Off we go to Holland

 

VERY difficult to find any good news these days, with national strikes on the railways and in vital sections of the health service, to name but two.

Except there was one story of note which cheered me up last week, in The Guardian. This was news of a remarkable feat of engineering in Holland. Yes, Holland, my favourite stomping ground for cycling news.

This is the £53 million creation of an underwater garage for 7000 cycles, beneath the harbour adjacent to Amsterdam train station.

I know what you want to ask. Are snorkels provided to access this underwater bike park?  This wouldn’t pose any problems for Scuba diver cyclists, like Chris Boardman.

Joking apart, you have to marvel at the ingenuity of Dutch engineers who run cycle paths over school roofs and now put a cycle park under the bed of the harbour.

Nothing is impossible for this tiny nation, the most densely populated country in the world. Nevertheless, they create the space they need. What a contrast to that island nation across the North Sea.

Three decks of cycle parking over the water in Amsterdam, now complimented
with an underwater garage for 7000 bikes.

Oooh, what’s the name? I should know, I live there. Sadly, so do the 17 million misguided souls who voted to leave the EU IN 2016. At a stroke they ended free movement and thousands of vital foreign nurses and doctors went home, an exodus from which the NHS has never recovered.

If I ever visit Holland and wish to use this underwater garage, I will be able to park my bike there free for up to 24 hours and thereafter fork out £1.35 for another 24 hours if I so wish.

I will then step onto a moving walkway which glides upwards and into the train station, where 200,000 journeys start and end each day.

Red and green lights indicate what spaces are available.

Work began on the project in 2019. It was due to open on January 26.

There is also another new bike park on the other side of the station, with 4000 bike spaces.

Makes your eyes water when you realise the best British railway stations can offer is mostly inadequate. There are few hundred spaces, I think, at one of London’s biggest stations, Waterloo.  It might be more now, but you can bet it’s nothing like the Dutch capacity.

Cycle parking inside Brighton train station.

A spokesman for ProRail, the Dutch government organisation responsible for railway network infrastructure, said, “The Netherlands is a real cycling country, a lot of people come to the station by bike.”  The new garage means commuters will no longer leave their bikes crammed all around the station or into a temporary multi-storey bike rack which quickly became full.

Britain meanwhile still lags far behind the Dutch in providing for cycling, doing the talk but little else.

Still, there is a glimmer of hope.

The Scottish Government has committed £189m (a record amount for cycling and walking) for their active travel policy.

Cycling UK’s campaigns and policy manager in Scotland, Jim Densham, says: “These are early days, but it’s exciting that we may be seeing the first glimmers of a new dawn for cycling in Scotland.”

Also in Scotland, a new £2m fund has been launched by Transport Scotland  for new residential cycle storage and parking, reports Cycling UK, the national cyclists charity.

The money is to enable councils to install secure cycle storage facilities for residents in high-rise buildings.

In Wales they have a transport strategy to reduce transport emissions over the next 20 years and have set a target of 45 per cent of journeys to be made by public transport, walking and cycling. They intend to establish a transport hierarchy with cycling higher up the agenda to counter car use.  

But so far it’s still talk, talk.

To end on a sour note, several legal challenges are due to reach the courts this month.

This is the ongoing sad story of councils who ignored government directives by removing cycle lanes intended to improve active travel, including Poole in Dorset and Kensington in London. They would have got away with it if Cycling UK had not taken them to court, using money from their Cyclists’ Defence Fund.

Op de fiets, as they say in Dutch.

 

Folly of the National Trust

 

MANY’s  the time I ride over my local “alp”, Box Hill on the North Downs, up the zig zag road made famous by the 2012 Olympics road races.

Not so well known is a tower which stands on a ridge - the north western tip of Lodge Hill – above the second hairpin of the ascent and hidden by trees.

Sad to say, in National Trust literature I  have seen they reveal only part of its history and dismiss it as a 19^th century folly.  It was erected by Thomas Broadwood, of the famous Scottish family of piano makers who at the time lived in Juniper Hall, which is below and in sight of the tower.

Broadwood instruments have been enjoyed by such famous people as Mozart, Haydn, Chopin, Beethoven and Liszt. 

That much the NT literature will tell you, although curiously they give a passing mention to its true purpose on their website.  

For this “folly” stands in memory of one of the most important military victories in British history.

Thomas Broadwood had it constructed as a memorial to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, when France’s Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by the Duke of Wellington. By so doing, Wellington, aided by Prussia, Austria and Russia, achieved what Nelson’s famous victory at Trafalgar in 1805 had failed to do, bring to an end the French Emperor’s rampage across Europe.

For after losing most of his ships at Trafalgar, Napoleon in 1807 tried to get his hands on Denmark’s fleet.  The British, unsure of Denmark’s intentions, put a stop to that by bombing Copenhagen, sinking Danish war ships in the harbour there.

