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news
'People on their bikes should be left alone': Lord Blunkett dismisses Sky News question about police stopping cyclists; TfL to create 2,000 new cycle parking spaces in London; Penny farthing sales double; More car-free city centres + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Lord Blunkett (Sky News)13 January 2021, 17:06
Mark Cavendish says relationship with Specialized helped unlocked Deceuninck-QuickStep return
😍😍😍 pic.twitter.com/34UrlF1916
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) January 13, 2021
Speaking at a virtual press conference from Deceuninck-Quickstep's training camp, Cavendish explained how his relationship with the bike brand and team boss Patrick Lefevere helped secure his return to the team.
"I have an incredible relationship with the sponsors, with the staff, with the riders, and obviously with Specialized," Cavendish explained. "I helped develop the Venge. It’s a bike that was made for me, it’s a bike that proved was the best bike for me to win on. I know because of all that, that I can talk about the products as sponsors do.
"It went the same as most contracts go-between riders and teams. You speak, you sign a contract, you race. It’s pretty much the same with most cyclists. When I left the team in 2015, I kept a really close relationship with Patrick. For me, he’s someone I take inspiration for as a leader, I took advice from him and have thought ‘what would Patrick do in this situation?’ I’m happy I could maintain that relationship because I know if you ever leave this team, it’s hard to get back again."
Cavendish revealed that following his interview at Gent-Wevelgem he started to receive offers from teams, but that Quick-Step was the only place he wanted to ride.
"Straight away that same day I started to receive communication from teams. But I think ultimately there was really only one place I wanted to go", said Cavendish.
"Like I keep saying, I spent the best part of my career with this team, and I tried something else, and in hindsight and you know, I wish I would have stayed to my whole career I guess.
He added: "Even if I’m not winning, I can still add something to the team, I did that last time I was here and the team did the same for me. I was the happiest in my previous spell with the team and having the opportunity to be here again is a dream.”
13 January 2021, 16:20
New LTN in south London funded by an urban health charity with links to two local hospitals
There's a new low traffic neighbourhood in Brunswick Park! Thanks to @GSTTCharity for funding these wonderful changes that will enable safer and healthier travel in the area, particularly for school children!
Have your say here: https://t.co/VkXGwHLymW pic.twitter.com/yDjCx4Gwjv
— Better Streets for Southwark (@BtrSts4Swk) January 11, 2021
This new LTN in Brunswick Park, near Camberwell in London, has been funded by the Guy's and St Thomas' Charity. The independent urban health foundation works with Guy's and St Thomas' hospital and their Foundation trust to improve health in the London boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark...
13 January 2021, 16:01
13 January 2021, 15:27
Plenty of positivity about Lord Blunkett's message on Sky News
Rare but nice.
— 𝐹𝒾𝓍𝒾𝑒 𝒞𝓎𝒸𝓁𝒾𝓈𝓉 🚴♂️+🌉 (@ViaTowerBridge) January 13, 2021
Unsurprisingly there's been plenty of love for Lord Blunkett's answer on Sky News earlier...
On Facebook, Ed Gibbons wrote: "Hit the nail on the head. Solo cycling has zero contact with others. Just make sure you're self-sufficient and able to repair your bike if you have any problems on the road. Would be good to see more people out exercising when health is such a key topic right now."
Andy Bell added: "Wow. A sensible response. Hallelujah!"
13 January 2021, 14:41
Deceuninck-QuickStep take cafe stops to the next level
Enjoying a great coffee and a stunning view at @QuickStepFloor’s Bar Velo 😁 pic.twitter.com/M2ZHQLgwbM
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) January 13, 2021
13 January 2021, 13:51
Penny farthing sales double since the pandemic began
The Independent reports that penny farthing sales experienced a revival in 2020 with demand more than doubling since the pandemic began. In recent months they have been selling out faster than manufacturers can produce them. UDC Penny Farthings, Britain's biggest retailer of the bikes, says they sell one every day in the UK. Jeremy Vine is a famous penny farthing fan and was pictured taking his out for a ride on the new Cycleway 9 cycle lane in Chiswick over the weekend.
