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Riding a bicycle-powered car to a McDonald's drive-thru; Father's Day at the skate park video goes viral; Reaction as Cav secures Tour spot; LTN vandalism; Radiohead Brompton fetches $24,000 at auction; Clean Air Zone + more on the live blog

Happy Monday! Dan Alexander is back to kick-off another week of live blog goodness
21 June 2021, 14:48
YouTubers build a bicycle-powered car...and pedal it through a McDonald's drive-thru

This is one of the crazier videos we've seen. Probably up there with the man who swapped his wheels for sawmill blades to try and ride across a frozen lake...

These guys actually got pretty far. Even through a McDonald's drive-thru...until the police showed up. Happy with what he saw, the cop simply let the group get on their way. "The cops don't even know what to f****** say. He was literally speechless," the 'driver' tells the camera as they make their not so fast getaway.

And they got a similar reaction of disbelief from all the motorists passing...

However, one 'Karen' had a pop, shouting possibly the most American insult ever heard..."you guys suck ass".

It's just as well Torrington, Connecticut is flat... 

21 June 2021, 14:38
How else would the Dutch national team get to training?

Some very on-brand transport from the Dutch football team ahead of their final group game against North Macedonia this evening... 

21 June 2021, 14:12
Reaction to Cav getting a last minute call up to the Tour de France

Well, well, welll...ignore the earlier post about eight British riders going to the Tour de France. We have our ninth. Deceuninck-Quick-Step says the decision was made after Sam Bennett's knee injury did not heal in time. 

"No words to describe how I feel," Cav wrote on social media. "I will do absolutely everything to honour the Wolfpack boys, the Deceuninck-Quick-Step jersey and the greatest race on the planet. Big boots to fill for Sam Bennett. Can everybody join me in sending him positive vibes please."

Neal Rogers described it as the "feel good story for Le Tour. And if he wins a stage early on, it will be one of the main storylines until Paris."

ITV presenter Daniel Friebe compared Cav's return to Tiger Woods' historic comeback to win the 2019 Masters...

I think our stage-by-stage preview will need some updating...now, which stage is he going to win?

21 June 2021, 13:32
Yorkshire firefighters ride 275 miles to each of the region's fire stations to raise money for Hull and East Yorkshire Mind charity
Humberside Fire and Rescue Service charity ride (via HFRS/Twitter)

Staff from Humberside Fire and Rescue Service completed a 275-mile charity ride on Saturday, riding between each of the region's fire stations. Firefighter Paul Wainwright told the Pocklington Post: "I’m so proud of everyone for getting around. It made the day really nice. When there is a group of guys waiting for you at a station at midnight, offering you Haribo, it’s a nice feeling because you know that they are with you in spirit."

The 13 riders have so far raised almost £5,000 for Hull and East Yorkshire Mind. "We got talking, and said it would be great to get a group to do this. Straight away we knew we wanted to do it for mental health," Paul continued. The challenge was a repeat of a 1996 event, when seven of the station's firefighters rode between 31 stations in 24 hours.

21 June 2021, 13:20
Smile! You're on camera
21 June 2021, 13:12
Andy Burnham shows off new Beryl bike hire scheme and announces Clean Air Zone

Add Andy Burnham to the 'politicians on bikes' list. Manchester's Mayor also today confirmed Greater Manchester's Clean Air Zone (CAZ) will be going ahead, subject to approval from council leaders on Friday, and will come into effect from 30 May 2022. Local reporter Niall Griffiths reports the CAZ will initally only apply to buses and heavy goods vehicles for the first 12 months. The scheme will work in a similar way to the London Congestion Charge and new Clean Air Zone in Birmingham, with motorists being charged for entering parts of the city.

21 June 2021, 11:32
Father's Day at the skate park video goes viral

@caseystratford

##HAIRFOODHYPE ##O2HereComesBrighter ##trend ##fy ##share ##likenastya

♬ original sound - Casey Stratford

Who's enjoying it more? This video shared on TikTok by Casey Stratford has racked up more than 1.4 million views since it was uploaded yesterday. How better to spend Father's Day than shredding the skate park? We get the feeling this dad was more than happy to oblige his little one and go for a few laps...

I'm reliably informed by editor Jack that this is the skate park at St George's Park in Bristol, if anyone wanted to know where's the best spot to hit up the half-pipe after work...

The cycling community is loving the video, Hannah reacted: "Oh nothing just ripping it at the skate park on a commuter bike carrying two full shopping bags and a child having the time of their life."

Simon Johnson added: "He’s clearly got ‘Killing in the Name’ playing in his head."

21 June 2021, 11:01
Russia's rugby sevens squad celebrates Olympic qualification...with this team cycling effort

We're all for cycling-themed celebrations...and the Russians have a cracker! Why? We're not sure. Maybe they cycle to training? Or got into Olympic qualifying shape with punishing spin classes? If they are taking requests I'd like to see the bonkers Buckaroo bikepacking set-up from last week recreated in human pyramid form.

