Monopoly launch a pro cycling edition; Alan Shearer's new gravel bike; Ben Foster and Tao Geoghegan Hart go for a spin; Cycle lane blocked by eight cars; Suspected bike thieves caught cutting lock with angle grinder + more on the live blog

'Stay safe, be happy, just ride bikes' is a slogan we can get behind, and these Just ride bikes t-shirts are in support of a great cause too. With 10% of proceeds going to NHS Charities Together you can do your bit and bag a decent stocking filler at the same time.

Edinburgh Evening News reports that the number of cyclists killed in Scotland rose to ten last year, the highest number since 2013. The amount of serious injuries also increased significantly from 157 in 2018 to 183 a year later. However, Cycling Scotland spokesperseon Denise Hamilton suggested the jump could be explained by there being more cyclists on the road. She said: "Cycling casualties are increasing in line with increases in people cycling.

"While the likelihood of being killed or seriously injured cycling is relatively low, it’s completely unacceptable that anyone is being killed or seriously injured on our roads. The highest priority to make cycling safer is cycle paths separate from traffic. Police action against dangerous driving behaviour is also crucial, as is reducing the volume and speed of vehicles on streets that people are cycling and walking on.”

Since 2018, kilometres cycled increased by 17% from 313 to 367 million km. Despite this the overall number of casualties fell from 638 to 572 and is at its lowest for ten years. Unsurprisingly the largest number of casualties occured in Edinburgh and Glasgow with more than a third coming from Scotland's two biggest cities.

Our earlier blog post about Alan Shearer's new Vielo V+1 gravel bike went down well so we spoke to Trevor Hughes at Vielo to find out more about the Premier League all-time leading goalscorer's love of cycling...

"Since finishing his football career, Alan's been a big fan of road cycling. As he's had a number of operations through injuries from football, he said that he's found road cycling paired with Speedflex HIIT training gave him the training and fitness buzz, without any pain on joints the following day. 

"This year he's been on the road bike more during lockdown, but was looking for something fast and comfortable to explore the networks of gravel routes the North of England is blessed with. Being a passionate Geordie, he was keen to support a North East company and came to see Vielo (based in Gateshead) to get his gravel fix!"

Zak Burgess, 14, completed the Everesting challenge back in August and will tell his story at the Kendal Mountain Festival this weekend. Burgess rode 122 miles over 28 hours, amassing 52 ascents of Birdy Brow, near Clitheroe. Remarkably he had only trained for the event for five weeks.

Zak said: "There were some extreme highs and lows as part of the ride. I don’t really get emotional about things but the extreme tiredness brought a flood of emotion at the end. When you’ve been dreaming of that final moment and then it hits you, and it’s big.  I’ve never felt anything like it. Crying was my only option - I was speechless.

"Riding through the night was the toughest. It started to rain about 3am and it got cold, I thought I wasn’t going to make it but people stayed out through the night and some rode with me to keep me going – shout outs to them all, I wouldn’t have made it without the support."

A massive hole in the ground is what will soon be a new 7,000 capacity underground bike parking facility in front of Amsterdam Centraal station pic.twitter.com/2xTIu1v5Wc

— Hackney Cyclist (@Hackneycyclist) November 19, 2020

Nobody does cycling quite like the Dutch. This massive hole in the ground will soon become a new bike parking facility next to Amsterdam Centraal station. It will have space for 7,000 bikes on top of another 4,000 spaces in a second facility which will be built on the other side of the station when construction begins next year. A similar bike park opened in The Hague in July.

The new 8,500 capacity underground bike parking facility at the main train station in The Hague which opened last month. Just like in the UK Dutch trains and offices are mostly empty, so this parking garage is too. I'm sure it'll fill up once normal service resumes pic.twitter.com/PmlwLGVmWj

— Hackney Cyclist (@Hackneycyclist) August 16, 2020

Doug Ryder has confirmed NTT Pro Cycling will continue next season under the name Team Qhubeka ASSOS following investment from the cycling clothing brand. Yesterday we reported that ASSOS had stepped in to fund the €8 million operation for the next two seasons and today Ryder has confirmed the team's new name.

Ryder said: “I am really happy to have gained the support of some incredible people and partners including ASSOS of Switzerland who have stepped in to be a headline sponsor. To be able to recreate the team as Team Qhubeka ASSOS talks to exactly what we continue to strive for, and that is to be a purpose-led, high-performance racing team.

"The last few weeks have been incredible seeing all the comments from fans in terms of how this team has connected with them in different ways. I am so happy we can continue to create hope and opportunity through our team and with the Qhubeka Charity."

It was feared the team would not be able to find sponsorship after NTT announced they would not be funding the team beyond 2020. Team manager Bjarne Riis confirmed that he would be leaving the team and reported that it looked unlikely that investment would come. Major riders such as Michael Valgren, Ben O'Connor and Edvald Boasson Hagen have all left the team in the past few weeks.

ASSOS CEO Derek Bouchard-Hall said: "We have really enjoyed being part of this mission driven team – Qhubeka’s slogan that “bicycles change lives” could not inspire us more.  And ASSOS has always been and continues to be deeply entwined in professional cycling – we were really moved by the opportunity to support the sport during the COVID crisis by keeping this important team part of the pro peloton."

These men were caught on camera trying to cut through a bike lock with an angle grinder in Tower Hamlets. The pair were interrupted and chased off, only after being told they were being recorded. Despite claiming "it's my bike," the other man covers his face as they walk away. 

Research from Direct Line estimated that more than 110,000 bikes have been stolen in the UK since the first lockdown. Earlier this month a bait bike led City of London Police to a stash of 60 stolen bikes at a business premeses in Tower Hamlets, the same borough where this incident happened. Three men were arrested and the police are still trying to reunite owners with their bikes - some of which were worth up to £5,000.

Last week we shared another video of a suspected London bike theft. This time it was a Deliveroo driver who bravely intervened as the suspect was cutting through a lock.