They may be on the look for a new CEO but British Cycling certainly have the memes covered...
Trick-or-treating 'fit sorted 👻🎃🧙♀️🐈⬛#LoveMudpic.twitter.com/5anbY0n4ja
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) October 31, 2022
It's a last-minute entry to the meme template that was keeping the live blog afloat last week...
Oh, and if you missed the big news earlier on...
> British Cycling CEO Brian Facer leaves post with immediate effect
I'm sure it's just a coincidence. https://t.co/3rGVoNy6ER
— Real Gaz on a proper bike (@gazza_d) October 31, 2022
I'm sure it's just a coincidence. https://t.co/3rGVoNy6ER
— Real Gaz on a proper bike (@gazza_d) October 31, 2022
Writing in yesterday's Guardian, Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman suggested some ways men can help women continue to exercise through the winter months when the darker evenings may discourage some due to safety fears.
The clocks have gone back, the evenings are drawing in, the weather is changing. None of this makes it easier for people to exercise. For many, the winter nights can be a threat to mental wellbeing.
One in every five women is concerned about sexual harassment when exercising – and three in 10 have experienced it first-hand, while doing physical activity, mostly in streets and parks. And we know that people will not do something – whether that’s walking or cycling to school, or jogging before work – if they do not feel safe doing so.
As a father, I think very differently about the safety of my two daughters compared to that of my sons; I don’t expect my boys to hold their keys in their hand and text when they get to their destination. I don’t feel the need to advise them not to stay out too late or to walk home with a friend.
As men, we can play a big part in reducing the stress that women shoulder. Of course, I know that most of the men reading this aren’t the aggressors and that they would never harass a woman, but the point is that women do not know that.
Amongst the tips that follow: keep your distance, give other people space, don't make comments...
#TrafficPCSO's came across this vehicle this afternoon.
Thought process from the driver?
Obviously thinking that it would be safe to have a 6' metal blind hanging out of his front window.Advice given.#TrafficPCSO's pic.twitter.com/neYI8DL4Yj
— GMP Traffic (@gmptraffic) October 29, 2022
Andrew Feather won a third National Hill Climb Championship yesterday, pipping defending champ Tom Bell to the jersey by two seconds, while Illi Gardner destroyed the women's field to take a stunning victory too.
Not sure who the photographer is so can’t credit but this is my favourite picture from yesterday. Shows what it takes to win and the fallen bodies in the background showing what it takes to try. pic.twitter.com/0wL25Fw986
— Steven Prince 🌹 (@stevenwbaprince) October 31, 2022
Here's Feather's Strava activity in all its glory...
Just the 507w (8w/kg) for five-and-a-half minutes there as he smashed up the Old Shoe, Horseshoe Pass's steeper brother in 5:29. There were just two seconds between first-placed Feather and runner-up Bell over the 1.55km climb which averages 12.5 per cent.
Impressively, Gardner's winning time in the women's event (6:46) was quicker than 220 of the 260-man men's field...the 23-year-old dethroning Bithja Jones after her two-year reign.
Richard Bussell rounded off the men's podium...erm...well...using this...
3rd pĺace did it fixed. pic.twitter.com/ucMP2Vl0Fa
— Rory (@rorycrone) October 30, 2022
If someone’s little darling in the Congleton area has just come home from Tesco with a seat post I’d very much like it back please pic.twitter.com/HMmR5ArCKx
— Jason Kenny (@JasonKenny107) October 30, 2022
Those mean streets of Congleton...
We'll also have the corresponding article and our all-new big bike lights guide on the site later today.
British Cycling has this morning said Brian Facer will step down with immediate effect, by mutual agreement...
More to follow shortly...
[📷: Alex Broadway/ SWpix.com]
Sonny Colbrelli has retired at the end of a season which saw him diagnosed with an unstable cardiac arrhythmia. The Italian — who won Paris-Roubaix and the European road race title in 2020 — collapsed after the finish of the opening stage of Volta a Catalunya in March, and has not raced since.
[📷: A.S.O/Pauline Ballet]
The 32-year-old was fitted with a subcutaneous defibrillator implant (ICD), the same device Danish footballer Christian Eriksen got after his frightening collapse at Euro 2020. While Eriksen has returned to the Premier League with Brentford, and now Manchester United, Colbrelli says cycling "is a different sport" and returning to racing is "a risk I cannot afford to take".
