“Absolutely ludicrous”: Residents furious over new cycle lane but council doesn’t have money to fix it; Sumo wrestler cycles after missing bus; “If I didn’t care I’d be on Bora Bora”: Primož Roglič dismisses retirement rumours + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Red Bull mountain bikers airlifted to hospital after crashing at 'Rampage' in Utah.
When you get a reputation for putting on extreme sports, I suppose this sort of thing is to be expected.
At the Red Bull Rampage in Utah on Sunday, two mountain bikers were airlifted to hospital after crashing separately at the free ride event, the Independent reports.
First, Mexican athlete Adolf ‘Loco’ Silva crashed when landing on his head whilst attempting a double backflip. He posted an update last night where he said he had a “lower back injury” and would “focus on my recovery” for the time being.
Then, later that same day Emil Johansson crashed down a sheer cliff face whilst attempting a tailwhip. Posting some rather phenomenal photos on Instagram, he said he had suffered a dislocated hip and would require further surgery. It’s really not a sport for the screamish…
The Red Bull Rampage is said to be the biggest competition in Freeride mountain biking, and footage from the event is really rather… clenching, if you want to see for yourself.
Supplement brands hit back at UCI's "puzzling" intervention on ketones
Remember when we reported yesterday that the UCI told teams to stop using ketones as they were not found to be ‘performance enhancing’? Well, that statement has unsurprisingly riled up the ketone nutritionists.
Dan Alexander has a full write-up of the story, including a rather useful explanation of what ketones are:
"A schoolboy's dream": Mercian Cycles to move to new workshop as new owners settle in
The owners of historic British cycling brand Mercian Cycles say that their decision to takeover the ailing company last year was like buying their boyhood football club.
Speaking to the BBC, the four-man consortium said it was “a decision from the heart, not the head” and that “commercially it’s a challenge.”
Mercian Cycles have been making bike frames by hand since their founding in 1946, and became a cult brand popular with cool people like Paul Smith and Ewan McGregor whilst also being raced by Beryl Burton and Eileen Sheridan. However, they briefly entered liquidation last year after laying off its employees.
Now, not only are the bike-builders back, but they have plans to move to a new workshop in Little Eaton, Derbyshire from their base in Alveston. And there’s a fat chance the company will be moving further afield any time soon.
“Derby is a transport hub with Rolls-Royce and the trains,” frame-builder Tim Leicester said. “It’s all about the wheel of Derby – only ours are human powered.”
Read more on the historic brand’s takeover below:
"I lost my period": Evie Richards opens up on battle with concussion
Fresh from securing the cross-country short-track World Cup title, Evie Richards has spoken to The Times about her battle with concussion last year that nearly derailed her season.
Richards crashed in Araxa, Brazil just three months before the Paris Olympics and quickly got up to finish the race. But she was later diagnosed with concussion and spent weeks off the bike.
“I couldn’t ride, I couldn’t exercise, the only thing I could do was sleep and lie on an acupuncture mat.” Richards said.
“I’d lost my period from the concussion, which was really strange, and then I got it back and it felt like a switch of the light. I felt like I’d suddenly come round.”
Richards recovered to finish 5th at the Olympics behind Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and the 28-year old still has her sights firmly set on the Games in Los Angeles in 2028, as well as the possible inclusion of cyclocross in the Winter Olympics in 2030. Richards is also motivated to dip into the road scene for a certain flagship event.
“I can’t be like Tom Pidcock and blitz a bit of everything. I’m not quite that good. [But] there’s not many mountain bike races in the UK and I would really love to just race in my country, and if the [Tour de France Femmes] is coming through Wales, for me that’s too big an opportunity to turn down.
“I’ve already told the team, ‘You need to let me know what I need to do to qualify for the Tour because I really want to be on that start line,” the two-time World Champion added.
The Tour de France is due to start in Edinburgh in 2027 and is expected to consist of a stage apiece in Scotland, England and Wales before crossing back to France. The full route of both the Men’s and Women’s Tour de France is expected to be announced on Thursday morning.
