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news
Cyclists warned to “stay off” busy roads during “annoying” cyclists TV debate, after two riders seriously injured in deliberate hit-and-runs; Britain’s lost cycle tracks; 68-tooth chainring v hipster moustache; Women’s Tour return? + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Melbourne hit-and-run driver (screenshot)20 February 2024, 09:08
Aussie police sergeant warns cyclists to “stay off” busy roads and “don’t put yourself in harm’s way”, as Sky News asks “Are cyclists annoying us?” – a month after two riders seriously injured in deliberate hit-and-runs
I think it’s fair to say that Australia isn’t the most bike-friendly place in the world (I know, I know, glass houses, stones, and all that).
Just last month, the country’s only Tour de France winner Cadel Evans spoke out about the dangers of cycling on Australian roads, after two 16-year-olds were arrested as part of an investigation into two horrendous hit-and-run incidents in Melbourne, which saw two cyclists mowed down as one of the car’s passengers filmed the collisions while “laughing”, before uploading them to social media.
The two cyclists were seriously injured in the collisions, with one 51-year-old suffering spinal injuries and expected to need “lifelong” rehabilitation, while a 72-year-old was left with a fractured spine.
Shortly after the hit-and-runs left the Melbourne cycling community shaken, 2011 Tour winner Evans told a local newspaper that Australian drivers “lack awareness and concentration” and have “bad attitudes” towards cyclists, and that building more cycling infrastructure is just one part of the puzzle with “more education about cyclists’ rights to use the roads and longer, more comprehensive driver training” needed.
So, it only makes sense that a recent Sky News Australia segment on road safety would be titled ‘Are Australian cyclists annoying us?’, right?
Responding to a newspaper column deriding cyclists as “entitled tossers” (good to know they have those kinds of columns Down Under, too), the segment helpfully included retired New South Wales police sergeant – and Ironman competitor – Glenn Corick, who (for the most part, anyway) defended the actions of the majority of Australia’s cyclists.
“This kind of opinion has been around forever,” Corick said. “I’ve lost about seven friends over four decades of riding bicycles, I’ve seen it all, I’ve seen both sides of the camp, I’ve been on TV doing arguments about it for a very long time.
“Look, 99 per cent of all people are road users – cars, bus drivers, everybody and cyclists – do the right thing. It is just this small minority that continue to do the wrong thing. But that also doesn’t give people the right to be aggressive to that small minority.
“Because a car versus bike, a bike loses every time – and like I say, I’ve lost seven mates.”
However, Corick’s advice for increase safety for cyclists, rather bafflingly, seemed to purely focus on the actions of cyclists themselves.
“All I can say is education, and cyclists – stay off the roads in the peak hour and use your common sense and find your places to ride, don’t put yourself in harm’s way.”
Oh, dear. And that particular guidance appeared to open the floodgates for some good ol’ anti-cycling bingo live on Sky News.
“You’re absolutely right,” said the station’s host Erin Molan, “And the thing that frustrates me most – and while the safety of everyone has to be paramount – I was in the city yesterday… and we sat in traffic for twenty minutes for one road, one line of cars, and there were two bike lanes empty, not one cyclist in them.
“And that annoys me, that turns me off cyclists, who are really doing a wonderful thing by getting out there,” she added, failing to realise that she might have made her event in time if, you know, she’d travelled by bike.
“I think we’re talking about a couple of bad apples here,” interjected former Australian special forces commando (I’m not making this up) Wes Hennessey – and no, he wasn’t talking about the ‘bad apples’ who are driving around Melbourne, deliberately mowing down cyclists.
“Some cyclists flex the laws, and that’s where they get this bad rap. They’re people out exercising,” he added, seemingly ignorant to the fact that not all cyclists are of the leisure and recreational variety.
“And if they abide by the rules of the road for cyclists, then drivers just need to be a little bit patient. Is it really worth running over someone for the one minute you’re going to gain in time? Aggressive behaviour shouldn’t happen – we’ve all honked them from time to time, but just stay away from them.”
Errr, I think that’s a positive conclusion? Well, it seems like it’s the best we’re going to get from Australia and Sky News, anyway…
20 February 2024, 17:53
Cycling UK hails "clever" policing after bait bicycle used to track down £130,000 bike theft gang in one shift
20 February 2024, 16:29
Biggie Smalls: The world’s toughest and most notorious training ride partners?
