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GB Worlds medallist breaks collarbone due to 'punishment braking' driver; Uber teaches users Dutch Reach; Russ Downing retires; American Flyers script on eBay; Pedersen to debut rainbow jersey; Vandals kill off another bike-share scheme +more on live blog

All today's news from the site and beyond.....
01 October 2019, 18:57
01 October 2019, 18:45
Russ Downing at 2019 Lincoln GP (picture Alex Whitehead, SWPix.com)
Russ Downing retires

Russ Downing has announced his retirement from racing at the age of 41.

One of the founder members of Team Sky in 2010, he won the overall title at the Tour de Wallonie that year, and the previous season, riding for CandiTV-Marshalls Pasta, took the overall at the Tour of Ireland.

Over the past few years, alongside his brother Dean, he has been an ambassador for Yorkshire cycling, the Rotherham pair acting as ambassadors for the Yorkshire 2014 Tour de France Grand Depart as well as last week’s UCI Road Cycling World Championships.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The time has come ...... What a journey it’s been. From racing around circles on a grass field for Thurcroft Cc to then going on to race for the biggest team in the world, Team sky. I fell in love with the sport at a very young age and I always will love it but racing can’t last forever. A massive thank you to everyone who helped me along the way ..My wife, Family, Friends and of cause the man that convinced me I was good enough to turn pro from a young age, my best buddy Chris Walker ..Not forgetting the sponsors who made it possible year in year out. It is time to hang up the race wheels and pass my knowledge back down into the sport Im going to have one more blast Racing in my good friends historic hill climb @monsalhillclimb ... Come and watch if you fancy it .. Thank you cycling for the memories

A post shared by Fonzy Downing (@russdowning) on

01 October 2019, 18:06
Mads Pedersen in the rainbow jersey, Picture by Charlie Forgham-Bailey, SWpix.com_
Mads Pedersen to debut rainbow jersey on Saturday

Mads Pedersen, the Danish Trek-Segafredo rider who was the surprise winner of the men's elite road race at the UCI Road Cycling World Championships in Harrogate on Sunday, will debut the rainbow jersey in Belgium on Saturday, his team has confirmed.

01 October 2019, 17:44
01 October 2019, 16:40
UK’s first school bike share scheme launched in Scotland

What is being billed as the UK’s first school bike share scheme has been launched in Stirling, Scotland.

The initiative from the charity Forth Environmental Link (FEL) in partnership with Nextbike, has seen bike stations put in place at three high schools there, reports STV.

There are 10 bikes each at Bannockburn, Stirling, and Wallace High Schools, and pupils signing up will also have access to Nextbike bicycles across the city.

Membership is free for the first 12 months and pupils using the scheme, which has been launched with the help of a £103,560 grant from Transport Scotland, won’t have to pay if hire periods are no longer than an hour.

Shirley Paterson, active travel development manager at FEL, said: "There is a distinct drop off in cycling numbers between primary and secondary school.

"So, we're targeting pupils aged 14 and over to get them back on their bikes before they head off to the world of work or further study.

"By incorporating cycling into their daily lives now, they're much more likely to become active adults.

"Road safety is of course paramount, so we're giving every pupil who signs up to the scheme half a day's cycle training and a voucher for a bike helmet," she added.

01 October 2019, 15:35
Another hire scheme could be going under due to vandalism
Beryl hire bike (picture credit Anna Rachel Photography)

Beryl, formerly makers of smart lights and now also rolling out their own hire bike schemes, have announced in an email to subscribers that they have suspended their Enfield service after just three months in operation due to reports of vandalism. A council spokesperson said: “Beryl made the commercial decision to suspend its bike-share scheme in Enfield from Monday 23rd September.

“Talks are ongoing between Enfield Council and Beryl on potential next steps. Those users with accounts for the bike share scheme should contact Beryl directly for information on refunds.

“The first months of the bike share trial in Enfield have shown a growing demand for affordable access to short bike rides. Enfield Council is keen to support affordable, accessible and active travel options across the borough and will continue to look at a number of options to work alongside its growing cycle infrastructure.”

