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Tom Pidcock showcases “absolutely mint” cyclocross skills – on time trial bike... and then suffers near miss with motorist on roundabout just after finish line; Conspiracy theorists target 15-minute city; Bernal’s micro-training + more on the live blog

It’s Monday and Ryan Mallon’s back, after a weekend spent watching 178 bike races (and the occasional football match), to bring you all the latest cycling news and views on the first live blog of the week
Mon, Feb 20, 2023 09:24
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Tom Pidcock showcases “absolutely mint” cyclocross skills – on time trial bike... and then suffers near miss with motorist on roundabout just after finish line; Conspiracy theorists target 15-minute city; Bernal’s micro-training + more on the live blogTom Pidcock showcases cyclocross skills during Volta ao Algarve time trial (GCN)
20 February 2023, 08:59
Tom Pidcock showcases cyclocross skills during Volta ao Algarve time trial (GCN)
Tom Pidcock showcases “absolutely mint” cyclocross skills – on time trial bike

It was a rather eventful week for Tom Pidcock at the Volta ao Algarve, the Yorkshireman’s first foray back on the road after a winter spent showing off the rainbow jersey at the pointy end of some of the most exhilarating cyclocross races we’ve seen in years.

On the Portuguese race’s first stage to Lagos, the Ineos Grenadiers rider was controversially relegated from fifth to 135th – and fined £180 (‘Ow much?) – after a somewhat innocuous push during the sprint.

> Tom Pidcock "pushed another rider" during sprint, relegated by race jury

And then, on Saturday’s crucial stage to Alto do Malhão, Pidcock blew away the opposition on the famously steep hilltop finish, attacking early before launching a devastating long-range sprint to see off João Almeida and secure an impressive stage win and yellow jersey double.

In doing so, the 23-year-old recorded the second-fastest time up the Alto do Malhão in the last decade, his seven minutes dead for the 2.4km, 9.3 percent monster only surpassed during that period by a certain Alberto Contador, who flew up the climb in 6:48 on his way to the stage win in 2016.

However, with a raft of TT specialists, including teammate and Hour Record holder Filippo Ganna, breathing down his beck on GC, it was always going to prove difficult for Pidcock to hang on to his yellow jersey during yesterday’s 24.4km race against the clock in Lagoa.

Fortunately, thanks to his worldclass bike handling skills honed during years on the cyclocross field, Pidders was at least able to hang on to his time trial bike during a particularly sketchy moment in the middle of his effort.

Carrying too much speed out of a roundabout, Pidcock, one foot clipped out in a desperate bid to regain his balance, veered off the road and onto a raised dirt banking, which he navigated masterfully – by railing the berm, as the off-road types say – before bunny-hopping back onto the road to nonchalantly continue his TT.

And all on a time trial bike – machines not particularly known for their handling capabilities – too.

Back in the GCN commentary box, the ever-understated Adam Blythe described the Ineos Grenadiers star’s silky skills as “absolutely mint” and “the best thing I’ve seen all year”.

As for Tom himself? “I’m just happy I stayed upright,” he joked after the stage.

However, all that tekkers ultimately wasn’t enough to win the Volta ao Algarve, with the Olympic mountain bike champion slipping down to seventh overall as another one of his Ineos mates, Dani Martínez pipped Ganna by just two seconds to secure the GC in Portugal.

Solid stuff by Martínez, but is he “absolutely mint”?

20 February 2023, 09:39
Tom Pidcock rides onto roundabout filled with motorists after Volta ao Algarve TT (GCN)
More early-season safety chaos as Pidcock suffers near miss with motorist – on roundabout just after finish line

While Tom Pidcock’s bike handling skills were on point at the Volta ao Algarve, the race organiser’s safety credentials certainly weren’t, as the yellow jersey wearer almost experienced his second heart stopping moment of the afternoon – thanks to a rather lax approach to road closures just 100 metres from the finish.

