Welcome to Thursday's LiveBlog with Liam Cahill, Simon MacMichael and the rest of the road.cc team
— Fastnbulbous (@markskinner64) January 23, 2020
Founded in a garage in Portland, Oregon in 1995, Chrome is celebrating its 25th birthday this year – and to mark the occasion, it has launched a limited edition BLCKCHRM heritage collection.
“Forged from the toughest and lightest materials Chrome have ever created, new methods of craftmanship have been deployed in the innovative new BLCKCHRM collection to push the limits of mobility and performance in the city,” says the brand.
“Inspired by technical sailcloth material, a Nylon Shell with cordura TPX durable laminate technology with a distinctive diamond embossed finish delivers Chrome’s signature water resistance, toughness and durability to a whole new level.
“Sleek and stealthily constructed, these resourceful urban warriors are sculpted to fit your body and adapt to securely transport a wide range of cargo during your everyday excursions.”
Included in the range are the 3.0 BLCKCHRM edition of the Bravo rolltop (RRP £180) and the Yalta 3.0 daypack (RRP £160). Find out more information plus details of stockists or order online here.
The Assistant Commissioner of road policing in Victoria, Australia, Libby Murphy has played down talk of a law that would see drivers obliged to give cyclists at least a meter when overtaking.
Speaking on 3AW Breakfast with Ross and John, the Senior Manager of Transport for the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV), Peter Kartsidimas called for a trial of the law citing the simple aim of saving "lot of cyclists lives".
Victoria is the only state in Australia that doesn't have a close passing law, making it hard to understand why one hasn't been brought in.
The proposed law would require drivers to pass cyclists with a meter of space when travelling under 60kph (37mph) while leaving 1.5m or more when travelling faster.
The breakfast show hosts weren't so keen, pointing out that many people are bad at judging distances while the Assistant Commissioner of road policing in Victoria, Australia, Libby Murphy said that the law would be very hard to police.
Responding later to the interview, Murphy suggeted that cyclists could incur an offence for a drive with "the slightest movement".
Last year, @amsterdam equipped 700 cyclists with a device that allowed them to "ping" when encountering a complicated, clumsy or unsafe traffic situation.
31,000 events were registered, which will inform upgrades to their bike network in the coming years: https://t.co/JuPbZUkZ3cpic.twitter.com/wr5mFU1l4J
— Dutch Cycling Embassy (@Cycling_Embassy) January 22, 2020
The 700 riders were equiped with devices that allowed them to report cycle infrastructure that wasn't working properly. This will allow the local councils to improve the infrastructure and shape future projects.
What progressive thinking.
Economically, socially, environmentally or sustainably, this is the only kind of road widening that makes sense. 👇 https://t.co/gAmDecOOJp
— Chris Boardman (@Chris_Boardman) January 23, 2020
This tweet, shared by Chris Boardman, contains a great little stat. Studies have found that cycle lanes can transport 5 times the number of people as a motor traffic lane.
It makes a valid argument for widening roads to accommodate protected cycle lanes or simply prioritising them over motor traffic lanes when designing new roads, or updating current ones.
To go along with the issues that the domestic race scene is facing, the UK's only UCI one-day race is now looking for a new title sponsor after Prudential announced that they will stop sponsorship after this year's edition.
Ride London race announces it is searching for a new title sponsor, insurer Prudential will stop sponsorship after the 2020 edition. Tour of Britain and Women's Tour races also looking for replacement title sponsors too
— the Inner Ring (@inrng) January 23, 2020
This isn't the first bad news to hit British racing this year. Earlier this month, the owner of the Lincoln Grand Prix blamed Brexit for the financial struggles faced by the elite one-day race.
Naturally, when you have a 3 x World Champion on the bike, and the same on skis, you put them in a studio kitchen to find out which is the better cook.
Awful to see how the Australian countryside that we have been racing through has been affected by the recent bushfires. 📸 by @cyclingimagespic.twitter.com/xih29mlbHs
— Sam Bennett (@Sammmy_Be) January 23, 2020
Today's stage of the Tour Down Under rolled through some of the areas affected by the bush fires that ripped across Australia and continue to burn in places.
These images speak for themselves.
Overnight the internet pixies (Dave) transformed the site into this shiny new format.
We think it looks lovely, but we really want to know what you, the reader, thinks of the design.
If you spot any glitches, do let us know. Now, someone get Dave a coffee!
@100Climbs Have you seen this? pic.twitter.com/nCa18TQnbm
— Bill Jessup (@billjessup) January 22, 2020
If you're looking for a 'lit' holiday in Mallorca then there's a very 'well-connected' former pro cyclist now doing holidays. This won't be a tour of Magaluf's nightclubs though.
Armstrong is teaming up with former teammate George Hincapie to offer 6 nights/5 days of guided riding on the lovely island of Mallorca, taking in all of the famous cycling spots on the island.
You can join the US Postal train for a paltry $30,000. For that, you get you accommodation, meals and bike hire included. Bargain.
Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and its 22nd season as a sponsor in pro cycling, @QuickStepFloor surprised recently the team’s riders with its own mobile coffee bar, which will be found at several races in 2020: https://t.co/Da7Gh4jcGx
Photo: ©https://t.co/R5Vncs3F9Xpic.twitter.com/gLmt2La79Y— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) January 21, 2020
Deceuninck-QuickStep have taken their coffee obsession to a whole new level. The Wolfpack now have a coffee machine following them around on group training rides.
Who wants to tell them about the latest invention, cafes?
phil liggett counting the seconds gap on a slow mo replay
— Maximus (@clivusmaximus) January 23, 2020
We've all have an oops moment at work from time to time. Luckily for most of us, there's not a global audience to our c*ck ups.
Richie Porte from Trek Segafredo shows off his climbing legs at Paracombe in @SubaruAustralia Stage 3 #tourdownunderpic.twitter.com/9anRWmD6Lh
— Santos Tour Down Under 🚴🚴♀️ (@tourdownunder) 23 January 2020
Richie Porte of Trek-Segafredo didn't take long to throw in a big move up the final climb on stage 3 of the Tour Down Under.
The Tasmanian ended the day with a 6 second lead in the GC over Mitchelton Scott's Daryl Impey. Brit Simon Yates, also of Mitchelton Scott, took 3rd on the stage, 5 seconds down on Porte after doing much of the chasing.