Cyclelicious

Make a Valentine heart from a bicycle chain

2010-02-08T15:00:00.001-07:00

Make a Valentine out of Bicycle Chain

Via.

Link Love

2010-02-08T13:44:00.002-07:00

A few goodies to check out this week:

* Calgary Tour du Nuit Society is " voice for commuter cycling in Calgary."

* Dan the Bike Man is car free in Oakland, California. Nice stuff at his blog!

* Kendra is a Girl On a Bike in Berkeley, California.

2010 Tour of Qatar

2010-02-08T11:27:00.003-07:00

Katusha team riders cycle past a mosque during the first stage time trial of the Tour of Qatar cycling race, around the West Bay Lagoon in Doha, Qatar, 07 February 2010.

Quickstep team rider Tom Boonen of Belgium leads a second breakaway during the second stage of the Tour of Qatar cycling race, between the Camel Race Track and Qatar Foundation near Doha, Qatar, 08 February 2010. Topsport team rider Geert Steurs of Belgium won the stage.

Topsport team rider Geert Steurs (L) of Belgium celebrates as he crosses the finish line ahead of Vacansoleil team rider Wouter Mol of the Netherlands to win the second stage of the Tour of Qatar cycling race, between the Camel Race Track and Qatar Foundation near Doha, Qatar, 08 February 2010.

The 2010 Tour of Qatar began yesterday (or two days ago, depending on your time zone) and continues through the end of this week, with 16 teams competing. USA viewing options are limited (which is a polite way of writing almost non existent), with a one hour show on Versus almost two weeks from now on Sunday, February 21.

The current monarch, Amir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, began the Tour the Qatar in 2002, one year after overthrowing dear old dad in a coup. The emirate boasts wide, smooth roads that are great for cycling on, and the flat terrain favors sprinters.

Steve @ Steephill.TV is doing is usual fine job of posting race results and news links of the Tour of Qatar at his site.

Vancouver vs the NFL vs Cycling

2010-02-08T10:00:00.002-07:00

I thought I'd see how many NFL doping stories there were over the past week versus how many doping stories related to the 2010 Winter Olympics were posted to the news.

NFL Doping Feb 1 - Feb 7 2010: about 164 stories.

Vancouver Doping Feb 1 - Feb 7 2010: about 2,870 stories.

If you're curious about cycling: 284 hits from this past week for "armstrong doping" and 529 hits for "cycling doping. Even tour de france doping has 536 hits, and that event is five months away.

Some people accuse editors, journalists and bloggers of soft pedaling the doping issue in professional cycling, but in American football nobody is even asking the question.

(I ran these searches Sunday night - some of the values might have changed by the time you read this post).

Snow bicycle

2010-02-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Parked bikes at the King Street Metro Station in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia over the weekend.

Kabul, Afghanistan doesn't have quite as much snow on the ground as the two feet dumped on in the DC area. This cyclist rides past the destroyed Darul-Aman palace in Kabul.

Sun Tools

2010-02-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Sun Microsystems made puns using the Sun name for several internal tools and programs. Here are some that come to mind; I'm sure there are others.

* Sun TEA (travel expense authorization)
* Sun TAN (old name for a training program)
* SunWay (the shuttle service)
* SunScreen (background checks)
* Sun Spot
* Sun LAMP (loaner equipment for demos)
* SunDial (HR help desk)

Anybody who spent any time at all with Sun Microsystems will remember at least a couple of these.

55 mph highway & taking the lane

2010-02-06T18:14:00.005-07:00

Those around the US ~~west~~EAST coast: I hope you're enjoying the snow! Shoot your snow biking photos my way (links to Flickr or other photo sharing site) and I'll post them on Monday.

This is cool: The cyclist takes the lane on a 55 mph divided 4 lane highway with 12 foot lanes and 8 foot shoulders.

Discussion at Commute Orlando: Mythbusters on Highway 535.

To accuse a cyclist of being militant, selfish or rude for riding in the lane is nothing more than car-centric bias assuming the bicycle driver is of lesser status than the motor vehicle driver — especially in context of how easy it is to see and safely pass a cyclist.

