“Take the red lights away, they don’t use them either!” Drivers urge council to “get rid” of city’s cycle lanes – but others ask, “What bike lanes?” and complain about having to pass cyclists safely in bizarre anti-cycling bingo + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Can’t wait for the day Grimsby Council tries to fine Greg LeMond for riding his bike through the town centre
> Yellow-themed carbon fibre factory owned by Greg LeMond heading for Grimsby, and could create 400 jobs
“If you want to encourage cycling, you need infrastructure like this”: More lovely London cycle lanes in the winter
The city looking beautiful this morning. If you want to encourage cycling, you need infrastructure like this. ♥️ London
— Bob From Accounts 🚲 (@bobfromaccounts.bsky.social) February 2, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Stand by for the latest Dutch roundabout local outrage tale, this time from Chichester – where residents claim the infrastructure has already caused two crashes… despite not being opened yet
> Property developer pays for £950,000 Dutch-style cycling roundabout to prioritise cyclists and improve safety… but furious locals still claim “nightmare” project is “wasting” taxes
Wout van Aert tests out Gravaa’s self-inflating/deflating tyre system on cobblestones ahead of big classics campaign
Here’s my ‘big’ prediction for the 2025 road season: Wout van Aert is going to finally win one of the big ones, the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix. Or possibly both.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. There’s a certain Mr Mathieu van der Poel – and in the case of the Ronde, Tadej Pogačar too – to take into consideration when it comes to the Belgian star breaking his duck at cycling’s biggest cobbled races.
But while his last-minute decision to race the ‘cross worlds on Sunday didn’t result in a rainbow jersey (let’s face it, even without his difficult start, Van Aert would have found it difficult to dislodge the flying Van der Poel in Liévin), it did demonstrate one thing: Wout van Aert is fired up for this season.
(Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com)
He also appears to be happy with his winter training – otherwise, it would have been an easy decision to stick to the original plan and skip a high-profile head-to-head with Van der Poel – and ready to take on his career-long rival in April.
And to help with this Flanders-Roubaix charge, Van Aert has a little trick up his sleeve – Gravaa’s new version of its cobblestone-taming tyre pressure regulating system.
Officially launched last October, the Dutch brand’s self-inflating and deflating tyre system allows you to adjust and monitor tyre pressure while you’re riding, through a pump that’s integrated into the hubs, which Gravaa says will provide you with more speed, more comfort, and fewer punctures – while working wonders when you’re switching back-and-forth from smooth tarmac to rough, jagged cobbles in the spring classics.
Van Aert’s Visma-Lease a Bike team first used the technology during the 2023 classics season, but it largely disappeared from view on the elite stage until October 2024, when the Belgian’s Visma colleague Marianne Vos used wheels with an updated Gravaa KAPS system during her victory at the UCI Gravel World Championships, earning her a 14th rainbow jersey.
And judging by the sixth slide of Van Aert’s Instagram update last night (below) – which featured a clip of the 30-year-old using the system to reduce his tyre pressure before entering a stretch of cobbles during a motorpacing session near his home in Herentals – the ability to inflate and deflate tyres on the go could well prove crucial in the fight against MVDP this year.
In the clip, Van Aert uses his Garmin bike computer to shift 3.4 and 3.7 bar to 2.4 and 2.7 bar as he prepares to hit the (albeit gentle enough) pavé. Ah, the modern world.
Also, did anyone else the motorbike rider’s ‘MATU’ licence plate? Is Van Aert already preparing to hang on to Mathieu’s wheel come Ronde day?
Winter cycling, Canada edition
Why post so much about winter cycling? Because “you can’t bike in winter” is the #1 cycling myth I hear. People treat it as obvious—so obvious they rarely even explain *why* it’s supposedly impossible. But every winter ride proves them wrong.
— Oh The Urbanity! (@ohtheurbanity.bsky.social) February 3, 2025 at 10:32 PM
London looks positively balmy by comparison…
“This was a typical ‘Oh look a cyclist, I must pass them’ without any thought for the situation”: Near Miss of the Day returns…
> Near Miss of the Day 920: Driver’s impatient “must get in front” overtake of cyclist lands them police warning letter for “inconsiderate” manoeuvre
Is Top Ganna already in top gear? Filippo Ganna lays down classics marker by taking Strava KOM on southern approach of iconic Coll de Rates training climb – beating Remco Evenepoel by one second
In 25 days, the ‘proper’ road racing season will be underway, on the slippery cobbles and leg-sapping bergs of Opening Weekend and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
But after Wout van Aert’s pointed Gravaa cobbles test on Instagram, it’s clear that the classics phoney war is already well underway.
