What’s worse? The painted cycle lane or this police close pass?; Good Wheel Hunting; road.cc Everesting; Denmark asks citizens to donate bicycles to Ukrainian refugees; Have pro teams read the wrong Milano-Torino profile? + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Denmark asks citizens to donate bicycles to Ukrainian refugees
Denmark’s Ministry of Transport has joined with the Cyclists’ Association to help citizens donate bicycles to Ukrainian refugess. The Give a Bicycle (Giv en cykel) scheme set up last week allows Danes to donate their old or unused bikes to “help newcomers move around more easily”.
All citizens have to do is upload a photograph of the bike, as well as some details about its size and condition, before it is collected by volunteers who will match it with a new owner. Refugees arriving from Ukraine simply have to fill out a form to request a bike.
The website asks Danes to “makes a difference — give a bike”, adding “Denmark is a cycling country, and the bicycle is an everyday means of transport for many Danes.
“Join us in welcoming Ukrainian refugees to Denmark and Danish cycling culture. Donate your own, used bicycle — and help newly arrived refugees from Ukraine get a bicycle so they can easily explore their new surroundings.”
National chairman of the Cyclists’ Association Jens Peter Hansen said: “We can make a difference. As cyclists, we know how the bicycle gives us the freedom to get around. I hope that many of our members and other volunteers have the desire and opportunity to help people who have had to leave everything.”
The website also includes a section on ‘Danish cycling culture’ with a full list of traffic rules and requirements which may differ to those in Ukraine.
Voting in the most Dutch way I can
Voting in the most Dutch way I can pic.twitter.com/esIU5Drwxa
— Ken Wynn 🇺🇦💔 (@highfielder80) March 16, 2022
Have pro teams read the wrong Milano-Torino profile?
So, how many teams forgot to look at the #MilanoTorino profile then? pic.twitter.com/VgmKie3Dvo
— Katy M (@writebikerepeat) March 16, 2022
It’s Milano-Torino today, the race which can claim to be the oldest cycling classic in the world, dating back to 1876. Alejandro Valverde came fourth that year…
Last year, Primož Roglič won (well it was going to be him or Pogačar, wasn’t it?) as the race finished up the traditional finish line ascent of the Superga. It’s the climb that has seen Michael Woods, Thibaut Pinot, Rigoberto Urán, Miguel Ángel López and Alberto Contador win in recent times. However, this year the race doesn’t finish up the Superga. In fact, it doesn’t have any climbs at all…
It seems someone forgot to tell EF Education–EasyPost…
They definitely think it is on the Superga again https://t.co/ZSuNUZAs3t
— Cycling Clown Of The Day 🤡 (@CyclingClown) March 16, 2022
So, who’s sprinting? Chaves or Carthy? Bora-hansgrohe went one further and actually shared the wrong profile on Twitter. Who’s going to tell them?
Oh God no it’s happening. The teams are goofing it! pic.twitter.com/1MY32m80dO
— Rasmus Nowak Franklin (@NowakFranklin_) March 16, 2022
Good Wheel Hunting
Did you ever take a close look at the problem being solved on the blackboard in Good Will Hunting? pic.twitter.com/mI4WS5QqFo
— Tom Flood (@tomflood1) March 15, 2022
Get it? Good Wheel Hunting? Like…Good Will Hunting…but, Good Wheel Hunting? Right, okay, you got it…ah, okay, I’ll see myself out…
A road.cc Everesting — Liam conquers Ralph Allen Drive (68 times)
Everyone go be nice to Liam on Strava…
If you watch road.cc on YouTube and were climbing Ralph Allen Drive in Bath yesterday, you may have spotted a familiar face suffering up the 10 per cent average gradient. Liam’s 68 ascents racked up 8,867m of climbing, earning him a place in the Everesting hall of fame.
