I need to take a break from reading webcomics, and the Feed

Getting a late start on this one because I started an archive binge over on Questionable Content last night that only ended when my face met the keyboard. I really needed that chuckle break badly, not just because of the bike links I have been reading, but because I don’t just read the bike links, I read entire online newspapers full of terrible things I can’t do anything about. Check that I can do something about them and it’s stuff I have been trained to do, but blowing things up isn’t legal outside of a declared war zone (and to be perfectly honest wasn’t entirely legal when and where I was doing it on the government’s dime). So you see the need for “outlets” that allow excess violence to be safely drained away. Seriously it’s either funny pages or the funny farm or worse. Laughing at drawings is much better.

A non-paywalled link to the cyclist hit by a truck on a group ride in FL is worse and weirder than I expected. SWFL bicyclist seriously injured after hit by a truck This was a buzz job from the opposite side of the street, and they don’t even give the driver a ticket for violating the 3-foot passing law? OK not a wreck the cyclist can avoid, and what is needed to prevent a similar wreck is LEO doing their (expletive, deleted) JOBS! This was a deliberate assault on the cyclist with a deadly weapon and “(p)olice cited the driver for improper passing“. Links like this are a big part of the reason I did the all-night webcomic archive binge.

A DE hit-and-run becomes a fatal hit-and-run 3 months after the fact. Cyclist injured in October Del. crash has died Apparently the truck was running a red light because the next hit was a vehicle going the same direction as the cyclist. This vehicle returned to the scene as soon as it could get turned around. No way to avoid this wreck by normal human cyclists, and changing the infrastructure won’t work since the driver ignored the built infrastructure.

One state over from the previous paragraph a cyclist is blamed for getting in a wreck while using a bike path as it was intended and signed to be used (no I am NOT fooling with you). Defying Evidence, Baltimore PD Wrongly Fault Bicyclist in Collision This was a terrible intersection design, but the cyclist was riding where the signs directed him to ride. In every instance I can think of official signage directing traffic movements overrides traffic laws to the contrary.

A cyclist speaks out against the assault of a cyclist in TN. Jacobi
: Cycling is important to Chattanooga’s future

How to escape a dysfunctional relationship with a bicycle. I Love Bikes

What looked like a cyclist killed in a hit-and-run turns out to be a staged crime scene to disguise a murder. Manhunt launched after ‘murder’ at Cornish tin mine Apparently the killer changed the victim’s clothing after death. LEO became suspicious when none of the victim’s bikes was missing.

Also in the UK an all-driver jury led by a driver judge finds a driver not-guilty of running a cyclist over from behind. Minibus driver found not guilty after death crash and Minibus driver cleared of killing cyclist Actually I’m quoting from one of the comments in the second link.

My daily link to BikingInLA. It’s getting scary out there — dogs attack Pasadena bike rider; driver flees police with bike dangling from car Yep, I just decided that instead of picking through the article for links I should just link the whole article and let you pick the links. Some links are duplicated because they are in the Feed from other sources.

Last link is from BikeyFace. FINDING MY VOICE Sometimes here in TX after a couple of miles in the heat the best you can do is a squeak, I’m strongly considering an Air Zound horn for the bike I ride everyday, after I build it of course.

And those were all the links about bicycles that gave me fits. If I didn’t limit myself to links about bicycles the blog post would never get done and would be gigabytes long.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

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Had to tie the cat down to keep him from getting blown away, and the Feed

Slight exaggeration in the headline, the cat is safely ensconced inside Casa de El Poeta riding out the high winds. The chairs on the back porch are somewhere down the block, or maybe in the next county. According to Weather Bug we have a steady wind of 15-20 MPH and the highest gust in the last 24 hours was 40 MPH sometime between 8 and 9 AM. The temperature is nice, about 45 or so and climbing. I’m not looking forward to grocery shopping this afternoon because of the wind. If one of those 40 MPH gusts hits while I’m rolling the shopping cart to the car we could see the groceries taking a trip without us.

This link has only slight significance for cyclists, but for the Significant Other of a cyclist this could be critical information. Pizza Perfume Is Here To Seduce That Mutant Turtle Jailbait You Long For For those who don’t understand the headline, the Mutant Turtles of the comic book, TV show, movie, and video game are teenage, therefore underage, therefore jailbait. Also they really, really liked pizza. I didn’t think it was very funny either. Cyclists like pizza (or just about anything that could be considered food and available in large quantities) so smelling like dinner could get your cyclist SO “in the mood”. Or it could put you on the menu as the entre. You might want to save the pizza perfume for the night before the double metric century ride rather than after.

Up first is a drunk cyclist running into a pole (bollard?) in the bike lane. UPDATED: Man injured in bicycle crash in critical condition If I’m reading correctly the cyclist either did not have any headlight or the headlight in use was strictly a “Seen By” rather than a “See By” light. This did not help matters any towards avoiding the pole. The description of the object did not jibe with the location of the object, why would there be a “fence post” in the shoulder of the road? Also, drunk. To avoid, don’t drink and ride, and use a bright headlight on the front of your bike to go with the bright pair of taillights on the back. Pair? Yes, one steady and one blinking and preferably stacked one above the other to avoid the appearance of a blinking turn signal. As far as infrastructure is concerned for this wreck I’m still of the opinion that a “fence post” should have been much further back from the road than the shoulder…

An OH killer driver throws the Universal Get Out Of Jail Free card and is absolved of running over a cyclist riding in front of her. Central Ohio woman acquitted in death of drunken bicycle rider in rear-end crash and Judge acquits driver in bicyclist’s death on East Side The cyclist did himself no favors by riding drunk, but still driving at a speed where you cannot avoid other vehicles on the road in front of you, lighted or not, places a driver at blame for a wreck. TANJ!

