Cycling account criticised for sexist meme posted on International Women’s Day; Mathieu van der Poel’s stupendous 1,000 watt attack; Before and after cycle lane photos; Brompton mobility hubs; New bike for theft victim, Paris-Nice + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"Incredibly powerful" before and after video shows cycle lane's potential
Here’s another view of this street. It’s a huge improvement over how it was before. As you can see motor traffic levels are tiny compared to before. And the street is one way now with the cycle lane being a contra flow. pic.twitter.com/PqwOu3orOt
— filter more streets (@iambrianjones) March 7, 2021
Chris Boardman loved this before and after video of Old Bethnal Green Road, calling it an “incredibly powerful before and after look at a street,” and saying that it would be “interesting to count the number of people using it in both. My guess is there’s more in the after version.”
Another angle of the new cycleway shows kids free to walk around the neighbourhood without the streams of motor traffic in the before video…
Old Bethnal Green Road:
where traffic is virtually nil and kids can muck about like this with out risking their lives. pic.twitter.com/xJTINMI6Zu— filter more streets (@iambrianjones) March 6, 2021
Downtime Podcast featuring our very own off-road.cc editor Rachael Wight
off-road.cc is the place to go for your mountain bike fix of reviews and news. It has all the best bits that don’t fall under the road.cc umbrella, including a link to a new episode of the Downtime Podcast which features off-road.cc editor Rachael Wight.The mountain bike focused interview-based podcast has this week been handed over for a celebration of International Women’s Day with a discussion around equality, experiences, challenges, opportunity and the changing face of women’s mountain biking. Rachael is joined by mountain bike guide and coach Emily Horridge and Nukeproof Marketing Executive, Katie Wooster. It’s well worth a listen and can be accessed via all major podcast platforms via this link or at the top of this post…
Great Britain Cycling Team mark international women's day by celebrating step towards gender parity in track cycling
British Cycling and the Great Britain Cycling Team are marking International Women’s Day by celebrating a step towards gender parity in track cycling this season. Most notably, the women’s team sprint, which used to be a two-woman event over two laps, has been extended to match the male event and will now involve three female riders racing over three laps.
The changed event will make its Olympic debut in Paris in 2024 with senior academy sprinters Blaine Ridge-Davis, Lusia Steele and Milly Tanner already eyeing up the opportunity to make history with Great Britain’s first ever Olympic medal in the team sprint.
This is what averaging 1,000w for 20 seconds up a 15% climb looks like
Unseen footage from Van der Poel’s final attack in Strade Bianche: pic.twitter.com/dxrz9C1l15
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) March 6, 2021
And some wise words from Alex Dowsett…
I guess it’s safe to say MVDP today showed Allaphilipe what it’s like to race against Allaphilipe. 🤯
— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) March 6, 2021
Mathieu van der Poel uploads stupendous 1000 watt Strade Bianche attack to Strava
On Tuesday, after Mathieu van der Poel had led out his teammate Tim Merlier to victory on the tops having snapped off and chucked away his drop, I asked on this live blog — is there anything he can’t do? Just when his brilliance seems to have reached an unbeatable level he raises the bar again. Some mind-boggling numbers at the end of close to five hours of hard racing have been released by his team this morning. The things we’d do to have his legs for a day…
Van der Poel has also uploaded his full ride to Strava, which saw him claim KOMs for the segments covering the final 25km of the race, the final gravel section where he put in his first crazy attack at Le Tolfe and from part way up the final ramp to the finish line.
A slight surprise was to see his time, strictly on the uphill section of the final climb to the finish up Santa Caterina, was only eighth fastest and nine seconds off the time his now teammate Petr Vakoc set in 2016. Although this can probably be explained by Van der Poel’s more conservative start to the climb before that incredible 20 second explosion near the top where he averaged 1,000w…
Lizzy Banks says female cyclists feel undervalued and are "scared" to make a stand
British pro rider Lizzy Banks has told BBC Sport that female cyclists feel undervalued because of the disparity in prize money at events and are scared to speak out. Last week, Flanders Classics, who organise many of the Belgian Classics, came under scrutiny over the difference in prize money at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Men’s winner Davide Ballerini won £13,766, while women’s winner Anna van der Breggen (pictured above) took home just £800 in comparison.
