That was certainly a busy day at the keyboard, and the Feed

I’m sure you noticed by now that I put up 3 posts yesterday. I didn’t do it to artificially inflate my post count (because I get nothing for post counts, or for word counts, or for just about everything I do on this site), but because I had things to say that had to be placed in separate posts with separate topics. The driver getting killed and the product review just would not fit with the Daily Feed reports, even though the driver dying was in the Feed. But what that did do was make me spend a long time in front of the keyboard. You can’t just blow all those words out onto the screen, they have to be crafted into sentences, carefully spelled, and typed by hand, all of which take time… along with breaks for food and going to the bathroom, and talking with other living beings (sometimes Mrs. the Poet, sometimes the cats) so I don’t lose my mind (it’s very small and easy to drop). And don’t worry, the cats haven’t talked back to me yet. Unfortunately Mrs. the Poet doesn’t talk back much either.

A wreck in NC. Cyclist carried up embankment after crashing off bridge on Sunday I’m still unsure how a cyclist can go through a guard rail without “help”, but there was no mention of other vehicles in the wreck. Given the location and the culture I have serious doubts that this was a single vehicle wreck.

A minor wreck with no other information in MA. Police Log: Injured Cyclist, Dedham Hit and Run The headline made it look like the bike wreck was the hit-and-run, but it was a simple fall for whatever reason.

Nit-and-run in MI. Police seek hit-and-run driver who injured bicyclist in Webster Township Sounds like a buzz job that went bad, as LEO indicated that the cyclist was not seriously injured as he(?) would be if the vehicle had made frontal contact at the speeds travelled on that road, so hit-from-behind protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent. Also someone needs to find the commenter Holmes1 and see what color his Ford Focus is.

A girl riding a purposely disabled e-assist bike wrecks when she tried to use the disconnected brakes. Girl injured on motorized bike on Erie’s east side The owner of the bike had told the rider that the bike was not safe, but the cyclist “knew better” and rode it anyway because she was older than the owner. I guess she’ll at least look to check if the brakes are hooked up the next time she rides a bike. This wreck demonstrates the need to do the ABC Quick Check when you ride.

A wreck that is directly attributable to missing infrastructure between TN and AR over the Mississippi River. Bicycler Killed On Interstate Coming From Work and In brief: Man killed while riding his bicycle on Miss. River bridge also Bicyclist killed in West Memphis collision The cyclist had no mass transit available on the weekend, and no dedicated bike/ped facilities over the river. There used to be a bike/ped bridge on the I55 bridge, I’m not sure if the dead cyclist was using this and just hadn’t reached the exit to get off the freeway. From the description of the wreck the cyclist was on the shoulder when a semi drifted over from the travel lane and clipped him. There was an unconfirmed report that the cyclist had to move close to the fog line because of a narrow shoulder and debris in that shoulder.

Opinion on a bike wreck in FL. Nabbing suspected burglar not worth two lives This is about the wreck where a suspect was fleeing from police and hit two cyclists after wrecking the vehicle first. The cyclists had zero chance to avoid this wreck as the car was completely out of control and coming from a direction where vehicles don’t normally come from.

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

Billed @$0.02, Opus

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Product review: Forte Metro tire

A little over a year ago I bought a set of Forte Metro tires in 26 X 1.5 (559*37). Since then I have managed to get a touch over 2K miles on them Here is my experience.

First is they had pretty good grip compared to the Primo Comets installed OEM on Blue, but a little more rolling resistance at recommended pressure. When pumped to the same pressure the Metros rolled a bit easier than the Comets. They also had a much better ride than the Comets at the recommended pressure, and a slightly better ride at the higher pressure recommended for the Comets.

They have an amazing wear characteristic compared to the Comets which had a bald strip down the center by 2K miles where the Metros are still showing good tread (and until a couple hundred miles ago still had the nubbies showing). Also the Metros have been ridden at a much higher GVW than the Comets were as I didn’t get the kitty litter buckets installed until a couple hundred miles before I installed the Metros.

So, in a nutshell compared to the OE Comets the Metros have better grip, slightly lower rolling resistance, better ride, and longer tread life. Not bad for a tire sold from the deep discount rack at Performance Bikes. I don’t know if the Metro is still available in this size, I had read that it was being discontinued in favor of a smaller width tire in the 559mm rim size. EDIT 10/01/2012: The 559-37 (26 x 1.5) size is available again, but I don’t know if it’s the same tire I bought. EDIT 4/30/2013: I now have about 3K miles and still not showing serious wear yet. All the nubbies are gone, but there is still lots of tread depth remaining and rolling resistance is much less than before.

PSA, Opus

I was neither paid nor provided product for this review, this was a spontaneous report on a product I had bought with my own money. Since I don’t get very much of that don’t expect WoaB to turn into Consumer Reports for bicycles.