Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Back to news
news

Live blog: 5 things we learned from British Cycling’s Zwift eRacing Champs; Corner-cutting collision vid goes viral; Leave Vs Remain poll – summer time/winter time?; Skinny Wigan bike lane; Rapha pops up north; "too fat" pro cyclist; lots of bikes + more

All the cycling news from this site and beyond…
UPDATED Sat, Mar 30, 2019 00:06
15
Live blog: 5 things we learned from British Cycling’s Zwift eRacing Champs; Corner-cutting collision vid goes viral; Leave Vs Remain poll – summer time/winter time?; Skinny Wigan bike lane; Rapha pops up north; "too fat" pro cyclist; lots of bikes + moreBritish Cycling Zwift eRacing Championships 2019
29 March 2019, 16:14
Regarding that skinny Wigan cycle lane from this morning
29 March 2019, 15:45
Union Canal (via StreetView)
Three Edinburgh cyclists pushed into canal by youths

The Edinburgh News reports that the city has seen a spate of attacks on cyclists by the canal.

Between 5pm and 9.15pm on Wednesday, three men were cycling on National Cycle Route 754 near Murrayburn and Wester Hailes when they were confronted by a group of youths and pushed into the Union Canal.

Police are appealing for witnesses and say they are treating the incidents “very seriously.”

Green councillor and Edinburgh canal champion, councillor Gavin Corbett, said: “As someone who cycles on the canal towpath every day I’m alarmed and disappointed to hear of these incidents. I’m glad there was no serious injury but only by luck.

“The canal towpath has generally become so much safer over the last 20 years partly because so many people use it. However, it’s a prompt to look further at towpath improvements such as visibility and lighting, so that it continues to be a popular route for walking, cycling and running.”

29 March 2019, 17:06
British Cycling Zwift eRacing Championships 2019
Five things we learnt from yesterday’s British Cycling Zwift eRacing Championships

Yesterday’s British Cycling eRacing Championships at BT Sport’s studio in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park provided some terrific racing as 10 men and 10 women fought it out to be crowned the inaugural national champions. Here’s five things we took away from the event.

Virtual racing is emerging as a discipline in its own right. The purists may not buy into it, but there’s no reason why, as more events are developed, it comes to sit alongside road and track.

It’s a sport which lends itself well to a live audience. Yes, it needs a bit of space – the BT Sport studio that hosted last night’s event was huge – but eSports are nowadays often played out in front of big crowds in the US and Far East, and there’s no reason this should be different.

For that to work though, it does need a decent set-up. The set used yesterday was spectacular and it would be difficult to justify that for every event – but the huge screen behind the riders that showed the Zwift feed in real time really worked and it was easy to follow what was going on.

It’s fascinating to watch the riders close up. Watching a road race in person rather than on TV, even in the mountains it can be difficult to fully appreciate the riders’ efforts, they pass so quickly. Here, though, they stay in the same place so you can watch individual riders for as long as you like and it's also eaasy to get an idea of who is struggling and who is looking strong.

It’s another means of talent-spotting. The men and women who contested the national championships qualified from hundreds of hopefuls and while a number of them will be familiar names to people who follow the domestic scene, others aren’t, and the Zwift Academy programme shows that it’s another way of potentially breaking into the pro ranks.

29 March 2019, 14:38
Now You See Me (via YouTube)
Two thirds of drivers are surprised when a cyclist ‘appears from nowhere’

Image above is from the Now You See Me campaign video.

Full story here.

29 March 2019, 14:32
Rose's funky new urban bike

German brand Rose is showing this funky new urban city bike at the London Bike Show today. What do you think?

29 March 2019, 14:31
It's the London Bike Show today

We're at the London Bike Show today checking out what's new and hot in the bike world, and this speedy Cervelo S5 Disc has caught our eye. 

29 March 2019, 12:57
Leave Vs Remain poll: Summer time or winter time?

The clocks go forward for potentially the last time ever this weekend - no, it’s not the end of the world, it’s just the end of bi-annual clock changes, at least it is in the EU so…

Apparently there was a continent wide public consultation about it, millions voted …we were a bit preoccupied so most of us seem to have missed it. Upshot is that from 2020 countries are going to decide whether to stick with permanent summer time or winter time - referendums perhaps?
So (inserting the usual Brexit caveats here) which will it be, lighter rides home on the winter commute or the lure of bonus daylight at 3.30am when the roads are nice and quiet? Have your say!*

*all votes cast as will be treated as being purely indicative and non-binding

29 March 2019, 12:31
Lord Robert Winston (CC licensed by Andy Miah via Flickr)
Lord Robert Winston says a woman kicked him when he told her not to cycle on the pavement

Labour peer says he’s considering introducing a private members' bill to force cyclists to have licence plates.

