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Unbelievable Jeff (literally)! Former Sky Sports presenter’s car slashed – and some claim bike pedal was responsible; Local press in pro-cycle lane shocker; Extreme weather shortens “mud fest”; Wout the mechanic; Rigo set to retire + more on the live blog

Cav’s off the mark, Pidcock’s back winning on the MTB, and Remco’s already busy Remco-ing – Oh, and Ryan Mallon’s back with more cycling news and views on the Monday live blog. What more could you possibly want?
Mon, Feb 12, 2024 10:31
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Unbelievable Jeff (literally)! Former Sky Sports presenter’s car slashed – and some claim bike pedal was responsible; Local press in pro-cycle lane shocker; Extreme weather shortens “mud fest”; Wout the mechanic; Rigo set to retire + more on the live blogJeff Stelling's car slashed by vandals in Chesterfield (Jeff Stelling, Twitter)
12 February 2024, 11:56
“That makes sense, I use my pedals as can openers all the time”: Unbelievable Jeff! Former Sky Sports presenter’s car slashed – and some claim a bike pedal was responsible (leading to hilarity among cyclists on social media)

In an incident that almost certainly would have evaded his old Soccer Saturday colleague – and walking meme before memes were even a thing – Chris Kamara, former Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling returned to his car in Chesterfield last night only to find it stabbed and slashed by vandals.

Stelling, who was hosting an ‘Evening With’ event at the Derbyshire town’s Winding Wheel Theatre when his car was targeted, posted a now-deleted image of the damage on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Jeff Stelling's car slashed by vandals in Chesterfield (Jeff Stelling, Twitter)

“Thanks Chesterfield. Anyone who knows the scumbags who did this to my car while I was trying to entertain people please let me know. What the f*** has happened to people,” the former Countdown presenter wrote, before adding that the incident had been reported to the police.

So, who could be responsible for such a heinous crime?

Well, according to Twitter’s well-trained army of sleuths, it was quite obviously the act of one specific type of person: A cyclist. Obviously.

And no, I’m not joking.

“Looks like the pedal of a bike, the shape of it,” the Columbo-esque Cat wrote, putting an end to Jeff’s search for the culprit in one fell tweet.

Needless to say, Cat’s immediate jump to ‘Oh, it must have been a cyclist’ sparked some merriment – along with a touch of anger and confusion – among the bike riding sorts on the social media app.

“Was Boudica riding it?” asked Beatnik69, prompting me to imagine the ancient British queen leading out Lorena Wiebes during this year’s Tour de France Femmes.

“That makes sense, I use my pedals as can openers all the time since they’re so sharp and cut through metal so easily,” added jaj991, using the lesser known social media concept of irony to great effect.

“Several people have commented that having something so sharp close to my feet/legs isn't a good idea but I can’t see an issue.”

“To be fair, I did see Jeremy Vine around this area yesterday evening,” said Spencer.

Others were a touch blunter in their response to Cat’s conclusion.

“Are your bike pedals also knives? What f***ing pedals you using? It’s sliced through the car mate,” said Rhys.

“A bike pedal? Away and have a word with yourself,” wrote Carl, while Mark added: “If you think a bike pedal could rip a car door apart like that you’re insane.”

Unbelievable Jeff… Literally.

12 February 2024, 17:33
Mystery solved…

Just when we thought we were on the look out for a masked cyclist gleefully riding around the country, carving great chunks out of affably shouty sports presenter’s Range Rovers, Twitter user Glasgow Fietser helpfully deciphered Cat’s bike pedal suggestion:

Cracked it.

12 February 2024, 16:56
2023 Milan Sanremo Mathieu van der Poel - 4.jpeg
Milan-Sanremo set to become Pavia-Sanremo? New start town for La Classicissima, as route change sees distance drop by six kilometres

Is Milan-Sanremo set to become the new Paris-Roubaix? And I don’t mean that organisers RCS are going to start dropping massive cobblestones along the Ligurian coast to spice up those three or four hours when nothing much happens (but just imagine…).

