Two year’s jail for bike thieves who stole from NHS workers; ’Must Get In Front’ of cyclist video shocker!; Richmond Park cycling ban “infuriating”; 1,008km in 24hrs: Canadian claims Zwift world record; Gaviria’s virus battle + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Cycling stop motion
That’s some way to spend your time in lockdown… impressive!
Cycling safety app Busby gets £150,000 investment
Liverpool-based K-Safe – the company behind the Busby app – secured the funds to further develop their app, which monitor’s a smartphone’s movements to detect when a cyclist may have fallen from their bike. If it detects an incident, it gives the cyclist 30 seconds to move or respond and if nothing happens, it sends the exact location to an emergency contact via What3Words – an app that is now widely used by rescue services for its accuracy by gridding every sqaure metre of the earth with unique three word codes.
Busby was launched in October 2019, with the creators saying they developed it after a friend was hit by a van driver whilst training on the roads. They are also working on cyclist detection notifications for haulage firms, and a warning system for alerting when a rider is dropped from a group. Cmmercial director James Duffy told Forbes:
“We’re not trying to say to cyclists they should only rely on Busby. We started with cyclist detection hardware four years ago.
“But with those types of products, there’s a high barrier to market entry. People have to pay upfront—what we’re trying to do is lower the barrier to entry by offering a free app.
“With Covid-19 there aren’t any group rides at the moment, but once lockdown is over we’d like to introduce GroupRide—this can set a radius around everyone on a ride and if anybody drops outside of that set radius everyone in the group gets a notification so they can either slow down and group back up, or they can stop and turn back and help.”
You can download the Busby app for free on iOS or Android here.
Canadian pro claims to have broken Zwift world record by riding 1,008km in 24 hours on Zwift
Holy moly! Canadian cyclist @Tsams94 just broke the world record, riding 1008km in 24 hours on @GoZwift 😱 pic.twitter.com/txp1xtjNGo
— Santos Tour Down Under 🚴🚴♀️ (@tourdownunder) April 29, 2020
As part of a team charity event dubbed ‘#CrushCOVID‘, 25-year-old H&R Block Pro Cycling rider Travis Samuel claims to have broken the Guinness World Record for the biggest Zwift ride in 24 hours. His average pace was an astonishing 42km/h over the 1,008km (626 mile) ride, and with other team members who joined in for parts of the chalenge, CrushCOVID has raised almost $220,000 at the time of writing.
Samuel – who is also a student at Trent University in Ontario – wrote on Instagram: “It’s hard to believe and put into words not only what happen yesterday but really what has happened over the last two weeks! I am really quite speechless!
“Still hasn’t set in being able to say I set a new world record at 1,008km over 24 hours (probably because I’ve never been in so much pain before!) It’s impossible to pick out certain people that helped because everyone had just as much of a helping hand! It was truly amazing seeing so many friends, professionals and thousands of people out supporting the ride for an hour, others for 6-8 hours and those who rode with me at the extremely early hours of the morning.
“This record belongs to everyone in the #crushcovid Team. All I can say is I’m beyond grateful and THANK YOU to everyone!”
According to Toronto Hustle the previous record stood at 988km, meaning Samuel surpassed it by 20km. He told Trent University’s online news site: “I think cracking above 1,000km in 24 hours for the first time in history is very similar to the sub four minute mile or sub two hour marathon, it’s been one of those barriers people have tried to break for a while but haven’t been able to.”
"We understand this will be disappointing and even infuriating for some people": Royal Parks update policy, while backlash against Richmond Park cycling ban continues
We are still getting cyclists using #RichmondPark for their exercise, often telling us they didn’t see the sign or thought it meant “no cycling through the gate”. Hopefully these new signs should do the trick. Key workers & children 12 or under are still authorised pic.twitter.com/Ucmvd2XfhG
— Royal Parks Police (@MPSRoyal_Parks) April 28, 2020
After the Royal Parks temporarily banned cycling in Richmond Park in late Marh due to the pandemic, updated information on their website says:
“Unfortunately, in Richmond Park we have had to suspend cycling to support social distancing guidelines, for public safety on the roads and to prevent crowds at park gates. However, children under 12 can still cycle in the park and you can still ride your bike to the park, just not through it. More info on the decision can be found here.
