So… Hate to ask… But, what is Santa Claus’ vaccine status?
— Jonathan Vaughters (@Vaughters) December 20, 2021
I want to see his biological passport and Rudolph's FTP before I let you down that chimney...
A thief tricked staff into letting him take an e-bike worth more than £5,000 for a test ride, only to make off with the bicycle. Paul Diani, owner of Les's Cycles, in Canvey in Essex told the Echo he has changed his policy about test rides, and feels "violated in his own business".
The man came into the shop on Thursday at around 1.50pm and asked to see a high-end e-bike. "He took it out and then on the way back just rode right past the staff who gave chase and was out for about 15 minutes," Mr Diani recalled.
"It’s a Scott Randsome 920 and is high end with full suspension and high technology gears and other features. We don’t get them in often and they do sell quickly when we do. It's normal for them to sell for this much money and for shoppers to want to try out the bikes too. I don’t know if he had a van or anything or if it was planned or anything.
"He was pretty tall and was wearing a mask and cap too and seemed like a normal chap. I will need to sell about 10 bikes to make that money back. We are also changing the rules for people who want to test out a bike too.
"We will be asking for people’s car keys and identification too otherwise nobody will get a ride on the bikes. It’s a loss of business as well as most people are honest and will buy the bike after trying it out."
I guess just riding a bike outside wouldn't be very on-brand for Peloton. https://t.co/Eh2Hl4cYED
— Doug van den Ham (@DvdHam) December 21, 2021
Some delicious replies and reaction to our main live blog story of the day — Peloton's instructors driving Mazda electric cars to "support their active lifestyle"...
Chris Harrison summed it up on Twitter, "2021 — when 'active lifestyle' means an electric car and a fake bike."
Ian Muirhead had some radical advice for the pair..."
This is spectacularly bad. "Fitness coaches" who train people on fake bikes promoting electric cars for an active lifestyle.
I'm going to be a maverick, but perhaps they could get a real bike and use it for both transport and fitness. It'd replace both the car & the peloton... https://t.co/0QiZlN3uf3
— Ian Muirhead (@ian_muirhead) December 21, 2021
Some were just concerned nobody had told her you don't have to pour the electricity in like petrol...
Everyone rightly dunking on Peloton for this link-up in the replies but does... does she think you have to pour the electricity in like petrol? https://t.co/Db9MNQfgDH
— Ade Rixon (@aderixon) December 20, 2021
Graham Black commented: "Someone please tell her you don't have to stand there and hold the nozzle while it's charging..."
Eton Rifle added: "I love the way she seems to think that you have to stand there, holding the nozzle, waiting for the electricity to pour in. Don't forget to jiggle the end to get those last watts out..."
On Facebook, Pete Smyth wrote: "To support my healthy diet, I'm going to open a donut shop..."
Under the live blog, DoomeFrog thinks they've got a better alternative, Peloton instructors charge their Mazda cars through their classes..."It could be active lifestyle if the Peloton exercise machine was used to generate the electricity to go into the car. 'Let's work it people, just another 95 per cent charge to go!'"
Quienes amanecieron consentidos hoy?? 😭 pic.twitter.com/YQGyvV0cwZ
— Egan Arley Bernal (@Eganbernal) December 21, 2021
Never mind who let the dogs out? Why isn't Egan letting the dogs in? Answers, we need them...
I give up 😭- new path extension on the strawberry line. Not yet open and already out dated. Look at it! Big metal monster barrier. It’s also so narrow any bars over 50-60cm won’t go through. Was this approved by @Sustrans? pic.twitter.com/ZEkDi8Hrjb
— Ken Borg (@kenborg24) December 19, 2021
If you missed it, on Sunday, we brought you the story of cycle campaigners in York calling on the council to remove "shameful" barriers preventing disabled cyclists accessing the city's paths.
This post shows it's a problem elsewhere in the UK, and not just where infrastructure is outdated...
Anyone hoping for disasterclass interviews and red faces on the next season of The Apprentice may have to look elsewhere. No-nonsense aide to Lord Alan Sugar, Claude Littner, will not be on the latest season when it airs on the BBC in January.
> Apprentice star Claude Littner reveals he almost lost leg in e-bike crash
The 72-year-old crashed while riding his e-bike in north London in April. Doctors initially feared they may have to amputate Littner's leg but managed to save it.
"I must have been doing no more than 10 kilometres an hour on this sort of two-track road. The next thing I knew, I was on the left-hand side of the street, my bike was in the middle of the road and I didn't know what happened," Littner said previously.
Lizzie Deignan sat down with Cyclingnews to talk about her historic season, and said speculation about her retirement can be put on hold for now. Deignan won the inaugural women's Paris-Roubaix in October and said the pandemic has made her more appreciative of the sport.
"I would say you can stop asking me about retirement," she said. "I'll let you know when I'm thinking about it again."
The Trek-Segafredo rider, who turned 33 on Saturday, stepped away from pro cycling in 2018 to give birth to her first child, and had suggested she would be ready to call it a day after the Tokyo Olympics.
