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PCSO accuses injured cyclist of making unnecessary journey; Cabbie admits spreading tacks around Regent's Park; Ex-Labour MP's inspirational cycling thread; World champs heading to Quatar?; Busy Brighton A-road gets temp bike lane + more on the live blog

This bank holiday Friday special blog is brought to you by Jack Sexty, with the occasional contribution from staff members who haven't swanned off on a long weekend getaway. Oh wait.....
Fri, May 08, 2020 09:20
35

SUMMARY

No Live Blog item found.

08 May 2020, 15:14
Welsh lockdown restrictions will allow exercise more than once per day from Monday

The 'modest' changes will mean that Welsh residents will be permitted outside to exercise more than once per day; while no such rule specifically exists in England, it's been reported that a change to the current guidance - that says 'one form of exercise a day' is allowed with a number of exceptions -  may be announced by Boris Johnson over the weekend when he addresses the nation. 

08 May 2020, 13:42
PCSO faces backlash for asking if injured cyclist's planned 26 mile ride was necessary

The Somerset County Gazette reports PCSO Steve Hill wrote on his Police Facebook account that a cyclist was injured while out on a bike ride with friends, which would have reportedly been 26 miles in length. PCSO Hill said the cyclist crashed on Ford Street in Wellington, Somerset, and was taken to hospital with minor injuries. 

He then said: "It transpired the cyclist was with two friends from Taunton who decided to go for a cycle ride as their daily exercise. They were avid cyclists and thought this was ok.

"Although cycling can be part of your daily exercise is going for a 26-mile bike ride with friends necessary?

"This cycle ride ended in tragedy, luckily the cyclist only suffered minor injuries but was taken the (sic) Musgrove Park Hospital.

"This incident took up valuable emergency service time and could have been prevented by the cyclists staying at home as per government regulations.

"Please think before going out, is the journey necessary?"

The comments reportedly attracted anger in comments underneath PCSO Hill's post, and others have criticised him for imposing 'rules' that don't exist; under the government's lockdown guidance daily exercise is permitted, but the length or duration isn't specified. 

08 May 2020, 13:31
Geraint Thomas will return to France to train for rescheduled Tour de France

The 2018 winner of Le Tour revealed in a Facebook Live chat with Wiggle (above) that he will be heading to France on Monday to up his training for the race, which is set to begin on the 29th August - Thomas is a resident of Monaco. 

He said: "We'll be back out there, we can train on the roads there. At the moment anyway that's what the French Government are saying, so looking forward to it."

Thomas also said that while it "obviously isn't ideal that he is 'excited' about the new UCI calendar, which has been squeezed betwen September and November with many events overlapping: "if we can get it all in that will just be phenomenal", he added. 

08 May 2020, 12:59
Reports that the UCI Road World Champs could be held in the UAE, Qatar or Oman if Switzerland is unable to host

According to the Spanish publication Marca, one of the Arab nations could step in if Aigle-Martigny 2020 is unable to take place in Switzerland between 20th-27th September because of the pandemic. 

The Swiss organisers of the championships are reportedly not convinced that the event will be able to go ahead, and co-chairman of the organising committee Grégory Devaud says that they "must be humble" about the situation, out of respect for those who are fighting the virus each day."

He added that a final decision whether Switzerland could host would be made by the end of June, while Marca claim to have learned from insiders that the UCI is considering the UAE, Qatar or Oman as alternative host nations. As Switzerland is mountainous and a road race in any of these three countries would most likely be very flat, it means any shortlist of favourites to win world titles in 2020 would be turned on its head. With organisers most likely looking to avoid big crowds gathering, there would be an advantage to hosting in one of these three countries according to some...

08 May 2020, 14:15
Wanna Zwift with us? Maybe not, but the offer's there!
08 May 2020, 12:33
Ridiculous coronavirus-related signs in villages: the bar is raised again

The scattergun approach to this ranting collection of signs mean they appear to say something the angry authors probably didn't intend for them to say. 

08 May 2020, 11:06
Tweet surfaces from London cab driver who admits to spreading drawing pins around Regent's Park

There's stupid as in endangering the lives of others by putting drawing pins in the road to puncture bike tyres... and then there's stupid as in admitting it publicly on social media. That's what 'Welsh Cabbie Tony' has done if his tweet from 21st March - which has resurfaced today - is to be believed. Incredibly, the Twitter account is still active. 

We understand the tweet has been reporting to the police and they are still investigating. 

It's been brought to our attention that some international readers may be unaware that 'black cab' is an informal term for a specific type of licensed taxi in the UK. We've changed the headline to reflect this, apologies for any confusion. 

