More stuff I need

I’m laying out the pattern for a Coro-gami pannier set trying to make it big enough to take Gigi out camping with me, and I realize that to make this work for both groceries and camping stuff I’m going to need… more stuff!

Specifically I need 2 4’X8′ sheets of 10mm Coroplast to make this work. Color is not a big thing, red or yellow either one will work fine, white will not look as good but will also work fine (Gigi voted for red BTW to go with her orange-red frame paint). When I was doodling this originally I figured I could do the thing with one sheet of 10mm and still somehow manage to get 2 layers of cross grain laminations, but after doing the layout for just the outer layer and having to juggle the numbers several times to get it to fit on a 4’x8′ sheet (it can be done but I had to severely squish my 1970s vintage Dutch Army sleeping bag to make sure it would go) and only having a small bit left over to make a fender from or something. The inner layer would have to be done on a separate sheet of Coroplast.

Now as to why I’m using not just Coroplast but 2 layers of 10 mm Coroplast? Well it’s complicated. This is a project to let me expand my grocery shopping radius, but in order to do that I needed some way of getting ice cream home before it melted, or milk before it went bad. In other words I needed an insulated cooler on my bike. I also found a web site (since taken down) that describe how a man in either England or Australia made an ice chest from 2 layers of Coroplast laminated cross grain with a piece of aluminum foil between to act as a radiant barrier, and it worked as well as the store bought version for less than half the price. Then I saw where someone had built a house from Coroplast that was self-supporting just from the 4 walls and floor made from 12mm Coroplast, and I put 2 and 2 together and got pi so I went back and worked on it until I got 4 😉 The guy that made the cooler used 3M 77 contact adhesive on the foil and the coro to get a sturdy lamination.

Edit: I just checked the Coroplast web site and they don’t make the red or yellow 10 mm any more, just white black and bright blue. Gigi says no blue.

PSA, Opus

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Another weak Feed, and some observations

Another day with almost nothing in the Feed of any consequence for my readers, more bull riders, a motorcycle helmet law under debate in Guam, a guy that rides bike stunts killed in a car (some irony there, but nothing for the blog), and some stuff that I never did figure out why it was in the Feed.

Up first is a wreck in a Boise parking lot between a 11 YO and some kind of motor vehicle. 11-year-old child bicyclist injured in crash Initial reports indicate that the kid was weaving through stopped cars when they started moving and the kid was hit. Apparently neither one was paying attention but the guy with the deadly weapon should have been.

A NJ cyclist was killed crossing a major highway while pushing her bike. Ocean Township police say bicyclist killed on Route 35 crossed against traffic signal Looking at the Google Maps closeup there are 6 lanes of traffic to cross here with the half cloverleaf for making left turns off Rt 35 which indicates the period for the traffic signal isn’t very long, with the cyclist walking her bike across the intersection there probably wasn’t enough time to clear the intersection before traffic started moving again and if she got caught halfway with no median…

In Jolly Olde things are not so jolly, again. Cyclist injured in collision And now you know as much as I do about the wreck.

In Oz a cyclist training for the Ironman Triathlon World Championship isn’t going to make it this year. Triathlete Jessica Simpson injured in crash Dumped by Tony Romo and hit by a car all in the same year (and that was a joke BTW). This was a hit from behind crash the cyclist would have had no chance to avoid because of the sudden lane change by the driver.

I’m not sure exactly how to classify this report from the UK. Man injured after cyclist assault Since both of the participants were on foot with one pushing a bicycle on the footpath I can only assume that the “victim” said something derogatory about cyclists, or maybe the young woman that was also pushing a bicycle and the male cyclist took violent offense to what was said. That doesn’t excuse the assault, just makes it understandable.

And some new tech for cyclists to make navigating streets a little easier. A Heads-Up Map Display for iPhone-Using Bicyclists I don’t see this as actually being useful unless and until they can provide extra power to keep the GPS app going full time and can weather proof (and sweat proof) the iPhone in some way. But as a first try, I give them props.

