Welcome to Thursday’s Live Blog with Liam Cahill, Alex Bowden and the rest of the road.cc team
Peleton raises $1Billion; Zwift World Champs for 2020; (More) trees in cycle lanes; Are you smug cycling guy at work? Ouch! in Austrian + Lego; Surf & more in the Live Blog
All the news from the site and beyond
Thu, Sep 26, 2019 20:31
SUMMARY
26 September 2019, 20:31
Are you this guy?
26 September 2019, 20:31
What's wrong with this photo?
Embarrassing, fear-lingering FB post by NSW Road Safety getting some great responses. pic.twitter.com/WPzxr8vZhu
— Stephen B (@BicycleAdagio) September 26, 2019
New South Wales has a law that states that all road riders must wear an approved cycle helmet.
But the NSW Gov page should have been more specific as, instead of the answer they were looking for, they instead got some artistic critique from amateur photographers
Damn that background light source resulting in high noise levels…
26 September 2019, 20:31
Heading towards the weekend like...
— David.AR.Tri (@DavidARTri1) September 25, 2019
We’re probably supposed to tell you not to try this at home
26 September 2019, 20:31
Swiss Road Worlds course revealved
2020 Martigny Worlds RR route unveiled yesterday. (original profile from @laflammerouge16) pic.twitter.com/UcOKaE2Uqo
— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) September 26, 2019
Someone had to do it…
26 September 2019, 20:31
Meet the Backstedts
The Telegraph’s got an interview with Elynor Backstedt, who won bronze in the junior time trial this week.
The main thing we learned was that pretty much everyone in (or even tangentially connected with) the family appears to be a cyclist.
It’s almost a surprise that the dogs aren’t on bikes.
Now there’s a picture for the Backstedt family album! @GentWevelgem winners podium #BestVersionOfYou pic.twitter.com/MfxteglQv7
— Storey Racing (@StoreyRT) March 31, 2019
26 September 2019, 20:31
Red light jumping motorist who blamed cyclist for collision jailed
Walsall motorist accelerated when he saw lights change to amber.
26 September 2019, 20:31
Gee, this looks safe...
A newly painted cycle facility in @CityWestminster …. outside A school.
The electric car stored on the left taking the space that would offer a child a protected route. pic.twitter.com/ryR31sziWj
— Chris Kenyon (@BoxbikeLondon) September 25, 2019
26 September 2019, 20:31
Uh oh...
TEAM UPDATE @Yorkshire2019
Unfortunately, the Junior Men’s Squad won’t be racing today @NYorksPolice have arrested the team for their excessive speed which may effect the chances of other riders getting a result #NYPatwork #Yorkshire2019 pic.twitter.com/JXLykO3w33
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) September 26, 2019
Bet the French reported them for having illegally-round wheels.
Good luck to the GB lads racing today!
26 September 2019, 20:31
There's a two-wheeled answer to this
This is why I don’t feel any need to be excited about electric cars. So the engines will get cleaner – sure as night follows day, as digital cameras replace 35mm film. But as far as space usage goes – if we don’t rethink our streets, this is what we will get. pic.twitter.com/ti5fpu1xxz
— Lego Road Safety & Planning (@PlasticPlanners) September 25, 2019
26 September 2019, 20:31
Trees in cycle lanes
A new segregated cycle lane being built in Norwich has trees planted in the middle of it.
Trees appear to be quite a common feature of cycle lanes. We’ve been sent a few others from around the country.
Feel free to send us more examples. We can feel a Top 10 coming…
It’s a tried and tested design. pic.twitter.com/FK4X4MgyNT
— Gary Outram (@KentRangerGaz) September 24, 2019
Ah, there’s nothing like a quality car park for creating horrendous infrastructure. This gem is from Dartford where, presumably, they’ve never thought of giving cycles priority over cars.
To fix this one, all they’d have to do would be to move the give way markings on the road back, allowing the cycle lane to flow uninterrupted.
That would make one stop per lane, instead of multiple stops in one lane.
London says “hang about”! pic.twitter.com/egQ9FYyLvr
— Åñƌﻷ ṔԻӗϵċę (@andy_fab) September 24, 2019
We’re just going to suggest that the left lane of the cycle path could have gone around the tree? Revolutionary.
Having riders switch into the opposite lane before a blind corner isn’t going to end well.
