“Driver delayed by 14 seconds… that’s outrageous”: Cyclist riding (perfectly legally) in road next to cycle lane causes Facebook meltdown, including calls for fines… but raging mob ignores parked car blocking cycle route + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Zipp's new wheels offer integrated tyre pressure monitoring
> Zipp’s new wheels offer integrated tyre pressure monitoring
"Beast mode activated": Power data from Wout van Aert's monster leadout
Today could be a day for Wout, the Giro’s 13th stage an intriguing 180km test to Vicenza that has just 1,200m of climbing all day but several seriously testing ramps in the final 30km, including a double ascent of the climb that the finish line will be perched atop. That one is 800m at nine per cent. If it’s a tough enough day we might even see the punchier GC guys like Isaac del Toro and Primož Roglič battle it out. Dare I say Tom Pidcock too?
According to Velon, Van Aert averaged 760w for his 54-second leadout yesterday, maxing out at 1,320w for the punch that fired Olav Kooij to stage victory. Will we see those watts deployed to his own gain today?
New Jersey cyclist tries to help venomous snake off bike path... "quickly regretted it"
Ouch.
A cyclist in New Jersey ended up in hospital after being bitten by a venomous snake as he tried to get it off a cycle path. Writer Dan Geiger was riding along the Palisades Cliffs bike path when he saw a snake lying on the route, 4 New York reported. He wanted to help it off the path so it didn’t get hurt and tried to nudge it with a water bottle. When it didn’t move he reached out with his hand and, well… ended up in hospital.
The snake was a copperhead, a species whose bites are rarely deadly, but enough to make your finger look like that. You can apparently expect significant damage to the bitten area, including intense pain, internal bleeding, swelling and blistering. Looks like Geiger got the full house.
Thankfully he’s being treated by doctors and anti-venom was administered via an IV, the hospital saying the quick reaction from bystanders, paramedics and doctors has likely helped him avoid suffering permanent damage.
"We have been a very humble bike shop, but the time is right": Long-running Hereford bike shop set to close — and everything is reduced in price until next Saturday
Hereford-based Mastercraft Cycles is shutting its doors after 25 years of business. The couple who run it Lynette and Nigel Quinton are retiring and say “the time is right” for some well-earned off.
“We have been a very humble bike shop, but the time is right to retire and it will be nice to put our feet up,” they told the Hereford Times. “We would like to say a massive thank you to our wonderful customers who have supported us when they could have got their bike parts from the internet.
“Retail is a tricky business. The High Street can survive but it is very reliant on support from people. We will always remember that we preferred to speak to people rather than go all online.”
The good news for any readers local to Hereford is that Mastercraft Cycles is having a closing down sale… get involved!
Talking of Facebook comments... loads of reaction to Zipp's new wheels that come with tyre pressure monitoring built in
Almost as many comments and reactions to our post about Zipp’s new wheels as that video from Rochdale.
Fair to say it’s not all positive…
Not all bad, Scott Kahler is “waiting for anti-lock brakes, cruise control, and a handlebar-mounted airbag before I spend 20k+ on my next bicycle… if the credit union loan gets approved.”
Harold Franco isn’t impressed, saying his pump already has a gauge so he doesn’t “need a pressure monitor on my wheel to tell me I have a flat”.
Robert Tracey is looking at the positives… “This is great news it means all the other Zipp wheels are now old meaning that I’ll finally be able to afford some Zipp 303 rim brake ones”.
"It puts people off cycling which has massive health, environmental and wellbeing benefits so we should be doing more to make sure this isn't a problem": Cycling UK urges action on potholes as councils reveal £4.1m compensation payments
The BBC has revealed that Surrey, East and West Sussex, Brighton and Kent councils paid out £4.1m in compensation to road users over the past five years. Duncan Dollimore from Cycling UK said the crumbling state of British roads can lead to “potentially life-changing” injuries or worse for cyclists and urged councils to do more to fix defects.
“It puts people off cycling which has massive health, environmental and wellbeing benefits so we should be doing more to make sure this isn’t a problem,” he said, adding that every year 40 cyclists are seriously injured in pothole crashes and between two and three die.
Richard Osman visits the Giro
In Lucca to sign some copies of your new murder mystery? Make sure you visit the roadside to watch to watch the time trial…
BMC reportedly set to slash quarter of workforce, as bike brand says Trump tariff uncertainty "influenced decision to restructure"
Geraint Thomas set for management role at Ineos Grenadiers post-retirement, according to report
Forget Ineos, he’s a couple of bad hires away from getting the Man United job. I’d say he couldn’t do a worse job, but as an Arsenal fan I’m sure he could (even if Brexit Jim was putting a fat cheque in his back pocket every month).