No, just like Paris-Roubaix – which has rolled out from Compiègne, not the French capital, since 1977 – Milan-Sanremo’s name will be something of a misnomer for the second year running, with Pavia, some 45 kilometres south of Milan, set to host the start of La Primavera next month.

The move to Pavia comes after the 2023 edition started in the Milanese suburbs of Abbiategrasso, a result of RCS’s falling out with the city’s authorities after the Giro organisers struck a deal to end their grand tour further south in Rome, leading to an increased difficulty in obtaining race permits for road closures and police.

Milan San Remo 2022 (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

The Pavia start, while lacking the elegance of the Duomo-backed roll out of past Milan-Sanremos, also necessitates a brief flick east before rejoining the traditional route near Tortona for the long, gradual haul up the Passo del Turchino and the run to the coast. Despite this early diversion, the distance of cycling’s longest classic will now drop from 294km to 288km (which, you know, could make all the difference on the Poggio).

Anyway, the start may lack the familiarity of Primaveras of old, but I can guarantee now that the last half an hour will still be the most exciting of the entire season, regardless of where the neutralised zone takes place.

12 February 2024, 16:40
Cycling’s best/weirdest/most botanical trophy?

Forget the Giro’s Trofeo Senza Fine, the Clásica Jaén’s massive golden olive is where it’s at:

12 February 2024, 15:57
Spanish champion Oier Lazkano secures brilliant breakaway win at Clásica Jaén

The rain and bad weather that swept across southern Spain in recent days may have ensured that, of the 62km of white, dusty, gravel roads planned for this year’s third edition of the Clásica Jaén, only 17 remained by the time the riders reached the start in Baeza.

But that pre-race numerical disappointment did little to detract from the thrilling racing on offer at this youngest but most rewarding one-day race, as Spanish champion Oier Lazkano outgunned and outsmarted Visma-Lease a Bike by powering to a popular home win from the morning breakaway.

While Movistar hope Lazkano – who burst onto the scene last year with a string of impressive displays both at home and on the cobbles of northern Europe – certainly has the power to withstand Clásica Jaén’s Strade Bianche-style blend of rolling hills, steep pitches, and gravel roads, his case was certainly helped by the favourites’ dithering approach.

By the time Wout van Aert punctured his way out of contention just before the first sterrato section of the reconfigured day, the 24-year-old, along with the other remaining remnant of the morning breakaway, Decathlon AG2R’s Nicolas Prodhomme, was holding onto a lead of over three minutes.

Pressure from the Visma duo Sepp Kuss and Jan Tratnik saw that gap rapidly fall to a perilous 35 seconds during the last few gravel kickers, as Lazkano’s relentless forcing on the front almost opened the door for the smaller Prodhomme to punch through on a particularly steep rise.

The diesel engine won out though, as Prodhomme, bullet fired, was forced to let his Spanish companion smoothly roll away as the road – if not the stones frequenting the muddiest of those sectors which survived last night’s cull – flattened.

Behind, a strong-looking Michał Kwiatkowski’s challenge was ended at the same as the gravel with a flat, while Kuss, Tratnik, and perennial gravel botherer Tim Wellens plugged on fruitlessly.

A laboured chase allowed Lazkano – the beneficiary of at least one patriotic push on the final climb – to savour his home win (albeit on the other side, geographically and politically, of Spain from his Basque birthplace), while Decathlon AG2R also earned their reward for a day of toil and attacking verve, 21-year-old Bastien Tronchon, the freeloader of the favourites’ group thanks to the presence of Prodhomme up ahead, outsprinting his more famous adversaries for second.

And with Movistar once again the beneficiary of some long-range attacking, the scene may now be set for a season-long assault on the dominance of Visma, UAE, and the rest. Which, if today’s spectacle on the gravel is anything to go by, will work out just fine for us watching at home.