21 June 2021, 10:17
Tour de France squad announcements: Simon Yates goes stage hunting as eight Brits make the startlist...but have Cav's chances faded away?

Here are the eight Brits on the startlist for this weekend's Grand Depart in Brittany. They've got 31 Tours between them, five yellow jerseys and 13 Tour stage wins...I wonder if there will be a sixth to celebrate in a month's time?

On Friday's live blog we brought you the Ineos team news, including Tao Geoghegan Hart's inclusion and Dave Brailsford's intriguing "expect the unexpected" battle cry.

Simon Yates is taking on his fifth Tour off the back of a Giro podium and will be hunting stages as he did in 2019 when he won two in four days.

One way to boost those stats at the top would be for Cav to get the last minute nod from Patrick Lefevere. The rejuvenated sprinter has 30 stages in 12 Tour starts, however the noises out of Belgium suggest Sam Bennett will be fit in time, meaning Cav's services may not be required.

Get your diary ready and those days booked off work by checking out our stage-by-stage preview of the big one...

21 June 2021, 09:32
Tulse Hill and Streatham LTN signs vandalised with white paint

 Lambeth Cycling shared this picture and reported widespread vandalism in Tulse Hill and Streatham.

This type of vandalism is nothing new. In November, an LTN filter in Hackney was painted within 24 hours of it being installed. Outside of the capital we have seen similar behaviour with planters in Levenshulme, Manchester, rammed off the road back in January. At the time, Greater Manchester's Walking and Cycling Commissioner Chris Boardman insisted LTN vandals "would not intimidate us".

Over the weekend, singer Elaine Paige shared an advert for a protest about the schemes in Hackney and blamed cycle lanes for why she was sat in gridlocked traffic while trying to drive across London at 7pm on a Friday evening... 

21 June 2021, 07:55
How does it go round the bends? Radiohead-edition Brompton breaks records by auctioning for $24,000
Brompton auction.jpg

The full set of limited edition Bromptons, designed by some big names from the music world have gone up for auction—raising $142,000 for charity. The one-off iconic folders were designed by artists including Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Rise Against, Phoebe Bridgers and Enrique Iglesias.

It was the Radiohead offering that attracted the highest bid of $24,000, making it the most expensive Brompton ever sold. Hopefully it will go round the bends smoothly, although the lucky bidder may want to know how to disappear completely when their other half finds out how much it cost.

Designed by English artist Stanley Donwood, the talent behind all of the band's album artwork of the last 20 years, the multicolour design has subtle nods to their back catalogue. It is also kitted out with a Brooks C17 All Weather saddle on the Black Edition M6L with premium aluminium touchpoints.

The auction was raising money for Crew Nation, a global relief fund launched by Live Nation to support music crews affected by the pandemic and the near total pause on live events. More than 250 people registered to bid for the bikes from all corners of the world. From Singapore to Canada, via Malaysia, Italy, Mexico, Germany, South Korea, China, Indonesia, the UK and France.

Dan is the road.cc news editor and has spent the past four years writing stories and features, as well as (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. Having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for the Non-League Paper, Dan joined road.cc in 2020. Come the weekend you'll find him labouring up a hill, probably with a mouth full of jelly babies, or making a bonk-induced trip to a south of England petrol station... in search of more jelly babies.

Add new comment

17 comments

Avatar
brooksby | 2 years ago
0 likes

I'm sure there are easier ways of obtaining a McDonalds meal...

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
1 like

Father's Day at St George's Park Skate Park - that's my neck of the woods!

Avatar
IanMK | 2 years ago
8 likes

" blamed cycle lanes for why she was sat in gridlocked traffic while trying to drive across London at 7pm on a Friday evening... "

Last week it took me over 5hrs driving to do a 160mile round trip to see my parents. I'm not certain, but as this journey was largely on the M1 and M25 I don't think any cyclists were to blame cheeky

Avatar
brooksby replied to IanMK | 2 years ago
9 likes

I blame geography and the laws of physics! Down with this sort of thing!!

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
9 likes

Interesting design.

I did hear that Thom Yorke was planning on setting up a food delivery business during lockdown featuring lots of indian style dishes. It didn't last long as there were complaints about the hygiene and it got shut down by the Korma Police.

Avatar
the little onion replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
2 likes

did their food storage system buzz like a fridge?

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to the little onion | 2 years ago
1 like

I think he had trouble with the ice-maker - it just kept dropping cubes onto the floor and he'd lazily kick them underneath. Still, it's all just water under the fridge now

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
2 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

Interesting design.

..

Not very quick, just creeps along

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Captain Badger | 2 years ago
2 likes

Captain Badger wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

Interesting design.

..

Not very quick, just creeps along

I hope it's better than their branded GPS - keeps leading me through fake plastic trees and then declares "For a minute, I lost myself".

