“Is he delivering pizza?”: New Jersey cycle courier taking shortcut across frozen river makes the news; “It’s lighter without grease”: Cyclist who pressure washes bike after every ride divides opinion + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"Is he delivering pizza?": New Jersey cycle courier taking shortcut across frozen river makes the news
Yikes…
This footage has been shared by the New York Post, a New Jersey cyclist, believed to be a courier or food delivery rider, spotted riding across a frozen river. The scene unfolded to the equal parts shock, confusion, amusement and concern of onlooking workers.
There doesn’t appear to be much more information than that, the rider apparently making it off the ice fine. “Employees on break in Red Bank couldn’t believe their eyes when a man pedalled a bike across the frozen Navesink River, sparking disbelief, profanity and jokes about a pizza delivery gone wrong,” the New York Post told its YouTube subscribers.
One of the workers was heard comparing the rider’s set-up to the iceboats on the river at the same time, the wind-powered boats in the background that sail on ice using metal runners.
“The iceboats make sense,” the worker said. “They’re skimming on the top part. He’s on a bicycle, in a river… he does not have a wetsuit on… he’s an idiot…”
Now, there are plenty parts of the world where cycling on ice is a thing, in the depths of Russia for example, but we’re guessing from the reactions it’s less of a thing in New Jersey. Whoever got that pizza better have left a tip.
Meanwhile, in Canada…
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Biniam Girmay sprints to victory in first race for NSN Cycling
Dream start! 🔥
Biniam Girmay wins the opening stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana — his first victory since 2024 and his first as an NSN rider 👏 pic.twitter.com/qDcVk2A17M
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) February 4, 2026
Not too much to say about the racing action this week, but certainly noteworthy that Biniam Girmay is up and running for NSN Cycling in his first race for the team. Even if it is just the 2.Pro Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana we’re talking about, and a sprint stage with climber Aleksandr Vlasov in 5th, it’s still Girmay’s first win (somewhat unbelievably) since stage 12 of the 2024 Tour de France. Imagine hearing that day, his third stage win at that year’s Tour, that it would take 19 months for his next race win full stop.
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Are you the next Jonas Vingegaard? Visma-Lease a Bike invite applications to 'Talent Day' trials
Visma-Lease a Bike reckon youth cycling in Europe limits the opportunities for lightweight climbers to stand out. It’s a hypothesis that makes a lot of sense, especially here in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, and several other major European cycling nations, where amateur and youth racing is often circuit-based and rarely has any significant climbing, let alone mountains.
So, to give the next generation of climbing specialists a chance, the team organises ‘Talent Days’ in the Belgian Ardennes. These feature standardised uphill tests “to offer talented cyclists the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities in an objective, performance-focused environment”.
> Could Swansea University academics help Ineos Grenadiers spot the next Tadej Pogačar?
Brace yourselves for this next detail… male riders born between 2008 and 2011 and female riders born between 2008 and 2009 can apply… we’re all getting old, aren’t we?
The team has invited riders to apply, with staff to assess each application and invite riders to Talent Days.
“All participants receive a personal performance feedback report,” the team says. “Top-performing male riders may be invited for further monitoring and a U19 training camp. Female riders will receive individual follow-up regarding development opportunities within the team’s talent pathway.”
Any 2008-born readers out there? We suspect not but all the application info is on Visma-Lease a Bike’s site.
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"It's lighter without grease": Cyclist who pressure washes bike after every ride divides opinion — but is it really that bad for your bearings?
To pressure wash or not to pressure wash? That is the question…
It’s up there with disc brakes and socks over or under bib tights in the pantheon of great cycling debates. Naturally, the discussion today was split between the two great pressure-washing camps: the ‘chill out, it’s fine’ crew, versus the ‘won’t someone please think of the bearings’ side. Personally, I’ve got little skin in the game on this one. I’ll occasionally use a garden hose for a quick rinse after a particularly grimy ride (that’s on my bike, I should add, before any of you jokers in the comments get any ideas), but don’t have access to a pressure washer and certainly don’t swear by the hose, it’s just sometimes convenient.