Throughout the time trial, a roundabout located just after the finish line – and well before the natural stopping point for a rider on a TT bike who’s just completed an all-out effort for half an hour – appeared open to traffic, with one fluorescent-vested police officer on hand to stop motorists already on the roundabout from continuing on as a rider approached.

(Though no such officer appeared to be on hand at any other entrance to the junction, with the race organisers seemingly happy to rely on the awareness and driving skills of Lagoa’s motorists. Haven’t they read road.cc?)

However, by the time Pidcock crossed the line in the yellow jersey, that one hi-vis officer appeared content that his day was done. As the Ineos Grenadiers rider entered the roundabout – with the officer on walkabout – he was faced with the rather unnerving prospect of a driver approaching him from the left.

Tom Pidcock on roundabout filled with motorists after Volta ao Algarve TT (GCN)

Fortunately, the motorist was able to brake in time, but the images of Pidcock making his way around the car-packed roundabout more closely resembled a scene from a Milton Keynes commute than it did the finish area of an elite cycling race.

> British sprinter accuses race organisers of “playing with our health”, as motorists make their way onto roundabouts used by peloton

When it comes to roundabout safety during 2023’s early-season races, I’m beginning to sound like a broken record. Just last week, we reported on the live blog that motorists were able to make their way onto the same roundabouts used by the bunch on the finishing circuit of the Clásica de Almería – prompting British sprinter Dan McLay to politely brand the race organisation a “f***ing disgrace”.

“If you can’t close a road properly you can’t have a race on it. Just playing with our health,” the Arkéa–Samsic rider tweeted.

Last month’s Tour Down Under was also marred by lines of parked cars dramatically reducing the width of the road in the closing kilometres of a stage, while over in Argentina, world champion Remco Evenepoel lambasted the organisers of the Vuelta a San Juan after a “hectic and dangerous” finish which forced the peloton to navigate spectators standing on central reservations and in the middle of the road.

Let’s just hope the safety standards are raised dramatically by Opening Weekend… (Just five more sleeps to Omloop!)

20 February 2023, 13:39
Conspiracy theorists and far-right groups attend 15-minute city protest in Oxford – as city’s first Jewish mayor blasts “deeply upsetting and offensive” comparisons to Holocaust

It appears that February is well and truly shaping up to be the month of the ‘Great 15-minute City Debate’.

> GB News presenter claims 15-minute cities and LTNs are "un-British" and "illiberal" 

After Tory MP Nick Fletcher raised a known conspiracy theory in parliament last week – namely that the scheme, which aims to ensure that most local amenities can be accessed by bike or on foot within 15 minutes, will lead to a “surveillance culture that would make Pyongyang envious” – former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies performed her latest mandatory, and somewhat confused, belly flop into the discussion:

And then, on Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Oxford – on foot, I may add – to protest against 15-minute cities, carrying signs warning us about ’15 minute city communism’ and imploring us to ‘wake up’, along with, for some reason, the Welsh flag (your guess is as good as mine).

The composition of the protesters – and the other things they may like to protest – was a subject of considerable interest on Twitter:

“It would be fantastic if we have all these nice little community hubs with amenities within close reach, but the actual reality of what this means is that you are being tracked and traced within your own town,” one conspiratorial-minded protester told the Oxford Student.

While most focused on the idea of the schemes representing a kind of ‘climate lockdown’, one of the grimmer and more distasteful conspiracy theories around 15-minute cities and LTNs in Oxford was expounded by local hotelier Jeremy Mogford.

Last week Mogford compared the city council’s cabinet member for highways management, Andrew Gant, to the Nazi ‘angel of death’ Josef Mengele, who performed deadly experiments on prisoners during the Holocaust.

Speaking at a counter-protest on Saturday organised by Oxford Stand Up to Racism – a response to the presence of the neo-Nazi Patriotic Alternative in Oxford – former Green party councillor Elise Benjamin, who in 2011 became the city’s first Jewish lord mayor, said: “I’m still struggling to articulate it because it’s so deeply upsetting and offensive.

