“It’s been screwing up cars and bicycles for weeks”: Arnold Schwarzenegger — bodybuilder, actor, politician… public-spirited pothole repairer?; Alpecin-Deceuninck vs Wout: Instagram edition; Would you hire a bike from Decathlon? + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Some very niche, very modern cycling social media controversy... Alpecin-Deceuninck branded "sore winners" for covering Wout van Aert in sponsor's tags in Instagram post
You know what? If your first reaction to that headline is ‘so what?’ feel free to skip to the next post, we can’t say we’d blame you. However, if you’re here for the Instagram-based pro cycling social media storms then come on in…
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) April 11, 2023
I must have missed ‘Alpecin Cycling Deceuninck Group Canyon Go Zwift’ finishing third at Roubaix on Sunday, what a ride by the lad…
Some might say the team’s social media team had nowhere else to tag its sponsors… (don’t remember that lyric from the Oasis song)… others have chucked “sore winner” accusations around.
I mean… this is pretty funny.
— chris (@cvtwo) April 11, 2023
I have heard of sore losers. Sore winners is a first though.
— Tom (@CardboardBillb1) April 11, 2023
They already won why the need to be this petty? I’m sure Wout hates being in this photo anyway so might have done him a favour …
— Mikkelline (@catsandcycling) April 11, 2023
Does it matter? Is this a case of the internet getting offended on someone else’s behalf? (Notably someone, in Wout’s case, who probably couldn’t care less)…
"£40 a DAY?! Yeah, best of luck with that": Would you hire a bike from Decathlon?
£40 a day?!?! https://t.co/aiZHT7lcZU
— Josh Soane (@JoshuaSoane) April 11, 2023
> Decathlon launches bike rentals in all stores across the UK from £40 a day
Some reaction:
fenix: “I’ve definitely hired brand new cars for less than that per day. Maybe not in the last few years mind. Seems a tad expensive but maybe I’m missing something.”
mattw: “Those prices are at least two times higher than they need to be, especially for a place getting the service from existing staff. eg Prices from Derwent Cycle Hire on Ladybower in the Peak District are 19 for a full day for an adult bike, or 12 for educational groups.”
£40 a DAY?! Yeah, best of luck with that then……
— Neil Tweets Stuff (@TheBroonster) April 12, 2023
Another reader pointed out they managed to hire a Brompton for £5 per day, someone else a bike from a bike shop at a Dutch train station for €7.50 per day.
Seriously? I just paid that per day in Mallorca for a £22k Renault Captur. It should be well under a tenner for an £800 bike!
— 🇺🇦 Ben Digedig 🏴🇬🇷 (@Ben_Digedig) April 11, 2023
40 pound a day lol keep them buy your own
— chris numnuts (@robbertbucket) April 11, 2023
MAVIC are making an e-bike motor! | First ride: Mavic X-Tend
Sing when you're spinning: Strava announces "first of its kind" in-app integration with Spotify
> Sing when you’re spinning: Strava announces “first of its kind” in-app integration with Spotify
"A terrible and painful loss for the hero's relatives and for the entire Ukrainian sports community": Professional cyclist killed by bombing while fighting Russian invasion
A terrible and painful loss for the Hero’s relatives and for the entire Ukrainian sports community.
Kostya Deneka, a cyclist, died defending Bakhmut.
Eternal glory!
Rest in peace, champion 😔 pic.twitter.com/MBB3Hqcl6P— Vladyslav Heraskevych OLY (@heraskevych) April 8, 2023
Ukrainian cyclist Kostya Deneka has been killed while fighting the war against Russia. Inside the Games reports the 28-year-old was killed following a bombing in the eastern city of Bakhmut on April 1. Deneka had given up cycling to fight the Russian invasion, with his funeral held on Sunday.
