Category Archives: Cycling

Berlin reports rise in fatalities as new bike lanes fail to keep cyclists safe

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Campaigners demand more rules for lorries after initial hope pandemic would mean less traffic

A coronavirus-related drop in traffic and new protected bike lanes have failed to make Berlin’s roads safer for cyclists, as the German capital reports a four-year record in fatalities.

A woman run over by a right-turning articulated lorry in the district of Reinickendorf on Friday became Berlin’s 14th official cycling fatality of 2020 – more than twice as many as the six recorded in 2019.

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From giving up gambling and getting fit to coping with grief: how our lives changed in lockdown

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This year’s isolation has been painful, but in some cases it has also provided a valuable chance to pause, reflect and take decisions that seemed unthinkable before. Here, six readers describe how lockdown inspired them to turn their lives around

As soon as he heard about the impending lockdown, Alex Harrison, 34, drove to his local casino in Liverpool and asked them to ban him for life. In the manager’s office, his photograph was taken and his details were recorded on an iPad. To his surprise, the manager congratulated him.

Harrison has battled with a gambling addiction for 10 years. When he walked into the casino that day, he owed around £1,000 to friends, family and payday lenders. Occasionally, he would gamble his entire month’s salary on the day he was paid.

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Two wheels good: India falls back in love with bikes after Covid-19

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A bicycle boom has seen Indians swapping cars – the ultimate status symbol – for a more humble mode of transport

With cases of Covid-19 surging past the one million mark, Indians are shunning crowded buses and trains to travel on what has traditionally been regarded in this status-conscious society as the poor man’s mode of mobility: the bicycle.

At Bike Studio in Bhopal, owner Varun Awasthi is almost out of stock. Sales are up by 30% and he expects them to rise to 50% once he gets more bicycles.

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France bans Dutch bike TV ad for creating ‘climate of fear’ about cars

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Ad for VanMoof bike unfairly discredits automobile industry, says watchdog

A TV commercial for a Dutch-made bicycle has been banned by France’s advertising watchdog for creating a “climate of fear” about cars.

Despite being aired on Dutch and German television, the Autorité de régulation professionnelle de la publicité (ARPP) said the ad for the VanMoof bike unfairly discredited the automobile industry.

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How to solve the UK’s transport problem in the time of coronavirus – video

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Those who can, should go back to work, Boris Johnson has said. But how will people get to work safely? If we take public transport, will there be enough space to physically distance? If we take the car, will the roads cope with all the extra traffic? Josh Toussaint-Strauss tries to figure out some answers, with the help of Peter Walker and Matthew Taylor

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No guarantee Tour de France will go ahead, says French sports minister

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  • Roxana Mărăcineanu made the comments to France Television
  • Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España will overlap in October

The French sports minister Roxana Maracineanu has delivered a stark warning to cycling, declaring that there is “no guarantee” that the Tour de France will go ahead this year.

The Tour has already been rescheduled from June to a 29 August start because of the Covid-19 crisis, but the minister could offer little assurance that the race would be given the green light. With crowd-drawing events banned in France until the end of August, special arrangements might have to be made for the start of the Tour in Nice, the sports ministry said last month.

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Milan seeks to prevent post-crisis return of traffic pollution

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Coronavirus-hit Lombardy city will turn 35km of streets over to cyclists and pedestrians

Milan is to introduce one of Europe’s most ambitious schemes reallocating street space from cars to cycling and walking, in response to the coronavirus crisis.

The northern Italian city and surrounding Lombardy region are among Europe’s most polluted, and have also been especially hard hit by the Covid-19 outbreak.

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Forward-thinking Utrecht builds car-free district for 12,000 people

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Scheme will enhance city’s reputation as a bicycling capital of Europe

The “cyclist-first” city of Utrecht is constructing the Netherlands’ first high-density, car-free residential district for more than 12,000 people, making it one of the largest of its type in the world.

The 24-hectare site, located between two canals in the middle of the city, is a business park but by 2024 it is hoped the area will enhance Utrecht’s reputation as a bicycling capital of Europe.

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Manchester cycle network plan could be national blueprint, says Burnham

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Mayor urges backing as report sets out predicted gains from walking and cycling scheme

A joined-up cycling and walking network in Greater Manchester could provide a national blueprint for reducing congestion and air pollution and improving health, a report says.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, and Chris Boardman, the region’s cycling and walking commissioner, are calling on the government to back plans for an 1,800-mile network of protected routes for pedestrians and cyclists.