Death, taxes, Primož Roglič "taking life day by day"
Fresh from his ‘victory’ at the Andorra Cycling Masters, Primož Roglič says he ‘can draw a line under the Tour [de France] now’, after finishing the race for the first time since 2020 this year, and ahead of the arrival of Remco Evenepoel to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
In an interview full of typical Roglič quotes, he reaffirmed his laid-back approach to life in a frankly fantastic discussion with Cycling News, saying “Cycling has given me so much and taught me how to be happy. You feel alive, you suffer a lot, especially when you lose or crash, but it’s incredible, it’s beautiful. Life’s a daily struggle and cycling helps me with that.”
Roglič’s statements are the biggest indicator yet that he might skip the Tour de France next year. His Red Bull team are stacked with other GC riders including Evenepoel, Jai Hindley, Giulio Pellizzari and Dani Martinez.
Roglič meanwhile rode last year’s Tour as co-leader with Florian Lipowitz who sat third and fifth overall until the final weekend. Then, Roglič went in early breakaways and dropped down to eventually finish eight overall. But to the Slovenian, “I almost won the Tour once, so finishing fifth or tenth doesn’t really give me anything. But having some nice moments, good results — that was enough. Finishing in Paris was beautiful.”
Such has been Roglič’s laid back approach to life and racing in recent months, it was speculated he might soon retire but the 35-year-old batted away the suggestion, saying “”If I didn’t care, then I would be on Bora Bora island, not in Red Bull – BORA.”
Never change Primož…
Why is a US bike brand asking the Trump administration to include bicycles in proposed 50% aluminium and steel tariff?
Selfishness or “supporting national interests”? Dan has everything you need to know:
Sumo Wrestlers charm London... again
The once in a generation sumo wrestling tournament at the Royal Albert Hall seemed to capture the internet’s imagination and frankly it’s still on our mind. Not least because of the sight of Sumo Wrestlers exploring London by bike whilst robed in their traditional kimonos.
It’s one thing being two-wheeled tourists in the capital, but then it emerged that after the Grand Tournament finished at the weekend that champion wrestler Tobizaru Masaya – known as The Flying Monkey – missed the bus escorting the athletes back to their hotel. The solution? A Lime Bike…
You don’t see that every day! 😄
Sumo wrestler Tobizaru – AKA the Flying Monkey – missed the bus after competing in London, so hired a bike instead 🚲 pic.twitter.com/dvu8c2rMIt
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) October 19, 2025
Thankfully, Tobizaru appeared to survive the journey without succumbing to ‘Lime Bike Leg’. Top marks should also go to Lime Bike for their saddle strength and suspension for withstanding passengers as heavy as these champions. It’s also a good day for Lime who, despite surging usage during the recent Tube strikes, are probably quite grateful for any positive publicity in light of recent news stories over the safety of their popular hire bikes.
"I’m responsible for my own life": Wiggins continues book tour
Bradley Wiggins has continued his media rounds as he promotes The Chain, his new biography covering his experiences as a victim of sexual abuse, cocaine addiction and family breakdown.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, the first British Tour de France winner said “it was like a weight had come off my shoulders” when he first revealed he was sexually abused by a former coach as a 14-year old in an interview with Men’s Health magazine in 2022. However, he added that “It opened a wave of press articles, particularly from the Daily Mail, and in some of them the insinuation was I was lying.”
In relation to the Jiffy bag and TUE scandals that have hung over him since the end of his career, Wiggins said he “was put in a position where I had to prove a negative.”
“The story that ran was full of innuendo, supposition, and it grew. It was a sinister act, there was a lot going on behind the scenes and continues to this day,” before repeating the assertion from previous interviews that “the truth will come out at some point. As time passes, and maybe very soon, the truth around that time will eventually come out.
“I’m responsible for my own life. So it’s not something that I sit looking to blame anyone. I think I should have taken more responsibility for my own care and looking after myself, and should not have been dependent on anyone else.” Wiggins concluded.
MPs demand lifetime driving bans and stricter phone laws to address justice system "failing" families of those killed in collisions
The full report found “potential inconsistencies” in charging decisions and court practices “mean that some dangerous drivers are not being held properly to account for their actions”.
More dinosaurs in rider transfer announcements please...
