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'Annoyance tax' suggested as anti-cyclist bingo + two abreast rants roll on; Canyon unveils Grizl gravel bikes with new RockShox suspension; Ned Boulting talks bike paths; Ever been stuck behind a cyclist for an hour?; Zwift with G + more on the live blog

It's Tuesday and Dan Alexander will be providing the live blog updates while hopefully drying out from another soggy day on the bike yesterday...
Tue, Aug 10, 2021 09:02
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'Annoyance tax' suggested as anti-cyclist bingo + two abreast rants roll on; Canyon unveils Grizl gravel bikes with new RockShox suspension; Ned Boulting talks bike paths; Ever been stuck behind a cyclist for an hour?; Zwift with G + more on the live blogJeremy Vine two abreast cyclists video screenshot
10 August 2021, 16:08
Have a day off, Angela

Good to see everyone taking Angela Epstein's 'analysis' as seriously as it deserves to be...  

10 August 2021, 15:35
Dylan Groenewegen beats Mark Cavendish on Manx Missile's return to competition after Tour de France success

Mark Cavendish is in Denmark this week for his first race since the Tour de France. His Olympic gold medallist teammate Michael Mørkøv is there too, but couldn't guide Cav to victory today. Dylan Groenewegen took the opening stage, quite comfortably in the end, beating Cav and European champ Giacomo Nizzolo.

10 August 2021, 15:22
Pokemon Bicycle recreated from the game
Pokemon Bike (Image credit: Pokemon)

The Pokemon Company has recreated the iconic bicycle from Pokemon Red and Blue to celebrate its Japanese Twitter account reaching one million followers. The bike will be awarded to one lucky winner, although you have to live in Japan to be in with a chance. In the original games the bike cost 1 million Pokemon Dollars but will be shipped out to a fan for free. And while it might look the part, the bike can't actually be ridden...but does play the show's theme tune. So, pros and cons I guess...

10 August 2021, 14:14
Well well well, it appears Canyon did jump the gun on that new gravel suspension fork! Full story below...
10 August 2021, 13:57
Jeff Rooney breaks Guinness World Record for the furthest distance cycled on a virtual platform in 12 hours
Jeff Rooney Guinness World Record (Strava)

New Zealander Jeff Rooney has set a new world record by riding 455km in 12 hours. Rooney completed the challenge on a 1km circuit on the RGT platform and presumably had plenty of ways to keep himself entertained during the effort...

He added 15km on to the old record, but had to reassess his original goal of smashing the 500km mark midway through the effort. "I’ve done a lot of 12 and 24-hour mountainbike racing, and for how quickly I was feeling bad and for how long I had to push through, it was probably one of the worst rides I’ve ever done," Rooney told Stuff. What's more impressive: the distance or just surviving 12 hours on a turbo trainer?

"The legs weren’t having an ideal day, I was already at three hours in feeling fatigue levels at what you would expect at the 10-hour mark."

10 August 2021, 13:01
Jeremy Vine takes two abreast discussion to BBC Radio 2...gets told cyclists dawdling along country lanes could add an hour on to a motorist's journey

Listeners to BBC Radio 2 this lunchtime would have heard Jeremy Vine hosting a two-way discussion about the two abreast topic. I say 'hosting', Vine had to step in after a dodgy connection stopped Cycling UK's Duncan Dollimore getting involved. On the other side of the debate was Angela Epstein of the Daily Mail and Telegraph. Epstein of course began her argument by reassuring us "as a cyclist myself", and delivered such golden nuggets as: "what gives them the right to block the road when there is a 30mph limit?" and "I get incredibly angry when I see cyclists cycling side by side rather than single file - I'm terrified of overtaking but sometimes you simply have to".

When questioned by Vine on the "simply have to" get in front comment...Epstein justified it with "because sometimes you have to get to a place [...] you might be late. If somebody is dawdling along at 14mph and this country lane spans several miles, you could be adding another hour on to your journey." Right...I think we'll leave that there...