And now it’s Filippo Ganna’s turn to make a public statement of intent – by taking one of cycling’s most prestigious Strava KOMs, knocking Remco Evenepoel off the top spot in the process.
The Hour Record holder, who was second and sixth at the 2023 editions of Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix respectively, secured the KOM on the southern approach of the iconic Coll de Rates, the classic pro test ramp near the training camp hotspot of Calpe on Spain’s Costa Blanca.
In December, Tadej Pogačar famously blitzed his way up the climb’s northern side from Parcent, knocking 17 seconds off the previous best recorded time on Strava.
Now it’s the turn of Italian powerhouse Ganna to demonstrate his winter prowess – and his surprisingly sharp climbing legs – by snatching the crown on the approach from Tarbena, during a 140km, four hour, 36kph ride at the weekend that saw the Ineos Grenadiers man set a number of PBs and KOMs along the way.
According to his Strava account, Olympic team pursuit champion Ganna powered up the 5km climb – which averages a steady 5.6 per cent – in 10.10, knocking a second of double Olympic champion, Vuelta winner, and Tour podium finisher Evenepoel’s previous record.
The 28-year-old averaged 29.3kph on the Rates, which came almost 100km into his 140km training ride, which featured over 2,000m of elevation. He also set another KOM on the draggy 11km climb to Castels, beating Evenepoel’s time by almost a minute and a half in the process.
After this very healthy-looking block of training in Spain, Ganna is set to kick off his 2025 campaign tomorrow at the Étoile de Bessèges, as he builds towards another crack at Milan-Sanremo and Roubaix.
And judging by his climbing speed on the Rates, this year’s battle on the Poggio could be very interesting indeed…
With the road.cc Recommends Awards done and dusted for another year, it’s time for our first batch of hot, hot cycling products for 2025
> Wallet-friendlier wheels and bib tight triumphs: a super six of top cycling products from Gorewear, Hunt, Scribe, Galibier, Assos + Lezyne
Doddie’s Grand Tour gets underway, as former Scotland rugby captain Rob Wainwright leads over 300 cyclists from Dublin to Edinburgh
The Six Nations kicked off at the weekend, and that means only one thing in the cycling world – it’s time for the annual epic charity ride to raise funds for the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.
The organisation, which aims to find a cure for MND and provides grants to people living with the condition, was established in 2016 by Doddie Weir, the lock who won 61 Scottish rugby caps and who was later diagnosed with MND.
And following the Doddie Cup 500 ride in 2022, which took place the year Doddie died, the Doddie Cup 555 Ride in 2023, and last year’s All Roads Lead to Rome epic, Weir’s former international teammate-turned-endurance cyclist Rob Wainwright is back in the saddle.
Doddie’s Grand Tour 2025, the final part of Doddie Aid, the mass participation exercise event founded by Wainwright in 2021, raising more than £5 million for MND research, saw the former Scotland captain set off this morning from the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, before riding up to Belfast, and continuing across the Irish Sea to Edinburgh, in time for Scotland’s clash with Ireland on Sunday.
Wainwright will be joined on at least part of his 800-mile ride by former Ireland and British and Irish Lions centre Gordon D’Arcy, Scotland hero Scott Hastings, broadcaster and Deacon Blue drummer Dougie Vipond, and – helpfully – around-the-world cyclist Mark Beaumont.
“Even though Doddie is no longer with us, his incredible ability to unite people continues to inspire us all,” former British and Irish Lions captain Wainwright said before this year’s ride starts tomorrow.
“We’ll need that same energy to get through every mile of this challenge. The atmosphere in Rome last year was unforgettable, and with Irish and Scottish fans coming together in Edinburgh, we know it’ll be just as special.
“People ask me why I keep doing these challenges – the answer is simple. Like Doddie, I want to see a world free of MND. His memory and everything he fought for drives us forward.
“We believe MND is not an incurable disease – it’s an underfunded one. The more money we raise for research through Doddie’s Grand Tour and other incredible events, the closer we’ll get to the day when an MND diagnosis no longer means a devastating future.”
