“E-Bikes are bicycles, not motorbikes”: EU Court rules e-bikes as not capable of causing “damage comparable to motorcycles”; Chris Froome’s new bike with disc brakes; £32k karma for not restoring cycle path; Penny-farthing stunts + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"Wait until the pi***ng rain, they’ll be no cyclists…"
“Wait until the pissing rain, they’ll be no cyclists…” pic.twitter.com/4CKyYMyMnq
— Rory McCarron (@CyclingLawLDN) October 12, 2023
"Karma is a fine!": Housing developer fined more than £32k for failing to restore cycle path
Isn’t that how the new Taylor Swift song goes?
Ah I may be wrong about the lyrics, but I can perhaps assume that’s what folks over at St Modwen Homes might be singing in their sleep, as the housing developer has been fined a whopping £32,000 for not putting back a cycle path properly in the village of Norton Fitzwarren, despite repeated requests by Somerset Council over two years.
The developers had been authorised to carry out work in the area in 2021 by the Council which involved digging 20m down and connecting a manhole to the storm drain.
St Modwen pleaded guilty to four offences committed under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 at Taunton Magistrates Court and was handed more than £32,000 in fines and costs.
The court heard that St Modwen Homes carried out street works at Great Western Way in Norton Fitzwarren, and failed to reinstate white lines on the carriageway and footpath, along with red tarmac on the cycle path. The company failed to respond to various notifications sent by Somerset Council urging it to complete the reinstatement properly, and so failing to fulfil its duty in the interests of safety.
Average Tadej Pogačar moment
Dudes being dudes, Tadej Pogačar being Tadej Pogačar…
this is the realest tadej has ever been pic.twitter.com/2cKzd2aBtp
— elena (@secondoelle) October 13, 2023
Stockholm hoping to transform its city centre by banning cars and increasing cycling and walking space
The Swedish capital is hoping to make its city centre a safe haven for cyclists and pedestrians as well as reduce pollution and slash emissions with the help of a ban on petrol and diesel cars, with the new rule coming into effect from 31 December 2024.
Traffic councillor and MP Lars Strömgren wrote on Twitter: “In Stockholm, everyone should be able to breathe the air without getting sick.” He added that he envisions a city with “outdoor seating and plenty of space for walking and cycling”.
Stopp för fossilbilar i Stockholm city!
I Stockholm ska alla kunna andas luften utan att bli sjuka. Bullret ska inte tvinga människor att välja bort att vistas på gator och torg. Istället ska det vara en folkfest med uteserveringar och rejält med plats för gång och cykel. pic.twitter.com/cjt85lDUWw
— Lars Strömgren (@larsstromgren) October 10, 2023
The car ban covers 20 blocks in Stockholm’s city centre, including streets in the area within Kungsgatan, Birger Jarlsgatan, Hamngatan and Sveavägen.
Once the ban comes into force at the end of 2024, only electric vehicles (EVs) and low emissions gas vehicles will be allowed to drive in the zone. Plug-in hybrid heavy goods vehicles will also be permitted.
The 180,000-square-metre zone could be extended, pending discussions in early 2025.
It was initially set to be introduced in Gamla Stan – the city’s Old Town – too, but those plans have now been scrapped. Instead, the area will become a largely pedestrianised‘urban environmental zone’, where 130 parking spaces will be removed to make space for walking and cycling, Swedish broadcaster SVT Nyheter reports.
Near Miss of the Day 879: Driver makes very close pass on cyclist but only gets warning letter (includes swearing)
A cyclist who was about to turn left when he received a very close pass from an impatient driver who was going straight on at the junction concerned has told road.ccthat he is unsure how much more it takes for a motorist to be prosecuted following such a manoeuvre after police told him that they had sent a warning letter after reviewing the footage.
Chris Froome's new ride... with disc brakes and questionable colourway
Froomey Froome’s looking to get back to racing and this time, as we reported yesterday, he finally, FINALLY, seems to have welcomed disc brakes with open arms.
Great visit to @FactorBikes HQ in Taiwan 🇹🇼 this week. Look forward to racing on this beautiful bike soon! 🦏🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/hdxde50YVz
— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) October 13, 2023
But at what cost? That colourway? Pardon my strong opinions, but my eyes hurt looking at that bike. When Froome finally decides to make one correct decision with the disc brakes, he stumbles again with that garrish design.
