Elias Schwärzler hits 272km/h on a mountain bike (towed by a motorbike); Doctor loses second bike this month to thief who cut through hospital rack; UCI announces cyclocross WC round in London; A Tale of Two Drivers; Tour teams + more on the live blog

52 thoughts on “Elias Schwärzler hits 272km/h on a mountain bike (towed by a motorbike); Doctor loses second bike this month to thief who cut through hospital rack; UCI announces cyclocross WC round in London; A Tale of Two Drivers; Tour teams + more on the live blog”

1. I’m lucky enough to have my

   I’m lucky enough to have my own private office, so I can bring my bike inside (which also, means I can commute on one of my “nice” bikes without worry). If I wasn’t able to do this, I probably wouldn’t commute by bike at all – especially with the area I work in. Even using the cheapest beater bike you can find gets very expensive if it’s stolen all the time.

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   • I used to have a good secure

     I used to have a good secure location in the basement at my place until the outgoing roller door broke. It stayed shut but it meant you had to get out of the car to press the button on the incoming door and one of the ladies decided she didn’t want to rush so left the door up when she used to leave. Unfortunately a spudder came in during one of those times and bike wasn’t there anymore. 
      

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     • Somewhere safe to put a bike

       Somewhere safe to put a bike is something so basic, but something very few workplaces have.

       I work in a crap part of town (I suspect so the company doesn’t have to pay through the nose for premesis) – there’s no secure outside bike storage (and no space to put some), there’s nowhere to lock a bike up with direct line of sight to our office, and the business park we use is open to the public but secluded enough from public thoroughfares that thieves don’t have to worry about being seen. If I couldn’t bring my bike inside, I’d probably lose one every week.

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       • I work in some offices which

         I work in some offices which is shared with the police. There’s an underground car park with a nice secure bike parking… but it’s only available to the police. Us mere office workers have to use the front wheel  rubbish things hmmmm no thanks… or the massive u shaped bike racks at the main entrance…. 

         i either choose the most insecure but out of sight storage which my wheel won’t fit into, or the more secure one every scum bag has to walk past. If I ever forget to take a Bag or light off my bike it won’t be there when I get back

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   • I was very insistent that,

     I was very insistent that, when I started at my currrent school, I would be allowed to bring my cycle into my classroom with me. The bike lockers hadn’t been used for so long that they had become a gardening storage shed! Plus, having a bike in the classroom behind my white board is a fantastic conversation starter.

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     • vthejk wrote:

       I was very insistent that, when I started at my currrent school, I would be allowed to bring my cycle into my classroom with me. 

       — vthejk

       Not allowed to take mine into the classroom but, as Head of Department I have given myself permission to bring it into the department office … so far, no comment from higher up the food chain. 

       Given that they let me have a key so I can get a shower, I think they are probably OK with it. 

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       • I used to leave mine in our

         I used to leave mine in our development lab, most secure room in the building.  Unfortunately too many people have started riding in now (took me 20 years of encouragement) that the MD actually provided some dedicated storage in the warehouse where I now have to leave min.  Still reasonably secure, but I worry that it will be hit by a fork lift truck.

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         • Honestly, at this point I’d

           Honestly, at this point I’d rather not have the dedicated bike storage! Way more secure in my classroom and easy access to bikepacking bags etc 

         • That was always my worry when

           That was always my worry when I was temping in warehouses.

   • I wouldnt cycle to work if I
     I wouldnt cycle to work if I didnt have secure cycle parking available, it’s much higher on my list of priorities than even showers or changing facilities.

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   • I’m “lucky” enough to live in

     I’m “lucky” enough to live in a city with little cycling culture, hence low bike theft rates. I also work in a test lab several miles out of town, where there is no foot traffic. We have a few Sheffield racks that I petitioned to have put in, so I wouldn’t have to lock to a fence. One colleague “locks” his nice carbon road bike to the rack with one of those giant orange twist ties, just so that it doesn’t fall over. The chance of bike theft at our facility is essentially zero.