I don’t see how this driver can avoid being found guilty as he was already found guilty of the violation that caused the wreck. Dump truck driver due back in court in death of cyclist Left cross wreck, intersection protocols to avoid or to mitigate damages, and infrastructure to prevent.

A FL wreck is paywalled so I can’t tell you how to avoid or prevent the wreck. Bicyclist severely injured Wednesday in crash on Crayton Road I know it was a group ride and the victim was hit by a pickup truck, which implies there may have been some degree of aggression by the driver, but honestly I don’t know anything.

Moving on to Jolly Olde, a driver is found guilty of running over and crushing a cyclist and gets… a minor fine. Driver fined after collision with ‘Boris Bike’ cyclist The driver was fined a total of £620 for multiple offenses or $1022 US, and £200 of that was for having a defective vehicle.

And you might want to be extra careful around pedestrians on your bike in Japan. Court awards ¥47 million to family of fatal bicycling accident victim That’s about $458,000 in US money. And the cyclist is currently on probation for the criminal charges in the wreck.

Infrastructure! news from DC. BIKE EQUITY BILL INTRODUCED Since bike infrastructure projects are so cost-efficient they have a problem of not being “big enough” to qualify for Federal funding where a motor-vehicle-centric project of the same impact would. With the previous floor for this funding source being $50 Million and few projects even topping $5 Million well you can see the problem.

Moving on to OR we get this infrastructure news. Bike Lanes and Their Transformative Potential It is a known fact that making an area attractive to cyclists results in a gain to the bottom line as cyclists are a reliable source of return customers who buy smaller quantities but come back more often to spend more money than drivers do. My personal hypothesis on this is that since cyclist have an extra $10K/year for each car they replace with a bicycle they can spend more money locally.

Lots of infrastructure news from CA. First is from BikingInLA. City Council PLUM committee punts on My Figueroa; major sub-human scum steal an autistic girl’s e-bike

And more from CA. Sorry, L.A. Times, Bikes Are Not to Blame for Santa Monica Traffic

An “Are you kidding me?” moment from Jolly Olde. Pulling ad for showing cyclist without a helmet is daft

Even “advanced” countries sometimes drop the infrastructure ball. Trying to Take the Bicycle Seriously. Ish.

Last link, is this work meaningful? The #1 Feature of a Meaningless Job I have my opinion, but I would be interested in reading yours.

And those were all the links I found “interesting” today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Still in minor pain, and the Feed

Things are better on the injury front, and back, and bottom. The abrasions are starting to close up, my clavicle is level across the sternum, and the ribs only hurt when I spend a lot of time at the laptop, but frequent breaks and stretches take care of that. We are in day three of the deep freeze after having temperatures in the high 60s to low 70s over the weekend, and Texas is one of the states that has been hardest-hit by the flu, I’m sure because of our wonky hot-cold-hot-cold weather playing havoc with our immune systems. And speaking of wonky weather, some of my neighbors have had to mow their lawns twice already this year because their grass came out of dormancy and started growing during the warm snaps. The grass I planted back when we first moved in is drought-resistant and requires a much longer warm period before becoming active again so I start mowing later in the season and also don’t have to contend with my lawn “waking up” because of a mid-winter warm spell.

I’m going to open up with a link that looks like it was drawn from urbanist utopia porn. Cops Open Fire On Bronx Driver Who Failed To Yield To Pedestrian Turns out the driver was transporting drugs and drove his car at a cop on the sidewalk, and that’s why they shot at him, not because he almost hit a pedestrian in a crosswalk. This is what NYPD traffic enforcement is normally like. NYPD To UWS Pedestrians: Stop Getting Hit By Cars

A low-information report from CA. Cyclist injured in Santa Rosa hit-and-run crash People leaving comments noted this was close to if not at the signal-controlled crossing for a bike path where most drivers ignore the signal. If the driver in this case was one of those that habitually ignore this signal because they don’t ever see cars coming then a sting operation needs to be done at this intersection. But at the moment all I know about this wreck is a car hit a guy riding a bike and then left the scene. Not enough to give advice on how to avoid or prevent.

The driver that hit and injured a cyclist then left him to die in Canuckistan has been arrested. Arrest made in hit and run It seems likely the driver was intoxicated at the time of the wreck but will escape prosecution for that because of destruction of evidence by the driver’s liver.

In far West Canuckistan a cyclist is assaulted twice by a driver and gets blamed for the incident because he was making a legal left turn from the turn lane? Cyclist involved in road rage incident claims VPD ignored story The driver grabbed the cyclist on the road then got out of the vehicle to assault him a second time, this one caught on camera. In spite of the second assault being caught on camera from the driver getting out of the vehicle LEO refused to press charges. TANJ!

Hit-and-run in the Emerald Isle. Cyclist is killed after he is struck by motorist at roundabout I like the precision of the language used in the headline, he wasn’t hit by a car, he was hit by a driver with a car. I don’t like that the mere fact that the driver did not remain at the scene of the wreck is not sufficient to charge with hit-and-run.

Lots of Infrastructure! links today, starting with this one from the next county over from WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. Mansfield’s Planned Bike Lanes Part of a U.N.-Led Conspiracy, the Tea Party Says Umm, yeah, the UN is really worried about Mansfield cyclists getting around town without getting killed…

From AZ… Bike and pedestrian use of Downtown Links under review When I read the headline I was concerned but in the article I find the Downtown Links are bike/ped infrastructure designed to get people from the ‘burbs to jobs and shopping and to revitalize the Downtown area.

