually quite extreme, with wild ideas like flying cars or fantastically expensive underground systems, or HS2.
eburtthebike wrote:
So a cycle lane is causing congestion, so they’ll rip it up and replace it with car storage… Won’t that cause congetion too, then??
What, you don’t expect them
What, you don’t expect them to be rational thinkers do you? There’s three things you need to know about the average Australian. One, they expect to be able to drive wherever they want and park immediately outside their destination. Two, they expect to be able to store their unnecessarily large truckasaur wherever they want, for free and for as long as they like. Three, it’s always someone else’s fault. That thinking is what guides the Geelong councillors. And often they are pressured by retailers who use bike lanes as a scapegoat for loss of trade.
I would agree with you,
I would agree with you, except that my experience with transport planners has not been entirely impressive. In particular my local highways department seem almost incapable of admitting that they might be wrong, even in the face of objections from local councils, police, etc. In fact the only time they did admit an error was when I pointed out that their data analysis supporting a scheme was mathematically incorrect and invalid. Made no difference to the scheme going ahead, though.
Rod Marton wrote:
That applies to any professional, who all find it very hard to admit they’ve made a mistake. I worked for one LA and lived in a neighbouring one, and proved them wrong so many times I actually began to feel sorry for them, then I remembered it was my money they were wasting and carried on. Like you, the experience was rarely beneficial to the outcome.