“I’m done with the internet for the year”: Cyclists despair at Facebook “hack” claiming you can ditch your pump and instead inflate tyres with a syringe; Jeremy Vine’s cycling new year’s resolution; Festive 500… in one ride + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Jeremy Vine reveals his new year's resolution is "not to get cross when I'm cycling and drivers do things like this", after latest cycle lane incident
My new year’s resolution is not to get cross when I’m cycling and drivers do things like this.
🎥Filmed 31.12.24 #HappyNewYear2025 pic.twitter.com/IH21aFFQoA
— Jeremy Vine | thejeremyvine.bsky.social (@theJeremyVine) January 1, 2025
2024 wouldn’t have been complete without one final Jeremy Vine video perfectly summing up some of the dangers and annoyances cyclists face riding every day in urban areas such as London. In this case it was a van driver turning across a cycle lane, not giving the rider priority as the Highway Code advises, the incident fortunately just about only resulting in a case of inconvenience and Vine having to turn off the route, rather than what could have happened if he was a couple of seconds further along the cycle lane.
The video then reveals the broadcaster was riding his penny farthing and Vine stops for a word with the driver of the van, who suggests he had seen the rider and it was safe. Anyway, one wave and an apology later and Vine was back on his penny farthing, explaining the apology “means everything” and elaborating that “if somebody even just waves an apology, it’s all fine”.
The video has been viewed more than a million times on Twitter/X, most of the comments really not worth getting into. Anyway, Vine has made it his new year’s resolution “to not to get cross when I’m cycling and drivers do things like this”, and fingers crossed some others have made it theirs to not do those aforementioned things that caused the video…
2024: The year of air-filled aero backpacks, crank length debates, falling bike prices and Tadej Pogačar
If you want to stay in 2024 for a few moments longer, here’s our round-up of all the biggest cycling stories of the past 12 months.
Plenty of mentions of a certain Slovenian cyclist in there. Ryan has taken a look at the history books and asked: ‘Was Tadej Pogačar’s 2024 the best season ever?’
Elsewhere on the site over Christmas, Rebecca rounded up all the best (and some more questionable) tech we saw in 2024.
But what’s coming next? Here are Emily’s tech predictions for 2025, including hookless wheels being here to stay, the return of full-fat aero bikes, and the rise of Chinese direct-to-consumer bikes. Chinese bikes made an impression on Jamie last year too, here are 10 things he learnt whilst making 101 cycling videos in 2024.
Completing Rapha's Festive 500 in one ride
Before Christmas we shared Lloyd Collier’s story with you on the live blog. Well, he was one of a group of riders to complete the Festive 500 in a single ride at Herne Hill Velodrome over the festive break. Chapeau, that’s a lot of laps… more than 1,000 in fact.
Lloyd was riding in memory of Annette ‘Netty’ Collier who sadly took her own life last year. He raised funds for the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance who attempted to save Netty that day.
“Each time the helicopter flies it costs almost £3,000, with EHAAT’s monthly total cost coming to approximately £1,000,000,” Lloyd told us. “They rely solely on charitable donations so I’m hoping to raise enough funds for their next three or four missions — wouldn’t it be wonderful if, with funds raised in memory of Netty, they can get to the next Netty, or Hetty, or Harry, in time.
“The family and I ask that her death also be a rallying call to all of us to be vigilant to our loved ones and their state of mind — a fleeting moment of weakness can last forever.”
The fundraiser had already hit the £6,000 mark before Christmas and is now at £9,200, approaching double the original target.. You can read more about Netty’s story, Essex & Herts Air Ambulance’s work, and donate to the fundraiser here.
"Could be wrong, but I reckon this is probably the bike light I ordered"
New year = new kits
All those riders who are changing teams for 2025 have finally been unleashed from the shackles of their old kits and bikes. No longer will they have to litter the team training camp with their old team’s colours, the new year means contracts are up and riders free to wear their new squad’s kit. In British national champ Ethan Hayter’s case, that means this Union Jack lid too.
You really have to wonder why Ineos missed a trick and didn’t get him blinged up on Alan Sugar’s Pinarello last season?
