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Cyclist feared for his life during unprovoked road rage incident caught on CCTV; American pro runs 18 miles barefoot after mechanical; When you forget to check the route...EF go paddling; Safe pass advert; Junction tech; Pinarello + more on the live blog

It's Tuesday and Dan Alexander is in the saddle for another day on the live blog...
08 June 2021, 16:08
Restrap Solstice Century Challenge
Restrap Summer Solstice Century Challenge

It's that time of the year here in the UK, when the nights are gloriously long and evening riding doesn't feel like the chore it can be during the dark winter months. Restrap has a challenge to celebrate too...over the Summer Solstice weekend of the 19th and 20th of June they are challenging riders to make the most of the longest day by completing a century. They don't care where you go, it can be indoors on the turbo or out on the road, just as long as it is 100 miles...

All riders who complete the challenge will get a Summer Solstice Century Patch and any social media photos using the #solsticecentury will be in with a chance of winning a pair of DELTA sunglasses.  

08 June 2021, 15:20
Mathieu van der Poel wins...again

Another day, another win for Mathieu van der Poel...this time from a reduced bunch sprint. Julian Alaphilippe, Christophe Laporte, Michael Matthews and the rest could not get near the Dutch champion. Oh, and he went for a classic Van der Poel attack 25km from the finish before settling for his chances in the sprint...untouchable.

Could be worse...

08 June 2021, 14:21
American pro runs 18 miles following mechanical at Unbound Gravel race

"Hello, my name is Kiel Reijnen and I made some bad choices today"...You can say that again, Kiel...The Trek-Segafredo rider was competing at Unbound Gravel in Kansas when his wheel broke after the rim struck a rock. Not ideal. So instead he ended up running 18 miles barefoot...

"I broke my wheel, kilometre 46, so not very far into the race," Reijnen explained. "I was in the front group, although the front group was still pretty large at that point. I tried to repair the rim as best I could, I made a splint for it and wrapped that up. That lasted for about a kilometre and a half but turns out that was pretty trash so then I started running. Barefoot.

"I started running in the hope that maybe along the way I would run into someone who'd had a different mechanical issue and I could borrow their wheel until the feed zone and change wheels there. It definitely wasn't an option to have the team van come back and swap wheels with me, that's against the rules."

He only quit the race when he realised he did not have enough water to finish even if he did find mechanical help...

08 June 2021, 14:11
Smart piece of junction tech...
08 June 2021, 13:56
Miguel Ángel López dominates Mont Ventoux winning Dénivelé Challenge by two and a half minutes

Who doesn't love a bit of Mont Ventoux? The mythical climb hosted the third edition of its one-day race today with Movistar's Miguel Ángel López dominating the field to win by 2:26 from second-placed rider Óscar Rodríguez of Astana. López earns himself a slice of history too as the first Colombian to win at the summit of Mont Ventoux. Good signs for the Tour de France...

The Tour will climb the Giant of Provence twice in one stage for the first time on stage 11 of this year's race. That is Wednesday the 7th of July for anyone needing an excuse to book the day off...

08 June 2021, 13:48
Gone in 60 seconds...bike thief whips out angle grinder to cut through bike lock outside London gym

These bike theft videos featuring shady individuals using angle grinders to cut through bike locks are becoming a concerningly frequent feature on the live blog. These are just the ones we see too...

08 June 2021, 13:29
York-based solicitors join campaign to promote safe passing by sponsoring adverts on park and ride buses
Pryers Solicitors York Cycling Campaign.jpg

York-based law firm Pryers Solicitors has teamed up with the York Cycling Campaign (YCC) to promote the Safe Passing Saves Lives campaign. The YCC and Pryers Solicitors will be sponsoring two buses on park and ride routes around the city with advertising aiming to make motorists more aware of cyclists. 

York Mix reports that in the past five years there have been more than 800 reported road traffic collisions in the city involving cyclists and motorists. The campaign will attempt to educate motorists on the need to allow a distance of at least 1.5m when passing.

"As a keen cyclist, I love the thrill of descending an alpine pass at high speed, or riding difficult trails on a mountain bike, but nothing is quite as frightening or dangerous as a 60mph close pass by a car or lorry," Richard Starkie, a partner at Pryers said.

"Many drivers don’t realise how important that passing space is, or that they can be prosecuted for not leaving enough room.” We might be ‘just cyclists,’ but we’re ordinary people first."

Kate Ravilious, co-chair of York Cycle Campaign added: "Cyclists rely on having sufficient space to avoid potholes and debris on the road, as well as space to allow for doors opening on parked vehicles. Close passes are very intimidating for cyclists and are one of the most frequent causes of collisions. Giving cyclists plenty of room saves lives.”

