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Need a bike repair after crashing? Bizarre cycle lane outside Evans shop; MORE riders out of Giro with Covid as rain wreaks havoc; Pubs to stay open for longer during World Championships in Scotland; Maintenance mishaps + more on the live blog!
SUMMARY

The mind games are getting too real! Geraint Thomas thought Evenepoel was messing with him with Covid
Did you think I wouldn’t have any updates from the Giro’s rest day to kickstart the blog?
Geraint Thomas, who will be wearing the pink jersey when stage 10 of the Italian Grand Tour resumes today (oh, masks are compulsory again, in case you missed it) after Evenepoel pulled out, didn’t believe at first that Evenepoel actually had Covid.
“He messaged me just before the announcement,” the Ineos Grenadiers rider said. “At first, I kind of thought, ‘Is he winding me up a bit? Telling a bit of a joke?’ After the whole Roglič stuff, as well. But then obviously came the announcement, and it was a bit surprising.”
A new jersey tomorrow morning then 👀 Let’s see what we can do about keeping it. But gutted to see @EvenepoelRemco go home like that. The race will miss you mate #Giro pic.twitter.com/W0D3IhFj2F
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) May 15, 2023
On the weekend, Thomas had joked about the Slovenian having the virus, after rumours had been flying like cyclists in choppers after a stage, but those rumours were quickly put to bed by Jumbo Visma.
The Welshman will look to extend his lead today, currently just two seconds ahead of Roglič, with Thomas’ teammate Geoghegan Hart further behind. Now with Evenepoel out, the Giro d’Italia probably represents Ineos Grenadiers best bet to win a Grand Tour this season, with the team already having five riders in the top 15.
Geraint Thomas arriving to stage 10 in Pink #giro pic.twitter.com/25EoQ3c5EO
— Lia (@quellaLia) May 15, 2023
More booze? Scotland says yes! Pubs to stay open for longer during the World Championships
The World Championships is coming to Scotland, and there’s one thing for certain: there will be some amazing pubs for all visitors to check out.
Glasgow’s Licensing Board has agreed to extend licensed hours for the event, which runs from August 3 to August 13. A spokesperson for the board said: “The UCI Cycling World Championships will see the world’s greatest riders gather in Glasgow and Scotland to compete at the highest level.
“It is the first time all 13 world cycling championship disciplines will be combined into a single event and this will put Glasgow in the international spotlight during eleven days of competition.
“We will be welcoming competitors, officials and fans from around the world during the championships and there will be a vibrant atmosphere across the city during early August. Glasgow has a fantastic reputation for staging major, international events and we are confident Glasgow will again prove to be an excellent host.”
I wonder how will Wout van Aert take to British beers, or some single malt scotch, if that’s his thing? Surely nobody will be offered an Amstel again…
> Tom Pidcock unimpressed by Amstel beer… but Pogačar chops the lot


Meanwhile, while the booze is sorted, can we have some updates on the state of the pothole-laden roads please?
Speaking of uncool things to happen...
I tried a drill and it skittered on the surface with no effect. Before @cathsbruv jumps in I am fully aware of how much of a muppet I am but the rattle is now very annoying, please help!!!
— mike anthony (@ovverbruv) May 15, 2023
Honestly, I would leave it as it is instead of fiddling around more, but hey I’m also no engineer…
If you readers have any tips for the poor chap, help him out!
More uncool news... Three more riders out of Giro d'Italia
The virus seems to be spreading way quicker than anyone thought…
Unfortunately, Domenico Pozzovivo and Mads Würtz Schmidt won’t take the start of stage 10 today.
Domenico tested positive for Covid this morning. Mads has returned negative tests but hasn’t been feeling well since yesterday and isn’t in a position to start.
__
🇮🇹 #Giro— Israel – Premier Tech (@IsraelPremTech) May 16, 2023
Am I surprised? No. Am I disappointed? Yes. Could the race organisers have reinstated the mask mandate quicker and provided better precautionary guidelines? Maybe.
And as I was going to hit publish, this just in…
However, Sven Erik Bystrøm started to develop symptoms on the night of Monday to Tuesday. As a precautionary measure and in order to preserve his health, he will return home to rest. (2/2)
— Intermarché-Circus-Wanty (@IntermarcheCW) May 16, 2023
Will anyone be left to finish the race?! Another rider pulls out with Covid
HELP! They’re dropping like flies!
