Nicely cool by TX standards, Wreck-Free Sunday

My ride to church this morning was nicely cool by TX standards, 87 Heat Index on the way to church and 92 Heat Index on the way home, (83 and 89 in actual temperature). However some of my relatives in the Pacific Northwest and in-laws in Upstate NY would say that was too hot for riding a bike, or being outside an air-conditioned space. That is not the case here in the Suburbs of Hell. I barely broke a sweat coming home from church at a cruise of 13 MPH average of 11, and I didn’t break a sweat going to church.

I’m having an issue with something in my system that is creating files and using up the little free space I have on my hard drive. I found the issue with FireFox 13 making 75 MB of unsent crash reports per hour, but I can’t find that program that let me look for something that was adding files. If any of my readers are Ubuntu 10.04 gurus, I’m running this on a 12 YO PIII machine with “only” 10 GB of storage and I’m losing about 1 MB every day. I’m sending all my downloads straight to external media (my 2 GB USB SSD) so it’s not like it’s stuff I’m pulling off the web, unless it’s something else that FF is doing behind my back.

Last I heard from Dad he was doing fine, not liking the food much but eating well and gaining weight.

And that’s all I think is important for me to say on Wreck-Free Sunday.

PSA, Opus

Getting ready for more miles than I have ridden in two months, and the Feed

Yep, I’m going to ride Blue to the RPG tonight at church. That’s a touch over 3½ miles each way, which is my longest ride in more than 2 months. I already know that I’m going to have to gear down at least 2 and maybe 3 gears from my usual, from the 2 mile round trip to get groceries earlier this week. I am so out of shape it isn’t even funny.

Dad has been transferred from the hospital to rehab to put on some more weight. Word is he will be getting more soup to build up his weight, as well as some hard-core rehab for his atrophied muscles to get him mobile and independent again. He managed to put on almost 10 pounds while he was in the hospital, but most of that was just getting him rehydrated.

Opening link is to a unique event in Portland, a cargo bike disaster drill. Disaster strikes! On Sunday learn how cargo bikes will save the day And there will also be a Zombie ride on the course, so a disaster drill with the Zombie Apocalypse Seriously this is a test to see how well cargo bikes can get supplies through when fossil-fueled vehicles are sidelined by lack of fuel.

Up first in the wreck list, a bike ninja is hit in UT. Teen cyclist injured when hit by truck I strongly suggest riding with lights, not just because it’s the law, but because it’s the safe thing to do. If you are going to ride ninja, then you have to ride like you are invisible. I say this every time I get a ninja wreck. Infrastructure that keeps bikes separate from motor vehicles might have prevented this wreck.

A MO cyclist is hit from behind by a blind driver. Cyclist recovering after Route Y crash Note that the driver invoked the universal “Get Out of Jail Free” card: “I didn’t see him”. I would like to see this excuse made into an admission of guilt for “failure to maintain lookout” and an automatic temporary suspension of license pending eye testing and a mandatory road test. That would be my contribution to the legal infrastructure.

An injury wreck with unknown mode in Canuckistan. Cyclists Injured in Crash with Truck on McPhillips The picture of one of the bikes shows a little scuffing but no major damage. This indicates to me that this was a “buzz job” wreck where the truck got too close to the cyclists either by inattention or deliberate action. Infrastructure that keeps bikes separated from motor vehicles away from residential zones and drastically reduces motor vehicle speed to about the same as a bicycle inside residential zones, combined with “Motor vehicle driver assumed to be at fault unless proven otherwise” laws, would prevent this wreck however it happened.

From the UK a cyclist is attacked with a bottle by a pedestrian. Cyclist injured in vicious glass bottle assault in Deal I don’t know how you can avoid something like this unprovoked attack from someone who was not even on the road when the attack began.

Big story is the ongoing battle over that freakishly rare pedestrian death in SF. Gears of rhetoric ratchet up in San Francisco’s car-bike debate and Reckless Riders Spur Backlash

And that’s the news that gives me fits today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

“I’m not dead yet!”

I may smell like it, but I’m not dead yet. My trip was very long, and very painful. There was a wreck just outside Texarkana TX that caused the bus to have to stay parked on the highway for over an hour and a half. When they got enough of the road clear to let the parking lot empty out and become a highway again all I could see was 2 semis with a small amount of body damage and pointed against traffic, on the shoulder. I didn’t get much sleep because when I would fall asleep the guy in the seat next to me would complain about my swaying into his space and wake me up. Never mind that he was about a quarter of the way in my side of the seat the rest of the time.

