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"Are you kidding?": Jeremy Vine calls out much-criticised police advice to cyclists; Relieved RideLondon cyclists celebrate no 22mph safety car; Giro stage 11; Pre-race trampolining; Dowsett called on for Ironman record; Room 101 + more on the live blog

Happy Wednesday, folks...today's Giro stage looks...well, dull...if Dan Alexander starts snoring, give him a nudge.....
Wed, May 18, 2022 09:11
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"Are you kidding?": Jeremy Vine calls out much-criticised police advice to cyclists; Relieved RideLondon cyclists celebrate no 22mph safety car; Giro stage 11; Pre-race trampolining; Dowsett called on for Ironman record; Room 101 + more on the live blogMerseyside Police car (licensed CC BY 3.0 on Wikimedia Commons by John Bradley)
18 May 2022, 16:30
18 May 2022, 16:18
"So you're gonna attack from the gun, follow the moves, sit on before the climb then drop the hammer"

PE's changed... 

18 May 2022, 15:50
"Are you kidding?": Jeremy Vine calls out much-criticised police advice to cyclists

The tweet is still up. Fair play if you had nine hours plus on your betslip...and it's attracting even more heat...

Cyclists breaking speed limits? We think what Jeremy is getting at is that as per the speed limits listed in Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and also Rule 124 of the Highway Code, cyclists are not required to adhere to the same limits which apply to motorists. Local bylaws aside, therefore, speed limits do not apply to those on bicycles.

Rule 124 outlines a table of speed limits for different vehicles, but cyclists are not included. Of course, careless and dangerous cycling charges do apply if riders are deemed to meet the criteria, but Merseyside Police knew that already, of course...

18 May 2022, 15:33
18 May 2022, 15:26
Could Mathieu van der Poel beat Biniam Girmay with a bit more sleep?
Van der Poel Whoop

Who knows? What we do know is exactly how many hours kip the Dutchman got, thanks to Whoop...

18 May 2022, 14:33
Italy has its win: Alberto Dainese wins stage 11 of the Giro d'Italia

Alberto Dainese from nowhere to the front of the sprint in about five seconds...

The Italian gave his country its first win of the year at its home Grand Tour, flying past Fernando Gaviria and Simone Consonni in the final metres. The left side of the road seemed fastest, with Mark Cavendish, Caleb Ewan and Arnaud Démare pulling up short on the right.

Dainese stage 11 Giro 2022

Gaviria went first before Consonni and Dainese jumped to his left, the latter pipping him on the line in another sprint, characteristically tight for this year's race. Pre-stage favourites Démare, Ewan and Cav rolled home in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

Dainese stage 11 Giro 2022

Now don't do what Biniam did, Alberto... 

18 May 2022, 14:31
18 May 2022, 13:55
Richard Carapaz sneaks three seconds at intermediate sprint

Richard Carapaz is now just 12 seconds behind Juan Pedro López after crossing the line first at the intermediate sprint on stage 11. Clever work from Ben Swift and the rest of the Ineos Grenadiers who strung it out, smashed out some watts, and left their Ecuadorian unchallenged...

18 May 2022, 13:26
Wednesday whinge
2022 3T Exploro Racemax Italia Dreambox - 1 (1).jpeg

Excuse my venting breaking up your live blog on this sunny Wednesday afternoon but, inspired by James May telling us on Friday that he would cast flashing front lights into Room 101 forever, I've got a cycling pet peeve of my own.

Inward facing stem bolts...impossible to torque correctly as...well, the stem's in the way. Absolute pain in the...to adjust mid-ride with a multitool. Oh, and to top it all off, the prime adjusting real estate for the lower bolts just so happens to be slap bang in the inaccessible triangle of: stem, headset, cables...never again...

What would be your cycling Room 101?

18 May 2022, 11:59
Pre-race activation like the pros...

Earlier today we heard Harry Tanfield is part of Alistair Brownlee's crack-team of aero assassins heading over to Germany to help him break the Ironman sub-7-hour record (hopefully)...

So how does a pro rider like Harry warm up for big races?

Trampolining of course...

Harry Tanfield Strava

Fasted trampolining sessions, eh? So that's the secret...

18 May 2022, 11:26
Giro d'Italia stage 11

As flat as a pancake...

But not everyone reckons it'll be a snooze fest...

We'll keep you up-to-date here on the live blog... 

18 May 2022, 11:15
18 May 2022, 10:05
Cycle like you drive? Police force schooled over 'road safety' advice

Introducing the latest police Twitter account to put their foot in it in three, two, one...

