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British Cycling mercilessly slammed for eight-year Shell deal; "Cyclists should be banned on environmental grounds"... car obsessive's mad mental arithmetic; Jeremy Vine's near miss compilation; New Forest NIMBYs + more on the live blog

Happy Monday! With our regular news team taking a well-earned rest Jack Sexty is blogging you through the start of the week
10 October 2022, 15:40
Have a lovely evening folks

It was all so quiet until about an hour ago, minding our own business blogging about naughty cyclists going a bit off course in the New Forest. This is probably not the last on this, so until tomorrow folks... 

10 October 2022, 15:27
Breaking: 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships to be shown in full on BBC
2022 Zoe Backstedt UCI Road World Championships © SWpix.com (t-a Photography Hub Ltd) - 1 (1).jpeg

We'll break off from British Cycling's whoopsie to tell you that the 2023 Worlds in Glasgow – that for the first time will bring together all cycling disciplines in one mega-event – will be shown in full on the BBC after it secured full broadcasting rights. That'll be all 13 events including road, mountain bike, BMX and velodrome action, all live on the telly between 3-13 August next year. 

The BBC's Director of Sport, Barbara Slater, said: “We are delighted to have such comprehensive coverage of a sport that continues to grow in popularity. Glasgow and the whole of Scotland are going to be a hub for cycling fans next August and we are proud to be the broadcast partner of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championship and to showcase the event across the BBC.”

10 October 2022, 14:54
British Cycling and Shell partnership: how about Facebook?
British cycling Shell facebook comments screenshot

Nope still pretty scathing, although there are some less scathing comments to be found in the 300 or so left under British Cycling's post at the time of writing. 

One said: "Shell are big into alternative energy sources as well as fossil fuel, seems to be alot of fossils on this page"

Another added: "So all these people moaning about the new sponsorship do not use fossil fuels (or materials made using fossil fuels) as part of their everyday life (and all bike components). They must ride locally sourced wooden bike frames, willow wheels with twine as brake cables... Shell (whilst not perfect) like other fossil fuel companies are investing heavily in renewables and alternatives."

Of course this isn't the first time Shell have partnered with a cycling brand or organisation; for a time their logo was on the sleeves of that very famous Peugeot Michelin jersey worn by the likes of Stephen Roche, voted our second-favourite of all time, with BP and Esso also sponsoring the team before Shell did in the eighties. 

As promised already, our own Simon MacMichael will be publishing a full story soon with a little more context and possible explanation for British Cycling's decision... 

10 October 2022, 14:24
Just in: British Cycling signs eight-year deal with Shell (yep that Shell, and it's going, erm, great so far)

The good thing about British Cycling's announcement is that does appear to have united its members... but it's looking like it might not be massively good for British Cycling. In fact, initial impressions are that it's going down absolutely, massively bad... 

We've had a look for positive comments and couldn't find any, so we'll leave it to David Bunch, Shell UK Country Chair, who said this in the presser BC bashed out an hour ago: 
 
“We’re very proud to become an Official Partner to British Cycling. The partnership reflects the shared ambitions of Shell UK and British Cycling to get to net zero in the UK as well as encouraging low and zero-carbon forms of transport such as cycling and electric vehicles.
 
“Working together we can deliver real change for people right across the country, from different walks of life, and also apply Shell’s world-leading lubricant technology to support the Great Britain Cycling Team in their quest for gold at the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.” 

And we'll leave the rest to you. Full story and probably a fair bit more reaction coming soon! 

10 October 2022, 14:06
Paracycling world TT champion and triathlete George Peasgood suffers sever injuries during bike ride

The 27-year-old – who is a multiple paracycling and paratriathlon world champion – suffered serious injuries in a "freak accident" during a ride with his partner Frankie Hall, and is currently undergoing treatment. 

Hall said in an Instagram post: "As many people already know, last Saturday on our ride, George suffered a freak accident on the bike [no other parties involved]. He has suffered severe injuries specifically a diffuse axonal injury, and is currently undergoing treatment in a neuro critical care unit.

"Since the accident and for the foreseeable future, I shall be based around the hospital and the rest of George’s family to help with the long recovery journey.

"We do not have any further information at this stage, we will know more once he regains consciousness, but we appreciate your respect and privacy at this time." 

Everyone at road.cc wishes George a speedy recovery. 

