Evening Cycle News

Paracycling in US MTB Nats - Van Dijk victory in Borsele - Cav supports Millar for London - Other racing news

Racing
Paracycling debuts in US MTB Nats
Sun Valley Adaptive Sports and US Cycling have announced that paracycling will form a part of the USA National MTB Championships for the first time this year with a handcycling cross country race taking place on the 5th of July at the Sun Valley course. (More from Cycling News)

Van Dijk victory in Borsele
Ellen van Dijk (Specialized-Lululemon) won the Omloop van Borsele after approaching the finish line in a group of seven riders and getting the better of them after a furious final sprint. Gracie Elvin, 2009 Australian Under-23 Mountain Bike Champion, performed extraordinarily well to take second place, holding off Rabobank's Sarah Düster who took third. The top ten looks like this:

  1.  Ellen Van Dijk Specialized-Lululemon 3h3'18"
  2.  Gracie Elvin ST
  3.  Sarah Düster Rabobank ST
  4.  Chantal Blaak AA Drink-Leontien.nl ST
  5.  Amy Pieters Skil-Argos ST
  6.  Melissa Hoskins GreenEDGE ST
  7.  Megan Guarnier Team TIBCO ST
  8.  Kirsten Wild AA Drink-Leontien.nl +46"
  9.  Laura Van Der Kamp Dolmans-Boels ST
  10.  Anastasiya Chulkova ST

(Full results)
(For photos of the race, Bart Hazen is the man to see)

Cav would love to ride with Millar in London
After Dave Brailsford's announcement that he would select David Millar for Team GB if a challenge to the IOC lifetime ban on any athlete to have been found guilty of doping is successful, Mark Cavendish has said that he "would love him to be on the team for London." However, Millar has not yet given any indication that he would accept a place on the team even if the rules are changed: "I've nailed myself to a few crosses and I'm not sure if I'm prepared to go for the final big one on this," he told the press last month. (More from the Daily Mirror)

Other Racing News
"Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez is hoping to make amends for a missed opportunity in 2006 by upstaging former teammate Alejandro Valverde to claim his maiden win at Liege-Bastogne-Liege." (AFP)

"Swiss bike manufacture BMC has committed to sponsoring its eponymous WorldTour team for four more years" (Velonation)

Cycling
Why Cyclists Wear Ugly Shirts and Other Important Things (Winnetka-Glencoe Patch)

Tommy Godwin's unbreakable cycling record (BBC)

Belfast ghost bike: Widow moved by memorial at site of husband’s accident (Belfast Telegraph)

Cycling offers hope to amnesia sufferer (New Zealand Herald)

Why did Griffin really say what he said?

Most people will by now be aware that Addison Lee minicabs boss John Griffin has got himself into a bit of bother by claiming that cyclists should be considered responsible for their own injuries and/or deaths on London's roads simply because they choose to ride in "some of the most congested spaces in the world...[on] a vehicle which offers them no protection except a padded plastic hat."

Griffin has donated around a quarter of a million pounds to the Conservative Party (and now enjoys the business of six government departments in Whitehall, oddly enough), including £25,000 to Boris Johnson's 2008 mayoral election, which he seems to believe gives him the right to do pretty much whatever he wishes - such as earlier this week when he instructing his 2,200+ drivers to illegally use bus lanes (reserved for buses, licensed black cab taxis, cyclists and emergency vehicles) during the 20,000 journeys they make every day simply because he thinks it's unfair that his minicabs aren't allowed to do so - an instruction that Transport for London director Leon Daniels called "utterly irresponsible."

In addition, Griffin believes that cyclists should be forced to pay road tax; despite the fact that nobody in Britain has paid road tax since 1937, when it was abolished (he's unaware of this, apparently): "It is time for us to say to cyclists: 'You want to join our gang, get trained and pay up.'" he said in an editorial piece published in Addison Lee's Add Lib lifestyle magazine, copies of which are placed in the cabs for customers to read.

Here's an open letter to Mr. Griffin...

