Struggling to stay awake on a Wreck-Free Sunday

Once again, plants are having sex in my sinuses, and I’m taking the diphenhydramine to alleviate the symptoms. Unfortunately that comes with its own set of problems, first of which is drowsiness that frequently progresses to actual sleep. If I stay up and moving about I can stay awake for a bit but if I take enough to keep me from experiencing the allergies I have taken enough to put me out if I slow down too much. I didn’t feel too bad so far today, but the day is not over yet.

Mrs. the Poet is still enamored of the Factory Five Model 65 over the Speedway Motors ’27 T, and I have to admit the Model 65 is much more practical as a day-to-day car. The thing is I have had my fill of “practical” cars, from my first new car the 1978 Honda CVCC to the last car I owned the Hyundai Excel. Practical as can be, every last damn one of them. The first car I actually owned was a two-seater with a Fiat motor in the back, that I got when it killed its third owner. That was a fun car to drive, and not very practical except it got fantastic mileage for the era. It had the bad tendency to suddenly flip over and kill whoever was riding in it when cornering at the limit, and because it had such ridiculously skinny tires it reached that limit very early. As I said I got the car cheap after it killed its third owner, who got it at a good price after it killed the second owner, who made a deal with the widow of the first owner. I installed a travel limiter (chain) to slightly tame the beast and managed to tear something else up before it killed me. This was almost 40 years ago so you’ll forgive me for not remembering the name of the car or what tore up that caused me to junk the car. But yeah, given my “druthers” I would choose a car that was fun to drive over a “practical” car. The difference is that today I will pick a car based on how well it can stop over how fast it will go, because I have this thing about not hitting people now.

It’s funny in a way that I’m discussing my next car on a bicycle blog, because when you stop and think about it the most practical “car” is a bicycle, except that you have to share the roads with cars. That’s really the only thing that keeps bicycles from being more useful than cars, the fact that cars are so massive and deadly when trying to share the same space with bicycles. The car that I prefer out of the two listed has an average curb weight of 1700 pounds with a cast-iron block and heads Chevy 350/350 combination. I don’t plan on using an iron block and heads Chevy, I might use a Chevy but I’m looking at the LS376-515 with aluminum heads and block, more power that uses less fuel, and much lower weight. The LS376 weighs 414 pounds where the cast-iron small-block is listed at 575 pounds and “only” 300 horsepower, compared to the 515 available with the other engine. I probably will only be able to use that much power when I take the car racing (at sanctioned race events only), but I will get the better gas mileage every time I drive. The car I like (the ’27) has limited cargo space that is only slightly more than the kitty litter buckets on Blue, and you have to tilt the seat forward to get to it, but the brakes and light weight make for a car that goes like stink and stops like catching the wire on an aircraft carrier. But even that is still way heavier and more deadly than a bicycle that weighs maybe 350 pounds fully loaded and has a top speed of 20 MPH. The ratio between curb weight and loaded weight of the car I prefer is miniscule compared to the bicycle, and the car that Mrs. the Poet prefers is even worse because it starts 800 pounds heavier than the car I like. But overall not that different because the car Mrs. the Poet likes has a huge trunk.

I mentioned racing, and that would be one reason why I would get a car again, to have a car that I could race in SCCA Solo II competition. The ’27 would have to be entered in A/MOD, the Model 65 could slot into the slightly less-competitive E/MOD. This would require a second set of tires just for racing, of course, which opens a whole new can of worms… As far as the rules are concerned the Model 65 is closest to being competitive out of the box as the suspension is 95% sorted for racing tires and the weight is only slightly above the minimum for the class in street trim. I might have to add ballast to keep the car legal when I run race tires. The ’27 on the other hand is way over the class minimums in every way: weight, width, wheelbase, and wheel size and anything I can do to make it faster as a race car won’t put me outside the class.