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2. “Last month the police told

   “Last month the police told my husband he shouldn’t have an expensive watch/ring/car/wife if he doesn’t want it stolen”

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   • Perhaps shops shouldn’t put

     Perhaps shops shouldn’t put goods on display if they don’t want them stolen.

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   • Exactly, that’s one of the

     Exactly, that’s one of the most ridiculous statements I’ve heard from the Police about bike thefts. So if I decided to go along and damage a bunch of expensive cars in my town, the police’s response to the owners would be the same, that it’s their own fault for owning them? I somehow doubt it.

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   • hirsute wrote:

     “Last month the police told my husband he shouldn’t have an expensive watch/ring/car/wife if he doesn’t want it stolen”

     — hirsute

     I had a very cheap wife but she still got stolen . . . . . 

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     • You shouldn’t have left her

       You shouldn’t have left her locked out there overnight.

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       • chrisonatrike wrote:

         You shouldn’t have left her locked out there overnight.

         — chrisonatrike

         ???

         The benefit is my bikes now live in the back room so they are less likely to get stolen.

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         • Sounds like a good trade. 

           Sounds like a good trade.  Humans are great, but bike maintenace is less messy and frustrating.

           There’s an alternative model though – I note that VanMoof (among others) were doing a “cycle-as-a-service” scheme!

         • chrisonatrike wrote:

           Sounds like a good trade.  Humans are great, but bike maintenace is less messy and frustrating.

           — chrisonatrike

           Very good trade. I kept the house and our son, she took the car.

           There’s an alternative model though – I note that VanMoof (among others) were doing a “cycle-as-a-service” scheme!

           — chrisonatrike

           I have absolutely no idea what you are getting at there . . . . . .

3. Surely an employer like the

   Surely an employer like the NHS, of all organisations, should be promoting active travel and should be making at least some effort (over and above a piece of bent pipe in the ground) to facilitate this?

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   • Reiver2768 wrote:

     Surely an employer like the NHS, of all organisations, should be promoting active travel and should be making at least some effort (over and above a piece of bent pipe in the ground) to facilitate this?

     — Reiver2768

     The NHS is very keen on active travel, and in some places, they support it with cycle stations, including indoor, secure cycle parking, showers and changing rooms and lockers; just not everywhere.

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     • So why is free car parking
       So why is free car parking for staff such a hot issue in the NHS ?

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       • Awavey wrote:

         So why is free car parking for staff such a hot issue in the NHS ?

         — Awavey

         Because driving has become the default option in our society over the past sixty or so years.  Everything was done to improve access and travel speed for drivers, and everything else became almost irrelevant, and although there are encouraging signs in some place, still the car rules almost everywhere.

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       • Awavey wrote:

         So why is free car parking for staff such a hot issue in the NHS ?

         — Awavey

         Have you seen how  much patients have to pay?!

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4. Ah, hospital cycle parking,

   Ah, hospital cycle parking, another box ticking exercise by the public sector to convince themselves that they are doing something worthwhile for the health of the nation and environment.

   Like every other piece of crap infrastructure, it’s still crap, but it keeps the accountants happy.

   In Derby they have just opened an indoor cycle parking facility in the city cente, catering for a total of 35 cyclists at a time, in a building with over 2000 parking spaces for motorists.

   Serious about public health and the environment? 

   Hmmm……

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   • I’m not sure what your point
     I’m not sure what your point is. You deride the efforts made as ‘box ticking’ but are simultaneously suggesting they should do more. Do you think they should do more, or should stop bothering to try?

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     • I read it as councils do the

       I read it as councils do the bare minimum to tick the ‘active travel’ box, but they should be doing more.

