“I fell in Regent’s canal path, and nobody helped me”: Cyclist claims they were knocked into canal and ignored by passersby; Queen stage at the Giro + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
“I fell in Regent’s canal path, and nobody helped me”
A cyclist has claimed that they were knocked off their bike by another rider, and that nobody stopped to help them, while travelling through an underpass on Regent’s Canal path.
Reddit poster Depressed-Anx said they were cycling from Victoria Park towards Haggerston when a cyclist riding on the wrong side of the path collided with them, knocking their bag into the water.
“My bag flew into the water, with my phone, work phone, and house keys. The bag started filling with water, and I tried to grab it, but I was stuck under my bike.”
The cyclist added that despite the busy path, no one checked if they were okay or helped them up.
“I was struggling to move; I was tangled up. I am lying on the ground, luckily having escaped falling into the water and losing my bike to the canal.
“And not one person got off their bike to help me. No help getting the bike off me, no help getting me off the floor, no help with my bag… no help assessing I have a broken arm or leg.”
The poster then adds that “I had to push my bike off me, get into my knees, get up, pick the bike off, and limp to the end of the underpass. Bleeding hand, hurt foot, scraped shin, dropped chain, and soaking bag”
In the comments, other Reddit users agree that the canal path is dangerous for cyclists. Privatemachine said: “I’ve cycled all my life, have had lorries overtake me at 40mph+ on dual carriageways, but nothing really has scared me as much as cycling on regents canal. Never again”
Seta_roja agrees that “bikes and maybe even runners should be banned in the canal.
“It’s a jungle in there, and many are not respectful with other canal users, being cyclists, people with dogs or mums with buggys. The same applies to that special inbreed of runners that can’t stop for a split second and avoid bumping into you violently. Twats everywhere.
“I used to cycle through regents canal and stopped because it was more stressful than going side by side with cars and buses”
Even a canal boater weighed in agreeing that “I’m a boater and a cyclist and I loathe cycling on canal paths. Canals are literally the ‘slow lane’. You’re meant to go no faster than 4mph in those spaces.
“Boaters tend to be a friendly bunch and I’m sure they would have had a moan with you about arsehole cyclists. Several boaters’ cats have died because of idiots speeding on the paths.”
Kuss completes Grand Tour trilogy with Stage 19 Giro win
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Sepp Kuss wins stage 19 of the Giro, completing his Grand Tour set with his first Giro stage victory. A demanding climb to the finish, he overtook Giulio Ciccone 2.2km from the line, leaving nothing to chance.
He said: “It’s something I have always dreamt of. I keep progressing and getting better, but so does everyone else.” He added that the main challenge was for Jonas to get the pink jersey, but “to complete all three, I just can’t believe it.”
When asked about Ciccone’s minute advantage heading onto the final climb, he said: “I was a bit demotivated because I thought it was over, but I tried to focus on doing the fastest possible steep climb.”
“It was lots of suffering, but I knew my mother would be standing 500m from the finish. It was nice to have her there. This is for them.
Derek Gee took second, earning six bonus seconds to aid his general classification ambitions.
Ciccone finished third, clearly not what he wanted, but still added more mountain points to his tally.
He started the final climb with a 1:03 advantage, but it was not enough against Kuss on such a tough ascent.
Ciccone won all but two of the classified climbs, underlining his dominance in the mountains, and getting to the top of the mountains classification.
Arensman dropped off the podium, displaced by Jai Hindley.
Giro: Rubio takes Passo Falzarego
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A spiteful move from Rubio, taking Passo Falzarego at the last minute.
There doesn’t seem to be any real reason for Rubio to do it other than to take the points from Ciccone. He certainly didn’t look happy about it.
However, it appears to have fuelled Ciccone’s bid for the stage win. They are currently nearly three minutes down on the Maglia Rosa group.
Giro: Ciccone takes Cima Coppi
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Giulio Ciccone has taken Cima Coppi, launching off wheel of teammate Derek Gee and timing his effort to be first at the highest point of the race. The 50 points moves him into the provisional lead of the KOM classification.