When I got to Dallas I was about 2 hours late, and instead of having time to have a leisurely breakfast before continuing my business I had just enough time to dash home via DART, drop my bag and use the bathroom, then grab my drawstring backpack and divest it of the detritus of the bus trip and go back out to catch the bus to the appointment at the Lab Rat Keeper. First the good news, my weight is down to 201 even. The bad news is 2 months off the bike and all the stress of looking after Dad has caused both my BP and resting pulse are up. I have some other problems that are also due to the enforced inactivity, that I’m not going to enumerate. let it suffice that they are neither pleasant to talk about nor to experience.

Dad is doing as well as can be expected, actually a bit better in some ways. He has a long way to go, but he has already come a long way from where he was when we took him into the hospital just a few weeks ago.

Bike wrecks and commentary are coming tomorrow.

PSA, Opus

Off-air for a while

I’ll be heading back to Dallas in a couple of hours, but I’ll be away from the Internets until Thursday. Dad had made some major improvements since we put him in the hospital, to the point that he’s starting to annoy the nurses. This is a good sign that he is returning to normal at least mentally. As soon as I get back on line I’ll post more about Dad and his condition. Talk to you Thursday.

PSA, Opus

Nothing new on Dad, and the Feed

As the headline notes, as I type this in there is no change in Dad’s condition. AFAIK he hasn’t gained or lost any weight since they rehydrated him the first day. He eats when fed because he has gotten too weak to feed himself reliably, but that was true even when he was still at home.

As for myself, I’m still dealing with aches and pains. I had a very nice dinner out at Monell’s with my wife and some friends and their kid. They didn’t have the fried cabbage on the menu last night, but they did have turnip greens which is just as good by me. On a completely unrelated tangent, I was pricing the metals needed to build a bike project, and the raw stock came to just over $200 for the bike, and about $100 for the jig needed to build the bike, and that was just for the raw stock. Hardware and other bits would add about 50% to that cost, and this was for a relatively simple steel bike with little tubing in the frame. I shudder to think what the raw stock costs would be today for some of the Ti bikes I made.

Up first is a hit-and-run of a cyclist by a man who didn’t want to be late for work. SSU professor hit on bike, gravely injured on Petaluma Hill Road and Bicyclist seriously injured by hit-and-driver also Popular SSU Professor Victim of Hit-and-Run Accident not done yet Penngrove Cyclist in ICU After Being Struck by Truck and last link Bicyclist injured by hit-and-run driver on Petaluma Hill Road The driver was observed to swerve at the cyclist and the impact was so violent that bits of the bike and the cyclist’s personal safety gear were scattered around the crime scene. When confronted by police the driver claimed to be late to work at the business he owned (!) and couldn’t stop. If any of my readers need a welding business in NoCal, I think one will be available shortly. Anyway, the wreck, to avoid use hit-from-behind protocols which in this case would probably been useless, to prevent get the infrastructure right so that bicycles are not riding next to sociopaths with weapons of mass destruction.

Next up, we find a possible reason why the death of a Seattle photographer was a hit-and-run. After Arrest of Erlin Garcia-Reyes in Death of Cyclist Michael Wang, ICE Gets In on the Action and Suspect in Seattle fatal hit and run of bicyclist is illegal alien also Immigration wants Seattle fatal hit-and-run suspect more ICE puts hold on Seattle hit-and-run suspect last link Suspect in fatal hit-and-run may be illegal immigrant My personal take on this is I don’t give a rat’s behind where the driver was born, he dies in prison for killing a cyclist and then leaving the scene. Then they can dump his body at the border or whatever they know-nothings want to do with it.

An assault against a cyclist in GA. Stillwater Police Cite Juvenile Who Hit Cyclist with Lock Thrown from School Bus Not much a cyclist can do to avoid something like this, I’m glad they caught the perp through good police work.

That case of what was first reported as salmon cyclists turns out to be a deliberate assault that crossed the center line of the road. UPDATE: Car crosses centerline, hits and kills bikers I just don’t know what goes through the minds of some people, really. I hope that suitable charges are filed against the driver, like murder, assault with a deadly weapon, crimes against humanity, terrorism….

