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"If you use my lane, I'll use yours": Driver films himself using bike lane to overtake cyclist; Rain, rain and more rain...grim Roubaix forecast; Van der Poel hoping for wet cobbles; Bike lane petrol queues; Mudguard season + more on the live blog

Pinch punch first day of the month, the weather's grim so stay in with Dan Alexander on the live blog instead...
Fri, Oct 01, 2021 09:06
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"If you use my lane, I'll use yours": Driver films himself using bike lane to overtake cyclist; Rain, rain and more rain...grim Roubaix forecast; Van der Poel hoping for wet cobbles; Bike lane petrol queues; Mudguard season + more on the live blogDriver uses cycle lane to speed past cyclist (screenshot via Idiots in Cars/Reddit video)
01 October 2021, 15:20
He's done it!

What an achievement! Right up there with his recent appearance on the road.cc podcast I'm sure... here's the full story on Bigham's ride, hot on the heels of his partner Joss Lowden's new world Hour Record yesterday. 

01 October 2021, 14:57
Colin Furze builds a 2WD hydraulic-driven bicycle

01 October 2021, 14:04
Dan Bigham Hour Record attempt about to get underway

Here we go... Dan Bigham's about to see if he can repeat the Joss Lowden magic by conquering the British Hour Record this afternoon. Dan's riding the same aero machine as Joss, the Argon Electron Pro with some Fast Forward Disc TSL wheels and Vittoria Pista Speed 2.0 23mm tyres.

Interestingly, Dan's bike is kitted out with some of his own WattShop kit, including the Olympic edition Pentaxi base bar and Anemoi aero extensions. That's an £8,500 cockpit alone...as per Dan's website.

He'll be turning a monster 64x14 out on the track too...

As for his kit, Dan's opted for the Kask Mistral helmet and a brand new Vorteq Hour Record edition skinsuit in WattShop colours of course.

Those are the details...the short of it is he's going to be a very aero lad powering around a velodrome for an hour...how far can he go though?

01 October 2021, 13:48
Emotional Vincenzo Nibali in tears after winning home race

Vincenzo Nibali had his hands on his head as he crossed the finish line the winner of stage four and the overall at the Giro di Sicilia. This is a rider who has twice won the Giro, won all three Grand Tours, three Monuments and 15 Grand Tour stages. It shows how much winning again, on his home roads, means to the Shark.

The 36-year-old's last win was on the penultimate stage of the 2019 Tour de France, he's struggled since. Nibali will be returning to Astana next season on a one-year deal, the same team he won the Giro with in 2013 and 2016, plus the Tour in 2014. Will we see the veteran campaigner back at the top again in 2022?

01 October 2021, 13:39
The Run Up: Get in the mood for Paris-Roubaix Femmes by hearing how much it means to those competing

01 October 2021, 11:19
"If you use my lane, I'll use yours": Driver films himself using bike lane to speed past cyclist

This one gives a whole new meaning to punishment passes...the clip was originally posted to Facebook by a profile named Sonny Oldenburger with the caption, "If you use my lane, I will use your lane...ciao". It came to our attention via the suitably named 'Idiots in Cars' Reddit page and shows a driver leaving the road to overtake a cyclist, presumably to prove some kind of point about where he 'should' be riding...

From the speculation in the comments and a bit of local knowledge, the video seems to have come from Germany. One commenter explained the path to the right is a shared-use route and the road likely has a speed limit of 60mph (100kph).

Your top (sensible) comment summed it all up nicely: "Wanna see an otherwise normal-seeming person act like a deranged psychopath? Put them behind the wheel of a car on a road with someone riding a bicycle. It's truly amazing how irrationally mad riding a bike on the road makes some folks."

Another reply commented: "Well, it is called 'Idiots in Cars'. He fits the description perfectly. Would be nice to include an IQ test for the driving exams."

01 October 2021, 12:35
I'm no expert but I'm almost certain that's not how the Hour Record works...

Here's an interesting take on the Hour Record - a challenge famous for being about riding as far as possible. If the record was about taking metres off, I reckon a fair few of us here could give it a go! Damn, checked the comments and everyone beat me to that joke...

Dan Bigham's up next...we'll share the link to watch his effort just before 3pm. Unfortunately, as we shared with you yesterday, he can't take the outright record, even if he beats Victor Campanaerts' distance. That's because he hasn't been in the UCI Testing Pool because he doesn't ride for a WorldTour or second division team. Either way, Sir Brad's British record is on the line...

