Is 38-hour ride reasonable in lockdown?; Mavic in receivership; Vine goads ‘road tax’ crowd; Keen cyclist, Kraftwerk founder Schneider dies; Pop-up bike lanes; Video: PCSO has bike taken; BW Cycling gives 100 bikes to hospital staff + more
SUMMARY
Police organise hill climb
Not on purpose – but in closing Cheddar Gorge to motor traffic and not cyclists over the Bank Holiday weekend, they might find they have one on their hands.
(That’s a joke. Don’t head over there on your special climbing bike you’ve drilled a bunch of holes in.)
Cllr John Woodman, Cabinet member for highways and transport at Somerset County Council, told burnham-on-sea.com: “With fine weather forecast for the Bank Holiday there are concerns that some irresponsible drivers may decide to head to Cheddar Gorge.
“Public safety is our priority. With our police partners we reviewed last weekend’s closure and know it was welcomed by local residents.”
“The great majority of people understand the need to stay at home and save lives during the coronavirus pandemic.”
Superintendent Mike Prior added: “We’re quite clear though this restriction is for motorised vehicles and to stop non-essential travel as the Government has set out.
“This doesn’t prevent people exercising but we are advising people to be reasonable and to do this as close to home as possible.
“However, the closure does seek to prevent people travelling unreasonable distances and in doing so putting both themselves and other members of the public at a heightened risk.”
Update on the guy who took that PCSO’s bike
Thanks to shishman below the line who points out that Thames Valley Police has charged a man in connection with the Slough incident we reported at 8.33am. (Actually, it was 9.33am, our timings are knackered.)
Hassan Ali, aged 23, has been charged with a section 4a public order offence and one count of taking a bicycle without consent.
He was arrested on Wednesday and has been bailed to appear at Reading Magistrates’ Court on June 4.
Zwift makes changes to ‘Meet-up’ feature
The changes should make riding with friends easier
If you’ve ever tried to organise a ride with friends in Zwift, then you’ll know that actually riding together can sometimes be tricky.
Zwift has made some changes to their meet-up feature, giving you more options of where to host your meet-up, allowing you to see only the other Zwifters in your meet-up and increasing the number of people that you can invite from 50 to 100.
The increase in locations now means that you can host meet-ups in Innsbruck, London, and New York to Richmond, Yorkshire, and Watopia.
Seeing only the other rider in your meet-up will make it a lot easier to stick together, though it’s only the in-game view that has changed. You’ll still be able to receive and give a ride-on to the wider Zwift community.
Have you already tried it out? Let us know in the comments below.
Pop-up bike lane plans for London (plus ideas where they could go in other cities)
There are some predictably uplifting replies to this tweet…
NEW: Temporary bike lane plans for London. So far Euston Rd & Park Lane named – could become permanent : pic.twitter.com/ggruuejfn4
— Tom Edwards (@BBCTomEdwards) May 6, 2020
Meanwhile, this project flags (a) roads on which there is high cycling potential, and (b) road space that could be re-allocated in the context of increased demand for cycling to keyworker workplaces.
Where should 'pop-up' cycleways go? We analysed data for 10 cities, 4 of which are shown below, finding that there are 'spare lanes' near city centres in all of them.
Results + interactive maps: https://t.co/W3BCzJTE2L
More: below… pic.twitter.com/w7KClXTsCq
— Robin Lovelace @robinlovelace@fosstodon.org (@robinlovelace) May 7, 2020
Cycling aerodynamics startup Body Rocket raises Over £255,000 in crowdfunding
Brighton-based tech start-up Body Rocket has raised £255,424 on Crowdcube. They were looking to raise a minimum of £80,000, but went past that inside a day.
The firm has developed an on-bike device that provides real-time aerodynamic feedback to the rider.
. from Body Rocket CrowdCube on Vimeo.
More new gravel goodness from Specialized
Specialized has a new Rhombus tyre that can be found on to the new Diverge Evo flat bar bikes which they’ve just launched.
The new tyres are available separately and it looks to be set up for a mix of faster gravel and road riding.
