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Garmin Dis-Connect - site is STILL down; Guy Ritchie handed driving ban after cyclist caught him using his phone at the wheel; Huge support for pop-up bike lanes; Driver crushes planter on West London road supposedly closed to motorists + more

Today's live blog with Alex Bowden (daytime) and Simon MacMichael (evening)...
UPDATED Thu, Jul 23, 2020 20:46
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23 July 2020, 19:44
Garmin Dis-Connect - site is STILL down

No sign of Garmin Connect coming back any time soon. Meanwhile ... 

23 July 2020, 15:51
Cycle lane repairs

Suppose it’s an improvement.

Which one of your drunkards painted this path?! from r/CasualUK

23 July 2020, 15:46
Garmin says the outage is affecting its call centres...

Hmm...

23 July 2020, 15:32
Garmin Connect is STILL down

Full story (and a possible workaround) here.

23 July 2020, 15:09
23 July 2020, 14:30
Live bike racing anyone?

You probably wouldn’t be up for the prologue of the Sibiu Cycling Tour any other year, but there’s that whole pro-cycling-is-actually-happening angle today.

They’re not going overboard though. They’re kicking things off with a colossal 2.5km prologue from 3.45pm.

23 July 2020, 14:09
Team Ineos Grenadier's secret strategy REVEALED
23 July 2020, 14:00
A pithy-yet-understated headline for these Wiggo photos

Maybe you can come up with your own because we're struggling to find the words.

The presence of four former national champions on the ride almost seems the least remarkable element.

23 July 2020, 13:55
CCC Van Avermaet.JPG
Manuela Fundacion now being linked with CCC

Remember that sponsorship deal involving GreenEdge/Mitchelton-Scott a few weeks ago?

We weren’t especially surprised when the GreenEdge deal fell through, but Gazzetta dello Sport reports that the Manuela Fundacion is now being linked with Team CCC.

The Manuela Fundacion is a pretty small Spanish non-profit funded by husband and wife team Francisco Huertas and Maria Angustias GonzĂĄlez.

They’re reportedly ready to invest €10 million a year.

The Manuela FundaciĂłn is due to launch in Spain on October 4, and a pro cycling team is apparently seen as the ideal way to promote its charity work.

Former Giro d'Italia winner Stefano Garzelli is advising them.

23 July 2020, 13:46
An update on today's ongoing Garmin issue.
23 July 2020, 13:24
Grinduro Wales 2020 header
Grinduro Wales to take place in October

Grinduro Wales is now on October 10, 2020.

Tickets cost £120 (plus booking fee) for what the organisers bill as, “a full weekend of Maxin' and Relaxin'.”

More info here.

23 July 2020, 13:04
Team Ineos to again ride lightweight wheels at the Tour de France

Team Ineos Grenadiers, technically, but it's probably going to be a few more weeks before we can fully come to terms with that one.

They were using the 935g Meilenstein Obermayer last year. More here.

23 July 2020, 12:59
2020 RideLondon: Not been there, not done that, got the jersey
endura-blue-EV378651-5000-1

On sale at Evans.

23 July 2020, 11:35
Garmin Connect down for "maintenance"

Plenty of people are venting their frustrations online because Garmin Connect's down - seemingly worldwide.

Pretty much all of the firm's online services have been affected.

Garmin says there's 'maintenance' going on.

More to follow.

23 July 2020, 11:29
Guy Ritchie (CC licensed by Kathy Hutchins via Wikimedia)
Guy Ritchie handed driving ban after cyclist caught him using his phone at the wheel

Film director Guy Ritchie – probably still best known for Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels – has been banned from driving for six months after cyclist Mike van Erp shot footage of him texting at the wheel of his Range Rover.

The footage is over at the London Evening Standard.

The incident occurred in November in Hyde Park.

