Where’s the pineapple? Mathieu van der Poel offends Italy AGAIN; 117mph driver “will need a bicycle”; Steep cobbled climbs: Yorkshire is the new Flanders; LEJOG with a difference; Giro rest day; Bollards!; Weekend round-up + more on the live blog

54 thoughts on “Where’s the pineapple? Mathieu van der Poel offends Italy AGAIN; 117mph driver “will need a bicycle”; Steep cobbled climbs: Yorkshire is the new Flanders; LEJOG with a difference; Giro rest day; Bollards!; Weekend round-up + more on the live blog”

1. https://www.theguardian.com

   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/21/icelands-president-would-ban-pineapple-on-pizza-if-he-could 

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   • Link is broken (random space

     Link is broken (random space has crept on to the end of it).

     Also, what’s wrong with fish on a pizza?

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     • mdavidford wrote:

       Link is broken (random space has crept on to the end of it).

       Also, what’s wrong with fish on a pizza?

       — mdavidford

       Corrected link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/21/icelands-president-would-ban-pineapple-on-pizza-if-he-could

       I used to live round the corner from a Jamaican Pizza cafe and they made a lovely ackee and saltfish one (fruit and fish!). Their sardine pizza was also really good.

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     • There’s nothing wrong with

       There’s nothing wrong with fish on a Pizza, but you would need to remove the cheese, I suppose, which wouldn’t make it much of a Pizza. One of those Italian “golden rules” is no cheese with fish. 

       How that squares with Anchovies, I don’t know. You find those on Pizzas, and they’re fish. Perhaps they’re actually so foul, they’re designated as chicken.

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       • I once had a ‘Pizza all

         I once had a ‘Pizza all Puttanesca’ at an Italian restaurant, run by Italians, in Berlin. It was revolting tbh. Margheritas are just fine as they are.

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       • One of those rare times that

         One of those rare times that “tastes like chicken” really doesn’t apply.  (I happen to like the anchovies and olives combo on occasion but I know I’m a minority.  Plus – crossing the streams here – a vote for curried fish too).

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         • chrisonatrike wrote:

           One of those rare times that “tastes like chicken” really doesn’t apply.  (I happen to like the anchovies and olives combo on occasion but I know I’m a minority.  Plus – crossing the streams here – a vote for curried fish too).

           — chrisonatrike

           I’m a big anchovy and olives fan, plus I enjoy curried fish. There’s plenty of asian cuisines that have fish curries, so I don’t think it’s at all unusual. Also, what do Italians have against fish and cheese? A nice cod mornay or a even a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel would demonstrate that fish and cheese do work together.

       • Well the insistence on cheese

         Well the insistence on cheese on a pizza is a bit of an imposition to start with – pizza without cheese is entirely normal in Italy.

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         • mdavidford wrote:

           Well the insistence on cheese on a pizza is a bit of an imposition to start with – pizza without cheese is entirely normal in Italy.

           — mdavidford

           Yes, but then if someone offered me some Casu Marzu (https://www.cheese.com/casu-marzu/) I wouldn’t want it on a pizza (or at all)

         • Now that’s convenience food –

           Now that’s convenience food – let the lunch come to you!

2. I see ashley neal made a

   I see ashley neal made a video just to have a go at cycling mikey.

   He should stick to driving lessons as he doesn’t understand cycling.

   Another one of those claims of cyclists contriving situations rather than revealing the problem.

   Also where mikey has stopped the car, he is personally responsible for the other drivers trying to make progress by driving on the pavement. Nothing to do with a car completely on the wrong side of the road.

    

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   • Yep, there was a bit of a

     Yep, there was a bit of a ‘cyclists, please suffer in silence’ slant. This comment did make me chuckle though!…

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     • To be fair, if I were Mikey,

       To be fair, if I were Mikey, I wouldn’t be gagging to cut short my European cycle tour just so I could stand around with a guy on a traffic island in London who is only going to try, and fail, to show me up by misrepresenting the content and entire point of my videos.

