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“He pays road tax, you don’t”: Motorists – and Ashley Neal – blast Jeremy Vine for black cab close pass video; Extinction Rebellion’s British Cycling protest’s mixed response; Local letter with a difference; Pidcock’s Worlds doubts + more on the live blog

It’s Monday, it’s cold, and Ryan Mallon is here with the first live blog of the week, where the only World Cup that matters is the one with knobbly tyres and muddy fields…
Mon, Nov 21, 2022 09:37
103
“He pays road tax, you don’t”: Motorists – and Ashley Neal – blast Jeremy Vine for black cab close pass video; Extinction Rebellion’s British Cycling protest’s mixed response; Local letter with a difference; Pidcock’s Worlds doubts + more on the live blogBlack cab close pass, Kensington (Twitter, Jeremy Vine)
21 November 2022, 09:09
“He pays road tax, you don’t”: Motorists – and Ashley Neal – blast Jeremy Vine for black cab close pass video

Jeremy Vine’s live blog season ticket hasn’t seen much action in recent months (apart from the odd impatient Bentley driver), but it’s safe to say that over on Twitter – it’s still around, hooray! – the two-wheeled presenter is continuing his successful streak of upsetting angry, entitled motorists with his daily commute videos. 

Vine’s latest ‘controversial’ clip, posted yesterday morning, shows a Kensington taxi driver go full MGIF (Must Get in Front) by close passing the broadcaster, despite the cyclist’s hand signal to indicate that he was staying in the outside lane.

Not only that, but the close pass was also accompanied by an obligatory blast of the horn and a shout of ‘What’s your problem?’ from the black cab driver.

As with almost all MGIF passes, of course, the manoeuvre comes to no avail, as Vine soon draws level with the cabbie for a rather testy debrief.

“Why did you close pass me?” Vine asks.

“You put your hand out and I thought you were going right,” comes the response.

“No, you didn’t, there’s no right turn.”

“You can do what you like, you know that. You put your hand out to go right, I’ve let you go…”

“No, you deliberately close passed me.”

“You should know better.”

Like the vast majority of Vine’s close encounters with London drivers, this clip attracted some classic anti-cycling responses:

Even YouTube driving instructor and live blog favourite Ashley Neal (a two for one deal on a Monday morning, aren’t you lucky?) got involved, sparking a somewhat heated exchange between the pair:

However, amidst all the righteous fury, one particular tweet stood out as worthy of at least a nomination to the anti-cycling bingo Hall of Fame:

21 November 2022, 16:58
Black cab close pass, Kensington (Twitter, Jeremy Vine)
Jeremy vs the Cabbie: Post-match analysis

Jeremy Vine’s run-in with a MGIF London taxi driver has sparked more in-depth analysis from our road.cc readers than a Jermaine Jenas commentary stint.

Here’s a selection of some of your thoughts:

I don’t tend to indicate to overtake parked vehicles. Neither do London cabbies for that matter. If Vine had been a cabbie, the cabbie behind wouldn’t have even so much as squeaked about that being a problem.

With the taxi being that close to JV and already indicating, I’d have been inclined to let it pass first and then take the lane. The other alternative would be to have taken the lane earlier, at the lights. However, the taxi driver should have aborted the overtake when they saw what JV was doing as there wasn’t the room there and of course it was totally unnecessary.

Too many motorists genuinely seem to think that cyclists will run up behind a parked car, disappear with a Star Trek sound effect, and then reappear beyond it.

I think Jeremy Vine is almost always bang on, but indicating so late certainly didn’t help that situation. The taxi overtook a slower moving vehicle, moving fully into a different lane and indicating well in advance of their manoeuvre. I wish all car drivers passed me with such consideration.

Vine on the other hand wanders slowly over into the other lane, sticking his hand out at the last minute when there is already an issue. Certainly not the best example of his usually pretty good roadcraft. I think the belligerence from both parties is uncalled for, but I guess that’s two red blooded humans on the streets of London.

It’s the responsibility of the taxi driver to assess what is happening ahead and not make the dangerous overtake, apportioning any blame to the cyclist for not signalling at a very specific time is wrong as the operation of steering and gear changing (and brakes) is done by the hand that would need to signal. Following vehicle operators must be mindful of this in this situation. HC mentions that cyclists may move unpredictable due road imperfections etc.