There was frustration for Eulalio, who seemed to have an issue after getting caught on a spectator’s flag, halting his momentum.
Behind, the peloton has struggled with the relentless gradients, with Mas and Stork among those dropped as the race continues to fracture.
The Pace RC35 fork, when an inch and a half was a game changer
Take a break from the hills of the Giro with an opinion piece from Steve Thomas, on the legendary Pace PC35 suspension fork of the early 1990s.
> The Pace RC35 fork, when an inch and a half was a game changer
Giro: Ciccone take maximum points on first climb
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Game on for king of the mountain as Giulio Ciccone takes maximum points on Passo Duran, the first climb of the day.
He is eating into the lead of Vingegaard, reducing the deficit to 51 points. He sat on van der Lee until the final 300m, before launching a sharp acceleration to the summit.
The head of the race features Caruso, van der Lee, Ciccone, Mas, Milesi, Rubio, Svestad-Bardseng, Hert, Harper and Pellizzari.
Giro: The peloton approaches Passo Duran
The peloton approaches Passo Duran, at 1,596 meters above sea level and nearly ten kilometres at an average gradient of 9.4%.
At the head of the race, Harper, Denz, Stork, Kulset and Dvsnes attack this climb, with the peloton 45 seconds behind.
I would like to use this opportunity to highlight mdavidfords joke of “It’s a shame the Giro’s course designers couldn’t work in a loop to take in today’s first climb twice.”
Full disclosure, I did have to Google who Duran Duran were, but that did make me appreciate Rendel Harris’ response.
He said: “That would make it quite Notorious and many riders might Come Undone – not The Wild Boys of course. They would certainly have to look after their nutrition carefully or they would end up Hungry Like the Wolf. I’d Save a Prayer for them as many might have The Reflex to call The Chauffeur.”
I wish I came up with those references myself (maybe if I was born half a decade earlier…)
Forest booms while Ampler goes bang, councillor singlehandedly solves e-bike parking problems, police get 32 crime-fighting e-bikes + more
Join us for another ride on the rickety rollercoaster that is the e-bike industry: from hire success in London to the collapse of Ampler, to electrically augmented police, new arrivals from Engwe, and more.
Giro: Narvaez has abandoned
Three-time stage winner at this year’s race, Jhonatan Narvaez, has abandoned. It isn’t entirely clear why, but he was spotted at the back by his team car with blood on his elbow. His team car has said that he was not feeling well, and they are “evaluating his condition”.
Also, at 122km to Mark Donovan lost his front wheel whilst leading the peloton, but he is fortunately back on his bike.
Road closures in Edinburgh City Centre as cyclists Pedal on Parliament
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Pedal on Parliament, a mass cycling demonstration where thousands will bike through the capital on May 30, will see Edinburgh city centre busy with cyclists, Edinburgh Live reports.
Launched in 2012, it is a short, traffic-free event for all of the family, pushing for “better, safer and more inclusive” cycling conditions for active travel in Scotland.
They said: “Across Europe and beyond, countries who embrace cycling as a real and beneficial choice for citizens reap benefits across public health, environmental outcomes and transport efficiency.
“Where joined-up networks — of not only urban cycleways but inter-rural routes between towns — are provided by governments, more people take up moving around by cycle and take pressure off of health services, over-subscribed roads and their own cost of living.
“Cycling isn’t the preserve of the middle classes, of those taking it up as a sport, or riding for leisure; it is a practical, quick, efficient and healthy everyday transport mode enjoyed by Scots old and new, of all ages and backgrounds, providing the on-demand convenience of a personal vehicle without the costly barriers to entry and maintenance offered by private car ownership.”