“To make a comparison between traffic congestion reduction measures and a man who conducted experiments on children as part of a mass genocide, I struggle to understand how anyone in their right mind can think that is an appropriate comparison.”

On Friday Mogford told the Oxford Mail that the message was “sent in error” and that he “regretted” its contents.

Meanwhile, transport journalist Carlton Reid couldn’t help noticing that, by protesting on foot the idea of being able to more easily walk to local essentials and amenities, the protesters were, in fact, proving that 15-minute cities could be the way forward:

20 February 2023, 16:33
Sex Pistols tribute band frontman cycling 1,000 miles from Milan to Wrexham to raise money for cat rescue

Now, there’s a headline for a Monday afternoon…

Nathan Maverick, who spends his evenings snarling as the frontman of tribute act Sex Pistols Exposé, is taking on the 1,000-mile ride from one of cycling’s spiritual homes, Milan, to… err, Wrexham, to raise funds for the Candy and Tibby Trust, a local small rescue which rehabilitates and rehomes feral, stray, and unwanted cats.

Last summer, the trust launched an urgent appeal for donations as the number of rescues increased dramatically amidst spiralling vet bills.

“I’ve taken some time off from my band to make this happen and if people can make a small donation of even a pound it will go a long way for these animals,” the 40-year-old Johnny Rotten impersonator told the Leader.

“Seeing how Candy and Tibby Trust struggle to manage with this heavy workload, I thought I can help do something. I love cycling and cats, so why not combine them and plan an event.”

Though he’s setting off from Milan (unlike the riders of this year’s Milan-San Remo, incidentally), the ride back up to Wales, through all the road-related Anarchy in the UK, will be anything but a Holiday in the Sun for Nathan – let’s just hope what he calls his “rather old bike” doesn’t have too many Problems, and while he may ride himself into Submission (leaving his legs with No Feelings), by the time he’s finished he should be left with a lot more than just a Pretty Vacant expression on his face.

(Right, that’s enough of that…)

You can donate through Nathan’s JustGiving page.

20 February 2023, 16:11
20 February 2023, 15:48
‘Why don’t cyclists use the cycle lanes?’ Part 6,949
20 February 2023, 15:09
“It doesn’t matter how brightly you are dressed, or how experienced you are, if a driver doesn’t look or doesn’t care then you’re screwed”

In the same week several pro riders, including Tadej Pogačar, put their weight behind a campaign encouraging cyclists to use front and back lights at all times and to “understand that increased visibility while riding your bike on the road can actually save your life”, Trinity Racing prospect Bob Donaldson was struck by a driver – while wearing perhaps the most visible kit the peloton has seen for years.

> Pro cyclist says bright clothing "doesn't matter to some drivers" after being left with broken back and snapped bike

The 20-year-old’s awful crash, which left him with a broken back, has underlined to many that while hi-vis and lights certainly have their benefits, they will prove no match for a distracted, impatient, or just downright dangerous driver.

Here’s some of the reaction to Donaldson’s collision:

> Pro cyclist-led lights campaign, endorsed by Tadej Pogačar, “feeds into victim-blaming culture”, says road safety expert 

20 February 2023, 14:22
Tour Series set to take one-year hiatus in 2023

In another worrying sign for the national racing scene in the UK, the annual crit-based Tour Series will take a one-year hiatus in 2023, organisers SweetSpot announced today.

“This decision has been made in light of the most challenging economic climate the series has faced since its inaugural edition in 2009,” SweetSpot said in a statement today.

“It has proved impossible to compile a commercially viable calendar of events for the intended series in May owing to the pressures on local authority funding, combined with the wider economic challenges all businesses face.”

The unique team-based format saw Britain’s best racers take part in a series of circuit races around the UK, usually in May and June, and until last year was televised on ITV4.