Clearly been looking to Bristol for inspiration! pic.twitter.com/yrlCXLX6rd
— Rick Hurst (@rickhurst) September 24, 2019
No excuses, Bristol council, the tree has obviously been there for quite a few years. If you can’t go through it, under it, or over it, then surely they could have gone around this one?
Jitensha flagged this gem.
At least the surface around the trees have been covered with cobbles.
26 September 2019, 20:31
Orro unveils updated Gold STC and new Venturi Tri bikes
British brand Orro has revealed a completely redesigned Gold STC gran fondo bike along with triathlon-friendly versions of the Venturi STC and Venturi STC Evo aero road bikes.
26 September 2019, 20:31
Geraint Thomas apparently pining for the balmy dry climate of Wales
26 September 2019, 20:31
Latest UK road casualty stats reveal cycling is safer per mile than walking
“Statistically speaking you would have to ride round the world 35 times before you’d run the risk of being killed or seriously injured.”
26 September 2019, 20:31
Quinn Simmons of the United States is junior road race world champion
2019 UCI Road World Championships Junior Men Road Race WORLD CHAMPION! #Yorkshire2019 pic.twitter.com/BN8dF580sb
— UCI (@UCI_cycling) September 26, 2019
Alessio Martinelli of Italy came second, followed by another American – the quite magnificently named Magnus Sheffield.
26 September 2019, 20:31
What's the Austrian for OUCH!?
Riding a bike may be safer than walking* but clearly no-one’s told Austrian stunt rider Fabio Wilmer who’s just released a video of the out takes from his last actual vid (we’re assuming they’re the outtakes). All we can say is the man must be made of rubber. *maybe
26 September 2019, 20:31
There’s going to be a Zwift World Championships in 2020
Zwift and the UCI have agreed to host the first ever UCI Cycling Esports World Championships in 2020.
The idea was floated last year and British Cycling held eRacing national championships in March.
“We have been looking at the emergence of esports for some time with Zwift,” said UCI president David Lappartient.
“As the governing body for the sport, we need to remain open to technical innovations and change, and to remain relevant to all audiences. Zwift is a platform that is enjoyed by people of all ages and abilities.”
Lappartient said there was “a particularly exciting opportunity” to attract a younger audience to cycling through esports.
“Together we have an opportunity to support a fitter youth, through the creation of a new sustainable sport.”
Zwift are pretty happy about the development, as you might imagine.
“The beauty of creating a new cycling discipline is that we have a blank slate and no limitations,” said Zwift Esports CEO Craig Edmondson.
“Parity is incredibly important to us at Zwift and together with the UCI we will be working to create equal competition for both men and women. This means the same number of races, the same coverage for races, and of course, equal prize money. We will set the standard for fair play and equality.”
26 September 2019, 20:31
Peloton raises… One. Billion. Dollars…
Sticking with pedalling indoors, it was announced this week that Peloton – the virtual spin class startup – has raised over a billion dollars in its initial public offering (IPO).
A billion.
With a B.
Peloton Interactive Inc. was founded in 2012. It produces a £2,000 home exercise bike that enables users to take part in virtual spinning classes for a further £40 a month.
As well as its bike and classes, Peloton also sells a treadmill and streams yoga, meditation and bootcamp classes.
The firm hasn’t turned a profit for at least the past three years.
Reuters reports that it priced its IPO at $29 per share, which was at the top end of its target range.
26 September 2019, 20:31
First look: Bkool Smart Air Lite trainer
Bkool has a new direct drive smart trainer called the Smart Air Lite that allows you to ride in the brand’s own virtual world as well as on Strava, TrainerRoad and other third-party platforms. Priced £750, it is considerably cheaper than the existing Smart Air.
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Son of a Marathon runner, Nephew of a National 24hr Champion, the racing genetics have completely passed him by. After joining the road.cc staff in 2016 as a reviewer, Liam quickly started writing feature articles and news pieces. After a little time living in Canada, where he spent most of his time eating poutine, Liam returned with the launch of DealClincher, taking over the Editor role at the start of 2018. At the weekend, Liam can be found racing on the road both in the UK and abroad, though he prefers the muddy fields of cyclocross. To date, his biggest race win is to the front of the cafe queue.