When announcing the signing of Laurenz Rex, your cultural references can only be royalty or old-timey reptiles. When your sponsor has a dinosaur-named super glue, the choice makes itself…
Edinburgh bike hire scheme widens bike map and availability.
Some good news from the Scottish Capital, where the Edinburgh Minute newsletter are reporting that Voi’s bike hire trial has been a big success, with the number of available hire bikes set to increase sevenfold (almost) from 50 bikes to 340. The ‘map’ of the bikes will also be extended further into Newhaven, Leith and Holyrood park.
Just in: Voi is increasing its Edinburgh cycle hire trial scheme from 50 bikes to 340 bikes. So far 5,800 riders have clocked up 60,000km across 21,700 trips since September. Boundary will expand on Friday 31/10 to include Holyrood Park, Meadowbank, Bonnington, Leith + Newhaven.
— The Edinburgh Minute (@edinburghminute.bsky.social) 21 October 2025 at 16:36
It’s also a perfect excuse to reshare our interview from Saturday with Spokes Lothian, the volunteers who have been campaigning for active travel in Edinburgh and beyond for the last 47 years!
Violent robbers jailed for series of "carefully planned attacks" targeting people buying bikes from Facebook Marketplace
Bilal Jama and Michael Ogbeide-John, both 18, were sentenced to three-and-a-half years and four years in prison respectively, police in Manchester linking them to a series of violent robberies between December 2024 and January 2025.
4000 sign petition calling for removal of 'floating' bus stop and cycle lane
A new bus stop and cycle lane installed outside Shrewsbury train station has been met by an online petition calling for its removal, but the council says it doesn’t have the money.
Shropshire Live reports that the new infrastructure was installed with funding provided by the UK Government and the then Conservative-led Shropshire council approved the project, but that residents had complained about reduced traffic flow and journey delays.
However, the town’s Mayor Cllr Alex Wagner wrote on Facebook that the proposal had been “sorely lacking in details”.
Wagner, a Liberal Democrat, wrote the council were looking at ways of minimising the disruption and had downscaled a planned two-way cycle lane elsewhere in the town and “will use easily removable street furniture rather than permanent concrete”.
However, he said that plans to “completely remove the new cyclist lane and ‘floating’ bus stop” as called for in the petition, were not possible due to “lots of strings attached” to central government funding and that costs to remove the floating bus stop could run into the “hundreds of thousands or even millions”.
The online petition was launched by Martin Monahan, owner of The Buttermarket music venue, who called for the lanes placement and the bus stop could then be relocated directly outside the train station and the road could be converted to two lanes.
As summarised by one resident, Wendy Haywood, on Facebook, “the whole point of this whole debacle of a design was to make traffic flow better, less traffic through the town, less pollution” when “traffic is still going through the town because it needs to” adding “I don’t think I’ve actually seen one comment that says it’s easier to access and quicker to get through town.”
Floating bus stops are a popular means of integrating cycle lanes into a road network whilst maintaining separation between cyclists and vehicles. However they are also controversial and have been criticised by disability charities whilst the former Conservative Transport Secretary considered banning them from road planning.
> Warning government considering ban on floating bus stops “could stop new protected cycle lanes”
> Floating bus stops improving safety of Cambridge cyclists suggests report
As long as residents complain, and the council don’t have the funds to remove the floating bus stop however, it is unlikely this is a debate that will be going away anytime soon.
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Latest Comments
Is that riding with The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Grateful Dead on the headphones?
" ... noticeably easier to pedal." Really? How noticeable? I've seen a thing at point of sale in a major bike shop near Kingston which had two identical chainsets connected to two different bottom brackets, inviting the customer to try spinning each one and go "ooh, this one spins much longer when there's no grease in it or load on it, it must be better", but from what I've read, the real-world difference between tuned ceramic and out-of-the box decent steel is about one watt, at best?
@imajez Most people would have walked, but we take your point. I've never had a problem with riding on stoned tracks, designated as footpaths, but I'm not ripping up the surface on downhill footpaths. 0:-)
'Rather than using cups that cartridge bearings sit within, the MAXhit is the bearings, if you catch my drift' Still none the wiser - stick with dub and a ceramic Chinese affair at that which are brilliant for cost & durability in my experience!
@tomlew Will check Neco, cheers.
