‘Tesla lanes’ could see cyclists sharing bus lanes with electric cars; Cyclist knocked off by driver following dispute; Incredible collection of 2,300 cycling jerseys; Riding 16,000 miles during a pandemic; Donald Trump on Strava? + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Cyclist rides 16,000 miles visiting 43 countries during Covid-19 pandemic
Nil Cabutí, a cyclist from Catalonia, shared his incredible story with Spanish newspaper El País… The engineer was originally planning to cycle from Barcelona to Singapore, however a few days into the adventure the pandemic ended that ambition while he was in Italy. Instead, he went on a spontaneous European tour, travelling 25,711km in 306 days through 43 countries.
When Italy closed its borders, Cabutí headed north through Switzerland and Germany to the Scandinavian countries. “I spent 95% of the trip alone,” he told El País.
“I soon realised that it would be impossible to get to Singapore. In Slovenia, things were as bad as in Italy, and in Croatia they wouldn’t let me cross the border at any of the 10 border control points I turned up at. It was March and they were stopping all the cars at the police checkpoints, but they didn’t stop me.
“I didn’t get to see a lot of things. Amsterdam was like a ghost town, and I did the Camino de Santiago [pilgrimage route in Spain] without being able to enjoy the anthropological aspect of it.”
Despite much of Europe having travel restrictions during the trip, one of the only times he was stopped by police was in Paris. When asked by officers to return home, he replied: “I’m already going home.”
The hardest part of the trip was finding places to stay and Cabutí adapted his routine to spend the first hour of each day looking for a hotel for the following night. “I had booked hotels through Booking.com, but when I arrived, they were closed. I had already paid, but they told me they couldn’t let me stay. People were afraid of Covid-19.
“One day, a man had to give me some cans of tuna fish and toast at a gas station because Italian supermarkets close on Sundays, I couldn’t buy anything!”
Trump to join Strava?
Let him on @Strava. I’ll keep him in line. https://t.co/FESeKdR7rz
— Phil Gaimon (@philgaimon) January 12, 2021
I had a dream Trump rode in the tour for the GC. I think @chrisfroome beat him but it was close. I have the worst dreams.
— kyle olson (@BikeOlson) January 12, 2021
He’d be the dude that only does downhill segments on his ebike.
— L Θ Γ D Θ (@lordofultima) January 12, 2021
The man called Merckx with a collection of 2,300 cycling jerseys
With a name like Ton Merckx, the 55-year-old from Eindhoven was always going to be a cycling fan… The son of a former pro racer (not Eddy) who was also a cycling fanatic in the 50s and 60s, Merckx has taken his love of the sport to another level by collecting more than 2,300 cycling jerseys. The jerseys are stored at his house with 1,100 hanging in wardrobes and the rest in boxes…Among the famous jerseys he has a Molteni and Peugeot-Michelin-BP and top of Merckx’s wish list is a Giro d’Italia maglia rosa.
Ton explained to PEZ Cycling News how he collects the jerseys: “In the past I wrote around 150 letters every winter to cyclists for jerseys, receiving around 70 answers of which 40 would be positive, It was hard to find addresses but phonebooks and national cycling unions were a good help.
“At the moment you can’t get any addresses because of privacy laws, but Facebook and the internet give me the opportunity to do some research and achieve similar results as in the past. When I visit races I never ask cyclists if they can help me on a jersey, you wouldn’t go to a building site and ask a builder to have his shirt! I wait until the end of the season.”
Cyclist driven at and knocked off bike by motorist following dispute
Suffolk Police are appealing for information after a cyclist was assaulted by a motorist who drove at the victim, knocking him off his bike. The cyclist, a man in his 20s, was riding along Trinity Street in Bungay between 7pm and 7.30pm last Thursday when he was cut- up by a driver in a black, soft-top convertible. When the victim caught up with the motorist in Market Place and challenged him on his driving the suspect drove his car into the cyclist, knocking him off his bike.
The driver of the car, possibly a three-door Mercedes, is described as a white man of heavy build in his 40s or 50s. The suspect drove off leaving the cyclist with elbow, knee and hand injuries.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Crime Coordination Team, quoting the reference: 1724/21.
Sir Chris Hoy thought knighthood was a wind-up
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There’s an amusing story in the Daily Record today as Sir Chris Hoy recalls being phoned about receiving a knighthood. After the letter got sent to his old address in Edinburgh, Hoy took a call. “They said, ‘This is so and so from Buckingham Palace’ and I thought, ‘It’s one of my mates, this a wind-up.’ I said, ‘Oh yeah’ and they said, ‘I wondered if you got your letter?’ I said, ‘No, I didn’t get a letter’ and he said, ‘Oh well, we are writing to offer you a knighthood’.