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     • If I’m suggesting that they
       If I’m suggesting that they are carrying out box ticking exercises, then I’m most definitely suggesting they do more.
       Go to the still relatively new hospital they have built here in Derby and the motorcycles have a lovely, covered parking facility right outside the main doors, bicycles however have to be stored elsewhere that isn’t undercover. Where is the incentive to cycle when right from the start you are dealing with such lack of foresight. This is on a site where car parking is so limited that the council have just approved plans for a multi storey car park built on the footprint of existing ground level parking, reducing car parking significantly during the construction stage.

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     • They need to measure the
       They need to measure the right thing. In this case it would be numbers of people cycling (or walking) to work. The number of cycle racks is irrelevant, except in so far as they encourage the thing that is wanted – numbers cycling to work. Obviously If you only count cycle racks then that is all you will get.

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5. It is a basic tenet of

   It is a basic tenet of encouraging cycling that there is somewhere secure to leave your bike.  Unlike this admirable doctor, most people just give up after their bike is stolen.

   Speaking of which, I’m still pursuing the failure of Lidl to implement the cycle parking plans at their new store in Lydney, and the District council is investigating a possible breach of planning conditions.  But they tell me that the planning department is so underfunded after 12 years of tory austerity that it is going to take some time, and people who know about these things tell me that the council probably won’t take action as it would be too expensive.

   So even when reasonable cycle parking, near the entrance and overlooked is the subject of a planning condition, Lidl can just ignore it, put some racks in where they aren’t overlooked, and it looks as if nothing is going to happen.

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6. Isn’t there a road policing

   Isn’t there a road policing unit in Sheffield that are active in prosecuting bad drivers in relation to cyclists? They should have a word with their colleagues.

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7. The same people who are

   The same people who are chiding the doctor for leaving an ‘expensive bike’ at work are probably also the people who think most bikes cost £50 and are children’s playthings only.

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   • vthejk wrote:

     The same people who are chiding the doctor for leaving an ‘expensive bike’ at work are probably also the people who think most bikes cost £50 and are children’s playthings only.

     — vthejk

     On my initial visit to my LBS when I first thought of buying a road bike about 10 years ago I was astonished to be told that the cheapest ‘beginners’ bike they stocked was £750!

     It was several years before I became reconciled to paying a grand for a bike.

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     • I’ve never paid more than
       I’ve never paid more than £300 for a commute bike, and havent paid more than 1k for a decent road bike.

       It’s in most LBS interests, especially with C2W schemes to only stock bikes around the 1k range as there is the most turnover for them.

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     • To be fair, my comment reads

       To be fair, my comment reads as anti-cheap bike rhetoric; it was not intended that way. I am lucky enough to own a cheap, rusty old ‘beater’ MTB that I take to the shops and a newer steel bike that I built up to ride everywhere else. What I did mean, though, was that statement by the police is coming from a place of belittling the average cycle owner as someone whose vehicle is low-cost and easily replaceable for a small sum.

       This sort of misconception is nothing new, though. In my experience, even Awavey’s £300 figure would be treated as surprisingly high by most non-cyclists. I bought a 2005 Specialized Allez off eBay for £195 – 10% of the cost of the Renault Twingo it replaced – and my then-partner had a right go at me for spending too much!

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   • vthejk wrote:

     The same people who are chiding the doctor for leaving an ‘expensive bike’ at work are probably also the people who think most bikes cost £50 and are children’s playthings only.

     — vthejk

     You forgot where they tell you to “Grow up and buy a car” 

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     • Daveyraveygravey wrote:

       You forgot where they tell you to “Grow up and buy a car” 

       — Daveyraveygravey

       Don’t get me started! (too late, you just have!)

       I spent the majority of my first term training to teach and then teaching fending off comments from my colleagues like “Oh, you saving up for your first car, then?” Thankfully, over a year and many fuel cost rises later, the idea of a grown man not owning a car and riding a bicycle to work everyday doesn’t seem as novel and certainly not as unappealing to them.

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       • vthejk wrote:

         You forgot where they tell you to “Grow up and buy a car” 

         — vthejk

         Don’t get me started! (too late, you just have!)