"I say goodbye to cycling and try to do it with a smile for the good it gave me, even if it hurts to say goodbye after a season like last year," Colbrelli said.
"Cycling is not football. It is a different sport; you ride on the streets. Their training activities take place in a limited area, while in the case of a cyclist, you often find yourself alone for hours on little-travelled roads.
"I admit I considered it [removing the ICD and returning to competition]. Removing the defibrillator is against the medical practice and means removing a lifesaver that is necessary as secondary prevention. A risk too high. A risk that I cannot afford to take.
"I'm ready to keep trying to be a champion, like on the bike."
Leith Walk cycle lane is back on our screens...
The 'segregated cycle infrastructure' caused social media meltdown and cries of derision back in the spring when photos of its bizarre zig-zag obstacle course layout went semi-viral amongst the cycling Twitter fraternity...
Oh, not to mention the lamposts — we were told they would be removed eventually — that add one more thing to think about...
So, with that context given, you'll forgive me for not being too surprised to hear there could well be another way the cycle lane has managed to get worse (and more dangerous)...
Run the tape...
Segregated cycle lanes on #Leithwalk are supposed to keep cyclists safe. That's not the case @CllrScottArthur , without physical barriers this is what's happening. What would have happened if it was a kid? pic.twitter.com/IJfw1ixCsg
— Mithotyn (@LeithBertie) October 30, 2022
Nothing says 'segregated cycling infrastructure' quite like a wild HGV appearing inches from your right...
It's always exciting when I cycle to work in the morning, I never know what kind of vehicle I'll find blocking the #Leithwalk cycle path. pic.twitter.com/4DP3kr6CVl
— Mithotyn (@LeithBertie) October 30, 2022
WOW! This must have been some race, yellow jersey-wearing Jonas Vingegaard first, Chris Froome second and Vincenzo Nibali third?! In a crit race?! Incredible drama... you really have to wonder how the sprinters messed this one up?
🤩 The #TDFSG podium 🤩
🏆🇩🇰Jonas Vingegaard 💛
🥈🇬🇧 @chrisfroome
🥉🇮🇹 @vincenzonibali🦈 pic.twitter.com/y1wmhQsIir— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) October 30, 2022
The Tour de France's, how shall we say it? The Tour de France's lucrative off-season crit race in Singapore saw some of the sport's biggest names go 'head-to-head' in an event possibly closer to WrestleMania than the Tour de France...
It was a scripted race…
— Katie (@medicinexthings) October 30, 2022
Vingegaard remporte le Tour de France Prudential Singapour Critérium ! Froome et Nibali compétent le podium
#TDFSGpic.twitter.com/p67j2gC6PG— L'ÉQUIPE (@lequipe) October 30, 2022
Mas not-so-subtely pushing Froome to make sure the scripted criterium doesn't end with the wrong results. 😂 #TDFSGpic.twitter.com/pOb3sYl2PR
— Benji Naesen (@BenjiNaesen) October 30, 2022
And while it doesn't particularly annoy me — riders going to collect a handy winter payday in front of a crowd who otherwise would not get to watch their heroes — some people had plenty to say...
This is an embarrassing farce and unworthy of your brand
— Jonathan Hodgkins (@Jon_Hodgkins) October 30, 2022
What a pathetic sham. This is always a good reminder that the Tour de France honor and name are for sale.
— André Costa Silva (@CostaSilvaAndre) October 31, 2022
If, like me, you disappeared off into Friday evening never to open your laptop or phone again until an hour or so ago, here's what you might have missed on the site this weekend...
For the pain lovers it was National Hill Climb Championships (more on that in a bit)... Bithja Jones told us all about why she rode the event in the colours of the Suffragettes...
Elsewhere on road.cc this weekend...
> Review: Classified Powershift Kit & Wheelset
> Shimano says demand for bikes still higher than pre-pandemic despite "signs of cooling down"
> Review: Lusso Paragon Sleeveless Base Layer
> Win! Three Magicshine lights bundles must be won worth a total of £1,168!