This is starting to get ominous

OK I would like to be getting on with the work here, but the Feed is not cooperating with me on this. I know there are bike wrecks out there, but for whatever reason they are not making it to the media. This is something I find troubling, because “out of sight, out of mind” is doubly true in the 24 hour news cycle of today’s media.

The report that makes me most worried is this Streetsblog SF article on a hit-and-run that never made it to my Feed, and for which they have only their own report to link to. SFPD Issues Rare Press Release on Hit-and-Run Crash of Bicyclist, Young Son I want to know why this was not at least a minor story in the Bay Area media. It was a clear case of hit-and-run with serious injury by a driver that was running a red light, but I first heard of it via a blog instead of local media. Or if it was picked up by local media, why did it not show up in my Feed. These are serious questions for me, especially for my blog, and I want answers.

This story makes my equally unhappy but for different reasons. Bicycle Rider Robs Pizza Delivery Driver, Police Say I used to deliver pizza before I became the manager of the Italian restaurant I worked at, and robberies are not amusing to me. Get a job, cretinous lowlife scum! That makes me feel better, but I don’t think the intended target will ever read it.

Here’s another follow-up to a wreck that I never saw in the Feed. Wife pays tribute to cyclist killed in truck tragedy well at least they didn’t kill another woman like the last time, but LEO are still asking for witnesses, so either they don’t like the information they have and where it is leading them, or they just don’t have enough information to draw a conclusion yet.

And from Enn Zed another of my least-favorite kinds of wrecks. Cyclist injured in hit-and-run “The man, 44, wearing reflective gear and with lights on his three-wheeled cycle…was hit from behind and pushed 20m in a hit and run.” For the metric system-impaired, that is roughly 65 feet that he was pushed by the assailant with the weapon, on a highly visible vehicle. It’s a long swim to New Zealand, especially dragging a backhoe, but I think I would do it to put this miscreant under. Just kidding, I’m still not allowed to leave the country for another 18 years yet.

And that’s all I have for you today, more tomorrow, and no chance of updates tonight, as I will be attending another function at my church.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Another low-fat, low-calorie Feed

Hey I’m starting to groove on this low-calorie Feed now with low fat. Translation: Not only was the Feed much smaller than usual this morning but the signal to noise ratio was very high, resulting in fewer articles that required filtering out. Now if some of the web sites would just do something about making the comments sections more readable from a technical standpoint (are you listening hamptonroads.com?) I could just get this done and on to other things by Noon.

Picking up an article first brought to my attention by BikePortland is this report of a hit-and-run. News – Thursday 7/9 – Local Beaverton Bicyclist Injured in Hit and Run From witness reports and other things stated in the article this seems to be entirely the fault of the driver who fled the scene. Find the driver, I’ll get the backhoe and the cement mixer. If he was drunk I’ll even do the rabid badgers. As for how you can avoid a similar situation, well from the reports it would be difficult as the driver waited until the cyclist was practically on his front bumper before pulling out. This was so close to being a deliberate act of assault I can’t tell you how to avoid it.

A drunk driver drives off the road and hits a cyclist. Where have we heard that before? Teen Injured in Car vs. Bicycle Accident LEO are assuming there was no malicious intent in the wreck, but I wonder if they have tried matching IP addys to hate messages directed against cyclists in the news sites in Boise? I did find the comment on the site amusing, “Loser. Sue him until his ears bleed.” Can lawyers induce intra-cranial bleeding?

A cyclist hit from behind in the UK wins his lawsuit. Injured cyclist to receive £4m I have never heard the term “tetra-plegic” before, “quadriplegic” yes. Reading the article it took the victim almost 3 years to be released from hospital to nursing home care. That is a terribly long time to be in hospital, and now he is as close to being a basket case as you can get and still be able to get about.

After the Sand Springs OK cycle killer others start to raise awareness of bicycles on the roads. Local doctor puts pedal to the metal The only thing I have the problem with is trying to keep cyclists off “inappropriate” roads. If there is a problem with the roads fix the roads, don’t try to keep cyclists from using them.