“I was about to go ‘Yeah right, sling your hook pal.’ Then my wife Sarra who was sitting next to me said, ‘It’s real.’ I then went, ‘Oh, I would love to, sorry I didn’t reply.’ So I almost told him to take a running jump.”
Hoy was knighted in 2009 after winning three gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. At London 2012, he won two more golds to become Britain’s most successful Olympian with six golds.
Rome wasn't built in a day...and neither it seems was Cycle Superhighway 8
* Cycle route #CS8 klaxon *
*Ten years* after #CS8 opened with #MagicBluePaint, it’s finally getting bits of light segregation
Details via: https://t.co/iIOwUJgZwO pic.twitter.com/BzpPPMWkK0
— always last (@lastnotlost) January 14, 2021
Cycle Superhighway 8 (CS8) is finally getting some segregation…ten years after it first opened. Better late than never I guess. The route runs from Chelsea Bridge to Wandsworth Town Centre and will soon (hopefully) have new sections of cycle lane with barriers or wands. The key new sections can be seen in the tweet above but include a 1.5km stretch on Battersea Park Road which will have 250m of current car parking removed to make way for a mandatory widened cycle lane with wands. A 20mph speed limit is also to be introduced.
In 2018, a lorry driver was handed a nine-month suspended sentence after admitting to causing the death of a pregnant schoolteacher cycling to work when he failed to indicate at the junction of Grovesnor Road and Chelsea Bridge.
'Ongoing rise' in active travel in West Yorkshire as trips on cycle route up 90%
The Telegraph & Argus reports that West Yorkshire experienced a cycling boom in 2020 with the number of people using the Canal Road cycleway, between Bradford and Shipley, up by over 90% compared to November 2019. Last year, 15.5km of segregated cycle lanes were built in West Yorkshire using the emergency active travel funding. And, at a meeting of West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Transport Committee on Friday, members were shown a report which suggests the new schemes are offering good value for money.
It reported: “Although detailed monitoring and evaluation of active travel schemes in a monetised form is an emerging science, initial figures from across the UK are helpful in providing evidence that such investment provides value for money.
“The Department for Transport’s own Active Mode Appraisal Toolkit includes several worked examples to demonstrate how these various benefits, including reduced congestion, reduced emissions, public health benefits and road traffic collision reduction, accrue.
“For example a scheme on Clifton Road in Bristol resulted in £1.80 of benefit for every £1 spent. These figures are heavily dependent upon the number of cyclists which use the scheme, and the increase in ridership demonstrated over the last year shows that there is appetite for a significant increase in the number of cyclists if schemes which enable safe, utility cycling for all users are implemented.”
Sam Bennett hoping Mark Cavendish can help teach him 'how to deal with pressure'
Sam Bennett could have been forgiven for raising an eyebrow when Deceuninck-Quick-Step confirmed that Mark Cavendish was returning to the team for 2021. Cav enjoyed three typically succesful years with the Belgian outfit, winning three Tour stages as well as five in one Grand Tour at the 2013 Giro. However, Bennett doesn’t feel threatened by his return and is instead hoping to tap into the 35-year-old’s mentality and experience.
“He’s a guy that’s dealt with expectation. He’s a guy, if he came away with two stages in one Grand Tour people would say it’s a bad Grand Tour for him so he set the bar really high for himself,” Bennett said in a virtual press conference from the team’s training camp in Spain.
“So just learn from his experience, his mindframe and how he approaches the big races. I don’t know if I can top 2020, which was such an incredible season, but I would like to get some more stages at Le Tour, especially as this year’s parcours is more sprinter-friendly. I would also like to get a one-day WorldTour win, it’s something that’s missing from my palmares and I hope to tick it off this year.”
Cav’s mechanic posted this on Instagram earlier, so have a sneak peak at this beauty…
'Tesla lanes' could see cyclists sharing bus lanes with electric cars
New on the blog: Electric cars are still cars. The trial EV lane on Elizabeth Way should be extremely alarming to anyone who cares about safe cycling and reliable public transport.
We urge you to email an objection to @CambsCC as soon as you can.https://t.co/c33SyFWyV8
— Camcycle (@camcycle) January 12, 2021
Cambridge Cycling Campaign highlighted this new initiative from Cambridgeshire County Council which means drivers of electric cars are now allowed to drive in the bus lane on Elizabeth Way. The council has used an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) which means the scheme can run for up to 18 months while it is monitored and assessed. However, many cyclists have pointed out the potential dangers of allowing cars in a space usually reserved for buses, motorcyclists and cyclists.
