US political candidate’s bike rides on Strava show he doesn’t live in state he’s running to lead; Tadej Pogačar reportedly lobbying team to race in Europeans; Oxford Street pedestrianisation to start next month + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Bagging a carpet
I’m not a fan of many Americanisms. I’m something of a ‘Jen Zed’ evangelist, will always carry a rucksack full of rocket and aubergine and put my rubbish in a bin.
That said, I utterly adore the word ‘carpetbagger’. It has roots in the period after the American Civil War, and I suppose the British equivalent phrase would be that of a ‘parachute candidate’ though that doesn’t quite make the right sounds in the mouth to convey a certain insult.
Anyway, the reason for this lingua-cultural introduction is because in the US State of Iowa, the Republican candidate for Governor, Zach Lahn has been accused of being a carpetbagger, i.e. not living in the state he wishes to lead. So what, if he has a massive house in Kansas surely he can still be living and working in Iowa? It appears not.
US site Raw Story has uncovered Lahn’s Strava account, showing him going on several bike rides around his luxurious Kansas home near Wichita. The bike rides are spread over a period of three months last year and stop shortly before he announced his run for office.
> Cyclist fears thieves used Strava to plan burglary and steal bikes worth £30,000
It appears, from an ocean away, as if Lahn’s campaign is not going that well. Despite the rural state voting three times for Donald Trump, and at pretty comfortable margins at that, polls suggest he’s set to lose his effort to the Democratic candidate Rob Sand. Sadly we can’t find any evidence of Sand’s exercise patterns, though that’s probably for the best, what given the known security flaws of tracking your every exercise…
Lime swarm
Hanover Square this PM
by
u/Sharp-Thing-4008 in
londoncycling
It’s been quite a London e-bike heavy day today, and to cap it all off, we see this photo of Sheffield bike stands “swamped and literally inaccessible”.
“Who do I complain to? This should not be allowed and the companies should be fined.” The Reddit poster writes.
The top-rated comment? “You complain to the council and ask for more parking spaces for bikes, made up of reclaimed car parking spaces.”
Another popular comment however captures a little more nuance in the discussion…
“Part of me is happy that so many people are choosing to cycle but this kind of parking situation is totally unsustainable.”
Scenes like these aren’t exactly helping the cause of e-bikes, and it’s not exactly the easiest solution to order all the more car-brained authorities to demand the infrastructure be converted to a more bike-parking friendly state of being. The demand is there though, at least…
Don't ask what provided the nutrients to support that growth...
Elections have consequences
One week after the incumbent city government in Berlin were ousted in elections, it looks as though the Grand Depart of the Tour de France may be in jeopardy.
The city had bid to host the start of the Tour de France in 2029, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. But German radio station rbb24 report that the The Left, which is likely to lead the next government after winning the most seats, say that a difficult budget situation makes them more likely to look at funding existing sport facilities rather than hosting an event.
It follows the party’s opposition to the city’s now-abandoned bid to host the Olympic Games in 2036.
Pogacar scuppered by the paymasters
Just when you think you can go a live blog without Pogacar making an appearance, up he pops up once again.
Spanish newspaper El Pais published a story yesterday evening suggesting the Slovenian wanted to return to racing at the European Championships this weekend, and had gone as far as calling up the Spanish doctor who operated on his broken collarbone to try and get the greenlight. He did.
But, he still seemingly needs the approval of his UAE bosses, who had previously confirmed the 28-year-old had ended his season following his crash at the Vuelta a Espana. And team boss Mauro Gianetti has formally poured cold water on the proposal.
Info @Gazzetta_it – Already this morning on our paper edition team principal @TeamEmiratesUAE Mauro Gianetti has spoken openly about Tadej Pogacar and european champ: “His will to be there it’s easy to understand, but it’s too early, health is priority so it won’t happen”
— Ciro Scognamiglio (@cirogazzetta) September 29, 2026
Still, it’s only Tuesday. And I wouldn’t put it past Pogacar, with his freshly signed contract, to try and pester a little more for the next 48 hours or so. Check Strava for any Slovenian KOMs taken up!
Wild West
Minutes after publishing this story, Forest got in touch asking for their comment to be hemmed in to the article. We don’t really fancy that, what with their comments being remarkably similar to the comments put out by the other companies included in the article.
Out of courtesy though, I can confirm here that Forest’s CEO Agustin Guilisasti says that Londoners “should be pleased to see the Mayor today call on the Government to bring forward pan-London licensing for shared e-bike services like Forest’s.
A London-wide framework will bring greater consistency across boroughs, benefitting riders, businesses, communities, and London’s transport network.
Accell Group relaunch looking increasingly likely as dozens of bids received for bankrupt bike manufacturer
According to Bike Europe, 60 parties are interested in taking on the doomed bike behemoth that owns brands such as Raleigh, Babboe, Lapierre and Haibike – Accell went into administration in August.
It’s understood that serious talks have taken place with DuTech Holdings, a Singapore-based manufacturer that has interests in a number of EU-based bike brands through its investment arm, Tri Star Inc.
While Accel was granted a suspension of payments by the Dutch government because it could not meet its obligations, it was allowed to continue trading to keep operations running – so Accell-owned brands such as Raleigh still have bikes for sale as normal.
There's cornering, then there's Wout van Aert cornering.
View this post on Instagram
Wait for it, wait for it… oof.
Nice to see the UCI continuing to take its safety obligations seriously…
Oxford Street pedestrianisation - including 'anti-terrorism barriers' to keep other traffic out including cyclists - to begin on 26 October
The countdown is on for a traffic-free Oxford Street.
