This week’s round-up features perhaps the most incredible ride we’ve heard about this year, some political stories in line with the London mayoral election, Tour de Yorkshire analysis, and a petition to make cycling safer.
The top image is from the Instagram of William Barker, a seemingly bionic man who recently completed his first Everest ride. For those who aren’t familiar with the concept, it’s where you climb the equivalent elevation as the highest mountain on earth in one ride.
He racked up the elevation by doing 43 laps of Mt Ainslie (see below), and has posted his ride on Strava. The numbers are crazy.
Amazingly, William said he was “not even that sore” the day after. A hugely impressive effort, especially considering that he got taken out by a kangaroo in his fourth lap – an event that Reddit users correctly described as “So. Damn. Australian”.
With the mayoral elections taking place today, there’s been a flurry of news about the growth of cycling in London. The first piece from the BBC explores the phenomenon of cycling becoming more important in London politics – a tangible example is the planning and opening of segregated superhighways in the capital and, despite some ‘Bikelash’ against these, they seem to do what they set out to do quite effectively.
It’s also promising that all 5 mayoral candidates have committed to keeping the role of cycling commissioner, which Boris Johnson set up, filled.
As the article says, “cycling is now a mainstream policy in London politics. That is quite a story.”
Another article in an American blog explores cycling in London and includes a nifty graphic.
This article also highlights predictions that bike commuters may outnumber cars in London in 2018 – wouldn’t that be incredible?
Sad news for British Cycling in the recent Tour de Yorkshire event, which saw Bradley Wiggins drop out of the race.
Unusually cold weather and issues with televising the event put the whole thing slightly off kilter, and Wiggins’ failure to finish is the cherry on the cake.
In a nod to the complete lack of coverage of the women’s event, we’ve chosen the women’s highlight video to feature here:
Continuing the vaguely political tone this week is an important petition currently collecting signatures on the parliament website.
The petition requests “a permanent, minimum passing distance [for motorists] overtaking cyclists”. At the time of writing it has 11,322 signatures and a minimum of 100,000 are needed for it to be considered for a debate in parliament. So get signing!
A video made by the Tasmanian Government complements this petition nicely with simple visual reminder why this distance is important. Check it out:
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