Then came the moment of destiny, Waterloo, 1815.

But it was a close run thing, according to Wellington.

French forces were only narrowly defeated.

In one account of this period, I read that Napoleon was asked what he would have done had he won?

He replied, he would have sailed for Chatham and marched on London.

What he had planned next will remain pure speculation. Would he have declared Britain a republic? What would have become of the monarchy?

George the third was on the throne.

But no matter, Napoleon lost and the occasion demanded a fitting tribute.

And so Broadwood built his tower, the piano maker’s celebration.

He wanted a clear view of his creation from the windows of Juniper Hall below, as he ate his breakfast each morning. So he had trees cleared from the hillside to create a wide uninterrupted view, which remains to this day. And on each anniversary of the battle he would fly the flag from the tower.

Visitors to Juniper Hall,  now a field centre, will look up and wonder why is that tower there.

What a pity the National Trust don’t see fit to tell the full story.

Occasionally, I will ride up there on my mtb, and take a look at Broadwood’s tower. Folly, indeed!

The two story circular tower is constructed of flint with lime mortar with four window openings and one door opening on the eastern side. An overhanging castellated structure surrounds the top. There are no remains of the spiral staircase inside the tower. Recent renovations removed a small tree which had taken root near the top of the tower.

Looking forward to the 2023 road racing season

Roll on the start of the road racing season, when the peloton once again hits the road.

I penned the following for the Box Hill Association Video celebrating the 2012 London Olympic Road Races which made the Surrey Hills famous. They had asked my why do competitors ride in a big bunch!

The narrator read it like a poem.

The huge mass of riders swept by in a moment, a blur of bodies entwined with bikes in a riot of colour.

The whirr of gears.

 In the wake of the express, dust and paper is set dancing over our heads, the turbulent air whipping the hair across our eyes.

That was the bunch, or peloton - French for platoon - literally a large body of soldiers. In cycle road racing the term peloton describes the epi-centre of the race.

A tail wind will see it bowling along at 30s, a headwind, much slower.

 Team tactics will dictate the pace, set the odds for those weighing up their chances of escape.

But the dynamics are such that a rider must judge his effort to perfection if he or she is to succeed in getting clear.

Why?

Air resistance - the bain of all cyclists’ lives.

It materialises once you top 15mph and only gets worse the faster you go.

An invisible force through which a bunch will punch a bigger hole than a single rider, and move faster as riders at the front relay each other in a constantly moving chain to share this work.

The cagey ones, or the protected team leaders, take shelter in the wheels, saving 20 per cent more energy than those taking the brunt of it.

 The benefit disappears on steep climbs, when the gradient, not air resistance, becomes the problem.

Then the peloton may fragment into smaller groups.

Best place to be is in the first 20, to avoid crashes likely further back in a tightly packed bunch.

You must constantly move up to stand still, so to speak, because others will be striving for that top 20 place, too, moving past, sending you backwards.

The sprinters teams will often drive the peloton at speed, to discourage attacks, to keep the race together, to favour their sprinters.

Others may want to break it up, those who favour contesting the finish from a smaller group.

So within the mass that is the peloton there is a constant state of agitated motion.

If a break does get clear, teams not represented will set  a tempo to keep them in reach.

And gamble on rushing them nearer the finish. However,  teammates of those in the escape will attempt to disrupt the chase, soft pedalling in the line to slow it down.

As the peloton accelerates and is strung into one thin, long, snaking line, riders often struggle to hold the wheel in front.

Lose that wheel and a rider will be gone, blown away “out of the back” as the saying goes, as the peloton speeds on its unrelenting way.

Allez

Bah Humbug - thank God for the bike

 

That’s one of the best parts of the day done with,  an hour’s ride at first light.

Christmas morning is one of the best days of the year for a ride. A stillness in the air, very little sound, just your tyres on the wet road, the gears whirring, your breathing. A few people out, walking the dog, a few other cyclists, runners. Very few motors.

I’m on the winter bike, the steel Condor with mudguards. It gives a more comfortable ride across rough surfaces than my other Condor, all aluminium, a bit lighter, sharper, a delight to ride.

But so is the steel model. It took me to the top of Mount Ventoux once.

I’m on my usual short ride – an hour, sometimes 90 minutes. As a carer I cannot be out for too long.

As for the rest of it, bah humbug to all the ads laying it on thick about happy family gatherings, a real turn off for those lonely people with no one to share.  The commercialism of Christmas now starting four months out has spoilt what should be an occasion to celebrate the end of the dark days of winter and lighter evenings to come.  To renew acquaintances, for those who can. To wish for a good future - which is a bit of laugh, all things considered.