12 February 2024, 15:25
The fastest president in the world?

Ladies and gentlemen, the new president-elect of Finland, Alexander Stubb…

The former Finnish prime minister isn’t just lightning quick either – he also rides a Bianchi, which means he’s extremely cool, naturally:

Prospective parliamentary candidates in my constituency, take note…

12 February 2024, 14:55
Wout van Aert: Sprinter, mountain domestique, cyclocross legend, part-time mechanic…

We may not even be halfway through February, but Visma-Lease a Bike – the true masters of the chaotic bike change – have submitted their first entry of 2024, after Wout van Aert punctured on the first gravel section of today’s truncated edition of Clásica Jaén.

And with the team car stranded behind on the gravel, Van Aert and teammate Per Strand Hagenes were forced into a spot of mechanic cosplay, carrying out an efficient if somewhat slow and convoluted (damn you disc brakes) rear wheel swap themselves:

Wout van Aert changes wheel during 2024 Clasica Jaen (Discovery+)

As the favourites enter the second of the four gravel sections on the menu today at the ‘Spanish Strade Bianche’, Van Aert is currently stranded in a chasing group over a minute behind – and over four minutes adrift of the leading duo Nicolas Prodhomme and Oier Lazkano, who may be about to pull off a surprising coup on the dirt roads of southern Spain.

12 February 2024, 14:20
UCI Snow Bike World Championships – Cyclocross’ path to the Winter Olympics?

Did you catch any of the inaugural UCI Snow Bike World Championships, held this weekend on the wintery slopes of Châtel? Don’t worry, I had quite a bit on too.

(Although fair play to Ireland’s Henry Kerr for bagging silver in the Super G, the one event I did watch. Top stuff.)

Anyway, this fun and rather sketchy pursuit now appears to the latest vessel upon which the UCI hopes to sail to the Winter Olympics, after a few years pitching cyclocross – and its one elite level race on snow – to a somewhat indifferent IOC.

However, while ‘snow biking’ more closely resembles a true Winter Olympic sport than our favourite muddy, Belgian pastime, Het Nieuwsblad has reported that an expansion of the snow bike disciplines to include a lap-based circuit race (hmmm, what does that remind you of?) in the next few years may well mean that the likes of Tom Pidcock and Zoe Bäckstedt could be eyeing up a medal at the 2030 Winter Games.

Watch this very cold space…

12 February 2024, 13:46
First comedy cycling spectator fall of the season, courtesy of the Tour Colombia

Ah, it warms the soul, it really does.

12 February 2024, 13:03
New season, new race name, and the same old challenges (caused this time by impatient, dangerous motorists): Uber driver almost hits cyclists at British road race

Concerning footage filmed at Sunday’s Portsdown Classic road race in Hampshire – the successor of the traditional season-opening Perfs Pedal National B race – showed the moment an impatient taxi driver apparently ignored marshals and drove onto the course, almost causing a collision with riders.

A source told road.cc the driver, seen in a car displaying taxi licence plates and Uber livery, “ignored the [motorcycle-riding] outrider” before “a car in the convoy stopped and made it clear that the race was approaching”. Despite this, moments later the driver was filmed pulling out onto the course, metres away from riders, the sound of disc brakes heard as a collision was fortunately avoided.

“No criticism of the organisers this was a really well-run event,” the spectator told road.cc. “Yes, the junction could have had a marshal, but if we need a marshal at every road then no road racing will take place in this country. In the end members of the public stood in the road.”

Portsdown Classic Uber driver (Instagram/Charlie Bailey)

Read more: > Uber driver almost hits cyclists at British road race

12 February 2024, 12:41
Rigoberto Uran Poc.jpg
“Cycling has given me everything in life”: Rigoberto Urán set to retire at end of 2024 season

It’s rather fitting that on the same day AC/DC announced what will almost certainly be their farewell European tour, one of cycling’s very own rock stars confirmed that he will hang up his bike for good at the end of the season.

