I had to get some groceries this afternoon (nothing to eat for breakfast here at the ranch), and it was a bit toasty out for bike riding. Going to the store the heat index was 101°F, coming back was 102, actual temperatures were 99 and 101°F. This is the kind of heat that there is no “sweat-free” pace, you will get drenched in sweat just sitting in the shade with a fan blowing on you. My strategy of keeping the house here at WoaB set to a slightly warm 80°F during the summer paid off as I was able to develop significant power and get Blue up to 20.5 MPH on the outbound (slightly downhill) leg of the trip, and still managed to hold 16 MPH on the inbound leg of the trip. Total time on the bike was only a hair over 9 minutes for the round trip including about a half mile in the grocery store parking lot at a speed limit of 10 MPH, which I broke by about a half a mile an hour. 😉 I think the high temperatures contributed to the speed I did today by reducing the aero drag through reduced air density. I think I mentioned in the past that in cargo configuration Blue is about as aerodynamic as a brick wall between the kitty litter buckets on the back and my bolt upright posture on the seat. With aerodynamics like that small changes in air density result in large changes in drag, which is why I struggle to go faster than 12 MPH cruise in the winter (the added frontal area of my winter clothes making things worse) and have an average speed over 12 MPH with stops and a long speed-limited section in the summer.
Up first is an update on one of the 2 cyclists killed in separate hit-and-run wrecks in NYC. Police charge man in Sunnyside hit-and-run This was the wreck where the cyclist was not reported to have fallen off the bike first.
Next up is the wreck in NC of the Navy corpsman. Corpsman killed in bike wreck ID’d and Navy corpsman hit, killed while riding bike Incredible, the guy survived IEDs and enemy fire in the sandbox and gets killed by a truck riding on base in the US.
More on the cyclist cop murdered by motor vehicle. Funeral Held Friday For Officer Killed By Car The mode of the wreck has been released now and the cyclist never had a chance as the weapon vehicle swerved across the centerline and hit the cyclist head on in the cyclist’s lane giving the cyclist no time to react and avoid the wreck. The evidence is pointing strongly to some degree of murder charge on the driver.
Final say in a long, drawn-out court case involving a (then) 12YO cyclist. Law Firm of Corsiglia, McMahon & Allard Announces $6.6 Million Settlement with Residential Construction Contractors on Behalf of a Young Child Hit By Car Speaking of long, drawn-out, get a load of that opening paragraph headline.
Another wreck in CA, this one more recent. Bicyclist hospitalized after hit-and-run crash The narrative of this wreck is a cyclist pulled out of a driveway or off a sidewalk and was immediately hit by a car. This makes intersection protocols the way to avoid this wreck, and infrastructure the way to prevent it.
A single bike wreck in AZ. Cyclist air transported to Tucson hospital after morning crash Something dumped the cyclist on his head without warning, so I have no way to tell you how to avoid this wreck. It seems that basic infrastructure would have prevented this wreck as there was something on the road that caused this wreck.
Another NC wreck with a somewhat better outcome. Woman, 25, arrested in Charlotte bicycle hit-run Mode of the wreck not released by LEO, but the weapon vehicle was found before they even finished cleaning up the wreck site. Kudos to the LEO involved in catching the driver so quickly.
From Bikeyface, how much “stuff” do you need to take when you ride your bike? In the Bag How much stuff do you need for your local trips? I just cobbled up a mount for my Zefal HP3 frame pump to give me a way to add air to the tires when I get a flat on the road, which I was lacking before.
And those are all the links that gave me fits today.
Billed @$0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 