SAGE professor calls for road closures over Christmas to encourage exercise; Darude's Sandstorm ft. Tacx Neo; Assos step in to save NTT Pro Cycling; Cyclist attacked with metal pole; Former coach defends Chris Froome + more on the live blog

Professor Scally's call to close roads over Christmas. Yes please. Things have got ridiculous recently. Poor driving nearly every ride

I agree, but we should make it clear that the very sensible Prof. obviously means that some roads and localities should be closed to all motorised vehicles (including e-bikes and other dodgy devices) for some period over the festive season. It won't happen because much of Lying Fat B******'s remaining support comes from the crazed, staring-eyed rage-afflicted Mail and Express readers

PS For information: no bad driving directed at me during 95 minutes riding in the Lancashire sun this afternoon. I passed through the Beacon Fell Country Park, which appeared to have changed its name to Stenners Bluff Country Park on the usual sign by the invariably closed visitor centre. This name change proved to be temporary when I saw the big TV van in the car park taken over for a couple of days by the TV people. This is such a stupid name, which could never be genuine in the UK, that I'm suspicious they were filming Midsomer Murders- although they don't have any country like Beacon Fell down there.

'including eBikes and other dodgy devices' 

Hold your horses there old chap. Yesterday I serviced an eBike for a disabled lady, fixed the light connection on an eCargobike used by a lady to carry her kids to school and loaned an eBike to an NHS nurse. Nothing 'dodgy' about them and they certainly shouldn't be banned from using closed roads. 

Wait a minute. My wife an I are hoping to drive to N Wales to spend Christmas with our son.

Why?  Did you negotiate a Christmas truce with the virus??

You'd need a truce with Wales in order to cross the border!

Bungle_52 wrote:

Profesor Scally's call to close roads over Christmas. Yes please. Things have got ridiculous recently. Poor driving nearly every ride.

Personally i encounter more road rage in the evenings and when there's heavy traffic. Some drivers don't like seeing cyclists moving, while they're stuck in traffic, here in the West Midlands. No footage for police last week, but 4 dangerous passes already this week!

NZ Vegan Rider wrote:

That Pink Pinarello looks terrible ;-(

I'm glad I didn't win the Giro. I wouldnt' want to ride / own it.

Not in touch with your feminine side? Frightened of something in your own psyche?

While that is not my favourite shade but by god if I'd won a big bike race, especially a 3-week grand tour, I'd want to be seen aboard a pink top spec bicycle.

I remember hearing on a Giro related podcast - I think it was Herbie Sykes - saying that it is only a relatively recent thing that pink became associated with girls and blue with boys.

Not sure if it's the photo but there seems to be some discrepancy in size between the Arsenal jersey and the maglia rosa.

"I had to swerve several times before I hit him".

I did see one at the lights 6 or so months back. Not sure I would have picked him up if I hadn't been so close. It turned out he did have a light about 5 cm above road height. Best not to hit them as getting any money off them for damage or injuries to you would be a long drawn out process.

They're all over the place here in south London. I was mildly startled by one (unlit, unhelmeted) passing me with ease as I was doing 25mph through Kennington at dusk. I was fucking furious with another hurtling down a blind underpass in my local park at dusk who only missed my 4-y-o daughter on her brightly-lit scooter because she took evasive action. 
At risk of sounding like the usual anti-cycling mobs, they seem to be used exclusively by complete arseholes and I'd happily see them confiscated and "riders" prosecuted. 

Ogmios in his first School of Zen Motoring video had this little ballard for his scooter boys. 

Can you make out that murky figure ahead?
That dark silloeutte gliding across the tarmac.
They call him the shadow, a steath master of the night.
Watch as he effortlessly overtakes cyclists.
And surprises agressive 4x4's with his sudden presence.
Black Scooter, black clothes, black bag, black helmet.
The shadow, coming to a morgue near you soon.

If people can turning eating a sh*tload of food on YouTube into a viable career I hope Ogmios can do the same with his thing. It's quite unlike anything else I've seen.

I still watch them just to feel calm. Hope a fresh one is in the works soon.

Agree - we need more episodes. 

I don't think any of that makes e-scooters inherently dangerous - would it be any worse if he was doing exactly the same thing on a bike?

I'm not sure how I feel about retailers selling them. On the one hand, it seems obvious that the vast majority of e-scooters will be illegally used on public roads/pavements. On the other hand, should we not encourage individual respnsibility to obey the law, rather than targetting the retailers?

I had to replace a light on my car recently, and it was remarkable how many bulbs for sale stated "for offroad use only" in the small print. I wonder how many people ignore such warnings...

OnYerBike wrote:

On the other hand, should we not encourage individual responsibility to obey the law, rather than targetting the retailers?

My dealer says absolutely, yes.

Why would the bulb be off road use only ?

The issue with personal responsibility is are the people making the decisions to do what they are doing so in an informed manner,with kids who seem to be the biggest user escooters, my feelings are they arent.

Because they don't conform to the legal standards for a car being driven on the public highway.

Some of them it's obvious why (e.g. wrong colour for the intended placement) others I'll admit I don't know why (maybe regulations haven't caught up with LED technology?) But the point is it is very easy to buy and fit accessories that are not legal for use on public roads.

I get the legal standards part, Im more confused as to why anyone would be making them I think in such quantity theyd ever be bought to be fitted to cars on a public road that the warning even needs to be printed. the offroad only market must by tiny Id have thought.

the only time Ive ever seen lights that werent fit for the road were sold by Hella,were for driving very fast around muddy forests in Wales/Cumbria and you needed to buy them from specialist motorsport parts manufacturers, they werent things you got just popping into your local Halfords.

People are slightly taller on a bike, wider on a bike, they move about more, their legs move about and there is a chance of reflectors, so overall a bigger chance of being seen.

Shame BTBM isn't here to tell us we should see a gnat at 500 paces by the light of a candle.

Fair enough. Although I still think that any argument that e-scooters are more dangerous than bicycles because it's slightly harder to see an unlit rider, dressed in black, at night, is missing the point...

I'd not be seen dead on one. At least being a lycra boy is sort of in at the moment.

The trouble is you can't have pavements full of these things and at the same time I really don't think they are suited to roads. You know everyone claims they are having a hard time on 700cc wheels.....imagine those tiny things and having to ride near the curb.

I would give them a miss and wait for jet-pacs. We can't be far off.

Seems a shame if they can't be accommodated though. There are people who are not going to swing a leg over an e-bike who might use a scooter. Our paths and roads have managed to cope (to a degree) with pedestrians then horses, carts, carriages, bicycles, motorcycles, and latterly cars. So it seems a bit off not to try to to find a way to allow safe use of another mode.

Is it strange that there's no threat in Warwickshire Police's statement? Other non road worthy motor vehicles would surely be seized if fouind operating on the roads.