Atomic

New sticks have landed and more speed will come. Knocking down the K's.

down the drain

Yes the end is here and it has been a good one. Lots of challenges and more to come. Get the work done and push forward and hope that the puzzle has all the pieces. The harder I push the faster the wheels will spin. Now just make it happen. Next? We'll see just be ready.

Rolling

Riding inside is not my favarite thing to do. But I know it has to get done and while this time of year it is mainly tempo with a push here or there it is so much easier with my new Cycle Ops rollers. Smoother faster and so much quieter.. My old ones have found a new home and I hope that the new owner get good use out of them. Speaking of new it sounds as if some new sticks may becoming my way. This make the ski forecast more and more exciting. Now bring on some more snow so the trails here can get freshened up. May be time for some new music.. I am over the stuff in my player.

V1 or v2 ??

Ok after a few days of pouting and swearing at the rain and to much birthday cake it was time to ski. I went up to SMU knowing that the locals respect the trails and have not walked on them and that the grooming would be able to take care of the icy conditions. The pisten had been out and doing a great job. Their we a lot of times when I was motor pacing on fresh corduroy. Good work and very tired but still left me wanting more. Time to get some ski trips set up. I could use another pair of skis but with a tight budget and bike racing 3-4 months a way I need to save up. Some Day!!

1'000

Skiing may be on hold for a bit. Had a good ski on wed. morning had to fight my self to get out before work but the rewards were there. With the wind blowing and a full cover of darkness I stayed in the woods for the most part and just kept swinging at the hills. But now with a major winter event and the temps hovering around 34 all I can see is rain. A few more degrees cooler and we would be nipple deep in the white stuff. So I sit and wait like a kid on Christmas and wounder what the ski trails will be like. 8 days in to my winter bliss and mother nature has to piss all over it . Global Warming? Or just some angry sugar plum fairies! All I know is that they left me standing in the rain.

Up Up Up

Slip sliding away

Dark >>> that stuff that happens when it is not light out. With a trusty Led headlamp the XC trails get lit up just enough for some after dinner K's. My biggest issue is the small changes in snow and pitch. But as long as I keep it consistent the movement is good. I do like the light much better. Few more days and the longer days will be coming.

Swing and Miss

Wouldn't you know a ski race this weekend and I have to work. More to come or at least I hope. Warming the skis up so I can wax them and like a freak get out in the AM.. Going to be coLd.

Two Plank Wank

Tired I am. A bit worked... First day on snow was yesterday, and another today. Body responded well but towards the end of this morning I was felling it. The form needs to come around a bit and the speed will follow. More snow to come enough to cover up all the foot prints and crap from all the non skiing activity that happens. 12 Packs of Dales are now at the Woodmans so life for the holidays will be a good one. Maybe a good bit of rollers for tomorrow.

It has already been Broughten

It is dark dark like the coffee that sits in front of me. And with that comes the tiredness. A small break was needed yesterday and as always I felt guilty. My reward is more coffee and a friday that will lead in to a weekend of goodness. The skis are waiting for me just one more coat of wax and i will be ready for some sliding tomorrow. One thing stands in the way and that is work. In nine short hours I will be waxing up with a cold beer in my hand as loud punk rock rings in my ears. Here is to Coffee, Marshal Stacks, Cold Cold Beer.... Bring it on!!

Face Shots

It came!

Snow She Comes

The Wax is flowing getting ready for the snow.. These skis have been so good to me and I can;t wait to get out on them.. I do have new boots and bindings just no skis to mount them to. If another set of sticks came about I could get one of the girls here in the house out working on their V2. But the snow is coming and the silent winter days will be upon us.

Come Gather Round Childern

Got out for another blissful ride, cold temps 16 but I was warm with the T6 wool jersey. Need to get out again tomorrow because it sounds as if the ski tuner is going to need to come out. Things they are a changing.. Just need to keep between the colors?

Standing in the rain

I know that we have seen the first snow of the season, but my soul is still

celebrating summer.

Nors Wind

Dec 3rd, i woke up and put my shoes on. Layered up all in black, and hit the lights. With the swirly snow blowing work was at the other end. But first a small climb. A quick one up bliss brought much cheer. The decent was quick and just a bit slick. Now the ride home with the snow flying tons of cars crashing and my 28's rolling I looked like this...