Judging by his Instagram posts capturing his frequent Spanish training rides with two of the most relentless bike riders on the planet, Freddy Ovett sure doesn’t mind being a glutton for punishment, I’ll give him that…
20 February 2024, 15:58
2024 RideLondon Classique set for “strongest ever” field
While the return of the women’s Tour of Britain appears an increasing possibility for 2024 – albeit one that is still up in the air and subject to a race against time for the governing body – one UK-based women’s stage race that is set to go ahead this year, the RideLondon Classique, is set for its strongest and most competitive field yet.
This May’s RideLondon Classique is set to feature 11 Women’s WorldTour teams (including four of the sport’s five top-ranked outfits), including Team SD Worx-Protime, Lidl-Trek, Canyon-Sram, UAE Team ADQ, and DSM-Firmenich PostNL, the winners of the two editions of RideLondon since it morphed into a three-day race in 2022, courtesy of Lorena Wiebes and (now at SD Worx) and Charlotte Kool.
Nine UCI Continental teams will also take part in the Essex and London-based stage race, set to take place between 24 and 26 May, including four British teams: Lifeplus-Wahoo, DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK, Doltcini O’Shea, and Torelli
Lorena Wiebes wins stage two of the 2022 RideLondon Classique in Epping (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
“The strength of the elite field we have assembled for the 2024 Ford RideLondon Classique is indicative of the growth and prestige of the race year-on-year,” race director Scott Sunderland said in a statement.
“This race gets stronger each year and is attracting the world’s best teams such as Team SD Worx-Protime who, without a doubt, have the best squad of riders on the planet.
“At the other end of the scale, we are delighted to again provide a platform to four British teams to showcase their riders. With the well documented problems in the professional road racing scene in the UK, it’s so important that we offer both a world-class event that brings the best riders to this country to inspire the next generation but also gives home-grown teams and riders a chance to shine on the highest stage.”
20 February 2024, 15:26
Safety in numbers?
In London the number of cycling journeys is going up and the risk of being injured is going down. 🚲 pic.twitter.com/sdvgXcqa9o
— Will Norman (@willnorman) February 20, 2024
20 February 2024, 14:55
Bristol gets its first ‘beer bike’ – and our only question is: ‘Why?’
In one of the rare instances in which Belfast has been ahead of the curve compared to even the most stylish, hip corners of the UK, Bristol has recently acquired its first ‘beer bikes’, the awful, rain-soaked, dance music-blaring contraptions that have blighted the streets of Northern Ireland’s capital for well over a decade.
According to Bristol 24/7, the Bristol Beer Bike will be the first of its kind in the city, costing up to 17 pedalling punters £450 an hour for the kind of beer-swilling, cycling experience already outlawed in stag do-infested European cities like Prague and Amsterdam.
You can also pay an extra £50 for a “pretty barmaid” or a “handsome waiter” to join you on your multi-wheeled way around Bristol, just because I suppose, as well as adding – for an extra fee – some crisps to soak up the beer (if the roads haven’t already done that for you).
“During a beer bike experience, pedestrians stare in awe,” says the Bristol Beer Bike website. “Beer bike is not just a party vehicle, which draws everybody’s attention though. Our guests sightsee and work together as a team to make their way around the streets of Bristol…
“We can turn any occasion into a party. Why not do something unique and unconventional, while having a great time with their friends or co-workers?
“Groups of gentlemen might also appreciate having their drinks served by a pretty barmaid. We’ve not forgotten about you ladies and have handsome waiters waiting to serve you. With us, your event will turn into an adventurous sightseeing experience full of joy, no matter the occasion.”
Our only question is: Why?
Or maybe the beer bike will finally highlight to motorists the flaws in Bristol’s cycling infrastructure network?
20 February 2024, 14:39
Is this the world’s lightest angle grinder-resistant lock? (Yes, apparently they measure these things)
20 February 2024, 13:50
“The Women’s Tour Is dead, long live the Tour of Britain Women!” Four-day Women’s WorldTour stage race appears on UCI calendar after British Cycling commits to planning event
In a potentially promising development for racing in the UK, a four-day Women’s WorldTour race – titled the Tour of Britain Women – has made its way onto the UCI’s calendar for June, three weeks after British Cycling committed to at least attempting to deliver the country’s two national stage races this year.