“We understand this will be disappointing and even infuriating for some people, but currently parks are under huge scrutiny and we need to do everything in our power to discourage large groups of people. Please remember this decision is temporary and cycling is allowed in all our other parks.”
In the tweet above, Royal Parks Police say that key workers are also exempt from the cycling ban as well as under 12’s; although the policy is still generating plenty of negative comments:
Ok but why cyclists? We naturally keep our distance because we have to.
If its the racing circuit (which i dislike myself) then simply block off so that the majority can cycle in their usual way
Is it right that two pensioners are banished to the roads for a gentle cycle?
— Cpcm (@Cpcm66) April 28, 2020
In reply to this, Royal Parks ensured that it is a temporary measure, commenting:
“We’re really sorry you can’t cycle in the park as usual, it’s not right but this is an unprecedented situation and we’re all having to change the way we live for a little while.
It’s a temporary situation and we’re constantly monitoring it, sorry there aren’t any further updates. If and when anything changes we will be announcing it on social media.
…”We’re missing the parks as much as you are so we know what everyone is going through.”
Gaviria describes "days in anguish" after his battle with coronavirus
The Colombian contracted the virus in the United Arab Emirates after the UAE Tour was cancelled in late February, and was finally sent home after more than a month in quarantine on 8th April.
According to Marca, Gaviria said in a live video on social media: “We thought the coronavirus was a game, but no. It gave me the disease and I spent some days in anguish. But well, I was able to return home. I am calm, relieved, and have started training from home.”
Im his most recent Instagram post Gaviria says: “The virus is turning out to be more serious than we could have imagined. For me it has caused a few distressing days, but I’m home, feeling good and getting back into training.
“I’m training from home because there are vulnerable people who we need to protect in these times. I’m sending my support to them and to everyone and hope that this all ends soon.”
Catch road.cc scribe Laura Laker on BBC World at One
I’m on @BBCWorldatOne in just under an hour, talking about the future of transport and working patterns … stay tuned 🚴🏽♂️🚶♀️🚶♂️🏃♂️
— Laura Laker (@laura_laker) April 29, 2020
Transport and Environment expert and road.cc contributor Laura will be talking about the future of transport and working patterns post-pandemic on the BBC Radio 4 show, starting from approximately 1.30pm – the link to listen is here.
A useful 'Zwift hack'
We were sent this video via a Barcelona-based cycling group; so if you see an avatar blast past you at 800 watts and the profile says they’re from the city, just remember it’s most likely this guy and he’s only cheating himself…
Tired of waiting behind cyclists? Simply pass on the wrong side of the road...
Must pass the cyclist at all costs…..
There may be less cars on the road but the people driving them are still in a rush and driving like idiots. pic.twitter.com/X1VwskJiOW
— HullCamGuy (@HullCamGuy) April 28, 2020
This case of ‘Must Get In Front’ almost beggars belief, as the driver responsible overtakes on the wrong side of a refuge island and avoids the oncoming car with inches to spare. HullCamGuy told road.cc that the incident happened on Beverly Road in the village of Anlaby, East Yorkshire, and has been reported to the police. He commented: “There may be less cars on the road but the people driving them are still in a rush and driving like idiots.”
