Cyclists Should Be Allowed To Run Red Lights | GCN Show Ep. 672

This week on the GCN Show, we dive into a controversial debate: is it time to legalise cyclists running red lights and stop signs? We also take a look at a bonkers new “6-in-1” GPS head unit that uses AI and inflates your tyres, plus we analyse the highest VO2 Max potentially ever recorded. Finally, we discuss why over 6,000 people have signed a petition to change the Tour de France route!

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Chapters: ⏱️
00:00 – Intro & The Highest VO2 Max Ever?
01:22 – Stolen Bikes Returned After 7 Years
02:12 – Should Cyclists Run Red Lights?
11:44 – Cycling Shorts: Cars vs. Sharks: The Speeding Debate
13:35 – Do Car Bans Hurt Local Businesses?
15:25 – The Weirdest Bike Computer Ever
17:30 – Tour de France Route Controversy
20:52 – Transfer News & Dutch Infrastructure
24:05 – Win Topeak Bikepacking Gear
26:19 – Hack/Bodge: The Tandem Cargo Bike
33:53 – Caption Competition
35:59 – Comment Of The Week

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Where do you stand on the “Idaho Stop”? Do you think cyclists should be allowed to treat stop signs as yields and roll through red lights if it’s clear, or does everyone need to follow the exact same rules? Let us know in the comments! 👇

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the highest point in Thailand. Welcome to the GCN show. Hello and welcome to the GCN show. Coming up this week, cyclists should be allowed to run red lights and roll through stop signs. Well, so says a Canadian law professor. But why? And is he right? We dive in head first. Bit like I did into a thorn bush last week. Probably more painful. We’ll also explain why there’s a petition to change the route of the tour to France. Explain the latest pro cycling team transfers and news. question the bonkers new GPS head unit that will also pump up your tires. Much more besides this week in the world of cycling, we learned that Talipaga has potentially the highest V2 max ever recorded. This is according to new research that uses available data from previous to France climbs and estimates it at up to 96 ml per kilogram per minute. Now, this would put him at the top of the all-time list for tour winners ahead of Greg Lemons, three-time champion from the 80s and ’90s. Yeah. What’s interesting though about this stat is that V2 Max wasn’t ever thought to be particularly relevant to pro cyclists, was it? Efficiency trumping oxygen capacity. But I guess in the case of Pagania, I mean, if you could have it all. Yeah, why not? We also learned that there was good news for a bike shop in Alaska, Speedway Cycles were reunited with a load of bikes that had been stolen from them. The bad news was they had to wait 7 years before they got them back. Brutal, it no disc brakes, no wireless, no tubless, no arrow. Basically, they were totally worthless, weren’t they? We also We joke. Can I just stress? We joke. We also learned that sigh seems to be able to heal relatively quickly for an old man. Well, I mean, I’m not an old man, but yes. Um, thank you to our colleague Rafa who insisted that I go and buy a special moisturizer. Yeah, very. And then a GCM viewer Carol who sent both a bottle of Bio Oil for scars and stretch marks and then also balaclava in case that didn’t work. So, yes, thank you Carol. It’s quite remarkable. You should probably be wearing the balaclava until at least get a haircut. Thank you, mate. Yes, on the topic of that. Um but anyway, now this week we are talking about a very thorny topic. Is that a pas that a pun? Yeah. Not just the bushes that size crashing into. Thank you. Um not just cyclists running red lights and stop signs, but cyclists being allowed to run red lights and stop signs. Yeah, this is thorny. Okay. And we stumbled upon an opinion piece by Professor Steve Lauto from the University of Ottawa who specializes in urban law issues. Now he argues in this piece that a law that treats cyclists and motorists equally is inherently biased towards the latter. So i.e. built into the legal framework of our transport network, car drivers are essentially favored over cyclists. His argument is that the risks associated with those respective modes of transport are not equal. A driver running a red light can easily kill another person whereas it is far less likely for a cyclist to do the same thing. Furthermore, cyclists benefit exp potentially from efficiency savings like not having to stop repeatedly. Yeah, exactly. Stop signs in the US as a as an Englishman. Can I just say American viewers, they do my absolute head in. Yeah, they bamboozle me as well. Long Well, they don’t bambooz me. You just got to constantly stop. Long live the roundabouts. That’s what I say. Um, but anyway, back to our Canadian professor. So he likens bikes being held to the same rules as cars a little bit like slapping a speed limit on a pedestrian in order to treat them equally as well. So So yeah, I mean it I can kind of see the point a little bit I guess. Yeah. Let’s come on to this issue of fairness though in a moment because first we should say that in some parts USA it’s already legal for cyclist to roll through stop signs thanks to something called the Idaho stop. Yes. So, this uh I’ve learned since googling it uh is a rule that was implemented in 1982 in Idaho. And the idea was to improve cyclist safety. And what it allows is riders to treat stop signs as yields uh and then while they do need to stop at red lights, they can then proceed through them if it’s safe to do so and by giving way to traffic that has priority. Yeah. According to Wikipedia, these rules affect 12% of the US population. So it’s still not exactly widespread. But France and Belgium have something similar where cyclists can treat red lights as yields as long as they give way to other road users. Yeah. So this means then that a lot of the world doesn’t allow for cyclists to run red lights. And