It's chocolate week from Monday! Here are some health benefits from chocolates for cyclists...
I know I know, I don’t need another excuse to indulge in my sweet tooth and open another chocolate bar, but hey, turns out there’s some other health benefits you can enjoy by eating some of the good brown stuff, other than the obvious fuelling purposes on rides!
A cycle and e-bike insurer cycleGuard has discovered what benefits does chocolate have for cyclists. Chocolate, which is made up of a higher percentage of cocoa can be an effective recovery source after exercise (great!). Cocoa also contains antioxidants which can help to treat inflammation and muscle soreness. And of course, it has enough carbohdrates that can help you refuel and replace muscle glycogen after a tiring ride.
> Official: Daily chocolate consumption makes you a better cyclist
Besides, an American study carried out in 2017 found that dark chocolate, along with almonds, managed to reduce the levels of “bad” cholesterol in the body. While dark chocolate on its own is not going to build-up the power in cyclist’s legs for those long and arduous hill climbs, it may be able to help them prepare for it. Cocoa also contains a number of amino acids, such as leucine, which are needed for muscle growth and repair.
And finally, a study by Kingston University investigated the effect that flavanols had on the body during exercise and had nine ‘moderately trained’ cyclists replace a snack with 40g of dark chocolate in their daily diet for two weeks. Dark chocolate is particularly rich in flavanols, a group of natural compounds from plants which have antioxidant-like effects on the body and can also be found in things like tea.
The study suggested that the riders may have become more efficient at their own oxygen usage after adding dark chocolate to their diet. It may be that, for short-duration, moderate-intensity exercise, dark chocolate might help people exercise for longer.
> Have a break – have a Kitkat (what pro-riders do in the off-season)
Well as is with anything, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that excessive intake of chocolate can of course, produce results counter beneficial to the entire of point of having chocolates for health purposes. Dunno just felt that had to give that disclaimer here, perhaps more for me than for anyone else…
School run cycling mum assaulted by driver in front of her children
.jpg)
A West Midlands woman who accompanies her children to school by bike has spoken on social media of the moment she was assaulted in front of them by a driver who was apparently frustrated that he had been unable to overtake them in his car.
“The man assaulted me after telling my 2 children to go to school as their mom was going to get beat up,” says Nikki Dee
> School run cycling mum assaulted by driver in front of her children
Hackney cyclists to protest following two deaths in borough in recent weeks
Cyclists in the London Borough of Hackney are to hold a protest calling for safer streets after two people were killed while riding their bikes there in the past six weeks, and say that repeated calls for safety improvements to be made have been ignored.
> Hackney cyclists to protest following two deaths in borough in recent weeks
Are they really dead? Is it really time to start digging the grave for rim brakes?
Promethean fire for some, the bane of existence for others (looking at you Froomey), disc brakes versus rim brakes is a saga that seemed to persist for eternity in cycling circles. But as time has passed on, one has come out on top against the other, and thankfully, in my completely biased opinion, it’s looking more and more likely to be the former.
When even the British National Hill Climb champion has switched to disc brakes, what reason (other than, say nostalgia), have you got to still have the back of your beloved rim brakes?
(Well we all know we will back here again soon and all of you will be on my door with pitchforks if Andrew Feather ends up failing to defend his title later this month…)
"E-Bikes are bicycles, not motorbikes": EU Court rules e-bikes not capable of causing bodily or material damage comparable to motorcycles, cars or trucks
Kicking the day off with a landmark ruling from the other side of the Channel, the Court of Justice of the European Union has declared that e-bikes are bicycles, instead of motorbikes because “it is not propelled exclusively by mechanical power”.
The Court, ruling on a case brought forward following the death of a cyclist using an e-bike in Bruges, Belgium after being hit by a motorist, was faced with the question whether an e-bike can be classified as a “motor vehicle”.
The ruling said: “The bicycle’s motor merely provided pedal assistance, including through the use of a ‘boost’ function. Moreover, that ‘boost’ function could be activated only after the use of muscular power (by pedalling, by walking with the bicycle or by pushing it).”
> Amsterdam looking to set a 20kph speed limit on e-bikes
The legal classification of the bicycle in question turned out to be crucial in order to determine whether the victim was the driver of a ‘motor vehicle’ or whether there would be eligibilty for automatic compensation as a ‘vulnerable road user’ under Belgian law.
