Edinburgh cycle lane not gritted for 3 days after snowfall; 2.4m trips on CS3 in 2020; Congestion up after cycle lane ripped out; Matt Stephens quizzes Ineos signings; New name, kit, bike as Mitchelton-Scott becomes Team Bike Exchange + more on live blog
Congestion rises after cycle lane ripped out
A study of traffic on Kensington High Street has found that congestion worsened after the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea ripped up a temporary cycle lane there last month.
Campaign group Bike Is Best also said that its research shows that the space formerly taken up by the cycle lane is now blocked by illegally parked vehicles up to 80 per cent of the time, reports the Guardian.
More on this story on road.cc later.
New team name, new kit for Mitchelton-Scott - now Team Bike Exchange
It’s the first of January, and among other things, that means that riders announced as switching teams in recent months will now be able to go out in the kit of their new team – and of course, in some cases that will mean not only a completely different kit to the one the team wore last year, but also a change of name.
Among the teams to have changed name due to a change in sponsor is Team Bike Exchange – formerly Mitchelton-Scott – and besides a new kit, modelled in this video by Simon Yates and Teniel Campbell, there’s also a new bike sponsor, Bianchi.
Meanwhile, Mark Cavendish is back at Deceuninck-Quick Step, who have given their kit a bit of an overhaul – here’s the former road world champion sporting it, together with rainbow bands on the collar and cuffs.
New Kit Day 😎
What do you think?@deceuninck_qst @iamspecialized pic.twitter.com/UErXXDLhCb— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) January 1, 2021
Edinburgh cyclist asks why bike lane wasn’t gritted after snowfall
A cyclist in Edinburgh has asked the city council why a bike lane on a main road in the Scottish capital was not gritted for three days after a recent snowfall, forcing many to take to the main carriageway instead.
The cycle lane on Comiston Road, which runs from Comiston to Morningside in the south of the city, was put in place last year as part of the council’s Spaces for People programme to encourage active travel during the coronavirus pandemic.
Edinburgh News reports that one local resident, Paul Bailey, wrote to the council’s transport convener Lesley Macinnes to point out that while the main road had been gritted, the cycle lane had not.
“I notice to the council’s credit that some gritting has been done on some pavements on Comiston Road,” he said. “However I also notice that none of the cycle lanes on Comiston Road have been cleared at all. May I ask why the cycle lanes on such a major road are being left untreated – even after three days?
“On Wednesday, to my surprise, I met a cyclist attempting to negotiate the icy surface of the cycle lane. A few seconds later the cyclist left the dangerous cycle lane and moved out into the main carriageway.
“This of course leads to another problem; the overtaking car needs to straddle the central white line to give the cyclist room; further up the road where parking is allowed, the main carriageway is even narrower – 3.25 metres.
“Spaces for People was meant to help cyclists and pedestrians. Clearly the Orcas are creating a serious problem which needs to be addressed promptly. Waiting until the next review on January 28 is unacceptable when you know about the danger now.”
A spokeswoman for Edinburgh City Council commented: “Our gritting teams work 24/7 to respond to poor conditions on the city’s roads, cycle paths and pavements.
“We operate a priority gritting system, treating priority one routes first, which include principal roads, bus routes and roads and pavements leading to hospitals, fire stations care homes, in order to keep the city moving.”
It’s the second time in a month that the council has faced criticism for not gritting the same cycle lane, with one Twitter user saying after a snowfall in early December, “Looks like we may have to clear these ourselves.”
Looks like we may have to clear these ourselves. Was it beyond the ken o man to expect the snow not to fall in the cycle lane. The smaller machinery that does the pavement will fit the lane no problem. Not doing it is inexcusable.
— ShakeTheFoundations (@shaken_shake) December 4, 2020
Matt Stephens quizzes Ineos Grenadiers new signings
Three of Ineos Grenadiers new signings – Adam Yates, Laurens Ten Post and Ritchie Porte – have been quizzed by former British champion turned TV pundit and presenter Matt Stephens, and the questions are as quirky as you’d expect …
Cyclists made 2.4m trips on Embankment cycleway last year
Cyclists ,made 2.4 million trips on London’s Cycleway 3 in 2020 according to the cycle counter close to Embankment Underground station – while across the river, the Blackfriars Road cycle counter recorded 1.1 million bike rides on Cycleway 6.