Apologies for reminding you of that picture’s existence.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot also has a new team, the former world champ switching to Visma-Lease a Bike’s yellow.
It’s the same kit as last year, the team prioritising “reinforcing the recognisability” and building the “brand”.
Parent company of Raleigh and Lapierre claims "recovery well on track" despite 10 per cent drop in revenue
Accell Group posted a 10 per cent drop in revenue in its finalised 2023 accounts, Bike Europe reported. The business, which owns Lapierre, Raleigh and numerous other bike brands, is “well on track” to recovery, according to its CEO Tjeerd Jegen.
“2024 was a challenging year for both the bike industry and Accell,” he said. “However, we’ve normalised stock levels, made significant progress with our recapitalisation and are proud to see one of the key Accell brands, Lapierre, return to the UCI World Tour. As we look ahead, we are well positioned to benefit from the favourable macro trends and continue building on this momentum in the new year.
“All brands now benefit from joint stock management, and the stock levels of finished bikes, which peaked at the end of 2023, have now been brought back to normalised pre-Covid levels. The majority of the stock now consists of models produced in the past year. The inventory of parts and accessories had been brought back to normalised levels earlier in the year. We see sales to customers in our key markets increasing again.”
In June, Accell’s credit rating was downgraded for fourth time in a year, the blow coming at the same time that the group’s cargo bike company Babboe was criticised for a “shambles” recall of faulty frames.
The group also made job cuts to streamline its European production, with two facilities merging and some production relocated to Hungary and Turkey. In October, the major Dutch cycling company did hint at its recovery, Accell reporting that parts and accessories inventory is already back to normal and bike inventory levels are expected to reach the same point by the end of 2024.
Cyclists warned about fake Rapha site offering "too good to be true" deals
> Cyclists warned about fake Rapha site offering “too good to be true” deals
"The 1,500 hours a year of team manager duties became hard to mix with actual work": Two more British domestic teams close
The Cycling Academy, a Scottish-based racing team, will not be continuing in 2025. Sharing the news on social media, The Cycling Academy highlighted the end of its deal with Arnold Clark and “the 1,500 hours a year of team manager duties” becoming “hard to mix with actual work”.
The post continued: “Four brilliant seasons on the tarmac, mud and wood delivered loads of Scottish Champs, Scotland’s first British Junior Road Champ and some nice podiums in the UK and Europe. We also nudged some riders down the line of pro careers, enjoyed some proper digging in, and benefited from an amazing group staff and volunteers. Spending time with young folks striving in the worlds hardest sport is an incredible privilege and unbeatable experience.”
The British Continental also noted the closure of West Yorkshire-based A.Fawcett Racing.
"The bike industry will not get better this year": Brompton profits nosedive by over 99 per cent amid "really sad state of affairs"
"Really disappointing": Mathieu van der Poel's injury problems continue, cyclocross world champ out of tomorrow's action at Koksijde
Mathieu van der Poel’s ongoing rib problems have caused him to withdraw from tomorrow’s cross in Koksijde. Alpecin Deceuninck said it is also unclear if he’ll be fit to ride the World Cup round at Dendermonde on Sunday, a decision on his fitness to be made on Saturday.
“This is really disappointing because Koksijde is one of my favorite races,” Van der Poel said. “It’s where I won my first world title, but it’s just too soon. I hope to be ready for Dendermonde, although I fear it will be a close call.”
"I'm done with the internet for the year": Cyclists despair at Facebook "hack" claiming you can ditch your pump and instead inflate tyres with a syringe
It’s only day two but this ‘genius hack’ doing the rounds on Facebook already left one cyclist “done with the internet for the year”. We were having a scroll when the video popped up. It appears to have been re-shared from somewhere else, but shows how cyclists can (supposedly) ditch their pump and instead inflate tyres using… a syringe. Very handy for pro racers of a certain era…
Apologies, we can’t embed the vid, so click here if you want to endure it in its entirety, or just accept these equally baffling screenshots…
Anyway, the comments section is what makes all this really worth it. There’s a peloton’s worth of exasperated people having some fun… roll the comments…
“I love these ‘internet genius’ posts. Just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you SHOULD.”
