“Have I become what they call a meme?”: Jeremy Vine cycling videos look like… Mad Max Fury Road (apparently); “Peak UK cycling infrastructure”: A cycle route only Tom Pidcock could enjoy; Cycling in the snow + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Jeremy Vine meets Monday Night Football...
Oh dear…
Bus lanes are also for use by taxis, motorcycles and cyclists on almost all of London. Dumbo.
— CyclingMikey (@MikeyCycling) March 8, 2023
Cycling in the snow (+ how the Dutch do it)
Anyone out riding in the snow this morning? A story in two parts…
For what it’s worth, I’ve just bottled it. 🚊
— Ned Boulting 🏳️⚧️ (@nedboulting) March 8, 2023
Me and you both, Ned… Me and you both…
Cycling to work ❄️ 🥶 🚲 #bristol #snow #cycling #cyclingtowork pic.twitter.com/zXc6SAL6PX
— Stephenson Grobério (@stephengroberio) March 8, 2023
While parts of Britain enter the mandatory collective loss of everyday activities at the sight of 2cm of snow, here’s how the Dutch do things…
Snow preparations underway – looks like bike paths first here #thehague 🇳🇱🚲 ❄️ pic.twitter.com/FqdIEWhlhN
— anna holligan 🎙 (@annaholligan) March 8, 2023
No slush there (yes, I’m aware the snow hasn’t arrived yet)… but a gritted cycle lane… wow, they’re spolit over there.
> Winter cycling — 6 top tips to help you keep riding through the colder months
> How to ride your bike through ice and snow — top tips for safe cycling when the mercury drops
Check out Tom Pidcock's Strade Bianche-winning Pinarello Dogma F
[Zac Williams/ SWpix.com]
> Check out Tom Pidcock’s Strade Bianche-winning Pinarello Dogma F
"Peak UK cycling infrastructure": A cycle route only Tom Pidcock could enjoy
A real classy touch this council opening a shared-use path to pay homage to Tom Pidcock’s stair-conquering Cyclocross World Championship win of 2022…
This one came courtesy of live blog favourite Harry Gray over on Twitter…
Meanwhile in Torbay! pic.twitter.com/Tnby9fNlv3
— Good Cycling (@good_cycling) March 7, 2023
Only one thing for it…
Tom Pidcock leads up the stairs 🚀 #Fayetteville2022 pic.twitter.com/KtRM8Wqm77
— UCI Cyclocross (@UCI_CX) January 30, 2022
Has 'the male, white, cycling enthusiast niche' reached its natural limit?
Pidcock approves
Colnago showdown: Italian bike brand invites Tom Boonen for test ride after "unsubstantiated" Tadej Pogačar bike comments
We love the drama…
After yesterday’s comments from Tom Boonen and 1992 Liège–Bastogne–Liège winner Dirk De Wolf about Pog’s bike being 2km/h slower than those of his Ineos Grenadiers, Soudal-Quick Step and Jumbo-Visma rivals, Colnago has hit back… inviting the pair for an all-expenses trip to Milan to test ride the flagship V4Rs ahead of Milan-San Remo…
Think we all need to start criticising bike manufacturers more often…
Anyway, Ryan’s got the full story for you…
How's your Wednesday going?
Better than Negasi Haylu Abreha’s I’d imagine…
The first of the double-header of WorldTour racing has just finished, Jasper Philipsen sprinting to a Mathieu van der Poel leadout-assisted win on stage three. It had looked like, with the pace high, a surge from Jumbo-Visma might take a small group clear in the final 10km but despite the efforts of Filippo Ganna, Wout van Aert, Biniam Girmay and Co. in the escape, they were pulled back.
That was a huge huge lead out from Mathieu van der Poel, pretty much made it so fast that no-one stood a chance of coming around Jasper Philipsen
Then it’s always nice to see MvdP celebrating even before Philipsen was over the line!#TirrenoAdriatico pic.twitter.com/MyOjEFFYJf
— Mathew Mitchell (@MatMitchell30) March 8, 2023
Motorbikes affecting the race, yet again.
Although this time it was just MvdP in front of Philipsen.
— Daniel Lloyd (@daniellloyd1) March 8, 2023
Right, short break and then there’s a Pog vs Vingegaard summit finish showdown at Paris-Nice. Tasty.
We're all thinking it...
Dear @Colnagoworld I also think your bikes are too slow, can i now also test ride a super bike for 1-2 years free of charge to change my mind?