Also, Vine lets the taxi that was in the outer lane past then shoulder-checks three times as he starts to change lane approaching the parked taxi.

Quite obviously where the two Brompton riders were going, but idiot taxi driver is a dangerous impatient bully who wants to stop at the next queue sooner and doesn’t care if he endangers vulnerable road users to do so.

Now, I think I need a lie-down before Gary Neville appears on the TV tonight…

21 November 2022, 16:07
Le Col Wahoo (press release)
Le Col step back from co-title sponsorship at Wahoo team, but will continue funding squad after prospective new title sponsor pulls out

Le Col will continue to sponsor and provide kit for the Wahoo women’s team, despite stepping back from its role as the squad’s co-title sponsor.

On Thursday we reported on the blog that the UK-based Le Col-Wahoo squad, which participated in this summer’s Tour de France Femmes, was facing an uncertain future after one of its title sponsors – now revealed to be kit manufacturer Le Col – stepped back, creating a €400,000 hole in the team’s budget for 2023.

A source has told road.cc that Le Col, which began sponsoring the women’s squad in 2021 before trebling its investment to take co-title sponsorship for this season, informed the team in September that it was standing aside as a title sponsor, but would continue as a kit supplier and backer.

With a larger partner required to enable the squad to reach its ultimate aim of competing in the Women’s World Tour, Le Col says that it has worked with the team since September to find a new sponsor alongside Wahoo.

However, according to the source, a potential deal fell away unexpectedly at the last minute, prompting sports director Tom Varney to tell riders and staff last week that they should begin seeking employment elsewhere for 2023.

21 November 2022, 15:28
Damn… No Dublin World Cup for Van der Poel

Four-time world cyclocross champion Mathieu van der Poel has released his race schedule for this winter, which the Dutch star hopes will ensure that he arrives at the world champs in Hoogerheide on 5 February 2023 in tip-top condition.

Unfortunately for fans in the UK and Ireland, however, the Dublin round of the World Cup in December (already pencilled in on archrival Wout van Aert’s calendar) is missing from the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider’s list of pre-worlds hit outs, at the expense of a sunny team training camp in Spain. Well for some, I suppose…

Mathieu van der Poel 2022-23 cyclocross race calendar

Well, what am I going to do with my massive orange MVDP flag now?

21 November 2022, 15:15
UPDATE: Parliament officials confirm folding bikes ARE allowed, providing they fit through security scanner
21 November 2022, 14:55
Sonny Colbrelli Merida Reacto Paris-Roubaix-3 (Credit Alex Broadway/SWpix.com)
Sonny Colbrelli inspired by Christian Eriksen phone call after unstable cardiac arrhythmia diagnosis

Last football-related story for today, I promise!

2021 Paris-Roubaix winner Sonny Colbrelli, who was forced to retire from professional cycling last month after being diagnosed with an unstable cardiac arrhythmia, has praised Manchester United and Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen for helping him to recover mentally after his career-ending collapse at the Volta a Catalunya in March.

The former European road race champion was fitted with a subcutaneous defibrillator implant (ICD) following his scare in Spain – which happened moments after he finished second behind Michael Matthews in an uphill sprint – the same device Eriksen received after his frightening collapse at Euro 2020 last summer.

While the Danish playmaker has made a remarkable return to the top of his sport, and will lead his country at this winter’s World Cup, Colbrelli conceded in October that cycling “is a different sport” and that returning to racing is “a risk I cannot afford to take”.

Sonny Colbrelli Merida Reacto Paris-Roubaix (Credit A.S.O._Pauline Ballet)-2

A.S.O./Pauline Ballet

However, Eriksen’s story – and a morale-boosting phone call between the pair – has inspired the former Bahrain-Victorious pro in the uncertain few months since his career came to an abrupt and unexpected conclusion, just over five months after its crowning moment in the Roubaix velodrome.

“When I woke up at the hospital and they told me what had happened to me, the first thing I thought about was Eriksen,” Colbrelli told Eurosport Italy last week.

“This is because I also follow football, and who hasn’t seen his story on television?

“I looked up his phone number and after a few days I managed to get it. I wrote him a message, almost frightened but he immediately replied: ‘if you wait 10 minutes, I’ll finish training, I’ll go out of the locker room and I’ll call you back’.

