Need more bidders

I mentioned a while back that I was donating 4 loaves of home made yeast bread to Earth Rhythms for the Winter SolstiCelebration. Well bidding is stalled at $12 for the batch, which is only $3 a loaf. The current winning bidder appears to have an automatic bid raising going on. The Buy Now price is $25, so to push the bidding past that I suggest bidding at either $23 or $24. Since I don’t get anything from this except a warm fuzzy I don’t care about the bid for myself, I just want Amy Martin’s organization to get as much as possible for the SolstiCelebrations both Winter and Summer versions. So bid high and bid often to get hand made yumminess from your favorite bicycle blogger. Delivery made to the DFW local area only to ensure freshness…

PSA (really it is a Public Service Announcement) Opus

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Sorry I’m late, the State Fair edition of the Feed

I’m running late again because I took a day off to check out the car show at the State Fair of Texas, eat a Corny Dog, some Fried Butter, and a Fried Peanut Butter Cup. I don’t ordinarily eat that much fried food, but hey, it’s the State Fair. As for why I was checking out cars, I like cars. I just don’t like the way most people use cars, it ain’t fun. I was trying to find a small car that was fun to drive with a manual transmission. And while I was at it I should have been seeking an honest politician and an insurance CEO that was familiar with trying to buy health insurance with a minimum wage job…

Up first because it’s local, a cyclist is found dead with a nearly pristine bicycle. Fort Worth cyclist dies on Parker County ride This one has really gotten to the fine people on Bikejournal.com. So much so that when I exercised my psychic powers and described the vehicle that hit Todd several were upset about it. For those of you reading my blog, Todd was hit by a black pickup truck with chrome “West Coast” style mirrors and will be found with the cyclist’s blood and hairs on the lower outside corner of the passenger side mirror. Unfortunately I didn’t get the make model or year. Psychic powers are like that sometimes.

Another hit-and-run in MI leaves a cyclist in bad shape. Separate crashes leave two critically injured in Clinton Township Nothing about the wreck beyond a bare description of the hit-and-run vehicle, because while that was going down somebody else hit a pedestrian and put him in bad shape. My opinions about hit-and-run drivers are severe and justified. The 10^th level of Hell is reserved for hit-and-run drivers, a place so bad that Dante was not allowed to view it even remotely, not to mention that it was probably unoccupied when he wrote Inferno.

More on the cyclist hit by a drunk driver in Philly. Briefly… CITY/REGION You have to scroll down the list as injured cyclists just don’t rank as high as unidentified bodies found outside shopping malls… this is the one where the driver that hit-and-run was drunk when apprehended by LEO.

Another SWSS in FL. Florida Highway Patrol report Oct. 3 The way the article is written up there is no other way I can respond to this. An 18 YO driver that hits a cyclist that suddenly swerved into the same lane, regardless of the age of the cyclist, makes this a case of SWSS.

After a major wreck a big bike rode goes on anyway, but weather changes plans. Day Two of MS ride canceled Yes things got a bit soggy here in TX over the weekend. Add the concern in the wake of a recent bike wreck that did not result in charges for running off the road and over a couple on a tandem bike and some decided that given the circumstances it would be better to err on the side of caution.

A report from the UK about a hit-and-run. Cyclist injured in Gloucester hit and run And you know as much as I do about the wreck, and apparently as much as the police do as well.

In a story from OZ a man that still had not completed his driver’s license at 21 after previous offenses gets a fine and another ban from driving after hitting a cyclist and causing a skull fracture. Man fined $750 after causing skull fracture I thought the helmets that Aussie cyclists were required to wear were supposed to prevent all head injury and collisions with cars.

A woman that ran a stop sign and hit a group of cyclists, causing severe injuries to some of them, had been fined for speeding just days before the wreck. Woman fined days before hitting cyclists OK just a suggestion, when you get a fine for bad driving you might want to do something about your driving, instead of running a stop sign and powing into a group of cyclists.