— Ross Stephens (@ROSSSAS) March 8, 2023
Tadej Pogačar, clearly slowed down by his Colnago, dominates Paris-Nice summit finish... after smiling at the camera while following Vingegaard's attack
When your biggest rival has put in a huge attack, but you’re just chilling…
3 choses dont il faut se méfier dans la vie :
– Les requins
– Les gens qui te proposent des bonbons dans une camionnette blanche
– Tadej Pogačar qui sourit à vélopic.twitter.com/QrGCNb7ojh— Cycling Legend (@CyclingLegend_) March 8, 2023
Moments after this impish look, Pogačar chased after David Gaudu, got on the front, drilled a huge gap between them and the rest of the field, won the sprint and now controls GC by 10 seconds to the Frenchman and 44 to Vingegaard…
There’s simply no one else like Tadej Pogacar 🙌
The @TeamEmiratesUAE rider takes control of the yellow jersey and opens a huge gap in the standings at Paris-Nice 🟡#ParisNice | @TamauPogi pic.twitter.com/mrmEXTMmJ4
— Eurosport (@eurosport) March 8, 2023
Now, think how fast he’d have gone on a Spesh…
This was the main event of the day however…
Loved this finish from Magnus Cort and Mads P. Never forget the joy of playing. pic.twitter.com/yxJVoOfgcm
— Vegar Kulset (@VegarKulset) March 8, 2023
One week as an elite cyclist | can we hack this BRUTAL training plan?
Something to keep you entertained if you’re currently running the clock down at work…
> How hard is it to train like a pro cyclist? Spending a week riding like an elite
A road.cc review with a difference...
Who better to review Specialized’s Women’s RBX Softshell Jacket than Caroline Soubayroux, the co-star of this around the world epic, documented by Wilier?
Very cool to have Caroline part of our reviews team…
Lotus eyes 2024 Olympics with British Cycling and Team GB – new bike coming soon
[Lotus’ track bike used by Team GB at the 2020 Olympic Games]
Lotus has outlined how its “golden collaboration” with British Cycling will continue, with the development of a new track bike for Team GB riders to use at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Documenting its historical involvement in the sport, dating back to the Type 108 and Chris Boardman in Barcelona, chief aerodynamicist Richard Hill said: “Back then, it was simply about developing an aerodynamic bike that would go fast. But really there are two separate elements – the bike and the rider – which come together as one to move through the air. That was the approach we took with the Tokyo bike and is continuing for Paris 2024.”
Will we see more of this next summer?
Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald of @TeamGB take #gold in the first ever #CyclingTrack women’s madison final!#StrongerTogether | #Tokyo2020 | @UCI_Track pic.twitter.com/z3C9iTwzIX
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 6, 2021
Poetry
Gino Mäder on first Pog-Ving skirmish today: ‘One rocketship passed me, then another rocketship passed me & trying to follow them would just have been suicide.’
— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) March 8, 2023
With that we’ll leave the live blog there for the night, have a good one!
"Have I become what they call a meme?": Jeremy Vine cycling videos look like... Mad Max Fury Road (apparently)
The young people have spoken…
jeremy vine on his way to work pic.twitter.com/t1IFquyEVe
— Aidan James (@mcandidate) March 7, 2023
I like this new Twitter view counter thingy, it means you can pinpoint the exact number of people who have never been close passed (or perhaps even ridden a bike) on the roads…
Anyway, Vine’s not taking the public’s amusing fascination with his videos to heart, asking, “Have I become what they call a meme?”… As self-professed meme experts here on the live blog, we’re going to say that’s a yes, Jeremy.
Despicable driving from the tanker on fire. I bet that once he’d run out of ammo the driver looked at his phone screen while stopped in traffic, too.
— Si Frost (@si_frost) March 8, 2023
Are they on Bromptons or Penny Farthings?
— Bob (@Cycling_Bob) March 8, 2023
It seems the meme came after Vine uploaded a video showing a London bus driver close passing him on his early morning commute to Channel 5’s studios yesterday. Transport for London’s account responded saying the post had enough information for a report to be made…
WHAT. THE. HELL.
This morning, 0620, watch this bus pass me.
LK17 AFF, the 243 heading east on Theobalds Road.