The court concluded that e-bikes “do not appear to be capable of causing bodily or material damage to third parties comparable to the damage that may be caused by motorcycles, cars, trucks or other vehicles propelled exclusively by mechanical power.”
Earlier this year, road.cc had found out that Hammersmith and Fulham Council had implemented a ban on e-bikes and e-scooters from part of Thames Path, after the council approved a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO), although those using them as mobility aids, or individuals such as parents or carers transporting children were exempt.
> E-bike safety: What to avoid when buying an e-bike, battery or charger
At the consultation stage, 68.2 per cent of 1,233 respondents were in favour of the proposed prohibition of the use of e-scooters and e-bikes, with 27.3 per cent voting ‘no’, 3.8 per cent ‘maybe’ and 0.7 per cent ‘unsure’.
Addressing the proposed PSPO for ‘reckless cycling’ H&F had ultimately decided to listen to concerns about “discouraging the use of pedal cycles as a healthy means of transport to and from work”
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £1.99. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
54 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
See Hambinis recent you tube video on the quality of BMC frames.
Jetmans Dad "Food delivery riders in particular are riding overpowered 'eBikes' that are basically mopeds … powered only via the throttle without pedalling at significantly more than 15mph. Problem is they look like normal bikes/ebikes and not like mopeds so that is what people describe them as." Indeed, mistaken identification of e-motorcycles as bicycles is a significant problem because different regulations and training apply, so different enforcement. Even worse are the illegaly modified e-motorcycles that are not operated as such, without training, insurance and compliance generally. Zero hour employment contracts and employers taking no practical responsibility make it worse yet. Then there's the health impacts on customers that fall on taxpayers through the NHS.
I might be cynical about Police re-organisations but how many new senior officer posts will be created in this re-organisation.
I have to put it back into mode eight so rarely that I will have to open up the manual. Normally when I stick it on the bars when I had to send my r4 back to Hope. Or if it seemed to go a bit weird. Can't remember the last time.
I have nothing but praise for my helmet mounted Exposure Axis, running eight years now. Battery only does two and a bit commutes now, so I'm going to either upgrade to the Diablo or see if they will upgrade the battery. If they'd released their STVZo road/4k lumens when your giving it some going downhill off road light I would have bought it first day. Mode 8 for me, low low, good mid and top high, decided after a couple of weeks of use and I've never changed. I use the button or the tap function (Tap 2 for me) to cycle through the power levels. Exceptional helmet light. The button is it's weak point, but very livable, I am glad of the tap function. It can sometimes take a few presses to get the flashing bit with its press and hold, but not for too long because that's off.
Hard to see who replies on any thread. I only visit the site a couple of times a week as it is not usable.
People who want to travel safely in a 20 mph area, so that no motor vehicle tries to overtake them, need to be capable of 20 mph so get no assistance at all from a legal e-bike that provides 15.5 mph. So the e-bike regulations are broken because they encourage unsafe overtaking by impatient drivers (5 mph). In 30 mph roads, the 10 mph difference would still allow safe overtaking to be completed in short distances. So the low speed 15.5 is less safe in practice not safer.
I have been doing some cross-checking between my records and the police dataset How do you do that? The spreadsheet has been designed to ensure that you can't. There's no unique code for each incident, so why haven't they included that? There are many incidents dated from the same location on the same day by the same despised reporter category (cyclist) for the same offender category (such as 'car'). The great majority of intended (as usual in these misleading 'databases', it's not the real outcome) outcomes is the entirely useless 'warning letter'. Is there anybody out there who believes that the average police officer could rouse either the wit or the willingness to determine whether the offender has received a warning letter previously?! Some people will be receiving numerous such letters to throw in the bin, which encourages them to repeat the offence. As for the claimed 'positive outcome'!- only the most deluded could believe that
I pretty much have stopped bothering. I also find when I come to the site it loads the previous days page and I have to refresh to see today’s front page.
I regularly submit reports to A&S Police, and keep detailed records of what I have submitted, and the responses. I have been doing some cross-checking between my records and the police dataset. I'm afraid correlation is patchy at best. So, I am not confident in the dataset's accuracy. Further, where I can be fairly certain of a correlation, it's been largely warning letters issued for very clear video evidence of hand-held mobile phone use whilst driving. No wonder I see so many doing so. They have nothing much to fear. :o( Should I keep bothering?
