Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

news

Edinburgh cycle lane not gritted for 3 days after snowfall; 2.4m trips on CS3 in 2020; Congestion up after cycle lane ripped out; Matt Stephens quizzes Ineos signings; New name, kit, bike as Mitchelton-Scott becomes Team Bike Exchange + more on live blog

Happy New Year and welcome to our first live blog of 2021 with Simon MacMichael
01 January 2021, 18:25
Cyclists made 2.4m trips on Embankment cycleway last year

Cyclists ,made 2.4 million trips on London's Cycleway 3 in 2020 according to the cycle counter close to Embankment Underground station - while across the river, the Blackfriars Road cycle counter recorded 1.1 million bike rides on Cycleway 6. 

Click through the tweet for a thread analysing of how riding patterns changed throughout the year.

01 January 2021, 15:53
Matt Stephens quizzes Ineos Grenadiers new signings

Three of Ineos Grenadiers new signings - Adam Yates, Laurens Ten Post and Ritchie Porte - have been quizzed by former British champion turned TV pundit and presenter Matt Stephens, and the questions are as quirky as you'd expect ... 

 

01 January 2021, 15:43
Edinburgh cyclist asks why bike lane wasn’t gritted after snowfall

A cyclist in Edinburgh has asked the city council why a bike lane on a main road in the Scottish capital was not gritted for three days after a recent snowfall, forcing many to take to the main carriageway instead.

The cycle lane on Comiston Road, which runs from Comiston to Morningside in the south of the city, was put in place last year as part of the council’s Spaces for People programme to encourage active travel during the coronavirus pandemic.

Edinburgh News reports that one local resident, Paul Bailey, wrote to the council’s transport convener Lesley Macinnes to point out that while the main road had been gritted, the cycle lane had not.

“I notice to the council’s credit that some gritting has been done on some pavements on Comiston Road,” he said. “However I also notice that none of the cycle lanes on Comiston Road have been cleared at all. May I ask why the cycle lanes on such a major road are being left untreated - even after three days?

“On Wednesday, to my surprise, I met a cyclist attempting to negotiate the icy surface of the cycle lane. A few seconds later the cyclist left the dangerous cycle lane and moved out into the main carriageway.

“This of course leads to another problem; the overtaking car needs to straddle the central white line to give the cyclist room; further up the road where parking is allowed, the main carriageway is even narrower - 3.25 metres.

“Spaces for People was meant to help cyclists and pedestrians. Clearly the Orcas  are creating a serious problem which needs to be addressed promptly. Waiting until the next review on January 28 is unacceptable when you know about the danger now.”

A spokeswoman for Edinburgh City Council commented: “Our gritting teams work 24/7 to respond to poor conditions on the city’s roads, cycle paths and pavements.

“We operate a priority gritting system, treating priority one routes first, which include principal roads, bus routes and roads and pavements leading to hospitals, fire stations care homes, in order to keep the city moving.”

It's the second time in a month that the council has faced criticism for not gritting the same cycle lane, with one Twitter user saying after a snowfall in early December, "Looks like we may have to clear these ourselves."

01 January 2021, 12:25
New team name, new kit for Mitchelton-Scott - now Team Bike Exchange

It's the first of January, and among other things, that means that riders announced as switching teams in recent months will now be able to go out in the kit of their new team - and of course, in some cases that will mean not only a completely different kit to the one the team wore last year, but also a change of name.

Among the teams to have changed name due to a change in sponsor is Team Bike Exchange - formerly Mitchelton-Scott - and besides a new kit, modelled in this video by Simon Yates and Teniel Campbell, there's also a new bike sponsor, Bianchi.

Meanwhile, Mark Cavendish is back at Deceuninck-Quick Step, who have given their kit a bit of an overhaul - here's the former road world champion sporting it, together with rainbow bands on the collar and cuffs.

01 January 2021, 11:20
Kensington High Street protest (copyright Simon MacMichael)
Congestion rises after cycle lane ripped out

A study of traffic on Kensington High Street has found that congestion worsened after the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea ripped up a temporary cycle lane there last month.

Campaign group Bike Is Best also said that its research shows that the space formerly taken up by the cycle lane is now blocked by illegally parked vehicles up to 80 per cent of the time, reports the Guardian.

More on this story on road.cc later.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

Add new comment

18 comments

Avatar
BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP | 3 years ago
4 likes

Aghhh. Already the new year is contaminated by Twatcyclist and its pathetic posts. Ignore it. It is taking over the whole forum. 