I’m not sure it’s a knee jerk reaction from Adam Hansen’s point. I think it’s more the media, as per usual, having a full statement in front of them about everything that was wrong with the tragic incident on Friday, and running with the headline that will get the most attention and clicks. No doubt this very publication will be the same come Monday. My sincere condolences to Finlay’s family and friends.
@mdavidford Always worth remembering with these spending outcries as well that a fatal road incident costs us as taxpayers £2.7M, and a serious injury incident £325,000. So if just one fatal road incident, or a small handful of serious injury ones, has been prevented across the whole of Oxfordshire by 20mph limits in the last four years, the taxpayer is actually in profit.
For reference, annual highways spend is about £80m (out of a total spend of £999m). Less than 0.013% is an interesting definition of 'high'.
Maybe the problem is the bikes are too good to make the trails challenging. Hence the growth of trail centres. Most MTBs are ludicrously competent now, particularly e-MTBs. Want a challenge? Change the bikes to something less competent.
Didn't move with the times, consequently it failed. Sad for the employees, but the real Raleigh died years ago.
24 thoughts on ““Absolutely ludicrous”: Residents furious over new cycle lane but council doesn’t have money to fix it; Sumo wrestler cycles after missing bus; “If I didn’t care I’d be on Bora Bora”: Primož Roglič dismisses retirement rumours + more on the live blog”
Quote:
I’m not sure landing on his head was a very good plan in the first place.
mdavidford wrote:
I’m not sure landing on his head was a very good plan in the first place.
I’m sure you would be fine…
Rampage….pffffft they’ve
Rampage….pffffft they’ve never had to deal with Tooting High Street during rush hour
In all seriousness, it is absolutely insane what these guys can do (or even attempt) but the push further & further away from its’ roots as a freeride comp on really raw tracks/lines, to a massive extreme slopestyle event on manicured runs and huge landing ramps (I’ll park my thoughts about environmental damage here) in the pursuit of more epic feats / footage I fear is going to get someone killed. I guess that’s part of the deal though right? I’ll stick to my local singletrack!
I am flabbergasted that Sumo
I am flabbergasted that Sumo wrestlers really go around in their kimono kits as normal day wear. 😉
Well going around in their
Well going around in their loin-cloths (mawashi?) would not be good in winter * nor any more seemly than you wandering about in your budgie-smugglers…
* Possibly not the major concern as I believe junior wrestlers only get a thin cotton version for wear all year round.
chrisonabike wrote:
I heard somewhere that the loin cloths are never washed, because doing so ‘robs the wrestler of his experience’.
Smell that boy? That’s pure
Smell that boy? That’s pure experience!
Smell that boy? That’s pure
Smell that boy? That’s pure experience!
I looked into getting tickets
I looked into getting tickets for one of the Sumo sessions. That could explain why it was cheaper to sit ringside (no pun).
The guardian told us that
The guardian told us that they appreciated that we drive on the left.
It’s actually part of the
It’s actually part of the rules that govern their daily lives apparently (looked it up yesterday as I was surprised too), casual or western clothing strictly forbidden at all times. Might be a wise rule when you consider how much a bespoke suit for one of those chaps could cost…
On the one hand it’s a bit
On the one hand it’s a bit quaint, on the other note how eg. footballers are expected to dress in suits like it was the 1920s…
Plenty of knots in time when it comes to fashion, m’learned friends spring to mind.
Perhaps more remarkable is how much of the world has embraced the (often neither practical or even comfortable) suit. China, Japan and especially Korea have done so to a remarkable degree.
I’m now wondering about the fèileadh-mòr – might actually lend itself to cycling? Could stretch it out like a poncho. And of course if going fully traditional, “bikepacking” simply involves dismounting and rolling up in it for the night…
“The Metropolitan Police’s
“The Metropolitan Police’s newly appointed lead on phone theft says its work in tackling the crime has not been “good enough”.”
I wonder if we will ever get the same admission from the Met police (and BTP/other police forces/national government) that their work on tackling dangerous driving and bike theft is also not good enough.
