Taxi boss who called for cyclists to pay road tax owes over £20 million to HMRC; Lifting town centre bike ban will “endanger people”, Reform claims; Women’s team coach banned for 10 years for abuse; Bottle kid joins junior squad + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
“These things are filed in my head under ‘rank hypocrisy’”: Taxi boss who called for cyclists to pay road tax owes over £20 million in tax
Well, well, well, how the turntables…
Way back in April 2012, before the summer of Wiggo, the Olympics, and the bike boom, the head of minicab firm Addison Lee, John Griffin, decided to wage war on London’s cyclists for some reason.
> Addison Lee chairman provokes controversy with his views on London cyclist deaths
In a column published in the company’s magazine, distributed free to its passengers, Griffin tore into the growing number of cyclists in the capital, claiming that they should “get trained and pay up” if they wanted to “join our gang” on the roads.
(A grown adult who refers to themselves glowingly as part of a ‘gang’ shouldn’t be allowed near a vehicle of any kind, if you ask me.)
Anyway, here’s the entire column in question, just to jog your memory:
Green party candidates and others are up in arms about what they see as the murder of Cyclists on London Roads.
There has, as we all know, been a tremendous upsurge in cycling and cycling shops. This summer the roads will be thick with bicycles. These cyclists are throwing themselves onto some of the most congested spaces in the world. They leap onto a vehicle which offers them no protection except a padded plastic hat.
Should a motorist fail to observe a granny wobbling to avoid a pothole or a rain drain, then he is guilty of failing to anticipate that this was somebody on her maiden voyage into the abyss. The fact is he just didn’t see her and however cautious, caring or alert he is, the influx of beginner cyclists is going to lead to an overall increase in accidents involving cyclists.
The rest of us occupying this roadspace have had to undergo extensive training. We are sitting inside a protected space with impact bars and air bags and paying extortionate amounts of taxes on our vehicle purchase, parking, servicing, insurance and road tax.
It is time for us to say to cyclists, ‘You want to join our gang, get trained and pay up’.
Yeah, pay some ‘road tax’ that doesn’t actually exist, you two-wheeled freeloaders! You tell ‘em John.
Considering his hatred of tax avoidance – even when it comes to a tax abolished in the 1930s – it came as some surprise to learn today that Mr Griffin owes over £20 million in… you guessed it, unpaid taxes.
According to a report in the Guardian, the Addison Lee founder owes £20.5m to HMRC after a tribunal dismissed his claim that he should be treated as a nom-dom, despite living in the UK since he was a child.
HMRC had challenged the domicile status on Griffin’s self-assessment tax returns from 2013 (the year after his road tax rant) to 2020, which enabled him to avoid paying UK rates on foreign earnings kept outside the country.
Griffin claimed that he has “always been and am Irish”, despite only living in the country for a brief period as a child, moving to London permanently at the age of nine, raising a family in Hertfordshire, and founding his taxi empire in London in 1975.
This week, a tribunal ruled in favour of HMRC, with Griffin’s worldwide earnings between 2013 and 2020 now subject to UK rules, with the tax authority calculating that he owes an additional £20.5m for the seven-year window.
Time to take your own advice John and “pay up”.
The news – and the hypocritical nature of it – was first flagged by transport journalist Carlton Reid today.
“I ran a fair few stories on the taxi tycoon’s mistaken rants at the time,” Reid said on social media. “I met with him and handed him an ‘ipayroadtax’ cycling jersey, the campaign I was running at the time which explained how ‘road tax’ no longer exists and hasn’t paid for roads since 1930s.
“These things are filed in my head under ‘rank hypocrisy’ — take, for instance, then MP Kate Hoey raging against ‘all cyclists run red lights’ [in 2013] and who was later convicted of guess what in her car?”
“There are enough hazards without adding cyclists”: City centre bike ban could be lifted to make “unfriendly” streets safer for cyclists – but opponents say “unprecedented” move will “endanger people”
It’s been a while since Worcester – and its one out of four rating from Active Travel England (it used to be zero, mind you) – has been in the news, to be honest.
For a few years there, it seemed like every other story on road.cc was about Worcester, the West Midlands cathedral city the centre of rows over non-inclusive bike path gates, “discriminatory” roadworks signs, and guerilla School Streets.
And, of course, its longstanding, controversial town centre bike ban.
