Councillor says they got "dog's abuse" for telling cyclists to use £700,000 shared-use path; "Not the type of fan we want": EF Education-EasyPost's Jonathan Vaughters shares grim homophobic 'fan mail'; TdF: Unchained hits Netflix + more on the live blog

A councillor in Dunfermline, in Scotland, has told the local press how they received "dog's abuse" for telling cyclists they should use cycle lanes, namely a shared-use path that cost £700,000 to build.

Jean Hall-Muir accused local cyclists of taking the law "unto themselves", saying they "do what they want". 

"If you provide a cycle lane they go on the road. If you point it out you get dog's abuse from the cyclists as they don't want to hear it from anyone else," she said.

"I would like to see an elevated responsibility from the cyclists. If you're provided with a dedicated lane, you're expected to use that and stay in it, but I don't know how much we can do."

Interestingly the article was illustrated with a picture of one new-looking shared-use path on Aberdour Road, the sort of infrastructure that could help new riders who might not have the confidence to negotiate the road and would otherwise be cycling on the pavement (or not at all), but might seem unnecessary to those with more experience.

"We can't make people use them," Lesley Craig, from the traffic management service added. "It's a mandatory cycle lane that's there for their use but we're dealing with human nature. If cyclists are still allowed to cycle on the road we can't enforce against them doing that. We just have to provide what we can and hope they will use it."

Another councillor, Lynn Ballantyne-Wardlaw, had at least spoken to those of us told to use such 'infrastructure'... "One of the reasons cyclists shared with me, as to why they still cycle on the road rather than use cycle lanes, is that the detritus and mess that ends up on cycle lanes damages their wheels and they find it safer on the road."

At risk of veering off into opinion here... can councillors really get miffed if the extent of their 'infra' is widening and resurfacing a pavement and calling it a shared-use path? I think I already know the answer, but it's nice to have a short relief after writing all of the above...

I wonder if somewhere near Granada, at altitute, a certain Slovenian was watching this?

🏁 🇩🇰Jonas Vingegaard termine en solitaire pour remporter l’étape et endosser le @MaillotJauneLCL. 💛
⏪ Revivez le dernier kilomètre.

🏁 🇩🇰Jonas Vingegaard finishes solo! He wins Stage 5 and takes the Yellow Jersey. 💛
⏪ Relive the last kilometre.#Dauphiné pic.twitter.com/KCOXoptgTM

— Critérium du Dauphiné (@dauphine) June 8, 2023

Extra training motivation, I guess, seeing your big rival for the Tour de France dispatch all the other Dauphiné hopefuls with one strong attack. We're not even in the mountains yet...

> Have pro cyclists 'gone soft'? Perceptions of elite sport (and us mortals) discussed + Simon samples Drum & Bass On The Bike!

Here's a depressing start to a live blog in 2023. EF Education-EasyPost's team boss Jonathan Vaughters shared a picture of an email that dropped into his inbox after yesterday's Critérium du Dauphiné time trial where British rider James Shaw was the team's best finisher, in 17th, and team leader Richard Carapaz lost a disappointing 2:39, coming home 43rd...

Warning: email includes very strong homophobic language

It’s the fan mail we get that really keeps everyone motivated. pic.twitter.com/w2jdcYEWwd

— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) June 7, 2023

Wait until he sees what Carapaz was wearing in 2019... 

A reminder that Carapaz was bossing it in pink well before joining E Education-EasyPost 😉 pic.twitter.com/WYq6PM5e2P

— Simon MacMichael 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇹🇪🇺❤️💙🚲 (@simonmacmichael) June 7, 2023

"In case there was any need of clarification, as there often is on Twitter, this person, whoever they are, is not the type of fan we want. Period," Vaughters added. 

As one real fan replied, hopefully they sent a nice pink EF cap to whichever basement this particular email came from...

 

 

 

 

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> Is Shimano working on a hub-charged electronic shift system?

Just to keep you going until you get to watch it... 

A segment just on Pidcock's Galibier descent, oh yes 🤩😱pic.twitter.com/KBWCJLvxGz

— Dan Deakins (@DanDeakins) June 7, 2023

People to trying to get away from the flooding in Ukraine after the dam collapsed. On their bikes.
This is really much, much harder than it looks. Respect! pic.twitter.com/k8F8u7aJdI

— Henk Swarttouw (@copenhenken) June 7, 2023