And that’s all I have for you today. I know, it’s weak.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Cr@p from all over, and one the Feed missed

The Feed was not very “feedy” this morning. The content was 100% bicycle related but the articles were “ehh” as far as what they were worth. I did get a link to a local wreck back channel (and for all my back channel reporters, a hearty Hurrah! for your efforts, maybe some day I’ll be making enough money at this to send some your way), that was troubling.

Getting to the local story first, a man riding on a frontage road is hit and run and there is speculation that the wreck was intentional on the part of the driver. Driver ‘veered into’ cyclist on I-20 service road, DPS says Check that, the new headline doesn’t speculate at all. The comments section claimed the rider was in the center of the lane (a perfectly legal place for him to be BTW) but the DPS (TX State Troopers) report says he was hit on the shoulder of the road. The cyclist was an organ donor but aside from corneas I don’t think with that much blunt force trauma there will be anything worth harvesting. To have organs that can be used for transplant the donor has to be alive when he gets to the hospital, again except for corneas, and from what I understand McQuien died at the scene. As for how you can avoid ending up the same way, well the cyclist in this wreck used hit-from-behind avoidance protocol and still got fatally hit. The only way you could avoid the same situation would be by pure dumb luck. As for the driver who failed to control her WMD, I think manslaughter would be a fair charge. There is no indication at this time that the driver was trying to buzz the cyclist, so any kind of homicide charges would not be warranted. Now if the driver is found to have been buzzing the cyclist, then it becomes a homicide as the driver was intentionally placing the cyclist in jeopardy.

A report for ambulance chasers from a over-fed vulture. Pennsylvania Personal Injury Notice- bicyclist hit by pickup truck! For a left cross wreck like this one, a lawyer on the side of the cyclist is a good thing, but it should the the DA, not a personal injury lawyer. I think I mentioned this wreck on Friday or Saturday.

The rest of the Feed is, well “insipid” is a polite way to say it. There isn’t much substance in the rest of the articles, even the nice stories about good people. But they are bike stories and this blog strives to be the place on the internet of non-racing bike reporting, so here’s the rest of the Feed (holding nose).

More on the MI bike ride for a dead Marine’s efforts to make the world a better place than what he found it. Dead Marine honored with cross-state ride, scholarship The Witch on a Bicycle endorses this ride and its goals to make the world a better place through education. For all that that is worth.

My SF colleague from examiner.com has an article on PPE for cyclists using football as a metaphor. Vikings’ Brett Favre Schools San Francisco’s 49ers and Cyclists! I also tell my readers to wear helmets, because besides gloves they’re all the PPE we get, not because I think helmets are much good in a wreck. Mine saved my life, but in my wreck I didn’t hit my head on the truck that hit me, I went face first into the road from about 16 feet in the air after I bounced off the truck. The other 2 times I got hit, there was no such thing as bike helmets except for the leather hairnets that track cyclists sometimes wore. (Google “leather bicycle helmet”)

More on Joe Novotny and his wreck. Two months later, friends still mourn Minnesota-born cyclist killed by alleged drunk driver This just never ends, but it does get a little better after time.

Advice on how to not get hit by people throwing open their car doors. Biking near cars opens door to trouble Heed this advice, it might save your life.

“Advice” from the Emerald Isle on bike helmets. To wear or not to wear? To quote one of the “experts” in the article “I wear a helmet to protect myself against my own mistakes, but we know from international studies that helmets do not protect cyclists if they are hit by any vehicle going at any speed.” And there you have in a nutshell why I tell you my readers to wear helmets, because there is always the possibility that a hidden danger (wet leaves, loose sand or gravel, pavement seams) might cause a fall.

Final report is from Oz about a cyclist that even after a wreck did not stop cycle commuting. Nothing will stop this rider “I did fracture my elbow riding to work because I hit a gutter. I kept riding and sort of bleeding everywhere.” You have to admire a person that rides herself to the hospital with a broken arm.

