I’m still trying to do multiple things at once, I’m doing a sermon for the Full Moon service this upcoming Sunday night, I’m working on multiple bikes in the design stage at the moment, that need to be finished for an art-bike show this summer, and right at the moment I have to do this blog posting. Add in the UnGodly combination of OCD and ADD and you get something that bears a strong resemblance to a 6 foot plucked chicken that has recently been decapitated. Yes, I am running back and forth, sometimes virtually, sometimes literally, trying to do everything at once and not getting much of anything done. BTW the bikes I’m working on are a 20″ Crank Forward bike that will fit on the bike racks on the local transit system, a FWD delta trike for a proposed Human Powered Drag Racing Association, and a compact LWB recumbent with rear suspension and 20″ wheels that will ride on the bike racks of the local transit system and also have electric assist. On top of that I need to finish the repairs on the 1983 Stratus that got bent during a drivetrain explosion back in 2007 that I finally got the bits to fix the frame damage. Don’t ask how you can get a drivetrain explosion on a bicycle without any form of assist, it just did and the rear derailler ended up stuck sideways through the rear wheel, which kinda tweaked the frame a bit.
What to put up first was a hard decision, but I decided the low-life that ran down a cyclist on Saturday night/Sunday morning but didn’t tell the police until Monday morning was deserving of top billing. Hit-and-Run Suspect Turns Self In and Suspect Arrested in Hit-and-Run Accident That Killed Encino Cyclist There’s a good possibility the driver waited until he was sobered up from a night of drinking before turning himself in to avoid DUI charges. I say handcuff him to the steering wheel of his precious Dodge and run them both through a shredder on live TV. Drunk drivers that kill deserve to die, and the cars destroyed as well.
Another story that has been making bike blogs buzz was the driver that right-hooked a cyclist in the bike lane and left the engine running as her SUV sat on top of the cyclist, with no charges being filed. Well she’s finally getting … a ticket. Driver Ticketed after Crash with Ellicott City Cyclist and 83-year-old driver ticketed in collision with bicyclist The feeling I’m getting from other bike blogs is that the tickets were way overdue, as the violations were self-evident that she failed to yield right of way to the vehicle in the right lane before turning, and that she failed to pass with a 3 foot clearance. I would think leaving a vehicle running while sitting on top of a human being should have resulted in some kind of criminal charge, too.
In GA a teacher is hit while riding to work. Schoolteacher hit by vehicle while riding bike to work more Sky View Elementary Teacher OK After Hit-and-Run They neglect to point out until deep in the first article that she wasn’t just hit, she was hit-and-run from behind. Physical evidence left at the scene will help provide the make and model of the car.
A bike wreck that could only happen in NYC, a cyclist is blown over by a helicopter. Cyclist Suing Helicopter Company After Gust Blows Him Over As for how to avoid a wreck like this, c’mon give me a break! A combination of a random gust and a landing helicopter next to the bike path with no barrier between the two is just not something a cyclist can see or compensate for.
Moving down the road from WoaB HQ in the suburbs of Hell, a Houston cyclist recovers from a really bad wreck. Cyclist Paralyzed After Accident This is apparently an infrastructure related wreck, in that the cyclist hit one of many large wooden posts set up to block cars from driving into a pic-nic area. The posts were built to yield when hit by a car but were effectively solid when hit by a fragile human body.
When a newspaper in IN posts an article about something state government did in AK, you know someone screwed up big time. State of Alaska removes roadside memorial for cyclist killed in Anchorage, deems it a hazard The “hazard” label is just ridiculous, as the bike was chained and locked to a steel lamp post. If something knocked the bike loose from that flying bike parts would be the least of the problems from that wreck. This was bicycle hate, pure and simple.
Back in SoCal the trial of a DUI driver that hit a cyclist head on while driving on the wrong side of the road gets under way. Valencia trial under way The driver was underage for consuming alcohol at the time of the wreck, which even for a first offense makes it a felony DUI, but since it was his 3rd it was automatically felony DUI. And how do you get your 3rd DUI a year before you’re old enough to drink?
