John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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37 comments
yep me and my bike together 90kgs at (when I am munching a bar) <12mph. So 1100 odd joules of energy if hit something.
Maserati Granturismo 1,880 kg + 1 driver (minimum) let's call that 1950kg min. Let's say he's only doing 12mph as well it could of course be a lot more. So 24,000 joules of energy if he hits something.
not much equivalence there.
plus when I am munching I only have one hand off the bars not two. And I am not using a spoon.
not much equivalence there either.
I can still perform an emergency stop whilst eating a bowl of cereal in a car, I don't believe do this on my bike. So I suppose there is a difference.
In my opinion (as a cyclist) the cyclist is more of a potential 'hazard' than the driver of the car, cycling in heavy, moving traffic, mind on the youtube money shot, not looking in the direction of travel, "if a child ran out" etc. etc... watch the video & make your own mind up.
The difference is, do this on a bike and kill someone you'll get done for manslaughter and a gang of Tory MPs will demand that all cyclists be flogged.
Do it in a car you'll turn on the waterworks, greet on about your support for victims of cancer and you'll never forgive yourself, an "expert" will tell the court that the accident was the fault of the victim and her family, you'll be let off with a 6 month ban. Which you will ignore.
Yeah... you're clearly trolling as you have nothing sensible to add. Keep blaming those who are concerned about the law and doing campaign work - on YOUR behalf
As I said last night on twitter - ANY cyclist that defends a driver like this is an enemy of their own safety. Dont come crying on internet forums when you become affected.
Kettle. Pot. Black.
Watch the video. Make your own mind up.
Are you f-ing kidding? Hazard to whom beside themselves exactly?
To use the word "vigilante" is to obfuscate the situation.
The fact of the matter is people MUST NOT drive like this. It is illegal. Your very (trolling) comment does massive disservice to every bike rider, motorcyclist and pedestrian out there needing the road to be a safe environment.
Its not about revenge. Drivers and pedestrians can film others as much as they like when the actions of another are wrong - and when they are wrong we should all be standing in unison against it.
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