08 May 2020, 10:33
Heidi Alexander posts epic thread on cycling... and then gets grief for not wearing a helmet

Heidi Alexander - an ex-Labour MP and now London's Deputy Mayor for Transport - sums up perfectly what is so good about switching to two wheels in the thread above. She closes with: "Life is going to be pretty different for a while. We are going to need to change how we move around the city. I’d love this horrible period to lead to hundreds of thousands of women (and men!) in London taking to their bikes - being healthier and happier as a consequence."

Although it did attract a comment from someone who didn't believe Ms Alexander's post was a 'great advert for safe cycling'...

Though we can't help noticing that this account's profile picture is Jan Ulrich, and despite his slick aero helmet this happened to him in the final time trial of the 2003 Tour de France... 

08 May 2020, 10:22
Notorious Brighton A road gets temporary cycle lane

Brighton and Hove Council have announced that a 1.7 mile long temporary cycle route is to be installed along the A270 Old Shoreham Road; described as "significant because you'd only want to use that road on a bike if you're in a hurry" according to road.cc contributor Jo Burt. 

Resident access to driveways are unaffected, and the lane will be in use from 11th May. 

08 May 2020, 10:10
Is there less roadside litter because fast food joints are closed?
roadside waste flytipping - via wikimedia commons.PNG

A cyclist wrote to the Northern Echo suggesting this could be the case, observing that while flytipping has inevitably gone up, there seems to be much less general litter around during lockdown. Evidently it's not gel wrappers that appear to be the main litter problem on countryside roads then...

08 May 2020, 08:57
More drawing pins found around Regent's Park

We first reported this on our Wednesday live blog, and it looks like either they've yet to be removed or new pins have been put down in their place. The MET Contact Centre replied to this tweet to say that they're aware of the latest discovery. 

There have been rising reports of self-styled 'vigilantes' laying traps - presumably aimed at cyclists and/or walkers - who are attempting to enforce their own warped version of the government's lockdown guidance and illegally putting up signs telling people to stay away. This one from South Wales was one of the numerous examples we've seen since the lockdown began. 

coronavirus pandemic you are my targets sign - via Matt James on twitter.PNG

 

08 May 2020, 08:53
On yer bike, say The i newspaper

That's what's on the front page of this morning's edition, as it's reported that the public wil be urged to cycle to work to avoid the risk of further spread from a return to the mass use of public transport. Are we really heading for a 'Golden Age of Cycling'?

08 May 2020, 08:06
Peter Sagan double header: a change of tune about indoor cycling, and 'escaping' with the new Diverge

The Slovakian recently revealed on an Instagram live video that he didn't care much for indoor cycling, and that he's "a real cyclist not a virtual one"... but ever the people pleaser, Sagan has been taking one for the team and getting involved with Bora-Hansgrohe's virtual ride outs. 

He's also been taking one for the Specialized marketing team by starring in the ad for their all new Diverge, posing as an escaping crook by the looks of things and using the revamped all-roader as his getaway vehicle. We all know it's make-believe because that rather expensive bike wasn't locked, and in real life it would have definitely got pinched...

08 May 2020, 08:18
Cycling in America

Apparantly getting shot at was 'just a joke', if this story is indeed true. Only in 'merica... 

08 May 2020, 08:21

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Jack Sexty

Jack has been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of the website including tech, news and video, and also contributed to eBikeTips before being named Editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master's degree in print journalism and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it's a long story). 

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35 comments

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Kapelmuur replied to Hirsute | 4 years ago
2 likes

Having no concept of what a fit person is capable of reminds me of years ago when I was a reasonable club runner a did a 10 mile run for a charity.

It was done as a sort of sweepstake in which people were invited to guess  how long it would take.   Most guesses were over 2 hours!

Avatar
ktache | 4 years ago
8 likes

I don't see why the illegal and incredibly antisocial activity of fly tipping has inevitably gone up.  People (and by that I mean motorists) choose to do it, no one forces them.

Avatar
Spangly Shiny replied to ktache | 4 years ago
10 likes

It's a British malady, when all the recycling centres are closed down, fly tipping will inevitably go up. I know it's illegal and antisocial but hey this is Britain where illegal and antisocial are the citizen's divine right.
Spent 10 years living in Germany where the instances of litter were very rare and I never saw fly tipping once.

Avatar
jasecd replied to Spangly Shiny | 4 years ago
6 likes

This is Britain where people behave in a thoughtful and social minded way only until it becomes inconvenient to do so.

Avatar
OnTheRopes replied to ktache | 4 years ago
2 likes

Recycling centres are all closed, refuse collections reduced. Less traffic means less likely to be witnessed dumping crap.

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