Austin police promote bicycle safety | KXAN.com

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The Austin Police Department on Tuesday launched the first phase of its Safe Bike Initiative in an East Austin community. Phase one includes educating motorists in the Austin community about the Vulnerable Road Users Ordinance. This ordinance was created to protect vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, runners, construction workers and cyclists. Carl Bradtmiller of East Side Pedal Pushers endorsed the initiative. "It takes a lot of experience to be a safe rider," he said. "I think that's what a lot of people lack. They see people ride the way who maybe ride all the time - and they're less experienced riders. You can only account for what you're going to do on a bike, "You can never say for sure what a car's going to do. So you have to ride like cars don't see you at all, like you're invisible." Bradtmiller said both cyclists and motorists need to be aware of -- and respectful of -- one another "A car passes you and there's no incident," he said. But the one time that it doesn't go well - that you don't anticipate something - that's when it ends badly, because the car is ultimately a lot bigger. "The outcome of a car and a bike collision is never in doubt - it's always going to end worse for the cyclist." According to Austin police statistics, three bicyclists were killed in 2012 and 1 was killed in 2011. Bicyclists represented 4 percent of all Austin transportation fatalities in 2012.
Austin police promote bicycle safety | KXAN.com

Police: Man on bike arrested following erratic riding

A different hammered rider.

A Napa man who allegedly rode a bicycle erratically was arrested Friday night on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance, police said.
Just before 10 p.m., police allegedly witnessed Joel Enrique Hernandez, 28, riding a bicycle erratically in an apartment complex in the 2400 block of Old Sonoma Road, police said.
Hernandez allegedly agreed to a search and told officers he was in possession of cocaine, police said. Officers found a small baggie of suspected cocaine in his wallet.
Hernandez was arrested on suspicion of possessing cocaine and for an outstanding warrant for an alleged probation violation in Marin County, police said. He was booked into the Napa jail.

Police: Man on bike arrested following erratic riding

Name of cyclist killed in bike lane released

SAN DIEGO — Authorities released the name Monday of a 45-year-old man who was hit and killed by a car over the weekend while bicycling through his coastal North County hometown.

    Eric Ringdahl of Carlsbad was heading north with another rider in a bike lane in the 7400 block of El Camino Real when the northbound vehicle hit him about 7:40 a.m. Sunday, according to the county Medical Examiner’s Office. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene.
The motorist was not immediately cited, though the crash remained under investigation, police said.

Name of cyclist killed in bike lane released | FOX5 San Diego – San Diego news, weather, traffic, sports from KSWB

Obama pedals bike at 3rd White House science fair

Legit! On second thought...

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was an offer President Barack Obama couldn't refuse.

"You're welcome to try this out if you like," the Oakland Park, Fla., high school student said.
With that, a president who often laments a lifestyle that denies him the pleasure of driving eagerly hopped on the blue-and-silver bicycle in his dark blue suit and pedaled away, never mind that the machinery didn't take him anywhere.

"Only because these guys really want this," Obama said, gesturing to the small group of reporters and photographers who were brought to a White House garden to watch the president go from exhibit to exhibit at his third White House science fair.

Obama pedals bike at 3rd White House science fair - Yahoo! News

When Fools Rush In!

Please remove your head from...

PORTLAND -- A confused driver took a wrong turn Sunday morning and ended up in the center bike lane on the Interstate 205 bridge between Oregon and Washington.

At around 11 a.m., police stopped to help the driver who couldn't get out of the partitioned off lane near Government Island that sits between the north and southbound lanes of the bridge.
Authorities decided the best thing to do was walk the car to the Oregon side. One northbound lane was closed for about an hour, but traffic was not significantly affected. Some bikers, however, had trouble getting around the car.

Confused driver gets stuck in bike lane | KTVB.COM Boise

California Police Officer Michael Kohr Replaces Little Girl's Stolen Bike, Story Goes Viral On Facebook (PHOTO)

 

A police officer's incredible kindness to a little girl earned him Facebook celebrity status last week.
On Tuesday, Nina Sanchez of Oxnard, California, shared this photo along with the heart-melting story of Officer Michael Kohr's dedication to replacing her daughter's stolen bike. 