Those of us who choose to ride in the lane vs the shoulder do not insist that others make the same choice if they are not comfortable with it. We simply provide information to allow others to make the choice based on something more than knee-jerk fear of the unknown. The only thing we insist upon is protecting our right to ride in the part of the road where we feel safest and most comfortable.

Yikes! Cyclists have been fighting shoulder rumble strips for years, so why do people like these wheel diverters all of a sudden?

POM Wonderful and the plague of locusts in my home

2010-02-05T14:00:00.001-07:00

POM Wonderful sent a sample of their Pomegranate juice for me to review. I usually like to take a photo of the product I review, but here's all the plague of locusts in my home (aka my teen son and growing daughter) left me with.

Ah well. I've seen the cute little bottles at the grocery store, but I've always thought "Pomegranate? Bleh!" POM makes claims about the antioxidant content and they like to brag about the tens of millions of dollars in scientific research that shows the health benefits of drinking POM. But if it doesn't taste good, what good does it do? The stuff is pricey, and I'm generally skeptical of superfood health claims.

I took a swig of POM's juice (100%, no sugar or other ingredients added) and it's actually pretty good. It's tart and sweet, reminiscent of cranberry juice but not quite as strongly flavored (in my opinion -- other reviewers say the flavor is stronger!)

Don't take my word for it, though: see what my children did! They don't care about POM Wonderful's sponsorship of Garmin - Transitions Cycling Team, or that their fruit is all grown here in California, their local manufacturing and bottling operations, or the antioxidant content. They just like the flavor and they're asking me to buy more at the store.

POM Wonderful is available pretty much everywhere you can buy refrigerated juices, at least here in California. POM Wonderful's pomegranate juice are generally available larger bottles. Some of the flavor combinations with Kiwi, Mango, Blueberry and Cherry seem especially intriguing to me.

More information at POM Wonderful.

Bicyclist vs animal

2010-02-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

The California Highway Patrol incident reports are maddeningly short on details, providing just a tantalizing hint of information. Take this report last night in Orange County, for example. I've translated some of the abbreviations and codes to English language and put the dispatches in chronological order.

Location: NORTHBOUND WEIR CANYON RD ON RAMP TO WEST BOUND HWY 91, Santa Ana
2/4/2010 9:28:47 PM

-- 9:28PM 2 BICYCLISTS ON THE ONRAMP
-- 9:28PM IT APPEARS THEY HIT AN ANIMAL
-- 9:28PM POSSIBLY A DOG
-- 9:41PM ROLL STATION 17, INJURED RACCOON
-- 9:43PM STATION 17 ARRIVED, ANIMAL CONTROL EN ROUTE

The dispatch says "Santa Ana" but Weir Canyon Rd and the Riverside Freeway are actually in Anaheim (I think). "Santa Ana" is the local highway patrol office. "Station 17" is presumably the local fire department.

Huff Post: Bike Lanes

2010-02-05T09:54:00.002-07:00

Huffington Post featured a Bike Lanes Around the World slideshow yesterday. If you read Cyclelicious and Copenhagenize (or similar bike blogs), you've likely seen all of these illustrations already.

Avoid the comments -- even at the left leaning Huff Post, there are depressing attacks on "smug" cyclists. *sigh*

Good Times sez "Kick the habit"

2010-02-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

Pledge to try commute alternatives for a chance to win prizes!

I sat down in my local coffee shop with a copy of Good Times, one of the weeklies published in Santa Cruz, California. The cover story, Kick The Habit, gives commute alternatives for those who live in Santa Cruz.

Elizabeth Limbach writes about the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission's Commute Solutions program, which was formed 30 years ago to encourage residents to use modes of transportation besides the single occupant vehicle. She points to carpool resources (mostly 511 ride matching) and carpool success stories.

Limbach writes about her surprise in finding that her three mile trip from work to home can be faster on bike than with her car, mentioning the work of Ecology Action and People Power. She quotes Eco Action's Piet Canin, who says the bike commute share in Santa Cruz is now at 9.3%, according to the US Census American Community Survey. This is more than double the 4% bike commute share seen in Santa Cruz in Y2K.