For two decades, people on bikes have been banned from Worcester’s central shopping streets, including High Street and 10 other routes around it, between 10am and 6pm, seven days a week. The ban, which carries it with a fine for any city centre cyclists, was first introduced in 2006, and its hours were extended in 2019.
However, in March 2024, Worcester City Council opted not to extend a PSPO (Public Spaces Protection Order) which banned cycling in other parts of the town and that campaigners branded a “psychological barrier” to people using bicycles. At the time, councillors said they were “never convinced dangerous cyclists were the big issue” and argued the ban felt like “political theatre”.
Later that year, a proposal was also made to the local authority to review the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) which governs the current city centre cycling ban. That particular proposal was greeted with derision by Conservative (now Reform) councillor Alan Amos, who also claimed the council’s PSPO decision would signal a “free-for-all” for “dangerous and selfish” cyclists.
Amos, a regular on these pages due to his vociferous anti-cycling stance, said he was “horrified” by the council’s proposed TRO review, claiming that it would transform a “safe and welcoming area where pedestrians can shop and walk” into a “dangerous and unwelcoming place”, solely to appease a “handful of lazy, selfish cyclists” who “routinely flout the law”.
Others, however, viewed the lifting the bike ban, at least partially, as key to encouraging more people to cycle through the city, with one local doctor urging policymakers to see past “so much negativity locally” and implement safe cycling routes that would enable people to leave their cars at home for short local journeys.
For a while, the whole issue quietened down, no changes were made, and that seemed to be it. Until this week, when Worcester City Council confirmed that it would be investigating how best to ‘water down’ the existing, 20-year-old TRO.
The city council, controlled by a Green-Lib Dem-Independent coalition, has approved a motion asking Worcestershire County Council to explore options for “improving cycling connectivity through the city centre”.
The motion calls for an investigation into the “feasibility of allowing cycling through all restricted areas in the city centre” covered by the current TRO, while also recommending a public consultation on the subject.
If any changes are to be made, according to the motion, they will first be implemented on a 12-month trial basis.
The BBC reports that councillors have suggested that the changes will likely not apply to High Street, but instead focus on the dozen or so streets around it.
“A lot of cyclists do say the city is very ‘unfriendly’ for people who want to cycle – it’s about time it was looked at again,” Green councillor Tor Pingree told the broadcaster.
“There’s a lot of examples of cycling lanes that are very short and don’t go to where they need to go. I know lots of young people in particular, who won’t cycle because they feel Worcester is unsafe because of all the cars.
“There are plenty of cities where even if you can’t cycle along their high streets, the pedestrianised areas around it are actually available to cyclists – places like York and Cambridge have very historic city centre layouts like we do, but manage to do it better.”
Danny Brothwell, from the Bike Worcester group, described the development as “long overdue” and said he was “so pleased” to see the hitherto dormant matter raised once again.
Of course, not everyone was pleased with the proposal. Our old mate Councillor Amos, who switched from being the only Tory in Worcester City Council to become its only Reform representative, said the move was an “unprecedented” attempt to “undo a pedestrianised city centre”.
Amos also claimed lifting the bike ban would “endanger people and create unnecessary conflict”.
Steve Mantle, a local resident questioned by the BBC, also took Alan’s side, saying: “They should keep it as it is. There are enough hazards in town already, without adding cyclists.”
However, other shoppers were more positive.
“I cycle a fair bit and the roads aren’t great – what we really need is more cycle lanes,” said Colette Kelly. “If this helps start a bigger debate, then it’s good.”
“I used to cycle but stopped, mainly because I didn’t feel that safe,” added John Livermore.
“I don’t have an issue with [the TRO] being looked at or even changed a bit, it feels odd that we can’t allow people to cycle through as long as they’re careful.”
Finally, a spokesperson for the county council said: “Once we have formally received the letter from Worcester City Council, we will respond in due course.”
I imagine this could rumble on for quite some time…
UCI bans former head of performance at British women’s team Hess Cycling for 10 years following allegations of harassment, psychological abuse, and intimidating driving
Ladislav Demko, the former head of performance at the now-defunct women’s team Hess Cycling, has been banned for 10 years by the UCI following an investigation into misconduct and ethics breaches during his time with the squad.
According to the UCI’s Ethics Commission, Demko’s conduct while at the British-registered Hess team included the habitual use of aggressive and disrespectful language in the work environment, the “unsafe and intimidating” driving of team vehicles, and demeaning comments on the physical appearance of staff and riders.
