“Nobody cycles in winter” — except this lot; Richie Porte’s stunning post-retirement bike (complete with X-rated chainstay); James Knox kicked off TDU for drafting team car; Adam Blythe’s nocturnal activities; Cavstana Cavaqstan + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Stage one highlights
Here’s how it happened…
⭐ Ziptrak® Men’s Stage 1 Highlights ⭐@ziptrak | @SantosLtd #TourDownUnder pic.twitter.com/3aQtNOIU2k
— Santos Tour Down Under 🚴🚴♀️ (@tourdownunder) January 18, 2023
Dan Martin "wincing" at parked cars in the last 3km of a sprint stage
Some safety concerns from the stage too…
Anybody else wincing at the parked cars in the last 3km of a sprint stage? How is that even possible? So fortunate everybody avoided the cars. #TourDownUnder
— Dan Martin (@DanMartin86) January 18, 2023
It was a circuit right? I didn’t see if the cars were there on the previous laps. No excuses anyway
— Dan Martin (@DanMartin86) January 18, 2023
These, spotted just after the Knox crash, show some of the parked vehicles on the final kilometres of the circuit…
The same stretch of road with 3km to go…
Like cycling anywhere in the UK…
Adam Blythe's nocturnal activities
A wise man once told me nothing good ever happens after 3am. I think it was a wise man, my memory’s a bit blurry, I think I was trying to get a kebab near closing time…
Anyway, spare a thought for Adam Blythe’s body clock… no partying here, just cold hard WorldTour commentary duty…
Is anyone awake at this hour?.. I hope not.. but if you are.. come and join me & @JezCox on @gcntweet for the first road stage of #TourDownUnder23 .. pic.twitter.com/h0Tylyash9
— Adam Blythe (@AdamBlythe89) January 18, 2023
TOP 5 commuter bikes 2023: The best way to ride to work! | road.cc Recommends awards show
You can’t have missed that our ‘road.cc Recommends awards’ are underway, we’ve been shouting about it from the rooftops…
More coming soon…
The ballsy question one woman wanted to ask male cyclists
Hope your Wednesday’s going well…or was going well until you read this…
Now that I have a good number of cyclists following me, I have a question. Do cyclists with testicles just sit on them while biking how does that work im curious
— Jenn🌲 (@JuniperFolly) January 16, 2023
Reminds me of this classic…
Although I’ve got to admit it’s a bit of a ballache covering these nuts theories that I’d much rather sack off…(yes, I am proud of myself)…
But yes, some people did reply…
I tuck mine up in front
but on fast or racing (cyclocross or mountain bike) remounts sometimes I land on one which isnot fun
— David C B (@tzed250) January 18, 2023
That’s, um, quite the ask. Personally, I just put them in my pocket until the end of my ride…..
— Paul Tutton (@tuttonp) January 17, 2023
The trick with cyclocross is to not land on any bits when you do running re-mounts.
— Doug van den Ham (@DvdHam) January 17, 2023
Went to the naked bike ride and had this question answered.
— Roseminda (@Roseminda11) January 16, 2023
That’s my serious journalism done for the day. As you were…
Cavstana Cavaqstan
CAV’S BEEN SPOTTED AGAIN… oh wait, sorry, we’re not doing that anymore…
Mark is ready for his first training ride with the team in Altea, Spain#AstanaQazaqstanTeam #AstanaIsMyTeam pic.twitter.com/X8umAMFR4y
— Astana Qazaqstan Team (@AstanaQazTeam) January 18, 2023
“His first training ride with the team”…
"But what if I want to deliver a donkey? You can't do that on a bike"
!!! Ciclista dándole un paseo a su burro en bicicleta !!! “Pero que burro más burro.”😱😂😂 pic.twitter.com/HNQYT6d6v3
— ⚡Maza⚡ (@MazaCiclismo) January 17, 2023
Cycling's second worst kept secret...
Shocking, I know…
Cav has a leadout man joining him at Astana Qazaqstan in the form of Paris-Nice and Tour of Britain stage winner Cees Bol.
