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Good Morning Britain asks should cyclists have to wear a "hi-vis uniform" to ride a bike? (+ Mr Loophole makes the case for mandatory helmets); Danny MacAskill doing Danny MacAskill things; But cyclists; One day 'til the Classics + more on the live blog

Happy Friday! The weekend is just around the corner, Dan Alexander will be bringing it home with your final live blog of the week

SUMMARY

No Live Blog item found.

24 February 2023, 09:21
Stanley Johnson vs Cristo Foufas: Hi-vis debating

Am I agreeing with... St...Sta...Stanley Johnson?! What's the world coming to? He was doing pretty well until the final few second of this clip...yep, it's the sequel to the poll nobody asked for — Johnson vs Foufas...

24 February 2023, 16:47
One. More. Sleep.

Until next time, folks... have a great weekend whatever you're up to (as long as it's cycling-related)... 

24 February 2023, 15:47
Simon MacMichael: What can Thamesmead – once the 'Town of the Future' – teach us about 15-minute cities?

Whatever its opponents may claim, it categorically has nothing to do with some global conspiracy aimed at restricting movement, of forcing people to remain within a mile or so of their home.

No-one's saying you can't drive to the next town to do your weekly supermarket shop, or go into the centre for a night out.

But what it does do is give people the choice of whether or not to do that by having options available to them locally, while at the same time making the areas they call home more liveable, more attractive, and more human.

Is that really such a bad thing?

> What can Thamesmead – once the 'Town of the Future' – teach us about 15-minute cities? 

24 February 2023, 15:27
"Keep yer clean air! We don't want it!"

He's back...

> Tory MP attacks 15-minute city concept with known conspiracy theory 

24 February 2023, 15:03
How big?! Victor Campenaerts to use Classified rear hub with 62 TOOTH chainring at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

These god damn time trialists are at it again...

Race against the clock specialist turned Classics contender Victor Campenaerts is taking an innovative approach to the Opening Weekend, and is set to become the first pro to race one of Classified's rear hubs. Oh, what's more, he's reportedly pairing it with a 1x 62t front chainring...

 The tech from Classified does away with the need for a front mech, effectively allowing riders to run a 2x set-up while enjoying the benefits of 1x (one front chainring rather than two). In short, and hopefully without boring you, there are aero gains from running just a single chainring, plus efficiency gains to be had from a larger number of teeth up front.

> REVIEW: Classified Powershift Kit & Wheelset

But how does it work? Well, the hub has a two-speed gear system that gives you 100 per cent of whatever chainring you have fitted, and then a reduction gear of around 70 per cent of that chainring, essentially doing the job of your 'missing' smaller chainring. So it's like having your front derailleur hidden away in your rear hub. Still with me?

According to Wielerflits, Campenaerts could run a 62 or 63-tooth front custom-made chainring and was spotted using the eye-catching set-up during Lotto Dstny's recon of the route this week.

The only thing that remains to be seen is if his hoods are turned in so far they actually touch...

24 February 2023, 12:47
Cav gets closer but Groenewegen wins UAE Tour sprint

18th yesterday, eighth today. One more sprint tomorrow to crack that first Astana win? 

24 February 2023, 11:19
Spring Classics Eve: One day 'til the cobbles

It's almost time for proper racing. Keep your UAE Tour and early season stage races, this is what it's all about...

Women's and men's race both tomorrow, there's no excuse to leave the sofa all day, except maybe for snacks and to refill your glass. There are plenty of savage bergs to be conquered before the finishing double-header of Muur and Bosberg. Will anyone escape? Will there be a sprint? Van Vleuten, Bäckstedt, Kopecky, Vollering, Wiebes, Balsamo, Longho Borghini...

 Pidcock, Van Baarle, Asgreen, Wright,  Campenaerts, Stuyven, Mohoric, Kristoff, Sagan, De Lie, Wellens, Küng, Stewart, Pollit, Meeus, Van Avermaet, Naesen, Lampaert, Ballerini, Benoot, Laporte...

Who are your favourites?

24 February 2023, 11:06
Are we the baddies?
24 February 2023, 10:45
But cyclists

Make sure you've got your hi-vis on...

24 February 2023, 10:08
Mr Loophole makes the case for mandatory helmets

It's a live blog full house this morning. The radio and TV producers of the world have hit a brick wall, must be a slow news day because all the greatest hits are on repeat... (he loves us really)...

BBC Three Counties Radio joined the party, getting Mr Loophole on to talk about helmets...

"Cyclists are so vulnerable," he told Jonathan Vernon-Smith. "They are exposed to massive dangers on the road from motorists, from the road surface itself and it just seems to be common sense to say you need to wear these items to protect yourself.

