“What kind of society do we live in that criticises children cycling?” Community bike ride branded “insensitive” and “entitled”; Cycle lane plans “recipe for disaster” for reversing drivers; Claims bike lane made road “too narrow” + more on the live blog

Have a quick look at the clip below. What do you see?

A group of families and residents, including lots of children, enjoying riding their bikes safely on their local roads, and having a good time with their friends and neighbours outside?

What a wonderful community ride on the safe streets of Streatham Wells.

Meeting neighbours and new friends for the first time.

This would have been impossible a month ago. pic.twitter.com/o5enFxMk54

— Liveable Streatham Wells (@LiveableWells) November 19, 2023

Well, not if you’re an anti-LTN activist, you don’t. You just see a bunch of “insensitive” and “entitled” people, apparently. Yep, even those smug, arrogant kids (‘the cheek of them, riding their bikes without fear of being hit by a distracted driver. The yoof of today, eh?’).

Yes, that’s right. This video of the community group ride – posted over the weekend by the Liveable Streatham Wells group, which campaigned for the introduction of a Low Traffic Neighbourhood in the London ward, a trail of which was launched by Lambeth Council at the end of October – has attracted the ire of motorists, fuming at the sight of families on bikes.

According to the council, the new traffic restrictions within the Streatham Wells LTN will “turn traffic clogged roads into spaces where people can meet and socialise” and “lead to a significant improvement in road safety, air quality, and will allow more space for people to enjoy their neighbourhoods without worrying about traffic jams and exhaust fumes.”

> “Going back is not realistic”: Councillor stresses “need to change” as Oxford LTNs made permanent – but angry residents say “we can’t get on bikes”

However, the visible workings of that policy – the sight of lots of children and their parents riding bikes – have prompted more than a few angry comments on social media.

“This must rank as one of the most insensitive videos ever posted,” the anti-LTN group Social Environmental Justice wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“As this small group wave merrily to the cameras no thought given to the residents taking the overspill traffic, the shift worker stressed out as the bus is late, the carer or the plumber bogged down in traffic.”

Meanwhile, former Lambeth Conservative councillor Tim Briggs – who, it was revealed in 2016, failed to declare that he was the owner of a “tenant eviction specialist” firm which boasted that it had a “near 100 percent record” in repossessing homes for landlords – described the organisers of the group bike ride of having an “astonishing sense of entitlement at the expense of others”.

Others, meanwhile, relied upon the good old tropes of cycling bingo, such as the classic ‘Sure it’s easy to ride your bike when it’s lovely and sunny in, errrr, the middle of November’:

How often will people be cycling with your weather?
The average yearly rainfall in Streatham Wells is approximately 650 mm. As for the number of days with temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius, on average, Streatham Wells experiences around 75 days per year where the temperature…

— Barry Sharp (@BarryESharp) November 20, 2023

While Liz said that she was “concerned to see cyclists as a community group not abiding by the rules of the road in this video”, and ‘jc’ described the cyclists – yes, even the children – as a “weird cult, all going nowhere in particular”.

> “Extreme, undemocratic, and dangerous”: Council scraps majority of low traffic neighbourhoods – despite “overwhelming” public support for cycling and walking schemes

Needless to say, the frothing response was ridiculed by cyclists far and wide.

“That this wonderful video (of children enjoying a cycle ride on a safe, low-traffic road) is the content that riles anti-LTNers says everything about their campaign. Well done, Liveable Streatham Wells, you've already won the argument.”

“Honestly, what kind of society do we live in that people would criticise children cycling? An utter disgrace,” a London-based 20mph speed limit campaigner added.

Meanwhile, the organisers of the group responded to Social Environmental Justice’s tweet by simply labelling it “embarrassing”.

While cycling lawyer Rory McCarron posted a video of an entirely different community activity – a demonstration organised by those opposed to the Streatham Wells LTN – showing one of the campaigners driving and using their horn… while holding a mobile phone in their hand.

Below is a anti-LTN Streatham Wells video…of someone driving, using their horn and holding their unlocked mobile phone in one hand. This confirms why some motorist simply cannot be trusted to “share the road”, especially near vulnerable road users. pic.twitter.com/pFUEID70aI

— Rory McCarron (@CyclingLawLDN) November 20, 2023

What was that about “entitlement”?

While Remco Evenepoel’s possible crack at a Giro-Tour double in 2024 remains up in the air, one superstar of the sport who almost certainly won’t be racing around the roads of Italy next May is Tadej Pogačar, as the UAE Team Emirates rider appeared to rule out a bid for the maglia rosa in favour of season centred around the Tour de France, Olympic Games, and a hilly world championships course in Zurich.

While there were murmurings a few weeks ago that the 25-year-old all-rounder was gearing up for a Giro debut, especially after RCS unveiled a route seemingly designed for the Slovenian, Pogačar instead looks to have set his sights on a maiden rainbow jersey in Zurich at the end of September.

And, considering he’ll likely aim to defend his Tour of Flanders title in April, Pogačar’s typical, year-round, crowded schedule leaves little room for three weeks in Italy.

Pogačar winning in Italy at last month’s Il Lombardia (LaPresse/RCS Sport)

“The principal goals are the Tour, the Olympics and the worlds. That’s in chronological order, not importance,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport at the weekend.

“Riding the Giro is one of my dreams but I can’t say if I’ll ride. I haven’t spoken to my coaches at UAE Team Emirates, we haven’t discussed the details of what I’ll do. I’ll decide my race programme in December. But I could have too many obligations to include the Giro.