“My main goal for this season is to get back to winning, taking some sprint opportunities and fighting for a win in any kind of races. But of course, with Mark Cavendish now in the team, another big goal for me will be to help him to fight for the success,” the big Dutchman explained.
“I feel really good coming to Astana Qazaqstan. Obviously, we are already at the beginning of the new year and for me it is a great surprise that finally it ends in such a good way. I am so happy that I am here in this great team, and I can focus on building up to the new goals together with Astana.”
British pro James Knox kicked off Tour Down Under for drafting team car on crash-marred opening road stage
Road racing is back! (Yes, we know it’s been back for the best part of a week now)… Fire up your GCN+ accounts, if you can be bothered with the early alarms, and enjoy some sunny southern hemisphere racing to make you feel extra chilly on the commute.
Anyway, if you’re cursing your luck for not living in Australia, spare a thought for James Knox — the British rider on the team now known as Soudal – QuickStep who travelled all the way to Oz only to crash hard and then get disqualified on the opening road stage for drafting his team car to return to the bunch.
Now, before we all accuse the race commissaire of heavy-handed jobsworthery we should add there is not yet any footage of the offence.
Knox was involved in one of the falls that blighted the day’s action, hitting the deck along with Finn Fisher-Black and several other riders at 55km to go. One of the last to get to his feet, the front of the race had long since disappeared down the road by the time the picture above was shown to those sat at home.
While fellow crash victim Hermann Pernsteiner was also deemed to have gained too much advantage from his team car’s rear, the powers that be said his offence was less severe, fined him, took away his points in the respective classifications and added two minutes to his finish time. Knox was less ‘lucky’.
…and then he was disqualified for drafting behind the car for too long 😥 #TourDownUnder
— Andy Matthews (@matthews24) January 18, 2023
To make matters worse he’s now got a long-haul flight to get through… covered in road rash…
Once Knox was back in the peloton Pernsteiner’s teammate Phil Bauhaus won the stage, outsprinting Michael Matthews and Caleb Ewan in the final surge to the line on the Tanunda circuits.
When pro cyclists do LinkedIn
Congrats, Pete Kennaugh!
road.cc Recommends Bikes of the Year 2022/23: gravel and adventure bikes
After a bit of off-roading in 2023?
> road.cc Recommends Bikes of the Year 2022/23: gravel and adventure bikes
Questionable face in Ineos' 2023 squad
Corrrr who’s that lad down the bottom? He looks fast, even got an engine in him…
Let’s get this show on the road 👊
We’re all in for 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣3️⃣ pic.twitter.com/wfTcrAo8tN
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) January 17, 2023
More questionable sponsorship product placement from the Grenadiers. Then again, I’m not sure we should expect anything less…
Subtle as ever…
Top cycling hacks to save money this winter — cheap alternatives to expensive bike products to keep you riding for less
Tenuous cycling live blog content
You know it’s cold outside when you go outside and it’s cold.
— National Park Service (@NatlParkService) January 18, 2023
Well, they’re not wrong…
Dame Laura Kenny and Sir Jason Kenny expecting second child
— Dame Laura Kenny (@LauraKenny31) January 18, 2023
Dame Laura Kenny is pregnant and expecting her second child with husband Sir Jason Kenny. Writing on Instagram, Laura wrote: “Today I felt like I couldn’t hide away any more. I’m already starting to show and the anxiety I have felt has been unreal.”
The couple had a son, Albie, in 2017 but Kenny suffered a miscarriage in November 2021 and an ectopic pregnancy in January 2022.
“A year ago today I was sat in A&E knowing I was really poorly but not knowing what was wrong with me,” she said.
“When I got the news I was having an ectopic pregnancy my world felt like it crumbled. We had already lost our second baby in November and I remember lying there searching for some sort of answers. I still feel this heartbreak today and I don’t think it will ever go away.
“Telling the world means I have to accept we are having another baby and this fills me with all kinds of emotions. I’m scared every single day that I might have to go through the pain of losing another baby. It makes you feel ungrateful for something you’ve so desperately wanted for the last year.
“But I also know there are going to be so many people, like I was, seeing my post and wishing I would go away with my happy ending. I also know when I was lying in the hospital bed I was searching for people’s happy endings because it was the only thing giving me any comfort at the time. That maybe, just maybe, I would get my happy ending.”