And that’s it for today, I’m going for a bike ride.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Running at a record pace for the third month in a row, and the Feed

Wow! I was checking my blog stats this morning and that’s all I can say. I was running late last night and wasn’t showing much traffic when I posted yesterday, but after the post went live I had a torrent of traffic. I haven’t activated the counter that tells me how many of you are watching for new posts by e-mail, but it must be a large number of you. I feel honored that you wait on new posts and swarm the site when a new one goes up. It’s almost like when I go for a bike ride and people ask me if I’m Opus the Poet because they recognize me from my blog. This is the third month in a row that I have set new click records, and this time I still have 2 days left in the month to set it higher. You honor me again, I really don’t know what I do to deserve all this attention. 😉

First up because it’s the only wreck report from the North American continent is a wreck in MA. Man on bike struck by car, injured I don’t see how there could be any less information about this wreck, they never even identified the gender of the driver of the car, or even acknowledged the car had a driver. Nothing on the direction of travel or if the wreck was in the intersection or just in the general vicinity. Just a vague location and an approximate time.

Our only other wreck is an update on a 9/12 wreck in Guyana. Injured cyclist still critical This looks like a sever brain injury from the description in the report. I hope he recovers, because at this point it looks like, to quote an old SNL skit, you can give him some moss for his north side for Christmas. Still alive but no motor responses to stimuli, ugh. If there is still intelligence locked up inside that brain it won’t stay sane for long. I think Metallica did a song and video about someone in a condition like that.

A person that equates helmets with safety wants only pictures of bike riders with helmets on in the paper. Community Conversation: Press should promote helmet use by bicyclists with photos it prints Really, the newspaper should only print pictures with scenes that promote your propaganda? Can I get pictures of the victims of motor vehicle wrecks beside every car ad to go with that?

There is some push going on for a 3 foot passing law in SD. Safety cushion sought for bicycle riders I wish they wouldn’t call it a cushion but rather a margin, otherwise decent article.

One that I got back channel about enforcing the 3 foot law in FL. FSU Police officers teach motorists ‘three feet’ law I know it’s old news, but it proves that a 3 foot passing law can be enforced if LEO decide to enforce it.

And another report on yet another ghost bike. Project promotes bicyclists’ rights This “ghost bike” is just a discarded bike chained to a post, they didn’t even bother to paint it white. The idea is the ghost bike is an unridable bike that is left as a memorial to the fallen, some even have hubs that are welded solid, with the back wheel buried in concrete, but this seems to be more of a funerial offering that they keep in ridable condition except the fron wheen from the wrecked bike. I just don’t understand.

Final story is about a car-free day in Israel to honor a high holy day. Holy day or holiday? Thousands of people on bicycles celebrate a day without cars, and people are at all surprised when there is a spike in bike wrecks? Shouldn’t they be promoting the fact that the fatality rate drops to almost zilch on that day?

And that’s all I have today.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Bicycling as a lifestyle around the world, the Feed

Yes, today’s Feed was almost entirely lifestyle bicycle articles rather than bike wrecks, which I think is great! Less dead and broken cyclists but we are still getting the coverage in the media, good things instead of the usual “stuff”. Show positive things about riding bicycles as transportation instead of an endless parade of dead and injured cyclists.

Having said that, the first report we got was a cyclist possibly committing suicide by train. Bicyclist Killed by Train in Lakeland If this wasn’t suicide, then it was definitely “culling the herd”, as trains are big and noisy, the places where they intersect with roads are usually marked and there are noisy flashing signals and sometimes gates that drop down to block the road. There’s no excuse for getting hit by a train.

Another blind driver syndrome wreck in MA. Bicyclist hit by car has condition upgraded The driver, Patricia O’Neil, 68, of Centerville told police she had just turned onto Maria Avenue and did not see Boyle, when they collided.” Or what I’m now calling blind driver syndrome. If you can’t see a bicycle in the road or street, you have no business driving. There was no way to avoid this one as a cyclist because the reaction time was essentially zilch.

