Jeremy Clarkson calls CyclingMikey a “sneak” and claims “using a phone in a car that’s not moving is as dangerous as knitting”… is then seen walking a bike in Copenhagen because his “anus is broken”; How about that Paris-Roubaix? + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Weekend round-up: Josh Tarling's sticky bottle DQ at Roubaix, Miguel Induráin's nicked bike, historic EU cycling declaration and more!
I can understand if you missed cycling news from this weekend, I mean of course, the Paris Roubaix was on! And if you indeed did, your live blog host has got you covered.
> Campaigners hail “historic” EU cycling declaration
> Five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Induráin gets his nicked bike back
> Josh Tarling disqualified from Paris-Roubaix for taking tow from team car (+ video)
road.cc at Paris Roubaix! Here's some images from the fastest-ever Hell of the North
While we all were watching Mathieu van der Poel do Mathieu van der Poel things in disbelief at the screen, your second, or maybe third-favourite live blogger was working away to bring you all the live news from the Hell of the North. Yes, our own Ryan Mallon was at Paris-Roubaix, getting up close with the 32mm tyres, monster 62-tooth chainrings, sticky bottles, crazy chicanes, the mighty cobbles, and a fair few bloodied hands (while obviously having the time of his life!).
So in case you missed it, here’s the craic from yesterday’s race (plus more pictures too!). First up, is the Carrefour de l’Arbre, the last chance of glory and a powerful attack on the cobbles usually. Not this time around though, as Van der Poel had the win in his bag by the time he blew past this section of the pavé.
The calm before the MVDP storm…
Carrefour de l’Arbre, a few hours before Mathieu van der Poel blew by on the way to winning the fastest ever Paris-Roubaix, with the longest solo triumph since Andrei Tchmil in 1994#ParisRoubaix #ParisRoubaix2024 pic.twitter.com/pvU8A3OYYO
— road.cc (@roadcc) April 7, 2024
Grenke-Auto Eder’s Patrick Casey showing Jeremy Clarkson how it’s done on the cobbles.
The hands of a Paris-Roubaix rider!
Grenke-Auto Eder’s Patrick Casey got the full Hell of the North treatment during the junior #ParisRoubaix (not helped by the young Irish rider forgetting to bring his left glove to the race…) pic.twitter.com/qP4p6U3olk
— road.cc (@roadcc) April 7, 2024
Misery befalls the younger Tarling sibling too, a not-so-pleasant meeting with the cobbles in the junior race for TT ace Finlay, as his brother, Josh was DQ’d for a sticky bottle.
On the same day brother Josh was DQ’d from the senior #ParisRoubaix for a sticky bottle, fellow TT ace Finlay Tarling – and his Team GB jersey – also enjoyed a cobbled baptism of fire, crashing hard early on, ripping the back of his skinsuit, and losing all his gels to boot… pic.twitter.com/7KStlQDKyc
— road.cc (@roadcc) April 7, 2024
And how could we not give you a close-up picture of the dreaded pavé?
Some more pictures (you can thank Ryan later)…
Paris-Roubaix spectator who threw cap at Mathieu van der Poel's bike will face "action", riders' union promises
The bizarre incident was caught on camera and widely condemned following the Dutchman’s second consecutive victory at the cobbled classic, TV pundit Adam Blythe warning it could have “ended his season”…
Latest (in)famous person to reveal themselves as a cyclist: Former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells
In an earth-shattering piece of information that’s probably never going to come in handy, we can reveal that Paula Vennells, the former CEO of Post Office during the final three years of the British Post Office scandal which led to almost a thousand posties being wrongly convicted of fraud, is a… cyclist.
Well that’s going to give the rabid folks on social media some lovely ammunition to come at cyclists.
EXCLUSIVE:@Alextomo asks Former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells if she misled parliament.
She’s been seen publicly for the first time since Channel 4 News released damning revelations confirming Post Office management knew of issues with remote access to its Horizon system… pic.twitter.com/6avYHjiIZe
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) April 7, 2024
Publicly seen for the first time since it was revealed by Channel 4 that the Post Office management knew of the remote access issues to its Horizon system for several years before the prosecutions were paused, Channel 4 got to Vennells in a clip posted on social media this morning and asked her if she misled the Parliament, as she carried her Specialized bike (bonus points to any reader for figuring out which model, we think it’s the discontinued women-specific Dolce or a Tarmac or Allez) through, wearing a Bianchi lid and an Endura hi-vis jacket.
