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Amazing vid: cyclist varies commute to ride every London street; Cav wins Derny as 6 Day London opens; London Bridge Bikes 'clamped'; Cyclist who gave Trump the bird runs for office; Bike locked to railings stolen (the railings too) + more on live blog

All today's news from the site and beyond.....
23 October 2019, 19:18
Bored bike commuter varies route ... and four years later has ridden every Central London street

A London cyclist who became a bit jaded with his commute started riding alternative routes – and, four years later, has taken in every single road on the A-Z map of Central London on his way to work.

In a blog post about his travels, Davis Villums said: “I am a passionate cyclist, and I love the streets of London. Most of my travels are daily 25-minute rides to work.

“Over time my route became boring. I decided to make it a little bit more interesting by taking the parallel streets on my way there.

“I bought a map of central London and started to colour in the streets to mark the routes that I have taken. And then I got obsessed with it.”

He tracked all his rides on Endomondo, then used the data to produce this rather mesmerising video which shows how he covered every street that features on the London Super Scale A-Z Map, which he also coloured in as he went along, with the end result shown in the picture at the end of this post.

He added: “That was an enjoyable waste of time, and I liked every bit of it, planning, executing and then colouring in the streets and paths where my route took place.

“I found it a great way how to discover new areas in London and familiarise all the boroughs of central London. This journey for me made every corner of central London feel like home.”

Davis has also spoken to Londonist about his exploits, and you can read that interview here.

London A-Z map (picture credit Davis Villums)
23 October 2019, 18:39
Cav wins derny race as 6 Day London gets under way

Mark Cavendish was back to top form as he won the derny race on the opening evening of Phynova 6 Day London at the Lee Valley VeloPark yesterday evening – a venue where, in 2016, he teamed up with Sir Bradley Wiggins to win World Championship gold in the Madison.

This week, Cavendish is partnered by Owain Doull, who alongside Wiggins helped Team GB win a third consecutive Olympic team pursuit title in Rio three years ago.

Cavendish’s success came in the final event of the evening, but it’s the French pairing of Bryan Coquard and Donavan Grondin, who led the standings with 100 points.

“That was hard. I stayed at the back of the field, to just suss out how everyone was going,” said Cavendish.

“Caleb [Ewan] jumped earlier than I thought and that was tough, it was right until the line. I was lucky I had Michel (Vaarten, derny rider), we’ve raced together for many years now and I’m feeling good. It’s always great in London. I got a great reception from the crowd when I came out and that was amazing.”

Tickets for the rest of this week’s racing start at £19 and can be bought here.

23 October 2019, 15:20
A London Bridge shopping estate appears to be 'clamping' bikes - but is it even legal?

The photo captured by Will Bradley shows a bike that has effectively been 'clamped' by the private shopping estate London Bridge City, with a cable secured around the frame with a padlock. The customer was reportedly shopping on the estate, and there was no signage to indicate that bikes couldn't be locked on the private property - or even that it's private property full stop. 

Being as car clamping on private land has been illegal in England and Wales since 2012, does that same law apply to bikes? If so, London Bridge City might be locking themselves into an unwinnable legal battle by continuing to chain up bikes on their estate. In the last couple of hours, London Bridge City have responded to Mr Bradley on Twitter to say they "understand your (his) frustrations." 

We're getting in touch with legal eagles who are friends of the site to get some expert opinions... 

23 October 2019, 13:51
Are you seeing this, Great Western?

Our story regarding the new ScotRail bike carriages is proving popular, and hopefully might provide some handy tips for other rail operators who are thought to be lacking in the bike storage department... 

23 October 2019, 14:59
Cyclist in Texas killed by driver after pushing his fiancée out of the way
devin custer

27-year-old Devin Custer was cycling with his fiancée in Harris County on Monday evening, when he was struck from behind by a vehicle travelling in the same direction. According to a GoFundMe page set up to pay Custer's medical expenses, he "heroically saved his fiance's life by pushing her away from the vehicle, sacrificing his own life." 

Authorities are investigating, but no charges have been filed yet. 

 

23 October 2019, 12:12
CX racer Finn Mansfield ends up going for a swim

Team RST/Cycle Division rider Mansfield was taking part in the Kiremko Nacht van Woerden cyclocross race in the Netherlands yesterday evening... and somehow managed to end up in the lake that the course surrounds. Helpfully the footage was captured by a spectator, who also filmed another unfortunate rider going for an impromptu swim... 