At the end of January, it was spotted that the Tour of Britain and the Women’s Tour had been removed from the list of events for 2024 on the UCI’s website, following organiser SweetSpot’s collapse into voluntary liquidation.
Just a few days later, however, British Cycling said it would attempt to deliver both a men’s and women’s Tour of Britain in 2024, as part of its “new vision” for major cycling events in Britain following months of doom and gloom.
The governing body revealed that “positive discussions with partners across all areas of commercial, broadcast and local delivery have already commenced” with a view to running the men’s Tour of Britain in its usual September calendar slot, and a women’s event during the dates previously occupied by the Women’s Tour, which was last run in 2022 after being cancelled last year.
The Women's Tour is dead...
Long live the Tour of Britain Women!It's re-appeared in the UCI calendar as a 4-day race in early June 2024 and the name that BC should always have allowed in the first place pic.twitter.com/jnBA4O9Pdv
— Mathew Mitchell (@MatMitchell30) February 20, 2024
And British Cycling appears to be holding up at least half of that promise, with women’s cycling writer Mat Mitchell today noticing that a ‘Tour of Britain Women’ is now on the UCI calendar, which means that the governing body has registered the race and its dates with the UCI.
According to the calendar, the race will take place over four days from 6-9 June, dropping down from the Women’s Tour’s previous six stage slot, while retaining the former event’s WorldTour status.
There is no word yet on the future of the men’s Tour of Britain, but this latest development at least ensures there’s some shred of light at the end of what has been a very bleak tunnel of despair for British racing in recent years.
20 February 2024, 13:12
‘Never mind the really dangerous junction where 56 people have been hurt in the past three years – you know who we really need to stop, those pesky non-local cyclists looking to cycle in a straight line, they’re the real problem’
An ambitious proposal to transform a London roundabout described as “one of the most dangerous junctions on the road network” and the scene of 56 collisions in the last three years has been criticised by a Conservative MP who claims it will “lead to increased traffic congestion, increased pollution, and rat-running”, and that “the main cycling beneficiaries will be those out of borough looking to cycle in a straight line”.
> MP opposes plan to improve cyclist safety at “one of the most dangerous junctions” — because “main beneficiaries” will be non-local cyclists “looking to cycle in a straight line”
20 February 2024, 12:39
Brandon McNulty (and his hipster barista/Great War soldier moustache) leads home UAE Team Emirates one-two-three on UAE Tour time trial, as Tobias Foss and his 68-tooth chainring forced to settle for fourth
Vine 🇦🇺 coming into the finish with a superb time. He currently sits just 2 seconds behind his teammate Brandon 🇺🇸 That was close! @TeamEmiratesUAE have options for the rest of the week with these rides. “Home” tour and they’re really showing themselves.
#UAETour2024 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/ufg4xu4t1P
— Lewis (@VamosCiclismo) February 20, 2024
Brandon McNulty’s hipster moustache continues to work its wonders this season, as the US time trial champion (and First World War bomber pilot lookalike) followed up his overall win at the Volta Valenciana earlier this month by heading a dominant UAE Team Emirates podium sweep on stage two of the UAE Tour this morning.
In a result that will no doubt keep the sponsors happy, McNulty – who set off early in an attempt to beat the stronger winds forecast for the afternoon – covered the pan-flat, not very interesting 12.1km around Al Hudayriyat Island in 13.27, beating teammates Jay Vine and Mikkel Bjerg by two and four seconds respectively.
🏅🇺🇸Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) gana la Etapa 2 del 🇦🇪UAE Tour 2024 🇦🇪 #UAETour #Noticiclismo #Ciclismo pic.twitter.com/EbzkIlaqrv
— NotiCiclismo 🇦🇪 #UAETour (@Noticiclismo1) February 20, 2024
Tobias Foss’ monster 68-tooth chainring, meanwhile, was only enough for fourth place behind the UAE one-two-three, the Norwegian’s huge gearing enabling him to nevertheless keep the gap down to 14 seconds on the mostly tailwind-aided section to the line. So that’s something, right?
