Edinburgh cycle lane not gritted for 3 days after snowfall; 2.4m trips on CS3 in 2020; Congestion up after cycle lane ripped out; Matt Stephens quizzes Ineos signings; New name, kit, bike as Mitchelton-Scott becomes Team Bike Exchange + more on live blog
Congestion rises after cycle lane ripped out
A study of traffic on Kensington High Street has found that congestion worsened after the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea ripped up a temporary cycle lane there last month.
Campaign group Bike Is Best also said that its research shows that the space formerly taken up by the cycle lane is now blocked by illegally parked vehicles up to 80 per cent of the time, reports the Guardian.
More on this story on road.cc later.
New team name, new kit for Mitchelton-Scott - now Team Bike Exchange
It’s the first of January, and among other things, that means that riders announced as switching teams in recent months will now be able to go out in the kit of their new team – and of course, in some cases that will mean not only a completely different kit to the one the team wore last year, but also a change of name.
Among the teams to have changed name due to a change in sponsor is Team Bike Exchange – formerly Mitchelton-Scott – and besides a new kit, modelled in this video by Simon Yates and Teniel Campbell, there’s also a new bike sponsor, Bianchi.
Meanwhile, Mark Cavendish is back at Deceuninck-Quick Step, who have given their kit a bit of an overhaul – here’s the former road world champion sporting it, together with rainbow bands on the collar and cuffs.
New Kit Day 😎
What do you think?@deceuninck_qst @iamspecialized pic.twitter.com/UErXXDLhCb— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) January 1, 2021
Edinburgh cyclist asks why bike lane wasn’t gritted after snowfall
A cyclist in Edinburgh has asked the city council why a bike lane on a main road in the Scottish capital was not gritted for three days after a recent snowfall, forcing many to take to the main carriageway instead.
The cycle lane on Comiston Road, which runs from Comiston to Morningside in the south of the city, was put in place last year as part of the council’s Spaces for People programme to encourage active travel during the coronavirus pandemic.
Edinburgh News reports that one local resident, Paul Bailey, wrote to the council’s transport convener Lesley Macinnes to point out that while the main road had been gritted, the cycle lane had not.
“I notice to the council’s credit that some gritting has been done on some pavements on Comiston Road,” he said. “However I also notice that none of the cycle lanes on Comiston Road have been cleared at all. May I ask why the cycle lanes on such a major road are being left untreated – even after three days?
“On Wednesday, to my surprise, I met a cyclist attempting to negotiate the icy surface of the cycle lane. A few seconds later the cyclist left the dangerous cycle lane and moved out into the main carriageway.
“This of course leads to another problem; the overtaking car needs to straddle the central white line to give the cyclist room; further up the road where parking is allowed, the main carriageway is even narrower – 3.25 metres.
“Spaces for People was meant to help cyclists and pedestrians. Clearly the Orcas are creating a serious problem which needs to be addressed promptly. Waiting until the next review on January 28 is unacceptable when you know about the danger now.”
A spokeswoman for Edinburgh City Council commented: “Our gritting teams work 24/7 to respond to poor conditions on the city’s roads, cycle paths and pavements.
“We operate a priority gritting system, treating priority one routes first, which include principal roads, bus routes and roads and pavements leading to hospitals, fire stations care homes, in order to keep the city moving.”
It’s the second time in a month that the council has faced criticism for not gritting the same cycle lane, with one Twitter user saying after a snowfall in early December, “Looks like we may have to clear these ourselves.”
Looks like we may have to clear these ourselves. Was it beyond the ken o man to expect the snow not to fall in the cycle lane. The smaller machinery that does the pavement will fit the lane no problem. Not doing it is inexcusable.
— ShakeTheFoundations (@shaken_shake) December 4, 2020
Matt Stephens quizzes Ineos Grenadiers new signings
Three of Ineos Grenadiers new signings – Adam Yates, Laurens Ten Post and Ritchie Porte – have been quizzed by former British champion turned TV pundit and presenter Matt Stephens, and the questions are as quirky as you’d expect …
Cyclists made 2.4m trips on Embankment cycleway last year
Cyclists ,made 2.4 million trips on London’s Cycleway 3 in 2020 according to the cycle counter close to Embankment Underground station – while across the river, the Blackfriars Road cycle counter recorded 1.1 million bike rides on Cycleway 6.
Click through the tweet for a thread analysing of how riding patterns changed throughout the year.
** #CS3 and #CS6 cycle journey counters in 2020 **
The two counters recorded over 3.5 million journeys during 2020:
> #CS3 #Embankment 2.403 million;
> #CS5 #Blackfriars Road 1.135 million.Thread picking out some 2020 highlights
1/n pic.twitter.com/kvpgJnQVW2— London Cycle Route CS3’s Crowdsourced Count (@CS3Count) January 1, 2021
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Latest Comments
You'd have to be mad to back this
New party game. Find a generative AI picture and the first team that circles 10 obvious problems wins a shot of rum.
