‘The world’s most comfortable bike seat cushion’ hits Kickstarter; Tao’s route: Giro winner has London cycleway named after him; Bora-Hansgrohe sign ‘new Roglič’; 47m bike breaks Guinness World Record; Still pro aged 50 + more on the live blog

Bernie Ryan, aged 70, from Victoria in Australia has smashed the Guinness World Record for building the longest bicycle, beating the previous record by more than six metres. The 47.5m bike had to travel 100 metres for the record to be verified and it was son Trent on the pedals, while his wife Ruth steered. Santos and University of South Australia had held the record previously, setting the mark at 41.42m.

“About three years ago, I decided to try and break the world record for the longest bike, after watching the present record holders on the Internet,” Bernie said. “I started off with seven sections and had an accident when the wind blew it over. It twisted and bent. I decided to remove one section – it behaved much better!” 

An engineer told Bernie to build a triangular beam and he then improved the design with a box truss frame. At 47.5 metres long it’s not the quickest but is certainly the longest.

In the year Davide Rebellin turned pro, Miguel Induráin won the second of his five Tour de France titles. That was 1992 and yet now, 28 years on, Rebellin is still racing and according to Gazzetta dello Sport has agreed a deal for 2021 with Cambodia Cycling Academy. Now in his fourth decade as a pro, he only managed five race days last season because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

At the peak of his powers Rebellin won Amstel Gold, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and La Flèche Wallonne in 2004 and claimed a silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In 2019, he announced his retirement while at Croatian team Meridiana Kamen but returned to competition shortly after.

I am going to ride my bicycle this morning for the first time since I catapulted myself into a moat surrounding a 12th century castle and bust my arm. I am going to try to not ride into anything similar, because it really hurt.

— Ned Boulting (@nedboulting) December 10, 2020

📝 NEWS: Anton Palzer swaps skis for a racing bike: The successful ski mountaineer will commence his professional cycling career with BORA – hansgrohe in 2021

Read all about it here: https://t.co/W9Z0xcZu0J

📸: Christof Kreutzer pic.twitter.com/3Et69HQFFO

— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) December 10, 2020

It’s been well-documented that Primož Roglič had a background in winter sports before becoming one of the best Grand Tour riders of the current generation. Now, there’s a new snowports athlete ready to take on the professional peloton on the road. VeloNews reports that Bora-Hansgrohe has signed signed ski mountaineer and mountain runner Anton Palzer for 2021. The 27-year-old German has no bike racing experience but recently tied his own speed record for the Watzmann crossing run, a 23km, 2,300m altitude trail in just 2 hours and 47 minutes. 

Palzer joined the team at a training camp in Austria back in the summer and will now focus solely on competing on the road. Bora-Hansgrohe team manager, Ralph Denk is convinced Palzer can be a success in his new sport: “It may look like a daring venture and a certain risk is definitely involved, but we have been following Toni for quite a long time and are convinced of his physical abilities,” he told VeloNews.

“You can see from examples like Roglič or Woods that such an experiment can be successful, and we have always said that we would scout within different sports. It was soon clear that some of his performance values, such as his VO2max, are exceptional. In summer, he trains a lot on the bike anyway, so we examined his data in detail. However, the decisive factor for this change was that Toni was certain that he wanted to try it. The potential is there, but data isn’t everything.”

And @helenhayes_ what is the point when public transport doesn’t work soundly, emergency services can’t get through and even cyclists can’t use the roads?! Watch this video to the end and see for yourself the chaos. pic.twitter.com/E49NkZFFy0

— Lita (@moanybot) December 10, 2020

This week we’ve already heard Nick Ferrari and a councillor blame cycle lanes and LTNs for slowing down the emergency services…There’s no sign of a bike lane in this video however. Cyclists can be seen squeezing through the gaps between parked cars and congested traffic or using the pavement instead…

With the help of The London Marathon Charitable Trust, Transport for London (TfL) has today announced that 68 community projects will receive funding to improve access to walking and cycling in London. The chosen recipients of the 2020 Walking and Cycling Grants will receive up to £10,000 over three years. The scheme hopes to help projects that address barriers to active travel among traditionally underrepresented groups. In total £593,369 is available to the 68 community and not-for-profit groups that have been selected for the 2020 programme.

I know what this means. pic.twitter.com/KOwTxIMw13

— Liv 🚴🏼‍♀️🌿🌺🌻🌾🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺 (@livia_edin) December 10, 2020

Three London cycleways will be renamed after three famous faces from the world of British cycling after a public vote saw Tao Geoghegan Hart, Beryl Burton and Maurice Burton chosen to represent cycling in the capital. Giro d’Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart won the vote for CS1, the cycle lane which passes through Tao’s home borough of Hackney and out to Tottenham from Liverpool Street.

