— neil seymour (@ncseymour) April 26, 2020
It's just been brought to our attention that the 'Covidiot' graffiti in the Chew Valley was removed by locals late last night. Neil Seymour succinctly said on Twitter:
"This is not who we are. Once we knew this had been done outside our village a small workforce turned up to scrub this off the road. The irony being that in targeting cyclists doing nothing wrong you made a bunch of us have to get together to scrub this hate off the road."
— neil seymour (@ncseymour) April 26, 2020
He queued for 2 hours at B & Q for that spray paint !!
— simon (@NeathamSimon) April 27, 2020
Ironic of course that the vandal creating this message left their home to write the words "stay home"
— Will Nick 🏃🚴 (@Nick88Will) April 27, 2020
Further down the page you'll find that the words 'Covidiot cyclists stay at home protect the NHS' were painted on a road in North Somerset over the weekend, with the chairman of Chew Valley Cycling Club telling road.cc that locals were making efforts to remove it. As you'll see above some have spotted a certain irony in a person/people leaving their home to paint a road with graffiti that berates people for leaving their homes.
For what it's worth, I've mostly had better experiences when out and about. A small number dog walkers who get annoyed at having to control their dogs on bike routes, but drivers are generally overtaking better and more people are saying hello and/or waving.
— Will Nick 🏃🚴 (@Nick88Will) April 27, 2020
Others are more positive, with James Harrison claiming that the graffiti has already been removed, and most locals in the area are generally friendly and welcoming.
The new Duo and Vibes jerseys are designed to “bring colour to your rides, with the new effervescent palette created by La Passione Cycling Couture” helping you to “make every mile a work of art”. How very Italian.
La Passione has expended its range of clothing since we last reviewed their stuff back in 2016 and they’ve just released another two jerseys, the Vibes and the Duo to complement the ranges of accessories that both lines already have.
The new designs extend the number of prints available on a jersey template that La Passione seems to be pretty happy with. Both feature a close-fitting ‘pro cut’ with laser cut sleeves and collar, a full-length zip with a cam-lock puller, and a dropped collar that point to a race focus.
The jerseys are made in Italy, using four different Italian fabrics. The front panel is stretchy to help with the close fit, while a perforated fabric is used for the back. Mesh side panels are used for breathability.
Both designs cost £80 and come in a range of colours. We'll hopefully have some in for a proper look soon.
Matt Richardson got involved in the challenge - which saw many runners and cyclists take on endurance feats ranging from 2.6 miles and upwards on what would have been London Marathon day - by completing 26.7km on rollers aboard his Mk1 Chopper. If you watch some of the video above you'll see that it certainly wasn't all plain sailing/rolling, with Mr Richardson telling road.cc:
"I used the Tacx software mountain bike settings with the actual Chopper wheel measurement. The rollers were on the shortest setting but the wheel base of the Chopper is so short, balance was a nightmare and I fell off a couple of times!"
He completed the challenge in 58 minutes, raising funds for Blood Cancer UK - you can donate to your chosen 2.6 Challenge charity here.
On our live blog last wednesday and again on Saturday, we reported that Hackney councillor Jon Burke furiously claimed that new Department for Transport guidance to reportedly aid the building of emergency cycling and walking space was simply a case of "gaslighting us"; however, Cycling UK's Head of Campaigns Duncan Dollimore says that the guidance does make life easier for councils. He told road.cc:
“The new DfT guidance does make it easier for councils to satisfy the rules for advertising proposed traffic orders, which is sensible and we welcome, but it doesn’t give councils any other new powers.
“That doesn’t mean councils have an excuse to do nothing. As shown by Cycling UK’s guide for councils, there’s plenty they can do to create space now to make social distancing easier and relieve pressure on public transport for when lockdown is relaxed, either without any order or through an experimental traffic order made after seven days’ notice.
“Cycling UK would urge everyone who wants to see more space for social distancing, whether you’re walking, cycling or taking public transport to speak up now and get in touch with their council via our online tool.”
That online tool is here. Mr Burke retweeted our article at the weekend, suggesting he suports the idea of lobbying councils for safer streets - he also written to Grant Shapps on 24th April asking for clarification over the new powers councils have to introduce emergency road safety measures.