10 August 2021, 12:34
London traffic management doesn't like cycling cafes

For the Old Street cycle cafe Look mum no hands!, this sign probably isn't going to be particularly helpful for business. Some of its Instagram followers have suggested simply turning the sign around, with the cafe also suggesting: "Or we could move the cafe to the other side of Old St?"

Seems like the most logical solution! 

10 August 2021, 11:50
10 August 2021, 10:59
Ride with Geraint Thomas, Rohan Dennis, Matt Stephens and Ben Foster at Grenadiers Greatest Hits event on Zwift

The line-up for Grenadiers Greatest Hits has been announced, giving you the opportunity to ride with some of the team's biggest names on Zwift. If this was a music festival, Geraint Thomas would be the headliner playing main stage on opening night. G will be taking on presenter OJ Borg in a chase race tomorrow, starting at 1:15pm. 'What's a chase race?' I hear you ask...pick a side and ride as hard as you can to help your team win. Or just turn up for a spin with G.

Later on at 7pm Watford goalkeeper, cycling YouTuber and most importantly road.cc Drink at Your Desk graduate Ben Foster will be hosting a 60 minute ride with Ineos pro Cam Wurf around the London Zwift course. On Thursday, there's another casual spin, this time with Rohan Dennis and Matt Stephens, as well as another chase race between Brandon Rivera and Sebastian Henao. Jonathan Castroviejo and Christian Knees will then go head-to-head on Friday morning before a more relaxed ride with Ben Swift and Leonardo Basso wraps up the Ineos Grenadiers Greatest Hits on Friday teatime.

All the details can be found over on Zwift's site...

10 August 2021, 10:07
Canyon introduces suspension to Grizl gravel bike range
2021 Canyon Grizl CF slx 8 etap with rokshox sus fork - via canyon website.PNG

We'll take a break from social media squabbles to bring you some interesting developments from Canyon's website... front suspension from RockShox has been added to some new models in its Grizl gravel bike range.

“RockShox are suspension development pioneers – so it was only a matter of time before they got started in gravel,” says Canyon. “Rudy is designed for gravel, with 30mm of travel in a lightweight chassis, and still offering the Grizl-standard 50mm tyre clearance.”

That’s super-interesting because RockShox hasn’t announced a gravel-specific Rudy fork, so maybe Canyon has jumped the gun here? A the time of writing the news has been announced on the Canyon Spain and Canyon Portugal Twitter pages, but there's nothing on Canyon's international or UK social media. 

2021 rokshox gravel fork - via canyon website.PNG

“Rudy has a gravel-tuned RockShox Charger Race Day damper and highly responsive Solo Air spring,” Canyon says. “They combine to keep your front tyre glued to the ground over rough surfaces and loose corners. Keeping you in control. There’s also a lockout for road riding.”

Well, well, well!

Canyon also discloses information on new gearing from RockShox’ stablemates SRAM.

“Core to the system is the new 10-44T cassette and matching derailleur,” says Canyon. “This combo hits a sweet spot for gravel, with light gearing for steep climbs, and tight jumps for fast road cruising, all controlled by SRAM’s logical, wireless AXS shifting system.”

2021 sram cassette on canyon grizl with suspension - via canyon website.PNG

The most affordable bike with the RockShox Rudy fork is the £2,999 Canyon Grizl CF SL 8 Suspension WMN, although this features a Shimano GRX RX810 groupset. The Canyon Grizl CF SL 8 Suspension, also in a Shimano build, is a little more expensive at £3,249. If you want the SRAM eTap AXS 10-44T gearing, you’re looking at £5,099 for the Canyon Grizl CF SLX 8 eTap Suspension. The groupset is SRAM’s second tier Force.

All of these bikes are said to be “coming in autumn”. 

10 August 2021, 10:01
Drum & Bass On The Bike #8: Should have packed a towel

For any UK-based riders this will be a very relatable scene this summer...popping out for a spin and getting soaked through. Dom Whitting's Drum & Bass On The Bike, this time in Nottingham, was the latest victim of our wonderful British summertime. Say it quietly, but the forecast actually looks alright for the next week or so...

