And sometimes its the writing

Amidst all the discussions of materials and gear ratios and training routines, we sometimes miss the ride itself. Bill Strickland of Bicycling Magazine captures one ride on one day. Kind of makes you want to stay in bed, though.–Corrie

The Kick

by Bill Strickland

Right at the first hint of rise Yozell happened to be on the front so he just stayed there tapping it out, steady and not yet hard, and Pearson was, I think, sort of floating off the side bobbing from front to middle and talking about something to someone. I didn’t want to be anywhere near them.

I haven’t been able to climb at all since I got back into town at the end of July. I covered the Giro and the Tour this year — doing it right with wine and long dinners — and before that I was following Lance around the world, with neither my bike nor the time to ride. For months I’ve been the last one up almost every hill every ride.

Read the rest of the story

ER doctor found guilty

Mandeville Canyon Road has garnered a good deal of attention recently. An ER doctor frustrated by cyclists on his commute home passed a pair and slammed on his brakes. The cyclists may have indeed yelled obscenities at the motorist but probably didn’t deserve assault with an deadly weapon–the car. The doctor has been found guilty and is awaiting sentencing in jail.

If you want to see what the route looks like and learn how to ride it correctly, take a look at this video made by LAB instructors.

more about “Mandeville Canyon – Motorist/Cyclist …“, posted with vodpod

Here is an account from cicle.org of the event:

Bikes and cars: Can we share the road?

Published November 2, 2009 by LA Times
By Christie Aschwanden

Mandeville Canyon Road is a two-lane, dead-end road that twists and climbs for six miles through a quiet Brentwood neighborhood. “It’s perfect for bicycling — like honey to bears,” says Jeffrey Courion, former public policy director for Velo Club La Grange, a bicycle touring and racing club.

But with just one lane in each direction and limited visibility in some places, the road has also become a flash point for conflicts between motorists and cyclists. “It’s a problem of people competing for space,” Courion says.

That competition turned ugly in July 2008. Brentwood doctor Christopher Thomas Thompson is currently facing trial in the L.A. County Superior Court, charged with four felony counts related to a collision with two bicyclists in Mandeville Canyon. The injured cyclists allege that Thompson deliberately pulled in front of them, then slammed on his brakes, intending to hurt them. Thompson’s attorney argues that the cyclists had yelled profanities at Thompson and were to blame for the accident.

Read More

Wireless Brake Light

I doubt a brake light in daylight would be visible on a bike. How about at night? Doubt anyone would recognize what that blinking light meant as opposed to the blinker you’re already running.–Corrie

A Brake Light for Your Bicycle : The Spooklight

by Bike Shop Girl

A wireless brake light for your bike, is it possible?  With technology from various industries touching the cycling world now it is exciting to see what new inventions will come about.

Dogs and Bikes

Dogs and Bikes just don’t mix. It’s bad enough that some owners think there animals are so well behaved that leash laws don’t apply to them or those 20ft leashes that provide no control what so ever. But ocassionally some smart guy thinks its a good idea to walk his dog by tieing the leash to his bike. Sounds like a good idea until the dog decides to chase a squirrel. I was almost garroted a few years ago by a nearly invisble leash right at throat height. Fortunately the leash hit the stem.

Restricting bike riders who exercise dogs on leashes

by Gene Bisbee at 08:23AM (PDT) on October 28, 2009  |  Permanent Link |  Cosmos

My neighbor likes to give his dog a nice run at the end of a leash while he rides his bicycle. I cringe a little bit when I see them take off like this, but they always return in one piece.

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20 years

I don’t usually follow all the stories about bike-car collisions. Mostly cyclists have been disatisfied with the sentences. This one might be more appropriate. Read about it at BikingBis.com.–Corrie

Woman gets 20 years for DUI hit & run in bicyclist’s death

by Gene Bisbee at 08:14AM (PDT) on October 29, 2009  |  Permanent Link |  Cosmos

A 32-year-old Florida woman with a history of alcohol abuse was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the death of a Pensacola man who was riding his bicycle to his night shift job in June.

Michael Steele, 25, was killed when the woman driving a GMC Yukon hit his bike from behind while she texted on her cellphone. Police said he rolled over the hood and landed about 40 feet away.

He was riding his bike to his job stocking shelves at the local Winn-Dixie so his wife could use the couple’s only car to drive to her job in the morning.

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Safety in Numbers

A new study out of Colorado suggests that the severity and number of cycling related injuries has increased with the number of cyclists. This contradicts what numberous studies in America and Euroepe have shown–there is safety in numbers.

The problem seems to be with the commuters. As gas prices climbed more folks turned to the bicycle for their commute to work. Not all of these were competent cyclists. Yes, they know how to ride, but they do not necessarily understand how to ride as vehicles in traffic.

Riding a bike in traffic is always going to be risky but knowing how to behave, having a few simple skills, and understadng the law as it applies to bikes in your community can help manage that risk.

Education is the key. But how do we convince that wrong-way cyclist that riding against traffic is not safe? How do we get him to take a class in vehicular cycling?

One solution is to build separate facilities like the new one on Scenic Drive. But these actually discourage vehicular cycling by reinforcing the attitude that bikes do not belong ont he road and by putting cyclists in unnecessary danger at intersection and transitions to and from the streets to the paths. Bike lanes do the same.

