Adam Blythe clocks 136.9km/h; We Don’t Want No Cycle Paths Here: The must-hear No.1 hit of the summer; ‘Britain’s biggest bike lane’ council awarded more infra funds; AJ’s pro cycling agency; Carol Kirkwood recalls collision trauma + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
We Don't Want No Cycle Paths Here: The must-hear No.1 hit of the summer
Eurovision 2022? Christmas number one? Glastonbury headliner? The sky is the limit for Judy’s catchy cycle path song. The critics will no doubt gush over the ‘hard-hitting social commentary inspired by pervasive anti-cycling sentiment in 21st century post-lockdown Britain’.
It’s the best musical achievement we’ve covered on the blog since Australian cyclist Cyrus Monk spent his hotel quarantine recreating Darude’s memetastic song Sandstorm using a Tacx Neo smart trainer.
I really don’t know what else to say. Just try not to get it stuck in your head all weekend…
Back in 2016 we asked you for your favourite songs about bikes and cycling…check out the top 20 ft. Pink Floyd, Queen and Kraftwerk…Where would ‘We Don’t Want No Cycle Paths Here’ rank?
A video of Wimborne cycle lane submitted by a reader
A couple of minutes into this video submitted by a reader you get a first-person look at the new Wimborne cycle lane in all its glory next to a normal-looking two-lane road.
Gaz told us: “It’s great! people will always moan about anything bicycle related. Why can’t they see what a stupendous invention it is when catered for correctly?”
Primal releases charity jersey with Jeremiah's Journey to support Plymouth-based children's bereavement charity
Primal has released a charity jersey in the wake of the terrible events in the brand’s home city of Plymouth last week. In collaboration with Jeremiah’s Journey, all profits from the limited-edition jersey will go directly to supporting their work. The Plymouth-based children’s bereavement charity has offered free support to local children and young people for the past 25 years. The £39.99 men’s and women’s jerseys include the charity’s name and logo.
Don't underestimate the amount of tech that can be squeezed into a cap...MAAP teams up with New Era on new waterproof number
MAAP has teamed up with New Era to make a new Prime Rain Cap designed for surprise, surprise, riding in wet conditions. Handy if you live in the UK. The first collaboration, the Stealth Performance Cap, sold out within a week so they’ve come together again for another design. This time using Polartec NeoShell fabric for waterproof protection, but without sacrificing breathability.
MAAP says this one is perfect for wet weather conditions and features thermo welded and taped seams, reflective graphics and an elasticated internal sweatband. The brand’s design manager Craig Coetsee is pleased with the final product, saying it strikes the right balance between innovation and classic workmanship.
FuroSystems electric bikes and scooters manufacturer becomes the first brand of its kind to accept cryptocurrency payment
E-bike and e-scooter manufacturer FuroSystems is the first company of its kind to make its products available to purchase using cryptocurrencies. Customers can pay for products using Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin and Furo is working with Coinbase to ensure funds can be transferred safely.
In the case of a refund, customers will be returned the volume of coins used in the initial purchase, accounting for price volatility up to 0.5 per cent. Customers will not be charged for price changes between transactions beginning and completing.
Company CEO Eliott Wetheimer said the brand sees many similarities between the shift to micro-mobility and interest in cryptocurrencies. “E-bikes and e-scooters are the next-generation transport modes and are key to creating healthier, less congested cities,” he said. “At the same time, demand is rising for cryptocurrencies and we think they will play an important role in the future of payments. We want to empower everyone to participate in the micro-mobility revolution.”
Hugh Carthy abandons Vuelta a España
Hugh Carthy has abandoned the Vuelta. What a shame.
— Orla Chennaoui (@SportsOrla) August 20, 2021
Last year’s podium finisher Hugh Carthy has abandoned the Vuelta a España during stage seven. Carthy had already lost 4:28 to red jersey Primož Roglič before today and stepped off his bike with 64km to go on one of the first major mountain days of the race.