So how do I report this, @TfL? pic.twitter.com/okReFOLYXF— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) March 7, 2023
A topic recent road.cc Podcast guest Carla Francombe spoke about at the Women’s Freedom Ride on Sunday…
I talked about this in my speech on Sunday Jeremy- “when a bus goes past you so quickly that you can feel the wind- and you feel like it’s a miracle that you got through your front door okay – it shouldn’t feel like a miracle that you got home safe” … @willnorman @SadiqKhan https://t.co/hU1r0L1PhG
— Carla Francome (@carlafrancome) March 7, 2023
8 March 2023, 09:08
8 March 2023, 09:08
8 March 2023, 09:08
Found some time to break from spreading memes on the live blog...
Backers of See.Sense bike tracker Kickstarter project still waiting three years on
"Maybe See.Sense has decided to turn this into a long-running joke?" says frustrated backer... but what's really going on?
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Latest Comments
@Mr Blackbird But if a cyclist had done something similar to a pedestrian, it would be all over the media 24/7/365.
Pedantically, that duck has two eyes. It's just that ducks' eyes are side-facing, so they can't both be towards you at once. You can just about see the bulge of the other eye, but it's hard to distinguish from the helmet strap. What should really be bothering you is the cow with two forwards-facing eyes.
Yup - had to. Forced to. At gunpoint. More? Where were the previous ones that these would be 'more' than?
@the little onion Doesn't seem like the most sensible place to be chassing them - can't see much along that stretch in the way of Tesco or Sainsbury's or the like that you might catch some patates in.
As soon as I see a poster with that wet brush stroke graphic I instantly zone out.
Halfords did something similar a few years ago, but instead of rechargeable it was powered from the pedal turning. They soon gave up due to the amount wet, dirt and salt that pedals are exposed to in winter. I will stick to pedal reflectors.
@thrawed then find a different route. I am sure youwill find plenty of off-road riding near you that can handle winter weather.
@Matt Page What makes you think I don't run mudguards? All mud guards do is stop it spraying up your back. It doesn't stop this....
@thrawed That is nothing a good set of mud guards and good winter tyres can't fix. The hardest bit is getting the clothing right, and Autumn is the hardest for that, I find. Riding through British muddy trails will make you a better rider, mentally and physically.
I think using AI is a cop out, surely there are better ways of designing posters... like using real images and real people... In the case of cycling clubs using AI why can't someone in the club design the poster/image? AI is getting out of control and if not controlled it will be the death of creative industries. It's up to us at ground root level to try to stem this
24 thoughts on ““Have I become what they call a meme?”: Jeremy Vine cycling videos look like… Mad Max Fury Road (apparently); “Peak UK cycling infrastructure”: A cycle route only Tom Pidcock could enjoy; Cycling in the snow + more on the live blog”
Jezza does occasionally post
Jezza does occasionally post some borderline videos but that Bus one made up for it. Genuinely terrifying.
Yep. I think this was a
Yep. I think this was a deliberate close pass by the bus driver, getting very close behind as they moved out, not fully moving into lane 2, then cutting in sooner than they should have done.
Possibly triggered by JV’s position in the centre of the lane? I think so. But JV did seem to move closer to the bus as it passed (could have been drift because he looked over his right shoulder), but he did have space to the left to move out of the way.
Seems to be a thing that buses don’t fully occupy lane 2 when passing cyclists here: https://goo.gl/maps/3Rs7orgiZxLJVkst5
Maybe there was some unshared
Maybe there was some unshared interaction/perceived sleight between the two beforehand, it looked a more deliberate get back at pass than merely casually incompetent, and surely pointless as I bet the bus stopped at the next stop.
And especially when TfL resort to the vision zero training response to this stuff normally and everyone seems to say the bus drivers in London are good at handling cyclists.
At least he does now have a video of something most of us experience regularly. There’d probably be less memage and trolling via his twitter on this, if this was the standard he posted all the time.
JV did seem to move closer to
JV did seem to move closer to the bus as it passed
I expect this sort of thing from the police, who are often really thick, but a little thought should tell cyclists that the almost involuntary head-turn towards the offending vehicle during a close pass of a headcam-wearing cyclist produces this illusion. Experienced cyclists do not swerve towards a hazard like that! (or they’d be dead already). Who knows what illusions are produced by the processing of the images with these 360 degree cameras?- but JV definitely does not swerve towards the bus.
https://upride.cc/incident/pe19jwz_peugeot3008_closepassdwlcross/
https://upride.cc/incident/px12eez_stagecoach41_closepass/
There’s a job for that bus driver with Stagecoach Lancashire!
I suspect alot of it is the
I suspect alot of it is the funky camera movement tricks the eye to the angles, but when you’re that close to a high sided vehicle you will actually be pulled towards it by its aero draft. Remember the yellow line on railways platforms there for a reason.