10 August 2021, 09:50
Ned Boulting explains why a cyclist might not use a cycle path

Well said, Ned. On a similar note, last month we dubbed the A12 bike path in Suffolk the 'why cyclists don't use cycle lanes' cycle lane. Unsurprisingly the vid of the narrow, overgrown path triggered a deluge of readers sending in pics of shocking cycle routes from where they ride...it turns out there's a lot of terrible infrastructure knocking around.

10 August 2021, 09:25
UAE Team Emirates continue spending spree with signings of George Bennett, Marc Soler, Pascal Ackermann and Álvaro Hodeg

Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates continue to spend big to beef up their support for the two-time Tour de France winner. Marc Soler and George Bennett have joined from Movistar and Jumbo-Visma respectively and will presumably accept support roles after mixed success as leaders in their own right. 

On the sprinting side of things, Pascal Ackermann and Álvaro Hodeg have joined, possibly to replace the out of sorts Fernando Gaviria who hasn't won a race in 11 months and is out of contract at the end of the season.

After securing his second yellow jersey in less than a year, Pogacar signed an extended six-year deal, a contract which has been widely touted as one of the longest in the sport's history.

10 August 2021, 08:42
Fair Fuel UK founder offers an olive branch

Fair Fuel UK, in its own words, is: "The real independent and not for profit voice in Westminster for 37m UK drivers, who want clean air too, but want this accomplished without being demonised, blamed and continually treated as easy cash cows."

I wasn't too familiar with the lobby group so took a dive into our archives for some background info and almost exactly a year ago, Mr Cox made the blog for claiming PM Boris Johnson has "Lycra-clad advisors"...

Then in December, Cycling UK accused Fair Fuel UK of running a ‘how much do you hate cycling’ survey.

10 August 2021, 07:49
'Annoyance tax' suggested as anti-cyclist bingo and two abreast complaining continues

We've seen more than our fair share of Jeremy Vine cycling-related posts, but none have blown up quite like this one...

Yesterday we focused on the reaction from 'notable' Tweeters such as Paddy McGuinness with their blue tick verifications, something anyone can apply for by the way...but perhaps more disturbing is the sheer amount of anti-cyclist sentiment. We're used to a spot of anti-cyclist bingo here at road.cc...just not on this scale. A quick spin through the cesspool of comments found eight 'road tax' replies, and that was just until I got bored.

We've also got a couple of new anti-cyclist themes to chuck up on your bingo cards: disrespecting the Romans and 'annoyance tax'...

'Jammo' suggested the 'annoyance tax'...admittedly after being educated on the fact that drivers don't pay 'road tax' either. Oh well, if at first you don't succeed...

On a more serious note, what have you lot made of the 'debate'? Vine's video has been watched 1.1 million times and attracted 10,000 replies. Should we be concerned by the scale of anti-cycling sentiment? Is the reaction representative of the wider population? Or is it a 'debate' exacerbated by social media?

Dan Alexander

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 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 has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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81 comments

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to kil0ran | 3 years ago
9 likes

kil0ran wrote:

I'm no longer cycling on the road but if I was I'd be pretty pissed off at Jeremy Vine. It just incites hatred and whilst the more extreme accounts are quite satisfying to report to Twitter for application of the banhammer (they're actually very good at this in my experience) the likely outcome is cyclists becoming a KSI statistic. It's also exhausting trying engage with the debate and inaccuracies posted - that Windsor Tri incident is everywhere for example at the moment. As a road rage victim when I saw him post it I was genuinely anxious for people still riding on the road. And the responses just confirm my reasons for switching to MTB.

I mainly cycle on the road and I don't care what Jeremy Vine tweets about. Dangerous drivers might try to use him as an excuse, but ultimately drivers bear responsibility for their own actions. If someone is that easily provoked into violence, then it would have happened with some other incident (e.g. they thought a cyclist looked at them funny), so let's not blame Jeremy Vine and give poor drivers an excuse.

