This week’s round-up features a look at the women’s race of this year’s TDY (and its hefty prize pot!), concept bikes both sporty and musical, stories of how cyclists can demand better conditions in their city, and perhaps most importantly, cute pictures of dogs.
The top image is what happens when Richard Fairhurst tried to buy some new tyres online. Google tried its best to interpret his query, misinterpreted and thought that he wanted to know how many marathons he’d have run if he did an extra 20 inches.
A story in the Guardian this week outlines the increases in coverage and prize fund of the 2016 women’s Tour de Yorkshire.
First prize will be €20,000 and the whole event will be covered on Eurosport – a great step in achieving more equal conditions and incentives in men’s and women’s cycling events. Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, summarises it well – he said
“What I don’t want is for my daughter to say to me: ‘I want to be a professional cyclist’ and for me to have to answer: ‘how will you earn a living?'”
The race covers 85 miles from Otley to Doncaster via three categorised climbs, and promises to make good viewing. You can see the route below, and more info is available at the TDY website.
The UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) has a whole load of regulations about which features bikes are and aren’t allowed to have if they’re being used in competition. Their stated aim is to “to ensure both the safety of riders and the fairness of competition while at the same time making the most of the advantages that technological evolution can bring to cycling”, and it makes a lot of sense, especially in wake of the recent mechanical doping scandal.
The regulations are apparently a source of frustration for some bike designers, though, and one has responded in spectacular style with the FUCI:
Robert Egger, creative director of bike-maker Specialized, insists that the FUCI (“f**k the UCI”, in case you missed it) is done “with tongue placed firmly in cheek”. Here are the bike’s features in brief (full information available in a CNN article):
We’d love to have a go. It’s in Ride25 colours too, nice touch 😉
Another addition to our ‘unexpected things a bicycle can do’ list comes from the Bicrophonic Research Institute, who have figured out how to turn a bike into a musical instrument:
Another piece in the Guardian this week explored Amsterdam’s history as a cycling city, and debunks the myth that it was always the utopia it is today. In fact, trips made by bicycle fell from over 80% in the 50s to below 20% in the mid 70s, and it’s only because of a long and protracted struggle for cyclists’ rights in the city, ranging from talks over tea with MPs to full-blown activism, that the numbers began to climb again. It’s well worth a read.
A report by the European Cyclists Federation explores the impact of efforts in Denmark to boost their falling numbers of cyclists through allocating funds (just over £100,000,000), upgrading infrastructure and building new cycle paths. Unsurprisingly, this large investment resulted in more people riding!
So it’s good to see pro-cycling measures being adopted in the UK too. Edinburgh has lowered the speed limit to 20mph “as part of the Scottish government’s 2010 Cycling Action Plan, which aimed for 10 percent of all journeys to be taken by bike by 2020” (source). Cyclists in Edinburgh are famous for lobbying their government to make the city more cycle-friendly, through actions like Pedal on Parliament.
It goes to show that a vocal body of cyclists can get things changed!
This week we’re observing the age-old news tradition of ending on a story about animals. It’s our pleasure to present to you the Total Women’s Cycling top 10 of the best dog carriers for bicycles, featuring some adorable pictures of woman’s best friend being taken for a ride:
For the full list and gallery you’ll have to head over to their page.
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