“Turn her mic off!” Talk TV host Julia Hartley-Brewer has meltdown in bizarre exchange with cycling journalist, claiming cyclists “often go faster than cars”
Talk TV presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer has been accused of “stonewalling, patronisation, and resorting to straw man arguments” after a segment on a new cycling infrastructure project in Cambridge descended into chaos. It culminated in Hartley-Brewer ordering producers to turn guest Laura Laker’s microphone off after the respected cycling journalist (and road.cc contributor, for full disclosure) simply claimed that “most people want to cycle”.
Embodying Vingegaard around the Cul-de-sac
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Aerodynamic moustaches at the Giro
In maybe a ‘marginal gains’ obsession taken too far, Victor Campenaerts has admitted that he tested his moustache in the wind tunnel.
Speaking to Anders Mielke before the start of stage 19, he said: “Everything that is not making your face bigger is not a problem. I used to have a beard, but that made me slower”.
This is not the first time facial hair has been discussed at the Giro, with Vingegaard admitting on Wednesday that he “admitted defeat” in his attempt to grow facial hair.
> “It’s just how life is sometimes”: Jonas Vingegaard admits defeat
When asked, Campenaerts joked that the aerodynamics were not a consideration for Vingegaard. He said, “Jonas tried very hard but realised it’s not going to happen.”
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Reminds me of Richmond park…
I like to think of the Prospect Park Loop as a sort of transportation version of the Stanford Prison Experiment, in which cyclists finally have the same powers as their tormentors — cars — and behave exactly like them in every way.
— willy 🌜💧 (@willystaley) May 28, 2026
Shared e-cargo bikes available in Brighton and Hove
The Department for Transport’s Active Travel England’s Innovation Fund has chosen Brighton and Hove to pilot the rollout of new shared electric cargo bikes.
These bikes aim to make e-cargo bikes accessible and affordable for residents and businesses that don’t have the budget, storage or confidence to own one.
The bikes can carry up to two children, one adult or anything from small furniture to food deliveries.
Emma Hughes, General Manager at OurBike, said: “This pilot is about making cargo bikes a realistic option for everyday life in Brighton & Hove, not just for people who can afford to own one or store one at home.
“We want these bikes to feel practical, visible, and easy to use for local residents and businesses. Whether it is carrying children, shopping, work equipment or deliveries, shared e-cargo bikes can replace many short car journeys while making active travel more accessible.”
They can be booked through the OurBike mobile app, reserved in advance and unlocked directly through a phone.
The rides will cost £5 per hour or £1.25 per 15 minutes. Residents will receive 60 minutes free to get started, and businesses will receive 180 minutes free.
OurBike is delivering the pilot in partnership with the council and the University of Brighton, and will be hosted at trusted local venues.
These include Rotunda Café in Preston Park, Detroit Club in Kemptown and Platf9rm in Hove. There will be additional host locations and bikes planned over the coming months.
“So you think I’m skinnnyyyy”
Someone posted this new 17.7″ wide bike lane in Stockholm, Sweden to the r/bikecommuting subreddit. No notes
— likeluke (@likeluke.bsky.social) 28 May 2026 at 16:04
Giro: Stage 19 Preview, Feltre to Alleghe
The Giro reaches its queen stage today, with a brutal 151km route from Feltre to Alleghe. Despite the relatively short distance of 151km, the peloton faces around 5,000m of elevation and six categorised climbs.
The climbing will be brutal, especially in the final 100km, as there are almost no flat moments until a brief section before the final climb. The stage features several demanding ascents, including Passo Duran, before the peloton tackles the iconic Passo Giau, which is over 9km long and packed with 29 hairpin bends.
There are still the remaining podium places up for grabs, as Jonas Vingegaard holds a lead of four minutes and three seconds over Felix Gall. As Vingegaard thrives on the climbs, it will be up to his team to decide if they want to control the race throughout the day.
Should be an interesting one!
Train station bike parking hub shut for two days after door kicked in by vandals
A cycle hub at Gravesend Railway Station was closed for almost two days after it was targeted by suspected vandals, who appeared to have kicked in the storage facility’s door, leaving it ajar.