(I wouldn't count myself as a fan of Jeremy Vine, but I agree with his tweets more than I disagree)

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CyclingInGawler replied to kil0ran | 3 years ago
5 likes

While I was driving home tonight, ABC Radio Adelaide played a recorded clip of a cyclist recounting how a few days ago he was one of three separately crashed into entirely deliberately by  a car driver (i.e. the motorist performed a u-turn to take a run at the first, and then drove entirely in the murder-strip cycle lane to run into the other two). The police response? The motorist was driving "recklessly"! No, he/she was commiting assault, potentially attempted murder. If they do manage to track the driver down (the car having been, in the words of the police, "allegedly stolen") my expectation is that SAPOL will treat it as a traffic offence, rather than the hate-crime it would seem to be. We'll see how it pans out.

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Secret_squirrel replied to EddyBerckx | 3 years ago
1 like

EddyBerckx wrote:

I like Jeremy Vine and I know he means well

I detest Vine's his radio show, but am mildly supportive of his twitter antics.

I would question whether he always means well or occasionally likes to drum up contraversy when he goes too much into "radio host" mode.

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Awavey replied to EddyBerckx | 3 years ago
1 like

The reason he does it though is in the article, 1million video views and 10,000 interactions, from 1 main tweet and a bunch of follow ups for sure, but that's some big social media influencing stats right there.

And that's alot more people than watch his Channel 5 morning show.

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Hirsute | 3 years ago
0 likes

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-58155928

//ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/E323/production/_119874185_e8y6mcaxeaepb2v.jpg)

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Pyro Tim | 3 years ago
6 likes

I had to nip home to get something earlier, and upon driving back to work, I joined a queue of about 15 cars doing 20 in a 60. I was annoyed, until I realised that the causes of the queue was a cyclist. Once I realise, I chilled back down and enjoyed the pootle. Cyclists don't cause me annoyance. I was held up for a couple of mintes, but so what? I queue for much longer on that road everyday due to cars

Avatar
ChrisB200SX | 3 years ago
12 likes

When I'm driving I find there are a staggering amount of annoying drivers on the road, can we apply this annoyance tax on them?
No, thought not.

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Sevenfold replied to ChrisB200SX | 3 years ago
6 likes

How about an 'arrogance tax'? Highest charge on BMWs, Audis, Mercedes & Range Rovers etc. plus 50% when its an urban assault vehicle (sorry, SUV) dropping down to zero for the more mundane vehicles - Smart For2 etc.

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Hirsute replied to Sevenfold | 3 years ago
0 likes

Sorry to break it to you but

You have to pay an extra £335 a year if you have a car or motorhome with a ‘list price’ (the published price before any discounts) of more than £40,000.

plus

151 to 170g/km £555

171 to 190g/km £895

191 to 225g/km £1,345

226 to 255g/km £1,910

Over 255g/km £2,245

 

Avatar
Fursty Ferret | 3 years ago
19 likes

I loved the number of people saying that "tractor drivers always pull over to let people past". 

I used to work on a farm and we held an informal leaderboard to see who could get the longest line of cars behind a tractor. I'm embarrassed now, but it did seem funny at the time.

As for road tax - well, let's assume that all the riders in the picture there are six-figure earners playing around on their bikes at the weekend ('cos stereotypes). Then that's roughly 10 * 120,000 * 0.35 = £440,000 in tax moving in the space of one car. So by that argument anyone behind should frankly sit and wait, and when they do overtake safely they should fucking salute.

Avatar
Awavey replied to Fursty Ferret | 3 years ago
3 likes

The size of modern tractors makes it virtually impossible to pull over anymore on most country roads and it's rare you find one going 'slow' thesedays.

But even if they could pull over it's certainly not my experience anymore, and hasnt been for many years that tractors are these politely driven vehicles that are conscientious about not holding traffic up.

That seems very much a thing of the past that people are remembering that no longer applies.

