I’m waiting to see if there are any good links in the Feed today (that I haven’t already used) so a little commentary on life in general while I wait. Regular readers know that Blue was stolen back in August of 2013. What I haven’t been talking about is I haven’t had a bike I could ride without pain since then. All the bikes I have at my disposal are either too big or way too small (kids’ bikes). The other problem is my local source for small batches of steel tubing in bicycle diameters and wall thicknesses has ceased its retail operations and gone strictly to big batch orders that would be a 40-50 year supply for my operation and tie up thousands of dollars in metal inventory. This prevents me from building something on my own that would fit and be comfortable. Having tools and designs doesn’t help if I can’t get the materials to build them. And I find this to be incredibly frustrating, to have all these ideas floating around in my head and no way to make them real. The closest analogy I can think of is being perpetually pregnant, only without the bladder issues.
And segueing from pregnancy to the other problem I’m having is I’m gaining weight. I really need active transportation for two reasons, not the least of which is I need the exercise. There is a reason I don’t do the “e word” except for my rehab stuff, and that’s most of it is a waste of time and energy. I’m using the term “waste” in the sense of “for no purpose”, because if I’m going to be working that hard I want the work to be accomplishing something other than “exercise”. Most of the things I can think of to do already require some degree of fitness, they’re not things you do to get fit but they are activities that let you hold on to what fitness you already have. Also they require a degree of sociableness that I’m not comfortable with. Riding the bike was something I could do without having to participate in team sports, but it did require interacting with entitled idiots who think the world revolves around internal combustion engines. Also it was a “useful” form of exercise, I was moving my butt from A to B and frequently also various amounts of cargo so that things would get done. It was also my social outlet in that point B commonly involved interacting with other people. And it was cheap, after the initial costs were amortized. I could make trips similar in length to what people around here drive for the cost of a bottle of water and a PBJ sandwich which I would have needed to buy anyway just to keep alive. So basically for me the costs of riding a bike were nil.
First up, while I’m no great fan of JB I wasn’t a hater either until this. Justin Bieber Arrested For Alleged DUI And Drag Racing In Miami OK for someone like JB to get arrested for this in Miami where a minor pop singer from South America is treated like a foreign dignitary when he kills a cyclist while DUI tells me 2 things: first that he was so blitzed that he was a danger to himself and others, second that there has been a major change in LEO attitude in Dade County. I keep hearing rumors that Canada may deny him re-entry into the country if he tries to return. Bicycle related content: About 30-40% of cyclist fatalities involve weapon vehicle operators that are DUI.
Up close to WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell, a cyclist gets hit by a train (again). Bicyclist injured in collision with Metro rail car C’mon people, we have hashed and re-hashed this until it’s practically meat puree, not getting hit by a train is about the simplest traffic safety thing you can do. Trains can only be found on train tracks and normally have crossing guard systems or other warning devices. Granted this is light rail in the street, but there are still multiple warning systems that are supposed to keep you off the tracks when a train is coming. Add to that the size and noise of a train, even the light rail variety, and well it takes a rare combination of multiple lacks of awareness or a total disregard for what’s going on around you, or even a personal disregard for safety. Stay away from train tracks to avoid and be very careful and alert when staying away from the tracks proves impossible.
From the former most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike (pending confirmation) another cyclist is hit. Lakeland Man Charged in Bicyclist’s Death OK this is another one that needs to have the car crushed with the driver inside. Drunk and hit the cyclist on the wrong side of the road (salmon driving) and swerved into the cyclist. This isn’t manslaughter it’s murder… and the cyclist was riding exactly where the haters say cyclists should ride, in a park.
From WA, it seems bike paths are a bad place to have high-speed motorcycle chases. Man on stolen motorcycle killed on Renton trail while fleeing Washington State Patrol trooper Those things are full of obstacles that (rarely) kill and (much too often) injure people riding bicycles. Riding on one at high speed with a motorcycle ain’t gonna work out well.
A little south of that wreck a cyclist is injured by a driver who did not hang around. Bicyclist injured in hit-and-run in San Luis Obispo Another candidate for the car crusher. The damage and location of this wreck lead me to deduce the weapon vehicle hit the cyclist as the vehicle left the parking lot to the store and as the victim proceeded straight. So that would imply intersection protocols to avoid or to mitigate damages, infrastructure to prevent.
Nearby a cyclist is hit with a bus. Breaking news: Pomona cyclist killed in collision with Foothill Transit bus
Final outcome in the criminal charges against a driver that hit a cyclist waiting to turn in Jolly Olde. Widow: ‘No sentence can ever match my loss’ and Family to sue driver over death crash A year’s driving ban and a six month suspended sentence. And the driving ban will most likely not be enforced because I didn’t see anything about relinquishing the keys or the car. So effectively no punishment for killing a driver waiting to turn from the opposite lane.
A wreck in Oz results in charges against the driver. Engadine woman charged with injuring cyclist at Helensburgh Nothing on the mode because it was a hit-and-run and the cyclist could not remember what happened, but it looks like hit-from-behind so protocols to avoid and infrastructure to prevent. Along with crushing the weapon vehicle, of course. Nothing prevents a second hit-and-run quite as well as destroying the means of doing so.
They REALLY don’t like bike riders in Pakistan. 15 killed, Spaniard injured in attacks in Pak’s restive areas They killed 6 national police trying to get one bike rider. I don’t think the fact he was riding a bike was the issue, more that he was an infidel foreigner. I do know how to read for content.
A bit of e-assist bike news from the EU. Working Group Decides on Standardized E-bike Interfaces When I first started working with e-assist they couldn’t even settle on a common charge plug so that you could grab a few watt-hours on the road without having to pack a charger, now they have a common software interface with the BMS. That’s progress.
And “old people” who used to ride a lot still ride a lot when they get e-assist. E-Bikes Boosts Bike Usage Among Elderly Whodathunkit? People ride bikes when it doesn’t hurt.
Along the same lines people will take cruises to locales that are fun places to ride bikes and the they ride bikes. Luxury cruise and biking? Turns out it’s a surprisingly good combination for adventurous types
Last link, runners do more damage to bike trails than bikes do to hiking trails. Runners repair their damage to park’s bike trail
And those were all the links I could find about bicycles.
Billed @€0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 