Full story here.

29 March 2019, 12:20
5X7A3132
Rapha launches Aero Block Collection

Rapha has just announced the new Aero Block Collection, a range of aero jerseys with a cool new block pattern that is apparently inspired by the way air flows over a rider’s body.

The range includes several jerseys, base layers, bib shorts and caps for men and women, with prices starting at £30 and rising to £205. You can view the range here.

 

 

29 March 2019, 11:14
Ryan Mullen hit by car while training

The Irish rider's luck hasn't been good so far this year.

After coming back from a virus, the Trek-Segafredo rider was hit by a car while on a rest day ride before E3 Harelbeke. He'll miss today's race, but as Alex Dowsett points out, what about the poor car? 

29 March 2019, 11:13
29 March 2019, 11:09
Not such great sportsmanship from Longo-Borghini

Here's one to add to the highlights reel of cyclists throwing bikes. Problem is, that wasn't even Longo-Borghini's bike. 

The Italian rider later apologised for the incident 

29 March 2019, 11:04
Great sportsmanship from Hepburn

The Mitchelon-Scott Aussie stopped to help his friend from another team after a crash in the closing stages of Driedaagse Brugge- De Panne.
Thankfully Zak Dempster is ok and will be starting E3 Harelbeke today.

29 March 2019, 10:37
Video of motorist ploughing into cyclist waiting at junction removed from Facebook

Michael Rammell removed this video from Facebook because... well, because far too many people were being colossal arseholes in the comments.

Sample Facebook comment:

And here's the background.

29 March 2019, 09:36
"If you can't fit the bike picture in the lane, it's not wide enough"
29 March 2019, 09:33
Remco Evenepoel (via YouTube)
Patrick Lefevere says Remco Evenepoel is "too fat"

Rarely one to mince his words, Deceuninck – Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere has told Humo that junior road race and time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel is too fat.

He says the 19-year-old Belgian star is 4kg overweight.

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.

Add new comment

15 comments

Avatar
Wardy74 | 5 years ago
4 likes

Why don't we split the difference in daylight hours? So GMT +30MINS. A bit like a Brexit compromise, else we'll have to have another vote where about half will be pissed off.

Avatar
burtthebike replied to Wardy74 | 5 years ago
1 like

Wardy74 wrote:

Why don't we split the difference in daylight hours? So GMT +30MINS. A bit like a Brexit compromise, else we'll have to have another vote where about half will be pissed off.

The answer is clear and we should decimalise the time system to 100 hours a day, one hundred minutes an hour and 100 seconds per minute.  Then adjust the actual time by moving it backwards or forwards every day by an amount to synchronise it with sunrise. 

This will be the easiest deal to negotiate since all the trade deals we've done since the referendum.

Avatar
fbhidy replied to burtthebike | 5 years ago
1 like

burtthebike wrote:

Wardy74 wrote:

Why don't we split the difference in daylight hours? So GMT +30MINS. A bit like a Brexit compromise, else we'll have to have another vote where about half will be pissed off.

The answer is clear and we should decimalise the time system to 100 hours a day, one hundred minutes an hour and 100 seconds per minute.  Then adjust the actual time by moving it backwards or forwards every day by an amount to synchronise it with sunrise. 

This will be the easiest deal to negotiate since all the trade deals we've done since the referendum.

 

You do realize (or apparenlty not) that sunrise and sunset vary with latitude?

 

http://astrosun2.astro.cornell.edu/academics/courses/astro201/sun_rise.htm

Avatar
burtthebike replied to fbhidy | 5 years ago
6 likes

fbhidy wrote:

burtthebike wrote:

Wardy74 wrote:

Why don't we split the difference in daylight hours? So GMT +30MINS. A bit like a Brexit compromise, else we'll have to have another vote where about half will be pissed off.

The answer is clear and we should decimalise the time system to 100 hours a day, one hundred minutes an hour and 100 seconds per minute.  Then adjust the actual time by moving it backwards or forwards every day by an amount to synchronise it with sunrise. 

This will be the easiest deal to negotiate since all the trade deals we've done since the referendum.

You do realize (or apparenlty not) that sunrise and sunset vary with latitude?

http://astrosun2.astro.cornell.edu/academics/courses/astro201/sun_rise.htm

Latitude is an EU concept foisted on the rest of us by those unelected European officials, and will not be tolerated now that we've left.