> Train station bike parking hub shut for two days after door kicked in by vandals
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23 Comments
Latest Comments
@robgodd The poor guy himself suffered a traumatic brain injury and his skull was so badly shattered a significant portion of it had to be removed - do me a favour, have a look around cycling helmet manufacturers and see if any of them claim the foam hats they produce will protect against or even mitigate that level of injury. I'll wait if you like, but I can save us both the time and tell you what you'll find: none of them. Not a single one of them will. Because they don't, and they *can't* based on simple physics. Once the point of failure in a material is reached all(or as near as makes no odds) of the additional force beyond that necessary threshhold transfers through to the object beneath. Since bicycle helmets are rated for forces roughly equivalent to being dropped straight down from a stationary start 1.5m above a hard surface. Now, I'm not an expert in vehicle crash investigation, but I'm *fairly* sure that any impact or series of impacts powerful enough to render a quarder of your skull into gravel, put you in a weeks-long coma, give you massive amnesia, and leave you with ongoing symptoms of traumatic brain injury are a little bit, a teeny-weeny amount, a little smidgeon-widgeon more than what bike helmets are rated for. That's why none of the companies that make them claim they will help in such circumstances: because they know it would be a lie, and that unlike uninformed punters, carbrained journalists, or "medical professionals" who think wearing a helmet would save you from a broken arm(an actual scenario encountered by a mate, who's nurse at the A&E tutted and harrumphed her way through his whole treatment due to his lack of helmet despite his bonce having come through *being hit by a car* - another scenario bike helmets are worthless in - completely unscathed), the lawyers for those companies know their business and understand that if you lie in advertising you will get sued into the ground.
The Battle of Ypres April 1915. The German infantry division advanced using das Brumptstadt Fahrarden. The slow speed kept them behind the cloud of chlorine gas as it drifted towards the Commonwealth trenches. The offensive cleaved a two mile gap in the Western Front. The use of cycles was copied by the Japanese as they invaded Singapore and Burmah. By then war technology had embraced wider low pressure tyres, carbon frames and hydration gels. The German forces decided not to incorporate cycling as part of Operation Session, as bike theft in London and the South East was rife and would have caused huge casualties. Ironically superior advancement of tyre technology led to a British victory at El Alamein. This technology played a key part in the US Marines victory at Iwo Jima.
The appropriate response to Google pissing on your cereal is not a fancy new sugar that removes the taste of urine. Stop using Google products where you can. Firefox browser and DuckDuckGo search engine have had noticeable upticks in market share by explicitly NOT pushing AI.
my thoughts exactly...I wonder how that approach is working, with motor vehicle drivers...🤔
I do not wish to diminish the personal tragedy, but one never hear calls for pedestrians or even hikers to wear clothing with integrated lightening rods.
RE Andy Burnam / Heidi Alexander - this is the best thing in many ways - set an example (even if currently it leads to lots of online name-calling). And imagine some of the political alternatives! The folks in the apparently second-placed party seem incredibly unlikely to be doing so. And even the current "new Greens" seem less interested in ... y'know, environmental things. OTOH I wish Heidi could be bolder. And I fear that like anyone ambitious enough to get to the top (exception B Johnson - well, I guess there was the Corbyn bicycle...) Burnam will be trimming his transport policy sails to fit the wind (should that be "bunker-fuel-burning engines"?)
@mattsccm Bull bars aren't banned, they just have to conform to regulations so they are deformable or have plates that allow crumple give on contact, rather than rigid steel bars that can smash into pedestrians and cyclists with no give at all, catch them and drag them under the wheels. If you think that's a problem, do one. Why should who is responsible for a collision remove the responsibility of people driving a tonne of machinery on the road from having safety features to at least mitigate some of the effects of a collision?
I'd be willing to bet that's lazy use of stock photography rather than deliberate misinformation, but the result is still the same.
@smallbeer You obviously don't realise how many bulls there are wandering around Chelsea, in and out of the china shops, that he needs to protect his Range Rover from.