It's a great provisional fourth place for @tobias_s_foss in the #UAETour TT 💪 pic.twitter.com/QFcc7QQJMP
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) February 20, 2024
On the GC front, Ilan van Wilder and Pello Bilbao finished within 20 seconds off the flying American McNulty and in the top ten, while the second page of the leaderboard has a very Anglo-Antipodean feel about it, with Ben O’Connor, Kellan O’Brien, Max Poole (watch out for him), pre-race favourite Adam Yates, Alex Edmondson, and Simon Carr all finishing in the teens between 22 and 32 seconds down, with all still to play for when the road rises upwards over the next few stages.
Though Captain America, especially after today’s performance, may have something to say about that…
20 February 2024, 12:17
The 2024 injury list continues to grow, as Eddie Dunbar breaks hand in UAE Tour pile-up
While most of the riders involved in the pile-up 200 metres from the finish of yesterday’s opening stage of the UAE Tour managed to escape with just a few nasty cuts, Jayco-AlUla’s Irish climber Eddie Dunbar wasn’t so lucky.
The Australian squad confirmed this morning that Dunbar would not start today’s individual time trial after fracturing his hand in the mass spill.
“I had a bit of a tumble again yesterday,” the 27-year-old said in a video. “Coming into the finish I was in a good position – or I thought I was.
“Basically, the crash happened and I was coming to a stop happy to avoid it and then I got hit from behind by another rider going at about 50kph or something like that. That took me off the bike and straight over the handlebars and I took all the weight on my right-hand side.
“I ended up with a small fracture in my hand, similar to the one last year, just a different bone.”
After a few frustrating years punctuated by bad luck and a lack of opportunities at Ineos, Dunbar’s hopes for a successful 2023 after joining Jayco-AlUla were almost immediately derailed when he broke his hand at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.
However, he managed to recover in time to finish seventh at the Giro d’Italia – his best grand tour overall placing to date – but misfortune struck once again at the Vuelta a España, which he abandoned after crashing in the neutralised zone of stage five.
And it appears that cloud of bad luck is still following Dunbar around, with this latest setback hampering his build-up to the Giro in May.
“I’m disappointed. I crashed in Valencia, and now here. It’s more difficult mentally than physically at this point. I’ll go to see a hand specialist, see what the next steps are and then re-plan the next few weeks,” he said.
20 February 2024, 11:59
Are there too many people using the cycle lanes?
Good morning from #cycleway4
I thought this summer we might be exceeding the capacity of the cycleway but who'd have thought there would be too many people cycling along it in winter :)#cycling #cyclinglife pic.twitter.com/ZA2vOq253p
— Greg N (@n00dles71) February 20, 2024
Sky News Australia will lose their minds…
20 February 2024, 11:37
“We’re not Amsterdam, people don’t cycle here – But they used to”: Carlton Reid uncovers Britain’s lost cycle tracks
If you’ve got a bit of free time over your lunch break – and the next dozen or so lunch breaks after that – Carlton Reid’s mammoth 120,000 study of the hidden history of Britain’s 1930s Dutch-inspired cycle tracks is now available to peruse at your leisure over at britishcycletracks.com.
The award-winning transport writer – and occasional road.cc Podcast guest – spent the last few years, along with Urban Movement’s John Dales and mapper James Houston, piecing together the project, exploring the 100-plus cycle tracks that were built by the Ministry of Transport during the 1930s to help keep the booming numbers of cyclists, who vastly outnumbered motorists on British roads, safe.
"We're not Amsterdam, people don't cycle here." But they used to. And in huge numbers. I did this graph showing the doubling in transportation cycling in the mid-1930s. Graph done for my 120,000-word study at https://t.co/9BVNRJW6dF pic.twitter.com/Y2GwbjE2Bu
— Carlton Reid (@carltonreid) February 14, 2024
“Fearing a reduction in amenity, cycling organisations campaigned against the tracks, but ordinary cyclists used them,” Carlton writes in the website’s introduction. “Working-class transportation cycling had exploded in the mid-1930s, with eight million more cyclists than motorists at the time.
“However, between 1949 and 1972, cycle use collapsed, and the MoT’s 190-mile track network fell into disuse and gradually faded from memory. Today, some of the innovative-for-the-time state-led infrastructure could be brought up to modern standards. Space for cycling that many planners and politicians say isn’t there is there, and – in short stretches — has been there for more than 85 years.”
As well as tracing the rise and fall of these cycle tracks – including some nifty and rather depressing ‘before and after’ images – the study also assessed the modern utility of twelve of these period pieces of infrastructure, with the aim of “bringing several of them back to life by rediscovery, renovation and, with local authority buy-in, revival, hopefully meshing the best of the tracks into modern urban and edge-of-urban networks.”
