Bingo cards ready...'cyclists don't pay boat tax'; Stay calm...Strava's back; Dreaded unclipping fail; Ganna tempted by Hour Record; Millionth cyclist; New Chain Reaction site splits opinion; Bike lane chat; GBDURO; National champs + more on the live blog

I think I still have the signed card in it's little plastic holder in my bag.

I had the same thing, loose screw on the cleat, slow unintentional dismount to the consternation of the watching pedestrian.  I had to take my foot out of the shoe and walk home, fortunately only a couple of hundred metres, and then had to work out how to get the shoe off the pedal.

Ironically it happened again on the way home today! The loose cleat, that is, not a fall. It wasn't clipping in very well, so I stopped, actually thinking maybe I'd got a small stone or similar stuck, and it turned out the bolts were loose. Different shoes, so it must be me, not the shoes, to blame!

I make very, very sure those bolts are tight before I leave now!

Yes, and 'can't see the entry form? Click here' just seems to refresh the page.

Seems to be fixed now 👍🏻

Good job they didn't have a stage 6 then. Well I'm sure that must have been the case as I don't see any coverage on here of the final stage and overall winner. 

Fwiw its hidden in the section about Quintana appearing on the masked singer.

Pity there're no further details. Never had issues myself and it does seem strange for a bin lorry driver to see red when almost the whole day's about driving slowly. But strange behaviour on the roads isn't unknown.

Or maybe it was a niche joyrider?

Doesn't sound as though you looked at the 20 other items submitted for consideration.

Well no it's not sold on the live blog here as a 20 items for your consideration, its sold as why cyclists might not use bike lanes, and I'm just not seeing in the examples quoted that they are outstandingly bad bike lane designs.

The much missed Warrington cycle facility of the month has a backlog of nearly 20 years of examples worse than anything in those 20 tweets.

As per harrogatespa -  whether "the cumulative effect a route that is direct, safe, comfortable and attractive" meets the required objective.

I think the point is that individually, no aspect of the cycle route is "that bad", but cumulatively it all adds up to a frustratingly slow, tiring and arguably dangerous bike ride, in comparison to the adjacent road (which has priority over all side roads, driveways etc.) 

Awavey wrote:

Maybe I'm just feeling grumpy as it's a Monday morning, but are we really complaining those cycle paths are that bad ? one that passes a field with a gate, or one that's shared space and yes annoying as it is, pedestrians can wander where they like on it still.

Trouble with it is, unless properly standardised (with standards that have actually been demonstrated to work in improving convenience for riders, and protecting against the actions of drivers) It's annoying every facking time.

Awavey wrote:

Maybe I'm just feeling grumpy as it's a Monday morning, but are we really complaining those cycle paths are that bad ? one that passes a field with a gate, or one that's shared space and yes annoying as it is, pedestrians can wander where they like on it still.

Just compare it to the "specialised car infrastructure" next to it - does it look as safe or convenient now? (And remember that even things like crossings and traffic lights are also vehicle infrastructure as without vehicles they're not needed). Apart from very old-style level crossings I don't think I've seen a "motorists dismount" requirement.

Compare it to a road with no cycling infra provision at all & where you are forced to ride on that road & it feels like vehicles are driving at you for daring to be in their way, does it look safer & more convenient now ?

Because the majority of roads, even in towns, are still like that and dont come with any segregated infra at all, whilst the examples highlighted here arent ever going to win the Dutch cyclist award for perfect bike lanes, they're still a step above what most people get to experience and its far more likely to be the total lack of infra that prevents people taking up cycling than having a bike lane which isnt wholly perfect.

Awavey wrote:

Compare it to a road with no cycling infra provision at all & where you are forced to ride on that road & it feels like vehicles are driving at you for daring to be in their way, does it look safer & more convenient now ? Because the majority of roads, even in towns, are still like that and dont come with any segregated infra at all, whilst the examples highlighted here arent ever going to win the Dutch cyclist award for perfect bike lanes, they're still a step above what most people get to experience and its far more likely to be the total lack of infra that prevents people taking up cycling than having a bike lane which isnt wholly perfect.

But now you will get abuse for riding in the road, or you can use a cycle lane where you have to slow down every 100m like this 

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8476723,-0.9963192,3a,75y,271.38h,78.15t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sDD3N3tk6IZxAydiOn2NJVg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

So it's the choice between convenient (cruising at a steady speed) and safe (staying away from drivers who are sure you should be using the cycle lane no matter how inconvenitent it is. Just give the cycle lane priority over individual driveways. Really the cycle lane should have priority over side roads to. Could you imagine a dual carriageway where lanes 2 and 3 had priority over side roads, but lane 1 had to give way to let people out?

Perfectly acceptable infrastructure for bikes though.

Awavey wrote:

Compare it to a road with no cycling infra provision at all & where you are forced to ride on that road & it feels like vehicles are driving at you for daring to be in their way, does it look safer & more convenient now ? Because the majority of roads, even in towns, are still like that and dont come with any segregated infra at all, whilst the examples highlighted here arent ever going to win the Dutch cyclist award for perfect bike lanes, they're still a step above what most people get to experience and its far more likely to be the total lack of infra that prevents people taking up cycling than having a bike lane which isnt wholly perfect.

Rather than moaning about it not being "perfect" my beef is that we're still wasting effort and money on "not good enough". It isn't the case that "anything is better than what we've got". That's because we have a population split - a tiny fraction of people (probably most of road.cc) who will cycle regardless, and most people who cycle very rarely if at all. For me there's a minimum threshold of "quality" below which building stuff isn't a good investment for either group.

The pictures show this clearly. The first couple look OK (good for the UK) but by the 3rd one we see the cyclepath suddenly stops.  Like half a road, a cycle path that suddenly stops some distance from any connection is not so useful.

Will this stop you and me cycling? No, we'll just say "sod it" and use the road. So no great benefit for us.

Will this encourage many people who don't cycle currently? In fairness it's difficult to say without seeing the whole scheme. Remember though - where it's more convenient to drive than walk/cycle most people drive (and those who can't get a lift or take the bus).

The bit about the "textiles" e.g. the last picture. These are actually great - we're thinking about the blind / partially sighted! ...until you see that they're in the middle of a footpath. (Think - if exiting this side-road would you pull onto the nearest carriageway and block all the cars going straight on while waiting for a space on the far lane?) We've lumped together the blind with the cyclists and it's on them to mind the turning vehicles. That's because wherever cars want to go it's at everyone else's inconvenience. Of course there are places where it's sensible to assign priority to motor vehicles but as this scheme shows we do it everywhere in the UK.

For that side-road - look up the better way to do it. Several countries manage to do this now. (It irritates me that Edinburgh wasted money on a cargo-cult versions of this).