“How are the legs?” I perhaps stupidly asked…I mean, what’s he going to say? Turns out it’s not just the legs…
“Absolutely ruined. I have a wrist strain, my left hamstring is no more, left knee pain, feet are cramping, neck it fucked, abs are sore and triceps are tight.”
Last July, Liam achieved his life goal of becoming the best cyclist in the world by stealing Tadej Pogačar’s KOM on the 110m top section of Luz-Ardiden…that’s how it works, right? It’s nice to think that even as the two-time Tour champion, you can still have your day ruined by the dreaded ‘Uh oh!’ email in your inbox…
What's worse? The painted cycle lane or this police close pass?
Following my reply to @CyclistGlos earlier regarding the lack of care and duty about #roadsafety by @Glos_Police and then this happens! @RoadCrime @ChiefGlosPolice @roadcc @theJeremyVine @MikeyCycling @reportdriversuk @markandcharlie @GlosLiveOnline pic.twitter.com/p8npwyTu6w
— The Cycling Nerd 🇺🇦 (@NerdCyclist) March 15, 2022
It’s one of the most commonly heard criticisms of painted cycling infrastructure we hear…overtaking road users don’t give cyclists using a painted lane 1.5m gap because, well, there’s a line on the road. If you’re in a whole different lane to me then it must be fine for me to overtake…
It’s why some would rather have no cycle infrastructure at all than just a painted ‘lane’. It’s also presumably why this police officer didn’t think much about waiting beyond the pedestrian crossing to overtake.
Had they then they might have seen the upcoming roundabout and decided just to wait. Note the use of ‘might’ in that sentence…
The Cycling Nerd has reported the footage to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, we’ll keenly await that response…
As if to prove the point about how road users view painted cycle lanes…
Yes, thank you. I’m glad you’ve caught on.
The painted “murder strip” as demonstrated is worse than no cycle lane. As has been mentioned in the thread multiple times it encourages dangerous close passes.
— Town Cycles (@TownCycles) March 15, 2022
It was within 1.5 metres therfore its close. The infrastructure, or lack of, in a road is no excuse.
— Laird of Langtoun. (@LangtounL) March 15, 2022
So what do we reckon? Would the road be safer without the painted lane? (I think I already know your answer)…
The first overtake was a nice pinch point with that crossing island 😳 and crossing into the cycle lane, knowing they’ve just overtaken a cyclist is poor driving. That road would be better without the cycle lane, then drivers have to abide by the 1.5m.
— SomewhereOnaMotorway 🚨🚔❌ (@SomewhereOnAMwy) March 15, 2022
White line cycle lanes encourage close pass… the motorist feels as lone as they are to the right of it they are giving you space, you’re better off with no line!
— Wayne™ (@Dog_in_a_hat) March 15, 2022
Former champion Julian Alaphilippe out of Milan-San Remo through illness
2019 champion Julian Alaphilippe will miss Saturday’s opening Monument of the year, Milan-San Remo, after suffering bronchitis and a fever. The double world champ told fans: “Sad to leave the team, especially after a hard week of racing at Tirreno-Adriatico where I felt the legs were coming back despite my crash at Strade Bianche. Rest and patience on the program now. See you soon.”
Alaphilippe has three times finished on the podium at Milan-San Remo, including his maiden Monument win three years ago. The second favourite in tomorrow’s 14:10 at Cheltenham is called Alaphilippe…so maybe it’s all a smokescreen for a career change…
WARNING: Following photo may cause extreme ride-envy — best avoided if somewhere in grey Britain...
Enjoying myself already. Next week is going to be lekker @capeepic 🇿🇦🌞 pic.twitter.com/YssM7nCgyg
— Cameron Mason (@camerooney_) March 15, 2022
How the cycling community is supporting Ukraine
Earlier on the blog we shared the news that the Danish government has called on its citizens to donate bicycles to help Ukrainian refugees arriving in the country. But what other cycling-related initiatives supporting Ukraine are out there?