In a statement shared by his EF Education-EasyPost team, Rigoberto Urán, one of the pioneers of the Colombian renaissance in professional cycling during the 2010s, said the “time has come” for him to step away from a sport that has “given me everything in life”.

The 37-year-old, who turned pro in 2006 before going on to ride for Caisse d’Epargne (now Movistar), Sky, Quick Step, and finally EF Education, has won 14 races during his 19-year-long career, including stages at all three grand tours, while finishing second overall at the Giro d’Italia in 2013 and 2014, and at the 2017 Tour de France, and winning silver at the 2012 Olympic road race in London.

Rigoberto Uran at Giro 2014 S13 start - picture credit LaPresse

(LaPresse)

In 2013, Urán became the first Colombian to finish on the podium of the Giro, cementing his status as a national hero (a reputation he has continued to build through his Jagger-esque looks and rock and roll personality, his TV series, gran fondos, restaurants, and clothing brand), before finishing behind his equally groundbreaking compatriot Nairo Quintana the following year.

“As a cyclist, I believe the time has come to say: we have reached the end,” he said at theTour Colombia.

“It has taken me a long time to come to this decision. It is something I have thought long and hard about. The truth is that it is scary. Cycling has given me everything in life. For almost 23 years, my aim was to get up, eat breakfast, and ride my bike. I was a part of a team that took me to the major races around the world. Now that is going to end.

“I'm going to try to enjoy it, give my best in the races, and race every one like it is my last. This season will be a thank you, a thank you very much. I only have gratitude for the team, for all the people, all the many coaches and many teammates who were always there to help me over the past 20-plus years.”

“I’m going to miss Rigo,” added EF founder and CEO Jonathan Vaughters. “The team is going to miss Rigo. He is the foundation of what we have built.

“Of course, he will thrive in retirement, and I’m sure he will find ways to express his passion and personality away from racing. But we will miss his charisma and leadership. Rigo is a great cyclist, no doubt. But what made him special in our team is that he’s also a great person.”

12 February 2024, 11:45
Another year, another Richard Branson bike crash
Richard Branson cycling crash (Instagram)

> Richard Branson bloodied by cycling crash after hitting pothole and falling "hard"

12 February 2024, 10:50
2024 Clásica Jaén shortened due to mud on gravel sections (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team)
Extreme weather hits the 2024 road season (already): “Mud fest” and intense rain causes Clásica Jaén organisers to cut most gravel sections, as Tour of Oman stage shortened due to rain

It may not be Omloop time just yet, but there’s no denying that the 2024 road racing season is well and truly underway.

From Mads Pedersen laying down an ominous marker for the classics at the Tour de la Provence and Remco Evenepoel striking fear into the heart of everyone in Portgual, to Mark Cavendish wiping away any lingering retirement doubts with an early win at the Tour Colombia, an obligatory sketchy February finish at the Clásica de Almería, and some surprisingly interesting racing in the deserts of Oman and the UAE, you can’t say you were deprived of bike racing over the weekend.

But, since it’s 2024 and all, it hasn’t taken long for the weather, and the increasingly obvious indicators of climate change, to wreak havoc on this feast of cycling.

Won by an imperious Tadej Pogačar today’s Clásica Jaén – the newish Spanish one-day race famous for its off-road sections and oddly amusing Golden Olive trophy – is set to see Wout van Aert try out his classics chops for the first time this season, in the company of Vuelta-winning teammate Sepp Kuss and UAE Team Emirates phenom Juan Ayuso.

However, thanks to a few absolute downpours in southern Spain, most of the race’s gravel sectors have been reduced to the kind of muddy tracks Van Aert is more used to in November in the Netherlands – as evidenced by the Q36.5 team’s mechanic-saddening recon yesterday – forcing the organisers to shorten the route by over 20 kilometres and remove four of the eight white (or brown) road sectors.

