“Organising cycle races in the UK is harder than ever before”: Tour of Britain hits back at critics calling race “dull”; Jake Paul seen in Jumbo-Visma kit aboard a Cervélo… no, really; ‘Speeding cyclists’ talk reaches day three + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Jake Paul seen in Jumbo-Visma kit aboard a Cervélo
If you don’t know who Jake Paul is… congratulations, your life will probably be better if you scroll on past. If you are already acquainted with the fame-driven world of YouTube and celebrity boxing, come right on in…
The man whose Wikipedia page is dominated by the ‘Controversies and legal issues’ section is in the Netherlands and was seemingly convinced into a spin alongside speed skater Jutta Leerdam (who competes as a Jumbo-Visma athlete, explaining the kit and Cervélo crossover)…
Maybe pay-per-view celeb hill climbs or individual pursuits will be the next big thing in the influencer money-making world? Preceded by months of cringe-inducing trash talk and fake ‘beef’, of course… (I don’t mean Quorn)…
Your thoughts on this year's Tour of Britain
“Contrary to popular belief, you cannot just stick pins in a map and say ‘we’re going to have a stage there’. Organising cycle races in the UK is harder than ever before”: Tour of Britain hits back at critics calling race “dull”https://t.co/0I1IwjZxuh #TourOfBritain pic.twitter.com/9MWiob60bN
— road.cc (@roadcc) September 6, 2023
Left_is_for_Losers: “Re this years Tour of Britain — been really impressed with the crowds, you look at the finishes and wonder how it is that professional cycling in the UK is in so much decline?
“It does seem quite a flat route — you would have thought that you could find a few more hills or one more hilly stage somewhere. After the world champs in Glasgow and that success, it’s a shame there isn’t anything up there.
“Still — it’s great to see pro racing in Britain, so I’m happy!”
SimoninSpalding: “Part of the issue with this year’s Tour is also the weather. At this time of year you would hope for a few breezy days that could create some excitement with cross winds, tailwind-assisted breakaways etc. but instead we are ‘suffering’ the weather we should have had in June and July.”
NickSprink: “We also don’t have the equivalent of the Alps. Difficult to find long climbs up to 2000m+ in the UK, they don’t exist. So best we can do is bumpy compared to what is available to the planners of the Grand Tours.”
Miller: “It’s also worth noting that it is very hard to split up the super-fit and highly coached peloton of professional riders. This is why recent Grand Tours have taken to having weird stages with gravel or ridiculously steep finishes: organisers are trying to find some way to force gaps between riders.”
Rendel Harris: “Whilst one can certainly sympathise with the logistical challenges faced by the ToB organisers, and also the fact as others have noted that we just don’t have the hills to smash a peloton to pieces, it is pretty ridiculous that after three days we have 56 riders effectively equal first with the leader being decided on his place in the points classification.
“Why are there no bonus seconds on the line or for intermediate sprints, and why no time trial? I realise a time trial has its own logistical problems given that it requires the road to be closed for longer, but surely one could be held in an off-road venue such as a park or stately home grounds? The race is clearly crying out for something to split up the riders so that attacks will have to be made.”
'Speeding cyclists' talk reaches (very tired) day three thanks to a loophole-loving lawyer
Late to the party on this one, Mr Loophole…
Cyclists need relevant law not advice. When will the Government introduce legislative parity for all road users, including cyclists, escooters and ebikes? #cycling https://t.co/jtSyqbMbG5
— Nick Freeman (@TheMrLoophole) September 6, 2023
Apologies for putting this idea into your brain on a sunny Wednesday morning… but I’d say that’s a 10/10 guess for what AI Nick Freeman would tweet about the story… ChatGPT Loophole edition, I’m not sure this live blog’s ready for that…
The award for most unlikely ULEZ supporter goes to... Richard Keys?!
Public transport system in London now is top class @TfL So many options. As a car junkie I hate to admit it but it’s gorgeous walking in the capital on days like these. Stick to your guns inc ULEZ.
— Richard Keys (@richardajkeys) September 5, 2023
Genuinely shocked by this. I just assumed ‘Keysy’ would be in the other camp, chewing Andy Gray’s ear off on beIN SPORTS about “this London mayor Sadiq Khan… or as I’ve dubbed him… Sadiq Khan’t” like he’s an underperforming manager of Manchester United.
