Cyclist gets stick for riding on pavement, but bike lane is blocked by beer lorry; Rapper Gorilla Nems launches foul-mouthed bike lane tirade; Luke Plapp’s nasty road rash from Tour Down Under; Cycling legend Mick Ives dies aged 84 + more on the live blog

As someone who makes a lot of stuff up in his head, there are moments when even I'm forced to go, "Nope, you can't make this stuff up".

A cyclist and active travel campaigner, with the Twitter account "Leeds Cyclist" had shared a video captioned "Reason 617184 why cyclists don’t (can’t) use the cycle lane", with a lorry blocking the two-way bike route at New Briggate, Leeds, and people hauling down kegs of beer.

Reason 617184 why cyclists don’t (can’t) use the cycle lane… pic.twitter.com/oXhWR5oSYF

— TheLeedsCyclist (@TheLeedsCyclist) January 11, 2024

As absurd as it may sound, seems like a pretty routine occurrence here, doesn't it? And once again, as absurd it may sound, we all know that posting anything like this instantly brings forth the anti-cycling brigade, resorting to name-calling and accusations of "Oh, you can't deal with the slightest inconvenience, can you?!".

But the cyclist was probably not anticipating being called a "lawbreaker". With the lane being a protected (I didn't write segregated, cheers road.cc reader mattw) one, the cyclist couldn't, and frankly shouldn't, have gone on to the road. So instead he decided to take a detour through the fairly-empty pavement, and rejoin safely after passing the truck.

> My Guinness! Truck driver smashes down cycle lane wands, cuts across and parks on the pavement

But cue, people accusing him of breaking the law for cycling on the pavement! "But absolutely no reason why you should cycle on a pavement", "And yet you illegally went on a pavement", "But it’s ok for you to cycle on the pavement. Another mr entitled who thinks the world revolves around him"... so on and so forth.

And if you were asking, the cyclist also said that there two designated loading bays within approximately 100 metres from where lorry was illegally parked.​

Two designated loading bays (red circles) within max 100m of the illegally parked lorry. pic.twitter.com/piekrsWFvL

— TheLeedsCyclist (@TheLeedsCyclist) January 11, 2024

What do you think, would you rather get off your bike, hop on the pavement, and get on it again? Or is TheLeedsCyclist in the right and did nothing wrong? Let us know in the comments!

Medical staff in north Essex have joined forces with Colchester Cycling Campaign and written to the cabinet member for highways at Essex county council, Tom Cunningham, to ask him to bring the issue of dangerous junctions to the top of his to-do list.

Health professionals recommend that people take more exercise and cycling is a cheap, efficient and low-impact way to become more active and incorporate all-round, high-quality exercise into daily life. They argued that inactivity is responsible for one in six UK deaths (equal to smoking) and is estimated to cost the UK £7.4 billion a year (including £0.9 billion to the NHS alone).

They said that some of Colchester's junctions present an unacceptable level of risk to people who would otherwise cycle for health reasons. Dr Paul Byrne, a consultant rheumatologist who works in Colchester and Clacton, said: "It is unacceptable that so many of Colchester’s junctions are far too dangerous for cyclists. Essex County Council must improve these urgently.

"Knowing the profound mental and physical benefits of exercise, we would recommend cycling and walking to all of our patients, but don’t because it is simply not safe or pleasant enough. The infrastructure needs to encourage exercise not discourage it. People should not have to risk being maimed or killed when trying to improve their fitness."

Stuart Johnson, the chairman of Colchester Cycling Campaign said: “We have examined the statistics for injuries to cycle riders and have identified the worst junctions for cyclists. Essex county council must take action to improve these junctions before more people are injured or killed.

"The Safer Essex Roads Partnership has unveiled Vision Zero – the aim of which is to eliminate death and serious injury caused by road collisions in the county by 2040. Essex County Council is a partner in that strategy. We have only 16 years left to reach that target and we need to be taking serious action now."

Now, I don't know if this is going to prove controversial with you lot or not, but if you ask me, I think it's a no-brainer isn't it? Internal cabling is cleaner, better protected, apparently more aero, and did I say, just look more tidy?

But that's of course my opinion as a cyclist. I presume internal cables on a bike would be a mechanic's worst nightmare and it also hides them from you know, the usual checks you, as a cyclist can give them, to make sure everything's in tip-top condition.

So, to put the question to bed once and for all, we went to industry experts, from aerodynamicists to framebuilders and WorldTour mechanics...

Read more: > Has the move to full internal cable routing on road bikes been worth it? We asked some experts to weigh in on cycling's cable-tidy revolution

Well, the age-old question, answered with a twist. A tall one, that. Points to Twitter user CyclingInASkirt!

