Anger over suspended sentence for unlicensed driver; Pendleton hears “rapid crunching gears” when overtaking men; Cllr’s child threatened by 4×4 driver; José Mourinho cycles around training pitch; Froome “can’t wait for August” + more on the live blog

Been carefully drawing up your list of six friends and relatives to meet up with in a park somewhere all weekend? Here’s what you missed on road.cc…

Police escort group of four cyclists off Cheshire motorway

Nottingham cyclist hospitalised after axe attack

Manchester plans £10m bike hire scheme – says it’s learned from Mobike failure

Primal launches Dominic Cummings eye test jersey

‘Group rides that break rules reflect badly on cycling’ says Cycling Ulster as it tries to manage different guidelines either side of the border

Police retrieved “five pieces of fingers” from the Humber Bridge after a cyclist fell off his bike

Cyclists to be allowed back into Richmond Park – but only at weekday commute times for now

For all the motorists that moan about being delayed by a minute or two before they can overtake a cyclist or horse rider…

Footage from a motorway, where there are no cyclists or horse riders.

The vast majority of delays are caused by motorists.pic.twitter.com/OnlSxUvTn1

— Roads Policing Unit (RPU) – Surrey Police – UK (@SurreyRoadCops) May 30, 2020

…and they cite this footage from a motorway at the weekend (curious since the country is supposed to be in lockdown) as to why it’s not cyclists or horseriders that do 99.9% of the ‘holding up’. While some questioned their use of a motorway traffic jam to illustrate the point, they say that it simply served to show that “the vast majority of queues are caused by motorists and their own actions.

We get numerous meaaages from drivers complaining they are ‘held up’ by cyclists or horse riders and make them late.
The vast majority of queues are caused by motorists and their own actions – a point illustrated well by a big queue on a motorway.

— Roads Policing Unit (RPU) – Surrey Police – UK (@SurreyRoadCops) May 30, 2020

‘You could have lost your life there, boy’ said the 4×4 driver to my 11 year old son on his bike. He was far left on the road, her car was so big it straddled across the lane. And she not only expected him to stop for her but then told him that she has nearly killed him.

— Jo Rigby (@Jo_Earlsfield) May 31, 2020

Earlsfield Labour Councillor Jo Rigby claimed that her son was told this by the driver of a 4×4, even though he was ‘far left on the road’. She continued: “And on his own street. Which is 20 mph.  And was built in 1895.  Simply no room for these enormous vehicles.”

Not her kid. She would have detached from it if she had of killed him. This is the anti-cyclist narrative and why we need the media to stop feeding it.

— Jo Rigby (@Jo_Earlsfield) May 31, 2020

She then says that anti-cycling narrative in the media is to blame for the driver’s poor attitude.

 

 

 

 

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the whole point of these special orange tubes is that they’re small enough and light enough to carry around unnoticed and not to be discarded in a field for a sheep to choke on because it’s too much bother to put back in a pocket. i understand your frustration in realising that you spent £20+ on an inner tube that was a piece of shit but you could have rolled it up tiny and taken it home (just like you carried it all the way here), which is what i had to do for you. i can’t even fix it and keep it myself as it needs special patches so in the bin it goes. what a waste of everyone’s time and money that’s been #packitoutpackithome #dontbeadick #noexcuses

A post shared by VecchioJo (@vecchiojo) on May 30, 2020 at 2:14pm PDT

A public service announcement from our own Jo Burt, who had to carry home someone’s very expensive broken inner tube because they couldn’t be bothered to do it themselves… it’s not hard, is it?

Numerous people have commented on Leicestershire Live‘s coverage of the incident and court report that 37-year-old Aaron Baxter’s sentence appeared to be extremely lenient, after he was given an eight month suspended jail term and a 12 month driving ban for aggravated vehicle taking, causing serious injury by dangerous driving and driving without a licence or insurance. Baxter had a previous conviction for driving without insurance in 2015, and didn’t reapply for his licence.

Baxter hit the 22-year-old victim on 19th August last year as he attempted to overtake another vehicle, and failed to spot the cyclist indicating to turn right as he pulled back in. The cyclist was knocked off his bike and was sent into a wall on Narborough Road South in Leicester, after Baxter hit him at around 29mph. He suffered what were described as horrific injuries, including a bleed on the brain, a broken eye socket and damage to both knees. He was placed in an induced coma at the scene before being taken to hospital in Coventry, where he spent two weeks recovering. He then spent six more weeks in recovery at home, and suffered from stress and anxiety.