Cyclists are protesting what is proving to be an excessively high speed limit on one of the through roads in their town. Bicyclists to rally for lower speed limit on Shore Drive The major beef is that in order to get to other parts of the state without taking a 60 mile detour it is necessary to use this road, and to get to certain destinations there is no other choice but to use this road. A large number of people in the comments section complained about cyclists not using the bike path that cost so much to build, that only goes for 1.5 miles and stops well before the city limits. This makes it a recreational facility, not a transportation facility.

Finally some words about helmet laws. Freedom I wear my helmet every time I ride unless I’m riding to troubleshoot a noise in which case I don’t wear my full face bike helmet that also covers my ears, but I don’t ride in the street when I’m doing that unless it’s a noise that only shows up at speeds to fast to reach or be safe in the alley behind my house. I also loathe and despise helmet laws. Allow me to explain the dichotomy here. Bike helmets are pretty much the only PPE we have as cyclists, besides gloves which are only good if you fall off your bike and slide on your hands. But bike helmets are only effective at speeds up to 12.5 MPH at impact, and sharply reduce brain injury up to a 20 MPH impact. Above 20 MPH impact speed helmets will reduce brain injury severity but only slightly. Your skull may not be broken, but there will be brain damage and it will change your life in ways you cannot begin to fathom. Why would someone demand that I wear such poor protection under penalty of law? That would be like requiring police to wear ballistic vests that don’t protect vital organs and that only stop .22 Long Rifle bullets. There are more of .22 LR guns out there, and they do kill more people than any other round, but there are many more rounds out there that would completely overwhelm a vest designed to stop a .22 LR. Well the same applies for bike helmets, sure the most common head injury wreck is the fall off the bike move, but the most severe wrecks are the ones involving motor vehicles at speeds much higher than 12.5 MPH. That’s why I wear a full face helmet that gives me a touch more protection than the standard bicycle helmet.

And that’s all I have today.

Billed @$.02, Opus

I’m starting to like these lower calorie Feeds

Slight pun in the headline today, the Feed has been at a very low level for several days now. I’m not sure about the reason except I don’t think it has anything to do with a lack of interest from the MSM. I’m thinking this is a lull in the number of bike wrecks, or in the reporting of those wrecks to the media.

Update on the SoCal 90YO cyclist that was in a wreck. 90-year-old bicyclist injured in Monday crash dies Yes the injuries and the frailty of age combined to take him to the Summerlands. Now he can ride wherever he wants on car-free streets should he so choose.

A driver falls asleep at the wheel and takes out a section of guardrail where a cyclist had stopped to rest. Five injured when car hits guard rail What saved the cyclist in this wreck was he was only peripherally involved, being hit by debris rather than the actual car colliding with him. His bike was not so lucky, but it was sitting resting against the rail while the rider stood beside it. And there is no way to avoid a wreck when your vehicle is not in motion, it would be like trying to avoid being hit in a parked car. And I should also add that in this case the cyclist was not even on the road, but as far away from the road as he could get while stopped.

Another cyclist is killed in a senseless hit-and-run. Bicyclist Killed in Hit and Run Accident From witness descriptions and the photo of the bike this was not an avoidable wreck due to the speed of the car as it came around the corner. At least the driver made finding him easier by leaving the car at the scene, assuming it wasn’t stolen.

A member of the MSM wonders what to do about cyclist deaths. Massillon: Bicycle accidents increasing The comments show some of the reasons why there are more cyclists being killed as a cyclist decries the poor bicycle infrastructure that is being overrun by other users who make for hazardous cycling, and the other a driver that hates having to pass cyclists on the road. Poor off-street bicycle infrastructure forces cyclists to the roads where poor drivers force cyclists off the road, if not kill or seriously injure them.

I just don’t know about people in OH… Crime Briefs: Man charged with picking pockets of injured cyclist Knock you down with a car or truck and then rob the victim. That’s got to be a new low.