According to Escape Collective, Thomas is expected to stay with the Ineos Grenadiers after his retirement at the end of this season and is lined up for a senior management role with the team.
It’s an important time for the team who have been firmly knocked off their perch by UAE Team Emirates and Visma Lease a Bike in recent years, the days of the Grand Tour dominance of the previous decade now a distant memory. Ineos are said to be seeking new investment for the team, Total Energies rumoured to be trying to get involved, while on the road the team have impressed viewers with their more proactive approach to racing this season, but still can’t pull off as many big victories as they’d like in the era of Pog, Vingegaard, Remco, Van der Poel and Co.
Maybe G will be part of the management that turns things back in their favour? Before then he’s got some final dances at the Tour de France and Tour of Britain to enjoy.
Mads' World: Dane takes arguably most impressive Giro stage win yet, slogging it out against Wout van Aert in brutal uphill sprint
We’re 13 stages into this Giro d’Italia now and Mads Pedersen has won four of them. His Lidl-Trek team have five, Dan Hoole having won the time trial on Tuesday. This one was more like Pedersen’s incredibly impressive success up in Matera last week than the two super controlled sprint wins in Albania. In fact, this might have been the best of the lot, the Dane grinding it out in an uphill head-to-head against Wout van Aert. Maglia rosa Isaac del Toro briefly looked like challenging before the two best classics riders at this Giro powered away from everyone else, thrashing watts at each other seeing who’d break first.
In truth, neither broke, Pedersen and Van Aert looking close to a standstill by the finish but still well clear of the peloton of GC favourites. Del Toro was third, the Mexican claiming more bonus seconds in his hunt for pink. At the Red Bull Kilometre, teammate and closest rival Juan Ayuso made his first effort for bonus seconds for a while, the pair extending their advantage of Antonio Tiberi in third. Despite Ayuso’s attention at the Red Bull-sponsored intermediate sprint, Del Toro heads into the weekend with an even bigger lead than he started the day, the 21-year-old consistently chipping his advantage wider with these punchy sprint efforts.
Tomorrow the race heads into Slovenia, a day for Primož Roglič to enjoy, even if the stage profile looks far more suited to a sprint or breakaway (or just Mads Pedersen again) before Sunday sees one of the race’s first major mountain days and the ascent of Monte Grappa.
Del Toro heads into stage 14 with 38 seconds’ lead on Ayuso, Tiberi in third at 1:18. Adam Yates and Thymen Arensman slipped down the standings a little today, Egan Bernal, Derek Gee and Damiano Caruso hopping up the leaderboard.
Pep Guardiola takes his bike to Kevin De Bruyne's leaving party
There’s a video of all the Manchester City players arriving at Kevin De Bruyne’s leaving party at a city centre hotel. Obviously we couldn’t help but notice the two seconds including Pep Guardiola wheeling his transport right on inside. No locking that up outside, straight in.
"Driver delayed by 14 seconds... that's outrageous": Cyclist riding (perfectly legally) in road next to cycle lane causes Facebook meltdown, including calls for fines... but raging mob ignores parked car blocking cycle route
You know it’s going to be a ‘good’ one when the video’s got 1.9k likes/reactions (many of which are the angry face one) and 2.1k comments. If only people cared about important things in life as much as irrelevant videos of cyclists doing nowt wrong on Facebook. Anyway, load the clip…
The caption it was shared with set the tone early… Rochdale Crime Facebook page saying: “Build a bike lane they said. It’ll ease traffic they said. £13.5 million later… and here we are, stuck behind Dave on his Tour de Castleton.”
Yep, this is the Greater Manchester cycle lane that attracted complaints from businesses who claimed it would “kill” the village due to nobody being able to park any more… that despite the initial scheme seeing 80 off-street spaces added nearby.
Work on the next stage of the project is set to continue, but this video causing much rage on Facebook is one of the first clips we’ve seen of it in action.
In short, one of the top comments (with more than 500 likes) is someone saying the cyclist not using the bike lane and riding in the road instead “should be a fineable offence”.