#Giro 🇮🇹
Unfortunately @CallumScotson has tested positive for Covid-19 with mild symptoms and will not start today’s stage 10 ❌
Get well soon, Callum. pic.twitter.com/uAMZwB0292
— Team Jayco AlUla (@GreenEDGEteam) May 16, 2023
Maybe it is my amnesiac memory, but this recent bout of cases in the peloton feels worse than the peak Covid times…
It's that time of the year again: The "other" Geraint Thomas reappears!
While I can’t help but smile at the maglia rosa-clad G, there’s another G who’s thinking “not again”.
It’s that time of year folks https://t.co/AN9AMKcNrR pic.twitter.com/RiC6R5gqkx
— Geraint Thomas (@geraintthomas) May 15, 2023
This Geraint Thomas, a lecturer in visual effects at USW was tagged by several official accounts and received hundreds of congratulations messages, when our Geraint Thomas won the Tour de France in 2018.
Now it’s happened again at the Giro! Enjoy this wholesome exchange between the two Geraints from five years ago:
You’re welcome pic.twitter.com/Xs3i0OhROB
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) July 30, 2018
Landslip repairs to shut Snake Pass again as cyclists plan 'Trespass' ride to enjoy car-free route


> Landslip repairs to shut Snake Pass again as cyclists plan ‘Trespass’ ride to enjoy car-free route
Horrible weather in Italy again today: Could Giro stage 10 be shortened?
Adam Hansen, president of the CPA riders union has just confirmed that the stage is under talks of being shortened, and that a majority of riders have chosen to do the final 70km of today’s stage amidst the weather conditions.
#giro To confirm, Stage 10 of the #Giro @giroditalia is under talks of making the stage shorter due to 3 degrees and rain at the top of the climb. 80km/h Gusty winds is predicted also at the top, plus landslides I head too. All stakeholders are there. The riders choice was to…
— Adam Hansen (@HansenAdam) May 16, 2023
If this was to go through, it could be a blow for any team strategising for a breakaway, and essentially boil it down to a straightforward sprint. But it’s not like a race has proven me wrong before!
Would you spend £25,000 on a secondhand Brompton?
In today’s daily road.cc shocker: A rare early Brompton folding bike, owned by Cyclecare Swindon’s Tim Whitty for more than three decades, has just gone up for auction with a starting bid of £25,000.


WAIT! Cyclists CAN enjoy Snake Pass during latest landslip repairs, council confirms
Quickest update in the history of road.cc…
Derbyshire County Council confirmed to road.cc cyclists WILL be able to ride up to the road closure (and then turn back down) but reminded cyclists to take care as the road will not be completely traffic-free!
> Cyclists CAN enjoy Snake Pass during latest landslip repairs, council confirms
👀🌸💖⛈️☔️
La Maglia Rosa – @GeraintThomas86 #Giro #GirodItalia @INEOSGrenadiers pic.twitter.com/5EDy22RdgW
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 16, 2023
Some words from the new race leader: “Luckily it’s stopped raining for now, so I might be able to show it off a bit. I’ll just try to keep warm because it’s going to be a hard day.
“It’s a completely different race for us now this week and so a different approach. It’s always a boost in the team to get a jersey and it’s a massive honour for myself, it’s the first time I have the pink jersey. I’m looking forward to it.”
Meanwhile, we are still awaiting any confirmation of what’s going on with today’s stage…
It looks like another wet day on the #Giro, with @GeraintThomas86 pulling on the maglia rosa today.
Get G’s pre-stage thoughts on the jersey and the upcoming test ☔️ pic.twitter.com/y0hIfYIkC1
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) May 16, 2023
New cycling-friendly zig-zag bridge to open in London


Walking and cycling could get much better in the Royal Docks in east London, with a new accessible bridge set to be built, next to the 50-feet high Royal Victoria Dock footbridge, which has been criticised for being difficult to use as it requires users to climb several flights of stairs at each end or cram into unreliable lifts.