I first saw this story on BikeJournal, now it’s in my Feed. Bicyclist killed in crash So, no drugs or alcohol, no excessive speed, how about lethal levels of stupidity on the driver’s part to hit 2 cyclists from behind who weren’t even technically on the road?

This is part of the reason UK media reports on bike wrecks are so lacking in information, this is an actual police report given to the media to disseminate as news. Injury to cyclist No, this is not a hoax, this is the actual press release given to the media. Pitiful, isn’t it?

And in this case the police need more information. Fresh appeal after cyclist injured in crash with oil tanker No, the other kind of tanker, this was not a UK reprise of the Exxon Valdez incident. I like how they pointed out that the driver of the big rig was uninjured after hitting a girl on a bicycle. WHEW! that’s a load off my mind not having to worry about the truck driver’s injuries after hitting a girl on a bicycle with a semi.

And that’s the whole thing, nothing more to see in this post, move along.

Billed @$.02, Opus

And the holiday bike wrecks are in, from the UK?

The expected big Feed from the Fourth of July holiday is coming in, but the wrecks are mostly UK (!?) Why would people in the UK be out on the roads in large numbers besides it just being summer with (relatively) warm weather? There are still no more wreck reports from the US than any “normal” summer weekend.

A 90 YO CA cyclist is still alive after being hit by a pickup truck. UPDATE: Visalia bicycle rider, 90, still listed in criticial condition in Fresno hospital after being struck by pickup truck in north Visalia Good for the guy still being active at the age of 90, not so good for apparently cutting the guy in the pickup truck off. Since I don’t know the area I can’t say anything about the sight lines at the intersection or traffic signals at the intersection, but looking at Google Street View tells me there wasn’t a stop sign on Collins although I couldn’t get the pan up function to work to show me a stop light. I didn’t see anything in the Street View that would make me think there was a stop light at the intersection. So at this point there is nothing I could find out about the actual wreck that would make me think the cyclist was solely at fault.

A cyclist is hit-and-run in the deadliest state for cyclists and police say “no big deal”. Bicyclist Injured In Hit-And-Run Actually the quote was “If he would have stopped, troopers said he would not face any charges.” because hitting a cyclist in FL is mostly a matter of getting the paperwork right. And there must be some kind of issue with Google Maps because now I can’t see anything on Street View. Zooming in on the intersection I do see a bike lane on the west bound side of Americana but nothing but 3 lanes in each direction for the other street. And because the only witnesses for the wreck are semi-conscious or on the lam, police are saying the wreck was the fault of the cyclist, except for the fact that the driver abandoned the vehicle at the wreck and fled on foot.

Another kid hit with a car, this time in CT. Eight-Year-Old Boy in Serious Condition After Bicycle Accident “Branford Police Department accident re-constructionists have conducted an investigation with the assistance of East Haven Police Department and determined that the injured boy was not wearing a bicycle helmet.” So therefore the wreck was the kid’s fault? I’m not following the logic on this one. Nothing on who had the right of way in the intersection, just the kid was not wearing a helmet. TANJ! Unfortunately there were trees in the Google Maps images that prevented me from seeing if there was a stop sign in either direction.

A cyclist is killed by a woman wielding a motor vehicle, and LEO call it a “tragic accident”. Bicyclist, 60, killed by car in Blaine I’m sure if the woman had been using any other kind of weapon to kill someone besides a motor vehicle it would not have been a “tragic accident”. This was another report on the Blaine man killed last week.

Another report on the left cross wreck that killed a man in Bremerton WA. A 69 YEAR OLD BICYCLIST WAS FATALLY INJURED IN A COLLISION AT A RURAL INTERSECTION This report completely absolves the driver of any blame for turning in to the cyclist and killing him. This thing makes me so angry, because if the driver had turned her car in to another car and killed the driver it would have been her fault without a doubt, but because the victim was riding a bicycle it was just another “accident”.