Other Enn Zed cyclists call for better driver behavior. Cycling Advocates Call For Stop To Cyclist-Bashing There is one cyclist for every 2 drivers, but in reality the numbers are closer to even as most cyclists sometimes have to drive, so why the hostility against cyclists in the news media or in comments sections of web articles?

A woman is killed on an MUP and people are trying to decide if it is a dog-related wreck, a bike wreck, or a 3 stooges related wreck. Herhold: Coming up with measured response to a tragedy This is an update on the woman killed by getting tangled up in the leash of a large dog on a run with his owner riding a bicycle to keep up.

The ride for Joe Novotny Remembering a fallen cyclist

Motorcyclists raise money for a bicycle rider injured in a bad wreck. Bikers raise funds for injured boy Just because they have motors rather than pedals doesn’t mean they don’t also have hearts. They may not be as healthy as ours but you can be sure their hearts are in the right place.

A wounded vet cycles to raise money for other wounded vets and other Marine Corps charities. Marine cycles for Semper Fi Fund The Witch on a Bicycle blog soundly endorses this charity. Like I’m going to argue with a Marine.

And last one today (tonight?) is an update on the ongoing battle over kids riding bicycles on a designated bike route that runs in front of the school. Family defies no-bike policy at Maple Avenue Middle School For those with short memories this was the school that had a State Trooper waiting when the kid and his mother rolled into the school driveway. Since the school sits on a state designated cycling route, it should be safe enough to ride on it to get to the school, and the school district also has zero business telling the parent how to get her kid to school so long as the kid gets to school on time.

And that’s all for now, more after I get some sleep.

BIlled @$.02, Opus

Lance still has a clavicle, and other “breaking” news

Yes, Lance still has a clavicle, Levi won the Gila, and the sun rose in the east. The ‘bots that do the searches for the Feed are so simple-minded that any story with the words “cyclist” and “injured” or “injury” will kick back a report to me containing the article. That’s good because that makes it less likely that I’ll miss something important, but it’s bad because I have to wade through a lot of garbage about racing bicycles in closed roads where they sometimes crash and get injured, and also because I get a lot of dead and injured motorcyclists in the Feed.

Getting to the exotic local and dangerous sport first, a MTB rider fell off his bike near Honolulu HI. Bicyclist injured after falling into ravine at Kaena Point Yeah, I don’t remember it but apparently that’s a pretty remote place even if it is inside the city limits of Honolulu. I lived over on the other side of the island from that when I lived there back in LBJ’s first term. I’m not going to make any judgment calls about mountain trails vs. roads full of cars, I’m just going to say “Be careful”.

Another wreck in Paradise, with much less information. Bicyclist critically hurt in bus collision No mode of wreck given, but getting hit with a bus has got to hurt at least as much as getting hit with a pickup truck. Get well soon cyclist.

A man was left crossed in MI and suffers facial injuries. Holland bicyclist struck, critically injured 17 YO driver was not looking for a bicycle when he made the left turn and plowed the cyclist. This is another one of the things you have to have your head on a swivel for when you approach any kind of intersection, including driveways and parking lot entrances.

This year’s ride for police killed in the line of duty in FL is motorized. Panama City Police Department Annual Charity Bike Ride Maybe they should do something about how dangerous it is to ride a bike in FL instead of changing their annual bicycle ride to a motorcycle ride. You are 3 times more likely to get killed riding a bicycle in FL than in TX, and TX is hardly a bike friendly state.

Another report on the bike safety “Palooza” in Misery (Missouri). Kids learn about bicycle safety in Nixa If it wasn’t for the different newspaper and pictures I would think this was written by the same person that wrote yesterday’s article about this event.

A story about a motorcycle wreck that could have just as easily been a bicycle wreck. Driver painting nails runs red light, kills cyclist: cops No that isn’t a misprint or typo, the driver was doing her nails and ran over a motorcyclist sitting at a red light.

The first story of the year about the Ride of Silence. Cyclists to motorists: Share the road From reading the comments on this one it seems that, number one drivers think cyclists should die for the crime of delaying drivers a few seconds, and two most drivers have no idea how roads are paid for.