Czech member of the European Parliament, Tomáš Zdechovský, took to Twitter to pay tribute to Deneka… “Kostya was killed in the fighting at Bakhmut, and he will no longer watch the Olympics in Paris. But the Olympics will be watched by [Russian] athletes who will make propaganda for the terrorist regime. Hopefully some Czech athletes will realise this.”
2023 Tour of Cambridgeshire to be final edition
This year’s Tour of Cambridgeshire will be the event’s final edition, the organiser Golazo Cycling has decided. Running since 2015, the final event will be the seventh edition after two years were lost to the pandemic and is the only British qualifier for the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships.
Malcolm Smith of Golazo Cycling said “much has changed” since 2015 and each edition has “thrown up considerable challenges for us to overcome”.
“Our aim, when we established the Tour of Cambridgeshire was to bring the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships to Britain and this year we have the honour of hosting that event as part of 2023 Cycling World Championships in Glasgow & Scotland,” he said.
“With our primary goal accomplished we feel now is the right time to close the door on the Tour of Cambridgeshire. In the years since we began the event thousands of riders have enjoyed taking to the closed roads of the county, with many of them qualifying for and subsequently competing at the Gran Fondo Worlds where the Tour of Cambridgeshire has consistently provided the largest travelling participation.
“It has given us a huge sense of satisfaction to know that we had a hand in opening up this opportunity for amateur and age group racing cyclists from Britain.
“Since we are at the end of this journey and having been part of bringing the Worlds to Britain, we would like to send heartfelt thanks everyone who has come and ridden the Tour of Cambridgeshire and embraced what we have delivered. We look forward to welcoming everyone to Peterborough for one last time in June and then seeing those who qualify at the ‘big one’ in Scotland this August.”
When people get fed up with the state of the roads...
It’s not just Arnie…
You never guessed it. From floating plastic ducks in water filled potholes to birthday cakes, fishing rods and model submarines – my latest potty venture is with @potnoodle! pic.twitter.com/iQ6rj0JYkt
— Mr Pothole (@mrpotholeuk) March 28, 2023
> “Accident waiting to happen” gravel cycle path maintained by good-willed resident with a shovel
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> Penis paintings prompt pothole patch-up
> Penis paintings around potholes ‘less offensive than council failing to do repairs’
"We're hungry": Tadej Pogačar to make spring reappearance at Amstel Gold Race
[Zac Williams/SWpix.com]
10 days on from the incredible drama above we now know where Tadej Pogačar will next be gracing us with his racing talent… Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race.
“The spring has already been a big success for us but we’re hungry to come to the Ardennes classics and take home a big result, starting with Amstel,” he said. “It’s a race I’ve only done once but I know it’s a long, hard parcours with lots of climbing so we need to be ready for a tough race.”
Beyond this weekend the Slovenian will be at the startline for all three of the major Ardennes races next week, looking for a fifth Monument and second title at Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Good luck to anyone planning on stopping him.
Silvia Persico wins Brabantse Pijl
It’s the official cobbled classics x Ardennes classics handover today. Brabantse Pijl, the one-day race over some of the same roads as the 2021 World Championships, has cobbles but also an Ardennes-y feel, the women’s race won by Silvia Persico ahead of Demi Vollering and Liane Lippert…
Silvia Persico sprints to victory in #DBPwomen! 🏆🚀 #DBP23 pic.twitter.com/bxomSTDWJD
— De Brabantse Pijl (@DeBrabantsePijl) April 12, 2023
Gloucestershire Police say delivery cyclist spotted on M5 "dealt with appropriately"
Officers from Gloucestershire Police spent part of their bank holiday Monday responding to a cyclist riding on the hard shoulder of the M5. “Up there with things not to do on the motorway, especially on a busy bank holiday,” the force said.
Detailing their action, the force’s Twitter account reported the rider had been “dealt with appropriately”.