Avatar
caw35ride | 3 years ago
6 likes

I was delighted to see the Kensington cycle lane story on the front page (so to speak) of the Guardian online. Fantastic placement!

Oh, and did nobody read the memo about feeding the troll? TL:DR please don't.
 

Avatar
Sriracha | 3 years ago
9 likes

"We operate a priority gritting system, treating priority one routes first..."
It's almost as if the cycle lane running the same priority one route is not counted as the same priority.

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
5 likes

It's clear that the priority list is buses, cars, pedestrians.

That's right, cyclists aren't even on the list.

Avatar
StuInNorway replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
5 likes

Here in Southern Norway, we're coastal and probably see similar days of snow to Edinburgh, local council has main cycle routes as Pri 1, along with bus routes. Clearly still falling snow can be an issue, but they aim for snow and ice free for 6am on weekdays.
First 2km from home can be a little dicey at times, then I'm on a cycle route and it's bare asphalt to work the remaining 10km

Avatar
kil0ran | 3 years ago
0 likes

DQS kit - can't work out whether it's Gru's Minions or Oompa Loompas it's reminding me of. One of those that will look better on the bike than off it.

Bike Exchange one is awful but I was never really a fan of the old kit either

Avatar
Simon E replied to kil0ran | 3 years ago
0 likes

kil0ran wrote:

DQS kit - can't work out whether it's Gru's Minions or Oompa Loompas it's reminding me of. One of those that will look better on the bike than off it.

Can't say it appeals to me but then I find most team kits pretty meh.

I really hope that Mark will get to put his hands in the air and crossing the line of a race in first place once more.

Avatar
zero_trooper | 3 years ago
14 likes

I saw the article in the grauniad…

Live no where near London and I was raging.

Surely must be rules, scientific data and what-the-fuk-ever to stop this infrastructure vandalism!

Avatar
cdamian replied to zero_trooper | 3 years ago
15 likes

Yes, because politicians are known to listen to scientists and data.
And not listening to scientists has never led up anything bad or 2020.

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to cdamian | 3 years ago
5 likes

cdamian wrote:

Yes, because politicians are known to listen to scientists and data. And not listening to scientists has never led up anything bad or 2020.

"Fact based decision making."  Ho, ho, ho.

Avatar
eburtthebike | 3 years ago
15 likes

I'm sure Nigel Havers and the other vociferous critics of the cycle lane will waste no time in admitting their mistake, and I look forward to multiple articles in the media highlighting this phenomenon and educating the masses.

Has anyone contacted Mr Havers for his views on actual facts rather than his misinformed perceptions?

Avatar
Sriracha replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
6 likes
Quote:

will waste no time in admitting their mistake

I do love the ambiguity in that construction.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/tag/moses-hadas/#return-note-5095-4

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
5 likes

Sriracha wrote:
Quote:

will waste no time in admitting their mistake

I do love the ambiguity in that construction. https://quoteinvestigator.com/tag/moses-hadas/#return-note-5095-4

Delightful, thank you.  I'm just glad someone spotted it.

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
22 likes

That's a damning study of Kensington High Street - they've spent loads of money, annoyed both cyclists and motorists and ended up with even more congestion and still no active travel infrastructure. What's worse is that they based their decision on a vocal minority rather than using data - we need to get rid of these dinosaurs and their out-of-date thinking.

Avatar
Stratman replied to hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
6 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

That's a damning study of Kensington High Street - they've spent loads of money, annoyed both cyclists and motorists and ended up with even more congestion and still no active travel infrastructure. What's worse is that they based their decision on a vocal minority rather than using data - we need to get rid of these dinosaurs and their out-of-date thinking.

"thinking" might be a little generous.

Avatar
Philh68 replied to hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
7 likes

You mean the weathervane councillors who change direction according to whatever blowhards puff hardest? Good luck with that, half the time they're narcissists just looking to inflate their own popularity. For some reason unbeknown to me, their ilk seem to manage being re-elected. I suspect it's because they've only got to swing a small number of voters, and it's easiest to do with those most frightened by change?

Avatar
ktache replied to hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
2 likes

I'm liking the post crimbo avatar.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to ktache | 3 years ago
2 likes

ktache wrote:

I'm liking the post crimbo avatar.

Yarrr!

Latest Comments