Father-of-six Baxter stopped at the scene but then drove off in the white transit van, saying he had to take his children ‘somewhere’. He then returned – testing negative for alcohol – and it was learned that he had taken his father’s van without permission for the journey.

During sentencing, Judge Dean said that the fact Baxter was the victim of an alleged knife attack that almost cost him his life in October last year – three months after his motoring offence – was “powerful mitigation”, explaining: “I don’t know whether the fact you were a victim of an unrelated knife attack in October has brought home to you how the cyclist must have felt as a consequence of your actions in August last year.

“There was more than momentary inattention – you didn’t see him in time to avoid striking him.

“You accepted responsibility for what happened at the scene and expressed remorse.

“You’ve been punished by being the victim of an unrelated crime since this and are still affected by that and your life has been changed by the attack upon you as well.”

Today would have been the finish of the 103rd Giro d’Italia in Milano. The winner would have received this exact jersey, the only difference being the team logo in the window on the front. Shop now https://t.co/WkVXWiPJVY#castellicycling @CastelliCycling pic.twitter.com/9l1y9bn19w

— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 31, 2020

Yesterday would have been the final day of the 103rd Giro d’Italia, which hasn’t yet happened for obvious reasons… and now you can now buy an exact replica of the pink jersey that the General Classification winner would have been proudly wearing on the podium. It comes in the high-end ‘Race’ or more wallet-friendly ‘Competizione’ flavours, priced at £130 and £87 respectively on Castelli’s website.

All being well, the rearranged Giro will take place between 3rd-25th October.

 

 

 

 

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Just another day in lockdown was asked if I had any current portrait shots……. Not really. The way I appear has changed so much in the last few years, and to be perfectly honest, I rarely get recognised. I think I am quite nondescript….which is no bad thing. It allows me to be a chameleon which I enjoy. . If I’m out about on my road bike and I overtake a man for example …. I will hear a rapid crunching gears as they try to “make amends for it” occasionally combined with a mumbling of “I must of been daydreaming…like they need an excuse!” Usually followed with a pedal mashing (usually short lived) stomp back past me. It doesn’t bother me I think it’s funny. I’ve always been underestimated because of the way I look….one day I want to be intimidating…..but for now this is what I look like, a self portrait. . . @leica_camera @rubytuesdayashh #dontjudgeabookbyitscover #smallerthanithought #cantseetenacity #cantseedetermination

A post shared by Victoria Pendleton C.B.E (@victorilou) on May 29, 2020 at 4:50am PDT

The two-time track cycling Olympic gold medallist turned jockey has kept a lower profile as of late, and in one of her latest Instagram posts says that she rarely gets recognised nowadays: “I think I am quite nondescript….which is no bad thing. It allows me to be a chameleon which I enjoy”, she says.

Pendleton also says that when out riding her bike on the road, some males don’t appear to take it too well when she overtakes them:

“If I’m out about on my road bike and I overtake a man for example …. I will hear a rapid crunching gears as they try to “make amends for it” occasionally combined with a mumbling of “I must of been daydreaming…like they need an excuse!” Usually followed with a pedal mashing (usually short lived) stomp back past me.

“It doesn’t bother me I think it’s funny. I’ve always been underestimated because of the way I look….one day I want to be intimidating…..but for now this is what I look like, a self portrait.”

In a post from yesterday, Pendleton also let her Insta followers in on her familiar-sounding lockdown routine: “I get up, drink coffee, eat porridge, train and then faff about the house, making more mess to try and make less, do gardening, admin, housework, DIY…days punctuated only by food not time. Trying to keep busy and resist snacking…..or get lured back into trying (one more time) to make a kickass sourdough!”

The feat of ‘everesting’ – which is cycling or running up the same hill continuously until you’ve rode the equivalent of Mount Everest’s 8,848m of vertical ascent – is so popular it’s almost worthy of its own newsfeed nowadays, as official everesting record keepers Hells 500 revealed last night that they’ve now got 7,000 successful attempts on record. The rules are that riders must use the same hill from start to finish, and the finish time is the total time taken to complete the elevation with breaks included… meaning that Bora-Hansgrohe’s Emanuel Buchmann failed in his attempt at the weekend, which was celebrated as an ‘unofficial world record’ when it was claimed he finished in 7 hours 28 minutes.

Hells 500 said: “An amazing ride, no doubt, but it isn’t a new Everesting record:
1) Unfortunately the first climb was on the other side of the mountain, which means these were not repeats of the same climb
2) The quoted time of 07:28 is moving, not elapsed time
3) Putting aside the ‘Everesting’ component of it, for interests sake the moment the 8848m/29029ft was hit was actually 07:51:42″

That means the record set by pro mountain biker Keegan Swenson less than two weeks ago still stands, at 7 hours 40 mins.