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Australia braces for electric scooter boom as confusion reigns over state laws

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Some retailers are giving inaccurate advice to shoppers in states where it is illegal to ride e-scooters on public roads or footpaths

Retailers are preparing for a Christmas boom in the sale of electric scooters, even though it is illegal to ride them on public roads or footpaths in several states.

Federal and state regulation has struggled to keep up with the technology, leaving consumers at risk of inadvertently breaking the law.

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Cyclist dies after crashing while under attack by swooping magpie

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Seventy-six-year-old suffered head injuries when he veered off a bike path and hit a fence post in Wollongong

A man has died of head injuries after he was startled by a magpie and crashed his bicycle in Wollongong.

The 76-year-old was riding a pushbike on an off-road path alongside Nicholson Park at Woonona on Sunday morning when he veered off to avoid a swooping magpie, witnesses reported.

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Helicopter reveals rooftop marijuana plantations while filming Vuelta

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• Catalonia police confiscate 40 plants in Igualada
• Guardia Civil post footage of illegal plots on social media

Police in Catalonia have seized dozens of marijuana plants from a roof terrace after social media users spotted the plantation in video footage filmed by a helicopter following the Vuelta a España cycling race.

Officers from the regional force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, headed to the town of Igualada, north-west of Barcelona, after video from Saturday’s stage eight was posted on social media.

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Dutch take cycling to a new level, with world’s biggest multistorey bike park

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In the Netherlands, where there are more bikes than people, serious money is being spent encouraging even more people to get on their bikes

In a nation with more bikes than people, finding a space to park can be a problem. The Dutch city of Utrecht is unveiling an answer at its railway station on Monday morning: the world’s largest multistorey parking area for bicycles.

The concrete-and-glass structure holds three floors of gleaming double-decker racks with space for 12,500 bikes, from cargo bikes that hold a family to public transport bikes for rent.

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Can you guess the world city from the cycle lane icon?

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Some cities use images of bikes and riders, with or without helmets. Some use riderless bikes – and others just get the geometry all wrong. Can you tell what city it is from its cycle lane icon?

Which city is this?

London

Paris

New York

Which city is this?

San Francisco

Manchester

Vancouver

Which city is this?

Amsterdam

Sydney

Edinburgh

Which city is this?

Stockholm

Milan

Washington DC

Which city is this?

Tokyo

Jakarta

Singapore

Which city is this?

Bahrain

New Orleans

Copenhagen

Which city is this?

Lille

Seattle

London

Which city is this?

Perth

Prague

Pittsburgh

8 and above.

Excellent

7 and above.

Very good

6 and above.

Pretty good

5 and above.

Not bad

4 and above.

Not bad

3 and above.

Hmm

2 and above.

Oops

0 and above.

Oops

1 and above.

Oops

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Dublin disappoints: what happened to city cycling’s great hope?

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In 2013 the Irish capital was ranked among the world’s top 20 bike-friendly cities, but only a small part of the promised cycle network was ever built

One sunny May afternoon in Dublin, as the Spice Girls prepared to kick off their Spice World 2019 tour at Croke Park stadium, the coaches bringing their fans unwittingly sparked another reunion – the city’s cycle activists.

It had been two years since the direct action group I Bike Dublin had mobilised to protect cycle tracks from car parking – uniting around twice a week under the hashtag #freethecyclelane – but as police officers directed coach drivers to park in the bike lane by Dublin Bay, blocking the track, the protesters were back.

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Woman ‘poses as dead cyclist’s aunt’ to oppose new London bike lane

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Heather Cairns says woman ‘masqueraded’ as her daughter Eilidh’s aunt at council meeting

A woman posed as the aunt of a cyclist who was killed in London in order to oppose plans for a new segregated bike lane, according to the victim’s mother.

Eilidh Cairns, a television producer from Alnwick in Northumberland, died aged 30 in 2009 after being hit by a tipper truck while riding in Notting Hill in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

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Chris Froome says he is lucky to be alive after serious accident

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  • Rider recovering in St Etienne hospital after crash
  • ‘I am fully focused on returning back to my best’

Chris Froome has admitted he is lucky to be alive after speaking for the first time since his horror cycling accident.

The four-time Tour de France winner came off his bike and hit a wall at 37mph on Wednesday while examining a time-trial stage route in the Critérium de Dauphiné. He sustained multiple fractures, including a broken leg, elbow and several ribs, requiring extensive surgery. It has been also been reported that Froome suffered a fractured neck, faces six weeks in hospital and is not expected to compete again this year.

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