Cop tasers Florida teen cyclist; Bikeability instructors could pay £100s for new training; Driver angry at teen cyclists tweets phone footage; Record fines for Grimsby town centre cycling; Dutch neighbourhood will ban cars + more on live blog

iNews reports that cycling instructors face losing their licences unless they fork out £288 to take a new cycle safety exam, a revised version of the current Bikeability qualification. Bikeability say this is because the existing scheme has "inconsistent instructor training courses, unfair competitive advantage for Instructor Training Organisations, and lack of instructor professional development."

Instructors in London who have formed a union under IWGB have written an open letter to Sadiq Khan and Will Norman asking for the bill to be picked up by Transport for London. Current instructors will actually pay more to complete the course, as new instructors will be eligible for a £60 subsidy from The Bikeability Trust; the training has to be completed by 1st August. 

Cycle campaigners have recently questioned the effectiveness of Bikeability itself after the government announced that every child in England will be given access to it, claiming that the training needs to be backed up by safe places for children to ride to maximise the investment. Cycling UK's Chief Executive Paul Tuohy said: “Projects like Bikeability and the Big Bike Revival provide the skills for safer cycling to some of the people who need it the most. It’s fantastic to see the Government continue to back programmes that deliver and are helping thousands of people every year on their cycling journeys.

“However we won’t get millions more cycling unless there’s further significant investment in infrastructure. Without it the Government is on a highway to failure in getting more people active. Funding for cycling and walking between 2020 and 2025 must increase to between £6 and £8bn to meet the Government’s own targets to double cycle use and increase walking.”

The bike that Urwahn have called Platzhirsch (no idea how to pronounce sorry) has an eBikeMotion rear hub motor system, Gates Belt Drive and an LED lighting system integrated into the handlebars, with a rear light built into the seatpost. The frame is 'organic steel' with all electronic components integrated, and there are numerous hidden mounting points for racks and mudguards for commuting duties. The price is €4,499 with a €500 discount for those who pre-order - head over to Urwahn's website for more info.  

Coventry-born Adam Tranter, who is also CEO of PR Firm Fusion Media, has been appointed as the city's Bicycle Mayor to 'help coordinate between existing cyclists, the community, government, and nonprofits'. He's the second in the UK after Cumbria appointed a Bicycle Mayor lasy year, and the 20th worldwide - full story to follow. 

Nah that doesn't work. Only think that makes you quicker is getting more aero pic.twitter.com/VecY6d9xQP

— Real Gaz of Trumpton #fbpe (@gazza_d) February 10, 2020

 

 

 

 

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#WelcomeINEOS 👊 Our 2020 @f1 livery = REVEALED!! Featuring our new Principal Partner INEOS ❤️

A post shared by Mercedes-AMG F1 (@mercedesamgf1) on Feb 10, 2020 at 4:03am PST

After buying a football club and taking over one of the most successful teams in cycling, the UK chemicals firm are now branching out into F1 by becoming the new Principal Partner of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team in a five-year deal worth a reported £100 million. 

Ineos owner Jim Radcliffe told reporters at the Royal Automobile Club in London today: “We have a genuine passion for sport and F1 is one of the most exciting sports around. It’s an intriguing marriage between sport and technology, similar to our America’s Cup (a sailing competition) challenge, which is effectively a 10-storey building sailing on top of a coffee table.

“Why Mercedes? We have admiration for a fantastic engineering company at the top of its game.”

Does that means a new Merc-branded Dogma F12 is on the cards? Not that it matters because we won't be able to afford it, but yeah... 

The 20 riders who will compete at the forthcoming UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Berlin have been announced, in what will be the final opportunity for the Great Britain Cycling Team to score qualifying points for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Laura and Jason Kenny will feature, as will Ed Clancy, Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Phil Hindes and Katy Marchant. There's no place for Mark Cavendish, who reportedly had an eye on Olympic selection for the track team; but his omission means it's all but certain he will now miss out. 