Tadej Pogačar in court... to see thieves who stole €300,000 watch jailed for four years
Tadej Pogačar won the final stage of Paris-Nice, securing the GC, without his Richard Mille watch on his wrist. The watch, worth €165,000 when gifted to the Slovenian by “my boss” after the Olympic Games, and now worth an estimated €300,000, was stolen from his hotel room as he received a post-stage massage elsewhere.
“It was special for me. It was offered to me by my boss after the Olympic Games. It was worth 165,000 euros. It is estimated today at 300,000 euros. It is very curious that they sold it so quickly, without the box, without the documents,” Pogačar explained.
Nice Matin reports 32-year-old Jonathan Napolitano and 37-year-old Haikel Jerbi gained access to the room by manipulating a trainee waitress, reportedly telling her it was their room.
“I had a debt of 100,000 euros at Les Moulins. I was in danger. It is not excusable, but I had no other choice,” Jerbi said. “Haikel is a childhood friend. He called me for help. I joined him,” Napolitano added.
The pair were each jailed for four years.
In February, two men were jailed for the armed robbery at the Essex home of Mark Cavendish in November 2021. During the raid valuables, including Richard Mille watches of a similar value to Pogačar’s, were taken.
Dorian Godon outsprints Ben Healy to Brabantse Pijl victory
Dorian Godon beats Ben Healy in the sprint and wins #DBPmen!🥇 #DBP23 pic.twitter.com/dB8bKUzCVE
— De Brabantse Pijl (@DeBrabantsePijl) April 12, 2023
So close for Ireland’s Ben Healy, not quite enough to round Dorian Godon in the hilltop sprint. Behind, Benoît Cosnefroy made it a one-three for AG2R Citroën. Regardless, the EF Education-EasyPost talent is apparently heading to the Giro d’Italia, so hopefully the big win will come there instead…
"It's been screwing up cars and bicycles for weeks": Arnold Schwarzenegger — bodybuilder, actor, politician... public-spirited pothole repairer?
“I’ll be back… with a shovel”
Today, after the whole neighborhood has been upset about this giant pothole that’s been screwing up cars and bicycles for weeks, I went out with my team and fixed it. I always say, let’s not complain, let’s do something about it. Here you go. pic.twitter.com/aslhkUShvT
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) April 11, 2023
So California gets Arnie, while we’re left with Mr Pothole and a cup of pot noodle? Seems fair.
Of course we missed out the most important part of the bio of the bodybuilding actor who later went into politics — the cyclist part, of course.
> Cycling celebrities — famous folk who love to ride their bikes
He loves life on two wheels, saying in 2018 he “wants to bicycle all over the world”, acting on his quote when riding in Edinburgh (we’ll ignore the part where he was seen on the wrong side of the road, heading into live traffic)…
In 2017, Peter Sagan joined Schwarzenegger in urging people to swap their car for a bike for their everyday journeys. The video coincided with the Terminator star, founder of R20 – Regions of Climate Action, joining Hidalgo in publicising research conducted by C40 Cities highlighting the benefits of an active commute, something we’ll need well-maintained roads and cycle paths for…
“You’re welcome,” he can be heard telling a neighbour. “You have to do it yourself, this is crazy. Three weeks I’ve been waiting for this hole to be closed…”
@Bryant10TV the tarminator.
— Ross Caruso (@RossCarusoTV) April 11, 2023
Meanwhile, over here…
In England there’s a guy spray painting pictures of penises around the potholes because that way the councils deal with them quicker 😂
— Zahirah (@ZahirahEvitt) April 11, 2023
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But as you pointed out at the start of your comment, amateurs can *already* buy lighter bikes. And the UCI mandates that pro bikes have to be *available* to the public, but it doesn't go around forcing non-pros to buy them. Besides, I don't think anyone advocating for reducing or removing the weight limit is suggesting that there shouldn't be *any* standards - just that maybe there are better bases for it than weight. And I don't disagree that there may be a valid point there (leaving the question of whether a weight limit is the best way to achieve that to others to argue over). I was just questioning the suggestion that it's a non-issue because it only affects pros, when the discussion is in the context of pro sport in the first place.
