YouTubers try cycling across England in a straight line… and end up hating Halfords and National Cycle Network; 250 miles, 10,500m of climbing and 50 leg-shredding hills — Yorkshire cyclist’s “mad” day out; Workplace bike sheds + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
250 miles, 10,500m of climbing and 50 leg-shredding hills — Yorkshire cyclist's "mad" day out
Now here’s a big old bike ride…
Just the 50 climbs for Steve Eastwood during this monster ride raising money for Holme Valley Mountain Rescue Team. That’s all 50 of Richard Facey’s ‘Facey Fifty’ — a collection of climbs in the Colne and Holme Valleys near Huddersfield. Now, for anyone not familiar with this part of the world, we’re talking steep, leg-shredding, double-digit bergs… 11%, 14%, 14%, 10%, 11%, 11%, 10%… etc. etc…. and that’s just some of the average gradients. We’re sure Steve had to endure plenty of even more horrific ramps too.
Steve’s JustGiving page is at 92 per cent of his £5,000 target, raising money for Holme Valley Mountain Rescue Team. The challenge to ride all 50 in one ride has been done before, by Ed Wolstenholme, so Steve “needed to go a few steps further” and opted to ride all the climbs in sequential order, only descending back to the valleys via any road once and only making U-turns twice, at Castle Hill and Holme Moss.
“All other climbs will see me loop round via a different descent or looping around roads near the top of the climb just completed,” he explained prior to the big ride, concluding, “This’ll be mad, can’t believe I’m doing it…”
“It’s the equivalent of riding from Huddersfield to London, while also climbing over Ben Nevis and Everest,” Steve said. “Motivation? I like a challenge… driven by the challenge of Dick [Richard Facey] saying, ‘if you ever ride all these in one go I’ll give you 20 quid’.
“Now, being a member of mountain rescue, we might as well raise some money for a good cause, and it’s one heck of a good cause.”
It most certainly is. Chapeau, Steve, our legs hurt just looking at that one…
Campaigners "disappointed and angered" by Thames Water closing "only safe and inclusive" cycle route during works
Newham Cyclists, part of the London Cycling Campaign, has urged Thames Water to immediately re-open a cycling and walking route in East London until a safe diversion can be put in place. The Evening Standard reported a key route between Canning Town and the Olympic Park had been gated off by Thames Water and will remain closed for 18 months during works.
Instead of being able to use the Greenway, a four-mile-long paved off-road route, riders will now be sent on a long diversion via busier roads, raising safety and accessibility concerns. Newham Cyclists released the following statement:
As a volunteer group which exists to help more people access cycling, we are disappointed and angered by Thames Water’s and their contractors’ decision to close part of the Greenway, Newham’s only safe and inclusive north-south cycle route, while the diversion route is dangerously busy with car and van traffic. They chose to do this despite us warning them as early as July that this would be unacceptable and unsafe.
The result is that people who use the Greenway—from children and families cycling to school or the park, to dog-walkers, to workers at Newham Hospital—are being forced onto a narrow bridge at Abbey Road DLR with fast and heavy traffic. Cars and vans speed and emerge suddenly due to poor sight lines, which is a major collision risk. Some drivers are impatient, intimidating cyclists by revving and passing too close. Many people cycling, particularly children, are riding on the pavement in fear; the pavement is much too narrow for pedestrians as it is.
We have been inundated with messages from Greenway users reporting frightening encounters on the diversion. We think it is only a matter of time before someone is hurt, or worse.
Ribble's "redefining road" range expands with launch of Allroad Ti featuring 3D-printed titanium tube junctions and 35mm tyres
200% increase in cycling to work for company that benefitted from £14,000 grant to build bike shelter
Nottingham-based industrial machinery company Daltons Wadkin reports it has experienced a “200 per cent increase in staff cycling to work” since installing a bike shelter that was paid for mainly by the Transforming Cities Fund.