And the impact can already be seen, with one of our live-blog experts in anti-cycling bingo (no, not Clarkson), the former GB News producer Charlotte Gill, not skipping a beat to fire shots at someone for using a cycle. Lest we remind her of the age-old road.cc tenet: “Not everyone who cycles is a saint.” Certainly holds true in this case.
She would be a cyclist wouldn’t she. Stands to reason. And a vicar. Of course. And an evil lying lefty.
— Darren Phillips (@DarrenP37878903) April 7, 2024
I've seen it all now... Presenting a "through the frame" drone shot
Well that doesn’t seem very prudent, does it?
Video creator Sebastian Schieren wrote that it took him a lot of attempts and that he broke two drones, but I’m more interested in knowing how did the cyclist’s knee fare through all this…
Camden Cyclists gets accused of “selfishness” and “entitlement” after picture shows cyclists sitting inside cafe, but bikes left around tables outside
We all know that Twitter is a weird echo chamber and it doesn’t take too long for trolls and critics to pile up on something — anything. But there’s a fair share of negative reaction coming all the way of Camden Cyclists, who shared an image of cyclists presumably enjoying some cake and coffee as their bikes lay around the tables outside the cafe, with the caption “Regents Park socialising”.
#londonlovescycling Regents Park socialising pic.twitter.com/o78Bb1iqcw
— Camden Cyclists (@camdencyclists) April 6, 2024
“So a seat for the cyclists inside. And a seat for the cycles outside. But no seats left for anyone else,” wrote one Twitter user, while another said: “Why would you post an image which will piss off non-cyclists even more than you probably do already?”.
There were heaps and piles of other people repeating the same thing, showing concern for all the other customers (not pictured) who would be floundering to find a table to sit.
However, one cyclist replied under the post: “They met at Sunday morning at 7am. Rode for an hour and then had a coffee, giving the Inner Circle Cafe early morning business two hours before anybody else got there.”
Maybe someone should contact the cafe and see if they can put one of those short-use “cafe-style” racks up — the kind that is one long pole and you hook the seat over it. That would keep everything a bit neater and refute some of the noisier complaints underneath…
— Georgina Wilcox (@GeorginaWilcox) April 7, 2024
road.cc has contacted Camden Cyclists requesting a comment, but I’m interested to know how you all feel about this… Feel free to comment below!
Will this AI-designed, cheese-inspired 'sit device' confine bike saddles to history? Swiss inventors claim wide and weird creation eliminates rear discomfort
The DAIMON ‘bike-board’ – of which one variation is fittingly dubbed the Emmental – is said to do wonders for your pelvic region, with its creators even boasting that you won’t need to use padded shorts any more.
Is there anything she can't do? Lotte Kopecky turns into her own mechanic en route to Paris-Roubaix win
Not only did Lotte Kopecky become the first person to win the Paris-Roubaix with the rainbow stripes this weekend (eat your heart out MvdP), but she also turned into her own mechanic, angrily gesturing at the team car before grabbing an allen key from one of the staff hanging out of the window, and then tightening the bolts on her stem which seemed to have dropped down a bit while coping with the treacherous cobbles.
Be your own mechanic 🔧
Lotte Kopecky tightening her own handlebars to cope with the cobbles 👀#ParisRoubaixFemmes | @teamsdworx pic.twitter.com/HlHib3LaNG
— Eurosport (@eurosport) April 6, 2024
Now that’s what I call a proper throwback to Peter Sagan at the 2018 Roubaix. Don the world champions’ jersey, fix your handlebars, and then go on to win the Hell of the North.
“Impressive stuff from the world champion,” noted the commentators. I concur, very, very impressive stuff indeed!
“They’re so reliant on cyclists spending money here”: Cyclists back Camden Cycle Campaign as group responds to accusations of “selfishness” after backlash over bikes allegedly taking up space outside cafe
Cyclists have defended Camden Cycle Campaign after an image posted on Twitter by the group showing cyclists sitting inside a cafe as their bikes lay around the tables outside led to a wide range of accusations and criticism online.
A London cyclist, commenting under road.cc’s Twitter post, wrote: “Let me be clear. My bike was there. This was 9-10am after Saturday laps before any brunch or lunch rush. Many were sitting outside, and not in the pic and, with the outside bikes as people inside ordered.”
Rory McCarron, cycling lawyer at Leigh Day Solicitors added: “The comments to this are hilarious. I used to go to this cafe regularly post ride during the week. It opens at 8am and there are no punters other than cyclists for the first hour or so. They’re so reliant on cyclists spending money here you even get a cyclist discount.”