“It didn’t seem real to me; I didn’t believe that a great champion had written to me after what happened to him. Now we see him at Manchester [United] and we will see him at the FIFA World Cup – for me it was a great joy.”

21 November 2022, 14:16
World Cup v World Cup: More cyclists ‘playing’ football

As the second half of England v Iran gets underway, sit back and appreciate the tekkers on display at the other World Cup going on in Overijse yesterday:

Highlights include Tom Pidcock channelling his inner Peter Kay (he must have secured tickets to next year’s shows), while 20-year-old European champion Fem van Empel must surely be waiting by the phone for her call-up to the Dutch squad. Is there anything she can’t do?

Footballer-cyclist Remco Evenepoel, eat your heart out…

21 November 2022, 13:21
“The road season is so much more important to me”: Pidcock casts doubt on cyclocross worlds defence after dramatic debut weekend in rainbow jersey

It’s fair to say that Tom Pidcock’s first weekend racing in the rainbow jersey of world cyclocross champion was rather dramatic.

After a steady seventh place in his first ‘cross race of the season on Saturday, at the Superprestige event in Merksplas, the 23-year-old put on a sensational display at the World Cup in Overijse the following day, with only a plethora of mechanicals, crashes, and sheer bad luck standing between him and a debut win in the rainbow bands.

A jammed chain almost ruined the Ineos Grenadiers rider’s race before it even started yesterday (what is going on with Pinarello’s ‘cross bikes this winter?), forcing him into a dramatic – and impressive – chase to regain his place at the front of the pack.

“My gears were jammed. I don’t know why, it’s a bit strange,” the Olympic mountain bike champion said at the finish.

“I had to get my chain out, then I looked up. We’d done five seconds of racing and I’m already last, so I was thinking, ‘ah … this is gonna be a hard day’.”

But, just as the versatile Yorkshireman began to blast clear of his nearest rival, European champion Michael Vanthourenhout, on the penultimate lap, disaster struck – at the bottom of a treacherous, muddy descent onto cobblestones, the world champion crashed, allowing Vanthourenhout to slip away.

Despite the spill – which, to add insult to injury, damaged his shoe, hindering him on the mud-strewn course’s plentiful running sections – Pidcock gained slowly on his Belgian rival during the final two laps. But it just wasn’t enough, as an early win in the rainbow jersey cruelly eluded him by just three seconds.

“I came off the dirt onto cobbles, my wheel slipped, and I fell on the cobbles. I think I’m going to be pretty sore in the morning,” Pidcock said.

“My shoe also broke, so I was struggling with running. It was coming off every time I stood in the mud. It was a difficult two laps but I thought, ‘I can’t give up, I’ve got to try and get a win in this jersey’.

“I can be pleased,” he added. “After Saturday I’m much more used to race pace and technical parts. I can be pleased, but it would have been nice to get my hands in the air.”

While he rated his early-winter performance in the rainbow jersey on the fields of northern Europe a solid 8/10, doubts remain over whether Pidcock will even defend his world title in February 2023.

Speaking to Het Nieuwsblad ahead of his return to action, the Ineos Grenadiers rider – who struggled with illness during the roads classics season after prioritising his tilt at the ‘cross worlds in Arkansas – said he “can’t answer” if a title defence is on the cards.

“The World Championship is very late this time, isn't it?” he told the Belgian newspaper. “If you peak for this Championship and then you have to prepare for the Classics…”

2022 TdF stage 12 pidcock ineos Zac Williams/SWpix.com

Zac Williams/SWpix.com

While Pidcock’s 2022 classics season failed to live up to his admittedly lofty expectations – he did go on to win on Alpe d’Huez at the Tour de France later that summer, of course – the 23-year-old is not prepared to sacrifice his chances of winning one of the sport’s monuments next spring.

“The road season is so much more important to me. That's how I feel this year too,” he said.

“In 2023 I especially want to perform consistently in those spring Monuments. If I succeed, the results will follow. If you’re up front with everything, you get more options.

“Last year I did play an important role in the victories of the team. Those victories lifted me a little bit, even if things didn’t go the way I wanted for myself.

“Compared to Jumbo-Visma and Quick-Step, we have a young team, with less experience, but we can race. Let the great powers fight it out among themselves, we will attack them.”

Not that Pidcock doesn’t want to fully rep the rainbow bands this winter.