La Vuelta's secret battle: Filippo Ganna vs Jacopo Mosca
The #LaVuelta23 battle you never knew about 🤪 @SunJjak stole Pippo’s bike computer so @GannaFilippo stole Jacopo’s bike…
What’s next?! 😂🙈 pic.twitter.com/YcTmgWYuz2
— Lidl-Trek (@LidlTrek) September 6, 2023
Tour of Britain reaction round-up: Hills, no Scottish visit + more
Loads of reaction from you lot this morning, all focused around that ‘has the Tour of Britain been dull?’ discussion…
Unfortunately, whilst I agree with the tour of Britain organisers, it has been a very dull race. Councils don’t want/ can’t afford cycle races. It’s a shame but hardly surprising given the current state of this country….
— Thor Sokkolfrson (@Captain_Havok) September 6, 2023
60kg lean keen … : “In north-east Wales we have the Horseshoe Pass (not the only big hill in local area), but the Wrexham stage went east not west? I believe it was because Denbighshire would not play ball, so it was a flatish short stage, it could have been a epic (good weather etc.) but I and so many others turned out and made the day a good one. Let’s hope the tour comes back to Wrexham and we can go west for a day in the hills.”
Dull, England -centric, snooze fest.
— Graham McKechnie (@albabairn) September 6, 2023
Another one here… “As a rider and racing fan, I’m finding this year’s Tour of Britain really boring. I appreciate what the organisers have said about choosing venues and routes, but something needs to be done.
“The local authorities who sponsor and fund the event are looking for start and finish venues in high-profile towns and cities as a form of marketing. Perhaps they will look beyond this, to create a more engaging and memorable race, where breakaways and mountain stages will attract greater TV viewing figures and, as a result, more rider interest.”
I’ve got to admit I do have a fair bit of sympathy for the organisers. Road surfaces, disinterested councils, road closures, rider safety etc. there are more than enough issues for people to moan at you about and challenges to overcome.
If the plan’s to keep the GC even for this weekend’s Gloucestershire/Wales hilly finale, I’m okay with that, I’d say it’s less boring now than if Wout van Aert was already leading and in control thanks to an early hilly stage and bonus seconds (if they’d been included). But that’s just me… would it be nice if the sprints were more competitive? 100%. Is it the organisers’ fault if you give teams potentially six sprint stages and still nobody sends anybody able to beat Jumbo-Visma? The sprinters must all be at La Vuelta… oh, wait…
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The 'amateur sleuths' tackling bike theft in Finland
The BBC has an interesting feature on its website looking into how a group called Bike Patrols is hunting down bike thieves in Finland.
The citizen group, made up of volunteers who spend several hours a day tracking down stolen bikes in the city of Oulu, is trying to cut the number of bike theft cases reported to the police in the city, 1,738 in the past year.
In summer, 77 per cent of Oulu residents cycle, with 42 per cent continuing into the winter months, while it is reported that due to the impressive infrastructure, children cycle to school on their own without issue.
However, the popularity of cycling unfortunately means bike thefts are also prevalent, the local police saying it has to “prioritise investigating more serious crimes”. But, Bike Patrols filled the gap and have found a quite incredible 1,298 stolen bikes… in the past year. That’s equivalent to 75 per cent of the aforementioned bike theft total.
“People told us where bikes disappeared from. We checked out each location and slowly figured out where stolen bikes ended up in different parts of the city,” Ilkka Pulkkinen of Bike Patrols explained.
"Cyclists are entitled to use the road as much as anyone else": Councillors and locals blast "discriminatory" 'Cyclists Dismount and Proceed with Caution' signs at temporary traffic lights
Olav Kooij wins stage four of the Tour of Britain (equals consecutive stage win record)
HISTORY MADE IN NEWARK-ON-TRENT!@KooijOlav equals Edvald Boasson Hagen’s record of four-consecutive stage victories 🏆#TourOfBritain 🔴🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/cRTPfY2Y2s
— The Tour of Britain 🇬🇧 (@TourofBritain) September 6, 2023
It’s groundhog day…
Four wins from four stages. It’s almost like having Wout van Aert on lead-out duty for the fastest sprinter in the race is a solid tactic… more expert analysis on that soon…
The commentary team for GCN+, Matt Stephens and Brian Smith had some not-so-encouraging words for those of you unhappy with the lack of climbing action so far this week…
Smith: Just copy and paste that for tomorrow.
