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news
"Poor countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany?": Chris Boardman leads the way as cyclists school David Frost on claim rich countries don't use bikes; Irn-Bru paint job steals the show ahead of World Championships + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
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Amsterdam bike parking (CC licensed by Paul Frederickson via Flickr).jpg02 August 2023, 07:56
"Poor countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany?": Chris Boardman leads the way as cyclists school David Frost on claim rich countries don't use bikes
David Frost, eh? That's a name I'd gone without hearing for a glorious forgetful spell, until now... Boris Johnson's former chief negotiator for exiting the European Union, who later served in the same PM's cabinet in a role created just for him (that was abolished on his departure) has today got more than a few people questioning if he's ever even travelled to the continent he was negotiating our exit from...
It's not a 'problem', it's a good thing.
In poorer countries people depend on public transport & bikes. When they get richer they want cars because they bring freedom.
Public transport will *never* be good enough for a free people to move around on. https://t.co/4dtYH0iMjW
— David Frost (@DavidGHFrost) August 1, 2023
Who's going to tell him? Time for the 'Cycling Avengers' to assemble...
Poor countries like Holland, Denmark, Germany....?
This looks like freedom to me. https://t.co/0dUZVXcYqY pic.twitter.com/qTwMyImMtu— Chris Boardman (@Chris_Boardman) August 1, 2023
ITV commentator and cycling journalist Ned Boulting reckons: "Of course, as is quite often the case I fear, the truth is almost the perfect opposite of what you claim."
While CyclingMikey was keen to share the view from the Netherlands on Frost's comment: "I'm from the Netherlands, Frostie, and we're doing rather a lot better than the UK thanks. Part of that is because we don't waste as much on cars."
Jon Burke, fresh from schooling Nick Ferrari about LTNs live on LBC, was keen for some more...
Embarrassing.https://t.co/IfwVuo6n19
— Jon Burke 🌎 (@jonburkeUK) August 1, 2023
If you truly believe this I suggest you take a gander at most of Europe where they are making massive changes to their transport systems to pull people out of car dependency.
I'm sure this is because they're poor though. 😄
— Jon (@Jontafkasi) August 1, 2023
In fact, such was the response to Frost's thoughts, he got replies from people in... *deep breath*... the Netherlands, Barcelona, Ireland, Armenia, Switzerland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Germany all united in replies calling 'rubbish'...
When you were Ambassador in wealthy Denmark did you venture out of your Embassy? 🚴♂️
— Nicholas Davies (@MrMiniHolland) August 1, 2023
02 August 2023, 09:09
A Frosty response that conveniently avoids mention of bikes
Well, you just shifted your argument, because your first point (which in no way drew the distinction you now make) was annihilated. Regardless of that, wouldn’t it be preferable to have good public transport outside of cities? Other countries do. Rich ones.
— Ned Boulting 🏳️⚧️ (@nedboulting) August 1, 2023
Happy Wednesday, everyone...
02 August 2023, 15:28
"Locals anywhere else in the world would relish stopping to watch it": More reaction to World Championship road closures going down predictably well
Thought I'd round up some of the almost 200 comments we've got across Facebook and the website about this story...
Kevin 'Herbie' Blackburn: "Locals anywhere else in the world would relish stopping to watch it."
Susanne Reid: "Really ashamed to be a Scottish person at the moment. Scotland depends on tourism yet when it inconveniences wee Jimmy for a couple of hours locals are up in arms."
Ollie Craig: "Better headline: Local car owners who have their roads subsidized and use them for free 355 days a year whinge about momentary disruption on a single day so that other people can use the road."
Kris Jackson: "The town that takes about 15 minutes to walk from one end to another, I'm sure they'll survive."
02 August 2023, 15:10
New 'protected' contraflow cycle lane opens on one-way road – and drivers immediately begin parking in it and crashing into bollards
02 August 2023, 14:01
Alpecin-Deceuninck notified of alleged anti-doping violation concerning Robert Stannard
Australian rider Rob Stannard, who twice finished in the top ten of stages at this year's Criterium du Dauphiné, has been provisionally suspended after his Alpecin-Deceuninck team was notified of an alleged 'Anti-Doping Rule Violation' dating back to 2018 and 2019.
There will be questions about how it has taken so long to come to light, but the team says it "respects the decision" made by the UCI and noted the violation came well before Stannard joined the team.
"We respect the decision of the UCI and will conform to this. In the meanwhile, we will further inform us with the rider, his management, and the UCI," a team statement said. "Alpecin-Deceuninck will not be commenting further until we have full clarification from the three parties mentioned above."
02 August 2023, 13:10
Police Service of Northern Ireland spend nearly £50,000 on bike repairs over the past five years
The Derry Journal reports that Northern Ireland's police service spent nearly £50,000 on bike repairs in the past five years.
