“If I can do it and have fun, you can too”: Councillor with dyspraxia receives high praise from cyclists for learning how to cycle and urging others too; Meet man who’s fixed over 3,000 bikes and donated them to children for free + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
The peloton vs one cyclist (going the wrong way), who will win?
These bizarre scenes happened in yesterday’s Brabantse Plij classic, won by AG2R Decathlon’s Benoît Cosnefroy after a bunch sprint.
E no meio do caminho tinha um ciclista na contramão 🤣
Isso foi na @DeBrabantsePijl hoje cedo pic.twitter.com/xhtQxhSVU3
— O País Do Ciclismo (@opaisdociclismo) April 11, 2024
No fractures for Elia Viviani after Paris-Roubaix crash, thanks his helmet for "saving his life"
Elia Viviani, the prolific Italian classic rider from Ineos Grenadiers was involved in a crash at Sunday’s monument with about 220km to go, which saw around 20 riders hit the floor. The 35-year-old was unfortunately forced to abandon the race, along with EF Education-EasyPost’s Jonas Rutsch.
Thankfully, he’s updated via social media that he suffered only a muscle injury and no fractures, and perhaps more importantly to his head, for which he thanked his helmet.
He wrote: “The tests carried out in hospital on the day of the race ruled out fractures, after returning home to Monaco, I carried out other checks which highlighted a muscle injury which I will be able to recover in a few days like the various abrasions on my body. About my head, I passed all the necessary checks and everything is ok, thanks to the helmet @kask_sport which saved my life.”
Cyclists could enjoy traffic-free days on Cheddar Gorge as 80% back proposal... but opposition claim "people will be run over by bikes" and "Putin's election was fairer"
Traffic-free days at Cheddar Gorge have taken a step closer to becoming a reality after a consultation saw more than 80 per cent of respondents express support for the idea that closing the road to motor traffic would make the site more accessible for pedestrians, cyclists and other non-vehicular visitors.
Despite less than a fifth of the 1,700 respondents expressing opposition to the road closure, the news of the project moving on to the next stage prompted wild criticism and complaints on Facebook, a vocal opposition to the road closure flooding the Mendip Hills National Landscape Team with negative comments.
Some questioned what percentage of respondents were local residents, while another accused the consultation of being “nonsense” and less fair than “Putin’s election”.
“I was scared to death because I couldn't breathe for thirty seconds”: Steff Cras opens up on Itzulia Basque crash
While the Tour of Basque crash which shook the cycling world to its core, with riders suffering serious injuries, fortunately hasn’t resulted in any life-threatening consequences as the injured cyclists embark on a tough recovery programme, reports from the crash are still trickling in.
And Steff Cras, one of the riders involved in the crash and perhaps one of the worst hit by it, has opened up about the crash. Speaking to La Dernière Heure, he said that he had “a brush with death” in the incident.
Des nouvelles de Steff :
Après des examens plus poussés, @SteffCras souffre d’un pneumothorax à droite, de plusieurs fractures costales associées et de deux fractures vertébrales dorsales, en plus de plusieurs hématomes, plaies et dermabrasions. (1/2)#Itzulia2024 pic.twitter.com/Ha8wHRFsPt
— Team TotalEnergies (@TeamTotalEnrg) April 4, 2024
“I was scared to death because I couldn’t breathe for thirty seconds. I only had one functioning lung,” he said. “I had a brush with death. I realised when I saw the concrete block [at the side of the road] that I would have been dead if I’d fallen 20cm further away. Honestly, I was very lucky.”
The Belgian who currently rides for Total Energies, had suffered broken ribs, two fractured vertebrae, and a collapsed lung, when he went off the road with Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič, and others, on the descent from Olaeta with 35km remaining on stage 4 of the Itzulia Basque race. He spent four nights in hospital in San Sebastian before returning to Belgium on Monday.
Over 3,000 bikes fixed and donated to children for free — all the way from south Wales to Uganda and Sierra Leone! Take a bow, Mike ‘Puffa’ Jones
The legend of Mike ‘Puffa’ Jones is now perhaps a well-known one amongst cyclists. But it makes me glad to see that his name is spreading beyond too.