Replying to CX legend Helen Wyman on Twitter, Mansfield said: "I managed to lose my balance in the rut on the bank. So I toppled into the water! It was a bit of a shock."

Perhaps a career in triathlon is beckoning?

23 October 2019, 10:08
The cyclist who stuck her middle finger up at Trump's motorcade two years ago is now running for office

You might recall this story from 2017, which started when Juli Briskman was captured on camera giving the middle finger to a procession of presidential vehicles, one of which would have contained Mr Trump. It cost Briskman her job as a US government contractor for violating their social media policies, because she used the photo as her Facebook and Twitter profile pictures - she then sued her employer in April last year, calling the sacking “unlawful and un-American”. 

Briskman now appears to be capitalising on her notoriety by running for county supervisor in Virginia as a Democratic candidate, wearing a bicycle-shaped pin which might jog the memories of those she meets on the campaign trail while handing out leaflets. Also a keen marathon runner, Briskman told the Deccan Chronicle that she wanted to show there was "substance" behind her candidacy, and the she wasn't "just the person that rode my bike one day and flipped off the president." She added: "I can't run against Trump, but I can run for this seat and make a difference right here."

The election date is 5th November. 

 

23 October 2019, 12:03
ScotRail showing most of the other UK rail franchises how it's done when it comes to bike storage

Is that a useable and well-designed bike storage facility on a train we spy?? We found it hard to fathom too, but believe it or not these carriages will be rolled out on the West Highland Line soon - full story to follow... 

23 October 2019, 10:44
Sagan to ride the Giro?

We're hearing on the grapevine that Sagan is set to make his Giro D'Italia debut next year, as Giro race organisers RCS confirmed he would be attending the route presentation in Milan tomorrow. That news plus this tweet, means you can pretty much put two and two together.

23 October 2019, 11:53
Norfolk teenager known as 'Trash Girl' appeals for return of stolen bike

Nadia Sparkes, who runs the popular Team Trash Girl Facebook page encouraging litter picks and helping the environment, has had her trash collecting bike stolen overnight - her mother is appealing for information on the bike's whereabouts. 

Nadia's litter-picking originally attracted ridicule from her peers, who would call her 'Trash Girl' and throw litter at her bike as she did her rounds; however she decided to own the moniker, and the bullying has since stopped. Chapeau Nadia, and we hope you get your bike back!

23 October 2019, 10:38
The French Olympic logo is too sophisticated for you

Thanks to Pete for finding this strange yet hilarious thread about the life and times of the Parisian Olympic logo for 2024. Tweet two in the thread reads: "The French Olympic logo has an espresso and a cigarette for lunch. She hops on a vintage bicycle and pedals past the Eiffel Tower on her way to a café where she will sit and read Baudelaire with her fluffy white dog at her feet."

23 October 2019, 09:57
Geraint Thomas describes chat with Prince William as 'surreal' as he collects OBE

Thomas told the Press Association that it was an honour to collect his OBE, and it was a surreal moment chatting about fatherhood and sleepless nights with Prince William: "You don't really know what to expect, but to chat to him about the rugby and my baby was surreal."

23 October 2019, 09:54
Two Volcano Sprint - a 1000Km ultra endurance race
Two Volcano Sprint - a 1000Km ultra endurance race

The Two Volcano Sprint (2VS) is a not-for-profit ultra-endurance race held in Southern Italy. It's held to promote eco-sustainability in the region and thanks to the event's sponsors, almost 100% of the rider fees go towards an annual sponsorship grant. Read all about it on off-road.cc now.

23 October 2019, 08:01
This is a new one on us...

How do you steal a bike that's locked to some railings? Simply steal the railings, according to this 'cunning' London thief. Unfortunately for them they weren't cunning enough to evade capture and are now in custody, and police are looking to trace the bike's owner. 

No of-fence (here all week) to that owner, but it doesn't exactly look like a super bike - what lengths would this wannabe robber go to for a bike worth a few grand? Must have been rail-y desperate... 

23 October 2019, 08:15
Wout van Aert appears at tribunal in Belgium, with former team manager demanding over 1 million euros for breach of contract
Tour de France Wout van Aert Bianchi Oltre XR4.jpeg

Van Aert - who is still recovering from a horror crash at this summer's Tour de France - appeared in a Belgian court accused of breach of contract by the manager of his former team Verandas Willems-Crelan. 