54 thoughts on ““E-Bikes are bicycles, not motorbikes”: EU Court rules e-bikes as not capable of causing “damage comparable to motorcycles”; Chris Froome’s new bike with disc brakes; £32k karma for not restoring cycle path; Penny-farthing stunts + more on the live blog”
Quote:
Think “he was entitled to” should be changed to “his relatives are entitled to”, given that the poor blighter’s dead. Sensible decision from the court, as long as an ebike is limited to a speed that any reasonably fit able-bodied person is able to attain on a non-powered bicycle there is no reason to treat them differently in such circumstances.
Good point. Should be
Good point. Should be categorised relative to the force of impact of its mass at the top speed it could potentially attain.
“” Moreover, that ‘boost’ function could be activated only after the use of muscular power (by pedalling, by walking with the bicycle or by pushing it)””
After all, motorised vehicles can also only attain their speeds after use of muscular power – from the arm/hand required to switch the thing on…
This is absolutely peak “as a
This is absolutely peak “as a cyclist myself”: driver of an uberwankpanzer gets out and confronts cyclist, telling him “Don’t fucken look at me” and justifying his ire by explaining “I cycle every single day of ma life!” Truly bizarre.
https://twitter.com/AlanMyles8/status/1712567297821598062
Rendel Harris wrote:
It’s not typical “as a cyclist myself” though as, judging my his attire, he probably does cycle (although maybe off-road?) as opposed to just meaning I went to Center Parcs once.
Steve K wrote:
I was thinking spin class at the gym maybe? But yes, probably one of those who puts his MTB on the back of the wankpanzer and drives long distances to ride through forests, cursing all the pesky road cyclists who get in his way.
Knickerbockers – Glorious.
Knickerbockers – Glorious.
Why is the Man from the Micropenis Mobile dressed up like Sir Hilary Bray from a 1969 Bond film?
Fancy dress party?
Rendel Harris wrote:
Ah yes Glasgow, where making eye contact with a stranger results in mortal combat. Whaes like us.
Can I have the ;TLDR on that
Can I have the ;TLDR on that one? I was watching with the sound off and I cannot for the life of me understand what the cyclist could have done to trigger the motorist… They seemed to spend the entire video clip in two deparate lanes of the road/.
brooksby wrote:
The cyclist was just as bemused as you, apparently he glanced back to check the position of the driver before pulling off and the driver seems to have decided that he was giving him the eye for encroaching on the ASZ. Word for word “Don’t fucken look at me ya idiot. Yer staring at me ‘cos I’m sitting here and it’s dark right, and you’re staring at me as if I’ve done something wrong, I cycle every single day of my life, stop being a knob.”
Rendel Harris wrote:
I think he fell into something like the “what you lookin’ at?” gotcha:
GMBasix wrote:
The only way which might work is a confident side-step. Cheerfully saying “A man who needs a hug!” and then just calmly ignoring them while the small bit of not-yet-fully-primed-for-conflict brain tries to catch up and make sense of that is something I once observed having success.
Rendel Harris wrote:
Thanks, Rendel.
Some people, eh…?
Mildly amused.
Mildly amused.
So the Court decision affirms the EU definition of a pedal cycle, which is the same as ours, to include EAPCs (pedelecs) as ours does.
Hammersmith and Fulham are already self-f*cked because they used the term “e-bike” in their PSPO, which has no meaning in UK Law – ignoring all the stakeholders (including Wheels for Wellbeing) who patiently explained to them why they were being idiots.
They can’t go at EAPCs because the law defines them as “pedal cycles”.
Those four wheel Amazon “Postman Pat” cargo-bike vans are also EAPCs, so H&F can’t act against those, either.
Here’s the EU ruling https:/
Here’s the EU ruling https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2023-10/cp230155en.pdf
It’s clarifying a point in Belgian law regarding state compensation of vulnerable road users, by confirming an e-bike with a throttle ‘boost’ is still an EAPC and doesn’t require insurance. I don’t think it’s got any broader implications than that.
In the UK, an e-bike with full throttle control can still be classed as an EAPC if it’s certified as a 250W Low Power Moped.
Where can such be used – only
Where can such be used – only on the roads? And with what required safety gear, insurance, registration etc?