And on a completely different note, I am in discussions with the people of Occupy Dallas to establish a bike co-op. At this point all they know is that they are interested in having a bike co-op to give people options in travel, and that I know how to fix bicycles. We have established what needs to be done to have a co-op; space to work on bikes and store tools, tools to use to fix bikes, and somebody that knows how to fix bikes and is willing to teach that to other people. Of that they actually have me knowing how to fix bikes and willing to teach others how to do it. I have a tentative suggestion that my church would be willing to work with Occupy for providing tools or a place to work on bikes. So I may be losing at least one night a week from my free time.

PSA, Opus

Another Mule Day, and another Feed

Mule day duties look to be light again today as we are still coasting along from that massive buy a few weeks ago and just replacing perishables now; milk, bread, eggs, produce, and yogurt. The weather is looking a bit “iffy” so I have my waterproof ALICE pack and one of the kitty litter buckets has the lid back on it. Stuff that won’t be affected by rain will go in the other bucket. So rain or not we’re cool on the weather.

On the pollen front the allergy meds I took last night eventually did their job and I was able to sleep comfortably sometime around 2 AM, which was a great improvement over the previous 4 AM. I also awoke with considerably less gunk in my eyes and as I could breathe through my nose I also didn’t wake up feeling like the 101^st Airborne had marched through my mouth with bare feet. That alone was a great improvement over the previous two nights.

A far West Canuckistan cyclist is right crossed and then blamed for the wreck. Cyclist hits truck on Gordon Drive, winds up in Kelowna General Hospital The cyclist was hit almost head on when the motor vehicle operator made a wide right turn while driving blind, but somehow it was the cyclist’s fault for running into the motor vehicle. This is a difficult wreck to avoid as standard intersection protocols are not designed for vehicles that are not in the correct lane for their direction of travel. Infrastructure might have prevented this if the infrastructure was barrier protected.

News from the UK that motor vehicle operators are most at fault in bike-vs-motor vehicle wrecks. Two thirds of cyclist injuries following collisions with motor vehicle due to driver, says City of Westminster I also liked the part where they point out the behavior that annoys pedestrians the most is one of the least likely reasons why pedestrians are hit, cyclists proceeding through a pedestrian crossing against the signal. What people don’t realize and that most cyclists have internalized is that when cyclists run into or are run into by motor vehicles, the cyclist will get hurt no matter who is at fault, when cyclists run into or are run into by pedestrians the cyclist will get hurt. Cyclists are for the most part actively looking to not get hurt in spite of what it appears to non-cyclists.

A possible hit-and-run in Oz. Cyclist found injured on Haydon Drive While the cyclist’s injuries could have come from either a bad get-off or a hit-and-run, there is the old saying that when one hears hoofbeats in the western US one should not immediately assume zebras. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Still in Oz, a cyclist is seriously injured by an RV. Cyclist hit by car near Huskisson At the time I posted this the mode of the wreck had not been released, so other than making the remark that a bicycle helmet is not much protection against having your chest crushed by an RV, I have nothing I can say.

LifeStyle in Seattle as a memorial ride makes the news. Riders honor cyclist killed in semi-truck accident

New legal infrastructure from Houston. New ordinance aims to protect bicyclists, pedestrians This ordinance (what I can read of it) seems to be a direct copy of the law that Gov. Goodhair vetoed in 2009, so it’s a good ordinance if somewhat lacking in teeth by being local rather than statewide and unable to place violators in confinement for longer that 1 year.

And if you think I’m having a bad day, take a look at this link. N.Y. tow company waits word on disposing 30 dead horses from Shippensburg You can imagine what that is starting to smell like.

Last link, a Summer project you can enjoy all winter. Build A Massive Snowmobile Tank Bike Massive is right, there are at least 3 bikes worth of steel in the machine plus trying to turn a single track when it has any kind of grip is going to be “fun”, but overall I see this as an interesting project if somewhat difficult to ride around on.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

This is the last month!