The news comes less than a fortnight after dockless bike stations in Edinburgh closed due to 'wanton destruction', and in the past other UK share schemes such Mobike and ebikes Derby have either suffered or shut down due to vandals. 

01 October 2019, 15:05
Uber introducing new safety feature warning passengers to look out for cyclists when opening doors
Uber self driving Volvo XC90 - image via Uber.jpg

Uber say they will soon be sending alerts out to passengers warning them to look out for cyclists when opening car doors in heavily trafficked areas and/or places that are popular for cycling - the reminders will also reference the "Dutch Reach technique", i.e. opening the car door with the hand that's furthest away from the door handle which forces the passenger to look over their shoulder. 

Research carried out by the ride-sharing giants found that 16% of people have opened a car door in front of a cyclist before. Fred Jones, head of new mobility at Uber, said: "By the end of October,
more than five million alerts will have gone to Uber passengers across the UK, encouraging them to use the Dutch Reach technique.

"By cleverly combining data and education, we hope that more passengers will practise caution around cyclists, and ultimately improve the safety on our roads. Whether you're an Uber passenger or a cyclist we want to help you get there safely."

Duncan Dollimore of Cycling UK said: "It's vitally important to educate anyone who uses a car to check before opening their door as every year around 60 cyclists are killed or seriously injured by car dooring incidents. It's also one of the reasons people tell us puts them off from cycling.

"The Dutch Reach is a simple technique that few people use but could make a real difference to the number of collisions in the UK, and combined with Uber's alert to passengers, encouraging them to look over their shoulders before opening their door, it should mean our roads are becoming safer for cyclists everywhere."

01 October 2019, 12:18
Support from cycling community and beyond for Lauren Dolan following assault by dangerous driver

Former British road champ Brian Smith and Dame Sarah Storey were amongst those to tweet their best wishes to Dolan, with Storey saying: "A terrifying thing to happen & down to the blinkered selfishness of an entitled driver who decided it was his right of way as he’s in a metal box."

01 October 2019, 10:25
Fancy the original screenplay of American Flyers? Yours for 300 quid!
american flyers ebay listing

With a Buy It Now price of just over £300, the original screenplay of this  most classic of cycling movies starring Kevin Costner can be all yours, as it's currently for sale on eBay! Here's the description: "This is an Original Movie Script used during the making of the 1985 Movie, "American Flyers". This script has the original, Ladd Company, production cover. It has all white pages inside and it is 125 pages long. It is an early Working Draft. This draft has some pages inside that have written notations next to the printed text. However, this handwriting inside is not done by hand it is all copied from the master script. Furthermore, this is exactly how this early draft was issued to the various Writing and Development crew members. This script is in very good overall condition."

If you happen to make an impulse purchase (here's the link again), do let us know and send us pics... or we'll swap you for some irreplaceable road.cc socks perhaps? All this has reminded us, we need to update our guide to the Best Cycling Films with this classic, which you can watch on Amazon Prime or Youtube Movies for a small fee... 

01 October 2019, 12:05
More Brisbane madness: this time a driver in the bike lane, telling a cyclist to "f&*king move"
01 October 2019, 11:49
Video of Brisbane cyclists stopped outside of bike lane sparks (unwarranted) anger online

Stanley St Bikeway, $100mil well spent. from r/brisbane

The clip, shared on Reddit, highlighted the fact that the cyclists were not using a narrow bike path while stopped at an intersection - the video is accompanied by the caption: "Stanley St Bikeway, $100mil well spent."

After the initial wave of hatred came a few sensible comments, with one pointing out how the cycle path is too narrow for a group of cyclists to merge into when going downhill at speed, so they took the lane as is permitted by Australian law, as is the same here in the UK. 

Another said: "The bike path is great for commuters riding slowly but not a large group like that.

"Know your road, know what's safe to do. This is the safest path to take for that group."

01 October 2019, 12:12
Apparently it's #InternationalCoffeeDay
coffee in san marino

...so have a brew on us! And every other day too, because coffee. 