the main reason aside I think simply from it being like this just because of history, you know, red lights were invented and everyone was lumped in with them is one of fairness. Yeah. Yeah. Cyclist ride on the road. Therefore, they should be held accountable to the same rules and regulations as everyone else. Even rules like road tax. Road tax. Yep. In inadverted comments. Because technically that isn’t a thing. It’s vehicle emissions duty does ri some people up. Yes. That is most car drivers need to pay an annual tax, don’t they? In order to keep their cars on the roads. But cyclists don’t. Not to mention cyclist being able to skip traffic jams and legally being able to ride to a breast. That also annoys some motorists, doesn’t it? Um, so to add therefore cyclists being able to run red lights is highly likely to inflame a volatile situation, isn’t it? Yeah. You know what? Aside from finding stop signs in the US really annoying, I haven’t ever really thought about allowing cyclists to run red lights. I guess because now when cyclists do run red lights, I find it annoying because we’re not allowed to. No, that’s right. as in they the cyclists that do run red lights are breaking the rules, aren’t they? And I agree more so previously when people have argued in favor of cyclists running red lights often the view is that we should be able to because we’re v vulnerable road users. And I’ve always thought that that seems like a fairly dubious reason because traffic lights I’ve assumed are there to make it safer for everyone. However, when it’s a law professor who makes the argument, I’m not going to lie, it holds a little bit more weight for me. Yeah, I agree. I think my main issue, aside from the fact that I worry about inflaming an already volatile situation on the roads, is that I don’t think people necessarily treat the rule as it’s meant to be treated. I think some people regard it as being allowed to run red lights no matter what. Yes, I I agree with that. Already in London here in the UK, there are a crazy number of cyclists running red lights on there. So, I was there a couple of weeks ago and I couldn’t believe it. Particularly, there was one pedestrian crossing. It was at rush hour, so everyone was leaving work. Uh, there were about 20 of us walking across this pedestrian crossing. And this one person on a public high just rode straight through the middle of us who were walking across. I mean, like we’re not a care in the world. Just literally like straight through the middle. Yeah. But maybe people like that would be more inclined to stop at lights like to give way to pedestrians and cars if they could roll through others because it was safe to do so then. So it’s like they’re not just going to roll for every single one. They will they will stop when they need to and then they know they can kind of keep moving. I mean, I can see your point, Connor, and I appreciate some of the idea behind that Idaho stop rule in the first place was to legalize stuff that cyclists were already doing. That isn’t causing a problem. But I kind of also struggle to see it happening if people stop breaking a certain rule because they’re then allowed to break another one. I get a whole when I made the video about Britain’s most dangerous road recently if if you saw that I did actually interview a sustainable mobility design expert. Cracky that’s a job title is it? Yeah. Mark Philpots. Now off camera his take on red lights I found really interesting actually cuz basically he thought that red lights should have only ever really been designed they only were designed for vehicles as a better way to manage traffic flow. So, I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but I believe it was his opinion that cyclist should never really have been totally forced into that group because let’s face it, roads aren’t going to get gridlocked because of cyclists. They’ll get gridlocked because of lots of vehicles and traffic lights are there to manage all that flow. So, of course, there’ll be junctions which are, you know, you need to stop at 100%. It’s it’s not going to be safe just to barrel through. That’s definitely not what I’m saying. I’m definitely not saying you should run or that I believe you should run through red lights and be unsafe, but I think there’s plenty of examples where it’s not going to benefit anyone for a cyclist to have to stop and it’s not going to be a cause for concern for a cyclist to jump a red light. I say jump because it’s as if like that’s breaking the law. But what do you think? I’m I’m interested to see what you think. Well, I have got to say I can’t honestly think that over the last 30 something years of riding bikes I have been in any way hindered by having to stop at red lights, nor do I feel like my safety has been affected in any way. So, so for me, I don’t really see the logic in allowing cyclists to roll through red lights, even if actually there are times when it’d be really nice, particularly here in the UK, turning left at a set of lights. So, in most the rest of the world, turning right, but like I say, I just, you know, just the rule is the rule, whatever. But when I read that opinion piece by that law professor, it it struck a chord cuz actually when you look at it in black and white, actually the road rules aren’t necessarily fair if you look at it in terms of who’s the vulnerable road user, who’s the one causing the biggest risk. So yeah, I kind of I don’t think it needs changing, but I wouldn’t be averse to it changing. Yeah, I think I’m kind of of a similar opinion to you. Like I I’m never going to obviously advocate for people to suddenly start jumping red lights, nor do I think that’s what you should be doing. Um I think where where my opinion is is that cyclist running red lights is so often used as a way to be negative towards cyclists and it’s sometimes such a big deal is made of it. And of course there are instances where you like 100% cycling in the wrong. They’ve run a red light and something’s happened and and that that’s that’s bad. Yeah. Um but I think looking at this and also speaking about it, it’s also something which we I think people get like it’s unfairly hung up on. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And you see it around the roads like here where we’re based, there’s actually a dual traffic light system. So you get a light for the bike and a light for the car. The bike goes first as a way of getting ahead of the traffic. And so often I’ll get the green light for the bike. I’m allowed to go and then a car will be new, driver will be new, they won’t know the system and then they’ll like they’ll beep at you and like what are you doing? It’s like it’s just a way to jump on cyclist and give them grief. Yeah. Yeah. But then if they did change the rules, would that solve that or would it just as we talked about earlier just inflame the situation? Yeah. I don’t know. It’s tricky, isn’t it? Be super interested to hear your thoughts on this. Of course, as always, do you think that the Idaho stop rule should be rolled out in whatever country, state, city you live in, or do you think it’s there, the rules of the road for a very good reason? Get involved in the comments section down below. I think we should probably revisit this next week. Yeah. And now it’s time for cycling shorts. Cycling shorts. Now, I’m going to start actually with news of another opinion piece, but this time from the Fresno B. Yeah. In California. Uh, and it really caught my eye. Okay. Cuz the article starts with a hard-hitting line. The last time a shark killed a California resident was 2 years ago. By contrast, cars kill Californians every 2 hours on average. Which makes you think, doesn’t it? What lengths would authorities go to if 12 people a day were killed by sharks? So true. The article is ultimately about a new California bill which would introduce hardware to stop convicted speeders from being able to travel above the speed limit. Basically pointing out that one of the biggest causes of road fatalities is speed and that could be stopped within weeks if anyone actually gave a uh the bill is aiming to trial the tech which can limit your speed to 10 mph above the speed limit. Yeah. Yeah. It’s crazy to think that this tech exists that could like literally solve one of the biggest problems facing I mean not just on the roads is it like the amount of people that die every year because of road accidents is massive and yet there is not there’s just no appetite for it is there I don’t understand and also the argument for like well maybe sometimes there’s a situation you need a bit of speed to avoid some I don’t know but you still got able to go 10 mph over the speed limit is plenty enough we’re talking about people who are constantly speeding to ridiculous numbers. I mean, I don’t understand why it’s not implemented. I saw a headline whilst we were looking at stuff for the show. Someone in Atlanta in Georgia uh was caught doing 90 in a 30 and uh and they hit someone and obviously if you hit someone at 90 mph there’s only one outcome, isn’t it? Like I know absolute crackers. Uh right, evidence is mounting sigh for what happens when towns and cities restrict vehicle access to certain streets. And in the latest research, this time from Madrid, they observed 9 and a half% boost to retail spending. 9 and a half% boost to retail spending from less cars. Okay, it’s funny because the opposite, i.e. a reduction in spending, is often forecast by people worrying about restrictions um to car use being implemented. In fact, in the city I live in in Bristol, protests against block blocking off a 100 m long stretch of road had people carrying coffins because they feared that their area would die. Did it? No, not yet. Anyway, and when did the protest happen? About 5 years ago. And it’s now a permanent restriction because actually all the businesses that protested realized that it was really good for the area because they’ve got to do something against online shopping and that might be just making the street that you got your shop on really nice. Anyway, I feel like we’ve got on our high horses today. Let’s let us move on, shall we? Move off the high horse. I’m always on a high horse side. It’s It’s higher. That’s a fair point. Yeah. Talking about getting to cities around cities by bike, though. Delivery service every in the UK announced it’ll be expanding its electric cargo fleet. Part of a 19 million UK pound investment. And by the end of the year, they should have 99 e cargo bikes for deliveries, which is quite a lot. They reckon it will be the largest such fleet in the UK. Yeah. And when we say e- cargo bikes, by the way, these are the Vox style ones. I think they’re actually Vox, are they? But they’re Vox style. So when we say bike, a lot of people say that’s not a bike, it’s a quad. Um, e- pedal car. Yeah. Four-w wheeled electrically assisted pedal vehicle. Um, anyway, I’m I’m here for that. I thought that thing was absolutely I love that. I love it 100%. Right. Um, next up, back to kind of more sort of well, cycling specific topics. Um, this we spotted over on Road CC. Uh, and they found it on Kickstarter. It is, I think, absolutely bonkers. So, it’s claimed to be a 6in-1 bike computer, and we’re not talking about six different software features. Oh, no. If this comes to fruition, it’ll be a GPS device, a 1,000 L light, which you can kind of see. Okay. Well, it’s a head unit, so that would work. But then it’s also a pump, an electric bike pump. It will pump up your tires. What on earth is that about? I mean, that’s only what, three features. God knows what the other three are. Yeah. Well, I looked at it. So, this is also an AI device. I don’t know what that means. Maybe you can talk to Gemini as you’re riding and figure out what the weather’s going to do or what’s the meaning of life. Well, turn left. But it’s also got a