01 October 2021, 12:33
01 October 2021, 12:22
Questions asked of Paris-Roubaix Femmes prize money

 Plenty of lunchtime reaction to this...€7,005 is embarrassingly precise as well. Should we give them €7,000? Nah, add an extra few cents in...

01 October 2021, 11:41
01 October 2021, 10:52
Drum & Bass On The Bike DJ Dom Whiting featured on ITV News

Live blog favourite Dom Whiting's latest Drum & Bass outing made it onto ITV News...

At this rate he's going to need a bigger city, having attracted a mega crowd for his Boiler Room special in London. The full episode is up on Dom's YouTube, which now has more than 120,000 subscribers...

The latest episode features a tunnel rave on CS3 and a man with a parrot...now get yourself over to Amsterdam, Dom...

01 October 2021, 11:41
01 October 2021, 09:36
Be careful what you wish for, Mathieu: "I think it would be quite cool if it rains!"
Mathieu van der Poel on the Mur-de-Bretagne (Picture by Alex BroadwaySWpix.com)

In amongst the lost blog yesterday were some quotes from Mathieu van der Poel ahead of Paris-Roubaix. We hopped on a Zoom call with the pedalling phenom to see how he's feeling ahead of his Hell of the North debut, and there was no sign of nerves from the Dutchman about the prospect of biblical conditions...

"I think it would be quite cool if it rains!" he laughed. "But yeah, dangerous too. If you avoid the crashes then it counts for a lot. It's always the case in Roubaix. You have to try not to get a flat tyre or crash. When it's wet it's even more the case. If they crash in front of you it's hard to avoid it. But yeah, it would be nice to ride a wet Roubaix once!

"He also gave us the latest on the course and confirmed it was mainly dry on Thursday morning when he did his recon..."The cobbles were dry except for one small part that was bit muddy, but I can imagine it is very slippery when it is raining. If you can stay out of trouble and at the front then wet cobbles are okay. I hope the Worlds added a bit to my shape and I can finish my season in a nice way on Sunday."

A final nugget is that after Sunday the 26 year-old will take a well-earned rest for a couple of months, returning to competition for the cyclo-cross calendar in December. 

01 October 2021, 09:19
Rain, rain and more rain...grim Roubaix weather forecast

Here's your final Paris-Roubaix weather forecast of the week. Spoiler alert: it's going to be absolute carnage. Saturday shouldn't be too bad for the women's race...although the final may get a bit damp.

Roubaix weather forecast (BBC Weather)

But look at that rain overnight, then prepare yourselves for Sunday...

Roubaix weather forecast (BBC Weather)

Get whatever you need to do out the way early and glue yourself to the sofa for the afternoon. road.cc Liam is going training at six to be back in time for every single second...Mud, standing water, crashes, mechanicals. It might just be last man standing.

01 October 2021, 08:41
Mudguard season: When do you give up on summer?
2020 Flinger Race Pro Clip Mudguards - front wheel side-on.jpg

As someone who commuted through one of Britain's wettest winters without mudguards, I now feel ready to join the dark side. And when I say dark, I really mean dry and comfortable...

The white socks are back in the draw and the winter tyres will be making an appearance when the clocks go back. Anyone folded early and got the mudguards on already?

 If like me you're in the market for some...check out our 20 of the best mudguards - how to stay dry on any type of bike feature.

01 October 2021, 08:28
Meanwhile in the Netherlands...
01 October 2021, 08:55
Sorry sorry!
broken mech - 1 (1).jpg

Yesterday road.cc had a massive tantrum, which ended up with us having to create a new version of it and get rid of everything from yesterday... that means unfortunately yesterday's live blog was lost! Obviously we're really sorry about this, it's as frustrating for us as it is for you and it's certainly not how we wanted our day to pan out. 

To very briefly summarise what happened yesterday... Joss Lowden broke the Hour Record, smashing the previous record to set a new distance of 48.405km. Read all about her bike here. 

There were scenes of chaos around petrol stations again, with motorists seen using a cycle lane as a petrol queueing lane in Brighton. 

Scottish MP Colin Smyth waded into a helmet row when he commented on the Twitter post of Green MSP Patrick Harvie. 

And our big 'debate' of the day... someone on social media suggested that there should be a six-month trial banning cleats in London to encourage riders to stop/slow down at lights. A pretty wild suggestion, and many of you surprisingly didn't agree. 