Finally, she writes about the Santa Cruz Metro bus system, including the Highway 17 bus that I ride "over the hill" to San Jose most days of the week.

One option she forgot to mention is telework or "working from home." A lot of my job involves lab work and face to face meetings and collaborating with colleagues, but with planning I can often arrange to work from home once or twice per week. Lately, I've seen a pickup truck parked at the summit of Highway 17 advertising The Satellite, a telework center in Felton with locations opening "soon" in Aptos, Santa Cruz, and Scotts Valley.

Good Times: Kick The Habit. The Feb 4 issue also includes Commute Solutions, a "resource for sustainable transportation options" in Santa Cruz County. If you make The Commuter Pledge, Good Times will enter you in a drawing for prizes including dinner for two, bus passes, and bike locker "ParkCards."

Rumble strips, Amish buggies, and road taxes

2010-02-04T19:00:00.005-07:00

Unbelievable -- some stingy residents in St. Joseph County, Michigan say the Amish shouldn't have a say in how road maintenance is done because they don't pay road taxes and vehicle registration fees. State fuel and vehicle registration taxes cover 57% of the Michigan Department of Transportation budget. This is, of course, immaterial regarding access -- public roads are open to the public, no matter your ability to pay, and all stakeholders should be considered in road design.

(If the video doesn't work, you can read some of the edited text here.)

Cyclists are often opposed to rumble strips because of the hazard they pose. I once nearly killed myself when I drifted left to avoid trash in the shoulder and into the nearly invisible rumble strips alongside US Highway 66 near Lyons, Colorado. The Amish in Michigan don't like them because rumble strips are positioned perfectly for the left buggy wheel, resulting in a very unpleasant ride.

Via Spokes Rider and RJ on the CABO discussion list.

Big Basin General Plan Open House

2010-02-04T17:04:00.003-07:00

Via Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz...

TONIGHT - Big Basin General Plan Open House in Los Gatos. Fisher Middle School Library, 19195 Fisher Avenue, Los Gatos, CA. 6:30 PM to 9 PM. More info at Big Basin General Plan website. Big Basin is the oldest state park in the system yet it doesn't have a
general plan.

Currently, there is no legal way to bike from the coast to park headquarters via off road trails. One of the draft plan options proposes "a continuous trail from the ridge tops to the coast (outside of the wilderness) for bicycle access to natural areas and scenic points of interest."

Another Big Basin General Plan Open House takes place Saturday, February 6, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Felton, CA at the Felton Community Hall, 6191 Highway 9.

According to MBoSC president Mark Davidson, "We should emphasize that mountain bikers desire connections to regional trails, parks and roads. We would like to have a way to get to the park headquarters from the coast and a LEGAL off road route from the
(Santa Clara) Valley to the coast via Big Basin."

"Big Basin is too remote from large population areas to get the same sort of trail density as in Santa Cruz. Legal riding in Big Basin would tend to skew towards the epic XC, cyclocross, explorer, and adventure tourists rather than the gravity crowd."

Bicycle palliative

2010-02-04T10:18:00.004-07:00

Those who follow me on Facebook know that I was diagnosed with "optic neuritis" yesterday. This is an inflammation of the optic nerve, and I tell you it hurts like a banshee at times.

Pain killers don't do a thing for it. Closing my eyes is useless. The only thing I've found so far to alleviate the pain is cycling. When I'm riding my bike, the stabbing pain behind my left eye completely goes away, and the relief lasts for a couple of hours after I stop riding. It's pretty awesome; yet another reason to ride my bike!

The gorier details: I starting having the worst headaches of my life about a week ago. Yesterday morning, I noticed vision in my left eye was degraded (!). Alarmed, I called my optometrist so he could tell me not to worry, but he responded with alarm as well and instructed me to come in immediately. After I biked to my eye doctor, he looked at my retinas, did the RedCap Test, and visual field testing. Diagnosis: inflammation of the optic nerve and edema of the optic disk, making my blind spot about double its normal size.

My optometrist referred me to an ophthalmologist (an M.D. specialized in the eyes), so I biked to his office where he did Exactly The Same Tests and pronounced Exactly The Same Diagnosis.