The commission found that Demko had been in a consensual relationship with one rider on the team, who he lived with, but had subjected her to humiliation through public criticism on social media, infantilisation, and intimidation, including threats to disclose personal information and a threat directed against a person she trusted.
He also attempted to isolate the rider by telling her to sever contact with friends, dictating the content of her messages to them, and sending threatening messages to her psychologist.
“These acts, which persisted after the end of their relationship, had the effect of diminishing her sense of identity, dignity, and self-worth,” the UCI said. “The fact that the above conduct arose within a consensual personal relationship between two adults did not remove it from the scope of the UCI Code of Ethics, given the coaching and dependent relationship between Mr Demko and the rider.”
The rider in question had contacted the UCI’s SpeakUp reporting platform to inform them of the harassment and psychological abuse, while other former members of the Hess team had also complained about Demko’s personal misconduct.
Following a formal investigation, the UCI found that Demko’s behaviour had “fallen short of the standards of integrity, care and diligence required of persons bound by the UCI Code of Ethics, and had involved an abuse of the position he held within the team”.
As a result, the Slovakian was found to have committed breaches of Articles 5 (General principles) and 6.4 (Protection of physical and mental integrity) of the UCI Code of Ethics, along with Article 2.1 (Psychological abuse) of Appendix 1 of the UCI Code of Ethics. Article 2.6 (Minors and other dependent persons) of Appendix 1 of the UCI Code of Ethics was retained as an aggravating circumstance.
The commission has banned Demko from taking part in any cycling-related activity for 10 years, while he was also fined and ordered to pay the cost of the proceedings.
The ban represents a depressing postscript to the British-registered Hess Cycling team, which ceased operating in August 2025 following a turbulent period marked by reports of missed payments for riders, an early season exodus, race licence delays, cancelled kit deals, and fraud allegations concerning its owner.
Launched in 2023 as a Luxembourg-based team by Swiss private equity group owner Rolf Hess, the squad applied for a British Continental licence the following year, with the stated aim of becoming Britain’s leading professional women’s cycling team and taking to the start line of the 2025 Tour de France Femmes.
Announcing that he wanted to create a team capable of “consistently” winning the Tour, Hess said at the time that he hoped to increase the squad’s budget from £650,000 a year to £4.3 million within five years.
Hess also encouraged the team’s riders to promote the squad on social media as ‘influencers’, even suggesting that riders who, for example, help promote his group’s perfume company could be “given a chance to create her own product and she will be remunerated on a permanent basis, post career”.
However, despite gaining some decent results as a British Conti squad, the team was plagued by financial and administrative issues during its final months, including a delay in obtaining its racing licence which meant that the team was unable to take part in a UCI race until April.
In January, it emerged that Hess himself was being investigated in Spain due to allegations of fraud concerning his company United Global Water Holdings Limited.
Meanwhile, payments due to riders and staff for December 2024 were not fulfilled until February, while riders complained that travel expenses were also frequently paid late, leading to some of the team’s members refusing to pay for their own travel, fearing they would not be reimbursed.
Sources close to kit supplier Cuore also claimed they hadn’t been paid, leading to the clothing brand’s deal with Hess Cycling being cancelled earlier this year.
And in March 2025, things came to a head when five riders left the squad, including Kate Richardson (who went on to win the Tour de Feminin in May for Handsling Alba), Irish cyclocross champion Esther Wong, Elisabeth Ebras, Natalie Quinn, and Laura Lizette Sander.
When the squad’s collapsed was announced last August, the team management blamed it on the “huge increases in annual budgets” within women’s cycling in recent years, driven by the sport’s “increasingly competitive” landscape.
Scottish youngster handed bottle by Visma rider after ‘racing’ Tour of Britain pros signs deal with junior team linked to Dutch WorldTour squad
Life has a funny way of working itself out sometimes.
Five years on from charming the cycling world and gaining internet fame, after riding alongside the breakaway at the Tour of Britain and being handed a bottle by a Visma rider, young Scot Xander Graham has joined a junior team… linked to Visma.
Graham, then 12, shot to fame during ITV’s coverage of stage seven the 2021 Tour of Britain when he rode his cyclocross bike on the pavement to the right of the break, attacking and outpacing the pros for at least 30 seconds, before Jumbo-Visma’s Pascal Eenkhoorn handed him a team bottle for his efforts (and later invited him to have a look around the team bus in Aberdeen).
In case you forgot, here’s that brilliant moment again:
The real race we’re here for!