The Cambridge Cycling Campaign wrote on its website: “Electric cars are still cars. They take up a lot of space on the road, may endanger people who are cycling (especially as they travel near silently) and will surely congest a facility that is meant to help public transport function more smoothly. This is a dreadful precedent to set, which will lead to the destruction of public transport priority and will further deteriorate already poor conditions for cycling.”
Cambrdige County Council has invited the public to provide comments and objections on the scheme by emailing: policyandregulation@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
Even more dangerous than petrol/diesel as you don’t hear them coming and faster to accelerate. Email on its way.
— Michael Coleman (@M_P_Coleman) January 12, 2021
Tough day at the office...
Sprints here on day 2 of team camp. I partnered myself up with @AndreGreipel for all 9 of the sprints and took an overall result for best of 9 (got to be an odd number so it can’t be a draw) I’m afraid to say Andre won, 9-0. Convincingly, every time, with a smile on his face.
— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) January 14, 2021
Remco Evenepoel's return delayed by pelvis injury
Remco Evenepoel’s return to racing has been delayed by an ongoing “small problem” with the pelvis injury he sustained in his season-ending crash at Il Lombardia last August. The Belgian, who doesn’t turn 21 for another two weeks, admitted during a virtual press conference at Deceuninck-Quick-Step’s training camp in Calpe that his recovery is taking longer than expected.
“There were some small difficulties, all part of the rehab process. To be honest, we don’t know yet when I’ll be able to restart because we slowed the comeback down a bit to give my body time to get ready to be 100 per cent, ” Evenepoel explained.
“I’m not a doctor so I don’t know the specific words but it’s just a bit of pain in the area where the fractures were so sitting down on a saddle for a few hours is still hard. It needs to be fixed before being 100% on a bike.”
Evenepoel has taken the pro cycling world by storm earning the label of one of the sport’s most exciting young talents. Despite the setback, the 20-year-old still expects to race his first Grand Tour at the Giro d’Italia in May.
Teamwork makes the dream work
EF Education-Nippo extend deal with Cannondale to 2023
The boys in pink will be riding Cannondale bikes until at least 2023 after the bike manufacturer extended its deal with EF Education-Nippo. The team has used Cannondale bikes since 2015 and had a spell under their banner between 2015 and 2017.
“At the core, the relationship with Cannondale is about evolution and revolution. We want to make progress on the roads, off the roads, and ultimately keep pushing the boundaries of our sport outward,” said EF Educatiion-Nippo CEO Jonathan Vaughters.
“We want to work with Cannondale to highlight the beauty of the elite level but also make the sport more accessible everywhere. We want more people riding bikes with smiles on their faces.”
'When you go over the bonnet whilst dressed in Lycra at least you won’t have to inhale any nasty fumes': Your thoughts on 'Tesla lanes'
Why not throw HGVs in there as well 🙈🙈🙈 https://t.co/skQDV0Qcq8
— citymobility (@citycyclists) January 14, 2021
In Nottingham, these lanes are generally occupied by commuters in electric beamers who’ve bought them so they can speed up and overtake other traffic while in the quieter lane 😫
— Steve (@stephen365) January 14, 2021
I’m all for electric and self-driving cars, but it seems some people lose all sense of safety and logic the second electric cars are mentioned.
Have them on the road, not in lanes with cyclists. https://t.co/oW9W74hA0V— Ashles (@Ashles3000) January 14, 2021
14 January 2021, 09:09
14 January 2021, 09:09
14 January 2021, 09:09
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Latest Comments
@Dodonline Look up "Induced Demand" adding capacity does not work.
@chrisonabike ...have impersonated Dutch bike shop owners, people with disabilities, and possibly different genders / sexualities. And have gone from broken English to perfect fluency in a week or so Only a few of us remember those hilariously inept impersonations!
@belugabob Unfortunately going down this route is likely to be a missed opportunity. "Safer streets" can be done in a way that allows access to a virtuous circle with whole suite of benefits. But ... that would mean following something like in NL. So "sustainable safety" - a different philosophy of transport, plus gradual infra and organisational changes over decades. Generally opportunities for concentrations of money beat that. So it looks like we'll get "probably safer on average" but with who knows what side effects, while concentrating insane amounts of power (money) in the hands of a very few. And those will be effectively unaccountable, being almost all overseas, and not having to live in the same streets as their products (they may be flying)...