//i.imgur.com/nZIXnY7.jpg)

//i.imgur.com/pYk5e94.jpg)

Avatar
HoarseMann replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
4 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

I hope it's better than their branded GPS

You can tell when someone's using one of those, they're just stood screaming "What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here, I don't belong here."

 

Avatar
brooksby replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
2 likes

I don't know Radiohead well enough for any of these to make sense to me... 

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
6 likes

brooksby wrote:

I don't know Radiohead well enough for any of these to make sense to me... 

No surprises there....

Avatar
brooksby replied to Captain Badger | 2 years ago
0 likes

Captain Badger wrote:

brooksby wrote:

I don't know Radiohead well enough for any of these to make sense to me... 

No surprises there....

Can't decide how harshly you're judging me, there...

Avatar
Wardy74 replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
2 likes

Don't worry, no alarms.

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
1 like

brooksby wrote:

...

 

Can't decide how harshly you're judging me, there...

Sorry, didn't mean to leave you high and dry

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
3 likes

brooksby wrote:

I don't know Radiohead well enough for any of these to make sense to me... 

Best start listening to some, then. No matter how sad you're feeling, you'll never be as miserable as our Thom.

Edit: found a suitable quote

Thom Yorke wrote:

Street Spirit is our purest song, but I didn’t write it. It wrote itself. We were just its messengers; its biological catalysts. Its core is a complete mystery to me, and, you know, I wouldn’t ever try to write something that hopeless. All of our saddest songs have somewhere in them at least a glimmer of resolve. Street Spirit has no resolve. It is the dark tunnel without the light at the end. It represents all tragic emotion that is so hurtful that the sound of that melody is its only definition. We all have a way of dealing with that song. It’s called detachment. Especially me; I detach my emotional radar from that song, or I couldn’t play it. I’d crack. I’d break down on stage. That’s why its lyrics are just a bunch of mini-stories or visual images as opposed to a cohesive explanation of its meaning. I used images set to the music that I thought would convey the emotional entirety of the lyric and music working together. That’s what’s meant by ‘all these things you’ll one day swallow whole’. I meant the emotional entirety, because I didn’t have it in me to articulate the emotion. I’d crack… Our fans are braver than I to let that song penetrate them, or maybe they don’t realise what they’re listening to. They don’t realise that Street Spirit is about staring the fucking devil right in the eyes, and knowing, no matter what the hell you do, he’ll get the last laugh. And it’s real, and true. The devil really will get the last laugh in all cases without exception, and if I let myself think about that too long, I’d crack. I can’t believe we have fans that can deal emotionally with that song. That’s why I’m convinced that they don’t know what it’s about. It’s why we play it towards the end of our sets. It drains me, and it shakes me, and hurts like hell every time I play it, looking out at thousands of people cheering and smiling, oblivious to the tragedy of its meaning, like when you’re going to have your dog put down and it’s wagging its tail on the way there. That’s what they all look like, and it breaks my heart. I wish that song hadn’t picked us as its catalysts, and so I don’t claim it. It asks too much. I didn’t write that song.

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
3 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

......

Thom Yorke wrote:

Street Spirit is our purest song, but I didn’t write it. It wrote itself. We were just its messengers; its biological catalysts. Its core is a complete mystery to me, and, you know, I wouldn’t ever try to write something that hopeless. All of our saddest songs have somewhere in them at least a glimmer of resolve. Street Spirit has no resolve. It is the dark tunnel without the light at the end. It represents all tragic emotion that is so hurtful that the sound of that melody is its only definition. We all have a way of dealing with that song. It’s called detachment. Especially me; I detach my emotional radar from that song, or I couldn’t play it. I’d crack. I’d break down on stage. That’s why its lyrics are just a bunch of mini-stories or visual images as opposed to a cohesive explanation of its meaning. I used images set to the music that I thought would convey the emotional entirety of the lyric and music working together. That’s what’s meant by ‘all these things you’ll one day swallow whole’. I meant the emotional entirety, because I didn’t have it in me to articulate the emotion. I’d crack… Our fans are braver than I to let that song penetrate them, or maybe they don’t realise what they’re listening to. They don’t realise that Street Spirit is about staring the fucking devil right in the eyes, and knowing, no matter what the hell you do, he’ll get the last laugh. And it’s real, and true. The devil really will get the last laugh in all cases without exception, and if I let myself think about that too long, I’d crack. I can’t believe we have fans that can deal emotionally with that song. That’s why I’m convinced that they don’t know what it’s about. It’s why we play it towards the end of our sets. It drains me, and it shakes me, and hurts like hell every time I play it, looking out at thousands of people cheering and smiling, oblivious to the tragedy of its meaning, like when you’re going to have your dog put down and it’s wagging its tail on the way there. That’s what they all look like, and it breaks my heart. I wish that song hadn’t picked us as its catalysts, and so I don’t claim it. It asks too much. I didn’t write that song.

Profound dude, profound...

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