Bicycles have been around longer than cars, and they
offer several advantages in busy cities

Hold on a minute there, John matey. Do cyclists want to join your gang? Er - well, no we don't, to be honest. In fact, quite the opposite, which is why we cycle instead of drive cars. We rather like the fact that our vehicles burn fat and save fuel while yours burn fuel and make you fat. We're quite happy with the way ours don't fart noxious fumes all over the place too (the same isn't true of our backsides, we admit that - if you spend any length of time in a racing crouch you've really got to let it out to avoid stomach cramps). What's more, we've been around for longer than you lot in your funny metal boxes. The bicycle has been around for almost two centuries, since 1817 when Baron von Drais invented what he called a Laufmaschine. In the early 1860s, two Frenchmen added a mechanical crank drive, thus creating something more akin to a modern bicycle. The first official bike race took place in 1868 (it wasn't the first unofficial race, of course - that would have taken place the first time there were two bikes in the same place). In 1885, John Kemp Starley introduced his Safety Bicycle, the first modern bike. The first car - which, arguably, has less in common with a modern car that Drais' Laufmaschine has with a modern bike, incidentally - was Karl Benz's Patent-Motorwagen, which didn't show up until 1886. So it looks like it was you car drivers who joined our gang, actually.

You know another reason we prefer cycling to driving? Because - as several studies have demonstrated - we can get from Point A to Point B in a busy city such as London considerably faster than cars can. Hence all those cycle couriers, police officers and even paramedics on bikes. Actually, come to think of it, the real reason you said what you said, which you now say you said to encourage debate and improve safety, wouldn't have been an attempt to frighten people off cycling in London because more and more are cottoning onto the advantages bikes have over cars and you're scared of losing business, would it?

London-based cyclists are (or anyone who can get there is) invited to join a mass "die-in" outside the company's headquarters on Monday the 23rd of April. Meet at 6pm on the corner of Stanhope Street/William Road (51°31'37.80"N 0° 8'27.00"W). Road accident cosmetics and fake blood are welcome. More details here.

Copenhagen UCI World Road Racing Championships

This is what the future will look like; or what the
present already looks like if you're lucky enough
to live in Copenhagen. The Bryggebroen was the
first bridge to span the city's harbour for 150 years
and is reserved for cyclists and pedestrians.
(© Stig Nygaard CC2.0)

Copenhagen is, without even the shadow of a doubt, a very fine place indeed to be a cyclist. It was the UCI's first official Bike City and achieved third place in a list of the 11 Most Cycling-Friendly Cities in the World in 2009. An estimated 36% of the population cycle to work, clocking up a seriously impressive 1.1 million kilometres each day between them - and the municipality aims to increase that percentage to 50% in the next three years. It's even given rise to a new verb used by architects and town planners: to copenhagenise means to create a cycling infrastructure including dedicated cycle paths, bike lanes, public bike programs, secure parking and even public access maintenance facilities, and it's become widely recognised as a sure-fire way to improve the urban landscape and the quality of life enjoyed by citizens.

Vejrpigen
(© Archer10 CC2.0)

If there's one thing guaranteed to get more people on bikes, it's a large-scale, well-run bike race; so it's a safe bet that the city would have been overjoyed when it was picked to be the host of the 2011 UCI Road Race World Championships - and that they'll have really pushed the boat out in getting prepared, ensuring one of the best events in years. All races - time trials and road races alike - will start at the spectacular Rådhuspladsen, the City Hall Square where they'll be overseen by someone who ought to know a thing or two about cycling: the Vejrpigen, the Weathergirl, is a mechanised sculpture high up in the Richshuset tower. Ever since 1936, she's come out with her umbrella and dog if it's going to rain and her gilded bike when it'll be fine.

By tradition, Copenhagen is said to have begun life in 1167 when royal advisor Bishop Absalom built a castle on the island of Slotsholmen, nowadays home to the Christiansborg Palace where the castle's remains can be seen preserved in subterranean excavations. However, archaeological evidence has shown that there was already a sizable town here at that time. Once the castle was built, the town was in an ideal position to take advantage of the excellent natural harbour - indeed, the name Copenhagen is derived from the medieval Danish word Køpmannæhafn, meaning merchant's harbour - and begin to grow into a city, receiving a royal charter in 1254.

Rådhuspladsen - the start of all this year's races
(© Karri Huhtanen CC2.0)

After the Second World War - during which the Danes refused to co-operate with Nazi policy, despite being occupied by them - Copenhagen continued to grow and began transformation into the modern city that it is today, occupying numerous natural and man-made islands and combining traditional Scandinavian architecture with the strikingly modern. Now that the harbour's importance has declined, the city has looked to tourism to form an important part of the economy; becoming one of the top destinations for European tourists and especially attractive to the sort of young tourists who go to Amsterdam, Reykjavik and Barcelona. This, combined with the city's deep love and respect for the bicycle, adds up to one thing - this year's World Championships are set to be one of the most spectacular cycling events in years.