“Finally a good use for those discarded EPO syringes. Recycling is good.”
“I’d rather walk.”
“4.3 PSI”
“If you were shooting for dumbest video of the day you are right up there in the top three.”
Now we really want to see the other two videos…
Others made the shocking claim that instead of bringing all your kit and modifying a syringe at the roadside, you could just buy a pump. Nah, that’ll never catch on. Whoever made the video probably thought it would be one of those ‘fun’ social media videos that gets a silly amount of views, instead it’s just being roasted in cycling groups on Facebook. You win some, you lose some.
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Latest Comments
"attributed by experts", yeah sure, ok! Citing 8 year out of date per capita figures shows the weakness of your argument. Here's a couple of reasons I believe that the Netherlands fatality rate might be higher than the UK (independent of the crappy Dutch infrastructure), none of which you and Chrisonatrike suggested or mentioned: 1) not enough people wearing helmets in Netherlands. All sane people know that wearing a cycling helmet can potentially save lives, yet the Dutch seem to think themselves too special to wear one. Despite the fact the Netherlands has a superior privatised health system compared to our rotten, inefficient NHS, post-crash options are limited for people with severe head trauma which will inevitable lead to increased fatalities in the Netherlands. 2) Risk compensation by drivers and cyclists. Cyclists are lulled into a false sense of security thinking that segregated cycle lanes are their special infrastructure which insulate them from accidents. They don't. Then, car drivers take more risks due to increased congestion caused by the same cycling infrastructure, leading to a double-whammy of risky behaviour. 3) Cultural issues. People in the UK are renowned for their stiff upper lip, stoic, courteous behaviour. They naturally protect more vulnerable road users. I, myself, had a magnificent cycling experience earlier today on the local country lanes, waving and saying hello to the locals and cyclists alike. There really isn't a place like the UK (well, outside London anyway) that matches our hospitality and camaraderie. P.s. I'm not sure who Nigel is, I assumed you meant Nigel Farage but I can assure you I'm not him and that he has more pressing things to do than write responses on a cycling website. I hope that's helped your understanding a little, and enabled you to think a little independently rather than just suck in information that self-described "experts" want you to believe. Oh and Norway et Al are terrible comparators as hardly anyone lives there (and who'd want to to be honest? Lol!)
Yup. The UK has latterly tried add the safety back in after it was lost for vulnerable road users. (And after giving all the direct routes / valuable space over to motoring). But it's offering a modicum more safety in return for them losing a lot more convenience - so that has been reducing the "problem" also! Plus we lean heavily on "but people can be trusted to be reasonable" and "for any misbehaviour police it better". Unfortunately those are not good assumptions or choices for safety in a motornormative environment. (And road policing isn't a priority anyway). NL isn't the only place in Europe they've realised that mass motoring the old way is unsustainable (for lots of reasons). They're just the furthest on. In NL they still have some challenges because the (larger - thanks US!) car strikes back, and there are some questions about the impact of e-things. But they're *still* investing in improvements, and proportionally significantly more than the UK, even though they're already far ahead...
The Stockton Hub which I used occasionally (I don't live in Stockton) was open only during standard office hours, Mondays to Fridays, rendering it useless for families and leisure cyclists. It's a standard problem for a lot of government-funded or charity-run public services which close when many people most need them, presumably because staffing costs would rise substantially. The article also mentions cycle hubs in Redcar and Darlington which, so far as I can tell, have never existed.
Ho ho ho! No, we need to stop these idiotic cyclists completely (or limit them to velodromes, parks and maybe "rail trails") - that way there won't be any cyclist road fatalities! Simples! Meanwhile in many parts ofEurope they're finding the benefits of making it such that lots of people don't use cars for every journey - by fixing it so it's convenient and increasingly safe - despite much larger numbers of people getting around outside of cars than in the UK...