Beryl Burton was one of Britain’s most succesful cyclists but missed out on the Olympic recognition that she deserved because women’s cycling wasn’t admitted until 1984. Fittingly CS2, that takes bike riders out to the Olympic Park in Stratford, will be known as Beryl Burton Way.

Equally deserving is Maurice Burton, who was Britain’s first black male cycling champion and an athlete who has said his career might have been limited by prejudice. CS7, in south London, is to be renamed Maurice Burton Way.

This Kickstarter caught our eye…Claiming to be ‘the world’s most comfortable bike seat cushion’, the Cyclemate is the cyclists’ version of their supposedly very popular motorcycle cushion. The most impressive thing I took from reading their page is that it can be run over by a car without bursting. Beyond that I’m not sure there’s going to be too many roadies on the Sunday club run sporting these… then again, from the pictures provided of this strange looking mountain bike, it doesn’t look like road cyclists are their target audience…

But maybe you prefer e-bikes/e-scooters that look a bit like bikes anyway…

I’ve probably not done a very good job of selling the Cyclemate to you, so I’ll leave it to the designers: “Back it because you believe in it. Support the project for no reward, just because it speaks to you.”

The above is for the first backing option (about £10 converted from Hong Kong dollars) but if you spend around £15 you can get a Cyclemate Sx1 with 30% off the RRP. It seems that quite a few people do believe in Cyclemate, as the Kickstarter has currently raised over £35,000 from an initial target of under £3,000. 

Vorteq Sports is the brainchild of British engineer Rob Lewis OBE who has spent his career in the field of sports engineering, working in Formula 1 as well as with British atheltes over three Olympic campaigns. Rob was a founding member of the Secret Squirrel Club, working alongside Chris Boardman to optimise athletes’ aerodynamics in elite cycling.

Now, the company has launched a range of human performance services available to all, including bike fittings, aero testing and physiology profiling at their Silverstone Sports Engineering Hub base. The hub hosts its own wind tunnel and they also offer testing for clothing using high definition 3D scanning.

Rob Lewis said: “I’m delighted to launch our range of human performance services previously only reserved for elite athletes. Vorteq is an engineering led brand
and we strive for sporting perfection in everything we do. Our human performance services follow the same expert approach as our clothing products with the aim of providing customers with a measurable competitive advantage.”

more like the world’s most uncomfortable bike seat cushion

— It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Richard 🎄 (@cookywook) December 10, 2020

The Cyclemate is going down well on Twitter as you can see from some of these replies…

Plus when you get to a cafe, you can strap it over your tummy for perfect six pack abs!!! “Another slice of cake please!”

— JD Green (@a_loose_end) December 10, 2020

Victorian torture instrument?

— Tim Brown (@tjaabr) December 10, 2020

More than a vehicle for getting from A to B. ↔

A vehicle for change. 🚲

Be part of it. Join us: https://t.co/FawG6zYGHz pic.twitter.com/YZG7vcPGW5

— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) December 10, 2020

British Cycling have put together this short video to celebrate the strides that cycling has made in 2020. This year, cycling levels increased by as much as 350% and during the first lockdown 1.2 million more people cycled for leisure or sport. Figures from the Bicycle Association show that retailers have seen sales grow by 60% since March.

Commenting on the film’s launch, Laura Thomas of British Cycling said: “This year hasn’t been without change, but the power of our bikes has never been quite so clear. We all know the individual benefits of cycling in terms of our physical and mental health, but through this video we wanted to show that everybody who rides a bike – no matter how fast or how far – is playing a part in making the country a happier, healthier and greener place.”

In 2021, British Cycling will partner with World Bicycle Relief to support the charity, starting with a #LetsRideThroughWinter challenge in January and February. The challenge incentivises riders for leading or joining one of British Cycling’s recreation rides, all with the aim of raising awareness for World Bicycle Relief.

In other news, Dame Sarah Storey was named the recipient of the SJA Bill McGowran Award for Para Athletes after another incredibly successful year that saw her claim three more world titles at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships to take her career tally to 38.

This cyclist confronted the driver of the red Vauxhall after he overtook her and another cyclist on a fast downhill stretch of road, crossing the middle white line and narrowly missing a car going the opposite way. Despite the footage, the driver blamed the woman for cycling in the middle of the road. In the full video below, the driver can be seen blocking the cycle lane at the traffic lights before this dangerous pass and according to the women recording, he also shouted abuse as he passed. 

Behind me from 1st lights.
Shouts abuse at me b4 second light, blocks the cycle lane.
Nearly crashes with oncoming vehicle
Catch him at 3rd lights, blocks the cycle lane again.
Reporting to @SYPOperations . Name please.
And don’t call me sweetheart, prick. #cycling in #Sheffield pic.twitter.com/tRYIyQrXHg

— CyclingInASkirt (@CyclingInASkirt) December 9, 2020

Do you get shorts with the reverse pattern to click in?

— James (@jayshi2105) December 10, 2020

Sitting comfortably? Read all about it further down the page…