More this time from NPR

A Good story from NPR>>>

A bicyclist rides down the street during this year's Bike to Work Day in San Francisco. Events such as this promote biking as a viable form of commuting, but tensions between cyclists and drivers persist.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

A bicyclist rides down the street during this year's Bike to Work Day in San Francisco. Events such as this promote biking as a viable form of commuting, but tensions between cyclists and drivers persist.

Five Bicycle Safety Tips

Wearing a helmet is arguably the most crucial component of bike safety. Beyond that, here are some things to remember:

1. Ride on the road — and the right side of it, too. It's a common misconception that it's safer to cycle on the sidewalk or on the left side of the road. But both practices can confuse pedestrians and drivers, especially at crosswalks when they aren't expecting fast-moving traffic.

2. Lighten up. Don't rely on reflectors alone to light you up if you ride at night. Drivers won't be able to see you in the shadows. Invest in bike lights.

3. Don't hug the curb. If you ride too close to the road's edge, passing cars might sidle you off of it. Aiming for the right tire track of the right lane is generally a safe bet.

4. Give your bike some TLC. A well-tuned ride is a safe ride. Regularly check your brakes, gears and tire pressure.

5. Keep your eyes peeled. Make it a habit to look all around when riding — check the ground for bumps and potholes while scanning the horizon for oncoming obstructions.

— Rose Raymond/NPR

Sources: bikecommute.com, bikexprt.com

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December 2, 2009

Bicycling magazine called it "the road rage incident heard 'round the cycling world."

A driver in Los Angeles was recently convicted of using his car as a weapon against two cyclists. And the case is focusing attention on the often uneasy relationship between motorists and bicyclists who have to share the road.

It happened last year on the Fourth of July, on a steep, narrow road in L.A.'s Mandeville Canyon. Cyclists Christian Stoehr and Ron Peterson were riding side by side when a doctor who lived in the neighborhood came up from behind in a sedan.

"There was an exchange of words," Stoehr recalls. "He then accelerated within five feet in front of us, pulled over and slammed on the brakes."

Stoehr says there was no time for them to stop. He was thrown over the car and landed across the road. But Peterson didn't have time to swerve.

"And he went right in through the back window of the car," says Stoehr, adding that Peterson crashed headfirst. "I think they found his teeth in the back seat."

The impact severed Peterson's nose and separated Stoehr's shoulder. Christopher Thomas Thompson, the driver of the car and a former emergency room doctor, was arrested and put on trial. The jury found him guilty of six felonies, including assault with a deadly weapon: his car. Thompson now faces 10 years in prison.

"For someone to do this to you on purpose, it's unfathomable," says Peterson, a cycling coach for the University of California, Los Angeles. He says he still can't feel his nose, he now wears false teeth, and he will forever have scars.

"I'm happy that justice was served," Peterson told reporters outside the courthouse after the verdict. "I think all of our hope is that this brings to light just how vulnerable cyclists are out there."

During the trial, other cyclists told the jury of previous incidents with the driver. And a police officer testified that Thompson said he deliberately slammed on the brakes to "teach the cyclists a lesson."

Landmark Case

"The road rage was so egregious," says Bicycling editor Loren Mooney. She says this may be a landmark case in protecting cyclists and pedestrians. "It's the intent, the actual road rage, that's part of the conviction in this case."

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, traffic crashes killed 716 cyclists last year and injured 52,000 people riding bikes, trikes and unicycles. That includes recent fatalities from Brookline, Mass., to Portland, Ore. But unlike the Los Angeles case, Mooney says drivers who kill or injure cyclists are rarely convicted.

"It's easy for a driver to say, 'Oh, I didn't see you. You're small, you're traveling slowly in the roadway. It was an accident,' " says Mooney. "It takes an enormous amount of evidence to get a conviction of a reckless driver, or in this case, a driver with an intent to hurt somebody with a vehicle."

Mooney says crashes often happen when drivers are distracted by cell phones, texts and other hazards. And she warns bike riders not to aggravate or escalate tensions on the road.