Stephens: It’s even flatter tomorrow, Brian! If you thought these days were flat, tomorrow and the next day are extraordinarily flat… I can see this man winning six stages.
Highlight of the day? Whichever farmer arranged the sheep feed in the shape of a penny farthing…
Live land art at the @tourofbritain: sheep in the shape (roughly) of a penny farthing. 🐏 Ram-tastic! 👏 #AtYourSide #TourOfBritain pic.twitter.com/8xnTVpm6sQ
— Brother UK Cycling (@BrotherCycling) September 6, 2023
Simac stage sprint showdown sees star shocked
Anyone got any more S-words to add to that title…
🚴♀️Wow what a sprint! So close‼️
🥇 @Elisa_balsamo @lidltrek wins stage 1 📍Gennep-Gennep 🛣️139,6 km
🥈 @lorenawiebes @teamsdworx
🥉 @charlotte_kool @TDSM_Firmenich #SLT2023 pic.twitter.com/FtVtS86iVL— Simac Ladies Tour (@ladiestour) September 6, 2023
Over at the Annemiek van Vleuten celebration race… sorry, I mean the Simac Ladies Tour, it was former world champion Elisa Balsamo who pipped Lorena Wiebes to the opening road stage of the week. With Charlotte Kool third, that’s a proper unofficial sprinters’ world championship of a stage, Wiebes probably starting as favourite given her scintillating form this season.
Let’s hope we see another top-tier battle on Friday’s second sprint of the week.
Jesús Herrada wins from La Vuelta breakaway — no change on GC
💫 Una batalla por la victoria hasta los metros finales… 🔥 ¡La fuga lo ha conseguido! 🎥 Revive el ÚLTIMO KM.
💥 A battle until the closing metres for the stage win as stage 1️⃣1️⃣ honours go the way of the break today. 🎥 Watch back the final KM!
#LaVuelta23 pic.twitter.com/OL49KNcWay— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) September 6, 2023
One of those double race days at a Grand Tour where we get the stage win battle from the breakaway before the GC riders take things up a few minutes later. The final climb wasn’t hard enough to split the GC guys, despite Hugh Carthy’s efforts, meaning Sepp Kuss will once again be in red tomorrow.
Up the road, Geraint Thomas finished fifth from the breakaway, Jesús Herrada taking a third Vuelta stage win since 2019 by powering away from Romain Grégoire, Andreas Kron and Jonathan Caicedo in the final few hundred metres.
Pure comedy from an overzealous Cofidis soigneur, and an arguably even more overzealous policeman, at the finish…
La Guardia taking down the soigneur is a new one for me. Probably Remco’s fault. pic.twitter.com/PQWVd7Y3WA
— How The Race Was Won® (@Cyclocosm) September 6, 2023
"Organising cycle races in the UK is harder than ever before": Tour of Britain hits back at "dull" racing critics
After three sprints and three Jumbo-Visma-dominated Olav Kooij victories, there have been a few rumblings on social media that this year’s Tour of Britain might be a bit boring. Now I doubt any of the thousands of spectators who have lined the route so far thought it boring to see their back yard hosting a bike race of its scale, but some of those watching on from the comfort of their TV-viewing perch have been less impressed.
[SWpix.com/Zac Williams]
Taking to X (Twitter), one fan said it had been “dull”, while another suggested “there’s nothing interesting” and we “may as well watch a 200-lap scratch race”.
“Not sure who designed the route but are they afraid of hills? Pretty dull so far,” another said.
Replying to the critics, the Tour of Britain’s social media admin pointed out the route was designed by the same team heavily praised for their Kendal 2016, Whinlatter 2018, Burton Dassett 2019, Great Orme 2021 stages (and chucked this Sunday’s Caerphilly finale into that bracket too, suggesting they think they’ve got a winner there)…
Contrary to popular belief, you cannot just stick pins in a map and say “we’re going to have a stage there”. Organising cycle races in the UK is harder than ever before; there’s a reason why the calendar has lost around a quarter of UCI race days in the last five years alone.