They think the ‘cross is all over…
Just because we’ve crowned our world champions and the classic stars are engaged in a training phoney war, doesn’t mean there aren’t a few more weeks of mud and knobbly tyres left before Opening Weekend…
📆 Three more weeks of cyclocross!!
05/02 🇧🇪 Exact Cross Maldegem (Wednesday)
08/02 🇧🇪 Superprestige Middelkerke
09/02 🇧🇪 X2O Trofee Lille15/02 🇧🇪 Exact Cross Sint-Niklaas
16/02 🇧🇪 X2O Trofee Brussels23/02 🇧🇪 Internationale Sluitingsprijs Oostmalle pic.twitter.com/1Lmec13NJk
— Cyclocross24.com (@cyclocross24) February 4, 2025
“If he puts that much time and effort into telling people that they will lose parking spaces and be inconvenienced by cycle lanes, then many will believe him and his negativity”
> Cycling “misinformation” blamed for “aggressive, vocal minority” opposing major cycle lane plans, as Tory councillor accused of spreading rumours to alarm residents about “cycle chaos”
Wahoo pledges to only sponsor men’s teams with a women’s counterpart, as brand launches ‘Embrace Every Moment’ video series focusing on Tour de France Femmes
Cycling tech brand Wahoo has pledged to only sponsor men’s teams with a women’s counterpart from now on, a move the company says it hopes will “promote equality and foster growth in professional cycling”, while “levelling the playing field and empowering female athletes on the global stage”.
Wahoo currently sponsors a range of women’s pro teams, including Lidl-Trek, Ceratizit-WNT, Human Powered Health, EF Education-Oatly, and Arkéa-B&B Hotels. Today’s pledge means that the American brand will no longer be able to back men’s-only pro teams, such as the Ineos Grenadiers.
As part of this initiative, Wahoo has also launched its ‘Embrace Every Moment’ YouTube video series, which follows three teams – Human Powered Health, EF Education-Oatly, and Lidl-Trek – behind the scenes during last year’s Tour de France Femmes.
“As we start the 2025 season at the Tour Down Under, it’s an ideal time to celebrate how far women’s cycling has come with Embrace Every Moment, and the important work still ahead,” Olympic road race champion Kristen Faulkner, featured in the EF video, released today, said in a statement.
“Some of my happiest moments are when I’m riding, and I want to share that joy with others. From the fans who show up at our races to the young girls who are just getting started on a bike, I hope my teammates and I can inspire more women and girls to embrace the sport of cycling. Together, we truly can achieve our dreams!”
“With the timing, you’d almost think they’re just saying this to gain support for their unpopular project”: One Cycling group aiming to create GCN-style streaming service after Discovery’s UK price hike – but fans remain sceptical of Saudi-backed scheme
Got a problem in cycling? Don’t worry, One Cycling will be coming along shortly to fix it (maybe).
The much-discussed and long-delayed project, which aims to restructure how the sport is run – so, essentially the same as all the other ‘breakaway’ schemes which tried and failed to revolutionise pro cycling over the past two decades – has previously called for a complete redesign of the racing calendar, based on Formula One (obviously) and pitting the best riders in the world against each other on a more regular basis, as well as an overhaul of the sport’s “flawed” business model.
The scheme, which aims to bring together teams, race organisers, and the UCI, and will be at least partly financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has also said it will seek to change how cycling approaches TV broadcasting rights, putting more money into the hands of the teams and enabling them to become more financially sustainable.
So, it’s not surprise then that – in the aftermath of Warner Bros. Discovery’s controversial decision to close down Eurosport in the UK and move its cycling coverage to the £30.99-a-month TNT Sports, provoking an outcry from fans fearing that they’ve been priced out of watching the sport – One Cycling has chirped up this week.
According to Escape Collective’s Chris Marshall-Bell, the proposed project – which, despite being in a constant state of ‘coming soon’, shows no signs of being finalised just yet – has a “medium to long-term” ambition to create a specialised live cycling streaming service, in the style of GCN+.
A source close to One Cycling told Escape Collective that the ‘media hub’ will acquire the rights to broadcast all televised races “directly to the consumer”, cutting out the “middlemen” broadcasters, therefore placing more power – and money – in the hands of the teams.
As part of this subscription-based streaming service, content by the teams themselves, such as behind-the-scenes films, will also be available, in effect creating an expanded team-based version of the dearly departed GCN+, enabling fans once again to pay to simply watch cycling, and not the sporting multiverse offered by TNT at four times the old price.