Meanwhile Matty said: “I’m sure if anyone wanted a seat on the benches, they’d quite happily have moved the bikes. Given no cycle stands or anywhere else to put them safely, where do people expect them to go?”
Gammons absolutely frothing over this picture.
A) I count 8 completely free tables.
B) Only 2 seats being obstructed.
C) £10 says not a single one of those cyclists would mind someone moving their bike.
D) Only customers are… cyclists 🤷♂️ https://t.co/ctQEob2ByR— The Kentish Town Cyclist (@KentishCyclist) April 7, 2024
Camden Cycling Campaign responded to road.cc’s request for comment, with the group’s co-ordinator Steve saying: “There was a lot of hate and bile on X as a result of my post with the hashtag #LondonLovesCycling. I suspect there is co-ordinated ‘anti’ campaign in response to the LCC London Loves Cycling campaign.
“Camden Cycle Campaign does not want to engage in the so called Culture Wars. I did not reply to any of the haters but for the record there were many other tables (out of shot) that were free should anyone have been looking for a seat outside.
“London really does love cycling – let’s spread the love!”
Are these the hands of a man who just rode Paris-Roubaix at 47.8kmph?
Never a bad day to come to the humble realisation that how damn good these pros are at what they do. Anyway, behold the hands of Mathieu van der Poel, the first man since Fabian Cancellara in 2013 to do the Tour of Flanders-Paris-Roubaix double, first man since Peter Sagan in 2018 and only the sixth in history to do so in the rainbow jersey, first man since Tom Boonen in 2009 to defend his Paris-Roubaix title, thanks to a flying 60km solo attack on the brutal cobbles — the joint longest in the history of the competition, all in the fastest Roubaix ever ridden, at an average pace of 47.8kmph.
Now that’s what I call crazy.
MVDP’s hands after #ParisRoubaix. As if nothing happened… 🦁
📸 Roxanne Bertels pic.twitter.com/336VKI8JhC
— Domestique (@Domestique___) April 8, 2024
While we are doing stats, credit to Alpecin-Deceuninck for a flawless performance, doing everything right and securing back-to-back one-two finishes at Hell of the North, and also becoming the first team in the history of cycling — yes, you read that right, the first team ever to win Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix in the same year — all for a budget of €16 million!
I knew that double-denim kit was special…
BBC journalist corrects cargo bike critics, points out it "replaced my car" and saved "£1,000 in fuel"
“Using my bike costs the BBC nothing”: Anna Holligan also “set the record straight” over incorrect claims her employer “has somehow indulged me” by paying for it…
Jeremy Clarkson and his “broken anus” — all because of riding a bike on the cobbles of Copenhagen
Pack it up everyone, we have two Jeremy Clarkson posts back-to-back!
The man who apparently has made a name for himself for leading the charge against the “lycra-clad warriors” who are set to bring down “capitalism with their handlebars” (that sounds cool as hell, wish it was true), what does he do in Copenhagen? Well of course, ride a bike, and then get off it. Because, you know, his “anus is broken”…
Ummm, too much information Jeremy? At least that’s what his girlfriend Lisa Hogan thought too, before sharing the video on Instagram for everyone else to see.
Complaining about fairly smooth paved cobbles on the day of Paris-Roubaix? There’s definitely layers of irony to unpack there. As our video production lead Jamie joked, “ Find this bloke some real cobbles!”
“I think you’re meant to be cycling that,” Hogan chides him, with a battered and bruised (and maybe a couple of pints down) Clarkson replying: “My anoose is broken”, walking away to a shocked realisation from Hogan: “TMI!”
I’ve watched the video an unhealthy amount of times and I can say, it’s the stuff of nightmares. The “anoose” is going to come haunt me in my sleep for days to come. Anyway, it might be a good time to bring this back once again.
Never forget that Clarkson the TV host/columnist is a cartoon character he plays and that he just peddles hate for easy money. What he says and what he does often aren’t the same. https://t.co/4Qx96o7JlG
— Real Gaz on a proper bike: gazza_d@toot.bike (@gazza_d) March 26, 2023
Jeremy Clarkson calls CyclingMikey a “sneak” and claims “using a phone in a car that’s not moving is as dangerous as knitting”
What a beautiful day to wake up after a lovely weekend of Paris-Roubaix, there’s obviously not going to be a Jeremy Clarkson comment in The Sun to ruin it, surely?
Oh would you believe it!