“I finished the road season early. I already had enough free time,” he said of his early return to Flanders’ fields. “That rainbow jersey is also an incentive to get started. I want to honour that jersey as much as possible.”

21 November 2022, 12:50
The team sheet we’ve all been waiting for…
21 November 2022, 12:27
Move over, David Guetta…

Come for the fourth round of the Cyclocross National Trophy Series in Torbay, stay for former Team Sky rider Pete Kennaugh spreading the Big Beat Manifesto…

21 November 2022, 11:40
oxon travel cycle lane picture 2 - via twitter.PNG
‘All cyclists hear from vulgar motorists is, “blah, blah, woosh”!’ Local paper letter with a difference

The ‘surprisingly pro-cycling letter in the local paper’ has emerged as one of my favourite live blog subgenres in recent months.

Usually the domain of angry ‘car is king’ motorists whittering on about ‘road tax’, lycra, red light jumping, and… errr, “muscular cyclists”, it’s always refreshing to see a local letters page offer some space to those on the real-life receiving end of online anti-cycling discourse.

This morning’s Craven Herald and Pioneer features an excellent letter (though let’s face it, it’s probably an email these days) from pensioner Ray Duffy, who hits the nail on the head about cycling’s health and environmental benefits, and the futility of a passing driver’s vitriol:  

I have an unblemished 50-year-old car and motorcycle licence, have been cycling for 68 years and yet other road users seem to think they have the right to tell me where I should be on the road by shouting at me, as I ride along on my bike, minding my own business.

If any of these vulgar people had ever ridden a bike then they’d know that such comments are totally wasted as all a cyclist hears is: ‘blah, blah, woosh’!

I’ve often wanted to have a conversation about vehicle excise duty (not car tax) and how I’d be exempt as I don’t emit any exhaust, the Highway Code information for cyclists and vehicle driver compliance with the rules of the road.

However, although they are willing to shout, they are never willing to listen that my car is at home, I’m keeping fit and not wasting the NHS time, not polluting the world, not wasting natural oil reserves, not wearing out the roads and taking up much less room than I would in my car, all of which I feel are all positives for them, their children and the planet.

Brilliant stuff.

Now, I’m off for a quick look at road.cc’s inbox. Oh, dear God…

21 November 2022, 11:10
Brian Smith for I’m A Celebrity 2023?

I’ll get to work on the letter to ITV… 

21 November 2022, 10:24
“Here we go! Fireworks outside a shed full of wood”: Extinction Rebellion’s British Cycling protest receives mixed response

With sportswashing very much in vogue at the moment (is there a football match on today?), Extinction Rebellion’s decision to protest British Cycling’s partnership with oil and gas giant Shell yesterday may get lost in the whole, you know… *gestures at everything*

However – while the rest of the world focuses on suspiciously dodgy VAR decisions, Gianni Infantino’s increasingly David Brent-like public pronouncements (and you thought David Lappartient was bad), and Morgan Freeman and David Beckham proving that money is indeed everything – our little cycling bubble spared a few moments at half-time before Qatar’s national team lethargically ambled back out in front of a half-empty stadium to give their take on the environmental campaigners’ latest demonstration.

> Extinction Rebellion protest British Cycling's Shell deal at National Cycling Centre

ER’s protest, which saw a few flare and pun-wielding activists climb on top of the entrance to the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, making it look like a Galatasaray home match, while others took part in a Critical Mass Ride, was widely praised on Twitter.

“The Shell British Cycling debacle has not gone away,” wrote prominent road safety campaigner Dr Robert Davis.

“A particular shame is that there are LOADS of cycle sport coaches/officials who have to be members because it’s the official sport’s governing body.”

One climate activist said, “Great teamwork today, highlighting British Cycling's collusion in Shell’s climate crimes,” while another Twitter user asked, “Why on earth would anyone allow these climate criminals to sponsor British Cycling, ruining its good name to greenwash and cleanse their murderous history?”

“Brilliant! Disgusting that an oil company would have anything to do with cycling,” said activist Shannon Galpin. “We are fighting for our planet and bikes are an important tool in the fight AGAINST fossil fuels.

“British Cycling legitimising or normalising Shell is a gross betrayal of cyclists.”