Anyway, as I’m sure you’re aware, others are more opinionated on the pros and cons of cleaning your bike. We suspect the person who shared the post knew exactly what they were doing when they posted the pic and caption, and boy did it get a response on this Reddit thread…
“It’s lighter without grease”
“The option to shorten the life of all the bearings”
“definitely gonna get someone T R I G G E R E D”
“Doesn’t this blast the grease out of bearings?”
For some comedic relief, I’ll drop in the comment from someone who reported their wife gets mad when they do this too… but maybe “because the bike is on a trainer now. In the living room”.
Back to the serious stuff, someone who said they are a UCI-licensed mechanic got involved and reckons there is “no problem” with pressure washing your bike: “Washing a bike is a normal part of routine maintenance. There is no problem here and I can tell that you take care of your equipment.”
One reply came: “Yes, washing a bike can be ok if you regularly maintain everything and have a good maintenance routine. It definitely can also decrease service intervals on some parts unless you are careful. Seen this first hand over the last couple decades of wrenching. If you are wrenching for UCI racers then the bikes you are working on see far more regular maintenance than 99.9% of non-professionals.”
Likewise, someone else suggested that “you wouldn’t ask a NASCAR or F1 mechanic for longevity advice for your Honda Accord, you probably shouldn’t look to a pro tour mechanic on how to make a bike last either”.
I told you things kick off when it comes to bearing longevity discussions…
Brands such as Shimano, Trek and Ribble have told us previously that they don’t recommend using pressure washers on their bikes and components. Those views were largely down to damage concerns, although Hunt told us while jet washing “can be extremely useful for cleaning” it “generally is not recommended as best practice for bike maintenance”.
“We find the issue often isn’t the process of jet washing itself, but in the aftercare,” a spokesperson told us. “It’s crucial to ensure that components are adequately dried off and re-lubricated after jet washing before storing the bike. Simply putting the bike away without proper cleaning and drying can lead to issues down the line.”
CeramicSpeed also couldn’t recommend the practice: “Just as when riding for an extended period in heavy rain or extreme riding conditions, the bearing seals and grease protection can be overwhelmed by the volume and pressure of water exerted against them.
“While our SLT-equipped bearings (headset and pivots) contain solid lubrication [SLT stands for Solid Lubrication Technology] that cannot be washed out by force, our traditional hand-built hybrid ceramic bearings would just need to be serviced and refilled with the appropriate grease following moisture ingress typical of pressure washing.
“All of our bottom bracket, hub, and pulley bearings can be serviced and cleaned by accessing the face of the bearing and removing the seal. We recommend properly cleaning the bearing to ensure fine contaminants are not forced in during the pressure washing, and then applying the clean UFO grease of choice and reinstalling or replacing the seal. All in, it would be more time-efficient to avoid pressure washing around the bearings when cleaning the bike, but with the appropriate service and aftercare, we do not need to worry about pressure washing around our bearings.”
What I’m taking from all this is it can be fine, but equally it can cause problems if done incorrectly? Do you pressure wash your bike?
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@jackcycles I'm not sure my grandchildren got that memo. Cycling should not be just for hardened road warriors.
Chrisonabike There are a number of police forces in England and Wales that are using portable testing equipment already... How effective it is another matter, I haven't looked into the results of failing (I would hope they just seize and crush the motorbike without any faff but I am sure there are appeal processes, promises not to use them on public roads etc).
Woah there - a precision-engineered European-made product, with unparalleled adaptability, is somehow a ‘rip off’? Compared to what - Temu? As per the article, most quality through-axles go for £50-60+, but aren’t adaptable and don’t provide any stand or trailer capability. If you want to balance your £3-4-5k suspension or carbon bike, or bikepacking setup on a budget product subject to highly focused stresses, fair play. Cycling’s a broad church.
@eburtthebike I've found Spanish drivers to be almost entirely excellent around cyclists.
I agree, the study was made after cycle paths that had been introduced in Berlin during the 70’s and 80’s caused a big increase in cycling deaths. It is an interesting study for cyclists to read in order to know what dangers exist at badly designed junctions. Here in Paris we have very few bi-directional paths. The ones I have cycled on have no building entrances or courtyards (so no cars crossing the path) and every junction is traffic lights to prevent accidents.
