Karma for driver covering plates to cut through LTN; Pidcock beats Van Aert for first Ineos win; Bike lane birth; Nibali fractures wrist; Cycling filmmaker’s last ride; Photo finish; Italian Job Giro announcement; Good policing + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Cycling filmmaker makes final journey on bicycle-drawn hearse
Came across this funeral in Dublin today. Paddy Cahill was his name. He was well loved and respected by the sound of things. Bicycle-drawn hearse brings cycling advocate on his last journey
via The Irish Timeshttps://t.co/SKAVON5hrh pic.twitter.com/DmlDxYhPhi— Ronan McGreevy (@RMcGreevy1301) April 12, 2021
Cycling advocate and filmmaker Paddy Cahill sadly passed at the age of 44 after a long illness. His dying wish was to be carried by his brother Conor on a bicycle-drawn hearse for one final ride through the streets of Dublin. The Irish Times reports that dozens of cyclists joined the cortège on the way.
Paddy made cycling documentaries with Dutch blogger and fellow cycling advocate Philip de Roos on cyclingwith.com, including an interview with former mayor of Amsterdam Job Cohen. The pair were well-known among Dublin cycle commuters as Paddy was often seen filming from his bike’s specially built front carrier which allowed him to film other cyclists while Philip pedalled behind.
In a 2013 interview, he explained his love for cycling. “There is something about cycling that promotes a gentle pace to the conversation. The city becomes another character which in turn affects the conversation,” he told The Irish Times.
“There are loads of good reasons to cycle for society and the individual but I don’t cycle for health or environmental reasons. I cycle because it’s the quickest, most convenient way to get around and it makes you happy.”
Criticism for strange tweet praising pro team director guilty of harassment
Three years ago Marc Bracke discovered this 16 Y old Hungarian unpolished diamond. She first raced in our development team, but quickly joined the UCI continental team. Today we’re sad to see her go, but we’re proud she’s going to the number one team in the world : Team SDWorx👊 pic.twitter.com/KVVtpO39Fb
— Doltcini – Van Eyck Sport – Proximus (@DoltciniVanEyck) April 13, 2021
Doltcini-Van Eyck director Marc Bracke is currently awaiting the UCI Disciplinary Commission’s ruling on his sanctions for being found guilty of violating the UCI Code of Ethics after complaints of harassment from two female riders. Marion Sicot and Sara Youmans both filed complaints after Bracke requested photos of them in “panties and bra” and “bikini.”
Flanders Classics, the organiser for many of the major Belgian cobbled races, also requested Bracke didn’t attend their races earlier this month. This post was put out by his team’s Twitter account, leading to criticism from fans, with one asking “are you drunk?”
This is actually a really bad tweet and if you don’t know why, maybe you should do some research. Just a thought
— Robyn (@robynjournalist) April 13, 2021
— TipsNstars (@tipsnstars) April 13, 2021
Team DSM Giro announcement is a 10/10
🗣“You’re only supposed to…ride a lap of Italy!”
Team DSM – 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙄𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙅𝙤𝙗 🎬#Giro! Coming 🔜 to a screen near you 🍿
🔗 https://t.co/9nnKOt5Vkt pic.twitter.com/JWtlLvHmPL
— Team DSM (@TeamDSM) April 14, 2021
Kudos to DSM for this quality team announcement…
Why cyclists don't use the bike lane: there's a woman giving birth in it...
An unusual story from Brisbane for you this lunchtime…A mother gave birth to her baby in a bike lane while on their way to the hospital. The father, Stephen Mohan, helped deliver his son with the help of a doctor and student midwife who happened to be passing. The couple were two minutes away from Mater Hospital in the south of the city when the birth started…Mr Mohan pulled over, into the bike lane, where the baby was born.
“Within five minutes in the car I was just pushing — it was peak-hour traffic — the baby’s head came out while we were still driving,” the mother said. “I just kind of surrendered to the fact that the baby was coming in the car.”
A witness who was riding her bike to work when she passed the car, realised what was happening and called for an ambulance. “It all happened so quickly,” the cyclist told ABC Radio. “It was amazing — everyone just jumped straight into action.”
The Slate Line
There is more than enough adrenaline here for your Wednesday lunch break…
Evans Cycles offer discounted insurance policies through new partner cycleGuard
Evans Cycles has partnered with cycleGuard to offer customers 15 per cent discounts on insurance plans that cover theft, vandalism, accidental damage and up to £2,500 of clothing and accessories. Business director at Evans, Mark Brown, says it should be part of their duty as the “UK’s leading cycling retailer” to “provide customers with products and services that will help them to enjoy the ride”.
