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"An everyday occurrence": Driver pulls out on cyclist in very relatable clip; DIY cycle lane pops up after council removes segregated infra; G's Cycling Trust; BathLive readers LOVE active travel; Alt Tour film; Strange kit release + more on the live blog

It's Tuesday live blog time! Dan Alexander is the man behind the keyboard for today's action...
Tue, Oct 26, 2021 09:04
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"An everyday occurrence": Driver pulls out on cyclist in very relatable clip; DIY cycle lane pops up after council removes segregated infra; G's Cycling Trust; BathLive readers LOVE active travel; Alt Tour film; Strange kit release + more on the live blogDriver pulls out on cyclist (Screenshot via CycleGaz)
26 October 2021, 16:08
26 October 2021, 15:29
How many mates to reel in Filippo Ganna?

A lot...

26 October 2021, 13:57
All too relatable...reader reaction to a very familiar driver pulling out video

Time for some reaction to our main blog story of the day...it's all a bit déjà vu isn't it? You're riding along, approach a left turn, see driver waiting, driver starts to edge forward, 'surely not' you think, 'yep, they're coming out', BRAKE...

Andrew Potts suggested this and the left hook are all-time classics for the 'bad driving cyclists see' hall of fame. No arguments from me, although I'd love to add the must get in front overtake approaching a red light/stationary traffic that always ends with you rolling past laughing...

Rob Taylor thinks there's more to it, "I’m convinced it’s not just a case of I didn’t see you (no excuses for that) but one of...'its only a bike...they can stop and he/she isn’t going fast.' Not appreciating you could so easily be doing 25mph. Perceived speed for some drivers seems relative to mass."

Graham Black championed the trusty air horn for situations like this...

On Facebook, David Kelly commented: "It’s sadly an almost everyday occurrence stuff like that."

Of course, some said the cyclist shouldn't have been riding so fast...Stew Elliott mic-dropped that idea with this: "What I'm getting from the responses is a bunch of people who regularly moan that cyclists are slow and hold up traffic also think cyclists go too fast." Funny that.

26 October 2021, 13:40
New shades from Rudy Project
2021 Rudy Project Deltabeat

Rudy Project has just launched its new Deltabeat sunglasses which are now made with a bio-based polyamide frame material that’s called Rilsan Clear. 

Rudy Project says this new material developed by Arkema has the same properties of Grilamid TR90 which is commonly used for sport sunnies. “Rilsan Clear’s key properties are lightness, chemical and fatigue resistance, flexibility and easy processability which make this material extremely durable, resistant and perfectly suitable for sports use,” claims Rudy Project.

 Rilsan Clear is made from the oil of castor beans grown in the Gujarat region of India. “The beans are crushed to produce castor oil and the oil is further refined during several steps to produce the primary bio-based raw material in the polymer,” Rudy Project explains.

The Deltabeats are Rudy Projects’ sunnies with a large wraparound lens for maximum coverage and also include the brands’ head grip geometry that’s designed to optimise the fit for different faces. Vents are also included on the temples, frame and lenses to minimise the risk of fogging. We’ll get one in for review and you know our thoughts soon…

2021 Rudy Project Deltabeat
26 October 2021, 13:22
But cyclists...
26 October 2021, 13:09
Raleigh launches national competition: Vintage MK2 Raleigh Chopper and limited edition T-shirts designed by Johnny Vaughan, Pete McKee and Kid30 up for grabs
Raleigh competition

Raleigh has a competition where one lucky winner will get their hands on a pristine vintage MK2 Raleigh Chopper. Working in partnership with World Bicycle Relief, entrants can also win a collection of limited edition T-shirts and prints. All proceeds will go towards World Bicycle Relief's work providing bikes to those living in poverty within developing rural areas.

The MK2 probably needs no introduction, it's an iconic bike that Raleigh says, "transports many riders back to a time of fun and exploration from their childhood". Anyone here still a proud Chopper owner? Entries are £5 via the brand's crowdfunder...

26 October 2021, 13:09
26 October 2021, 12:31
DIY painted cycle lane pops up on Old Shoreham Road...just a month after council removes segregated infrastructure

Old Shoreham Road has a new cycle lane today, it's a little bit wonky (and not council-approved) but it's there...

The DIY painted lane appeared on the same road where the council removed a protected cycle route last month. Images of the new lane spread on social media, and show it painted sporadically along both sides of the road. In response, the council promised to remove the paintwork and warned the public "not to put unauthorised lining on any roads."

One unimpressed local told the Argus, "Honestly, we were shocked and appalled that someone had gone to such lengths to reverse the decision that was finally democratically made after 16 months. This is an illegal act of vandalism that needs to be dealt with by the police..."

