'No Saddle Guy' proves doubters wrong with virtual 100 mile ride (+ exclusive interview); Is Elon Musk confused about congestion?; Fundraiser for Eritrean star; Worst parking pic ever; Are flashing lights safer than solids? + more on the live blog

Earlier today we reported that Cycle Jockey - AKA Chad Tavernia - had managed the incredible feat of riding 100 miles whilst standing up on his home trainer, and we've now been able to speak to the man himself to get his reaction.

Here's what he had to say: "The ride was very difficult and got progressively harder as it went along because I didn't take any breaks for eating or drinking - just nearly five hours of continuous pedaling.

"Over the course of the challenge I developed discomfort in my left wrist and had a very bad hot spot on the bottom of my right foot. At one point I thought I may have to stop but thankfully I was able to redistribute my weight enough to reduce the pain and I was able to keep riding."

Asked how it felt to chalk up the century, and have people following his progress the world over, he added: "I was very happy to reach the 100 mile mark and the energy drink I had immediately after it never tasted so good!

"I've been very excited to have road.cc following my no saddle rides and I'd thoroughly reccomend it to anybody who wants to try it, it's a great total body workout!"

Read more about Cycle Jockey's ride in the post a little further down this page and keep your ears peeled as we're hoping to get him on a future edition of The road.cc Podcast.

As cyclists we're all used to assessing risk every time we throw our legs over a bike, which means you might be interested in a new way of thinking coming out of Germany which suggests adding greater risk to playgrounds could actually help make children more 'risk competent' as a result. 

The theory has been supported by the German insurance industry who believe the current safety culture is stunting kids' risk assessing abilities. This leads on from an influential  2004 study which, according to this thought-provoking article in The Guardian, found that "children who had improved their motor skills in playgrounds at an early age were less likely to suffer accidents as they got older".

What are your thoughts on this? Does it sound like a reasonable theory to you or do we have a duty of care to make sure our children remain out of harm's way as they grow?

Now don't get us wrong, Elon Musk is clearly a genius, but hasn't he missed the point a bit with this reply on Twitter?

Surely, the answer to global traffic congestion will not be solved by moving the problem (quite literally) underground? 

It’s either traffic forever or tunnels. Try our first operational tunnel in Vegas at the convention center! The city just approved a full tunnel network, connecting major hotels, convention center & airport.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 22, 2021

Anticipation surrounding this groundbreaking event couldn't have been higher after we plugged it on the live blog yesterday, and for those of you who are wondering how he got on, we're pleased to confirm Cycle Jockey DID INDEED manage to ride 100 miles completely standing up!

As you can see from the screengrab taken from his Strava page, Chad Tavernia completed this incredible feat in 4hr 28min 35sec.  

What made the ride even more impressive was the fact he didn't eat and barely drank for the full duration of it, and if the stats are to be believed, he burned 2,846 calories along the way.

The achievement was also screened live on his Facebook page to prove his efforts were legit, after a number of doubters poured scorn on his original assertion that he had completed this feat whilst riding outside over the summer.   

In his victory post, he revealed it was "The hardest ride I have ever done… The last 40 miles was shear refuse to fail."

Cycle Jockey, we salute you! 

Could this now be an event to rival the Hour Record? How far do you think you could ride for completely out of the saddle, and do you reckon you could go even quicker than Chad did? Answers in the comments please.

This Tweet from @CycleGaz caused a range of debate overnight so we thought we'd share it on here too to see what your thoughts are:

PSA to all cyclists:
DO NOT USE A LIGHT LIKE THIS!

This is a bright 6Hz light that makes it almost impossible for anyone to see past you or judge your speed! pic.twitter.com/WVKZmvJKbD

— CycleGaz™ (@cyclegaz) November 22, 2021

Do you prefer to use flashing lights on your bike at night, or, in your opinion, do you find it's actually safer to use solid lights instead, even if they're not as attention-grabbing?

It's long been known that staying active can improve our physical health, but new research has suggested a daily bike ride could help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in older people.

The results were published in The Journal of Neuroscience following a study which followed 167 elderly people to examine the relationship between physical activity and the activation of the cells which cause that inflammation.

Experts at the University of California found physical activity such as cycling helps reduce inflammation in the brain, which improves cognitive processes.

If ever there was a reason to keep on riding, this has got to be right up there.