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Live blog: Jeremy Clarkson takes aim at cyclists (again); Sustrans adapt tech to design more inclusive cycle routes; Dumoulin places 6th in beach MTB race, while Bardet tries CX; Should rear lights be compulsory?; Rees-Mogg off to Centre Parcs +more

All the news from the site and beyond as we start a new week...
Mon, Dec 02, 2019 18:08
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Live blog: Jeremy Clarkson takes aim at cyclists (again); Sustrans adapt tech to design more inclusive cycle routes; Dumoulin places 6th in beach MTB race, while Bardet tries CX; Should rear lights be compulsory?; Rees-Mogg off to Centre Parcs +moreJeremy Clarkson on bike BBC News video still
02 December 2019, 13:25
Jeremy Clarkson manages to shoehorn traditional dig at cyclists in latest interview

Speaking to Joe UK, bantersaurus Clarkson says he will be voting for "anyone but Corbyn" in the upcoming UK general election because "socialism doesn't work."

Of course it wouldn't be a hilarious Clarkson tirade without a potshot at cyclists - so he claims that "if you are ill there will be a doctor", but "they won't be able to get to because of the cycle lanes."

Screen Shot 2019-12-02 at 13.34.52

That said, according to the BBC it's not all terrible news on the Clarkson front, with the broadcaster 'explicitly acknowledging' the existence of climate change in the upcoming series of The Grand Tour. With reference to Greta Thunberg, Clarkson says: "Now, if I wanted to, I could run around the world on carbon fibre yachts, shouting and yelling and wailing.

"Or, you can just acknowledge it, and then behind the scenes start working on how we address this problem. But we don't offer any solutions, we're not scientists, only scientists can come up with solutions. Politicians can't. Weird Swedes can't. Only scientists can.

"We just go, 'look, there's hardly any water in this lake, look at all these poor starving fishermen. That's the fact, now let's get on with making the TV show'."

02 December 2019, 16:15
Sustrans adapt new software to help town planners design 'more inclusive' cycling routes

Sustrans have developed an adapted version of the AutoTURN software - originally used to analyse and accommodate movement of motor vehicles - to simulate accurate real-life movements of people who cycle. This, Sustrans say, will "help identify potential barriers on paths and ensure smooth flow and turn for different types of cycles, including tricycles, tandems and cargo bikes."

Engineers should be able to get real-time feedback at the design stage on whether a path or a cycle track is accessible and practical for different types of cycles, and Sustrans have carried out a series of field tests to determine a cycle’s manoeuvrability. These include how quickly someone can steer from a straight-line path into a curve, how fast someone can travel around a tight bend, and how far they need to lean to do so.

"Towns and cities across the UK have prioritised planning for the car for decades. This needs to change", says Sustrans. "We need to ensure cycling infrastructure is designed to consistently high standards and help make cycling inclusive for everyone." 

They also claim that only 7% of disabled people in the UK cycle even though 33% would like to start, and this tool could play a big part in making more routes accessible. The bike simulation tools will be commercially available next year.

 

02 December 2019, 16:01
Might even be quicker at next year's Vuelta...

...what with the fearsome Angliru being included in the route for 2020, a 12.6km slog with plenty of sections topping out at 20%. As noted by Alessandro De Marchi! 

02 December 2019, 15:26
Tom Dumoulin goes beach mountain bike racing

In his first competitive outing since June's Critérium du Dauphiné, Dumoulin placed sixth at the Jeep MTB Beachrace in Scheveningen in the Netherlands, with Rick van Breda taking the win. 

The Dutchman left Sunweb in August and will ride for Jumbo Visma alongside Wout van Aert and Primož Roglič  in 2020 - a knee injury kept Dumoulin out of the Tour de France and the World Championships, but on this evidence he looks to be well on the way back to full fitness. 

02 December 2019, 15:48
Meanwhile, Romain Bardet has been trying his hand at cyclocross
romain bardet cyclocross - via strava

While Dumoulin headed for the sand, fellow World Tour pro Romain Bardet was racing cyclocross over the weekend as part of his winter off-season training. The AG2R rider placed third in the CX race in Cournon, France, telling La Montagne: "It was cool, I had a big week of training and did it all right, with intensive efforts.

"I was happy, there was a lot of people, 50 at the start, we had fun. I will try to do more cyclo-cross before I depart for Australia. This is part of my winter preparation, it means I get a little cardio work in a different way over winter."  