SweetSpot, who also organise the Tour of Britain, say that they “will use this break to work with British Cycling and partners on plans for the return of the series in 2024 to celebrate its 15th anniversary, complete with a refreshed format and events in Britain’s major cities as part of a fun filled, community day celebrating cycling and active travel.”

20 February 2023, 13:04
20 February 2023, 12:54
“You’ve heard of Simon Philip Yates, now meet Adam Richard Yates”

Adam’s bid for twin superiority continues… with the acquisition of a middle name for 2023:

20 February 2023, 12:29
“That looks like a dead heat”: Tim Merlier beats Caleb Ewan in impossibly close photo finish on windswept opening stage of UAE Tour

A dramatic, echelon-packed opening stage of the UAE Tour ended with one of the closest photo finishes we’ve seen in a long time, as Soudal Quick-Step’s Belgian champion Tim Merlier pipped Caleb Ewan by the faintest of margins in Al Mirfa.

That impossible tight sprint finish – which we can only presume was decided by a game of rock, paper, scissors, or as Brian Smith mooted in commentary, an arm wrestle – came after world champion Remco Evenepoel instigated a decisive split in the crosswinds in the final 30km, catching out a number of sprinters, including Sam Bennett and Dylan Groenewegen, as well as almost every major GC contender bar 2023’s Mr Consistent Pelle Bilbao.

With the field thinned out by the finish, Soudal Quick-Step’s lead-out Ber van Lerberghe timed his surge to perfection to tee up Merlier, who – according to the UAE’s version of Stockley Park anyway – had enough in the tank to just, just, hold off the fast-finishing Ewan.

 As the internet knows by now, there’s only one way to decide a bike race properly:

Behind the seemingly inseparable pair, Mark Cavendish’s hopes for a dream start to the season were dashed, with the Manx Missile forced to settle for third after failing to latch onto Ewan and Merlier’s initial acceleration.

More of the same tomorrow, please.

20 February 2023, 11:55
2023 UCI Esports world championships
Bjørn Andreassen and Loes Adegeest take rainbow jerseys at UCI Esports world championships

Just in case you didn’t think there was enough bike racing on at the weekend, with the Volta ao Algarve, Ruta del Sol, Setmana Valenciana Fèmines, and the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var, and a handful of cyclocross races all taking place, there were rainbow jerseys being fought over in the virtual world, as the UCI Esports world championships took place on Saturday in Scotland (oh, you know what I mean by now).

In a new, intriguing format which resembled a particularly cruel Zwift version of the omnium (or like a cycling version of the X Factor, with auditions, judges’ houses, and the live shows), the racing in the elite men and women’s categories was divided into three separate races which served to whittle down the field before the final ten riders took on the brutal Devil Takes the Hindmost-style Glasgow-based crit to decide the medals.

> Elite Zwift racing on the road.cc Podcast

During the men’s first round, The Punch, we all donned our road.cc colours to cheer on our very own Aaron Borrill – off-road.cc’s editor – who was racing for South Africa alongside former Dimension Data pro Jacques Janse van Rensburg.

2023 UCI Esports world championships

“The pace from Race 1 was a bit unexpected to be honest,” Aaron says. “Having raced a few test events on the same course leading up to the event, I expected a hard start but not that hard – Tim Rugg from the USA hammered it out of the gate and the pace stayed high the whole way, so there no real chances for any recovery on the course.

“It was merely a matter of fighting for position and not trying to fall too far back. Jacques and I were tasked with rolling through and closing gaps which probably also added to the lactic acid party taking place in my legs.

“With 2km to go, the pace up the corkscrew meant 11w/kg was needed to stay in touch. While I managed to roll into the finish line sprint approach in a good position, my legs were fried so nursed home for 74th.”

Aaron’s 74th ultimately wasn’t enough to take him through to the second stage – but Victor Campenaerts also fell at the first hurdle, so you know the standard was sky-high.