We’ll keep you updated on any words of explanation from the Preston-born climber or EF Education-Nippo as we get it…
Adam Blythe clocks 136km/h
There it is…136.9kmph pic.twitter.com/iz8QdSaoMD
— Adam Blythe (@AdamBlythe89) August 20, 2021
Wowzers. How’s your nerve? Anything close to 80km/h and I’m usually nervously glancing down at the Garmin, twitching for the brakes. Adam Blythe shared the pic on Twitter showing his head unit reading of 136km/h (85mph)…the retired pro normally uploads his rides to Strava, but we’ve not seen this one yet. We’ll keep an eye out.
Some in the replies were jokingly concerned for his max heart rate…others in admiration of ‘fuck yeah’ mode…I’d hazard a guess at 85mph your heart rate might just jump up a bit…
Mainly people just wanted to know where in the UK you can hit such ridiculous speeds. Somewhere in the South West we suspect as Blythe is currently on screen for GCN’s Vuelta coverage from Bath. Or is it an old pic from his racing days? We need answers, Adam.
Watching Vuelta highlights on Eurosport. Adam Blythe wearing tasseled loafers, ankle swinging trousers and a leopard print shirt. His bottom half screams “FX trader in Sushi Samba”, his top half’s trying to get a modelling contract. pic.twitter.com/tgGyZLRZFL
— Gary Lager (@Garrardinho) August 19, 2021
I guess the obvious question is what’s the fastest speed you’ve ever hit on two wheels?
Fastest ever for me was 115kmh off the Col de la Ramaz – I actually have sweaty palms typing it, even now. Definitely f*&kno! mode. Can’t imagine going faster. 137km is insane. 👏
— Phil Allan (@Philipsallan) August 20, 2021
Alejandro Valverde crashes out of the Vuelta a España
Alejandro Valverde, helped by Chente to climb off his bike, abandons the Vuelta. A heartbreaking image. 💔 #LaVuelta21 pic.twitter.com/SBQc5piuWe
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) August 20, 2021
Alejandro Valverde has followed Hugh Carthy out of the Vuelta this afternoon following a heavy crash on a descent. The former world champ hit a bump, regained control before sliding out on the bend. Valverde slid across the road and down the side of a slope and had to be helped back up to his bike. He soldiered on for several kilometres before calling it a day, visibly upset as he stood at the side of the road.
A heartbreaking moment for Alejandro Valverde 💔
The 41-year-old is forced to abandon his home Grand Tour after a devastating crash on Stage 7 🇪🇸#LaVuelta21 pic.twitter.com/NKQuHrZWuM
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) August 20, 2021
Hundreds of cyclists attend 'die in' in Exeter to call for safety improvements
Around 200 cyclists attended a die in in Exeter on Thursday evening to protest for changes following the death of 53-year-old Maria Perez-Gonzalez two weeks ago. Perez-Gonzalez died in hospital following a collision with a BMW driver at around 8.35pm on Saturday 7 August. A 21-year-old man from Plymouth was arrested on suspicion of driving while unfit through drink/drugs and later released under investigation.
Mike Walton of the Exeter Cycling Campaign said the die in aimed to “underline how vulnerable our roads can be for people walking and cycling”. He told Planet Radio: “The aim is to show our sadness at this unnecessary loss, to challenge the normalisation of the death and injury we see on our roads and to repeat our simple calls that driver lawlessness and inattention must stop, that all journeys for people cycling should be safe and that active travel must be adequately funded.”
20 August 2021, 08:03
20 August 2021, 08:03
20 August 2021, 08:03
20 August 2021, 08:03
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Latest Comments
The defence may well have argued that, and the magistrate may have accepted it, but that's not what the law says. It says that you have only driven without reasonable consideration for others if someone is inconvenienced. But the offence is committed if you drive without due care and attention, OR without reasonable consideration for other person. You have done the first if the driving falls below what would be expected of a careful and competent driver, regardless of whether anyone was inconvenienced. And CPS guidance specifically cites driving too close to another vehicle as an example.