The 75 per cent funded grant of £14,255 went towards the shelter, as well as two additional electric vehicle charging points, the business saying more staff are cycling than ever, as a result.
“When we heard about the opportunity to apply for a grant with Nottingham City Council, we already had a number of staff who were travelling to work on foot, cycles and in electric vehicles. Following meetings with our staff, there was enthusiasm for more environmentally friendly travel methods if the facilities were available,” Alex Dalton said.
“After benefitting from the grant, our new EV chargers are being used by visitors daily, and adding a secure bike shelter has helped spur a 200 per cent increase in staff cycling to work.”
No word yet on how easy to use those racks inside the shelter are…
Dan Walker's coast to coast
Classic FM presenter Dan Walker is doing a coast to coast, riding from Hull (or Withernsea to be exact) to Liverpool via two 100-mile days, raising money for his station’s official charity Global’s Make Some Noise. Swinging by his hometown of Sheffield along the way, he’s apparently going to be hosting his usual breakfast show on Thursday 3 and Friday 4 October before hitting the road.
Vintage Colnago belonging to screenwriter of iconic cycling film Breaking Away goes up for auction
A vintage Colnago road bike owned by Steve Tesich, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of famous cycling film Breaking Away, is to be auctioned. Bicycle Retailer and Industry News were contacted by Bob Shaver — a friend of Tesich — the screenwriter of one of the most iconic cycling films ever made having passed away in 1996 and his family now deciding to auction one of his two Colnagos.
> An ode to Breaking Away: The film that inspired a generation of young cyclists
“The bike was ridden mostly in Central Park, NYC, and he may have ridden it as an extra in a ‘Breaking Away’ race scene,” Shaver explained. “The bike was last ridden in the spring of 1996 in Central Park.”
It is largely the original 1970s machine, just with an upgraded headset, stem and aero brake levers that were added in early 1990. Shaver has communicated that anyone seeking more information should contact him at bshaverco@gmail.com.
> Best cycling films — the best bike-related movies on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and DVD
Giant acquires Stages Cycling brand and assets, months after suing power meter and indoor bike company for £16 million
Want to design the next rainbow jersey? Well, now you can... (sort of)...
Big news! The UCI and Santini are inviting designs from the public for a new competition to “design the UCI World Champion rainbow jersey of the future”. The internet obviously assumed this meant whoever wins at the World Championships will be wearing the winning design for the next 12 months, the UCI quickly sending out a second press release clarifying that the winning design will only be created as a one-off unique item by Santini and presented to whoever wins the competition, NOT the World Championships.
That’s lucky for you guys because I’ve got my entry ready and was feeling pretty confident Tadej Pogačar would look great in it…
You can try beat that here, but no hard feelings if they pick mine…
Elsewhere on the Halfords front... UK's largest cycling retailer to double the amount of bikes in its range priced over £1,000
Salsa Cycles swamped with "snowflakey comments" after drag queen collab
Want to know how to get tens of your Instagram followers to comment saying they’re never buying one of your bikes again? For reasons we’re yet to work out, it turns out a bike brand collabing with a drag queen gets some people very very angry.
“Came for the snowflakey comments from the insecure man babies, wasn’t disappointed. Lighten up, Francine!” was the first one we found not expressing that sentiment.
Anyway, if you’re bored on the walk/bus/train home, or need some procrastinating time once you’ve cycled/driven home, have a scroll through that comments section… then put your phone away… that’s enough social media for today…
"A close pass isn't an offence and a lot of cyclists don't realise that": Police chief's "odd" claim that cyclists need education on driving offences highlighted as evidence of UK's current road safety "mess"
YouTubers try cycling across England in a straight line... and end up hating Halfords and National Cycle Network
You’ve heard of Land’s End to John O’Groats, but what about cycling the length of England in a straight line? Well, that’s exactly what this intrepid band of YouTubers attempted to do.