Good infrastructure news from SC. ‘Victory’ for those seeking a better Hwy 41 bridge bike-pedestrian path And the new design will cost $10 million less than previously budgeted? Who says bike/ped infrastructure costs too much to implement?

First link from CA. David Cortese wants more dead pedestrians in San Jose While I’m sure that the person mentioned doesn’t really want more dead pedestrians what he states he does want will inexorably to that result. And also dead cyclists and dead drivers and passengers. Death for everyone! (Not really)

Second link from CA, courtesy of BikingInLA. Guest Column: Bikes Have Rights™*

And those were all the links that gave me fits or otherwise about bicycles.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

I’m back from the Doctor and the news ain’t good, and the Feed

OK I went to my scheduled trip to the chiropractor today, and that little fall I took Sunday turns out to be not so “little”. I had dislocations in 2 ribs and my right clavicle. They would have eventually worked their way more or less back into position but getting them back sooner was better in the long run. Add that to the bleeding problem I had Sunday and yesterday and that was a very expensive bike ride, at least in pain if not in actual money. Fortunately nothing was actually broken, just not where it should have been. I knew something was “off” because my other shoulder hurt right behind the shoulder blade when I woke up this morning. Anywho, everything is back where it should be and all I have to deal with is the lingering inflammation from the injury that should clear up by morning.

Up first is a man getting killed about as far south as you can go and still be in Texas. Cyclist hit, killed and Cyclist killed was peddling to work I don’t know what he was peddling, but he was pedaling a bicycle. Intersection wreck and they aren’t blaming the cyclist in this one so maybe the driver of the weapon vehicle ran a red light and it was caught on a redlight camera. Intersection wreck, use the protocols to avoid or to mitigate injury, and get the infrastructure right to prevent, assuming the driver did not run the red light, because if that was the case no amount of infrastructure can “fix” this as the wreck would have been averted by simply using the existing infrastructure correctly.

And it seems Houston cops can’t be bothered to enforce a law that protects cyclists as a string of the exact kind of wrecks the law was enacted to prevent happens with zero tickets for breaking the law. Houston bike riders upset by cycling deaths No tickets for breaking the 3-foot passing law in the entire 6 months the law has been in effect? They are not looking very hard, I got passed within a foot 3 times in 7 miles Sunday.

More on a cyclist death in FL. Police: Driver was drunk in September crash that killed cyclist The cyclist had no chance of avoiding this wreck, I’m more and more certain every time more information is released about it. And since he was hit riding in a park designated as a place cyclists could train for long bike rides and races the only infrastructure that will help is the legal kind that takes bad drivers off the roads and away from motor vehicles.

Even cops can’t avoid people trying to run them over when they ride their bikes in UT. Las Vegas man arrested for evading police, nearly hitting bicycle cop with car OK this does not fall into any of the usual categories of wreck I cover, but I’m including this because, well because I wanted to. Ordinary cyclists would not be trying to pull over a car full of potheads.

And speaking of bike cops… MPD officer chooses bike over squad car during cold snap There are great tips about riding in extreme weather in this bit.

Sometimes even barrier protected bicycle infrastructure isn’t enough. Cyclist falls from overpass after car collides with jersey barrier Since the cyclist was parked and admiring the view when the barrier was hit and knocked him over the side I place this in the category of unavoidable wreck. And since it was on a barrier protected bike lane that pretty much excludes physical infrastructure from preventing another wreck like this. The only thing that could work would be legal infrastructure that takes away the cars of stoopid drivers, hopefully before they hurt someone.

Update on a CO wreck. Cyclist killed in hit-and-run crash near Windsor identified Still a hit-from-behind wreck, still use the protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Up in Canuckistan a cyclist is hit-and-run. Cyclist in critical condition in Calgary hospital after Sunday-morning suspected hit and run There were bits of the weapon vehicle left at the scene and an injured cyclist so they “suspect” a hit-and-run? Since this was in the middle of a bridge that pretty much moots hit-from-behind protocols because there was no escape route, infrastructure that protected cyclists behind a barrier would most likely prevent the wreck (see the Seattle story earlier in the post).

I don’t know how a cyclist is supposed to avoid this. Cyclist injured by flying shed roof OK first of all he wasn’t even riding when he got hit, he was trying to hide in the shelter of a bus stop. Second since the bus stop was virtually cleaned off the pad by the force of the impact it was good it hit him while he was in the shelter instead of out on the road.

Still in Jolly Olde, justice for a dead cyclist goes to the hands of a jury. Jurors retire over Southampton cyclist death crash verdict The jurors have to decide if driving while blind and killing someone is careless or dangerous or just one of those things. As there are no cyclists on the jury I suspect the driver will be “just one of those things”.

A SA cyclist is mugged for his bike and cell phone. Cyclist down but not out after mugging I guess this would be a bike-jacking?

Better news in another stolen bike story in this country. Velo Posse Recovers Stolen Bike. Thieves Beware Too bad they couldn’t let the thief “fall down” a few times as they already had him locked up when they recovered the bike.

Surprising news from Jolly Olde on the relative morbidity and mortality of bicycles and motor vehicles. Motorists and cyclists create army of walking wounded Actually motorists create the army, cyclists create a small platoon, and when it comes to mortality drivers are far better killers than cyclist both because the vehicles are more deadly, and because they spend more time on the road than cyclists. Last year the ratio was 253:1 in favor of the cyclists, while in the last 10 years the ratio was 145:1 in favor of the cyclists.

A little infrastructure news from MD. Maryland proposal increases distance between drivers, cyclists I like seeing laws that make hitting cyclists a crime, but I like seeing those laws enforced even better.