Specilaized says that the new Rhombus “is aggressive with closely spaced centre knobs for better rolling, serrated transition knobbles for confident cornering on mixed surfaces and a large shoulder for better traction in the corners.”
Read Mat’s first ride review of the Diverge Pro Carbon
The tubeless ready tyre will be available in 700 x 42 and features Specialized’s Gripton compound along with an Endurant 60 TPI casing.
You can read more about the new Diverge gravel bikes here and we’ve already given a pair to Stu for testing, so check back soon for that.
Iconic French bike wheel and components brand Mavic goes into receivership
Mavic, one of the most famous brands in cycling and maker of wheels ridden by everyone from novice cyclists buying their first road bike to world and Olympic champions and Tour de France winners, has gone into receivership.
Sold last year to a US-based private equity firm by former parent company Amer Sports, the wheels and components firm, which employs around 200 people, reportedly made a net loss of €12.8 million last year on turnover of €70 million.
We’ll have more on this story on road.cc in the morning.
7 May 2020, 08:33
7 May 2020, 08:33
7 May 2020, 08:33
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Latest Comments
@DrG82 is a liar. First off, who here said they got everything right? "I wouldn’t say that the Welsh government got everything right." The article contains commentary saying they didn't get everything right. I suppose saying something obviously true sets you up to lie later... "They applied the speed limit changes uniformly, without considering exceptions" You are a liar. The Welsh Government guidance contained rules that would allow councils to exempt roads from 20mph. As an example, much of my route into town stayed at 30 and 40mph because my council bothered to apply the exemptions. I particularly enjoyed your unsupported claim of "This has been a massive waste of money". The article states "collisions involving all road users on 20mph and 30mph are down 37 per cent, with casualties dropping by 35 per cent". I'd say a one-off cost of changing road signs for a permanent 1/3rd reduction in collisions is gonna save the taxpayer a chunk of healthcare costs and owners and businesses a chunk of money not fixing car bodywork. Nothing but contempt for you. Take your lies elsewhere.
With so many people using and looking at mobie phones whilst driving and other distractions, may I suggest you always wear Hi viz and stay at home.
The design of the "car" has played a role in this. SUVs and what the Americans call "trucks" are exempt from the pedestrian safety regulations which apply to passenger cars. Had the victim been hit by a car designed in the past twenty years he would have been "scooped" onto the bonnet and either over the roof or off to one side. Still a serious injury risk and potentially fatal but they have the benefit of those passive safety systems to improve their chances. With vehicles with such a high bonnet line as this Volvo has what tends to happen is the person bounces off the bonnet and falls on the road in front of the vehicle where they're then run over. This has happened time and time again and is becoming more of an issue as the numbers of vehicles exempt from the safety standards grows.
@Accessibility for all Reducing the speeds wouldn't have helped in this case as the driver was reported doing 65 in a 40 zone on the approach to the junction, his driving described by the witnesses as erratic and evidently had no intention to stop to give way even though he had been warned by the passenger who apparently shouted "bike" three times just before the collision. He would have likely flown through that junction even if it was traffic light controlled with a red light for him at the time. In my own experience the entire area i.e. east of Lymm towards Warburton and along Dunham Road all the way up to Altrincham and past into Hale Barns, all those wealthy, posh settlements around Manchester Airport are best avoided by road cyclists. A disproportionally high number of psycho drivers must for some reason live in that area because every single time I went there on my road bike in the past, I either got harassed myself or witnessed proper dickhead driving - speeding, close passes, overtaking into oncoming traffic or round a blind bend, accelerating towards pedestrians already crossing the road, you name it. I gave up road cycling in that area years ago and only use the local TPT these days.
In respect of the murder charge: based on him hitting Mr Mullins and making no attempt to help him (this killing him), how would the case compare to a hit and run driver who seriously injures or kills a cyclist, knowingly, and flees the scene without helping? Would this make the cut for a murder charge? Or is there something very different going on here that I’m missing? Genuinely curious because I don’t recall there being a murder charge before for this kind of thing unless it was premeditated. In fact, in my experience most cases like this seem to go the opposite way - where the driver can merely say the sun was in their eyes and get away with a slap on the hands.
