October 14, 200928 Comments on No good deed goes unpunished
This is sickening…
Five teenagers were charged with aggravated battery yesterday for dousing a 15-year-old with rubbing alcohol and setting him on fire because he stopped someone from stealing his father’s bicycle, authorities said.
Details –> AHN.
Update courtesy my loyal readers – the article I link to has info that doesn’t quite fit the circumstances of the article I originally read (which is where the title comes from). Ah well.
October 13, 200919 Comments on Killer tree almost maims cyclist
But the tree did get the bike and trash the front wheel.
This is Daniel. When this huge tree came down at Haight and Broderick in San Francisco, he almost ate it. More about Daniel and his adventure at SFist. Photo by expuestosiempre. H/T to Murph.
I just took a walk around my apartment complex and saw at least a half dozen broken trees, and I’ve heard chainsaws buzzing all around for most of the day.
Rather than chance getting stuck at the office today, I’m working at home. I live in the Santa Cruz Mountains, though not in the evacuation areas mentioned in the news clip below.
How was your commute today? Did you bike? And did you have to dodge any huge trees?
October 13, 20096 Comments on Dallas bike helmet law and selective enforcement
From The Dallas Morning News:
Sergio Portillo, 33, was stopped July 11, 2008, as he rode his bicycle while not wearing a helmet near downtown. He was then searched and charged with drug possession after police said they found that he was carrying crack cocaine.
Abuse of power is one of [Attorney David] Pire’s concerns. Complaints from clients about the helmet law “popped up periodically and it’s always a minority” who has been stopped by police, he said. “I started looking at it and I thought this law can’t be valid.”
And then the Dallas police claim (falsely) “…hospitals are filled with patients from those injuries who were not wearing helmets.” What a bunch of hokum.
Via Streetsblog.
October 13, 20093 Comments on Hydrogen powered electric bike
This is a guest post by Andreas who writes about cycling in London on his blog. You can follow him on Twitter here.
We all know electric bikes are becoming more popular, they featured heavily at various cycle shows. In China they sell around 10 million every year. It is likely sales in other countries will grow rapidly over the coming years. However, there is a downside to these electric bikes. They have acid batteries and millions get thrown out every year. So what is the solution?
Hydrogen! Whilst the JP bike by Iwatawi, a Tokyo based company, is not the first to use hydrogen fuel cells it is perhaps the ugliest! The CO2 emissions for this bike are exactly zero (post production of-course).
Specification wise the bike is able to reach a power assisted distance of 45 miles. Onboard there are hydrogen cartridges but also a lithium-ion battery. When the hydrogen runs out it can instantly switch to the battery.
Iwatani will be testing the product in Osaka starting tomorrow. However, it is unclear whether it will ever be mass produced as hydrogen production remains expensive. The only way transport can get more eco-friendly is if you actually cycle!
Source: Crunch Gear
October 13, 200925 Comments on Google Maps "Bike There" directions
Happy Tuesday the 13th. For those in the Bay Area, I hope you’re enjoying the wind and the rain.
It’s kind of an open secret among cyclists in the San Francisco Bay Area that a “Bike There” mapping option is in internal testing at Google in Mountain View. We’re pretty excited about it, even if the average speed they use to calculate trip time is 8 mph.
Recently I was looking at Google Maps for Los Gatos, California when I noticed the Los Gatos Creek Trail is in Google Maps!
I immediately hunted around for other bike paths I know about. Coverage is spotty, even in the San Francisco Bay Area. Portions of the Stevens Creek Trail in Mountain View, for example, are missing, as is the Guadalupe River Trail in San Jose . The Oregon Expressway Bike Bridge is in Google Maps, but Ringwood Avenue is missing. The labeling of the trails is also inconsistent for now.
Elsewhere, I see trail info has been added to Boulder, Colorado but is missing from its neighbor Longmont, Colorado. (Note that the Open Street Map project map for Longmont includes the St Vrain and Lefthand Creek trails.)
Right now, the trail data doesn’t seem to be used at all for directions, even when you select “Walk There,” but Google says the trail data will be used and a “Bike There” option will be available Real Soon Now in Google Maps.
See also:
Do you see trail data in Google Maps for your area? How complete is it?
October 12, 200921 Comments on Finnish cows are safer cows
From Business Pundit. The Finnish Valio milk brand added a helmet to their bicycling cow.
Props to Edwin for this heads up.