But in case you aren’t aware of who he is, Puffa Jones is a 49-year-old from Newport, Wales. His Freebikes4kids project collects and takes deliveries of unused, unwanted, broken, or outgrown kids bikes. He cleans and repairs them, and delivers them for free to kids who haven’t got a bike and might, nay, should be having one.
How it all started? He shared his story with BBC Radio Wales. “I had young grandchildren and I drove past a charity shop and saw a bike outside in the rain,” he said. “So I bought that, I think it was for £4 or something ridiculous. I made it look tidy for him, my grandson.”
“And then I put a picture on Twitter and then people just started messaging me saying, ‘Have you got any more bikes? Can you fix this bike? Can you get a bike for this age?’. And it just exploded from there.”
Please dont scrap old bikes.
Many can be rescued and given to a child that may never have owned a bike of their own.
Bikes are gifted for FREE once I have repaired them.
Please contact me if you have old bikes in your shed or garage that you would like to donate.#cycling #free pic.twitter.com/B41J38iBj2— PuffaJones (@PuffaJones) November 24, 2019
After that, people started asking him if he had any more bikes. He also tweeted from his personal account asking for old bikes from people who had lying around in their garages or sheds, if he could fix them and “find them a good home”, in his words.
“That was five years ago. Now there’s barely a day that somebody doesn’t drop a bike off to me. I’ll get home now, and somebody will have left three on drive. I guarantee it.”
“Now we’re five years in, I get lots of social worker referred families and charities getting in contact. So there’s always people coming to me now. I’ve constantly got a list that never goes down. I’ve got about six schools waiting at the moment, couple of charities. I’ve got bikes on the way to Sierra Leone!”
Mike “Puffa” Jones from Newport has fixed over 3000 unwanted bikes and made sure they get to children who might go without.
He spoke to Roy Noble about his “Free Bikes 4 Kids” charity project 🚲 pic.twitter.com/7jc1cDDy5P
— BBC Radio Wales (@BBCRadioWales) April 9, 2024
Since starting out in 2019, his repaired bikes have found new, budding cyclists as owners in 25 south Wales schools and dozens of local charities and clubs. Bikes have also been sent to children in Uganda and Sierra Leone to support grassroots cycle sport.
He added: “It’s literally something that started so small, that it’s almost kind of happened to me over the last five years and it’s got to the size that it is now without me being aware of how quickly it was growing.
“It’s still the same as it was when I started, two sheds in the garden now. I’ve upgraded it to two sheds now from one… I wish I had a warehouse.”
Jones does it all without any funding or sponsorship, and he relies mostly on donations and fundraisers to continue doing what he is. Right now, he has a Gofundme live, aiming to raise £10,000, which you can donate to by clicking here.
Bianchi blames pro cycling team mechanics ignoring "specific instructions" for Paris-Roubaix problems that left Florian Sénéchal's bike like "cardboard" on the cobbles
Bianchi has hit back in the fallout to Paris-Roubaix which saw Florian Sénéchal claim his bike had been on the verge of giving out on the cobbles, the manufacturer blaming Arkea B&B Hotels mechanics for disregarding “specific instructions” about assembling handlebars, causing “disparities in the handling of the bicycles in competition”.
Wout van Aert out, Christophe Laporte in for Visma Lease a Bike at Giro d’Italia
In another blow to the Belgian’s 2024 road season, Visma Lease a Bike has announced that Wout van Aert won’t recover in time to start the Giro d’Italia. The crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen in the run-up to the two cobbled monuments which Van Aert had his sights on has proved extremely unfortunate, with him breaking his collarbone and ribs and ultimately ruling him out for the entire classics season, as well as the Giro now.
> Is Wout’s Ronde dream over? Disastrous crash takes out Flanders favourite Van Aert
In the video announcement, Wout van Aert said: “Hello everyone I’m really happy to tell you that I’m doing well, recovering from all my injuries at the moment after my crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen. A lot of injuries are quite good at the moment but my ribs are still a limiting factor. So at this point I cannot train at all. I’m still trying to do my first pedal strokes on the bike, but [it’s] not enough to train.
“That’s why we made the decision to not start in the Giro d’Italia. It’s a big shame, I’m really disappointed to miss out on my second big goal of the season but at this moment I need to prioritise my health and I need to give my body the time to recover.”