Peeta Stebbenwolf on Facebook said: "Cleats actually make you more stable on a bike, better at riding in a straight line & faster. For drivers who think they’re dangerous, try them! Oh & if you’re hit by a car, whether you were clipped in or on flats is likely to make little difference."

Sam Field added: "Maybe we could have 6 months with no booze so drivers drink and drive less?" 

While Bobby Carvell suggested: "Just ban life and have done with it."

01 October 2021, 07:56
Child can't use cycle lane during Bike to School Week because of drivers queueing for petrol

Happy Bike to School Week! Although it might not have seemed quite such a celebration for the kid pictured having to wheel his bike around the queue of stationary motorists blocking this cycle lane in Haringey as they wait for petrol.  

I guess it's preparing them well for what they'll have to deal with cycling anywhere in the UK...

The picture attracted a powerful reaction online, with one reply saying we might as well call it Don't Even Think About Biking To School Week. The London Cycling Campaign also chipped in, sharing the pic to its followers with the message: "London's young people deserve so much better than this."

Toby Edwards added: "Sums up our car-mad culture nicely."

It wasn't just in London either...these were the scenes in Brighton yesterday as drivers made use of that nicely painted lane on the left while they waited...

Dan Alexander

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.

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61 comments

Avatar
brooksby | 2 years ago
4 likes

A lot of motorists do seem to be under the impression that if a shared-use/cycle path has been put in place then that is automatically the "cyclists' path" and the main carriageway somehow becomes the "motorists' path".  Weird.

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chrisonabike replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 2 years ago
1 like

A pretty striking video.  Lucky that it was on a motorway, with the speed the car was going it's likely houses would have been put at risk.  Unfortunately drink and drugs are about the only thing that seem to attract significant social ire when it comes to driving offences. Given that I'm a little surprised at the sentence.  Only thing I can think of is if he severely damaged himself and earned a bit of "I can't punish you more than you already have yourself"? Can't find much more about this - particularly the "cannot be named" bit, but the Birmingham Mail has:

The 28-year-old drug driver, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested and charged with dangerous driving after the collision.

Swab samples showed he had several controlled drugs in his system at the time.

The man was later convicted and sentenced to 14 months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months.

Yahoo news thought he'd also been told to do community service.

"Dangerous driving" - it was dangerous before, by the time of the offence he wasn't driving as he was airbourne.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to chrisonabike | 2 years ago
5 likes

I was mentioning that to the Mrs. Some weird stuff there and maybe more criminal charges to follow which is why they can't be named so other ongoing court cases are not prejudiced. 

But even with further stuff ongoing, the suspended prison sentence is a joke. Especially as the worker is still having ongoing treatment for injuries suffered 13 months on so has almost suffered a longer sentence then one the driver doesn't have to.

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chrisonabike replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
2 likes

Agree - it seems a trivial sentence.  "Excess speed" doesn't seem to trouble people that much.  And you're right the anonymity is most likely because the driver is going to be back in court again - possibly high on their own supply?

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Awavey | 2 years ago
2 likes

I'm guessing the Paris Roubaix prize money is so precise because it will be the bare minimum amount for a one day race per UCI rules which probably states it in swiss francs to begin with.

And if that amount upsets people,and it should,just wait till you see what the GC winner of the Women's Tour will get, €2,750, now they obviously will get extra money on stage placings and could pick up extra jerseys or the team prize so overall could be slightly better off, but the GC winner of the Tour of Britain took £12,400, even if the winner of the womens race finished 1st every day, won all the jerseys & team competitions, they still wouldnt match the Tour of Britains GC prize.

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AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
2 likes

And for those who haven't been told by cycling news. Womens Tour of Britain takes place next week. The second day is taking place about 1.5 miles where I live and is a small 10 lap loopped circuit so I should be able to get several laps viewed before a quick cycle to the finish. The QOM section is abit .... small though. They might go up into the park entrance for those laps to extend it but still less then 100 metres long with maybe a double figure on the turn section if they do extend it. 

Edit: Google Streetview for QOM

They will come up Bridle Lane and then either turn onto the main road or take the park entrance up the hill. If they don't do the park, then I have done the "climb" in about 10 seconds. They ride all along Bridle lane which does have a slight double figure lump half way along so might be taking the length of it as KOM.

If they do the park though, the descent could be interesting....

 

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Awavey replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
1 like

I'm not as close to the Stage 6 route as it winds through Suffolk as that,but its certainly within easy spectating range, though if I ride, I'd not have chance to see them anywhere and still get to the finish in time. Equally unless the fuel panic eases it might be the only option.

