I had a piece come off one of my few remaining teeth last night as I was putting the post to bed. It’s a very strange situation, half of the front of one of my incisors just fell off the tooth while I was eating a crunch candy bar. Notice the “crunch” is not capitalized because Mrs. the Poet bought generic candy at the Dollar Store rather than the name brand stuff. I don’t think the fact that the candy was not brand had anything to do with 1/4 of the tooth coming off. At the moment it isn’t uncomfortable except for the sharp edge that was left exposed to my lip and I have managed to only cut myself on that the once. But I have to remember that I have a broken tooth and bite and chew accordingly.
Early Christmas gift notice. Dumbing of Age: The Fifth Book Collection I love the title of the book. Seriously, love. And I want a physical paper book, not just the PDF. I’m old fashioned that way. I have a bunch of books on PDF but I also have many tons of paper books.
Up first is Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: A very sad weekend in bike racing, and bikesplaining from a windshield perspective That “windshield perspective” link is a riot.
Local but not actually bike related. Driver to face charges in West Dallas crash that killed 3 children How fast was he going to kill three people inside a light armored vehicle, and critcally injure another, while also inflicting injuries on the driver?
Another driver runs a stop sign hitting a cyclist on a through street and LEO can’t decide if the driver should be charged? Broomfield cyclist injured after car collision The one earlier was in CA this one is in CO. And to answer the question, the driver ran a stop sign and caused injury to a cyclist with the right of way, you better at least give a ticket, if not an assault charge.
Hit-and-run wreck in IL. UPDATE: Altamont Man Riding Bicycle Struck and Killed on Route 40 Monday Morning, Search for Driver That Left the Scene Continues Hit-from-behind wreck or maybe just a buzz job that killed because of aerodynamic effects causing the rider to get caught in the rear wheels.
Nice little infrastructure fight in NJ. Bike-Share Fight Brews in New Jersey You can ride your out-of-town bike-share bike but you can’t park it because, it ain’t our bike-share bike. Sure that will pass muster with the constitutional folks?
And since we are discussing NJ infrastructure why not NYC? The Official (Mostly Accurate) 2016 NYC Bike Map Is Here Looks nice, but most bike infrastructure looks nice when it’a lines on paper.
And since we are in NY here is the NYP take on the stupid rich guy riding a bike from L.A. to Vegas in less than 48 hours for a $1.2 million bet. Instagram playboy reveals why he’s risking his life for $600K OK 10 years ago this would not be that big a deal for me to do since I was riding 120 miles round trip to have lunch with a friend, but since having “Chris Christie” move in and be evicted from my neck I probably couldn’t do this in the time limit today.
How to fund cycling infrastructure while reducing carbon pollution. Comment of the Week: Raise the gas tax one penny per fatality If this had been in effect for last year using the 2013 fatalities there would be a $52.80/gal tax on gas last year, because it usually takes until August or September to get all the vulnerable users totalled up and then the tax would go into effect the next year after that. The tax would be $56.04 nationally this year. OR would have a $0.64/gallon tax based on the 2014 statistics while we in TX would be ponying an extra $5.26/gallon. Yes I think this would be an excellent way of reducing vulnerable user fatalities, both because drivers will be incentivized to not hit vulnerable users and as a way to build infrastructure that protects vulnerable users from motor vehicles.
Another infrastructure article from America’s Copenhagen. Guest article: Want safer streets? Ask for them I guess asking nicely would work, if there was an “Or else” with teeth attached to it.
More from the DIY DoT in Portland. What are all these unauthorized orange traffic cones telling us? They are telling us that the bike lanes are incomplete without something sticking up to keep drivers out of them.
And tragedy in Portland. Gresham police say 10-year-old boy’s death on Burnside is “horrible accident” This is one of those wrecks that human nature and bad infrastructure combine to create a situation with no winners.
Do you know the words before you click the link? The three words that mean so much when they come from a cyclist. “Also known as calling your pass.”
Wreck in West Canuckistan. Cyclist, 73, killed in collision with delivery truck in Victoria Truck wreck with a cyclist at an intersection, probably a right hook but since LEO aren’t telling anything we don’t know.
Infrastructure article from Jolly Olde. Chris Boardman dismisses Janet Street-Porter’s anti-cycle infrastructure article as shouting and stamping devoid of logic
Still in the UK, this guy did something extraordinary. Tamworth man completes gruelling 1,000 mile cycling challenge John o’Groats to Land’s End is comparable to riding from Texarcana to El Paso by way of Brownsville or Amarillo.
Another extraordinary achievement in Jolly Olde. Shanaze Reade sets Guinness World Record – for cycling Wall of Death Of course a track cyclist would be good for this. It’s like the world’s smallest and steepest banked velodrome.
Another link to that attempted murder in Oz. Police seize car in connection with hit and run that left cyclist in critical condition Get ‘im! grr!
Another wreck in Oz. UPDATE: Cyclist, 78, killed in freak accident If witness accounts are to be believed he may have had some kind of medical condition just prior to hitting the parked vehicle while riding uphill. Or in other words he wasn’t going fast enough to get injured from the impact, much less killed, so something must have happened before the wreck.
More wreck news from Oz. Police question man after cyclist killed in hit-and-run near Perth [facepalm] Seventy-three years old and “didn’t know” he hit anything.[/facepalm] And there was a second cyclist hit who didn’t even merit a separate article… More Three dead in Easter Monday crashes as weekend toll rises to four
Still in Oz. Loved ones remember man with passion for cycling and humour
Responding to the many injuries and the death in the pro peloton. The Elephant Not in the Room
The good news is getting on your bike will cause you to lose a few pounds. Middle-aged cycle commuters typically 4-5kg lighter than those who drive to work The bad news is unless you restrict calorie intake and really push your commutes long you probably won’t lose much past that initial loss. Of course you really don’t “need” to because your fat to lean ratio will be so improved.
Review of an e-assist bike. Testing the Bosch Edgerunner This is a mid-drive bike as opposed to the cheaper but less able hub motor bikes.
And while we are on e-assist, here is a cell comparison for the ones who make their own packs. Ebenezer Scrooge’s 18650 Ebike Battery Shopping Guide For 2016 If you make your own packs you can get bleeding edge performance for a season, maybe a year. That’s how much the technology is moving, still. It’s not the same as when I was doing experiments with SLA just as NiMH cells became cheaply available and you could get twice the capacity at half the weight, but there are still major advances out there in capacity and especially current delivery.
And it’s after 0400, I’m going to bed. Sorry Gigi for posting late again.
Billed @$0.02, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 