“We are incredibly excited to be working with cycleGuard as it not only allows us to offer protection to the increasing number of cyclists on the road, but also peace of mind that their bike is covered, should the unfortunate happen,” he said.
Good news and bad news for Trek-Segafredo...
It doesn’t get any closer than that. #BPwomen pic.twitter.com/D0xtxbP0Av
— CyclingTips (@cyclingtips) April 14, 2021
Close finish in the Brabantse Pijl women’s race. Pick a winner if you can. Ruth Winder on the far side got the nod in the photo finish.
Ooof that’s tight. pic.twitter.com/UAgr47ljPU
— Caley Fretz (@CaleyFretz) April 14, 2021
Some good news for Trek-Segafredo, but also some bad news…Vincenzo Nibali went to hospital this morning after a crash near Lugano in Switzerland. X-rays found he suffered a compound fracture to his wrist and will undergo osteosynthesis surgery tomorrow. No word from the team or Nibali yet about if he will be able to compete at the Giro d’Italia which starts three weeks on Saturday.
‼️ Clinical exams have revealed a compound fracture of the radius of right wrist for @vincenzonibali. An osteosynthesis surgery has been scheduled for tomorrow to reduce the fracture.
After this it will be possible to hypothesize the recovery and Vincenzo’s participation at Giro pic.twitter.com/lmMP2DNqeD— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) April 14, 2021
UCI relaxes water bottle lobbing punishments
UCI relaxes rules on throwing waste a touch, first offence no longer = automatic DQ in a one day race/time penalty in stage race but cash fine and UCI points hit https://t.co/IDJcdhyiGR
— the Inner Ring (@inrng) April 14, 2021
We will have more to follow on this shortly but the UCI has slightly softened its stance on punishing riders for chucking water bottles. Fines and docking of UCI points will be the go to sanction for first offences at one-day races before disqualification the second time. At stage races the second infringement will be a one-minute time penalty and the third a disqualification. Riders are going to have to pick which kid gets their bottle very carefully…Sorry mate, I’ve already given one bottle away today.
Good policing
“Too close for comfort”
It’s all about education today in @PoliceStafford – ensuring at least 1.5m is given when overtaking cyclists @WeAreCyclingUK pic.twitter.com/8WpY21L90O
— Staffs Police Road Policing Unit (@RoadPolicing) April 14, 2021
After yesterday’s apology from Northumbria Police after their cyclists should avoid busy areas tweet, we thought we would share some good work being done by police forces too…
A cyclist is a human being; a grandparent, parent, child, sibling or friend. Drivers MUST leave a safe gap when overtaking. There is no middle ground. It’s either safe or not safe. Please think carefully, put yourself in their position, avoid a ‘Close Pass’ #RSU @HeadofNRPOI pic.twitter.com/Abk3DUuCo5
— Hampshire Roads Policing Unit (@HantsPolRoads) April 14, 2021
Karma for driver covering plates to cut through LTN
You can’t outwit Highbury’s LTN cameras. Deliberately obscuring your number plate can lead to the serious offence of perverting the course of justice, a £1000 fine & community service punishments. Don’t be like this moron – a lot of us record our rides & will report you! DN57 WXW pic.twitter.com/lhRx4dS71n
— Highbury Cyclist (@HighburyCyclist) April 13, 2021
This driver thought he was being clever covering his number plates to cut through an LTN…Little did he know, that cyclist he overtook had a camera and pulled up just in time to deliver a swift dose of karma…”Got your face too, well done”…
Highbury Cyclist said he’ll be reporting this driver and even did some digging to find the vehicle is untaxed too…
Untaxed too. pic.twitter.com/ZNOuPP3QLQ
— Highbury Cyclist (@HighburyCyclist) April 13, 2021
He’d have got away with it too if it wasn’t for you meddling cyclists! Love it
— PassPixi (@PassPixi) April 13, 2021
I’ve noticed this new illegal habit of cars & delivery vans covering up their number plates while in #LTNs.
Here’s one I caught in #Brixton hill area in #sw2, but I’ve seen others.
I wonder what @LambethMPS @lambeth_council & @clairekholland are doing about this?@RailtonLTN pic.twitter.com/adnXD7Em6G— Olly Hatch Esq,. (@OllyHatch) April 13, 2021
Back in February we covered some similar antics, caught on camera by the Warwick Road Action Group, when a van driver decided to get out in the snow and spend a couple of minutes covering his number plates…In that time he could have probably just driven the proper way around…
Tom Pidcock beats Wout van Aert for first pro win
WHAT a win for @Tompid 🇬🇧
A thrilling finale to Brabantse Pijl! pic.twitter.com/YIQyEwrSdV
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) April 14, 2021
Tom Pidcock beat Wout van Aert and Matteo Trentin in a three-up sprint to win Brabantse Pijl for his first pro win for Ineos Grenadiers. The trio broke away on the final lap of the hilly circuit and held off the chasing group. In the kick to the line Pidcock timed his effort perfectly to come around the fading Van Aert.