More on the driver turning into a group ride in Enn Zed. Cyclist critical after Tamaki Drive ‘carnage’ I still don’t understand what was going on here as we now know the driver had a stop sign and the cyclists were on the through road. This is another of the wrecks that a cyclist could not have avoided because of a lack of reaction time.

A bicycle on bicycle wreck victim disappears from the hospital. Woman seeks police help in tracing father who disappeared from GH This is a weird one, I wonder if they will find him nude and dead or dying in some gutter some place.

And Japan is trying to make up for their mistake in putting bicycles on some sidewalks back in 1978 as a temporary stop gap before installing bicycle lanes that were never done. Let’s Bike! As was pointed out in the article it has been more than 30 years since the temporary emergency measure was instituted and cyclists think that they have all the sidewalks along with pedestrians and drivers think they own all the roads, making getting the sidewalks back for pedestrians and cyclists back on the roads nearly impossible. Another problem is politicians that are not bike friendly except during election campaigns, when pretty much every candidate rides a flag-fluttering bicycle to advertise his or her “ordinariness.” I linked an article about Mama-san bikes (mamachari) that were on the brink of being outlawed until the Mama-sans spoke up in outrage a while back.

And that’s all I got tonight, now go ride a bike.

Billed @$.02, Opus

The usual mix of a Saturday Feed, plus a special report from the field

I finally got a back channel report that I can share with attribution. And it has links! I’ll save that ’til last. I also got the usual weak Saturday Feed with the usual high number of “lifestyle” stories.

Up first for no particular reason are multiple reports on a cyclist that hit a curb in the left turn lane and crashed, in FL. St. Petersburg bicyclist critically injured in fall and Bicyclist struck by car, seriously injured in Lealman which brings in the real cause of the injuries, a car that hit him after he fell. The cyclist was riding in the dark when he hit the curb, so lights might have been an issue, not a lack of installed lights because they would have mentioned that in the reports but a light that was not adequate to see by.

A police blotter report on a bike wreck in OR. On The Record: 9.25.09 Nothing of any information here except the bare fact of the wreck.

??? No charges in bizarre Naperville incident So the guy on the bicycle gets hit in the face with a broken bottle and ???

Shades of El Tour de Tucson in Enn Zed. Four injured when car ploughs into cyclists The driver turned into a group of 20 cyclists, injuring 4 including one severely, but no charges have been set.

Now the report from BikinginLA writer Ted Rogers:

Just wanted to give you a update on the status of several court cases in regarding Southern California bike collisions:

1. A memorial Ride of Silence will be held in honor of Joseph Novotny next Saturday, October 3, in Santa Clarita, CA, just north of Los Angeles. Marco Antonio Valencia, the driver who killed Novotny and injured four other cyclists, is scheduled for a hearing this Tuesday, Sept. 29; he’s facing one felony count of murder and gross vehicular manslaughter, six felony counts of DUI and four felony counts of leaving the scene of the accident, as well as a misdemeanor charge of driving with a suspended license due to two previous DUI convictions — despite being just 20 years old at the time of the accident.
Santa Clarita to honor fallen cyclist with silent ride and
Fatal crash driver had priors also
Man Charged with DUI and Murder of Bicyclist

2. Dr. Christopher Thompson, the physician accused of intentionally injuring two cyclists in L.A.’s Mandeville Canyon on July 4, 2008, is scheduled for trial on Oct. 6, 2009, with jury selection to begin Oct. 13 or 14; he’s charged with one felony count of reckless driving causing injury, two felony counts of battery with serious injury, two counts of causing great bodily injury while attempting to commit a felony, and one count of mayhem; he’s also charged with one count of misdemeanor reckless driving causing an injury for a separate incident in which he forced a cyclist off the road the previous March.
Road Rage Motorist vs. Cyclists on Mandeville Canyon Road and
Brentwood doctor pleads not guilty to injuring cyclists also
Mandeville Canyon Road Rage Doctor Trial Set for 9/17