However, some cyclists who have ridden on the Manchester velodrome’s boards, such as Alistair Rutherford, weren’t as convinced:

While former racer-turned-commentator Tony Gibb tactfully described the protesters as “f***ing morons”…

Meanwhile, members of the anti-cycling brigade demonstrated their impeccable online debating skills by using the protest to complain about cycle lanes:

Never waste an excuse to bash cycling infrastructure, eh? 

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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103 comments

Avatar
Awavey | 2 years ago
0 likes

I know Le Col stuff is expensive, though always on permanent discount it feels (check the black friday deals) though the Pendleton stuff is really nice...400k as a kit supplier ? seriously ?

did you see the national champs kit they made for Alice Towers ? well probably not because conti level races dont get much media coverage 1

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mark1a replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
0 likes

I don't think Le Col were just a kit supplier - £400k on 14 riders, that's over £25k a rider (it's not Rapha). I suspect they're kit supplier and then pay a premium to be title sponsor. Hence stepping back, and remaining as kit sponsor, they could do that for more like £40k. 

Always found the Le Col pricing model confusing. There's a so-called RRP, then join a Strava challenge, ride your bike, £50 off. Join LC-CC, connect your Strava account, earn a point for every km ridden. Points = more discount. 

That said, it's good stuff, I have a fair amount of it, but haven't really paid full price for any of it. 

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Awavey replied to mark1a | 2 years ago
2 likes

my tongue was firmly in my cheek with that comment just because their kit is very expensive and yet always on discount 1

Im just amazed they had that much spare cash to sponsor a team at that level, and then like it seems alot of kit makers in cycling do, never learn how to exploit it properly.

 

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KDee replied to mark1a | 2 years ago
1 like

I swapped a pair of Sony noise cancelling headphones (big over ear ones, not second hand earwax ones) for a pair of Le Col winter gloves. Gotta say, very happy with the gloves. I genuinely hope they last a long time. 

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IanMSpencer | 2 years ago
6 likes

VIne was essentially riding ahead of the taxi at a lane merge - the two lanes at the light disappeared and turned into a single wide lane. Therefore as VIne was ahead, the lane is his. He then had to move across because of the obstruction and the marked zones. Was a signal necessary? - no. Was it a useful asserting his changing of position when faced with a driver who was not obviously giving space to a vulnerable road user? - yes.

Was passing someone whose signal was interpreted as a right turn appropriate, of course not - and as taxis u-turn and cyclists may be heading for a pavement, it is not unreasonable for the taxi to assume they might be exiting at the right at some random place, which makes the excuse even more peculiar.

I don't think Vine presents well to traffic on some of the videos - he does seem a bit wobbly and ponderous in his cycling - if you are going to mix it with mainstream traffic you do have to cooperate to some extent. I would have thought he would be a bit fitter by now so I am surprised how slow he seems. If you are going to impose on the traffic, having a bit more speed to impose yourself does help. If you are going to be  a potterer there are times when you perhaps have to accept that you cannot readily merge into traffic so I do think he generates some of his problems with his style of cycling at times - but that is not to say he is not allowed to cycle in a sedate manner. As Vine shows, in the end, pottering is as quick as pounding the streets, so it is just the taxi driver's frustration.

As an aside, I had a little wander from the City up to Whitechapel and Brick Lane on Saturday just for an explore, and I was impressed how little traffic there was around the Whitechapel area.

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The Accountant replied to IanMSpencer | 2 years ago
1 like
IanMSpencer wrote:

I don't think Vine presents well to traffic on some of the videos - he does seem a bit wobbly and ponderous in his cycling - if you are going to mix it with mainstream traffic you do have to cooperate to some extent. I would have thought he would be a bit fitter by now so I am surprised how slow he seems. If you are going to impose on the traffic, having a bit more speed to impose yourself does help.

In all fairness it's a problem shared by Rendel Harris too and many other London cyclists - when you have gigantic chips on your shoulders weighing you down, you're never going to be particularly stable or spritely are you?

Avatar
IanMSpencer replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
13 likes

Fuck off, troll.