The 4th of July wrecks in VA included one of us as this summary reveals. 10 Reported Deaths Resulting from Holiday Traffic Crashes Nothing usable here except statistics, if you need statistics. Notice they talk a lot about seat belts and helmets…

A cyclist injured in Canadia isn’t dead (insert Monty Python skit from Holy Grail) “I feel happy!” Injured cyclist not dead; police correct misinformation Not to make light, but any halfway good news about a cyclist getting hit by or with a motor vehicle makes me a bit Giddy. And that’s all I can say about this one, except the guy that got hit must be as ornery a cuss as I am to survive being hit by what is basically a bus-sized vehicle. I took a look at the intersection with my favorite forensic tool and found there is a traffic signal on the street, but since there was no report that the cyclist was running the red light I’m going to go with the RV being at fault here until more evidence is brought forth.

The rest of the wrecks are from the UK with all the attending levels of detail. You know how much I love the UK media laws.

A man is killed in a hit from behind. Updated: Police name cyclist killed in crash There are advantages in having gone through close to 4000 reports on bicycle wrecks and also being psychic, I can recognize a hit from behind wreck when the evidence presents itself, even evidence as sparse as this. Because the report is so sparse I can’t tell you specifically how to avoid this type of wreck other than the standard, “Keep your attention split front and rear and always leave yourself an escape route.”

Another hit-and-run on another cyclist. Cyclist injured in hit and run Unfortunately not enough information because of lack of evidence at the scene of the crime. Other than this being another hit from behind, there was nothing on the vehicle involved or even the color. As before standard admonishments about hit from behind wrecks apply.

A pop-up gate with a little too much “pop” injures a cyclist. Injured cyclist taking Yorkshire Water to court I love a country where “sovereign immunity” is just a phrase of language, not a criminal defense. Now how to avoid a similar wreck, well that’s what the lawsuit is about.

Another typical UK wreck report. Woman cyclist killed in Stanwell is named Other than the fact that the deceased cyclist was American, there really isn’t much to hold the interest here. Did I mention that I loathe UK media laws? I did? As long as you know then.

And another elderly UK cyclist is hit. Cyclist killed in Belbroughton named Apparently LEO has little to go on in this case and request any witnesses that saw anything before the actual impact please come forward. I find it interesting that so many adult cyclists are getting hit in the UK, even more than the US.

Back in the US a large number of Jewish professionals get together at the crack of dawn to go for a bike ride. Their life cycles And I’m not being anti-Semitic, that’s just the makeup of the group riding their bikes. Me, personally, I don’t care what color you are, or what religion, or your dietary restrictions, so long as you ride a bicycle, you are one of my brothers, except when you’re a sister

And the deadliest state in the US for cyclists ponders why cyclists ride scared? Two wheels vs. four After reading the comments section it’s no wonder that FL kills more cyclists per capita than any other state in the country. One thing that is a problem was that FL was one of the states that made wrong-way cycling the law back 30-40 years ago, and many people did not get the message that the law requires riding with traffic now, and that includes most of the drivers who resent the presence of cyclists on “their” roads. I would say from reading the comments that drivers that don’t know bicycles have the right to the roads, unlike the limited and revocable privilege of motor vehicle drivers.

And that’s the whole mess.

Billed @$.02, Opus

A strangely quiet post-holiday Feed

Well, I was expecting to see a lot more articles in the Feed this morning than I found. This was after all one of the busiest weekends of the year what with the Independence Day holiday falling on Saturday and all I expected there to be more bicycles on the roads (judging by the number of people in my bike club doing long rides to eating destinations like BBQs and then riding back home for late cookouts). But after the filtering process was finished there were only 5 articles that were even about bicycles, one of which was from Canada complaining that the bicycle rental program in Montreal doesn’t provide helmets at their self-serve kiosks, complete with the “if only one serious head injury is prevented…” line. And that’s all you’re going to see about that one.

Another report on the cyclist killed by a left cross driver in WA. Bicyclist fatally hit by SUV outside Bremerton A lot less detail in this article, and with a later posting date than the PI article, you don’t suppose that the Times has an anti-cyclist agenda do you? This article makes no mention of the fact that the SUV driver drove into the cyclist after he had already entered the intersection, which was mentioned (in passing) in the PI article. As mentioned before, this was not an avoidable wreck for any cyclist without advanced powers of ESP. However had the driver been looking where she was going this would have been avoidable. The only positive thing I can say about this wreck was the driver did not attempt to flee.