3. Robert Sam Sanchez recently plead not guilty to all charges in the hit-and-run death of Rod Armas, as well as critically injuring Armas’ 14 year old son in Malibu, CA, near the completion of last June’s Grand Tour Double Century sponsored by the Los Angeles Wheelmen. Sanchez is charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence and failure to stop after an accident involving an injury.
Father and Son Grand Tour Dream Ends With Tragedy also
Oxnard driver arrested in cyclist’s death and
The definition of tragedy

4. Alejandro Hidalgo is facing charges in the April, 2009, hit-and-run death of Jesus Castillo, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Hidalgo is charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence, and driving under the influence with a blood alcohol content over .08.
Echo Park Ghost Rider and
The definition of tragedy

Thank you for helping me report the goings on in SoCal Ted.

Getting to the lifestyle reports we have a report from the suddenly bike friendly town of Columbia MO. A Free-Wheeling City I wish them luck dealing with the car-heads who think they own the roads.

A really great charity ride. Bike ride continues Marine’s work I don’t know how great the ride is obviously, but the charity is worthwhile.

And finally an article from Canadia that’s about ?? Caledon OPP?officer Jonathan Beckett talks bicycle safety There was something about a ratio of the cost of your lock to the cost of your bike, not sure what that’s about.

And that’s all I got today, have a nice weekend.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Back to the grind, here are your dead cyclists and some that are still kicking

Well that was a short rest, we have a Feed full of dead and injured cyclists and jurisprudence related to that subject, and all of it in North America (my UK readers can take a break, Jolly Olde remains jolly tonight).

And the state that kills more cyclists, outright or per capita, than any other in the US has added to that record this week. Cyclist killed in Lake County accident If y’all from FL don’t like it when I post that statement about FL killing more than any other state, then do something about it! You might start by getting something done about drivers that go off the roads to hit cyclists from behind like this wreck. Give me, no give cyclists a brake. pay attention to where you’re going and quit driving so fast. This rider was all the way off the legal portion of the road and was not impeding traffic in any way shape or form, and still got hit from behind and killed. This is no longer acceptable, it has never been acceptable. When you drive off the roads and kill someone it is a crime. I don’t know what kind of a crime to call it but when you are controlling a deadly WMD and you can’t keep it between the lines where it is moderately safe to put it and you kill someone where you are not supposed to be either in a bike lane or off the road completely on the shoulder, it is a crime and you should go to prison and you should never be allowed to drive again for the rest of your life should you ever be released from prison.

Another left cross in GA this time. Bicyclist injured in crash with car At this time I can’t say if the cyclist had enough time to avoid this wreck in any way. If there is time to avoid your wreck the best course to take is brake hard and turn right for either the left cross or the right hook.

Two reports on a Yuma cyclist killed in a head on crash. Cyclist killed in car collision and from my examiner.com colleague Yuma, AZ cyclist killed in car collision The rider was hit head on by a car that was passing a tractor. You know the things that pull plows etc. on farms? that kind of tractor. This was not an avoidable wreck for this cyclist who was the second hit in a single file line of cyclists, the first one suffered shoulder injuries and is expected to ride again. Doug Flynn probably was dead before he fell from the front of the car that hit him as his heart showed no response when paramedics hooked him up to a monitoring device. Again this was a driver not watching where she was going, and I’m not blaming the driver because of her gender I’m blaming the driver because she wasn’t watching where she was going and hit a group of cyclists head on and killed one of them.

Salina KS is a dangerous place to ride a bike this time of year as 4 wrecks are reported in a half hour spread on a single morning. Drivers Urged to Be Extra Cautious at Dawn and Dusk The old “I couldn’t see him!” excuse. If you can’t see, then slow down. None of the cyclists in this report were at fault but 2 went to the hospital because a driver was in too big a hurry to slow down when his or her vision was impaired by glare.