— The Tour of Britain 🇬🇧 (@TourofBritain) September 6, 2023
“If somebody wants to give us a sizeable seven-figure (near eight-figure) sum to give us the opportunity of doing that, we’ve got plenty of stages that have never been run before in mind,” they added.
The bad news for those who want hills is the next three (very flat) stages look likely to be sprints too, before this weekend’s climbing finale in Gloucestershire and at Caerphilly Mountain.
Maybe good things come to those who wait?
6 September 2023, 08:11
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Hmm; Whats the betting the cyclist could filter through the traffic regardless of the police car... (Also shows how badly traffic delays emergency services; I say having kept pace with an ambulance on a blue light run for several miles this morning before it turned off my route (cycle lane next to road it was on, then directly behind it in bus lane...) - Hell could have probably gotten past it (but didn't think racing to beat the ambulance to the bus lane (or deal with drivers doing stupid things getting out of its way) was sensible...) I'm not exactly a racing whippet (~10-12kg overweight + hauling pannier with clothes + work gear...))
Laziness/cheaping out, basically. Because USB-C is bi-directional, any device you connect could be a potential provider of power, a consumer, or neither. Consumers need a particular component to 'advertise' that they are consumers, or a charging device won't start supplying power. USB-A, on the other hand, just supplies power regardless.
Yes - that does look sneaky - feels like the article could do with an update to make that clearer.
I've used this light for 2 years and can absolutely recommend it. Sure it has some weak points, battery life could be better for example, and it's hard to understand why charging only works from a USB-A charger if the light itself uses USB-C. The important stuff they got right, it feels very solid and well designed, you can tell they iterated a lot while prototyping. The light modes are also effective and thoughtfully designed. I've used the optional saddle rail mount with no issues, very nice to have a quarter-turn quick release that just works. For me, it's an innovative and tasteful object which is rare in this category, that also proves a point and works as advertised. The only thing it lacks that I truly wish it had is a brake function.
@AidanR It's not a perfect metric for sure, just trying to find something less biased towards cars than incidents per miles travelled which is a somewhat absurd way of calculating relative dangers, in my opinion, given how much further cars travel for a given time. Using distance, if a driver averaging 60kmh and a cyclist averaging 20kmh both log 100 hours on the road and one incident in that time, cycling becomes one incident per 2000km and motoring one incident per 6000km, so motoring looks three times safer even though we have the same number of incidents in the same amount of time travelled.
@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?
42 thoughts on ““Organising cycle races in the UK is harder than ever before”: Tour of Britain hits back at critics calling race “dull”; Jake Paul seen in Jumbo-Visma kit aboard a Cervélo… no, really; ‘Speeding cyclists’ talk reaches day three + more on the live blog”
It’s also worth noting that
It’s also worth noting that it is very hard to split up the super-fit and highly coached peloton of professional riders. This is why recent grand tours have taken to having weird stages with gravel or ridiculously steep finishes: organisers are trying to find some way to force gaps between riders.
Miller wrote:
It ought, though, be easier to split the Tour of Britain field, oughtn’t it – given the different levels of rider involved.
We also don’t have the
We also don’t have the equivalent of the Alps. Difficult to find long climbs up to 2000m+ in the UK, they don’t exist. So best we can do is bumpy compared to what is available to the planners of the Grand Tours.
NickSprink wrote:
In North east Wales we have the horse shoe pass (not the only big hill in local area), but the Wrexham stage went East not West??? I believe it was because Denbighshire would not play ball, so it was a flat ish short stage, it could have been a epic (good weather ect) but I and so many others turned out and made the day a good one. Lets hope the tour comes back to Wrexham and we can go West for a day in the hills.
60kg lean keen climbing
This seems to be a primary reason for some not so good routes – our counties are quite small – so it’s difficult to run a decent route within the confines of one county etc – I can imagine it makes it quite limiting.
Suprised not to see more pure sprinters at the race too – given that basically 7/8 stages are sprints you would have thought that would be more opportunity.
Part of the issue with this
Part of the issue with this year’s Tour is also the weather. At this time of year you would hope for a few breezy days that could create some excitement with cross winds, tailwind assisted breakaways etc. but instead we are “suffering” the weather we should have had in June and July.