Another one with almost 600 likes adds: “This is why everyone hates cyclists.” A third says it’s evidence for why cyclists “should have reg plates”. So, yes, basically a whole lot of angry people enraged by a video of a fellow citizen causing no harm, travelling about the area in a perfectly legal and safe manner. I’m sure they’re just as outraged at all the other road users who don’t.
Amid the red-faced frothing there were also those who took to the comments in defence of the cyclist, pointing out their riding is perfectly legal and trying to explain to the enraged why they might have chosen to ride in the road on this section.
“You forgot to mention that there were walkers in the bike lane and further down a car was parked across it,” one person pointed out.
Another said: “And the driver was delayed by a massive 14 seconds. That’s just outrageous and all because of a cyclist.”
We’re hoping that’s sarcasm…
As a third comment explained, “The problem is the intermittent bike lanes”.
“Think of it this way,” the continued. “If VW implement VIP lanes but to use them, it meant getting off and back on the main road multiple times during a journey, would you use the VIP lane or just stay on the main road? The cyclist is doing nothing wrong by choosing the easier route and staying on the main road.”
As per the Highway Code:
Use facilities such as cycle lanes and tracks, advanced stop lines and toucan crossings (see Rules 62 and 73) where they make your journey safer and easier. This will depend on your experience and skills and the situation at the time. While such facilities are provided for reasons of safety, cyclists may exercise their judgement and are not obliged to use them.
Maybe there should be a mandatory tick-box requirement to have read that before commenting on Facebook videos about cycle lanes?
23 May 2025, 08:04
23 May 2025, 08:04
23 May 2025, 08:04
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Latest Comments
It occurred to me that this could be fitted to an older rim brake bike as well but it would involve for example building a new rear wheel with a disc hub and rim brake rim.
@Paul J Please show me any reliable evidence. EPO tests already detect levels far below the minimum effective dose. With the recent state of the art, microdosing simply does not make any sense.
@tomlew microdosing EPO most definitely does "work" in terms of stimulating RBC production.
This is what the media frenzy about the "dangers of e-bikes" led us to. Meanwhile, drivers kill one pedestrian a day in general indifference.
@rideANDdie 100% agree. It is quite hard to imagine a driver would not understand that directly hitting someone hard with a car/large vehicle would not kill them. @Rendel Harris That doesn't apply. ie self-defense or the killer was mentally impaired (which can be shown/tested by the authorities later) The driver was not in danger from the cyclist. And even if the cyclist tried to attack them, the driver could have locked their doors and closed their windows. The worst the cyclist could have done is dent/scratch the car with their bike (maybe partially damage/smash a window), assuming they didn't have a weapon. And the driver, if fearing for their safety, could have driven away.
As far as I understand it, specific evidence against a rider (or of actual doping in general) isn't required for the judge's approval - they just have to convince them that, on balance, the need for them to do this to maintain an effective anti-doping program outweighs the riders' rights to privacy. The "serious suspicion" stuff comes from a comment to the UCI's internal rules (and is contradicted by another set of rules) and isn't really relevant to the judicial process.
After nearly 40 years of living in France and listening to thé démented chauvinism of French commentators I have to wonder if French riders would have had thé same treatment
There's no demonstrable link between the test and Vingegaard crashing out of the race - just some rather overblown speculation.
@Simon Withers I've not managed to buckle a wheel on tour although I have had to adjust spokes occasionally to keep my wheels true so I carry spare spokes and a spoke key anyway. My concern is getting to my destination and then having to straighten the disc because it got bent in transit. Would I need to carry heavy tools to do this?
@Simon Withers I've not managed to buckle a wheel on tour although I have had to adjust spokes occasionally to keep my wheels true so I carry spare spokes and a spoke key anyway. My concern is getting to my destination and then having to straighten the disc because it got bent in transit. Would I need to carry heavy tools to do this?
43 thoughts on ““Driver delayed by 14 seconds… that’s outrageous”: Cyclist riding (perfectly legally) in road next to cycle lane causes Facebook meltdown, including calls for fines… but raging mob ignores parked car blocking cycle route + more on the live blog”
Another killer driver gets
Another killer driver gets slap on the wrist for killing a pedestrian
https://archive.is/TbuoC
A sad reminder that (at least
A sad reminder that (at least currently) “police it better” means that simply failing to competently operate your motor vehicle (not looking where you’re going for e.g. 5 seconds) and killing someone is “careless” and probably doesn’t mean prison (if the police even send it to the CPS, or they recommend bringing it to court…). For “dangerous” you have to e.g. be doing 60mph in a 30mph zone.