> “Fight Putin – Ride a Bike” meme in support of Ukraine goes viral
New York brand Rubber N’ Road has released a batch of T-shirts with the ‘Ride Bikes Not Tanks’ message printed on the front. Priced at $40, 100 per cent of proceeds are going to the Ukrainian Red Cross Society.
Indoor cycling app Rouvy also launched its ‘Ride for Ukraine’ challenge which will donate €1 for every rider who completes the 10km Ride for Ukraine route.
Cyclists in Bedford, including riders from Ampthill, Hitchin, Cambridge, Peterborough and St Ives, have planned a 15-mile ride from the town to St Neots this Sunday. Bedford Today reports the group is aiming to raise £10,000 for the DEC Ukraine appeal.
Cav wins Milano-Torino — becomes first British man to win the world's oldest classic
𝗛𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬-𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗥 Manx Missile 🇬🇧
Mark Cavendish becomes the first British man to win #MilanoTorino 🏆⭐️
𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 scenes 🙌@MarkCavendish | @MiTo1876 | @qst_alphavinyl pic.twitter.com/fxbKd7BNKc
— Eurosport (@eurosport) March 16, 2022
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl read the parcours…
Mark Cavendish is the first British rider to win Milano-Torino, outsprinting Alexander Kristoff and Nacer Bouhanni. He may not be in the line-up for Milan-San Remo, but at least he got his Italian classic win.
Best narrative of the day, however, goes to EF Education-EasyPost who seemingly brought the wrong team to the race (or maybe all their fast men are just preoccupied with Saturday’s Monument). The band of climbers propelled Jonas Rutsch to 29th on the day.
Kissy Cav is back! 😘#MilanoTorino🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/SODaObhIrA
— Will Newton (@InsidePeloton96) March 16, 2022
I'm not an expert in cycling, but...
I’m not an expert in cycling, but I think the pedal needs to be attached to the crank… #NokereKoerse pic.twitter.com/q7EQJBVuQo
— Dan Deakins (@DanDeakins) March 16, 2022
"This is the problem of having painted cycle lane": Reaction to the police close pass and painted infra
Time for some of your thoughts and comments about our main blog story of the day…
Not everyone who rides a bike thought the pass was particularly bad, but even some of those who didn’t accepted paint is not infrastructure…
On Facebook, Graham Adams commented: “What close pass? Hardly that bad and to be fair, most police drivers are far more skilled than some behind the wheel. As for the ‘cycle lane’, just a white line that does nothing to protect a rider.”
But Andrew Frogley reckons the attitude above sums up the problem with painted cycle lanes: “This is the problem of having painted cycle lanes and using them — you’re in your lane — and the passing vehicle is in theirs — their lane is not obstructed, so it’s safe to continue regardless of how close to the other road users they are.”
The former enables the latter.
Twas ever thus.#ItsJustPaint https://t.co/s4GhUSddMw— Geoff Hickman (@steppenjiff) March 16, 2022
Under the blog, Global Nomad commented: “I think we need to differentiate between traffic police who should have advanced driver training and ordinary police cars whose drivers are no different to any other driver — with the proviso that they should know the law/regulations… That driver was the same one who would do that in their own car.”
sean1 shared some research: (Adams/Aldred 2020 Cycle Injury Risk in London)
“…painted cycle lanes did not reduce injury. Mandatory painted lanes did not lead to any risk reduction and advisory lanes (which motor vehicles are legally permitted to enter) increased injury odds by over 30%.”
Crossing the finish line of another day at work like...
We’ll leave you with some pictures of Cav’s win in Italy this afternoon…
Definitely no San-Remo for the Manx Missile. Fabio Jakobsen will be Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl’s sprint option if, for whatever reason, Tadej doesn’t just ride 50km solo…
At the finish, Cav said: “I like winning races, it doesn’t matter. For a one-day race you have to be dialled – there’s only one opportunity. I had a solid and motivated team around me and this made the difference. They rode incredibly today, controlled the race and allowed me to remain calm.”