         I spent the majority of my first term training to teach and then teaching fending off comments from my colleagues like “Oh, you saving up for your first car, then?” Thankfully, over a year and many fuel cost rises later, the idea of a grown man not owning a car and riding a bicycle to work everyday doesn’t seem as novel and certainly not as unappealing to them.

         — Daveyraveygravey

         I was working on a contract at a site less than three miles away from home and easily accessable via the Milton Keynes Redways. There’s me, an overweight 50+ old man cycling in. The 20 somethings simply could not get their heads around that. To them it was like going to the moon. Just incromprehensible. Mind you, one of them had their home thermostat turned up to 30C so she didn’t get cold 

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8. In my experience hospitals
   In my experience hospitals have very high rates of bike theft.

   My £100 eBay bike, thankfully, seems impervious.

   Get a cheap second hand bike, deck it out in mismatching components and never clean it.

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   • I discover that I’ve been

     I discover that I’ve been running a thief-proofing strategy for much of my life and never realised!

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9. I think it would help if

   I think it would help if Sheffield stands and their ilk where stuffed with the fibre strands that are in chainsaw trousers.  That way if the vile scrotes take a saw or grinder to a stand all that fibre comes out and will block the blade from doing its job, they might even lose the tool as it might not easily be removed from the fibres.

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   • Good idea.  I’m not sure

     Good idea.  I’m not sure fibres will work for grinders as they do for chainsaws but there are deffo things which angle grinders do not love.  This mahoosive bike lock uses this principle:

     https://altorlocks.com/products/saf-lock

     Unfortunately I suspect that would increase the cost hugely.

     If that lock is anything to go by the angle-grinder sabotaging material would probably need to be on the outside.  Itself protected from knocks with some metal.  With the “structural” protection on the inside.  Otherwise you could just cut a couple of rings in the outer and then (presumably) smash the section out.

     Of course even just stuffing the hoop with something unpleasant likely makes it a bit more inconvenient to steal.  I just think cost is a factor as mostly these are “public” infra.

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   • Alternatively – armed

     Alternatively – armed response:

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP9wLJhaBOE

     Almost certainly would see you penalised as much or more than if you’d killed someone while driving.  I guess it might make you feel better though.  Especially if you got footage of the result. (Likely also illegal but if you’re already being hanged for a lamb…)

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10. That report about the taxi on

    That report about the taxi on the roundabout is from Brighton and Hove news, the lovely organisation Jo Wadsworth works for, and chooses not to follow guidelines on reporting “accidents”

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11. Quote:

    …Simon Yates’ early Giro d’Italia withdrawl…

    Pretty sure that’s the first time ‘Simon Yates’ and ‘drawl’ have appeared in the same sentence.

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12. Regretably had to drive

    Regretably had to drive yesterday. ‘Stuck’ behind a learner who slowed to <20mph some distance before a green light. I slowed and maintained a safe distance.

    Despite their much reduced speed, L driver when straight through on amber and I stopped with little effort.

    Is now common practise to ignore amber lights as ‘stop’ ? Is this what is taught?

     

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    • Amber Bashing seems to be
      Amber Bashing seems to be considered OK* … Even though it’s jumping the lights.

      * If you’re in a car, that is

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    • Red is the new amber.

      Red is the new amber.

      I’m just waiting for someone to propose an app for that, or suggest we fix this with a pre-pre-stop light.  Hmm… rainbow traffic lights could add to the streetscape actually.

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      • I believe the key to reducing
        I believe the key to reducing congestion is to get rid of the green light.

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        • Was that the real meaning

          Was that the real meaning behind The Police’s “Roxanne”?

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      • Don’t we have that already? I

        Don’t we have that already? I thought it went Green > Amber > Established Amber > Red > Established Red…?

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13. So glad to see Binyam Girmay

    So glad to see Binyam Girmay back to winning ways.

    After the cork incident I would have thought his team mates would avoid similar tragi-comic accidents- waiting- to- happen…like climbing the tiled steps of a swimming pool in cleats!

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