It’s the result the Yorkshireman’s promising start to life at Ineos deserved after an impressive spring, coming third at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, fifth at Strade Bianche and 15th at Milan San-Remo.
Not a bad day for British racing then…Cav gets three in a row and Pidcock’s off the mark…
What a way to get your first pro victory. Bloody legend. #BP21 pic.twitter.com/210Txzuadx
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) April 14, 2021
"Maybe Wout pulled a little too hard": Tom Pidcock finish line reaction to first pro win
𝗔𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱: First pro road win 🔓
Congratulations, @Tompid #BP21 pic.twitter.com/PRjlInc5EI
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) April 14, 2021
That was special. Chapeau Tom. Despite the esteemed company he was up against in Wout van Aert and former European road race champion Matteo Trentin, Pidcock said he was confident in his sprint even if the chasing group got a little too close for comfort.
“I always start such sprints with confidence,” he told Wielerflits at the finish line. “Wout took over very hard on the way and I had to drive an insane power to keep up with him. But maybe he pushed it a little too hard. In the run-up to the sprint, I got a bit nervous because of the riders following behind. I waited and waited, and got a bit trapped when Wout turned on, but in the end I had the space and I could pass him. I already had a good feeling for the race, because I had trained well recently. I’m glad it went so well.”
14 April 2021, 08:04
14 April 2021, 08:04
14 April 2021, 08:04
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I'd rather adopt the habit of staying the hell away altogether in the very busy Christmas shopping season.
[Leaving aside the quibble over possession vs use] Why not 'illegal e-motorbike'? That's accurate and specific.
I think cyclists and e-bike riders should dismount in the pedestrian area. And everyone, perhaps, adopt the habit of walking on their left hand side of the paths or footways. Especially in the (very busy) Christmas shopping season.
Maybe people do not have the capacity to look out for everyone on the roads because there are so many users squeezed onto small roads in the uk. Brains are not 100% functional, as we know they lapse. Maybe we should have a country wide chat regarding vehicle usage. Maybe radios, satnavs, fones should be removed from cars, or restricted to passenger use. Maybe we have to accommodate homo sapiens are a murderous bunch, so when someone's mown down it can be forgotten easily, after the 'ohmygod' ten minutes. Segregated cycle lanes, or a complete ban on the motor vehicle, lol. Essentially the human race is speeding up and the average cyclist cannot keep up. In the midst of these problems as we are, I personally have to not care about my well being if I wish to continue using bikes. This is a strange and interesting dilemma, yet it sits in harmony with the current zeitgeists twisting as they are.
"Illegal e-bikes" seems like a reasonable phrase to me. It's not strictly accurate if you're very pedantic (it's currently perfectly legal to own and even use such a bike in certain circumstances; it's the use of the bike on public roads that is illegal), but it's good enough. "Illegal (motor)bike" doesn't disambiguate between illegal electric and petrol powered bikes - illegally used dirt bikes etc have been around for decades, long before the current electrification. Whether or not that distinction is relevant depends on the context. In fact, without context, I think I would wonder if "illegal bike" was talking about normal pedal bikes that are somehow illegal (maybe circumventing anti-dumping laws or not complying with relevant safety standards etc.) "Electric motorbike" is technically accurate, but I would only apply it to Sur-Rons or similar - I can see that legally it applies to any non-EAPC ebike, but doesn't fit well with less motorbike-esque versions or homebrew conversions. It also doesn't distinguish between legal and illegal - it's perfectly possible to legally ride an electric motorbike or electric moped, and some people do. So to use "electric motorbike" to mean "illegal electric motorbike" falls into the same trap as using "ebike" to mean "illegal ebike". “Illegally modified e-bikes” is also inaccurate - firstly, many of them are not modified in anyway; you can just buy them like that straight from the internet. And again, there's no law against modification, or owning a ebike that has been modified to no longer be an EAPC. It's the use of an ebike that has been modified to no longer be an EAPC (if it ever was one) on public roads that is illegal. So of all options, "illegal ebike" seems like the least problematic.
@Jem PT Scottish Gaelic - under the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005, public bodies (including the police) have certain duties regarding "promoting, facilitating and supporting the use of the Gaelic language."
@Jem PT Scots Gaelic for Police. And yes, it does seem very similar to the Scots English. ;)
I would use "illegal motorbikes", as there is never such a thing an illegal non-motorised bicycle.
What's with the bi-lingual 'Police' on the Scottish Police van?? (Or is the lower line 'Glaswegian'??