Message from @WoutvanAert ❤️ pic.twitter.com/XNJWqg6QoF
— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) April 11, 2024
Van Aert will most probably be seen next in action at the Olympics then, with the 29-year-old punchy all-rounder set to miss the Tour de France for the first time in five years, instead focusing on the Paris Olympics. He was set to race the Giro and Vuelta for the first time, but with the Italian Grand Tour ruled out, it’s already looking like another unfortunate season for the Belgian, who also missed out on his goal of winning the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
“Obstacle course” cycle junction a “ruse to drive motorists out of the town”, claim drivers – but cyclists praise long-awaited layout change
Brompton World Championships is back, and organisers ask riders to “forget the lycra”, instead encouraging them to show personality with “whacky outfits”
Behold the mighty Brompton world championships, for it is back in search of the strongest victor! And the organisers don’t want any lycra! Instead, they encourage you to show off your personality with your choice of the whackiest costumes.
The organisers wrote: “The world-renowned race, which last took place in the capital in 2019, will return to London on Saturday 22nd June and will see cyclists from across the globe go head to head on a one-of-a-kind criterium circuit in the heart of Coal Drops Yard, Kings Cross.
Brompton, manufacturers of the vastly popular folding bike, has been hosting unique events in locations around the world since 2008. They aded: “Forget the lycra – instead race participants are encouraged to show off their personality through their choice of cycling outfit, the whackier, the better, before hopping into the saddle of a Brompton and making their way around a specially designed course.”
“If I can do it and have fun, you can too”: Councillor with dyspraxia receives high praise from cyclists for learning how to cycle and urging others to do the same
I know it can get quite disheartening to see all the rhetoric and lambasting of cyclists, mostly for nothing from not only trolls and strangers online, but sometimes also from your elected representatives. So, here’s a little ray of uplifting news on the live blog to cheer you up this morning.
David Barker, Labour & Co-operative Councillor in Birmingham, has received kudos and glowing remarks from cyclists after he shared his journey of learning to cycle as an adult with dyspraxia, a type of developmental coordination disorder that makes movements and balancing more difficult.
A year ago today, I got a bike for my birthday and tried learning to cycle for the first time. I’ve made a little video for fun to show my journey over the past twelve months.
I didn’t think I’d be able to, so if you’ve never learned or want to try again, this is your sign🚴 pic.twitter.com/039kclCUxR— Councillor David Barker (@David4BKH) April 10, 2024
He says in the video: “A year ago I set myself the challenge to learn to ride a bike. I got a bike for my birthday, spending the morning watching instructional videos. First, I attempted to balance, then pedal, always expecting to fall or crash. I never did, and within a month, I had the basics down. I even found Bikeability lessons for adults, who, like me, were learning for the first time.
“Growing up, I never tried to learn. I was a clumsy child constantly tripping or bumping into things. At university, I was diagnosed with dyspraxia. Dyspraxia is a neurological condition that makes balance and coordination more difficult. It was a relief at the time to have an explanation for why some things were harder. But it also meant I gave up hoping I could learn to cycle. I thought if I tried, I would just fall off.
“I’ve spent a lot of time as a councillor looking at how to make active travel easier. People were often surprised when I told them I couldn’t cycle, but encouraged me to try. So a year ago, I set myself the challenge to learn to ride a bike. I thought, if I fall off, I can try again. And if I can’t pick it up, at least I’ve tried.
“I knew it would be nice, getting around the ward quicker, without needing a car. It’s helped me to understand how unsafe cyclists can be on the road. It’s not a surprise to learn more when you pick up a skill. But I didn’t expect it to be so freeing, to feel more confident, less held back.
“I’ve seen parts of the city I hadn’t before, or even just in a new way. It’s also been really fun. I think that’s important. Because if you’re like me and never learnt, or just haven’t cycled in a long time, I hope you see this and think, if I can do it, and have fun, you can too.”
I’m not going to lie, watching the video has made me really want to jump on my bike and go for a quick little spin. What a beautiful and liberating tool a bicycle can be!
Barker, who shared the little video on Twitter, has been showered upon with praise by many cyclists and active travel campaigners, including Jeremy Vine, who congratulated his efforts and welcomed him as one of their own.