Disc brakes and an X-rated chainstay... Richie Porte's new post-retirement bike is a beauty
Richie Porte’s got a new bike…
Out is the rim-braked Dogma seen in the photo below, which sparked the braindead corner of internet trolls to call the healthy looking retired racer overweight.
And in is this beauty, complete with discs and an X-rated chainstay…
I say ‘X-rated’… we didn’t have a clue a ‘map of Tassie’ had such a conotation Down Under… if you get what I mean…
Anyway, Rohan Dennis did and urged his compatriot to get his map of Tassie out in the comments, prompting Porte to threaten a joke about Dennis’ mother. Just another normal Wednesday afternoon.
Regardless, if like us, you’re still a bit confused, some ‘research’ into the Aussie slang tells us the map of Tassie can refer to a certain haired part of the female anatomy. As I said, just another normal Wednesday afternoon on the road.cc live blog.
On that note I’ll see you all same time tomorrow… (and yes, I am available for photo editing commissions)…
"Nobody cycles in winter" — except this lot
“Yeah, they’re all out now it’s hot and sunny, but what about in January when it’s minus three?”
What is this madness. More cyclists waiting at a red light than cars. Surely nobody cycles in winter. It’s -3 today so nobody would be using this wasted infrastructure so Twitter always tells me 🙃🤣😜@willnorman @London_Cycling @GreenwichCycle
#cycling #cyclinglife pic.twitter.com/B59lnEgz0c— Greg N (@n00dles71) January 17, 2023
The cycling equivalent of could Lionel Messi do it on a cold rainy night in Stoke? Without going all Bob the Builder on you, yes he could and yes we can…
It’s almost like, and hear me out, if you have proper safe cycling infrastructure it opens the door for people to ride bicycles? Radical, I know…
CS4 is a game changer! Hats off to @willnorman @TfL for pushing this through. Was Baltic yesterday but great to see so many still braving the cold. pic.twitter.com/TeXlzr5QCg
— Rory McCarron (@CyclingLawLDN) January 18, 2023
It’s got some fearing ‘fake news’…
This is all CGI. People only bike in summer, and waiting at red lights?!? If they just had one of the two maybe I’d have believed it…
— Keith Fuller (@kfullermusic) January 18, 2023
Anyway, we wouldn’t be doing our duty without pointing you in our direction for some handy tips if you want to join the winter-riding crew:
> How to beat winter — Tips, tricks and clothing advice for making the most of riding through winter
> Best winter road bikes 2023 — invest in a bike that shines in bad weather
> Best winter road bike tyres 2023 — ride confidently in cold and nasty weather
18 January 2023, 09:05
18 January 2023, 09:05
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Latest Comments
@Rendel Harris "Perhaps lethality should be measured as drivers/cyclists found guilty of causing death per chosen metric, rather than simply numbers killed?" Given the filter of the court system that would a) likely only introduce another source of bias and b) mean the cycling numbers had dubious statistical meaning relative to the motoring ones since after removing e-motorbikes (unless we didn't? But even then...) that is ... one or two in the last 5+ years?
@mdavidford You've made me curious so checked: in Devon and Torbay (in common with many councils, apparently), any project under £500,000 can be internally approved by the Corporate Director for Strategy, Performance, and Sustainability, whereas any project costing in excess of £500,000 needs a full cabinet vote. So it looks suspiciously as though there's been a bit of jiggery-pokery with the numbers to avoid full cabinet scrutiny.
From the screenshots, the software looks very similar to the Coospo CS600. I used it for a tour in Ireland and on the first day, I realised that the map of Ireland wasn't loaded by default. I could see my route as breadcrumbs but not the road or anything else around me. It looked very similar to what you saw when you went off-route. Are you sure you had the map of Scotland in your unit? Luckily for me, at the end of the first day, after tons of searches, trials and errors, I managed to download the map of Ireland into my phone, connect the Coospo to my phone as an external drive and upload the map. Not an easy task but that solved the problem. For the next five days I had a proper map to navigate. Regardless of that, I sent it back. Loading routes into it was a real PITA, the routes the app plotted were terrible compared to Komoot's and it didn't have re-routing.