08 June 2021, 12:09
Romain Bardet the latest French rider to opt out of Tokyo Olympics

Romain Bardet has ruled himself out of selection for the French squad for the Tokyo Olympics. Julian Alaphilippe recently said he too would not be competing, preferring to target other goals. Off the back of a gruelling Giro campaign, Bardet is expected to instead focus on the Vuelta a España and has told French coach Thomas Voeckler he would not be going to Tokyo.

"After a three-way discussion with the team, Thomas [Voeckler] and myself, we decided that I will not participate in the Olympic Games this year," Bardet explained to L’Équipe. "We have big goals with DSM that await us at the end of the season, and it was not possible to have peak form in Tokyo with this program."

08 June 2021, 11:49
Birmingham New Street gets a new cycle storage space

 This looks like a nice upgrade...a few people have asked how quickly you can access CCTV footage in the event of a theft or raised concerns about how closely it will be monitored. Jon Warbrick suggested the similarly CCTV-monitored cycle park at Cambridge Station is a hotbed for cycle theft as it is unmonitored...hopefully, we'll see less of that in Brum.

08 June 2021, 11:01
Cyclist feared for his life during unprovoked road rage incident caught on CCTV

This CCTV footage from Edinburgh shows a motorist and passenger assaulting a cyclist during an unprovoked road rage incident on Sunday afternoon. SWD Media reports the passenger allegedly flashed a knife and shouted: "I will kill you" during the shocking attack on Rodney Street just before 5.30pm. The driver is alleged to have been waving a chain or knuckleduster while also making threats.

The cyclist told the news outlet that he feared for his life and rode away as the motorist threw a traffic cone before the two men got back in the silver Volkswagen Golf and drove off towards Broughton Road.

"I am extremely scared to cycle on my own again," the cyclist said. "After being assaulted for no reason it made me feel sick to my stomach to meet these horrible people."

Police officers were called and told the cyclist that the vehicle's details had been circulated and it was believed to be registered in North Ayrshire. Enquiries are ongoing.

08 June 2021, 10:43
Ineos Grenadiers extend partnership with Pinarello for four more seasons
Ineos Grenadiers Pinarello.jpeg

Ineos Grenadiers will be riding Pinarello bikes for the next four years after today extending their 11-year partnership until 2025. The team has been supplied by the Italian manufacturer since 2010, riding 17 different models to almost 400 race wins, including all 12 of their Grand Tour victories. Recent pictures on social media appeared to show Fausto Pinarello riding with the team on their Giro rest day on a possible Dogma F14 and there have also been rumours Richard Carapaz could be riding the new model at Tour de Suisse this week.

Ineos Grenadiers Team Principal Sir Dave Brailsford said: "We have been racing on Pinarello bikes since our inception and it has always been a partnership grounded in a shared love of racing and innovation. Pinarello is a company with a unique place in our sport. They have a deep respect for the heritage of cycling, but they combine it with a desire to remain at the cutting edge of technology and engineering.
 
"The sport has changed a lot over the years and Fausto and the team have been a big part of our journey for over a decade supporting the team with the very best in bike technology. We have experienced a lot but it still feels as exciting now as when we first started out, and we are proud to continue racing together for many years to come."

08 June 2021, 10:29
We're back...

Have a football meme...why not? It's been that kind of morning but hopefully that is enough temperamental interneting for one day and our website is back up for good... 

08 June 2021, 07:50
When you forget to check the route...EF Education-Nippo pros wade through a French river after getting stuck on a pre-race ride

Danish sprinter Magnus Cort blamed the sports director for this piece of unexpected cyclo-cross training. Riding their pre-race spin ahead of the one-day race up Mont Ventoux today, the team were seemingly directed to this bridge...only to find it impassable. Turn around and find another way across? Not when Lachlan Morton is leading the group...

When not racing on the road Morton is an adventure racer and competes in gravel races and alternative events such as the self-supported GBDURO from Land's End to John O'Groats. Unsurprisingly, he had already crossed and was happily filming his teammates wading through while trying to keep their precious Cannondale's dry.

To be honest, that river looks like a nice place to cool off from the Provence heat...

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

Add new comment

46 comments

Avatar
Richard D | 2 years ago
9 likes

"Police officers were called and told the cyclist that the vehicle's details had been circulated and it was believed to be registered in North Ayrshire. Enquiries are ongoing."

If only cars were on some way labelled or registered.  It would stop this sort of thing.

Meanwhile, Mr Loopy thinks that registering bikes makes sense ...