According to MyLondon, The new bridge will be funded via a £233 million loan from public body Homes England, and will start from the same location as the current bridge on the northern side of the dock, giving access to City Hall, ExCel and the Elizabeth line/DLR/Bus interchange at Custom House station.
The new bridge will be funded via a £233 million loan from public body Homes England, and will start from the same location as the current bridge on the northern side of the dock, giving access to City Hall, ExCel and the Elizabeth line/DLR/Bus interchange at Custom House station.
The new designs reveal an elegant, step-free bridge which skims the water in a ‘Double S-curve’ shape, with ample space for both cyclists and pedestrians. The zig-zag design creates a striking crossing experience while allowing for seating areas where people can rest and take in views across the dock.
The design allows the bridge to rise at a gentle incline across the water, making it fully accessible for all, and letting small boats pass underneath. The bridge will also open at its mid-point with a double bascule mechanism, allowing full use of the dock by large vessels.
Giro's up and running (pedalling) today again, so don't miss out on any action with GCN+
I know it’s raining cats and dogs in Italy (hah, sorry I cannot relate at all, not one bit, not even the slightest, the sun’s out here in all its glory in Great Britain, or at least here in Cardiff), but the racing’s about to get intense as the GC is blown wide open and riders battle to avoid puddles, crashes and Covid.
Here’s Milan, Pederson and Matthews sparring in the intermediate sprint.
🔥 @Mads__Pedersen VS @blingmatthews VS @MilanJonathan_ #Giro #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/YEatp6avae
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 16, 2023
So if like me, you can’t help catching every single moment of the Giro, you can easily do it with GCN+…
More reports of riders being sick in the peloton at Giro as rain continues to lash down, with snow blocking some summit routes


Rain, spray, wind, and snow. Giro’s not being kind to the peloton.
UAE Team Emirates’ João Almeida has now said that “most of the peloton” is sick at the moment.
“Not stress but I think most of the bunch is pretty sick. Me too. It’s not great with the conditions but we have to deal with it and try to improve,” said the Portugese cyclist, who had to withdraw from Giro last year after testing positive for Covid, and is currently fifth in the GC standings.
Meanwhile, Bora-Hansgrohe has also confirmed that Aleksandr Vlasov, who’s sixth in the general classification, is also suffering with a sickness, although the sickness is yet “unknown”.
Testing for Covid and withdrawal from the race if positive is still up to the teams, with no explicit rules or guidelines provided by the organisers. Yesterday, Intermarché-Circus-Wanty’s Sven Erik Bystrøm tested positive for Covid, but the team initially said that he would continue in the race as he didn’t have any symptoms.
However today morning, the decision was reversed after he developed symptoms overnight.
A total of nine riders have already withdrawn from Giro d’Italia, the first Grand Tour of the season so far, including the former race leader and world Remco Evenepoel.
Alpecin-Deceuninck rider also out of Giro
At least it’s not Covid this time…
Unfortunately, after Ramon Sinkeldam and Nicola Conci, @OscarRiesebeek must also leave the Giro d’Italia. Oscar is struggling with fever, coughing and diarrhea, among other issues. pic.twitter.com/nP9j1w60y7
— Alpecin-Deceuninck Cycling Team (@AlpecinDCK) May 16, 2023
Van driver narrowly avoids hitting cyclist, yells "f*** off" at Jeremy Vine
It’s with a heavy heart and a head hung in shame that I have to announce, we have failed at our “a week without Jeremy Vine on the blog” challenge for the third week running.


> Van driver narrowly avoids hitting cyclist, yells “f*** off” at Jeremy Vine
Get your bike repaired after crashing into bollard: Abruptly ending cycle lane outside Evans shop leaves cyclists baffled
Deansgate is an odd place; the through road in Manchester has seen pedestrianisation for a short while when XR occupied it in 2019, and then again during the pandemic when the council closed off the street.
Since then, there have been improvements to cycling and bus infrastructure, albeit sparse and scattered, with widened cycle lanes, wands, rhino barriers and other attempts by a council which many would say has a vision for walking and cycling, but arguably an unclear and disjointed one.
So here’s latest frankly baffling cycling infrastructure from the road, which in no way is made less funny and ironic by the existence of the Evans Cycles shop right on the corner.
