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!
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@chrisonabike ...have impersonated Dutch bike shop owners, people with disabilities, and possibly different genders / sexualities. And have gone from broken English to perfect fluency in a week or so Only a few of us remember those hilariously inept impersonations!
@belugabob Unfortunately going down this route is likely to be a missed opportunity. "Safer streets" can be done in a way that allows access to a virtuous circle with whole suite of benefits. But ... that would mean following something like in NL. So "sustainable safety" - a different philosophy of transport, plus gradual infra and organisational changes over decades. Generally opportunities for concentrations of money beat that. So it looks like we'll get "probably safer on average" but with who knows what side effects, while concentrating insane amounts of power (money) in the hands of a very few. And those will be effectively unaccountable, being almost all overseas, and not having to live in the same streets as their products (they may be flying)...
@Fursty Ferret "...regulator" That should be little comfort, because during previous scandals it became clear that in many cases the regulators were easily hoodwinked, or (especially US) they rely on the companies themselves to mark their own homework. (And in the case of SUVs/light trucks, I heard the US government has been hard a-lobbying the likes of Europe and the UK for "reciprocal recognition" e.g. to accept their product as is without further checks). Needing the makers to help / do the checks is even more likely given the complexity of self-driving vehicles. I suspect self-driving vehicles will likely soon be safer on average than human drivers (a low bar). Of course I think other potential consequences are also a matter of concern (not least - in *theory* humans can be held accountable, but holding humans in large companies accountable for their tech is a *lot* harder)...
@mdavidford Celebrity traitors with Lance? Worse - some of these slippery lycrist quislings deceive people that they're a) pedestrians - by getting off their bike and b) drivers - by getting into their cars! It's all on display in this forum, where IIRC such cyclists have appeared under multiple names, have impersonated Dutch bike shop owners, people with disabilities, and possibly different genders / sexualities. And have gone from broken English to perfect fluency in a week or so...
Politician in "fixing things for my mates / companies I have an interest in" shocker!
@mdavidford Could make that shorter - "we’re letting too many people drive" * I would bet to a first approximation the "damage" could be predicted by number of humans times time driven. Most effective way to fix that - without the UK's "just get rid of the vulnerable road users" - is to remove the motorists, to padded individual lanes, far away from vulnerable road users. Though they'll still crash (and into each other). * Should be "we have incentivised people so that most of them see 'driving' as the solution to most of their transport needs, as well as being part of their status as adults, and we could usefully change that *and* it would also improve health, the economy, the environment..."
@This Wreckage The other point is the observation that efforts to fix the transport systems which reduce motoring convenience almost always meet with very noisy opposition. But when a lot of motor (through) traffic has been removed it turns out that people don't want to go back. They don't all necessarily say how much nicer it is or connect that to the lack of motor traffic. But this experiment has been run in many different localities in different countries and the results seem to hold. Caveats as usual - it's always possible for authorities to bungle things terribly - or even deliberately mess things up with ulterior motives. And people have to have enough time to adapt to the new situation, which is probably nearer a year or two.
@This Wreckage And yet - in the poorest parts of where I stay (Edinburgh) it's not uncommon to see bikes with flat tyres rusting in the closes of flats, or on balconies, and they aren't all kids' bikes... I do agree that storage is an issue. IIRC some places (Edinburgh now) are starting to bring in guidance on having some cycle storage for new flats. Nothing like NL though where for decades it's been a part of the building regulations. I think most people who don't own a bike have simply never considered owning a bike as adults, because they're not "cyclists" (e.g. not practicing a sport) and transport cycling isn't "a thing" for most people in the UK currently.
It's really not smart to alienate so many potential buyers by putting hookless rims on a road bike. I personally don't think it's safe, but everyone can agree it greatly limits tire choices and inflation pressures. Both very important things on a road bike.
@This Wreckage I think we've covered that one. (It's the what the young (18-20s) adults are doing on social media isn't it...) You certainly have to engage with people, but if you ask people about something - like transport cycling in the UK - that they don't do (and more importantly *others* don't do) and have probably never thought about doing ... you have to take the answers with a large pinch of salt. Indeed even for things people *do* you might not get immediately helpful answers. Witness people being interviewed in NL about why they cycled to the shops to do the shopping: very few of them mention the infra or motor traffic reduction (or even the bike...). In that case you'd hear the truth e.g. "it's the easiest way" / "I like to go with my friends" - but *why* that is the case would need further investigation.
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