When we say ‘straight line’ there is of course some wriggle room… riding a bicycle in a perfectly straight line over roads, farmers’ fields, rivers and other bodies of water, inhospitable terrain, and people’s property doesn’t sound like a great idea, but the Fieldhouse Boys channel appears to have invented a form of “deviation range” to ensure their ride is challenging enough to be worthy of its straight-line title, but still ultimately doable.
In the end this means a highly watchable highlights reel of a group of lads flogging themselves in a straight enough line along roads, bridleways and some quite disgusting sections of unpaved off-roading, all while riding rapidly disintegrating and heavy machines. No top-of-the-class lightweight steeds here, just crumbling brake pads, buckled wheels, and cracked rims (WARNING: Contains bike abuse, viewer discretion advised)…
In a true welcome to the live blog, the YouTubers ended up in a frustration-fuelled rant about the National Cycle Network when met with another kissing gate halting their progress… “It’s supposed to be National Cycle Network, they’ve got all these stupid kissing gates in… what a waste of time…”
And, in a second rite of passage, they were then treated to an unsuccessful trip to Halfords although, in fairness to Halfords and the lone mechanic faced with the battered bikes, it wasn’t exactly the quickest of new parts and an easy Sunday afternoon tune-up they were after between this, the buckled rim, lack of braking, and drivetrain issues…
And fair play for achieving this level of brake pad wear in the name of entertainment…
Top comment under the video? “Never seen someone so excited to arrive at Halfords, the level of disappointment whilst leaving is about standard though.”
Some sage advice in the next most popular one: “At this point you should’ve just purchased a whole new bike off Marketplace in the next large town you were going through.”
Other amusing thoughts: “As a proper bike enthusiast, the noises and ‘play’ (being generous with word choice here) from some major components will give me nightmares, especially that wheel and how loose that cassette was! Fair play for soldiering on! Bold!”
“Same here. I can’t help but think that this whole thing would’ve been way more enjoyable for them if they hadn’t gotten bikes of which quite literally every component is f****d.”
“Hello fellow cyclists. It has been torture watching. Somebody please donate these guys some bikes.”
I guess we’ll all be back next week to see how they’re getting on…
19 September 2024, 08:16
19 September 2024, 08:16
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Very brief look at this but I'm not sure it says anything much new, or particularly useful. Yes, they point to "some women who rode a hire bike possibly didn't ride before but might ride after". OTOH the *number* of women vs men surveyed didn't appear to be stated (except for one graph with a n=... - which was a lot less than the 5000 mentioned, and there only about half as many women responding there). Otherwise I think it just covers what regularly comes up (albeit perhaps it has to be repeated): - much fewer women from minority ethnic backgrounds. - Women care about socially safe parking locations far more than men do. - Women feel less safe on the roads due to external issues that they have no control over: traffic, road conditions and infrastructure, and harassment.
Interesting counterpoint to the 'hire bike menace' narrative (obviously with the caveat that the report authors have a vested interest in selling the benefits, but...) Appears hire bike schemes go some way to addressing the cycling gender imbalance and, given the point about parking immediately outside the destination, dockless schemes particularly so. https://micromobilitybiz.com/forest-report-finds-shared-e-bikes-are-helping-close-london-cycling-gender-gap/
@chrisonabike True, things went back to normal once the pandemic was over. In this case, however the problems are still ongoing, and aren't likely to be resolved in the near future. If anything, they're going to get worse. Food shortages are predicted because of the effect that the heatwave has had on crops. This is bound to push prices up. The Straits of Hormuz aren't likely to reopen anytime soon and the strategic oil reserves are running low. Russia is having to import petrol because its own refineries have been badly hit, so that's even more competition for an even more scarce resource. I think that more and more people are going to see cycling as a way of cutting household bills.