Nicely done, @PascalEenkhoorn 🙌
📺 Watch stage seven live on ITV4#TourOfBritain 🔵⚪🔵 pic.twitter.com/C4G646nZ5I
— Lloyds Tour of Britain (@TourofBritain) September 11, 2021
A few months later, the youngster, who’d already won the Scottish Cycling National Youth Road Race Series and the U14 Scottish national cyclocross champs by this point, was handed a spot on the multi-disciplinary Jukebox team, alongside former Cannondale pro Phil Gaimon, oddly enough.
Since then, Graham has been progressing steadily, placing second in the time trial at the junior Vuelta a la Ribera del Duero stage race in Spain last month, before taking the leader’s jersey the following day. He also finished second in the British National Trophy Series on the ‘cross bike and is a junior Scottish champion in the discipline.
And now the 17-year-old has been snapped up by JEGG-SKIL-DJR, a Dutch junior team with links to Visma, the pro team that started it all back in 2021, ahead of his second junior season in 2027. JEGG-SKIL-DJR is viewed by the WorldTour outfit as a stepping stone to its own development team.
View this post on Instagram
“I feel it’s the right team for me to keep developing, race at the highest level and take the next step in my cycling career. I really like the team’s focus on developing young riders, and I’m excited to be part of it,” Graham said in a statement published by his new team.
Now that’s the kind of story we like to see, fair play Xander.
Lime bike rider banned for making ‘rude gesture’ at pedestrian
Merlier, from nowhere
Tim Merlier is seriously hard to beat. Even when he loses position and ends up way down in the bunch, like he did in the final kilometre of the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen this afternoon, the big Belgian still finds a way to win.
Seriously, watch this finish – he spends the final 400m in the wind, making his way up from 30th or so in the peloton, and still manages to easily see off a quality field including Dylan Groenewegen (the recipient of a perfect lead-out from Unibet), Søren Wærenskjold, Arvid de Kleijn, and Jasper Philipsen.
Tim Merlier wins the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen 2026! pic.twitter.com/3i4fW873ny
— Eemeli (@LosBrolin) September 18, 2026
What a monster.
Kevin Vauquelin saves Netcompany Ineos’ week in Italy with stage win and GC victory on final day of Giro d’Abruzzo
It was starting to look a bit embarrassing for Netcompany Ineos at the Giro d’Abruzzo. The only WorldTour at the Italian stage race, they’d been left frustrated during the first three days, as relatively minor teams dominated proceedings.
But on today’s decisive mountainous stage to Controguerra, Netcompany’s great French hope Kevin Vauquelin, attacking clear with Mathys Rondel and Nicola Conci, before overhauling Rondel in the final hundred metres, the peloton breathing down their necks, to take the stage and the GC.
View this post on Instagram
While his team will be breathing a collective sigh of relief tonight, the double win – the first of Vauquelin’s season – will lift some of the pressure off the Frenchman, who’s endured a difficult first year with the British squad.
And judging by his emotional reaction at the finish line, that one meant a lot.
“It feels really good to be a winner again. I’ve been through hard times in the past few weeks. It’s a relief. We came here with a strong team,” Vauquelin said at the finish.
“Two days in a row we’ve been very close to winning. To cross the line first gave me an incredible emotion. It’s very good to win the stage and GC. I had a lot of questions in my head before the Giro d’Abruzzo, it ends up being a great restart for the end of the season.”
British cycling museum and community bike hub planned for Tom Simpson’s hometown
Plans for new museum and community facility celebrating the history of British cycling and encouraging more people to ride bikes in Harworth, the Nottinghamshire town where Tom Simpson grew up, were unveiled this week.
Simpson, Britain’s first male road world champion, moved with his family to Harworth from Durham as a child, learning to ride a bike there, which he used to deliver groceries and bread. His first time trial victory, a 25-mile effort as a precocious scrawny 16-year-old, also took place in the town.
Simpson would go on to blaze a trail for British male cyclists in the 1960s, winning the Tour of Flanders, Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Lombardy, the now-defunct Bordeaux-Paris, and the 1965 worlds, the crowning moment of his career.
He died, aged 29, on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage of the 1967 Tour de France, a tragedy that for decades cast a long shadow of British cycling and the sport in general, due to its links to Simpson’s doping.