The fatality rate in the UK has fallen five years in a row during a period, starting with the Covid years, in which building of "idiotic Dutch roundabouts and segregated cycling infrastructure" has massively increased, so in fact using your own benchmark the statistics clearly show the benefits of increased cycling infrastructure. Not quite the gotcha you seem to think when viewed through non-troll lenses, Nige. The stupidity of your "argument" is further clearly illustrated by the fact that the list-topping Norway, Sweden and Denmark all have massive segregated cycling networks. The Dutch model used to demonstrate clearly the safer nature of the Dutch system, e.g. in 2018 the Netherlands had 8 fatalities per billion kms ridden compared to 21 in the UK; the primary reason for the increased fatality rates in the Netherlands has been attributed by experts to the massive uptake in ebikes (47% of new bikes sold in NL are now ebikes compared to 10% in the UK), particularly amongst the older population, nothing to do with the infrastructure.
It used to be great price this, but they played the ace marketing card and got the popularity and now...
Many thanks for posting these statistics and showing the downward trend in fatalities. One thing that stood out for me when clicking through to the government statistics page is the UK's exemplary record on this Vs other European countries, especially the much-vaunted record of The Netherlands, which actually shows twice as many fatalities as the UK per million of the population. The question that arises is therefore: why are the greens and other left-wing parties so keen to adopt an inferior and more dangerous road system when ours is obviously working well? It smacks of a need to regulate people's lives and curtail freedom. We need to stop these idiotic Dutch roundabouts and segregated cycling infrastructure, and get people sharing the road in a fair and equal manner, when the statistics show it's safer to do so. (Chart shows road fatalities per million population)
That's where the convertible aspect comes in. I've got a gravel bike but the canal I sometimes commute on has roots under the tarmac and barriers. The mtb with 'drops' is more comfortable for this and fits through the barriers. If I want to do something more technical I can put the flat bars on.
@FionaJJ These officers deployed next-level stupidity, and it must be difficult for the police to find people this dim. It doesn't even need rolling-roads or whatever, just a reputable bike computer on a quickly changed mount for the difficult cases where a proper EAPC has been modded, although you would need to look hard in Lancashire to find a police officer who knows how to make a pedal cycle go. Most illegal electric motorbikes are immediately obvious, not least because the crim is wearing a face mask. I saw an obvious one tonight coming out of Garstang Sainsbury's, not pedalling but without a face mask because everybody knows that the police only come into the town to hide away in the police station 200 yards away.
36 thoughts on ““I’m done with the internet for the year”: Cyclists despair at Facebook “hack” claiming you can ditch your pump and instead inflate tyres with a syringe; Jeremy Vine’s cycling new year’s resolution; Festive 500… in one ride + more on the live blog”
Quote:
Do they usually ship them with batteries included/charged?
Normally the battery will
Normally the battery will have some charge before the item is packaged and shipped, at least for items with a built in rechargeable battery.
But aren’t they usually
But aren’t they usually packed in such a way that they can’t just switch on in transit – not just shoved in a jiffy bag?
brooksby wrote:
I’m sure that there was nothing in the jiffy bag, there was never anything in Team Sky’s jiffy bags….
Of course it is company
Of course, it is company policy never to imply ownership in the event of a bike light, you always have use the indefinite article, “a bike light”, never “your bike light.”
Is it just me who thinks that
Is it just me who thinks that Jeremy Vine is a bit of an attention seeker and that he actually likes it when people drive dangerously around him. Why else ride a Penny Farthing?
Glad it’s not just me who
Glad it’s not just me who thinks that he is an attention seeker.
It tells you something that
It tells you something that the design of bicycle that followed the Penny Farthing was known as the Safety-bicycle due to the smaller wheel size that a chain and gears permitted while maintaining a similar speed.
Riding a bike like that is a gimmick. Modern bike infrastructure and roads are not designed for a bike that has such a long stopping distance and wide turning circle.
bensynnock wrote:
The safety bicycle moniker came about because it greatly reduced the risk of “taking a header” by shifting the centre of mass rearwards.
no its all about the
no its all about the attention clicks, 1million views for a 30 sec clip on social media ?, thats probably more viewers than he gets for his Channel 5 show. Most of the situations he clips, are all predictable, that I think any reasonably experienced road cyclist handles & avoids without thinking about.
and its not just the Penny Farthing, where you need to be planning more ahead anyway, he does it just as often on his commuter bike.