Christmas is  difficult to avoid. Unless you can escape the country, to somewhere not so manic, as many do.

The worst part is losing shopping days over the break and trying to make sure you have enough essential stuff in to cover for the lost days. Staple stuff, like bread, milk, eggs, but also the essential requirements to sustain the vulnerable person in the house.

But we will be looking forward to the roast lamb, roast pots, Brussels sprouts lightly steamed and dipped into a hot pan of butter, chopped garlic and flaked almonds – a quick stir and served.

Cliff Richard is on the tele. We'll avoid that. But we'll watch King Charles, listen to his Christmas message if only to wonder at how this Royal farce continues to hold the nation in thrall.

We'll watch a few comedy progs. But sadly our daughter remains in bed for the umpteenth year, as do millions like her with similar medical complications thanks to a rogue, as yet unidentified gene.

Ehlers Danlos Syndrome; POTS; chronic fatigue; now sensory issues which mean we run a quiet house. No noise, no boisterous visitors. She's very lonely. We'll attend to her throughout the day.

I’ve written about this before, entitled “1000 nights”.

But she will be looking forward to roast potatoes later, with her usual grilled chicken and stir fried veg.

We miss having visitors of course. But not cooking for them. Too confusing, all my timing goes to hell. Serving is a nightmare. Very stressful.

The last time we had people round we bought takeaways.

Only New Year's eve to deal with now!

Cheer up, the days are getting lighter. 

 

 

 

THE MEDAL FACTORY - the cost of British Cycling's and Team Sky's historic sporting success

 

 

OVER two decades ago – last century in fact, a bygone age to some - British Cycling was a little known sports federation with one Olympic gold medal to its name in 80 years, courtesy of Chris Boardman in 1992.

Then along came the Fairy God Mother with Lottery Funding pouring £millions into elite sport.

Fast forward two decades: now its 43 Olympic medals; 6 Tour de France victories, umpteen world records and world titles - an unprecedented feat in the history of sport.

What happened?

This book tells all - a tale of the good, the bad and ugly.

The Medal Factory – British Cycling and the cost of the gold ­– by Kenny Pryde reveals the full story of how British Cycling, Team Sky and INEOS together came to dominate cycle sport.

It was like a dream, wasn’t it?  Those spell binding gold medal raids on the Olympic Games one after another, that historic first Tour victory for a British rider in 2012, courtesy of the Kilburn Kid, Bradley Wiggins. And then came the fall from grace, with talk of Sky straying into the grey area in respect of 

Wiggins being allowed to take a strong medication for an allergy when it may have also enhanced performance.  

The story delves into all this, plus accusations at British Cycling of bullying and sexism.

It paints a picture of how lottery funding and the infamous introduction of “marginal gains” came to drive a phenomenal yet ruthless and ultimately flawed performance culture.

Pryde had set out to write of a “glorious, heroic saga” and found himself trying to balance a tale of supreme performances with uncomfortable and disconcerting truths and mistakes made in the pressure cooker of elite competition.

The cost of gold, indeed.

The Medal Factory

British Cycling and the cost of gold

By Kenny Pryde.

Published in Great Britain in 2020 by

Pursuit Books, an imprint of Profile Books Ltd,

29 Cloth Fair

London EC1A 7JQ.

ISBN 978 1 78125 986 3

 

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FURY AT BRITISH CYCLING SHELL DEAL

Well, o’il be damned if British Cycling ain’t in the news again for all the wrong reasons.

This past decade the historic victories by British riders in the Olympics and Tour de France lost a little of their shine when British Cycling and Team Sky came under scrutiny of WADA and UK Anti-Doping; and then followed accusations of bullying and sexism.  

Now they’re getting it in the neck for agreeing a sponsorship deal with the fourth biggest polluter on the planet, oil company Shell Energy.   

Brings to mind the controversy when petrochemical giant INEOS signed up to sponsor  David Brailsford’s World Tour pro team formerly backed by SKY.

The governing body claim their partnership with Shell will “help our organisation and sport take important steps towards net zero.”

Net Zero being the handy catchphrase meaning zero pollution to stave off the worst of climate change.

What should we make of British Cycling’s decision?

Well, money talks. That’s about it.

They need lots of it to keep their hugely successful organisation and international racing programme on course. Keep the medals coming in even as the science warns of melting ice caps and sea level rise, dying crops in intense summer heatwaves, torrential rain causing flooding and all of it directly linked to global warming caused by burning fossil fuel extracted by oil companies.

To which British Cycling has hitched a ride. Perhaps they are climate change deniers. At least insofar as what has caused it.