Some mixed good and not-so-good news from BikingInLA. Help a badly wounded rider get back on his feet, BAC Bikeways subcommittee minutes, and ride with Greg Laemmle

Last link is a funny. How To Be A Road Biker At least I think it was supposed to be funny, I have so many tabs and windows open right now that the video crashed repeatedly while I was trying to watch it, but other people who watched it thought it was amusing.

And those were all the links that made me laugh or cry or pitch a fit.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Oh my Gawd it HURTS! and the Feed

Remember that throwaway bit in yesterday’s post about the blood in my underwear? I can barely get from the office to the coffeepot now because of the pain “down there”. A wise man learns from other people’s mistakes, and I’m offering the chance for you to be a wise person. Don’t make the mistake I made about riding a bike that doesn’t fit properly. The handlebars would have been fine with a different saddle and wearing bike shorts, but not for a cruiser saddle and regular clothes. Seriously, this is painful, and I’m telling you as a guy that has pulled more than one of his own teeth without anesthesia. I don’t have any infection yet, but this is not good. So, yeah, friends don’t let friends ride a bike that doesn’t fit without bike shorts. Seriously, don’t do it.

And also don’t expect to see any pictures of this. Number one I can’t get a camera pointed at the spot without someone else doing the pointing, and two you guys can’t afford my fees for that kind of service. That would involve a picture of all the goods…

Up first is another CO hit-and-run. Bicyclist killed in hit-and-run crash near Windsor Narrative points to hit-from-behind, so protocols to avoid or to mitigate damages, and get the infrastructure right to prevent. And if you can’t squeeze Dutch-style infrastructure in and this has to be shared space, then make fatal hit-and-run similar to a drive-by shooting.

I thought this wreck was in the UK when I first filtered it. Police: Aberdeen cyclist dies of injuries suffered in crash with SUV; man hit from behind Well, with an 84 YO driver I can’t say for sure if we are dealing with an actual blind driver or just a driver that could not physically react to the sight of a cyclist in front of them until too late to avoid the collision. Anyway, protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Another link local to BikingInLA. Another drunken hit-and-run, another bike rider left to die in the street One the one hand this is why I’m glad there isn’t a more robust cycling culture here in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell, because I don’t have to report from local knowledge as often. On the other hand I don’t get to report on local infrastructure news all that often, either. But yeah, another drunk driver runs another cyclist over from behind, use the protocols to avoid or to mitigate the damages, and get the infrastructure right so the drunks are nowhere near the cyclists in the first place.

A low-information wreck report from Jamaica. Pedal cyclist killed on Hellshire main road The driver of the weapon vehicle transported the injured cyclist to hospital, which I’m not sure is a good or a bad thing. The good part is he didn’t hit-and-run, the bad thing is he destroyed most of the evidence in the wreck by not contacting authorities and letting them handle the situation and maintaining the geometry of the wreck. Hit-from-behind wreck so protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

A wreck in Oz. Cyclist, 20, injured in collision with station wagon “Preliminary indications are that the mountain bike drove through the intersection into the path of an oncoming vehicle and that is where they have collided.” Notice it’s never the car that violated the cyclist’s ROW, it’s always the cyclist that crossed the path of the oncoming vehicle. Anyway, intersection wreck, use the protocols to avoid or survive, and get the infrastructure right to prevent. And that pain is starting to make me cranky.

Another wreck in Oz, hidden among the other deaths. Police urge drivers to take care after five killed in horror 24 hours on Victoria’s roads Nothing on the wreck other than the cyclist was hit riding on a “tourist road” so nothing on how to avoid or reduce injury. I strongly suspect that getting the infrastructure right would have prevented the wreck however.

A bike on bike wreck in Enn Zed. Injured cyclist flown to hospital Touched wheels and went tail over teakettle and head-first into the road. Wrecks like this can’t be prevented with better infrastructure, only with better cyclists.

Lifestyle as a Ghost Bike is placed in SoCal. REGION: Memorial ride honors cyclist killed in crash

Infrastructure! news from Jolly Olde. Number of serious injuries to cyclists falls

Notice that as late as 1927 private motor vehicles were still not the dominant mode of traffic on London. Viral Video: Rare color video of London circa 1927 Notice that traffic seems to be busses (practically an endless stream of them), horse-drawn carts, bicycles, and pedestrians. Very few private motor vehicles are visible among the street scenes.

And those were all the links that gave me fits (or not) today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

My neck and butt hurt on a Wreck-Free (almost) Sunday

I finally finished making the modifications to my safety gear to bring it up to my needs and hopped on one of the BSO in the garage to go to the first Sunday morning service at my church in a very long time. Suffice it to say I have new imperative to create the crank-forward bike I was supposed to be creating. First time I stopped I fell over because I couldn’t reach the ground until I had leaned so far over I couldn’t catch myself. My reactions were all wrong after spending 6 years riding crank-forward bikes and 7 years riding recumbents before that. As I’m sure most of you know when a “normal” bicycle stops the rider has to get out of the seat to remain upright. Well for the past 13 years I haven’t been doing that to stop, all I had to do was take a foot off the pedal and place it on the ground. And as my right leg has been dominant I tended to lean to the left so I could start on my dominant leg. My first stop I did what I have been doing for 13 years, leaning to the left and putting out my left foot. First problem I wasn’t close enough to the ground for that to even touch, second problem is the left hip was the one that got broken and a whole bunch of muscles got damaged in the fixing and then removing the hardware after the broken bits healed up so it would not go as far out as the right leg would. So I was kinda waving the foot in mid-air trying to find something solid as I slowly keeled over and impacted the pavement when I stopped halfway through an intersection to let traffic going the other direction clear so I could continue.