I think if "grown up" cyclists * are quibbling about ASLs we've very much missed the road safety point anyway. (Not to mention the wider "better transport choices" picture). ASLs are poor-to-useless "cycling infra", even for their design intent. If the idea is "for less confident cyclists" then a design that requires that you re-position in front of the motor traffic - waiting to accelerate - seems unhelpful. Of course they're only designed to help when traffic is stopped, and you can reach the front in time and if vehicles aren't already occupying them. As we're noting here drivers frequently ignore them - whether that be deliberate, a lack of road craft, because they were concentrating on following the vehicle in front, or because the paint has rubbed off. * Aside: shouldn't cycling also be safe and accessible for kids? Or should they only be allowed to do this when accompanied by sufficient qualified adults? Or be limited to parks and otherwise being driven around by their carers? Perhaps there is another way...?
Hi Bungle, I saw you follow-up comment. I can't imaging there's a tolerance of 4 seconds on camera enforced lights, seems an odd decision - an offence is committed if a vehicle starts crossing on a red, any tolerance is discretionary. There does seem to be some odd thinking about 'advanced stop lines' where the rules relating to them are identical to a regular stop line, as explained correctly elsewhere in the Highway Code. It does seem a regular offence. Where I live it doesn't help that some of them are very faint and disappear in rain.
@ktache Not sure he's totally ruled out of the worlds yet (though I think it would be best if he doesn't), normal recovery time is about eight weeks but surgery can halve that...depending on the nature of the break he could be just about fit to ride by the time of the elite men's race, but he'll have missed a lot of training. Hopefully his managers and team will persuade him to wait until Lombardia, if not just to knock it off for the rest of the year.
@Bungle_52 The Met told me a couple of years ago when rejecting a submission that they needed a clear three seconds of red visible before they would consider it for an RLJ prosecution. I pointed out to them that this meant that at 30 mph a driver could see a light change to red from 40 metres away and still get through without sanction, or 55 m if they accelerated to 40 as most do. They just replied "them's our rules..."
@Ben Graham I have just checked the footage from my report. The driver crosses the 1st stop line 4 seconds after the light turns red. All on camera from behind the vehicle. No further action. So I assume the margin is at least 4 seconds.
Oh, and active travel funding per head (in England at least) is laughable compared to other places. Plus it is delivered intermittently. It's more like a Blue Peter contest...
Yup, I see those opportunities being missed all the time in Edinburgh. When it gets really bad, dig it all up and put it back down again how it was. Contrast with what seems to happen in NL - when things are dug up the whole thing seems to get a "let's redo this according to the current standards" treatment. They even coordinate with the utilities, so that after a refurb the street isn't immediately dug up again because of leaking pipes / we suddenly realised the new estate being planned for round the corner will want broadband etc. Pros and cons of course - you may wait longer there for changes as smaller changes may be deferred until a major redo is due. (Though in the UK case you likely wouldn't get them at all...) It seems we "can't have nice things" in the UK in part because a) we have greater motor traffic speeds/volumes spead across "streets" / within urban areas b) the funding and organisational responsibility differs. Are we in the "Sam Vimes boots" territory (being too poor to afford better products which not only save money over time but actually work)? There is long term money pressure on LAs and it seems that due to poor construction and maintenance we have to regularly pour money into (pot-)holes in the road. And it seems there's no budget to check up on or enforce adequate standards from utilities work or even private building.
22 thoughts on “YouTubers try cycling across England in a straight line… and end up hating Halfords and National Cycle Network; 250 miles, 10,500m of climbing and 50 leg-shredding hills — Yorkshire cyclist’s “mad” day out; Workplace bike sheds + more on the live blog”
I wish there was somewhere
I wish there was somewhere which actually showed where this blockage is and an actual map of the diversion for the Greenway. I’ll likely be using it in the next week and I’d really like to plan my route.