“It was a great race and very special to be part of for a second year in a row,” Aaron added. “I was super stoked that Brad Gouveris and James Barnes got through to Race 2 with James managing to make the final race and secure eighth for South Africa.”

2023 UCI Esports world championships

That final race proved something of a shock, as Denmark’s Bjørn Andreassen decided to just simply ignore the potential tactical complexities of the rapid-fire elimination style final, shooting off the front from the gun, never to be seen again.

While Andreassen time trialled his way to the rainbow jersey, Freddy Ovett (yes, yes, his dad’s Steve, we all know that) fell victim to the stop-start nature of the race behind and had to settle for sixth, while another pre-race favourite, 2020 champion Jason Osborne, took silver ahead of German teammate Marc Mäding.

2023 UCI Esports world championships

Things were much more nail-biting in the women’s race, where the Netherland’s Loes Adegeest took her second-consecutive rainbow jersey by outsprinting Great Britain’s Zoe Langham and American Jacquie Godbe at the end of a thrilling race. Unfortunately, we all missed that dramatic sprint, as the live pictures cut out in the closing metres. Goes to show, you can be on a turbo trainer and still fall foul of the weather gods.

It's just like being on a remote Spanish mountain, eh?

20 February 2023, 11:45
Another day, another bike hangar complaint…
20 February 2023, 11:12
Tadej Pogačar’s Watts Per Tuft chart

It seems as if, after the whole glasses debacle of December 2022, Geraint is finally open to trying out all manner of new looks in his old age:

Ah, that explains why he’s so good; marginal tufts, hair-o gains, and all that…

20 February 2023, 10:47
Egan Bernal’s smashing early-season training…

Over the past year, Egan Bernal has become known for his mammoth, super-long training rides, in all kinds of weather, as he continues his impressive return to the sport following last year’s devastating crash.

However, judging by his recent Strava uploads, the Colombian has decided to adopt a slightly different approach to training as he nurses a knee problem sustained at last month’s Vuelta a San Juan:

Egan Bernal's micro-training on Strava

I know, I know, it’s 2023 and the days of ‘just getting in the miles’ are long gone. Though I do feel like Bernal might be taking things a touch too far in the opposite direction.

‘Micro-training’, that’s what Ineos will call it…

20 February 2023, 10:27
Bob Donaldson and his broken SL7 Tarmac
Potholes, sexist gritters, and sticky bottles – it’s the weekend roundup!

While most of us were slumped on the sofa, doing our best to keep up with the TV-viewing chaos that ensues when, all of a sudden, thousands of bike races are on our screens at the same time, it was a busy weekend at road.cc HQ.

On the same day that road safety expert Dr Robert Davis accused a pro cyclist-led lights campaign of “feeding into victim-blaming culture”, Trinity Racing’s Bob Donaldson (who, despite his name, is only 20) proved that you could be wearing the most garish, eye-catching kit out there – and believe me, he was – and still prove no match for an impatient driver, who left the British prospect with a broken back after pulling out in front of him.

Elsewhere, we had a sticky bottle storm, deliberate doorings, and some, errr… Strava “art”:

> Pro cyclist says bright clothing "doesn't matter to some drivers" after being left with broken back and snapped bike

> Cyclist channels inner artist to create Strava map self-portrait... that draws Peter Griffin comparisons

> 'Sticky bottle' rider gets sarcastic "chapeau" from rival who he accelerated away from

> Councillor feels wrath of "Jordan Peterson and Tories across the land" by saying gritting routes “can be sexist” and “must change” to help cyclists and pedestrians

> Government considers inviting evidence for lifetime bans on dangerous drivers who kill

> California cyclists targeted in dooring attacks

> “They didn’t think I would make it”: 80-year-old cyclist wins compensation after horrific pothole crash

Ryan Mallon

After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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59 comments

Avatar
brooksby | 1 year ago
2 likes

Quote:

...people who to cycle to work at DHL Supply Chain in Emerald Park have been told to dismount upon reaching the main gate and walk for the rest of their journey. 

