Bianchi ‘Air Deflector’ cockpit sends cycling world into meltdown; “Totally unnecessary”: Giro d’Italia route and THAT 750km transfer to Rome confirmed; Is the Giro being unfairly singled out for criticism?; Tractors and cyclists + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
“Totally unnecessary”: 2023 Giro d’Italia route – and that 750km transfer to Rome – confirmed
Take a deep breath.
🗺 Here is the Route of the Giro d’Italia 2023.
.
Fai un respiro profondo.
🗺 Ecco il Percorso del Giro d’Italia 2023.#Giro @ENIT_italia pic.twitter.com/65GoIgTT7h— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) October 17, 2022
The route of the 2023 Giro d’Italia was revealed in Milan yesterday, confirming two things that cycling fans had long since suspected: that Remco Evenepoel will win his second grand tour next May, and that, for race organisers, the climate crisis and environmental concerns come a distant second to spectacular finales in beautiful places.
Next year’s Corsa Rosa was initially expected to finish in the north-eastern port city of Trieste, following an absolutely brutal and potentially decisive mountain time trial on Monte Lussari the day before.
However, as we reported a few weeks ago (and confirmed in yesterday’s route presentation), that plan was shelved in favour of a scenic circuit race around Rome – and a mammoth 750-kilometre transfer from the Slovenian border.
It will be the first time that the Giro has returned to the Italian capital since 2018’s controversial final stage – when the riders complained about the safety of the circuit, prompting the GC times to be neutralised – but, as cycling author Herbie Sykes pointed out on Twitter, this Roman holiday appears to be something of a spectacular send-off for race director Mauro Vegni, who is rumoured to be stepping down from his role at RCS Sport after ten years at the helm.
This, I suspect, will be Vegni’s last Giro. A Rome finale was always his dream.
— Herbie Sykes (@herbiesykes) October 17, 2022
Nevertheless, as scenic and atmospheric as the final stage might well prove to be, a 750km transfer just for a few ceremonial laps of Rome hasn’t gone down too well with cycling’s more climate-conscious fans.
While the riders will surely fly from the penultimate stage in Tarvisio (possibly from Klagenfurt in Austria or Ljubljana in Slovenia, as the closest Italian airports are both over 140km away, though there is a NATO airbase relatively nearby too), team and race staff will have to endure an eight hour-plus slog by road. Fun.
The whole thing, as Twitter has pointed out, all feels a touch unnecessary:
This Giro d’Italia flight just for the final stage in Rome is WAY too much.
— Gregor Brown (@gregorbrown) October 17, 2022
Giro 2023 route is batshit. They are going to make the riders and team staff travel from Monte Lussari in northern Italy to Rome for the final ceremonial stage – over 700km. Totally unnecessary.
— UK hot food chat (@UKhotfoodchat) October 17, 2022
700k transfer to run a crit around the absurdly bad streets of Rome on the final day of the giro.
RCS always delivers https://t.co/5KjLoeNDOK
— Alex Keck (@AlexKeck) October 17, 2022
1) environmental reasons: moving all the busses and equipment, all the teams and personnel to Rome, who will like have to go back to northern Europe the day after
2) budget and respect for minor teams who will struggle simply with the logistics of moving everything up and down— Giacomo Casadei (@GiacomoCasadei4) October 17, 2022
Or God forbid, design a route that ended nearer to Rome. Suppose that’s not as easy when you want high mountains at the finish?
— Colin Lynch PLY (@FormerTTchamp) October 18, 2022
(To be fair, they tried that before – in 2009, the year Denis Menchov won, despite falling off his TT bike in Rome – and it was deathly dull…)
Someone bold at the UCI needs to implement a max transfer distance rule for GTs – with only one exception per race (to accommodate foreign starts). Even that system needs looking at. Maybe e one foreign start every 3 years allowed.
Sadly, won’t happen.
— Colin Lynch PLY (@FormerTTchamp) October 18, 2022
So, what about the actual Giro route?
Now, as the Eurosport commentators used to say in 2008, moments after announcing the latest positive test or doping scandal (ah, those were the days), ‘Anyway, back to the racing…’
So, what’s the 2023 Giro route like, and who does it suit?
