The Norwich Cycling Campaign was alerted to the situation at the Hall Road store by a member concerned about the removal of four popular, and perfectly practical, Sheffield Stand bike racks to make way for a postage locker. In return the supermarket's cycling customers got... *checks notes*... two dodgy wheel-bender parking spots instead...
.@EoECoop you've removed the cycle parking from your Hall Road store (which had space for 8 bikes) and replaced it with 2 useless "wheel benders".
Are you happy to lose customers? pic.twitter.com/6j8K5eclnI
— Norwich Cycling Campaign (@NorwichCycling) December 11, 2023
"Are you happy to lose customers?" was the question Co-op was asked, after all how are people meant to visit if their dedicated, secure parking provision has been replaced by something much less practical?
Peter Silburn from the Norwich Cycling Campaign told us this isn't the first time he's seen this, the Sainsbury's at Longwater doing similar...
"The bike racks were popular," he explained. "One of our members alerted us to this. She says they were very popular, especially with families who could lock several bikes up at once. She says that although she used to shop regularly at the store on her way home from work she will now shop at the nearby Tesco Express instead which has plenty of cycle parking.
"There's plenty of space down the side of the store which would seem to be a suitable location for the locker."
We've contacted the Co-op, as the cycling campaign group has also, but neither of us have heard back. Another local rider said they'd raised the issue and been told "they 'thought' that they would be reinstated around the corner in the car parking area. We'll see..."
Someone else reported: "They have also removed the Sheffield stands at the Ashbourne Road branch in Derby and replaced them with nothing."
Wheel benders or nothing? Pick your poison...
How frustrating. Those were just about the only locks on that block of shops. Clearly a decision made by someone who had never used one
— Paul (@No_pun_in_10did) December 11, 2023
Reaction time for our main live blog story of the day...
E6toSE3: "Agreed about the 'racks'. If I can't find a decent rack or a fence or signpost close by, I go elsewhere. Have done for decades."
redimp: "We have those crap wheel benders at our local Morrisons. I lean my bike against the wall and lock through the frame and back wheel to them. I usually means I am taking two 'spaces' but I am not using those inadequate wheel breakers in any other way."
bigwheeler88: "As sad as it is to say, the shop probably doesn't care about losing customers by being bicycle-unfriendly. If the wheel benders are the only parking option I just bring my bike into the shop with me. It's no different or dirtier than a pair of shoes walking around. Sometimes security get confrontational about it but I just stay calm and explain that they have no rules against it and they have never stopped me from going in. More cyclists should do this so we are seen and not just treated like invisible customers."
mattw: "Time to start wheeling the cycles around the shop because they cannot be parked safely outside. (Yes, I've done it)."
Still nothing from Co-op by the way.
Here's a nice story for your Tuesday afternoon...
BBC foreign correspondent and Dutch News from the Cycle Path presenter Anna Holligan has set up a fundraiser to help a Ukrainian mother who lives in The Hague and had her e-bike stolen. The bike was the means for the woman, whose partner is fighting in Ukraine, to take her seven-year-old daughter to school 11km away.
In just 24 hours the fundraiser has easily passed the €2,700 target, now just €12 shy of €3,000...
Anna wrote on the fundraising page: "This e-bike was her lifeline — for school run and generating a small income. If you can help her with a few euros each I'm sure we can assist in supporting her a new set of wheels. She asked to borrow a bike but if we can get her her own it would be a wonderful Christmas gift."
Link to the GoFundMe page here...
I can’t believe it, we’re almost there 🥺❤️🙏🏽
Thank you so SO much everyone.
What a spirit of unity, such a gift 🤗 pic.twitter.com/K0H7Xeg5WZ
— anna holligan 🎙 (@annaholligan) December 12, 2023
The moment we've all been waiting for...
> All I want for Christmas is... not this. Gifts not to buy for cyclists to avoid a festive faux pas
[Luis Angel Gomez/SprintCyclingAgency©2023/ASO]
Top snooping from Het Laaste Nieuws who have today spotted Cian Uijtdebroeks not so subtly joining Jumbo-Visma's winter training camp in Dénia... and riding a Cervélo...