DHL defends Bristol health and safety change after cyclist says it's a 'joke'

DHL Supply Chain says it’s all about safety for cyclists and walkers

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/dhl-defends-bristol-heal...

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
0 likes

They would hardly be the first.  Rolls-Royce in Filton have had "cyclists dismount" at the entrance to their car park for ten years, as has the BRI in town.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
0 likes

brooksby wrote:

Quote:

...people who to cycle to work at DHL Supply Chain in Emerald Park have been told to dismount upon reaching the main gate and walk for the rest of their journey. 

DHL defends Bristol health and safety change after cyclist says it's a 'joke'

DHL Supply Chain says it’s all about safety for cyclists and walkers

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/dhl-defends-bristol-heal...

Obviously, squeezing peds and cyclists onto a narrow shared path is all about safety

Avatar
brooksby replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
0 likes

I wonder if they'll let the cyclists just ride on the 'road' inside their compound?

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
2 likes

brooksby wrote:

I wonder if they'll let the cyclists just ride on the 'road' inside their compound?

I suspect not - they could be in trouble if there's an incident and it's shown that mixing HGVs and cyclists is too dangerous. That's the kind of legal exposure that companies shy away from despite it being acceptable for public roads.

Avatar
ShutTheFrontDawes replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
4 likes
hawkinspeter wrote:

brooksby wrote:

I wonder if they'll let the cyclists just ride on the 'road' inside their compound?

I suspect not - they could be in trouble if there's an incident and it's shown that mixing HGVs and cyclists is too dangerous. That's the kind of legal exposure that companies shy away from despite it being acceptable for public roads.

I used to work at Airbus just across the road; cycling was not only allowed but encouraged. Some teams even had a share bike that could be used to get from one end of sure to another, where teams were split between buildings.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to ShutTheFrontDawes | 1 year ago
6 likes
ShutTheFrontDawes wrote:

I used to work at Airbus just across the road; cycling was not only allowed but encouraged. Some teams even had a share bike that could be used to get from one end of sure to another, where teams were split between buildings.

Yeah, I don't agree with DHL's choice - they could just ensure that their drivers are extra careful and there's no need for them to be driving quickly within the compound so cyclists could easily use the road too.

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
3 likes

brooksby wrote:

I wonder if they'll let the cyclists just ride on the 'road' inside their compound?

NO, we all know that cars are so dangerous we can't cycle anywhere near them. It's the conclusion many businesses seem to reach when carrying out the assessment on their own land.

The fact the cycling is inherently safe and injury rates on the public highway are really very low doesn't seem to play into their thinking at all.

There seems to be a fear that if a driver hits a cyclist in their car park/drive thru/.. then they will be sued. I don't think this fear has any basis in reality, but there can' t be another reason for bikes and cars can't mix on company land.

Avatar
ShutTheFrontDawes replied to wycombewheeler | 1 year ago
1 like
wycombewheeler wrote:

brooksby wrote:

I wonder if they'll let the cyclists just ride on the 'road' inside their compound?

NO, we all know that cars are so dangerous we can't cycle anywhere near them. It's the conclusion many businesses seem to reach when carrying out the assessment on their own land.

The fact the cycling is inherently safe and injury rates on the public highway are really very low doesn't seem to play into their thinking at all.

There seems to be a fear that if a driver hits a cyclist in their car park/drive thru/.. then they will be sued. I don't think this fear has any basis in reality, but there can' t be another reason for bikes and cars can't mix on company land.

When it comes to businesses, it's a bit tricky. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places a requirement on employers to reduce risk as far as 'reasonably practicable'.

In practice, what is considered 'reasonably practicable' is very open to interpretation (though the judgement from Edwards v. National Coal Board [1949] does provide some help), but requiring cyclists to dismount could be considered a 'reasonably practicable' risk barrier. If there are hardly any cyclists, requiring them to dismount, or just not allowing bikes on-site at all, might be a more cost-effective barrier than driver training.