Well, Remco Evenepoel, that’s who.
Nevertheless, RCS Sport’s charm offensive towards the world champion perhaps isn’t as overt as one may have expected.
There are three individual time trials totalling 71km, of course – a relative rarity in the modern era – but the quantity and nature of the kilometres against the clock can hardly be compared to the Tours de France of the Jean-Marie Leblanc era.
The race kicks off with a surprisingly long 18.4km TT, with a slight drag to the line, in the Abruzzo region. The next siren song for Vuelta winner Evenepoel – who has yet to confirm his participation in the Giro, but will almost certainly be spending next May in the bel paese – is stage nine, a pan-flat 34km time trial to Cesena, seemingly tailormade for the powerful, super-aero Belgian.
The third and final time trial of the race, however, is something completely different – and could have the potential to upend the entire race right at the last moment.
The first eleven kilometres of stage 20 may be gently rolling, but the final seven to Monte Lussari are anything but – averaging 12.1 percent to the summit (and over 15 percent for the first five kilometres). And all after three weeks and 3,500km of racing. Ouch.
Of course, the Giro – unless you’re Francesco Moser – is never just about time trialling. In many ways, the 2023 Corsa Rosa is a typical Giro, if a touch more backloaded than usual.
🇮🇹 GIRD D’ITALIA (May 6-28, 2023)
📷 All stage profiles in 1 pic | #Giro pic.twitter.com/1mB3lk75T2
— ammattipyöräily (@ammattipyoraily) October 17, 2022
Week one takes on a varied, rolling and sometimes jagged tour of Italy’s east and west coasts, featuring the kind of in-between terrain favoured by a certain Wout van Aert, who is rumoured to be interested in making his Giro debut ahead of an earlier-than-usual world championships next year in Glasgow.
Following stage seven’s Apennine summit finish on the Gran Sasso d’Italia (a gentle slog with a sting in the tail) and the time trial two days later, week two will begin with some more classic breakaway fodder and possible sprint days, before the real mountains start.
Stage 13 to Crans Montana in the Swiss Alps – taking in, weather permitting, the 2,500m-high Col du Grand Saint-Bernard and the fearsome and almost as high Croix de Coeur – will no doubt rearrange the GC, while a Tour of Lombardy-style trek to Bergamo on stage 15 could produce some explosive racing.
Then we head into classic Giro territory. Stage 16 features a string of relatively low but tough climbs on the way to Monte Bondone, while the following stage offers a small bone to the remaining sprinters before three decisive days in the Dolomites.
The 19 percent gradients of the Coi climb on stage 18 could blow the GC group apart, ahead of a potentially myth-making stage 19 to Tre Cime di Lavaredo, the scene of newly retired Vincenzo Nibali’s 2013 triumph and Eddy Merckx’s grand tour coming of age in 1968.
While some legendary Giro climbs may be missing from the 2023 route, such as the Gavia, Stelvio, and Mortirolo, stage 19 more than makes up for their omission – packing in the mighty Valparola and Giau on the way to the Tre Cime.
And if that hasn’t wrapped things up in the battle for the pink jersey, race director Mauro Vegni will be crossing his fingers for a Planche des Belles Filles-style twist on the Monte Lussari.
Just don’t mention the transfer to Rome…
Some Halloween decoration ideas…
You’ve heard of Elf on a Shelf but… pic.twitter.com/AwubVzJjKA
— Kaveh MD (@thehouseofpod) October 16, 2022
“One rule for them and one rule for the Tour”: Is the Giro being unfairly singled out for criticism?
While the 2023 Giro’s controversial eight-hour transfer to Rome for the race’s penultimate stage has led to plenty of criticism online for RCS Sport – who have been accused of prioritising their event over the climate crisis – in the live blog comments section this morning, road.cc reader Rendel Harris pondered whether the Corsa Rosa is being singled out for criticism for a sin committed by every other grand tour (or indeed stage race) organiser.
