Reaction to government shutting down calls for mandatory bells (+ Poll); Exercise bike…in the cycle lane; Pidcock to the Tour?; Wout wins; Pedal Me rescues family stranded by puncture; Terrible infra; Cycling in the UK is… + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Pedal Me rescues family stranded with cargo bike puncture
We’ve all been there at one point or other (some of us, naming no names, more than once)…it’s usually a mistake you only make once…
Puncture. Shit. No tubes. No spares. No pump. Now you’re stuck…it’s normally either a very sheepish phone call home or standing on the roadside hoping a fellow rider will take pity on you. Most of the time, the second option works, thanks to the supportive nature of the cycling community. As I said, we’ve all been there…
Is there an AA or RAC equivalent for cargo bikes? What to do with two children and a rear puncture on a cold evening? @pedalmeapp @FDbikes @HF_Cycling @CargodadC pic.twitter.com/mR0TJYY0QK
— Bea Goater (@BeebsG) March 8, 2022
Pedal Me sprang to Bea’s aid, replying in six minutes, getting in touch with one of their riders, and arriving on scene in around 45 minutes…see Twitter’s not all bad…
Repair underway, cannot thank-you enough for your help – and outside of working hours!! @pedalmeapp and the cycling community in general absolutely rocks! ✌️ pic.twitter.com/MkVFoitkfe
— Bea Goater (@BeebsG) March 8, 2022
Huge thanks to Will, what a legend! 😎 Bike fixed and safely secured in its usual home now. Thank-you for your superhero powers in teleporting Will to my aid tonight @pedalmeapp. Feeling very lucky! 🚲🚲🚲 pic.twitter.com/Of82U6PSdH
— Bea Goater (@BeebsG) March 8, 2022
Riding an exercise bike...in the cycle lane (of course it's from the Netherlands)
Even when the Dutch ride an exercise bike it’s still in a cycle lane…
The Dutch are openly trolling all of us now. 😂https://t.co/2B4W15z3JF pic.twitter.com/RWKQ0nUobA
— Brandon Lust (@AmericanFietser) March 8, 2022
This lad could be onto something though. What if they invented an exercise bike that could actually ride on the road? What? They’ve already done that? It’s called a…bicycle? Ah well, there goes my Dragons’ Den pitch.
> TurboRocks secures £80,000 investment on Dragons’ Den
I think the man’s confused expletive in the video sums it up…but is it an exercise bike on wheels or a scooter with added exercise bike-like parts?
Others were wondering how it steers? Apparently by leaning left and right? So maybe not one for those brutal crosswind days…
Either way, it looks a fair bit less comfy than this…
Most of the world: car is the most comfortable mode of commute, you can’t go anywhere without one, our climate is mess and hills are everywhere
Dutch: I’m not going anywhere until I slap pedals on the thing that is supposed to take me there pic.twitter.com/7MFQLMstSx
— Föroya Bjór (@donotopenhagen) March 8, 2022
No exercise bikes or sofas on the move in London this morning…but, more mega cycle commuting crowds enjoying the first signs of spring…
Spring is coming to London 🌞 pic.twitter.com/2Mo8McwnaW
— London Cycles (@London_Cycles) March 9, 2022
Terrible infra #3751
I’ve been less critical of others when it comes to compromises in Kingston’s cycle network, but this is unforgivably bad. Completely unacceptable design. pic.twitter.com/iItm2hKb5E
— Josh Stringfellow (@JDStringfellow) March 6, 2022
How exciting. Some terrible UK cycling infra that I can vouch for its terribleness. Having had the displeasure of negotiating Kingston on two wheels more times than I wish to remember, I can confirm — it’s frustratingly bad. Frustratingly, because most of the cycling infra is actually shiny and new…just very badly executed.
My personal highlight is the adrenaline rush of the section that runs straight through a pavement bus stop…
Finish the sentence: Cycling in the UK is...
Cycling in the UK is starting your cameras a min before you leave the house, incase you get run over on your own street, as police won’t accept footage without a minute each side.
— Nihilistic Gherkin (@NihilisticAbyss) March 8, 2022
Any more ‘cycling in the UK is…’ sentences?
I’ll get you started for inspiration: cycling in the UK is having a headwind on your commute to work…and the way home.
Legal intervention: Has a police force ever asked you to do this when submitting footage of bad driving?