The proposed British Cycle Racing Museum will not be named after Simpson, however, and will instead tell the wider story of bike racing in the UK, though its location in Harworth will pay tribute to him, while also acting as a hub for local cyclists, connecting to active travel routes and the National Cycle Network.
After speaking to the museum’s curators, which include cycling writer and Simpson’s nephew Chris Sidwells, local Labour MP Jo White told the Doncaster Free Press: “They want the museum to create a strong link between Harworth and Bircotes and the wider cycle network.
“It would help to connect the town with local, regional and national cycling and walking routes, whilst putting Harworth and Bircotes on the map for people who enjoy cycling.
“Tom Simpson is one of Bassetlaw’s greatest sporting heroes and remains a huge source of pride for our district.
“This is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate his legacy, while also looking ahead to an exciting future for Harworth and Bircotes.”
But, but, but… What about when it rains?
Cycle counter CS3Count on the Embankment cycle lane in London at 1,970 cycle journeys for the day at 08:32 this damp and rainy morning. @cs3cs6count.bsky.social
— Timothy (@westcountrytim.bsky.social) September 17, 2026 at 2:33 PM
Last call for Commuting Week guides
Oh my God, an (illegal) e-bike killed Kenny!
You may have heard that the new series of South Park (sorry, South America) is out. And, despite the pointed name change of the provocative, longstanding cartoon, its first episode isn’t about Donald Trump, or the state of American politics at all. At least not on the face of it, anyway.
Instead, the episode revolves around cycling, cyclists, and – of course – illegally modified, high-speed electric bikes.
Essentially, the town’s kids become obsessed with e-bikes, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny acquire some cheap knock-off models, and Stan’s cyclist dad Randy forms a gang of cycling adults, who campaign to ban e-bikes entirely.
So, it’s basically just like a normal day in a large British town, then. The end of the episode is currently up on YouTube, so there’s your lunchtime sorted:
I have to admit, Randy walking through the kitchen in his cycling shoes is quality stuff.
Heat training, the Tom Pidcock way
You can stick your hazmat suits and your sauna training sessions.
Last night, Tom Pidcock posted a video of his rather old-school approach to heat acclimatisation: lots and lots and lots of layers. And some very baggy white shorts, too:
Pidcock no treino de aclimatação pic.twitter.com/YmajuzeWch
— O País Do Ciclismo (@opaisdociclismo) September 17, 2026
Although, Pidcock – one of the big favourites for the rainbow jersey next week in Canada – does appear to have embraced some new-age training techniques, such as this mud-based skin purifier, which I assume is for aero reasons:
View this post on Instagram
Or maybe he was just trying to emulate that Hyrox athlete from the news, who knows? What, too far?
Either way, if it works in Montreal, it works.
“I want to have a lot of fun”: Dutch star Fem van Empel makes racing comeback with FDJ United-Suez after ten months out
Triple world cyclocross champion Fem van Empel is set to return to racing this winter, ending her extended break from the sport after signing for FDJ United-Suez with immediate effect.
The 24-year-old Dutch multidisciplinary star ended her 2024/25 cyclocross campaign early last November, shortly after securing her 50th elite ‘cross victory, and in December announced that she had decided to step away from professional cycling “for an indefinite period” and leave Visma-Lease a Bike.
Van Empel, one of the most successful cyclocross riders of her generation as well as a strong mountain biker, had been widely tipped as one of the sport’s most exciting prospects since turning pro on the road for Visma-Lease a Bike at the start of 2023, finishing 11th overall at her debut Giro d’Italia that year.
She’s gone on to secure top tens at the European road race championships, the Volta a Catalunya, and Flèche Wallonne, and was a constant attacking presence at the 2024 Tour de France Femmes. At the time of her announcement, she’d also won the previous three world cyclocross championships.
In her statement last December, she said she made the decision to pause her career after coming to the conclusion that “both the motivation and the enjoyment I have had in cycling for years are missing”.
“Right now, I’m facing some challenges. After discussing it with the team, we’ve decided that taking a break from racing is the best step for my mental health and well-being. I’ll focus on my recovery with the goal of coming back stronger.”
While there was no expectation that Van Empel would return to racing in the immediate future, last night the 24-year-old announced a surprise comeback with Demi Vollering’s FDJ United-Suez squad. According to the deal, Van Empel will join the French team with immediate effect and race with them for the rest of 2026 at least.
“I’m ready for a new adventure and very excited about starting from scratch. Above all, I want to have a lot of fun,” she said in a statement.