We have enough regulation. They're running a motorbike without insurance/registration and possibly without a licence, and the punishment for being caught with all that is pretty severe already. The problem is lack of enforcement.
In my experience with anything less than one of those serious mid-bike two-foot kickstands, a wall / tree / hedge is the better option, or the bike will sometimes show you the alternative and lie down by itself. Maybe I've got panniers that are just too large and the wrong balance of (too much) cargo though? And of course Edinburgh streets are great at funneling gusts of wind...
I agree there's a clear legal line * but I do see something here. Like much tech it's entirely opaque from the outside (without even invoking things like the VW emissions cheating).** I know in NL they have trialled semi-portable "test stations" to check max motor speeds. However with the latest "but there's no money" crisis I can't see that over here. Indeed it's hard to see the police being motivated to do any more roads policing, with this even further down the priority list. Hope I'm wrong... While I guess many of us *would* be fine with EAPCs as a means to attract "non-cyclists" ... perhaps there's an "attractive nuisance" element to this? We're ushering people into an apparently effortless, easy and minimal consequence mobility mode without the "learning experience" of managing a lighter, unpowered machine on roads. And it's still (busy) *roads* where the new power-assisted riders will often find themselves. Not like in more advanced countries where people usually cycle in much safer and more controlled environments. OTOH we should always balance such concerns against "but cars and full-power ICE motorbikes now" though! Number plates, licences and insurance aren't necessarily mitigating that well... * As soon as there are laws games will be played. How long can you be above the "continuous rate power" for? Can we have *multiple* legal motors on one machine? ** Is the power / speed actually regulated by software, and how long will that keep a child armed with the internet from unlocking it?
And maybe a planning obligation to have traffic Marshalls controlling access out of the site not obstructing the path and restricting it if cyclists are likely to be obstructed …one can hope
I'll stick to my low rider with Karrimor Kalahari dry bag panniers and Karrimor Kalahari barbag thanks.
19 thoughts on ““Is he delivering pizza?”: New Jersey cycle courier taking shortcut across frozen river makes the news; “It’s lighter without grease”: Cyclist who pressure washes bike after every ride divides opinion + more on the live blog”
So whose to blame for that borked wordpress update in the middle of the night? Did you have to roll back the database? I noticed some of the latest articles are missing from the homepage.
Someone pressure-washed the site at the end of the day.
That makes sense: I’ve lost my bearings.
Oh wow. Properly threaded replies in comments?
I preferred them when they were press fit?
Everything should be there, some bits are missing from the homepage though. Steadily working through the issues, apologies.
The rest I can live with, but “2 like” is egregious.
Even worse, when I click the ♥, it changes to 3like, not 3 like.
I can see and comment on some threads but on others (like todays Blog) I can’t see any comments!
Hopefully they’ve fixed it I’m seeing and commenting in here now!
that’s odd
Hmmm – An automated WordPress update has failed to complete! Please notify the site administrator.
Oops – can’t edit that message to add that you can get that if you click on the “Edit your profile” link at the bottom of the comments.
i.e. https://road.cc/wp-admin/profile.php
Just to see if things are working, I’ll say that I’ve never washed my gravel bike since it arrived in October 2019. I leave that job to the rain.
Shame on you!
Ah but… I’ve just had to replace my El Cheapo rear wheel. The hub came with the bike, but the rim was replaced nearly 3 years ago. The ratchet ring was worn so the pawls couldn’t engage. There was only a single bearing in the freehub, at the outer end, and it was horribly knackered and crunchy. A new freehub wasn’t available anyway, but the ratchet ring was what finished it off. The punchline is: but the 2 sealed bearings which transmit the load to the through-axle were perfect and smooth, and there was no mess in there to indicate water ingress. I attribute this to an absence of washing, power washing in particular.
It’s 2005 all over again with this site ‘redesign’
He’s pedalling, so it can’t be food delivery.
Can someone explain why a man cycling across a frozen river – one so frozen many others are using it for recreation, as a perfectly normal thing to do in regions with deep winter freezes – is “Yikes!”?
This seems to be just another case of “Oh no… a cyclist doing something normal! Cyclists are so stupid!” general anti-cyclist nonsense.