@Fursty Ferret "...regulator" That should be little comfort, because during previous scandals it became clear that in many cases the regulators were easily hoodwinked, or (especially US) they rely on the companies themselves to mark their own homework. (And in the case of SUVs/light trucks, I heard the US government has been hard a-lobbying the likes of Europe and the UK for "reciprocal recognition" e.g. to accept their product as is without further checks). Needing the makers to help / do the checks is even more likely given the complexity of self-driving vehicles. I suspect self-driving vehicles will likely soon be safer on average than human drivers (a low bar). Of course I think other potential consequences are also a matter of concern (not least - in *theory* humans can be held accountable, but holding humans in large companies accountable for their tech is a *lot* harder)...
@mdavidford Celebrity traitors with Lance? Worse - some of these slippery lycrist quislings deceive people that they're a) pedestrians - by getting off their bike and b) drivers - by getting into their cars! It's all on display in this forum, where IIRC such cyclists have appeared under multiple names, have impersonated Dutch bike shop owners, people with disabilities, and possibly different genders / sexualities. And have gone from broken English to perfect fluency in a week or so...
Politician in "fixing things for my mates / companies I have an interest in" shocker!
@mdavidford Could make that shorter - "we’re letting too many people drive" * I would bet to a first approximation the "damage" could be predicted by number of humans times time driven. Most effective way to fix that - without the UK's "just get rid of the vulnerable road users" - is to remove the motorists, to padded individual lanes, far away from vulnerable road users. Though they'll still crash (and into each other). * Should be "we have incentivised people so that most of them see 'driving' as the solution to most of their transport needs, as well as being part of their status as adults, and we could usefully change that *and* it would also improve health, the economy, the environment..."
@This Wreckage The other point is the observation that efforts to fix the transport systems which reduce motoring convenience almost always meet with very noisy opposition. But when a lot of motor (through) traffic has been removed it turns out that people don't want to go back. They don't all necessarily say how much nicer it is or connect that to the lack of motor traffic. But this experiment has been run in many different localities in different countries and the results seem to hold. Caveats as usual - it's always possible for authorities to bungle things terribly - or even deliberately mess things up with ulterior motives. And people have to have enough time to adapt to the new situation, which is probably nearer a year or two.
@This Wreckage And yet - in the poorest parts of where I stay (Edinburgh) it's not uncommon to see bikes with flat tyres rusting in the closes of flats, or on balconies, and they aren't all kids' bikes... I do agree that storage is an issue. IIRC some places (Edinburgh now) are starting to bring in guidance on having some cycle storage for new flats. Nothing like NL though where for decades it's been a part of the building regulations. I think most people who don't own a bike have simply never considered owning a bike as adults, because they're not "cyclists" (e.g. not practicing a sport) and transport cycling isn't "a thing" for most people in the UK currently.
It's really not smart to alienate so many potential buyers by putting hookless rims on a road bike. I personally don't think it's safe, but everyone can agree it greatly limits tire choices and inflation pressures. Both very important things on a road bike.
36 thoughts on “‘Tesla lanes’ could see cyclists sharing bus lanes with electric cars; Cyclist knocked off by driver following dispute; Incredible collection of 2,300 cycling jerseys; Riding 16,000 miles during a pandemic; Donald Trump on Strava? + more on the live blog”
Ref: Cyclist touring 43
Ref: Cyclist touring 43 countries in a pandemic: Nil Cabutí, you really are a tit.
bobbinogs wrote:
I’m not convinced it was the wisest activity to undertake during a global viral pandemic…
But I do like his answer to
But I do like his answer to the French police!
I thought the rider was going
I thought the rider was going to be from Kazakhstan.
In his defence, it sounds
In his defence, it sounds like he had started the route when the pandemic hit. Perhaps should have turned around at that point though
Yep, his defence was he was
Yep, his defence was he was in Italy but to get home went another 24000km. That is pushing it slightly.
* Global plague is spreading
* Global plague is spreading
* Decide to ride through yet another new country
* Get turned away from 9 different border posts, can’t sneak through
* Sod it, I’ll try the tenth border post!
I didn’t realise that Bungay
I didn’t realise that Bungay was a real place! I’d aheard it before and always assumed it was made up by Harry Hill, like Swaffham.
Swaffham is real too. You
Swaffham is real too. You need to become as one with your inner East Anglian.
It’s a part of the country to
It’s a part of the country to which I have never ever been, tbh.
I recommend you give it a try
I recommend you give it a try – lovely scenery especially around the Broads and the north Norfolk coast.
Swaffham is really real. It’s
Swaffham is really real. It’s in Norfolk. See also Diss and Eye.
And not forgetting Trunch.
And not forgetting Trunch.
brooksby wrote:
Cycling hotspot. There’s regular time trials on the Bungay bypass run by several clubs in the area
Little Snoring, Great Snoring
Little Snoring, Great Snoring
brooksby wrote:
My favourite is Nempnet Thrubwell.
