Alexandar Richardson's latest mind-boggling training ride — 220km at 37km/h; "Take your paint and give it to us, you did a s**** job": Bike-sharing service paints vandalised bicycle gold; La Vuelta or Titanic outtakes?; EF fashion + more on the live blog

I am reliably informed by my film critic friends (of which I have none) that there is nothing wrong with that film apart from the bit between the titles and the credits.

Things that piss me off about the Titanic film:-

the Titanic film. 

They mentioned lycra within the first sentence just to make sure none of their readers takes it seriously.

Clem Fandango wrote:

They mentioned lycra within the first sentence just to make sure none of their readers takes it seriously.

Appalling Lycra Louts in Finland where Active Travel is government policy including Property Planning and Development that provides separate Lanes.

Appalling Lycra Lout in Finland where Active Travel is government policy including Property Planning and Development that provides separate Lanes.

Jaw-dropping comment of the day,

"If you include the petroleum that cyclists rub on their chaffy bits; then cycling is not a green option."

Don' really know where to go with that, other than "With a magazine of 20 rounds, load.  Target to your front.  In your own time, go on..."

I am not going there mate.

Could you give us the gist.

Went there for the cyclingmikey bit, not doing it again.

theyre reporting on a new study has found that if everyone cycled just 1.6 miles (2.6 km) a day, we could reduce global carbon emissions by 686 million tonnes each year, which is more than the UKs whole carbon emissions alone for 2015, and it would cut obesity, which would save peoples lives.

Then they have some pretty graphs on bike numbers/car numbers to show modal shares across different countries, and reports the study conclusions that authorities actively promote cycling as a mode of transport, by implementing policies to discourage car use through tax, constructing effective cycle lanes and pro-bicycle education.

without deconstructing any of it at all, even if the dust your lycra bit to help clearly still annoys some (lighten up) if this was in the Grauniad it would held up as exactly how the MSM should postively report on cycling,

but its in the Daily Mail so it will be ignored by the usual cycling media watchers, because it doesnt fit the narrative for that paper...

Ta, sounds good.

"lighten up"

Right back at you.

Would it have helped if I'd added a winking emoji?

Other than the lycra comment it's actually a pretty good article, although I daresay a lot of it is copied verbatim from the journal's press release. Hopefully other newspaper will pick up the same press release and run their own stories.

However, I can't bring myself to read the comments - I made the mistake of looking at the top three (sorted by newest by default so will change) and all three were from climate change deniers...

No doubt many here could find several points of agreement with e.g. Jeremy Clarkson. For one he has been on a bike several times - unpaid! It's possible he's said some sensible things on the subject. (Can't recall any but he's said that many contradictory things there must be something...) However I don't think his legacy will be as a cycling advocate.

Same with the DM I think. Yes, they have an audience that the Guardian etc. won't reach, this may not be the only positive thing they've said on cycling, but...

Surely you should be posting telegraph links ?!

(I don't think I can face the DM anymore this week)

hirsute wrote:

Surely you should be posting telegraph links ?!

(I don't think I can face the DM anymore this week)

Paywalled.

theyre not as fun to share as theyre paywalled, but there was this one yesterday.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/features/20mph-zone-sucking-joy-driving/

and this from last week https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2022/08/11/cyclists-annoying-self...

Seems my script and ad block combo gets round the paywall!

“It’s lunacy transforming 60mph roads to 20mph roads."

Even if such a potential road exists, I very much doubt it can be safe to drive at the limit.

Awavey wrote:

I'll just leave this here and grab the popcorn... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11123967/Cycling-mile-da...

Sullied myself by scanning the comments. They really don't get it. Too hilly, too wet, too blowy, need special clothes and creams.  All the countries where there is high cycling uptake have similar weather, terrain and sometimes worse. The Dutch even take great pride in fighting the wind. https://youtu.be/VMinwf-kRlA

Also most places for short trips do not involve steep hills to contend with.  And even then they can be circumnavigated.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38568893

Even where I am, the majority of hilly streets can be tackled on a single gear (42:17 if you want to know) and only the 10% ones then become a lung busting pig if you're not using gears  

giff77 wrote:

Comments ... They really don't get it. Too hilly, too wet, too blowy, need special clothes and creams.  All the countries where there is high cycling uptake have similar weather, terrain and sometimes worse. The Dutch even take great pride in fighting the wind.

Bingo!
https://cyclingfallacies.com/en/

chrisonatrike wrote:

giff77 wrote:

Comments ... They really don't get it. Too hilly, too wet, too blowy, need special clothes and creams.  All the countries where there is high cycling uptake have similar weather, terrain and sometimes worse. The Dutch even take great pride in fighting the wind.

Bingo! https://cyclingfallacies.com/en/

cheers for the link! 👍

Maybe I misunderstood the study, but I couldn't see anywhere in the article where it actually mentions replacing car journeys with cycling, I don't see how cycling an additional 1.6 miles to everyone's usual behavior is going to improve anything. Although poorly understood science reporting is pretty much standard in the DM.

The Daily Mail glosses over that bit (and indeed even in the original article it's only explained in the the Methods, which are buried below the Results and Discussion) but the calculation is based on an assumption that those 1.6 miles of cycling are replacing car journeys, not purely additional.

(The health benefits would presumably still acrue if they were purely additional). 

If you want to go direct to the study I think this is it:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-022-00497-4

It's mostly about bike ownership vs. modal share. This won't be news to most here but its nice that someone's done a global study. Unsurprising quote - unless you're a UK politician or most local councillors:

Quote:

High bicycle ownership does not necessarily lead to high bicycle use, which is instead still marginal in daily trips worldwide (<5% for most countries)

Nature paper, nice.

Always worth a read.

.

The Ars Technica version of the article is much better, as are (most of) the comments.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/08/if-everyone-bicycled-like-the-da...

My one comment is there under AndySt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VgwxKW0J6I

Deluxe inflatable

And why is it smiling....