Welcome to the one of most ironic cycling facilities we have seen here at road.cc: The ‘Cycle Hub’ at Sheffield Hallam University’s campus, designed exclusively for those with the skills of Danny MacAskill, or maybe those looking for an upper-body workout (but then, which cyclist doesn’t?).
Rather conveniently located at the bottom of a staircase, cyclists are first greeted with the ultimate paradox, a sign saying “Cyclists please dismount before entering the hub” — a polite reminder that unless you’re bunny-hopping your way down like the Scottish trials rider, you’ll be lugging your bike like it’s an awkwardly shaped suitcase. Nothing says ‘bike-friendly’ like carrying your bike down a flight of stairs, does it?
This wonderful piece of infrastructure was brought to our attention by road.cc reader Andy Nichols, who said: “I'm not sure if it's quite on a par with some of your other content but this made me laugh when I had to use a different bike shed at work to usual.”
Oh believe me, it is on par with some of our other content…
Here’s a cheerful start to your Friday with a humble reminder of how good the pros are — a realisation made even more shocking when you find that the rider is just 18 years old.
Fresh off the back of winning the young rider jersey at the Tour Down Under in his first-ever pro race, Lidl-Trek’s Albert Philipsen continued his racing season in Australia with the Surf Coast Classic, a UCI 1.1 one-day stage race.
Albert Philipsen at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, Men's Junior Road Race, Glasgow (Pauline Ballet/SWpix.com)
Although the multidisciplinary Danish rider came home in 44th position in the race, which ended in a bunch sprint finish won by Tobias Lund Andresen—another young Dane from Team Picnic PostNL—Philipsen has managed to draw attention to his post-race escapades thanks to his Strava upload, which showed that he added almost 100 kilometres to the race.
The coolest thing? He labelled the update on Strava as “Recovery ride”.
Actually, what’s even cooler is that despite the race being ridden at almost 48km/hr from Lorne to Torquay, Philipsen’s 252km-long ride ended with an average speed of 41.8km/hr (he hit a top speed of 94.2km/hr), lasting just over six hours with almost 3,000 metres of climbing.
The 2023 junior world champion also claimed the King of Mountain badge on the Lorne-Benwerrin Climb, riding the 25km segment with over 400 metres of climbing in 17:50, beating Michal Kwiatkowski’s record by one second.
So to sum up his last few weeks: He turned pro with Lidl-Trek, skipped the U23 classifications, made his debut in the Tour Down Under, and then went on to prove his GC credentials by winning the youth classification and securing a top 20 overall finish. And now, he’s showing off in front of us amateurs by casually doing a 100km recovery ride and setting several personal bests along the way.
Alright then, I’ll note him down in my diary as one for the future, or maybe the present.
It’s delayed by some 31 days but we finally have a “well-intentioned” New Year resolution from a local who’s decided it’s time to stop being “grumpy” at drivers, dog owners… and of course, cyclists.
“This grumpy old woman plans to be less grumpy in 2025. Is this possible?” asks Jane France, in a column published in the Eastern Daily Press.
Her first object of ire is drivers who park on double yellow lines. “Even traffic wardens do not seem to deter them,” she says. “Cars [sic] also park on the verges in front of houses churning up the grass and on some occasions completely blocking resident's access to and from their property.”
The next naughty bunch on her list is, you guessed it, cyclists. “Another thing that makes me grumpy is the behaviour of some cyclists who often put their safety and that of others at risk.
“Some cyclists wear dark clothing with hoods up and no lights on their bicycle - not even a reflector. Recently I saw a cyclist who only became apparent due to his white socks – that was a real trigger to my grumpiness.
“It amazes me that many cyclists do not appear to think that a red traffic light applies to them. Today I gave way to a cyclist who, in freezing conditions, came down the road wearing headphones and with his hands in his pockets — at least he wasn't texting.”
Next up is dog owners. “It’s amazing just how many people do take their dogs in – Is my grumpiness because they're ignoring the signs, or a little bit of jealousy that they don't appear to care?
“I could go on forever - litter, wheelie bins left on pavements, and e-scooters with their silent motors.”
She ends by saying: “The WI has a long history of campaigning so perhaps instead of being grumpy I should put my energy into positivity and see whether a resolution leading to a campaign for possibly safer conditions for delivery e-bikes, whose riders are required to deliver at speed and do not always have reliable safe bikes that meet legal requirements. Just a thought.”
That would be a good thought, indeed.
Credit for these goes to Steve Fleming, who shared images of these très bizarre and très amusante road signage for cyclists from France, including a wicked speed bump for a poor cyclist who just wants to have a chill ride, an interesting mix of cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders indicating a shared ‘greenway’, and finally, a road cyclist with a helmet making their way down a serpentine descent that looks a bit too much like the Ventoux...
(Credit: @SteveFlemingM9 on Twitter)