@Rendel Harris...and there was me dishing out the praise!
@polainm He must also be an already hardened criminal. It wasn't mentioned during the court proceedings to avoid influencing the jurors and ensuring he had a fair trial, but he had been released from prison shortly before this incident and was couch surfing at his cousin's house days before. Just look at his face, he's only 35, but looks older than his victim who was 56. Must have spent half his adult life in prison.
@jaymack They did offer him manslaughter though but he declined to plead guilty. Without wanting to seem curmudgeonly, yes great that they preferred the most serious charges but hard to see how they could have done differently considering that Richardson got out of the car, saw Mr Mullins was stuck underneath and then got back in and carried on. That clearly moved it above anything that falls under death by dangerous driving.
@thrawed Agree - the UK winters are utterly grim; grey, wet & windy. Not the type of weather you really want to go out and ride. Everything get covered in filth, and takes time to clean it after a ride. Oh for colder, drier & crisper days which can be enjoyable to be out in.
@ymm In my view, lax sentencing of dangerous drivers, especially where cyclists are involved, makes the judge, jury and CPS complicit in UK driver culture. This driver is a sociopath.
33 thoughts on “Is 38-hour ride reasonable in lockdown?; Mavic in receivership; Vine goads ‘road tax’ crowd; Keen cyclist, Kraftwerk founder Schneider dies; Pop-up bike lanes; Video: PCSO has bike taken; BW Cycling gives 100 bikes to hospital staff + more”
It’s all very well telling
It’s all very well telling the cretans to go home, but they might have trouble finding a flight to Crete at the moment.
Just as well they weren’t
Just as well they weren’t from Lesbos!
Ha!!
Ha!!
Yeah thanks for the casual
Yeah thanks for the casual racism there, clearly looking for a job with the bigot press. You even have some racist readers who approve.
Have i wandered into the motoring section here?
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
Ha ha – thanks! I finally got
Ha ha – thanks! I finally got that even though I also spotted the original spell error. Thanks for the thoughtful response Rich, I’m going to leave it in as I think it could serve well as an example;
How to Respond to Others in a Thread When you May Have been Wrong/ Foolish / Bit of a Prat / Make a Wrong Call
It’s kinda telling that I was presuming it to be racist on road.cc rather than a pun, I often feel uncomfortable with the way commenters go about ‘debate’ here as it can just fall into frothing male teaches other frothing male a lesson in ….
Think you misunderstood the
Think you misunderstood the joke here.
And a few minutes later this
And a few minutes later this happened …
https://twitter.com/Foxtrot_Cop/status/1258103935287558147
Update from TVP Slough
Update from TVP Slough
https://twitter.com/TVP_Slough/status/1258351133065609216
CygnusX1 wrote:
I am pretty sure that teenagers (especially boys) are now the main vector for the virus now. The number of times I have passed half a dozen youths ‘just out for a walk’ lately is amazing. Somehow I doubt you lot are a ‘household.’ Go straight to bed with no Tea!
Though I did see some very
Though I did see some very strange non “street party” street parties commencing and being set up today, seemingly paying lip service to the social distancing guidance, but with people definitely leaving their homes to meet up.
I hope none of them had it, otherwise there will be entire streets and little villages emerging as Hot Spots in the coming week.
Same here. Apparently there
Same here. Apparently there are 8 people in a household of four
Also if you speak to your neighbour and there is a fence between you, that defeats the virus !
Leaving a legendary band over
Leaving a legendary band over a bike pump is possibly the most rock and roll thing ever????????????????????????
Nice MGIF so I can pull in at
Nice MGIF so I can pull in at the bus stop overtake from that Paris bendy bus.
Good to see that even having bollards doesn’t prevent L’homme de Camione Blanc from using the bike lane as his personal delivery bay. Vive le Delivery Schedule!
A great bit of trolling by
A great bit of trolling by Jeremy Vine. Had me fooled at first that the car brigade had turned him only for him eventually confuse them by explaining how he’ll be paying his fair share of ‘road tax’.