Scariest encounter I ever had with a bus I had that happen, as the draft was pulling me closer and I’m panicking trying to fight the bike almost to hang on and steer to pull left and all thats happening is i can see the rear wheels getting bigger & nearer as I’m still going right. And then the bus gets just far enough ahead it breaks that pull and suddenly, you’re over correcting.
He didn’t swerve, but moved
He didn’t swerve, but moved slightly (which can happen when you turn your head). If you look at the screenclip below, you can see he is just to the left of the centre of the marking ‘LANE’ before the overtake and finishes up just to the right of the arrow marking after.
Ideally, you would swerve here, but to the left. I tend to ride like this when I can, moving over to secondary just before the vehicle passes (depends on there being parked cars/door zone).
Clearly the bus driver should not have passed; there was no way they could leave a 1.5m gap from JV’s initial position.
There are a couple of reasons
There are a couple of reasons why JV might involuntarily end up closer to the bus:
1) Suckage of the bus (to be technical).
2) When you are startled and look around, you will tend to steer towards where you are looking, holding a line is less likely to happen.
3) If you attempt to steer away, the only way you can do that is initiating a movement towards the hazard. Bikes steer primarily by leaning and you lean by steering away from the direction you want to turn towards.
The latter point is why close passes are a problem, because even if you want to react by getting away, the first movement will always be towards the hazard. Similalry, it is why motorists close passing on a corner (like my local cycle lane entering the roundabout where I turn left) is a problem, because to turn, I will end up at the outer limits of the narrow cycle lane to avoid pedal strike on the kerb as well as the natural movement of the wheel to the outside at the same time as the drivers are seeking to take a racing line through it.
It’s probably the head turn
It’s probably the head turn that causes the drift, it happens before the bus gets there and might not be that much ‘suckage’ at those speeds (can be a massive issue at higher speeds though).
You’ve got to be ready for it though and plan your move left. If it’s a shock based reaction, you might not do the right thing.
Huh my first assumption was
Huh my first assumption was that Vine was the truck and that London’s ‘professional drivers’ were the raiders.
Also I recently became a Just Eat courier, does this make me a ‘professional cyclist’?
Car Delenda Est wrote:
Yes, just make sure that they are paying you the UCI minimum wage!
Who filmed my commute?
Who filmed my commute? Actually, more like Tank Girl… especially on Tuesdays for some weird reason.
Drivers in Reading get angry on Tuesdays.
JustTryingToGetFromAtoB wrote
it was lovely and icy this morning, until I got to the bus lanes and then it was seeming fine.
Commute:
Commute:
No snow here in Central Scotland this morning. Nice and crisp though at -5 (without the windchill).
Was not a good day to forget my cycling glasses
Ditto…started snowing just
Ditto…started snowing just near the end of my commute..didn’t realise how much light snow hurts the eyes when blown into them..
“Peak UK cycling
“Peak UK cycling infrastructure”
Then they complain that cyclists don’t use it.
London bus driver?
London bus driver?
What a twat!
What on earth is the point in such a pass when you’re stopping at the next bus stop anyway?
There’s absolutely no need for overtaking whatsoever when you’re intending to stop straight away.
Just another example of over entitled “professional” drivers who really don’t give a shite about anyone but themselves.
Shocking pass by London Bus,
Shocking pass by London Bus, – i got a slower close-pass this morning in Dublin , with an extra few inches to spare , but cement lorry had wheels touching the murder-paint of my bike lane , bloody frightening , and you just know they don’t even register how dangerous it all is ….
Pogacar is good at cycling
Pogacar is good at cycling but he is irritatingly cocky.
HarrogateSpa wrote:
Yes, maybe a little bit but all the young guys now are a bit more willing to interact with the cameras on the road and I think it adds a fair bit compared to watching a platoon of grim-visaged identikit riders ploughing along. Mind you one day he’s going to do the cocky grin or wave and then bonk or someone will break him and it’ll look a bit daft – older readers may remember Steve Ovett’s triumphant waves as he rounded the final bend which looked great until someone outkicked him, I think he gave them up after that.
By one day, I take it you
By one day, I take it you mean at last year’s Tour de France.
angusr wrote:
Did he do the cocky stuff on the Granon? I think I missed that day and only read about it in the papers.
That bus was close.
That bus was close.
So, the Dutch highways people
So, the Dutch highways people grit the cycle paths first – ours don’t even grit them second
belugabob wrote:
Or third, fourth or fifth.