@Rendel Harris I'm not sure why trips made is a better metric than miles travelled, but yes, that does yield a 9x difference for cars vs bicycles in pedestrian deaths. The real anomaly using that basis, though, are motorcyclists, who are a staggering 72x more likely to kill a pedestrian per trip than a cyclist. That suggests that speed, more than mass, is the real danger. And that young men are the greatest danger of all.
@chrisonabike Indeed, you put your finger on another problem with the fatality statistics in that we don't know in how many of the fatal incidents the driver/cyclist was to blame. If the two cyclist-caused-pedestrian fatalities the pedestrian was drunk and fell off the pavement into the path of the cyclist that could obviously change the lethality ratio considerably if factored in. Perhaps lethality should be measured as drivers/cyclists found guilty of causing death per chosen metric, rather than simply numbers killed?
Finally (on cyclists and junctions) cyclists may not be as observant themselves there. While junctions are high-mental-workload spaces (or should be...) for all road users I suspect cyclists - mixing with the motor traffic - are going to be focusing strongly on that for obvious reasons. Which is again why in places which are more advanced in this respect not only are junctions given better designs *, but network-level thought goes in to routes for each mode, the better to minimise the need for interactions. Especially when speeds might be higher. * Separation in space and/or time when modes cross, explicit space for different modes so it's clear who goes where / what to expect...
I'm not sure about the "60% of pedestrians killed at junctions are killed by cyclists" number, but i *could* believe it's relatively high. Why? Other "qualitative differences" - "noticeability" and "expectation". In the simplest sense cyclists are smaller and quieter than motor vehicles. (There's a lot of "looking with our ears" when eg. crossing roads believe). But more: in the UK we *expect* cars. We've learned to deal with cars both by formal teaching and daily experience. We know "how drivers behave" - where to expect them. I strongly suspect it's not just drivers "only looking for the motor vehicles". We don't *expect* cyclists. And (if taken at face value) there's a lot of quote anecdata that people are genuinely surprised by them / completely unfamiliar with cyclist behaviour on roads (except "they all jump red lights"...) - "came out of nowhere" / "never saw them" / " they were down the road, then suddenly they were right there" / wasn't expecting them to"...
A key one is "speed" as obviously injury is strongly related to that, and the 20-30mph region is where IIRC "mostly injured" crosses over to "mostly killed". Cars would be expected to be at higher speeds, for more of the time. That may be reduced in some places however eg. congested rush hours, and where "mixing" may be most likely the environment may cue lower speeds (narrow streets).
Stepping back, given that humans operate both cars and bikes maybe a *qualitative* "what differs" might be instructive? (Putting to one side for a moment what may be mostly a motornormative prejudice: that drivers are in some way "more responsible". Variations "more to lose because they've paid for a car" / "but trained and licenced" / "more accountable because number plates" / "only (man)children and crims who can't afford cars cycle" etc).
@AidanR I wonder how it would change the stats if one looked at deaths per trip? According to the NTS the average person makes 15 cycle trips a year and 357 as a car driver, so 23x more driving trips than cycling ones but 182x the pedestrian deaths so by that calculation cars are 8x more lethal. Take out the 20% of car trips on motorways and you have one death per 51M trips motoring and one death per 487M trips cycling, so motoring becomes almost 10x more lethal. I know one can make statistics do anything one wishes by changing the metrics but that figure seems a more realistic approximation of relative lethality to me. All this of course is before we count all the other deaths caused by motorists that cyclists almost never cause, i.e. motorcycle riders, car passengers etc, almost five times the pedestrian numbers, cars then become 50x more lethal than bikes...
20 thoughts on ““Nobody cycles in winter” — except this lot; Richie Porte’s stunning post-retirement bike (complete with X-rated chainstay); James Knox kicked off TDU for drafting team car; Adam Blythe’s nocturnal activities; Cavstana Cavaqstan + more on the live blog”
https://www.theguardian.com
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/18/underwater-bike-garage-solves-amsterdam-stations-storage-headache
Those nasty “car hating” Dutch are at it again I see
How cool is that.