10 October 2022, 13:08
Use your noggin and light up your life with our latest competition! Well it will light up your life if you win anyway and you might not but ah well worth a shot...
10 October 2022, 10:29
New Forest unmarked cycle route row continues as Forestry England promises a review into "wayward cyclists"
komoot new forest 4

The popular New Forest national park has once again found itself in the middle of a squabble, as Friends of the New Forest claims its survey found 700 incidents of cyclists not sticking to designated routes in the beauty spot. 

This comes after the New Forest Association said that it had recorded 550 incidents of cyclists riding off designated tracks back in January of this year, blaming them for causing damage to wildlife in the New Forest. 

But are these cyclists doing anything wrong? David Orme, the chairman of Christchurch Cycling Club, told the Advertiser and Times that there was no evidence cyclists were disturbing animals or eroding the flora and fauna in the area, adding: "Whilst the current waymarked cycle tracks in the Forest could do with better signage, there are more important aspects to consider. Firstly, the existing ‘permitted’ cycle ‘network’ is wholly inadequate: it is not joined up, it doesn’t work as a network connecting centres of habitation, there are few safe crossing points of major roads (none for the A35) and it’s not logical as to which tracks are allowed or why.

“There are many miles of gravel tracks, used by motorised vehicles (FE and land owners) and also ancient rights of way which are not ‘permitted’. These points are acknowledged by the NPA and Forestry England.”

A Forestry England spokesperson commented: “We value local stakeholders’ opinions on this and are looking at how we can add to this and the best way to provide additional information and effective signage of our waymarked network of tracks.

“There are over 100 miles of waymarked cycle routes in the New Forest. Information about these is shared directly on our website, and in a cycle map available at key information points and cycle hire destinations right across the area.”

10 October 2022, 09:10
The rim brake's not dead... it's good enough for the new Ironman World Champion

Another race with some cycling in it going on this past week has been the Ironman World Championships, and the men's winner Gustav Iden did the 112 mile bike leg on a Giant Trinity with... rim brakes!

Although triathlon was among the slowest cyclesports to adopt disc brakes, the rim brake is an increasingly rare sight at the top of the pro ranks as most of the latest top-of-the-range triathlon superbikes have all been revamped with discs. Iden hinted that he would be sticking with the humble rim brake for the big race in Hawaii back in July... 

Still, the fastest split of the day and new bike course record went to Sam Laidlow (on a disc brake-equipped Trek Speed Concept), who posted a blazing fast 4:04:36 for the 112 miles (180km), finishing second overall after the marathon run. In the women's race on Thursday, world championship debutant Chelsea Sodaro was the surprise winner with Briton Lucy Charles-Barclay finishing second, with Anne Haug in third. 

10 October 2022, 08:58
One ride, three appalling near misses for Jeremy Vine

The production values on Vine's videos of his bike rides in London continue to get better, and the quality of the driving he encounters appears to be getting worse. 

Many people commenting under the footage urge Vine to report the incidents, particularly the third "lunging" driver. Have you ever had a commute this bad? 

10 October 2022, 08:41
Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt wins Roc d'Azur mountain bike race... the day after winning the gravel world champs, after a six-hour drive through the night
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Roc d'Azur (@rocdazur)

Of all the cycling achievements that happened over the weekend, this one might be the most impressive of the lot. As mentioned in our article yesterday, Ferrand-Prévôt travelled through the night to arrive on the start line for Roc d'Azur, winning it just hours after bagging her fourth world title of the season at the inaugural Gravel World Championships. She'll be running out of space on her jersey to add any more rainbow stripes... 

10 October 2022, 08:31
Cycling in the UK

ITV's foremost cycling commentator is also a big active travel advocate (check out the Streets Ahead podcast with Ned, Laura Laker and Adam Tranter) and happened across this gem of a 10 metre-long cycle lane in the South West. And in a classic case of active travel juxtaposition, it's very close to the excellent Drake's Trail in West Devon. 

10 October 2022, 08:18
The "Stupid shit people say on Facebook about cycling" account might have just peaked

Unfortunately this person did not show their working, so we're just left with this incredible take on how motor vehicles pollute. There are various theories on how this wise statsmaster worked it out, we reckon this is probably the best guess so far... 

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.  

Add new comment

68 comments

Avatar
BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP | 1 year ago
1 like

Jeremy Vine's video was quite typical. None of the offences were hugely dangerous and all were common. The third one - 'the lunger' is really annoying.  
the production values are impressive. 

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
6 likes

Perhaps the good residents of the New Forest might like to come to the Forest of Dean, also owned by Forestry England, where us cyclists ride anywhere and everywhere, with almost no conflict with the wildlife or walkers, and no discernable damage to the ground.