“We have so many battles to fight,” Banks said. “I don’t think this [equal prize money] is the most important thing out there in women’s cycling, but I do think that it is important. I just feel like it sends a message that we don’t value the women’s sport as much as we value the men’s.
“We’re all a bit scared to say something. It’s not that there’s a culture of fear – that’s definitely not the case – but our jobs are relatively insecure. Often we are on one-year contracts, you have to be quite careful what you say and also especially if you are the ones at the top of the sport then you are also the ones who are going to be reaping the benefits so you don’t want to seem selfish.
“In female cycling it’s always a balancing act of wanting to promote the right causes but also being careful what you say because I think being outspoken can really inhibit your chances of getting another contract.”
Brompton Bike Hire announces mobility hub trial at Imperial College
Not all things that come in 3 are bad luck.
Our third announcement of the week is a trial mobility hub for Imperial College London staff is, set to launch in April 2021 as the result of a research partnership between Imperial, Enterprise & ourselves.https://t.co/JyqUCTJV7P
— Brompton Bike Hire (@BromptonHire) March 2, 2021
Imperial College staff will be offered exclusive use of a Brompton bike for a two-month trial of a mobility hub based at the London university. The trial will allow researchers to assess the uptake and barriers to shared transport use and inform future mobility schemes at other workplaces and cities. Staff will be asked to leave their cars at home for the two-month period and use only their Brompton or two shared alternative fuel vehicles provided by Enterprise.
Stockport County fan's generosity helps out fellow supporter who had their bike stolen
We hear of fans’ inspiring stories and acts of kindness in the community, and we want to give them the recognition they deserve!
Our first #CountyHero is Phil Robinson, who shows exactly how County fans stick together. Click below for the full story 👇 https://t.co/mKxtZYDuTL
— Stockport County (@StockportCounty) March 3, 2021
Phil Robinson has been named a ‘County Hero’ by Stockport County after he bought a fellow fan a replacement for his stolen bike. Andrew Rowden, affectionately known as Oaf at Edgeley Park, had become well known for cycling to home and away games and had racked up thousands of miles following his team around the country.
Andrew had his bike stolen during a time when he was mourning the death of his father, which also prevented him from getting around as it was his main form of transport. Phil contacted his local bike shop, Woodson’s Cycles, and paid for a replacement with the help of the shop’s owner who offered discounted price.
Oaf’s new bike was delivered to his home where he said: “I can’t believe that Phil has done this for me, I am completely overwhelmed. I’m very lucky to be a part of a Club with such incredibly thoughtful fans.”
Reaction to Van der Poel's thermonuclear power data from his Strade Bianche winning attack
I like how Strava calculates MVdP’s SB win to have been at 92% intensity. https://t.co/ITdOoAMT0y
— nyvelocity (@nyvelocity) March 8, 2021
We’re still trying to get our heads around Van der Poel’s power data. The educated conclusion seems to be it’s bloody impressive… Over on Facebook, Rod Leach suggested it’s all very well winning Strade Bianche with a 1,000 watt attack but he’ll need to up his game if he wants to win any Zwift races…
Best not put my Sunday ride up, don’t want to embarrass the lad😳😂
— vic bates (@victorbates) March 8, 2021
— AJ (@AJ48775486) March 8, 2021
Cees Bol wins stage two of Paris-Nice
🏁 🇳🇱@ceesbol1995 l’emporte au sprint à Amilly et 🇦🇺@blingmatthews s’empare du @MaillotJauneLCL.
⏪ Revivez le dernier kilomètre.🏁 🇳🇱@ceesbol1995 claims the win in Amilly and 🇦🇺@blingmatthews takes the @MaillotJauneLCL.
⏪Relive the last kilometre.#ParisNice pic.twitter.com/WIoPepYA1l— Paris-Nice (@ParisNice) March 8, 2021
Cees Bol earned Team DSM a first win under their new sponsorship on stage two’s uphill sprint in Amilly. Mads Pedersen was second, while Bol’s former teammate Michael Matthews took third. With Sam Bennett fifth and outside the bonus seconds, it will be Matthews who pulls on the yellow leader’s jersey for stage three tomorrow. The stage in question is a 14km individual time trial which will be crucial to deciding the overall victory come Sunday.