Avatar
Jenova20 replied to Richard D | 2 years ago
1 like

Richard D wrote:

"Police officers were called and told the cyclist that the vehicle's details had been circulated and it was believed to be registered in North Ayrshire. Enquiries are ongoing."

If only cars were on some way labelled or registered.  It would stop this sort of thing.

Meanwhile, Mr Loopy thinks that registering bikes makes sense ...

He seems to be under the impression that requiring more stringent regulation of cyclists and cycles will somehow stop cars killing so many cyclists each year.

A cynical person might just think he hates cyclists and wants them off the road...

Avatar
IanMSpencer | 2 years ago
5 likes

Hope Sam did a shoulder check.

Strangely, I've noticed that it's not just cyclists that jump red lights, motorists tend to treat them as a guideline rather than a rule.

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

IanMSpencer wrote:

Hope Sam did a shoulder check. Strangely, I've noticed that it's not just cyclists that jump red lights, motorists tend to treat them as a guideline rather than a rule.

You take that back. They've done a test that SCIENTIFICALLY PROVES that they know and obey the HWC

Avatar
Sriracha | 2 years ago
5 likes

With the bike thief being so handy with the angle grinder, I got to wondering what might slow him down. Maybe something like an Ottolock cinch band tight around the rear wheel rim. It only needs to foul the rotation of the wheel through the stays or brake calipers. Cinched tight around the wheel/tyre it would be impossible to get a pair of snips in. So that would leave the trusty angle grinder, with every chance of bursting the tyre.

Maybe there are other ideas - some cheap/light secondary device that stops the bike from being readily ridden away, but which is plain awkward to attack with an angle grinder. Some kind of disc rotor lock?

Avatar
ktache replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
4 likes

The hilarious consequences of the StemLock perhaps?

https://www.coolthings.com/stemlock-bicycle-lock/

Avatar
Sriracha replied to ktache | 2 years ago
2 likes

I just don't think I could trust it to not disengage whilst I was going downhill with a following breeze. But otherwise, absolutely brilliant idea. I notice the date 2014, and listed as available "shortly", however.

Avatar
ktache replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
2 likes

Here the Ixow site, I stumbled on them when looking for lockable parts, their safering keycode for skewers snd seatpost looks very good

https://www.ixow.com/en/univers/protection-contre-le-vol/#stemlock

I went with HexLox throughout.

Though the site doesn't seem to offer the lockable stem...

 

Avatar
ktache replied to ktache | 2 years ago
0 likes

And their other stems are neither cheap nor light.

Avatar
BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
2 likes

Get a wheel lock - like the Dutch have on their bikes. It stops the wheel turning and the bike cannot be ridden away. (It can be lifted over the shoulder of course) The locks are very difficult to remove without destroying the bike or the wheel. 

Avatar
Sriracha replied to BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP | 2 years ago
0 likes

That's actually a damn good idea. I know they are going to be about as trendy as socks with sandals - but I don't like blisters either. However, 750g, that's heavier than I was expecting.
So, at the risk of triggering something:
https://www.dutchbikebits.com/axa-defender-wheel-lock

Avatar
HoarseMann replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
1 like

2.75kg if you add the chain that plugs into it!

Security through obscurity I reckon, as they're a rare sight in the UK and it's less likely a bike thief will have the tools/confidence to have a go at it.

I've got the slightly chunkier victory, but not on the road bike! It's on my beater bike for around town.

Avatar
Kerans replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
0 likes

Is there any sort of material that could be a casing on the outside of the D-Lock that could strip off and tangle in the grinder, causing it to lock up? Like long strands of kevlar or whatever they put in chainsaw protection clothing?

Avatar
wtjs | 2 years ago
4 likes

"Many drivers don’t realise how important that passing space is, or that they can be prosecuted for not leaving enough room.”

Yes they do- it's just that they don't care; they can be, but they aren't, not in Lancashire anyway. No prosecution of VW California G6 NOO. If only he'd realised he was passing too close, he could have done something about it!

Avatar
brooksby | 2 years ago
5 likes

Oh my god: thief using an angle grinder in broad f-ing daylight next to a main f-ing road??? surprise 

Avatar
Sriracha replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
9 likes

20 seconds from dropping his bag until riding away. Seriously, it can take me longer using the key! And that was a decent lock, needed two cuts.

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AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
1 like

Re: Smart Junction.

We had one in Birmingham on the  A34 cycle path. However it seems the sensors are now busted or I wasn't setting them off recently but the lights did not change after several minutes of waiting and in the end I did go though the red light when the traffic cleared. 

Re: New St Station Parking. 