02 December 2019, 16:05
North Coast 500 rides with Mark Beaumont taking place over summer
Mark Beaumont silhouette

Round-the-world record holder Beaumont has completed the NC500 twice already, and in 2020 there will be rides departing on May 4th and August 31st for a five-day journey across the route acommpanied by Beaumont. Bookings are through Wilderness Scotland, with trips including all accommodation, meals and energy snacks and drinks, logistical support throughout and an expert guide from Wilderness Scotland. Beaumont told the John O Groat Journal: “The creation of North Coast 500 in the past five years has taken the north of Scotland from an unknown wilderness for cyclists to an absolute bucket-list challenge.

"It truly is the most breathtaking route in the UK, with wildlife, local food and scenery making it so unique and memorable. But it is also tough, with over 10,000 feet of ascent as well as the 500 miles, so not for the faint-hearted if you are up for the added challenge of completing it in four days.

"I’m excited to be heading back in 2020 to explore this wonderful route.”

02 December 2019, 13:17
Fate...

02 December 2019, 13:13
Bristol's new 'cycling infrastructure' at Temple Gate

For anyone who has experienced the new road layout around Bristol Temple Meads train station... well arguably it leaves a fair bit to be desired, no matter if you're a cyclist, pedestrian or driver. A full article will follow based off this here tweet later today. 

02 December 2019, 12:56
Choo choo
bitton railway train stop.JPG

For the first time in three years of commuting on the Bristol and Bath Railway track, road.cc Jack was forced to stop for a steam train at the Bitton Railway crossing... pretty typical it happens on a day when it's about minus 2 outside. Apologies for the crap photo, condensation... 

02 December 2019, 12:29
Astana on Wilier for 2020... hot or not?
astana wilier 2020 1

The Kazakh team have just announced a new partnership with the Italian bike brand shortly after ending their association with Argon 18. What do you reckon? Read all about it here. 

02 December 2019, 11:09
And the deals keep on coming...
FFWD F4 Disc

Black Friday has morphed into Cyber Monday and the likes of ChainReaction, ProBikeKit and many other cycling retailers are giving the deals one last push.

There's 49% off InfoCrank Power Meter, 51% off Fast Forward F4 Disc Carbon Clincher and loads more to have a look at.

There's a dedicated Live Blog for deals, which you can find here.

02 December 2019, 09:31
Bike Park Wales green trail
Bike Park Wales gets new uplift accessed easier green mountain bike trail

Bike Park Wales announced last week that they had started work on one of the UK first uplifted green trails as well as a brand new visitors centre and lots more parking. With better accessibility for families and younger riders, plus more toilets - it all sounds grand! Find out more here on off-road.cc

Bike Park Wales gets new uplift accessed easier green mountain bike trail
02 December 2019, 09:12
Should rear lights be compulsory in CTT events?
 

We're just trying to clarify a few details, but as far as we know (there was also a vote on the possibility of compulsory helmets but that's another story, which you can read here) rear lights will be compulsory in Cycling Time Trial events in 2020 across most parts of the UK. As well as the more traditional time trials this also includes the hill climb format, in which riders will naturally try to strip their bike of as much weight as possible. Couple this with the fact that some are held on closed roads, and numerous hill climbers are failing to see why the change is necessary. 

lights comment.PNG

 

On our article yesterday about the helmet and lights changes we got a mixed bag of comments, so naturally we've done a little poll. Have your say and feel free to expand in the comments. In the meantime we're going to check with CTT exactly what had been voted for and against, because as we understand it the rear light rule will exclude hill climbs and closed road events in Scotland only. 

02 December 2019, 09:02
Rees-Mogg takes a break

The Conservative parliamentary candidate for North East Somerset and leader of the House of Commons appears to have been quiet during the current election campaign; some suggest this is because his views are not well received by members of the public who are in any way conscientious, but Eastenders actor Davood Ghadami has put forward this more innocent reason for his elusiveness. Not sure if Rees-Mogg's wife Helena Anne Beatrix Wentworth Fitzwilliam de Chair or their six children would be satisfied with a Centre Parcs holiday either... 

Jack Sexty

Jack has been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of the website including tech, news and video, and also contributed to eBikeTips before being named Editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master's degree in print journalism and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it's a long story). 