Meanwhile, this morning’s stage three of the Tour of Oman was also shortened, cutting the planned 169.3km to just 76km, and removing the Eastern Mountain hilltop finish, to “ensure the safety of the riders” after abnormally high levels of rain hit the Middle Eastern country this week.

Soudal-Quick Step’s young guns won’t mind too much about the shortened stage, however, as former Trinity Racing teammates Paul Magnier and Luke Lamperti combined to dominate on the steep kick to the new finish at Al Bustan, as 19-year-old Frenchman Magnier took his second win of a very promising first early season at the Belgian squad.

12 February 2024, 10:32
Weekend round-up: BMC woes, sacrilegious grass verge-destroying councillors, and… errr, not Rishi Sunak’s wife being caught by Cycling Mikey?

Ah, it’s that time of the year when you’re just really not prepared for the sheer amount of bike racing on the telly (imagine hearing me say that back in November), so here’s our helpful round-up of the weekend’s stories that you may have missed while flicking between the UAE Tour and the Figueira Champions Classic…

Leading fact-checkers step in as old CyclingMikey video edited by viral Facebook page to falsely claim Rishi Sunak's wife was filmed using Instagram while driving (YouTube/CyclingMikey)

> Leading fact checkers step in as edited CyclingMikey video posted by viral Facebook page falsely claims Rishi Sunak's wife was caught using Instagram while driving

> "It would be sacrilege to take up the grass verges," claims local, as cycle lane plan with "enormous benefits for the community" met with vocal opposition

> Organised crime gang sentenced for prolific thefts of more than £100,000 worth of bikes

> Man to stand trial and faces up to 25 years in prison over "complex international operation" to steal high-end bikes in the United States

Boy injured after cycling into wire strung across path (Corin Earland/Facebook)

> "Why would someone do this?": Police investigate as boy's neck cut after cycling into wire hung across path next to school

> BMC applies to cut hours of remaining staff due to falling demand

> Cyclist slams “disgraceful” 12-month driving ban and £540 fine for drink driver who “ruined” his life

> What's the best budget smart trainer? Wahoo Kickr Core vs Zwift Hub One vs Van Rysel D500

> Is SRAM’s solar-powered shifting a glimpse into cycling’s future? Plus Lightweight's £7,700 gold leaf wheels, a tiny electric pump, new KMC cassettes + loads more tech news

12 February 2024, 09:08
Local press in pro-cycle lane story shocker: “Waste of money” city centre cycle lane Mail and Telegraph claimed “no one uses” lauded as one of region’s most popular bike routes

I know, I know – local media outlets (and their, ahem, combative comments sections) aren’t normally the go-to place for positive cycling stories, especially those focused on controversial infrastructure projects invariably branded a “waste of money” by frothing motorists.

But Birmingham Live has bucked the trend of the 21st century recently by publishing an article refuting a suggestion made by the Telegraph and the Mail last year that one of the city’s major cycle routes was “barely used” and a symptom of the local authority’s financial “incompetence”.

Last year, the two national papers – bastions of active travel, naturally – ran stories on Birmingham’s cycle highway along the A34 from Perry Barr to the city centre, which claimed that locals have branded it a “shocking waste” just under £10m, while using one photo to allege that the lane “sits empty” with “no use” using it, while causing “gridlock” and traffic chaos for motorists.

“But the A34 highway… is much more than ‘barely used’. In fact, it is one of the most popular cycle routes in the city,” Birmingham Live wrote in an admittedly belated response to the Telegraph’s claims last week.

A34 'Blue' cycle lane, Birmingham (Alex Romankiw, Twitter)

The site pointed out that, according to data provided by 849 machine learning vision sensors owned and maintained by Transport for West Midlands, an average of 284 cyclists use the route every day, amounting to around 2,000 journeys a week.

