Earlier this week, I hinted at a post with this title for Thursday, which never happened. This is as far as I got:

The Plan Goes Awry

I meant to expand on this thought by pointing out that although the close calls and harassments stick out in our minds, almost all of my bike rides are incident free.

“If it bleeds it leads” is as true for the new media as it was for the old, resulting in thousands of views for poorly produced YouTube video showing hooks, doors, and crosses resulting in broken bikes, broken bones, broken heads, and broken lives; whilst I’m lucky to have 20 views on my own poorly produced videos demonstrating Yet Another Uneventful Ride.

Related to this was a disagreement on Twitter between some London cycling advocates and Mikael of Copenhagenize regarding the effectiveness of “die ins” and similar tactics demonstrating the need for safer infrastructure. How do we communicate the fun and general safety of cycling while also advocating the importance of safer streets to decision makers and to the public?

Finally, I heard from a couple of people this week that daily harassment from motorists is a real thing and they ask how they should they deal with it. Describing my own Pollyanna cycling paradise seems insensitive.

Life Happens

Wednesday night I noticed my rear wheel wobbled enough to touch the rim brakes. I got home, pulled out the spoke wrench, and discovered my spoke nipples are welded to the spokes. I turn the wrench, the spoke twists like a Twizzler. My wheel is even more warped but I don’t have time to deal with that at the time, so I pull and clean the cassette for transfer to another wheel. During this process I lose a couple of spacers, panic, and eventually find them inside the drain pipe.

By the time it’s all said and done, it’s close to midnight. Hence, no Thursday blog post.

5,000 Bike Hippies

Instead, I’ll give you pretty bike photos from the World Bicycle Forum taking place right now in Medelin, Colombia, where 5,000 members of the all powerful bike lobby have congregated to discuss plans for the bicycle revolution and world domination.

Have a wonderful weekend, you all!