01 October 2019, 11:45
Sportful's new autumn/winter clothing - First Look
Sportful Bodtfit Pro Thermal Jersey.jpg

Have a peruse of Peter Sagan's kit supplier in our guide to Sportful's latest gear

01 October 2019, 11:44
Guardians of The Stray in Harrogate claim site has been left with "atrocious damage" due to World Champs Fan Zone flooding
Harrogate Worlds 2019 fan zone mud (credit Simon MacMichael)

The rain was relentless, but could more have been done? Full story here

01 October 2019, 07:58
World TTT bronze medallist reveals she broke her collar bone swerving to avoid angry driver who 'punishment braked' on a descent
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A lot can change in 48 hours. Sunday 22nd, the best feeling I’ve had so far in my cycling career; 48 hours later, I’m lying in hospital, feeling completely devastated.⁣ ⁣ After returning back home to Devon, I was back training on home roads with my father on Tuesday. Nearing the end of the ride, we encountered a frustrated driver, beeping on his horn behind us whilst riding single file. The man wasn’t able to pass immediately due to oncoming traffic on the other side of the road. ⁣ ⁣ To seemingly display his frustration / anger for the hold up, he passed us with inches to spare. ⁣ ⁣ As soon as the driver was directly in front of us at 45kph on a descent and with feet to spare the driver slammed his breaks on. I’ve learnt since that the police have a phrase for it - “punishment braking”⁣ ⁣ Having nowhere to go I tried to squeeze down the outside of the car between a traffic island and the car with my front wheel centimeters from the car. Needless to say my back wheel just clipped the island throwing me over the top of the bike. The car sped off. ⁣ ⁣⁣ I have had surgery on my left shoulder. I have a broken collar bone and “substantial” soft tissue damage. I’ve had a successful op courtesy of the amazing Mike Walters and his team at the arm clinic in Wilmslow.⁣ ⁣ This was a horrible act with malicious intent to harm a cyclist. The driver has been found but has denied his actions. Without camera footage or independent witnesses it’s going to be difficult to bring charges to the individual.⁣ ⁣ This type of behaviour is becoming all to familiar on our roads. It has become a culture that needs addressing and time for change is long overdue. ⁣ ⁣ I’ll be back into winter training soon, I am really looking forward to it, I have a great team around me and big plans for 2020. It’s going to be a great year! ⁣ #sharetheroad ⁣ Once again a massive thank you goes out @britishcycling and the Arm clinic Wilmslow for putting me back together again! ⁣#sharetheroad ⁣: @frankmurphyphotography ⁣ #sharetheroad

A post shared by Lauren Dolan (@laurendolan_99) on

More details have emerged about the incident we reported on last week which left Lauren Dolan with a broken collarbone  just two days after winning a bronze medal at the Road Cycling World Championships in Yorkshire. 
Dolan, who scooped a bronze medal as part of Great Britain's Team time trial mixed relay squad last week, has revealed that on a training riding just two days later, she ended up in hospital with a broken collarbone thanks to an assault by an impatient driver who deliberately braked in front of her and her father on a training ride in Devon. 

She calls for a long overdue change to "a culture that needs addressing", and that the shocking behaviour shown by this driver is becoming "all too familiar".

As she says in the Instagram post above, Dolan isn't even hopeful of getting a conviction for the dangerous driver even though he has been tracked down, because of lack of camera evidence or witnesses. We're hoping the witness statement of her father and some common sense shown from the police will bring this criminal to justice, and Lauren is back on the road soon. 

01 October 2019, 08:01
If only it looked like the opening scenes on Sunday...
01 October 2019, 08:03
What on earth???
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

It's only about not fucking it up now

A post shared by Jani Brajkovic (@janibrajkovic) on

We spotted this on Twitter earlier, and have now found out the leg/alien in question does indeed belong to Slovenian cyclist Jani Brajkovic.

Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.  

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24 comments

Avatar
Kapelmuur | 4 years ago
0 likes

So relieved that I’ll not see Valverde in the rainbow jersey again.

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brooksby | 4 years ago
1 like

Couldn't resist...

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Philh68 | 4 years ago
0 likes

The examples from Brisbane is par for the course in Australia. Always amuses me when one person in a car accuses a group of riders using less space than they are of “hogging the road”… if these motorists want to display their ignorance of the laws as well as their selfish entitlement, well that is their right.

