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

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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WORLD RECORD Team Pursuit - Danish Dynamite - Denmark 3:46,579 Min. Congrats! @bunddeutscherradfahrer @velodrom_official @tissot_official @uci_cycling @sei_berlin @rideshimano @santini_cycling @kondrauer @cosywasch @hertz #Berlin2020 🌈 #wirsehenunsinberlin 🇩🇪 #seeyouinberlin #Radsport #Bahnradsport #Cycling #Track #Trackcycling #velodrome #roadtotokyo #Sprint #Keirin #Teamsprint #Madison #Omnium #Mannschaftsverfolgung #Teampursuit #cyclingpics #picoftheday

A post shared by Trackworlds2020 (@trackworlds2020) on Feb 26, 2020 at 6:40am PST

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.  

[#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... 

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.

Check them out here.

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." pic.twitter.com/EwvC9kkMkt

— Joe Dunckley (@steinsky) February 26, 2020

A strange pairing indeed... spotted by Joe Dunckley in Bristol, "where Cumberland Road and the chocolate path fell in the river" so we're told. 

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."

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.

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.