There was a study quite a few years ago, don't ask me to name it, which showed that boots did more damage to paths than bike wheels, but I'm pretty sure the New Forest verderers and other bike-haters don't want to know that.

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OldRidgeback | 1 year ago
5 likes

Even the Guardian is laying into BC

‘Absurd’: British Cycling faces backlash after announcing partnership with Shell | British Cycling | The Guardian

 

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mitsky | 1 year ago
5 likes

I've had a number of my own incidents of rollers and lungers.
www.youtube.com/themitsky/videos

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IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
3 likes

Some time back I mentioned I would contact RNIB about the issue of orcas and whether they had a view.

 

This is there (reasonable IMO) response:

Our understanding is that orcas wouldn't be present in the middle of crossings with tactile paving and so on, and as blind and partially sighted people expect/are trained to use proper crossings, we currently don't have a position on this. However we understand that they may present a challenge for a person with sight loss should they be encountered for whatever reason.

Of course, if you have examples of poorly sited wands or orcas around pedestrian crossings, it would be interesting to see (I have zero faith in the competence of Highways when they are charged with snaffling a grant to balance the budget aka installing cycling infrastructure).

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alexuk | 1 year ago
0 likes

Looking forward to BBC coverage ...NOT. Why can't we have a national sports tv channel, that just cares about sports, and not political messaging - I can gaurantee the BBC will use it as a platform for political and virtue-posturing. Just praying that the hosts will actally know what they're talking about and actually care, rather than just appointing a group of every colour, sex, gender and creed of the world to appease their woke overloards. 

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Dogless replied to alexuk | 1 year ago
3 likes

'political messaging' or 'assembling people who represent the actual makeup of the country'.

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ktache replied to alexuk | 1 year ago
3 likes

How's GB news cycle coverage?

Or 4Chan?

I for one am very pleased that the BBC will be showing the festival of bicycle that the world champs will be.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to ktache | 1 year ago
4 likes

Well GB news certainly wouldn't politicise their sports reporting....Excuse me, they did what during the World cup? Sacked one of their reporters? But they are all about free speech on their channels aren't they?

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sp3ccylad | 1 year ago
7 likes

Nice of you to feature my Facebook comment on the site. I'm SERIOUSLY considering leaving British Cycling over this, although a bit of me is uncomfortable about withdrawing support for a sport I adore. 
 

I just wish they'd reconsider.

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Dogless replied to sp3ccylad | 1 year ago
12 likes

Cycling UK are a worthwhile alternative and arguably do more for regular cyclists. Paying money to BC is a bit like giving money to the football association because you like a kick around in the park.

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Secret_squirrel replied to Dogless | 1 year ago
8 likes

Dogless wrote:

Cycling UK are a worthwhile alternative and arguably do more for regular cyclists. Paying money to BC is a bit like giving money to the football association because you like a kick around in the park.

THIS. I bailed out to CUK a couple of years ago thankfully. Unless you are involved in racing BC are pretty irrelevant and that was prior to this announcement.   Whilst I don't think partnering with Shell is the end of the world it shows how tone deaf they are as an organisation, as others certainly would think that. 

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Awavey replied to Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
0 likes

my issue with CUK is they make alot of noise about certain issues which "trend" but theres alot of regular cycling stuff across the UK they just dont get involved in.

Im not saying BC do any better, but at least you know they arent really interested to begin with.

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chrisonabike replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
3 likes

Awavey wrote:

my issue with CUK is they make alot of noise about certain issues which "trend" but theres alot of regular cycling stuff across the UK they just dont get involved in.

Im not saying BC do any better, but at least you know they arent really interested to begin with.

Really?  What regular stuff are they missing?  Aside from not being sport-focussed?  They're keen on the bikepacking / cycle touring obviously, having started from there.

I signed up just for the insurance but according to the mag you get / their website they seem to be involved with plenty of regular cycling stuff.  Local groups, rides, encouraging people to start, advice, legal support and insurance, supporting women, linking in with Wheels for Wellbeing, various local and national campaigns...

They're not Sustrans, or the (sadly dormant) Cycling Embassy of Great Britain or Critical Mass but then those are more narrowly-focussed groups.

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Awavey replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
0 likes

Its things like a council in southern England removes protected cycling infra, Cycling UK immediately announce theyll take that council to court to fight the decision in a blaze of publicity.

Council in Suffolk removes protected cycling infra for equally specious reasons, I bet you didnt know you dont need cyclists to be protected on straight bits of road apparently...Cycling UKs response...well nothing they didnt even express any public disappointment about it.