But I thought the “Low Power Moped” class was repalced in 2015 or so by the “EU class L1e-A”.
Was it not? Or is this another example of our useless government sitting on its butt?
“250W Low power moped” is a
“250W Low power moped” is a new sub-class created in 2019 under UK law. It is different to the “low power moped” class, as power is limited to 250W and speed restricted to 15.5mph.
You need to pay £55 to get it certified with a single vehicle approval. But if you do that, then it’s classed as a bicycle, exactly the same as any other EAPC, but you don’t have to pedal as full throttle assistance can be used up to 16mph.
This should provide clarity.
This should provide clarity. I’m not sure that it does.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electrically-assisted-pedal-cycles-eapcs/electrically-assisted-pedal-cycles-eapcs-in-great-britain-information-sheet#general-requirements—eapc-classification
IanMK wrote:
That’s a press release from 2015. Some of it still holds true.
The details for 250W LPM are a more recent development. If you look at this document (scroll right to near the end, in the glossary section) you will see references to 250W LPM.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/motorcycle-single-vehicle-approval-inspection-manual
I’ve no doubt that the majority of throttle only e-bikes are illegal motorcycles. But it is possible to have a legal throttle only e-bike in the UK.
The ruling said: “The bicycle
The ruling said: “The bicycle’s motor merely provided pedal assistance, including through the use of a ‘boost’ function. Moreover, that ‘boost’ function could be activated only after the use of muscular power (by pedalling, by walking with the bicycle or by pushing it).”
Increasingly for the ebikes I see nowadays that definition does not hold true. They are throttle-controlled so pedalling is not necessary. That applies to all the bodge-job delivery bikes and I think also to quite a lot of the strange fat-tyred ebike/motorbike/shopper hybrids that I see on the streets more and more. Their riders may be resting their feet on pedal-shaped objects but they sure ain’t doing any pedalling.
Miller wrote:
In those instances, they are not e-bikes and are instead electric motorbikes which require number plates and insurance etc.
It’s interesting that the police have no desire to crack down on those electric motorbikes – it would be simplicity itself to turn up to a food delivery place at peak time and arrest a bunch of people arriving on them. I would guess that they cause far fewer problems than all the legitimate motor vehicles that are driven so poorly.
I think the willingness to
I think the willingness to crackdown varies by force.
IIRC Durham and Cardiff do confiscate, and Royal Parks police recently?
Notts police have a couple of police off-road bikes, and have been seen to intervene, but only iirc give words of advice – not worth the paper they aren’t written on.
Personally I see illegal Surrons regularly, especially through anti-motobike barriers, usually being ridden sensibly but with a number of young hoons around.
Vastly annoying and
Vastly annoying and frequently highly dangerous they are too, but they are illegal electric motorcycles, not PAS ebikes.
But there do seem to be an
But there do seem to be an awful lot of them… Usually being ridden by blokes wearing a balaclave and with a Deliveroo style box strapped to their backs.
brooksby wrote:
I know, the police in London could wipe out the scourge almost immediately just by spending a few minutes outside popular collection points for Deliveroo etc but they’re not interested. A while back I was riding up Finborough Road Chelsea at about 25 mph with a police car in the lane to my right keeping pace with me, suddenly one of those bikes shot between us and off up the road at least 40 mph. I gestured to the officers in a sort of “there’s an easy pinch for you” way and the passenger just shrugged as if it was nothing to do with them.
Deliveroo and all similar companies should be made legally accountable for their employees having legal ebikes, in my opinion: a £5000 fine for the company for every employee found riding an illegal bike would soon sort matters out.
Rendel Harris wrote:
I don’t think trying to fine Deliveroo for their employees would be any more successful – if the police don’t care to catch the riders, why would they care to submit loads of paperwork to Deliveroo?
Obviously I’m thinking of an
Obviously I’m thinking of an ideal world where the police would actually do their job!
Rendel Harris wrote:
Unlike the police van during my lunch time walk, who drove very slowly past a lorry parked on the pavement, that had completely blocked it off (they had folded the side mirror in to get even closer to the wall) and just carried on going…
Rendel Harris wrote:
Yeah, I just don’t see how making Deliveroo accountable would add anything.
hawkinspeter wrote:
Because if the company knew that they were going to be fined £5000 for every non-compliant bicycle used by their employees and that someone would be checking (needn’t even be the police, could be local council officers), they would make damn sure they had some inspectors on the ground checking and refusing to employ anyone who didn’t use one.