> The rise & fall of GCN+ – is the livestream party over for cycling fans?
The possibility of resurrecting the GCN model comes as teams and stakeholders within the sport have raised concerns about the loss of free-to-air Tour de France coverage in the UK, as well as the impending closure of Eurosport. Escape Collective has also reported that teams are preparing to state their concerns about the price hike set to impact British and Irish fans, which they believe will lead to a massive drop in viewership in a key market.
Tomas Van Den Spiegel, the CEO of Flanders Classics, confirmed to the website that a cycling-specific live coverage platform could be “part of something broader and bigger” if One Cycling eventually does to fruition.
“As cycling fans I think we all miss GCN – it made our lives easier,” he said. “What I think GCN could have done better was that while it serviced existing fans, it wasn’t up to thinking of ways to attract new fans through innovative content concepts.
“There are other examples of sports and entertainment forms doing that right today and I think that’s what we need to do.”
(ASO/Charly Lopez)
While there are a few kinks in One Cycling’s plan – ASO’s exclusive big-money deal with Warner Bros. Discovery means any such streaming service wouldn’t feature the Tour de France or Paris-Roubaix until at least 2030 – some fans have welcomed a potential return to the GCN glory days.
“I’m not sold on a lot of their ideas, and hate the sportswashing funding, but this would be nice,” Poke wrote on BlueSky.
“In the UK GCN+ was £39.99 per year. I’d happily pay double that for a cycling dedicated channel so long as the commentary and analysis was up to scratch,” added Tony, while John simply said: “Yes, please.”
However, not everyone is convinced about One Cycling’s purported plans, especially coming so hot on the heels of cycling’s move to TNT in the UK.
“The fact that this really just seems to be a wish with no real plan behind it, combined with the timing, could almost lead some people to believe that this is just being said to gain cheap fan support for this rather unpopular project,” said Simon. “I’m really sceptical about the whole thing.”
“I sure as hell ain’t giving my money to One Cycling,” another fan said.
“As said last week: maximum price per month must be 15 euros/dollars if they want to become a real thing,” noted Bence.
“Sadly, Saudi money and affordable services are historically as far away from each other as Anchorage and New Delhi.”
Meanwhile, Ade noted: “The Saudis have tried chucking money at football and golf – both more mainstream than cycling – and they’ve hardly been a roaring success, so you’d need to ask what’s in it for them?”
Quick, somebody get the Tom Pidcock AlUla Tour photo…
.jpg)
“Take the red lights away, they don’t use them either!” Drivers urge council to “get rid” of city’s cycle lanes – but others ask, “What bike lanes?” and complain about having to pass cyclists safely in bizarre anti-cycling bingo rant
I regret to inform everyone… the Oxford Mail’s at it again.
Just over a week ago, the local newspaper incited one of the more bizarre rounds of anti-cycling bingo we’ve ever seen, by randomly – or at least with the sole purpose of driving some angry engagement – asking their Facebook followers, “How can cycling in Oxford be made safer?”
Of the hundreds of comments that flooded in, almost all of them exclusively engaged in classic victim-blaming, anti-cycling rhetoric, ranging from calls for cycling licences and tax, as well as measures designed to “force” people on bikes to always use cycle lanes, and claims about red lights, bright clothing, helmets, and headphones.
And two Mail readers decided to take things a step further by arguing that the solution to making cycling safer in Oxford is simple – we should simply ban riding bikes. Easy (worryingly, those comments proved extremely popular, attracting the most ‘likes’ under the Mail’s post).
And now the paper is at it again, asking its readers: “Where would you like to see more cycle lanes in Oxford?”
Which, taken at face value, is a fair question.
Following the deaths of two cyclists, Dr Ling Felce and Ellen Moilanen, who were both fatally struck by lorry drivers in the space of three weeks in February 2022, the chair of local cycling campaign group Cyclox, Dr Alison Hill, called for more segregated cycle lanes to better protect people using bicycles to travel around the city.
Not that many of the 500 or so Facebook users who commented on the Mail’s post took that in consideration, of course.
Brace yourself for a bewildering exhibition I’m going to call Schrödinger’s Cycle Lanes, where there are – in the eyes of Oxford’s drivers – simultaneously too many bike lanes, which block up the roads, cause congestion, and aren’t used by cyclists anyway, and too few, forcing drivers to interact with cyclists and, God forbid, pass them safely.
So, where do the Oxford Mail’s readers want to see cycle lanes?