“The Tour is a bit bigger,” the two-time winner of the Grande Boucle continued, explaining his decision. “If you want to have a chance of victory, you’ve got to focus on it. The Giro deserves respect and that’s why I have to understand if I can be at my best to ride it.

“I’ve ridden the Tour four times and won it twice. If we talk about grand tours, the Tour is the big goal each year.

“But I like riding my bike and I like racing. I don’t like to focus just on one race or one kind of race. Every race generates different emotions and needs different preparation. That’s why I like to make changes.”

Neighbourhood police in St Ann’s, Nottingham, have appealed for anyone who has had their bike stolen in the area to come forward after 26 suspected stolen steeds were found after a raid on two homes and garages last week.

According to the police, officers executed intelligence-based warrants at addresses in Luther Close and Jedburgh Walk, St Ann’s, as well as two garages in nearby Wadhurst Gardens – where the found an assortment of bike frames, mountain bikes, hybrids, and tandems.

“We are determined to return these bikes to their rightful owners,” Police Constable Emily Hart, of the St Ann’s neighbourhood policing team, said.

“If you have had your bike stolen recently in and around the St Ann’s area and you recognise it as any of the bikes pictured please contact us.

“We understand people rely on their bikes to get around so always take thefts of this nature very seriously.”

More photos of all the bikes can be viewed on Nottinghamshire Police’s website, while anyone who suspects their bike is part of the haul or has any more information should call 101, quoting incident number 23*645943.

While some of us are still coming down off the high of this summer’s UCI mega world cycling championships in Scotland, it appears that the sheen has already worn off in some parts of the country, with more than half of the fund set aside to create a lasting cycling legacy in the Scottish Borders still currently unspent.

Despite the likes of Tom Pidcock leading the way at the mountain biking events in Glentress, £74,000 of the Scottish Borders Council’s £125,000 legacy fund has yet to be claimed, with the deadline for grant applications due at the end of January.

The fund, which allows organisations to apply for grants of between £3,000 and £15,000, was created to help deliver local cycling-related events and activities in areas that hosted the worlds in August.

> “It felt like the Tour de France”: Have Scotland’s world championships been a success? We ask the riders, fans, and locals

Council leader Euan Jardine has now urged organisations and individuals to take advantage of the as-yet untapped funds.

“We really want to encourage and inspire new and existing cyclists, get more people cycling and especially encourage cycling within under-represented groups, including children and young people, girls, and women,” he said.

“Some funds are still available, so I’d encourage anyone with an idea for an event or activity that helps achieve these aims to get in touch.”

One of the events already supported by the fund is the We Are Innerleithen photography exhibition, organised by The Hub community interest company.

“We could not have staged the exhibition without the funding and support from the community cycling fund,” the group’s Carmel Scott said.

“We had these amazing images and we were able to add to the images and then curate the exhibition, which was a great success. We have plans to develop this for the future too.”

A council leader has apologised for a much-ridiculed £1.3 million seafront redesign which saw a cycle lane and wiggly markings installed, attracting criticism from a campaign group who said the “Mickey Mouse” road layout had made them the “laughing stock of the nation”, with an independent review now recommending major changes to the design.

The council had originally suggested the scheme would improve safety, encourage active travel, and reduce unwanted parking – however, the local authority’s leader Mike Bell has now apologised and said it was a “big mistake” and that “we got it wrong”.

Read more: > Controversial wiggly cycle lane with “Mickey Mouse” layout recommended to be ripped out following independent review

So, does that mean next week’s conga line is cancelled?

After recent analysis by the Clean Cities Campaign found that around 60,000 Londoners are still waiting to secure a safe bike parking spot – prompting a call from activists and victims of bike theft to install more cycle hangars across the city – former Green Party leader Siân Berry has urged mayor Sadiq Khan to use his budget to cut this increasing backlog.

Speaking in the London Assembly last week, the Green parliamentary candidate said: “No-one should wait years to park their bike securely and affordably near their home. It is outrageous that Londoners are stuck in indefinite queues for a bike hangar.  

“The wait for a new cycle parking space should be a matter of days or weeks – the same as for a car parking permit. And the cost to park that bike cannot be more than the cost of parking a car.”

> “So many people are put off cycling by the threat of having their bike stolen”: Bike theft victims call for more secure cycle hangars as demand soars

She continued: “London started to see these cycle hangars a decade ago, but the current pace and cost of delivery is simply unacceptable. We had a positive exchange today and I am hopeful of good news in the budget.

“We already know the environmental, health, and social benefits of cycling. The Mayor must recognise this urgent need and use his budget to close the bike hangar gap.”

After a few short and chilly rides at home in Belgium, it seems that Remco Evenepoel’s winter training is now well and truly underway, as the world time trial champion took advantage of his first spin around the altogether more clement climes of Calpe to drop some hints on Strava about his plans for 2024 – and his potential, long-awaited debut at a certain bike race in France that takes place in July…

While his not-so-cryptic allusion to the Grande Boucle won’t see him joining Only Connect’s team of question setters just yet, the use of both the Italian and French flags has set tongues wagging that Remco could have successfully talked his Soudal-Quick Step team into backing an admittedly ambitious Giro-Tour double attempt next season.

Or maybe he’s just referencing the 2024 Tour’s Florence Grand Départ? I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough…

Just in case you were thinking of buying your favourite cycling live blogger something for Christmas… (and no, I don’t mean Dan!)

> Money-no-object gifts for cyclists 2023 — splurge-worthy Christmas presents for the cyclist in your life