Moving diagonally across the Lower 48 we come to the bicyclist killing capitol of the US, FL. Cyclist killed crossing road in Boynton Beach Another SWCC wreck, nothing on any signals or if they stayed green long enough for a cyclist to get all the way across from a standing start without the light changing to red. Nothing here except that the cyclist was crossing the road when he was killed.

Another wreck story with no actual information besides “A Bicyclst was hit”. Henrico bicyclist killed in crash It must have been some impact, the driver was taken to a hospital for injuries sustained. Or maybe the driver was drunk, and was taken to someplace to sober up. I dunno, and I hate when there is no information in the article so that I can tell you what to do to avoid the wreck. The only thing I can tell you is it happened at an intersection, and to avoid you have to be alert in a 360 degree arc, because cars can come at you from any direction there’s a lane coming from.

And finally a PA rider is injured after hitting a bad section of pavement. Vermilion resident injured after falling off bicycle I think there was a wreck just like this one about a year ago in the same area. Deja vu. Nothing I can tell you about avoiding this one except to work on your bike handling and look well ahead to be warned about bad road surfaces.

And that was all I had this morning.

Billed @$.02, Opus

A very light Sunday Feed

I expect to see dozens of bike wrecks over the weekend come Monday, but for now there aren’t any to speak of. There were only 2 out of the normal 4 summary reports in the Feed, and there was only one article in each report.

The one and only wreck first. Bremerton Bicyclist Seriously Injured Near Wildcat Lake This one appears to be a left cross wreck, and that the helmet did its job to the limits of its abilities. The standard warnings about left cross wrecks apply here, but realistically the wreck came so long after the cyclist had entered the intersection that avoiding this wreck would have mostly depended on the driver paying attention to and actually seeing things in the path of the vehicle.

And in Idaho where 3 cyclists were killed in one city in 3 weeks, the answer is “helmets”. Doctors, cyclists recommend wearing bicycle helmets The question was “How can we get drivers to stop hitting cyclists in the bike lane?”

And that’s the whole thing, nothing more to see here, move along.

Billed @$.02, Opus

After a fruitless search for fireworks, the Feed

I went out on a search for fireworks within easy cycling distance, but was unable to locate any displays. The economy is such this year that rather than fire some cops that desperately needed firing the city decided to cancel the fireworks display. You might think I hold animosity towards the men in blue, but that isn’t true. I only despise the ones that have personally caused me harm by failure to follow the law and investigate the guy that tried to kill me. Fortunately for them my brain damage plus previous psychological harm caused in my childhood has prevented me from remembering the names of the officers that caused me harm, which prevents me from cursing their lines to the 7th generation. So until somebody reminds me of their names, they and their descendants are safe from disfiguring skin diseases, humpback, halitosis, and speech impediments. But I really miss going to see fireworks.

Up first is an infrastructure story related to the cyclists killed last week in Ocean City MD. Route 50 Bridge Biking Questions Raised Apparently the anglers don’t want to share with the pedestrians, who don’t want to share with the cyclists, who are scared to death to share with the motor vehicles and can’t get around the anglers in the protected part of the bridge. Everybody wants their own separate part of the bridge and doesn’t want to share it with anyone else, and cyclists are getting killed because of it.

A Portland civil rights activist is killed while attending a conference in VA. UPDATED: Bicyclist killed on Virginia Tech campus identified and Friends remember bicyclist killed on Virginia Tech’s campus also Cyclist killed at Virginia Tech remembered for devotion to activism Still nothing certain about the wreck except that it happened. Nothing about any stop signs, who they might have affected, speed limits (apparently this was an area where the speed limit was low enough and the road steep enough to make exceeding the speed limit on a bicycle possible) or anything else except the sight line was known to be clear.