Bluetooth speaker. Okay. And a bike and a 7day battery life to charge it like power it all. I don’t know about you, mate, but I quite like it when things are really good at doing one thing well. A bit like a knife. I don’t need my knife to be a Bluetooth speaker when I’m in the kitchen chopping vegetables. I just want it to be a really flipping good knife. And I feel a little bit like I want the same thing from my GPS head unit. But imagine the day when someone has a puncture on the group ride and you just go, “Wait a minute. Check me out. I’m pumping that bad boy up. Call me old school, but even even when you whip out your tip, whatever it is, and pump it up. And that’s a legit electric pump. I’ve still stood there with a mini pump going. I’m I’m capable of pumping up my own tire. Like, I genuinely Yeah. Well, if you don’t know, you can ask Gemini how to do it. Well, good point. Yeah, fair enough. Anyway, kickstarting um the Kickstart funny hasn’t started just yet, so watch this space. Might be too good to be true. We don’t know. Also, details on the weight of it haven’t been stated. Well, yeah. I mean, potentially if you can remove six items from your bike and replace it with one, maybe it’ll be all right, even if it weighs 5 kilos. Anyway, uh moving on. We I think all of us are pretty excited about next year’s tour to France route, particularly the double header on outdo. Uh so that’s two days it’s finishing on outdo tantalizing prospect. But it turns out that not everyone is happy about the route. And we’re not talking about Yonas Finor, are we? This is a petition with over 6,000 signatures during the rounds asking for the ascent of the colder Seren on the race’s penultimate day to be cancelled. Yeah. So, the crux of the reason for this is that the petitioners argue that nature shouldn’t be a stadium with the coldest rain usually being home to a number of fragile animal species and nesting ground. The road itself, I actually didn’t know this, the roads closed eight months of the year, too. All right. Yeah. So most traffic takes the form of walkers on a on a pretty quiet hiking trail close to the road. And I don’t know, it does make you think when you read this, we get caught up in the race and the spectacle and forget to think about potential impacts of massive race apparatus landing down for the day. The petition also notes how much the main outdoors climb has changed and developed over the years, particularly since cycling first started going there. I believe FTO copy 1952. There we go. Is that right? Yeah. Now I would argue that that is not due to cycling the development of outdoors. I mean it’s mainly ski infrastructure. I think it’s mostly ski and cycling kind of piggybacked that as like that’s it’s become an easy good destination to finish a tour stage on. Um I think it’s obviously the ski development which has like seen who has the town at the top of outdoors really kind of like balloon. Yeah. Bit of mountain bikers as well. Yeah. Yeah, I can see why you wouldn’t want them cluttering up your town or your village cuz they’re fairly stinky most of the time. But I think the petitioners have like highlighted that in in their description because they’re worried the coldest would go down a similar route. Um I don’t know if that would be the case. I don’t know what you think. I mean I really think it’s a worthwhile thing to highlight and just be really mindful of and how like how we can try and be be more aware of where we’re taking races. Yeah. I mean it is a good point, right? But No one’s going to go and build a ski lift on a colder surren because the tour to France goes up there this year, right? But equally, if a million fans is going to ruin the area, then I could see why the tour might restrict spectators cuz it’s done that before, hasn’t it? There have been stretches of road where you’re not allowed to spectate on. That’s it. And you don’t need to, right? So 99% of people watch the race on TV. So this weird lack of atmosphere, but you could still watch it. And you know, I don’t know. I guess I guess it’s a a wider discussion, isn’t it? Should the Alps and other places be, you know, kept wild and serene for nature or is it okay if we were to go up there and have fun? And it’s a hard balance because at the same time, the exposure that these places get from a cycling race really highlights them and and allows them to be kind of like to be seen and hopefully to be protected in the future as a result. Well, also you could argue that not many people would be able to live in the Alps were it not for tourism because agriculture is, you know, not as valuable there as it once was. And so all of the local people, if you take tourism out, there’s not all that much left, is there, in terms of jobs and things. I don’t know. God, we’ve got a bit serious again, haven’t we? Yeah. Bit more serious news as well because there’s been quite a lot of movement in pro cycling in terms of teams transfers. Um the main one being uh that IP, the World Tour Squad, which was really kind of in dire straits at the end of this year um for for Israel Premier Tech. Israel Premier Tech. Um it looks like they have changed ownership. So it’s hard to tell if this has been a sale or how this has happened. I’m kind of presuming it’s a sale. Um but it’s changing to a Swiss license. Uh, and they’ve potentially been bought out by a group called NSN Cycling or Never Say Never Cycling, which is kind of part owned by Barcelona football legend um, Iniesta. Um, so the team they’ve come on and brought the squad and also a Swiss investment firm called Stonew. Yes. Neither have been around for very long, have they? Those two companies. So, uh, yeah, it’ be very interesting. There’s also not much news in terms of what bikes they’re riding cuz Factor have pulled out. I think the rumor is they’re Scots. That’s it. But anyway, a lot of movement this year in cycling pro teams and not much time left for everything to