As a small consolation, at least the cyclist was given a wide berth…
'They took our jooobs!' Paris-Roubaix pavé team not fans of pavé machine
*Ah !* https://t.co/klCqf3YIpA
— Les Amis de Paris-Roubaix (@A_ParisRoubaix) April 29, 2020
Footage of what seems to be a machine that instantly installs cobbles has been retweeted by none other than the team who tirelessly maintain the famous Paris-Roubaix pavé every winter. We reckon their jobs are safe for a good while yet…
Foodora ceases bike courier operations in Canada... months after workers won right to minimum wage
Foodora to shut down in Canada on May 11 amid profitability challenges https://t.co/aVlhSabRFp pic.twitter.com/XAXfw4qVED
— CP24 (@CP24) April 27, 2020
Foodora – owned by German multinational Delivery Hero SE – say they will cease operations in Canada on 11th May after finding that it “has not been able to reach a level of profitability in Canada that’s sustainable enough to continue operations.”
This happens to come less than a year after Foodora bike couriers in Canada had won the right to unionise earlier this year, giving them rights as employees rather than individual contractors including the right to a minimum wage.
Foodora has decided to leave Canada rather than recognize its employees’ right to unionize.
Good riddance. https://t.co/l6Kog2c8y8
— Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) April 27, 2020
I hate this framing. It is not the fault of workers’ unionizing efforts when a company goes under.
If Foodora can’t survive here without treating their workers fairly, good riddance. https://t.co/Q7lDv76DtY
— Hilary Agro 🍄 #IBelieveTara (@hilaryagro) April 27, 2020
Foodora has been accused of closing rather than recognise the rights of their employees – they are yet to comment beyond their initial statement.
UCI publish statement saying they're not going to give a statement until 5th May
Regarding the state of the racing calendar after the latest lockdown announcements – particularly the news from France that mass sporting events cant resume until September – the UCI said in a (pre) statement:
“It was decided that the publication of the revised calendars for the 2020 UCI WorldTour and UCI Women’s WorldTour, initially planned today in the interests of stakeholders, would be postponed to the beginning of next week. Indeed, the UCI and its partners need to pursue their work as certain points remain unclear due to the world health situation. The measures recently taken by some European governments concerning the restriction of mass sporting events must, as our Federation once again recently underlined, be taken into consideration when establishing the UCI International Calendar for the recommencement of cycling competitions.
“The UCI and cycling’s families aim to publish these calendars on Tuesday 5 May, after the meeting of the Professional Cycling Council (PCC), responsible for the UCI WorldTour calendar. The UCI clarifies that the PCC meeting scheduled for today was postponed due to the latest developments.”
Netherlands: 79-year-old chases down bike thief with passenger on the back of his e-bike
Another tale of a thief who got their comeuppance, as a 27-year-old in the Dutch city of Roosendaal was chased down by a man 52 years his senior.
NL Times report that the elderly cyclist and a passenger who wanted to help gave chase after their friend’s bike was stolen. A police officer was alerted while they were giving chase and all took off after the suspect, who was eventually caught – he was found to have previous convictions and reportedly jailed.
Vuelta gets shortened and will no longer start in the Netherlands
🇪🇸 #LaVuelta20 tendrá 18 etapas y arrancará en el País Vasco
🇬🇧 #LaVuelta20 will consist of 18 stages and will take off from the Basque Country
— La Vuelta (en casa 🏠) (@lavuelta) April 29, 2020
The organisers today posted a statement saying that the race will now consist of 18 stages and begin in the Basque Country, rather than the Netherlands as originally planned – this means all three stages that were set to take place on Dutch soil will not be replaced – new dates are yet to be confirmed, but it is still set to take place in Autumn
Race director Javier Guillén said: “It is obvious that when you design the race, you do not expect not to have to make changes of this magnitude, but we have to be sensitive with the current situation and we have to assume that it is very difficult to substitute an official exit at this point for all the institutional planning and logistics that implies.”
"Teaching from afar" in 80's cycling kit
Primary school teacher Alec Leslie – a former Cat 1 racer and keen duathlete according to his friend who alerted us to his YouTube channel – has been creating online lessons for his pupils in lockdown while wearing the cream of his outlandish retro pro cycling kit collection collection. His most recent classes today were on hours of the day, and last week he gave a lesson on relaxation techniques wearing the legendary Z Tomasso kit, a quarter finallist in our Full Kit Ranker best jersey competiton…
Chapeau Mr Leslie!
