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"Keep your hands to yourself, it's not difficult": Fans left uncomfortable as Lorena Wiebes forced to ride away from "hands-on" race marshal; Flanders or Huddersfield? Check out this savage cobbled climb; Cycle lane sweepers + more on the live blog

Happy middle of the week! After your brief — but I'm sure much-needed — mini-break with Ryan, Dan Alexander is back on the live blog ...
Wed, Oct 05, 2022 09:18
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"Keep your hands to yourself, it's not difficult": Fans left uncomfortable as Lorena Wiebes forced to ride away from "hands-on" race marshal; Flanders or Huddersfield? Check out this savage cobbled climb; Cycle lane sweepers + more on the live blogLorena Wiebes Binch-Chimay-Binche marshal (GCN+)
05 October 2022, 16:02
Correction: Oooh look at me, my name's Chris Froome and I go on work trips to Israel

Go find the earlier blog post if you're now very confused...

05 October 2022, 15:55
05 October 2022, 15:39
Uh oh, they're talking about helmets again...

Do we really need another helmet debate on social media?

I'll let you be the judge of that. Feel free to find something less tiresome to read on today's blog...

BUT this one's hardly your usual six-follower, no avatar, provocateur...

On the topic of hi-vis...

05 October 2022, 14:39
Oooh look at me, my name's Chris Froome and I live on the Mediterranean

No leg warmers? Sweat marks? Sunshine? You wouldn't get that here in October...

05 October 2022, 14:17
British Cycling opens door to "wider use of on-board cameras in sanctioned races"

British Cycling has announced approval for wider use of on-board cameras in sanctioned races, "helping to showcase the thrills and excitement of the sport and enable fans to get closer to the action than ever before".

After a successful trial in this year's National Road Series and National Circuit Series, riders will be able to apply for approval from the governing body prior to an event, filling in this form, at least seven days prior.

"I'm really pleased that we're now able to widen the opportunity for riders and event organisers to capture on-board footage in British Cycling events, helping to showcase the thrills of racing and taking the sport to new audiences," Dani Every, British Cycling's delivery director, said.

"Having successfully trialled the process this summer, and seen the success of on-board cameras in events like the UCI Track Champions League, we're really excited by the potential of their wider use and would encourage any riders or event organisers who are interested to contact our compliance team to find out more."

What do you reckon? Positive news? 

05 October 2022, 14:11
05 October 2022, 13:45
Wahoo Roam V2 first look — Better maps, colours and GPS?

If you missed it yesterday...

> Wahoo launches refreshed Elemnt Roam with more powerful colour screen: first ride impressions

Plenty of bezel chat amongst you lot...

Sriracha: "First impression: wow, that's a big bezel!"

Surreyrider was more concerned with the £50 price hike, but back to bezels...zeeridesbikes: "What is going on with that bezel?! I'll stick with my Karoo 2. Battery's life isn't as good (12 hours ish) but at least it works like a smartphone and the navigation is incredible."

Wahoo Roam V2 summit climb pro feature

BalladOfStruth joined Liam and Jamie in playing spot the difference: "It's the same as the old one. It looks like the only physical change is the three buttons below the screen have been changed from recessed fiddly buttons under a single piece of rubber (which were a bit of a bitch to press in gloves), to three individual buttons flush with the screen. Otherwise it's literally identical to the old one."

2022 Wahoo Roam V2 maps comparison

Spot the difference...

05 October 2022, 13:21
"Some schools have memorial gardens to the children they have lost as a result of poor driver behaviour. Not on my watch": Headteacher takes on parents' bad parking

Now, admittedly — as a few people pointed out here — wouldn't promoting active travel as a school run replacement be an easy option?

Regardless, strong stuff from the headteacher of a school in Dulwich, south London, who is so fed up with parents parking where they want, "endangering the lives of others", that this letter dropped into the inboxes this week...

Some highlights...

"For the sake of the children I now ask you to make that change [...] the behaviours of a few are endangering the lives of others [...] some schools have memorial gardens to the children that they lost as a result of poor driver behaviour. Not on my watch."

05 October 2022, 11:40
Flanders or Huddersfield? Check out this savage cobbled climb

🚨Monster climb klaxon 🚨

Stay Calm GIFfrom Calm GIFs

Just outside Huddersfield it seems there's a cobbled berg straight out the Tour of Flanders...(not just because of the Strava segement's name)...

Huddersfield Flanders (Strava)

Get ready for leg-shredding images...

Nether Moor Road goes straight on the bucket list... just below Bamford Clough...

05 October 2022, 11:24
Best cycling gear 2022 | road.cc Recommends episode 19

Or, if you want to read your Recommends...