Mr Clarkson, perhaps in need of spare change to hire bikes in Copenhagen which apparently left him with a “broken anus” (more on that in a minute), has had a go at Mike van Erp, or commonly known as CyclingMikey, calling him a “sneak” and also claiming that “using a phone in a car that’s not moving is as dangerous as knitting”.
At least this time, he hasn’t used AI by the looks of it…
He starts off the piece recognising that van Erp, a Dutch cyclist who grew up in Zimbabwe, was hit by a personal tragedy when he was a teen, when a drunk driver killed his father, and goes on to call him a “social media warrior” for posting videos of drivers breaking laws.
“This unpaid volunteer, who even turns up at court to offer himself as a witness, is doing what the police these days will not do. Enforcing the law,” says Clarkson. “He’s Charles Bronson with bicycle clips. The Equaliser, with saddle sores.”
“So why, then, do I think Mr Mikey is the most dreadful man in Britain today?” Clarkson asks, perhaps referring to The Times article from last year which labelled him as “Britain’s most hated cyclist”.
And this is where the egregious yet banal series of ad hominem conjectures begin. He writes: “It’s not because he has an awful more-in-sorrow-than-anger attitude, remaining stupidly calm while those he’s filmed use every insult in the book to lambast him.
“Nor is it because of his squeaky voice. I don’t even mind that he’s a lefty. It’s entirely predictable that a middle-aged “carer” on a bicycle wants to kick out the Tories. He does a lot of reposting on Twitter about this. Of course he does.”
So what’s Clarkson’s beef? “Well, first of all, most of the people he catches using the phone are stuck in a traffic jam,” he says.
He adds that while it is illegal to use a mobile device while stationary at the wheel, “we all know using a phone in a car that’s not moving is as dangerous as knitting”.
Only if Mr Clarkson had done his homework, because, a 2021 research from three experts, hailing from University of Auckland, University of Birmingham and University College London, has showed that “cellphone use while driving distracts the driver from the primary task of operating the vehicle, and puts them and others at increased risk of harm”.
The research adds: “We found that while viewing a cellphone in a concealed position, drivers demonstrated inferior driving behaviour, with poorer control over lane position and speed.”
I think it’s safe to conclude that maybe it’s slightly more dangerous than knitting?
Clarkson, then finally, reveals his agenda against Mikey, saying that “what annoys him the most is that he’s a sneak,” before laying out anecdotes about his school days when the entire school didn’t give him up for “putting Polyfilla in every single one of the school’s locks”. Well, driving with phones and a schoolboy’s mischief don’t sound analogous to me.
Maybe it’s time to ask the same question we asked a year ago, does anyone care anymore?
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Latest Comments
Same here. I have a helmet with built in front and rear lights and have a red light clipped onto my bag plus lights attached to my bike front and rear but still have drivers putting me in danger. My commute is about two miles and I normally have around four incidents a week where I have to brake hard or take other evasive action to avoid being hit by distracted drivers. A big percentage of these are drivers coming on to roundabouts when I am already on them.
Glasgow's South City Way sounds great, does it not? As a user from before and after I wholeheartedly welcome the construction of the segregated route, but so much of the detailed construction is poor, if not unsafe. I provide a link to a presentation I made when construction was half complete (a personal view) and the construction errors remain outstanding to this day: crossed by high speed flared road junctions, poor colour differentiation, car door zone risks and so on. And yet cyclists come because they feel safe. It's a complex subject but IMHO the feeling of safety (or lack of) is a critical component. https://drive.proton.me/urls/B67AK44G90#CFueBGjscoWr
I can only conclude that you haven't been into a city in the last few years. Food delivery riders in particular are riding overpowered "eBikes" that are basically mopeds ... powered only via the throttle without pedalling at significantly more than 15mph. Problem is they look like normal bikes/ebikes and not like mopeds so that is what people describe them as. My reading of the article is that it is those vehicles that are being talked about here.
I have the Trace and Tracer, which have essentially the same design, albeit smaller and less powerful. The controls are a little complicated but only because there are loads of options. In reality, once you've chosen your level of brightness, you'll only cycle through 1 or 2 options and it's dead simple. The lights are rock solid, bright, with good runtimes. The only thing I find annoying is charging them - if your fingers are slightly wet or greasy, getting the rubber out of the way of the charging port is a pain in the arse.
Dance and padel is all very well, but when is Strava going to let me record my gardening?
You can use it to check whether it's raining.
If it's dusk, i.e. post-sunset, then the cyclists should have lights on and thus the colour of their top is irrelevant. If you want to complain about cyclists not having lights when it's mandatory then by all means do but their top has nothing to do with it.