The Dutch rider’s calendar with her new team is currently unclear, as is the planned duration of her deal and whether it will include a return to the road as well.
Nevertheless, Van Empel’s arrival all but confirms the rumours that FDJ will register a cyclocross team this winter, with the Dutch rider set to join French ‘cross champion Célia Gery and former junior European champion Anja Grossmann on the muddy fields of northern Europe this winter.
“With Fem, as with Anja Grossmann and Kate Courtney, we are also reinforcing our ambition to build a truly multidisciplinary project, capable of welcoming great champions with their own backgrounds, personalities and ambitions,” FDJ general manager Stephen Delcourt said.
“Fem’s arrival means a lot to us. We all know what a tremendous champion she is and everything she has already accomplished. But today, our priority is first and foremost to support her so that she can rediscover the joy of riding, her smile, and the freedom to fully express herself.
“Our role goes beyond performance. We want to create an environment in which our athletes can progress, feel supported and thrive, both on and off the bike. More than anything, we can’t wait to see Fem smiling on her bike again, enjoying competition, and fully blossoming as an athlete and as a woman. The rest will follow naturally.”
Idiot spectators at the Giro d’Abruzzo, take two
What is going on down there in Abruzzo?
After our random bidon kicker caused a crash on Tuesday, during yesterday’s stage to San Benedetto dei Marsi another spectator decided it’d also be fun to spike the peloton’s collective heart rate… by crossing the road right in front of the bunch:
😮💨 Holy smokes…. why on earth?!? 😡
😬 Wth?!?
☝️Check this out!👇🇮🇹 Giro d’Abruzzo 2026 • Stage 3️⃣
📆 Thursday, September 17th
@Regione_Abruzzo@il_GirodAbruzzo @YourAbruzzo #LAquila#IlGirodAbruzzo #Abruzzo #Italy #Ciclismo https://t.co/h3gwpe5cr6 pic.twitter.com/z9WkLbeqM2— Kingdom of Cycling (@Cycling_Kingdom) September 17, 2026
No wonder that Caja Rural rider shook his head. Although at least she wasn’t as close – or as angry – as the trolley-wheeling road crosser at the Tour of Britain. Still just as daft, mind you.
“We’re seeing this all the time at races,” an exasperated Brian Smith said in comms. “Why do people choose to cross the road when the bunch is in sight?”
Your guess is as good as mine, Brian.
Cycle to work myth busting, courtesy of you lovely lot
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Latest Comments
@OnYerBike it's almost as if consequences are for the little people.
Spot on! Incentives matter and for most police forces the biggest incentive going is a low or falling crime rate. Hence stolen bikes are reported as lost or part of a civil dispute. Persevere though, complain, make a fuss, the incentive to shut you up may bring action (which might be as obnoxious as telling the local thieves to start stealing something else).
re trades on bikes, have they never seen or heard of telescopic ladders? As I posted on my loal rag earlier, re 'you cant do your shopping on a bike' my panniers hold 60 litres and approximately 20kg plus of groceries are easily accomodated provided one bends or tears the excess packaging a little. I weigh around 100kg and my old fashioned iron bike does the job marvelously. Add in a rucksack and thats another 10-15kg as well!
@mdavidford exactly, looks pretty spacious - why look, you can fit a bike through sideways.
Is it just me or is Roglic riding an invisible unicycle in that podium pic?
Don't know what that reddit user's complaining about - at least it isn't a puddle full of leaf mulch with a bush growing halfway across it, like it would be round here.
@NickSprink 30 seconds! is that all, I can do it for nearly 3 minutes on one of our local descents ;-)
World tour races are averaging around 42 - 44 kph. I too can cycle that fast. For about 30 seconds...
Erm, it was 300km a couple of days ago. I know inflation is persistently high, but I didn't realise it was that bad.
Re the TDF Vs ordinary cyclist claim. This sort of thing happens a lot. Probably because elite sports people often make it look so easy. It is impossible to appreciate the talent and skill required until you try it yourself. A few weeks ago a supporter of my local div 1 football club commented on BBC Sports HYS that their new winger was fast enough to win an Olympic 200m medal. He was making this judgement by comparing the winger to other div 1 footballers. In reality he would probably not make the GB women's team. About 10 years ago I took part in a club group turbo training session. Part of this entailed a 12 minute sustained effort. Afterwards the fastest time triallist of us said how pleased he was with his average power (I can't remember the figure, but I think it was in the range 325 - 350 watts), to which the coach replied "Excellent. An average TDF rider would only be able to sustain that for 3- 4 hours!"