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   • He’s edged into some

     He’s edged into some questionable comments before so this wouldn’t entirely surprise me.  Will watch the vid though to see.

     EDIT video here:

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek0FhYn2SmA

     It all starts well enough.  His beef eventually comes down to 1) “he’s picking sides” (e.g. ignores the cyclists doing something wrong) and 2) “it’s just confrontational and won’t make roads safer – rather the reverse”.  He’s correct on the first as far as I know (I’m not a watcher of Cycling Mikey outside of road.cc).  I’d say that’s irrelevant though given that CM isn’t the police.  For the second he seems rather to undercut his own argument by saying that Mikey is too niche for drivers to get educated by (rather than… Ashley Neal) but at the same time is inspiring “legions” of cyclists to go forth and antagonise drivers.  They should just be passing the footage to the police. (Ashley Neal says “I’ve never reported anyone for anything” at 2:57 – so I think we know where he’s coming from).  But then… how would that educate anybody?

     His summary – “he creates many of these road rage incidents all of his own accord”.  So again the focus here is on “making people angry” not “safety” even though he continually says that safety is his main concern.  This isn’t an uncommon viewpoint and obviously there is some truth (angry people don’t follow rules and make very bad choices).  Also as an instructor he can only address the people / training side and not infra / laws so much.  Overall it’s a category mistake though.  If your “safety” system relies on perfect human behaviour it’s failed before you started.

     He also picks an example of a cyclist failing at the new highway code guidance e.g. turning into a side road when a pedestrian is crossing (4:40).  It’s not quite clear from the footage that this is exactly as he says it is.  However just before this he states that because of low speeds at this location neither nor cars and bikes going the wrong way are a big deal.  (e.g. they present similar and small risks to others).  In this case because a car is wider than a bike the pedestrian would have to stop to be safe if a car had turned in to the side road.  However with a narrower cycle if the pedestrian was slightly ahead of the cyclist they could just keep walking and the cyclist would safely pass clear behind.  (This is common in the Netherlands).  So again failure to spot that car is not equal to bike.

     On his charge of “double standards” he himself has plenty form on the “cyclists could do better even though it’s not breaking the law” line e.g.:

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA-WdjQ6bfc

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     • chrisonatrike wrote:

       He also picks an example of a cyclist failing at the new highway code guidance e.g. turning into a side road when a pedestrian is crossing (4:40).

       — chrisonatrike

       As I understand it, cyclists do not have to stop to give priority to peds crossing roads. 9 times out of 10, it’s easy enough to either go behind or sufficiently far in front of a ped so that you can both progress without the ped feeling endangered (other times, just stop and wave them across).

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       • I think it was a side road

         This was a side road that the pedestrians were crossing and this applies (e.g. from Cycling UK’s explanations – they’ve a good video here too):

         Rule H2 is linked to the hierarchy covered above and explains priority in practice. This includes expecting riders and drivers at junctions to give way:

         “…to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross a road into which or from which you are turning.”
         “… to pedestrians waiting to cross a zebra crossing, and to pedestrians and cyclists waiting to cross a parallel crossing.”

         In this case there is a set-back for the crossing which is protective for crossing pedestrians as it gives them time to observe vehicles turning into the street and should ensure a 90 degree crossing angle.  Depending on the rest of the street this can of course reduce convenience for pedestrians (have to move away from the desire line).  I suspect in the UK this is as much for convenience of “flowing traffic” on the main road.  It also possibly doesn’t work so well with cyclists and pedestrians here in that pedestrians will probably pause if they see a cyclists turning but the cyclist should (by new rules) wait for them so both lose momentum.  Which affects cyclists more than drivers.

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         • chrisonatrike wrote:

           This was a side road that the pedestrians were crossing and this applies (e.g. from Cycling UK’s explanations – they’ve a good video here too):

           Rule H2 is linked to the hierarchy covered above and explains priority in practice. This includes expecting riders and drivers at junctions to give way:

           “…to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross a road into which or from which you are turning.”
           “… to pedestrians waiting to cross a zebra crossing, and to pedestrians and cyclists waiting to cross a parallel crossing.”