What does this even mean? Evans above. Good evans and other associated puns. @WalkRideGM @HarryHamishGray @ManCityCouncil https://t.co/KNHQC6Sohs pic.twitter.com/AYChP7tLfI
— Jonathan Schofield (@JonathSchofield) May 16, 2023
“Honestly don’t get how Manchester City Council keeps having massive Ls for cycling infra,” said one person, while another pointed out “Manchester’s awful choice of asphalt, where hard chippings are rolled into the surface, which then becomes unpleasantly rough as it ages & degrades, yet is somehow unaccountably slippery too”.
And of course there was someone who made an Evans joke: “At least you can get your bike repaired quickly after you crash into the bollard”
Giro d'Italia crash chaos as furious Alberto Bettiol taken out by staff member running across road


What on earth is going on in Italy?
> Giro d’Italia crash chaos as furious Alberto Bettiol taken out by staff member running across road
It’s been a chaotic day so far at the #Giro – in the confusion after a crash rider Alberto Bettiol unfortunately collided with a support team member trying to help another rider who was down. 😬 pic.twitter.com/QiLNikeWhv
— GCN Racing (@GcnRacing) May 16, 2023
Tough day at Giro finally comes to an end: No changes in GC top five today as Cort completes Grand Slam
Vuelta, Tour de France, and now Giro d’Italia. EF Education–EasyPost’s Magnus Cort is a stage winner at all three of the Grand Tour after winning today’s rain-soaked and gust-heavy stage from Scandiano to Viareggio.
𝗔𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗹𝗮𝗺! 🥇🥇🥇
🇩🇰 Magnus Cort becomes the second Dane at the 2023 Giro d’Italia to achieve a stage win in each Grand Tour 😍
✅ Tour de France
✅ Vuelta a Espana
✅ Giro d’Italia #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/KwCq9HSA83— Eurosport (@eurosport) May 16, 2023
Derek Gee and Alessandro De Marchi finished second and third, the latter once again finishing on the podium but just missing out on a stage win. Cort’s fellow compatriot Mads Pedersen just held off Jonathan Milan, with Pedersen duking it out with the maglia ciclamino in the intermiediate sprint as well.
Behind them, Thomas, Roglič and Geoghegan Hart, all finished the stage at the same time, so no changes in GC there. However, Jay Vine’s GC ambitions took a blow with him finishing in the group behind.
On a day when Covid-related withdrawals threatened to derail the Giro, with the earlier reported as “sick” Vlasov also deciding to pull out during the race, the absolutely torrential weather decided to take away some of the attention, until the race staff also wanted to get involved.
> Giro d’Italia crash chaos as furious Alberto Bettiol taken out by staff member running across road
A brutal, brutal day for the riders.
A tough day at the office.
Nothing but respect for the riders out there. #Giro #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/pqoYslP6eA— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 16, 2023
16 May 2023, 08:55
16 May 2023, 08:55
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I'm criticising them for not riding in secondary position, not primary. At least 60cms (2 feet) from the edge of the road as the HC explicitly recommends. Leaving aside the small minority of riders who find mounting and dismounting a bike difficult - which sounds suspiciously similar to the motorists "but, but what about disabled drivers?" when talking about LTNs - what's wrong with able bodied riders walking the few metres over that narrow, Victorian bridge? Sure, if there's clearly no-one on it I wouldn't condemn anyone for riding it slowly, but if it's not clear forcing pedestrians to stop and squeeze to the side is, frankly, a rather entitled opinion. Plus it's easy to hold a road bike a little ahead of you and hold the saddle - normally no need to hold the bars if it's straight - so you're really not taking up much more room at all. There's a railway underpass near me that links to a shared then segregated path. It's narrow, and the path approaches at an angle so you can't see if it's clear, but many riders still choose to pedal through despite the clear 'no cycling' signage. Why?? Personally I don't go that way, except on foot, preferring the surrounding roads.
I think you're giving drivers too much credit. Many would not think twice about blocking the road if it makes their life easier, such as when turning right onto a busy road.
They might have to, but they won't. What they will do is pull out over the cycle path while they wait for a gap in motor traffic.
"We have enough regulation." I agree with the exception being legally allowed to sell something which is virtually illegal to use. How many purchasers own a suitably large piece of private land?