We are finding out more about the victim of an impaired driver in Lost Wages. Fatal bicycle crash victim identified He was a retired military man, and was operating his cycle with all legally required lights and reflectors, even though it was still light out at the time of the wreck. For those who might have a hard time placing this one, the driver was so intoxicated they had to hold his head up to take his mug shot. Preliminary reports say he may have had multiple drugs and alcohol in his system when he killed the cyclist.

Another reason to ride out in the traffic lane where people can see you. Bicyclist killed in Fayetteville wreck The cyclist was struck by 2 vehicles while hugging the curb. If there ever was an endorsement of Vehicular Cycling, this is it.

The cyclist killed this week in Seattle touched many lives and had a positive effect on many more. More on the cyclist killed Wednesday in Seattle and Friend: Cyclist killed in Seattle ‘would know and touch every life’ also Bicyclist killed Wednesday night is identified and video of the wreck investigation Raw: Seattle cyclist struck and killed The video is very disturbing with clear pictures of the victim’s bicycle crushed under the car that killed him.

An OR cyclist on a trans-continental bike ride is the victim of a hit-and-run in ND. Cyclist injured in hit and run Actually from the victims’ descriptions I wouldn’t call it hit-and-run but assault with a deadly weapon and attempted homicide. The vehicle swerved from the far inside lane to the shoulder of the road to hit 2 of the group.

A LI NY teen is hit by a drunk driver. Alcohol Blamed in Crash That Injured Teen Bicyclist Apparently the driver of the SUV hit the cyclist from behind and was under the influence of alcohol. Which seems to be a common thread in many of the other headlines in today’s paper…

We lost another LEO on a bike, and we need all that we can get. Bicyclist killed in Pompey crash and Veteran state trooper killed in Pompey car-bicycle crash The second link was consolidated from a number of different links when I first filtered the Feed, when I got to this story, they were all the same report. The driver went off the road and hit the State Trooper riding on the side of the road, cell phone use suspected. I don’t know that LEO suspect cell phone usage but a large number of the people making comments sure did.

Another Tucson rider killed. Tucson police identify cyclist killed Thursday From the description the cyclist was getting ready to make a left turn and was hit from behind.

Bakersfield CA riders are up in arms about losing one of their own to a drunk driver. Bike Riders Remember Fallen Friend Killed By Alleged Drunk Driver and Dozens participate in memorial ride for cyclist and finally Is Bakersfield a safe place to ride a bicycle? If you look at it rationally there is no city that is truly safe to ride a bicycle, until you either get rid of all the drunks or get rid of all the cars. We have had drunks since the discovery of fermented beverages, back in the earliest days of agriculture, but we have only had cars a little over 100 years. I think it will be easier to get rid of the cars than drunks, but I hold little hope on either front in my lifetime. But even if we somehow manage to get rids of all the drunks but keep the cars cyclists will still be in peril until and unless there is a way to screen out psychotics and sociopaths from ever driving, because of the destructive potential of the motor vehicle.

A Canuckistan cyclist is killed. Elderly cyclist killed on Barton That’s another thing, even when you get rid of the psycho- and sociopaths, you still have people that get killed because someone didn’t pay attention.

And finally some people are really nice. Bicyclists find hospitality during cross-country adventure A tire blows out on your bicycle while you’re eating dinner and Good Samaritans come out of the woodwork, there are times when I love MO.

Sorry it was so late.

Billed @$.02, Opus

On the 233 anniversary of our independence from England

Two Hundred Twenty-three years ago we here in the (mostly) United States of America decided to set out on our own as a Nation rather than a collection of colonies. Some years we did better than others, This is not one of those years. But we are still a strong nation, the only Superpower left in the world. How much longer that will last is unsure at this moment, as what made us a superpower was our manufacturing might, which we have now outsourced to China. We are slowly, and in ways not so slowly, turning into a third-world nation economically with a small caste of very rich and a large underclass, with a thin middle class separating them.