"I've been talking about this for a long time. What's astonishing to me is why anyone's astonished that anyone would suggest this because we get into a car which is a mass of metal, you're protected and you have to wear a seatbelt because it makes you safe... how can you possibly get onto a bicycle with that degree of vulnerability and say 'I don't really want to protect my head and I'm not that bothered about being seen'.

"What sort of mindset enables you to have got that thought process? If you have that thought process, is it right that society, the NHS or whoever should pick the bill up?

"This isn't just about cyclists. Motorists have to play a roll as well but while we are talking about cyclists it just seems to make common sense to do what you can to protect yourself and if you're not going to I'm sorry but we're not going to give you a choice.

"It's going to be a mandatory requirement because as Dan Walker very happily said, it saved his life. Irrespective of blame. We all make mistakes when we're cycling, we all make mistakes when we're driving, but if those mistakes could be fatal and that could be avoided by simply wearing something then surely as a society we have no choice, we have to adopt that."

24 February 2023, 10:01
Danny MacAskill doing Danny MacAskill things

Oh look a bicycle... just gone 10 and that's the first one of those the live blog has seen this morning...

24 February 2023, 09:52
Deal.
24 February 2023, 09:32
But what should GMB be debating if they really care about road safety?

Plenty of replies to point GMB's producers in the direction of future discussions that might be a more useful use of everyone's time...

24 February 2023, 08:51
Good Morning Britain asks should cyclists have to wear a "hi-vis uniform" to ride a bike?

It has been one of those weeks — helmet talk, claims cyclists should be made to use cycle lanes and now another old favourite... mandatory hi-vis...

Courtesy of the (self-dubbed, might I add) UK's most talked about breakfast television show, but maybe that's the point; stir the pot with 'debates' and hot topic discussion points, get the people going and watch the calls and social media coverage roll in?

Anyway, we'll be on the look out for if the topic appears on GMB this morning to watch it so you don't have to. And while someone will probably tell us just to ignore it, like Chris Boardman said: "Don't give it air time. Don't answer stupid questions" when these silly comments about cycling pop up, but this isn't just your usual anonymous Twitter troll spouting off... it's one of our biggest broadcaster's headline breakfast show. 

Then again when you've got national police forces making headlines such as this...

> Police ask pedestrians to wear hi-vis following spate of road deaths in Scotland

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised...

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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90 comments

Avatar
ktache replied to perce | 1 year ago
3 likes

Down south, turnips are the small pale, hard ones with purple bits. Swedes are the larger, yellow and delicious ones. As you move north the names mysteriously swap over. Meaning somewhere in the middle of the country things will get very confusing.

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Awavey replied to ktache | 1 year ago
2 likes

nothing wrong with turnips, we grow lots of the "swede" looking ones locally  1

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perce replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
3 likes

Well I thought there was a government decree that we had to eat them. And work longer hours to pay for them

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Hirsute replied to perce | 1 year ago
2 likes

Huge fearnley whittingstall:
Roast turnips, shallots and dates with watercress (p135)
Turnip and red lentil chilli (p87)

Potato and turnip dauphinoise (P60)

Where do you buy turnips from though ?

Avatar
Hirsute replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
3 likes

Swedes 1 Turnips 0

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Surreyrider replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
1 like

More to the point, does anyone actually watch at all?

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chrisonabike replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
1 like

Grumpy on the roads because not cycling (and not being paid to cycle).  Some would still be grumpy if they were because going to work.  They might be less grumpy though?

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morgoth985 replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
1 like

I must say I have wondered the same.  So you are already predisposed to frothing at the mouth over whatever issue winds you up, could be cyclists but plenty of other candidates, so you spend your breakfast time and/or morning commute frothing even further.  Doesn't sound very healthy to me.

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AidanR | 1 year ago
7 likes

It's sweet that 85% of GMB viewers (or Twitter followers) care so much for our safety that they're willing to force us all to wear hi viz.

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Steve K replied to AidanR | 1 year ago
11 likes

AidanR wrote:

It's sweet that 85% of GMB viewers (or Twitter followers) care so much for our safety that they're willing to force us all to wear hi viz.

But not enough, say, to wait patiently behind us until it is safe to overtake.

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Surreyrider replied to AidanR | 1 year ago
0 likes

How can you have 8.5 people though?

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chrisonabike | 1 year ago
3 likes

Surely the reason why cyclists should wear a "hi vis uniform" isn't so you can see them but so you can see they're cyclists?