Multiple articles about a man killed riding a time-trial race in Jolly Olde. Army major dies in A1 cycle race and Tributes to cyclist killed in crash and also Cyclist killed on A1 near St Neots Other than he was hit by a car while riding in a time trial there isn’t anything to read here. Oh yes he was hit by a Ford Ka. (?!)

Another cyclist dies from acute BMW poisoning in the UK. Cyclist killed in crash and from the Beebe Cyclist killed as car drives off Apparently someone saw the cyclist get hit and was so upset at the wreck that he had to be hospitalized.

And that is it for today, I have beans to cook and dinner to prepare.

Billed @$.02, Opus

Ain’t this just ducky?

The morning Feed was thick and heavy, but had a very poor signal to noise ratio. Seriously, I’m so tired of wading through huge articles here the only search word that brings it into my inbox was that somewhere along the line someone in the article had an injury, or got killed.

I don’t know how recall notices made it into my Feed, but as peanut butter items are mainstays of cyclist nutrition I thought you should get a full list, or as full a list as possible. Recalls: cookie dough products, oil-fired furnaces If you bake your cookies from commercial dough instead of making from scratch then you need to read this recall.

Speaking of recalls they have one in the Great White North for suspension forks. Consumer Product Recalls This is an extension of the recall on Rock Shox forks in the US, and can prevent you from doing your George Hincappie 2004 Paris Roubaix wreck impersonation. You remember that one, where the fork broke and poor George was left holding handlebars not actually connected to his bike?

Another update on that story about the British MTB rider that ran into a truck. Injured professional cyclist: Helmet broke before ride started Yes I know this was almost identical to the update from yesterday, the Murky does a lot of cut-and-paste “journalism” only with more typos in the second and third generation copies. I don’t know how they manage to do that. Time for my (near) daily rant on helmets. Helmets do not prevent wrecks, never have, never will, don’t protect much where they cover and don’t protect at all where they don’t cover, and are the only PPE we have. Wear your helmet, because it is the best we have.

And a wreck that I don’t understand why it hasn’t resulted in arrest and assault charges. Young cyclist hit by SUV still in critical condition If I’m reading the article right the kid was on the opposite side of the street from the SUV, which crossed the street and hit him and then dragged him over 100 feet. From what I understand the kid wasn’t even rolling on the bike and was stopped at the stop sign. Arrest the driver, put him in jail for a long time, take his SUV and crush it, and never let him drive again. This was nothing less than assault with a deadly weapon on a minor.

And that’s the morning Feed. I’ll keep an eye on the Feed and update this blog as soon as I see them, because I have a drum jam to attend tonight.

Billed @$.02, Opus

The smell of fresh-baked bread

Ummm. I’m smelling the fruits of my labors, the first loaf of home-made bread I have baked in over 25 years. I used to bake bread all the time, but after a job change, and a new daughter that required moving an additional 12 miles from where I worked I no longer had the time to bake bread.

Well, now I do have the time, as baking and blogging can be multi-tasked. I can mix up the dough and let it do a first rise while I’m getting set up, then punch it down and form loaves for the second rise as I read the Feed. This gives the loaves time to get nice and fluffy, then I put them in to bake while I’m composing the post for the blog, and I’m usually half way through the post when it’s time to pull the loaves from the oven and let them cool. Of course that makes it hard to concentrate on the nastiness of dead and injured cyclists with that delicious smell wafting through the house.

As an additional cost-cutting move I’m doing a starter culture for sourdough so I don’t have to keep buying yeast every week. My expenses other than electricity for the oven are minimal, a little salt, a little sugar, a tiny amount of vegetable shortening, water from the tap, flour, and for the first batch active yeast. My biggest ongoing expense is the flour. My son insists on buying organic whole-wheat flour, and to be honest it seems to make a really good loaf of bread, and is supposed to have more nutrients than white flour, along with beneficial fiber. Also the organic is supposed to be free of harmful chemicals from pesticides and herbicides. Whatever, it makes a tasty loaf of bread.

Billed @$.02, Opus