“It’s the first time I’ve raced Milano-Torino and it makes me happy to have it in my palmares now, alongside another big Classic, Milano-Sanremo. Not many sprinters have done that. I knew I had an opportunity to win it today and I am delighted with how things panned out. To see my name on the winners’ list is quite special.”
16 March 2022, 09:05
16 March 2022, 09:05
16 March 2022, 09:05
16 March 2022, 09:05
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Latest Comments
@Psi163 yeah, I rode on Tenerife at Easter and have never experienced such amazingly considerate drivers. Morocco is also good, if chaotic.
Schrödinger’s traffic laws? Is there something fundamentally unknowable about them?
@goodolfin No, it could have been phrased more clearly but Spain already had a law mandating helmets for under-sixteens at all times in all areas; helmets for adults were only mandatory outside urban areas and could be removed for long climbs, in times of extreme heat or if the rider could produce a medical exemption. Now those exemptions have been removed. For U16s it's status quo, helmets everywhere without exemption as it was before, for adults no more exemptions outside urban areas though they can still ride helmetless in towns.
@goodolfin No, it could have been phrased more clearly but Spain already had a law mandating helmets for under-sixteens at all times in all areas; helmets for adults were only mandatory outside urban areas and could be removed for long climbs, in times of extreme heat or if the rider could produce a medical exemption. Now those exemptions have been removed. For U16s it's status quo, helmets everywhere without exemption as it was before, for adults no more exemptions outside urban areas though they can still ride helmetless in towns.
They do a light version of the shoe for those concerned with weight, but it's not leather.
SPD-SLR uses the standard 3 bolt design, but because it does away with adjustability on the cleat, this needs to be on the shoe. Some existing shoes have this, some don't. You'd want to take care of you're upgraded from SPD-SLR, but you're not locked into a closed ecosystem. The Ekoi is different, but that's the price of innovation. As someone who has used MTB systems on the road for years for the walkability, I'm tempted by the Ekoi system. The downside for me is ordering from France, as for orders over £135 they don't add VAT, so you get charged this plus duties plus an admin fee by the delivery company. But that's down to Brexit (and some other technical VAT changes), not Ekoi.
@andystow not so helpful for current US cyclists or some UK ones * but I suspect the greatest safety benefits would come from a (conceptually) simple "separate modes where the speed / mass difference is significant, only allow mixing where the more dangerous is significantly slowed and not numerous compared to others". Note no references to skill or careful use in that formulation. That's certainly needed for best results but the system better not *depend* on humans being on their best behavior... * lots of people "have to drive" in the US, even more so than the UK (major generalisation but while public transport is fairly rubbish in much of the UK it *exists* to a greater degree than in much of the US).
@andystow as you subtly didn't spell out ... ... the best bit about the second is that cycling (and walking) also looks safer if you remove those drivers. The opposite doesn't make much difference to drivers.
I have cycled in many countries and found the Spanish to be the most considerate road users to cyclists, whatever their laws say.
If I'm reading this article correctly, this new law only applies to cyclists under 16 years old. Is that correct ? If so, then it makes perfect sense.
19 thoughts on “What’s worse? The painted cycle lane or this police close pass?; Good Wheel Hunting; road.cc Everesting; Denmark asks citizens to donate bicycles to Ukrainian refugees; Have pro teams read the wrong Milano-Torino profile? + more on the live blog”
Came across this unusual mgif
Came across this unusual mgif
Great retalliation !
Although him stopping to do
Although him stopping to do that forced the following Scooter wider almost causing an accident.
That video also had a stupd MGIF on a cyclist later on
https://youtu.be/RnzVxZqnNx0?t=232
Ah, you are back !
Ah, you are back !
Then there are always those
Then there are always those cyclists jumping red lights…
Wait! That cyclist has got an engine and 4 wheels. Surely some mistake?