Old Shoreham Road made headlines here at road.cc when a group of parents set up a school bike train in response to the council's decision to remove the infrastructure. Ben Kelly, a founder of the train and parent at a local school said: "It’s one hundred percent in response to the bike lane being taken out.

"Using that road is a lot more dangerous when you don’t have a cycle lane there. Cars whiz past at speed and in volume. It was not a nice journey in comparison. We thought we’d do a bike train to get safety in numbers, what we basically do is ride two abreast, take up the whole lane and cars can then drive around us."

26 October 2021, 12:24
26 October 2021, 11:21
Say goodbye to stinky kit...Muc-Off launches Anti-Odour spray
Muc-Off Anti-Odour spray

Aiming to solve one of the biggest issues of digging deep in-the-saddle - stinky kit - Muc-Off has launched its Anti-Odour spray (£11.99 for a 250ml bottle). The bicycle care brand is venturing into rider care with a spray that it says helps increase the longevity of kit and is perfect for using while away on riding trips to help protect your kit when it’s repeatedly used and can’t be easily washed.

The spray uses Silverplus tech which, according to Muc-Off, works by releasing the silver element in the formula onto the fabric to keep riders’ kit smelling fresh for longer. “The silver releases positive ions to attach to the negative ions of bacteria, which prevents the dreaded odour-causing bacteria from developing,” says Muc-Off. “It’s ideal for removing odour from helmet liners, body armour, shoe lining, gloves, pads, boots, shoes, synthetic fibre or any other textiles that come into contact with your skin and start to smell over time.”

Muc-Off says it’ll provide freshness for up to ten washes before another spray treatment is needed, and is suitable to use on leather, suede, cotton, polycotton, softshell, technical fabrics and synthetics. 

Brands are increasingly introducing products to increase the longevity of kit to reduce the environmental impact. Wondering how to make more eco-friendly choices when it comes to your cycle clothing? You can find out more over here.

26 October 2021, 11:14
Deceuninck-Quick-Step mark the off-season with a day out on the tractor

Believe it or not the only Quick-Step rider here is Yves Lampaert. At first we thought Tim Declercq was looking well, turns out that's an actual John Deere.

26 October 2021, 10:28
Mamnick raises eyebrows with this bizarre kit release

In the market for biathlon kit? Probably not. But Sheffield-based cycling clothing company Mamnick raised eyebrows with this interesting kit release photo...as well as the brand's no nonsense approach to dealing with unhappy replies...

I don't really know what to say about this. You can make up your own mind...

26 October 2021, 09:38
Rapha Gone Racing: Behind the scenes of Lachlan Morton's Alt Tour

As always with the EF Education-Nippo x Rapha collabs there's a great behind the scenes film documenting the trip. Lachlan Morton's Alt Tour film is worth the wait. We spent most of July just watching his little avatar zipping across France on the tracker, now you can actually see what it was like slogging away day after day...in his sandals. Well worth a watch...

26 October 2021, 09:02
BathLive readers LOVE active travel

70 comments under this. Get comfy, grab the popcorn, we're going in...

Scotty Turner got the ball rolling: "Oh that plonker again, anti car cycalist(sic)"

Chris Dunn rather menacingly added: "Car owners are voters and you don't want to be upsetting them." 

Stuart Pike may have the solution though..."Unless they flatten all the hills out, it's all rubbish." Right, lads. Get that roller out and flatten some of those hills for us...

In fairness, a few people pointed out the need to make public transport more reliable and accessible, including Vanessa Roberts: "Our bus service to Bath is diabolical and the train isn't much better. I prefer to use the park and ride when I can as parking prices are high."

Any locals want to have their say? 

26 October 2021, 08:42
Geraint Thomas launches Cycling Trust aiming to get young people cycling

 G has set up the Geraint Thomas Cycling Trust (GTCT) so that "every young person can enjoy the spirit of cycling by participating in cycling regardless of their individual circumstances." Through grant funding and a support programme, the trust wants to encourage more youngsters to ride bikes, while also tackling the affordability issue that many face when buying and maintaining their bicycle.

On the sport side of things the GTCT has pledged to develop a network of community volunteer mentors, and more widely it will work with other cycling organisations and local cycling clubs and schools to support young people who want to cycle.

26 October 2021, 07:38
"An everyday occurrence": Driver pulls out on cyclist in very relatable clip

I'd wager if you're here reading road.cc and you've been riding bikes for any sustained period of time, then you'll be familiar with this manoeuvre. CycleGaz certainly has, he's even nailed down his cheery "Ohhh, thank you for looking. Thank you, really appreciate it" and ride on...