Australian drivers don’t understand the difference between a bicycle lane and a bicycle path. Paint a bicycle symbol up a wall they’d expect you to ride there. But Queensland have no requirement for cyclists to use either a lane or a path, unlike other states. Brisbane, traffic always seems slow to me. If there’s a problem it’s cars obstructing cyclists and preventing them from riding faster.

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Tollers | 4 years ago
0 likes

"By cleverly combining data and education, we hope that more passengers will practise caution around cyclists, and ultimately improve the safety on our roads. Whether you're an Uber passenger or a cyclist we want to help you get there safely."

 

Living in San Francisco we get a lot of Uber's features early. In reality these alerts mean that we receive notifications throughout the journey, at bad times and bring focus to phone rather than surroundings to the point where they lose all value.

Pretty sure this is only to avoid liabilities at lowest cost rather than actually create a safe experience.

 

Avatar
kil0ran | 4 years ago
1 like

According to the Beeb she "came off her bike"

:rollseyes:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-49893019

Utterly shit reporting on almost every level.

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hawkinspeter replied to kil0ran | 4 years ago
1 like
kil0ran wrote:

According to the Beeb she "came off her bike"

:rollseyes:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-49893019

Utterly shit reporting on almost every level.

I don't know why people carry on paying for the BBC when there's so many better alternatives.

Avatar
iandusud | 4 years ago
5 likes

I rode out from Harrogate yesterday morning and had two unpleasant incidents in 35 miles. The first was a delivery van that was in too much of a hurry to get past and overtook only to have to slam his brakes on, locking up his wheels, to avoid hitting an oncoming car that was in plain sight on straight stretch of road.

The second was coming to the end of Norwood Lane, turning left into Beckwithshaw. I took the lane as I didn't someone to try and overtake me on the corner, only to get a mouthfull of abuse from the driver who clearly had wanted to do just that. 

We've had a great week for cycling here in Harrogate but I do fear that there might be a backlash from some car drivers who feel that we've deprived them of their right to roads.

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VinylJEDI | 4 years ago
4 likes

This is why I always ride with a camera, even if the police aren't interested I'm sure the insurance people will be.

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LeRich | 4 years ago
1 like

Share the story on social media as much as possible.  If the 'regular' British media won't publish it, we can!

 

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peted76 | 4 years ago
7 likes

It's a good opportunity for the British media to undo a smidge of bias.. I wonder if any publication will take up the story and report it correctly.

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Jackson | 4 years ago
6 likes

Lauren Dolan needs to bring a civil suit against the driver.

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Nemesis replied to Jackson | 4 years ago
2 likes
Jackson wrote:

Lauren Dolan needs to bring a civil suit against the driver.

 

EXACTLY!! 
Get yourselves insured then you can sue.
Civil law is based on the balance of probabilities not beyond reasonable doubt as is the case with criminal law.  And there's no CPS to fuck it up or wimp out....

It's disgusting what happened to Lauren - karma would dictate that the driver receive a punishment beating to balance the punishment beating (braking) they gave her - but that's not how the world works, unfortunately. 

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Bmblbzzz | 4 years ago
9 likes

The culture that needs to change is not to do with cycling or driving. That's just where we experience it most. It's a generalized culture of agreession, opposition and intolerance, of claiming personalized rights with no thought for responsibility to others either as individuals or a general societalized mass. Rage we experience on the road is merely another expression of the rage that some experience as sexism, racism, and any old you're-in-my-place-ism. 

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zero_trooper replied to Bmblbzzz | 4 years ago
2 likes
Bmblbzzz wrote:

The culture that needs to change is not to do with cycling or driving. That's just where we experience it most. It's a generalized culture of agreession, opposition and intolerance, of claiming personalized rights with no thought for responsibility to others either as individuals or a general societalized mass. Rage we experience on the road is merely another expression of the rage that some experience as sexism, racism, and any old you're-in-my-place-ism. 