That puts the A34 on the Cyclotron cycle counter list just behind Birmingham’s Bristol Road ‘blue’ route (which averages 501 cyclists a day) and the Sky Blue Way in Coventry (385) as the West Midlands’ third most-used bike route.

Cyclists in the comments, meanwhile, noted that – despite the Telegraph’s claims – “traffic chaos” has not been caused by the cycleway, the construction of which did not reduce road capacity for motorists (I’m shocked, shocked I tell ya).

“There would be traffic ‘chaos’ with or without a cycle lane,” wrote localwhinger. “At least now people have some degree of safety when not in their cars, have freedom to choose, and the urban environment is made slightly more pleasant.”

“How many people would drive if Birmingham had one or two safe roads, but to use any of the others was to risk serious injury or death?” added ukpedestrian. “We need many more protected bike lanes and car-free streets so that more people can feel safe while exercising freedom of transport choice. Our roads need to be redesigned so that everyone, not just car owners, can travel on them in safety.”

> New Birmingham cycle lane turned into ‘VIP drivers route’ for Commonwealth Games

“The Cyclotron is a fantastic resource for those of us promoting cycling in Birmingham and the wider region,” Liz Clements, Cabinet Minister for Transport at Birmingham City Council, told Birmingham Live, along with news that a new cycleway on a key route between Smethwick and Birmingham is due to be discussed soon by councillors.

Meanwhile, cycling and walking commissioner Adam Tranter has also promised that 2024 will be a “bumper year of delivery” for cycling infrastructure schemes in the region, with a “raft” of projects set to be rolled out to give people “more choice” in how they travel.

This ‘good cycling news’ angle is quite the jump from previous stories about “useless” cycle lanes in Birmingham, anyway…

Seven-foot-long Birmingham cycle lane (Facebook/Really wild designs in The Cotteridge Forum)

> "Bizarre" seven-foot-long cycle lane a "waste of money" critics claim, but council insists it isn't a bike lane

Ryan Mallon

Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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49 comments

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Terry Hutt | 2 months ago
3 likes

Terry Hutt wrote:

I gots to ask. Why to unicyclists ride around grabbing their balls?

Is it because other people refuse to even after being asked nicely?

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to hawkinspeter | 2 months ago
0 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

Terry Hutt wrote:

I gots to ask. Why to unicyclists ride around grabbing their balls?

Is it because other people refuse to even after being asked nicely?

Because if they dropped them they'd hit the floor?  (Seven is pretty impressive...)

Avatar
Mr Hoopdriver replied to hawkinspeter | 2 months ago
3 likes

Rat traps and modern MTB flats with pins in them - DAMHIKT angel

Avatar
HLaB replied to Backladder | 2 months ago
7 likes

If folks really think pedals could do that, why do they come so near cyclists sad

Avatar
lio | 2 months ago
10 likes

At this point in time the Telegraph and the Mail are easy to dismiss as just rage bate.
They have no balance or informed comment and there's very little useful information or news in it.

I mean they could publish an update saying they were wrong... but we all know they won't.

Avatar
chrisonabike | 2 months ago
3 likes

road.cc wrote:

The site pointed out that, according to data provided by 849 machine learning vision sensors owned and maintained by Transport for West Midlands, an average of 284 cyclists use the route every day, amounting to around 2,000 journeys a week.

That puts the A34 on the Cyclotron cycle counter list just behind Birmingham’s Bristol Road ‘blue’ route (which averages 501 cyclists a day) and the Sky Blue Way in Coventry (385) as the West Midlands’ third most-used bike route.

All good!  Just for perspective (not to be discouraging) and what these can do some figures from elsewhere.  In NL (figures from well over a decade ago): eight locations in Utrecht have more than 10000 cyclists per day, and one of them has more than 22000 cyclists per day (this was up to an average of 35,000 on working days in 2016 and rising). In Groningen, six different places have counts greater than 10000 per day, two of those are above 14000 per day.  At the busiest location in Copehagen apparently the daily total number of cyclists on the street is around 28000 (there is some skepticism on this - but it's clearly "lots"). (Numbers collected in this article, sources linked from there). 

