I was a bit worried about what I would find here today, and the Feed

I had a message on my FB wall that my blog was “not available” this morning, which made me a bit worried about not being able to post anything today. Obviously whatever was wrong this morning has been fixed because you can see this post…

First up, is cycling contagious? Heart transplant patient gets on bike for first time a week after receiving new heart from cyclist killed in road accident If I didn’t already know that I’m going to get autopsied and cremated as the final step in the medication study I’m on (unless I outlast the end of the study) I would donate my organs upon death. I would like to see what kind of things would happen to someone who got my heart. I couldn’t of course because you have to be dead to donate a heart unless you can regenerate like Wolverine or Feral (comics characters who can survive having organs removed and regenerating new ones that then can be removed in turn). I’m not that good.

This guy has a similar story to mine, except with much worse access to transit. After story of Detroit man walking 21 miles a day goes viral, his life is about to change and Buying this guy a car was nice. Buying a mass transit system would be way nicer.

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: LA Weekly says LA driving is fun, LA doesn’t make the bike commuting list, and Lance lies again I had that link in yesterday’s Feed but at this point I’m just “Fuck Lance,” and don’t care.

One of my FB and Bikejournal.com friends went to court recently. Woman convicted of reckless driving, leaving scene after striking cyclist Obviously my friend was not the one convicted, he was the guy on crutches speaking to the judge.

Reporting like this really tweaks on me. Hitting cyclists could lead to felony charges under proposed bill This is a vulnerable users bill like the one that Gov. Goodhair vetoed here in TX back in 2009. It covers almost everyone not in a motor vehicle using the streets and roads, it just has a few cycle-specific paragraphs in with all the rest of the verbiage.

First of two FL links about dead cyclists. Family remembers cyclist

And the second link. Remembering a beloved Coral Gables cyclist This is a direct result of FL being the most deadliest state in the US (worse than the worst of the worst) to walk or ride a bike.

Things are a little better in MO, but not by much. “Ghost Bike” placed on SW Trafficway to memorialize cyclist struck and killed

And even in the UK they still have these, because bicycle death is pretty much universal in the anglophone world. Bike ride to be held to mark death of two fathers This death was particularly galling because the driver was trying to run from police for a traffic ticket.

And I’m out of links again.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

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A nice small Feed

One of the nice things about a small Feed is it limits the number of dead people I have to read about, and on a Sunday it’s even better because there are a bunch of lifestyle articles about bicycles so a small Feed means even fewer dead people.

They don’t have many roads in AK, but this guy got hit one one of them. Biker injured in Tudor accident From the pictures and the description it appears the rider may have been running a red light, or maybe the SUV was. But they blamed the bike for the wreck, anyway. So, don’t run red lights, if the light won’t change treat it like a stop sign and wait until traffic clears to ride through it.

Don’t ride drunk because even if you are in the right when you get hit you will be wrong… Bicyclist injured in car/bike collision The article doesn’t say what the mechanism of the wreck was, just that the cyclist was blamed because he was intoxicated. So, don’t drink and ride, or let anyone spill their beer on you while you eat. Smelling of an alcoholic beverage may make the wreck your fault.

A Nevada town can’t eliminate teen-agers but they can ban typical teen-age behavior. Silver City targets violators of skateboarding, bicycle ordinance Can’t ride your bike on the sidewalk, but it isn’t safe to ride it in the street. Hobson would be proud. And it isn’t legal to ride a skateboard in either venue.

The Beeb says there was a bike wreck and if the Beeb says it it has to be true. Cyclist badly hurt in hit-and-run So be looking for a black sports car that is missing a passenger side mirror…

Another RAAM story from the lifestyle section. Cyclists on 3,000-mile Race Across America to pass through lake area next week RAAM is fun to watch, but intermittent. Lots of waiting for a few minutes of excitement.

A guy a few years older than me rides a bike around Illinois. Challenges met, and just in time for birthday cake

And more on Governor Goodhair vetoing the safe passing bill. Governor slams door on cyclists I hope his hair asks for a divorce… 😉

And that’s all for today. It’s 93 Fahrenheit in the office right now, I would feel cooler riding my bike.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Governor Goodhair screws us all royally

I had to make this a separate post because I am so steamed about this. Governor slams door on cyclists and Safe-passing-for-bikes bill reportedly on Perry veto list also Other measures the governor killed or let live finally Perry vetoes of ethics, bike bills surprise some

Rick “Goodhair” Perry has a bodyguard of 4 Texas State Troopers that ride with him either MTB or on the rare occasion he ventures out on his road bike. If I had armed guards front and rear when I was riding I wouldn’t worry about getting passed too close (“buzzed”) when I was riding either. Perry needs to get out and ride the roads without his entourage and see what it is really like for those of us not surrounded by tons of steel and plastic. This was not a bicyclists’ bill, this bill would have protected everyone that was not in a car from those who are driving multi-ton WMDs disguised as transportation. It imposed no new requirements on drivers, they are already required to pass safely, it just makes it law that not hitting someone hard enough to knock them down is not the same as passing them safely, and ups the punishment for not making a safe pass on someone that has no armor.

PSA, Opus