The art contest to design a tattoo for the huge scar on my leg Art contest and rules, Wreck-Free Sunday runs out at the end of the month. You still have time to submit a design that will cover or work with the scar to make my leg no longer a reminder that some people didn’t care if I lived and died based on my mode of transportation. The prize is still $500USD, either in cash if you’re local, or you feel like driving to the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell to get it, or in the form of a credit union check with the funds guaranteed by the financial institution.

I have gotten some feedback from my tattoo artist that the ink might run under the skin graft, or it might not, or it might run in some places but not in others, that grafts are not like scars or regular skin that have a degree of consistency about them, they are an unpredictable combination of the two. I suggest taking that into account in your design. For the part of the design that is within the graft do something that will “tolerate” the ink running and blurring the lines and color.

Those of you who have already submitted images, you are all still in the running! And Thank You very much for your time and efforts.

PSA, Opus

Thoughts on a sturdy but cheap cargo trike on a Wreck-Free Sunday

I think I mentioned that I was volunteered to organize replacing using golf carts as mini-pickup trucks with cargo bikes/trikes instead. I have been contemplating on how to do that for things that are too heavy or bulky to throw on the back of Blue. I have also been wondering how to make this doable for people who can’t ride a bike. The answer is a trike made just for hauling of course.

The quickest was to do this would be to add an HP drive unit to an existing cargo trailer, add a 12V headlight and a power source for the rest of the lighting system, and call it good. I was thinking about using this trailer as it has more than enough load capacity to carry what needs to be carried plus a rather large power unit, and the modularity of the construction allows replacing the drive portion when a better design drive unit is built by just unbolting 4 bolts and placing those bolts on the new unit.

Obviously this will have to be a FWD drive unit as there is no way to send power to those tiny wheels. I’m really busy trying to figure out how to add brakes to it much less trying to drive those tiny wheels. Obviously I will have to fabricate something to put a brake caliper on the axle and a disk on the hub, but the design work on that will have to await actually having hands on the trailer to see what I have to work with. For simplicity this will have to be a single-speed drive with fairly low gearing, but that’s OK because there is a blanket 5MPH speed limit on the property. The only vehicle allowed to exceed that is the golf cart ambulance that brings injured or ill people to the medical facility on property, and to the front gate if they need to be transported off property. And even that unit needs to be replaced as it ages out of service. But that aside, this will have to be a very simple and slow unit capable of moving significant loads over a very rough road system, but with only one significant hill/valley area to negotiate to get to the front gate.

So, I’m thinking something on the order of a 20″ front wheel with either direct drive (Unicycle wheel) or basically the same thing with a crank, chain, and coaster brake. Making this a very large adult tricycle with either the seat mounted to the fork and the handlebars mounted to the trailer for making tight turns and reversals, or the seat on the trailer and the handlebars on the fork for higher pulling power for climbing out of that valley I mentioned. I’m thinking at this point that the ability to ride backwards to get out of tight spots is a feature that will be little-used, while the ability to climb away from the Troll Bridge with a heavy load is something that will get frequent use, but I could be wrong. Or it could be that both abilities are vital, so I would need to build more than one trike, a light version for getting in and out of tight locations with a moderate load, and a heavier version to ferry people and supplies to the front gate over the Troll Bridge. After writing that I think the front gate hauler would get more use, especially if it had a seat that would allow it to be used as a pedicab so that people who don’t walk so good (like me?) could get a lift to gate duty for their community service.

Doesn’t this sound like a fun project?

PSA, Opus

About that henna tattoo…

I mentioned that I got a henna tattoo while I was at the festival, and that the artist immediately went with one of the more common themes that have been submitted. The good news is that skin grafts take henna very well, as you can see:

And now you can see my leg in all its scarred glory. I wish I had written down the name of the artist so I could give credit where due. If you see this and want credit (your name attached to this post) leave a comment saying where I got the tattoo other than my leg, IOW where on the planet did I get the tattoo so I know you’re the real person that did the tattoo.

PSA, Opus.