@jackcycles I'm not sure my grandchildren got that memo. Cycling should not be just for hardened road warriors.
Chrisonabike There are a number of police forces in England and Wales that are using portable testing equipment already... How effective it is another matter, I haven't looked into the results of failing (I would hope they just seize and crush the motorbike without any faff but I am sure there are appeal processes, promises not to use them on public roads etc).
Woah there - a precision-engineered European-made product, with unparalleled adaptability, is somehow a ‘rip off’? Compared to what - Temu? As per the article, most quality through-axles go for £50-60+, but aren’t adaptable and don’t provide any stand or trailer capability. If you want to balance your £3-4-5k suspension or carbon bike, or bikepacking setup on a budget product subject to highly focused stresses, fair play. Cycling’s a broad church.
@eburtthebike I've found Spanish drivers to be almost entirely excellent around cyclists.
I agree, the study was made after cycle paths that had been introduced in Berlin during the 70’s and 80’s caused a big increase in cycling deaths. It is an interesting study for cyclists to read in order to know what dangers exist at badly designed junctions. Here in Paris we have very few bi-directional paths. The ones I have cycled on have no building entrances or courtyards (so no cars crossing the path) and every junction is traffic lights to prevent accidents.
We have enough regulation. They're running a motorbike without insurance/registration and possibly without a licence, and the punishment for being caught with all that is pretty severe already. The problem is lack of enforcement.
51 thoughts on “Need a bike repair after crashing? Bizarre cycle lane outside Evans shop; MORE riders out of Giro with Covid as rain wreaks havoc; Pubs to stay open for longer during World Championships in Scotland; Maintenance mishaps + more on the live blog!”
Could mikeanthony rub some
Could mikeanthony rub some rubber type glue or filler over that cut-off bolt, to kind of fill in any gaps around it (to stop it rattling), and then sand off the excess?
Re bottle cage bolts:
Re bottle cage bolts:
I have seen a video where a Dremel with a little grinding wheel was used to thin the lip on the boss until it could be punched through the frame into the tube. You can then install a new rivnut and remove the old one via the headtube, seat tube or BB.
I have this job to do on one of my frames but I haven’t plucked up the courage to try it yet. The alternative would be to get something like this and hide the whole thing. This might help the rattle, or it may be that the hamfisted “engineer’s” friend araldite is needed.
Before you punch it through
Before you punch it through into the frame pull the headset and/or bottom bracket to make sure there is a hole big enough for it to exit through!
Drilling out the old one should be possible with a centre punch to get the hole started but the bolt is going to be hard so snapped bits are possible. If you drill right through you will leave some shrapnel in the frame. A blob of thick grease inside will catch all those little bits.
So what makes you think the
So what makes you think the rattle is related to a bolt wedged so tight you couldn’t screw it in or out? It would seem hard for a bolt that can’t be budged to rattle.
This… I’d be surprised if
This… I’d be surprised if it was this bolt that was rattling.
There are some good how-tos on youtube etc of how to remove stuck bolts. Some involve welding, so possibly need to subcontract.
From bitter experience, never attempt DIY when having a paddy! Before you try drilling it again, get a left-handed bit.
Re:mikeanthony – Easy Out
Re:mikeanthony – Easy Out screw/stud extractor?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292932763131 or similar.
Maybe 50% chance that will
Maybe 50% chance that will work when the screw head that used to be attached couldn’t produce enough torque. Penetrating oil and patience might have worked before sawing off the head, now it’s likely down to drilling it out and re-tapping, or replacing the insert if it’s a plastic frame.
Penetrating oil does work,
Penetrating oil does work, eventually. I had to soak the bolt that holds my lawnmower blade in the stuff and leave it overnight before I could get the bolt off and change the blade.
I have broken a cheap Easy
I have broken a cheap Easy Out in a stud before thereby componding the original problem – but I’ve also had them work like a treat.
Doctor Darabuka wrote:
Same. I’ve got pretty good at extracting broken fasteners, and an Easy Out type tool is not high on my list. I’ve broken a few, especially small ones like this screw would require, but they sometimes do work. Their best application is when it’s a soft screw with an easily damaged head that has been rounded off, but can’t be gripped with pliers, like a Phillips wood screw, or a pan head stainless screw.