The owner of UDC Penny Farthings, Roger Davies told The Independent: "The vast majority of people wanting them – around 95 per cent – are middle-aged men, though there are a few women. Vine is typical of the market.
"Since the pandemic, people have had time to think about their lives and what they do and taken on challenges they had always wanted to, and we’ve seen a lot of interest. It’s a very aspirational item – a lot of buyers have dreamed of them since childhood. And they are harder work than normal bikes, so excellent for staying fit."
13 January 2021, 13:22
Record 146mph winds recorded on Mont Ventoux...but all is not as it seems
The KOM is on lads. https://t.co/TNFp1zUzWv
— Simon Warren (@100Climbs) January 12, 2021
Rumours of 235km/h winds at the top of Mont Ventoux surfaced on Twitter last night with amateur cyclists everywhere considering launching a KOM attempt (wind direction dependent of course). However, the fun was short-lived as the Twitter account of the observatory that perches at the top of The Bald Mountain's quickly revealed the high recording was in fact due to a deactivated anemometer causing overestimated readings.
In 2016, the Tour de France summit finish at Mont Ventoux was shortened due to 100km/h winds. That of course meant thousands of fans cramming onto the lower slopes and congestion for the riders and motorbikes accompanying the race... The moto couldn't get through, Richie Porte crashed into the moto, Chris Froome crashed into Porte and one of the most memorable images in recent cycling history was born...Run, Chris, Run!
13 January 2021, 13:14
13 January 2021, 12:10
Egan Bernal's getting on a bit...
Please join us in wishing a big Happy Birthday / Feliz Cumpleaños to @Eganbernal 🎉🎉🎉 pic.twitter.com/2GYSGaXlEf
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) January 13, 2021
24 today...
13 January 2021, 11:37
Deliveroo to expand to 100 new towns and cities this year
Deliveroo hopes to serve almost two-thirds of the UK's population by expanding to 100 new locations in 2021. The takeaway delivery app has seen a surge in popularity during the pandemic due to restaurants being forced to shut their doors. Sky News reports that although the full list of new locations hasn't been announced, it will include Yeovil, East Kilbride, King's Lynn, Scarborough, Llanelli and Exmouth.
Thanks to the increase in demand in 2020, Deliveroo said it created work for an additional 25,000 riders, taking its overall number to more than 50,000.
13 January 2021, 11:22
TfL to create 2,000 new cycle parking spaces in London
Transport for London (TfL) will install 2,000 new cycle parking spaces in the capital as part of a new £1 million boost for cycling infrastructure. Recent data from TfL showed that walking and cycling accounted for half of all journeys between April and June, compared to 29% before the pandemic. The first 900 spaces will be built on routes that have been upgraded or created as part of the Streetspace initiative. A further 1,100 spaces will use a mix of: on-street cycle parking, residential cycle hangars and cycle hubs at stations. In Merton, Sutton and Kingston the plan is to create more than 500 cycle parking spaces across 37 schools.
"Safe and secure parking is key to enabling many more Londoners to cycle," London's Walking and Cycling Commissioner, Will Norman said. "I’m delighted that up to 2,000 more spaces are set to be created across our city in the coming months. We know that a lot of people have started cycling as a way to get a bit of exercise over the past nine months, and secure bike parking means these trips can also double up for shopping for necessities or other essential journeys."