87% of UK adults know how to cycle, including one more now!
Only 75% know how to drive a car.
So that’s about 5 million more adults knowing how to ride a bike than to drive.
And then there’s the children…
Sources: BHF, DfT— Oxfordshire Cycling Network (@OxonCyclingNet) April 10, 2024
Green councillor for Oxford Emily Kerr wrote: “This is such a lovely video, thank-you for sharing and what a brilliant journey. Cycling is such fun isn’t it?!”, while Liz Clements, Birmingham’s Cabinet Minister of Transport, replied saying: “Lovely to see this David and you’re right, that sense of freedom when you’e riding a bike is something special!”
Tim, another cyclist and campaigner from Birmingham said: “Wonderful to see your story, David. Cycling as joy; cycling as liberation. So great that you shared the story. I hope it motivates others to learn to ride, too. However old they are.”
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Latest Comments
Only an idiot would've assumed continued growth after a boom as large as the one during the pandemic. But we seem to have Bianchis and Accells galore.
Still no vertical cutoff for safe use on public roads? Thanks, I'll just laugh once, then one more time when I see the price, and pass.
@mdavidford Didn't want to break the flow, boy.
This is a shocking case and should raise the question could this driver have been stopped earlier? So many convictions, why was he still behind the wheel? The sentence does fit the crime in this case, but had the driver stopped after the initial collision, would they have even been jailed? I can't help thinking about the BBC program "The Crash Detectives", where about 14 mins into "Season 5 Episode 3: Fair to all parties" the police embark on what seems an exercise to exonerate the driver, with some ridiculous reasoning such as "the victim's reflective jacket is so bright it makes their front light difficult to see", conflicted by "ah, but the victim's reflective jacket might not have been as bright, so probably harder to see for the driver". In that case the driver faced "no further action". The gulf in outcomes is extreme where deaths on our roads are concerned.
@yodhrin A brilliant story told by one Ed Solomon: he was sitting in a café in LA and he heard two young ladies arguing over a point in the original Men in Black movie. "I can help clear that up for you," he said to them. "Thanks," came the reply, "we don't actually need an explanation from a middle-aged white guy to tell us what to think." "Okay, no problem," said Solomon and went back to his coffee. Ed Solomon wrote the screenplay for the original Men in Black movie.
Yes all the post war clearances & developments with the car centre stage is / was pretty universal. I think it helps that the NL is pretty flat & easy going so historically has very many cyclists from all ages & walks (or should it be rides) of life, who wanted to keep pedalling & presumably built up a lobbying force to save what they still had & build it back up. I notice the flatter UK towns have far more cyclists than much of West Yorkshire, although York's not too bad. If I lived in a flatter place I would cycle more; I dont mind hill climbs but you always arrive at your destination with a sweat on! The hilly nature is probably still a physical barrier for many resulting in fewer cyclists & lower use of cycle lanes - to be fair most of the lanes are on easier gradient routes, more likely to be used. There's none on the steep climb to our area which as its a dual carriageway is not much fun & feels a lot safer on the footpath. Overall it seems to be more of a sport activity here, rather than mum or dad or gran popping out for a quick shop or kids cycling to school. There are some pretty fierce climbs in most directions. Also the "broken" routes where C lanes stop & start awkwardly, usually at junctions, means you cannot just flow along, you have negotiate some tricky bit of kerbed channel with tight bends or something. All there with safety in mind I'm sure but not good cycling. Its easy to see why some cyclists who just want to crack on with their ride, don't use them. (Not just the freestyle lads who cycle thru every set of lights or diagonally across busy junctions regardless). The C lanes are always subservient to cars, I think largely for economic reasons; so many have to travel miles to get to work & for all its faults the car does the job but of course there are many counter arguments. I heard the NL have experimented in a few smaller towns with removing all kerbs & signage (?) etc so cars no longer have priority. I dont know how successful it has been. I've been in Indian towns where few rules were followed & seemed like an insane free for all, virtually constant gridlock, which I'm not convinced was an improvement! Even with a million pound cycle lane in the park, with all the best intentions, how much difference will it make, given human propensity to do what suits us best regardless of others. Who is going to police it, presuming that the current / previous free for all presumably was not policed? (This obvs is a wider issue) Have there been a spate of cyclist - pedestrian accidents that raised the notion of formal laning? Was it pedestrians who wanted to reduce cycling risks for themselves or the reverse? Is it a minority pressure group/s getting their way when the general park using public actually have other concerns such as better lighting & personal safety & actually arent bothered about the cycling issue either way? I should read up on it I guess!