All of my Exposure lights with a button allow cycling through the modes with a short press. I have five of those; it would be odd if Exposure didn’t allow this functionality with the Boost 3. I also have two Exposure Burners if I remember correctly: they are rear lights for joysticks that clip on and are powered through the joystick charging port. They don’t have a button. None of my Exposure lights have failed. I looked at the Boost 3 review photos but none showed the button, so far as I could tell. I also have Moon lights. Good experience generally. One did fail, possibly because it was so thin it used to fall through the holes in my helmet onto the ground. Also, the UI and charge indicators vary for my Moon lights. Perhaps the latest ones are more consistent. My worst lights ever were from See.Sense.
Steve really doesnt like exposure products does he? Boost and Strada marked down for being too complicated. While the Zenith and Six Pack reviewed by his colleagues give them rave reviews (as most exposure products have on road.cc), the Zenith even touted as 'even more intuitive to use' with the same controls.
They are more interested in dog shit. https://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/people/lancaster-police-launch-search-for-person-who-sprayed-dog-faeces-with-pink-paint-5605519
58 thoughts on “Jeremy Clarkson calls CyclingMikey a “sneak” and claims “using a phone in a car that’s not moving is as dangerous as knitting”… is then seen walking a bike in Copenhagen because his “anus is broken”; How about that Paris-Roubaix? + more on the live blog”
Rules are rules and evidence
Rules are rules and evidence suggests that looking at your phone distracts you for far longer than the time you actually spend on the phone. Its really not that hard not to use your phone behind the wheel as well. Speeding isn’t much more dangerous than driving at the speed limit a lot of the time but I wouldn’t complain if I got caught speeding because I know the rules and I would have broken them.
Perhaps if using your phone behind the wheel was utterly unacceptable I wouldn’t see so many people on the motorway doing 70+ and drifting across lanes because they are distracted…
mctrials23 wrote:
Perhaps this is the heart of it – many people just won’t grasp the second part of “it’s not dangerous … until it was” applies to them.
Maybe our (understandable) intense focus on self means we always see this as “it’ll never happen to me though”. We fail to notice how much of life we do without conscious attention or thinking. We are poor at considering the role of chance (humans are not set up with good heuristics for assessing probability). We know other people take risks and make mistakes – but we never do! Especially if it’s never happened to us before…
The next time I catch
The next time I catch Clarkson knitting in his car at traffic lights the footage is going straight to the police!
Purls of wisdom as usual from Jezza – stitches a thread of truths together then casts off into something made up out of whole cloth.
Chapeau
Chapeau
Darn it, if you’re trying to
Darn it, if you’re trying to gauge my reaction, then to be honest the whole thing gives me the needle.
Came here to say that if you’re of the schoolkid / no-one likes a sneak ilk, then it stands to reason that you are now a Sun reader.
Ex public school boy has
Ex public school boy has opinions. For money. To a deadline.
(this is the source of about 37% of what is wrong with public debate in this country)
37% seems low….
37% seems low….
Knitting takes both hands and
Knitting takes both hands and, at least I found it so when my grandmother tried to teach me when I was a child, fiendish concentration, so well done Clarkson, yes using a mobile phone at the wheel is indeed as dangerous as knitting in the same environment.
Rendel Harris wrote:
Also, if you crash, the airbag could turn the needles into lethal weapons.
To be fair, I’d find it hard
To be fair, I’d find it hard not to poke him with knitting needles if they were handy.
Need to find and bookmark the
Need to find and bookmark the tweet from the police chief about attending multiple fatal collisions caused by drivers pulling away without properly checking their surroundings after using their mobile phones when stationary. Like all of these type of widely accepted crimes, its fine… until it isn’t. And when it isn’t you are in two tons of metal so the consequences are always serious.
This one ?
This one ?
And I’ve only been to three fatals due to the use whilst stationary causing cognitive distraction which then impaired driving… Totally over the top… [?] Very concerning, you carry on being the problem Jeff, but just do it quietly and elsewhere [?]
https://twitter.com/markandcharlie/status/1656994526949437440
or
I’ve been to three fatal #RTC s caused by drivers using phones in stationary traffic, children and the elderly the victims….but if you think its okay…. [?] [?♂️]
https://twitter.com/markandcharlie/status/1604073330751197184
That’s exactly the ones! Nice
That’s exactly the ones! Nice searching skills 🙂
Patrick9-32 wrote:
for someone else
Using your phone whilst at
Using your phone whilst at the wheel (but car not moving) = risk free. Got it.