Another kind of Mule Duty, and the Feed

Mrs. the Poet is off from her work removing the flavor from children’s food as this is Spring Break at her school, so we have been Doing Things around the house. Today’s “thing” is washing the comforter and mattress pad from our queen-sized bed. Our washing machine is not large enough to handle a queen-sized comforter, and neither is the dryer. I think you see where this is heading, to the local laundromat. I can just about fit the comforter or the mattress pad into the ALICE ruck, and it is 0.58 miles to the laundromat, so I help Mrs. the Poet to the laundromat while I carry either the pad or the comforter, ride home empty, get whatever I didn’t take the first time and go back to the laundromat while Mrs. the Poet starts the first item washing, get the second item washing then the first drying, when the first item gets dry take it home while the second dries, dump the first item on the bed then go back to the laundromat to get the second item and Mrs. the Poet. Then early dinner, and off to meditation class (I am a backup teacher for the ADD and ADHD people). I have a daily meditation practice that I do, and the world is safer for it.

Up first a cyclist is hit from behind on a clear day in broad daylight. Campbell: Bicyclist struck and killed on San Tomas Expressway, driver detained and Bicyclist Killed on San Tomas Expressway AFAIK at this time the cyclist was JRA on the shoulder of the road when the driver drifted into the shoulder and nailed him from behind… And as I was creating this the second link updated with witness reports that the cyclist was hit “a couple feet” over in the shoulder/bike lane, with the driver making a “sudden swerve” to the right just as she got to the cyclist. If that is the case then there was nothing the cyclist could have done to avoid this wreck, and only segregated infrastructure with a barrier big enough to stop a car would have prevented it. I guess we have a new acronym MWHD (pronounced “mud”) for Multiple Witness Homicidal Driver.

From MO a woman that killed a cyclist gets a slap on the wrist. Kirkwood woman who killed cyclist in drunk driving crash gets 3 years That headline is misleading, she actually got 1 year with an option for 2 more if she really screws up in prison. Given the amount of alcohol in her system this could not have been her first time driving drunk, because she should have been nearly comatose.

And from the state that has been the most deadliest to walk or ride a bicycle in the US for 8 years running (pending release of the 2012 data) a partial explanation why. Woman who hit and killed a cyclist on Sanibel pleads guilty to pill fraud This woman actually got a harsher sentence for buying pills than she got for killing a cyclist with those pills in her system.

Infrastructure! news from the next town to the south. The New Jefferson Viaduct Cycletrack The only problems I see are getting on and off the cycletrack from the shared lanes at the ends of the bridge. That looks a little dicey for an 8YO to figure out.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Waiting to lose the hair, Wreck-Free Sunday

Yep, I’m waiting on the shear the sheep ceremony still, we were supposed to do it this morning but none of the people that showed up were willing to participate in shaving my head (actually clippers with no guard that leaves about 1/32″ of hair behind) I’m losing everything except the eyebrow; hair, beard and moustache will be gone at the end of this ceremony The hair will be set out in a way that enables the local birds to use it as nesting material, the idea being my sacrifice of a warm head will result in warm baby birds.

I’m watching the Cup race in Vegas while I’m trying to figure out what to write in the post today.

The tattoo contest is progressing nicely with several submissions at the moment, remember they all have to be in my the end of May, see last week’s Sunday post for rules and the image of what you will be working with. Shout out to Giselle Lagase for posting the contest in the news section of Ma3 . That link has been sending most of the site views to this blog about the contest, and that single post had more views in the last week than I normally get in an entire month. And what really makes me feel good, most of you have been hanging around and reading the other posts, too. I hope I can help a lot more people because of this contest, even thought that was not the idea behind it. The idea was I wanted a tattoo but had no idea what I wanted on the tattoo, and that idea is also working out great.

I have been looking for a better way to document the danger and destructiveness of motor vehicles. I’m trying to find a tally of gun deaths to compare to motor vehicle deaths as published by the NHTSA in the FARS reporting system. The links I have found so far for gun deaths do not even come close to the tally published by the NHTSA. What I have been able to find has not been favorable for motor vehicles, with the most complete tallies I can find putting gun deaths at several thousand less than motor vehicle deaths per year, year after year. Something I had not expected to see was gun deaths roughly paralleling motor vehicle deaths per year. I hope to pursue this further with good links to hard numbers to make my point.