California Police Officer Michael Kohr Replaces Little Girl's Stolen Bike, Story Goes Viral On Facebook (PHOTO)

Pedal power: Budapest's bustling bike culture

Budapest, Hungary -Tens of thousands of bicyclists hit the streets of the Hungarian capital in a show of "pedal power" designed to demand greater rights for two-wheel operators in one of the most traffic-choked cities in Eastern Europe.
The mass bike ride on Saturday underscored a growing trend in Budapest, as more and more people shun four-wheel vehicles and all their associated problems.
Pedal power: Budapest's bustling bike culture -

Fort Worth's new bike-sharing program kicks off | Breaking News | News from Fort Worth, ...

Sorry to rain on your parade but build more bike lanes.  Have these people seen 

"Field of Dreams"?  Share it and they will ride without looking where they are going.

Pay Attention!

Fort Worth's new bike-sharing program kicks off | Breaking News | News from Fort Worth, ...

Actor blames Boston attack on gun culture: ‘2nd amendment must go’

 
 Actor and comedian Jay Mohr waded into the gun debate on Twitter after Monday’s deadly terrorist attacks at the Boston Marathon.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/16/actor-blames-boston-attack-on-gun-culture-2nd-amendment-must-go/#ixzz2QkiMlHUu

Actor blames Boston attack on gun culture: ‘2nd amendment must go’ | The Daily Caller

BBC News - How to build a bike: The revival of a British craft

There is a six-month waiting list for Peter Bird's made-to-measure bicycles, which start at about £3,500

Sales of bikes in the UK are up. But not everyone is content with buying a mass-produced bicycle. Some are looking for something different, which is helping the revival of a traditional British craft.

Peter Bird likens himself to a tailor. At his workshop at Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire he takes his clients' inside-leg measurements and finds out their exact needs.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

I think I will spend more time planning a bike than I would a wedding dress”

Anna Collins Cycling enthusiast and climate campaigner

But the tools of his trade are not a needle and thread, they are a brazing torch and steel tubes. His creations are not bespoke suits, but bespoke bicycles.

BBC News - How to build a bike: The revival of a British craft

Ghost bike vandalism continues

Some people are real winners. 

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - An Albuquerque family wants to know why someone repeatedly vandalizes a ghost bike placed in the honor of a man hit and killed by a driver.

  
David Anderson died three years ago near Paseo del Norte and Rio Grande when Miranda Pacheco lost control of her car.
 
She flew off Paseo and through a fence, hitting him.
    
A ghost bike was placed at the site of the crash, but vandals keep tearing it apart.
  
His family wants the vandals caught.
They do plan on replacing the stolen parts.

Ghost bike vandalism continues

Boy, 14, needed FIVE heart operations after he fell off his bike - and doctors discovered he was suffering from a life-threatening illness

A teenager who fell off his bike ended up needing five heart operations in a year - after his accident alerted doctors to a life-threatening condition.

Fourteen-year-old Keith Ssewamala,was just like any active teenager when he fell off his bike while playing with friends.
What should have been a routine tumble ended up with with Keith suffering chest pains and the discovery of an aneurysm on his heart.

Boy, 14, needed FIVE heart operations after he fell off his bike - and doctors discovered he was suffering from a life-threatening illness | Mail Online

Toronto's Bixi Bike system is in trouble; will New York's Citibike suffer from the same problems? : TreeHugger

Here we go Austin!  Screw bike sharing!  Create more bike lanes!  

There is a lot of interest in bike sharing right now, as New York readies for the launch of its new Citibike program. The big question is, have they studied and learned the lessons from other cities that have bike sharing systems, some of which are having serious problems?
In Toronto, the BIXI bike rental program is in trouble; politicians are shocked, shocked to find that it doesn't make enough money from subscriptions and bike rentals to cover its costs and servicing its $4.8 million loan that is guaranteed by the City. The head of the Public Works Committee tells the National Post:

“I think it’s an important lesson in giving loan guarantees, that it can come and bite you in the behind later on,” he said Tuesday, noting one option could be to enlist the private sector to “rescue” the two-year-old BIXI Toronto program.

One would think that with a $ 300 million annual transportation budget that this would be a drop in the bucket, but this is Toronto, where the Mayor calls building bike parking and showers at City Hall "the gravy train. That is reckless spending — to put showers here at City Hall at $1.2 million. It’s disgusting."
The fact of the matter is, the Toronto Bixi system was almost designed to fail. Three years ago I wrote that it was too small to work.


