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Ask a stupid question... Cyclist's amusing edit to homemade sign; Could you keep up? Yet more drivers struggle with Highway Code changes; Training with MVP; More considerate drivers? Just tow a coffin-like box; Festive skivehundred + more on the live blog

It's Christmas Eve Eve and Dan Alexander is on hand for your morning dose of live blog action before Jack Sexty returns to the hot seat this afternoon...
Thu, Dec 23, 2021 09:06
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Ask a stupid question... Cyclist's amusing edit to homemade sign; Could you keep up? Yet more drivers struggle with Highway Code changes; Training with MVP; More considerate drivers? Just tow a coffin-like box; Festive skivehundred + more on the live blogCycling sign edited (Christopher Myatt)
23 December 2021, 15:17
Here we go again... police tweet on Highway Code changes gets mixed response

We've said it, said it again and then at least once more again, but looking at our inbox and social media it seems some people (drivers of motor vehicles it would seem) can't get their head around having to actually give way to pedestrians and not close pass cyclists. 

The latest organisation to attempt to prepare the public for the impending changes are Scotland's Road Policing Unit, with the reaction being a mix of sensible and completely irrelevant points about pavement cycling, and being worried about getting rear-ended when obeying the law and waiting for a pedestrian to cross the road. How about the person in the vehicle behind pays attention? We can only hope... 

23 December 2021, 14:58
road.cc readers smashes ten virtual metric centuries in ten days to raise cash for sanitation in poorest parts of the world

On 14 December Rendel Harris set out to cover 1,026km virtual kilometres, which would be the distance between his house in Peckham and Monte Carlo in Monaco. Ten days later, he completed the challenge and has raised £1,230 at the time of writing for the Toilet Twinning charity, who build toilet facilities in some of the poorest parts of the world for just £60 per toilet. 

Rendel told road.cc: "...just want to say a huge thank you to all the generous road.cc riders who chipped in almost a third of the £1500 raised so far, and many thanks indeed to road.cc for letting me publicise it through the forum." 

Well done Rendel! If you want to donate the fundraising page can be found here. 

23 December 2021, 14:54
(More positive) Cambridge news #2: new Chisholm trail opens

As some on the people who have commented on the post note, this 26km cycling and walking route (when fully completed) has been a long time in the making... here is an article on the proposed route from 1998! 

23 December 2021, 14:19
Cambridge news #1: bike thief jailed for six weeks and is not allowed to be in possession of bike unless he notifies police first
Locks from stolen bikes at UCL (via LCC on Twitter)

35 year old Stephen Neal was caught trying to steal a £900 bike from a Cambridge store, and has now been sentenced after previously pleading guilty to bike theft and criminal damage.

Neal was seen taking a bike on 4 August, and on 6 September was caught using bolt cutters in an attempt to steal a bike in a shop window in Cambridge' Beehive Shopping Centre. 

Neal was given his six week prison sentence on 30 November, and on Tuesday was handed a rather specific two-year Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO). The CBO says Neal must not "be in possession of any pedal cycle part or pedal cycle unless having notified the police within 24 hours of his lawful possession, providing any details of the possession", or "go to Superdrug, Boots or Go Outdoors stores in Cambridge within the boundary of the M11, A11 and A14." 

Bike theft has become a serious issue in Cambridge, with the city recently being named the UK's bike theft capital. 

PC Kayleigh Rocca ensured fed up residents: “We’re working hard to address cycle crime in Cambridge. This includes reviewing and identifying bike-theft hotspots, catching offenders, recovering stolen bikes with proactive patrols and education.

“All reports of bike theft are taken seriously, and we would encourage people to report offences so we can build up a picture and deploy resources accordingly.”

23 December 2021, 12:39
23 December 2021, 12:24
Electric vehicle delivery lane
23 December 2021, 12:09
Primož Roglič extends Jumbo-Visma stay until at least 2025
Primoz Roglic wins Stage 11 of 2011 Vuelta - Copyright ASO, PhotoGomezSport

Primož Roglič will be wearing Jumbo-Visma yellow until at least 2025 after confirming a new contract with the team. Roglič has been with the team since he joined the WorldTour in 2016, and will have completed a decade by the time his new deal expires.

During that time, the Slovenian superstar has won three Vuelta a España titles in a row, the Olympic Games TT, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and more one-week stage races than you can shake a stick at.

"I have grown with this team since I arrived in 2016," Roglič said. "We already have quite a history together that I am very proud of. I made my debut in the World Tour peloton at a somewhat later age. It may have looked easy, and the best moments surface the fastest, but it wasn’t always easy.

"Still, things have moved forward rapidly for me and my development. I am not solely responsible for those beautiful moments. I did that together with my teammates and the staff. It is great to be part of this team in the coming years as well."

Looking ahead to 2022, Roglič didn't name any races in particular, instead asserting his "goals are independent of results".

23 December 2021, 11:18
Ask a stupid question... Cyclist's amusing edit to homemade sign
Cycling sign edited (Christopher Myatt)

You know what they say about asking a silly question...well, one of our readers spotted this sign in Friston Forest, East Sussex...