As I noted in the original article on the then-rumoured Rome finale, long transfers (not to mention foreign grand departs) are becoming an increasing staple of the three grand tours.
The Vuelta a España has long been known for its frequent and extensive mid-race transfers, while – at least since Mont Ventoux featured on the race’s penultimate stage in 2009 – the Tour de France has favoured increasingly late stages in the Alps or Pyrenees, requiring a late night slog up to Paris for the final-day party on the Champs-Élysées.
Here’s what Rendel had to say about the controversy surrounding the Giro’s excursion to Rome:
The carbon footprint of Grand Tours is of course a major concern, but the Giro organisers must be wondering if there is one rule for them and one for the Tour.
This year the Tour transferred 534km to hold the final stage in Paris, in 2021 it was 586km. I don’t recall anyone raising much of an eyebrow about that?
Similarly, this year’s Vuelta not only made the 1,400km transfer from the Netherlands to Spain, but then the massive 894km mid-race transfer from Les Praeres to Alicante.
I remember people complaining about the stress it put on the riders, but nobody seemed to be making too much fuss about the carbon footprint.
Numerous wrongs don’t add up to a right, of course, but not quite sure why the Giro is being so heavily criticised for something that happens in every GT.
What do you think? Is the Giro being unfairly singled out? Or is this just the start of cycling fans putting pressure on race organisers to create responsible routes?
Some wholesome bike bus content to brighten up your Tuesday
Just kids cycling to school. #cycletoschool pic.twitter.com/k8O0K04oih
— Limerick School Cycle Bus (@CyclingBusLmk) October 18, 2022
Tractors and cyclists: the truth
You’ll never guess what those damned cyclists want to do now.
They are campaigning to – wait for it – ban tractors from country roads on Sundays.
Can you believe it?
Well I suggest you don’t.
Because it’s a lie.
Now, that’s one way to start an article and grab our attention.
The piece in question, published yesterday in the Swindon Advertiser, tackles online conspiracy theories seemingly designed to simply increase the ire felt by some motorists towards cyclists on the road.
“For some reason that I cannot fathom,” the Advertiser’s Graham Carter writes, “Facebook thought I would be interested in joining a group that exists mainly to help speeding drivers dodge cameras, although they also spend time swapping the kind of ‘humour’ that most of us stopped giggling at when we grew out of short trousers.
“And just lately they have taken to spreading the ridiculous notion that cyclists are so arrogant that we think we have more right to the roads than everybody else, especially farmers.”
While I haven’t been able to find the exact post in question – I’m not exactly a frequenter of motoring groups or Facebook in general, quite frankly – I imagine it went something along the lines of this satirical post from the ‘comedy’ page, ‘The world is not PC enough’:
The same account, incidentally, posted a similar ‘joke’ this morning, from the apparent point of view of a ‘cyclist’:
Unfortunately for poor Graham, he decided to venture into the comments. Which, as we know full well on this blog, is a recipe for disaster.
“I was curious to find out more,” he writes, “so I made the mistake – and, trust me, this is always a mistake – of seeing what the public had to say on the matter.
“Boy, were they angry with cyclists.
“Absolutely fuming.
“What few of them had thought to do, however, was to check whether this apparent war between cyclists and farmers was actually a thing.”
Naturally.
According to Graham’s article, these posts – whether jokes or conspiracy theories – are “designed to demonise a minority, in this case cyclists, although these days any minority will do.
“Some of us would say it is a deliberate attempt to distract us from the real problems we are all now facing.
“And with some people it is working… It’s tough being a cyclist. I am not talking about battling the wind and the rain and the hills. I am talking about constantly having to counter the pathetic idea that because some people on two wheels aren’t perfect, we are all the enemy.”
In a shock twist at the end of the article, Graham admitted that he “did find one petition proposing to ban tractors from certain roads.
“But it wasn’t from cyclists. It was from impatient motorists.
“So please don’t believe all the drivel you see on social media, and if you really must have enemies, make sure you choose the right ones.”