The minute either side thing has no legal basis at all and is set by people who believe cyclists cannot behave for 2 mins or must have been asking for it. https://t.co/NVUCudmcWP
— Martin Porter QC (@MartinPorter6) March 9, 2022
Tom Pidcock to the Tour de France? Ineos Grenadiers reveal early plans for Tour de France without Egan Bernal
Tom Pidcock may go to the Tour de France after all…
Ineos Grenadiers team manager Rod Ellingworth has confirmed to Cyclingnews that Richard Carapaz will now head to the Giro d’Italia, with Adam Yates going to the Tour de France. Filippo Ganna will also be in Copenhagen for the Grand Depart, with the ambition of taking the first yellow jersey of the race.
And while Pidcock was meant to ride the Giro, alongside fellow young Brit Tao Geoghegan Hart, it now seems possible the 22-year-old could take a break after the Classics before preparing for the Tour.
“Of course, without Egan, it changes how you approach a race like the Tour,” Ellingworth said.
“We’ll still stick with Richard Carapaz for the Giro d’Italia and Adam Yates for the Tour de France. The Vuelta a España is now a bit more open but we’ll see how we go.
“We hope to have Filippo Ganna at the Tour and going for the opening time trial. Adam came to Ineos Grenadiers hoping to improve on his fourth overall in 2016 and we’ll work with him on that. He’s ambitious and wants it, so we’re going to the Tour all-in with him. The Giro suits Richard pretty well and so that’s why he wants to focus on the Giro.”
Ellingworth also suggested Pidcock will remain at Ineos for the foreseeable future: “I can’t say anything officially on his contract but we’re on a journey with Tom.”
“He showed the world what he can do across three disciplines: road racing, cyclocross and mountain biking. That’s why we’ve invested in him so much last year. Riders have dreams and ambitions and I always say a team has to follow those dreams and ambitions and make it work for everyone.
“There’s no doubt about what Tom can go on to do. He rode the Vuelta last year after winning gold in the Olympics but came through it pretty well.
“We’re not sure if he’ll do the Giro or the Tour this year. He’s got a big spring programme and so we’ll see how it goes. It’s perhaps too early to fully understand if he can develop into a great Grand Tour rider but you’ve got to keep the door open and explore all the options.”
Wout ends drought: Jumbo-Visma continue domination of Paris-Nice
Jumbo-Visma pulled off another 1-2-3 at Paris-Nice this afternoon. Perhaps slightly less impressive than stage one considering today’s result was in a time trial…and they’ve got Wout van Aert, Primož Roglič and Rohan Dennis in their team.
🇫🇷 #ParisNice
The new GC after another amazing day. 👀
1️⃣ @WoutvanAert
2️⃣ @rogla
3️⃣ @LAPORTEChristop pic.twitter.com/1rfi2Wr1P5— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) March 9, 2022
Van Aert won the stage, with GC favourite Roglič second. The Belgian will be relieved to put to bed a run of uncharacteristically poor form. Before today’s win he’d gone three straight race stages without a win…only finishing third, second and third…
Simon Yates looks the biggest threat to Jumbo-Visma’s control, the Brit finished in an impressive fifth place on the stagem just 11 seconds slower than Van Aert, and ahead of UAE Tour TT winner Steffan Bissegger, British champ Ethan Hayter and many others.
The Dutch team still sit pretty atop the GC, Roglič ten seconds behind Van Aert, with Christophe Laporte 28 seconds back. Yates is the highest-ranked non-Jumbo-Visma rider at 49 seconds…and with rumours the penultimate stage, a summit finish up Col du Turini, might have to be rerouted due to snow and freezing temperatures…where is anyone going to shift the men in yellow from the top (two) steps of the podium?
The bicycle bell lottery — do you use one?
As expected we’ve had plenty of feedback on yesterday’s story about the government rejecting calls from Labour MP Fleur Anderson for cyclists to be required to use a bell…
It’s not a new argument either, the 10s were dotted occasional comments from MPs and Lords raising the issue, sometimes in other unrelated road safety debates.
On Facebook, Carol Loughlin told us she finds using one is a bit of a “lottery” as “some pedestrians move across without issue but some seem to see it as a personal attack on their freedom to spread out across the entire shared path.”
Martin Hawkins reports “once [being] told if I rang that bell again he’d stick it up my a**e, charming!”