Another CA bike fatality. Bicyclist killed in North Hills hit-and-run and Hit and Run SUV Kills Bicycle Rider in North Hills also Bicyclist Killed in Valley Hit-and Run I think I might have something for my Sunday Wreck-Free-wrant from all these hit-and-run wrecks. This one was a hit-from-behind, using the protocols might have helped the cyclist to avoid this wreck. Getting the infrastructure right would have prevented it. Making drivers fear being accused of hit-and-run more than being caught at the scene of the wreck would help in getting the infrastructure right.

From the Great White North, an update on the cyclist injured and left for dead after a hit-and-run of his velomobile. Vaughan hit-and-run leaves man injured I linked a picture of the velomobile (bluevelo Cab Bike) in a previous post, and the thing is huge from a visual mass point of view. It’s about the same size as a microcar. This may have been deliberate on the part of the driver of the weapon vehicle, both the initial wreck and the hit-and-run.

Two years after his death the family of a cyclist killed by a drunk driver sues the driver’s insurance for a settlement. Cyclist’s family sues driver for death All I have to say is I have come to expect this behavior from insurance companies.

Infrastructure! news from the UK. Bow roundabout is better, but not by much, say cyclists Why do it right when for more money you can get it wrong and still be able to point out how much money you spend on cyclists?

Statistics from a OR hospital association. New Oregon Trauma System report reveals toll of road injuries One thing that troubles me about this report is the failure to segregate mountain bikes from road bikes in their statistics.

I don’t know how to classify this article from just north of Houston. Woodlands bike fatality puts focus on bicyclist safety

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

No change in Dad’s condition, and the Feed

I just talked to Dad and a nurse, and he’s pretty much stayed the same as he was yesterday. I can’t find out anything about his weight, but his hydration continues to be good and his spirit seems to be good (at least over the phone). So from the roller coaster we had at the beginning of the week we now have a steady level spot. Hopefully this steady level spot is leading up to a big climb and not a new drop…

I’m also holding steady. I still have a pain in my hip and leg that only gets better very slowly, the pain in my butt pays rent so I have to put up with her…

Up first is the 92 YO squirrel pedestrian that went back and forth in the bike lane before getting hit by a confused bike rider has died from her injuries. Coroner IDs 92-year-old El Cerrito woman killed when bicycle hit her and 92-Year-Old Woman Hit by Bicyclist Dies also Cyclist Says He Couldn’t Avoid Elderly Woman in Fatal Collision The cyclist reports from his hospital bed that the pedestrian changed direction or speed (not moving, walking, running) several times between the time he first saw her jaywalking and the time he locked his brakes to avoid hitting her, and that had she just maintained speed and direction there would have been no wreck as she would have been across the road or far enough that he could have just gone behind her and missed her completely. All I can say about this wreck is don’t hit the pedestrians. I know that sometimes that is easier said than done, but that should be right up there with “don’t get hit by cars”. Not hitting pedestrians is as dependent on their actions as it is on yours, but that doesn’t absolve anyone for hitting one.

Next, Seattle’s Finest crack a hit-and-run killing of a beloved cyclist last year. Suspect arrested in Seattle bicycle fatality and Arrest in Seattle hit and run that killed bicyclist also Seattle Police arrest driver in fatal hit and run of bicyclist This wreck was reported as a left cross, intersection protocols to prevent. Also someone needs to bitchslap Shark75 for his comments to the last link.

From CA, charges have been filed against a 17 YO who hit 3 cyclists on a sidewalk. Concord police recommend vehicular manslaughter charges for teen who hit, killed father and daughter with his SUV Can we all agree right now that drivers that kill people on or using the sidewalks deserve long prison sentences and to have motor vehicles treated like illegal weapons as far as they are concerned?

From CO, LEO are on the lookout for a VW van that hit-and-run a cyclist. Boulder police looking for VW van suspected in hit-and-run that injured bicyclist Right hook, intersection protocols to avoid. Large caliber weapons to prevent, or they could get the infrastructure fixed so that motor vehicles don’t take the same space as cyclists.

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike, a drunk almost kills a cyclist. Cyclist hurt in hit-and-run helped by fleeing driver’s family This was a hit-from-behind wreck with the cyclist in the turn lane (supposedly making a turn) so I don’t know what a cyclist could do to prevent this wreck. Unfortunately they can’t charge the driver because of the ridiculous levels of evidence needed to file those charges in FL.