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Captain Badger | 3 years ago
18 likes

I'm pretty annoyed about the climate crisis, the 5 a day or more meeting violent deaths at the hands of motorists, and the 10s of thousands annually facing lingering deaths due to vehicular pollution.

Can I have a rebate please Mr Sunak?

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Mungecrundle | 3 years ago
7 likes

I just drove pretty much all the way home from Cambridge in a long queue of traffic behind a tractor. Can I apply for an annoyance tax rebate?

Or maybe there will be an annoyance offset scheme, e.g holding up traffic behind as I wait to turn right in a car = equivalent time holding up traffic waiting to pass when I'm on my bicycle. I do hope there will be an active market in annoyance credits, I reckon I will be quids in.

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hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
17 likes

I think the whole "debate" is utterly bizarre.

What amazes me is the number of times you see huge long tailbacks of miles of motor vehicles all stationary or travelling very slowly in fits and starts and yet people seem to accept that as normal and expected. If most of those same drivers were on bikes instead of in large motor vehicles, then there would barely be any congestion/traffic jams.

I bet if someone analysed the typical car journeys made by these anti-cyclists, then they'd find that those journeys are delayed far more by other motor vehicles than the occasional cyclist whether alone or in a group.

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
7 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

I think the whole "debate" is utterly bizarre.

What amazes me is the number of times you see huge long tailbacks of miles of motor vehicles all stationary or travelling very slowly in fits and starts and yet people seem to accept that as normal and expected. If most of those same drivers were on bikes instead of in large motor vehicles, then there would barely be any congestion/traffic jams.

I bet if someone analysed the typical car journeys made by these anti-cyclists, then they'd find that those journeys are delayed far more by other motor vehicles than the occasional cyclist whether alone or in a group.

That would mean they'd have to accept that when driving cars they are teh problem

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2020/07/01/cyclists-dont-cause-...

Avatar
Hirsute replied to hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
15 likes

When I used to cycle to work in the good old days, I would be held up by cars for the last 2.5 miles. The drivers didn't seem to want to move out of my way even though I was the faster vehicle.

Going home I had to weave in and out of stationary cars on the roundabout outside the office to make any progress.

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
8 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

I think the whole "debate" is utterly bizarre.

What amazes me is the number of times you see huge long tailbacks of miles of motor vehicles all stationary or travelling very slowly in fits and starts and yet people seem to accept that as normal and expected. If most of those same drivers were on bikes instead of in large motor vehicles, then there would barely be any congestion/traffic jams.

I bet if someone analysed the typical car journeys made by these anti-cyclists, then they'd find that those journeys are delayed far more by other motor vehicles than the occasional cyclist whether alone or in a group.

remember it is OK to be delayed in your car because

  • the number of cars on the road exceed capacity
  • crashes caused by fuckwitery
  • someone has parked on the highway reducing two lanes to one
  • delivery vehicles
  • cars which have broken down
  • learner drivers
  • horses

(listed in order of my estimate of amount of time lost by the average driver)

It is not OK to be held up for even 30 seconds behind cyclists travelling on the road.

I don't know why this is the case, but it is known.

there is no question that all drivers are delayed far more in every year by others drivers as per the above, than they will be by cyclists.

No one who has blocked the motorway by causing a crash will ever recieve the abuse cyclists will get, despite having delayed many more drivers for far more time.

Avatar
Philh68 | 3 years ago
8 likes

An annoyance tax? Sounds fantastic, because the cause of most driver frustration is other drivers. The war on motorists can just be infighting, instead of blaming the person taking the least amount of road space.

Avatar
Hirsute | 3 years ago
1 like

Romanes eunt domus

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
9 likes

hirsute wrote:

Romanes eunt domus

Yeah but what have they done for us?

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eburtthebike replied to Captain Badger | 3 years ago
1 like

Captain Badger wrote:

hirsute wrote:

Romanes eunt domus

Yeah but what have they done for us?

Well, apparently they not only invented the bicycle, they built roads for them, so I think that's pretty significant.

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