@Smoggysteve Replying to this comment because for some reason you can only go about 3 levels deep on comments now... Yes, sometimes carbon cracks or delaminates. Thats been happening for years at all price points and all types of carbon bikes. I haven't noticed that having any relationship with the weight of the frame or how high end it is though. Thats just an inherent risk in a process that has a heavy human component and perhaps not amazing QA in many places.
@mctrials23 Yes bikes are brittle and carbon is easily broken - mostly down to accidental or misuse etc. But there are bikes that are breaking through normal use. Suddenly they just crack or delaminate. The closer to the limits you push these materials the more you will encounter this happening. As a consumer product thats not acceptable.
"Undue hesitation" a very common cause of failing a driving test, and driving conservatively behind a cyclist where the examiner seems it possible to pass safely could cause it. The instructor is correct to point this out.
It was this specific example of clickbait wasn't a life changing thing. Not the crash. Cheers
It was this specific example of clickbait wasn't a life changing thing. Not the crash, which was horrible. Hopefully being a collarbone the surgery was straight forward and there won't be any lingering effects like with the horror crash he had in the Basque Country. Cheers
@Smoggysteve I agree that the weight limit is fine but i'm not convinced by the rest of your argument. Carbon is an inherently fragile material when it comes to direct impacts. Unless you made it comparable in weight to aluminium then that will always be the case. Even then I doubt you would really remove the issue. As to consumers? They are free to buy whatever they please. Steel, titanium, aluminium. Lightweight, robust. Whatever they want, they can buy. I could easily build a sub 6kg version of my current bike that would be perfectly robust for my needs. If I decided to go for super lightweight wheels and other parts though I would have to accept that there are tradeoffs in price and sometimes durability. Removing customer choice is rarely a good thing.
@Jakrayan If I have understood correctly they don't need to prosecute every case. If there is evidence of a close pass they can send an advisory letter as Gloucestershire do, which should be just a press of a button. If there is evidence of an offence (Gloucestershire say a close pass is not an offence unless someone is inconvenienced) then they can send a warning letter or a NIP. Again this shouldn't take too much time. Once the driver has been identified they have the choice of an education course, a fixed penalty notice or straight to court. This will usually depend on whether or not the driver has previous. The only time a case will go to court otherwise is if the driver contests the fixed penalty notice. So 900 a month and 3 officers and 30 days means roughly roughly 10 a day. A working day is roughly 8 hours so about 48 mins per report. They ask for a 4 minute segment and they have to read the statement. The offence will be at 2 mins into the video so that should take 5 mins tops. That leaves 40 mins for the paperwork. Of course NFA would take much less leaving more time for other reports.
@mctrials23 Not all bikes are, I can show you many pics of owners whos bikes have broken quite easily and thats before you start making them lighter. Maybe the UCI needs to change the rules of them being open to purchase by the public and they keep a weight limit that maybe lighter or they realise that if youre going to keep making bikes that the public can buy there has to be a limit to maintain their robustness. That could be seen as a duty of care in a way. Right now, I see no reason to drop pro bike weight limits . For what? they would potentially do more harm than good in the current rules. if they are tied to consumer availability
"West Midlands Police is exploring alternative methods of spotting illegal e-motorbike use" So, per my comment on the original story yesterday, they had no formal guidance/training/policy in place. This is such a waste of taxpayer money due to the cost of having police in a role they aren't adequately trained for and the cost of compensating for the destroyed legal bike. How many others have faced this and will also be able to claim the cost? The only thing missing here is the user suing the police for distress and loss of income. But given all these costs are bared by the taxpayer, there should be actual consequences for the police force staff that let themselves get in this situation in the first place.
33 thoughts on ““It’s been screwing up cars and bicycles for weeks”: Arnold Schwarzenegger — bodybuilder, actor, politician… public-spirited pothole repairer?; Alpecin-Deceuninck vs Wout: Instagram edition; Would you hire a bike from Decathlon? + more on the live blog”
Hasta La Vista, Pothole!