10 thoughts on “Taxi boss who called for cyclists to pay road tax owes over £20 million to HMRC; Lifting town centre bike ban will “endanger people”, Reform claims; Women’s team coach banned for 10 years for abuse; Bottle kid joins junior squad + more on the live blog”
Presumably the removal of the cycling ban is being driven by a requirement to increase city centre footfall?
The final decision will no doubt be a commercial one.
Re the reference to Cambridge allowing cyclists in the city centre. I have seen this at first hand and it seems to work well. Most of the cyclists are suitably cautious and most pedestrians appear to have waived their right to be gormless and aren’t totally focussed on getting to the next shop or fast food outlet.
@Mr Blackbird It would probably form part of it, especially if footfall in the highstreet is dropping.
when you read “Amos, a regular on these pages due to his vociferous anti-cycling stance, said he was “horrified” by the council’s proposed TRO review, claiming that it would transform a “safe and welcoming area where pedestrians can shop and walk” into a “dangerous and unwelcoming place”, solely to appease a “handful of lazy, selfish cyclists” who “routinely flout the law”.” shows how ignorant the council has previously been
Selfish and lazy – Yes im selfish for removing another polluting car off the road and lazy for using own energy to propel myself. It shows the stupidity of their previous argument. And I still see no explanation of what ‘danger’ they propose cyclists bring.
@Smoggysteve overall I’m with you here and the stats in from other places show this isn’t an issue in the long term (eg. IIRC the Netherlands is the safest country for pedestrians).
However to get there is “change”. Since we don’t all get courses in new infra / rules that certainly means “confusion” and “concern”. After all people still make mistakes with car infrastructure, which we’ve had decades of very bitter experience to learn.
The UK is only at the start of a transition (well, a few parts, hopefully…). Not only do people “not expect” cyclists (because few) but UK authorities make this needlessly harder by
a) “building” cycle infra by mixing modes (eg. putting up signs on pedestrian infra / directing cyclists into bus lanes) and
b) when making the “actual” built cycle infra it’s non-standard. (As well as inconvenient and sometimes dangerous for all). Particularly it’s not clearly marked.
Contrast eg. NL – while not all separated cycle infra there is the same, it is normally pretty standard and clearly marked (red asphalt most places). And their road safety / design system includes the principles of *predictability* and homogeneity. So everyone knows where to expect cyclists. And they aren’t likely to design a major cycling through route down the middle of a narrow / busy shopping street.
@chrisonabike A lot of that isnt needed. why is there a need to add in more infrastructure in this case?
@Smoggysteve on the specifics: separate marked spaces might be a good idea, depending on the numbers of cyclists.
@Smoggysteve “not needed” by whom?
Certainly not all infra is “necessary” – and the UK often builds stuff of little utility. Indeed little except for paved surfaces would be needed in the absence of motor traffic – we could bin traffic lights, roundabouts etc.
However I note there are plenty of “I cycle what’s the problem?” folks in countries like the UK… where very few people *do* cycle.
I think having “mass cycling” is a good thing and that ultimately infra plays a significant part **.
* Some don’t think mass cycling is a good idea, or not possible “here”. Or “I’d rather it was just me and my mates”.
** FWIW I think it takes lots of things – different “philosophy” of public transport and space, motor traffic reduction, good enough public transport etc The simple “people just need to cycle” and the “encourage / police it better” approaches alone just won’t do it, alas – which is why they have’t.
@chrisonabike again. What is NEEDED, in THIS case?
Spaces? Potentially but not a necessity. I wouldn’t envisage a mass or cyclists suddenly appearing overnight ince the ban is lifted. That’s something that can be reviewed as time goes on. That’s what town planning is about. Not just cycling.
And I don’t care about your other comment. I didn’t even bother to read most of it since it’s not answering the question I asked.
@Smoggysteve “again. What is NEEDED, in THIS case?” since i offered an answer and you didn’t like it and it seems you already have your own answer, over to you.
Kingston upon Thames, one of the most prosperous shopping towns, has no problem with cyclists going through a very busy pedestrian zone. I notice that the cyclists automatically ride slowly and carefully in the pedestrian area.
Road tax was abolished in 1937 by Winston Churchill because, as he said, “road tax makes motorists believe they are the moral owners of our roads.” He got that right.