“Nowhere, most cyclist don’t use them!” wrote Sarah Needle. “Might as well take away the red traffic lights too – they don’t use those either!”
“In the middle of the Thames,” added Michael Holliday.
“ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE,” shouted Jordan Thornton. “Get rid of the existing ones for starters.”
“Blinking bikes are a nuisance, they don’t take any notice of traffic lights, half of them don’t have lights on when it’s dark, and they are dressed in black clothing so it’s difficult to see them,” said Frances Knight.
“They are definitely a law onto themselves, so no, we do not want more bike lanes. The other day we see [sic] a girl on a small skateboard in the middle of the road with a coach right behind her, my heart came up in my mouth, where was her mentally, she should have been stopped by the police. But of coarse [sic] they were nowhere around.”
Hmmm… Perhaps somebody needs to tell Frances that bikes aren’t skateboards aren’t the same…
> “One month, two dead cyclists”: Oxford’s cycling city sign defaced after second death
“It won’t matter as they will not use them, they just use the pavement,” wrote Billy Rankin.
“Only if cyclists have to use them, unlike the Lycra mob who seem to think, even the pre-existing wide lanes are beneath them,” said Sarah Gimigliano.
“Only other possible place you can put a cycle lane now in Oxford is the M40 as every other centimetre in Oxford is full of them,” added Ritesh Vyas. “In some cases they have taken over roads all together.”
Meanwhile, StuBoy Grizza (if that is indeed his real name) had a different take on the whole thing.
“What bike lanes? More shared roads now causing more hazard to drivers,” he said. “We’ve got the police telling us to give 1.5m space when passing a cyclist or we can get prosecuted!
“So where’s the prosecutions for cyclists who pass my car at two feet? Or those who run red lights and even knock pedestrians over on the pavement?”
Ah, the classic overtaking/filtering confusion. Top work StuBoy.
Thankfully, not everyone was piling in with nonsensical arguments against cycling infrastructure.
“Amazes me the hate on these posts!” noted Peter Haken. “First place is Eynsham to Botley, the road is extremely dangerous and let’s not even talk about the awful potholes.”
“We need to do what Amsterdam has done, what all these petrol heads don’t see is that they are the problem,” added Paul Thornton. “Nearly every car coming into Oxford in the morning has one person in it and it has hit saturation point.”
“So many places, but before they bother could they also make it a rule that they are not used as car parking spaces?” asked Tara Hurst.
“And maybe some of the haters in here could have a look at the condition of the cycle lanes – heavily potholed and cambered, barely a painted line on the road, and often ignored as drivers find them a convenient place to park.
“Possibly the same ones who then complain that cyclists don’t use the cycle lanes.”
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Latest Comments
It does say that it's fully removable for washing, so depending on how quick and easy that process is it may just be a case of whipping out the discharged one and inserting a spare into the pouch, without needing to remove the jersey.
@Sredlums But presumably you're going to be left with a big flap of deflated airbag trailing behind you, so your jersey will need replacing at some point (and if the UCI makes them mandatory, you'll need a fresh air bag as well). Given that it's not permitted to remove one's helmet whilst in motion, this is going to involve a pretty substantial stop.
@kingleo So by that logic, if they're forced to carry bottles of fulminated mercury in their pockets they will never crash? I think you just solved the problem!
@mdavidford No, you're confusing it with liquified steam.
@Zebra It's in the article. The airbag can be quickly deflated again.
The more safety gear the riders wear, the safer they feel, the more risks they will take, the more often they will crash.
I thought Laura did well, and capped the bullshit firehose effectively - especially as she had never had an attempted mugging from a far-right shock-jock before. Her "the Netherlands was not the Netherlands in the 1970s" is a genius point, which I will remember. She could have added "Why do you want to live in a Carry On film" if she wanted to put JHB back in her hot air balloon.. But nonetheless - enjoyable, even though personally I probably preferred Laura's debagging of Richard Madeley on Jeremy Vine iirc with sheer logic.
If a pro hits the deck wearing one of these and is uninjured apart from some road rash, will he or she be able to jump back on and keep riding? Or will it be necessary to wait and change into a new jersey / skinsuit? That could be a deciding factor for their use in elite races.
My greatest fear is being struck from behind while cycling. If this demonstrably reduces injuries from such an attack, I want one. Anything that improves safety gets my support.
As I think that poster liked to remind us, explosion in the hi-viz aisle of Decathlon is also a big risk for cyclists.