On larger fasteners my preferred method is the punch and hammer, but I wouldn’t try it on a plastic bike frame. It would probably start spinning the insert (at best).
I might be jumping to
I might be jumping to conclusions here, but I think that a spambot account could have got access to road.cc…
Quote:
Either that or Rakia’s back.
BalladOfStruth wrote:
As any child knows…
Nah, it’s a new PBU but they
Nah, it’s a new PBU but they are starting out with a new MO – can’t make it too obvious !
Surely it’s some sort of AI?
Surely it’s some sort of AI?
“Could the race organisers
“Could the race organisers have reinstated the mask mandate quicker”
Come on road.cc, why are you pushing this nonsense? The evidence is masks in community use have little effect.
Paul J wrote:
Citation required, I think.
Another Molotov cocktail,
Another Molotov cocktail, squire?
chrisonatrike wrote:
Yeah, sorry, I should learn from my mistakes…
(It just annoys me that someone can come on here spouting all sorts of f-ing nonsense and if anyone tries to call them on it, or even engage with them, then the rabbit hole opens and it just goes (more) insane).
brooksby wrote:
I am an evidence-based person. I gave a statement based on evidence. You asked for the citation, I gave it.
Yet you see fit to resort to ad hominem, and you make claims that are factually incorrect. I have NOT spouted nonsense – indeed, if you think my initial statement on mask efficacy was such, then that is indicative that you simply are poorly informed about the evidence base, and so perhaps you should refrain from such comments.
chrisonatrike wrote:
Thanks, and a fresh can of worms whilst you’re at it, please.
Exactly that. What evidence
Exactly that. What evidence is he pointing to exactly?
The gold standard in reviews
The gold standard for evidence of efficacy of medical interventions are systematic reviews of trials carried out to the standards of the Cochrane Library’s reviews (its researchers lead the way and helped to define many of the standards and practices for systematic reviews). The Cochrane Library itself has a number of revisions of its own review on physical interventions and ILIs, which it started pre-pandemic. The latest version of which is here: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub5/full
The latest revision incorporates both the Danmask trial and the Bangladesh trial, carried out over the pandemic, into the data, along with the prior body of evidence on other ILIs.
Paul J wrote:
.
Paul J wrote:
You edited your post since you first posted it – what did you change?
Anyway, I see that the most recent version of that study at https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/full and that it is a meta study
and that their conclusion includes this statement
I really don’t think they are saying that “masks don’t work”.
brooksby]
I fixed typos, missing words, misordered words, precision. Readability stuff.
Sorry yes, v6 is the latest. I had linked to v5 for some reason, thanks.
They are indeed not saying “masks don’t work” (it’s usually impossible to rule out /any/ effect of a treatment, given clinical trials have noise). Note also you are quoting their editorial conclusion. To be precise, on masks this is their quantitative conclusion from the systematic analysis (which is done according to standardised methods):
Emphasis there is mine, note “makes little or no difference”.
Which is exactly inline with my statement at the top of this thread “masks in community use have little effect” – cause… where do you think I got this from? (this very Cochrane review).
https://www.health.com
https://www.health.com/cochrane-review-do-masks-work-7112631?scrlybrkr=53459d7b
IanGlasgow wrote:
Cochrane Reviews are gold standards. Just ask any MD with an education from last 15 years about the regard these are held in.
Bloggers, presumably with emotional attachments, trying to wave away systematic meta-analysis are just examples of “The Science” (which is not science).
Oh, and it is worth bearing
Oh, and it is worth bearing in mind that in medicine, that a treatment that has less than 50% efficacy is not considered an effective treatment.
The Danmask study was a well-designed study, which was powered to reliably detect a 50% or greater effect, within certain covid prevalence figures – which were met during the study. And it could not find a statistically significant effect. So any effect in that setting is certainly less than 50%.
The Bangladesh study was quite large, it had a confidence interval from no effect to (iirc) ~10% (I forget the /exact/ figure, but v close to that). I.e. no statistically significant, but any effect is upper-bounded by that ~10% figure (to 95% probability).
The Cochrane meta-analysis puts it at 16% or worse RR.
So it’s pretty certain that masks are *not* an effective treatment, within the customary meaning of “effective treatment”. And further, any effect there is very likely below 17% RR – that’s really low.