Avatar
Awavey replied to fbhidy | 5 years ago
1 like

fbhidy wrote:

burtthebike wrote:

Wardy74 wrote:

Why don't we split the difference in daylight hours? So GMT +30MINS. A bit like a Brexit compromise, else we'll have to have another vote where about half will be pissed off.

The answer is clear and we should decimalise the time system to 100 hours a day, one hundred minutes an hour and 100 seconds per minute.  Then adjust the actual time by moving it backwards or forwards every day by an amount to synchronise it with sunrise. 

This will be the easiest deal to negotiate since all the trade deals we've done since the referendum.

 

You do realize (or apparenlty not) that sunrise and sunset vary with latitude?

 

http://astrosun2.astro.cornell.edu/academics/courses/astro201/sun_rise.htm

 

these are people who think bumping the clocks along by an hour magically lengthens the day, the idea that it might then end up still daylight at midnight in Newcastle instead of the leafy suburbs of London Im sure completely escapes them

 

 

Avatar
burtthebike replied to Awavey | 5 years ago
3 likes

Awavey wrote:

these are people who think bumping the clocks along by an hour magically lengthens the day, the idea that it might then end up still daylight at midnight in Newcastle instead of the leafy suburbs of London Im sure completely escapes them

When told the reason for daylight saving time the old Indian said, "Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of a blanket and have a longer blanket."

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... replied to Awavey | 5 years ago
0 likes

Awavey wrote:

 

these are people who think bumping the clocks along by an hour magically lengthens the day, the idea that it might then end up still daylight at midnight in Newcastle instead of the leafy suburbs of London Im sure completely escapes them

 

 

I get the relevance of London vs Newcastle (different lattitude), but what do the "leafy suburbs" have to do with the argument?

Are you saying only London suburbs have leaves, or that only London has suburbs?  Or that suburbs are in a different time-zone to inner cities?

I bet Newcastle has at least as many leaves as, say, Croydon.

 

Avatar
captain_slog replied to FluffyKittenofTindalos | 5 years ago
1 like

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

I bet Newcastle has at least as many leaves as, say, Croydon.

I don't know, I've always been a treemainer, myself.

Avatar
Organon replied to FluffyKittenofTindalos | 5 years ago
0 likes

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

 

I bet Newcastle has at least as many leaves as, say, Croydon.

Many more, assuming you include blades of grass (which are leaves,) but not if you are counting trees. Bit blowy up there.

Avatar
peted76 | 5 years ago
1 like

What.. there was a vote on whether to change the clocks? When.. who voted, was anyone asked in Warwickshire? I'd be a bit buggered riding my bike if I couldn't have long light summer nights... but then again it'd be a bit miserable going to work in the dark.. ah this is rather confusing!! 

 

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
6 likes

Motorist does that to police car sitting at the corner waiting to turn and that'd be dangerous driving all day long. Speed awareness course, ffs another day and that's yet another persons life snuffed out! Plod are a fucking disgrace!

Avatar
Hirsute | 5 years ago
4 likes

Near the start of my home, I approach a junction. Even in my car, I have to hold back on approach because I know that there are too many people who cut that corner and refuse to reduce their speed to take the corner properly. Still, as they can only continue about 300m more max, it must save them all of 3 seconds to take the corner properly.

Avatar
captain_slog | 5 years ago
1 like

If it's a choice between GMT or BST all year round, my preference is BST for those long evenings.

But I know there are arguments on both sides, and they rage every year. GMT keeps the mornings lighter in the winter, meaning fewer people have to go to work and school in the dark, so that's safer. Changing the clocks in spring and autumn, as we do now, seems like a good solution, but I think there's evidence that the change itself can cause accidents and health issues.

A quick search brings up this study from the US, which concludes that "health consequences from forced changes in the circadian patterns resulting from DST come not only from physiological adjustments but also from behavioral responses to forced circadian changes".

Avatar
ktache | 5 years ago
8 likes

That BMW cutting that corner.  I don't really want to swear...

Avatar
EddyBerckx replied to ktache | 5 years ago
5 likes

ktache wrote:

That BMW cutting that corner.  I don't really want to swear...

 

It's the facebook and social media hate that makes me want to swear and raises my blood pressure.

 

Social media is one of the worst things to happen to this country for decades. It's just a hate fest and an unbeliveably good way to spead fake news and misinformation.  Burn it with fire or sort it the fuck out.

Latest Comments