OK the race is over and Matt Kenseth won in the Dollar General Toyota run by JGR, Great race with drivers riding the ragged edge of “loose” and “too loose” all race long as they had major condition changes between practice and the race. I tell you it was a great race to watch, with the last 20 laps being a real nail biter.

PSA, Opus

Making another stab at mule duty, and the Feed

Well we had another snafu for grocery shopping yesterday as Mrs. the Poet had to go with a friend to the vet when her friend’s cat had to be put down. This was a cat that we gave to the friend when he was just a tiny kitten full of mischief and kitten hijinks. He had some kind of kidney problems that developed about 4 years ago and got worse and worse. He passed a kidney stone a few days ago then started bleeding yesterday and the vet couldn’t stop the bleeding so he was going to be dead at the end of the day no matter what course of treatment our friend decided on. RIP Boots.

I have been getting lots of response to the contest from artists of varying degrees of fame and ability, and those attributes are only slightly linked. I have had some submissions that were from a well-established artist, but who could not work outside their established style and sent some really bad tattoos, and I have gotten stuff from unknown artists that looks really good. I have also gotten stuff from established artists that looks really good too, even way outside their established styles. Keep those submissions coming, you have through the end of May.

A cyclist is hit twice by cars in NYC. Cyclist killed after being struck twice and Bicyclist Struck Twice, Killed On New Utrecht Avenue At this time nobody knows exactly what happened but given that the first vehicle that struck the cyclist was on an intersecting road, and the second vehicle was going the opposite direction on the same road as the cyclist it seems highly likely that the first weapon vehicle was disregarding a traffic control ran a red light.

SF is still 100% in prosecuting cyclists that kill pedestrians. San Francisco Cyclist Must Stand Trial in Pedestrian’s Death In the meantime there were 20 pedestrians killed by motor vehicles in the same year with zero prosecution, more than 50 since the first cyclist killed a pedestrian with maybe 4 prosecutions for the drivers involved and no felony charges, more than a hundred since the turn of the century with less than 10% charged and almost none brought to trial. I’m not saying the cyclist shouldn’t have been tried, I’m saying a whole lot more driver should have been. Of the pedestrian deaths where charges have been brought only 2 deaths involved vehicle operators who were not impaired, the two cyclists.

From the UK a cyclist is hit by road junk off another vehicle. Cyclist injured by flying debris in Normandy Forty minutes waiting in line to get told to make a U-turn? And how big a piece/what kind of road junk could fly up from a car and send a cyclist to hospital? I had a piece of rebar break the crankshaft of my last car, so it’s not like I haven’t seen similar circumstances myself.

Infrastructure! news from L.A. A tax on bikes? Hit the road, some cyclists say As was pointed out in the article a tax based on the demands placed on the roads in terms of both space and wear by bicycles would not even be a rounding error in most road projects, and cyclists already pay disproportionately without another tax. But given that alternative fuels and electric cars are going to bypass the largest source of roads funding outside of the general fund, something needs to be done, and I have no qualms about an equitable share of the sourcing coming from bike owners. The key word in that sentence is “equitable” as cars use 10 or more times the space on the roads compared to bikes (you could easily get 6 bike lanes in the space required to have 2 lanes for cars, and put more bikes per lane), and cars chew up the roads at a rate at least 1000 times faster (a Smart car does 1100 times the damage as a moderately loaded cargo bike), so capital recovery (building bike lanes and paths) would be 1/10 of a similarly priced car and maintenance would be scant pennies compared to motor vehicle taxes. And if bikes are taxed then no more piddling stripes painted on existing roads with little or nothing else to show for it, we would need real bike facilities (see: Dutch cycling infrastructure). As I see it the existing roads would be just fine if it wasn’t for the cars making the roads so dangerous, Bike infrastructure is mostly to get bikes out of the way of cars in this country, not to improve bike safety. The fact that good bike lanes do both is a happy circumstance for traffic planners. But good bike lanes are crappy design by Dutch standards, so there you go.