Where to begin? Can many cyclists exceed urban speed limits? Are brakes on bikes weak? (The last thing we need is the cops wading into the disc vs rim debate) Cycle like you drive? 'Curtesy'? There's no shortage of ammunition here...but just remember to always offer a curtsy to pedestrians when you stop at red lights...

Or are we talking about this?

live blog 18 May

Anyway, nitpicking aside, there are more important issues to address in the tweet which still survives on Merseyside Police's account four hours on. How much longer remains to be seen...

Cycle like you drive, eh?

Who knows how long this will still be up for? But don't worry...here's a screenshot if/when it's deleted...

18 May 2022, 10:37
Giacomo Nizzolo seeks sprinting advice from the peloton's newest lead-out man
Nizzolo Pozzovivo Giro 2022

After his lead-out heroics yesterday, was Giacomo Nizzolo making a sneaky bid for his compatriot's services now Biniam Girmay has unfortunately left the race?

18 May 2022, 10:25
Too soon, Ned, too soon 😢
18 May 2022, 09:58
18 May 2022, 09:32
Fantastic scenes as Eritrean fans celebrate Biniam Girmay's historic Giro d'Italia stage win

The news this morning is not so good...

More on that in the next few minutes... 

18 May 2022, 09:06
Avengers Assemble: Alastair Brownlee calls on Alex Dowsett and Dan Bigham for Ironman record attempt
2021 alistair brownlee clug pro ambassador

As far as pace setters go, time trial wizards Alex Dowsett and Dan Bigham are a pretty strong duo...

Two-time Olympic champion Alastair Brownlee has called on the pair to pace set his record attempt where he will try to record a sub-7-hour Ironman triathlon.

Kristian Blummenfelt, whose quite-ridiculous looking Cadex prototype bike we reported on a couple of weeks back, holds the current world record (7:21:12) and will compete against Brownlee at the Zwift-sponsored event in Germany on June 5 or 6 (depending on the weather)...

Bownlee's eight pace setters, who will need to maintain 45kp/h+ for 180km are mainly from the Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling Team, and include GB team pursuit rider Charlie Tanfield, brother Harry, Ollie Peckover and Zeb Kyfinn.

"These athletes have specialised in team time trialling and their performance coach and rider Jacob Tipper has brought these riders together," said Nigel Mitchell, Brownlee's technical manager.

"We've been very fortunate that we've got what we think are some of the best riders in the world for this type of event."

18 May 2022, 07:57
"Time to tear this ra—I mean sportive up!": Relieved RideLondon cyclists celebrate no 22mph safety car

The last 48 hours must have been quite quiet over at London Marathon Events...not. The team behind the running thing also organise RideLondon and have received something of a backlash from disgruntled entrants who received their race guide over the weekend...only to read there would be a 22mph safety car implemented at the head of the event.

 Following half a day of complaints from riders (and emails from road.cc) a quiet reply was added to one complaint, saying the decision had been made to ensure the safety of participants. Alas, that didn't go down well, but was soon deleted when yesterday RideLondon put out a statement saying it had all been one big mistake...

At least everyone who has paid £90 to enter was understanding...

Leah JoPerry wrote on Facebook: "Ha error, my...  They walked in, dropped a bombshell and then read the room and quickly tried to cover it up saying they’d ‘made an error’." 

Zac Nicholson joked at least there's no need to "pin a real number on now" in reference to the hundreds of 'it's not a race, go to a real race if you want to ride fast' comments of the past 48 hours...adding: "Time to tear this ra—I mean sportive up!"

Joe Chapman couldn't help but spot some irony in the backPEDALLING...

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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43 comments

Avatar
brooksby | 2 years ago
0 likes

Why bike lanes don't make traffic worse – video (Grauniad)

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/video/2022/may/17/why-new-bike-...

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brooksby | 2 years ago
2 likes

Why Do So Many News Articles About Crashes Feel Like They Were Written by a Car?

https://slate.com/business/2022/05/media-car-crashes-washington-post-ped...

 

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hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
0 likes

brooksby wrote:

Why Do So Many News Articles About Crashes Feel Like They Were Written by a Car?

https://slate.com/business/2022/05/media-car-crashes-washington-post-ped...

The U.S. press is far worse than ours for driver bias, but then they've gone all-in on designing suburbs around mandatory car use.

Incidentally, the U.S. has had a big spike (10% increase) in car-related deaths: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/05/us-road-deaths-increased-by-more-than-10-in-2021/

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Hirsute | 2 years ago
4 likes

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/20138199.cyclist-involved-four-in...