Van Erp said: “I spotted this driver texting on his phone. I stopped and whilst waiting for traffic to clear could clearly see the driver typing on his phone. I then crossed to the driver’s side where I saw his iPhone lit up with the classic blue and grey message bubbles of Apple iMessage, with text, and a message in process of being typed but not sent.”

In the video, Ritchie winds down his window and says, “Hello my friend.”

Van Erp says: “I don’t think you should be using your text messages while you are driving. I saw you doing it back there as well.”

Ritchie then pulls away.

Ritchie already had nine points on his driving licence, from three previous speeding offences.

After pleading guilty to using a handheld mobile phone/device while driving a motor vehicle on a road, he was given six more points and banned from driving for six months.

He was also ordered to pay a ÂŁ666 fine, as well as ÂŁ166 in prosecution costs and court fees.

Van Erp – who regularly submits footage of drivers to police – added: “I had no idea it was him. I pulled up beside him on my bicycle and told him he was using his mobile. He said he had stopped in traffic. Drivers should not be doing this and people like me serve as a deterrent.”

23 July 2020, 10:32
Evans Cycles logo 3x2
“You cannot get hold of Evans and I feel I was duped”

There was an interesting consumer tale in the Guardian this week: a person who ordered a bike from Evans in May who still hadn’t received it just over a week ago.

In April, Evans was slammed for not telling customers about delays on ‘in stock’ bikes. This was not long after it had done a U-turn on above-RRP turbo prices following a customer backlash.

Writing to the newspaper’s consumer affairs page, MR said they ordered a bike in May and on June 1 were told it was still being built but that it would be shipped in two to four days.

They never got it.

The Guardian contacted Evans about the problem but were ignored.

“It saddens me to write this because Evans used to be a great store full of helpful, knowledgeable staff,” says the Guardian’s consumer affairs writer, Miles Brignall. “But since Sports Direct took over, things seem to have gone rapidly south.”

MR subsequently took the matter up with PayPal – which is how they’d paid.

Evans emailed last week to cancel the order, claiming an “internal system error” and promising a refund in seven days, plus a £25 e-voucher to say sorry.

Brignall’s verdict is damning: “I would not buy anything from this company unless I could pick it up, there and then, in person. When a company the size of Evans – it has 50 stores – can’t be bothered to get its press office to investigate letters like this, it says to me that it doesn’t place any value in talking to its customers.”

23 July 2020, 10:05
23 July 2020, 09:33
Leicester's pop-up cycle routes - 11 miles' worth in 10 weeks
23 July 2020, 09:24
Any interest in cycle tourism?

Might be worth filling this out. The aim is to help tourism businesses gear themselves towards cyclists.

23 July 2020, 09:17
TfL offering free online cycle training
23 July 2020, 09:11
For every person objecting to a pop-up bike lane, more than six support it
23 July 2020, 09:08
23 July 2020, 09:03
Countdown to the Olympics

The final countdown?

23 July 2020, 08:32
The cost of transport infrastructure

As Copenhagen’s former Mayor of Technical and Environmental Affairs, Morten Kabell, once put it


23 July 2020, 08:15
Professional European road racing is (just about) back
23 July 2020, 08:09
Driver crushes planter on West London road supposedly closed to motorists

This from my colleague Simon, who points out it’s, “one of the battleground streets just off the High Road with the Chiswick Tories.”

Alex Bowden

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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19 comments

Avatar
Eton Rifle | 3 years ago
0 likes

The Ritchie fan boys were going potty on twitter last night over his ban.

Avatar
handlebarcam | 3 years ago
3 likes

I'm guessing we'll see a very angry movie from Guy Ritchie in about 18 months time, in which Vinnie Jones stands on a traffic island, and headbutts any passing cyclists who have cameras into a nearby skip. While a band of pearly kings and queens plays "Knees Up Mother Brown". For two hours. Still, it couldn't be less entertaining than most of his films.

Avatar
Rigobear | 3 years ago
3 likes

Guy Ritchie, ooops should have gone to Mr. Loophole.