Nick Nuyens claims van Aert broken a contract that was supposed to tie him to Vérandas Willems-Crelan until the end of 2019; however van Aert's contract was said to have been broken off while the team were negotiating a merger with Dutch team Rompoot, and he signed to Team Jumbo-Visma. 

Van Aert told Nieuwsblad that the million euro damages claim was "a completely skewed amount": "I would find it very strange if I were sentenced for that, but we have to wait for the verdict."

The court's ruling is scheduled for November 26, and if they rule in Nuyens' favour van Aert could also be sanctioned and fined by the UCI.

 

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
peted76 | 4 years ago
0 likes

Watched day 1 of the Six day thng last night, great entertainment! However a zwift race was included.. that seems plain odd to me, I can't imagine the crowd were particuarly interested in watching it. Surely they turned up to see bikes whizz round a track not 30mins of people getting sweaty on a turbo, it was dull as dishwater to watch despite the best attepts of the presenters and cameramnen

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brooksby | 4 years ago
1 like

On the Will Bradley story - can road.cc follow this up with him?  London Bridge City say in his tweeter thread to email them to discuss, so I wonder what they have said (as regards: lack of signage/warnings, lack of 'legitimate' bike parking (apparently), etc etc).

Avatar
quiff replied to brooksby | 4 years ago
1 like
brooksby wrote:

On the Will Bradley story - can road.cc follow this up with him?  London Bridge City say in his tweeter thread to email them to discuss, so I wonder what they have said (as regards: lack of signage/warnings, lack of 'legitimate' bike parking (apparently), etc etc).

I'd also be interested to know how they justify / rationalise the clamping. There are numerous security guards patrolling the site, so I can't imagine he waited long to have the bike released, and to be fair there are 10 Sheffield stand bike racks about 200 yards from where the bike was clamped (and at least a further 3 public bike parks of similar or higher capacity on the estate). But why they clamp is beyond me. Perhaps a misguided and illogical answer to security concerns since Southwark Crown Court and City Hall are both on the estate?

EDIT: because I work near here and I'm tragic, I counted up the bike parking nearby - I counted 167 Sheffield stands within a couple of minutes' walk of where the bike was clamped. Clamping bikes might be out of order, but you can't reasonably complain (as some are on Twitter) that they haven't provided an alternative.           

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CygnusX1 | 4 years ago
1 like

Chapeau to the London commuter, i hope hes got decent bike security rhough as he's just published his home and work addresses.

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CyclingInBeastMode | 4 years ago
1 like

a private video of Cav taking the win https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYSDsmsKMsQ

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Mungecrundle | 4 years ago
2 likes

Secure parking at London Bridge City plus a free lock cable, and all for the price of a heavy duty set of bolt cutters. What's not to like?

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ktache | 4 years ago
0 likes

If Sagan is riding the Giro, does this mean none of his individuality in the Tour?

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alansmurphy | 4 years ago
2 likes

Can't even wear a helmet properly, the helmet!

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burtthebike | 4 years ago
4 likes

I think the cyclist who did the same to BoJo, the apprentice, should stand against him too; my money would be him.

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brooksby | 4 years ago
1 like

The trying-for-office American cyclist ought to have just pretended she was adjusting her hair, then she would have gotten away with it! 

https://gizmodo.com/did-president-trump-give-the-middle-finger-to-women-ast-1839217817

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Linkan | 4 years ago
1 like

Looking at that bike I´m guessing they where actually trying to steal the railing. Also keeping the bike attached probably made moving the railing easier... yes

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squired | 4 years ago
0 likes

I could be wrong, but there may be another side to the railing story.  On Monday they were removing railings around Bank junction in the square mile and at the time I saw one bike attached to a railing being left rested against a wall.  I'm wondering whether this is a case of another bike being left when they were doing a similar removal job and an opportunist thought they'd grab it.

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brooksby replied to squired | 4 years ago
0 likes
squired wrote:

I could be wrong, but there may be another side to the railing story.  On Monday they were removing railings around Bank junction in the square mile and at the time I saw one bike attached to a railing being left rested against a wall.  I'm wondering whether this is a case of another bike being left when they were doing a similar removal job and an opportunist thought they'd grab it.

Wouldn't the contractor bear corporate responsibility for the theft, in that case?  If they're not properly safeguarding someone else's property that they have removed?

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squired replied to brooksby | 4 years ago
1 like
brooksby wrote:
squired wrote:

I could be wrong, but there may be another side to the railing story.  On Monday they were removing railings around Bank junction in the square mile and at the time I saw one bike attached to a railing being left rested against a wall.  I'm wondering whether this is a case of another bike being left when they were doing a similar removal job and an opportunist thought they'd grab it.