A couple intersections further down I discovered another problem. Because the handlebars were so low I had a hard time craning my neck back hard enough to see past my helmet visor. Part of the problem is the handlebars are seriously too low for anyone but a X/C MTB racer, I think about an inch below the seat where I usually ride with handlebars anywhere from 4 to 5 inches above the seat. Basically my torso was nearly horizontal where I normally ride nearly vertical to slightly laid back (on in the case of the show bike from 2004 completely laid back). So I was moving my neck in the complete opposite way I have been riding for many, many years. Long story short I have a very sore neck that won’t stop complaining now that I’m bent over the keyboard (another position it doesn’t like to hold for more than a few minutes).

And another effect of the too-low handlebars is it rotated my pelvis forward on the seat. Instead of sitting on the broad soft cushions of the cruiser seat I bought just for this bike I’m sitting on the completely un-padded nose of the saddle, or even less cushioning than the seat I took off the bike. I got off the bike more than 2 hours ago and my backside is still complaining about the treatment I gave it this afternoon and morning. Add in the fact I rode in regular pants and underwear instead of bike shorts and not only were things compressed that don’t like getting compressed, but things got abraded that do not like being abraded.

Now you may ask why I don’t just adjust the handlebars up until all this nonsense stops? Well… Remember when I referred to this as a BSO back in the first paragraph? This BSO does not have standard hardware in many places, one in particular is the stem bolt. I tried 6mm and 5mm, one too big and the other too small, then tried the 7/32 SAE size that falls between the 2 and nothing fits where I can apply torque to the stem bolt to adjust the stem height. I might have to weld or epoxy a cheap SAE hex key into the bolt head so that I can apply torque to break the stem bolt loose from the rust and corrosion that is holding it in place. Or it could just be really tight, you know, and because I can’t find a hex key that fits the head I haven’t been able to move it. I’m thinking I have a torch and braze and solder, I might just flow some molten metal between the cheap SAE hex key I bought and the bolt head and apply torque that way, with the heat from the torch also loosening the bolt up a bit. I’ll have to pull the plastic light and reflector brackets off the bars and cover the brake and shifter cables with wet rags, but that would let me apply torque to the bolt.

Now about the (almost) in that headline. I was watching the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona yesterday after I got back from my trips to the nail spa and to Harbor Freight, and they had just thrown a red flag to clean up a serious wreck. And I mean SERIOUS WRECK. Well, watch for yourself Gidley & Malucelli Medical Update Yep, Gidley hit the back of that Ferrari at nearly 135 MPH closing speed, well over the 50 MPH barrier test the prototypes have to go through to get certified to run. The driver of the Ferrari (Malucelli) is shaken up but basically unhurt, Gidley has broken bones in his left side (either the arm or the leg, both are injured and they aren’t saying which one is broken as of the time I read the article), and broken vertebrae in his back, I’m assuming this was from the harness restraining his torso applying compressive forces as it tried to keep his face out of the instrument panel and steering wheel. This is not a design defect it is a geometric requirement of the way the harness has to go over the shoulders and meet at the lap belt. The restraining forces go from horizontal to stop the forward motion of the body to vertical after going over the shoulders to meet at the junction of the shoulder straps and lap belt. This is a requirement to apply the forces to a part of the body that has strong bones (shoulder girdle and pelvis) and still allow for the arms to move the steering wheel. They did cadaver tests back in the ’40s and ’50s but the rib cage just didn’t have the compression strength to resist the forces applied in a wreck. Sternum straps do move some of the forces off the shoulders and into the torso, but not very much, and certainly not enough to prevent back injury in a wreck like the one in the video. Because of the HANS device every driver in the series is required to wear before getting into the car on the race track neither driver had any kind of neck injury.

This is the first “big league” car race of the year in North America, of course I’m going to be watching it, but this year it ended while I was at church so I have no idea about who won, either overall or any of the classes.

So, that’s about all I have to say today.

Well, almost I just checked to see what was causing me pain “down there” and found blood-stained underwear. So, that’s another thing that having the handlebars down too low causes, abrasion injuries to the crotch when riding in regular clothing. If you want to ride in regular clothes the bike has to fit for that style of riding.

PSA, Opus

Been very busy, and the Feed

I’m getting started on this post way late. I went to get my toes done because I can’t get to some of the toes on my left foot because of the nerve damage so I have to get someone else to cut my toenails. The cheapest way to do this is to get a pedicure from the local nail spa. I get a “normal” pedi’ minus polish (so far) including the “Baby Foot Peel” and getting all my calluses buffed down (which tickles like you would not believe) and the foot and leg massage. The only problem I have is the edges of the nails are trimmed to prevent ingrown toenails and my toes are sore for a couple of days. Other effects are the rest of the foot feels wonderful to the touch for about a week because of the peel, and of course the leg feels much better for a couple of hours after the massage.

Up first was a difficult decision today but I think this deserves the lead paragraph. Update: Driver faces charge for August death of Debra Deem in Newport Beach and Charges filed against driver in bicyclist death Oopsie! You’re dead! And somehow that just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. There really needs to be something criminal that drivers who kill can be charged with when they kill because they violated a traffic law, but otherwise did not deliberately kill people.

Same state but more recent wreck. 78-year old Glendora bike rider dies after being taken off life support Left cross, intersection protocols mooted by no reaction time because of the geometry of the wreck, but infrastructure will prevent left crosses.

Still more on the death of a high-profile cyclist at the wheels of a LEO in CA. District Attorney’s Office To Review Deputy-Involved Crash That Killed Cyclist, Milton Everett Olin Jr. Nothing new in this article except being posted by a national news outlet.

More on another CA wreck. Cyclist Involved in Fatal Crash is Identified Still nothing on what happened, yet. LEO is sitting tight on this one.