Moving to Jolly Olde, more noise on that bill to make killing a pedestrian with a bicycle another crime, again from the Department of Redundancy Department. Is dangerous cycling a problem? The numbers given in the article indicate there is no problem with hordes of reckless cyclists knocking down pedestrians willy-nilly, but what gets left out is the penalties for drivers that kill cyclists and pedestrians. The vast majority of drivers that kill don’t even get a permanent ban on driving, most get less than a year, some as little as 30 days suspension of their licenses, plus court costs and a little community service.
From Oz we have an Infrastructure! story about the wet weather grip of the green paint used to mark bike areas on the roads. A gripping bike drama tracks Yarra
Still on infrastructure, but back in the US, the vitriolically anti-cycling NY Post latches on to the slight decline in the Census report on transportation as a something significant. City bike numbers unwheel As was pointed out deep in the article, the sample size of the Census survey was small and only counts the mode used most often, so if you worked someplace that didn’t allow wet bikes in the building and it rained 3 days out of 5 for the period covered by the survey then cycling would not be counted as your mode of transport.
A small town in PA adjusts to the new reality of a complete street. Local business owners have mixed reaction to road diet I feel that eventually businesses will discover that moving as many cars as possible past their stores won’t put people in their stores. People riding bicycles in safe lanes that allow them the time to look around instead of having to be hyper vigilant for cars about to kill them will increase their shopping at places that interest them. The only ones that will suffer are the businesses that cater only to cars and the people that drive them. IMNSHO those are the kinds of businesses that need to go away.
And in WI spring means people out on two wheels. Our View: Here come the bikes and motorcycles You would think with both Trek and Harley-Davidson being made in WI people would be nicer about bikes…
And that’s all the news that gives me fits today.
Billed @$0.02, Opus
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Witch on a Bicycle 
Not having fun right now, and the Feed
I’m still trying to do multiple things at once, I’m doing a sermon for the Full Moon service this upcoming Sunday night, I’m working on multiple bikes in the design stage at the moment, that need to be finished for an art-bike show this summer, and right at the moment I have to do this blog posting. Add in the UnGodly combination of OCD and ADD and you get something that bears a strong resemblance to a 6 foot plucked chicken that has recently been decapitated. Yes, I am running back and forth, sometimes virtually, sometimes literally, trying to do everything at once and not getting much of anything done. BTW the bikes I’m working on are a 20″ Crank Forward bike that will fit on the bike racks on the local transit system, a FWD delta trike for a proposed Human Powered Drag Racing Association, and a compact LWB recumbent with rear suspension and 20″ wheels that will ride on the bike racks of the local transit system and also have electric assist. On top of that I need to finish the repairs on the 1983 Stratus that got bent during a drivetrain explosion back in 2007 that I finally got the bits to fix the frame damage. Don’t ask how you can get a drivetrain explosion on a bicycle without any form of assist, it just did and the rear derailler ended up stuck sideways through the rear wheel, which kinda tweaked the frame a bit.
What to put up first was a hard decision, but I decided the low-life that ran down a cyclist on Saturday night/Sunday morning but didn’t tell the police until Monday morning was deserving of top billing. Hit-and-Run Suspect Turns Self In and Suspect Arrested in Hit-and-Run Accident That Killed Encino Cyclist There’s a good possibility the driver waited until he was sobered up from a night of drinking before turning himself in to avoid DUI charges. I say handcuff him to the steering wheel of his precious Dodge and run them both through a shredder on live TV. Drunk drivers that kill deserve to die, and the cars destroyed as well.
Another story that has been making bike blogs buzz was the driver that right-hooked a cyclist in the bike lane and left the engine running as her SUV sat on top of the cyclist, with no charges being filed. Well she’s finally getting … a ticket. Driver Ticketed after Crash with Ellicott City Cyclist and 83-year-old driver ticketed in collision with bicyclist The feeling I’m getting from other bike blogs is that the tickets were way overdue, as the violations were self-evident that she failed to yield right of way to the vehicle in the right lane before turning, and that she failed to pass with a 3 foot clearance. I would think leaving a vehicle running while sitting on top of a human being should have resulted in some kind of criminal charge, too.