Monday 26 October marks a new chapter for the nation’s high street as it becomes pedestrianised. pic.twitter.com/BHzxd245U2
— Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (@MayorofLondon) September 28, 2026
The much talked about pedestrianisation of London’s busiest shopping street will start from 26 October, Lord Sadiq Khan has confirmed.
Over half a mile of the street will be closed to cars, buses, taxis and cyclists, and it was reported earlier in the year that anti-terrorism barriers would be used to stop anyone other than pedestrians getting through.
The plans have been criticised by Westminster Council, who raised concerns about increased congestion in the road surrounding Oxford Street. According to The Standard, Khan said at the Labour Party’s conference in Liverpool that Westminster Council was “opposed to revitalising and re-energising this great street”.
He added: “I’m somebody who’s worked really closely with the businesses out there, and despite their knee jerk opposition with the council where possible, and I think on October 26, when it’s traffic-free, that’ll begin the real transformation of the nation’s high street.
“And because that council has failed to be decent custodians of our street, I’ll be a good custodian.”
It’s been a busy week for the mayor so far, who has also set out his vision for regulating dockless e-bikes across London as Andy Burnham takes the stage at Labour Conference today. More on those bike share changes later…
Alps!
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £2.49. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
7 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
Are you sure it's quicksand, and not melted tarmac?
@Surreyrider I often use a hydration pack when riding on the road on my road bike. Now you've got me confused as to where on earth I should go for hydration-related content, I'm stuck in a quicksand of uncertainty.
I wouldn't rule out obtuse, given that they seem to have only managed to read the first line of the surtitle and then been confused that there was a lot of stuff about corruption in it.
@mattrendell *I stand with Rendell* - for obvious reasons, but apart from a shared name (about time you learned to spell it correctly mind you) this review does seem to be written with an agenda to rubbish your work as much as possible. I haven't read this one but having read and enjoyed some of your other books I'd say something would have to have gone catastrophically wrong for this one to be as bad as the reviewer makes it sound. The determination to perform a hatchet job seems exemplified in the penultimate paragraph: Clearly the publisher means that your work breaks the silence, not that Valverde has done so. To apply the reviewer's interpretation to this obvious meaning seems to me to be either staggeringly obtuse or deliberately malicious. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes - if tasked to review this review I don't think I could go much above a solid 2.5/10.
Your Quebec City story needs an edit: "Unidentified 76-year-old woman.'' Unless, of course, her name is available somewhere, which I doubt. Part of the safety problem here is the length to which law enforcement agencies in many countries - notably the U.S. and Canada - go to protect the identities of killer motorists. These agencies need to be called out for their failure to, at the very least, identify the killer drivers in the wake of these homicides. It's bad that sentences are often so light when legal action is taken against drivers, but it is far worse that some killer drivers are never, ever publicly identified.
Sigma Sports have repeatedly ignored my demands to stop clogging up their site with cycling-related rubbish so that I can find the baryons I want to buy.
Um - not sure that follows. "I get all my facts from Wikipedia" =/= "I get all the facts that are on Wikipedia".
@Surreyrider you're going to be outraged at the lack of river / ancient female warrior content on Amazon...
Please remove this from Road CC's webiste, which, as its name confirms, is for ROAD cycling, not gravel riding or MTB.
Both stories re ghost bikes unfortunately sound very similar to one local to us. Cyclist killed by a driver, ghost bike put in place, ghost bike vandalised/cruel notes put on it then ghost bike disappears with no explanation from the council or anyone else. Of course everyone on local Facebook is against removing it, but there always seems to be one or two who can’t seem to stand ghost bikes!
7 thoughts on “US political candidate’s bike rides on Strava show he doesn’t live in state he’s running to lead; Tadej Pogačar reportedly lobbying team to race in Europeans; Oxford Street pedestrianisation to start next month + more on the live blog”
Why go tilebagging when you can go carpetbagging instead?
Good decision by UAE, just because a collarbone doesn’t feel painful and there’s a full range of movement doesn’t mean it’s fully healed, as I found to my cost returning to the rugby field too early after a break and doing further damage that put me out for twice as long as the original injury had. Obviously it’s a huge disappointment for Pogacar to miss his home championships but really, does anyone care that much about who is European champion? I can name all of the world champions and grand tour winners going back decades but with the Europeans, past last year, which I only remember because Tadej won, I’m struggling. He’s probably only got three seasons at most to cement his GOAT status before the tsunami of young talent crashes over him, why risk doing further damage that could rule him out for half a season or more for a title that really doesn’t cut it amongst the first rank?
@Rendel Harris Maybe Pog’ doesn’t like wearing his standard team jersey. It’s been a LONG time since he had to get one of those out of the drawer, and he’s now looking for a new way to keep it like that for another year.
@Chris RideFar Like your thinking! Tadej should have gone in for his national championships as insurance, Sagan managed to go eight years without wearing a team jersey, four years in the national champion’s jersey then three consecutive world championship jerseys followed by another Slovakian championship. The Slovakian champion’s jersey also has the advantage that from a distance it could easily be taken for the world champion’s jersey, especially when you have the WC bands of a previous winner added.
@Chris RideFar
Oof @ Wout… He already had a really bad and hugely career impacting injury from a brush with a barrier on a corner he cut too close. Can’t believe he’s still risking it.
@Paul J “You know that thing in your head you have that tells you to be careful? Yeah, we don’t have that.” – Mark Cavendish