From the former long-time champ at killing cyclists and pedestrians, the family of a DUI victim exercises their prerogative of suing the vendor that over-served the DUI driver. Family of Cyclist Killed Files Suit Against City of Lakeland

More on a NYC wreck. Bicyclist Killed by a Bus Rose Above Usual Anonymity of Deliverymen in the City The narrative is the cyclist was totally not at fault in this one as the bus driver pulled into the cyclist after he got past the bus. Not an avoidable wreck for the cyclist, Dutch quality infrastructure to prevent.

A cyclist is hit in the Great White North. Vernon cyclist injured in collision Classic SWSS narrative made worse by the ninja cyclist. The lack of visibility probably made it look like the cyclist rode into the car instead of being a gutter bunny getting buzzed. Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid or to mitigate damages, and infrastructure to prevent.

Another unavoidable wreck, this time in Jolly Olde. Cyclist injured after moped riders grab him and pull him down on Scunthorpe road This was no “accident”, this was a deliberate assault on a cyclist. Infrastructure would still prevent this assuming mopeds are not allowed to use it.

A wreck without witnesses is ruled to be a single-vehicle wreck. Cyclist’s death on ride ruled a tragic accident

Infrastructure! news from the UK. Mother of killed cyclist says motorists should be retested before getting licence back

Infrastructure news from the UK. Cyclists hope petition will go the distance

And those were all the links that gave me fits or otherwise. I have been watching the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona both on cable and on the computer, which has been fun except for the really bad wreck that happened just before I turned the TV on that sent 2 drivers to hospital.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Insert witty, funny, and/or ironic headline here, and the Feed

Yeah, I’m just not feeling “teh funny” today. Also not very ironic or witty either. Mostly what I’m feeling is cold. It got down to 16°F this morning which left Casa de El Poeta a bit on the chilly side as houses here are simply not designed for those kinds of temperatures, simply because we don’t see them that often and they never hang around. Back in the day they might have lasted a few days to a week, but these days we never see more than 2 or 3 days with temperatures that cold all day and rarely do we see them that cold in the mornings more than a couple days in a row. As I have pointed out before this is because The Beautiful Suburbs of Hell are at the fuzzy boundary between a coastal climate and a continental climate giving us some days of mid winter weather and some days of bitter cold winter weather. With Climate Change our summers are more continental than they used to be with longer periods of dry heat, but the coastal mild winters seem to be more the rule now than in the past. The problem is the rapid turnover between the two that we’re getting now as we get a couple days of really warm weather (highs in the 60-70F area) followed by a couple days of cold (lows in the teens-20s) and back to the warm weather again in a seemingly endless cycle.

Up first is more from CA about the bus/cyclist wreck. Foothill Transit bus and cyclist in fatal collision in Pomona I can’t tell which end of the bike took the brunt of the impact, but the condition of the bike does not lend itself to a hit-from-behind wreck scenario. But the impact site was described as being mid-block and there seems to be a substantial up-grade at the scene and the bike does not appear to have multiple gears so the cyclist could have been weaving back and forth trying to fight the grade on what appears to be a BMX bike. Long story short, I can’t figure out what happened here from the little data I have to work from. I would need either a clearer view of the scene, the bike and the bus, or access to the forward-facing camera recording on the bus.

Also from CA, the case of the deadly deputy has gone to the DA’s office. District Attorney’s office to review deputy-involved crash that killed cyclist The main question I want answered is how this guy got hit by the only LA County Sheriffs’ Department Cruiser without a working dash camera. Seriously, how did that happen? And I know the tin-foil hat brigade has been all over this wreck precisely because of that single fact, but just because the tin-foil hat guys are on it doesn’t mean there’s nothing there. And I’m sure a few Angelenos want to know why the tax dollars they gave to the county were not used to equip all the cruisers with dash cams.

Moving WAAAYYYY south to Oz, a cyclist is hit in an unusual wreck in Sydney. Cyclist injured in Sydney CBD after collison with truck Yep, the geometry of this wreck just does not make any sense. There is obvious impact damage to the truck on the driver’s side (for Oz) and slight damage to the front of the bike, and the truck was making a turning movement of some kind. The question is how did the cyclist hit the front of the truck on the driver’s side? And how did the cyclist do that much damage to the front of the truck while doing so little damage to the bike? I mean if you watch the video from the scene the bike has the handlebars twisted to the side and that’s about it, while the whole corner of the windshield is bashed in… OK I think I have it and it doesn’t look good for the truck driver. The cyclist was proceeding through the intersection and taking the lane because of traffic turning left in front of him (remember, ride on the left side of the road in Oz) and the truck driver tried to turn right immediately behind the left turning vehicle. The truck crossed the centerline just as the cyclist came through the intersection at a fairly high rate of knots because of either a down hill run or monster quads on the cyclist or a bit of both. The cyclist’s front wheel was almost past the truck but the handlebars got hit and then the cyclist’s body hit the truck. This happened because the truck driver ignored the presence of the cyclist behind the left turning vehicle when making his turn. When the video started the cyclist was already bare-chested so I don’t know if the cyclist was wearing hi-viz or some other color, not that I think it would have made a particle’s difference. If things are as I surmised then there was nothing the cyclist could have done to avoid this wreck as he was well past the point of no return before the truck moved across the centerline. Add his speed to whatever speed the truck was carrying into the intersection and you get a smashed truck windshield and injured cyclist. And if you look close you can see a headlight on the handlebars of the bike, but I don’t know that having that lit would have made any difference.