You might ask why a witch on a bicycle would be writing about economics on the day we celebrate our birth as a nation. The answer is simple, just as all politics is local, all things revolve around economics. What can be done is a reflection on what can be paid for, whatever the currency required. The West won the Cold War by destroying the economy of the Soviet Union, we created more war materiel than the USSR without destroying the civilian economy because our economy was more efficient than the Soviet’s. And now we are facing an even greater foe, Greed. The very rich are not satisfied with 80% of the wealth (some of them, enough to make it a problem). They want all of it, not just the biggest piece but the whole pie. And rather than share they would let the pie be destroyed completely. They don’t see that by sharing they can have more than trying to keep the whole thing for themselves, that by paying more to their employees and by treating their employees as partners rather than enemies they can get a smaller share of a much larger pie and still get more pie.

Me? All I want is a place to stay, enough to eat, and a safe place to ride my bike.

PSA, Opus

Happy 4th of July! Now go watch some fireworks.

More death and destruction, the Feed

I’m having a hard time coming up with a suitable opening paragraph for today, because my Inner Cynic is trying to take over. I keep coming up with lines like “Large numbers of humans are stupid and proved it today.” Or “The bottom of the bell curve came through again today.” Or ” Safety innovations have only increased the number of stupid people.” That last one wasn’t original with me, there’s a study out there somewhere on the Web that “proves” the introduction of passive passenger protection has lowered the IQ of the nation perceptibly. It has a plausible premise, in that active safety that requires thought and planning, like seat belts and shoulder harnesses, will weed out people that are too stupid to use them, but passive safety that only requires the passenger be in a car equipped with the devices allows stupid and bright people both to survive, especially when they are required by law to be installed on the vehicles. Any way, today’s Feed has put me in a bad mood and I hope the advice and commentary does not suffer for it.

Up first is a wreck in the UK, notable not because of the wreck but because the decedent was an experienced cyclist and continues a puzzling trend in London of killing female cyclists. Cyclist killed by lorry at Oval Tube named as Catriona Cockburn Seven cyclists have been killed by semis in London this year, and six of those were women. Given the statistical breakdown in London cyclists it should have been the other way around, if 7 cyclists were killed then 5 of them should have been male. And this is not just a blip in the results, last year had a similar ratio of female cyclists killed by “HGV”, even as far back as 2004 female cyclists were over-represented in fatalities. I have no answer for that as I was not the first to notice, and have no suggestions on how to fix it. All I can do is bring it to people’s attention, which I have just done. Now one of you readers have been given a challenge: “Why are female cyclists so drastically over-represented in fatal wrecks in London? What can be done to correct this?”

A cyclist was hit and killed with a motor vehicle in Blaine, MN. Bicyclist killed in Blaine and Bicyclist killed in Blaine I can’t figure out if the cyclist cut the car driver off or if the driver got impatient and hit the cyclist from behind while trying to pass. From the articles either conclusion is valid.

A teen-age cyclist weaving through traffic gets clobbered but will survive. Bicyclist injured in accident WI is in the same general area as MN right? Close enough. Anyway, what this kid did wrong was to not be predictable while riding, and not making himself visible. cutting in between trucks hides you from view much of the time, except maybe to the truck driver stuck in traffic while you dodge around him. Ride a straight a path as the road will allow and stay in your lane. It’s boring, but it will keep you alive. If you need exciting, go to a velodrome, or some tight technical singletrack mountain bike trail. Don’t get your adrenaline rush out on the roads.

Apparently this report on a Seattle wreck was outsourced to a UK media firm. Seattle bike rider struck and killed and with a little more information Bicyclist killed in collision in Seattle Well it seems at least the driver was thought to be at fault here, as police transported him for testing for DUI. But beyond that I can’t tell you how to avoid a similar wreck.

More on the AK rider killed this week. Police identify bicyclist killed in wreck and also Bicyclist killed in accident may have been using cell phone A person that claimed to be a witness to the wreck posted the cyclist was hopping up and down on the bike and just took off into the traffic. I don’t know if that’s true, but it is a really good way to get yourself killed. Comments from the second article say he may have been “Special Needs”.