13 January 2021, 10:38
Dublin active travel infrastructure to be made permanent
DCC Central Area Committee has voted to make the filtered permeability trial at Grangegorman permanent, increasing safety for pedestrians and cyclists in the area. They’ve also committed to carry out reviews on a number of items. #cycledublin #walkdublin pic.twitter.com/pmlYufGYyg
— Dublin City Council (@DubCityCouncil) January 12, 2021
13 January 2021, 10:09
13 January 2021, 09:43
'People on their bikes should be left alone': Lord Blunkett dismisses Sky News question about police stopping cyclists
The former Home Secretary, Lord Blunkett, dismissed a question during a Sky News interview that asked whether police should be stopping cyclists to ask how far they'd cycled. To a question asked at 3:30 in the video above, Lord Blunkett said: "I think people on their bikes should be left alone. They're not interfering with anyone else, they're breathing fresh air and they're not going to infect you. I couldn't give a damn how far Boris Johnson goes on his bike — I care a great deal about whether he's actually running the country properly."
In an earlier answer he also said: "If they're clearly not putting others at risk, even if they're on their bike seven miles away from home, then leave them alone. That isn't the issue."
Since the PM was accused by some of breaking lockdown guidance, although no law was broken, there has been much debate about whether the guidance and laws are clear enough. Yesterday, road.cc news editor Simon MacMichael wrote a piece suggesting that the real story about Boris Johnson’s bike ride is that it highlights confusion over lockdown rules.
13 January 2021, 08:50
Brighton residents call for car-free city centre
The Argus reports that creating a car-free city centre and prioritising cyclists over cars are two of the proposals that have been put forward to the city council's first Climate Assembly as part of their drive to become carbon neutral by 2030. Also on the ten-point list is the creation of healthier, low traffic or pedestrianised communities (LTNs) and introducing mobility hubs where people can access cycle hire.
The proposals were suggested by a group of 50 randomly selected residents who have been tasked with learning about climate issues, debating them and making recommendations to the council. A reader poll conducted by the Argus found that 67% supported the proposed measures.
Green party councillor and council leader Phélim Mac Cafferty said: "Today, we are extremely proud to share the feedback from the city’s first climate assembly. Given that later this year our country hosts the next UN climate talks our timing could not be better.
"With a whole third of our city’s toxic emissions coming from transport, residents have been clear that we must take action and support our city to make changes. We now have less than nine years to play our full part in bringing down toxic emissions, and the assembly has helped us keep a sharp focus on the challenges ahead."
Here it is.
The top recommendation from the climate assembly
Car-free city centre 🚶🚴🏃
For the full report and recommendations (as well as to check out the videos from the assembly) 👇👇👇https://t.co/I5BNb40Mck
📸 @BenJamesPhotos pic.twitter.com/ummFWIo03o
— Brighton & Hove City Council (@BrightonHoveCC) January 11, 2021
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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46 comments
David9694
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3 years ago
0 likes
If there were any brain cells in the LTDA, they would be well and truly fried by the new cycle parking. This LBC late night presenter Cristo is a bit of anti-cycling rallying point at the mo - the taxi men and Fair Fuel so far.
Dear Fair Fuel re: " the most heavily taxed motorist in the world" - given that cars appear to be getting bigger, more numerous and are being used for more trips, often quite short, I'm really not sure what point you're trying to make. And if motoring did get cheaper, there'd be even more cars, more jams and no-one would get anywhere. Or am I missing something?
Finally, I wanted to share a snip from today's Galibier email - it's full stream ahead in the EU, it would seem.
eburtthebike
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3 years ago
19 likes
This was reported on a fb page, with the usual howls of protest from the usual suspects "all the local businesses will close, what about the disabled...." etc, etc.
I pointed out that in places where this has been done, local businesses thrive, but I couldn't better this response about the disabled:
"Gavin Bottomley
When any possible restriction on motoring comes up people suddenly get very concerned about the disabled when the rest of the time they don't give s**t about them !"
Thanks Gavin.
On my rides I frequently come across a local club member (I'm not a member) on her recumbent e-trike. She is able to walk also, with difficulty. Of course being in a recumbent is a risk with traffic all above, so the trike is festooned with lights and flags. I'd imagine things would be a lot better for her without the traffic.