Still in Oz, a cyclist blown into a guardrail by a passing truck was refused aid by not just one but several people. Injured cyclist’s help cries ignored by passers by “As soon as I hit it I heard my bones break; I knew I was in trouble as I couldn’t breathe,” Ouch! At least in my wreck I don’t remember the sounds of my bones breaking on impact with the weapon vehicle, this has got to be a severe psychological trauma for the victim.

Horrors! as a teenager is hit in Enn Zed. Injured teen cyclist didn’t wear helmet Yes the horror was not that he was hit by a car and seriously injured, but that he was riding without a helmet! Somebody crossed the centerline on this one so they’re blaming the kid without a helmet (because who knows what else he could be capable of if he did that!)

Now to brighter happier stories starting with this bit on turning a 2 car garage into a 12 bike storage area. Short on storage space? Portlander builds her own bike hooks

Want a slow, but comfortable ride? Here’s your bike. ‘Couch bike’ attracts attention online With attractive pink cushions no less.

Political cartoon from Enn Zed that is pretty much universal to Anglophone countries. Cartoon: Two ways to separate cyclists from vehicles

Imagine if cars had the same problems as bicycles… If driving in Britain was like cycling in Britain

The other way to convert a bike to e-assist. 10 Mid Drive Kits for DIY Electric Bikes A little more work to connect the motor to the crank and takes a more complex controller to be 50 state legal in the US compared to hub motors, but when the road slants up it uses much less battery power than a hub motor.

And a good place to use an e-assist like the previous paragraph is commuting in Portland. Surprise! Typical Portland bike commute is shorter than driving

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

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Another grocery shopping day that I don’t have to play a mule, and the Feed

I’m waiting to see if there are any good links in the Feed today (that I haven’t already used) so a little commentary on life in general while I wait. Regular readers know that Blue was stolen back in August of 2013. What I haven’t been talking about is I haven’t had a bike I could ride without pain since then. All the bikes I have at my disposal are either too big or way too small (kids’ bikes). The other problem is my local source for small batches of steel tubing in bicycle diameters and wall thicknesses has ceased its retail operations and gone strictly to big batch orders that would be a 40-50 year supply for my operation and tie up thousands of dollars in metal inventory. This prevents me from building something on my own that would fit and be comfortable. Having tools and designs doesn’t help if I can’t get the materials to build them. And I find this to be incredibly frustrating, to have all these ideas floating around in my head and no way to make them real. The closest analogy I can think of is being perpetually pregnant, only without the bladder issues.

And segueing from pregnancy to the other problem I’m having is I’m gaining weight. I really need active transportation for two reasons, not the least of which is I need the exercise. There is a reason I don’t do the “e word” except for my rehab stuff, and that’s most of it is a waste of time and energy. I’m using the term “waste” in the sense of “for no purpose”, because if I’m going to be working that hard I want the work to be accomplishing something other than “exercise”. Most of the things I can think of to do already require some degree of fitness, they’re not things you do to get fit but they are activities that let you hold on to what fitness you already have. Also they require a degree of sociableness that I’m not comfortable with. Riding the bike was something I could do without having to participate in team sports, but it did require interacting with entitled idiots who think the world revolves around internal combustion engines. Also it was a “useful” form of exercise, I was moving my butt from A to B and frequently also various amounts of cargo so that things would get done. It was also my social outlet in that point B commonly involved interacting with other people. And it was cheap, after the initial costs were amortized. I could make trips similar in length to what people around here drive for the cost of a bottle of water and a PBJ sandwich which I would have needed to buy anyway just to keep alive. So basically for me the costs of riding a bike were nil.

First up, while I’m no great fan of JB I wasn’t a hater either until this. Justin Bieber Arrested For Alleged DUI And Drag Racing In Miami OK for someone like JB to get arrested for this in Miami where a minor pop singer from South America is treated like a foreign dignitary when he kills a cyclist while DUI tells me 2 things: first that he was so blitzed that he was a danger to himself and others, second that there has been a major change in LEO attitude in Dade County. I keep hearing rumors that Canada may deny him re-entry into the country if he tries to return. Bicycle related content: About 30-40% of cyclist fatalities involve weapon vehicle operators that are DUI.

Up close to WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell, a cyclist gets hit by a train (again). Bicyclist injured in collision with Metro rail car C’mon people, we have hashed and re-hashed this until it’s practically meat puree, not getting hit by a train is about the simplest traffic safety thing you can do. Trains can only be found on train tracks and normally have crossing guard systems or other warning devices. Granted this is light rail in the street, but there are still multiple warning systems that are supposed to keep you off the tracks when a train is coming. Add to that the size and noise of a train, even the light rail variety, and well it takes a rare combination of multiple lacks of awareness or a total disregard for what’s going on around you, or even a personal disregard for safety. Stay away from train tracks to avoid and be very careful and alert when staying away from the tracks proves impossible.

From the former most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike (pending confirmation) another cyclist is hit. Lakeland Man Charged in Bicyclist’s Death OK this is another one that needs to have the car crushed with the driver inside. Drunk and hit the cyclist on the wrong side of the road (salmon driving) and swerved into the cyclist. This isn’t manslaughter it’s murder… and the cyclist was riding exactly where the haters say cyclists should ride, in a park.

From WA, it seems bike paths are a bad place to have high-speed motorcycle chases. Man on stolen motorcycle killed on Renton trail while fleeing Washington State Patrol trooper Those things are full of obstacles that (rarely) kill and (much too often) injure people riding bicycles. Riding on one at high speed with a motorcycle ain’t gonna work out well.

A little south of that wreck a cyclist is injured by a driver who did not hang around. Bicyclist injured in hit-and-run in San Luis Obispo Another candidate for the car crusher. The damage and location of this wreck lead me to deduce the weapon vehicle hit the cyclist as the vehicle left the parking lot to the store and as the victim proceeded straight. So that would imply intersection protocols to avoid or to mitigate damages, infrastructure to prevent.

