This week’s round-up features the Tour of Britain winner, a cautionary tale for cyclists, Mark Beaumont on MAMiLs, and a 70 year old’s excellent adventure.
The featured image comes from Reddit, where user ‘PotatoMerchant‘ flaunted the gorgeous cycling weather in Ireland. Predictably the comments mainly involved people claiming the picture must be fake because there was sunshine, no potholes, and no leprechauns.
Healthy internet banterThose of you who follow competitive cycling will have been watching the Tour of Britain last week, and will know that Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen took the top spot in the event.
In a video on the Tour of Britain site Hagen is interviewed ahead of the penultimate stage, and states that he “is not confident” and “needs to work hard for it”, so it’s nice to see that the hard work paid off! Click the image below to watch the video:
Two mildly distressing stories launch this week’s round-up, both outlining hazards affecting cyclists. We’re all familiar with bumpy bike lanes and glass and other debris leading to punctures when riding, but it’s not often that cyclists are deliberately targeted with sharp items on bike routes with the express purpose of ruining their ride.
Sadly this happened in the Marlow Red Kite sportive last week, where drawing pins were scattered over a section of the fundraising ride for the Cyclists Fighting Cancer charity. Thankfully there were no injuries, just a lot of punctures and frustrated cyclists. The event has been reported to police and they are investigating, but it seems unlikely there will be any punishment for the pranksters.
The Derby Telegraph reports on another event where a cyclist was thrown off his bike and injured due to potholes on a road in the area. Chris Clay, the cyclist in question, is now taking legal action against Derby Council to prevent similar events taking place in the future. He received a concussion, a broken elbow, a fractured cheekbone and several cuts and bruises from the fall.
If there are dangerous potholes on roads near you, you can report them through this tool on the Gov.UK website.
We’ve written separately before about MAMiLs and Mark Beaumont. Last week the record-breaking cyclist raised concerns that MAMiLs and competitive cycling clubs may put off beginners, stating that “people who are new to cycling tend to think the sport is all about competition and wearing Lycra and taking it all very seriously”.
He is currently an ambassador of Ride Social, a scheme by British Cycling that aims to get more people on bikes. Around 2,000 people have signed up for the scheme since its launch in April, 44% of whom are women, so it’s great to see Mark being involved in efforts to make cycling less daunting and more inviting. An upbeat video about the scheme explains it well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=13&v=49gYwSWLEJE
A tale of adventure and breaking down expectations take top spot this week, in the form of an inspiring story from Toronto. The Toronto Star reported on Ontarian soon-to-be-septuagenarian John Murtaugh, who will be cycling from Toronto to Mexico – 2,500 miles – to celebrate his 70th birthday.
John explains his motivations: “I think people like to challenge themselves every once in a while. They dream of doing an adventurous thing, and having accomplished something like that gives you a good feeling”.
We’re sure it will be a fantastic birthday present and a wonderful ride. Good luck John!
Leave a Reply