That’s how high the bar is.
dubwise wrote:
From the artice
Agreed and neither is the 12 month driving ban.
“Cycling UK urges action on
“Cycling UK urges action on potholes as councils reveal £4.1m compensation payments”
Kent CC as the responsible highway authority has decided that a pothole must be at least 5cm deep, which is very likely to lead to wheel failure and loss of control, however is working for road users. Classic motonormativity, so no hesitation to claim as that gets attention.
Never cycle through a puddle as it may conceal a wheel breaker…
Quote:
My emphasis
Had it really been submerged in water for four weeks before Mr Montoro’s incident?
I understand why Cycling UK
I understand why Cycling UK is talking about potholes, but I think it is a counterproductive way of cycle campaigning.
When cycling infrastructure is proposed, an argument which is often employed by the antis is ‘just spend the money on fixing potholes, that will help everyone including cyclists’.
The reality is it only helps those cyclists who represent the current 2% modal share.
HarrogateSpa wrote:
Amen. (But also understand that quite a few cyclists are – rightly – concerned about these, and why some campaigners think this is a useful issue to take up).
Ultimately potholes are an issue of an excess of motor vehicles (and to a first and maybe 2nd approximation “trucks and buses”). On the latter – it’s a really bad idea to put cyclists with trucks and buses. In fact one reason why most people don’t cycle is that many simply never want to cycle with trucks and buses!
Where we have infra that few motor vehicles travel over (and do so slowly) potholes shouldn’t be much of an issue. And where there are lots of motor vehicles (or trucks and buses) or they’re going fast, potholes shouldn’t be an issue for cyclists at all because they should have their own infra that doesn’t get trashed by the motor vehicles (and is even cheaper because it lasts longer)!
You’d have to convince me
You’d have to convince me people are put off riding a bike more on the off chance they find a pothole vs the inevitability of some tit in a car trying to drive into them.
stonojnr wrote:
Quite. But of course most people aren’t cycling because … most people aren’t cycling! It probably “doesn’t occur” and more than I think “hey – I could get into town on roller skates! ” *
I am guessing eg. Cycling UK feel that “fix the potholes” also resonates with non-cyclists eg. most of those driving.
* I don’t own roller skates. But even if I did and didn’t know (from cycling already) just how rough our paved surfaces are on much larger wheels, I would probably intuit that getting about might be a lot less convenient than driving. Where we expect all the *roads* to connect, without needing to hop on and off kerbs or go through unpaved areas!
And I’d not be in a hurry to rollerskate in a bus lane.
From the local rag
From the local rag
Very true, the 2% fit and
Very true, the 2% fit and fearless.
Unfortunately the data DfT collect from the Police Service, Scene of Crime officers are the Killed or Seriously Injured. So that’s an example of asking the wrong question so having no data at all on the modal switch questions nor anything harrowing, endangering or injury less than a hospital visit. Thus only the far extent of the range of cycling experience is even collected.
It’s a huge information gap of ignorance.
I ain’t fearless…
I ain’t fearless…
Delayed or slowed down a bit
Delayed or slowed down a bit for 14 seconds? If it is a journey of any significant distance then all of these just melt away into sitting behind other cars at traffic lights.
Where I live the roads all end because of a river, the last bit of road is 20 miles an hour anyway. Still get dangerous passes and speeding despite the fact they can only be going a 1000m at the most. People behind the wheel of a car just don’t think of others.
If I ride into Colchester
If I ride into Colchester Town centre, I spend longer in queues of cars than anyone spends waiting behind me to climb a hill. They of course don’t notice being in queues of cars.
I was overtaken last night
I was overtaken last night twenty metres before a red traffic light (which was red when they overtook me) forced them to stop and I could coast past them into the ASL.
Fake news ! No way they didn
Fake news ! No way they didn’t block the ASL !
Hirsute wrote:
It was probably already full with food delivery mopeds.
slc wrote:
Fake news ! No way they didn’t block the ASL !
— slc It was probably already full with food delivery mopeds.— Hirsute
Well, there were a couple of deliveroo scooters in there, yes…
OT but has anyone else noticed that deliveroo scooter riders think that – as well as being allowed in the asl – they get to pull away when the little green cycle lights up on traffic lights which let cyclists go first?
I think that’s featured in an
I think that’s featured in an Ogmios vid? “Mopeds – trying to predict the lights…” – in fact he’s got that exact issue here.