A cyclist is hit moving out into the road. Cyclist injured in collision Another SWCC wreck that the cyclist can’t refute, this time because he’s a kid.

A wreck in Upstate NY. Holland Patent man injured when bicycle struck by car The driver invoked the universal get-out-of-jail-free card “I didn’t see him” because of the glare of the setting sun.

A buzz job by a bus nearly takes out a cyclist. Metrobus hits cyclist, WMATA brushes victim off Hit-and-run with injury, and they know the vehicle that did it, and nobody will file charges?

Infrastructure! from MD. The hazards of city bicycling and organ donations Note the author blames cyclists because drivers won’t look where they are going, or pay attention to road markings, or just generally not run into bicycles.

Bad infrastructure in Canuckistan causes a lawsuit. Riding an ‘unreasonable risk’: Injured cyclist Unmarked road hazards at night, and people in the comments are acting like it is the cyclist’s fault that the cyclist wrecked.

And infrastructure news from far west TX (closer to L.A. than to Dallas). Bicycling is good for El Pasoans, but El Paso ignores bicycles

LifeStyle from the Twin Cities. Weekend Cycling Events: 6.8.12 Have Fun!

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Dad is holding his own, and the Feed

Dad has stopped making progress, but at least this time it was just a stop in forward momentum, not a step back. He is still breathing well, and he is not losing any more weight. He hasn’t thrown up in several days and his hydration is good. So just a “pause” in his recovery, not a set back.

I’m having a similar pause in my recovery on this stupid hip muscle. I have some mobility in the morning, and I’m reasonably pain-free most of the day but I have to sit on an ice pack for at least 2 hours every night before taking my pain pill to get that. If I don’t take the pain pill or don’t sit on the ice pack, I wake up feeling like the truck hit the other side than the one it really hit, or on real bad days both sides…

Up first are several links sent to me by Ted Rogers (and I hope I spelled that name right) of BikingInLA. Hit-and-run driver arrested and Woman Charged with DUI and Child Endangerment I hope they find several books to throw at this driver. Hit-from-behind wreck, use the protocols to avoid. Get the infrastructure right to prevent, including stricter licensing standards and much looser guidelines making taking the license away much easier.

Another link from Ted. Los Olivos woman injures bicyclists and is charged for DUI AIR this wreck was a drunk driver that piled into a group of cyclists that had just pulled off the road to regroup on a night ride when the drunk driver just failed to negotiate the turn. I hope they recycle her car into bicycles, and if the guy in the coma doesn’t recover I hope they chain her to the steering wheel when they recycle the car.

Still in CA, a cyclist and a pedestrian are injured in a collision between the two, Woman, 92, Gravely Injured – Hit by Bicyclist on Arlington From the narrative of the wreck, the pedestrian was jaywalking and acting like a squirrel, changing direction twice before the collision. This is one reason why cyclists have to be more careful around pedestrians, because many peds are depending on hearing a car coming to let them know the way is clear, and a verbal warning from a cyclist just confuses them. That’s partially because cars have reduced the human configuration of the street to near nothing. Another reason why cyclists need to be careful around pedestrians is we can get hurt as bad as they do in a wreck. Of the 3 fatalities in San Francisco bike/ped wrecks in the last 3 years there were 2 pedestrians and one cyclist, and in the pedestrian fatality in Dallas 2 years ago the cyclist was also hospitalized.

One of the reasons why news about the bike wreck that killed a Boston College grad student is so slow in getting out is the weapon vehicle was a city bus. Cops mum on fatal bike-bus collision I hope they give this a complete and thorough investigation, but I’m afraid this will just be blamed on the cyclist no matter what really happened.

A wreck in CO maybe doesn’t involve a motor vehicle. Bicycle crash kills Minturn man What was this? A bike wreck that killed a rider wearing a helment(sic)? I thought helments(sic) were supposed to make you impervious to injury when no motor vehicles are involved. So, either this helmeted rider was hit by a motor vehicle that didn’t hit the bike, or helmets have severe limitations in their effectiveness… Which is something I have been saying for years even before I moved my blog to WordPress more than 4 years ago.