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Latest Comments
mdavidford 29 seconds ago
Seems odd, given the name.
mdavidford 4 minutes ago
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0413/9597/8398/files/BZ-4141010006-04_T7.pdf?v=1762220488 Shimano 50/34 52/36 53/39 54/40 11-30 11-34 11-36 SRAM 46/33 48/35 50/37 10-28 10-30 10-33 10-36
Miller 14 minutes ago
I've had a Komoot subscription for a few years. I won't be using the ChatGPT thing as everything about AI is objectionable, but that apart, the remark above about 'don't send me down a muddy gravel track' is absolutely on the nose. I first got Komoot as a way in to my local off-road routes, which did work, so if I'm planning a road ride I have to examine the Komoot route carefully as it does default to the shoddiest surface available. I think Komoot was always off-road focussed so this is simply in its nature.
Rendel Harris 19 minutes ago
Can it go lower than that? Also, what's the maximum rear cog one can configure? One would assume with a virtual set up like this that the range is more or less infinite but "up to" makes it sound as though there are limits.
Eton Rifle 1 hour ago
Correct. The Guardian is not a source of scientific data. It is a newspaper that REPORTS on the findings of scientists. And scientists are almost unanimous that anthropocentric global warming is real and represents a thereat to humanity. Anyway, this article isn't from the Guardian, so I don't know why you're wanging on about it.
OnYerBike 1 hour ago
Have the people complaining actually tried the ChatGPT for Komoot app? It doesn't sound like it to me. Because if they had, they would have much more specific complaints about how crap it is. (I'm going to confess I'm a bit of a hypocrite - I haven't tried it myself, as I don't have a ChatGPT account (I do have a Komoot account). But plenty of examples on the internet of people trying it and getting routes that have seemingly little relationship to the prompt supplied).
Chris RideFar 1 hour ago
“planning the race for the morning hours and avoiding the afternoons could substantially increase rider and spectator safety” but it would reduce the appeal to sponsors and TV broadcasters, who pay the bills and so are far more important than the riders and spectators. It's therefore not going to happen. Even making a last-minute switch in extreme situations probably won't work because of the amount of logistics and people involved - the TdF is SO much bigger than the Tour Down Under.
Rendel Harris 1 hour ago
Ah, the scientific rigour of the climate-change-denying right, a blank assertion with no evidence offered coupled with an insult. Pathetic.
mdavidford 1 hour ago
Or, in higher temperatures, use ice jackets and ice bundles which can be replenished from the support car.
tomlew 3 hours ago
A cooling sleeve cools you down for maybe 30 minutes and then it becomes a hassle, it also prevents heat leaving the body as an "empty" sleeve now becomes an extra layer. It does make some sense for a time, but in the long run it's just problematic to use. It's just much easier to just pour water over your body.
15 thoughts on “Peleton raises $1Billion; Zwift World Champs for 2020; (More) trees in cycle lanes; Are you smug cycling guy at work? Ouch! in Austrian + Lego; Surf & more in the Live Blog”
Peloton article on the Beeb
Peloton article on the Beeb at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49776849
(Warning – includes scary photo of Richard Branson on one of their machines!)
Quote:
Love the Smug Cycling Guy
Love the Smug Cycling Guy video.
“So it saves, like, twenty
“So it saves, like, twenty seconds?”
“Eighteen!”
Brilliant
If Lego Road Safety and
If Lego Road Safety and Planning understand the problem, why doesn’t the government, local planners, MPs, councillors etc etc?
Electric cars aren’t going to change anything, except possibly to make driving more popular, because “hey, I’m not polluting am I” so people will feel more comfortable driving. They are a dead end being promoted by ignorant people and those pretending to be green. It’s bad enough when you can hear a car revving up behind you, imagine when they are silent.
burtthebike wrote:
I’ll happily trade the possible inconvenience of silent running cars for all the fumes that traditional engines put out. If I get surprised by a silent car behind me, then that just means that I have to look round more often. It’s not as good as people not driving so much, but at least the air would be a bit cleaner.
hawkinspeter wrote:
A fair point, but if electric cars only solve a single problem that profligate car use causes, is it worth it? Deisels are being phased out, all cars have catalytic converters, lead disappeared a long time ago and cars are much more fuel efficient now, so while exhaust emissions from them are not pleasant, they’re vastly better than they used to be. Electric cars won’t cure congestion, climate change, danger, injury, death, social division, health or obesity, but they are being promoted as the answer to everything. If the money spent on them was transferred to cycling, the effect would be profound on all of those problems, including pollution at point of use.
