Octopodial Chrome

Use your head: stop at red.

An Australian driver in a fit of road-pique (I like that better than road-rage—it conveys the pathetic nature of the emotion better) tried to kill a line of 50 cyclists.

’Tis a pity Australia has done away with the death penalty; the driver is a prime candidate.

Sheldon Brown, famed cyclist, died on Sunday of a heart attack. His website was invaluable when I started cycling; I hope it’s kept online in the future. May his memory be eternal.

A group of Toronto cyclists has taken matters into their own hands, forming guerilla teams and spraypainting bike lanes on dangerous streets. Strangely, the city which cannot find time to paint new lanes can find time to erase the ones these guys are painting.

Me, I’d just install tyre slashers with a 1-foot gap every block or so: cars can’t pass, but bikes can. Instant safe roads, for pedestrians, animals, children, cyclists.

Here’s a photo essay showing how accepted cycling is in Amsterdam. Everyone rides, sometimes two or three to a bike; folks ride in dress clothing; no-one wears helmets. It’s a true cycling paradise.

Of course, that’s no accident. The Dutch made a choice to encourage cycling and discourage cars—and they’re much better off for it.

It appears that cycling to work can be faster than driving, if you take into account not needing to work as long to afford a car, not needing to exercise as much and so forth.

If the calculator above doesn’t appear for you, you can visit the site instead.

Hokey Spokes are LED light bars that attach to one’s bicycle’s spokes; the communicate with one another and are configurable to display pre-set patterns or custom text messages. I really want a set—I’ll get ’em to spell out Cyclists have a right to the road too! or something similar…

A driver in Florida struck and killed a cyclist. His punishment? $80 and 4 points from his license. So much for justice!

Dr. Ian Walker conducted an experiment which showed that drivers are twice as likely to pass too close when a cyclist wears a helmet—at an average separation of 3¼ inches. The theory is that perhaps they consider helmeted cyclists to be more predictable. Or perhaps they are less afraid of hurting someone wearing protective gear. The researcher was struck twice, both times whilst wearing a helmet, out of 2,500 passes.

Yet more evidence that helmets can be bad for your health.

A fortnight ago I’d a spill on my ride in to work. While making a right turn my rear tyre went out from underneath me, and I discovered that it’s very difficult to ride a unicycle when one’s a few feet behind, rather than above, it. I went sprawling and my glasses, hat and backpack went flying (how does a backpack come off of both arms?). It was the worst accident I’ve ever had: banged up my left knee, right thigh, right elbow, right ribs, and both hands & palms.

I’ve not ridden my bike since the parking lot of the bike store after it was supposedly fixed (the mechanic believed it was due to loose cranks, but I just don’t see it). To be honest, I’m rather afraid of riding thing. One of these days, maybe, but for now I’m happy walking.

Two police officers were killed and one wounded whilst on a charity bike ride. A truck struck the van alongside, which then struck them. Considering that it’s a four-lane highway, it’s hard to imagine any justification for truck driver to have hit the van, which was prominently marked Caution Cyclists Ahead. Ironically, the ride was meant to raise money for the families of officers killed in the line of duty.

Well, not quite—but I managed to go more than a whole month without driving my car into the office for work. Not too shabby, eh? Of course, this Tuesday I got a flat & I’ve been driving in until I’ve fixed the tyre. Sigh…

Some time ago I posted about Calvin Woodward’s trans-America ride; today he has some tips for the cross-country cyclist. I really would like to do this one day.

Today my bike’s odometer rolled over to 1,000 miles! That’s 63,360,000 inches, every one of which was powered by my two legs. That’s also 1,000 miles not on my car—at my rate of 34½¢/mile, that’s a savings of $345. Still not break-even, but getting there. And of course I’m healthier too.

One thousand miles! One thousand miles! (I’m doing my victory dance, which is a sight no-one should be subjected to) One thousand miles!

Someday, maybe we’ll have car lanes instead of bike lanes:

A man can dream, eh?

Now that the sun is staying up late enough for me to have light on my homeward trip, I’ve started cycling to work again; my first go was yesterday. I am so out of shape—I though I was going to die that first ride to work. But the ride home was better, and my ride into work this morning was better still. I’m getting back into shape, and soon I should be at myprevious level.

I need to get me several of these nifty high-visibility cycling shirts—several even have reflective strips attached. I might also pick up a high-visibility windbreaker, although it doesn’t have the reflective strips that are useful at night.

CNN Travel has a great article about bicycling across America. It takes about three months, apparently, and cost the author $4,500. Someday I would really like to do this. Even cycling across Colorado would be awfully cool.

Apparently more bikes than cars have been bought over the last year. Woo-hoo! Maybe someday motorcar culture will be a bit attenuated. I don’t want it to go away—cars are useful and good—but it’d be nice for it to be less of a factor.

Well, I’ve now officially gone for more than one month on a single tank of gas. The day I last filled my tank, I drove over 100 miles, and I’ve still more than a quarter-tank left to go; there’s a very real possibility than I could someday make two months without a fill. In fact, if I get a rain suit and start cycling to church, I might go for months without using my car. Wouldn’t that be cool?

My bike passed the 900 mile mark today on the way home from work. I hit 700 on the 14th of July, 68 days ago. Thus I find that I’m averaging 2.9 miles a day. Shoot, I really need to ride more often.

The Flash Flag is a truly brilliant idea: a reflective flag mounted horizontally on a spring-jointed arm attached to one’s bike. It sticks out and waves, warning drives to stay well to the side. I’m going to get a whole set and hopefully never have to worry too much about driving maniacs again.

From Switzerland comes the Zero Emission Machine, or ZEM. It’s a four-seater pedal-powered vehicle (a two-seater is also available). The whole family can hop on and take it for a spin, which is pretty cool. The body can even be used as a billboard, reducing the total cost of ownership for the $9,000 vehicle.

A recent rec.bicycles.misc post led me to Vanilla Bicycles. I’m left speechless; these are some of the most beautiful bikes I have ever seen. One of those tourers will be mine someday.