Also, unlike a lot of other treatments in medicine, where we expect the treatment to cure the subject, the RR of a mask is temporally dependent. The longer the time, the worse the RR again.
give it up. masks are like
give it up. masks are like tinfoil hats. people either believe they work or don’t. the evidence is irrelevant.
Well, like the WHO (January
Well, like the WHO (January update) and the US CDC (still advising masks this May) I may not have quite caught up. However the virus has – and now – like many other viruses this one may have now mutated its way to something most can live with.
From your comments on the other thread it sounds like a bit of 20/20 hindsight in respect to the pandemic here? After all, if you want to rely on the Cochrane studies their previous 2020 version of this says:
… So these reviews weren’t super helpful then.
Any ideas for next time – or is it “just let nature take its course”?
Well – I’m pretty sure a lot of treatments are considered useful despite not curing the patient, or even preventing the condition from progressing.
That was my point about this being a good bet at the beginning. After all – wait long enough and all patients (and non-patients) are dead! Time matters – both personally and for population-level health. It’s almost certainly worse if all you health staff fall sick at once compared to the same numbers having an illness but spread over more time. That has effects wider than the disease itself.
There is literally nothing
There is literally nothing else they can do. It’s not going to cause harm, and any form of reduction in transmission is a bonus.
Hygiene Is another easy to do thing, might not help with COVID, but is proven to work with other respiratory infections, and there is no better defence against food poisoning, especially Norovirus.
Marginal gains…
ktache wrote:
That’s what I thought back then – if there’s no evidence of harm maybe “why not”. And pick up some incidental benefits of more thoughtful / hygenic behaviour – which may be unrelated to Covid but helpful especially at a difficult time.
However if it’s somehow shown in a more general way that for air-bourne respiritory viruses masks aren’t helpful I think Paul J would have a point – going forward *. Especially in medical settings and even in terms of money / time spent advertising to the general population.
On the other hand we certainly bought lots of PPE at extravagant prices (oddly often sold by friends of MPs) which turned out to be useless for other reasons. Avoiding that would have been good. Although possibly unavoidable in practice given our system of government and human nature.
* It seems Paul J has a much bigger complaint having IIRC suggested several interventions as not only not being useless but actively harmful.
ktache wrote:
That’s something I also thought at the beginning of the pandemic, and I went along with masks on the “well, the evidence with ILIs is that they don’t work, but… as there’s no harm, why not give it try?” basis.
Then I spoke to people close to me who are hard of hearing, who rely on lip-reading to navigate in daily life. Masks were making life harder for them. Then I heard from colleagues (quite pro-mask ones) who were getting rashes around their ears from the straps, and were asking others for tips.
So this notion of “no harm” is incorrect. There are harms.
When an intervention (often called a treatment in trials) has no good evidence of efficacy, but you learn of clear evidence of harm, then it is time to stop advocating for it.
Paul J wrote:
You’re supposed to put the mask over your face, including your mouth and nose. Not wear it like a jockstrap.
Oh, and wearing a mask is not ‘treatment’ so applying those tests is just fucking moronic.
I think that applying the
I think that applying the same criteria for effectiveness to a community intervention versus a medical treatment is somewhat fallacious. A treatment has to make a person healthier, balancing risks from potential side effects etc. Wearing a mask has no side effects that I am aware of and to me a 10% reduction in case numbers during a pandemic is a really good outcome. Having said all that making riders at the Giro wear masks before and after a stage seems unlikely to be effective bearing in mind they are then breathing heavily in close proximity to each other during the stage.
SimoninSpalding wrote:
I believe it’s more to prevent transmission to race officials, spectators, journalists et cetera; obviously you’re correct in that six hours in the peloton is going to make masking around each other for a few minutes before and after fairly ineffective.
Paul J wrote:
No, they used to be the gold standard, now they are regarded as just as unreliable as any other paper. This is because when they’ve looked at cycle helmets, they broke every rule they’ve got by using blatantly biased researchers and an extremely narrow range of original studies.
I thought I’d posted this once, but it seems to have disappeared.
eburtthebike wrote:
You posted it on the other article. Do you want to link to something that details these “rules broken”?