Transport for London to resume work on active travel schemes paused due to funding crisis
Transport for London (TfL) has announced that it will restart work on active travel schemes in the city – paused due to the body’s ongoing financial crisis and reliance on short-term government bailouts – after an agreement was reached with the government in August to secure funding until March 2024.
TfL says that it will now resume spending on “vital projects”, with £80m per year to be spent directly on walking and cycling schemes as part of its Healthy Streets Programme.
The projects include the start of construction on safer junction schemes at Holloway Road/Drayton Park and Battersea Bridge (subject to consultation), and pedestrian and cycling improvements at Streatham High Road and Manor Circus.
TfL will continue lowering speed limits across London, with plans to introduce a 20mph speed limit on a further 17.5 miles of roads in the boroughs of Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Haringey by March 2023.
As part of the next stage of the Healthy Streets programme, TfL will also complete cycleways currently under construction and begin work on up to 14km of additional sections, including on:
- C9 East, from Brentford to Kensington Olympia
- C23, from Lea Bridge to Dalston
- C34, from North Acton to Shepherds Bush
- C37, from Hackney to Westferry
- C50, from Finsbury Park to Camden Town
The body will also continue the design of a further 16km of cycleways, including sections of C9 West, from Hounslow to Brentford, the C4 Extension from Greenwich to Charlton, and further sections of the C50, from Finsbury Park to Camden Town, along with a new cycle route from Wembley to Wood Lane.
“In the last two years we’ve seen more Londoners than ever choosing to walk and cycle around the capital, but successive short-term funding agreements from Government forced TfL and boroughs to pause spending on some permanent walking and cycling schemes. London’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, Will Norman, said in a statement.
“With the funding now agreed, I’m delighted that we can now restart work on these vital schemes – as well as beginning the design work for the next generation of new projects.
“The Mayor and I are determined to continue building a cleaner, safer and more prosperous London for everyone and encouraging more people to pick up greener and more sustainable transport options is a vital part of that.”
Speaking of questionable decisions made by venerable Italian institutions…
Check out the radical new @BianchiOfficial Oltre road bike with ‘Air Deflector’ aero tech. In terms of looks, we’d say it’s the most un-Bianchi Bianchi ever. What do you think? https://t.co/EZctACMR1A #cycling pic.twitter.com/yd882lVMPh
— road.cc (@roadcc) October 18, 2022
> Bianchi unveils radical new Oltre road bike with ‘Air Deflector’ aero tech
Bianchi 'Air Deflector' cockpit sends cycling world into meltdown
Right, Ryan’s popped off to catch a flight so Dan’s here (oh, it’s weird talking in the third person) to tell you how much you all love the new Bianchi…
https://t.co/H6DDhGIQx0 pic.twitter.com/ObLtPl3hJV
— Simon Warren (@100Climbs) October 18, 2022
Our diplomatic take is it’s the “most un-Bianchi Bianchi ever”… you lot have been slightly less diplomatic…and pointed out how Cervélo-y it looks…
— Justin Di Tommaso (@jditommaso72) October 18, 2022
Awful. It has that strange Cervelo look. I have an original Oltre & nothing has convinced me that any modern updates or redesigns have bettered it. I’m sure all the CFD studies have shown it saves “X” amounts of watts, but who really cares outside the peloton. Looks count more
— The Campag Kid (@TheCampagKid) October 18, 2022
Looks like a crash damaged Cervelo.
— Simon Warren (@100Climbs) October 18, 2022
Looks like something you’d see listed on https://t.co/Xp5JW0718E
— Micky Roman (@MickyRoman) October 18, 2022
Yet more overpriced black plastic – groovy man.
— Mike G Tomos 💎 (@caerffilicallin) October 18, 2022
For balance (we’d add more positive ones if there were any)…
Thats stunning
— Andy (@andy_whiteoak) October 18, 2022
Go on then… tell us what you think… but maybe have a proper look first.
18 October 2022, 08:51
Slightly off-topic, but despite being sponsored by BP, Esso and Shell down the years, that Peugeot kit still slaps…
Cycling's most controversial sponsors
From sportswashing to sex toys via Donald Trump, of course...
18 October 2022, 08:51
18 October 2022, 08:51
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Latest Comments
Marginal margins.