Meanwhile Cian Uijtdebroeks is already at Visma training camp.
Source: HLN pic.twitter.com/oBFye7q4Qo
— Lukáš Ronald Lukács (@lucasaganronald) December 12, 2023
Bora-Hansgrohe DS Bernhard Eisel has denied the allegation that Uijtdebroeks was bullied by the team, telling GCN this morning "100% I can deny that. Definitely not."
Adressing the claim the team had a separate groupchat without the Belgian at the Vuelta, Eisel said: "He had a team that looked after him, Aleks Vlasov had his team that looked after him and, from my point of view, they did an incredible job to protect him. We did everything we could for him. I have to deny that one. It's that simple. 100% no.
[Pauline Ballet/ASO]
"Honestly I'm tired of the whole thing. I would say it was three times the effort for him than it was for Aleks in the role. If that's not enough then it’s going to be difficult. From a professional standpoint in support, it was 100 per cent for him in the race. I'm not willing to add more. We did what we could and that's it."
The UCI has commented on the transfer dispute, saying "the rules will be enforced"...
You might have seen this on road.cc (or elsewhere) last week...
PC Lewis Marks went viral when his force shared a video of him borrowing a bike from a member of the public to chase down and arrest a fleeing drug dealer. Speaking to BBC Radio Northampton he said despite the attention, "I don't see it as I've done anything special".
"I wouldn't say it's run-of-the-mill, borrowing somebody's bicycle is a bit out of the ordinary, but, my colleagues, every other day they are having a foot chase with somebody," he said.
"They're catching people every day, so I don't see it as I've done anything special, as my colleagues do just as many extraordinary things on a daily basis. I was surprised by how widely it's been picked up — I was expecting it to be more of a local news story. It's a bit of a strange feeling, really."
BIG NEWS in the MK Citizen this morning...
If you're in Milton Keynes on Saturday you might come across 150 cycling Santas riding through the city centre in search of mince pies and rehearsing for a world record attempt scheduled for next year. What's more, you can get involved and sign up for a free costume and/or bike here...
[Zac Williams/SWpix.com]
The Cian Uijtdebroeks transfer saga has taken another twist this morning, the podcast In Het Wiel of Dutch newspaper AD hearing accounts from a source who said the Belgian rider was seen as "something of an outsider" at Bora Hansgrohe and allegedly was bullied.
"Various sources say that Uijtdebroeks was something of an outsider at Bora," Thijs Zonneveld told the podcast. "He was treated like a kind of nerd by other riders, but also by team leaders. That was because he was very fanatical about certain things. He was weighing his diet, he didn't think his time trial bike was aerodynamic enough, he didn't think his clothing was good enough, so he bought different socks himself.
"They thought he was too fanatical. He was like someone in high school who got an A because he studied well, only to be told, 'Oh, you got an A again?!' He was bullied. For example, during the Vuelta there was also an 'Anti-Cian' app group, without himself in it, so they could gossip about him. It's really too childish. He didn't feel at home in that team at all."
In October, Uijtdebroeks made headlines by speaking out about Bora's TT set-up, slamming the team for multiple mechanicals at Chrono des Nations. The 20-year-old Grand Tour prospect raised eyebrows by criticising his team for "out of order" Specialized Shiv TT bikes, the same model used by the discipline's world champion Remco Evenepoel.
The transfer saga erupted on Saturday when Jumbo-Visma, soon to be known as Visma-Lease a Bike, announced the signing of Uijtdebroeks. Bora immediately responded, denying the transfer and pointing out the rider is contracted with them until the end of 2024.
Uijtdebroeks' agent then claimed that the rider's Bora contract had been terminated on 1 December, before he signed with Jumbo-Visma, and that "legal proceedings" had been initiated. It has also been reported that Bora are seeking around €1 million from the Dutch team to buy out the Belgian rider's contract. Messy.
Anyway, amid the noise, Chris Froome undertook some exemplary stirring of the pot...