And where will we get the energy to power them all? Any significant shift to e-cars would put demands on electricity production that are beyond it’s capacity.
Electric cars are a sop to the greens and virtue signalling, nothing else.
burtthebike wrote:
In general, I agree with your points, but if people are going to be buying new cars anyway, then at least electric cars are a bit better for the environment. As they use electricity, they can in theory be powered by solar/wind/squirrels etc. so they are much more flexible. Also, they can made to recover energy lost through braking which again is a slight improvement over infernal combustion engines.
Ultimately, we need to be redesigning our cities around people and not cars (electric or otherwise).
burtthebike wrote:
I agree EVs are not the solution. An EV takes up the same space as an ICE and both have the capacity to injure and kill, and EVs still pollute, locally and remotely.
What’s so disappointing about the move to EVs is the wasted opportunity to do something different. Every car advert these days, including those for EVs, seems to be selling SUVs. These urban tanks, often ferrying one person’s arse around, do not belong in a town or city. EVs bring an opportunity to redesign the shape of cars and make them far more suitable for urban travel, particularly on shorter trips. They don’t even have to look like cars! One-seater, two-seater, three-seater……small, compact, agile. But no, longer and wider and taller and heavier SUVs is what the people want, apparently. Bloody things should be crushed. And don’t get me started on EV charging bases taking up pavement space and charging cables draped across pavements…..grr.
Sorry abot the rant but I really hate SUVs.
dobbo996 wrote:
No need to apologise for the rant, it’s spot on. As you say, the size of these 1-occupant “urban tanks” (an apt description) shows that the owner/PCP victim doesn’t care about anything or anyone but themselves, just like the ones driving diesel or petrol equivalents.
The manufacturers have been selling SUVs by the bucketload so the natural progression is to promote e-SUVs, retaining all the inherent problems those vehicles bring bar one (OK, two – fuel purchase and exhaust emissions). They do not want people to use e-bikes, pedal cycles or public transport. They do not give a toss about saving the planet or improving public or individual health. They are only interested in making as much money as possible. And to be fair, the shareholders will say that’s exactly what they should be doing. 🙁
There is a fair difference in
There is a fair difference in climate between Yorkshire and Monaco.
I do want an EV because of
I do want an EV because of the reduced ‘local’ emissions, and it’s far more logical in principle to work on reducing emissions at the generation stage which then effectively reduces the emissions of all cars that are active, than it is to have 20 million cars driving around for 20 years emitting at the level that was OK when they were new. Yes, the pollution caused by battery production is a concern but overall it’s better technology.
And I’m really looking forward to the self-driving tech reaching real maturity – as it inevitably will. I’m an enthusiastic driver and even so there are so many journeys where I honestly just want to say ‘take me there’. The other day I drove home from an airport after an overnight flight where I didn’t really sleep, and even if the car only did the motorway part for me, I could have had a kip.
We have sold all our ICE,
We have sold all our ICE, moved over to full electric vehicles. We used a smaller capacity EV to prove we could live with the car day to day. After 30000 miles in 18 months it was clear we could live and use an EV
CXR94Di2 wrote:
Despite my misgivings that EVs are not the solution, we’ll probably move to one when we next change our car, in two years. It definitely won’t be an SUV! Mrs Dobbo (principal driver in our house) currently runs a Fiat 500 (okay, hands up, it’s actually an Abarth 595) which is a great size for urban use (kids gone, two cats). There will be some practical problems to overcome though. We live in a mid-terrace house so how and where to charge the thing will require a bit of sideways thinking. We’ve got charging points in work, which is great, but I’m retiring next year…… Not to worry, one charge should last us well over 10 days use, so we’ll probably be able to work something out.
My daughter, always planning ahead, has just had her garage refurbished, including installation of a charging point. Will be a good selling feature, she says. She’s not wrong.
dobbo996 wrote:
This is a perfect example of how infrastructure needs to change in step with the move to EVs. There are thousands of petrol stations across the country and none of them popped up spontaneously., they were built. Charging points should likewise be built – in every multi storey car park, every shopping centre, every supermarket – just topping up for an hour here and 30 minutes there will for most people mean no need to ever charge at home.