The covid / post-covid boom is driven primarily by failures of capitalist strategy, causing over supply and price gouging. What we are seeing now is the correction. Most so-called ‘Western brands’ bikes are made in Eastern countries anyway - who have long been the leading manufacturers of carbon bikes. Now these makers are becoming brands / sellers too and Western brands have been put on notice. Inflation is driven by greed, not need.
@Benthic A125 motorbike can be ridden by a 17 year old can do about 75MPH; a legal e-bike that a 17-year-old cannot use can do about 15MPH.
The latest moral panic. "From August, the legal age to ride an e-scooter in Ireland will rise from 16 to 18" But, in Ireland you can still drive a: - moped from the age of 16 - 125 cc motorbike from the age of 17 - 3.5 tonne car from the age of 17 So that makes complete sense.
@mitsky I am seeing those Amazon ones in Manchester pretty much every day.
Quite. There's also a demand side story to accompany your eloquently written post, in that domestic demand has dampened from the captive COVID market of a few years back, and less international demand due to tariff-led policies and anti-dumping laws. On Chinese competition, I don't think it's necessarily Western profit-seeking behaviour which has caused increased Chinese supply and competitiveness as much as higher Chinese investment leading to higher quality output, innovation, and economies of scale. I don't know about Chinese frames as I haven't bought one and haven't seen one, but for wheels I don't see any inherent quality advantage for Western brands. Indeed, innovation seems to be coming from Chinese brands along with lower prices, just like we're seeing with electric cars. So higher quality and lower prices.
They should concentrate on the road users who do most of the killing and injuring: car drivers.
I've used the "why aren't you on the motorway?" one before, except here it would be "highway" or "Interstate." The other one I like is: "Get on the sidewalk!" (pavement) "On the side what?" "On the sidewalk!" "So it's not called a side-bicycle then?" Also one I've used a couple of times: "You're not a car!" "Neither are you!"
I've used Challenge, Vittoria, Veloflex and Continental tyres. What stands out for me regarding Challenge is how robust their supple tyres are. Usually there is a tradeoff there, but Challenge somehow manages to keep both.
Well, many of them are more correctly "emit elsewhere". However as we do successfully move away from "coal, oil, and latterly gas and wood" the fraction that is actually emitted does go down. So overall, welcome. (It's complicated... the renewables business is just business like any other so we aren't keen to discuss all the resources being used / new places that get trashed. Example being how much steel (mostly still "dirty") and concrete we need for the new infra. And of course where humans can, they will, as much as they can afford, so Jevons Paradox applies).
35 thoughts on “Bianchi ‘Air Deflector’ cockpit sends cycling world into meltdown; “Totally unnecessary”: Giro d’Italia route and THAT 750km transfer to Rome confirmed; Is the Giro being unfairly singled out for criticism?; Tractors and cyclists + more on the live blog”
The carbon footprint of Grand
The carbon footprint of Grand Tours is of course a major concern, but the Giro organisers must be wondering if there is one rule for them and one for the Tour: this year the Tour transferred 534km to hold the final stage in Paris, in 2021 586km, I don’t recall anyone raising much of an eyebrow about that? Similarly, this year’s Vuelta not only made the 1400km transfer from the Netherlands to Spain but then the massive 894km mid-race transfer from Les Praeres to Alicante. Remember people complaining about the stress it put on the riders, but nobody seemed to be making too much fuss about the carbon footprint. Numerous wrongs don’t add up to a right, of course, but not quite sure why the Giro is being so heavily criticised for something that happens in every GT.
Hot take:
Hot take:
The whole thing is “totally unecessary”. If we limit what we do to only what is necessary we would be in a very sad world. There are around 100,000 commercial flights per day, one more or one less for the Giro isn’t going to make any significant difference one way or the other.
This is only very slightly larger scale than the rest of the false flag climate activism which ignores the main problems and instead blames normal people for existing and demands that we use paper straws to save 3g of plastic while BP pumps millions of gallons of crude oil directly into the sea.