LEO in WI are still trying to figure out how to blame the cyclist for getting hit from behind. Bicycle rider dies after crash in Sheboygan County I’m betting on the SWSS on this one. Sorry to sound so down on LEO, but I see too many wrecks where the physical evidence and the “official” version of the wreck just do not match. Anyway, hit-from-behind protocol to avoid a similar wreck. Get the infrastructure right to prevent one. UPDATE: the cyclist died. Update: Cyclist Struck and Killed Near Howards Grove

A hit-and-run in AZ is still unsolved, but LEO know the vehicle so it may not be long until they find the driver. Police seek driver in hit and run crash Cue rant about hit and run drivers in 3,2,1…

A wreck with no mode given because the only witness was a kid and injured. Boy, 10, injured in Heath bike accident What caused the cyclist to flip over the handlebars has not been released by LEO. Possibly the kid was trying to emulate a trick he saw on TV or YouTube… I wish the cyclist a speedy recovery regardless.

A cyclist is injured in Upstate NY. Rushville bicyclist injured by hit and run driver Another cyclist that suffered serious injury in spite of wearing that magic foam hat! Someone needs to investigate why this happened!

Last wreck, a cyclist is injured in the Great White North. Cyclist struck in Vaughan A picture of the vehicle being ridden at the time of the wreck bluevelo – Cab-Bike As you can see, this is not a small bike. It would be a small car, but it’s totally people powered so it’s a really big bike.

Infrastructure! news from just north of the Suburbs of Hell. City Council Approves On-Street Cycling Plan Tea Party know-nothings tried to label the plan a Communist Plot as part of their imaginary Agenda 21 conspiracy to take over the world and force everyone to ride bikes. Fortunately the people in charge are not conspiracy nuts seeing Communists under the bed.

Bike infrastructure from VT. ‘Walk and Bike’ pedals pathways

Good infrastructure news from the Twin Cities. Sabo Is Back With Some Brand New Additions This restores a link over a serious barrier highway.

Serious infrastructure news from the UK. Cyclist project halted at London death junction after admission it is ‘beset by problems’ Sub-optimal infrastructure for the same price as doing it right the first time, no wonder the UK is such a leader in bicycling in Europe.

And those are all the links that gave me fits today. Also some that I was quite happy with.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Dad is sometimes here, sometimes there, and the Feed

Latest word on Dad is that they are having difficulty adjusting his antidepressants. With someone as frail as he is it’s a fine line between not enough and too much, and after over a month on the Not Enough side of the line they may have stepped over to the Too Much side where he’s disoriented and confused. This does not require us to make a trip to the hospital, but it is unnerving and disturbing.

Up first, a link to something a bit more pleasant than the usual fare for this blog, something that I have almost no experience with in the suburbs of Hell, being passed by another cyclist. Too Close for Comfort I have no personal experience with this because 1) there are no bike lanes in the Suburb of Hell, and 2) I almost never see another cyclist on the road much less get passed by one.

There were a lot of links to this wreck in Boston (where Bikeyface lives). How Many Dead Cyclists is Enough? and BC memorial planned for bicyclist also Cyclist Mourned, Mayor Vows ‘Serious Look’ At Notorious Stretch Of Road more ‘It’s Hard to Ride on Huntington, But We Do It Because We Have To’ another link The Perils of Bicycling in Boston I don’t have any links that describe the actual wreck other than a bus was involved and there may have been an intersection involved somehow and that there was something about merging lanes. The gist of everything I’m reading about this wreck tells me that the major cause of the wreck was infrastructure and people driving too fast to be safe around bicycles, and that there was no dedicated space for bicycles until about a mile or so past where the wreck took place.

A horrific bike wreck in IA. UPDATE: Car driver charged in bike-car crash The narrative says this was a hit-from-behind wreck, but the bike says otherwise. Look at how little damage was done to the back wheel of the bike, then look at the crushed roof of the weapon vehicle. The weapon vehicle had to going at a high rate of speed to get that kind of damage, but the rear wheel on the bike was only slightly tacoed and the front wheel seems ready to return to service, while there was little frame damage. There are inconsistencies in the damage to the car, also. Note the heavy windshield and roof damage that is almost centered on the car, but almost no damage to the front of the car. The wreck looks from the physical evidence like the cyclist was dropped from about 20 feet up on the windshield of the moving car while the bike tumbled beside the car. The problem is that is a physical impossibility if for no other reason that there is no place for the cyclist to have been dropped from. Anyway, working from the narrative, use hit-from-behind protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent a similar wreck. Alternate hypothesis would be to make the aliens put you back after the car goes past that point, not before… The initial narrative would make much more sense in this wreck, that the cyclist was hit in an intersection by a car that ran the stop sign at a high rate of speed, but it still doesn’t explain how the cyclist crushed the roof of the car without touching the front of the car. EDIT: I was sent a much larger picture of the wreck (thanks) and there is significant frame damage from the right side of the bike, and a light dent in the back part of the hood of the car. this is consistent with the initial narrative that the cyclist was hit in an intersection by a driver that was driving at a high rate of speed and ran the stop sign. It also now appears the driver was both drunk and on crack cocaine at the time of the wreck.