Re this years ToB – been
Re this years ToB – been really impressed with the crowds, you look at the finishes and wonder how it is that professional cycling in the UK is in so much decline.
It does seem quite a flat route – you would have thought that you could find a few more hills or one more hilly stage somewhere. After the world champs in Glasgow and that success, it’s a shame there isn’t anything up there.
Still – it’s great to see pro racing in Britain, so I’m happy!
Whilst one can certainly
Whilst one can certainly sympathise with the logistical challenges faced by the ToB organisers, and also the fact as others have noted that we just don’t have the hills to smash a peloton to pieces, it is pretty ridiculous that after three days we have 56 riders effectively equal first with the leader being decided on his place in the points classification. Why are there no bonus seconds on the line or for intermediate sprints, and why no time trial? I realise a time trial has its own logistical problems given that it requires the road to be closed for longer, but surely one could be held in an off-road venue such as a park or stately home grounds? The race is clearly crying out for something to split up the riders so that attacks will have to be made.
Because folk would then
Because folk would then complain the race is being decided by bonus seconds, not real time gaps.
They’ve got something that will split up the riders, it’s called stage 8.
Last year’s race would have
Last year’s race would have been epic, if Mrs Windsor hadn’t carked it at an inopportune moment. Two really lumpy days cancelled including what turned out to be a very windy jaunt on the Isle of Wight.
Agreed, stage 7 was passing
Agreed, stage 7 was passing within 300 metres of my house, and I had a more direct ride route planned to pick up the bunch passing again another 2-3 times on its way east, but it was not to be.
kil0ran wrote:
An Isle of Wight stage would have been most excellent as long as they kept in the £1 floating bridge at Cowes….
There was a TT in Tamworth
There was a TT in Tamworth last year or the year before for the Womens race. So they can be done if the area wants it.
The state of the UKs road for
The state of the UKs road for all road users is an absolute disgrace. Im thankfully amazed nobody has been injured the amount of pot holes etc.
It must be hard for any cycling group to find decent roads. Try down hete the a shocker it makes me teasy the state of the dutchys roads.
A reminder that the
A reminder that the ubiquitous caution “Don’t feed the trolls” should apply to road.cc editors as well as forum commenters.
I don’t see trolling in any
I don’t see trolling in any of the quoted comments…
I was referring to the posts
I was referring to the posts giving platform to people of questionable repute.
There is a distinct line between celebrity and professional attention-whore, and that line is an achievement worthy of celebration. Getting attention by infamy and scandal is not an achievement that warrants further attention.
Mr Loophole (no, not “a-hole”
Mr Loophole (no, not “a-hole”) Nick Freeman wants legislative parity for users of vehicles that are not comparible (ie bikes/motor vehicles).
I’ve witnessed, first hand, 3 incidents involving collisions between cyclists and pedestrians.
Whilst the fault varied in each case (one was 50/50, the other two were the fault of the cyclists riding on the pavement and expecting the pedestrians to give way to them), they all ended up with the cyclist being far worse off than the pedestrian (who would basically walk away almost completely unharmed).
I wonder what Nick Freeman would prefer: being hit by a cyclist or a motor vehicle driver…
Depends on the cyclist, a DH
Depends on the cyclist, a DH rider will have much better upper body strength compared to a GC climber.
mitsky wrote:
— mitskyI fall into both categories and gladly volunteer to hit him 🙂
So I take it Mr Loophole
So I take it Mr Loophole wants pedestrians to be required to have insurance; licence plates on buggies; wheelchair users to pass an MOT; etc.?
Or does he just means he wants to make life more difficult for outgroups that he doesn’t like?
Nick Freeman wrote:
Yay, legislative parity for all road users! Look forward to pedestrian licences, MOTs for rollerblades, insurance for electric wheelchairs, V5 documentation for prams and buggies and of course emissions tests for horses and their riders (I’ve known some of both species that would have trouble passing).
A lot of “if’s” incoming…
A lot of “if’s” incoming…
IF peds etc needed licences, and IF, the were sufficient police to police the roads and IF the CPS got its act together and IF the courts could handle the number of additional cases…. I wonder how many new clients Mr Freeman would pick up…..?
As usual, he is just trying to drum up business.