@stulemanski "... if drivers decided it was okay..."
22 thoughts on “Karma for driver covering plates to cut through LTN; Pidcock beats Van Aert for first Ineos win; Bike lane birth; Nibali fractures wrist; Cycling filmmaker’s last ride; Photo finish; Italian Job Giro announcement; Good policing + more on the live blog”
re Cycling filmmaker makes final journey on bicycle-drawn hearse
Chapeau, may the wind always be at your back.
I will be surprised if the
I will be surprised if the LTN transgressor is successfully prosecuted on the strength of this. The face shot is not clear for identification; there is discontinuity in the video sightings between the LTN offence and the parked vehicle being observed (and in the latter, it’s not clear the number plate had been obscured); if the vehicle is not taxed/insured, there may be difficulty associating the vehicle/driver/owner.
The best we can realsitically hope for is that the vehicle can be flagged for follow-up checks on its VED, insurance and driver’s licence.
VED should be pinging
VED should be pinging everytime they pass an ANPR camera,which ought to be frequent in London. By rights fines ought to be issued automatically by DVLA as soon as it run outs,but I’ve never got the police interested in following up on them.
I draw no conclusions obviously that more often than not the vehicles without VED are the ones committing these types of motor vehicle law transgressions.
There’s an interesting
There’s an interesting correlation between vehicles without VED or speeding also having a high incidence of connections to other offences: risk taking behaviour basically.
Awavey wrote:
Only if their number plate is not obscured.
Youd hope someone driving
Youd hope someone driving around with front and rear plates permanently covered up might attract some attention from the police
Awavey wrote:
Well the ones driving around with plates so dark you can’t read anyway them seem to have no qualms. Some dispense with the front plate altogether. Fancy cars too, plenty expensive.
thats why its only a hope
thats why its only a hope
Awavey wrote:
They weren’t doing it permanently though were they? Pretty much the whole point of the video!?
I thought the same when
I thought the same when viewing on small screen, but on a big screen you can see him remove white material from covering the number plate, hopefully enough to get him in trouble! Face is not that critical – notice to keeper will ask them to id driver and if they fail to then I believe the penalty will go their way.
Keep us informed Highbury Cyclist!
Yes if only there was a
Yes if only there was a system to register every motor vehicle to make law breakers accountable…… Oh hang on.
I would have expected the
I would have expected the police to pull over any driver whose car registration plate was covered up with duct tape and a sheet of A4.
I mean, John Thomson and Jamie Theakston always insist that wrong uns get their just desserts…
What is the law with
What is the law with numberplates? Do both need to be visible? What about custom ones? In Hackney half the SUVs have their front numberplates taken off and obscured on the dash or darked out.
It’s so completely blatent but obviously nothing is done?
You can’t pass the mot
You can’t pass the mot without valid plates and there is a detailed spec of heights, widths, font, gaps to comply with.
There is legislation
There is legislation requiring both plates, size of letters, font, reflectivity and angle which plate is mounted.
If you get caught expect to be fined
I was looking for one of
I was looking for one of those mini workstands that lift up the rear wheel so that gears can be adjusted, for a colleague, and I found this
https://bikerumor.com/2020/02/14/chainlift-tool-does-the-dirty-work-of-wheel-removal-brake-tuning-better-than-your-hands-ever-will/
Bit pricey and kind of pointless, but it looks like it might work.
If anyone knows what the little stand would be called, just so I can make an easy search, it would be much appreciated, cheers.
Do you mean like a paddock
Do you mean like a paddock stand from the motorcycle world? I found this: https://www.wiggle.co.uk/topeak-flash-stand-workstand?lang=en&curr=GBP&dest=1&sku=5360137902&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=base&gclid=Cj0KCQjwpdqDBhCSARIsAEUJ0hP0mC4-GylL0smsTVnzjI_kC8AS875eY9fVov-48bAA0R90UiqpprQaAo8oEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
That’s a proper flash version
That’s a proper flash version, Ta.
He will never want to spend that much, of course. He has just brought a cheap box of tools. But it will give me something to start my search.
Now I’ve found this, for me..
Now I’ve found this, for me…
SMILE Bike Stand
That’s a really clever idea.
That’s a really clever idea.
That looks ace. Just been
That looks ace. Just been searching for a stand to hold a Fazua ebike whilst installing or removing the battery pack. That requires having the front wheel turned to access the underbelly of the fat down tube. Most other stands would foul the rear mudguard, but this looks like the job. Thanks!
I was impressed when I saw it
I was impressed when I saw it, I could do with something that holds a 2 or 3 inch tyre, it looks simple to adjust, quality build, and cheap enough to justify giving it a go.
And it looks cool…