See, as I always say, history can be useful after all. Quick, someone tell the government…
20 February 2024, 11:15
Lorry driver jailed over “highly dangerous manoeuvre” that killed cyclist at notorious junction and sparked safe streets protest
A lorry driver who was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving in relation to a “highly dangerous manoeuvre” that resulted in the death of cyclist Dr Marta Krawiec, sparking a wave of protests calling for change at the “notoriously” dangerous Holborn gyratory where she was killed, has been jailed.
Kevin Allen had already admitted causing death by careless driving but was last month found guilty of the more serious causing death by dangerous driving offence, and was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison by a judge at the Old Bailey yesterday.
Read more: > Lorry driver jailed over “highly dangerous manoeuvre” that killed cyclist at notorious junction and sparked safe streets protest
20 February 2024, 10:59
Yeah, just a few “bad apples”, alright…
In the wake of Sky News Australia’s debate on those “annoying”, bad apple cyclists, who just need to use their common sense and stay out of harm’s way, I decided to dip into the road.cc archives – beyond those shocking, TikTok-posted hit-and-runs in Melbourne – to figure out exactly who that “small minority doing the wrong thing” are…
> Driver involved in “allegedly deliberate” hit-and-run with cyclist arrested
> Brisbane motorist who drove at cyclist charged with attempted murder
> “Riding in Australia is overwhelmingly fear inducing,” says pro
Worryingly, all those stories are from the last four years, too.
I fear Sky News Australia may be looking up the wrong tree for those bad apples…
20 February 2024, 10:28
How much? Ineos Grenadiers’ Tobias Foss set to debut mind-boggling, monster 68-tooth chainring during UAE Tour time trial
Move over Bert Grabsch (now there’s a blast from the past) – there’s a new pie plate-wielding, big gear gnashing, leg-screaming sheriff in town.
(Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
After Remco Evenepoel wowed us all by brandishing a massive 62-tooth chainring on his way to winning the Volta ao Algarve’s 22km time trial and the race overall, the Ineos Grenadiers’ time trialling hotshot Tobias Foss has decided to take things up a notch with a big ring so humungous that I’m sure some satellites will be able to pick it up from outer space as he churns it through the deserts of the UAE Tour this afternoon.
2022 world time trial champion Foss has opted for a bafflingly big 68-tooth chainring for today’s 12.1km TT, which even he reckons is beyond anything he’s tried before.
🧐El ex campeón del mundo de crono, Tobias Foss, utilizará este monstruoso plato de 68 DIENTES en la crono de hoy en el @uae_tour 🦷😨
📸 @MA_Rodriguezz 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/pdBEPbMMnW
— MARCA Polideportivo (@MarcaTMF) February 20, 2024
Jeepers, the size of that…
“I think I never used anything bigger than about a 60 before, I guess,” the 26-year-old Norwegian, who joined Ineos from Visma-Lease a Bike in January, told Velo’s Shane Stokes. “So it is definitely something new.
“It’s about the [high] average speed, and you never really want to use the big chain ring and the lowest gear in the back. It’s to do with drivechain efficiency.
“The guys back home made [the plan], I am just following orders, basically. So I trust that this is the fastest and the best one.”
Well, good luck to you Tobias – because my legs hurt just thinking about it…
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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18 comments
Just saw these on bikinginla, I don't think I'd seen them here.
Eight men arrested in murder probe after cyclist killed in 'hit and run'. Thames Valley Police launched a murder investigation after a man was struck down by a motorist and reportedly attacked before the driver fled the scene.
Police hunting masked biker 'terrorising' cycle paths in Midlands town. The bike has been seen speeding down a number of cycle paths in Tamworth, Staffordshire.
Note: "biker" is on some sort of e-motorcycle.
Taxi driver has snapped at Cycling Mikey! Nope, it's not really Mikey. Gleeful comments from the usual suspects on the Twitter/X cesspool.
The simple trick that nailed £130,000 bike theft gang in a single day... police use bait bike to infiltrate and take down bike theft gang. Sorry for Daily Mail link. They must be so conflicted cheering this on.
Police warning to cyclists after stolen bike turns up nearly 4 years later. Surrey police suggest using one of the following free and easily accessible websites.