Toronto's Bixi Bike system is in trouble; will New York's Citibike suffer from the same problems? : TreeHugger

The flat pack bike you can build yourself

The Dutch designed bicycle is made up of just three wooden panels bonded by 'smart cylinders' which contain the crank axle, head tube and seat post

Can be delivered by post and less than 50 parts are required to assemble it

Bike was designed as a way of cutting cost of transportation

The flat pack bike you can build yourself | Mail Online

One Gear, One Goal: Bike Is 'Good To 100 MPH,' Builder Says : The Two-Way : NPR

What does it take to ride a bicycle at 100 miles per hour? That's the question being explored by Britain's and frame builder Tom Donhou, who has mounted a mammoth chainring onto a custom bicycle. He says the steel machine has already hit 60 miles per hour on the open road.
Update At 3:30 p.m. ET: No Record At Stake. As our readers remind us, bicycles have previously reached 100 miles per hour. For instance, Jose Meiffret passed that mark in 1962, paced by a car on Germany's Autobahn. And in 1995, Dutch cyclist reached 167 mph while using a top-fuel dragster to pace him at Bonneville Salt Flats.
While our original post didn't report that Donhou was trying to set a new world record, we've revised parts of the text to emphasize that it is his use of fairly common materials, on a hand-built bike, that captured our interest. Our original post continues:
The project began as a daydream, says Donhou, in notes accompanying the bike's display at the recent show.
"Where I come from there's a lot of old air fields and air bases from the Second World War — long flat straight pieces of tarmac," he says. With an interest in land speed racing, he decided to build a fast bike, take it to an airstrip, "and see what kind of motorpaced speeds we could reach."
In motorpacing, a cyclist rides closely behind a lead vehicle, often a motorcycle, to benefit from the draft the motorcycle creates in its wake as it moves through the air. As a vintage shows, the practice was once common in bicycle races held on outdoor tracks.
In contrast to the streamlined, low-lying recumbent bikes that have been , Donhou's bike has more in common with millions of bicycles around the world: It's made of steel, and its frame geometry is based on a triangle.

One Gear, One Goal: Bike Is 'Good To 100 MPH,' Builder Says : The Two-Way : NPR

Don't let them take your bike.

 The only way to stop a bully is to break their jaw. It takes courage when you are alone, and you might get beat but if you survive the bully will never bother you again. They took my bike and I will never forget.  I may forgive but I will never forget.

Your teacher, conselor and prinicipal have done a damn good job so far.

Crazy BMX Dirt Jump Session: Jaie Toohey, Cam White & Jed Mildon

Do your own research...

Maybe feeling good is more important than being free!

dictator on a bike

jonathan rothschild

Do your own research because you won't believe me anyway.

Putting air between you and pain.

kuhlride.com in Sparta, WI 54656 - Putting air between you and pain.

The Alpha Cyclist is back on Strava

He still can't follow worth a damn but he is "Ridin' out the storm..."!

Lance Armstrong on Strava

Forest is that you?

Athlete Detail | Lance Armstrong

previous posts:
The rejection is complete!

The Alpha Cyclist rejects his followers.

The Alpha Cyclist strikes again!

Power to the people in charge!

Bike Riders cause more loss of limbs than the civil war

Lawless Cyclist!

Police Supt. Andrew Sovula says Bike riders had caused more people to lose their limbs than the 11- year civil war in Sierra Leone.
Supt. Sovula made this statement during the Mwananchi (Leh Wi-Tok) Country Learning Event on Thursday April 4, at the British Council Tower Hill Freetown.
He said the rate at which bike riders are operating and conducting themselves is a recipe for future chaos and is of great concern to them as a law enforcement body in the country.
He added that bike riders are not obeying traffic rules, road signs, ignoring the use of safety gears and most times, disobey the hand signal of traffic authorities, who try to stop and direct traffic for the safety of all using the road.
For this, Supt. Sovula said, the Sierra Leone Police will not sit back and allow lawlessness to overcome the country and the SLP, will do all within the law to maintain law and order in the country.
However, the National Publicity Officer of commercial Bike Riders, Alusine Dumbuya, in a separate interview with AWOKO said that it is an unfortunate statement and that police officer Supt. Sovula is trying to present bike riders as rebels and that they the commercial bike riders will never be a party to anything that will bring chaos to the country, adding that before the intervention of ‘Mwananchi’ Leh Wi Tok programme, bike- riders nationwide were lawless adding that even the number of motorbike accident cases had dropped drastically.
This, he said, can be confirmed by the Emergency Hospital as they receive very little or no case of broken bones from motorbike-related cases.
Alusine Dumbuya, however called on civil society to continue advocating for them, as he said riders most times cause disorderly conduct are either owned or are relatives of Police officers, Military Officers, and politicians.