£47,048.99 was the exact figure between 1 April 2018 and 16 May 2023, with the cost of bike repairs for non-electric bikes during the same period at £33,737, while for e-bikes it was £13,311.99.
The figures were revealed following a Freedom of Information request.
02 August 2023, 13:31
Sausage roll power
Looks like @petosagan's bus & a Slovak National Cycling Team van have stopped for a @GreggsOfficial on the way to @CyclingWorlds
(cc @Trudgin) pic.twitter.com/b1JcJyZZkP
— James Lucas (@RabAusten) August 2, 2023
02 August 2023, 12:53
"Sad!": Biniam Girmay's Eritream teammate comments on visa denial reports
We're awaiting a comment from the Home Office about the big story of the day ahead of the World Championships. Merhawi Kudus simply wrote: "Sad!" in reply to the rumours.
Hopefully more info on this one soon...
02 August 2023, 11:36
Biniam Girmay reportedly refused UK visa, as Eritrean star pulls out of Glasgow world championships citing injury
02 August 2023, 10:33
Potholes, road rash, stray dogs, bee stings, cracked rim... Transcontinental suffering
Yesterday Christoph Strasser finished Transcontinental first having spent just 34 hours off his bike in nine days. Further back and this is the reality for the other riders, Jesko Werthern penning these words on his suffering...
Oh Albania, your roads might be the worst I've ever seen, but your people are ever so great. Every time I've done it, there was a point in the Transcontinental where I felt like the race was trying to break me. If you're stubborn enough to push through that point, you get rewarded. Today might have been that day.
The alarm goes and I cannot walk. The road rash burns like fire and makes me literally limp onto the bike after taking a painkiller and waiting another half hour. Pedalling works, most Albanian dogs are sleepy or scared, only a big one seriously chases me. In a small village the road bends downwards, a little girl waves at me from over a wall, I wave back and see the big bump in the road too late.
A badly timed bunny hop attempt, an audible crack, I look down and can immediately see that the wobble has increased. As long as it's rolling, no excuse to stop. Sketchy bridge just before CP3, bee sting, eggs with rice and onto the parcour. One happy rider found a backpack full of food.
A TCR off-road parcour is never easy, but doing that nursing a cracked rim, two seeing wounds, with barely functioning hands, while the thermometer shows 44 degrees (38 in the shadow, only there is not much shadow) and you get an experience that is definitely up there with the most insane things I've done.
It's all relative though. I meet a rider that has been walking for 41 kilometres with a failed tubeless system and Sara did the whole thing without food, because she lost her backpack... Maybe I didn't have such a bad day after all.
02 August 2023, 10:11
LEJOAP: Retired vicar takes on Land's End to John O'Groats for fourth time
Full credit to Jo for the headline, superb stuff, and a proper feel-good news story for your Wednesday...
This August, 90 year old retired vicar Peter Langford is taking on the challenge of cycling from Lands End to John O'Groats to raise money for the homeless.
To support his journey, please listen to his story, share this video and donate what you can https://t.co/zID5Lp85Ql🧡 pic.twitter.com/mdat3JtNgx
— Access Community Trust (@access_ourwork) July 26, 2023
Peter Langford, an 89-year-old retired vicar from Suffolk is hoping to become the oldest man to cycle the famous 1,100-mile route. It will be his fourth time, having completed the challenge aged 75, 80 and 85, and he'll be raising money for two homelessness charities along the way...
"I'm getting more confident that I will actually be able to manage it," he told the BBC. "Devon and Cornwall are far, far, the hardest part of the whole route — much harder than Scotland — because the hills are so steep and you get them over and over again.
"'I've been doing about 120 miles a week but recently I thought I should do a few long rides together. Last week I did 50 miles on Monday and 50 miles on Tuesday and I felt perfectly alright afterwards."
Mr Langford will set off on 22 August, four days after his 90th birthday, hoping to finish a month later on 21 September.
"You achieve these things in your head — more than with your knees and if you're darned determined."
02 August 2023, 09:19
02 August 2023, 09:22
Irn-Bru paint job steals the show ahead of World Championships
10/10 for this paint job from Fatcreations near Chichester, ready to be used by Aimi Kenyon up in Scotland at the World Championships...
02 August 2023, 08:51
Tech news: Details of the new Specialized Tarmac SL8 leaked; Money-no-object upgrades to create the ultimate featherweight bike; Demi Vollering's Tour de France-winning SL7
Loads of cool stuff up on the site at the minute from our tech team...
> Specialized Tarmac SL8: leaked details of "the world's fastest race bike" appear online
The tip over to August means hill-climbing season is just around the corner, if you've found a winning lottery ticket down the back of the sofa here's what you could do to make the ultimate featherweight bike...
And before we get all the weight and watt-saving claims from Spesh about the new SL8 it's worth remembering the SL7 is still doing alright... and by alright I mean being ridden to Tour de France victory by Demi Vollering...