I agree, it's bloody 'elf and safety overreach, can't help some people, I put some meat, sorry, neat decoration on the front of mine and the polis were round poking their noses in like that (mind you, that was a mistake...) (etc)
23 thoughts on ““I fell in Regent’s canal path, and nobody helped me”: Cyclist claims they were knocked into canal and ignored by passersby; Queen stage at the Giro + more on the live blog”
It was only the bag that went in the water. Otherwise the bike would have had to have been in two places at once for them to be stuck underneath it while it was also in the water.
The ‘having escaped’ applies to the entire of the rest of the sentence.
Also, what is ‘the wrong side of the path’? If that photo is supposed to be the location where it happened, I don’t see any demarcation of lanes (there barely seems room for two cyclists side by side in the first place), and I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a thing on a canal path.
Don’t think any runners or cyclists actually want to break that ban…
Apparently making up laws/rules for cyclists without any evidence at all is not the sole preserve of car drivers, the Canal and River Trust says: “What is the speed limit on the towpath? We don’t specify speed limits on the towpath. We ask that everyone uses common sense, with primary consideration for pedestrians and those handling boats, as they are often the most vulnerable.”
Might almost have seemed tempting the last few days.
@rendelharris but the bag did…
Clearly canals are *for* boats *, so it’s a case of boatynormativity – can’t have cyclists overtaking barges. That causes tangles with the drivers trying to get their ponies in front…
* And pedestrians – where presumably the logic of “4mph”?
If there’s any alternative short of an A-road (and unless I’m really in a dawdling “need to be nowhere fast” mood) l’m very happy to leave hazard-heavy towpaths (narrow, sharp turns, often lots of pedestrians, dogs, anglers, mooring lines, variable surfaces…) to others.
I think the 4mph limit is more about not creating excessive wash. Unless you’re /really/ going to fast, that shouldn’t affect pedestrians.
@mdavidford true – and am now wondering why I’ve not seen “hydro” ratings for gravel bikes to go with “aero” numbers?
I guess it’s just another pro point for higher volume tyres?
Argh hargh me mateys the point everybody be missing here is that this waste of public money towpath has resulted in the canal being narrowed.
I can’t get me galleon through to drop the kids off at school.
There be no clear demarcation signage. How’s about a skeleton with it’s finger a pointin towards buried treasure. Argh! Hargh!
These council officials want a good keel haulin’.
Shiver me timbers and a bottle o’ rum.
Capt Blackbeard,
Cutthroat Island,
West Sussex.
@Mr Blackbird A-hoy matey! An’ that be saying nothing about the plague o’ Jolly boats littering the foreshore an’ preventin’ honest buccaneers from mooring out front of the tavern.
Twas but a week ago I meself picked up a charge from the local bluecoat in Tortuga for moorin’ outside one such emporium just for a fleeting moment d’ye see. An’ that despite displayin’ warning flags from the yard arm aaaar. The King’s tax I tell yer, a scurvy dog’s due, a tribute taken from honest buccaneers who
sail the seven seas! Yet not applied to them two-wheeled landlubbers! The scurvy dogs who best their steeds with their own two legs, rather than the wind in their sails a-haaarrr.
They be zippin’ and zoomin’ like scurvy dogs on the run, nearly runnin’ down a proper cove. Shiver me timbers, ye can’t even enjoy a peaceful stroll without some scallywag nearly runnin’ ye through with their fancy velocipedes! Mark me words, matey, one day they’ll be walkin’ the plank fer disturbin’ the peace!
Yours etc
Cap’n Joshua Angry Beard
Tunbridge Wells
I used to commute along that stretch of the Regent’s canal. I fell off once (entirely my own fault) and had the opposite experience – people stopping to check I was OK.
Cycling along the towpath is fine, so long as it’s not too busy. Early mornings and later in the evening were generally fine, although in the summer it became more challenging in certain places. It was definitely easier (quieter) in winter, but the diesel fumes and wood smoke from the boaters could be very unpleasant.
