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
@Xenophon2 I agree. I tried a different route from Garstang to Leeds on Saturday to avoid the Death Highways from Barnoldswick to Skipton. I had to turn off Hazard warnings on the 1040 because people have ruined the hazard facility by warning about every pothole, instead of only the bad ones. UK roads are full of them, and the red Hazard was turning up constantly. Similarly, radar is useless in the UK because nutter drivers are everywhere and the alarm will be going off all the time. I'm convinced this is a good radar and it's what I'd get if I had any use for it. I'm pretty sure it would have warned me about this Stagecoach bus on The Lancashire Terminator Express, and lots of the other vehicles as well- then what? ttps://upride.cc/incident/px12dnv_stagecoach41_closepass/
It's just the same on cucumber growers websites. Only last week, a Tuesday I think it was, there was an article on growing courgettes. I don't grow courgettes. I was livid and thought I was going to spontaneously combust. Luckily my wife knows the signs - steam rising from my boots, speaking in tongues- and was on hand to throw a bucket of water over me. She always seems to have a bucket of water handy. And as for red tomato growers websites? Don't get me started.
What size of golf balls though?
Given that humour, as defined by no less than Charlie Chaplin, is someone else's misfortune. it is clear that anyone who makes a joke should be fired. Which reminds me of the terrible joke about what the ring master said when the human cannonball died "It'll be difficult to find another man of his calibre." Fire me now to save time.
@Mr Blackbird Yes, I've been on the rugby field when a sudden storm of about 3mm stones erupted, like being shot by a thousand air rifles at once and as you say, the temperature plummet was incredible. Memorable also for the sight of props who hadn't broken above a jog in two decades and who thought you were a wuss if you went off for a mere broken arm suddenly doing creditable Linford Christie impressions in the rush for shelter!
@Rendel Harris I just finished watching a recording of today's stage and the hailstones appeared to be somewhere around blueberry sized. Possibly large enough to cause somebody to crash if they rode over one at the wrong angle. A few years ago I was riding a time trial on the A428 in Cambs. It was around 18 - 20 deg C. At around the half way point the heavens opened. The temperature must have dropped by about 10 degC almost immediately. Within about a minute, I was completely soaked and riding through about 10mm deep water on the carriageway, with my visor fogging up. The worst thing though was the feeling of shock. Had I been near the HQ I would have abandoned. The Vuelta riders must have experienced something much much worse than me, especially as they will have been acclimatised to 30+ degC in recent weeks. Hopefully none of them will get ill as a result of today - it was only stage 3, so pressed their immune systems aren't yet too stressed.
Sounds like this bike should have 5 stars 🤩…why only 4?
Poor you! 😂 Humans have been cycling gravel roads since bikes were invented. Tarmac is not the definition of road.
Hailstones the size of golf balls Ryan? It was bad but I've seen a "golf ball sized" hailstorm (in Spain, as it happens, from a safe shelter) and they smash glass and can knock people unconscious, often with skull fractures - no way would the riders have been able to carry on until they found shelter in that type of storm, it would have been every man for himself under the nearest tree or rock.
Oh, get over yourself. For many of us, the shit state of UK roads means that a gravel bike IS a road bike now.
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.