*Ah !* https://t.co/klCqf3YIpA
— Les Amis de Paris-Roubaix (@A_ParisRoubaix) April 29, 2020
Footage of what seems to be a machine that instantly installs cobbles has been retweeted by none other than the team who tirelessly maintain the famous Paris-Roubaix pavé every winter. We reckon their jobs are safe for a good while yet...
Must pass the cyclist at all costs.....
There may be less cars on the road but the people driving them are still in a rush and driving like idiots. pic.twitter.com/X1VwskJiOW
— HullCamGuy (@HullCamGuy) April 28, 2020
This case of 'Must Get In Front' almost beggars belief, as the driver responsible overtakes on the wrong side of a refuge island and avoids the oncoming car with inches to spare. HullCamGuy told road.cc that the incident happened on Beverly Road in the village of Anlaby, East Yorkshire, and has been reported to the police. He commented: "There may be less cars on the road but the people driving them are still in a rush and driving like idiots."
As a small consolation, at least the cyclist was given a wide berth...
We were sent this video via a Barcelona-based cycling group; so if you see an avatar blast past you at 800 watts and the profile says they're from the city, just remember it's most likely this guy and he's only cheating himself...
I'm on @BBCWorldatOne in just under an hour, talking about the future of transport and working patterns ... stay tuned 🚴🏽♂️🚶♀️🚶♂️🏃♂️
— Laura Laker (@laura_laker) April 29, 2020
Transport and Environment expert and road.cc contributor Laura will be talking about the future of transport and working patterns post-pandemic on the BBC Radio 4 show, starting from approximately 1.30pm - the link to listen is here.
The Colombian contracted the virus in the United Arab Emirates after the UAE Tour was cancelled in late February, and was finally sent home after more than a month in quarantine on 8th April.
According to Marca, Gaviria said in a live video on social media: "We thought the coronavirus was a game, but no. It gave me the disease and I spent some days in anguish. But well, I was able to return home. I am calm, relieved, and have started training from home."
Im his most recent Instagram post Gaviria says: "The virus is turning out to be more serious than we could have imagined. For me it has caused a few distressing days, but I’m home, feeling good and getting back into training.
"I’m training from home because there are vulnerable people who we need to protect in these times. I’m sending my support to them and to everyone and hope that this all ends soon.”
We are still getting cyclists using #RichmondPark for their exercise, often telling us they didn’t see the sign or thought it meant “no cycling through the gate”. Hopefully these new signs should do the trick. Key workers & children 12 or under are still authorised pic.twitter.com/Ucmvd2XfhG
— Royal Parks Police (@MPSRoyal_Parks) April 28, 2020
After the Royal Parks temporarily banned cycling in Richmond Park in late Marh due to the pandemic, updated information on their website says:
"Unfortunately, in Richmond Park we have had to suspend cycling to support social distancing guidelines, for public safety on the roads and to prevent crowds at park gates. However, children under 12 can still cycle in the park and you can still ride your bike to the park, just not through it. More info on the decision can be found here.
"We understand this will be disappointing and even infuriating for some people, but currently parks are under huge scrutiny and we need to do everything in our power to discourage large groups of people. Please remember this decision is temporary and cycling is allowed in all our other parks."
In the tweet above, Royal Parks Police say that key workers are also exempt from the cycling ban as well as under 12's; although the policy is still generating plenty of negative comments:
Ok but why cyclists? We naturally keep our distance because we have to.
If its the racing circuit (which i dislike myself) then simply block off so that the majority can cycle in their usual way
Is it right that two pensioners are banished to the roads for a gentle cycle?
— Cpcm (@Cpcm66) April 28, 2020
In reply to this, Royal Parks ensured that it is a temporary measure, commenting:
"We're really sorry you can't cycle in the park as usual, it's not right but this is an unprecedented situation and we're all having to change the way we live for a little while.
It's a temporary situation and we're constantly monitoring it, sorry there aren't any further updates. If and when anything changes we will be announcing it on social media.
..."We're missing the parks as much as you are so we know what everyone is going through."
Holy moly! Canadian cyclist @Tsams94 just broke the world record, riding 1008km in 24 hours on @GoZwift😱 pic.twitter.com/txp1xtjNGo
— Santos Tour Down Under 🚴🚴♀️ (@tourdownunder) April 29, 2020
As part of a team charity event dubbed '#CrushCOVID', 25-year-old H&R Block Pro Cycling rider Travis Samuel claims to have broken the Guinness World Record for the biggest Zwift ride in 24 hours. His average pace was an astonishing 42km/h over the 1,008km (626 mile) ride, and with other team members who joined in for parts of the chalenge, CrushCOVID has raised almost $220,000 at the time of writing.
Samuel - who is also a student at Trent University in Ontario - wrote on Instagram: "It’s hard to believe and put into words not only what happen yesterday but really what has happened over the last two weeks! I am really quite speechless!
"Still hasn’t set in being able to say I set a new world record at 1,008km over 24 hours (probably because I’ve never been in so much pain before!) It’s impossible to pick out certain people that helped because everyone had just as much of a helping hand! It was truly amazing seeing so many friends, professionals and thousands of people out supporting the ride for an hour, others for 6-8 hours and those who rode with me at the extremely early hours of the morning.
"This record belongs to everyone in the #crushcovid Team. All I can say is I’m beyond grateful and THANK YOU to everyone!"
According to Toronto Hustle the previous record stood at 988km, meaning Samuel surpassed it by 20km. He told Trent University's online news site: “I think cracking above 1,000km in 24 hours for the first time in history is very similar to the sub four minute mile or sub two hour marathon, it's been one of those barriers people have tried to break for a while but haven't been able to."
Liverpool-based K-Safe - the company behind the Busby app - secured the funds to further develop their app, which monitor's a smartphone's movements to detect when a cyclist may have fallen from their bike. If it detects an incident, it gives the cyclist 30 seconds to move or respond and if nothing happens, it sends the exact location to an emergency contact via What3Words - an app that is now widely used by rescue services for its accuracy by gridding every sqaure metre of the earth with unique three word codes.
Busby was launched in October 2019, with the creators saying they developed it after a friend was hit by a van driver whilst training on the roads. They are also working on cyclist detection notifications for haulage firms, and a warning system for alerting when a rider is dropped from a group. Cmmercial director James Duffy told Forbes:
“We're not trying to say to cyclists they should only rely on Busby. We started with cyclist detection hardware four years ago.
“But with those types of products, there’s a high barrier to market entry. People have to pay upfront—what we’re trying to do is lower the barrier to entry by offering a free app.
“With Covid-19 there aren’t any group rides at the moment, but once lockdown is over we’d like to introduce GroupRide—this can set a radius around everyone on a ride and if anybody drops outside of that set radius everyone in the group gets a notification so they can either slow down and group back up, or they can stop and turn back and help.”
You can download the Busby app for free on iOS or Android here.
That's some way to spend your time in lockdown... impressive!