sort itself out. Few rumors that Benim Grimmire will now sign for the squad as well that have been circulating, although these are unconfirmed as of filming. You mean Daniel Benson’s posted it on his subst. Yeah. Well, I know various other people have as well. Yeah. Well, it was really confusing because in the in the kind of like few of the press releases, it like some said that he was and then some didn’t. Yeah. Who knows? Who knows? All will be fluid. Everything is fluid. Yeah. Okay. All right. Last story then. Uh we often talk about infrastructure, cycling infrastructure on GCN, don’t we? Most of the time we talk about how nice it would be to be Dutch basically. Um when it comes to cycles and motor transport. Anyway, the latest move by the Dutch government rather proves our point because they have just earmarked a billion euros for the creation of yet more cycling infrastructure uh linking new builds and home developments nationwide. A billion a billion is that’s incredible, isn’t it? Just absolutely incredible. Amazing. But, you know, fair enough, I guess. Like they can see that it works and already I can’t remember what percentage of the population ride bikes for transport. So kind of might as well. Yeah, basically. Uh right, just before we move on, our Black Friday sale is now live. So if you’ve got a minute, do head over to shop.globalcyclingetwork.com. Um yeah. Yeah, it’s the best Black Friday sale we’ve ever had. So up to 50% off everywhere, everything. So grab a bargain while you can for yourself or or others or can it be for yourself? I mean, yeah. But yeah, what? Well, yes. buy it for yourself first and foremost because then you’re guaranteed to get what you want. But yes, maybe you have a lucky loved one who might benefit from We’ve got We’ve got a Christmas tree up already. Have you actually? Yeah. It wasn’t my decision, but it’s up. The lights are up. Christmas everybody. Let’s get into it. Happy Christmas. Just call me Scrooge, but uh I think that’s about 3 weeks too early for my team. Now, some big news. We’ve got a competition running starting today until the 5th of December, which would be a date where you could conceivably put up a Christmas tree and it’d be appropriate. But, uh, anyway, this is a chance to win one of three Top Peak bike packing bundles. Okay, this is presumably getting you quite excited. Um, and this is their newest setup to be precise. So, this is a Zyra with a dry bag and a U shell, which I think you might need to explain, Connor. I love I love these. I’m glad you set me up for this. So, basically, this is like an axle or a frame mounted rack um which allows a really like secure fit for for your baggage, your gear. Um fits most bike too cuz when it goes on a through axle, we’re talking like a pania rack basically. Basically like a like a one of these modern day pure racks. Modern day pure racks are making a good resurgence at the moment, I tell you. Um there’s going to be a lot of people in the comment section. Please hear me. No, it’ be pleased here because they’ve been talking about panty as being Well, everyone gets me stick whenever I say bike pack is, oh, a bike pack has existed for years, which it has. Um, but the racks are coming back. Does that mean you’re going to have to call it cycle touring if you’ve got a panty rack on? I’m all for calling it cycle touring. Okay. All right. Anyway, and then the dry bag. I think I know what that is. What on earth is a U shell? So, I think that’s that’s like the um the shell that goes on top of the of the rack. And it’s quite cool actually because you can like clip it on and off really quick. So that’s quite nice. So you can have your dry bag on the rack and then you just clip it off, take it with you without to faff around with straps or anything. That’s cool. All right. Well, so three bundles available. Uh and I can imagine you’ll be seeing uh them on Connor’s bike as well very soon for just a general GCN video about riding for like a short period of time. I was going to I always when I decided to weigh up how much sticks I was going to get me for doing I turned up at the shoot with all my gubbins. I’m just going to do it anyway. If you if you turn with a panty rack on like a kind of you know how to ride as fast as you can for for 10 miles. Anyway, never mind. We’ll continue this debate uh offcreen. To enter, just click the link in the description beneath this video. And if you want, you can also read the terms and conditions down there as well. Yeah. Hackard slash bodgege. That’s a seamless segue, is it? Nicely done, mate. Uh, right. First up, we got this one sitting from Juan Lucena. A repurposed tandem. Okay, I think you like this. I bought a tandem a few weeks ago for my girlfriend. That’s a disaster waiting to happen, isn’t it? Trying to lure a non- cycling partner. Well, I say non-cycling. That’s an assumption actually on my part. Maybe she really loves the fact that they’ve got a tandem. Anyway, no one will fit on a tandem with me, so I’ve saved myself that one. Well, poor old Hank had to, didn’t he, at one point? Yeah, well, I made him ride. I didn’t fit on his tandem. Anyway, right. So, Juan says, “After some rebuilding, we did a few trips on it, including a full week of bike packing, but then it wasn’t used for a very long time. Then we had kids and I thought about repurposing it into a longtail cargo bike. I ride my kids every day to school and they kind of like it. We live in Copenhagen, so you can see every kind of bike around the city, but it still feels very unique, and we get plenty of smiles and looks on a daily basis. I actually think that is a wicked use of a tandem. I love this. I don’t know why I’ve never thought about doing this before. Yeah. I mean, you you have effectively got yourself a bargain longtail cargo bike, haven’t you? That’s amazing. 