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21 comments

Avatar
Robert Hardy | 5 years ago
4 likes

A man who has spent much of his adult life striving to legitimise, in the minds of his manchild followers, the use of the public highway as a playground, the Abu Hamza of lethal road misbehaviour.

Avatar
miekwidnes | 5 years ago
2 likes

Oh look - Clarkson is in the news again with another non PC rant

 

and by a total coincidence - there is a new Grand Tour series starting soon

 

getting kinda obvious now mate

 

 

Avatar
Philh68 | 5 years ago
3 likes

Clarkson says if he wanted to he could sail around the world shouting and yelling and wailing… instead, he chooses to fly around the world to drive carbon fibre sports cars, shouting and yelling and wailing about how unfair it is that people with a social conscience point out the frivolous waste and selfishness of it… and how fragile is the blokes ego that he can’t handle being upstaged by a 16 year old girl?

Avatar
Awavey | 5 years ago
0 likes

feels like Im stating the obvious but you all do realise Clarkson is promoting the next series of the Grand Tour...right ?

theres even a nice picture of all 3 of the gang riding bicycles in the promo material

Avatar
Gary's bike channel | 5 years ago
2 likes

i grew up liking jeremy clarkson. But now i think hes off his head on something.   Cycling works, doesnt cause congestion or pollution, cycle lanes WORK.   Driving doesnt and never will. Driving just isnt fun any more. Cyclists dont cause a problem to drivers, drivers cause a problem to cyclists. They also slow us down to a crawl every single day. He needs to realise bicycles and motorbikes are the way forward, the car should remain at the back of the road queue.  

Avatar
Bob's Bikes | 5 years ago
0 likes

Do love the bit in the top video at approx 1:47 in where you effectively have to turn right to get into the bus lane from the left turn only lane! or should the cyclist have been in lane two (for straight on)

Avatar
ktache | 5 years ago
3 likes

As was mentioned in the Twitter thread, and I am a fan of what Sustran tries to do and give them money every month, but they need to get their own house in order and maybe to remove some of the A frames and other barriers to bicycles on their NCN.  Or maybe mention them on their quite expensive maps.

Yes, I know that the routes actually belong to the local authorities, but, you know Sustrans,sort it out.

Avatar
boardmanrider | 5 years ago
0 likes

Hmm, interesting to see Duomolin riding a SunWeb team Giant mountain bike; he left them back in August and they rode Cervelo this year. Granted Cervelo don't make a mountain bike and the MTB he is riding is from last season but do so, as well as riding in their kit is really odd.

Avatar
quiff | 5 years ago
3 likes

Clarkson: "But we don't offer any solutions, we're not scientists, only scientists can come up with solutions. Politicians can't. Weird Swedes can't. Only scientists can."

There may or may not be some breakthrough scientific solution waiting out there. But if the extent of Clarkson's much publicised climate change realisation is to acknowledge it, use it as a soundbite to sell your globe-trotting gas guzzling show, then carry on as normal waiting for someone else to fix the problem, then it's not much of an epiphany. I suspect I'm preaching to the at least partially converted here, but we can all make some small difference in our day to day choices, we don't need to be 'weird Swedes' or scientists, and waiting for other people to sort it out is an abrogation of responsibility.   

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to quiff | 5 years ago
2 likes

quiff wrote:

Clarkson: "But we don't offer any solutions, we're not scientists, only scientists can come up with solutions. Politicians can't. Weird Swedes can't. Only scientists can."

There may or may not be some breakthrough scientific solution waiting out there. But if the extent of Clarkson's much publicised climate change realisation is to acknowledge it, use it as a soundbite to sell your globe-trotting gas guzzling show, then carry on as normal waiting for someone else to fix the problem, then it's not much of an epiphany. I suspect I'm preaching to the at least partially converted here, but we can all make some small difference in our day to day choices, we don't need to be 'weird Swedes' or scientists, and waiting for other people to sort it out is an abrogation of responsibility.   

It's all well and good recycling and making less journeys etc., but it really needs proper commitment from politicians/leaders to effect actual meaningful change. Big industry loves selling the idea of everyone doing their part, but they keep refusing/dodging doing their bit and it's only really politicians that can force them to change some of their ways. However, it seems that big industry is quite happy to pay for the best politicians that money can buy.