An OH cyclist is hit-from-behind while legally riding in the lane. Greenville bicyclist hit by pickup truck No charges have been filed because it was just a cyclist hit from behind while riding legally, no need to make life difficult for the driver…

More hit-and-run in LI outside NYC. Man on bike hurt in Valley Stream hit-and-run Since only one vehicle direction was given, I can’t say how to avoid, but I’m pretty sure that getting the infrastructure right would keep speeding cars away from bicycles in the first place.

A driver runs a stop sign and hits a cyclist with the right of way in Austin MN. Bicylist injured in collision with car Looking at the Google Street View of the wreck scene, the driver had a stop sign while the cyclists had a through street, but for some reason the driver thought the cyclists were stopping for her and she ran the slow one over… To avoid make drivers smarter, to prevent make drivers smarter. This was in an area that would be shared space under Dutch infrastructure, so what would be needed would be smarter drivers.

From CO, they found the vehicle and driver that ran over a cyclist walking his bike in a crosswalk. Andrew Simpson arrested in connection with fatal hit-and-run crash near DU campus, set to appear in court on Wednesday The driver was obviously drunk and waited until he sobered up before making himself available to LEO. I think my opinion on hit-and-run drivers that wait until they are sober before letting LEO know where they are has been quite well documented, and the auto recycling industry is behind me 100%

A salmon cyclist is hit in DE. Dover woman killed while pedaling bicycle on Route 13 north of Dover Other than the fact the cyclist was riding against traffic I can find no information about this wreck.

After a kid is hit riding a bike in GA, investigation of a bike wreck focuses on helmets rather than getting motor vehicles away from our children. Wreck raises helmet safety issue after child bicyclist suffers head injury I will need a helmet if I keep pounding my head against the desk over articles like this…

Aftermath of a wreck in OR. Driver who killed cyclist gets prison Not enough prison, and charges were reduced at the last minute, apparently at the insistence of the victim’s family.

Another wreck in the DC area, a cyclist is hit while crossing the GWP. Cyclist Struck, Injured on GW Parkway Apparently pedestrians and cyclists in crosswalks don’t have right of way in National Parks…

A MI wreck report that barely mentions that there was a wreck. Perry man dies in car-bike crash Actually there is more about the wreck but it’s behind a paywall. If you’re local to this paper send nasty notes to advertisers stating that even though their ads were visible the news they were supposed to support was not and you won’t be patronizing their business because of that.

More from MI with a combination wreck report and infrastructure article. Fred Meijer M-6 Trail crossing where cyclist was struck and killed will close Deadly bike infrastructure. Just peachy.

From the Great White North, several links about a man getting hit by a semi while riding a bicycle. Cyclist Hit by Transport Truck and Cyclist injured after tractor-trailer collision Hit-from-behind wreck on a 2 lane road with no shoulders, LEO are placing all the blame on the driver of the truck for failing to pass safely. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Infrastructure! news as drivers in IN are hitting more cyclists. Study: Traffic accidents involving bicycles on the rise

Infrastructure from the Twin Cities. Minneapolis Bicycling Counts Art Installations Art and infrastructure, and bicycle advocacy all in one neat package…

And picture of a bike in a mess from the Cycle Twin Cities blog. Twin Cities Bike Picture of the Day: 6.6.12 I think you might need to do more than just roll your pant leg up for that one.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

I need to put a ticker for Dad updates, and the Feed

The news on Dad changes every day, which inspired that headline. As soon as the team of doctors dealing with him knocks down one infection they find another that may have been there for weeks or even predated the wreck. Now they found an infection in his mouth that may have been the cause of his inability to taste anything except sweet and salty, they found an infection in his throat that may be the root of his swallowing issues, and his all-soup diet has restored enough strength that they are going to use a gastroscope to track down more upper GI infections that may have been causing his other stomach issues with solid food. And they are bringing in a Big Gun to deal with the depression, which they really should have started treating 6 years ago.

