“Amazing to see the BBC getting this wrong”: Camera cyclist “disappointed” after BBC calls him “vigilante” in now-corrected mistake; Uber’s cycling pub with £5.50 Happy Hour pints; Pogačar’s rainbow jersey; WTF electrical box bike? + more on the live blog

The Beeb’s done a report on the cyclist some might know by his Twitter username 'Tim on two wheels', titled: ‘The cyclist helping to catch hundreds of bad drivers’, and it’s already stirred up a pothole-sized controversy.

Although they have edited to make the correction, the original edition of the report described Tim as a “vigilante cyclist” — something that was pointed out in the live blog comments by road.cc reader Hirsuite, as well as on Twitter by Adam Tranter, the former walking and cycling commissioner for West Midlands.

Tranter wrote: “A vigilante is someone who attempts to apprehend and punish someone who has committed a crime, without the involvement of law enforcement.

“A person who encounters a potential crime and passes evidence to police is called a witness. Amazing to see the BBC getting this wrong.”

It's even more disappointing when you're the cyclist involved. Thank you for raising this Adam. Very poor show from BBC Online.

— Tim on two wheels (@2wheelsgoodBrum) October 4, 2024

Tim himself has also replied to Tranter’s post, saying: “It's even more disappointing when you’re the cyclist involved. Thank you for raising this Adam. Very poor show from BBC Online.”

He added: “The article has now been changed. They were very apologetic. It's a journalistic cliche.”

In case you missed it, CyclingMikey also appeared on the BBC Breakfast morning show, and had to correct the presenters when they once again referred to camera cyclists as “vigilantes”.

Other cyclists were also critical of the BBC, one person writing: “Oh they know what they're doing, it’s deliberate clickbait anti-cycling misinformation.”

Another cyclist pointed out that the image used as the lead picture for the BBC’s report is not even one from the helmet cam — or any camera of a cyclist, but instead taken from a car’s dash cam.

Neil Tattersall wrote: “More ridiculous when you consider that the image used has clearly been captured by a car driver. Fancy, another driver shopping ‘one of their own’. The ‘us and them’ narrative is pathetic. It’s not journalism, it’s not even ‘reporting,’ it’s just low-ball, clickbait ‘othering’.”

An update on the day's big story about the BBC referring to camera cyclist Tim from Birmingham as a "vigilante"...

We reached out to them about their usage of the term "vigilante" and they replied, saying: "The initial language used was inappropriate so it has since been amended. It was a single mention and removed quickly."

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by PISSEI (@pissei)

Wout van Aert, fresh off the back of signing a "lifelong" contract with Visma-Lease a Bike, is finally back on his back, after his crash at Vuelta a España.

Far from his usual monster rides (remember, when he was beating cyclists' PRs in Glasgow on an OVO bike?), but we're glad to see the 29-year-old back on the saddle after a tough road season! 

They say you work hard, but the PR industry works harder — and now in Uber’s latest PR move, you are invited to be a part of a carbon-negative pop-up cycling pub, where you can pedal while sipping on overpriced pints to generate electricity.

The pop-up called 55k Tonnes is set to open in Westminster for two days between October 7-9, claims to be the first-of-its-kind that is capable of generating more electricity than it uses. And it’s aiming to do so by inviting the drinkers to sit on a power bike and pedal — besides being equipped with Pavegen floor, which apparently transforms footsteps into electricity. Oh, and also, there’s “carbon neutral” beers.

The company said that the name 55k Tonnes is to celebrate the 55,000 tonnes of air pollution reduced in London due to Uber's electrification efforts since 2021, with almost 30 per cent of its journey taking place through electric cars in London.

But let’s get to the point, what’s on the tap, you ask? Well, it’s Swell, brewed by South London’s Gipsy Hill Brewing, on draft, a lager made from regeneratively grown, bio-diverse barley from Wildfarmed. The beer app Untappd tells me, Swell is “light and crisp, with refreshing florals and a lick of melon. Everything you want from a lager… just a little bit better for the planet.”

And if you make your way after 5:50pm, you can get yourself a cheeky discount and grab a pint for… £5.50. Yep, that’s London beer prices for you!

So tell me if I’m getting this wrong, it’s basically the infamous beer bikes which appeared in Belfast and Bristol (and Edinburgh too, before it ended up being seized by the police), but you just… sit in one place while reminding yourself to pedal — otherwise you’re not doing your bit to be a good citizen of planet earth and generate some electricity?

> “A bitter end to their day?”: Beer bike seized by Police Scotland citing “safety concerns” and “road traffic offences”

For context, in 2023, each mile that a passenger travelled on Uber resulted in an average generation of 191 grams of CO₂ in Europe (or 119 grams of CO₂ per kilometre), while a 2020 study also found that ride-hailing trips resulted in an estimated 69% more climate pollution, on average, than the trips they displace.

But I’ll give it to them, they tried and it’s an interesting concept… maybe not just for everyone — although, every cyclist who’s dreamed of downing a drink while on your Zwift or Peloton (I say dreamed because if you’ve already done it, why? And yes, we’d definitely like to speak to you), you can now do it with your mates too.

But either way, let us know what do you make of it? If you're in London, are you planning to go down (on a bike, I imagine) and have a pint? Or are you going to give it a skip and stick to the good ol', same ol' ale at your local pub?

Welcome to the internet, which can sometimes be a bizarre and uncanny place with bizarre and uncanny things. And in the latest update of bizarre and uncanny cycling-adjacent things, we've got this shocking contraption for you...

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Frankie LaPenna (@frankielap)

Frankie La Penna, a social media figure, known for his, erm, cakes, captioned the video: "This is how to get the BEST parking spot at every sporting event / concert known to man."

"This is the least likely to be stolen electric bike of all-time. You can leave it sitting in front of thousands of people and no one will even look at it. And in case you can't tell, this is designed to mimic as an electrical box. When you park it next to one, the resemblance is shocking. Beneath all the metal panels, is just a regular e-bike purchased from the internet."

Yeah, that is without a doubt one of the craziest things I've seen all week (and that's saying something, because I did see Kneecap perform live in Cardiff) — and somehow, this boxy design still looks better as an e-bike than Elon Musk's Cybertruck looks as a boxy 4x4.