It's like we're on a sinking ship and some of us are concerned about the ship sinking, whereas the well-off are busy grabbing all the half-drunk flutes of champagne and laughing.

Avatar
quiff replied to hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
2 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

It's all well and good recycling and making less journeys etc., but it really needs proper commitment from politicians/leaders to effect actual meaningful change. Big industry loves selling the idea of everyone doing their part, but they keep refusing/dodging doing their bit and it's only really politicians that can force them to change some of their ways. However, it seems that big industry is quite happy to pay for the best politicians that money can buy.

It's like we're on a sinking ship and some of us are concerned about the ship sinking, whereas the well-off are busy grabbing all the half-drunk flutes of champagne and laughing.

I do understand that people feel their own reducing / reusing / recycling etc is a drop in the ocean compared to big industry and the politics which allow it to continue being big and industrious with impunity, I just feel we could all be making things marginally better at the same time as lobbying others to change, rather than saying "I'll do better when you do" and waiting for industry or politicians to have a damascene conversion. And it was directed mainly at Jeremy Clarkson, so there's plenty of rom for improvement there.    

Avatar
handlebarcam | 5 years ago
5 likes

Clarkson doing interviews these days is like a pearl diver coming up for air. He bursts up, says his predictably ignorant guff, sucks down great big lungfuls of attention, then submerges again to pluck riches (pay cheques from Amazon) off the seafloor. But really, deep-down, he wishes he was back on proper telly, and still relevant, instead of being limited to an audience comprising the niche of the niche of people who're both subscribed to that particular video service and who find him even vaguely tolerable. Do not pander to him.

Avatar
Velomark replied to handlebarcam | 5 years ago
2 likes

handlebarcam wrote:

Clarkson doing interviews these days is like a pearl diver coming up for air. He bursts up, says his predictably ignorant guff, sucks down great big lungfuls of attention, then submerges again to pluck riches (pay cheques from Amazon) off the seafloor. But really, deep-down, he wishes he was back on proper telly, and still relevant, instead of being limited to an audience comprising the niche of the niche of people who're both subscribed to that particular video service and who find him even vaguely tolerable. Do not pander to him.

 

I agree, I have a subscription to amazon prime but would never dream of watching his program now even though I sometimes used to watch top gear when it was on. The show seems to be entirely made up with the least interesting bits of Top Gear the pointless stunts that were nothing directly to do with cars.

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism | 5 years ago
3 likes

Re - Stopped at Rail crossing. 

So Jack, getting you reasons for lateness in early then?

Avatar
Jack Sexty replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 5 years ago
3 likes
AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

Re - Stopped at Rail crossing. 

So Jack, getting you reasons for lateness in early then?

Indeed, not many people have the benefit of being able to broadcast the fact to several thousand people so might as well take full advantage! (I await my written warning)

Avatar
brooksby | 5 years ago
4 likes

I think it's more likely that Rees-Mogg is being shipped to the Village, to stay forever and ever...

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 5 years ago
3 likes

brooksby wrote:

I think it's more likely that Rees-Mogg is being shipped to the Village, to stay forever and ever...

I hope not as I love Portmeirion.

However, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis (the architect behind Portmeirion) did describe the village as "a holiday retreat for the discerning", so he may have well have shared some classist views with Rees-Mogg.

 

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... replied to brooksby | 5 years ago
4 likes
brooksby wrote:

I think it's more likely that Rees-Mogg is being shipped to the Village, to stay forever and ever...

"I am not a number, I am a human being" would be a bit awkward for the guy who called his sixth child Sixtus.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to FluffyKittenofTindalos | 5 years ago
2 likes

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:
brooksby wrote:

I think it's more likely that Rees-Mogg is being shipped to the Village, to stay forever and ever...

"I am not a number, I am a human being" would be a bit awkward for the guy who called his sixth child Sixtus.

Six of one, half dozen of another.

Avatar
brooksby replied to hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
2 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:
brooksby wrote:

I think it's more likely that Rees-Mogg is being shipped to the Village, to stay forever and ever...

"I am not a number, I am a human being" would be a bit awkward for the guy who called his sixth child Sixtus.

Six of one, half dozen of another.

Very good!  laugh

 

Be seeing you...

Avatar
dodpeters | 5 years ago
11 likes

Should looking where you are going be compulsory for all motorists?

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