Turbo Trainer Thursdays for the NHS; 'The worst drivers are now back on our roads' says Jeremy Vine; Rescheduled Tour de France already in doubt; Cycling providing people with vital mental break; Bicycle Traffic degree offered by German unis + more

Last week we reported how Mark Beaumont was attempting to recruit a “virtual peloton” to ride around the world in a day with funds raised going to NHS Charities.

They’re well underway, but the whole thing seems to have expanded.

World in a Day is now a weekly thing.

More details on the website.

Twitter, we are trialing a fruit and veg box delivery service. They're standard 50 piece boxes that contain a mixture of fruits and veg. The boxes are £22 delivered to your home by us and it will be next day delivery. https://t.co/Jh1LJz2jtF pic.twitter.com/Xw1Rh0FWYf

— Pedal Me (@pedalmeapp) April 22, 2020

Warning: some of the worst drivers are now back on our roads. This was about an hour ago. pic.twitter.com/2bbsLYrIVR

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) April 22, 2020

Roads will be down from two lanes to one.

Pavements in the busy shopping areas of King Street and Uxbridge Road are to be temporarily widened to help with social distancing. Installation will begin tomorrow and the measures fully in place by Friday.

Full details here👇https://t.co/mDrxFjdvwH

— H&F Council (@LBHF) April 22, 2020

Here you go. Here's a short video that'll give you a feel for things.

Watch the highlights of Race 1 of the #DigitalSwiss5 as a selection of the best riders in the world went head to head online 🎥

Full-race replay: https://t.co/xumLOZ30jh
Results and report: https://t.co/4W5HSfLhtJ@gorouvy @tds pic.twitter.com/dq7YUfBAjY

— Velon CC (@VelonCC) April 22, 2020

French sports minister Roxana Maracineanu has told Eurosport that she doesn’t think public sporting events will take place until September at the earliest.

"All events that can resume will be behind closed doors or with very strict restrictions,” she added.

Last week we reported that August 29 has been pencilled in as the new start date for the Tour de France. Maracineanu’s comments make that seem pretty unlikely.

There are more details on the provisional 2020 race calendar further down the page.

The dates probably aren’t worth a great deal, but it’s worth reading to get a sense of the sport’s priorities should a resumption prove possible.

Earlier in the week we reported how Little Bollington had removed no cycling signs from the village after reading our article.

The parish council has since removed similar signs from the canal.

Cycling is not permitted on the Bridgewater Canal towpath, but the wording on the signs was considered "inappropriate".

I received a reply this morning... pic.twitter.com/Tw23g1sQoc

— Peter Smith (@Pinarello_Pete) April 23, 2020

Carlton Reid has written a striking obituary of the "famously abrasive, inflexible, and supercilious" John Forester, who has died at the age of 90.

Forester was a vocal critic of Dutch-style cycleways from the early 1970s. He instead advocated “vehicular cycling,” a method of riding with motor traffic.

He promoted and sold a vehicular-cycling teaching course - Effective Cycling - from 1974 onwards.

Provisional dates sent to teams have Strade Bianche down as the first post-lockdown race on August 1, according to RTBF. 

These plans are, presumably, very woolly, considering some level of social distancing is expected for the rest of the year.

They do perhaps give an indication of how things could be reorganised, should racing again become possible.

The Belgian public-service broadcaster reports that the first Monument of the season, Milan-San Remo, would be on Saturday August 8, followed by a four-day Criterium du Dauphiné and then the various national championships.

The Tour de France is pencilled in for August 29 to September 20 with the World Championships would still on its original dates (September 20 to 27).

The Ardennes classics would follow, with the Flèche Wallonne on September 30, Liège-Bastogne-Liège on October 4 and Amstel Gold on October 10, before moving into the cobbled classics.

Ghent-Wevelgem would be held on October 11, the Tour of Flanders on October 18 and Paris-Roubaix on October 25.

Most of these races would overlap with the Giro d’Italia, which would start in the first week of October, but finish before Paris-Roubaix.

The Tour of Lombardy would then be held on October 31, followed by the Vuelta a Espana from November 1.

Thanks for the warning I guess from r/bicycling

From 2021 onwards it will be possible to study bicycle traffic at some German colleges and universities, reports jetzt.de.

The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure advertised a maximum amount of 400,000 euros per university that wanted to offer a course in bicycle transport.

A total of 33 universities and universities applied for it and seven were awarded a contract.

It’s a serious undertaking. Those who wish to take a masters degree in “Bicycle traffic in intermodal transport networks” at Wildau University of Applied Sciences in Brandenburg will first need a bachelor's degree in a traffic or city planning degree.

“Well thought-out – and therefore attractive and accepted – bicycle traffic is a complex matter,” said Klaus-Martin Melzer, who will be running the course, adding that, “as a graduate of such a degree program you can make a contribution to the traffic revolution.”

In short, the degree puts cyclists front and centre when it comes to transport planning. You can draw your own comparisons.