36 thoughts on ““Take the red lights away, they don’t use them either!” Drivers urge council to “get rid” of city’s cycle lanes – but others ask, “What bike lanes?” and complain about having to pass cyclists safely in bizarre anti-cycling bingo + more on the live blog”
The “cyclists dismount” sign
The “cyclists dismount” sign should be made permanent.
My understanding is, if you cycle on the left hand side, you would be cycling ‘illegally’ on a footpath, and would risk a fine.
The buff coloured tactile paving and centre white line means you are only allowed to cycle on the right as shown in the picture.
A few years ago on Road.cc, there was a news item with video of a PCSO ‘catching’ a cyclist in London (Old Kent Road?) and the case ending up in Court supported by the cyclist defence fund.
Mr Anderson wrote:
Nope. If separate cycling provision is coming to an end, the appropriate instruction would be ‘Cyclists – join main carriageway’.
Looks like that’s what they
Looks like that’s what they did. Although they also used the “no no cycling” sign: https://maps.app.goo.gl/m3C3LwKZAwTVSrSq6
On the image above, the
On the image above, the permanant sign shows the cycle on the left, although the path is on the right.
ChrisA wrote:
Around these parts we like to regularly switch which side is which, just to keep people on their toes.
Reality of what will happen –
Reality of what will happen – ride on the grass unless it’s a total mud fest.
Wolfcastle50 wrote:
Fixed.
Mr Anderson wrote:
What should normally happen here is that you cycle up the right hand side which is normally cycle track.
You can’t do that at the moment because of building work, which is why there are temporary barriers, the big red sign and all the orange in the distance – until the work is completed the next bit of cycle track isn’t really cycle track.
I am referring to the new
I am referring to the new chicane barriers. If you do not dismount, but cycle through the U chicane, you will be cycling on the designated footway, not the cycle lane. Pay day for the Privateer Civil Enforcement mafia
Yes, and what I’m saying is
Yes, and what I’m saying is that that’s not a chicane, that’s a ‘stop here, this isn’t (currently) a cycle track past this point’ barrier. Hence the sign saying to get off.
It’s perfectly intentional that you can’t cycle through it, so the fact that you can’t cycle through it without being on the footway is neither here nor there.
And you really can’t treat it like a chicane, it’s way too tight – you’d have a job getting through there on a unicycle.
Um – whether or not you’re
Um – whether or not you’re intended to continue cycling past it, it’s still a chicane.
Also – this is a weird argument – you seem to be disagreeing with each other, while both saying the exact same thing.
It’s entirely possible I’m
It’s entirely possible I’m missing the point, but AIUI ‘Mr Anderson’ is saying that there’s a problem because you can’t cycle through here without illegally crossing onto the footway, and I’m saying that isn’t an issue because you can’t cycle through here at all, so you’re not actually being forced onto the footway.
Obviously they can answer for
Obviously they can answer for themselves, but I think you’ve misread that – I read them as saying ‘there’s nowhere to cycle legally beyond this point, so you shouldn’t be cycling through there’, which is just the same as your ‘you shouldn’t be cycling through there since there’s nowhere legally to cycle beyond it’, but the other way around.
Anyway, it’s all a bit besides the point(s) that that picture was originally referring to, which was (a) the lack of consideration given to alternative cycling provision (and, as mentioned, the inappropriate direction to ‘dismount’), and (b) it not being entirely clear how, if at all, temporary these barriers were intended to be (if they were meant to be temporary, they could have used, well, temporary ones, rather than ones that were concreted into the ground).
I’m mising the point here.
I’m mising the point here. Why are there (permanant) barriers across the cycle path. It’s like a 10 foot section of road where motorists are told to get out and push.
ChrisA wrote:
They’ve been removed now (see picture August ’24), as per my comment below I think they were there to guard against cyclists riding through a blind entrance to a building site.
Well, quite.
Well, quite.
And to confuse things even further, if you look closely at the picture, there’s another, presumably also ‘cyclists dismount’, sign on the other side of the barrier, where you’d have had to cycle past the works to get to it.
Turns out they were temporary
Turns out they were temporary, looking at Streetview they were there in July 2023 but the picture below from August 2024 shows they have been removed. It seems there was a lot of building work going on along that stretch of road and I think the barriers were probably erected to prevent cyclists riding past a blind site entrance.