As cool as this…https:/
As cool as this…https://road.cc/content/news/222765-city-london-says-no-cycle-parking-yes-concrete-crossrail-shaft-bike-plan
Yet again, Britain leads the way…not.
Can I get one of those built
Can I get one of those built under my garage? It would prevent the missus counting how many bikes I have, and give me plenty of scope to expand my collection
Very cool indeed, though I
Very cool indeed, though I must admit I was hoping when I first saw the story that it would have a glass roof…
Rendel Harris wrote:
We’re not allowed glass ceilings any more. Not since the government introduced the Equality Act in 2010.
That did cross my mind too.
That did cross my mind too.
You’d get a great view of all the discarded shopping trolleys, traffic cones & dockless hire bikes
If anyone has the answer to
If anyone has the answer to guaranteeing pain free wedding tackle and bike riding, I’m all ears.
These things have a mind of their own and delight in migrating to inflict serious pain.
Mind you, my biggest problem was caused by ballroom dancing. Unbeknownst to me, a brass wire from the shoe cleaning brush dropped onto the chamois of my bibs awaiting their turn in the washing machine. Next ride I suddenly had an excruciating pain in a testicle. I had a ferret around, as you do, and managed to relieve it temporarily. At home I found nothing, but next ride had the same problem. After using the blood stains (yikes!) to closely trace the problem, found the brass wire completely embedded in the pad.
I can assure you, with times like those, I’d rather not wear a helmet. (Fnar! Fnar!).
If you were all ears, it
If you were all ears, it wouldn’t be a problem!
As everyone knows, the
As everyone knows, the quickest route to successful seduction is laughter, but how can you tell if a girl is ticklish?
Give her a couple of test tickles.
Reminded me of a joke.
Reminded me of a joke.
Two blokes stood having a pee. First bloke says, “You know, between you and me, we’ve got five testicles.” Second bloke says, “Why? Have you only got one!”
Some folks say that I’m
Some folks say that I’m egotistical
Hell! I don’t even know what that means
I guess it’s got something to with the way
That I fill out my skin-tight blue jeans
Re cars parked on the finish
Re cars parked on the finish run-in at the Tour Down Under…
Lucky they were only parked this time.
Im not getting Dans problem
Im not getting Dans problem with the cars, other than his long standing issue with course design, as long as they werent moving, the marshalls were signalling, whats the issue ? I mean I note all the crashes in the clip occured on really big wide roads where there wasnt a car or obstruction in sight.
in anycase Grace Brown has already won the Tour Down Under, (yes racing didnt start yesterday)
I wont cycle in winter when
I wont cycle in winter when its as icy as it has been this week, its too risky for it to be worth it.
Awavey wrote:
After taking a few falls to learn my lesson, I change to studded tyres in icy conditions, or a fat bike with a studded front tyre (at over £200 per tyre, I’ll do without studs on the rear.)
I swear by my ice spikers. I
I swear by my ice spikers. I never miss a commute to work no matter what the weather. When its icy like it is now, I use my old retired commuting bike, which lives in the shed with it’s spiked tyres always on. If anyone has never used them, they are a revelation, you can sprint out of the saddle over hard packed ice and black ice.
With service intervals
With service intervals increasing on many new cars and modern technology meaning Fred Bloggs no longer pokes around under the car while doing his own plugs, oil and filter change, the MOT is often the ONLY time many cars see the inside of a service bay in the average year. Yes, most cars now have warning lights for failed bulbs, tyre pressure, emissions sensors etc but how many drivers do you know who just continue to drive with the warning light on? If the number of one headlight Charlies I see about is indicative then the answer to that is most of them. The MOT is a small price to pay for proving the car is vaguely roadworthy.
Meet David, 86. He lives in
Meet David, 86. He lives in Poole and uses his e-trike to get about. For David, cycling is “independence, freedom and enjoyment; part of the everyday routine.”
https://mobile.twitter.com/activetraveleng/status/1615745258821718017
Fabulous!
Fabulous!
Can’t think of a better
Can’t think of a better summary of what everyday cycling transport is. Like what several other places have got and more are gaining – but is still apparently utterly impossible here / a myth – or just “not wanted here thanks”.