Clearly a popular spot for walkers and cyclists, one member of the community decided to politely request cyclists give a little bit of notice that they're there. You know, maybe a 'hello' or some aggressive freewheeling...

What our sign maker certainly didn't have in mind was this sharp reply. Top marks for comedy value and creativity, although we're pretty sure we've seen this joke before.

These sort of sign battles periodically pop up on our live blog, usually when NIMBY locals take the time to protect their precious village from the barbarians on bikes by creating such masterpieces as this...

Oxfordshire ride quietly sign

"Sorry, Phil. You can't come through here with that freehub buzzing like that"... "Ah, never mind, the sign says 'cyclist'. We're in a group so must be fine..."

> Homemade sign tells cyclists to 'ride quietly' through village

Elsewhere in the archives we found this gem...who could forget the "passive-aggressive sign battle" one cyclist had after their NIMBY neighbour put up 'no cycling' signs. Cue: cycle path, beware of the kangaroo, beware of the dragon, beware of the troll, mind the gap, think bike and beware farm vehicles signs being strewn across every post on said farmer's road...pettiness personified, but fantastic entertainment for the rest of us.

23 December 2021, 11:03
Want drivers to be more considerate? Just tow a coffin-like box

Honestly, I'm more intrigued by what's in the box? A pig in blanket for every driver Mikey has caught using their phone behind the wheel? 

23 December 2021, 10:52
Are you feeling unfestive? Try the festive skivehundred...

I won't be participating either. No moral objections here, I just can't be asked to get out on my bike eight times in as many days at this time of year...and forget doing it in less than eight rides...maybe I'll do an ode to Australia and do a June 500 next summer when the weather's nice...

Major kudos to any of you lot prepping your routes ahead of the start tomorrow. What's on the menu for day one? An easy opener? A big day to get as many miles out the way early? Or one of eight perfectly even 62.5 kilometre rides? Let us know in the comments...

23 December 2021, 10:49
23 December 2021, 09:23
It's not just Mathieu van der Poel laying down the watts

Mathieu van der Poel's Dutch compatriot Boy van Poppel is also putting in the work this winter. If we thought we'd get dropped on the gravel, we'd definitely get dropped here...enough watts to do your morning toast.

We'd rather take Egan Bernal's approach...just surround yourself with so many dogs you can't do anything...

23 December 2021, 09:22
Just another ordinary day...
23 December 2021, 08:45
Could you keep up? What it's like training with Mathieu van der Poel

This is probably just an 'easy' spin for the great Dutchman...

Gearing up for his cyclo-cross return at the World Cup round in Dendermonde on Boxing Day, Mathieu van der Poel has been out shredding the trails with Alpecin-Fenix teammates Tim Merlier and Gianni Vermeersch. Based on this footage we reckon we'd sprint to the first corner to stay in contact and then very quickly give a shout of 'see you at the cafe!' before being unceremoniously dropped...

To make matters worse this apparently isn't even Van der Poel in top shape...he's been recovering from a wound on his knee sustained in a "stupid crash". 

"I wasn’t even training, I was just cruising with a friend through the forest and I just lost my front wheel on a slippery part that I didn’t expect and I hit a gravel section first with my knee, so I was wounded pretty bad. I immediately felt that it wasn’t good," Van der Poel explained.

The world champ has delayed his cyclo-cross return until this Sunday when he'll go head to head with Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock. road.cc Liam has already claimed it's the biggest event of his week...you sure there's nothing happening on Saturday, Liam?

"Wout is in really good shape. I expected him to be at the immediately and win, but not in the way he did it," Van der Poel told reporters ahead of the Boxing Day scrap. 

"Maybe [I can race] for the win. The level behind Wout is something I would normally be able to follow. When I came back into cyclo-cross and could see how far he rode away sometimes, I don’t know if I have that kind of legs already to follow him but I should be able to be in the group behind. Hopefully I can surprise myself as well."

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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13 comments

Avatar
Gus T | 2 years ago
3 likes

I'm fed up of trying to explain to motorists tht the new changes are an evening up and safety measure and also that they should be doing these actions already. The response is always the same: "I was in the right" is no use when on a tombstone (UK is gravestone or headstone), what about jay-walkers which is not an offence in the UK, and what about the zombie pedestrians, they also throw in the odd comment about pavement cyclists and RLJ's. Trying to hold a sensible discussion is a waste of time because they refuse to acknowledge any of your comments whilst accusing you of being evasive. 

It's easy to spot who is a cyclist who is also a motorist and who is a motorist who also cycles.

Avatar
TheBillder replied to Gus T | 2 years ago
2 likes
Gus T wrote:

I'm fed up of trying to explain to motorists tht the new changes are an evening up

You tell someone about levelling up and run into a wall of scepticism? How very zeitgeisty.

Avatar
DoomeFrog | 2 years ago
1 like

That is where I think it is slightly wrong.

First the picutre, if the car moving and is ahead of the bike already then the bike should probably slow as would a car have to.  To get into the situation shown in the image the car has either been is a queue of traffic or has overtaken the bike very recently and is about to left hook.