Did anyone ask cyclists if
Did anyone ask cyclists if they wanted that floating bus stop cycle lane? It seems a bit rich that the mayor is saying they are downscaling other cycle lane plans in the town because this one is unpopular – “We’ve given you a cycle lane and it’s rubbish so you can’t have any more.”
Isn’t this exactly the story
Isn’t this exactly the story of most current UK cycle infra *?
Looking at the lane itself: if we need change (which of course many don’t want – or only the kind of change that makes it only better for them)…
– …people need to get their head round the idea that private motor transport should wait / be assigned less priority than public transport. Why would people take the bus (thus not driving, so reducing traffic) if it gets stuck in traffic and is less convenient than driving?
– if we want people who don’t currently cycle to cycle (again, to make transport flows more efficient) facilities have got to be different than “good enough” for the tiny minority who currently cycle. Mixing cycling with buses is inconvenient and will always feel unsafe to many. Bus stop bypasses are there simply to ameliorate that situation.
Ranty Highwayman is good on this point: “Floating bus stops are a design response to a network-level decision to enable people to cycle as transport…”
https://therantyhighwayman.blogspot.com/2025/02/floating-bus-stops-redux.html
* Cyclists and some others call for safer design / better provision. After many years council delivers “compromise” that at best isn’t much of an improvement because “we can’t just favour cycling you know…” Of course that still offends many because it doesn’t *increase* convenience for drivers. Council then takes a break from doing any more due to all the shouting.)
Looking at the location on
Looking at the location on Streetview, the road was previously two lanes with a wide pavement on the left-hand side approaching the station running along a blank wall, I do wonder why that couldn’t be made a shared pavement, split into a pavement and cycle lane or even just replaced with a cycle lane, given the wide pavement available on the other side of the road. It does look like a pretty poorly thought out piece of unnecessary infra.
Why should drivers get all
Why should drivers get all the space with cyclists and pedestrains fighting over the crumbs? It’s high time public space was realloacted to people other than those in cars. If one lane is not enough for them, then people driving should really reconsider if they really have to be taking thier 2-ton metal box into the town/city centre.
Reading between the lines of
Reading between the lines of the comments it sounds as though it was as much intended as traffic calming as it was ‘cycling infrastructure’, so the reduction to one lane was part of the aim.
(Though a layby-style bus stop and bike track might still have both been possible on opposite sides – hard to judge.)
Agreed, likely trying to
Agreed, likely trying to change driver behaviour.
One resident on Facebook: “the whole point of this whole debacle of a design was to make traffic flow better, less traffic through the town, less pollution” when “traffic is still going through the town because it needs to” adding “I don’t think I’ve actually seen one comment that says it’s easier to access and quicker to get through town.”
Meanwhile, the Council (in a bit not quoted by the newsrag): “the fastest route may not be the same as it was before the work, and it may in fact be quicker to use the internal bypass or the A5 rather than driving through the town centre”
Amateur detective work –
Amateur detective work – looks like the pavement was shared use until sometime 2023/24. This from 2020 – https://maps.app.goo.gl/8monasZRMvs8vnW97
Interesting – I wonder if
Interesting – I wonder if part of the reason for the works was because people were complaining about lycra-clad maniacs thundering along the pavement at 52 mph, and of course that further raises speculation that the same people who complained about that are now the ones complaining about the dedicated cycle lane.
As a Shrewsbury local I can
As a Shrewsbury local I can help clarify , this so called “cycle lane ” is nothing but a tick in the box exercise for the council to say they have added cycling infrastructure . The lane itself is 100 yds long at most and adds no benefit to the previous share path.
Shrewsbury town centre itself is permanent traffic jam , this new infrastructure is aimed at reducing this and encouraging people out of their cars , all well intentioned .
Unfortunately this seems to be have been designed by someone who has never visited the town or uses any mode of transport be that a Bus, Car or indeed a bicycle
Thanks, sounds pretty much as
Thanks, sounds pretty much as I suspected! Less how to win friends and influence people than how to piss off absolutely everybody for no benefit.
You have hit the nail on the
You have hit the nail on the head, In this case the floating bus stop has caused more complaints than the cycle lane , However to get to the cycle lane you would have to navigate one of two busy main roads into the town centre that have no cycle lanes which adds to the pointlessness of it ,