Several people have already asked (and I did as well): This is not related to the car crash the other week. Eye trauma doesn't cause optic nerve inflammation. The ophthalmologist I saw says he thinks it related to my sinusitus, but to rule out stuff like multiple sclerosis I'm getting an MRI scan this afternoon.

Aside: My optometrist and the ophthalmologist are both cycling enthusiasts. The ophthalmologist, Dr. Jonathan Cress in Santa Cruz, crashed his bike a few years ago and damaged his neck. His physician told him he couldn't bike anymore, but Cress told me, "Give up biking?! That's #****n nuts! I can't do that." He rides a recumbent these days.

Another aside: Multiple sclerosis is the disease that Sheldon Brown succumbed to in the final years of his life. Yesterday was the anniversary of Sheldon Brown's death.

Sesame Street: How we get to school

2010-02-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

"My man Sam always rides his bike."

(On Hulu. Sorry Illinois and other locations outside the USA).

Hit by a car

2010-02-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

I need to remember that not everybody who regularly follows this blog also follows me on Facebook, Flickr or Twitter. If you haven't already heard, I was hit by a car a couple of Fridays ago. It hurt and put a nice gash in my upper lip. Here I am still smiling before the pain sets in.

Since somebody's going to ask: The bike is mostly fine, and in fact I rode the same bike the following morning with the Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz for their Saturday ride at Wilder Ranch the very next morning. The black stitches in my swollen face adds cred to my mad shredder mountain biker look, I'm sure, though I had to quit the ride early because, honestly, getting hit by a car really takes it out of a guy, especially at my age.

I was well lit with multiple bright lights (steady and blinking), but I was invisible to Bridgett in her little black Nissan. She turned into me in a class left cross collision. She called me four or five times Friday night telling me how awful she felt, but confessed to me, "I didn't see you at all!" I saw her just fine, especially as she swerved toward me and all I saw were her headlights, and then stars and whistling birds.

This is my second left cross. The first happened when I was a teen, and the driver didn't see me. I went up and over the hood, slammed the windshield, then rolled off and landed on my feet. The bike was crushed under the car.

My second collision with a car occurred when the driver blew through a stop sign in Wichita Falls, Texas and sideswiped me -- the driver didn't see me and didn't even realize she hit me until I got up, chased her down and caught her at her destination down the street. The responding police officer declined to even take a report and he let me know I was wasting his time. Grrr...

The common factor in those collisions, if you haven't noticed it yet, is "I didn't see you!" Actually, in each of those cases the driver was maneuvering too quickly for conditions and not paying while turning, but you get the point. Cycling lawyer Rick Bernardi discusses this common excuse when cyclists are hit.

How about you? Have you been hit by a car? And did the driver say, "I didn't see you"?

(Don't forget: California Highway Patrol bike incidents here.)

High school physics and bicycling

2010-02-03T11:00:00.001-07:00

Teacher Luther Davis III plans to cycle 140 miles tomorrow, all inside of his high school physics classroom in Lake Mary, Florida while teaching the principles of physics to his students.

He'll ride on home made rollers while explaining momentum, balance, work, power, energy dynamics and other principles of classical mechanics.

He plans to use PowerPoint and video excerpts in addition to his anecdotal knowledge to convey lessons while he rides. When asked if the teaching will make him more tired, Davis says, "Yea maybe, but, I'll be sharing physics with every exhale, it'll be more efficient that way!"

"Luther Davis III" is a perfect name for an evil genius bent on dominating the world, and this video shows he already has his adoring legion of minions willing to obey his every command.

Besides world domination, Davis hopes to raise awareness for cycling in Florida and an upcoming Tour de Cure ride.

Learn more at Davis's Cycling Physics web page. Via WIRED Magazine.

Singlespeed bikes: Illegal death traps?

2010-02-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

These bikes may be illegal to sell in the United States! Do you see the problem with these production bikes? See if you can find it before I give it away below the photos.

Swobo Del Norte

Spot Brand 29er

Cayne Uno

Strida 5.0

Bianchi San Jose

Cannondale Hooligan

This belt drive singlespeed from Lynskey, however, is perfectly legit.

This Trek District is also legal.