Presumably, the driver here didn't even consider the thought of a cyclist rolling up the bike lane on the inside of the stationary cars. Maybe it's a clip to highlight how paint on the road doesn't help keep cyclists safe, but I'd say it's mainly just a very relatable piece of bad driving.

Anyway, even if there was a segregated lane it might not have helped...remember this vid from Cork's new South Mall cycle path? One local rider took a spin down the new lane, only to narrowly avoid a triple collision with two drivers pulling into it without seeing him.

As is the way with Twitter, not everyone agreed the driver was at fault in the CycleGaz video...two accounts (both related to London taxi drivers) took issue. Our old 'friends' at Taxileaks blamed Gaz for riding like he's in a velodrome and took issue with the rider pressing his head unit afterwards too...that's a new one for the bingo cards.

It's a return to form for the self-proclaimed 'London's no1 Taxi news website/blog' which was last seen on the live blog arguing with Jeremy Vine about cyclists needing registration plates. The advice from fellow cyclists was more sympathetic...one person recommended rechargeable air horns, another the advice "assume that every single driver will ignore your right of way and pull out on you"...

Got to love a WTF hand too...

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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134 comments

Avatar
anke replied to chrisonabike | 3 years ago
0 likes

I agree with your long term aim of designing the danger out. But how realistic is this in the short term?

The measures that you mention in the first paragraph are not perfect - but they do help and are worth exploiting.

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chrisonabike replied to anke | 3 years ago
3 likes

anke wrote:

I agree with your long term aim of designing the danger out. But how realistic is this in the short term?

The measures that you mention in the first paragraph are not perfect - but they do help and are worth exploiting.

According to some people (even some on here too) none of these measures are realistic because "these things just happen sometimes" or "half of one..." or even "brought it upon themselves by being on the roads".

As far as "realistic" and "short term" - there isn't anything short term in trying to make big changes. I think it's more realistic than:

  • Expecting people to become better drivers / humans.
  • Expecting changing the law will have that effect.
  • Expecting that we'll suddenly abolish cars (sorry one poster here).
  • ...or that technology will fix this (apologies to others).
  • Expecting any of the political parties at a national level will fix this.  Although in Scotland I'm now a little more optimistic about the direction of travel.

I try to bang on more outside the internet of cyclists about this too. A little experience with (local) authorities suggests that it's as much about holding back the flood as draining the swamp but sometimes things change. I note in the Netherlands when they started to think about taming the car cycling had still not declined to the tiny level of the UK. However there were still some serious fights over this over the 40 plus years until the present.

What I think a lot of the "protect yourself" measures share is (good) they're cheap, you can do them yourself - and thus they may make you feel better / more in control of your destiny. So I exploit many of these measures as I'm sure most of us do.  On the flip side they're of debatable efficacy, it's up to individuals to do them (and it may count against you if you don't - even in court) and they don't deal with the root cause. It's trying to fix the issue from the bottom of the hierarchy of hazard controls.

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Rendel Harris replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 3 years ago
5 likes

Nigel Garage][quote=anke wrote:

You'll note that some people here think you're being too hard on the cyclist and others too soft, so you're effectively the "centre-ground" in this debate

A quick scan of the comments shows that 26 commenters feel that anke is being "too hard on the cyclist", 4 agree with him/her, and I can't see a single one that says s/he's being too soft on them. You really need to work on your tangential realtionship with the truth. Even anke him/herself doesn't actually agree with you.

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stomec replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 3 years ago
5 likes

ooh Nigel is back!  Thought you had run away after being wrong so many times!

Quote:

The problem with speaking the truth is that it actually has to be, you know, true.

1. At 4-7s on the video the white car has a completely unobstructed view and still decides to pull out

2. Head position is not shown on the video

3. If you think that cyclist was straining every sinew you are a far weaker cyclist than I would have thought

4.  Intention is not shown on the video

5.  He did slow down when the incompetent driving caused him to do so, and was obviously capable of coming to a complete stop well before the crossing.
 

but you have yet another logical fallacy to inflict on us today!  What joy

Nigel Garage wrote:

You'll note that some people here think you're being too hard on the cyclist and others too soft, so you're effectively the "centre-ground" in this debate... which probably gives your voice the highest validity here. So for that reason I hope you don't feel intimidated by some of the more trollish anti-motorist sentiment you've been subjected to. You have to remember that some posters would like an echo-chamber style forum and will attack anyone that deviates from their point of view.

So, just to be clear the centre ground of any debate does not automatically, logically or reasonably have the highest validity so your "probably" is again wrong. 
 