Why cyclists don't use cycle lanes reason 694 - giraffes......! 🤪 https://t.co/MPfhFnBg1P

— CyclingInASkirt (@CyclingInASkirt) January 17, 2024

Mick Ives, a legend who took British cycle racing to the next level, dedicating his life to the sport, has died at the age of 84.

Hailing from Coventry, his impact on British cycling has been monumental, not only having raced for 65 years but also having managed a number of sports teams.

Besides road racing, Mick had been also an incredible part of the UK Cyclocross scene. He was a six-time UCI World Masters Cycling Champion, and stepped on the podium a further six times. He also won 85, yes 85, British national cycling champion titles, and won over 1,000 races in his lifetime!

His eight-year stint as a professional on the road was followed by a further eight years as a pro mountain biker, after which Ives moved into management both for trade teams and the national team at mountain biking and cyclo-cross world championships.

Mick managed many teams, including the Eveready road team, the British national MTB team and was also involved at Moore Large, the UK's first Scott Racing MTB team in 1991.

He also went on to form the Team Jewson MI Racing Team in 1997. The team has won more than 1,000 races all over the UK and mainland Europe.

In 2005 Mick became the first pensioner to complete the Tour de France route riding alone two days ahead of the big race itself. He completed the 3,608 km distance under par, in just 20 days, having ridden two of the stages in one day. He is the only rider in the world known to complete the race route solo!

In 2016, the veteran took his 85th national title, racing for Team Jewson-MI Racing-Polypipe and winning the Veteran Time Trial Association National 25-mile Tandem Championships on Sunday in partnership with 75-year-old Murray Kirton.

The next year, Mick Ives rode the full route of the 100th Giro d'Italia, at age 77. He aimed to raise £60,000 for four charities, including hospices and kidney research centres. Naming the challenge Mick's Italian Job, he described it as "a daunting task for anyone, but possibly the toughest task I have ever faced during my 60 years of competitive cycling."

road.cc would like to extend our thoughts and condolences to Mick's family, friends and loved ones.

The European Parliament has included bicycles in its instrumental Right to Repair regulation, which aims to encourage consumers to repair products instead of buying new ones in the hopes of reducing waste.

If you didn't know, Right to Repair is a legal right which argues that owners of devices and equipment should be able to freely modify and repair products, without needing proprietary tools and support, including when the product is in its guarantee period.

First presented by the EU Commission in March 2023, the scope of the 'right to repair' proposal has also been extended to include bicycles, Bike Europe reports. It aims to ensure favourable conditions for an independent repair market and prevent manufacturers from hindering repairs.

According to the European Commission, the premature disposal of viable consumer goods generates 261 million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions, uses 30 million tonnes of resources and results in 35 million tonnes of waste in the EU every year. At the same time, consumers opting for replacement instead of repair lose approximately €12 billion per year.

Bicycles are named in the proposal alongside household products such as washing machines and vacuum cleaners. Producers of these products would be obliged to repair products even if they fall outside of the scope of a legal guarantee. Sellers would also be required to offer free repair within the legal guarantee period, except when it is more expensive than replacement, it is factually impossible or it is inconvenient for the consumer.

On adoption of the proposal, lawmaker René Repasi said: "Today we established direct repair obligations for producers and introduce new incentives for consumers to choose repair. We strengthened the role of independent repairers and place them at the centre of improving repair in Europe.

"Through better access to relevant technical repair information and affordable spare parts for repairers, including promoting 3D printing for parts, more competition will drive down repair costs. We coupled this with an obligation on member states to establish financial incentives to kick-start the repair sector."

The news comes along at a time right when road.cc reported on the UK's alleged mechanic shortage, with retailer Go Outdoors deciding to offer a new apprenticeship programme apparently designed to address the "needs of the cycle trade" and the current "national bike mechanic shortage".

> Go Outdoors aims to resolve national shortage of cycle mechanics – by offering apprenticeships to store staff

For all the cyclists too afraid to go out in this weather (yes, I'm looking at myself), here's a snippet from Oulu, Finland, where it's -28 degrees Celsius, and almost 1,300 people have cycled on just one bike route alone!

As you all know, cycling is a fair weather activity. And we can prove it. Right now it's -28°C in Oulu, and we've had almost 1300 ppl cycle today on this path alone 👌🫡☃️🚲💨#Oulu #MeanwhileInOulu pic.twitter.com/hiS6OHr7Hd

— Pekka Tahkola 🇺🇦 (@pekkatahkola) January 16, 2024

I can't speak for you all, but that smells like breakfast to me!

Starving, can't wait for dinner... pic.twitter.com/qOcOkWsxld

— Alan Myles 🇵🇸 (@AlanMyles8) January 17, 2024