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perce replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
13 likes

Many years ago there was a small cafe on the corner of Bellhouse Road and Windmill Road. Me and my mum went in and I had egg and chips and a bottle of Mandora. Very nice it was too. The lady who owned the cafe and cooked the food was very pleasant. Do you know who it was? Marti Caine. That's right, you heard. Marti. Caine. One of our most loved female entertainers. Of course this was a long time before she became a star of stage and small screen. The cafe didn't last long - it was a bit too far away from the main parade of shops. If it had been a bit nearer I suspect it may have been more successful. I think it became a hairdressers after that, and then turned back into a normal house. I've got to stop writing now, I've got a dog pawing at my leg. Call me, Ishmael

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to perce | 2 years ago
5 likes

perce wrote:

Many years ago there was a small cafe on the corner of Bellhouse Road and Windmill Road. Me and my mum went in and I had egg and chips and a bottle of Mandora. Very nice it was too. The lady who owned the cafe and cooked the food was very pleasant. Do you know who it was? Marti Caine. That's right, you heard. Marti. Caine. One of our most loved female entertainers. Of course this was a long time before she became a star of stage and small screen. The cafe didn't last long - it was a bit too far away from the main parade of shops. If it had been a bit nearer I suspect it may have been more successful. I think it became a hairdressers after that, and then turned back into a normal house. I've got to stop writing now, I've got a dog pawing at my leg. Call me, Ishmael

Well, that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

Surprisingly, she beat both Lenny Henry and Victoria Wood to win New Faces back in '75. I don't quite understand how, but she was featured on 'This Is Your Life' twice. Unfortunately she died at the relatively young age of 50.

There's a 2017 film based on her: Funny Cow

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perce replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
1 like

No I don't understand how either. I thought Funny Cow was quite a good film though

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hawkinspeter replied to perce | 2 years ago
0 likes

perce wrote:

No I don't understand how either. I thought Funny Cow was quite a good film though

Haven't seen it, so I had a quick look on the open seas for it. Strangely, there's an "uncensored" version and I'm now curious as to what was censored.

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perce replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
4 likes

Sorry, I meant Windmill Lane

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Rendel Harris replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
10 likes

Nigel Garrage wrote:

In all fairness it's a problem shared by Rendel Harris too and many other London cyclists - when you have gigantic chips on your shoulders weighing you down, you're never going to be particularly stable or spritely are you?

Never mind Nigel, you've got a few years on me yet, if you keep on plugging away and practising hard one day you might be as good at bike handling as me, and then you won't go ploughing into potholes and expecting hard-working council taxpayers to shell out as a result of your incompetence.

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The Accountant replied to Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
1 like

It was a nasty little pothole actually, as a result of someone's "handywork" at patching up a road repair - it was wet the day I went into it and it was literally hidden.

This is the kind of thing that needs resolving urgently - potholes have proliferated as councils waste money on rubbish cycle paths and other pointless infrastructure.

Photo attached, look at the jagged line and the pathetic attempt to patch it previously - what a disgrace! Suffice to say they fixed it properly pronto after being hit with the legal wrath of British Cycling.

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Rendel Harris replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
10 likes

Rakia wrote:

It was a nasty little pothole actually, as a result of someone's "handywork" at patching up a road repair - it was wet the day I went into it and it was literally hidden.

When you've got a bit more experience you might learn not to ride into puddles perhaps, older and wiser riders know they can always be hiding potholes. Ride to the conditions, resist that newbie temptation to go as fast as you can just so you can claim to be fastest in your club (nobody cares, they really don't), learn to read the road ahead and how to steer round hazards then you won't do any damage, either to yourself or the poor old taxpayer who has to pay your compo.

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IanMSpencer replied to Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
8 likes

Much as a driver you should avoid potholes and puddles. Strange how many drivers choose to tank through puddles, knowing the state of the roads. Methinks Nigel is something of a novice road user.

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giff77 replied to IanMSpencer | 2 years ago
4 likes

I think it may be something akin to a child jumping in a puddle except they don't get wet in their metal box. 

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
4 likes

TBH, seems to be riding very close to the side of the road there, especially with no bailout option as it looks like hedges / undergrowth. Maybe the concussion from the crash caused him to think he came from another country and be racist with his depiction when joining as Rakia, but then you realise he has always been racist. 