This is what will cause the biggest issues and it is understandable.  The rules should be clearer and probably include something like.

If turning left or right across a cycle lane or path the cyclist has right of way.  Treat a cyclist on the road as any other road user and do not turn left immediately after overtaking or right across the path of an oncoming cycle as you would for any other road vehicle.

People might then actually get what is being asked.

Avatar
jpj84 replied to DoomeFrog | 2 years ago
2 likes

DoomeFrog wrote:

That is where I think it is slightly wrong.

First the picutre, if the car moving and is ahead of the bike already then the bike should probably slow as would a car have to.  To get into the situation shown in the image the car has either been is a queue of traffic or has overtaken the bike very recently and is about to left hook.

This is what will cause the biggest issues and it is understandable.  The rules should be clearer and probably include something like.

If turning left or right across a cycle lane or path the cyclist has right of way.  Treat a cyclist on the road as any other road user and do not turn left immediately after overtaking or right across the path of an oncoming cycle as you would for any other road vehicle.

People might then actually get what is being asked.

The picture in the tweet shows the  (extremely common) left hook doesn't it? Driver barges half a metre ahead of cyclist in order to immediately turn left, leaving the cyclist with nowhere to go. Looks perplexed and annoyed when cyclist leaves blood all over their precious paintwork.

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to DoomeFrog | 2 years ago
2 likes

DoomeFrog wrote:

That is where I think it is slightly wrong.

First the picutre, if the car moving and is ahead of the bike already then the bike should probably slow as would a car have to.  To get into the situation shown in the image the car has either been is a queue of traffic or has overtaken the bike very recently and is about to left hook.

This is what will cause the biggest issues and it is understandable.  The rules should be clearer and probably include something like.

If turning left or right across a cycle lane or path the cyclist has right of way.  Treat a cyclist on the road as any other road user and do not turn left immediately after overtaking or right across the path of an oncoming cycle as you would for any other road vehicle.

People might then actually get what is being asked.

if the driver is momentarily ahead, it is because they have just overtaken the cyclist even though they know they are about to turn left. EXACTLY what we are trying to stop.

Unless you cycle at 30mph there is no way a bike catches up with a car on an empty road, and of course no cyclist moves into that gapo at that speed.

Avatar
chrisonabike | 2 years ago
4 likes

Quote:

Electric vehicle delivery lane

Quite right - firstly cyclists don't have a monopoly on road space and secondly I'd expect them to make way for people who are helping to fight climate change...

Avatar
IanMK | 2 years ago
4 likes

'The stopping to give way to folk crossing the road you are turning into will potentially have a lot of rear enders.'
Love the fact that the writer hasn't even acknowledged that this is what the HC already says and that the change is that you now have to give way to people waiting to cross.
I had one the other day. I was already crossing the road when a driver tried to swing off the main road in front of me. I just kept walking, he was already going slowly so stopping wasn't an issue. Honestly, he looked nervous (like he was worried about holding up other drivers) and confused.

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to IanMK | 2 years ago
9 likes

IanMK wrote:

'The stopping to give way to folk crossing the road you are turning into will potentially have a lot of rear enders.' Love the fact that the writer hasn't even acknowledged that this is what the HC already says and that the change is that you now have to give way to people waiting to cross. I had one the other day. I was already crossing the road when a driver tried to swing off the main road in front of me. I just kept walking, he was already going slowly so stopping wasn't an issue. Honestly, he looked nervous (like he was worried about holding up other drivers) and confused.

I had one of my drivers ask something along these lines whilst training, "Who has right of way?". I said ped, but either way you stop. "Even if it's your right of way?" came the response
"YES! What else are you going to do, run them over??" Saw the lights switch on, also many titters from other drivers present.

 

Avatar
chrisonabike replied to IanMK | 2 years ago
3 likes

Sad but true. People will sensibly look for the biggest / most salient risk - and that's being hit by another motor vehicle. Probably "getting abuse from another driver" comes next.

Slow down and you risk a rear-end or rage from driver behind - that's going to be uppermost in your mind.

Also your premiums might go up. Bastards likely aren't insured / are bigger than you too.

Plow on through - well probably the cyclist / pedestrian will get out of your way. If you "brush" or "skim" them no harm done. If they do throw themselves at your car it's probably only cosmetic damage to your paintwork.

If only they were properly insured, you'd be able to claim that back too.

Avatar
mattsccm replied to chrisonabike | 2 years ago
0 likes

Of course an acompanying problem are the dimwits who stop, wrongly flash their lights, and try to let you out. Ignoring the incorrect use of the lights, you should not give away your right of way. Other road users may, quite rightly, not expect it to happen. 

If we all stuck to the rules there would be ot accidents. In fact I hate the A word as it implies no fault. Stupidity or ignorance is chosen.

Avatar
ShaunC | 2 years ago
2 likes

Phew.. 62.5 kms not miles!

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brooksby | 2 years ago
5 likes

"Look, mummy - that poor car tripped up!"

Avatar
IanMK | 2 years ago
6 likes

Didn't the police say that they wanted to hear from people seriously inconvenienced by road blocks?

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