Bike Riders cause more loss of limbs than the civil war- Supt. Sovula « Awoko Newspaper

Olympic bicyclist knocked off bike by car

Joanna Roswell

British Olympian Joanna Roswell is recovering after she was knocked off her bike by a car during training last month.
The champion cyclist, who won a gold medal for Great Britain at the 2012 London Games, was left with minor injuries after the incident on March 31.
Detailing the accident on Twitter.com, she wrote, "First time for everything. Been a cyclist for nearly 9 yrs (years) & never been knocked off by a car until this morning.
"I am OK. No serious injuries, just cuts and bruises. Bike came off worst."
Rowsell is not the first British Olympic cyclist to get hit by a car during training - Sir Bradley Wiggins was knocked down near his home in Lancashire, England last November.
Olympic bicyclist knocked off bike by car - ABC4.com - Salt Lake City, Utah News

Minneapolis Bike Riders Targeted With Sticks, Rocks, Molotov Cocktail - John Metcalfe - The Atlantic Cities

These people will screw with the wrong bicyclist at some point and they will get a Molotov Cocktail up the old rectum!

 

Drew Ditlefsen was pedaling his Long Haul Trucker cycle Wednesday on Minneapolis' Midtown Greenway when he heard a crash of breaking glass. That was followed by a fwoooosh! and the trail behind him was suddenly lit up with fire.
"At that point I was kind of heading away as quickly as I could," says Ditlefsen, a 27-year-old delivery man for Peace Coffee. "I had the chance to look back, and there were flames a few feet high across the pathway."
The cyclist glimpsed people huddled on a bridge on 15th Avenue that he had just ridden under. It wasn't hard to put two and two together: In past trips through the Greenway, Ditlefsen has had many things lobbed at him from bridges. It's been mainly sticks and bottles, although he has a friend who claims somebody tried to drop a shopping cart on her. The Molotov cocktail was a new experience, and one that baffled him.
"It was crazy because it was at one in the afternoon," he says, wondering "who has the time in the middle of a Wednesday" to construct an incendiary device favored by Finnish freedom fighters. "It's a pretty random time. Most people are working or doing other things with their lives."

(Drew Ditlefsen)
The police are now investigating the Molotov bomb, which landed within feet of Ditlefsen judging by the way he reeked of petro-fuel afterward. But it's only the latest in a string of attacks on cyclists on the Greenway, an otherwise pleasant 5.5 mile trail for bikers and joggers sited along an old railroad track in south Minneapolis. Wanderers of the scenic byway have been punched, dragged screaming into the woods, had rocks thrown at them, basically everything except set on fire (and it seems the bad guys are working on that).


Minneapolis Bike Riders Targeted With Sticks, Rocks, Molotov Cocktail - John Metcalfe - The Atlantic Cities

Want Health? Bike To Work, Skip The Gym (Sort Of)

Bike commuting is one of the most effective ways to promote general healthy, according to new research published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. That’s not a surprise of course, as anyone who spends a lot of time bicycling knows. And of course bicycling has another significant advantage over many other types of exercise, you don’t have to set apart any extra time, you simply bicycle rather than taking the car.

Image Credit: Bicycling via Flickr CC

The new research found that those that commute by car, even when otherwise very active, gained more weight on average than those that commute by bike. There are some outliers to this of course, but the general trend is clear, commuting by bike rather than car leads to the maintenance of a healthier body.
Lead author of the study, Australian epidemiologist Takemi Sugiyama, states: “Commuting is a relevant health behavior even for those who are sufficiently active in their leisure time.”



Want Health? Bike To Work, Skip The Gym (Sort Of) | CleanTechnica

KELOLAND.com | South Dakota Man Dies In Black Hills Bike Accident

RAPID CITY, SD -
A 21-year-old Rapid City man has died after a mountain biking accident in South Dakota's Black Hills.

Pennington County Sheriff's Sgt. Greg Foster says the man had been riding with a friend near Rockerville Saturday afternoon. Foster says the man was going down a steep hill when he hit a small rock in the trail, lost control of his bike and hit a tree.