Thieves who stole bikes from outside hospital and assaulted staff member are jailed for two years and 10 months
As we reported back in March, 35-year-old David Moran, and 29-year-old Aaron Lancaster were arrested following a bike stealing spree outside Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham between 16th-18th March. At the time, both were charged with five counts of burglary, theft, and assault on an emergency worker, while Lancaster is also charged with a further count of theft and obstructing an officer in the execution of their duty.
Nottinghamshire Police have today revealed that Moran and Lancaster were both jailed for two years and 10 months. They also added that Moran threaten to “knock out” an officer who moved to arrest him after assaulting an emergency worker, and he also threatened to spit at an office once detained.
UPDATE Thank you to @nottspolice who have also kindly offered to lend a bicycle from their stores until a replacement can be found!
— David Hicks (@DavidTheScintst) March 26, 2020
Stories of kindness emerged after the theft, with workers who had their bikes stolen offered replacements while theirs were recovered and repaired. Judge Timothy Spencer QC described the men as “quite rightly ashamed” of their actions, saying:
“At the forefront of the battle against the epidemic is the work of those in the NHS.
“Hour by hour, even minute by minute, those workers put themselves at risk of contracting Covid-19 in order to save the lives of others.
“It would have been very clear to you two that these bike compounds were not access to the general public and were therefore used by employees on the site.”
The BBC quote a statement from a victim, who said in court:
“We are all working so hard to keep the NHS afloat – I am devastated that someone can steal from those trying to save lives.
“These people must not have an emotional strand in their bodies.”
29 April 2020, 08:51
Greater Manchester Police are now investigating the incident after initially claiming the perpetrator could not be identified
Video: Cyclist pushed from bike by motocross bike rider
Police are treating incident in Altrincham earlier this month as assault
29 April 2020, 08:51
A stark warning from Manchester's Cycling and Walking Commissioner
“We’ve only got weeks” to change UK’s cities for the better, warns Chris Boardman
Appeal comes as AA survey suggests a third of drivers may cycle, walk or run more once lockdown eases
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"The net result of this confusion was police forces in Wales no longer issuing warning letters to drivers who dangerously overtake cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders, despite there being no formal policy change." That is one result, but my understanding is that it's wider than this - they were getting so many submissions that they are no longer taking action on *any* offence where the action would be a warning letter. So, for example, zig-zag line offences, where South Wales Police previously acted on OpSnap reports, are now NFAd. That begs a further question though - if you've already had a warning letter for an offence, a repeat offence should potentially result in a fine or prosecution. Are they checking each report to see if the reported driver has previously had a warning, or just NFA-ing all offences of a particular type? Any thoughts, wjts?!
The leader's team would get on the front and block the roads through Montmartre and completely kill the spectacle. Let's face it, the last stage has always been meaningless apart from the sprint, now it's meaningless apart from a superb and thrilling triple lap of Montmartre followed by a sprint. Neutralising GC helped that spectacle - imagine if Tadej had needed to go back and help bring Del Toro up. The roads are too narrow to allow for really fair racing, if we want the wonder of the Montmartre loop then GC neutralisation is the price we have to pay, and one well worth paying in my view.
@mdavidford Exactly this.
The big thing that the technical analysis missed out is positioning on the bike. Modern riders do aero work on their road bike and have much better discipline on holding position than even riders 10 years ago. I think Dan Bingham summed it up, his team rode with an old POC helmet with a massive peak whereas Sky had a little stub tail Cask helmet the idea being that it was less sensitive to head position. Bingham said that the long tail helmet was about 15W faster. “How hard would you train to get 15w more power, is it harder than training yourself to live with that helmet?” Pantani is standing up on the pedals, bare head, shirt open, rocking and rolling everywhere with his position, vs someone who is sat on the seat in a quasi time trial position. The 90’s riders were rank amateurs compared with those today, so it’s not a massive surprise that 30 years of progress can beat EPO.
