Good morning from California.
Carlton Reid reminds us that it’s our own stupid fault the motor car became so popular. We cyclists insisted on hard surface roads. We wanted road rules to keep pedestrians out of the way. Because cycling as a hobby belonged mostly to deranged, sport-minded young men with a bent for innovation, we attached motors to our bikes, and, later to four wheeled contraptions. The rest is history.
More bike news below the redhead riding a bike at sunset.
Katie Archibald and Laura Trott take gold in the European Elite Track Championships.
This 3 foot law webinar looks interesting:
3FootCycling.com and CHP Golden Gate Division have launched an innovative partnership that allows cyclists to report, track, and discuss 3 Foot Law violation incidents. Our process also allows cyclists to share their incidents with other cyclists to identify and predict repeat offenders. We believe this might be a model for other law enforcement agencies. Please join us to add your voice as we discuss our process in detail.
Learn more at this webinar on Friday, October 24 2014 from 12:05 PM – 1:05 PM PDT. Registration required. H/T Bicycle Monterey.
Forbes: Chinese bike share boom (with 650,000 public bikes available for use nationwide) means billions for bike investors. Some might recall that Shanghai Forever Co nearly went out of business about 15 years ago when China began its big push to automotive prosperity. HL Corp (formerly Hsin Lung) sells aftermarket bike components in the USA under the “Zoom” brand.
Potential for occasional death and mayhem on a New Jersey bridge leads to long term bridge closure.
Nice one #funny #cycling pic.twitter.com/1mFWZ0musA
— TwoWheeledTank (@TwoWheeledTank) October 20, 2014
Skinny bars in a track race?
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Myth Busted: Elite track racers prove that you don't need super wide handlebars to help you sprint or "open up" your lungs. #cycling
The unstealable bicycle?
Design insights at BMC bikes.
Is anything happening yet with John Van Velde’s World Cycling League yet? I haven’t seen any updates since about July.
Cancer claimed the life of Santa Cruz District Attorney Bob Lee last weekend. In sharp contrast to his neighbors in Santa Clara and San Francisco counties, Lee’s office pursued criminal cases against motorists who killed and injured cyclists and pedestrians on Santa Cruz County roads.
“Why I don’t drive.”
Cyclists should have registration tags so we can catch them when they mildly annoy people. It'll cost a fortune to enforce but. Well, grrr.
— Top Driver Tips (@mylanefeckoff) October 16, 2014
No city where cycling is widespread has improved safety with a mandatory helmet law.
Philadelphia Bike Expo on November 8.
SF Bike Expo is coming up on November 22.
Carlton Reid’s Roads Were Not Built for Cars was published just a couple of weeks ago. Buy the Kindle version here. This is an exhaustively researched and enjoyable text on the history of road transportation in Britain and America. Carlton tells me the iPad version is much better, but I don’t do iTunes so you’re on your own for a link to that.
Skinny bars in track racing? From what I understand, that’s more of a factor of aerodynamics and safety than anything else. A book I’m reviewing right now (“‘Faster – The Obsession, Science and Luck Behind the World’s Fastest Cyclists’”) has an anecdote about a British track cyclist that was considering having his collarbone broken to make his shoulders less wide.
Crazy stuff, Ron! Next you’ll tell me some racers will even infuse themselves with blood and drugs to enhance their performance.
Regarding 3 foot, I was interested in doing an Arduino project to measure and create a heat map of passing distance. Inputs would be an ultra-sonic range finder and GPS sensor. Outputs would be LCD panel (to check calibration), to memory, and a delayed camera trigger signal for verification. I’m not sure if someone has made something like this already….I could not find one. I might need help with the coding though…not my thing. Code needs to detect a pass, then store only the passes and send the outputs.
To map absolute and relative passing speed also, a second range sensor(front/back) and input for bike speedometer could be added.
My two favorite things! (Redheads and bicycles, in no specific order… 😉