Say what you will about the braking efficiencies of both rim and disc brakes. Or of seemingly having only one pedal and crank. Or of the angled-in brake hoods on flat bars. Let alone the rearward facing handlebars. I'm so impressed though, by the chain that traverses one side of the bike, to switch side somewhere around the dropouts, to the other side of the bike! Every side's a drivetrain side!
@chrisonabike We live in terraced houses, so no garage.
@Shades They have a 5 bedroom house for the 4of them (2 parents, 2 children). Admittedly, the hall isn't wide but it's not as if they're short of space. I keep 2 of my bikes in the cellar.
In other news, researchers prove beyond doubt that water is indeed wet.
And why are they not heavily de-starred by NCAP? The rot started with the Nissan Qashqai which used loopholes on bonnet safety regulations that didn't adequately include the headlight lenses, they put deep soft tissue penetrating ridges into the lens mouldings that increased their height and the aggressiveness of the look of the car but made it much more dangerous to any vulnerable roaduser. Unfortunately the raised stance and batmobileish looks appealed to buyers, particularly women and the whole industry surged in that direction. Now much worsened with the seeming unstoppability of the Range Rover look.
@mdavidford Most importantly, will someone name a range of exotic (well, exotic for the 1980s) snacks after me?
@mctrials23 Nerdy sort of fact, if the RTW challenge was to cycle round the equator, which would make sense in a way with that being the longest circumference of our oblate spheroid, it would only take 8,714 kilometres of cycling as the rest of the 40,075km would be by boat.
18 thoughts on “Edinburgh cycle lane not gritted for 3 days after snowfall; 2.4m trips on CS3 in 2020; Congestion up after cycle lane ripped out; Matt Stephens quizzes Ineos signings; New name, kit, bike as Mitchelton-Scott becomes Team Bike Exchange + more on live blog”
That a damning study of
That’s a damning study of Kensington High Street – they’ve spent loads of money, annoyed both cyclists and motorists and ended up with even more congestion and still no active travel infrastructure. What’s worse is that they based their decision on a vocal minority rather than using data – we need to get rid of these dinosaurs and their out-of-date thinking.
hawkinspeter wrote:
“thinking” might be a little generous.
You mean the weathervane
You mean the weathervane councillors who change direction according to whatever blowhards puff hardest? Good luck with that, half the time they’re narcissists just looking to inflate their own popularity. For some reason unbeknown to me, their ilk seem to manage being re-elected. I suspect it’s because they’ve only got to swing a small number of voters, and it’s easiest to do with those most frightened by change?
I’m liking the post crimbo
I’m liking the post crimbo avatar.
ktache wrote:
Yarrr!
I’m sure Nigel Havers and the
I’m sure Nigel Havers and the other vociferous critics of the cycle lane will waste no time in admitting their mistake, and I look forward to multiple articles in the media highlighting this phenomenon and educating the masses.
Has anyone contacted Mr Havers for his views on actual facts rather than his misinformed perceptions?
Quote:
I do love the ambiguity in that construction.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/tag/moses-hadas/#return-note-5095-4
Sriracha wrote:
Delightful, thank you. I’m just glad someone spotted it.
I saw the article in the
I saw the article in the grauniad…
Live no where near London and I was raging.
Surely must be rules, scientific data and what-the-fuk-ever to stop this infrastructure vandalism!
Yes, because politicians are
Yes, because politicians are known to listen to scientists and data.
And not listening to scientists has never led up anything bad or 2020.
cdamian wrote:
“Fact based decision making.” Ho, ho, ho.
DQS kit – can’t work out
DQS kit – can’t work out whether it’s Gru’s Minions or Oompa Loompas it’s reminding me of. One of those that will look better on the bike than off it.
Bike Exchange one is awful but I was never really a fan of the old kit either
kil0ran wrote:
Can’t say it appeals to me but then I find most team kits pretty meh.
I really hope that Mark will get to put his hands in the air and crossing the line of a race in first place once more.
“We operate a priority
“We operate a priority gritting system, treating priority one routes first…”
It’s almost as if the cycle lane running the same priority one route is not counted as the same priority.
It’s clear that the priority
It’s clear that the priority list is buses, cars, pedestrians.
That’s right, cyclists aren’t even on the list.
Here in Southern Norway, we
Here in Southern Norway, we’re coastal and probably see similar days of snow to Edinburgh, local council has main cycle routes as Pri 1, along with bus routes. Clearly still falling snow can be an issue, but they aim for snow and ice free for 6am on weekdays.
First 2km from home can be a little dicey at times, then I’m on a cycle route and it’s bare asphalt to work the remaining 10km
I was delighted to see the
I was delighted to see the Kensington cycle lane story on the front page (so to speak) of the Guardian online. Fantastic placement!
Oh, and did nobody read the memo about feeding the troll? TL:DR please don’t.
Aghhh. Already the new year
Aghhh. Already the new year is contaminated by Twatcyclist and its pathetic posts. Ignore it. It is taking over the whole forum.