Shell is keen to claim their green credentials, as the statement in this ad plucked off the internet shows:

“We are committed to playing our part in meaningful change to the energy system. In the UK, we are contributing to eight of the UK government's 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution. We are also developing nascent businesses, such as CCS and hydrogen, that will need to scale up after 2030 to meet the Climate Change Committee’s sixth Carbon Budget and help the UK towards the government target of reaching net zero by 2050.

“Shell provided input to the Committee for Climate Change’s 2019 report which recommended that net-zero emissions should be achieved in the UK by 2050. The government has subsequently accepted this recommendation, and on June 27, 2019, it became law, making the UK the first G7 country to pass such legislation, marking an important milestone in the global fight against climate change.”

Reach net zero by 2050, say Shell!  Too late for  coastal towns in Lancashire which, coincidentally that very year, are told to expect many residential streets will be under water from rising sea levels.

Critics say  Shell’s deal is “greenwashing”.   By associating with an environmentally-clean (or cleaner) mode of transport, they are saying, look, we are doing our bit to save the planet.

Well, they might be,  but their main business remains unchanged, oil extraction. 

The BC-Shell announcement resulted in a storm of protest on social media, with BC members threatening to resign. Greenpeace  UK Policy Director Dr Doug Parr told The Guardian that the “idea of Shell helping British Cycling reach net zero is as absurd as beef farmers advising lettuce farmers on how to go vegan.”

The Daily Telegraph reported Carr saying that after being booted out of museums and other cultural institutions, “Big Oil is looking at sports as the next frontier for their brazen greenwash. But their aim hasn’t changed – to distract from the inconvenient fact that the fossil fuel industry is making our planet uninhabitable.” 

Friends of the Earth agreed, saying “Cycling is the epitome of environmentally friendly travel…and it is deeply disappointing that UK Cycling (sic) could think it’s appropriate to partner with a fossil fuel giant.”

Shell UK, keen to publicise their “green” shoots, now run the country’s largest public network of electric vehicle (EV) charging points. According to the website Road CC, Shell will also support British Cycling’s aim to move towards a fleet made up entirely of EVs.

Well, that’s good, for global cycling leaves a large carbon footprint from transport and travel in moving their green machines and riders around the world. This needs to be and is being addressed, according to an in-depth look at the problem in a recent issue of Cycling Weekly.

What a dilemma.

But we’re all in this, one way or another, aren’t we? Market forces leave us with little choice when it comes to buying oil-free products.

Clearly there is an urgent need to find an alternative to oil. For our lives are inextricably linked with the evil stuff, not just for powering the vehicles we use, on road, rail and in the air, but in our use of some of the many thousands of products made from by-products of oil.

Here’s a few of them:

Solvents, ink, floor wax, ballpoint pens, upholstery, sweaters, bicycle tyres, nail polish, dresses, tyres, golf bags…..and on and on……………

Who recalls Shell's unique selling proposition?

Here it is - tweaked to suit the moment.

“Keep going well, keep going Shell."

"We're all going to Hell with Shell."

In search of the new transport minister

 So who has Prime Minister Liz Truss appointed as her Secretary of State for Transport? 

With the news dominated by the passing of Queen Elizabeth 2 and more recently by the new PM’s ruinous vision for the UK -  to make us all the poorer, according to many financial experts –  it’s perhaps not so surprising I’ve not see a dicky bird on who the new transport chief is.

Hang on while I leave this page and look it up.

Yes, here we are. The new transport secretary is Anne-Marie Trevelyan, appointed on 6 September 2022.

So, off we go on the merry-go-round once again, to ask if the Trans wizard will do what her predecessor, that shape-shifter Eddy Shapps failed so miserably to do. Not just him but all the gob shites before him over the decades who have refused to take decent money from the obscene multi-billion pound road building budget to make the roads safer for cycling.

She looks a kindly person in the photograph, Ms Trevelyan. No doubt Cycling UK will beat a path to her door as soon as the Conservative Party Shitfest ends in uproar this week. Perhaps there will be a crowd funding appeal to send Truss on NASA’s planned space flight to Mars in 2030. But where to keep her in the meantime?

Cycling UK will I am sure impress upon the new transport boss the age old mantra, please help make the roads safer for cycling - to help save the planet – and inject £7bn into the government’s Active Travel policy.

Although her most pressing need, I guess, will be the current rail strikes crisis.

However, as Minister of State (Minister for Energy, Clean Growth and Climate Change) until a year ago she will be aware of how cycling can contribute to reducing pollution – if only the roads were not so hostile.

Daresay we will hear soon enough what she has to say.

And I will blog about it, for anyone who is interested. Mostly myself, I imagine.

I mean, I have to say I really only write this stuff to relieve pressure on the brain which, after decades reporting  on cycling campaign issues, is still running at maximum speed and needs an outlet.

It allows me to pretend I am still on the news desk.

No idea who reads this stuff – well, I know a few who do. Sorry about all this.