Performance Director Stephen Park said: “The world championships in Berlin mark an important milestone on the path to the Olympic Games for the track cyclists and, as has always been our clear intention for this stage of the cycle, our focus now is on those riders who we believe have the potential to win a medal in Tokyo.

“The bar in track cycling is continuously being raised, which is great for keeping the sport healthy, but also means the fight for every medal is much tougher so Berlin will be interesting. “It’s also a good opportunity for our riders to show the selectors what they’re capable of and to help stake their claim on a place within the Olympic squad."

The championships take place from 26th February to 1st March. 

What the Dutch!?

Someone invented a Cyclo-Knitter; a pedal-powered machine that weaves a scarf in the 5 minutes you are waiting for a train.pic.twitter.com/9Zod5C0QtM

— Cycling Professor (@fietsprofessor) February 9, 2020

We're told this was filmed at Eindhoven station and is the work of George Barratt-Jones - a super cool gift if there ever was one. 

North East Lincolnshire Council are raking in the big bucks by handing out fixed penalties for dog fouling, littering, smoking in the wrong places and cycling in the pedestrianised area of Grimsby town centre, with 135 people fined for the latter since enforcement began in November 2018 via a private enforcement company - 51 of those have been given out in the last three months. 

The Grimsby Telegraph reports that Councillor Ron Shepherd is super pleased that "out of control" cyclists are picking up fines, and people are "sick to death" of them "whizzing along Victoria Street":  

"Not only are they a nuisance, but they cause significant risk to passers-by and it may only be a matter of time before someone gets injured by a reckless rider.

"Enforcement officers are often the first line of defence against problem behaviour, and help keep our town centre a safe and pleasant place for visitors.

"They are also a helpful presence on the streets, and are often on hand to help people who get into trouble, by providing first aid or assisting the emergency services."

Those who have ever thought themselves unlucky to actually get fined for running a red light while cycling (it's best not to anyway) should be relieved they didn't come across this particular sheriff in Seminole County, Florida, who cuffed a teenage cyclist and put him in a cell for allegedly trying to 'resist arrest' after rolling through a stop sign. 

The author in the Facebook post above explains: "On this morning’s group ride, something unusual happened. My son and another teenage rider, Javier Lopez, were pulled over by a Seminole County Sheriff, and Javier Lopez was arrested for “resisting arrest”.

"The teens had been off the front of the group in a breakaway for approximately the last 20 mins and were holding a 25 sec gap. When they approached the left hand turn that would put them onto Florida Ave, my son stopped and Javier slowed and proceeded to roll through. They then proceeded to kick back up to speed as they were trying to maintain their breakaway gap. This is when the Sheriff, who was on the other side of the turn, took off in pursuit to pull them over. The rest of the group came to a stop then we all proceeded to continue chasing them. Approximately 25 sec later we came up on the teens on the side of the road, Javier already in handcuffs and my son asking why his friend was being arrested. The Sheriff said “why didn’t he stop? I told him to stop.” My son replied, “we did stop as soon as we realised that you were trying to pull us over.” T

"The sheriff insisted that he had yelled at them at the stop sign and that Javier was, in essence, “fleeing the sight of the traffic violation.” Although the group of cyclist tried to explain the situation, the sheriff said, “Today’s not the day for a road side jury.”

"They took Javier away, arrested him, and he is currently detained in a jail cell. His bail is set at $8500 and he will probably spend the night in jail unless his father, who is also a cyclist and was there on the ride, finds a bail bondsmen today.

"I understand enforcing the law, however, I do not understand the actions these sheriff’s carried out today. Why ruin the life of a good kid, who is in essence a child, with a criminal record? This should have been, worse case scenario, a traffic violation. Ask yourselves how many times you have slow rolled through a stop sign in your vehicle or your bike. Should this be how you’re treated? Or worse, is this how you would want your child treated? As cyclists, we should always follow the laws of the road, but we should also stick together when situations like these arise."

The cyclist Javier Lopez has now been released on bail, and a GoFundMe has been set up with a $10,000 target to go towards costs and attorney fees. 

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