Some years ago (before there was a cycle lane) I used to commute on Sidmouth St. But only because I worked on the London Road campus, from anywhere else there are better alternatives. As a cycle route it runs from between two busy roads, neither of which are exactly cycle friendly. So it's hardly surprising that no cyclists use it.
The officer's comments unfortunately reflect the reality of UK law. While the Highway Code guidance indeed refers to 1.5m, that is not anywhere in the law. And the criteria in law for proving a charge of careless driving does in fact rest on whether the rider is being "inconvenienced", as the discovered several years ago when the Met prosecuted a taxi driver who nearly hit me when cutting into my lane from the left near Marylebone. The prosecution lawyer was a barely competent newbie who fumbled over his words. The court computer was barely capable of playing the video footage, which kept freezing and crashing. The cabbie had an highly assertive defence lawyer who immediately seized on this point, and argued to the magistraite that I clearly hadn't been "inconvenienced" because I had not stopped or swerved, and had carried on my journey. Never mind that didn't have time to do either of those things, or that I was centimetres from being hit - the magistraite acquitted him on those grounds. That is unfortunately the outrageous reality of actually prosecuting a close pass incident. I know it's popular to blame the police and the CPS for not prosecuting enough close passes ... but the fact is the law is inadequate, and if the driver has a good lawyer then they can likely get off most close pass prosecutions.
Let's not forget the protruding "side" mirror...
HTML rules are clearly only partially implemented
please can we have the ability to use bold and italics for emphasis back as well?
As a Reading resident and cyclist, I can say I cannot think of a single occasion when I have seen a cyclist using the Sidmouth St cycle lane, nor can I think of any reason I'd use it myself. It doesn't connect to any other useful cycle routes. I don't rejoice that some of it is going back to motor traffic but I can see why the council is proposing to do that. Reading could really do with a cycleway to cross the town centre west to east and east to west but I'm not holding my breath on that.
Giant are one of the most trustworthy brands out there when it comes to manufacturing components given that they actually own their own production facilities. None of that matters though when it comes to road hookless, I and most other people won't touch it with a barge pole. We're surely at a stage now where it's toxic amongst consumers and it's only a matter of time before the UCI ban it for racing.
Filling the road with one person per car is using the road space more efficiently, amazing, I never realised that.
I bought a Giant Defy recently and immediately sold off the hookless wheels at a pretty big loss and won't ever do that again. I'm not buying hookless for road ever. Giant in particular has very short list of what tires they test with their rims so it's way too restrictive even if I was going to ride hookless wheels. Which I won't. Very short sighted by Giant.
42 thoughts on “Adam Blythe clocks 136.9km/h; We Don’t Want No Cycle Paths Here: The must-hear No.1 hit of the summer; ‘Britain’s biggest bike lane’ council awarded more infra funds; AJ’s pro cycling agency; Carol Kirkwood recalls collision trauma + more on the live blog”
But what happened to the
But what happened to the driver?
Thirded.
Not much, I expect.
Steve K wrote:
and if so, it’s no wonder people lose the confidence to cycle on the road
edit: according to this slightly random news source, she described it as a ‘pure accident’.
Weird that Carol describes
Weird that Carol describes being “hit from behind by a car” that “drove into me” and concludes this was a “pure accident” !! The mind boggles at this logic.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tv/15585459/bbc-breakfast-carol-kirkwood-bike-accident-tears-nerves-knee/
sean1 wrote:
Typical helmet rubbish in there too – if her nose hit the floor, I’m not sure the visor of her helmet really made much difference.
Yes I read that too, and had
Yes I read that too, and had to count to ten…
But it highlights an important point about the psychological reaction & reinforcement messages to cycling something like this has, & same with Jeremy Vines Channel5 colleague.
Both have had crashes that were completely not their fault, but both have been physically injured as a result and both ascribed wearing a helmet,which they no doubt wore to begin with as they felt it was necessary safety protection,as saving them from worse outcomes.
Which reinforces to them, and others, that cycling is something that you need to wear PPE for, as these purely by accident(s) will happen, and you will be injured & hurt by them, both physically & mentally,possibly even longterm.