The old parking used to be a badly lit/ barely used tunnel outside the station confines. I was surprised about how many people seemed to use it although bikes probably didn't even break thew £100 barrier. 

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Sriracha replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
0 likes

Are you on a carbon fibre frame? I wonder if the sensors rely on a chunk of metal passing over the loops?

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
0 likes

Alu for both bikes. I don't use it alot due to normally being faster on the road but was on the slower hybrid a few times earlier in the year and realised the sensor was not working. It looks like it uses the "top-o-pole" sensors if you look closely. 

Avatar
ktache replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
1 like

I have never had the wired detectors work that well, even on an old steel mtb with alloy rims.

That Manchester one had proper priority too, not just waiting around, hoping...

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to ktache | 2 years ago
1 like

"That Manchester one had proper priority too, not just waiting around, hoping.."

The Birmingham one was the same when working last year. Would detect the bike approaching and would change as you got there. (at least on the one approach). It did have a cool down timer obviously. At least once it did pick me up when I cycled around the island though so maybe they turned down the sensitivity or it was causing too much traffic backed up onto the island (which also used to happen prior to the bike lane in "rush" hour.)

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David9694 | 2 years ago
2 likes

where's Angry fork lift farmer? What's that, the dog ate your web browser? 

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Captain Badger | 2 years ago
23 likes

Re Cyclist feared for his life during unprovoked road rage incident caught on CCTV

Please stop calling this "road rage". This is flat-out assault, bullying and intimidation of people going about their lawful business. The authorities are standing by and ceding ownership of the roads to bullies and low level criminals.

This bullying is working. For all the increase in cyclists, many folk won't go out on the roads unless in a car due to this kind of behaviour.

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Captain Badger replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 2 years ago
8 likes

Nigel Garrage wrote:

We don't really see what happened beforehand, ....

We never can Nige, videos always have a start. In any case, it's a distraction. The behaviour is unacceptable, completely unjustifiable legally or morally and needs to be dealt with.

WTF am I kidding, s'only a cyclist.

I suspect he didn't know the cone was there, but spotted it when they got out, and decided to improvise. Luckily wasn't a scaffolding pole....

Avatar
SaintClarence27 replied to Captain Badger | 2 years ago
4 likes

Captain Badger wrote:

Nigel Garrage wrote:

We don't really see what happened beforehand, ....

We never can Nige, videos always have a start. In any case, it's a distraction. The behaviour is unacceptable, completely unjustifiable legally or morally and needs to be dealt with.

WTF am I kidding, s'only a cyclist.

I suspect he didn't know the cone was there, but spotted it when they got out, and decided to improvise. Luckily wasn't a scaffolding pole....

I think the point is that there is nothing in this video to make us believe that it was a targeted attack or random attack on a cyclist *because* he was a cyclist, as opposed to an attack on the person for something that happened prior.

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to SaintClarence27 | 2 years ago
6 likes

SaintClarence27 wrote:

.....

I think the point is that there is nothing in this video to make us believe that it was a targeted attack or random attack on a cyclist *because* he was a cyclist, as opposed to an attack on the person for something that happened prior.

Sorry Saint, your point is not clear. Someone on a bike was targetted rather than random passers by. I think it's facking obvious that these cockwombles had beef with this particular cyclist. So far we are in agreement

However, I don't accept "well there may have been justification". This attack stands alone, and any accusation levelled at the rider would need to be supported by evidence rather than speculation, and I cannot imagine a situation that would justify a premeditated attack that endangers the rider and other road users.

In addition, this kind of behaviour has a ripple effect that further intimidates other people that are not directly involved

I long to see a day where the "what did you do to deserve that then" attitude is firmly kicked into touch.

 

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

The cyclist was almost certainly targeted. There is never justification for an attack, but the cyclist pulled over prior to any agro, perhaps to 'have a word' so something most likely happened prior to the video that led to this.

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

OnTheRopes wrote:

The cyclist was almost certainly targeted. There is never justification for an attack, but the cyclist pulled over prior to any agro, perhaps to 'have a word' so something most likely happened prior to the video that led to this.

I agree entirely. However it is not relevant as a number of people , including my old mate Dave have stated (unless he didn't - hard to tell with Dave). I don't really know in that case why it is being brought up (whatever "it" is)

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism replied to OnTheRopes | 2 years ago
5 likes

Yes, probably had been close passed off video and gesticulated / swore after them. They decided to explain that Gwent Police do not accept that sort of thing.

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Hirsute replied to Captain Badger | 2 years ago
1 like

Where are you getting "well there may have been justification" from ?

Something that "happened prior" could cover anything - maybe they are in rival gangs and he 'disrespected' them.

 

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