Wasn’t Nempnet Thrubwell a
Wasn’t Nempnet Thrubwell a well-known Thespian of the 1930s? He often had a small cheque he would ask his landlady to cash.
eburtthebike wrote:
That’s my father in laws favourite placename! Became a bit of a family joke. And my kids don’t believe that it really exists…
Went to Sea Palling once. Yes
Went to Sea Palling once. Yes we did suggest they had put the space in the wrong place. I think it’s quite close to Horsey.
Dull.
Dull.
I have cycled through Dull (in Perthshire). Twinned with Boring now.
And then there is Averham.
And then there is Averham. The problem is in the pronunciation!
Netherthong and Upperthong,
Netherthong and Upperthong, near Holmfirth.
You should see some of our
You should see some of our Aussie place names ? sadly they have sold out of the printed map, but they’re all real.
https://marvellousmaps.com/australia
And people got annoyed with
And people got annoyed with Boris Johnson cycling 7 miles from home…
Steve K wrote:
Mis-post
How do you know a car is an
How do you know a car is an electric car? Once a car gets to a certain speed, the road surface noise and wind noise can be louder than ICE noise. Or will there be lots of cameras to monitor things?
Facial recognition, for the
Facial recognition, for the smug look on the drivers face.
I am greayly opposed to this
I am greatly opposed to this stupid idea of allowing a load of psychopath electric BMW drivers, and their ilk, into cycle lanes. ‘Well, I hit him, but it doesn’t count because I have an electric vehicle’.
PS I should have specifically included Tesla drivers in there with the usual suspects- I just haven’t seen many of them yet, but the indications are that they tend to suffer from the same disorder
The entire history of the car
The entire history of the car revolves around the absurdity of false privilege giving you the right to get wherever faster than anyone else. The idea of electric cars receiving favourable access to special purpose lanes is just kicking that can of selfish entitlement further down the road.
It’s the wet dream of Motordom, grant motorists privileged access to lanes intended for transit that would otherwise hinder motor cars (cycle lanes) or be hindered by it (bus lanes) thereby removing their value to those groups and claiming the space for private car users. If it were a movie it’d be called the empire strikes back…
The story of the nutter
The story of the nutter Mercedes driver in Bungay confirms my impression that no good comes of accosting these drivers- they’re only going to run you down for impertinence. Just concentrate on getting the number and report it!
wtjs wrote:
Quite. Much as I am a fan of Cycling Mikey and his exploits, his policy of confronting drivers and conversing wth them carries its own risks – risks I will say that are due to drivers behaviours, but they are risks none the less.
Electric cars in cycle lanes.
Electric cars in cycle lanes…An accident waiting to happen.
Jenova20 wrote:
No such thing as an accident.
This is a deliberate policy; and electric car drivers deliberately choose to drive their cars. A collision will be the result of a failure of a deliberate policy &/or the failure of the driver to choose to do so safely.
In a minority of cases, the standard of cycling might be below that which is required, although that is in a space that was once more restrictive and therefore more tolerant of cyclists who dared to wobble.
I recommend cyclists ride in primary position, and possibly two abreast through the priority lanes. There is no requirement for buses, taxis or Teslas to pass within the lane; to do so is likely to be unsafe, and there is another lane available to pass.
GMBasix wrote:
Quite right. As a driver, I am perfectly capable of mitigating the risks associated with inexperienced cyclists around me, simply by observing the HWC. Indeed any driver who is unable to take account of people on bikes has no business on the road.
GMBasix wrote:
Nothing so relaxing as riding along in a bus lane, with a double-decker bus about three feet from your rear wheel…
I’m a bit late to this,
I’m a bit late to this, however I don’t think that in the bus lane that teslas are allowed in isn’t an issue. Here there is cycle provision on the footway, and it is plenty wide enough. The bus lane is a bus lane, it allowed cycles in it because it would be stupid to not (personally I think that bus lanes should’t be signed as allowing cycles, and instead by default allow cycles unless specifiy prohibited). Where there is no cycle provision on the footway and instead it is part of the bus lane, the bus lane has to be wider, again in these situations allowing Electric vechiles into the bus lane isn’t an issue.
Where it would be an issue is where it is a bus lane with no cycle provision, in this situation cycles pratcially have to use the bus lane, with any overtaking traffic (such as busses) having to change into the unrestricted lane. In these situations limited the amount of traffic in the lane is better, such as not allowing Electric Vechicles.
The biggest issue I see with it is that fancy people with fancy electric cars may disregard saftey when using these lanes to undertake other traffic, that may lead to collosions at junctions with other traffic turning left.