Also enjoyed the discussion from the guy insisting cyclists wear hi-viz because he couldn’t see them. He never could quite answer that old philosophical cyclist question, “well if you can’t see them how do you know they are there?”.
I received an email from
I received an email from Evans this morning telling me that all of their stored are now open, but with some by appointment only.
Been a bad week for
Been a bad week for septugenarian keyboardists….
And Guitarist’s arses.
And Guitarist’s arses.
I think there’s no doubt the
I think there’s no doubt the 500km’er is a prize twonk. Both for breaking lockdown, by riding, then presumably wild camping, then stupidly uploading it to Strava.
Needs a slap with a sweaty chamois.
it’s clearly a ride to
it’s clearly a ride to ‘capture’ explorer tiles, zig zagging through the blocks
Absolutely this – especially
Absolutely this – especially the posting to Strava. Won’t be suprised to see this ride (and possibly this road.cc page) show up on the Daily Fail tomorrow. Stoking up more yet more hatred against cyclists.
From a rational standpoint (something the Daily Fail isn’t known for) you could argue the risks are small and not related to the distance:
I’m sure the rider is a fit and competent cyclist and can handle most roadside repairs themselves, is clearly used to long distance rides, and unlikely to have come within 2 metres of anyone on Lincolnshire’s rural roads.
So the real risk to the NHS is if they were involved in a collision – which quite frankly would be most probably due to #CarOwnerVirus and could just as easily happen 1 mile or 100 miles from home.
But if we all just decided for ourselves which rules we followed, and which we can ignore where would we be? Oh hang on, have you seen the latest figures on speeding motorists.
CygnusX1 wrote:
“CarOwnerVirus”. I’m stealing that.
Go ahead. Although you’re
Go ahead. Although you’re really just receiving stolen goods – I nicked it from here…
(shocking bit of driving)
Hmm – it’s a good effort, but
Hmm – it’s a good effort, but it looks in that case that they were CarNotOwners.
Stolen cars, stolen hashtags,
Stolen cars, stolen hashtags, and stolen bikes. What’s the world coming to?
Agree! Whilst any cyclist may
Agree! Whilst any cyclist may not see anybody on a mammoth ride in the country, and may argue “where is the risk?” We’ve been asked to ‘stay at home’. A 38 hour ride is most definitely not following this. I’d even think anything over 3 hours is pushing it.
Velophaart_95 wrote:
Makes no sense. All this is just distraction from the real scandals of the pandemic amd you’re playing into it by demonising some free spirited person who went for a solitary ride somewhere quiet, in the teeth of arbitrary, unevidenced rules. But judge away if it feels good.
The only explanation for
The only explanation for posting the 500km ride is to stick 2 fingers up at the government’s lockdown strategy. With an added “Fuck you very much” to the NHS and all those affected by Covid.
Good for you matey. Give yourself a shiny for striking a blow against the jackboot of oppression. I’m sure at some point after this is all over your stylised likeness will adorn t-shirts and your hometown will erect a statue in your honour.
Prize prat in my opinion, for the avoidance of any doubt.
The only explanation for
[quote=Mungecrundle]The only explanation for posting the 500km ride is to stick 2 fingers up at the government’s lockdown strategy. With an added “Fuck you very much” to the NHS and all those affected by Covid. Good for you matey. Give yourself a shiny for striking a blow against the jackboot of oppression. I’m sure at some point after this is all over your stylised likeness will adorn t-shirts and your hometown will erect a statue in your honour. Prize prat in my opinion, for the avoidance of any doubt.
you come off as a bit of a prat yourself. The guy is doing no harm to the nhs or anyone else. Ever thought of thinking for yourself?
Feel free to organise an
Feel free to organise an annual pilgrimage to the shrine.
Don’t knock it. We might get
Don’t knock it. We might get a 2 day religious holiday out of it.
https://lcc.org.uk/articles
https://lcc.org.uk/articles/mayor-announces-radical-plans-for-london
Not sure about that Audax;
Not sure about that Audax; pretty sure I saw it attack the USS Enterprise once.