Avatar
brooksby replied to Rigobear | 3 years ago
1 like

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Cupov | 3 years ago
3 likes

surely Guy Ritchie is probably still best known for once being married to Madonna?

Avatar
brooksby replied to Cupov | 3 years ago
1 like

Madonna?  Oh, right - mega pop star from thirty odd years ago...  Whatever happened to her?

Avatar
fenix | 3 years ago
8 likes

Guy Ritchie should have been banned from film making after that last Arthur film. 

Avatar
David9694 | 3 years ago
4 likes

please visit my Gofundme page to buy Guy Ritchie a hands-free for Christmas. 

Avatar
brooksby | 3 years ago
3 likes

If Evans (a Mike Ashley subsidiary) won't even talk to the consumer affairs department of a major newspaper, then something is very wrong indeed...

Avatar
David9694 | 3 years ago
1 like

West London planter - it's the will of the British People. All together now, "How many roads must a man drive down..."

Avatar
eburtthebike | 3 years ago
7 likes

"For every person objecting to a pop-up bike lane, more than six support it"

Now, you might think that means that the majority view should prevail in this democracy, but under our system, the vote of a single tory MP counts more than all of their constituents who oppose him.  Also, drivers' votes count ten times that of pedestrians or cyclists.

Since the support outweighs opposition by six to one, why are so many schemes pulled because of the rabid petrolheads, who lie, exaggerate and misrepresent?

Avatar
Awavey replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
2 likes

Because the 1 complains loudest, whilst the 6 quietly accept the changes and then dont complain when it reverts

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to Awavey | 3 years ago
2 likes

Awavey wrote:

Because the 1 complains loudest, whilst the 6 quietly accept the changes and then dont complain when it reverts

So how do we motivate the silent majority to speak up?

Avatar
Rich_cb replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
0 likes
eburtthebike wrote:

"For every person objecting to a pop-up bike lane, more than six support it"

Now, you might think that means that the majority view should prevail in this democracy, but under our system, the vote of a single tory MP counts more than all of their constituents who support it.  Also, drivers' votes count ten times that of pedestrians or cyclists.

Since the support outweighs opposition by six to one, why are so many schemes pulled because of the rabid petrolheads, who lie, exaggerate and misrepresent?

Burt supports the view of the majority and dislikes those who lie, exaggerate and misrepresent.

Tell us again about the Venice Convention (sic) Burt?

Shameless.

Avatar
Spokesperson | 3 years ago
2 likes

Online cycle training hmmm... How is that going to help newcomers to cycling, particularly newcomers to cycle commuting? Cycle training is a specialised skill and involves imparting lots of hints and tips. It really needs to be taught person to person. I realise TfL has been starved of funds by the Tory government, who took away its grant, and has now been hobbled with meagre funds in exchange for draconian measures. But offering online cycle training has the danger of giving people a false sense of security. Restore funds for proper cycle training asap.

Avatar
tugglesthegreat replied to Spokesperson | 3 years ago
0 likes

I'm sure TFL invest in the Ride Safe courses for motorcyclists. Why can't they do something similar for cyclists, rather than online training. 

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Spokesperson replied to tugglesthegreat | 3 years ago
0 likes

In normal times and for several years TfL provided funds for a huge amount of Bikeability cycle training for school children and adults every year, via local boroughs. I think it has all been put on hold and that is the problem. The programme was very good and the cycle trainers were professionals. Really sad to think anyone would think online training is a substitute.

Avatar
mdavidford replied to Spokesperson | 3 years ago
0 likes

I don't suppose anyone does think it's a substitute (unless maybe they work for Sainsburys click and collect service) - more just that it's what's able to be offered right now, given, y'know, one thing and another.

Avatar
BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP replied to Spokesperson | 3 years ago
0 likes

Money is now also available via TfL for Cycle Training in London with an instructor. 

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