Two cyclists who tried to save a man's life are being urged to come forward by police. The man and woman went to the 25-year-old's aid after they found him near Sunshine Trail cycle track, Alverstone, on the Isle of Wight, on 1 February.
"Our only question is: Why?"
Riding bikes with your friends: fun
Drinking beer with your friends: fun
Dicking about in a way that isn't harmful to anyone: fun
The beer bike seems like it ticks all three boxes
The only thing I can't get behind is the attractive bartenders to ogle for a fee part, otherwise, sounds like a good time.
Can't wait to see the beer bike go up and down Park Street
I've done one here in the US. They're motorized. It weighs about a tonne, so at least 200 lb / 100 kg per pedaller.
"Bristol gets its first ‘beer bike’ – and our only question is: ‘Why?’"
So they can charge you an exhorbitant amout (£450 for 60 minutes) to drink shit beer.
I've got a better idea, get on your bike and cycle to any one (or more) of the following: Small Bar, Wiper & True, The Kings Head, The Seven Stars, Little Martha, Moor Beer, The Barley Mow, Left Handed Giant Brew pub. Bristol has so many good watering holes, even Brewdog and 'Spoons would be a better experience.
RE: Are there too many people using the cycle lanes?
That's impressive - looks almost like a giant chain gang!
Got a ways to go though....
Whilst I admire Carlton Reids dedication to documenting these cycle tracks and maybe my local track is just a bad outlier example.
But its clear just on that one local example there's alot of confusion about its history and provenance, which then leads to more confusion about the whole areas cycling setup and before long there's an entire new history being written.
Fwiw I don't use the track except in extremis, because its frankly rubbish.
But because it exists, because the council believes its good enough, because they hear people from mainstream cycling praising what a great thing it is to have, we'll never get any improvement to it.
It will remain this archaic callback that could simply have been a path along a road that otherwise would have been mud, that in no way encourages or promotes anyone to cycle along it.
I believe you're correct about the prediction but I'm not so sure the "people from mainstream cycling praising it" makes much difference (albeit sometimes galling).
For example I'm cynical about e.g. previous incarnations of Sustrans (I should add, for some time appearing much improved) apparently lending their support to any "cycling infra" (and thus the National Sign-off Network). However ... did that even change much? To be fair to them Sustrans (or certainly the many folks who've volunteered) still presided over some generally useful projects as well as getting their logo many places. And perhaps the councils minded to do anything would have delivered rubbish and declared it "world-beating" regardless of whether Sustrans approved or even were shouting for something better?
It seems decades of vigorous campaigning are unfortunately necessary but certainly not sufficient. What are the levers you feel that could be pulled to effect a better quality result (or anything at all)?
probs because of the confusion on the history and the spread of infra around it, its become a bit of a poster child for Sustrans and Active Travel England locally, no council wanting to create more cycling infra is going to suddenly go "Oi Boardman Nooo!!! you might think this cycle track is brilliant but we're going to dig it up and replace it with something different".
So it never gets included in any new schemes proposed, its literally treated as this is the kind of stuff we should aspire to as its already perfect, even though Im sure if you proposed the exact equivalent today, the same organisations praising it, would say it fell well below standard
Erm - has he seen what the majority of Australian roads look like? The only bits that seem busy are the areas immediately around the major cities. On his logic, they should just dig up all the others…
You have forgotten the golden rules:
If any road is not completely free flowing at all times, then we need another road.
If any cycle lane is not completely full 24 hours a day, then it should be ripped out.
I think it's motornormativity. Drivists get so used to roads being congested with all the large vehicles (typically with a single occupant) that they don't recognise that an efficient cycle track won't have congestion with anything less than European cycling levels (and even then, the congestion is only at junctions/lights).
You want to be on a large-larger ring combination, to minimise link-rotation friction in the chain. And you also want to have a straight chain-line for as much as possible, to minimise side-plate friction.
So makes a lot of sense on a flat TT.
More low-grade clickbait content, trying to drive engagement through outrage.
Plenty of people here who like to furiously froth over it.
Virtually your only comments on this site are to say how crap you think it is. Are you sure that doing so, and indeed coming here at all if you dislike it as much as it appears, is the best use of your precious and limited time on this planet?
Well, it clearly worked as you couldn't resist responding.
Am I a terrible police chief?
No, its the victims who are wrong!