And now both have since stopped cycling because it no doubt feels far too risky for them, against the reward.
That Kirkwood will be just as vulnerable to the same style of purely by accident events, jogging, if her knee holds up, I doubt she will approach it with the same safety concerns or that it needs PPE approach to do this activity that she now believes cycling absolutely does.
Awavey wrote:
I agree with everything that you wrote, up to this. She won’t face the same risks jogging, as she almost certainly will be doing that on segregated infrastructure, away from traffic. Which of course highlights the need for good cycling infra.
Well opinions maybe divided
Well opinions maybe divided on how well motorists keep their vehicles confined just to the roads,the car crashes into building forum topic certainly shows no sign of running out of new content.
But there was a follow up opinion piece in the Telegraph today about the Wimborne cycle lane, albeit a half hearted anti one at best, but the author highlighted pedestrians get caught in between cyclists & motorists infrastructure whilst not always being afforded their own. A rural jog on a country lane is going to be a pavement free jog, which exposes you to as many if not slightly higher risks, than cycling does.
I agree that jogging on a
I agree that jogging on a country lane is risky, but the proportion of people running on roads (vs elsewhere) is far lower than the proportion of cyclists on roads.
Motorists keep their vehicles confined to the roads 99+% of the time, forum topics notwithstanding!
I doubt that they do keep
I doubt that they do keep them confined to the roads for 99%. Cars are stored for 23 hours a day and there is a lot of pavement parking, so another hazard to look out for when using pavements.
I meant when moving, which is
I meant when moving, which is when they tend to hit things!
Have to move to get in and
Have to move to get on and off the pavement aka ‘public asset storage scheme’.
I think drivers kill about 40
I think drivers kill about 40 pedestrians on pavements every year. They tend to kill about 5-600 in total every year.
sean1 wrote:
To be fair I took “pure accident of course” to be her way of saying the driver didn’t do it deliberately rather than there was no blame attached.
Yes I think this is what she
Yes I think this is what she means but to dismiss this as a “pure accident” just shows the distorted logic we have about driving in the UK.
Lots of discussion about helmets but nothing about driver responsibilty, safe infrastructure, etc. The usual media bias.
I don’t know if it still
I don’t know if it still happens but back in the day when I used to visit various factories up and down the country they quite often used to have a board up saying “Number of days since last accident”. I’m pretty sure that when the HSE turned up they didn’t say “Pure Accident mate, just a bit of bad luck really”. They would have to do a full report on what happened and put in place corrective action. That’s the question; why do those that are responsible for safety on our roads take “accidents” like this as a matter of course and don’t do anything about it? If they did we wouldn’t worry about the use of the word Accident because we would know that they knew it didn’t mean they thought it was just some random bad luck.
Rendel Harris wrote:
but of course the driver either
did choose to drive without paying full attention to their surroundings
OR
Chose to pass her with insufficient space and misjudged the gap. In over 100,000 miles of driving in my life, I have never driven into anything in front of me or clipped something I was attempting to pass. It’s not that hard.
Society needs to stop tolerating putting other people at risk, we don’t allow it in the workplace and we shouldnt accept it on the roads either.
sean1 wrote:
I can only assume the driver was apologetic and she didn’t want to press charges. I can (only just) understand the police not taking action on a no-injury collision that only results in damage to vehicles. But when someone’s injured, you can’t imagine them saying ‘looks like it’ll just polish out, no harm done’.
HoarseMann wrote:
Beg to disagree. A couple of years ago, I saw a cyclist in front of me hit by a driver whilst she (the cyclist) had priority on a roundabout. When the cops finally arrived (after the ambulance had left) they didn’t even breathalyse the driver. I followed it up by the decision was “no further action”. Fucking disgraceful.
Just lie and laugh, like this
Just lie and laugh, like this one:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-58274941
Sriracha wrote:
seems simple enough (assuming he isn’t lying to the court) then he can’t afford to fly back to the UK, nor can he drive when he does return so the court should simply sieze his mercedes and auction it off to pay the bill
If only he had informed the
If only he had informed the authorities who was driveng the fine would have probably been less, and points would definitely been lower. So no ban.