I had the privilege of doing a drive around the Port of Clarkston and Evans Road with Wand Keifer, Port Manager in late October. The good news? Public officials responsible for planning infrastructure and development like Wanda are thinking about bicycle/pedestrian access. The bad news is scarce dollars may be spent on expensive infrastructure that isn’t necessary. Do we really need more than smooth, wide shoulders out to Chief Timothy? I don’t think so. Compare the cost to putting up some signs, and repaving those shoulders so that they are smoothe and then sweeing them regularly to building a separated facility from Walla Walla CC in Clarkston to Timothy!

So, while those charged with planning for development and for improving healt encourage more commuting by bicycle, studies such as this one out of Colorado may push us toward expensive infrastructure and discourage more commuters from taking up the bicycle. The Chipman and Latah Trails are wonderful facilities and clearly better than the roadways they parallel if you are a cyclist. But that doesn’t mean cyclists should stick to thiese trails exclusively. What is really needed is more community support for education of both motorists and cyclists. And a penny-wise use of infrastructure dollars that make the public roads safer for people on foot and bike. –corrie

Good article

Phys Ed: Do More Bicyclists Lead to More Injuries?

By Gretchen Reynolds

 

New Boise Bicycling Laws

As you know Boise took the deaths of three cyclists in a short period last summer pretty seriously. A task force for cycling safety has just released its recommendations for Boise. They are based on the LAB’s 5 E’s and are pretty intersting. One controversy exists over the recommended three-foot passing law which says “where possible.” That’s a pretty good loophole. Read more about it from the Bike Nazi.–Corrie

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Will the Task Force result in improved Cycling Safety?

[This one's pretty big, so here's the "Executive Summary": The Cycling Safety Task Force released a report with recommendations on how to improve cycling safety here in Boise. I like their recommendations, but question whether there's the "political will" among those who can make a difference, to do more than give it "lip service."]

The city’s ad-hoc Cycling Safety Task Force has just released its final report.

It can be seen and/or downloaded HERE. (NOTE! It’s pretty big – 71 pages, 4+mb PDF file. In traditional government fashion, I counted 19 pages that are essentially blank.)

Read More

Breakheart Trail

Only the segment of the Camas Rail Line from Reubens down to CuldeSac can properly be called the Breakheart Trail, I suppose. That’s the part with all the dizzying trestles and dim tunnels that were featured in the Charles Bronson Film of the 60s.

But officials from the State of Idaho, Nez Perce County, Lewis County as well as the Nez Perce Tribe are talking about 66 miles of bike trail between Grangeville and Spalding Park. Bill Mannschreck is something of a driving force behind this effort and spearheads activities in Lewistion.

But it is the presence of the State of Idaho in the figures of Leo Hennessy and Joe Stegner that gives this discussion an air of possibility.

Leo Hennessy, Idaho Dept. of Parks and Recreation Non-motorized Trail Manager, held a meeting at the Nez Perce County Commissioners’ Office on Oct. 29, 2009.  He has looked done some research on the legal questions involved in acquiring the line. Apparently the line’s owner has both filed for abandonment and for rail banking. Neither process has been completed.

Deanna English of Grangeville has been working on the trail segment from Cottonwood to Grangeville for two years. She says if they could get the go ahead from the owners, that segment would be ready in a short time. She’d like pavement but recognizes that a gravel surface is likely to be the first stage. She notes that there is resistance to the idea from landowners along the trail. Fears of vandalism always arise in these Rails-to-Trails efforts. Leo says nationally those fears are seldom realized. Nevertheless, the Idaho County Commissioners are taking a neutral posture on the trail at this time.

Lynn Moss of Lewiston Parks and Rec promotes the idea of a letter of understanding from the counties, cities and the stae to take responsibility for maintenance of the trail should it be successfully railbanked.

State Senator Joe Stegner suggested that the proper way to approach this is to protect the entire corridor from Garngeville to Spalding as one entity. In light of that he argued that it should be the state that files for Railbanking. Stegner points out that the purpose of the railbanking law is to preserve right-0f-way for national security.

Leo Hennessey will pursue the possibility of his office filing for railbankikng. English continued to point out that it all depends upon bringing the owner “to the table.”

It’s pretty exciting to see people in a position to actually make this happen take an interest. The club’s involvement right now is pretty much just to be a public group advocacy group.

Read More about the Reubens-CuldeSac section and railbanking here.

Track Stand?

You see the BMXer’s hoping up on rails and standing dead still, but why would a roady like me need to be able to stand still on a bike? This skill is not just for show offs. It takes practice but every time you ride on city streets, you get multiple opportunities to practice the track stand.

If you live in Idaho it is even more relevant. Roll up to that stop light slowly anticipating the light changing to green and as it does you are in perfect position to put pressure to the pedal and keep rolling.

But what if the light doesn’t turn? the law generally says you must put your foot down. That means when the light does change you are perhaps int he wrong gear, wobbly getting started, and distracted while trying to click back in. In Idaho, of course, you needn’t do all of that. If you’re at a stop sign, you must stop, check both directions and you may proceed. At a stoplight, you must make a full stop before proceeding.

But how about a track stand? I can’t really do that, but a roll to the stoplight and a momentary track stand might be enough time for the light to change.

Any way, here are a couple of tips in this short video.–Corrie

Mow your lawn

All summer long I have to juggle getting the lawn mowed around opportunities to ride my bike. While this might look like a solution, I’ve actually mowed lawns with these rotator models. You’ve got to start with short grass to begin with and then there’s still a lot of push-pull to using ‘em.

Found: Bicycle Powered Lawnmower

posted by Editor – September 30, 2009 – 1pm EDT

I spotted this on bikerumor