First 2 clear driver errors and careless. Third one was a bit of nothing.
Comments are awful and show a lack of basic knowledge of road markings and how to drive.
A number were unable to understand how the helmet cam was moving, so claimed the cyclist was wobbling all over the place !
None could judge his speed either !!

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eburtthebike replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
2 likes

OMG; those comments!

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BalladOfStruth replied to eburtthebike | 2 years ago
2 likes

My favourite was the one claiming that the cyclist had no reason to be angry because the woman (who was blasting across the cycle lane without looking - and presumably intended to do the same to the pavement) said sorry. If he'd have gotten to that gap a second earlier, he'd have been led on the pavement with two broken legs. Why is it unreasonable to be angry?

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eburtthebike | 2 years ago
10 likes

"Cycle like you drive, with curtesy, care and within the law"

If cyclists rode as badly as drivers drive, they would ignore the law, speed limits, vulnerable road users etc, and pedestrian deaths would rise.  The implication that drivers drive within the law is so utterly farcical that it's hard to believe that it was written by a police officer.

It clearly shows a complete lack of perspective, degree of risk and anti-cycling, pro-car bias; rather disturbing from people supposed to be keeping the vulnerable safe.  Even more so given the recent changes to the HC; maybe they haven't reached Merseyside yet.

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Patrick9-32 replied to eburtthebike | 2 years ago
4 likes

Fun to see #cyclelikeyoudrive being added to all of the twitter accounts posts of drivers doing horrifically dangerous things though. 

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Hirsute replied to Patrick9-32 | 2 years ago
7 likes

ASP Roads Policing

//pbs.twimg.com/media/FTCzq9UWAAIv97t?format=jpg&name=large)

//pbs.twimg.com/media/FTCzq9aXsAEel1d?format=jpg&name=large)

 

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brooksby replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
8 likes

hirsute wrote:

ASP Roads Policing

//pbs.twimg.com/media/FTCzq9UWAAIv97t?format=jpg&name=large)

//pbs.twimg.com/media/FTCzq9aXsAEel1d?format=jpg&name=large)

I'm sure someone will be along soon to explain how that's the cyclist's fault, how they should have backed off and doffed their cap, or something...  surprise

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eburtthebike replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
6 likes

brooksby wrote:

I'm sure someone will be along soon to explain how that's the cyclist's fault, how they should have backed off and doffed their cap, or something...  surprise

Another reason not to wear a helmet; you can't doff your cap.  I'm pretty sure that all the NMOTD cyclists wore a helmet; case proved.

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Velophaart_95 replied to eburtthebike | 2 years ago
6 likes

I have a theory that, the poor cyclists that you see, probably drive in the same way. If a person is an idiot, they behave that way whether they drive, or cycle.

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Patrick9-32 replied to Velophaart_95 | 2 years ago
3 likes

I cycle like far more of a knobhead than I drive. Putting myself at risk on the bike is one thing but putting others at risk in the car is something I try to avoid. 

Obviously, wherever possible I try to avoid doing things on the bike that put others at risk. 

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eburtthebike replied to Velophaart_95 | 2 years ago
2 likes

Velophaart_95 wrote:

I have a theory that, the poor cyclists that you see, probably drive in the same way. If a person is an idiot, they behave that way whether they drive, or cycle.

It is likely that they drive worse, as on a bike they have some sense of vulnerability, which tempers their risk taking somewhat.  In a car with air bags, seat belts and impact protection, they don't feel so vulnerable.

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peted76 | 2 years ago
7 likes

Cycle like you drive.. what fuckwitery is this, who let 'Gene Hunt's special squad' on twitter?

In other news.. here's an awesome 'old' video I saw in the same thread.. about cars parking illegally in Lithuania - https://twitter.com/DavidZipper/status/1439595189534855172?s=20&t=q7JhI6...

Less Gene, more tanks!

kthxbai

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IanMSpencer replied to peted76 | 2 years ago
3 likes

Someone needs to tweet them a few of the choice pictures from the "Car crashes into building thread".

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M20MAMIL replied to IanMSpencer | 2 years ago
4 likes

Or the 'Audis in Houses' blog

https://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2015/12/26/audis-in-houses/amp/

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BalladOfStruth replied to peted76 | 2 years ago
6 likes

If they honestly want me to adjust my standard of cycling to match the standard of driving I encounter every day, I think I'm going to have to start by getting a blindfold.

People are jut spamming their Twitter with pictures of crashed cars and KSI headlines and the hashtag #CycleLikeYouDrive.