100% hack for me. Yeah. So for anyone listening to the GCN show today as podcast, I mean it literally is a tandem, but then on the back instead of one seat, you’ve got two uh kit seats on there instead. There’s even a kickstand and two pany racks. Brilliant. So there’s there’s cargo space. This is one of the first like hacks I’ve seen where I’m like, I am going to do this at one point in my life. Yeah, I think that’s wicked. And you know, I also like I like the fact that his pedals and his stem are colorcoordinated in lime green, which is a nice finishing touch. I think that’s absolutely amazing. So, uh, yeah, full-blown hack for me. Yeah, definite hack from me. Love it. What’s up next? This has been sent in by Ernie Zed, the mother of all hacks. Okay, hang on a minute. We’re the judges. So, the cassette on my on my commuter bike wore out a bit too much after two years due to the commuter bike negligence. Ah, okay. I got a new I got a new cassette, but boy was the old one stuck. I greased the splines when putting on the original, but even with two people, this one was not budging. I tried for three evenings to take it off. Three evenings. Oh, that’s when it gets personal. When you’re I am locked into this waste of time. The more you invest, the harder it gets. Damaged the cassette tool as well. I was on the verge of going to my local bike shop. I think I might have gone there after warning personally, but then I found that one of my spanners is just the right size to fit over the tool. Still in a luck, this led me to the idea of using the inner tube hack method for a stuck pedal removal. And behold, after a few attempts and an extra push, it came loose. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was loose or something broke due to the noise, but I’m glad watching the GCN show for many years has come in handy. To be fair, if that worked, then it’s a it is possibly the mother of all hacks. So, this this inner tube hack again for podcast listeners is basically where you’ve got uh you got two tools, haven’t you, that need squeezing together. So, in this case, you got your chain whip and the uh and the c and the cassette tool, and then you wind an old inner tube round, and every time you wind it tighter and tighter and tighter, and it’s basically exerting force, squeezing the two together. And I guess once you’ve wound it so many times, it’s actually pretty blooming strong. That’s a good hack. make that work on that. So, I’ve tried to do it on a pair of cranks before. Uh, for some reason, the new Stram cranks, newish ram cranks, have a tendency to get a little bit stuck on there. And so, people have often used it for those. It didn’t work for me. But, um, anyway, if it does work, maybe we need to get back on it. Yeah. All right. Watch this space. We’ll give it a try. But, in the meantime, hack. I just kick it. Hack. Yeah. Hack me. Oh, god. I I just I think you’re telling the truth, right? Um Dimitar Lucasi. Um we think by the way that that is your name. Um you didn’t put anything in the GCN uploader to say so. But anyway, sleek garage opener integration on my Cannondale. So, uh let’s have a quick look at this movie. Oh, this is this is this is cool. I think I see where we’re going here. No, no. Surely that. Surely they’re teasing us. Surely there’s someone inside operating the actual No, I think he’s done it. Hang on a minute. I think he’s done it. Opening the garage door was cutting into my ride time. Since my Cannondale Super 6 has wireless shifting, the down tube cable ports were empty. I bought a port cover with a hole, installed a button, and soldered it directly to a stripped down garage opener PCB inside the frame. A bit of glue keeps it secure. Oh my goodness me. That could well be the greatest hack of all time. I do not own a garage, let alone one with an electric opener, but that is cool as That is cool. That is like ultimate thug life. just cruising up to your garage and pressing your button right straight in without stopping. Mind blown. Mind blown. Uh so Dimitar Lucasi, if that is you, uh then I mean my hat is taken off and and if it’s not you, apologies. I don’t know who who it was, which is a shame cuz it was the greatest hack of all time. Oh well. All right. Finally, Connor, who have we got? We have got Camp Laura. Seriously, not a bodgege. Okay, bold claims, but let’s let’s get into it. There’s a lot to unpick here. So, ever notice how expensive indoor cycling desks are? The random desks hid in your basement are shorter than your front tire. Well, if you have two wood screws, a few zip ties, and three chunks of wood, you can turn the dinky desk into an impressive training platform upon which to watch cycling shorts while riding. Hints for judges. Please look at the post-it note with not at all temporary GCN branding. All right. You’re trying to you’re trying to influence us. I see what you’re doing. And I mean I’ I mean I am influenced. If you stick a sticker on that says GCN rules, I’m uh I’m all yours. Um zip ties are involved, but I think we should let that go. So, so basically what we’re looking at here is a basic desk that is mounted on two blocks of wood that have been screwed together uh and then zip tied onto the top. I mean, it looks so shony. I I’m sorry. I really want to give this a hat, but I think I think this is a bit of a mod. I think I just Yeah, a total bud. You’ve got a laptop perched on top of something that looks like it might just accidentally topple over at any second. It’s got to be a bodgege. Surely. Yeah. I think all you’re going to all All all that could happen is you get a bit overenthusiastic in a sprint and that front wheel just nudges that wood and everything goes toppling. Yeah. I’m I think Yeah, that bookcase in the background. Yeah. Repurpose that cuz I’m I’m sure that’ll be high. Get the Yeah. the computer. Okay. So, your sticker is a hack. That’s a hack. Rest of it is a bodgege. Um Okay. All right. Well, uh, some highs and lows this week, I guess. But, um, some big highs and some lows. Some low lows. Yeah. But, keep them coming