Council in North of England closes road to all road users for safety reasons, Cycling UK in a blaze of publicity announces it will fight the councils decision through the courts as cyclists have rights to use this road even when its closed.

Council in Suffolk shuts a key walking & cycling link bridge between Southwold & Walberswick for 3months for safety reasons during last summer, that necessitated a 9 mile diversion along the A12 (a lethal road for cycling) and the A1095 (which ain't much better). Cycling UKs response...well again nothing, not a murmur or even call for better cycling routes in the region.

Spotting the pattern ?

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chrisonabike replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
1 like

Thanks for the info.  Sounds like their Suffolk members need a boost / to shout a bit louder.  Maybe someone here could...?

They haven't publically said a lot about issues in Edinburgh / Midlothian that I recall.  Fortunately the local group here (Spokes) is pretty good.  They did pick up on the default 20mph Scottish speed limit bill however.

I'm not waving a massive flag for them - I'm not actively involved with the various things they do.  Sorry Suffolk is missing out.  I don't know how they select particular issues.  As a national organisation I don't think I'd expect them to go to the media with every local issue.  Especially as there are normally local cycling groups dealing with the grubby reality of making relationships with local politicos and lobbying (for) cyclists.  I would hope that they could provide support (probably via local groups) and / or maybe collect these as evidence / experience for use in future campaigning.

For a national organisation they seem to have a reasonable balance of picking up on some local issues which fit their broader campaigns.  (On issues which I'm mostly in alignment with.)

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ChasP replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
2 likes

I cancelled my BC membership last year to join CUK (I still think of them as the CTC) because of their campaigning. From their website

The Cyclists’ Defence Fund helps fight significant legal cases involving cyclists and cycling, especially those which could set important precedents for the future and could affect the safety of all cyclists.

They're a charity and can't afford to fight every battle so it seems reasonable to me that they will choose ones which raise the most publicity?

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brooksby | 1 year ago
2 likes

REPAIRS TO CHOCOLATE PATH TO BE FINISHED ‘IN EARLY 2023’

https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/repairs-to-chocolate-p...

Quote:

Work on Bristol’s much-loved Chocolate Path is set to be completed five years after it was shut due to serious subsidence.

The waterside route, known locally as the Chocolate Path because of its resemblance to chocolate bars, has been closed since December 2017 with part of it collapsing into the New Cut in early 2020.

The Chocolate Path has been out of bounds since, branded unsafe for cyclists and pedestrians with repairs costing £11m.

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chrisonabike replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
9 likes

Five years to fix the chocolate path?  Whispa it, but that's a long Time Out. Hopefully caused no-one to take a break - or even breakaway - from cycling.

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Rendel Harris replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
8 likes

chrisonatrike wrote:

Five years to fix the chocolate path?  Whispa it, but that's a long Time Out. Hopefully caused no-one to take a break - or even breakaway - from cycling.

Sounds like it's been a Marathon effort (no Snickers please).

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brooksby replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
3 likes

Let me guess - you'll be here all week?  3

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chrisonabike replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
6 likes

Only 'till Fry'sday.

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hawkinspeter replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
5 likes

chrisonatrike wrote:

Only 'till Fry'sday.

You should get double points for that as Fry's was originally a Bristol company so you're bang on Topic

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Sriracha replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
6 likes

Maybe they should rename the Chocolate Path as the Rocky Road.

You can bet that the folks with Wagon Wheels don't have to wait this long for repairs.

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mark1a replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
3 likes

Just trying to think of another chocolate bar pun, but I can't, so I'll have to Fudge something in. Oh well, Taxi!!

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hawkinspeter replied to mark1a | 1 year ago
4 likes

mark1a wrote:

Just trying to think of another chocolate bar pun, but I can't, so I'll have to Fudge something in. Oh well, Taxi!!

I've got a friend who keeps thinking that he's a Terry's Chocolate Orange. He's scared of getting sectioned.

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Jack Sexty replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
10 likes

Been saying they will fix this for years, I reckon they'll Flake... 

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eburtthebike replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
3 likes

I think Fry's Five Boys might be appropriate:

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David9694 | 1 year ago
10 likes

Ah, the regular new forest anti-cycling whinge-fest - how many this year, Bert? Put down 600, no make it 700.

Survey Methodology supplied by the ABD. 

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stonojnr | 1 year ago
6 likes

Well I look forward to how British Cycling's new partnership with Shell will go down, badly I suspect.

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