Infrastructure in MI. Michigan To Wisconsin Trail, Proposed 924-Mile Bike and Hiking Route, Moves Forward There is a significant section of the proposed trail that is currently closed to bikes, a bike trail that is closed to bikes? Are changes planned for those existing portions of the trail?

Infrastructure in Israel. Nir Ben Natan exclusively invited to imagine bicycle bridge for Givat Shumel, Israel The bridge would allow cyclists to cross the busy highway where it enters the town, I’m assuming because there isn’t anything in the way of bikeable infrastructure outside of town.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Another Mule day, and the Feed

Well, even with all the excitement about the tattoo contest, certain things have to be done around here, like buy food and transport it home. We managed to stagger home with most of what we needed for several weeks (cheaper to buy large packages than lots of small ones) so all we are getting this week are perishable items and stuff we use a lot of in a week, so bread, milk, yogurt, and produce will be the haulage today.

Yesterday after I posted to the blog, I went on a little shopping trip to get things for the new bike headlight, including AA batteries, those 27 LED worklights, and an actual bike headlight with a blinking function to attract attention to the bike so I know they see me during the day, and to give more long-range illumination (it has a very narrow spot beam) at night when it will be on steady. I also bought a cheap taillight because the constant vibration has rendered my home-brew tail light hors d’ combat, the battery won’t hold a charge longer than the time it takes to get to the church for a Sunday evening service, so something is putting a high resistance short somewhere (if it was a low resistance short there would have been a fire with 14.4V off the charger and 2.3Ah rated cells). Anyway, the new taillight will bolt right on the back of the bike with only a small amount of fabrication needed to adapt it to the unorthodox back end of my bike. Combine the small light with the acres of reflectors on the back of the bike and I will be way in excess of the requirements of the law (I’m already way in excess of the requirements of the law without even turning on my taillight with all the reflective material on the back of the bike). And non-bike purchases included a head-band mounted light for working in dim light and some nut driver bits for my cordless drill and screwdriver.

Most of the links today are courtesy of BikingInLA as the Feed was full of dead links again. I mean when I checked the links yesterday after I finished the previous post and got home from my shopping trip they were good, but today I get 404 errors and 403 errors (WTF is a 403 error?) and a few Permission Denied errors for articles I could read last night.

A UT boy is sucked behind a semi and gets hit by a closely following second truck and the child cyclist is blamed for the wreck. Boy riding bike hit, killed by semitrailer LEO should be taught that the wake from a semi can actually pull a cyclist several feet to the left with the cyclist unable to do anything about it. Particularly if the cyclist is also unaware of the power of a semi-truck’s wake because of inexperience. I blame this one on the infrastructure that made this highway the only choice for getting to the cyclist’s destination.

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike, Exhibit A as to why: No charges in Nocatee bicyclist’s death Driving while blind, at highway speeds in excess of the posted limit and killing someone riding on the shoulder, perfectly OK.

Another account of a cyclist riding AFRAP in CA getting killed. Madera cyclist killed in wreck in Merced The driver saw the cyclist, moved to the left, and still hit the cyclist riding at the edge of the pavement with the front of the car (not the side or a side mirror, the front). Can anyone else say this story does not hold water?

A different CA cyclist is hit from behind after “swerving” into the road from the shoulder. Sunnyside High teacher Jim Healy killed in bicycle crash northeast of Fresno Again a rider is hit from behind by a driver that claimed to have seen the cyclist, but still hit him anyway. And wasn’t is convenient that the only people that saw the wreck were the driver and the cyclist that was hit, even though the cyclist was on a group ride? The driver in this wreck also claimed to have moved to the left before hitting the cyclist… Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid maybe, and get the infrastructure right to keep cyclists separated from idiots in control of deadly devices.

