Bill Collins sent in this link to a Do-It-Yourself Bike Camera Mount:
The smell of the road, the wind at your back, infinity miles per gallon…
Riding your bike sure is sweet. But you know what would make it even sweeter? The tried-and-tested, make-it-yourself, $10 + 10 minutes Photojojo BikeCam!
This image of a helmeted girl with face-trauma makes me sad. This billboard is near my house so I have to ride past her every day, and I’m getting really sick of seeing it.
One of the sign’s sponsors, Injury Free Coalition for Kids, has some interesting statistics on their site:
Head injuries incurred while riding a bike result in two-thirds of hospital admissions and more than 60 percent of the bicycling deaths.
If two-thirds of hospital admissions were actually from bicycle head injuries, I’d stop riding a bike!
I was also reading this sad story about Bradford Berk, head of the URMC, who sustained a serious spinal cord injury after losing control of his bicycle. This news report transcript doesn’t mention why he lost control, or talk about how to prevent spinal cord injury. It does, however, launch into a bizarre helmet advocacy piece. Two paragraphs about the accident, and then 5 about why helmets are so important.
If I had 5 paragraphs worth of space (or that much time on TV), I’d include a whole bunch of useful tips on top of the helmet tip, such as: ride in the road in the direction of traffic; take it slow on bike paths; use a bell or horn, lights, and a mirror; and give yourself some space on either side to avoid running into things or off the road. We don’t know if that kind of advice could have helped Mr. Berk, since there is very little reporting on the actual accident, but the media should really clear up all the bicycle safety misconceptions.
By the way, The Bagel Bin in Brighton has set up a wishing well to support Mr. Berk and his family. Ride safe out there folks — no matter what you put on your head.
This is turning out to be my favorite spring ever, and a large number of the great moments this season have involved my Xtracycle, The Chicken Avenger. Whether I’m driving around friends or family, blasting some music out the back, or getting admiring nods from cagers, I’m constantly enjoying this bike. It’s probably the best vehicle I’ll ever own.
My brother Ryan gets a ride to the grocery store.
No links of the day this past week, but hey, now you get some links of the week!
Marlene Heuer and Peter Lazarski are two of my favorite artists – you’ll see their work displayed prominently in my house – but on top of that, they share a 2 bike, 1 car household. We sat down to discuss their methods and experiences as utility cyclists, and their hopes for the future of bike commuting.
If you’re a Rochestarian you’ve probably already seen some of their work; Marlene posts her art at Mother Popcorn and Peter is over at But I’m a wizard!.
Out of one hundred and sixty six potential posts on the bike blogs today, nine which I saw fit to share.
Jack did a little bit of rabble rousing on Saturday when he came out against cycling! Check out his post to understand his reasoning. I myself prefer to walk on trails that are not all torn up by mountain bikers, so I understand where Jack is coming from.
Tryon Park is the central front in this war, as it’s one of the more popular parks for mountain bikers, but seems less utilized by foot traffic. I dropped by there last night on a scouting mission.
No obvious signage indicating lesser class status for bikers.
The drier parts of the park seem to be holding up well, even with the bike use . . .
. . . but the wetter parts of the park have uneven and torn-up paths. These tracks had pretty much hardened.
What sort of jerk is tearing up the park with his shoes? Oh, that’s me.
In the interest of a truce, I suggest letting the mountain bikers try to coexist with the foot traffic at Tryon Park first. Let’s take it slow.
P.S. While I was standing at the entrance to Tryon Park, I got to witness a pole-mounted transformer explode! I waited around until the fire trucks came:
Don’t forget, this Thursday in Rochester: Let’s Talk Cycling.
News 8 ran a short interview with Jean Triest and Frank Regan about the event.
I liked what Frank had to say, though he could probably cut his soundbytes down a bit (the reporter had to kind of drag his point out of him).
Also, I’m glad Jean is talking about cycling as someone from the county government. And I know Traffic Safety is her job. So I mean the following criticism with full respect and appreciation.
But I do feel that her helmet lecture was too much. I know she means well. But if helmets prevent 89% of head trauma as Jean says, why not tell motorists to wear helmets? Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of head injuries in America. Head trauma in motor vehicle accidents kills many thousands of people a year, with head injuries occurring in 70% of severe crashes.
If you’re going to tell cyclists to wear helmets, you should probably add that with or without a helmet, safe cycling will raise your life expectancy while safe driving lowers it. And remember: the few studies that we’ve done on this topic show that the “weight of evidence is against the encouragement of cyclists to wear helmets.” I’d like to see more studies on this, and until then, I’ll wear my helmet in most contexts and stop telling other people that they should.
One way we could make Monroe County’s road really safe is to convince everyone to stop driving cars and to ride bikes instead. That may take a few millennia of advocacy (and some serious global warming), but it’s not going to come any quicker if people think that bike riding gets their heads smashed more than car driving does.
Anyway, Jean gets bonus points for saying that bikes have a right to be in the road, for giving some real practical advice on how to ride safely, and for spending time on the county dime covering bike safety issues. I’ll see you all on Thursday.
Greta Page-Mann shares her methods and experiences after many years of using bikes instead of cars. Greta is one of the most easy-going bike commuters I’ve met, and her no-nonsense attitude really comes through in this interview.
This episode is intentionally shorter and has better sound quality than the previous. I’m going to try to keep these things to around 20 minutes apiece.