"Being a professional athlete has its difficult times, but you look around and realise that, in the middle of a pandemic when people are struggling, I’m still getting to travel the world and still getting paid to ride my bike," Deignan said.
Cycle lanes in Hull, first introduced last year as an emergency measure in response to the pandemic, will be made permanent following a vote by councillors. Hull City Council had earlier approved plans to keep the segregated lanes in the city centre.
Ann Hutchinson, a member of CycHull, told the BBC the Spring Bank infrastructure helped make people feel safe using the route.
"It makes people keep a wider berth around you so they are not so close and it can be pretty scary if something zooms right past you."
Council monitoring of the lane showed a 37 per cent increase in cyclists, with around 1,000 using the infrastructure each day.
Councillor Dean Kirk is responsible for highways and transport, he said: "The way in which we travel is changing, and how we share the road space is a key consideration for the council.
"We appreciate that changes to how people travel may not happen overnight, but our ambition is to build a transport network that works for everyone."
A true classic of the genre pic.twitter.com/RDqH0ZmIcp
— fightforyourright (@theyoungapple) December 20, 2021
The auction for Wout van Aert's Mont Ventoux stage-winning Cervélo is up to €13,250 (£11,289), while his Tour of Britain-winning R5's top bid is currently €7,500 (£6,390). Primož Roglič's special red Vuelta-winning bike is still only at €6,000 (£5,113). Bargain.
> Want to buy Wout van Aert's Mont Ventoux stage-winning Cervélo? Here's how much it will cost you
Elsewhere in Van Aert news, the 27-year-old was, on Sunday, crowned Belgian Sportsman of the Year for a second successive year. Van Aert beat Olympic bronze medallist runner Bashir Abdi and judoka Matthias Casse to the award organised by Sporza.
"I thought it would be difficult to win again, certainly with this opposition. But that makes it all the more beautiful," Van Aert said afterwards.
and you don't stand there holding the nozzle like you are putting in 40l of unleaded. She must have stood there for hours!
— Mr Mustard (@_MrMustard) December 21, 2021
Happy #WinterSolstice. ❄️💙 It's easy to get wrapped up in the busyness of the festive season - a blast of fresh air and time out in nature can do wonders for our wellbeing.
We'd love you to share your winter rides by tagging #WeAreCyclingUK👇📸 pic.twitter.com/yDn0soMVz4
— Cycling UK (@WeAreCyclingUK) December 21, 2021
You've done it...today's the shortest day of the year. From here we creep back towards those long spring and summer evenings. We'll keep our eyes peeled for anyone marking the shortest day with their longest or similar challenges...
Peloton instructors take a spin with Mazda.@onepeloton's leading fitness coaches, Leanne and Ben, will be living with the all-electric #MazdaMX30 for six months, experiencing how the model supports their active lifestyle. pic.twitter.com/IrW5AN1Jcy
— Mazda UK (@Mazda_UK) December 20, 2021
This one has got real end of term vibes...like the people at Mazda were sat around trying to find a way to justify their partnership with Peloton's coaches Leanne Hainsby and Ben Alldis, couldn't think of anything vaguely plausible, so thought 'to hell with it' it's Christmas, we'll just say it's to "support their active lifestyle"... that makes sense, doesn't it?
If there is one thing Twitter is good for, it's watching brand's and 'famous' people get roasted when they try to promote something silly. And boy has Mazda been on the receiving end this morning...
If only there were some way of combining cycling with transport
— Stuart Helmer (@stuarthelmer) December 20, 2021
OR RIDE A BICYCLE!
— Elisabeth Anderson 💉💉💉 (@velobetty) December 20, 2021
Working the social media feed of a car manufacturer must be hilarious. Look up the phrases that mean 'not owning a car', then sticking them into your feed. Job done.
— Jon (@Jontafkasi) December 20, 2021
But what did the 'cyclists' say?
Well, Ben Alldis' paid partnership Insta post promoting the vehicle showed him driving it around London and said: "it's been the absolute dream [...] It's a great car for city living during the week and perfect for getting out of the city to see family and friends across the weekends." There were unfortunately no clips of Ben inevitably stuck in a queue of drivers while cyclists on non-two grand subscription exercise bikes streamed past...
I could share some of Leanne's post (which reads like...well, a Mazda advert) but I was preferring hearing what the good people of cycling Twitter had to say about the whole debacle, so let's do more of that...
It doesn’t support an active lifestyle. It’s a car. It means they drive when they could use other ‘active‘ means. Stop trying to greenwash.
— Peter Smith (@Pinarello_Pete) December 21, 2021
Riviera Rider replied: "Instead of riding an actual bike to get around London, spin cycling instructors promote an electric car under the guise of 'supporting an active lifestyle' by driving through the country's best city for public transport." That's...pretty much it...
“I’m gonna ride my peloton for 45 minutes then drive 10 minutes to buy an ice cream!”
— Nick, aka John Forester’s Worst Nightmare (@c_rless) December 20, 2021
you're going to get absolutely bodied here and fully deserve it, all the best
— dan hett (@danhett) December 20, 2021
We'll be back with more reaction in a bit...