Speaking of idiots in control of deadly devices, the driver that assaulted a pro cycling team with a motor vehicle and then drove away and tried to destroy the evidence tried to defend himself in an online forum… Driver accused of hitting pro cyclists defends himself in online forum You know the old saying, a lawyer that defends himself has a fool for a client? Thar be the fool…

Bike path terrorism in OZ? Cyclists targeted with rice on bike path The quantity of rice used makes this highly unlikely that this was accidental as did the fact that the rice had been smoothed out to make it look like just new concrete and not an obstruction in the path…

Why FL is the most deadliest place in the US to walk or ride a bike, part who cares anymore just fix it… State Sen. Alan Hays’ bill to keep public buses from stopping on streets is absurd That’s right this lawmaker wants to ban buses from picking up or letting off passengers. Talk about missing the concept of public transit… and this is yet another reason why people die at the highest rate in FL.

Why you can kill with a motor vehicle and not get more than a ticket if that in NYS. Why New York Needs Strict Criminal Liability for Traffic Violence There needs the be a movement like the “Stop der Kindermood” (Stop the Child Murders) in the Netherlands for drivers that kill without penalty in the US.

Do planners in your locality not know if they want to move people or give them a place to arrive? Here’s how you can tell. The STROAD A stroad is a thoroughfare that can’t decide if it wants to move people and goods as quickly as possible or be a destination to purchase those goods by people, and ends up doing neither very well. Most of the arterials in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell are stroads.

An expansion on the Intersection Protocols from Bike Safe Boston, why you should ride in a straight line in an intersection. The Straight and Narrow

The people that ride aren’t who you think they are… The New Face of Cycling The concept of young, fearless cyclists and MAMILs as who are riding bicycles in the road is not accurate any more (if it ever was).

How and when to fight a ticket on your bike. Ticket Talk, Part 2 I link to this guys blog because he knows his stuff.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today…

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Art contest and rules, Wreck-Free Sunday

I have been making this announcement for several days, that I would be having a contest for a tattoo to put on this.

That is what I have had to deal with every day of my life for the last 11 years, reminding me that the LEO assigned to my case was of the opinion that the wreck was mostly my fault for not being in a car, not the nutcase that made the u-turn to get on my side of the road and come back to hit me.

What I’m looking for is a design that either covers the scar, or that integrates the scar into the design in such a way as to make the whole thing beautiful rather than an ugly reminder of death and destruction.

The rules: the submission must be on this image as a base layer. It is suggested that the submitted image be integrated into a single layer while saving a separate image of the design without the leg image for the tattoo artist to work from to apply the design to the leg. The canvas (me) will be the final arbiter of what looks good on my leg. The contest starts today, and runs through June 1, 2013. The wining entry will be posted in the Wreck-Free Sunday post the next day. The winner will either get Five Benjamins in his/her hot little fist if located local to DFW, in which case the option to get a picture posted of the transaction in the following weeks Sunday post may be exercised at the agreement of both the artist and the canvas (me), or a credit union check (guaranteed payment by my “bank”) will be sent to non-local or otherwise unable to get the $$ physically. There will be only the one prize, and all entries remain the property of the submitter until selected as the winner. Winner will retain the option of publishing the work on their web site first, with posting on my blog to happen either with the announcement of winning, or when the tattoo is completed at which point it becomes my artwork to publish (my leg, my artwork on the leg).

Judging criterion: Totally arbitrary. Since the scar is almost totally numb I’m not concerned about how much I’m going to get poked and stabbed during the tattoo process although I would like to minimize this. The design will be judged on how well it integrates the existing features of the scar into the design or on how well it obscures the scar from view. Your choice on what way you want to go, work with what’s already there to make it beautiful, or cover it up to make it beautiful. The operative phrase on this is “make it beautiful”. Make it something I will love to look at instead of something I hate.

HOW TO SUBMIT AN ENTRY Make a comment to this post that you have an entry to get an e-mail addy to send the image to. Sorry about forgetting to put this in with the original post…

PSA, Opus