Nearby a cyclist is hit with a bus. Breaking news: Pomona cyclist killed in collision with Foothill Transit bus

Final outcome in the criminal charges against a driver that hit a cyclist waiting to turn in Jolly Olde. Widow: ‘No sentence can ever match my loss’ and Family to sue driver over death crash A year’s driving ban and a six month suspended sentence. And the driving ban will most likely not be enforced because I didn’t see anything about relinquishing the keys or the car. So effectively no punishment for killing a driver waiting to turn from the opposite lane.

A wreck in Oz results in charges against the driver. Engadine woman charged with injuring cyclist at Helensburgh Nothing on the mode because it was a hit-and-run and the cyclist could not remember what happened, but it looks like hit-from-behind so protocols to avoid and infrastructure to prevent. Along with crushing the weapon vehicle, of course. Nothing prevents a second hit-and-run quite as well as destroying the means of doing so.

They REALLY don’t like bike riders in Pakistan. 15 killed, Spaniard injured in attacks in Pak’s restive areas They killed 6 national police trying to get one bike rider. I don’t think the fact he was riding a bike was the issue, more that he was an infidel foreigner. I do know how to read for content.

A bit of e-assist bike news from the EU. Working Group Decides on Standardized E-bike Interfaces When I first started working with e-assist they couldn’t even settle on a common charge plug so that you could grab a few watt-hours on the road without having to pack a charger, now they have a common software interface with the BMS. That’s progress.

And “old people” who used to ride a lot still ride a lot when they get e-assist. E-Bikes Boosts Bike Usage Among Elderly Whodathunkit? People ride bikes when it doesn’t hurt.

Along the same lines people will take cruises to locales that are fun places to ride bikes and the they ride bikes. Luxury cruise and biking? Turns out it’s a surprisingly good combination for adventurous types

Last link, runners do more damage to bike trails than bikes do to hiking trails. Runners repair their damage to park’s bike trail

And those were all the links I could find about bicycles.

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Need to get the post out so I can go to meditation class tonight, and the Feed

For those who read the headlines I post on the blog, yes I really do meditate on a regular basis, usually daily. Some days I need it more than others, and the more I need it the harder it is for me to do, so regular classes to keep my meditation muscles strong. And before any one makes a comment, I know meditation does not require “muscles”, “muscles” is a metaphor for the ability to meditate easily. Usually this time of year isn’t too bad as the wrecks are mainly from the antipodes and have fewer details than the reports from this country. But there has been lots of coverage of the cyclist who got stuck in the windshield of the car in WI that has combined with other reports from earlier to make things not good for me emotionally. So back to meditation class for a refresher on getting Zen.

Up first I want to go back to Hawa’ii because it was a beautiful place to live, and back when I lived there (LBJ’s first term) it was also a nice place to ride a bike as a kid. Bicyclist killed in weekend traffic accident and Cyclist struck, killed by truck identified Hit-from-behind as the cyclist caught a pedal on the curb trying to avoid the truck. At this point it is unsure if the cyclist would have had the same problems without alcohol, but anyway, protocols to avoid and get the infrastructure right to prevent and that means either no passing cyclists on those narrow bridges (which will mean slowing down for maybe 3 seconds) or putting bike lanes on the outside of the guard rails in each direction. I know which will cost less to implement, but not which one is more likely.

A SWSS in GA. Cyclist killed in bus accident Hit-from-behind protocols to avoid or to mitigate damages, and get the infrastructure right to prevent. I would like to see the recordings from the forward-facing camera on the bus to see what really happened.

More on the cyclist killed by a train in CA. Teen cyclist killed by VTA train was en route to singing performance Remember to avoid a wreck like this stay off train tracks. That is especially true when there is a train coming.

Something that would get a cyclist tasered and thrown in jail in NYC. Video: Maverick NYC Cab Driver Drives On Sidewalk During Blizzard Pedestrians killed by cyclists in NYC since 2009, 0. Pedestrians killed in NYC by people driving since the start of the year 3411. But it’s “those cyclists” that get the tickets, yep.

And “those jaywalkers”, too. 84-Year-Old Jaywalker Could Get Jail While Deadly Drivers Get Off Scot-Free

More on a UK cyclist death by Buzz Job. Killed cyclist’s helmet “smashed to bits” by slow moving van, court hears If the helmet was “smashed to bits” then how can the van have been “slow moving”?

A little Infrastructure! news from CA. Gatto fires the next round in the battle against hit-and-run; hit-and-run victim Damian Kevitt to finish his ride in April The battle is still to make hit-and-run as bad or worse than hanging around with a DUI. I suggest making hit-and-run after drinking have the included offense of destruction of evidence.

A little more infrastructure-ish from CA. City CarShare to launch pilot electric bike share program For those days when you don’t need a car, but really don’t want to walk or pedal, either.

Infrastructure from Enn Zed. Cyclists get road to themselves If I’m reading this correctly, the road was too dangerous to share and the nearby bike path was completely blocked by construction so the road was closed to motor vehicles? Rad!

A little Lifestyle from FL. Show Commemorates Dead Cyclists With Reconstructed Bikes

I don’t know how to classify this link except “not a wreck”. Organic Transit plans Portland test drive event for solar/pedal-powered trike I think a better classification of this type of vehicle is “partially enclosed cargo trike”.

A little lifestyle from Brazil. Respect for the Cargo Bike Riders of Rio For those who are metric system-impaired “over 200 kg” is “about 500 pounds”.

And those were all the links about bicycles I could find today that I didn’t already put up earlier.

Billed @€0.02, Opus