Rendel Harris wrote:
Yay, legislative parity for all road users! Look forward to pedestrian licences, MOTs for rollerblades, insurance for electric wheelchairs, V5 documentation for prams and buggies and of course emissions tests for horses and their riders (I’ve known some of both species that would have trouble passing).— Nick Freeman
And effective prosecution of car drivers without spurious weasel arguments getting them off?
Wasn’t Spurious Weasel the
Wasn’t Spurious Weasel the college band that Tony Blair played guitar in?
He was just playing a session
He was playing a session with some Royal Signals musicians… they were just jamming.
I remember that session. I
I remember that session. I found it very difficult to interpret…
Nick Freeman wrote:
I had assumed it was because the legislation takes into consideration the risk and danger caused by different road users. I’m sure there was something in the news recently about a “Hierarchy of somesuch” in relation to it…
Genuinely haven’t seen
Genuinely haven’t seen anything Richard Keys has done since the Milk Races in the 80s.
Presumably he’s been doing football, it’s football on Sky isn’t it.
Wolfcastle50 wrote:
He was kicked off Sky for being a misogynist dinosaur.
Im surprised he isnt
Im surprised he isnt presenting the Saudi Pro League in that case.
Close works for Qatar based
Close works for Qatar based Bein Sports. So unlikey to report on Saudi Pro League.
Ok, let’s have parity, Mr
Ok, let’s have parity, Mr Freeman. All car engines to cut out once the car exceeds 25kph, anyone?
Steve K wrote:
and no more than 250w engines either.
Make em all hi-viz and
Make em all hi-viz and compulsory polystyrene hats for occupants too. And regular drivist bashing in the media
This is how our local paper
This is how our local paper is promoting the arrival of world class cyclists to the town in the Tour of Britain, which they’re barely skirting through because the local council refuses to get properly involved with it.
“Parking restrictions on busy Ipswich road”
https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/23770539.parking-restrictions-ipswich-tour-britain-2023/
The race organisers really have a thankless task, rather than criticise, we should support them as much as we can.
40% of people in Oulu cycle
40% of people in Oulu cycle in winter! That’s brilliant.
For reference, Oulu is almost in the arctic circle. It’s dark, snowy, and bloomin’ cold in winter.
Mass cycling isn’t about weather, it’s about infrastructure
Oulu does look like a good
Oulu does look like a good place for cycling [1] [2]!
Finland has hosted the International Winter Cycling Congress e.g. 2020 in Joensuu – a place probably no-one has heard of but where likely more kids cycle to school in winter than UK kids do in summer!
Just noticed that Bicycle
Just noticed that Bicycle Dutch has a video out about cycling in the summer in Oulu too. Perhaps the most revealing is this:
…
“This brochure gives information about the main cycling routes and the diversity of cycling in Oulu: it does not matter whether you sport a cruiser, mountain bike or a pink Jopo. You do not need special gear to cycle. Instead, you can cycle barefoot or with your boots on and with or without a helmet. The most important thing is that you cycle.
“Cycling improves your physical condition and is an eco-friendly mode of transportation… But in the Oulu region cycling is something much more. In Oulu, all styles of cycling are allowed. You can exercise or you can cycle just for fun – there is no need to stress about proper gear or fancy bike models! Cycling is a natural part of the all-year-round lives of Oulu citizens.— BicycleDutch
(My emphasis). Can’t imagine many councils lending their name to that kind of sentiment. It’s more like “cycling is a thing people can do” … followed by a list of conditions you should obey and/or safety requirements. Or at best something stating how much they’re going to do for cycling at some unspecified future time.
Not a week goes by without
Not a week goes by without that UK lawer Mr Poophole sticking his little turtle head out and pestering social media with his verbal diarrhea… what an odious little turd.
The Wrexham stage was a
The Wrexham stage was a complete wasted opportunity. Look at a map of Wrexham, cast your eyes left and what do you see, hills, loads of bloody hills. Okay, they might not be the Alps but even I could come up with a course that’d make a challanging day and avoided the main roads like the A5 or A483. As for the run into town and the finish, absolutly shockingly bad.
Only a year after hearing of
Only a year after hearing of their iminant release.
Lezyne Tubeless Pro Plugs Tubeless Repair Kit