Fantastic footage from the Evening Standard's transport expert Ross Lydall here...
Ludgate Circus, 9am: North/South cycle superhighway.
I’m normally at my desk long before 9am so rarely see how rammed the main cycleways are at peak times. This is how London rolls… 🚴 🚴♀️🚴🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/qFdaptTqnb— Ross Lydall (@RossLydall) June 21, 2023
Anyone manage to count the bikes? Like that advert where you have to count the basketball passes and completely miss the moonwalking bear, I got 44 here, but presumably missed a pancake-flipping giraffe in the process. Any advances on 44?
Jon Burke shared the footage too, alongside a quote from Danish architect and urban design consultant Jan Gehl... "If you invite more cars, you get more cars. If you make more bicycle infrastructure you get more bicycles. You get what you invite."
Elsewhere, on Kensington High Street where the cycle lanes were famously ripped out, London Cycling Campaign's Simon Munk noted... "The difference could not be more stark. A handful of giant SUVs crowding (not quite as) huge numbers of cyclists to bump along kerb, dodge between cars and vans and buses, most looking desperately stressed."
Food for thought...
“The whole thing is really dangerous,” Norwich Cycling Campaign’s Derek Williams told road.cc of the soon-to-opened Aldi at Longwater Retail Park. “There’s a school and a college nearby, this area is supposed to be a safe route for children and teenagers. But the council didn’t do any investigations, no public consultations.”
Even though a crossing on William Frost Way was agreed during the planning process, it is still absent just a week before the supermarket giant opens its doors, and Williams believes that Aldi is “trying to avoid their obligation” to build it.
Just two days after reports emerged that promising youngster Ben Tulett could be on his way out of the Ineos Grenadiers– and into the all-but-confirmed arms of Jumbo-Visma – the British team appears set to lose another of its homegrown talents, with 2020 Giro d’Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart rumoured to be joining the newly-rebranded Lidl-Trek next season.
That’s according to cycling’s very own Fabrizio Romano, Daniel Benson, who tweeted this morning that Geoghegan Hart, who crashed out of last month’s Giro while sitting third overall, has been shopping in the middle aisle for a new contract, and that a three-year deal with the American squad “is happening”.
Sounds very much like Tao Geoghegan Hart to Lidl-Trek is happening/done deal. 3-year-deal. 🛒📝🇺🇸🇬🇧
— Dnlbenson (@dnlbenson) June 22, 2023
With the 28-year-old Londoner – who appeared in fine grand tour form before his race-ending crash at the Giro – following 21-year-old GC prospect Tulett out the door, Ineos’ much-talked-about rebuilding job could require a few more bricks in time for next season.
Maybe Sir Jim is just planning on using the freed-up funds as part of his bid for Manchester United?
As we reported yesterday, Brighton and Hove Labour announced "exciting new proposals" for a redesign of the A529 seafront road. The new Labour administration in the city says it had asked officers to review and redesign the scheme that was ok'd by the previous Green Party council.
"The redesign will address three key concerns," says a press release.
"Firstly, where possible the cycle lanes in both east and west directions should be next to each other and not separated by footpaths, in line with national standards. Secondly, that the scheme keeps traffic flowing. Thirdly, that the cycle lane ‘loop’ around King Alfred is removed in favour of a continuous two-way cycle lane along the seafront road."
While Cllr Trevor Muten noted “cycle lanes are hugely important to our city" while also adding that the "seafront is an arterial route into and across our city for motorists", it was council leader Bella Sankey's comments that caught the attention of cycling Twitter: “Our announcement today has the potential to be a win-win-win for pedestrians, cyclists and road users. We passionately believe in promoting walking and cycling in Brighton and Hove and delivering the highest quality, permanent, active travel infrastructure."
Hold the phone... aren't pedestrians and cyclists also road users, even if not all of the time?
"Road User" Eh? I'm pretty sure I cycle on the road. https://t.co/YblCSnSOAN
— Cllr Damian Haywood 💙 (@bigdamo) June 21, 2023
Apparently the Labour party over at Brighton haven't read the highway code.
Road users include pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders, car drivers... https://t.co/CQ9zLdFv3i
— Sustainable us - them potatoes are still growing (@Havant_Enviro) June 21, 2023
Why on earth does @bhlabour think that cyclists and pedestrians aren’t road users? https://t.co/p7HghDkS0g
— Cleo rides 😜 (@CleoRides) June 21, 2023
It's a fair point, and after the responses we had yesterday it's one we've just put to Brighton & Hove Labour to get a little more clarification on Clrr Sankey's comments, and what the redesign might look like.
What do you think, will Labour's plans be good for one of Britain's most celebrated seafronts?
Paint is not protection. If families won’t use your cycle lane, it’s not worth the road it’s painted on pic.twitter.com/b9tEy0YSSz
— Greenwich Cyclists (@GreenwichCycle) June 22, 2023
The Nottingham Post reports that 550 excited fans queued outside the city's Raleigh store to be the first to get their hands on the bike brand's relaunched iconic Chopper. Fans queued from 6.30pm on Monday night for the following day's launch, even though many had booked an online ticket meaning they had guaranteed purchase of a bike.
> Back to the future: Raleigh relaunches iconic Chopper (again)
The Post noted a large portion of the crowd was "men of a certain age", some taking time off work to buy the £950 Chopper. Mike, who travelled from Lincolnshire having interrupted his family holiday to get in line, said: "We had a VIP pass to get in a bit earlier. What brings me here today is the love of the bike and the joy it brings. I was about five or six when I had one. My grandad got one from the pub or tip or something.
"I used to ride around at my nanna's at the weekend. I loved it then and I got into the scene when I realised there was such a following for these things. It's so iconic. It brings people together, look how many people are here today.
"It's how unusual it is - there's nothing else like it. Many have tried to copy it but you always call it a Chopper, whenever you see a bike that looks like it. I think people have some fond memories of them. We all want to take a step back into our childhood and the past and I think this helps people do that. This place will be pumping for hours. Everyone's just talking about it all day long."
It looks like some predictions about the price tag (compared to around £32, or £350-ish adjusted for inflation) putting Chopper fans off were unfounded, then! If you weren't lucky enough to bag one, here's some Chopper nostalgia for you instead...
> Reminisce about the iconic Raleigh Chopper, the ultimate Christmas gift of the 1970s
Geraint Thomas' second Grand Tour of the year will be at the Vuelta a España, he told his Watts Occurring podcast. That, along with the World Championships in Glasgow will be his main targets for the remainder of the 2023 season, and follows on from second at the Giro last month.
No Tour for G for only the second time since 2012 as the Welshman looks to complete the Grand Tour podium set by bettering his 69th place on his only previous Vuelta start, back in 2015. Egan Bernal, Tom Pidcock and Dani Martínez look set to headline the Ineos Tour team.
Urška Žigart's Tour de Suisse efforts got some attention in the Belgian press, just one small problem...
'Pogačar's girlfriend' is her name apparently, something GCN commentator and cycling journalist José Been questioned: "Isn't it great when a female athlete who almost wins her first UCI world tour race loses her own name and only goes by 'girlfriend of Pogačar'?"
We pointed out on Tuesday's live blog that we might have to wait a while for any headlines describing Tadej as “Žigart’s boyfriend"; but to our surprise Canadian Cycling Magazine went there just hours later...
Tadej approves, although disappointingly he hasn't dropped into the comments on road.cc to praise the original suggestion from my esteemed colleague Mr Mallon. Maybe he's just a lurker, or actually our mysterious forum contributor Secret Squirrel?