in as always. Um, you, uh, well, we we thrive on your hacks and bodges that you keep sending in. So, uh, do make sure you continue to do so. It’s time now for caption competition. That part of the show where you get a chance to get your hands on a coveted GCM Camelback water bottle. All you got to do is put a witty caption in the comment section down below that relates to a photo we will give you in just one second after we’ve handled the not so small matter of last week’s results. Yep. Drum roll please. This was a photo of um you vinegar at the uh is it Satama? Yes, I believe so. Not sure what he’s wearing, but the caption that wins this one has been sent in by SMAC 5479. Yes, I know. But it’s seriously better looking than our previous time helmet. To be fair, we just need a picture of his time travel helmets to compare the two. And and actually, you know what? As well as being funny, it’s also true. Yeah, it is. It actually kind of is true. Um, do you know what? I met the uh inventor of the Specialized Head Condom the other week at the ruler bike show. And he didn’t look remotely embarrassed to invented it at all. Really? Yeah. I’d say he was almost proud. Well, there you go. I know. I mean, I I It was all I could do to not have a go at the lad, but anyway, cuz he was a lad. He didn’t look particularly old. You got to own it. I mean, yeah, clearly. I mean, he’s obviously knows how fast it is, and that’s fine, but um there was me thinking that you’ve brought the sport into disrepute, but anyway, we’ve we’ve seged. Um this week’s photo is uh is this genius picture of T-Bone Nace winning a recent uh I can’t remember what cross league it was. Tabore. No, that’s not Tabore, is it? No, I don’t think so. That was the Was it an exact cross from a couple of weeks back? I was watching it just the other day. Probably a good race. Anyway, um can I get started? T-Bo duck. Anyway, see what you can do. Uh the fact that there is a uh what 20 foot high uh duck looming in the background. The world’s your oyster with that one, isn’t it? It does look like it’s coming from It does. Yeah. Either that or thinking it’s like a halo, right? Anyway, do your worst. We’ll pick your winner next week. Okay, we’re going to go through some of our favorite comments that you’ve been leaving under last week’s GCN videos. I think we said this a lot, but we really do flipping love the comments. I actually um after last week’s GCN show, which was about essentially I’m an idiot and I’ve ruined my face. Um I sort of gave my phone to my wife who her favorite thing. She never watches a second of GCN, but she flipping loves reading the comments. So, she pauses the video immediately and scrolls through the comments absolutely laughing her head off. So, uh, thank you very much for, uh, for all of those. Um, but yeah, there were some, uh, loads of cool comments actually last week, uh, where Dan and I were flexibly arguing about whether or not you should back off sometimes in order to stay safe or just enjoy cycling and sod the consequences. And um a lot of people agree with me. Yes. I back off all the time. Well, yeah. You say that, but you’re the fastest of us on road descents. Am I? Yeah. So So whereas you might back off in some places, I wouldn’t want to follow you down an alpine descent. Or at least I would, but I would be a bit I’d be out of my comfort zone. I think I realize I’m at an advanced with my weight and I’m like, I’m just going to press the advance. It’s just wherever your comfort zone is, isn’t it? It’s like you you might think you’re backing off, but actually you’re still like ton faster than anyone else. Yeah. You got to get your thrills somewhere. Exactly. You got to get your thrill somewhere. Yeah. Anyway, Warhammer WH, I agree with Sai. Uh both of you are in you gentlemen are in your early to mid-4s. Far from being old. There you go. You get really old when you give up or purposefully slow down because you tell yourself, “I can’t do this cuz I’m too old. I’m in my 60s and will not stop challenging myself just for a number.” Amen. Warhammer. I like that. Yeah, nice one. I’m here for that. No skills, Dad. 5504 said, “I’m there with you.” Sigh. In the words of Hunter S. Thompson, life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and wellpreserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, “Wow, what a ride.” I’m here for that as well. I like that. Amen. No skills dad and Hunter S. Thompson. Yeah, for sure. That’s very cool indeed. Um, some great comments under your uh, winter sucks for riding, but you like it anyway, Vid. Yep. And and Sig said, “Talking about winter riding. Apparently not wearing gloves while riding here, please guys. Dry tire, but not a spot of wind. Looks like a summer’s day. Gn riders should absolutely visit us in a colder climate. Myself personally waiting for enough snow to fall to justify getting my fat bike out in my grab bike.” I I totally agree with you. I must admit it looked a lot warmer than it was that day. It was only 4°. I know that’s still pretty barmy for most of you around the world. I think we said last week that Connor elected not to film on the day that he was supposed to film because it was too minging. And then I would have liked to I still would have liked to have ridden in the minging day, but I didn’t want to ruin the camera. Okay. I mean, to be fair, we’ve we have this discussion every year since the beginning of GCN. British winters might not look bad on paper, but if you’ve never experienced damp cold, you have no idea how miserable it can be. Yeah, I’ve just bought a dehumidifier. It’s gone for it. It’s a huge one that’s going to solve all of the UK’s problems. Um, my laptop’s having a bit of a moment, can’t I? Watch. Okay, we got a few more comments been sent in. This one by Blue Jay 66. I’m in Canada. I’ve got absolutely no choice but to deal with it. People look at me like I’m crazy with Sid tires. good clothing, especially the