Hasta La Vista, Pothole!
Matthew Acton-Varian wrote:
“Where did you get the supplies to fill the potholes Mr S?”
“Home Depot. Aisle B, back.”
I don’t know anything about
I don’t know anything about ebikes but not surprised that the fires they cause are all because of, checks notes, the ULEZ.
No mention of trading standards, rogue traders and a generally unregulated market place.
https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/london-ulez-people-buying-e-26655980
It’s always a case “the
It’s always a case “the internet getting offended on someone else’s behalf”
Seems perfectly reasonable to me, it’s their stream to use how they want to promote themselves, the two Alpecin riders is the better shot for them.
Caption that image…
Caption that image…
Arnie looks at the Highways Maintenance guy and says:
“I need your clothes, your boots and your tarmac tamper”
I dont think people are
I dont think people are getting those Decathlon hire prices are for E-bikes, is a Brompton an Ebike ? Do Dutch train stations hire Ebikes ?
here’s a real comparison from a real cycle hire place in Norfolk http://norfolkbroadscycling.co.uk/charges
E-bike daily charge £40.
FWIW a Boris bike would cost roughly £40 (nearly £160 for an ebike) for 24hr hire, does anyone complain they’re too expensive, or they can hire a car for less?
Awavey wrote:
Just for interest, for anyone thinking of hiring Santander bikes in London, for a £20 per month membership you can have unlimited rides on the unpowered bikes for no extra charge, the ebikes being £1 per hour on top of that for members. The only limitation is that the free rides only last 60 minutes, so if you want to ride longer you either have to pay extra (£1.65 for another hour) or dock the bike you’re using and take out another. 60p a day for unlimited bike hire has got to be one of the few bargains left in London!
E-MTB from Reading Decathlon
E-MTB from Reading Decathlon – a week’s hire = £102.50
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/Rental_lp-KT9YYO
or around the £250 mark for a week with a modest hire car from Basingstoke Emterprise – I wonder if those are the prices you actually end up paying, or whether there is some up-selling?
Good for Arnie, terminating
Good for Arnie, terminating that pothole.
OldRidgeback wrote:
The pothole: “I’ll be back”
The Grauniad has an article
The Grauniad has an article this evening that it wasn’t a pothole but was a lawful service trench being used by a local utility company
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/12/arnold-schwarzenegger-california-pothole-los-angeles
“As is the case with similar projects impacting city streets, SoCal Gas will be required to repair the area once their work is completed.”
A representative for Schwarzenegger did not return a request for comment, NBC said.
I saw that, but the article
I saw that, but the article doesn’t explain why an open trench has been left across the road. Surely it should have something covering it, like metal sheets?
Looking at the video, cut
Looking at the video, cut lines can clearly be seen at the sides of the hole, and extending to the other side of the road.
Not sure about the rules over there, but in the UK it’s not uncommon for trenches to be backfilled (as this one was), and left unplated… but signed and coned while waiting for the reinstatement team.
Plates tend to be used where there is a significant risk of someone / thing falling in to an excavation; there is no risk of that here due to the backfill – that even appears to be compacted, ready for reinstatement.
Certainly, over here, Arnie’s actions would cause a significant issue for the Local Authority (LA), the Utility Company (UC) and Arnie himself should there now be issues arising from that reinstatement.
Certainly, in the UK, the LA and the UC could now walk away from any claims regarding poor restatement, vehicle damages, personal injury, and direct any claimant to Arnie.
No offence to the poor guy,
No offence to the poor guy, but Matthew van der Pole has a face that is just so punchable
Matthew van der Poel. Strange
Matthew van der Poel. Strange thing to post.
Um..Matthieu.
Um..Mathieu.