#ParisNice – Stage 2 – Top 10 pic.twitter.com/OSgamUagIb
— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) March 8, 2021
Cycling Twitter account criticised for sexist meme posted on International Women's Day
Clearly there isn’t any time that sharing this would be acceptable, but posting this meme that has been criticised as creepy and sexist to your 9,000 Twitter followers on International Women’s Day seems tone deaf at best. Awesome Cycling posted a video asking ‘Which one are you?’ showing the supposed different types of cyclists you pass on a ride. The ones who give you a nod, the ones who wave coolly, the ones who wave enthusiastically and apparently the ones who ogle female riders and take photos of them…
One reply from Chris Gerhard summed up the mood in the comments Awesome Cycling got for their post: “The creepy sexism here is really not acceptable. It’s not funny, it’s disturbing. Take it down.”
David T.Isaac added: “Don’t be the pervert. And @AwesomeCycling it’s really weird that you included “sexual harasser” as like a fun little type of cyclist that we can all joke about. It’s not funny. Be better.”
You take a lighthearted look at cyclists greeting each other then add in a ‘creepy as F’ behaviour that is totally unacceptable.
I hope you take this down and educate yourself 🤬
This is NOT cool 🤨
— Kris Wright (@climb8b) March 7, 2021
Holy crap. Let’s celebrate the kind of male creepiness that limits women’s freedom to do stuff outdoors that men take for granted.
— Jon (@ormondroyd) March 7, 2021
Some positive International Women's Day news to follow the last post
In all Dutch interviews I was referred to the “female cycling commentator” or “first female cycling commentator.”
In the hundreds of 🇺🇸🇳🇿🇬🇧🇨🇦🇦🇺reactions after my @gcntweet debut only a handful were about me being a woman.
That is progress to me 👏🏻#InternationalWomensDay
— José Been (@TourDeJose) March 8, 2021
Here are some of the best International Women’s Day posts from the cycling world we’ve seen today to make up for the last blog post…Elisa Longo Borghini and her Trek-Segafredo teammates have decided to put their prize money for her second place at Strade Bianche back in to the sport to help women’s cycling grow. Fans raised more than €25,000 in extra prize money for the women’s race…
On this special day we – my @TrekSegafredo teammates and I- have decided to make a new step in the long road for women’s empowerment in sport.
Happy international women’s day to all of us! pic.twitter.com/euTxSVq1wH
— Elisa Longo Borghini (@ElisaLongoB) March 8, 2021
8 March 2021, 08:57
8 March 2021, 08:57
8 March 2021, 08:57
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Brim Brothers ran into problems with the stability of the interface between cleat and shoe. The interface is never perfect, particularly across the many kinds of shoe out there, and there is always a smidgen of flex there, more than there is in a steel spindle of a pedal, more than there is an al or carbon crank - which adds noise to the power signal. Brim Brothers also ran into longevity issues. The cleat is a high-wear area, and the shoe is also subject to lots of abrasion. Fairly hostile to delicate electronics. This PM is going to face major issues with wear on the cleat. It's also going to really struggle to solve that huge stack height issue. The Brim Brothers PM had the electronics on a separate pod, clipped to the top of the shoe, with a ribbon cable encased in a steel-wire reinforced, rubberised resin running down to the force plate. So the electronics were fairly safe, and the force plate added very little to the stack height. However, the connection from the electronics pod down the side of the shoe to the force plate was subject to being worn through and damaged with use. Brim Brothers never really solved that - had it made it to mass production, they would have had to cost-in semi-regular replacing of plate+pods, as riders wore down connectors (particularly on their foot down side).
It's surely long overdue that whilst civil fines should remain in place for minor offences such as overstaying paid-for time in a parking space or parking in a permit only area without a permit, parking that puts other people in danger, e.g. parking on blind bends or, as here, parking in such a way that pedestrians/cyclists are forced to leave their protected space and move into the roadway, should be criminalised and incur points as well as fines. Plenty of people can afford a £50 fine and I've known quite a few who just regard it as an occasional hazard of being able to park where you like; when a few such offences could put their licence at risk they would start to think a bit harder about it.
Sounds like we're both right - the organisation is indeed still proscribed, and the protests were silent and peaceful. Yes, there are people protesting and expressing sympathy with Hamas or shouting antisemitic slogans - but as I understand it the recent ones were not. As for critical mass being proscribed ... I would hope that's paranoia. Except that in the case of the JSO / XR folks there seemed to be a quick mutual escalation between them and government/ police when their actions were seen to be effective (causing a fuss). I still doubt this would happen in the case of cycle protests / gatherings, mostly because they aren't frequent or aiming to be as noisy. So most politicians don't see enough mileage in making it an "issue". But note there are already some who might. Such types may be increasingly gathered in Reform as some of the Conservatives migrate there.
