As with volume 4, we held back on this entry until the Monday after a big event. Hopefully you didn’t miss us too much!
We a referring, of course, to the Giro d’Italia, which finished yesterday evening with a victory for Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador.
This marks his second Giro win: he was victorious in 2008, 2010 and 2011, although the latter two were stripped due to him testing positive for doping. Contador’s illustrious career continues – he is now turning to preparation for the upcoming Tour de France.
Speaking of the Tour de France, it is with sadness that we report that John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, has broken his leg after falling of his bike while riding a section of the tour near Sconzier, France. He is said to be in good spirits and is expected to make a full recovery, although his planned visit to Spain to sign a defence agreement is to be delayed.
The agreement would see the US given use of an interestingly named air base:
The European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) has this week published its second annual Cycling Barometer. This is a far-reaching report designed to “provide a multi-dimensional view on cycling in all 27 EU countries”, and to provide a well-researched body of data that can underpin sensible and effective policy-making across the continent.
Our sunny homeland ranks joint 10th with Bulgaria: a drop of one position since the first report in 2013. Denmark and The Netherlands take spots #1 and #2 respectively – hardly surprising!
The ECF also report that cycling is being mentioned more than ever at this year’s International Transport Forum, which took place last week.
Delegates at the forum discussed developments and applications of all sorts of modern transport infrastructure: driverless cars, shared taxi systems, bike share schemes, etc. Raimund Jennert, the Deputy Chairman of ECF’s German member ADFC, noted the rise in amount of Germans taking cycling holidays, and said that “cycling will raise! Integrate it in financing, planning and in monitoring!”
We hope they do!
Two cyclists have discovered their desired cycling attire, and both are surprising. The first, below, was the outcome of an attempt to reduce aggro from the ‘truck nuts’ crowd – i.e. people who honk at cyclists and think they don’t have a place on the road:
It’s an interesting technique – although other users have warned him to look out for Prius drivers, as they may be the new source of aggro!
The next cyclist ditched his clothes altogether – some people just really don’t like lycra!
It was during an authorised ‘Naked Bike Ride’ event that took place in Canterbury over the weekend, but one cyclist was said to be getting a bit ‘overexcited’. Police took him to the side, demanded he re-equip some trousers, then sent him home to calm down.
There’s a full report (complete with images) over at Cycling Weekly.
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