Wouldn't the contractor bear corporate responsibility for the theft, in that case?  If they're not properly safeguarding someone else's property that they have removed?

 

Quite possibly.  The one I saw on Monday had been removed and was left resting against a wall where it wouldn't get in the way of the large number of pedestrians, while the workers were continuing to remove the remaining railings.  As a result I doubt they were paying attention to the bike because it seemed like quite hard work removing those railings.

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Tired of the tr... | 4 years ago
0 likes

Perhaps a radical pedestrian just hated guardrails and wanted to remove them, and the bike just happened to be in the way?

(I'm surprised you think the bike is "worth a few grands" - new value might be a few hundreds but second-hand on a dodgy website perhaps a two-digit number?)

 

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WeLoveHills replied to Tired of the trolls here and gone cycling instead | 4 years ago
0 likes
Stephan Matthiesen wrote:

(I'm surprised you think the bike is "worth a few grands" - new value might be a few hundreds but second-hand on a dodgy website perhaps a two-digit number?)

The key word is *would*

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peted76 | 4 years ago
0 likes

Apparently the Olympics is in Paris in 2024.. This tweet about the logo deserves a mention - https://twitter.com/MegClement/status/1186368272037494785 

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Natrix replied to peted76 | 4 years ago
1 like
peted76 wrote:

Apparently the Olympics is in Paris in 2024.. This tweet about the logo deserves a mention - https://twitter.com/MegClement/status/1186368272037494785 

 

Link doesn't work for me and what does it have to do with todays blog?????

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peted76 replied to Natrix | 4 years ago
3 likes
Natrix wrote:
peted76 wrote:

Apparently the Olympics is in Paris in 2024.. This tweet about the logo deserves a mention - https://twitter.com/MegClement/status/1186368272037494785 

Link doesn't work for me and what does it have to do with todays blog?????

Absolutely nothing.

Try this https://twitter.com/MegClement/status/1186368272037494785?s=20

 

Avatar
Jack Sexty replied to peted76 | 4 years ago
0 likes
peted76 wrote:

Natrix wrote:

peted76 wrote:

Apparently the Olympics is in Paris in 2024.. This tweet about the logo deserves a mention - https://twitter.com/MegClement/status/1186368272037494785 

Link doesn't work for me and what does it have to do with todays blog?????

Absolutely nothing.

Try this https://twitter.com/MegClement/status/1186368272037494785?s=20

 

The second tweet in the thread references a vintage bicycle so I consider it fair game to share on this here blog... cheers Pete!

Avatar
Kendalred replied to Jack Sexty | 4 years ago
5 likes
Jack Sexty wrote:
peted76 wrote:
Natrix wrote:
peted76 wrote:

Apparently the Olympics is in Paris in 2024.. This tweet about the logo deserves a mention - https://twitter.com/MegClement/status/1186368272037494785 

Link doesn't work for me and what does it have to do with todays blog?????

Absolutely nothing.

Try this https://twitter.com/MegClement/status/1186368272037494785?s=20

 

The second tweet in the thread references a vintage bicycle so I consider it fair game to share on this here blog... cheers Pete!

Best. Twitter. Thread. Ever.

Avatar
brooksby | 4 years ago
0 likes

I've wondered about that before - if the railings you've locked to are thinner than the KryptonAbus Seriously-Just-Don't-Bother three tonne lock you're using, wouldn't a thief consider just cutting through the railings?

Avatar
StuInNorway replied to brooksby | 4 years ago
0 likes
brooksby wrote:

I've wondered about that before - if the railings you've locked to are thinner than the KryptonAbus Seriously-Just-Don't-Bother three tonne lock you're using, wouldn't a thief consider just cutting through the railings?

In this case it seems all they needed was a basic spanner to unbolt the section of fencing,

 

Avatar
Tired of the tr... replied to brooksby | 4 years ago
1 like
brooksby wrote:

I've wondered about that before - if the railings you've locked to are thinner than the KryptonAbus Seriously-Just-Don't-Bother three tonne lock you're using, wouldn't a thief consider just cutting through the railings?

...and the railing is just iron, not hardened steel. Unfortunately it's often the only option for locking a bike, so you don't really have a choice. I try to lock around the thickest bar and around several bars if possible, so that they would have to make several cuts, ideally in places that are hard to reach. The pic looks like the lock goes around two bars (a thick and a thin one).

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