EDIT. Found a map and the diversion. That’s f-ing awful. I’ll avoid the route entirely, there is no safe diversion possible for that section.
https://www.newhamcyclists.org.uk/greenway-update-closure-postponed-to-02-09-24/
Hi, in case this helps: https
Hi, in case this helps: https://www.thameswater.co.uk/about-us/projects/improvements-in-your-area/manor-road-bridge-improvements#:~:text=The%20Greenway%20public%20footpath%20at,services%20for%20millions%20of%20customers.
Thanks. I can see Newham
Thanks. I can see Newham cyclists concern. The bridge over Abbey Road DLR is very narrow and the drivers in that car-centric area of London can be very aggresive. There really is no viable alternative diversion, at that section, if you use the Greenway.
Have to admit that I always
Have to admit that I always hate road closures where you can see the other end of the closure but still have to go all around the houses to avoid it (quite literally, in this case…).
Not wishing to be too cynical
Not wishing to be too cynical, but does the 200% increase mean that 3 people cycle to work instead of 1?
I was just going to ask the
I was just going to ask the same.
Like some of the Cycling
Like some of the Cycling England reports of the early noughties, which proudly claimed similar for their ‘Cycling Demonstration Towns’. They were starting from a base of 0.1% :-/
However, in this case and actual facilities I think every little helps, from ‘small acorns’ and all that.
There appear to be seven
There appear to be seven spaces, so assuming those who already cycled are happy to continue to despite not being able to use it, it could have gone from as much as 3 to 9.
And looks like the wrong type
And looks like the wrong type of racks in the shed…
ErnieC wrote:
Oh god I just noticed that!
I’d love to see itemised
I’d love to see itemised receipts for these extortionately priced cycle sheds that keep popping up in the stories on here.
Whilst I suspect that price
Whilst I suspect that price does include some Grantflation (or what ever its called), that price also includes the EV charging points and is hopefully mainly high because its the quality needed to deter scrotes and make staff feel safe about leaving their bikes there.
£14,000 for completely
£14,000 for completely covered and secure shelter. Room for what looks like at least 6 bikes. That’s a rate of £3,000 per bike without factoring other work that has taken place. A good return on investment compared to the Irish Government spending nearly 100x that amount for bike storage outside their Parliament building – that is open to the elements and has a capacity for 18 bikes.
There has been no indication of the size of company’s workforce, so even finite figures may not be helpful.
It looks like a scheme done reasonably well. It has limitations (cargo or adaptive bikes won’t fit, fixed panniers may also be a struggle) but it mostly is fit for purpose and has persuaded people to ditch the car for commuting. It’s much better than what some are doing.
That’s 36 bikes on 18
That’s 36 bikes on 18 Sheffield stands.
And whilst the the cheaper shed looks impressive, there doesn’t appear to be an easy way to lock up the frame.
Exactly – isn’t it likely to
Exactly – isn’t it likely to be (eg) £12,000 for a couple of commercial grade EV charging points and then whatever was left paid for the bike shed?
In case people haven’t heard
In case people haven’t heard about this…
“NYC Speed Limit To Be Reduced As Low As 10MPH On Certain Streets”
https://secretnyc.co/nyc-speed-limit-lowered-20mph/
Imagine the uproar in certain corners here…
mitsky wrote:
For safety purposes, I’d suggest even slower on corners
A rather misleading headline
A rather misleading headline on the cost of the bike shelter.
Just looked at the website
Just looked at the website for that “musical” Tegan Phillips – landing page says, “
Quote:
Given Mr Walker’s infamous faceplant on a roundabout in Sheffield last year, that could have been better phrased – or are you being mischevious?
YouTubers try cycling across
YouTubers try cycling across England in a straight line…
A testament to youthful foolishness and the effects of failing to plan properly. Not really much Halfords could do when a couple of really cheap bikes turn up needing a complete rebuild: and they still wouldn’t have been fit for purpose.
TBF it’s all for views innit.
TBF it’s all for views innit.
Their channel is actually OK. The on foot straight line missions (these guys, but Geo Wizard’s content in particular) are pretty good watching.