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wtjs | 2 years ago
5 likes

Good luck to Brownlee and his eminent pace-setters! The Brownlee brothers are like Cav- they've been the source of much happiness and pride for us over the years and they don't have to win anything else to secure their much-loved status, but we still hope they do.

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Hirsute | 2 years ago
3 likes

Very disappointing tweet by Merseyside (?) Police

https://twitter.com/MerPolTraffic/status/1526804823324098560

Many cyclists can exceed urban speed limits, yet brakes on pedal cycles can be weak. Think, if a child or elderly person were to unexpectedly step into your path, could you stop in time? Cycle like you drive, with curtesy, care and within the law #FatalFour
 
Mr Bad Dad 1975
Pretty certain that I work on defective vehicles everyday. Illegal tyres Worn out brakes. Lights not working. Suspension defective. Steering defective. Body damage, sharp edges. Seatbelt defective. Airbag warning lights on. Engine warning lights on. Emission lights on. Every day.

 

 

Cycle like you drive?

road.cc https://road.cc/content/forum/car-crashes-building-please-post-your-loca...

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mdavidford replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
9 likes

I think trying to curtsey to everyone I pass is going to make my cycling more dangerous, not less.

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Awavey replied to mdavidford | 2 years ago
2 likes

What would Curtis E Bear do..

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BalladOfStruth replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
5 likes

Of course it's the cyclists that are the problem on urban roads, not drivers. Only *checks most recent DfT speed compliance report* 50% of drivers exceed the speed limit on 30mph/urban streets in the day and a miniscule 67% of them do it at night.

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OnYerBike replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
8 likes

When Merseyside Police say "Cycle within the law" I assume they are aware that "the law" states (most) speed limits only apply to motor vehicles and not to bicycles?

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Awavey replied to OnYerBike | 2 years ago
1 like

But, broken record here again I know, reckless/careless/dangerous cycling, section 28-30 of the RTA, is a real thing in law. The CPS/police might be as adverse to using it as careless driving, but I think you would have a hard time in a court defending yourself riding at speeds quicker than any posted vehicle limit if that charge was brought against you.

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brooksby replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
4 likes

Awavey wrote:

But, broken record here again I know, reckless/careless/dangerous cycling, section 28-30 of the RTA, is a real thing in law. The CPS/police might be as adverse to using it as careless driving, but I think you would have a hard time in a court defending yourself riding at speeds quicker than any posted vehicle limit if that charge was brought against you.

But since the posted speed limit doesn't legally apply to cyclists, wouldn't they have to show that you were riding recklessly/carelessly/dangerously (regardless of the speed you were riding at)?

Simply riding at 25mph (downhill - memo to Ride London) in a 20mph limit is not in and of itself reckless/careless/dangerous...

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Awavey replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
0 likes

The context would the be key to it, but it's the catch all, same deal really as with that speeding app for drivers you just have to show it's not how a careful considerate rider/driver would behave, I just think its simpler to ride like the limits do apply and then it removes the question.

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wtjs replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
6 likes

I think you would have a hard time in a court defending yourself riding at speeds quicker than any posted vehicle limit 

No you wouldn't. As far as the police are concerned, cyclists are always travelling at less than 10 mph. That's what they use to excuse this, and they're completely uninterested in the video that shows that you're obviously travelling at much more than 10 mph. They refuse to accept any evidence of a cyclist's speed, so unless they actually catch you in a speed trap, you're in the clear

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OnYerBike replied to Awavey | 2 years ago
3 likes

You're not wrong, but my main point was that the clear implication of that tweet was that exceeding the speed limit is ipso facto outwith the law, which is not the case, and therefore inappropriate advice coming from the police. 

Yes, there are situations when inappropriate speed could no doubt form part of a careless/dangerous cycling charge. But I don't think a careless cycling charge would stick purely because you were caught on a speed camera exceeding the limit for motor vehicles - I do think there would have to be something much more substantial to demonstrate the speed was inappropriate for the conditions (and indeed speed could be considered inappropriate even if less than the speed limit).

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Awavey replied to OnYerBike | 2 years ago
1 like

Yep totally agreed, i dont think a speed camera purely by itself would be of concern, it's just we easily fall into that habit that speed limits only apply to motor vehicles, but riding at 25mph past a school 20mph zone at school home time would be a classic example of careless cycling with inappropriate speed and twitter isnt very good at getting those nuances like that across and its probably just some poor intern told to push a set of bullet points out as a message.

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