What’s required is a
What’s required is a professional carbon audit of the race. Once you know the facts, you can go about reducing emissions in a logical way.
I don’t find the ‘drop in the ocean’ argument convincing, because you could use that about almost any activity as an excuse to do nothing and carry on as before.
I don’t know what ‘false flag climate activisim’ is, but I do know that we need climate activism to put pressure on governments and big companies to make far-reaching changes.
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It’s super that you know these things, Spa.
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Thank goodness for your insights and wisdom.
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Where would we be without them?
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This chorus of self-mocking
This chorus of self-mocking mockery is getting too meta for me, Flintshire Boy. A part of me pines for the uncomplicated diss – “you’re stupid!”
False flag activism as
False flag activism as Patrick9-32 uses it here would be what George Monbiot terms micro consumerist bollocks:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/30/capitalism-is-killing-the-planet-its-time-to-stop-buying-into-our-own-destruction
Stroll around any supermarket
Stroll around any supermarket and have a look at the cornucopia of vegetarian and vegan options available.
Compare that to just a few years ago.
That’s ‘MCB’ in action.
I’m sorry….’MCB’?
I’m sorry….’MCB’?
See Marmotte’s post.
See Marmotte’s post.
Gotcha. Disagree, politely. I
Gotcha. Disagree, politely. I’m vegetarian and know of several people who have been for decades/all their life, who agree that there has been a demand for more vegetarian/vegan products to be introduced for decades. While yes, anecdotes in plural do not = data, it seems that this instance of introducing more foods for vegans and vegetarians is decades of demand being fulfilled, no?
It seems a far cry from the paper cups and straws that Monbiot suggests, as those are really just small changes ostensibly for ‘visibility’ and not fulfilling a dietary preference of a chunk of the population.
My point is that an
My point is that an individual’s choice can have little effect but when multiple people make the same choice ( eg vegetarianism) then those choices will drive change by large corporations.
Tesco etc aren’t stocking meat free products because they care or because the government are making them. They’re doing it to make money.
Paper cups and straws may, similarly, be inconsequential on their own but if they drive more interest in sustainable choices then they can lead to major changes. More and more companies are now employing plastic free packaging for example.
That’s an interesting
That’s an interesting contention. I guess I’m not seeing it that way, because vegetarianism/veganism is being touted as planet-saving; consuming animal products is blatantly known to be bad for the environment. On the other hand, paper cups etc. I see, more often than not, with a cynical lens knowing that they are MCB.
I suppose Tesco may be profit-driven, but I guess if they do either stock more vegan food or change all their food packaging to card, it’s on a scale big enough to actually affect change and no longer be ‘micro’ – right?
Exactly.
Exactly.
Consumer behaviour can be a driver of change at huge multinationals.
Veganism used to be an incredibly niche market but as it became more widespread the big companies saw an opportunity to make money and invested accordingly.
Paper cups and straws alone won’t make much difference but if consumers start shunning single use plastics and over packaged goods then big companies will take notice. Not because they care about the environment but because they care about their profits.
That’s why I think Monbiot’s idea of MCB is incorrect.
Rich_cb wrote:
Eating vegetarian/vegan foods can have a surprisingly large effect if/when lots of people do it. If the worlds’ population keeps rising, then people will inevitably have to eat less meat as it’s so resource intensive. I wouldn’t call it micro-consumerist bollocks – that’s more things like buying bamboo socks.
What snaps my cranks is when highly processed foods are pushed as being healthy because they’re vegan/plant-based.
That’s sort of my point.
That’s sort of my point.
As an individual switching one meal from meat to vegan every now and again makes virtually no difference.
If everybody does it then it starts to add up.
Monbiot criticises personal carbon footprints and tiny measures like avoiding plastic bags as MCB but when individuals act together the cumulative effect can be large and be driven by consumer choice rather than government/regulations.
I’d put bamboo socks in the greenwashing category personally.
I like bamboo socks and
I like bamboo socks and bamboo loo roll !
Rich_cb wrote:
Wait a minute – I know of separating dark and coloured clothing, but you need a separate load for greens?
