Hump Day ride report, in which I walk the walk of shame

I was Just Riding Along thinking that I haven’t had a flat tire all year (yes, really!) when, inevitably, my rear tire went flat.

I shift to my smallest cog, flip the bike over and reach into my saddle bag where I find my tools, tire levers, pump and … that’s it. No spare tube, no spare patch.


Walk of Shame

Phooey.

I’m on the Guadalupe River Trail at Coleman Avenue, so I walk the mile to the St. James light rail station. On the way there, I’m walking across the street in front of somebody who stopped his Mercedes GLK across the crosswalk. No matter, I just walk around him and he rams me! He nails my drive side pedal. He realizes he made an idiot move — he was looking for a gap in traffic but failed to notice the pedestrian directly in front of the windshield. No damage to me or my bike, but his 2013 SUV now has a nasty gash in his front bumper, so I call it even and go on my way.

I hop on the 1st Street light rail — when did it get so busy? Debark at River Oaks for the mile walk to my office. Remove my shoes shortly after I get on a decently paved part of the path to save my cleats.


Bicycle news

Dallas cop runs over a guy on a bike and fakes up the accident report, blaming the victim for his death. The police chief reviewing the accident report thought “this story just didn’t seem right to us,” so he ordered further investigation, which reveals the officer ran over and killed 51-year-old bicyclist Fred Bradford. Via.

A nice write-up in the Press-Democrat on Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition director Gary Helfich. And in Santa Cruz, the Sentinel published their own profile of People Power Director Amelia Conlen.

More Texas cities promote bicycle use.

62-year-old man moves a bike that was blocking a gas station entrance; a thug who owned the bike and his friend beat him senseless for doing so.

Illinois volunteers teach children with disabilities ride bicycles.

A Santa Cruz defense attorney was walking back to his office on the 300 block of Soquel Avenue when he saw a man riding away on a bicycle.

Then it hits him. ‘Hey, that’s my bike.’

“Defense attorneys make excellent witnesses. He gave a great description of the suspect and direction of travel,” Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark said.

More in KSBW News: Santa Cruz defense attorney busts bicycle thief.

Santa Cruz Sentinel “Street Smarts” column:

Forbes Magazine ranks Santa Cruz, CA number six in job growth, in part because of the bicycle industry here. Santa Cruz Mountain Bikes employs around 70 people in Santa Cruz, while Fox Factory, which manufactures bicycle shocks in Watsonville and recently went public, employs about 500 people in Santa Cruz County.

California Bicycle Summit 2013 still seeks presenters on the topic of “Mainstreaming the Bike in California Culture.” Maybe I’ll propose a slideshow of how diverse Bay Area bike people can be?

It’s not just Dallas cops who knock over cyclists when they attempt to stop them. New York City police allegedly do the same thing!


Today’s task: fix my flat and ensure I have spare tubes in my bag all the time!

6 Comments

  1. Yep, nice scratch in his front bumper. I was walking on either Notre Dame or Almaden (I don’t remember which exactly) north of Santa Clara Street in San Jose.

  2. Somehow I think the Dallas cop is in worse trouble for falsifying an official report than he is for killing the bicyclist. I hope I’m wrong about that.

  3. I think that the Dallas cop is in worse trouble for falsifying an official report than he would have been for killing the cyclist. I hope the DA in Dallas proves me wrong!

  4. Arrrg! NoScript prevented me from seeing my original post, so I assumed it hadn’t been posted. So I reposted after enabling your site in NoScript, only to see both versions appear. Sorry about that.

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