           In this case there is a set-back for the crossing which is protective for crossing pedestrians as it gives them time to observe vehicles turning into the street and should ensure a 90 degree crossing angle.  Depending on the rest of the street this can of course reduce convenience for pedestrians (have to move away from the desire line).  I suspect in the UK this is as much for convenience of “flowing traffic” on the main road.  It also possibly doesn’t work so well with cyclists and pedestrians here in that pedestrians will probably pause if they see a cyclists turning but the cyclist should (by new rules) wait for them so both lose momentum.  Which affects cyclists more than drivers.

           — chrisonatrike

           I just don’t think that “give way” necessarily means “come to a stop” for bikes as even a single lane provides plenty of space for a pedestrian and a cyclist to both proceed. Cars would need to stop most of the time as they fill up a single lane.

         • I’m with you and what’s

           I’m with you and what’s actually needed in many (most?) cases is continuous footway * rather than a bit of Highway Code exhortation.  However as it stands that’s going to be the default interpretation.  Even Cycling UK are putting that one out.

           I’d be happy to accept some strictly unnecessary pausing for pedestrians on turns if it would encourage others in cars or almost all drivers understood this.  However the reality is that most pedestrians are rightly nervous of proceeding if they spot any turning traffic.  That means I’ll be waiting and waving at them – which they may or may not respond to.  All that time I’ll be in a position where I’m quite likely to be beeped at by drivers.  It’s happened already.  Or worse – especially if there’s a set-back crossing like in Ashley’s video and I’ve turned in to the side street.

           * In the UK at this point the response comes back “but we’ve not many side streets – they’re mostly side roads e.g. carry lots of traffic”.  Which only illustrates the problem we have with over-prioritising motor vehicles.  Oddly enough junctions with side roads also exist in other countries where they get this right.  And there they manage to work just fine.

       • Quite right. Happens often

         Quite right. Happens often that people stop and wait as I’m approaching, where if they just crossed the road I could ride behind them without losing momentum.

         They seem to forget that someone on a bike is nowhere near as wide as a car.

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         • HarrogateSpa wrote:

           Quite right. Happens often that people stop and wait as I’m approaching, where if they just crossed the road I could ride behind them without losing momentum.

           They seem to forget that someone on a bike is nowhere near as wide as a car.

           — HarrogateSpa

           Luckily, cyclists don’t usually carry much speed when turning into a side road, so it’s usually more a case of will they be able to get across before I need to unclip.

     • I gave up about halfway but I

       I gave up about halfway but I don’t think he mentioned that mikey focuses on that spot because of the collisions he is aware of from parks police and other cyclists complaining of the danger.

       He really didn’t listen at all when he was posting on here so I’m not going to give him any more clicks.

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     • well its an interesting one

       well its an interesting one isnt it, I cant help but feel its a video created to feed the youtube algorithm.

       but do cyclists outside of the bubble on social media know who CyclingMikey is ? or what Gandalf corner is about ? (for ages not being a Londoner I genuinely thought that road was called Gandalf corner)  to claim he is influencing people seems a bit of a reach, and I dont follow CyclingMikeys videos regularly but the gandalf corner stuff is a small fraction of his output, he like the majority of cyclists simply collects alot of footage as part of normal rides, and you arent remotely creating these interactions and forcing it, they simply do just happen.

       and you only see the relevant infraction parts of the video, not the rest of it thats probably completely unremarkable, that other cyclist video Ashley used who Im assuming wasnt CyclingMikey, I can almost guarantee that wont have been the first mobile phone user theyd seen that day, but by the time theyd got to that part of their ride, theyd had enough and were going to make a stand even if no one else was, and thats why they shouted, maybe that driver had close passed them and you catch up with them and they are mucking about on their phone.

       and the bit about cyclists saying “youre on camera”, is not a ha ha gotcha thing, its actually a necessary personal safety step for the cyclist, because Ive had several instances where drivers had closed passed me and then started to get stupidly agressive towards me when I caught up with them, and I point out Im recording them on camera, at which point Im covering myself from any legal mumbo jumbo get out they might claim about me secretly recording and provoking a confrontation, but they then mostly start to realise what they say and do next will have proper consequences, and it wont be my word against theirs no witnesses stuff, and most of them calm down, or at least do not escalate it further.