I had a prick today try to
I had a prick today try to pass me on the pinch point before Grosvenor Bridge heading into Chester (for those that know). This requires the driver crossing a white line and entering the cycle lane. You’ll be killed one day, the prick shouted as he finally squeezed past, only by cunts like you, was the reply. He continued his “someone’s going to kill you” rant completely oblivious to the fact that he was driving illegally. Why do they always do it from the safety of their vehicle, or from behind the keyboard? #Wankers
EDIT: I also had a taxi diver call me an idiot for pointing out that amber on the traffic light means stop and not put your foot down to get to the back of the stopped traffic ahead. Why do these fools always resort to insults when they’re too stupid to understand stuff. It happens everywhere.
Because they’re stupid.
Because they’re stupid. Obviously.
Actually it’s probably more because you’ve pointed out to them that they are, in fact, stupid. They don’t like it up ’em as Corporal Jones famously said (showing my age there!)
A survey was carried out
A survey was carried out during the COVID pandemic – one of the questions was ‘what do you miss doing? A third of the people who replied stated that they miss sitting in traffic jams.
kingleo wrote:
One shouldn’t overlook that a significant use for cars (and to some extent many other things, like “work” or “shops” or “fishing”…) is “to get away from my family”.
Luckily you can do that on a bicycle too – and you can even have the “my own private space in public” for a fraction of the price of a car with e.g. one of these (you can even have four wheels)…
Well how else would they find
Well how else would they find the time to answer all those text messages and surf the net…
The same people never
The same people never complain about cars being parked in cycle lanes.
“Delayed by 15 seconds”…if
“Delayed by 15 seconds”…if it was up to me,I’d bring back the law stipulating that you have to drive behind a person with a red flag or else a hefty fine will be issued. Would sort out the unemployment crisis too. Cycles/Buses/Taxis would be exempt.
Why taxis? Some of those
Why taxis? Some of those drivers are the most impatient.
“Maybe there should be a
“Maybe there should be a mandatory tick-box requirement to have read that before commenting on Facebook videos about cycle lanes?“
Please please please can we have an “Are you a cyclist-hating troll?” option that people have to agree to AND pick out the relevant bits of the highway code that the cyclist is abiding by, before the troll can comment?
Like the “Are you human?” verification we so often see now.
“Common sense” trumps HC
Doesn’t matter what is in the HC. “Common sense” trumps it.
whosatthewheel wrote:
To far too many people, “common sense” means “what I like/ want to do”
Video embed is borked again.
Video embed is borked again. Have to
Rather convenient cut for the
Rather convenient cut for the driver wanting to make a point that the video cuts straight to the cyclist outside a then empty cycle track. I wonder if just 5 seconds before it wasn’t, and was just as full as what we see down stream (parked cars and pedestrians)!
You don’t HAVE to use the
You don’t HAVE to use the cycle lane, also if I were to use some of the cycle lanes round here that move from the road to the footpath I would kill myself, tree roots destroyed them and more holes than on the road! Also would be dodging pedestrians and their dogs… No thanks.
Someone stole my BBC
Someone stole my BBC broadcasting bike – it’s like losing a friend
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c771v2y078po
I do hope she was insured.
I do hope she was insured.
Even if it was, it sounds
Even if it was, it sounds like it was heavily customised to her purposes – insurance is unlikely to pay to reinstate all those customisations and almost certainly won’t account for the effort of making them.
A tragedy – there are scum
A tragedy – there are scum everywhere!
And I thought the French were
And I thought the French were cycle friendly …
https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/transports/c-est-une-horreur-a-carpentras-une-nouvelle-piste-cyclable-pas-si-praticable-selon-les-habitants-7687376
What could be friendlier than
What could be friendlier than giving you some lovely plants to enjoy? Honestly, some people will complain about anything.
I like that, it keeps the
I like that, it keeps the pace nice and sedate and it’ll keep the Stava knobbers and club riders away.
Hirsute wrote:
They should try that with motor vehicles, on A and B roads in urban areas…
They do in some areas, I
They do in some areas, I nearly came a cropper as I sailed through a Give Way mark on the main thoroughfare that gave traffic from the side street priority.
And for more on the so called
And for more on the so called “war on motorists”…
“Matthew Parrott, 42, from Newtown, Powys, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for three years.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cyvmny7gn32o
With such a minor sentence, presumably if he had killed a cyclist rather than a driver then it would have been suspended…