In GA a teacher is hit while riding to work. Schoolteacher hit by vehicle while riding bike to work more Sky View Elementary Teacher OK After Hit-and-Run They neglect to point out until deep in the first article that she wasn’t just hit, she was hit-and-run from behind. Physical evidence left at the scene will help provide the make and model of the car.
A bike wreck that could only happen in NYC, a cyclist is blown over by a helicopter. Cyclist Suing Helicopter Company After Gust Blows Him Over As for how to avoid a wreck like this, c’mon give me a break! A combination of a random gust and a landing helicopter next to the bike path with no barrier between the two is just not something a cyclist can see or compensate for.
Moving down the road from WoaB HQ in the suburbs of Hell, a Houston cyclist recovers from a really bad wreck. Cyclist Paralyzed After Accident This is apparently an infrastructure related wreck, in that the cyclist hit one of many large wooden posts set up to block cars from driving into a pic-nic area. The posts were built to yield when hit by a car but were effectively solid when hit by a fragile human body.
When a newspaper in IN posts an article about something state government did in AK, you know someone screwed up big time. State of Alaska removes roadside memorial for cyclist killed in Anchorage, deems it a hazard The “hazard” label is just ridiculous, as the bike was chained and locked to a steel lamp post. If something knocked the bike loose from that flying bike parts would be the least of the problems from that wreck. This was bicycle hate, pure and simple.
Back in SoCal the trial of a DUI driver that hit a cyclist head on while driving on the wrong side of the road gets under way. Valencia trial under way The driver was underage for consuming alcohol at the time of the wreck, which even for a first offense makes it a felony DUI, but since it was his 3rd it was automatically felony DUI. And how do you get your 3rd DUI a year before you’re old enough to drink?
Moving to Jolly Olde, more noise on that bill to make killing a pedestrian with a bicycle another crime, again from the Department of Redundancy Department. Is dangerous cycling a problem? The numbers given in the article indicate there is no problem with hordes of reckless cyclists knocking down pedestrians willy-nilly, but what gets left out is the penalties for drivers that kill cyclists and pedestrians. The vast majority of drivers that kill don’t even get a permanent ban on driving, most get less than a year, some as little as 30 days suspension of their licenses, plus court costs and a little community service.
From Oz we have an Infrastructure! story about the wet weather grip of the green paint used to mark bike areas on the roads. A gripping bike drama tracks Yarra
Still on infrastructure, but back in the US, the vitriolically anti-cycling NY Post latches on to the slight decline in the Census report on transportation as a something significant. City bike numbers unwheel As was pointed out deep in the article, the sample size of the Census survey was small and only counts the mode used most often, so if you worked someplace that didn’t allow wet bikes in the building and it rained 3 days out of 5 for the period covered by the survey then cycling would not be counted as your mode of transport.
A small town in PA adjusts to the new reality of a complete street. Local business owners have mixed reaction to road diet I feel that eventually businesses will discover that moving as many cars as possible past their stores won’t put people in their stores. People riding bicycles in safe lanes that allow them the time to look around instead of having to be hyper vigilant for cars about to kill them will increase their shopping at places that interest them. The only ones that will suffer are the businesses that cater only to cars and the people that drive them. IMNSHO those are the kinds of businesses that need to go away.
And in WI spring means people out on two wheels. Our View: Here come the bikes and motorcycles You would think with both Trek and Harley-Davidson being made in WI people would be nicer about bikes…
And that’s all the news that gives me fits today.
Billed @$0.02, Opus
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Tagged anti-bike blatherings, can you top this, cycling life, cyclist injured, cyclist killed, Dead cyclists, Don't read the comments, ghost bikes, hit from behind, hit-and-run, infrastructure, Jolly Olde, lawyer blatherings, Oz, Something smells, stupid drivers, stupid politicians, updates, waste of human skin