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to ShutTheFrontDawes | 1 year ago
1 like

ShutTheFrontDawes wrote:
wycombewheeler wrote:

brooksby wrote:

I wonder if they'll let the cyclists just ride on the 'road' inside their compound?

NO, we all know that cars are so dangerous we can't cycle anywhere near them. It's the conclusion many businesses seem to reach when carrying out the assessment on their own land.

The fact the cycling is inherently safe and injury rates on the public highway are really very low doesn't seem to play into their thinking at all.

There seems to be a fear that if a driver hits a cyclist in their car park/drive thru/.. then they will be sued. I don't think this fear has any basis in reality, but there can' t be another reason for bikes and cars can't mix on company land.

When it comes to businesses, it's a bit tricky. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places a requirement on employers to reduce risk as far as 'reasonably practicable'. In practice, what is considered 'reasonably practicable' is very open to interpretation (though the judgement from Edwards v. National Coal Board [1949] does provide some help), but requiring cyclists to dismount could be considered a 'reasonably practicable' risk barrier. If there are hardly any cyclists, requiring them to dismount, or just not allowing bikes on-site at all, might be a more cost-effective barrier than driver training.

But this duty is not placed on the highways agency or local councils?

Avatar
ShutTheFrontDawes replied to wycombewheeler | 1 year ago
2 likes
wycombewheeler wrote:

ShutTheFrontDawes wrote:
wycombewheeler wrote:

brooksby wrote:

I wonder if they'll let the cyclists just ride on the 'road' inside their compound?

NO, we all know that cars are so dangerous we can't cycle anywhere near them. It's the conclusion many businesses seem to reach when carrying out the assessment on their own land.

The fact the cycling is inherently safe and injury rates on the public highway are really very low doesn't seem to play into their thinking at all.

There seems to be a fear that if a driver hits a cyclist in their car park/drive thru/.. then they will be sued. I don't think this fear has any basis in reality, but there can' t be another reason for bikes and cars can't mix on company land.

When it comes to businesses, it's a bit tricky. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places a requirement on employers to reduce risk as far as 'reasonably practicable'. In practice, what is considered 'reasonably practicable' is very open to interpretation (though the judgement from Edwards v. National Coal Board [1949] does provide some help), but requiring cyclists to dismount could be considered a 'reasonably practicable' risk barrier. If there are hardly any cyclists, requiring them to dismount, or just not allowing bikes on-site at all, might be a more cost-effective barrier than driver training.

But this duty is not placed on the highways agency or local councils?

Nope. Organisations responsible for the road network do not have the same responsibilities as employers do under the HaSaWA 1974. An employer is more responsible for your safety when you are at work, and you are more responsible for your safety when you're not.

Avatar
Rome73 | 1 year ago
4 likes

One of those UKIP/15 minute City protestors is carrying a sign 'the end of free movement'. Wrong, dear. Your government took that away from YOU and your children in 2016. (With your consent you swivel eyed loon) 

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Roulereo replied to Rome73 | 1 year ago
0 likes

Exactly, they need to shut up and comply. 

Besides, Warsaw had a 15 minute city in 1940. It's nothing new.

Avatar
brooksby replied to Roulereo | 1 year ago
2 likes

Roulereo wrote:

Exactly, they need to shut up and comply. 

Besides, Warsaw had a 15 minute city in 1940. It's nothing new.

GODWIN!

Avatar
Roulereo replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
0 likes

Azov!

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to Roulereo | 1 year ago
3 likes

Anchovies!

Can we get some more tinfoil to aisle 10 at Decathlon? I'm worried about protecting people's heads.

Avatar
Hirsute replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
2 likes

https://mobile.twitter.com/RantyHighwayman/status/1627949919465005057

Amazing. I've just found footage of the first WEF checkpoint in the London Underground being tested.