Click through the tweet for a thread analysing of how riding patterns changed throughout the year.
** #CS3 and #CS6 cycle journey counters in 2020 **
The two counters recorded over 3.5 million journeys during 2020:
> #CS3 #Embankment 2.403 million;
> #CS5 #Blackfriars Road 1.135 million.Thread picking out some 2020 highlights
1/n pic.twitter.com/kvpgJnQVW2— London Cycle Route CS3’s Crowdsourced Count (@CS3Count) January 1, 2021
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@Rendel Harris You know damn well what I mean, Rendel. The bikes here are just a nice angle to make their point about how tech has changed over the years. They could have easily used two other bikes for exactly the same purpose. They chose these because they already had an article that looked at the old bike in depth, and because Seixas' bike is new. You keep cherry-picking, to try to win this silly argument on semantics, but the intro actually says it quite clearly: "We compare Jaan Kirsipuu’s early-2000s AG2R race bike with Paul Seixas’ latest machine TO CHART A QUARTER OF A CENTURY OF TECH PROGRESS". The article is not ABOUT these bikes, it USES these bikes to illustrate that tech progress, hence, the article is about that tech progress.
@Sreedlums That's hilarious, the article is literally about two Decathlon Tour de France bikes and comparing them. It says that everywhere, in the headline, in the subhead, in the body text. It says it's "a good excuse to look back at how Decathlon’s top-level race bikes have changed over the last 25 years", how on earth can you get from that to "this article was *not* about these two bikes"? Go on swearing black is white all you want, but you are totally wrong.
@Sriracha They have got what makes bicycles be recognized by the public as bicycles, and what motorbikes haven't got - pedals, that's why.
@Rendel Harris Oh wait, so now the article is only about Decathlon's TdF bikes? Because that's in the headline? That's funny, because in your previous comment you said "I think if you look really hard you can see this is an article about how Tour de France bikes have changed",. So, which is it? You can keep cherry-picking snippets of text, but it doesn't change the fact that this article was *not* about these two bikes, nor was it about TdF bikes. This article took these two bikes as examples of top road bikes of their time, to take a broader look at how road bike tech has changed in 30 years. And my original comment was about exactly that; road bikes then and now.
@Sredlums Did you miss this bit? See the words "Tour de France bikes" there? Easy to miss, only being in the headline and all...
@Rendel Harris Except of course, Rendel, it is not. This sentence is in the intro of this article: "We compare Jaan Kirsipuu’s early-2000s AG2R race bike with Paul Seixas’ latest machine to chart a quarter of a century of tech progress", and this is the sentence with which they end the article: "Would you like to have a soft spot for bike tech of the past? Or is it best left to history?". Nowhere does it say they are looking only at bikes from the TdF. They honed in on these two specific Decathlon bikes to compare bike tech then with bike tech now.
@Sredlums Well, Sredlums, I think if you look really hard you can see this is an article about how Tour de France bikes have changed, so if you were talking about road bikes in general (which you did not make clear) it was your comment, not my reply, that was not pertinent.
Looking at Google shopping results for 'road bike', and then at a variety of retailer sites (Halfords, Decathlon, Sigma Sports, Ribble, Winstanleys, etc. etc., plus a couple of our local shops with ecommerce presence), on none of them are more than about one in eight black or dark grey, and often that's just one of a number of colour choices. So if there are a preponderance of such bikes around, it seems like it's less because bikes have become more 'boring' than it is because the people buying them have.
@Rendel Harris Well, Rendel, I think if you look really hard you can see that I wrote "how much more boring road bikes have become" and not 'how much more boring road bikes IN THE TOUR DE FRANCE have become". Simply look around you, when you see a group of road bikers pass by. Look in the bike shops. It's black, black, more black, some dark grey, more dark grey, matte. And black parts, like on all the bikes you showed as an example.