So. Cyclists passing through red traffic lights whilst there are no pedestrians crossing or vehicles coming in any other direction?
False equivalence – cyclist
False equivalence – cyclist is moving in your example.
Better: cyclist motionless “in the middle of the road” presents no danger?
This is … probably true in practice – for others! Driving into a static cyclist presents very little physical danger to those in motor vehicles. And as we know the legal consequences aren’t usually troubling either. For his audience I’m not sure Clarkson would be worrying about the effect on the motionless cyclist, nor on another cyclist who might ride into them …
What I want to know is – if you stop in the road (say on a busy A-road) and also deploy you BOLAS presumably you’re legally invulnerable? I guess M’learned friends would argue “of course my client was on their phone – they were naturally trying to summon assistance…”
But presumably the phone use
But presumably the phone use is being seen as risk free because you’re not going to drive into anyone whilst doing so. Whereas despite the cyclist moving, in the absence of third parties to interact with, there is also little chance of causing a collision. The lack of equivalence in outrage for breaking the rules is more where I was going. RLJers – law breaking swines (I actually agree) but phone using drivers – innocents being victimised d’ye see.
I’m with Stewart Lee on Clarkson anyway – I think James May (the alpha male of the trio) could rip his face off if he wanted to.
I don’t read the rabid right
I don’t read the rabid right-wing rags that Clarkson writes in, but I have his rants gleefully presented to me here on a cycling website to outrage me.
Disappointing.
HarrogateSpa wrote:
Is it gleefully? or are the entire staff of road CC clutching their pearls as they write this?
won’t somebody think of the
childrencyclists?He’s got a girlfriend!?!
He’s got a girlfriend!?!
pockstone wrote:
What first made her fall in love with the multimillionaire Jeremy Clarkson?
News re Hammersmith Bridge,
News re Hammersmith Bridge, which is simultaneously encouraging and makes one despair of official money wasting: since the bridge was closed to motor traffic due to repairs, there has been a brilliant cycle lane down the middle (see picture below lifted from the splendid Miss Omar’s Twitter). When the repairs are completed next month the bridge won’t be reopened to motor traffic but the cycle lane will be closed for six months whilst they put in a new cycle lane at a cost of £2.9 million. As an Australian friend of mine used to say when something was somewhat perplexing, got me f-ing knackered mate…
Meanwhile in The Netherlands
Meanwhile in The Netherlands (“…but we have historic bridges!”)…
I’m interested that the
I’m interested that the budget for that project is rather less than the new ped-cycle bridge over the Trent in Lady Bay, Nottingham – both are the same length.
Which figures are you looking
Which figures are you looking at for the NL one? I don’t know if the UK one represents good value but they’re rather different things. So AFAIK the UK one is a single-span and involves building at least one abutment. The NL is a refurb of a historic bridge plus it’s a bascule bridge. However it already had (several) piers and abutments which may make it easier to work on? Possibly the temporary walk and cycle bridge made some use of the existing infra?
Apparently the Trent one is up to 18 million (inc. now 150000 in compensation for landowners (?!)) to span 87 metres as opposed to ? for a refit of the 80m long Berlagebrug.
It’s been decades since I was in Nottingham so I’ve no idea about the cycle infra. Just looking at the thing is it a case of “developers pushed for it” or “exceptional infra”? While it might be nice I’m not sure this new bridge will be “transformational” (as a heuristic – how many existing locals are shouting for it?). I wonder how it would compare with, say, fixing 18 dangerous junctions or the thoughtful application of some very basic interventions like modal filters and maybe the odd bit of bargain-basement “separated cycle path” (could just use concrete blocks…) over a wider area?
* There’s probably an area of study on this but human endeavour seems to favour spectacular and expensive one-offs rather than “raise the average” efforts – despite the latter often bringing more “benefit” (small improvement summed over large numbers). Even for complicated projects this seems to be easier than coordinating / effecting “behaviour change” with a larger number of people.
To me one move for London is
To me one move for London is to dedicate perhaps 10 crossings out of the current ~40-50, including Hammersmith Bridge, Westminster Bridge and the Rotherhithe Tunnel, to active travel, a number to pedestrians (have not counted the current number), perhaps another 10 exclusively to motor traffic (eg QE Bridge, Dartford Tunnel, maybe Lambeth Bridge) with footways expecially where the width is questionable for decent cycle tracks as well, with cycling on the carriageway if required. and then the rest with enough width as combined.