Not sure all is right. Partly
Not sure all is right. Partly an extension of his work that you look to put out a bit of clickbait. Some of it is to remind drivers (or even inform them) of what the rules of the road are – where else will they see this?
A penny farthing is bonkers though.
He does us no favours. It was
He does us no favours. It was clear the van wanted to turn in(they indicated) he should have started slowing and anticipated the manoeuvre. As for commuting on a PF. ?
Yeah … only, I’ve heard
Yeah, and as a “personality at large” no doubt he is seeking attention … only, I’ve heard that people don’t just buy cars on the grounds of practicality, durability etc. (see Stormzy story)?
Never had a chance to try a highwheeler (but would…) and I wouldn’t imagine it would be my go-to for commuting and shopping if I had one, but on the other hand I have a recumbent. And in fact a bike with drop bars – i must be a scorcher!
In fact, by cycling for transport I’m also an attention-seeker in many people’s eyes. I have a driving licence; why don’t I just drive like normal people?
Runtilyoudrop wrote:
Indicating does not give you any right of way over any other vehicle.
Runtilyoudrop wrote:
From Cyclecraft (Chapter 6: Sharing The Roads)
Cyclists, if anything have
Cyclists, if anything have MORE right to be on the road than drivers given we aren’t required to pass a test to do so.
If anything I think JV was a bit too soft on the driver for apologising.
The driver admitting to seeing JV and still turned left (cut him up) anyway.
The most usefull way to consider this situation is would the driver have done the same thing if the bike lane was instead a normal traffic lane open to motor vehicles with the van driver in the 2nd lane?
No. It would have been a definite cut up and at least a minor fault on a driving test if not a dangerous fault leading to failure.
CycleGaz’s recent clips showing a motor vehicle dashboard overlay highlight this very well.
mitsky wrote:
I think (IIRC) that cyclists, pedestrians, and horsists have a common law right to be on the road; motorists are only there under licence.
Yes… some truth there given
Yes… some truth there given that I was urged during my driving lessons to adopt a confident approach and move forward (when safe and appropriate to do so) as all the other drivers were expecting that …
BUT while having good “survival advice” given car-infested streets Cyclecraft is also coming from a particular viewpoint (ultimately a movement coming from US reaction against car-centricity – by aiming to ride … like a car). The most fundamental thing in that viewpoint seems to be not safety and certainly not “more people riding” but the right to ride on the road. Never mind that almost the entire population don’t, and won’t, and even fewer existing cyclists will ride on busy A-roads etc.
And it contains some startling things – when you consider this is a guide used for educating for “everyday transport” (children also?). See e.g. this article: quoting the “basic cycling skill” of “a good cadence to aim for is about 80, while a sprint speed of 32 km/h (20 mph) will enable you to tackle most traffic situations with ease.”
‘Vehicular cyclists’ like
‘Vehicular cyclists’ like Franklin and Forester have probably done more than anyone to hold back cycling in the Anglosphere.
In the vast majority of these
In the vast majority of these bike cam skirmishes (and in a similar % of car dashcam videos), the outcome is blatant from early on, and the “film director” does sod all to stop it. Situations are allowed to develop so we can all tut & sigh & raise our ire. More often than not, a simple “Oh, that van is pulling out across the cycle lane half a block ahead”, or “that van is signalling a turn across the cycle lane” followed by “Maybe I better slow down and be prepapred for stupidity” would probably make these videos pointless. Very few of these skirmishes come from nowhere and toally blindside anyone. JV seems to delight in pushing the envelope on these encounters, and even when on something as unwieldly as an ordinary takes no avoiding actions until very late in the game
But not close passes though?
But not close passes though?
Not a fan of the JV oeuvre so if you’re only referring to him, disregard above.