Rog Davies also pointed out the ding of a bell can sometimes come across as rude or entitled…”The thing for me is ‘good morning – just letting you know I’m here as I didn’t want to make you jump’ is infinitely more friendly than ding, ding get out of my way!”
While, Andrew Drake agreed: “I can shout a warning and in a more friendly way.”
We had a couple of emails in on the subject too. One, probably sent from under a bridge somewhere, aksed: “Read an article about bells on bikes, is this to make pedestrians using a crossing aware the cyclist is about to go straight though the red lights and nearly hit them?”
Rod also got in touch to say: “That very conservative organisation the Road Time Trials Council then removed the requirement for time triallists to carry a bell whilst riding in a time trial. I along with most riders removed the bell from both my TT bike and my training bike and they are still to this day on the shelf in my workshop. I have no intention whatsoever of using them again! At 75 I am still riding 200 miles a week on road and turbo…… without a bell in sight.” No bell on the turbo? Surely that’s a bit of a risk…
A bell is so simple and works way better than anything else, including your own voice. 🤦 https://t.co/M1ipUQgkSV
— Cycling Trivialities (@_CycleMan_) March 8, 2022
This morning, group of *eight* people wondered across my path on the Armstrong Bridge:
50m out: 🛎️🛎️!
30m: 🛎️ 🛎️🛎️!
15m: 🛎️🛎️🛎️🛎️!
10m (braking): 🛎️🛎️🛎️🛎️🛎️!
5m (walking pace): “Excuse me! Coming through!”Pedestrians scattering, with, “WHY DON’T YOU USE YOUR RUDDY BELL!?”
🤦— KarlOnSea (@KarlOnSea) March 8, 2022
For many pedestrians that already have identified themselves as a ‘non-cyclist’ all a bell does is say “Oi, GET OUTTA MY WAY!’ I prefer to speak, where they hear a human saying ‘Hi there, excuse me”
— andy smith (@thevetchlings) March 9, 2022
Simon Yates' Paris-Nice chameleon impression
Can’t tell where the man ends and the bike begins. pic.twitter.com/EqrpvcK2Ng
— Kevin Avery (@Fit_Kev) March 9, 2022
The year is 2050, an unnamed bicycle manufacturer has just revealed its integrated rider x frame, all safely above the UCI weight limit, of course…
Caleb Ewan edges towards Milan-San Remo form with sprint victory at Tirreno-Adriatico
🇦🇺 What a day for @CalebEwan 💨
The Australian edges a hard-fought sprint finish to win Stage 3 of @TirrenAdriatico!#TirrenoAdriatico 🇮🇹 | @Lotto_Soudal pic.twitter.com/vZT761C4OR
— Eurosport (@eurosport) March 9, 2022
Caleb Ewan sprinted to his third win of the season, in his final race before Milan-San Remo next Saturday. I say last race, he’s still got four more stages of the week-long WorldTour stage race to go, and should get at least one more shot at another win later on in the week.
The first of those opportunities comes tomorrow where we’ll see just how well the Aussie is climbing. He’s been saying all the right things about being in similarly Poggio-defeating shape as last year, but can he win a punchy hilltop finish? We’ll see…
Ewan’s win came after an audacious four-man group went clear, including Tadej Pogačar, Julian Alaphilippe, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Marc Soler…
Pogačar and Alaphillipe attack after an intermediate sprint and this spectator’s reaction says plenty #TirrenoAdriatico pic.twitter.com/sxvxlmt0hC
— the Inner Ring (@inrng) March 9, 2022
International Women's Day: Belgian edition
Had an old Dutch man pass me on a scooter during a training ride and yell “ @WoutvanAert !” 🤣 Well, #HappyInternationalWomensDay 🤦♀️ @JumboVismaWomen
— Coryn Labecki (@CorynRivera) March 9, 2022
Yes, we know it was yesterday…
Poll result
And we’ll finish up by linking back to the main story on today’s live blog…the results of our poll…
“The ayes have it. The ayes have it. Unlock”
Anyway, Ryan’s completing the week, so be sure to check back tomorrow for some more live blog action…
9 March 2022, 09:05
9 March 2022, 09:05
9 March 2022, 09:05
9 March 2022, 09:05
9 March 2022, 09:05
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Latest Comments
@chrisonabike "more rational, efficient and dependable" The cost will explode across taxpayers. The administration could've used HS2 money as a beginning step, but they chose not to. Windshield bias will still be whacking the cyclist in 100 years. I don't see many cyclists bothered by it. I see many possible cyclists put off cycling by it but we know this already.