Today, @mayorofhackney& I wrote to @grantshapps requesting clarification of the powers available to local authorities for the introduction of emergency road safety measures, given the serious deterioration in driver behaviour since the introduction of social distancing guidance. pic.twitter.com/BgbniRZKxb
— Cllr Jon Burke (@jonburkeUK) April 24, 2020
Mark Jerzak - Chairman of Chew Valley Cycling Club - originally posted a statement on his club's Facebook page on April 13th reporting 'a number of attacks' on cyclists in the area around North Somerset, including a woman suffering punctures due to pins being deliberately left on the road and numerous cyclists receiving verbal abuse from passing cars.
Yesterday, Mr Jerzak spotted the words 'Covidiot cyclists stay at home protect the NHS' scrawled across the B3114 in Litton. The phrase 'covidiot' has been adopted by some UK tabloid newspapers to shame those considered to be breaking the lockdown rules, with the person(s) responsible presumably misinterpreting the government's guidance to justify the inflammatory graffiti.
Mr Jerzak told road.cc this morning that locals were helping to wash the graffiti off the road.
Coronavirus: Are cyclists being wrongly targeted during lockdown?https://t.co/l2JpDEAy5m
— TransportXtra (@TransportXtra) April 26, 2020
Further to the post above, the BBC have asked this question in an article published yesterday, citing coverage on road.cc of the signs in Little Bollington, Cheshire telling cyclists to stay away - the signs have since being removed, with a Parish Councillor apologising and admitting they "got it wrong".
The article quotes an intensive care consultant who says: "If you're dressed in Lycra, there's this notion that you've been out for hours and hours, but in fact I just use the bike and the Lycra to cycle to another hospital."
The consultant continues by claiming that there is no evidence of cycling having an impact on "local spread", and that walking or jogging through a village "is likely to have a far greater impact, as you're interacting with surfaces more than you would on a bike."
When road.cc staff discussed the perceived issue, our personal experiences are that anti-cycling sentiment doesn't appear to have visibly increased noticeably on the roads we ride, but those who previously expressed such views may feel that the lockdown has empowered them to be more vocal with their negative attitude towards cyclists. We've also noticed considerable numbers of those who wouldn't have previously considered themselves 'cyclists' are getting back on the bike to get their daily exercise.
While government advice still doesn't specify a time or distance limit on permitted daily exercise, it's considered good practice to stay reasonably local. Cycling UK have advised people to consider "a circular route close to home" in case there is a "mechanical mishap you can't fix yourself" - for our advice in line with the latest government guidance, check out our dos and don'ts guide.
While those of us in the UK have been allowed out for daily exercise, the French, Italians and Spaniards have all been in complete lockdown apart from trips to buy essential supplies for over a month; but now both countries are set to lift some restrictions.
In Spain the government are expected to allow outdoor exercise from 2nd May, while in Italy, Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte announced that Phase Two of their lockdown strategy would include the resumption of individual training for athletes, and exercise being permitted in wider areas. Nothing has been confirmed in France, but the Prime Minister will present a national exit strategy tomorrow.
The LaserTour from Perceptronics, available in the 1982 Neiman Marcus Christmas Book. Yours for a cool $20,000. pic.twitter.com/rYuVZ5sjeE
— Humanoid History (@HumanoidHistory) April 27, 2020
Even in today's money, spending close to a grand on a smart trainer set-up and then paying a monthly subscription to link it to a super immersive training app like Zwift might seem like a considerable investment... but if you swear by indoor training through the lockdown then consider yourself lucky that it didn't all happen in 1982, because you could have ended up paying $20,000 for what looks like a pretty rudimentary spinbike with some 'pleasant panorama' blaring out of the TV.
In what would have been the ultimate showpiece in Patrick Bateman's apartment, the LaserTour from Perceptronics cuts to the chase and does away with showing us any useful training stats; because what we really all need to pass the time on the turbo is fuzzy pictures of rollercoasters, right? We're boxing up the trainer and going to spend the morning search the darkest corners of eBay!
Spent the weekend customising your pain cave and lost track of what day it is? Here's what you missed...
Cyclist spotted on M25 motorway on Surrey – the second one seen there during lockdown
Cyclist suffers broken pelvis in ‘deliberate’ hit and run assault
15 cyclists killed on UK roads in first month of lockdown - here's what we know so far
‘If you want streets that allow social distancing, tell your council’ – Cycling UK
Hour record holder asks for doping test – but is told he can't have one
Pierre Latour dematerialises while leading Virtual Tour de Suisse