Amherst MA is having a time explaining new laws to drivers and cyclists as many are in collision. Police push bike safety, rules in wake of death A number of these bike v car wrecks are because cyclists run stop signs but there were also a number of dooring incidents. OK guys I keep saying this but apparently there are a lot of people not reading this blog, you have to slow and LOOK when you get to a stop sign and STOP if there is crossing traffic. I’m not going the get all high and mighty and tell you to stop at every stop sign, cars don’t even stop at every stop sign. There is a major intersection within walking distance of my house that is a 4-way stop and NOBODY stops there, except the school bus that has the video tape going to monitor the driver and the kids.

It’s an epidemic in Ottawa! Three Cyclists Injured in Crashes and 3 cyclists involved in separate accidents Four in KS and 3 more in ON, is there some kind of bug going around?

They finally got around to prosecuting the shared-ride driver that went off the road to hit a cyclist in Boise. ValleyRide van driver charged in Eagle cyclist’s death “Michael Perkins is accused of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter after a May 19 collision that killed Jim L. Chu of Eagle.” heck of a response time on that one, more than 4 months between the assault and the charges, but there will be no arrest on this one. They expect the guy to come in on his own to be booked and then he gets to go home and wait for his court date to be set. TANJ! And he is still getting paid to sit on his butt and do nothing by the bus company. TRANJ! (there really ain’t no justice)

People really liked this guy. Memorial to be held for Boulder cyclist killed last weekend I hope there is a ride for me when I get hit again. I don’t want to get hit again but I probably will be.

Even Olympian cyclists like to go for the occasional charity ride. Thorburn along for the ride: Stanford doctor, a two-time Olympian, cruising 525 miles for charity I fully endorse this ride. like that means anything 😉

Another article on helmet laws, with extra stupidity. The debate about helmet safety The author quotes a helmet manufacturer’s rep as saying that a helmet is pretty much useless in a car v bike wreck but then goes on to say that there should be helmet laws anyway. The Canadian standard is almost identical to the US test except with a cold weather test (I hope so anyway, most US bike helmets turn to either a solid hunk or crumble at temps routinely encountered in the Great White North during ice biking season.)

And that’s all I have today.

Billed @$.02, Opus

A respite from dead cyclists, the Feed

Except for another report on the cyclist that died because she couldn’t unclip from her pedals there was only one new death in today’s Feed. This is good as I hate seeing dead cyclists even virtual ones on the Internet. This job can be emotionally taxing, and days with few wrecks and fewer deaths ease up on that strain.

Getting to the new report on the old wreck, nothing really new here axcept the outlet. Calgary cyclist killed in Oregon She still failed to unclip and fell over into traffic directly in front of a car that hit her, that hasn’t changed. I have thought it over for the last few days and the only way to avoid a similar wreck and still use clipless pedals is to stop so that no matter which way you fall over you don’t fall in front of traffic, which when you think about it is usually impossible. But that’s the best I can come up with.

The new death was a red light runner in MI. Woman bicyclist seriously injured in collision with car in downtown Muskegon After the headline was posted the woman died from her injuries. Back channel tells me that the signal would frequently not detect and change for bicycles which may have lulled the cyclist who rode that route almost daily into ignoring the red light, but she still should have treated it as a stop sign and taken a look to make sure there was no traffic. Michigan isn’t quite that dead yet, recession not withstanding.

Another sidewalk rider is hit in MI. Bicyclist’s foot injured in accident Ride slow on sidewalks and be ready to stop because drivers are not looking for you.

In Portland OR a popular bike route is “traffic calmed” because cyclists were going too fast. New speed bumps on popular cemetery route: Necessarily dangerous? OK guys, blasting through funeral processions and swearing at mourners? Way to win friends and influence people.