Rendel Harris wrote:
Nah, they’d claim that those riders were self-employed and not part of Deliveroo’s own delivery team. They’d then produce a bunch of paperwork with little check-boxes that the riders had declared themselves to be fully compliant with all legal requirements and then Deliveroo would lose the contact information and state that they don’t use those riders anymore and that they’re nothing to do with them.
The simplest and easiest solution is for police to rock up to a known hang-out for riders and then seize all the non-compliant vehicles along with whoever is riding them. That way, they have the culprit and the evidence in one easy visit and they can probably buy their dinner at the same time too.
then Deliveroo would lose the
then Deliveroo would lose the contact information and state that they don’t use those riders anymore and that they’re nothing to do with them
They have learned these dodges from the police, who make up laws and rules and blame inaction on the CPS, and claim that offences have to be witnessed by police officers, and claim that the NFA decision was made by someone ‘who didn’t sign the log’ so they can’t do anything, or that they have to have confirmatory video from the offending vehicle but there isn’t any etc. etc. Lying police are one of our greatest problems
But won’t lots of others just
But won’t lots of others just buy the ebikes at the police auction and then Deliveroo will
hire them– sorry, accept them as independent contractors?(Yes – you’d assume the police would just crush them but …)
That horse may be well and truly volted by now but ultimately these firms are deriving benefit. Possibly like trying to regulate the wild west but perhaps worth another round? Wasn’t there some minor victory a while back trying to nail some gig economy firms for saying their drivers / workers were not employees so therefore they were free to both get them to work for zero additional benefits AND also avoid responsibility for stuff they did while working?
chrisonatrike wrote:
Quality.
hawkinspeter wrote:
Agreed, I did say in my OP “the police in London could wipe out the scourge almost immediately just by spending a few minutes outside popular collection points for Deliveroo etc”. Not sure about letting them buy their dinner though, lots of our local cops look as if even I could outsprint them and the only time I see them out of their cars is when they are popping into Costa or the M&S local to pick up a few hundred more calories.
Of course the problem could also be solved if everyone who uses Deliveroo decided to boycott them until they had decent employment policies, proper riding instruction and regular checks on employee bikes for safety and legality purposes, but I’ve had a look at my calendar and the 12th of never doesn’t seem to be coming along any time soon…
Rendel Harris wrote:
To be honest, I’m unconcerned about Deliveroo riders using electric motorbikes as it’s better than them using ICE powered motorbikes and they tend to be a lot lighter – most of them look like a MTB with batteries duck-taped into the frame triangle. I don’t doubt that some of them cause problems with their interpretations of road rules, but at least they’re not in a tonne of metal causing problems.
However, I can’t recall every using Deliveroo, so my boycotting powers are diminished. I don’t see much point to them in cities as the take-away places aren’t usually more than a ten minute walk away.
hawkinspeter wrote:
Agree to an extent, but some of the Deliveroo folks round my area are using ebikes that can do 45+ mph, 25mph over the limit of most of the local roads, usually without/with minimal lighting after dark, they do cause plenty of problems.
Same here, I did use them to send my mother a few takeaways during the pandemic when she had to isolate but I don’t need ’em – and in fact am pretty disgusted by the way they’re often used in my south London neck of the woods, people getting them to deliver coffee and bagels on Sunday morning as if they ain’t got legs.
hawkinspeter wrote:
— hawkinspeter
Unfortunately, a five minute walk is too much for some people.
One one occasion, as I started unloading the shopping, from my car, my neighbour drove away and, before I’d finished, he returned with his son, who he’d picked up from football practice.
Total journey time was less than 5 minutes, but he still chose to drive.
belugabob wrote:
Is it time for Yorkshire boasting about our observations of blebish Britains, then? Here’s mine:
A neighbour of smokey-boozy aspect and the smell to prove it would get in his jallopy to travel 300 yards around the end of the village green to get to the wee shop that was 100 yards from his gate as a crow shopping for pork scratchings might fly. (I measured the distances in my long-stride walking paces, just to be annoying). He was going to the shop each day for his fag and Daily Hate Mail.
He died aged 56 from lung cancer. Very sad for those that loved him …. but he cared more for nico-drug and car “convenience” to bother about disappointing others in various ways.
