Could you ride 100 miles out the saddle?; Tao looking forward to "unpredictable" Tokyo road race; Bike lane bust-up; LTN ignorance; Group ride with all the gear drafted by keen commuter; Cav for SPOTY; Emotional Fabio reacts to win + more on the live blog

Peterborough Cycle Forum has penned a letter to its metro mayor and the government saying funds for cycling infrastructure are being misused. The group hit out at the city council for ignoring calls to use funding to continue the Crescent Bridge pop-up cycle lane. The Peterborough Telegraph reports the council has instead opted to use Department for Transport funding to create a segregated lane elsewhere. 

For now the pop-up lane in Crescent Bridge has been removed and the forum claims the new lane connecting Longthorpe to the Thorpe Wood Business Park and South Bretton will be part of an upgrade funded by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. This has been disputed by the council.

Council leader Wayne Fitzgerald has claimed the pop-up lane is not being used and has led to a rise in traffic...The cycle forum disputes this and said in a letter: "We feel this decision is a misuse of the DfT’s funding and as such has very serious implications for the combined authority, especially with regards to accessing future funding for walking and cycling, and road schemes.

"We have significant concerns that the DfT will not allow Peterborough City Council to use their Tranche 2 of the Active Travel Fund on the Junction 15 (A1260 Nene Parkway/A47 Soke Parkway) scheme. It is already a multi-million pound road scheme, being built to create more capacity for motor vehicles."

The forum described the now-removed Crescent Bridge pop-up lane as "an important, strategic corridor" and argued using the current funding to improve it would "ensure pedestrians, cyclists, wheelchair users and motor vehicles are all safe, and separated."

Mark Cavendish is a joint-favourite alongside Team GB sprinter Dina Asher-Smith to take home the Sports Personality of the Year crown for 2021. Cav won in 2011 off the back of five Tour de France stage wins, the green jersey and winning the World Championships in Copenhagen. This year, only the second time he's won the Tour's points jersey, the Manxman is back in the picture for the BBC award.

According to Oddschecker, the 36-year-old's closest competition is Tokyo-bound Asher-Smith, who has a strong chance of repeating her silver and gold in the 100m and 200m at the World Championships in 2019. Beyond GB's top sprinter, the bookies have Lions captain Alun Wyn Jones, Adam Peaty and track cycling star Laura Kenny as potential winners.

Chad Tavernia (yes, that 'us' in his Strava name is where he's from) completed a century with a difference yesterday in New York State...100 miles (obviously), all out of the saddle...

Ridiculously he held an average of 33.2km/h during the ride that took in more than 1,400m of climbing - so not pan flat either. Why? On Strava, Chad said it had always been a dream to complete a century out the saddle. Each to their own, I guess. He rode the 100 miles without any stops and says he only had one bottle and no food...

Starting just outside the small Franklin County town of Malone, Chad climbed to a maximum elevation of 620m near the Chazy Highlands Wild Forest, before finishing back where he started about 10 miles south of the border with Canada.

A dip into the archives for some more silly centuries found this gem from 2019...Rich Flanagan, also from the US, attempted to ride a 100-mile wheelie...but was foiled by a gust of wind at the 50-mile mark. Still, he added 24 miles to the previous Guinness World Record. 

I do hope the cameras are switched on in Pitfield Street.
Amazing that almost as soon as you remove the actual physical restriction drivers will just find the opening and start using it despite multiple signs that through traffic is prohibited. pic.twitter.com/uXzqAtPQ1G

— filter more streets (@iambrianjones) July 21, 2021

Victory salute... witness statement? 🤐 pic.twitter.com/Gn7h4dZNNk

— the Inner Ring (@inrng) July 16, 2021

Double stage winner at this year's Tour de France, Matej Mohorič, has denied knowing the history of the celebration he showed the world while crossing the line as the winner on stage 19. Mohorič put his finger to his lips like Jamie Vardy goading a baying stand of away fans before zipping his lips, à la Lance Armstrong.

Mohorič replied to a tweet questioning his choice of celebration: "I didn't know. If I knew, I wouldn't have done it. I think a public apology would fall on deaf ears. Those who are hostile by nature won't change their opinion anyway. Those who know me don't need an explanation about this."

Many questioned the Slovenian's defiance, especially given the context that Bahrain Victorious' team bus and hotel had been raided by French police just 48 hours earlier.