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
Witch on a Bicycle 
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
Leave a comment
Posted in Daily Feed
Tagged anti-bike blatherings, blind driver syndrome, blind drivers, can you top this, cycling life, cyclist injured, dead cyclist, Don't read the comments, Enn Zed, hit from behind, hit-and-run, infrastructure, Jolly Olde, Left cross/right hook, Oz, rant, signs of the apocolypse, Something smells, stupid cyclist, stupid drivers, stupid LEO, stupid politicians, updates