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
3 likes

I knew it!  They'll be putting barcodes on bicycles next!

Avatar
Roulereo replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
0 likes

Smarmy self entitled comments is not exactly the best means to argue a point. You most likely don't even get the Azov reference re Nazis.  

I guess we all need to comply, believe the government and its bureaucrats, because they've got our best interests at heart and have shown the last few years they're trustworthy. Have a 5th booster and hope your carbon credits earned will allow you some freedom. 

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to Roulereo | 1 year ago
4 likes

No entitlement here - except riding my bike, a form of transport notable for its low-impact decentralised nature and not requiring registration by the authorities *.  Plus me wishing it to be easier for others to do the same.  The vast majority in the UK don't ride regularly or for transport.  Yet just 109 nautical miles away, in a similar climate, at the same level of economic development and even speaking closely related languages lots of people do.  And I can assure you many folks there still have a strong aversion to nazis (for reason).

I suspect you don't build your own roads, grow your own electricity, run your own interweb or even catch your own anchovies (my reference was to something fishy but more to my tastes).  But if you do good for you - it's a better life!

I'm still a bit confused as to how you've managed to break into the internet, a product of the military-industrial complex entirely the product of unaffiliated communitarians.

However we cycling anarchists are certainly interested in how to escape the Matrix (of motor vehicle dominance), being somewhat independent-minded folk.  As your continued presence here proves.  Maybe you could give us some tips?

* Sometimes I wonder if this is exactly the reason for cycling not being promoted by the government but rather mass motoring being heavily pushed and indeed subsidised - which it still is?  Big Bung theory - if you can generate a large enough concentration of money you can bend reality (or at least decision-makers).

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brooksby replied to Roulereo | 1 year ago
2 likes

What does the Azov Regiment have to do with Godwin's Law?

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nniff | 1 year ago
9 likes

Great shame about the Tour series.  I try to go to the local ones and Guidlford was well attended last year, and the pubs and restaurants seemed to do well out of it. Also manged one of my better photos of the year

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brooksby | 1 year ago
8 likes

Why do these protesters all seem to think that trying to ensure that amenities etc can be found within fifteen minutes of your home means that you will be tracked and traced and not allowed more than fifteen minutes' travel from home? They are not the same thing at all... 

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billymansell replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
7 likes

Their actions are, to any rational-minded person, crazy but the positive to take from it all is that potentially genuine campaigns that wish to prevent the development of cycle lanes, LTNs, the ULEZ and 15 minute cities are being delegitimised by their association with the disimformation campaigns of the far right and conspiracy nuts.

 

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the little onion replied to billymansell | 1 year ago
9 likes

I believe that there is a phenomenon called the "crank magnet", whereby if you believe in one crank theory, you are more likely to believe in another, and so all the crank theories overlap and blend. So your COVID is all the fault of the Rothschilds, who are lizards who faked the moon landings.

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NotNigel replied to the little onion | 1 year ago
1 like

Crank magnet sounds like some form of mechanical doping.

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wycombewheeler replied to NotNigel | 1 year ago
2 likes

NotNigel wrote:

Crank magnet sounds like some form of mechanical doping.

that's where you are wrong. It's half of a cadence measuring device.

the crank magnet and the chainstay sensor

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chrisonabike replied to wycombewheeler | 1 year ago
0 likes

Are L-shaped crank-magnets actually better though?  Road.cc looks revisits this long-running debate.

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brooksby replied to the little onion | 1 year ago
3 likes

the little onion wrote:

I believe that there is a phenomenon called the "crank magnet", whereby if you believe in one crank theory, you are more likely to believe in another, and so all the crank theories overlap and blend. So your COVID is all the fault of the Rothschilds, who are lizards who faked the moon landings.

...or that American senator who launched all sorts of claims about "Jewish space lasers"*

 

*Seriously!  Google it.

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the little onion replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
3 likes

Why do they think that 5g causes covid?

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