The idiot can sell his car to make up some of the fine, then no need for an MOT, VED, insurance or fuel.
All the measurements in Cycle
All the measurements in Cycle Infrastructure Design are in metres and cm, so I’d find it easier to discuss the Dorset cycle track in modern measurements, not feet.
Maybe I’m getting sidetracked by a non-issue. Is the next stage for me to become exorcised about the terminology used to describe those reflective things that are stuck on both sides of cars?
HarrogateSpa wrote:
— HarrogateSpaBeware of religious types in funny clothes clutching crosses and chanting in latin.
Presumably the Dail Fail know
Presumably the Dail Fail know their target audience think the Imperial system is more British and therefore superior. None of this modern metric nonsense. Plus, if the aim is to be sensationalist (hint: it is), “11 feet” sounds bigger than “3 metres”.
OnYerBike wrote:
Since they’re claiming the 11 foot cycle lane is wider than the 18 foot car lane, i’m assuming they think their readership can’t count that high, and will instead get stuck on the “cyclist bad” angle. After looking at the comments on their article it seems to have worked…
OnYerBike wrote:
surprised the didn’t give it
the cycle lane is 11 feet wide, and the adjacent road is only 5.5metres
Inching towards metrication..
Inching towards metrication…
I thought ‘we don’t want no
I thought ‘we don’t want no cycle paths here’ was going to be to the tune of a pink floyd song.
hirsute wrote:
Same!
All in all, you’re just
All in all, you’re just another bike on the road.
I’m still trying to get to
I’m still trying to get to grips with the use of the double negative.
It’s the pronunciation of
It’s the pronunciation of “path” to rhyme with “hearth” that gets me. there ain’t no “R” in “path”. 😉
Yes, I’m from the north. 🙂
FrankH wrote:
always reminds me of an australian telling me the way we say Dance sounds pretentious and then prounced pasta as PARSTA. Exaclty the opposite of dance.
wycombewheeler wrote:
Ain’t no R in “pahstah” neither. Ask anyone from Somerset and they’ll tell you you’re a durbrain if you think that.
Actually what really gets me is folks in that London saying “laaahhhtay” when ordering a white coffee. But then I’m wracked with self doubt, wondering if Italians pronounce it “lattay” as I do or in the London way. And then I think “how does this compare to Carlton Kirby saying “Felipo Gannnnna”?”. Which grates as well.
Good song tho.
TheBillder wrote:
Of course there is – a couple of them: PA-sterr
Don’t laugh, I can’t help it
Don’t laugh, I can’t help it if I’m from the south!
That had to be one of the
That had to be one of the worst trips into town.
Had a tractor and trailer squeeze by on the way in with no traffic the otherway.
On the way back at traffic lights L1 is left only L2 straight on and right. After the lights L2 then splits and you move left to go straight on.
I’m in L2 and a driver barrels through in L1 just as I am moving to the left to go straight on after the lights. I always do a shoulder check so swerve out the way, then as I move back left he then slams his brakes on in an attempt to make me crash into the back of him.
To make matters worse, my battery had run out when I got to town.
Not sure what I would have done if I had caught up with him.
Furious still.
Stupid layout though
https://goo.gl/maps/JopVLM8Bc8t197bv9
> “Don’t underestimate the
> “Don’t underestimate the amount of tech that can be squeezed into a cap”
I wouldn’t, so please tell us, how many processors, sensors, motors and lasers this hat is concealing? Or is it just another waterproof hat?
Um, they did tell you:
Um, they did tell you:
Might not be as exciting as fricking lasers, but it’s all still tech.
Very much doubt he hit nearly
Very much doubt he hit nearly 85mph. I had a speed sensor that used accelerometers. Going over a bumpy surface speed could double. I went back to the traditional magnetic pickup sensor-top speed mid 50s mph from then on
It is very kind of BCP and
It is very kind of BCP and Dorset Council to invest in south-east Devon, but I would prefer if that money was spent in Dorset!