Guess it depends on what he says and whether his words have been twisted or taken out of context, but generally we should select athletes on the basis of their ability, not stuff they say, unless it's against the law..
@chrisonabike all active travel money should be immediately reallocated to fixing potholes and trimming hedges/vegetation. A lot of the reason why cycling and/or jogging is so difficult in my area is due to road surface quality and getting artificially narrowed by poor maintenance. That way, no more terrible, unpopular "active travel"/segregation decisions that need to be overturned
@jackcycles "a stark throwback to the days just after COVID when the lunatics were briefly left to run the asylum" You mean the Conservative government of Boris? Not a fan of him or Matt Hancock either, but I thought eg. Jonathan Van-Tam did a pretty good job? "All people want is a joined up travel experience where cyclists can use the road – along with all other forms of transport – to get from A to B with the least fuss." I tried that but I found the canal wet, being held up by rollerskaters vexing, dodging the passing lorries at 60mph scary, before I was run over by the train... "Absolutely scandalous waste of taxpayer money"... I quite agree, what on earth are they doing wasting active travel money to make active travel less pleasant (and indeed places less pleasant) and convenient?
Absolutely scandalous waste of taxpayer money that the road was originally shut to cars... A stark throwback to the days just after COVID when the lunatics were briefly left to run the asylum, when activists and agitators ran amok against all rationality and economic sense. How many (less than) useless LTNs and no-car zones were set up at this time, under a supposed free market Tory government, costing countless hours of congestion and destroying livelihoods and town centres? Whilst it's great that the cheque book has been removed, there are yet more brainless initiatives today, such as pointless "20" zones (er, just enforce the existing 30 please). All people want is a joined up travel experience where cyclists can use the road - along with all other forms of transport - to get from A to B with the least fuss. This country isn't set up to remove long-established road infrastructure, and as recent figures revealed countries that have spaffed countless millions on cycling infrastructure (such as the Netherlands) actually have *worse* KSIs than the UK, despite our potholed, shoddy roads.
@mark1212123 "One solution states removing bias in a human being requires a pause before a decision is made." Was the other solution to remove their brain and replace it with something more rational, efficient and dependable?
@mdavidford Hmm, if comparing designs where the load is "between the wheels" (2-wheel "bakfiets" style and 8freight) as opposed to having the load higher (longtail) I wonder? Also unless you're really shifting heavy stuff the main mass is the rider. But I've never ridden a two-wheel front-loader cargo bike (brief use of a 3-wheeler, but that's a different thing again...). I have used some indirect linkage-steer bikes (recumbents) and they all seemed easy enough to learn and manage *. Many (all normal?) bike designs tend self- balance when moving - perhaps this applies to such cargo bikes also? * Aside from brief initial "don't look at the front wheel" confusion. And assuming steering is not loose/faulty, which is likely rarer but still possible with a more direct system. And once you realise your turning circle is more like "car"...
@chrisonabike "Don’t rely strongly on “rules” great point. "How to avoid conflict on the roads?" Not possible. Expecting conflict is the daily for me on uk roads.
@mark1212123 make sure you instruct it that you need your answer in ternary, starting from 1. How to avoid conflict on the roads? Don't travel! How to reduce that but some travel has to happen? Reduce the number of interactions, reduce mental workload, increase the time to detect and deal with conflicts (your "pause"), work *with* human mental architecture (energy-saving behaviours, emotions, strong feelings about "fairness" and "cheating", in-group/out-group effects). What that implies? Don't mix modes of travel where they have very different speeds/mass/behaviour patterns. Mixing *can* occur where you can ensure that modes are more similar (eg.slow down drivers...) Don't rely strongly on "rules" or (signed) instructions for safety - because humans.
@mdavidford "let me know which side the bias is on, and I can start automatically fixing it"...