The man suffered a serious head injury.

Foster says the man was reported to be a very experienced rider and was wearing a helmet.

The man's name was not released pending notification of his family.

KELOLAND.com | South Dakota Man Dies In Black Hills Bike Accident

Underwear with bike shorts? We answer the (sometimes literally) burning question | OregonLive.com

Wear underwear on the pub crawl but not on the road or trail.






Ah, spring. Thoughts turn to budding trees, trilling birds and underwear.

There's really no graceful way to get into the topic, so that's our attempt here at the Ocyclers Center of Awkward Transitions to broach a subject that incites passions on both sides.
Now is the time to ask, as people dust off their road bikes after a long winter: Bike shorts -- with underwear or without?
Mechanic Dane Rowray at Sellwood's Bike Commuter shop doesn't hesitate: Without. "Underwear makes you sweaty, moist, it bunches up, causes rashes. It's just weird," he says. When the 21-year-old went on his longest ride to date -- 96 miles between Santa Cruz, Calif., and Big Sur: no underwear.
The only time to wear briefs under bike shorts or tights? When you're trying on the clothes at a store, he says.
But customer Monique Dupre, 34, says maybe that's a guy thing. "It never even crossed my mind not to wear underwear," she says. But it's the opposite for her husband, she noted.
Those in the underwear camp cite plenty of advantages: The extra layer keeps your shorts cleaner -- that means fewer spins in the washing machine, so your bike gear lasts longer. Skivvies also reduce the "ick" factor when you have to put on sweaty bike shorts for the commute home.
Underwear with bike shorts? We answer the (sometimes literally) burning question | OregonLive.com

UCI forbidden race rule is unworkable for North American mountain bike racing

 

It has been a newsworthy weekend in the world of mountain bike racing, for all the wrong reasons. On Friday, USA Cycling announced that the sport’s world governing body, the UCI, had clarified its rule 1.2.019, which bars UCI-licensed riders from competing in unsanctioned events.
This decision has far-reaching consequences for the sport in this country, and renders mountain bike racing virtually untenable for a majority of professionals and young developing athletes in the U.S. It significantly harms promoters, athletes, and sponsors alike, and has the potential to stifle current growth trends and permanently fragment the sport in this country.
This rule has been on the books for several years, and was initially drafted to limit the ability of top-tier professional road teams to compete in smaller races in order to protect the interests of lower-tier teams and ensure their ability to gain exposure at the local level. It has a contradictory effect when applied to mountain biking however, where high-quality unsanctioned races are an ideal venue for UCI professionals to interact with local supporters, satisfy the needs of sponsors and industry, and gain the media exposure necessary to build a career in the sport. Mountain bike racing lacks the global, tiered professional structure of men’s road racing, and application of this rule to this discipline is inappropriate and unworkable.
Until last year, this rule had never been enforced in the mountain bike discipline. In July 2012, along with several other UCI professionals, I was fined for competing in the Teva Mountain Games — one of the country’s best mountain bike events. The initial indications were that the rule would only be enforced for riders on UCI trade teams, which is still negative for the sport as a whole, but would likely be navigated by the industry through careful athlete selection depending on the event calendar one was likely to race. I was left off of Trek Factory Racing’s UCI roster for this exact reason this year, as my race calendar consists almost exclusively of unsanctioned events.
Friday’s announcement, though, renders all unsanctioned racing off-limits for all licensed professionals in this country, as well as all UCI licensed masters and junior racers in all disciplines — including cyclocross, which is simply not realistic, given the culture and history of mountain bike racing in this country. This is a significant point, as enforcement of this rule does not only affect “high-level” professionals, but a large group of cycling enthusiasts — everyone from aspiring junior ’cross racers to the casual mountain bike rider who needs a UCI license to race virtually any event outside the United States for any reason.
It’s clear that the UCI is taking a hard line on this due to the rapid growth in disciplines and races that fall outside its control. The explosion of the enduro discipline and most of the biggest growth in mountain bike racing is happening completely outside the UCI’s racing structure. Leveraging its privileged position with its crop of professionals is the only way that the organization can exert a measure of control.

Opinion: UCI forbidden race rule is unworkable for North American mountain bike racing

Minneapolis Bike Shop Shares Picture Of Suspected Bike Thief « CBS Minnesota

Minneapolis Bike Shop Shares Picture Of Suspected Bike Thief « CBS Minnesota