This Bianchi Pista is probably legal to sell.

Have you spotted the problem, yet?

In the United States, the Consumer Product Safety Commission produces the regulations for bicycle safety. Any bike sold here must meet the standards published under the Requirements for Bicycles. These regulations are the reason every bike must be sold with a ~~pie plate~~ spoke protector, reflectors, brakes, instruction manuals, and warning stickers cautioning owners not to overtighten the handlebar stem.

Chainguards required

Chainguards are a requirement for "bicycles having a single front sprocket and a single rear sprocket." That seems to mean that every singlespeed bike and every bike with internal hub gearing -- including that sweet singlespeed 29er, your urban fixed gear tarck bike, and the very useful Strida folding bike with belt drive -- is required by Federal law to be sold with a chainguard.

This standard dates back 1973, when the nascent CPSC identified the bicycle as the Number One health threat to children (no kidding!). If the CPSC narratives can be believed, one problem is the little darlings apparently kept jamming their foot into the chain, wrecking the bike and injuring themselves in the process. John Forester, among others, has expressed his disdain for CPSC accident investigations.

The CPSC only regulates the sale of new bikes. You can modify it however you want after the sale, which is why so many people remove the ~~dork disk~~ spoke protector and reflectors from their derailleur bikes after purchase.

Exemptions

What about the Lynskey, the Trek District, and the Bianchi Pista? Why don't those bikes break the law?

The Lynskey is a custom made, built to order bicycle. "One of a kind" bikes like the Lynskey are specifically exempted from CPSC bicycle regulations.

If you look close at Trek's district, you'll see a little vestigial chainguard that likely meets the minimal requirements for a chainguard.

Finally, the Bianchi Pista is a real track bike, meant for racing on the velodrome. "Track bicycles designed and intended for competition that have tubular tires, a single crank–to-wheel ratio and no freewheeling feature are exempt," according to the CPSC regs. I put that bike under "maybe" because the Pista is spec'd with clinchers, not tubulars, but the CPSC fails to define "tubular tires" in their regs so maybe Bianchi and every other track bike vendor can get away with this.

Okay. So what?

This doesn't directly affect us as consumers. The CPSC rules are only for those in the bike supply chain. If the CPSC ever decides to enforces this chainguard rule, it will increase costs for the bike companies that will probably be passed on to you. The chance of a product recall affecting singlespeed mountain bikes seems silly, but the CPSC forced Cannondale to issue a recall last year when Cannondale forgot to include spoke protectors on some of their road bikes.

Maybe the bike companies are working behind the scenes to update the CPSC regulations. When the chainguard requirement was written in 1973, children bikes weren't equipped with derailluers, while adult bikes generally were. I imagine the rationale was that adults typically know better than to stick small appendages into moving bike parts. Simple adult "city" bikes and singlespeed mountain bikes are big categories these days, and the increasing popularity of belt drives reduces much of the need for a chain guard.

What do you think? Should the bike industry push the CPSC to modify their regulations? Or should they continue to operate on the down low and hope the Feds continue to ignore them?

Photo credit: Trek District photo courtesy Mark Stevenson aka Guitar Ted; Lynskey courtesy Lynskey Performance Designs. All other photos Richard Masoner.

Cadel Evans in town

2010-02-02T18:52:00.002-07:00

Check it out: Cadel Evans was riding in Palo Alto this morning around Woodside on Alpine and Portola.

Murph had his almost encounter with the world champion cyclist but missed out because he believes all motorists are out to git him.

Cadel was also in my town of Scotts Valley this afternoon, but I missed out because I was hard at work and not paying any attention to cycling tweets. Scotts Valley is home to Team BMC sponsor Easton Cycling / Bell Helmets / Giro.

Los Gatos cyclist fatality: Driver arrested

2010-02-02T11:54:00.002-07:00

Kevin Derr, the driver who killed cyclist Joshua West yesterday morning in Los Gatos, California, was arrested, Los Gatos police announced today. Details in the Mercury News and NBC Bay Area.

H/T to Rick Warner.