05 October 2022, 10:01
05 October 2022, 09:47
One vehicle you don't mind seeing in the cycle lane
05 October 2022, 09:34
"Yuck"

A few of your comments...

"Yuck. That dude needs to back off, just watched the full replay — she pushes him away several times and he doesn't go. Aside from that, what a finish — metres ahead of second & third, a class of her own. Good to see Le Col Wahoo on the podium too, a smaller British outfit," thisismyusername commented.

peted76 has noticed the problem before: "This isn't a one off problem (I've seen it plenty in all kinds of race) nor (in my opinion) is it a male or female problem. Sometimes, as in this case, it is uncomfortable viewing, just leave the riders alone to gather themselves."

05 October 2022, 09:25
Cue the amateur detective work...

Here's one of Lorena Wiebes' DSM teammates dropping a like on a Tweet calling the marshal's behaviour "uncomfortable" and asking "how many times does she have to push his hand off her?"

Wiebes' teammate
05 October 2022, 08:04
"Keep your hands to yourself, it's not difficult": Fans left uncomfortable as Lorena Wiebes forced to ride away from "hands-on" race marshal

If we were uncomfortable, think how Lorena Wiebes felt...

Binche-Chimay-Binche should have been the story of the Dutch sprinter winning her 23rd race of the season on her final appearance for DSM, and while Ryan gave her deserved props on yesterday's blog, the majority of the post-race chatter was about this less-than-comfortable scene from the finish...

On commentary, José Been described the man, tasked with escorting the winning rider to the podium, as "a little bit touchy which Wiebes does not appreciate, to be honest".

Wiebes repeatedly pushed the marshal's hands off her back and shoulders before eventually riding off in search of her teammates.

With full respect to the Belgian one-day race, Binche-Chimay-Binche is not the Tour de France, where the bustle of reporters, photographers and team staff waiting to greet the winner can see a rider swarmed by a sea of attention, getting further and further from stepping on the podium by the second.

Lorena Wiebes Binch-Chimay-Binche marshal (GCN+)
Lorena Wiebes Binch-Chimay-Binche marshal (GCN+)

Even there race staff tend to form a human barricade rather than insisting on touching the rider. On a sporting level, when your heart rate is at 190, you can taste blood, legs weak and you're just wondering if you can make it to the podium without throwing up, a hand on the back or someone invading your personal space can be infuriating (not that I'd know what riding to a podium feels like)...

Lorena Wiebes Binch-Chimay-Binche marshal (GCN+)

More importantly, on a human level, keep your hands to yourself...(rant over)...

Dan Alexander

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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36 comments

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Adam Sutton replied to IanMSpencer | 2 years ago
2 likes

I reported a cycle lane to KCC as it was dangerously full of debris, not helped but some bright spark deciding pine trees were a good idea along the road, so full of pine cones too.

They took the time to phone me and tell me, I kid you not, it was too dangerous to send a roadsweeper along without closing a lane. It is a dual carriageway with a 40mph limit. Oddly though I had quite a civil discussion openly on facebook in a local group with someone moaning that the lane wasn't used by cyclists (they were shocked when I showed video of me cycling it) a few days later the chap sent me the attached photo. I am hopeful our discusson guilt tripped someone at KCC who was reading.

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marmotte27 replied to IanMSpencer | 2 years ago
1 like

Netherlands...

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KDee replied to marmotte27 | 2 years ago
0 likes

Yep, and when it snows here, the bike paths will be cleared before the roads are.

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Patrick9-32 | 2 years ago
3 likes

That subset of men who will take any tiny bit of authority and use it as an excuse to get handsy like this are really making life harder for everyone else, women most of all, being harassed by these assholes but other men as well to a lesser extent; being tarred with the same brush. 

Avatar
peted76 | 2 years ago
1 like

This isn't a one off problem (I've seen it plenty in all kinds of race) nor (in my opinion) is it a male or female problem.

But it is a weird sport where as Dan writes "your heart rate is at 190, you can taste blood, legs weak and you're just wondering if you can make it to the podium without throwing up, a hand on the back or someone invading your personal space can be infuriating". 

Sometimes, as in this case, it is uncomfortable viewing, just leave the riders alone to gather themselves.

Avatar
JustTryingToGet... | 2 years ago
5 likes

Ffs. It's one thing being a bit tactile (not a nice thing, but I get that people have a different bar on what is appropriate. However I will never accept the utter lack of ability of certain men to fail to realise their hands on approach is unwelcome. Any bloke that can't accurately judge the situation should never be allowed within arms reach of someone who nay be ghe victim of their unwanted touching.

And the correlation is high with men who miss a bucket load of signals to back the fuck off and men who react badly when they are finally told to fuck off.

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