(That link is a keeper for any But Cyclists comment).
Yep, lots of red light
Yep, lots of red light jumpers in those clips each week, and quite a few not within three seconds of the change and with lights changing to green to show they were not broken either.
There are worse ones on the Yank driving channels as quite a few serious t-bones occurring in those.
When I drove in Dallas Ft
When I drove in Dallas Ft Worth some 20 years ago, whenever it rained the hard shoulder was littered with crashed cars.
I think momentary lapse of attention is anything up to an hour in Texas.
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Like it. Lots!
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Creative use of the def. of ‘momentary’.
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Well, gosh: the police car
Well, gosh: the police car didn’t cross into the cyclist’s lane (until they did…) so what are they complaining about?
/sarcasm=off
My vote would be if you can’t put a proper separated lane in place then don’t bother with the paint and find a better use for it.
To give the police driver
To give the police driver their due, they did at least move over to the right side of their lane to make the overtake. By all of about 15cm…
Various studies have
Various studies have concluded painted cycling infrastructure either doesn’t improve safety or actually makes it more dangerous.
e.g. Adams/Aldred 2020 Cycle Injury Risk in London
“…..painted cycle lanes did not reduce injury. Mandatory painted lanes did not lead to any risk reduction and advisory lanes (which motor vehicles are legally permitted to enter) increased injury odds by over 30%.”
https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/v2x70/cycling-injury-risk-in-london-impacts-of-road-characteristics-and-infrastructure
It’s not just painted cycle
It’s not just painted cycle lanes that are a joke. Last year I did some walking in Norfolk. Walking on the pavement along the A149 is genuinely scary. Tiny single file pavements with heavy goods vehicles travelling at 40mph + inches from your elbow. You wouldn’t want your kids or even their grand parents anywhere near it.
The highway code should really make it clear that drivers should keep their vehicles 1.5m from any vulnerable road users regardless of them having a separate lane.
That is the trouble when
That is the trouble when roads stay narrow but vehicles get wider and wider and it isn’t just in the countryside. I was walking along this section on the way home after dropping my bike off for a service. My arm got a glancing blow by a passing vans side mirror.
Anyone who know Ambleside in
Anyone who knows Ambleside in the Lakes must have encountered this particular pedestrian nightmare. Not only is the road exceptionally narrow, the pavements are single-file only – as evidenced here with people having to actually mix it with the road vehicles in order to get by.
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Yup. And don’t try to walk on the main road in Alfriston, East Sussex – pavement is no more than two feet wide!
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The problem with the painted
The problem with the painted cycle lanes here is the council treat them like a gutter extension, and reason to not bother sweeping the road. One along a dual carriageway is particularly bad, and you end up dodging into the traffic at points.
The footpath is designated shared use fortunately so I have been using that for safety sake, but that just riles the “why don’t you use the cycle lane” brigade. I shared some photos on a local FB group when someone was saying this and they were quite shocked. He messaged me, as after our conversation he saw a road sweeper. It made us both wonder if the coucil saw it and did something, but as I say today after the recent storms etc it is back to beind full of debris. Couple that with the lights being out on the worst section and dangerous to use.
I think we need to
I think we need to differentiate between traffic police who should have advanced driver training and ordinary police cars whose drivers are no different to any other driver – with the proviso that they should know the law/regulations… That driver was the same one who would do that in their own car.
it was also clear the police car was moving across the lane at the roundabout and yet the cyclist decided to go down the narrowing gap out of principle….instead of staying back and shouting…clearly the drivers attention was the other way.
Driving without due care and
Driving without due care and attention?
Can anyone work out what is
horse -> car -> cyclist
Apparently the cyclist was over taking the car although I’m not sure that was the best plan.
I’m surprised Road.cc haven’t
I’m surprised Road.cc haven’t done an article on the Andy Cox Challenge. He has raised 25k for the Roadpeace charity so far. He did 50k last year.