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The Accountant replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
0 likes

Nope, it was positioned exactly where a top cyclist would cycle:

 

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Rendel Harris replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
6 likes

Rakia wrote:

Nope, it was positioned exactly where a top cyclist would cycle:

No cyclist with any sense would choose that line, which clearly would have your left-hand drop virtually touching the hedge on the left. In addition, you previously stated it was covered with water and so hidden, you don't have to be a top cyclist to know that it's stupid to ride into standing water without knowing what's underneath. Don't worry, it's a common newbie error and you've got time to learn, it's just a bit of a shame for the taxpayer that you decided that your inexperience and basic beginner's error entitled you to compensation when a truly sensible and courteous cyclist would have held their hands up and accepted it as a learning experience.

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giff77 replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
6 likes

.

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giff77 replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
5 likes

As Rendel says. Any competent cyclist would have been further out to mitigate this incident. It gives them better visibility, allows for bailout action and discourages close passes. A competent cyclist would also avoid standing water like the plague.  If I come across a ford when out I approach with extreme caution or use the side bridge for pedestrians. The HC recommends 50cm min as does Roadcraft, motorcycle instructors, police drivers (traffic branch) and IAM. 
I thought you would have been aware of all these things being the top cyclist that you are. Nice try though. 

Avatar
xcleigh1247 replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
11 likes

Is that the best pothole you could find on Google?! That's pathetic. This is the one I "rode" into t'other day. Now my superior MTB skills meant I easily rode it out as well, one day you may get as good as me. 
Anyway See you next Tuesday. 

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Clem Fandango replied to xcleigh1247 | 2 years ago
12 likes

Pfffft.
Call that a pot hole?

I bunny hopped this one. Mad Danny Mac skills me - even a child knows that.

Avatar
perce replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
8 likes

I also met famous actor and comedian Bobby Knutt a few years later when he opened a local furniture store. He played Bryan's boss in Coronation Street. I can't say he was a good actor but he was far better than the guy who played Bryan who was Gail's first husband. I've not watched Coronation Street for ages so I don't know how many husbands she has had since. He seemed totally bored to be there.We gave each other a cursory nod but didn't speak to each other. I think he would have preferred to be some where else - perhaps playing golf with Ken Barlow and Mike Baldwin, or paragliding in the Seychelles, or fishing in Ireland, or hot air ballooning in Egypt, or cutting meat up in an abattoir. I guess we'll never know. Back in the day furniture shops seemed to be the only shops open on a Sunday. How times have changed. I hear they are changing the name of your cycling club from the Stonecutters

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Steve K replied to perce | 2 years ago
2 likes

perce wrote:

I also met famous actor and comedian Bobby Knutt a few years later when he opened a local furniture store. He played Bryan's boss in Coronation Street. I can't say he was a good actor but he was far better than the guy who played Bryan who was Gail's first husband. I've not watched Coronation Street for ages so I don't know how many husbands she has had since. He seemed totally bored to be there.We gave each other a cursory nod but didn't speak to each other. I think he would have preferred to be some where else - perhaps playing golf with Ken Barlow and Mike Baldwin, or paragliding in the Seychelles, or fishing in Ireland, or hot air ballooning in Egypt, or cutting meat up in an abattoir. I guess we'll never know. Back in the day furniture shops seemed to be the only shops open on a Sunday. How times have changed. I hear they are changing the name of your cycling club from the Stonecutters

I've met Helen Worth, who play Gail, as she's married to a (now retired) teacher at my children's school.  And my mother was at school with Sue Nichols, who plays Audrey Roberts (Gail's on screen mum).

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Simon E replied to The Accountant | 2 years ago
7 likes

Rakia wrote:

when you have gigantic chips on your shoulders weighing you down, you're never going to be particularly stable or spritely are you?

Speaking from experience, I suspect.

From what I've seen on here over the years, it can't be easy being you Nigel.

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Awavey replied to IanMSpencer | 2 years ago
2 likes

but Vine doesnt ride in cycling gear does he ? so he's going to be riding a sedate pace so as not to get too hot & sweaty in his work clothes, which is understandable, whether its the best choice for riding in London I dont know.

I did have a pet theory there was a speed around 13mph that induced the most close pass problems as a cyclist, as you're not slow enough for traffic to have no problem at all passing you quickly, but not quick enough to sprint ahead of situations like in his video.

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ktache replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
0 likes

I wonder how fast he must go between the channel 5 slot, ending 11:15 and answering Ken Bruce's questions at 11:30? Or the start of his show on Radio2 at 12.

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Awavey replied to ktache | 2 years ago
1 like

its television I doubt its 100% live 3

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