But yes the QoMs are interesting choices,Suffolk might not be blessed with many steep hills, though theyve picked a very lumpy constantly up/down route, but the steepest hill of the day isnt the designated QoM. And if there isnt a big crash on the bunch sprint to the line in Felixstowe I'll be amazed.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
0 likes

I was half tempted with the Stage 3 TT at atherstone but wanted to keep my Holiday days primed. Will make the decision on Tuesday weather permitting.

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stonojnr replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
0 likes

only live few miles from the course and not million miles from the finish,easy enough to get a train for me,though be aware Ipswich are at home in the football so going through the town will be busy. But that last 5 miles is all downhill,not too technical, if the wind is in their favour they'll absolutely be hammering it coming down onto the seafront, and that's where the road gets really bumpy. Be interesting for definite.

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P3t3 | 2 years ago
0 likes

"Meanwhile in the Netherlands..."

It looks to me like the articulated lorry in the video jumps a red light, ironic really...

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to P3t3 | 2 years ago
0 likes

And the sports car a few seconds earlier.

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GMBasix | 2 years ago
4 likes

I just assumed the recent problems were a DDOS attack by FairFuelUK, extending its line of logic.

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HoarseMann | 2 years ago
6 likes

The time I've spent looking out of the window to see if the road has dried yet would have been better spent just fitting the mudguards!

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stonojnr | 2 years ago
2 likes

Not queuing in a cycle lane, though that is happening, but speeding and avoiding a speed bump in a cycle lane. https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/cycle-lane-speeding-prompts-woodbridg...

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to stonojnr | 2 years ago
3 likes

I thought it had been established from a story a few months ago that head teachers can block off public rights of way if they feel their pupils are endangered. 

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GMBasix replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
0 likes

AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

I thought it had been established from a story a few months ago that head teachers can block off public rights of way if they feel their pupils are endangered. 

Is that irony?  Because they aren't.

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Hirsute replied to GMBasix | 2 years ago
0 likes

https://road.cc/content/news/north-london-school-head-blocks-new-cyclewa...

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stonojnr replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
1 like

Well a few years back the official council and police position was that road was too dangerous to promote cycling on,so the school didn't allow children to cycle at all.

The 20mph limit came in a few years back for safety reasons, the speed bump & 30metre if that cycle lane, which joins up with nothing else, appeared only last year.

I suspect the school still doesn't allow cycling and the review will just remove the cycle lane completely.

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chrisonabike replied to stonojnr | 2 years ago
2 likes

All too common pattern. Road busy? Can't have kids there.

Someone hurt / parental campaign?  Put in some minimal changes / inadequate infrastructure.

No kids cycling? Clearly no demand so reverse those changes.

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brooksby | 2 years ago
2 likes

Quote:

While Bobby Carvell suggested: "Just ban life and have done with it."

Wasn't that a long running Judge Dredd storyline...?

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Sriracha | 2 years ago
10 likes
Quote:

The white socks are back in the draw now

Who do they play next?

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Awavey replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
0 likes

The Tigers 3

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belugabob replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
0 likes

Tiger feet, by Mud?

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Steve K | 2 years ago
14 likes

This is Britain - keep your mudguards on all year round.

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Awavey replied to Steve K | 2 years ago
0 likes

This year definitely, the weather has been very unsettled, think I took mine off just for a week or two.

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Hirsute replied to Steve K | 2 years ago
0 likes

Yep. Didn't think they make any difference to speed.
My new ones are good at collecting leaves though.

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Hirsute | 2 years ago
10 likes

Just came across this on Richmond Park speed limits

 

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Secret_squirrel replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
6 likes

I forget - was it Richmond Park where the Rozzer's stopped a cyclist for "speeding", which according to the letter above would have been nonsense.

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Hirsute replied to Secret_squirrel | 2 years ago
1 like

See wycombewheeler link

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Awavey replied to Secret_squirrel | 2 years ago
0 likes

But its more complicated than the letter states, as the Royal Parks speed limits were introduced by a Royal Parks regulation in 2010, and its whether you believe a reasonable interpretation of that applies to cycling as a "vehicle" or not. Technically it shouldn't but the intent of the regulation they introduced clearly it should.

Iirc they did amend/suspend that speed limit for the 2012 Olympics,(arguably as much for the course/support vehicles following the riders than the cyclists themselves) which might be why the question was posed if they didnt for the duathlon.

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