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   • Quote:

     My only question with what Mikey does at this particular corner is ‘how many people have been convinced not to use a mobile phone because of what he does?’

     I’m guessing not many, seeing as mobile phone use isn’t really so much the issue here, as driving up the wrong side of the road.

     

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     • Strange point for him to make

       Strange point for him to make. How many drivers have been convinced to address thier poor habbits because of what Ashley does? Judging by my cycle to work this morning – not many.

       As long as Mikey is convincing some drivers not to use thier phone, then surely it’s worth it?

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       • Quote:

         Strange point for him to make. How many drivers have been convinced to address thier poor habbits because of what Ashley does?

         TBH, and he might address it elsewhere, but I think it is piss poor driving from a fully qualified instructor to talk into a camera whilst driving. Do one or the other mate.

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     • but I bet Frank Lampard

       but I bet Frank Lampard doesnt use hold his mobile phone whilst driving and drinking  perching a cup of coffee on the dashboard anymore…

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     • I commented on the video as

       I commented on the video as while some videos of his are very useful, his last one on cycling missed an awful lot (including his learner commiting an offence and him not being bothered) and this was horribly wide of the mark.

        

       he thinks because a single survey ten years ago found that WHEN blame can be attributed the cyclist was to blame 1/3rd of the time for their own death, that means cycling and driving are equally risky. 

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3. Dan Alexander wrote:

   offending the entire nation of Italy”

   — Dan Alexander

   It’s about time the people of Italy stopped appropriating the national dish of Hawaii and saying how people should prepare it!

    

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   • With all the genuinely

     With all the genuinely wonderful food Italy does have to offer, I have no idea why everyone focusses on what is essentially cheese on toast.

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     • How dare you dismiss the

       How dare you dismiss the national dish of Wales like that!

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     • There’s no toast involved in

       There’s no toast involved in a pizza. Toast entails double-cooking – the initial bake, and then a subsequent grilling. Pizza only has a single bake. An open sandwich would be a closer comparison than cheese on toast.

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       • mdavidford wrote:

         There’s no toast involved in a pizza. Toast entails double-cooking – the initial bake, and then a subsequent grilling. Pizza only has a single bake. An open sandwich would be a closer comparison than cheese on toast.

         — mdavidford

         That would imply that the thousands, nay, millions, of pizzas made on pre-baked bases are not pizzas. Don’t get me wrong; I make mine the proper way (although the breadmaker gets the kneading job; why have a dog and bark?)

         The Mary Whitehouse Experience (for those old enough to remember) defined pizza as “posh cheese on toast” so that’s a good basis for the description 😉

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         • Karlt]

           [quote=mdavidford]

           That would imply that the thousands, nay, millions, of pizzas made on pre-baked bases are not pizzas.

           — mdavidford wrote</strong><br /><p>[quote=Karlt

           Yes. And?

           

           Although I believe those are classed as ‘part-baked’ – so technically they’re only being baked once – just with a very long pause in the middle.

4. Oh good god, my legs just

   Oh good god, my legs just looking at those cobbled climbs!

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5. Can we get some of those

   Can we get some of those bollards installed in LTNs!

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   • I do have to wonderr WTAF

     I do have to wonderr WTAF that truck driver thought they were doing…

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6. Would be interesting to see
   Would be interesting to see how many ‘no’ to pineapple on pizza are ‘yes’ to tomato sauce on a bacon roll.

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   • I’ll pass on the tomato sauce

     I’ll pass on the tomato sauce and the bacon, thanks.

     In fact, I’d be happier with the pineapple in my roll.

