Before I start today’s post I want to thank Big Johnny over on Drunk Cyclist For linking to my blog in his Blog Roll. That puts me in such rarified company as TPM Muckraker, Mad Blog Media, NYVeloCity, and a host of others. IOW I made the Big Time in Cycling Advocacy, and liberal politics.
Getting to the more normal subject matter for this blog, there was a memorial ride/walk in NYC for fallen cyclists and pedestrians, covered by two news outlets. Gathering Honors Cyclists and Pedestrians Killed on City Streets and Memorial Pays Tribute to Walkers, Bikers Killed by Cars As I have said before when this blog was hosted elsewhere, pedestrians are our natural allies, be nice to them. Remember them when commemorating those killed by automobile. Don’t run into them when you’re riding on the sidewalk, or they’re in the crosswalk.
Colorado gets an indoor velodrome, which gets touted as, among other things, a place to ride a bike without having to deal with cars and trucks (but they still make you wear a helmet). Colorado’s first indoor cycling track opens In all seriousness, track cycling is a great deal of fun, and you should give it a try sometime.
And speaking of helmets here is another anecdotal account of someone that could have used one. Do Bike Helmets Really Save Your Life? That was exactly the situation that bike helmets are designed for, falling off the bike. And don’t think that because you have been riding since the hobby horse was invented that you’re immune from falling. It can happen to anyone, especially if there are squirrels in the area. Those little suicidal bushy tailed rats will throw themselves into your front wheel to take you out, even if it kills them. I wear a full face helmet when I ride, because getting my face sewn back on once was once too many times. The actual sewing of the face I don’t remember, I think because I was either sedated or under general anesthesia for when they repaired my hip, but the healing up part I remember really well. About 5 days after they did it I was starting to come out from under all the heavy pain meds I had been on for all the other injuries I had; the leg broken in 2 places, the massive road rash, the compartment syndrome, the muscle death from the blunt force trauma… Anyway as I was coming out of all that sedation the stitches were starting to come out from where they had sewn up my face, which meant I was starting to heal up. Healing meant itching, and my face felt like someone had let their ant farm move into it, constant itching for days, but I wasn’t coherent enough to know what was going on yet, I was still a bit out of it. So I couldn’t tell people that my face itched like mad for several days.
From the UK is a report on Scotland that makes me envious. Aberdeenshire has the highest number of cyclists killed on the roads When I read the article I discovered that Scotland had 65 cyclists killed 2001-06. Texas had 48 cyclists killed in 2007 alone. I would love to have a problem of having an average of 13 cyclists killed per year, 48 was a recent low for TX. For the same period as the report for Scotland’s 65 dead cyclists, TX had 300, with the lowest annual total being 47. Have I mentioned that TX needs to do something about the large number of cyclists killed every year?
From Oz we have the Amy Gillett Foundation ride, with many current and former Tour de France riders participating. Road safety riders turn out to show solidarity Amy Gillett was a cyclist killed in a road wreck back in 2005 in Germany, and the foundation in her name is in the same business as my blog, trying to keep y’all from getting killed on the road. Check it out.
Also from Oz is something about a group with the curious acronym TAC. What the TAC does: $650m to fight road trauma I looked at all 40 pictures connected to the article, and I still don’t know what the letters stand for.
And that’s the Feed for today. Poke your head in periodically to see if I have any new updates coming in. I get this stuff at odd hours.
Billed @$.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 