For instance, racicism=bad vs racism=good does not balance out to a little bit of racism is ok then. Likewise climate change=a real and genuine problem vs climate change=doesn't exist and covid=real pandemic vs covid=scamdemic. 
 

Objective truth exists, you are wrong. 

Avatar
Steve K replied to Lance ꜱtrongarm | 3 years ago
9 likes

Nigel Garage wrote:

Agree with what you wrote there anke, and please don't feel put off speaking your truth by some of the troll replies. The cyclist in the clip was riding carelessly. Along with what you've already written (the white car shouldn't have pulled out but was unsighted by the street furniture), he was approaching an unsighted zebra crossing with stationary cars (indicating the presence of a pedestrian), on the hoods, head down, straining every sinew, with no intention of slowing despite the environment demanding caution. A typically self-entitled clip I'm afraid.

Do you remember that clip filmed from a doorbell camera of the cyclist getting rear-ended? You know, where you posted a whole lot of stuff about what had happened and how he was cycling.  Which was then proved to be wrong when the cyclist came on here and said what really happened.

Yes, that.

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Flintshire Boy replied to anke | 3 years ago
0 likes

As I have already said - 'Easy, easy. Balance NOT wanted on Road.cc'.

 

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PRSboy | 3 years ago
12 likes

I had a similar one recently where a fella in a convertible close-passed me, then squeezed me in toward the kerb, then stopped to turn right into a petrol station.  I gave a similar "Excellent driving, thank you very much!".  He looked genuinely bewildered.  That he did not think he'd done anything wrong was almost more worrying than if he'd done it deliberately!

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Velophaart_95 replied to PRSboy | 3 years ago
1 like

Isn't that the issue - they don't think they've done anything wrong....

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nniff | 3 years ago
10 likes

The other party's insurance has just paid out for my dearly-beloved Jaegher after I was right hooked on CS7 in May.  The blue paint did nothing.  Still waiting on the physical injuries (9 hours in ST George's A&E). 

The police sent the driver a NIP, but didn't do anything in the end because of a lack of independent witnesses, despite police attendance and examination of the scene and an admission of fault by the driver.  Not really worried about that, frankly, as she was shaken to the core.  Main thing was being able to top the bank balance back up again after replacing the bike - the insurance company might have been a complete pain to deal with, but at least they paid up.  Thanks also to British Cycling's insurance cover and their lawyers baring their teeth in my corner.

On the plus side also, at least the driver had a licence and insurance. Around CS7 (SE London), 1 in 11 vehicles are uninsured.  East London, it's 1 in 8. Put another way, one of the cars in the clip above is probably uninsured.  

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NPlus1Bikelights | 3 years ago
1 like

IDIOTA!

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cbrndc | 3 years ago
8 likes

This not a case of didn't look or didn't see the cyclist, but it's only a cyclist and I don't give a f@ck

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Ride On | 3 years ago
4 likes

This is an everyday occurrence because of driving culture and infrastructure.

Drivers problem: I need to get into this queue of traffic, so need to nudge my way out because no one will let me in.

S/he does not give a thought to blocking the cycle lane because they are planning to block the traffic anyway to get out of the side road and probably doesn't see the oncoming cyclist because the queue of traffic is at a standstill so probably doesn't look.

It's much easier to see the hazard, in this case a cyclist, if you are looking for it.

More education for drivers please.

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eburtthebike | 3 years ago
10 likes

The basic problem in this country is that bad driving is accepted, and goes unpunished.  While I'm not generally in favour of draconian measures, this is one time I'd break that rule and introduce much more rigorous policing of the roads, including a dedicated team of officers to view, analyse and prosecute incidents like this, which should result in an appropriate punishment of a week's ban, enforced by confiscating the vehicle for a week.  These incidents happen daily to almost every cyclist, and while most don't result in a collision, some will.  If you repeat relatively low risk things enough, eventually it will happen.

Sure, the drivers will scream, stamp their feet and froth at the mouth, but if it saves just a hundred lives, or a thousand lives........

We all make mistakes, but when that can result in a death, we have a duty to make that activity as safe as possible, not to tolerate incompetence.

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IanMK replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
6 likes

Wasn't it always said that you learnt to pass your test then you learnt to drive "properly". I think "properly" actually meant like everyone else. There's a common set of rules that drivers follow that are not in (and in many cases contradict) the highway code. With the increases in active cycling, scootering and even walking drivers need to consider the new normal and drive accordingly (which will of course be as presented in the HC). 

But of course this idea will elicit the normal comments on culture wars, war on cars and general whataboutery to cover up the fact they have learnt too many bad habits and don't want to change.

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