Tuesday bike news

2010-02-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

I wasn't able to make it to the Titus mountain bike demo last weekend in Santa Cruz. When I got hit by the car the other week, my eyeglasses were smashed to bits. I haven't been able to find my backup specs, so I went up to San Francisco to visit Optical Underground.

My buddy Erik, though, made it to Delaveaga Park and tried out his first 29er -- the Titus RockStar. You can read his impressions here.

Cycle & Style: Women are better cyclists.

Suicide machine?

Transit's Zoom Woosh problem. <-- Interesting read.

Did I already post this link? " Tyler Strandberg of Rocky Mount has a hard time getting her mind off her BlackBerry when she drives. She has crashed three cars in the past three years. Each time, she was distracted from her driving because she was typing text messages or talking on the phone.

Greater Greater Washington: 12 ways our region could reform bicycling laws.

Chris: Bicycles & Business Design.

SF Bay Guardian on SF Critical Mass and Gascon's review.

Los Gatos, CA: A cyclist was killed Monday morning after he was struck by a Chevy Blazer. The motorist, who somehow rolled his SUV in a 30 mph zone and damaged several street signs and the signal lights, was hospitalized. A witness reports the motorist was driving at a high speed and passing stopped traffic on the right.

Sesame Street: The Land of B

2010-02-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

Things with B are really grand! We ride in buses, we ride on bikes and bananas are the food that everybody likes!

Peugeot: Why do they do that?

2010-02-01T17:05:00.002-07:00

You might have seen Bike Rumor's post on Peugeot's futuristic concept bike. Peugeot hasn't sold bikes in years, but the brand still holds cachet with many Europeans. A European cycling company has licensed the name and will sell Peugeot branded bikes through car dealerships and bike retailers in Europe. This 2010 relaunch of Peugeot bikes is done to celebrate the company's 200th anniversary.

The actual bikes for sale include very utilitarian models like this city bike.

Why are Peugeot designers also releasing unworkable concept sketches like this B1K that seems more at home in a sci fi movie than on an urban street? James at Bicycle Design provides some interesting insight from a designer's perspective:

Concept designs like this do serve a real purpose for designers. Cutting loose a bit and creating something that is purely conceptual from time to time helps to inspire the design team and "keep the creative juices flowing". That creative energy can translate to a really nice, and saleable, product line down the road if the company chooses to puts the resources in place for the product development team to succeed.

California Highway Patrol bicycle incidents

2010-02-01T13:23:00.004-07:00

The California Highway Patrol posts traffic incident dispatches to the web. A while ago I wrote a script to filter out incidents involving bikes or bicycles, and I finally modified this script to save each bike incident to a web page.

You'll see a few false positives involving motorcycles, and most of the 'bike incidents' seem to be either "1125 - Traffic Hazard" or "Pedestrian in Roadway" when a motorist reports a cyclist somewhere. Still, there are a fair number of "TC" (Traffic Collision) and "Ambulance Responding" incidents.

You can view the list of bike incidents here. If you want to follow this in (near) real time, each new incident is tweeted to @CHPBIKE on Twitter.

If you have suggestions on ways to improve this, I'm all ears. Already on my TODO list:

Create separate monthly index pages.
Hover over CHP "10 codes" and jargon so you can see what it means. For example, "XRAY" means "female"; 1097 just means they showed up; JSO = "Just South Of."
Replace Dispatch Center code with English language. For example, OCCC is "Orange County."
Instead of listing incident number in the link tag, I'll put the incident type so you can quickly ignore "Traffic Hazard" and "Pedestrian On Roadway" type incidents if you want to, instead of requiring you to link through.
In addition to the Twitter feed, I might create an RSS feed as well (though the Twitter feed already has an RSS feed built in *shrug*.

It's important to note that this only captures incidents reported to the California Highway Patrol. Incidents handled by the local police, such as this morning's cycling fatality in Los Gatos, will not generally be visible here.

Danilo DiLuca suspended

2010-02-01T12:48:00.002-07:00

Danilo Di Luca was suspended and fined by the Italian Olympic Committee. Di Luca tested positive for EPO after the 2009 Giro D'Italia, in which he placed second behind Denis Menchov. This is the second suspension of his career.

More --> Bicycle.Net.