In the vast majority of these
In the vast majority of these bike cam skirmishes (and in a similar % of car dashcam videos), the outcome is blatant from early on…
Very few of these skirmishes come from nowhere and totally blindside anyone…
I disagree- most of mine do
https://upride.cc/incident/mt17ybj_navara_closepass/
https://upride.cc/incident/ca11abd_blackpoolboilers_closepass/
https://upride.cc/incident/yx74soj_greenpass_closepass/
https://upride.cc/incident/sc19usu_brosterbuilders_closepass/
https://upride.cc/incident/sk19evw_stagecoach42_closepass/ etc. etc.
bensynnock wrote:
Either way, too many folks don’t understand that having your indicators on does not give you permission to do anything.
belugabob wrote:
Yes, and the van driver should have been more observant and waited, but as with all forms of transport, a bit of give and take helps the world go round. Some drivers are happy to slow down a bit to ensure the gap in front is big enough to let a car exit a side street, and some will deliberately accelerate to close any such gap. As much as there are times when it is important to be confident enough to assert our priority, sometimes it’s better to do the easy nice thing.
I accept Vine is who he is and what he is, and that he loves the drama, but if he is going to post videos of wrong-doing with a view to educating the public on safer driving, it would land better if he showed any anticipation skills of his own. If he fees like it, he can still point out when he’s been inconvenienced by being forced to slow down, but a bit of minor inconvenience is a price most of us accept as soon as we enter shared spaces.
FionaJJ wrote:
The cycle lane Vine was in was not a shared space. It was for cyclists only.
FionaJJ wrote:
In many of his videos, and many others posted in NMOTD, it’s not being “inconvenienced by being forced to slow down” but “forced to emergency brake or swerve to avoid being injured or killed”, which is not a minor inconvenience and not one that anyone should have to accept.
FionaJJ wrote:
When people on road matters talk about “give and take”, it almost always seems to be the cyclist or other vulnerable road user who’s expected to do the ‘giving’…
Quote:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/02/stormzy-given-ban-for-using-phone-while-driving-rolls-royce
Amazing – the fact that he
Amazing – the fact that he actually got a ban having achieved the correct score (when thousands don’t) is enough to prompt suspicions of prejudice!
Or did he err in failing to employ that well- known cycle-skeptical self-publicist – sorry, lawyer?
There’s a correlation between
There’s a correlation between the cost of the car and the arrogance of the driver and how often such drivers are caught phone driving.
100%.
Just ask CyclingMikey.
100%.
Just ask CyclingMikey.
eburtthebike wrote:
Really? Prove it. Confirmation bias at its finest.
Really? Prove it.
Really? Prove it. Confirmation bias at its finest
This ‘confirmation bias’ stuff is usually deployed to support the hypothesis that BMW and Audi drivers are no more likely to be psychopathic nutters than drivers of other marques- Ho! Ho! There are some limited one-person data on this later hypothesis: catching HHMP drivers is difficult up here because there are very few traffic queues except at the A6 traffic lights where I attempt to remain incognito, so you have to have exactly the right lighting to catch offenders on the move. Even so I have ‘caught’ 4 offenders in the 6 years I have had the headcam. Under the reasonable assumption that the probability of me catching offenders is dependent upon the product of the probabilty of any random car being of the marque concerned and the probability of the driver of such a vehicle committing the offence we’re considering (all reports ignored, of course)
https://upride.cc/incident/yh66utp_audia1_handheldmobile/ Audi
https://upride.cc/incident/kd10wer_porsche_mobilephone/ Porsche
https://upride.cc/incident/ld71uom_amazonprime_handheldmobilephone/
https://upride.cc/incident/pk55fxa_focus_handheldmobilephone/
The last two are Fords, representing the common people against the toffs/ nutters, although I think the Amazon offender really represents van-drivers rather than Ford.
After extensive data
After extensive data gathering i can confirm that BMWs and Audis are not equipped with indicators
Brompton profits have fallen
Brompton profits have fallen by 99%! – https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/02/brompton-profits-plunge-amid-bike-industry-turmoil
You beat me to it! I just
You beat me to it! I just logged in to post this.