21 thoughts on “Reaction to government shutting down calls for mandatory bells (+ Poll); Exercise bike…in the cycle lane; Pidcock to the Tour?; Wout wins; Pedal Me rescues family stranded by puncture; Terrible infra; Cycling in the UK is… + more on the live blog”
Well done that man
Well done that man
RE: Dutch trolling us with
RE: Dutch trolling us with exercise bikes. Here’s the sad story from Glasgow:
https://road.cc/content/news/206693-man-protests-bike-laneby-rowing-it
Was he just ill-equipped or did someone steal his wheels?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMZSwYf7jxQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE0N5uc1v6Q
Now just make it backwards
Now just make it backwards-facing for that authentic rowing experience
lesterama wrote:
As requested (from an entire site devoted to these things):
Amazing. Not sure which is
Amazing. Not sure which is madder: that or this
lesterama wrote:
Clearly yours is madder. Although it’s more sociable to talk face-to-face yours appears to requires mounting the stoker on the steerer in place of handlebars.
Of course if you can find a stoker with suitable handlebar mustache this wouldn’t seem so surreal.
More comfy than a sofa for
More comfy than a sofa for cycling, I reckon:
All the exercise machines are
All the exercise machines are now passing you at speed (just waiting on some handcycle options):
chrisonatrike wrote:
A few years back in a sportive I saw someone doing the entire distance on an Elliptigo like in your picture.
Miller wrote:
Ha! Yes, me too. It was in the Manchester sportive that was run by the ‘Great run’ people. Closed roads and a section straight through Media City in Salford – strange sportive really!
Saw one doing the Bryan
Saw one doing the Bryan Chapman 600km on one too.
One of my neighbours has one
One of my neighbours has one of these. My dog started barking when he saw it. He’s used to bicycles and sometimes comes for runs alongside me and my son when we’re on two wheels in the park. But he evidently thought this thing was just wrong.
OldRidgeback wrote:
Probably for those who’d rather run than cycle but would like lower impact. Good effort to those who took on distances with these things. I guess it’s slightly easier than roller-skis due to bigger wheels / less rolling resistance / better handling of bumps.
Still… I think your dog is onto something.
Forgot the step machine –
Forgot the step machine – here the “cricketstepper” but others available – indeed you can have a scooter version too. It looks sort of like the return of the treadle bicycle but in reverse.
Decathlon now stock Schwinn
Decathlon now stock Schwinn kids bikes
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/schwinn-24-campus-kids-hyrbid-bike-black/_/R-p-X8657127?mc=8657127&c=BLACK
Not really Road.cc foder, but showing off as that’s my boy modeling it
I don’t have a bell
I don’t have a bell permanently on my road bike, but on my gravel bike, which tends to be used on shared paths, I have a Spurcycle and a Timber! bell.
Got to say, the Timber! bell is great, people certainly look for you once they hear it, possible out of concern that a maurading cow or goat is barrelling down the track behind them.
Never used to have a bell as
Never used to have a bell as a road cyclist but when I took up that gravel thing I quickly realised that I needed one to alert dog walkers of my approach. It’s mostly received in good humour although you get the occasional pinched face pensioner looking daggers at you for existing.
I have a bell. Several times
I have a bell. Several times I have used it and got one of two responses:
1. “No need to be impatient”
2. “Where’s your bell?”
WTF?
Simon Yates’ Paris-Nice
Simon Yates’ Paris-Nice chameleon impression
“The year is 2050, an unnamed bicycle manufacturer has just revealed its integrated rider x frame, all safely above the UCI weight limit, of course… “
Sorry, they are about 80 years late.
Flann O’brien addressed this matter in ‘The Third Policeman’; written 1939-1940 and finally published in 1967. I thought this was prescribed reading for all cyclists.
Re the Kingston awful cycling
Re the Kingston awful cycling infra, those cars are illegally parked because of the double yellow lines, which cover all the carriageway, not just the area to the centre of the road. It looks as if there might be some kind of parking provision though, but I can’t look at the possibly bigger pictures on twitter, as I’m still banned, pending the appeal which they will investigate as soon as possible, for calling Cristo a cretin on 29th December 2020.
I’m no kerb nerd but isn’t it
I’m no kerb nerd but isn’t it “it depends…”? Per e.g. here do there not have to be signs? Plus can’t you always claim “boarding” (if anyone’s in vehicle) or better “loading” – unless there are also kerb marks and loading sign restrictions? That’s leaving aside the “now try getting anyone to do anything about it” part, the police won’t…
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love these to “do what it says on the tin”. Or even if this was like in The Netherlands where I believe the “presumption of parking” is generally reversed e.g. you can only park where specifically signed. That cleans up a lot of the streetscape!