More on the CA rider killed on a double century charity ride. Bear Valley cyclist killed in Malibu during long ride
Suspected DUI driver faces three felonies More information about the wreck and more about the guy that was killed. The guy that hit him and his son is facing 3 felony counts from the wreck.

Another SWCC wreck in SC. Bicyclist killed by car in Ladson Since there were only 2 people that saw the wreck and one of them is dead, it’s kinda hard to say what really happened in this wreck…

A cyclist is killed by a garbage truck driver in a right hook. Bicyclist Killed by Garbage Truck in Fresno [sarcasm]And of course we all know that a cyclist killed by a municipal vehicle while riding next to the roads is responsible for his own death.[/sarcasm] The truck seems to have cut the corner and then the cyclist and his bike were dragged into the intersection before the truck could stop. I don’t know how to avoid something like this when you are not even on the road surface to begin with.

The major peril of sidewalk riding. Cyclist injured in collision Even when you are riding on the sidewalk away from cars, you still have to cross the street. And when you do you are coming from a place where car drivers don’t look.

A request that drivers stop assaulting and verbally harassing cyclists. Drivers: Leave the bike riders alone You can ask nicely all you want, until cops start arresting people for this illegal behavior it won’t stop.

And a “sky is falling” report on allowing small amounts of lead to make brake and shifter cables for bicycles. Lead In Children’s Bicycles OK Rules Consumer Product Safety Commission Really, allowing small amounts of lead in the brake and shifter cables is going to cause widespread lead poisoning? These people need to get a life, and then find something useful to do with it. Of course someone could say the same thing about me, but the lethality of motor vehicles in wrecks with bicycles is well documented. The number of lead poisoning cases caused by contact with the brake cables of a bicycle are documented on the fingers of my left tongue.

And that’s the Feed for today. Biting sarcasm and scathing social commentary are just another of the free services provided by this website.

Billed @$.02, Opus

More Cush for the Tush!

I just got back from testing a major upgrade to Gigi. If you look closely at the picture in the blog header you can see that the previous seat “cushion” was held in place with duct tape. It was also only about 10mm thick open celled foam and did not have as lot of “give” because it did not have much room to provide that “give”. You will also note a large amount of curvature to the seat pan which caused me no end of pain from an old injury from my college days, a shattered coccyx. That’s another long story, best suited for another blog post, but the Reader’s Digest Version was that after it healed it made a big bump on my rump. Back when I was a fat slob managing an Italian restaurant it wasn’t that big a deal, but that was when I was much less active than I am now, and the curvature in the seat pan combined with the thinner than spec cushion caused pressure on the aforementioned “bump” such that I could only ride about 20 miles in relative comfort and by 30 miles I was missing some skin, and spent the next 4 days typing leaned forward in the chair and sleeping on my belly.

I had purchased a OE RANS cushion for the seat, but it was susceptible to abrasion without a cover so I would walk by where it was stored looking at it longingly until I could procure a workable cover. Well I was given a EZ-1 seat cover for Father’s Day this year and it came in the mail this afternoon. It fit fine on the RANS seat after I figured out how to install it, which took almost an hour of finagling.

Then I went for a test ride… Bliss! Bumps that had been spine jarring were barely noticeable with the OE cushion, more notable by the noise the rack made against the seat than by actual feel. I think I will need to tilt the pan back a little more than it is right now, and also make adjustments for leg extension. But I am thrilled with the ride comfort now

So I have cargo capacity, I have a comfortable seat, I have adequate lights when supplemented by a reflective blinky LED vest, now I need to address the cosmetics of this build. Gigi needs a touch of makeup. So opinions please, should I paint the newly fabricated stem black, or white? I’m leaving the stem clamp white, but should I paint the handlebars white like they were on the BMX bike I took them from, or black, or should I install the shiny polished stainless numbers from the BMX bike in the parts pile? My personal choices would be to paint the stem and the handlebars black because they would look good against the orange-red paint on Gigi and also with the fenders I’m fabbing.

Billed @$.02, Opus