Mrs. the Poet’s plane landed while I was drinking my morning coffee, and she managed to navigate the DART system satisfactorily so about noon today she walked in the door complaining I left the deadbolt locked. The deadbolt was locked because we live over black gumbo soil that has the highest expansion rate in the world and the foundation shifts every time it rains, leading to doors that won’t latch. The front door won’t latch but it will deadbolt so people can’t just walk in.
BTW, happy Back To The Future day. Now where are my hoverboard and flying car? And I want a Mr. Fusion to power my e-assist bike. Oh, yes, another thing, I downloaded the PDF instructions for that T-Bucket in Sunday’s WFS post and it comes with a quick-change rear as part of the kit, So all I need to do is build the frame and front axle, and cobble together some wheels to fit what I can find for either street tires or race tires.
The Feed today is infrastructure heavy and wreck light, thank [$DEITY]. I’m not a happy camper when I have to read too many wrecks.
Up first because hey, bike, and hey, web comic artist/author!
I'm going to start a new stoner metal project called Folding Recumbent Bike
— Mask of the Red Jeph (@jephjacques) October 21, 2015
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I know how this feels. A BIKE LIFE: CUSTOM FRAME BUILDER I prefer brazing over welding where that is a viable alternative, but I agree there’s nothing like TIG or acetyline welding a junction together.
Is this really from TX? Cyclist safety an issue in the Valley Given that the RGV has not shared the job “growth” of the rest of the state and that wages have been even worse there than the northern parts of the state it stands to reason there are more people riding bikes for transportation so they have more money to spend on things like rent and electricity. This is not just happening to “the poors” but has crept its way into the lower middle class (who are now technically part of “the poors”) and is working its way higher up the economic foodchain in south Texas. I have been reading FB reports of angry confrontations between RGV cyclists and rural drivers as the trend has been moving away from urban areas. Short term drivers and cyclists need to learn to get along, long term either the economy down there has to pick up, leading to more jobs at higher wages, or they are going to have to figure out how to move a bunch more bikes on the streets than they have been recently. I got this link 4 times in today’s Feed out of 5 pages in the folder.
We all know cycling can save the planet, did you know it can save your neighborhood too? L.A. Cycling Event Cited for Improving Air Quality It didn’t even take a full day, pollution on neighboring streets went down the day of the CicLAvia. “CicLAvia events should be held more frequently in the future,” suggested Shi Shu, the study’s lead investigator.
While we are talking about L.A. how about Our Daily Ted, part 1? Low Speed E-Bikes Given Bicycle Privileges This certainly bodes well for the e-assist market in CA.
And Our Daily Ted, part 2. Bicyclist killed in Compton collision
Another indictment of CA infrastructure. Walking in Southern California unsafe at any speed Interesting that the headline talks abot pedestrians, but the lead photo show cyclists? Because cyclists are orders of magnitude less dangerous to pedestrians than motor vehicles.
More on CA infrastructure. What a Bike-Crazy California Town Can Teach Us About Car-Free Cities
A case that WoaB has been following from the get-go (love that Texanism) finally winds down to the judicial conclusion. Driver sentenced to 15 years in hit-and-run with Atlanta cyclist They dropped the most serious of the charges in exchange for the guilty plea and a near-max sentence on the lesser charges.
More on the dog killed by a cyclist in WY. Army Veteran Wants Military Burial for Dog Shot by Cyclist I can certainly agree that as a combat veteran the dog deserves full militaty honors when he’s laid to rest.
Update on a handicapped cyclist in UT killed by a hit-and-run driver. Nevada man pleads guilty in hit-and-run death of Utah cyclist And we find out what murdering a cyclist is worth in UT “write a letter of apology to the victim’s family and pay a $2,500 court fee.” No jail time, no restitution, NADA. A letter and court costs. TANJ!
Getting back to infrastructure, Seattle rents a bike equipped with multiple accelerometers to assess the pave quality of their bike infrastructure. Seattle Is Improving Its Bike Trails With a Garage-Built ‘Frankenbike’ The bike has more computing power than the laptop I use to create this blog post. And that’s not counting the iPad on the handlebars.
SD is having infrastructure problems and a mild case of bikelash. My voice: City’s policy changes make bike riding safer The streets are safe, but they don’t feel safe so people don’t ride bikes on them.
More infrastructure news, this time from PDX. Bike lane blockage (and what you can do about it) Blocking a bike lane is way more dangerous than not having the bike lane in the first place. Without a bike lane you are in the lane constantly so drivers are not surprised by the sudden appearance of a bicycle in “their” lane. Blocking the bike lane requires merging into what may be fast-moving motor vehicle traffic from a very low speed because most of the time there is little to no warning that the lane will be closed ahead except how well you can see the obstruction.
This facility has only been open a few weeks, and they already have their first wreck. Woman walking near Tilikum Bridge suffers serious injuries in collision with bicycle rider The problem was identified about 2 days after the bridge opened, one would think experienced transportation professionals could have forseen this potential conflict. Like maybe installing a bigger, brighter signal on the bike side? The video linked in the article after I filtered the link shows just how little time the cyclist had to react, and the video camera had a much better sight line than the cyclist. This crossing needs a much larger signal and a stop bar so the cyclist knows where the crossing is. Unfortunately there is nothing much that can be done about the sight lines without major reconstruction of the station.
NYPD, this is why people hate you and shoot you in the streets. Good News: New York City Cyclists Have All But Achieved Vision Zero Look at how many people have been killed by bicycles compared to those killed by motor vehicles (although if they really wanted to get an honest comparison they would have used all motor vehicle victims, not just the ones that could have been killed by people riding bicycles), and ask yourself “Is this a good use of scarce police manpower?”
Also from Streetsblog is this story about wildly misplaced priorities. True Story: Ratings Agency Pins Dangerous Roads on Car-Free Young People Really? Blaming the kids who don’t drive for the crappy state of the roads? Are we blaming people living in Africa for the poor state of race relations in the US, too?
The entire state of Rhode Island is barely bigger than Dallas County…R.I.’s Bike Infrastructure a Disjointed Maze Dallas County 909 sq mi, Rhode Island 1,214 sq mi. So why are they having such a big problem with their infrastructure? You have less than half the population of Dallas fer cryin’ out loud.
Last link, a laser that projects a brilliant bicycle symbol against the road surface in front of your bike is now sold in the US. Blaze Laserlight now available in US Supposedly the idea is to give drivers a visual warning there is a bicycle in their blind spot.
And I’m all outta links and Mrs. the Poet is flaked out on the couch with the TV on, so this seems like the perfect time to stop.
Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet
Witch on a Bicycle 