“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
I'll counter that by saying the Bryton 750se I have drives me nuts at times. Inconsistantly picks up on routes created on Komoot and the app re-syncs every few seconds when trying to set up the device and sends me back to the home screen. The most infuriating one is that I turned live track on. Once. It now won't turn off and repeatedly flags up the live track is starting, and then disconnecting every few seconds whilst riding. I haven't timed it but it wouldn't suprise me if 10-20% of the time the the screen is covered with an error message. That's been about 6 weeks now. Other than that it's great :/
RE: Police launch road safety operation... by clamping down on cyclists using footbridge Meanwhile in Glasgow, Police Scotland are riding their motorbikes over the pedestrian and cyclists only bridge. https://x.com/FietserGlasgow/status/2065106152917012523?s=20
@Paul J Van Schip certainly seems a bit of a dick, but he's a European and multiple World Champion on the track, pretty sure you don't get there without having some talent in your legs.
Poor Vincent cannot get over the simple fact that given the choice people prefer dedicated cycling spaces, rather than pretending to be cars like vehicular cyclists.
What is the point of the fancy air sensor if it can't account for changing weather conditions?? If all you care about is a delayed approximation of aerodynamic watts in steady conditions, you don't need any special sensors for that. Just your speed on a decently flat course is enough to approximate rolling resistance and drivetrain losses. And the rest must be aero. If you assume a less aero body position at the same watts, your speed will drop while rolling resistance also drops, which means approximated aero watts goes up. And that's enough to demonstrate what you've shown in your testing protocol ("I sat upright and the number went up a little while later").
Your correction is accurate - it's almost always been "the (lack of) thought that (doesn't) count". "Massive" - less than a billion a year spent on active travel (trying to catch up / building a network across the entire country) Not massive - 6 billion every year (2026-2030) spent on road *maintenance* of existing "already built, goes everywhere, very convenient" road network for inactive travel Ultimately the reason "cycle infra" is *needed* is those unbelievably colossal amounts spent every year (and for more than a century now) on making mass motoring not just viable but apparently the "best choice" for most journeys. As the Dutch and others have shown, the majority of people *are* prepared to cycle and even mix with very light, slow local motor traffic *if* cycling is also made safe and convenient for the whole of their journey (including secure parking at both ends). (The history of the financial drivers of the current situation are a complex topic but note that while people complain about "crumbling roads" and underfunded motor infra - with some reason - by us continuing the fuel duty escalator freeze (for example) we're actually helping motorists pay *even less* for that activity / subsidising more of the cost of driving than ever.)
yes, but people will still object - which was my point.
So ' Priority of Road Users' and 1.5 metre clearance at 30mph has been been reduced to 'sharing'? NCN route 2 here in South Hams is an absolute scream with white vans, tractors and total idiots who refuse,or are totally incapable,to reverse on high Devon banked lanes ...means you have to get off and pedal back to a passing place....could be at that all day...so I don't bother...
@MaxiMinimalist Agreed. The big problem I see now is today's parents grew up being driven to their schools, and therefore, see private motor vehicles as the only viable form of transport. The vast majority of UK infant and primary schools have a catchment area that is within easy walking distance from home to school. Yet, the traffic caused by pupils being driven to/from school is astonishing. Banishing the "School Run" should be a priority for all schools.
When I was a kid (that was during the previous millenium when phones were connected to a plug in the wall), I rode my bicycle to school, music academy, sport grounds, parties even during the winter. The government didn't have to spend, correct that, didn't have to think of spending massive amounts of money to build cycling specific infrastructures. Over the past 3 or 4 decades, cars have grown bigger, taller, safer (for their drivers) and faster. Meanwhile, motorists have become abusive, aggressive, hypersensitive to people moving on two wheels, aka cyclists. Spending billions upon billions on new infrastructure won't address the crux of the matter. Sadly.
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”.