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7. I did yesterday’s Ronde Van
   I did yesterday’s Ronde Van Calderdale, it’s brutal…it’s also very good at being quite ‘Northern’, at one of the feed stations, there was a box of pork scratchings and when you get to the finish, you are presented with a bottle of beer and a pork pie!

   The most fun I’ve ever had whilst being beaten up on a bike…

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8. When for a country walk

   When for a country walk Saturday. On a single track road, after 3 close passes with drivers not slowing down, another one comes along too fast and I raise my left arm in a ‘what was that?’ motion.

   Next thing I hear is the sound of gravel and then reverse gear. I turned to see the driver reversing back towards us and which point my wife tells me not to lose my temper ! Instead I just carried on walking just to see how far they would reverse ! My wife reckoned the passenger suggested that a confrontation was not advisable.

   No doubt I provoked the driver with my arm gesture and contrived the situation. I should have doffed my cap to the all important driver who pays road tax unlike me.

   Still can’t work out what the driver would have said to us. Maybe mdavidford can come up with a pithy sentence !

    

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   • Drivers’ entitlement has

     Drivers’ entitlement has reached new heights.  Soon they’ll be demanding that pedestrians throw themselves in the hedge as a car approaches so that they don’t have to slow down.

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     • Thought that was what the

       Thought that was what the farmer was demanding the other day. 

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   • I need to get better at not

     I need to get better at not reacting to certain drivers tbh. I was on the home stretch of an audax on Saturday and had a horrendously close pass by a driver (entering the Midlands from Warwickshire is always easy to tell –  the standard of driving just Dips). I raised an arm angrily and bosh! He brakes, screams at my companion and I that we are ‘riding side by side.’ I then made the additional mistake of telling him to get stuffed, at which point he overtook us, pulled over and nearly knocked us both off when he got out of the car for a confrontation.

     Some people are just evil, and they may be wrong, but I’d rather be alive.

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     • I do raise my arm after a

       I do raise my arm after a close pass but only because others on here suggested that it helps stop the next car following the same line. For you, the fact that the driver was watching in the mirror means he did it on purpose.

       The main thing I have picked up from here is to keep your distance, so if they stop up ahead, have a shouting match from 20 or 30m away or just wait quietly until they go.

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   • hirsute wrote:

     Still can’t work out what the driver would have said to us. Maybe mdavidford can come up with a pithy sentence !

     — hirsute

     “You can pith right off!”?

     [OK – it’s not very good, but I’m not a performing monkey, you know.]

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9. On reflection, I do quite

   On reflection, I do quite like pineapple on pizza, but only on the ones that have, like, barbeque sauce on. At that point, you’re far enough from real pizza to not obey convention anyway.

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10. They’d probably hate to see
    They’d probably hate to see my spag bol recipe.

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11. Ellen van Dijks hour record
    Ellen van Dijks hour record attempt is about to start in case people are interested https://youtu.be/mlYWhjkQMCQ

    Spoilers…49.254km, new world record

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12. A cyclist made UK dash cams
    A cyclist made UK dash cams this week.
    At least I think they did – all in black so they could not be seen in the dark.
    Mind you according to Neal Ashley cyclists can’t be seen anyway even with a day time flashing front light.

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    • Yep, they’re “too hard to see

      Yep, they’re “too hard to see ” and when asked why, it’s because cyclists are small,  obviously. 

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      • Not “very far away”?

        Not “very far away”?

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        • chrisonatrike wrote:

          Not “very far away”?

          — chrisonatrike

          both in the case of his learner who didn’t see a flashing light from 400m away, when the dash cam certainly could….

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    • Thought he wasn’t doing one

      Thought he wasn’t doing one as Youtube seems to be targeting dash cam channels now unless they “transform” them. 

      But on the video, very interesting with the person crossing the side road. Driver and passenger having ago at the child, then the comments stating variations of “new rules” when they are not new.

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13. Not sure that presenting
    Not sure that presenting “have to get a bike” as a punishment is going to drive voluntary modal change. It’s a bit like schools setting extra maths/PE/Writing as a punishment then wondering why kids have negative attitudes to maths/PE/Writing…

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