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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68 comments
They really need to make a full sugar "Premium" Irn-Bru
I registered for no other reason than to point out that Irn-Bru 1901 exists, is full sugar, and (IMHO) tastes better than the pre-aspartame stuff.
Availability, particularly of the cans, has been a bit limited / sporadic, but seems to have got better in recent weeks.
It was pointed out that the same people who campaigned for Brexit are now leading the anti Green propaganda.
It's almost as though their goals are totally against what benefits the rest of us.
weren't they also the covid recovery group, whose objectives around covid were about as close to recovery, as their opinions to europe were to anything based on actual research
The sooner they are behind bars doing time and the UK has applied to rejoin the EU the better for us all.
As I understand it, if we did rejoin the EU we would then just be any old member state. We wouldn't have all of the perks and exemptions that we had before so it's not the same as simply reversing Brexit (Tixerb?).
And we'd have to apply for membership and I can't imagine the EU states really trusting us to stay in there (look at our recent history for keeping our word and keeping to international agreements and laws...).
(I still think we should apply, mind...).
chrisonabike
|
1 year ago
10 likes
I am getting a lot of replies to this tweet from people who seem to think pointing out public transport works well in inner cities (obviously true, for certain purposes) means it works well everywhere (obviously not true). Possibly my correspondents never leave inner London?
"Politics", right? ("Trolling" but much higher status and better paid). Like other provocations this would ideally just be ignored. Especially noting how he swivelled away from bikes to public transport.
Of course it's wrong-headed several ways.
Why is being car-dependent a good thing anywhere? In other places people have both improved public transport and tamed the car (and added bikes...). Millions in several countries have found that in fact works for them and - while they still own cars - they now rarely use them. Why should "freedom" (convenience) through motoring - but then being entirely reliant on our expensive, damaging exoskeletons - be a goal?
("It's progress! More freedom!" Or is it just following high-status role models and indulging in prestige consumption - like a rapper swigging Cognac?)
(Don't mention Brexit...) It's slightly odd that Frost should celebrate the potential of jam at some unspecified date in the future in one area of his public life but then be quick to point out that public transport *right now* is poor - so ergo the concept is rubbish.
Public transport is better or worse, more or less convenient. Under no imaginable scheme will people stop driving tomorrow, or in a year's time, or a decade. However just like lots of other places what we can do is stop moving towards "ever closer union" with the car. To stop being such a transport monoculture.
Yes - naturally the "easy" places ("inner London", nice dig...) will progress faster and go further. That doesn't stop a bus every hour (as opposed to twice a day) to some remote spot being useful, or adding a footway (or better - a cycle path which of course people can walk on) along a road between two villages a mile or so apart.
There's only one thing worse than riding a bike in the rain and that's not riding a bike in the rain.
Worst day of riding beats the best day of driving...
You've clearly never been in an Ariel Atom then (or any supercar/race car for that matter)
You've clearly never ridden down a 25km clear 80kmh descent in the alps on a spring morning then.
Is a Porsche Boxter a supercar? I've been in one of them at 140mph (as a passenger on the autobahn), meh. About as exciting as being in a plane taking off, i.e. mildly diverting. If you offered me one of them (that I wasn't allowed to sell to buy bikes with) or an S-Works Tarmac I'd take the bike, no question.
There's only one thing worse than riding a bike in the rain and that's not riding a bike in the rain.
Worst day of riding beats the best day of driving...
You've clearly never been in an Ariel Atom then (or any supercar/race car for that matter)
You've clearly never ridden down a 25km clear 80kmh descent in the alps on a spring morning.
That's not untrue. But I wouldn't say that the worst day of riding is not better than a day spend cruising around Goodwood in an Ariel Atom on a sunny afternoon.
That's not untrue. But I wouldn't say that the worst day of riding is not better than a day spend cruising around Goodwood in an Ariel Atom on a sunny afternoon.
I think it was fairly obvious we were talking about on road situations. Yes, I'll concede that if I were allowed a go in Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes around Monaco it might be more fun than cycling to Sainsbury's in the rain for washing powder. Happy now?
Just noticed your username, jolly clever! Is this thisismyusername back again after being banned as Rendel Harriz? Honestly, I know I spend too much time on here but if I went to the lengths some of you guys go to just to pointlessly troll the site I'd have to ask myself serious questions about where my life was going.
In principle yes, in practice id have been happier in the car today.
at least then the muppet who tried to undertake me through a bus stop, or the Ford truck who tried to overtake through a pinch point that it barely fits thru by itself, you dont then hear the squeal of their brakes & lockups at the last second as they change their minds, on a wet road in the pouring rain.
My typical commute to work here in NL is now something like this (note I'm currently working at a production facility that's not in a city/town centre:
- Walk or ride to railway station
- 2 trains
- Ride on hire bike from station to office
Distance covered approx 55km in about 1 hr 10 mins at a cost of 28.85 euros return including OV fiets bike hire...that's what poverty looks like 
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