@eburtthebike The normalisation of lifetime bans would be a good start to changing perception back to the pre-war understanding that driving is a privilege, not a right. And then a reinforcement of Sentencing guidelines can get underway, with a focus on "does the offender pose a continued risk to society?" In the case of the 15y/o's, their parents may not be culpable for the life changing injuries, but they are responsible for neglecting their kids to give them access to such egregious weapons on two wheels. CPS just needs to look further than ends of their noses and i doubt they'll fail to find substantive evidence of negligence.
@lesterama Thats even better.
@qwerty360 Thanks for this info. I've had two failure to identify in my reporting "career". One got away with it completely as it was a hire car through two different companies and they ran out of time to prosecute and one got points and a fine. The latter was NMOTD 946. I won't put a link in or you may never see this comment. If I've had two it must be quite common occurrence. Yet another loophole condoned by the legal system for the well off and unscrupulous.
9 thoughts on ““If I can do it and have fun, you can too”: Councillor with dyspraxia receives high praise from cyclists for learning how to cycle and urging others too; Meet man who’s fixed over 3,000 bikes and donated them to children for free + more on the live blog”
Chapeau Cllr Barker! A close
Chapeau Cllr Barker! A close friend who suffers from dyspraxia has also recently started to ride a bike, and she has really been enjoying her new found freedom. Even if only for relatively short distances. Another cycling advocate in authority is always a good thing too.
This Puffa guy deserves more
This Puffa guy deserves more respect than all TdF winners combined in my eyes.
It is great when a big heart meets skilled hands.
A person like this is what
A person like this is what the honours system should be for and not some jumped up donor to the Governing party at the time.
Arise Sir Puffa.
Money donated to fund his good work.
I’m pretty sure he’d reject a
I’m pretty sure he’d reject a knighthood, or anything else from an antiquated honors system in england, and we don’t have one in Cymru. But he’s well enough respected throughout the country.
“people will get run over by
“people will get run over by bikes. Putin’s election was fairer”.
Sure, because no pedestrians ever get run over by cars…
Quote:
Am I missing something?
The road will be closed to motor traffic to make it more friendly for cyclists and pedestrians.
So the road will probably be full of pedestrian tourists during that open (closed?) day – I honestly can’t see a local roadie club using the road during that time for that very reason. And the ‘recreational’ cyclists on there will be riding along at far less than 30mph.
On the other hand, Chris Saunders, you could also choose to look before walking rather than relying on whether you can hear something coming You know – like (I hope) you do when crossing any other road.
(I’ve put this comment on the dedicated page too).
brooksby wrote:
Absolutely. Blind dogs exist to be the eyes of those who can’t see. Almost as if navigating the modern world needs more than just hearing. And how else would deaf people navigate? It makes no difference if a honking train or a silent cyclist is approaching them – if they don’t look they won’t notice either way.
I once saw a blind dog being
I once saw a blind dog being walked down the steps of the horseshoe bridge, where the Kennet meets the Thames, or the NCN 5 starts from the 4, it would walk up to the end of the long step and waggle its lead foot around and down until it touched the next step and then move down and repeat. It was something to see and something I will never forget. Incredible and caring owner.
When I was at university many
When I was at university many, many years ago I had a friend called Robert Cheese and he was from a small village near Chedder Gorge. He was, to be fair, a cheeky chap. One evening we were schlepping back from the pub and we had a puff to help with the walk up to the top of town. ( we were studying in a rural art college in Devon) Local plod stopped us as they tended to do with ‘out of towners’ When asked I told them my name and I was from London. They didn’t like that – them Londoners full of their arrogance and airy ways. They then turned to my friend with his glazed look and shock of curly, black hair. ‘And where are you from, son?’ To which he replied – ‘Robert Cheese from Chedder Gorge’. I laughed so much plod lost it and threatened us with all sorts.