NOOOOOOOOOO
NOOOOOOOOOO
You’re new here, it’s what he
You’re new here, it’s what he does. It’s best not to engage.
Says the anonymous internet
Says the anonymous internet troll. The only one punchable here is you.
https://www.bristol247.com
https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/nelson-street-cycle-lane-bristol-fencing-removed-by-mistake/
brooksby wrote:
Also
Co-shadow cabinet member for transport, Green Party councillor David Wilcox, added: “I’m at a loss as to why Bristol’s Labour administration have taken over a year assess and implement a safety audit on Nelson Street.
“This is an essential east-west cycle and walking route that has been either unsafe to use or blocked for over three years now. The ongoing failure to sort this out suggests an administration that simply doesn’t take transport seriously.
hawkinspeter wrote:
Cough-cough-Chocolate Path-cough-cough…
brooksby wrote:
I’m prepared to cut them slack with the Chocolate Path as that entails a lot of rebuilding, whereas Nelson St is just a bit of resurfacing to change the layout and colours of pavement/lane/road.
hawkinspeter wrote:
Problem with Nelson Street is that the developer is supposed to be doing the work and they clearly can’t see any money in it (and couldn’t give a s**t) so they’re just kicking it down the road (so to speak…).
hawkinspeter wrote:
And as if by magic…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-65260326
Having done the Tour of
Having done the Tour of Cambridgeshire I have to say it will not be missed. It was expensive to enter with some of the poorest organisation I have ever experienced, in particular feed stations with no food or water before half of the participants had even been through. I ended up stopping at a village shop to buy an energy drink. I do this when I do an audax but they only cost a few quid to enter.
The route was also appalling, with a good 10 mile plus made up of meandering around the disused Alconbury airbase.
The response from Golazo to my complaint was arrogant and complacent in the extreme.
I did another sportive a week later organised by ITP Events and despite being a third of the price, the organisation was excellent.
Got to say my experience is
Got to say my experience is very different indeed. And I’ve participated in every single one.
What I do object to is their ‘revise history BS’ about why they are stopping. They most certainly did not declare their aim was bringing the gran fondo world champs to Britain at the start.
I wonder if Simon had done
I wonder if Simon had done the 2019 one as that is the one I did and the main food station at the Airbase was exactly as he explained. No food, barely any water and when they found some, they got swarmed. Luckily I was reasonably well stocked to get to the next feed station, which although smaller, had plenty of items still although pretty much spent 20 mins getting a water top-up. However unless they have added extra length to the airbase section since, it was 7 miles, not 10 plus, although with the headwind on the open field, you probably expended that amount of energy.
If you didn’t experience the food mayhem, maybe you just got there earlier. I do agree with you on their false reasons. I suspect that since the combined effects of Covid, Brexit and Cost of Living, alot of people have stopped doing these events so they are no longer making any money on them. For example, they still have tickets open for all events with less then 90 days to go where previously you would have been lucky to see anything but charity spaces. The same with Ride London.
Adrian Chiles has finally
Adrian Chiles has finally worked out the meaning of “limit” in the term “speed limit” and has decided to share this with the world:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/12/nicked-three-times-for-speeding-life-in-slow-lane-revelation-adrian-chiles
If only 95% of other drivists understood this too.
Cocovelo wrote:
I wonder what The Guardian does with all the old rope they keep giving him money for?
Rendel Harris wrote:
I wonder what The Guardian does with all the old rope they keep giving him money for?— Cocovelo
Dont forget that he’s married to the editor…
Arnie’s pot hole : City
Arnie’s pot hole : City officials told NBC News that the damage Schwarzenegger fixed wasn’t a pothole but “a service trench that relates to active, permitted work being performed at the location” by the utility company that supplies natural gas to much of Southern California.
Over here, that would cause
Over here, that would cause quite an issue regarding legal liability for the reinstatement.
Over here, both the Local Authority and the Utility Company could walk away in the event of a claim, as neither lawfully empowered bodies completed the works.