@HoarseMann Oh I can assure you that plenty of passes can be proved with absolute certainty to have been illegal purely from generous guesses on the size of cars and the size of lanes. Lets say you drive a 2m wide car that takes up 2/3rd of a lane in a video. Someone with a basic grasp of maths would be able to tell you that you couldn't overtake a cyclist without moving into the opposite lane even if the cyclist was 0cm wide and somehow riding on the very edge of the road where it meets the pavement. Someone with a basic understanding of maths would be able to tell you that unless the car was 1.5m or less wide on a 3m wide road, its impossible to overtake by staying on your side of the road with 1.5m space even if the cyclist took up 0 space. They simply don't want to do anything about it. Its got absolutely nothing to do with holding up in court because that wouldn't be an issue in a huge number of cases and they know it. No one in their right mind would go to court to contest it.
That's... not right. The prosecution has to* prove beyond reasonable doubt that the offence was committed, but not that every single detail of statements made by their witnesses is accurate. And HoarseMann is correct that it doesn't mean the same as "with absolute certainty", otherwise it would be "beyond *all* doubt". [* More accurately, should have to. In practice, when it comes to offences against cyclists, the system often does seem to demand that it's proven beyond unreasonable doubt as well, but that's not what the standard is supposed to be, or what's applied to other offences. ]
has anyone else seen this story from the BBC - basically, a cyclist in West Yorkshire reported a close pass, and the police went through their footage and the cyclist ended up paying a £1,200 fine for dangerous cycling for squeezing in the gap between a parked car and an oncoming car. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cd9w2l2wqvdo I'm a believer in fairness, proportionality and so on, so there are several key things here: -that is a terrible piece of cycling, posing a danger to themselves, and some small danger to the driver because the cyclist could have ended up smashing through the windscreen -there is absolutely NO WAY that any driver in West Yorkshire has been fined £1,200 for a close pass on a cyclist, even if they took it all the way to court and had to pay costs etc. -there is a strong "man bites dog" element to this story. Drivers endangering cyclists is mundane and everyday, not worthy of being reported in the BBC. Cyclists endangering drivers is the unusual exception, which then gets reported. P.S. as a measure of the standard of driving which endangers cyclists but DOESN'T get prosecuted by West Yorkshire police, they decided that this close pass/undertake wasn't a crime: https://vimeo.com/1079291114/f8d5ab5f41
Completely agree. Neutralising GC half way through a stage is just utterly absurd. What are they thinking? Imagine if Del Toro had not made it back on in time, what would have happened then? He'd have lost the white jersey *because* of ASOs dumb decision to try protect the starting GC standings. Either the GC standings are frozen at the gun (still requiring them to finish) or they should be taken at the end of the stage.
I'm fine with GC being taken far from the line. Those who want to race can, and by God they did, and those who want to kick back and enjoy the last hour of the Tour waving to fans can do that, and by God they earned it.
HoarseMann, Beyond reasonable doubt means precisely that. If a witness statement mentions a distance "he was less than a metre from me" then the prosecution needs to be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the distance was less than a metre. Can't do that, then no conviction. It's a function of us not having a minimum passing distance law in the UK, the highway code gives a guide figure but certain cycling accounts push for this as an absolute figure which it isn't. This mena that the more precise people try to be in statements the less chance they have of a successful prosecution. It's a case of being careful what you wish for.
18 thoughts on “Two year’s jail for bike thieves who stole from NHS workers; ’Must Get In Front’ of cyclist video shocker!; Richmond Park cycling ban “infuriating”; 1,008km in 24hrs: Canadian claims Zwift world record; Gaviria’s virus battle + more on the live blog”
So, despite having had weeks
So, despite having had weeks to do so, the Royal Parks management still can’t provide a single logical reason for their ban?