Exactly. Agree. But that doesn’t give ProCycling a free pass – instead the UCI and all pro teams should be leading the way as ambassadors for cycling as the greenest sport. Pro cycling could be green, but it will take significant change. Frighteningly however, it’s greenwashing that is still the aim and motivation for the majority of pro cycling sponsors. It’s not good enough. Such sponsorships should be banned. Like tobacco and alcohol. It’s as simple as that. Our planet is sending a very clear message through ProCycling – not sustainable.
18 thoughts on “Edinburgh cycle lane not gritted for 3 days after snowfall; 2.4m trips on CS3 in 2020; Congestion up after cycle lane ripped out; Matt Stephens quizzes Ineos signings; New name, kit, bike as Mitchelton-Scott becomes Team Bike Exchange + more on live blog”
That a damning study of
That’s a damning study of Kensington High Street – they’ve spent loads of money, annoyed both cyclists and motorists and ended up with even more congestion and still no active travel infrastructure. What’s worse is that they based their decision on a vocal minority rather than using data – we need to get rid of these dinosaurs and their out-of-date thinking.
hawkinspeter wrote:
“thinking” might be a little generous.
You mean the weathervane
You mean the weathervane councillors who change direction according to whatever blowhards puff hardest? Good luck with that, half the time they’re narcissists just looking to inflate their own popularity. For some reason unbeknown to me, their ilk seem to manage being re-elected. I suspect it’s because they’ve only got to swing a small number of voters, and it’s easiest to do with those most frightened by change?
I’m liking the post crimbo
I’m liking the post crimbo avatar.
ktache wrote:
Yarrr!
I’m sure Nigel Havers and the
I’m sure Nigel Havers and the other vociferous critics of the cycle lane will waste no time in admitting their mistake, and I look forward to multiple articles in the media highlighting this phenomenon and educating the masses.
Has anyone contacted Mr Havers for his views on actual facts rather than his misinformed perceptions?
Quote:
I do love the ambiguity in that construction.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/tag/moses-hadas/#return-note-5095-4
Sriracha wrote:
Delightful, thank you. I’m just glad someone spotted it.
I saw the article in the
I saw the article in the grauniad…
Live no where near London and I was raging.
Surely must be rules, scientific data and what-the-fuk-ever to stop this infrastructure vandalism!
Yes, because politicians are
Yes, because politicians are known to listen to scientists and data.
And not listening to scientists has never led up anything bad or 2020.
cdamian wrote:
“Fact based decision making.” Ho, ho, ho.
DQS kit – can’t work out
DQS kit – can’t work out whether it’s Gru’s Minions or Oompa Loompas it’s reminding me of. One of those that will look better on the bike than off it.
Bike Exchange one is awful but I was never really a fan of the old kit either
kil0ran wrote:
Can’t say it appeals to me but then I find most team kits pretty meh.
I really hope that Mark will get to put his hands in the air and crossing the line of a race in first place once more.
“We operate a priority
“We operate a priority gritting system, treating priority one routes first…”
It’s almost as if the cycle lane running the same priority one route is not counted as the same priority.
It’s clear that the priority
It’s clear that the priority list is buses, cars, pedestrians.
That’s right, cyclists aren’t even on the list.
Here in Southern Norway, we
Here in Southern Norway, we’re coastal and probably see similar days of snow to Edinburgh, local council has main cycle routes as Pri 1, along with bus routes. Clearly still falling snow can be an issue, but they aim for snow and ice free for 6am on weekdays.
First 2km from home can be a little dicey at times, then I’m on a cycle route and it’s bare asphalt to work the remaining 10km
I was delighted to see the
I was delighted to see the Kensington cycle lane story on the front page (so to speak) of the Guardian online. Fantastic placement!
Oh, and did nobody read the memo about feeding the troll? TL:DR please don’t.
Aghhh. Already the new year
Aghhh. Already the new year is contaminated by Twatcyclist and its pathetic posts. Ignore it. It is taking over the whole forum.