That should give us a contribution to modal separation.
I’d be very much up for
I’d be very much up for devoting a good number of river crossings to active travel but I think you are overestimating the number we have, going from Hampton Court to Woolwich I make it 21 crossings not counting footbridges such as Hungerford and Millennium, road tunnels such as Rotherhithe and Blackwall and foot tunnels such Greenwich and Woolwich, none of which are (currently) suitable for cycling. I agree with the general premise though, in central London it certainly would be feasible to close roughly every alternate bridge to motor traffic apart from buses and blue badge holders, say Albert, Westminster, Blackfriars, Southwark and Tower.
Surely if Clarkson had a
Surely if Clarkson had a broken anus, he’d be in little pieces on the floor?
Clarkson’s anus is broken
Clarkson’s anus is broken because he has his fat head stuffed up there, smelling his own performative BS.
Ignore !
Using a phone in a car that’s
Using a phone in a car that’s not moving is as dangerous as sitting behind the wheel of parked car while over the alcohol limit with the keys in the ignition. They’re both illegal because the law legitimately presumes that drunks and mobile phone addicts lack the self control to stop before their actions become potentially deadly. Of course, Clarkson knows this. He’s not stupid. But his livelihood depends on providing specious arguments to selfish, reactionary idiots. Which, sadly, is not illegal.
It’s not the same though, is
It’s not the same though, is it? You can see the people on their phones at lights and they often miss the green signal so then have to accelerate quickly. Do you think they’re doing this with the care someone usually would?
Exactly – anyone who’s
Exactly – anyone who’s started a phone call (or worse, is texting) while traffic is stationary is not going to hang up instantly when it starts moving again. And that’s what the article should have said, instead of ducking the point and straw-manning Clarkson with irrelevant research about loss of speed and position control. Doing that loses the argument to the idiots who rationalise their deliberate disregard of any motoring law that inconveniences them.
I’ve lost count of the amount
I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve seen a phone user start accelerating at the sound of a car horn, only to realise the light is still red and the horn was for someone else
And I’d estimate that up to 1
And I’d estimate that up to 1 in 3 people in traffic queues in Surrey are on their mobiles – they don’t see it as being illegal.
Surreyrider wrote:
Well, perhaps you should ignore the broken anus, and follow the example of CyclingMikey?
Jeremy Clarkson makes a
Jeremy Clarkson makes a healthy living out of being an obnoxious, ignorant boor. If only he could be bothered to do some reesearch, but it’s too much like hard work.
He does do research: on how
He does do research: on how much he can bank for being a broken anus.
Nothing on the women’s race,
Nothing on the women’s race, why?
Is women’s cycling not worth bothering about? T’was a better race.
Was there a women’s race?
Was there a women’s race?
Yes on Saturday
Yes on Saturday
It was mentioned, but after
It was mentioned, but after your post, Lotto Kopeky won, in the rainbow, on a sprint, Pfeiffer Georgi pipped THE Marianne Vos on the line for third. Apologies for any misspellings. Little more exciting in the final than the domination in the men’s.
Quest had EuroSport highlights on at 11, both days.
With Quest showing later highlights and ITV4’s coverage there is quite a bit of cycling on Freeview.
In case any readers in the
In case any readers in the Kent area happen to recognise this person who (allegedly) pushed a lone woman off her bike in Edenbridge last July, the police would like to hear from you…
https://www.kent.police.uk/news/kent/latest/appeals/appeal-following-assault-on-cyclist-in-edenbridge/
Sssshhh. Don’t tell Clarkson
Sssshhh. Don’t tell Clarkson – he doesn’t like “sneaks”.
Are you sure he didn’t use AI
Are you sure he didn’t use AI? just odd Clarkson cites the “even turns up at court”bit again, even though Clarkson should be smart enough to know, it’s not a choice if you want a case to proceed.
Also saw Ashley Neal had another video out reacting to Mikey’s perfectly normal cycling.
Still as they say all publicity is good publicity, I’m sure the hat in a Porsche Panamera who overtook me very slowly, seemingly annoyed I was taking prime through some pinch points was checking if I had a camera before doing anything foolish.
With regards to the incident
With regards to the incident of assault on Katie Good…
“A suspect was arrested on 8 September 2023 in connection with the incident and remains on bail pending further investigation.”
It would be usefull to state that the bailed suspect is not the person in the picture and what their connection might be to the one being sought.
Also would be good to know where that pic is from.
And surely they can name the individual in the pic.