Also over the weekend just gone, Simone Temperato completed a ‘base camp’ ride (4,424m) while doing a wheelie. It took him over nine hours in total, and you can find the stats on his Strava profile.

Jose out there cruisin’ in training pic.twitter.com/ByluAfPwjf

— B/R Football (@brfootball) May 21, 2020

The football manager – currently boss at Tottenham Hotspur – revealed that the reason he was spotted on a vintage bike at the club’s training ground in Enfield was because the players are so spread out due to social distancing regulations.

He told Sky Sports: “There was a period where we were starting 9am in the morning and finishing 5pm because by having players training individually, we had to organise lots of different slots, and the boys were coming at different times.

“We were really tired for a certain period. You can find a funny picture of me on a bike because we covered a huge distance and without the bike, I couldn’t control all of the sessions at the same time!”

Forced to work 9 till 5? Barbaric eh José!

Limerick cyclist trampled on by horses being raced by boys

A CYCLIST was hospitalised after being knocked off her bike and trampled on by horses being raced by boys. It occurred on the UL river walkway / cycle path at 4pm on Thursday. Kate Twohig twe https://t.co/qU6IPSFvwf pic.twitter.com/9T5DGKDKBp

— TWDII (@TWDI_Ireland) May 31, 2020

The terrifying incident on a shared use path in the Irish city of Limerick occurred last Thursday, when Kate Twohig was trampled on by horses being raced by youths.

She wrote on social media: 

“I was cycling along the bank and I had one of my biggest scares. Three boys on horses were racing down the path. They narrowly missed hitting a girl around three-years-old but the father managed to grab her in time.

“They collided straight into me. I was knocked from my bike and trampled.

“I was unlucky to have met them, but extremely lucky to come away with just the injuries I have.

“My knee was split open. I was very lucky as if it was half an inch higher or lower my tendons and ligaments would have been in trouble. I’m a keen marathon runner and cyclist. I was just coming back from a knee injury before this.”

Tour do Fred: centroavante inicia maratona de 600 km e cinco dias para se apresentar ao Fluminense https://t.co/mbb0xerJkL pic.twitter.com/KSVvmZfpoL

— globoesportecom (de 🏠) (@globoesportecom) June 1, 2020

36 year-old Fred – who has 39 caps for the national team – is returning to Fluminese, where he played between 2009-2016… and he has revealed that he will get there by embarking on the Tour de Fred, cycling 600km from Belo Horizonte to Rio to raise funds for those in need during the pandemic. Fred will donate a basket of essentials to families in need for every kilometre travelled and will also direct any extra fees generated through partnerships to charity, according to Explica. 

Fred also said that he will not be revealing his route or locations during the journey due to the need for people to stay at home during the pandemic.

WTF?!! Yet another driver judge (?), letting a fellow horrific driver off scot-free. We will never have justice for people cycling, as long as it is administered by drivers. @StopKillingCycl

— Donnachadh McCarthy (@DonnachadhMc) June 1, 2020

Disgraceful

— moderniseyourstairs (@valeofwigan) June 1, 2020

road.cc readers have reacted with anger to the sentencing of Aaron Baxter (covered further down this page) who despite having no license or insurance, and driving in a vehicle he had taken without permission, avoided a custodial sentence. The judge took the unusual step of taking into account an incident that happened after the offence, when Baxter was stabbed and needed a life-saving operation to survive the injuries. The just said his circumstances were “powerful mitigation”, and also heard from Baxter’s defence that he was “extremely remorseful” over his actions.

Don’t the prosecution have 28 days to appeal an unduly lenient sentence?https://t.co/HEN9YfpyZ5

— Theo (@Theoonabike) June 1, 2020

Some are calling for an appeal against the sentence, which the prosecution can do if they feel it was unduly lenient.

Head over to eBikeTips to read all about the curious tale of Uber’s sale of their Jump e-bike operation to Lime, which they insist had to involve the scrapping (or ‘responsible recycling’) of up to 20,000 perfectly rideable e-bikes.

I can’t wait for August 🙏😊🗓 @UCI_cycling #cycling pic.twitter.com/ANFsf54pLW

— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) June 1, 2020

With the Tour de France supposedly beginning at the end of August, is this a warning shot fired towards his GC-contending teammates Egan Bernal and Geraint Thomas, or are we reading too much into things? It was reported Froome could be mulling a mid-season transfer in time for this year’s postponed Tour, but so far nothing has come of the rumours.