Considering the fuss over £2 parking fees here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c204p0pprvxo a £50 fine might be enough to make them vote for reform!
We are not. We are arresting people for holding up banners supporting a proscribed organisation, which the protestors are happily conflating with protesting against the Gaza genocide. Lets not pretend that CML will ever be proscibed. Especially since the Govt managed to Custard Pie themselves with PA.
You say it's proactive police work, but if they had to be asked to do it then there's no proactivity whatsoever really. Also, PCS suggests that Matthew Brennan was actually born in 2005, which makes his performances even more impressive.
Aargh bloody new site! Anyway Portobello road by Jock's Lodge - the north side actually has a proper separated cycle path (albeit with some issues) but the south side is a mix of "Lane behind the parked cars" and "bus lane". And of course - the latter had cars parked every 30 metres or so - and this is perfectly legal for most of the day and on weekends as the signage recorded. Pragmatism? Only in the sense of "I suppose we have to let the buses through some some times - if only to get them out of the way of drivers. But only at peak times!"
Unfortunately in many cases this has been devolved from the police, and even if you're alleging that the car got into the cycle infra by being illegally driven there you'll need evidence (a very sympathetic police officer to witness it, plus...) However in many cases this isn't even against the rules - even for "mandatory cycle lanes". See for example here: https://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/underhand-law-change-undermines-mandatory-cycle-lanes I was reminded of this when cycling west along Edinburgh's
Rendel, you're quoting some web site that is *heavily* summarising some textbook, which is not freely available. Even so, you have selectively quoted the summary, the remainder of which is: "A simple fracture can occur by walking into a fixed object (force required = 73N), whilst a simple fall through 1 m causing a frontal impact (510N) can also result in linear or mosaic fractures. Fractures have been absent when an impact force of 1314 N was recorded." Other information I find online suggests skull fractures correlate with impacts at 1 kN and above. The reality is likely complex and varied. I suspect your 73 N figure is very much at some strange low extreme (thin skull, and some other unstated factors - who knows).
RE: police concern about critical mass. This could start being serious activism (with consequences for the participants). If some bright spark in parliament (many have shown willing) notices this "causes disruption" (or say a party full of the same)... ... then it could be "into the JSO / Extinction Rebellion terrorist sin-bin with you". Can you be certain you *didn't* delay an emergency vehicle / someone going to a vital health-and- wellbeing-related appointment - even if indirectly because "causing congestion"? And slowing people down - that's "economic terrorism" isn't it? All that sounds a bit extreme, but we're already arresting folks for silently holding up non-sweary, non-offensive, not very threatening slogans. (I can hear "a laaaybour government...")
4 thoughts on “Cycling account criticised for sexist meme posted on International Women’s Day; Mathieu van der Poel’s stupendous 1,000 watt attack; Before and after cycle lane photos; Brompton mobility hubs; New bike for theft victim, Paris-Nice + more on the live blog”
VDP acceleration into Sienna
VDP acceleration into Sienna was jaw dropping.
Bethnal Green- fantastic transformation
MvdP doing MvdP things…
MvdP doing MvdP things….even more jaw dropping than his accelerations to drop Schurter at Nove Mesto & Lenzerheide in 2019…..
We know he’s world class on a CX, MTB & Road bike – What’s he like on a Downhill bike??
The Old Bethnal Green video
The Old Bethnal Green video is fantastic and shows what is possible and how it improves lives. How do we get an connection to persuade those who would remain blinkered and wish to sit in a car and not care about the harm, purpose or need. Very sadly and I try to be polite the same can be said on the people who feel it OK to place or agree on a twitter feed from the aw(ful) not (some) cycling brigade who cannot make the connection that women, especially young women will not feel comfortable or safe to enjoy and explore an area by bicycle whilst pathetic voyerism, intimidation and perversion is marketed as exceptable, one unacceptable danger, road traffic, should not be changed for another.
Old Bethnal Green Road – I
Old Bethnal Green Road – I got distracted by the pigeons in the ‘after’ shot – they’re definitely preferring the new lay out.