One of my concerns with ideas like this is they never take account that places like Brighton are as much about visitors as they are residents. If I'm visiting Brighton for business or leisure chances are high I'd be billeted in a hotel in the city centre and that I'll have had to drive to get there from another distant part of the UK,so what's going to be the solution to deal with that or the estimated 11million other visitors to Brighton, a gigantic park & ride on the south downs ?
One of my concerns with ideas like this is they never take account that places like Brighton are as much about visitors as they are residents. If I'm visiting Brighton for business or leisure chances are high I'd be billeted in a hotel in the city centre and that I'll have had to drive to get there from another distant part of the UK,so what's going to be the solution to deal with that or the estimated 11million other visitors to Brighton, a gigantic park & ride on the south downs ?
i think it does have chainstays - they're just extremely thin. And connected to the chainring instead of the bottom bracket for some reason.
There seems to be an awful lot of slack in the chain as well.
Drawn by someone who has seen bikes, but is not looking at one while they dra. The forks also look suspect as they are curved and have the axle in front of the fork centreline. Either is normally sufficient to get the wheel in front of the headset axis.
Trains are great, I like travelling by train, I dont argue against the need for HS2 for instance, but I recognise they dont suit or fulfill everyones needs, either by convenience,timings or costs and its foolish to pretend they currently do.
Next time I want to go to Brighton on holiday I'd like to take my bike to ride around that part of the world,but it would be a total nightmare trying to get a bike and luggage there by train.
Trains are great, I like travelling by train, I dont argue against the need for HS2 for instance, but I recognise they dont suit or fulfill everyones needs, either by convenience,timings or costs and its foolish to pretend they currently do. Next time I want to go to Brighton on holiday I'd like to take my bike to ride around that part of the world,but it would be a total nightmare trying to get a bike and luggage there by train.
^This. Trains currently are not designed to carry bikes, which is a huge frustration for me. My wife and I have taken the step of going car-less after over 40 years of car ownership. We are very happy to cycle for all local journeys and would love to go further afield with our tandem or solo bikes using trains. It's an utter nightmare. Many years ago when the term "active travel" didn't exist, yet alone was officially encouraged, we could just turn up at a station with our bikes, or a tandem, and put it in the guards van. Now, with all the awareness of global warming, it is increasingly difficult to take bikes on trains and it is a juggling act of different operators' policies, what rolling stock they're running on a particular service, which can vary from day to day. Oh how I wish the railways were re-nationalised and we had a government that would impose the provision of "proper" accommodation of bicycles.
As for HS2, I'm all for investing in the rail network but we should be investing it in better local services IMO.
One of my concerns with ideas like this is they never take account that places like Brighton are as much about visitors as they are residents. If I'm visiting Brighton for business or leisure chances are high I'd be billeted in a hotel in the city centre and that I'll have had to drive to get there from another distant part of the UK,so what's going to be the solution to deal with that or the estimated 11million other visitors to Brighton, a gigantic park & ride on the south downs ?
I would suggest York is as dependent on visitors as much as Brighton is. The way they dealt with it was to put a Park and Ride on each of the main routes into the city. It is now literally decades since I even attempted to drive my car into York.
No one will stop you driving. Maybe you won't be able to drive right to your hotel door - never mind.
We can't have everything, sometimes it's either or. We know that cars everywhere prevents people having other options, because most people are too scared of traffic to ride in it.
The problem is banning the cars and not providing the something to fill the gap that enables people to move around as easily, and it bugs me people dont get that part.
You've surely noticed that the whole point of preventing cars from accessing city centre streets is that those places are then safer, cleaner, quieter and available for pedestrian and cycle access.
Places like Brighton, York and Edinburgh won't stop vehicles entering the entire city, that's not realistic but closing specific areas is a strategic way to open up those areas for people.
If, instead of embracing the change and enjoying its benefits you want to carry on driving into the middle of cities simply because that's what you've done previously without consideration for anyone else, and don't want to change your habits, then you are definitely part of the problem.
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