Yep, 30 degree wash, at night
Yep, 30 degree wash, at night, on a windy day.
If they do an audit, can they
If they do an audit, can they include all the negative carbon bike races cause by making cycling exciting and by extension more people enjoying it and replacing their car journeys? I wouldn’t have bought my first road bike if it weren’t for the epic season and Lance Armstrong’s TdF in 2005. And the rest is history, especially Armstrong’s wins!
That is a valid point to
That is a valid point to consider and could well significantly offset the environmental damage caused by a GT but I’d argue that we shouldn’t be thinking of cycling as ‘negative carbon’.
It’s still producing CO2, just at a slower rate than the alternatives.
Unfortunately, we started to
Unfortunately, we started to live in a sad world from about 1970 when a small fraction of the then about 3.5 billion of us used resources and deposited wastes at a greater rate than the biosphere could supply and adsorb. Powerful economic thinkers chose to ignore this and 50 years later there are 8 billion of us with higher ‘living standards’ and major signs that the biosphere is rapidly changing; climate warming, species loss rates at mass extinction levels, almost all the land area that can be farmed is being farmed, 95% of the mass of mammals is now us or our domestic animals (< 5% wild), Arctic sea ice disappearing compromising ocean circulation, Amazon basin close to ecological collapse, Antarctic ice shelves fragmenting and releasing large volumes of land ice into the sea, etc., etc.,. We can choose to let major biosphere changes unfold and cope with the consequences. Alternatively, we can try and not trigger to many major events and avoid the worst impact on Human society by recognising the importance of maintaining the biosphere stability we have enjoyed for 10,000 years. The trouble is this all needs a co-ordinated global effort.
False flag environmentalism is highly dangerous as it makes us think we are actually doing something, but in reality most of it is fiddling while Earth burns (often literally). This said, cycling needs to do its bit and should look at its major events in the cold light of not making matters worse let alone improving them.
Sorry, this is a bit of a rant.
As always the debate is
As always the debate is framed in black and white and all the devices of rhetoric are used. “If we can’t have (ever more) resources and energy you’re a boomer pulling up the ladder behind you / saying that anything more than sitting in our own poo eating grass is unnecessary / everyone – but especially the poor – will freeze or starve or fall over in the dark / we won’t have hospitals and granny or little Suzie will die a lingering death. Do you want THAT?!”
An apt riposte to this is to get on your bike and make an enjoyable journey which ideally would take in a trip to the shops and/or a visit to someone. Thereby demonstrating that there are fun ways of improving health and wellbeing, serving your basic transport needs and connecting with others which are much less resource-intensive than our current “default” or the future exhorted for us by those with something to sell.
There isn’t teleportation yet – you can’t “get there from here” in an instant, without passing through any other points. We can at best change our direction of travel. Even this can be extremely difficult but history suggests it can be done. There are examples of mutual agreement allowing a more careful and sometimes even equitable management of limited resources.
This amused me… especially
This amused me… especially as someone who has ‘old-skooled’ it when the brakes reached the point of no return on a Monday and I didn’t have time to sort them till the weekend.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/18/how-do-you-know-im-an-idiot-take-a-look-at-my-right-calf
I thought the velominati
I thought the velominati called those 4th cat tattoos ? and who hasnt done it at least more than once…reminds me I must replace the brake blocks on my bike, one day of rain in the autumn season and theyre kaput already, who says rim brakes are the future.
It ticked a box…
It ticked a box…
Is there anything people don
Is there anything people don’t complain about these days?…
Is that a request for
Is that a request for information, or … ?
It’s the UK; it’s what we do.
It’s the UK; it’s what we do.
Are you complaining that
Are you complaining that people are complaining?
It is ironic isn’t it.
It is ironic isn’t it.
There are certainly some who
There are certainly some who specialize in meta-complaining.
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Not on here, mate!
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Not on here, mate!
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Flintshire Boy wrote:
As you have just proved.
There might be something in
There might be something in these tofu-eating wokerati – they are more powerful than it seems at first glance.
hirsute wrote:
We can only be pushed so far and when it comes time to strike we do so with great vengance and furious anger.