I’m still dealing with that stupid pulled or torn Gluteus Medius in my right hip. I’m good in the morning if I ice down my hip the night before and take a pain pill. The pain pill I’m on now is a combination of muscle relaxer and NSAID, that I’m only supposed to take at night. I’m told that if there are no serious side effects it might be on the market in 18 months. If this blog stops suddenly, don’t be looking for that particular pain pill anytime soon. During the day I take ibuprofen if the pain gets too bad.

I’m going to open with a link to a bicycle celebration in honor of the 8YO killed by a driver on drugs in IL. Bike ride honors boy killed riding in Skokie The kids and their parents were terrified of riding any kind of wheeled toys near a street much less on one. This event was to get kids back out of their houses and exercising again. If we allow motor vehicles to take over our streets so that only motor vehicles are safe there then we have lost everything. Streets are for people, not (just) for cars!

In LI outside NYC another cyclist is hit-and-run. Valley Stream Hit-and-run Driver Hurts Cyclist Not much information on this one, not even the location. When I first opened the link they said the cyclist was Hispanic, but now that information has been removed, possibly because the cyclist wasn’t Hispanic but just tanned. There are way too many hit-and-runs recently, in every state.

And another hit-and-run in NC. Raleigh police investigating another hit-and-run The mode of this wreck was a left cross, intersection protocols to avoid. Infrastructure would prevent a wreck like this, but cheap legal infrastructure that could be implemented would be a mandatory loss of vehicle (not just license) in any injury hit-and-run, and treating unlicensed drivers like they are in illegal possession of a deadly weapon.

And Dad took a turn for the worse earlier while I was doing this post, about 1 PM here. We had to rassle up a ride to the hospital, go there and then hang out until we could wrangle a ride home. It’s now after 10 PM, so I’m going to do the links tomorrow.

PSA, Opus

We went to see Dad yesterday, Wreck-free Sunday

For those wanting to know how Dad is doing we took time out of creating yesterday’s post to go visit Dad in the hospital and find out what’s what. He’s gaining weight, slowly. He’s recovering from the opportunistic infections he got because he was weakened by not eating. To be succinct, he is recovering slowly. The main barrier to his getting better more quickly is his poor state of nutrition, which was mostly due to his long-tern minor depression, which is something else they are trying to get a handle on. When all this stuff is under control, then he will be sent to long-term care to gain weight and get strong enough to return home. I foresee Dad being able to attend Thanksgiving dinner in TX this year.

As I have mentioned a few times in the past, I’m a big proponent of e-assist to maximise human range by letting the rider do what people do best, delivering steady low power outputs for a long time, while using assist to do things that motors and batteries do better than people, delivering bursts of high power efficiently. This is the crux of an extended argument that has been going on in the Yahoo group power assist for about a year and a half between John A. and Randy. Randy has been arguing about testing with pedalling, saying that it muddies the data by adding human power to the battery output. John has been saying exactly! you need to be testing an assist bike while pedalling because they are not scooters but bicycles with assist. I have been using the simulator at ebikes.ca and their less-expensive NineContinents hub motor coupled to the LiFeBatt P20 cells (because I have the detailed specs on those cells needed to plug into the simulator and also to estimate pack weight). I plugged in a standard weight of 330 pounds from the drop-down menu, and went back and forth between the various motors and wheel sizes available from their store (and controllers) to find the combination that would climb well without overheating but be pretty much all done at 20 MPH and 6% grade with between 100 and 150 Watts of human input. Climbing at 20 MPH with a touring load (the 330 pounds GVW I based the simulations on) takes more power than most humans are able to put out for more than a couple of minutes. The combination of the right motor and wheel size with the right battery pack will allow climbing without overheating and cruising on human power for flat to mildly rolling terrain. I’ll leave the selection of motor and wheel and battery pack to my readers (I have made the choice for my bike, but I don’t want to deny your fun of using the simulator). If the rider has access to grid power during the ride with the bike, battery, motor, and wheel I have selected you can make a lunch stop and recharge for about an hour and have about 300 miles of range in a single day’s ride with enough clothes to have an indefinite duration stay at your destination and also an indefinite number of days on the road, assuming access to laundry facilities (300 miles will take about 17 hours total, 15 hours on the bike). If you can ride 300 miles a day on an e-bike with all the clothes you need when you get where you need to go, why would you need a car?

PSA, Opus