help of local authorities for the maintenance of cycling paths. It is doable. Sometimes it’s even more fun. And yeah, I’m crazy, too. There you go. Nice. I really like to experience riding somewhere that’s that cold. Um, so that dorm patrol ride, which I highlighted, I just think it is so cool. About 5:40 a.m. every week in the middle of winter in Norway, I just think it’s incredible. And there’s a good group of them as well getting heading out. So, yeah, that is pretty cool, isn’t it? Yeah. Well, you’re more than welcome on my weekly cycle across ride. 7:15, mate. Rain or shine? I’ll dream for that. The problem is I’m up with the whole house at like 5:00 a.m. at the moment, so that’s quite late for me. Well, by the time you’ve ridden over, you have to start at 6:00. Yeah, see you next week. Okay. Okay. What else, mate? My laptop really has given up the ghost. Uh, plenty of comments actually under your video from Bolivia, your film, I should say, because it was absolutely amazing. I really enjoyed watching. Oh, thank you, mate. Cheers. Yeah, great one. I loved um I loved some of the my favorite comment was the Brazilian spider. That is one that’s one scene I would never have been able to film myself because I just would not have been able to keep a straight face. But yeah, loads of comments. Joe Station One sent this one in. Absolutely GTN’s finest work cinematography and soundtrack a Netflix production. Congratulations. Everyone involved should be extremely proud of the part they played in this. Mustn’t forget the sponsor of GCN as it’s their sponsorship that makes this free content possible. Yeah, that’s cool. Actually, I really appreciate that uh that little um bit on the end of that comment because it is 100%. Well, not 100% because obviously by watching you are supporting the channel as well, but we literally couldn’t do what we do without sponsors. Um so, in that case, it was Ruby and Hover plus um all of our regular channel sponsors like Pinella, Princeton, Depi, Wahoo, the list goes on, doesn’t it? 50 mil period tires. Yeah, it looks like you needed those as well. Lifesavers. Absolutely lifesavers. I was looking at the mud and Darth Vader has also said here I can’t wait to ride this on Ruby and my my my wife will shower me with mud and water constantly to simulate the experience you both had for the altitude simulation with low air pressure. I probably have my head in a plastic bag. We don’t advise that but we get the picture. Oh my god. Right. And then uh change of change of gear actually um Dan’s great investigative piece about uh pro cycling safety and specifically why there’s so many deaths in pro racing at the minute. Uh what’s this from? Polaris 518. An astounding cycling documentary. I have no idea what’s happened at GCN’s management, but someone is or are making splendid decisions and choices regarding topics, personnel scripting, and editing. This really might be a gamechanging documentary. So there we go. Um, well, it was really good. If you’ve not seen it, 100% you got to go over there, check it out. Also, Bolivia, if you’ve not seen that, make sure that one goes on your TV. So, uh, so yeah, that’s, uh, one to, one to enjoy on the big screen. Um, but the, um, Dan promised that we’d be putting up the full unedited interview with UCI President David Darting. So, uh, that one is going up on GCN racing on Wednesday this week. So, uh, make sure you head over there and check that one out because, um, yeah, the unedited interview is super interesting as well, isn’t it? I think. Yeah, for sure. Um, yeah. Yeah, it’ be interesting to know what people think about Leott on actually. I, um, I mean, I think he makes a compelling case actually and he’s in an impossible position, but that’s my thoughts. Yeah, we’ve got plenty more coming up on the channel though, aside from that. So, on Thursday, we got what we do on Swift. Yes. Um, which I’m I’m interested to share with you all. Basically, yeah, this is after telling you all how to do things on Zift for years and we realized that we’ve never actually said what we specifically do on Zift because we all do different things weirdly, don’t we? Yeah. Ollie’s criticized me because he said I took the concept and basically did MTV cribs in my house, which I dispute, but you can judge yourselves. That’s it. Yes. Ollie said that he has condensed his down to uh several minutes of pure hard facts and data. So, you know, it’s fitting, isn’t it? The pair of you. And then what else we got coming up? Oh, yeah. Saturday. Um, this is the Super Nerds team time trial challenge. Uh, where we tried to break a landmark UK time trial record, albeit with three of us instead of the one. Yeah, basically. Uh, and then on Sunday, I think you’ve been waiting eagerly for this one. This is uh the update on Dan’s 12 months fitness journey. So, how’s he doing 12 months after his uh well, initial midlife crisis year came to an end? Yeah, I’m quite He’s absolutely smashing it. I saw a photo of the test he did. He he looking so fit. He was looking quite lean and ripped, wasn’t he? Yeah. And also not quite as twig-like as he used to. No. Wouldn’t like to go in a in a boxing match with him, put it that way. No, I don’t think I would either, actually. Got to be said. I mean, you’d probably be all right. You’ve got the reach on him. I’ve just got the height advised not reach me. Well, but it’s, you know, you could do that thing with like little kids where you just hold his head and then he wouldn’t be able to reach you. We’ve seged a lot in this show, haven’t we? We have indeed. That brings us to the end of the feature length GCN show. Uh, yeah. Anyway, hope you’ve enjoyed it. Hit the thumbs up button if you have. Remember to get involved uh in the debate about whether or not cyclists should be allowed to run red lights and whether or not it’s for our safety if we do. So, we better go cuz it’s about half past 9 at night, isn’t it? Thanks for watching. Hope