One criticism that has been made of Cochrane is that their rules are a little biased favourably to the side of interventions – i.e., that they’re more likely to find something works. This has been made more in the context of those wanting to paint them as “friendly” towards pharmaceutical companies trials.
AFAIK, this isn’t really a fair criticism of them. And it’s more just to do with the issues around having pharmaceutrical companies be the main funders of and organisers of the largest pharmaceutical trials (which gives them ways to bias results a little in their favour; from simply not publishing negative results [meant to be fixed now by registration of trials] to designing trials to be biased [e.g., excluding cases of a disease in the treatment arm of a trial if they occur within X days of treatment – obviously biased practice, but commonly done]).
Paul J wrote:
Do you want to link to something that details these “rules broken”?.
— eburtthebikeThat which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. (Christopher Hitchens)
eburtthebike wrote:
You’re asserting that those doing the Cochrane reviews on cycle helmets “broke every rule they’ve got”, and providing no evidence for that assertion. It can therefore be dismissed without getting into the weeds of how any researcher whose research goes against your gut feeling is a shill for Big Helnet.
Brauchsel wrote:
And it has been asserted that Cochrane Reviews are the gold standard without any evidence.
eburtthebike wrote:
I suppose someone needs to run a metastudy to check if it is really the case.
brooksby wrote:
Unfortunately the quality was too low to make a firm call mostly because few of the participants stuck to the protocols and the goalposts were moved several times.
Also – it’s all “evidence
Also – it’s all “evidence-based” and “science first” until vaccine mandates are “quite evil” and regulations “criminal” (over on t’other thread). Just cool-headed reasoning, following the best science of course.
My two-penn’orth? Dictatorial places (China) continued dictatorial, corrupt places continued with the corruption, our muddling democracy muddled on as usual. Some folks were heroic, many grudgingly got on with things and of course some people as usual saw this as “the man” imposing on them and did the opposite.
It’s also true that some of our lords and masters did indeed break their own laws and clearly gave about as much of a stuff as the average uneducated scrote. Or saw this as another opportunity for advancement or private profit.
eburtthebike wrote:
And it has been asserted that Cochrane Reviews are the gold standard without any evidence.[/quote]
Cochrane Library researchers were at the fore-front of developing meta-science and laying the standards for systematic reviews.
Regardless, you say they broke their own rules, give something to back that up.
https://www.cyclehelmets.org
https://www.cyclehelmets.org/1069.html
The study’s authors, Thompson, Rivara and Thompson, are the most vociferous helmet promoters in the world, and have produced some spectacularly bad research about them, so hardly the independent, disinterested people that are required by, you guessed it, the Cochrane Review rules. Not only that, they mostly relied on their own research, and it is a requirement of Cochrane Reviews that the original studies should be from as wide a range as possible.
As I’ve said elsewhere, this has permanently damaged the reputation of Cochrane Reviews: if they can do it for cycle helmets, they can do it for anything.
They’re still the gold
They’re still the gold standard Burt.
However much importance you personally place on the ‘helmet debate’, in reality it is so insignificant to the wider world of medical research that even if TR&T were actually proven to be in the pocket of ‘Big Helmet’ it would make precisely no difference to the hierarchy of evidence.
That hierarchy of evidence was established by scientific consensus. One poorly conducted study doesn’t change anything about that consensus.
Rich_cb wrote:
Let me post the last phrase of my post:
“: if they can do it for cycle helmets, they can do it for anything.”
The point being that once you have been shown to be so completely biased, partisan and blatantly open to abuse of your own system and rules, you are no longer trustworthy. They may have started out with the highest principles, but they no longer have any principles and only a fool would trust them.
“a majority of riders have
“a majority of riders have chosen to do the final 70km of today’s stage amidst the weather conditions.”
What have the rest decided? Not to bother and go to the coffee shop instead to dry out (before leaving the race obvs)? Or have they tested poisitve for Covid mid ride?
I think you need to sort out your wording.
Anytime you putting a bolt on
Anytime you putting a bolt on a soft metal Start the bolt with your hands. Then use a tool Take it to any bike shop to get fix if your skill level is to cut the nut off is a good idea. I try putting a bolt in the broken bolt with a dap of JB weld before I use any type of power tool near my carbon frame If that doesn’t work center punch and slowly drilling it out .Never a weld