Another person drags out the tired old argument for bicycle licenses and registration. Reader says bicycle riders must be regulated If you tax you have to tax at the same rate as you tax motor vehicles. If you tax an Escalade at $X then you have to tax my bicycle at $X/5000 because of the relative impact on the infrastructure.

And finally a ride that honors a long time cyclist who was a worker and planner for the ride. 40th annual Octoginta ride dedicated to late KU Athletic Director Bob Frederick

Now get out there and ride your bikes.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Why? And the Feed

OK it’s the day after my birthday and a time for some soul-searching. One of the big questions is “Why?” Why do I do this, why do so many people die from motor vehicle wrecks, pollution and the effects of obesity, and why do I continue to ride a bike nearly every day even after someone tried to kill me for riding a bike in the street?

Well in order of presentation, I do this because it needs to be done and I have the time and the resources to do it. As for the second question, I don’t know. Third question is easy, if I change my lifestyle because of a terrorist act to what the terrorist demanded, then the terrorist won. I don’t capitulate to terror.

Up first because I think it needs more attention is a request for information about a dead cyclist in Canadia. Police trying to identify cyclist killed in Niagara-on-the-Lake If anything in the description rings a bell that will help ID this fallen brother, please contact authorities at the number listed in the article.

Next is a story that just makes me ill. Coronado High School bicyclist seriously injured in accident and Police: Student won’t be charged in crash near Coronado High Another variation of the “I didn’t see him” defense, which is not a defense it is an admission of guilt. If you could not see the cyclist in front of you then you were driving too fast for conditions and should be ticketed at the very least.

Another report on the cyclist killed in Boulder CO this week Bicyclist killed in collision with car in north Boulder At this point 4 days later and after multiple reports there just isn’t anything more I can say.

For some reason most of the cyclists killed in London are women hit by semis while riding near intersections. Fitness instructor becomes eighth female cyclist killed by HGVs in London this year This is a strange statistic, 8 people killed in London by semis, and all of them were women. I would say this requires action, but from what I have been reading TfL (Transport for London) have been working on the issue since it continues a trend from 2006 of women cyclists being killed far out of proportion to their numbers on the roads, with a large percentage of those killed by HGV or what we call semis in the US.

From Oz a guy on an assist bike (not mentioned if it was ICE or electric) runs into the back of a parked bus. Bicycle rider killed in Quakers Hill collision OK aside from traveling too fast for conditions, if you run into the back of a parked vehicle that’s as big as a mini-bus then you are obviously either stupid or impaired (possibly both). The same rule for motor vehicles also applies to bicycles, don’t travel any faster than you can see to stop. Another way to phrase that is travel at such a speed that your stopping distance is less than your visual range, or that the distance you can see is greater than your stopping distance.

Also from Oz is this admonishment to cyclists. Bike riders need to know rules of road to avoid deaths Like most cyclists aren’t already drivers and have licenses.

A hit-and-run from nearly 20 years ago is remembered for the life it took, and the fact it was never solved. Ride Honors Bicyclists Killed In Crashes Yes, unsolved murders are vexing, and a child killed in the process is doubly so.

Another ride to remember a cyclist killed more recently in another state than the one mentioned in the last link. Cleveland: Memorial ride to honor woman killed on bicycle

A Canadian city installs some unusual infrastructure. Citywide repairs for troubled two-wheelers I can see how this would be nice, but unless the city has created a need for these by something they did or didn’t do I don’t see why they are necessary.

And my colleague in the SF branch of examiner.com has this information on riding in the Fall without falling. First Day of Fall 2009: Five essential fall cycling tips Good information.

And that’s the whole mess this morning.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Birthday greetings I have gotten

I got a photoshopped image of myself on a bike ride as a present for my birthday, which is today BTW. Thank You, I have survived for 51 trips around the sun as of today.

See? This is my other bike the Stratus with the tailbox I used for camping

You can see the comic strip character I was given my pagan name after a particular poem where I used a compare and contrast to our situations of being flightless. And I thank BikeJournal member Mary9671 for making this for me.

PSA Opus