Avatar
cqexbesd replied to chrisonabike | 2 months ago
1 like

How many cars/trucks are the on the A34 per day? Genuine question, wondering how far we still have to go.

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to cqexbesd | 2 months ago
1 like

Don't have time to crunch the numbers but here's where they are, looks pretty simple to get the data:

https://roadtraffic.dft.gov.uk/regions/10

You can get average annual daily flow (both directions) or the raw count data (one direction) - this is done at various count points (there are a fair number on the A34).

Numbers by vehicle type but that doesn't give you occupancy.

Avatar
the little onion | 2 months ago
16 likes

Build it, build it properly, and they will come

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to the little onion | 2 months ago
11 likes

the little onion wrote:

Build it, build it properly, and they will come

Exactly. We know from other countries about what works and what doesn't work. Providing good separated infrastructure is a key step in getting people to swap car journeys for less damaging transport alternatives and if some of those people choose active travel (vs. e-scooters etc), then we've just levelled up the population's health and spared the NHS some expense.

Of course, the right-wing media isn't interested in improvements - they seem to be focussed on cruelty and destruction instead.

Avatar
mattw replied to hawkinspeter | 2 months ago
4 likes

"separated" - YAY !

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to mattw | 2 months ago
5 likes

mattw wrote:

"separated" - YAY !

I almost went to type "segregated" and then remembered the better adjective

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to the little onion | 2 months ago
7 likes

Absolutely.  So many examples - including some places where the criticism of "but they were already cycling / had infra" doesn't apply e.g. Seville.

HOWEVER - there are two caveats.  The quality must be sufficiently good*.  Perhaps more importantly in the UK there has to be some rebalancing by reducing the attractiveness of driving.  Because "where driving is easy, people drive".

Driving suppresses demand and support for other modes in several ways.  It's space-inefficient so doesn't need many people doing it to take over all the space.  Where driving's a default people will always be found to "need" to drive.  They'll have to be able to get places more quickly, park near to all destinations etc.  Active travel - but particularly cycling - will always lose out.

It may be possible to tame the car (see NL, perhaps) but it seems this will always require effort to resist its overuse and "mission creep"!

* A network of routes (not all necessarily cycles-only), which feels safe, going fairly directly to where people want to go (usually where the cars go now) with secure parking.  Ideally this would accommodate the human desire to travel socially, not in single file.

Avatar
Surreyrider replied to chrisonabike | 2 months ago
11 likes

Where I live in Surrey, the vehicle drivers are so lazy now that they mount the pavement and park on the pedestrianised area right outside the town centre takeaways/burger bars/pizza places instead of 100 yards away in one direction in the big car park or 200 yards away on street. Nobody does a thing to stop them - not the council, not the police - and that's what we're all up against.

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to Surreyrider | 2 months ago
0 likes

Of course - this is "because humans" (also because not socially unacceptable enough).  This is exactly what we'd be doing if we all had hoverboards, jet packs or were still on horses of course.

Indeed the same applies to bikes.  Luckily these are much less of an issue in terms of space (and smell) and we can see possible work-arounds before we've even got the issue.

Avatar
Mr Hoopdriver replied to Surreyrider | 2 months ago
3 likes

Just think of the uproar if people dumped those hirebikes all over.

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Gimpl replied to the little onion | 2 months ago
0 likes

Don't think they will 

Avatar
giff77 replied to Gimpl | 2 months ago
1 like

You don't think they'll build, don't think they'll build properly or don't think they'll come. You need to clarify so we know you're trolling or not. 

Avatar
Gimpl replied to giff77 | 2 months ago
1 like

Don't think it will be used as much as people think whilst driving is a viable option 

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