CyclingMikey writes today
CyclingMikey writes today after court
“He was found guilty (not represented), his argument was that he was using his phone only when stationary. In lane 2 and 3 of the A40?”
Hmm…..
Hmm…..
Professional wanker, Clarkson calls Cycling Mikey a snitch?
Amazing how some people get paid loads for being utter morons.
Perhaps he ought to stop talking out of his arse so much, it might hurt less.
If people ignored him, he
If people ignored him, he would be the nothing he deserves to be, just like several others of his ilk. But people enjoy being outraged, it seems.
Motonormativity (as
Motonormativity (as demonstrated by Clarkson) often gets things back-to-front. Mikey isn’t being sneaky as he makes no attempt to hide himself or what he’s doing, but instead it’s the drivers trying to sneakily use their phone by keeping it out of sight.
sneaky /ˈsniːki/ adjective
Ironically, Mikey gets some drivers angry because he doesn’t act sneakily and instead confronts drivers with their illegal behaviour
What has that got to do with
What has that got to do with “motornormativity”? People who use their phones when they shouldn’t are individuals, as is this Clarkson bloke. It’s a bit unreasonable to tar all motorists with the same brush as them just because they happen to use a certain mode of transport.
john_smith wrote:
But according to the Life Of Brian everyone says they’re an individual (in unison)? According to some perspectives every single action is individual and unique … but perhaps if we analyse the patterns we can see some patterns, relationships?
Perhaps Dr. Ian Walker’s got something on this one? (I wasn’t a big fan of him dressing up in a wig to prove a point, but then we all have our blind spots…)
Paper here: https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/egnmj
Humans are herd animals and a
Humans are herd animals and a huge amount of our behaviour is dependent on what society deems normal and acceptable. Motonormativity is just giving this behaviour a name when it comes to peoples behaviour when driving. If you think about how little attention and gravity we put on driving a 2 tonne lump of metal at speed that should give you an idea of something which is utterly bizarre if looked at from the outside.
I think they were getting at
I think they were getting at whether this was explanatory or just expressing a prejudice. Sort of how is it different from saying all/most cyclists run red lights (“because they never get punished” / “because they’re entitled types” – cyclist impunity as it were)?
I think it’s fair to ask for numbers and look at possible feedback loops as well as attitudes.
Because “humans” motivated reasoning and stereotyping are always here – consider:
Observation: I saw a cyclist ignore a red light…
Increased salience / reinforcement: … and then I saw this newspaper article about cyclist vigilantes with cameras…
Emotional trigger / motivated reasoning / self-fulfilling: … so the next time I saw one riding in the middle of the road I was angry as they were obviously trying to block me to prove a point. So I beeped and waved at them to move to the side. And of course I got a mouthful of abuse!
Standard- we all know we’re
Standard- we all know we’re right / justified / have the best idea – that’s axiomic. And if someone else is opposing that at best they’re woefully mistaken – but probably they’re being duplicitous / trolling / self-serving / entitled.
Then all you need to do is run the logic starting from those axioms. “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth”.
You can then find that e.g. cyclists reporting illegal activity are vigilantes / infringing people’s rights. You can also find that cycling infra causes pollution, cyclists aren’t paying for the infra etc. Just what are “cyclists” moaning about and why should they get special treatment (e.g. their own costly infra)? Normal people don’t make a fuss and are happy to share the roads with everyone else – we all have to drive after all.
As CyclingMikey himself often
As CyclingMikey himself often says: it is extremely unlikely that a driver ONLY uses their phone when stationary and many of His clips see Him first notice the offending driver using the phone whilst moving. The driver then proceeds to lie and say they were only using it while in the queue of traffic.
Would JC, who almost certainly has CCTV security on his property (ies?), not submit any footage to the police of criminals in his area…?
And am I right in thinking that if JC was cycling on cobblestones and found it uncomforable (presumably straight away), why did he continue to the point of almost “injuring” himself?
Masochism?
I think Clarkson is right.
I think Clarkson is right. Knitting while driving would be incredibly dangerous!
I’m practically addicted to my phone, and yet I somehow manage to not touch it while driving. If I can refrain from it, what’s everybody elses’ excuse?
The general excuse would be
The general excuse would be that I almost certainly won’t get caught and I want to. Same reason for almost all of the intentionally bad/dangerous driving on our roads.
Im impressed for a park
Im impressed for a park becoming notorious for early morning bike thefts, no-one was doing the Im glued to my bike, it does not leave my side, thing at the cafe stop.