Is it only the cyclists
Is it only the cyclists banned from going through there? Are their roads still open for motorists? (I was sure I read somewhere that the roads around the Royal Parks are used for motor traffic).
Didn’t someone count 60
Didn’t someone count 60 cyclists in 15 minutes (but could not do the arithmetic)?
And who supervises the under
And who supervises the under 12’s as they ride, well done Royal Parks for putting children in danger.
Brooksby: main gates are
Brooksby: main gates are fully closed, only cars in there are Park and police vehicles.
Gus T: when I was up there yesterday I am pretty sure the sign said under 12s could have an adult supervising them. But the numbers of families are noticeably down from the early days when cyclists were still permitted.
The congestion and close proximity was all around the gates. If they had kept the main gates open but with some bollards to stop cars, there would have been no problem at all.
Looks like there are some new
Looks like there are some new laws coming into force in Germany. Very bicycle friendly. StVO.
https://twitter.com/citycyclists/status/1255094848480133120
And the article in German (ggogle translate is your friend)
https://www.bmvi.de/SharedDocs/DE/Artikel/K/stvo-novelle-sachinformationen.html
Some interesting ‘tweets’ in
Some interesting ‘tweets’ in that link.
The one about additional cycle lanes in Tirana…
Did you see the tweets from
Did you see the tweets from ‘taxilud’? Plenty of ignorance in his tweets.
“driver responsible overtakes
“driver responsible overtakes on the wrong side of a refuge island”
I think a lot of folk don’t understand what the signage means. I guess they think it is it some sort of warning or advisory.
Laura Laker was excellent on
Laura Laker was excellent on the radio, even if they didn’t give her enough time to explain things in any detail. Still, a welcome change in policy from the BBC, actually mentioning cycling and its benefits and nothing about helmets.
Wrong side of the refuge, not
Wrong side of the refuge, not wrong side of the road. There is a massive problem with drivers who don’t believe they should cross the white line.
Drivers are rarely in a rush, they are just impatient and bored with the crappy box they are in. I’d feel the same.
On the Zwift “cheat”: There
On the Zwift “cheat”: There are plenty of immigrants in Barcelona, but, not just on the face of it, I wouldn’t be quite sure that’s where that guy’s based. Also, it’s crystal clear he was just joking about, I don’t think he’s trying to “cheat” anyone.
Yikes.
Yikes.
I think some of the NHS staff need some advice on how to lock their bikes properly to prevent future thefts.
You wont be able to stop the thieves are absolutely hellbent on stealing your bike with hammers and anglegrinders but there are ways of locking your bike that makes it less of a steal for those opportunists that have nothing and are looking for a quick and easy grab.
They had angle grinders,
They had angle grinders, according to the BBC, not very secure secure bike storage.
ktache wrote:
fair enough. I was going by the picture on roadcc with the lonely wheel still being tethered by the D-lock
Problem is alot of bike
Problem is alot of bike thieves then resort to trashing your bike if they cant steal it,which I believe is on the increase too, the issue really is most of these bike sheds are just after thoughts to these sites,stuck away in corners with little if any proper security provided,so bike thieves have easy pickings and very little to worry about getting caught
Awavey wrote:
Sadly enough I have a friend who experienced this a while back. There were multiple attempts across different days at trying to steal his bike as he left it locked up. The thief couldnt break the lock so he left it in a state where it looked like he took a hammer to the bike instead. Absolutely destroyed the frame and the handlebars.
But the sad fact above all was that this bike was some 10 or 20 year old argos bike that was probably worth not £50 in cash converters. In fact, cash converters would probably refuse to take the bike because theres no real value to it.
We know that the attempted theft happened over a few days because everyday he locked his bike up, he’d come back to find something would be missing off it or it would be ding’d up in someway
I’m just off to the garage
I’m just off to the garage with a salad spinner and a power drill. Everyone will remember the first to go supersonic on Zwift.
Seriously, well done to the guy but I doubt his enduring fame will match R Bannister.