Yeah – problem was there was
Yeah – problem was there was no consultation / information at the time – just these permanent-looking barriers and no indication if or when the path would reopen. (Plus, as mentioned, no planning for where cyclists should go in the meantime – just the instruction to ‘dismount’.)
I’ll bow to local knowledge,
I’ll bow to local knowledge, but Streetview from 2023 suggests there were signs instructing cyclists travelling from University Parks towards Broad Street to rejoin carriageway, and telling drivers not to overtake them.
and in opposite direction,
and in opposite direction, cyclists told to stay on carriageway
I believe that was a response
I believe that was a response to
widespread* vocal criticism over the original treatment.[*’Widespread’ might have been overclaiming – cycling’s relatively popular in Oxford, but this is still the UK…]
The Oxford Mail article is a
The Oxford Mail article is a prime example of – if you are asking for a reaction, you’re going to get reactionary.
“If you want to encourage
“If you want to encourage cycling, you need infrastructure like this”
…though ideally without someone deciding it’s a good place to stand to take tourist snaps.
Wow, van Aert gets more
Wow, van Aert gets more coverage of using some new tech than the whole weekend of the CX world championships.
Nothing about GB winning gold in the mixed relay?
Having cycled Oxford a few
Having cycled Oxford a few times, I am suprised by the anger towards cyclists in this article. I used the cycle lane from near the Head of the River pub to Kennington. I thought it was really good. In the road cycle lanes, I found motorists were respectful of cyclists and allowed plenty of space when passing.
Not everyone is embroiled in
Not everyone is embroiled in the culture wars. Who knew? You couldn’t tell that here.
Guardian Article – Who
Guardian Article – Who started the culture war between cyclists and drivers?
That’s rather out of the
That’s rather out of the Adrian Chiles school of money for old rope journalism, isn’t it? I read it through three times trying to find a point; inasmuch as it has one it seems to be that there is an antipathy between motorists and cyclists, we can’t say why it started, and it would be better if it didn’t exist. All jolly good, but worthy of a column in a national newspaper?
Does rather feel like they
Does rather feel like they wrote the pre-amble to the article, and then forgot to write the body of it.
Rendel Harris wrote:
The whole basis of drivers v cyclists conveniently forgetting that the majority of cyclists also drive a car.
It’s really just another ‘culture war’ thing dreamt up by the media to turn people’s petty frustrations into anger at a minority group.
It also helps distract from the 1,624 people killed and 28,087 seriously injured on the roads in 2023 (yes, twenty-eight thousand) while there were 132,977 casualties of all severities. That averages out to 364 injuries every single day of the year.
Perhaps they could instead talk to some of the relatives of the 1,6235 whose lives were brutally and needlessly cut short or the many thousands who have devastating injuries instead of trolling for clicks.
Are those numbers from the UK
Are those numbers from the UK or are they worldwide?
“I’ve never actually met a
“I’ve never actually met a cyclist who wants to be part of this battle.”
Whilst cyclists wouldn’t want to be a part of a war given the numbers involved 1: cyclists v drivers
2: the weights of each side’s vehicle of choice…
I would assume that it is only a minority (hopefully) of drivers that choose to be involved.
Primarily because they are envious of
1) the fact that cyclists are showing the drivers that their cars are not getting them to their destinations significantly faster
2) the few people brave enough to venture on to the roads on bicycles and mix with the dangers presented drivers.
This “courage” being something that those few drivers feel they themselves don’t have and must fight against.
More like in the sense of
More like in the sense of Bill Hicks’ criticism of the War on (some) Drugs – motorists of all kinds are “winning a war” they don’t even know they’re fighting! (Although apparently some think they’re not doing so well in a non-existent “War on the Motorist”).
Never use a hire bike !
Never use a hire bike !
I am dubious that a
I am dubious that a broadcasters decision that only effects cycling fans in the UK and Ireland will have prompted an announcement from One Cycling. Al Jazeera is one of my news sources so whilst I am not a fan of sport’s washing, I am ok with Saudi and other Arab backed broadcasting. And MyWhoosh is my chosen indoor platform too; for an obvious reason
https://www.itv.com/news
https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2025-01-31/teenage-driver-who-seriously-injured-boy-4-in-hit-and-run-sentenced
Teenage driver who seriously injured boy, 4, in Lawrence Weston hit-and-run sentenced. The judge sentenced Doherty to two years and two months in a young offenders’ institute and banned him from driving for four years and one month.