Nobody has any patience. I see it all the time, especially amongst motorists no 

Avatar
Bmblbzzz replied to zero_trooper | 4 years ago
1 like
zero_trooper wrote:
Bmblbzzz wrote:

The culture that needs to change is not to do with cycling or driving. That's just where we experience it most. It's a generalized culture of agreession, opposition and intolerance, of claiming personalized rights with no thought for responsibility to others either as individuals or a general societalized mass. Rage we experience on the road is merely another expression of the rage that some experience as sexism, racism, and any old you're-in-my-place-ism. 

Nobody has any patience. I see it all the time, especially amongst motorists no 

With four words, you get to the heart where I spent a paragraph waffling round the edges (and on further thought, sexism, racism etc are rather red herrings here, since they tend to be conscious actions or activities with reasonings and ideologies – however spurious, nevertheless conscious mental processes – behind them).

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ktache | 4 years ago
2 likes

If only she was a hobbyist gravel rider rather than a medal winning road cyclist.

 

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Jem PT | 4 years ago
8 likes

Terrible what happened to Lauren, but if she was with her father, isn't the evidence of 2 witnesses enough? At least the driver has been found, which is a start...

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VinnyRM | 4 years ago
6 likes

And Lauren’s story is the EXACT reason I have sold my beloved road bike and bought a gravel one, and will endeavour to find the road less taken with less car users making rides fraught with danger!

I thankfully haven’t had too many intentional incidents but I have just had so many near misses this summer with drivers taking no notice of anything smaller than a  car! Too busy texting or calling or smacking the kids or f...ing about with the Spotify or whatever.

I decided it was only s matter of time after a woman in a 4x4 almost took me out properly and then tried to justify it because she had dropped her phone!!!

I don’t own a GoPro, there’s no actual point, the police won’t prosecute 99% of the time!!

Roll on some quiet bridleways

Avatar
brooksby replied to VinnyRM | 4 years ago
4 likes
VinnyRM wrote:

And Lauren’s story is the EXACT reason I have sold my beloved road bike and bought a gravel one, and will endeavour to find the road less taken with less car users making rides fraught with danger!

I thankfully haven’t had too many intentional incidents but I have just had so many near misses this summer with drivers taking no notice of anything smaller than a  car! Too busy texting or calling or smacking the kids or f...ing about with the Spotify or whatever.

I decided it was only s matter of time after a woman in a 4x4 almost took me out properly and then tried to justify it because she had dropped her phone!!!

I don’t own a GoPro, there’s no actual point, the police won’t prosecute 99% of the time!!

Roll on some quiet bridleways

I find there are very few quiet bridleways in the middle of the city... 

Avatar
bobbinogs | 4 years ago
11 likes

Unfortunately I think Lauren calls it right when she is pessimistic about the chances of securing any kind of justice.  The police only seem to act consistently and tenaciously when the cyclist involved just happens to be an off-duty officer, even when decent camera footage is available in the cases of normal folk.  No footage at all means that it will just come down to her word against the driver, so the case will get filed in the "too difficult" pile.

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brooksby | 4 years ago
3 likes

Is that even a human leg?  It looks like someone shaved a chimp...!

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Sadly Biggins replied to brooksby | 4 years ago
3 likes
brooksby wrote:

Is that even a human leg?  It looks like someone shaved a chimp...!

 

Looks like something out of the Alien franchise about to unfurl its wings

Avatar
brooksby | 4 years ago
7 likes

Punishment braking is the moton equivalent of "stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself!"surprise

 

"What, officer?  But I had to brake... It's not my fault if the Bl00dy Cyclist (TM) was too close / too fast"

"What do you mean, but I had only just overtaken them?  I had to, I mean, I'm in a car!"

"No, I deny all responsibility for their injuries.  I'm a good driver, I am."

Avatar
burtthebike | 4 years ago
13 likes

Total support for Lauren and best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

Lauren is right, and the culture must change, but when the law makers and opinion formers either don't care about cyclists or are hostile to them, there isn't much chance of change.  As an example of their indifference, why isn't this story all over the media?  Maybe I've missed it, but I've seen and heard nothing.

Instead of positive measures, some politicians are now proposing populist measures which won't actually make any difference, like locking people up for longer and denying them remission, and promising to restore the cuts to the police that they themselves instituted.

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