Cars kill in more ways than one. Who else had an increment or two added to their chance of getting a body rot from the fellow’s exhaust fumes, both fag and car?
ahhh there we go. Friday 13th
ahhh there we go. Friday 13th, but a mass-cycling video to see me though.
It was a bit too rainy to spot Steve K though…
HoldingOn wrote:
I’ve not ridden today as Friday 13th is my wfh day.
However…
… that video was filmed yesterday
… and I know Rory and his office is very near mine
… and I did ride in yesterday
… but that’s not on my route
… until November, when we move office, and then I will go over London Bridge
… but then my office will no longer be near Rory’s.
I hope that clarifies things.
…so in November, if Rory
…so in November, if Rory posts a “wait until the p***ng snow, there’ll be no cyclists…” video – you may be on his route at the same time as him and therefore appear in his video, but you won’t be able to pop over and say hello to him.
By the way – in my head, i have concocted a “Steve meets Rory” scenario, where you both arrive at the office at the same time and notice each other across the street, parking your bikes. A quick finger point “Hey!” and swap names. Rory goes off to his office thinking “strange i’ve never seen Steve in any of my videos”
If you are going over London
If you are going over London Bridge, you may meet the silly cycling columnist from the Spectator.
RE: “Wait until the pi***ng
RE: “Wait until the pi***ng rain, they’ll be no cyclists…”
Some nice sounds in these:
Riding in the Rotterdam rain
Houten in the rain
Also maybe interesting – how to get all that water away when it lands. (especially to folks like The Ranty Highwayman, big fan of rain gardens).
£32k is a fleabite to a large
£32k is a fleabite to a large housing developer like St Modwen.
Their turnover is £350 million or so per annum.
In case anyone missed my late
In case anyone missed my late comment yesterday about the “cyclist dismount” signs feel free to print this off and stick it on them.
Part of the war on motorists.
Part of the war on motorists…
https://metro.co.uk/2023/10/13/bus-lane-trap-catches-five-cars-a-week-and-drivers-arent-happy-19657117/?ito=article.desktop.share.top.link
… or entitled motorsists complaining about their own stupidity.
The comments are fun
The comments are fun
and the reply (that they would also get if it was on road.cc):
Key point at bottom of
Key point at bottom of article:
“
Cllr Kevin Reynolds from Cambridgeshire County Council has admitted he has little sympathy for the drivers who get stuck.
He said: ‘If people driving along that road cannot see a big hole in the ground in front of them then I would argue they wouldn’t be able to see a small child.
‘I would question whether they should be behind the wheel at all…’
“
I wonder in Cllr Reynolds
I wonder in Cllr Reynolds will be so cocky when a cyclist or motorcyclist hits that and ends up in hospital, or the morgue? But then I guess it won’t be his head on the line and he’ll just pass the buck to his council officers. The only point of that seems to be to cause damage . Inevitably it will cause injury and that has to be contemptible.
I had a look at the junction
I had a look at the junction on Streetview. As one approaches the car trap there are at least 3 ‘dead end’ signs, and the car trap sign (scary!), and red paint on the road, and I think two Buses Only legends painted on the road surface. Oh, and a bloody great hole in the road itself.
So yeah, sympathy in short supply.
In the comments
In the comments
“These are the kind of people that follow their satnavs over cliffs.”
“What if in an emergency an ambulance took the route?”
Then there is no way on earth they should be driving an ambulance with that level of observation !
YES! Almonds and dark
YES! Almonds and dark chocolate are officially a health food.
Ride On wrote:
Thank Gawd for that – I gobbles loadsa very dark choc and all sorts of nuts, in addict-fashion. What do they say about coffee beans and the fine liquors one can produce from them?
I often wonder what would happen if I stopped greeding at such stuff but it may be awful … so I don’t.
Whilst I agree that disc
Whilst I agree that disc brakes are much better than rim brakes as both my winter bike and gravel bike are running Hope 4 pots, I still have my beautiful Colnago C60 with its rim brakes. As it is only ridden on glorious sunny summer days, I cannot justify spending £12K plus simply to bring it up to date with disc brakes. Especially as the fuckwits at Colnago have decided that the latest C frame is electronic groupset only.
Sorry, I will keep my rim brakes and Super Record RS mechanical groupset.