EDIT - maybe they should have bells ON their "uniform" too so pedestrians know when one is coming?  Won't you think about those who're blind or partially-sighted?!

Avatar
JustTryingToGet... | 1 year ago
12 likes

For once being genuine, rather than snarky, if people genuinely believe that vulnerable road users need hi-vis to be seen by motorists, how many motorists could correctly read a number plate from 20 meters away?

I appreciate a lot of this is not genuine, it's an outlet for hate and no logic could penetrate it. You also can't see hi-vis when you are looking at your phone. But I think some people genuinely do believe it and their friends and family owe to society to take the keys off them.

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chrisonabike replied to JustTryingToGetFromAtoB | 1 year ago
10 likes

JustTryingToGetFromAtoB wrote:

... how many motorists could correctly read a number plate from 20 meters away?

By the very design of our driver "licencing" system we won't know until they are in a collision or happen to be otherwise spotted by the police and checked.

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SimoninSpalding replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
1 like

But even then, there is no way to test eyesight posthumously, so if the driver is killed as well you can't tell, it is the same with drivers falling asleep.

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IanMK replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
2 likes

Exactly this, it's ridiculous that anyone should turn up in court and use a previously diagnosed medical as mitigation and nobody thinks that their may be thousands of others who continue to drive with the same condition.

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tootsie323 replied to JustTryingToGetFromAtoB | 1 year ago
5 likes

JustTryingToGetFromAtoB wrote:

For once being genuine, rather than snarky, if people genuinely believe that vulnerable road users need hi-vis to be seen by motorists, how many motorists could correctly read a number plate from 20 meters away..?

I struggle to read some number plates - because they are almost completely obscured with dirt. I just hope that drivers who talk about visibility with bicycles have nice clean plates.

Avatar
peted76 | 1 year ago
8 likes

It must be a slow news day if they're talking about hi-viz... I do wish media companies would employ better researchers and journalists.. I wonder is 'researcher' a job for the thick or/and lazy? 

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
9 likes

Why would anyone watch a tv show where 85.2% of the people watching it are misinformed?  Ahhhh......I think I might have answered my own question there.

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Awavey | 1 year ago
1 like
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hawkinspeter replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
6 likes

Awavey wrote:

Not the Joan Collins story ? https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/joan-collins-cyclist-collision-bl...

She has had trouble with things being in the wrong places, like that time she had that tree in her house

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HoarseMann replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
17 likes

She was wearing black and getting out of a black cab. It's a wonder the cyclist saw her at all.

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Awavey replied to HoarseMann | 1 year ago
9 likes

Should have been wearing hi vis  3

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HoarseMann replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
9 likes

Awavey wrote:

Should have been wearing hi vis  3

Pedestrians need to do more to help themselves. Whilst you should be able to walk on the pavement without being knocked over by a cyclist, the reality is sometimes a cyclist mistakes a pavement for a shared use cycle track and accidents can happen.

As Cristo rightly says, why put yourself in the hands of people who are fallible?

You should take precautions when pedestrianising in the dark. Hi-vis for sure, but also body armour and a helmet would be prudent. At least Joan was sporting a stiff perm - that is an excellent choice for head protection, offering far better impact absorption than even a cycling helmet!

Often it's safer to avoid walking on pavements altogether. A sturdy mobility scooter can be a good choice.

Alternative routes from the cab to the restaurant should also be considered. Perhaps there is a rear entrance to the restaurant that would avoid using the busy pavement?

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Hirsute replied to HoarseMann | 1 year ago
7 likes

Pedestrians should use a zorb ball.

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hawkinspeter replied to Hirsute | 1 year ago
6 likes
hirsute wrote:

Pedestrians should use a zorb ball.

I'd pay money to see them trying to get on and off trains

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chrisonabike replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
3 likes
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hawkinspeter replied to chrisonabike | 1 year ago
2 likes

chrisonatrike wrote:

Escalators.

Me watching Prometheus: "Run to the side!"

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ChrisB200SX replied to HoarseMann | 1 year ago
5 likes

HoarseMann wrote:

She was wearing black and getting out of a black cab. It's a wonder the cyclist saw her at all.

Why wasn't she wearing HiViz and a helmet?

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Steve K replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
7 likes

It's very instructive to see the difference between the reporting of this story to the reporting of the Dan Walker one.  On this one, all the emphasis is on the cyclist, and nothing on what JC could or should have done to ensure her own safety.  On the DW story, the opposite was true - all about what he should have done, and nothing about the driver.

FWIW - other than blaming of all cyclists for the actions of one (as our dear Martin has done) I agree with the balance in the JC story.  But the difference is extremely informative.

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