A blanket ban on cycling (and running) would be daft, and a speed limit wouldn’t be particularly useful either. There are times when it’s safe to go a decent speed, and times when patience, caution and courtesy are essential.
@AidanR I fell off on the Camden stretch years ago, caught my wheel in one of the old rail tracks the warehouses had for loading and unloading. Little bit of blood from a cut elbow and knee but more pride hurt than anything and embarrassment at the number of people who clustered around offering assistance, people asking if I wanted coffee, water, did my bike need fixing, even one lovely old lady who said if I wasn’t up to riding home she was quite happy to put the bike in her car and give me a lift to a suitable railway station! In fact thinking about it I’ve never been involved in or seen a bike accident in London where passers-by haven’t rushed to help, so I think this lady’s experience is quite atypical.
@Rendel Harris completely agree. I had a rather mundane crash in Peckham a couple of years ago when my rear wheel slipped from underneath me in the wet, resulting in a less-than-mundane broken femur. Loads of people stopped, some staying with me for over an hour until the ambulance arrived. I had blankets put over me and under my head to keep me (relatively) comfortable. A local venue stored my bike until I was fit enough to come and collect it. The response of strangers was heartwarming.
@AidanR Looking at the story again I feel much of it sounds rather dubious, the towpath under bridges, as per the photos, is seldom more than three feet wide; if a cyclist is lying on that towpath “tangled up under my bike”, how did all these unfeeling cyclists who didn’t stop get round her? No doubt she did take a tumble but the rest of the story is so at odds with my, and it would seem your, experience of how people in London react when one needs assistance, as well as with the facts as presented, that it seems likely there’s a good deal of attention-seeking exaggeration involved, to say the least.
@Rendel Harris that’s a fair point – surely she would have been substantially or completely blocking the towpath?!
I can imagine somebody who has named themselves ‘Depressed-Anx’ exuding such misery that anybody thinking about stopping to help would either think better of it.
I’ve had accidents on roads before, on my bike in London and have always found people to be super helpful and caring also. I think most people would be in this type of situation
It’s a shame the Giro’s course designers couldn’t work in a loop to take in today’s first climb twice.
@mdavidford That would make it quite Notorious and many riders might Come Undone – not The Wild Boys of course. They would certainly have to look after their nutrition carefully or they would end up Hungry Like the Wolf. I’d Save a Prayer for them as many might have The Reflex to call The Chauffeur.
OK, I’m done.
@Rendel Harris But ordinary riders in an Ordinary World wouldn’t make it up the climb twice!!
Towpaths are rubbish cycling infrastructure, for many reasons:
-shared with pedestrians, headphone-wearing runners, angry geese
-full of narrow pinch points, particularly around bridges
-often a really, really crappy surface
-unlit and full of hiding spots for muggers etc to leap out
Frankly, if we are using towpaths as cycling infrastructure, it is a sign of the complete abject lack of anything approaching serious provision for cyclists. Do things properly.
Towpaths *aren’t* cycling infra.
That said, they can be pleasant for a pootle because flat (albeit rambling).
But even then you could be unlucky and run into bad surfaces and narrow paths right next to the water. Or a party of school kids. Or boaters or anglers who’ve had a bad experience with a cyclist at some point in their life and want to take this up whenever they see an official cycling representative. Or (around Edinburgh) the nutter(s) who like shoving cyclists in the canal. Or waterfowl who could happily never see a human again.
Local authorities build cycling and shared infrastructure* with one and only one objective – to make more space on the roads for motorists.
*including but not limited to – joggers, runners, skaters, pedestrians, dog walkers, bird watchers, mums-with-trollers, cyclists, ebikers, scooters and other means of individual means of transportation
Wait – are you saying the canals were driven through by navvies employed by amazingly prescient local authorities who rightly predicted that after bikes and then cars were invented their towpaths could be repurposed to get the former out of the way of the latter?
I must revisit my industrial revolution history books.