Driver Resentment

The Mandeville Canyon driver's reaction was perhaps an extreme example of the everyday resentment heard from other motorists.

"These bicyclists are extremely rude, and they take up the road — four, five people at a time," complained one caller to NPR member station KPCC's show AirTalk. The caller said he lives in Mandeville Canyon, and he has had it with cyclists.

"When you pull up alongside them and ask them to stay out of your way, they yell at you," he said. "They're extremely provocative, they're asking for trouble, and this is not the worst case that's going to happen. Someone's going to get killed, and to be frank with you, the residents aren't going to feel too bad about it."

Another Mandeville Canyon resident, Tom Freeman, is sympathetic to vulnerable cyclists. But as president of the homeowners' association, he hears complaints that when drivers try to pass bike riders, "they give them the finger."

"If they catch up with them at a stop sign, they'll kick their cars," he says. "Somebody was spit at. It's the few that cause the problems, and they help create a perception."

Cycling In Fear

East Hollywood boasts what's known as a "bicycle district," with a bike shop, cafe and bike repair co-op. Here, cycling activist Stephen Box complains that police officers don't take bike crashes seriously. And he says cyclists feel the brunt of car drivers' frustrations.

"I've been left-hooked and hit. I've been hit from behind and left in the streets," says Box. "And they expect cyclists to ride where it's unsafe: It's unsafe to ride through potholes in the gutter pan; it's unsafe to ride through broken glass in the gutter pan; it's unsafe to ride in the door zone."

His wife, Enci, says that's why cyclists often ride the way they do — to survive, even if that means sometimes running red lights.

"When I see the light turn red, I try to race as fast as I can through it," she says, "because I know I will have a block of peace and quiet, where there won't be cars behind me."

These cyclists point out that it's actually legal to ride side by side in the streets of L.A. But the rules of the road can be confusing. That's why Alex Thompson wrote what's known as the Cyclists' Bill of Rights.

"Cyclists have the right to travel safely and free of fear. We have the right to the full support of the judicial system," says Thompson, a bike blogger who also co-founded the L.A. bike cooperative Bikerowave. "These are all rights cyclists already have, but we need to reaffirm these."

But even Thompson and another bike blogger, Ted Rogers, disapprove of reckless bike riders who maneuver through traffic as if playing a video game.

"Oh, we hate these guys," says Rogers. "We absolutely hate them. The driver you tick off is the one who's going to run me off the road."

USA Tody??? WTF

Two-wheel troublemaking: Have motorists let bicyclist 'rights' go too far?

Have bicyclist "rights" gone too far?

For a decade, urban bicyclists have become more brash. In some cities, groups such as Critical Mass organized mass rush-hour bike rides that tied traffic in knots, delaying commuters rides' home by minutes or hours. They are hardly tactics that will win sympathy from drivers.

In the aftermath and as their numbers have increased, cyclists have become emboldened to take over the road. That is, instead of riding to the right or on the shoulder, some are now riding in the center of the lane. Two incidents underscore how they are putting themselves in danger. One incident involved a cyclist hit and killed by accident. The other case is a motorist who is alleged to have tried to make bicyclists crash into his car on purpose:

In the first case, a driver on the way to work struck a St. Mary's County, Md., bicyclist earlier this month and killed him, police told The Washington Post. The driver, a 20-year-old in her Honda Accord, told police she never saw the biker. But the accident might have been prevented if the 47-year-old bicyclist had been riding in the right, not in the dead center, of the lane, a major contributor to the accident.

In the second case, a Los Angeles doctor is on trial for allegedly slamming the brakes on his car to cause two bikers to run into him. They did, suffering bloody injuries. The doctor, Charles Christopher Thompson, was allegedly peeved over having to slow down for three bikers blocking his path, refusing to pull to the right and flipping him off as he passed. He is on trial for having pulled in front of them and, according to testimony, hitting the brakes so that bikes were sure to hit. One biker needed 90 stitches.

For a little perspective, Drive On sought out Jeff Peel, a program specialist heading the League of American Bicycle's campaign for Bicycle Friendly Communities. His contention is that the road is "not motorist space. It's people space." Bicyclists are road users, too, even if they travel at the fraction of the speed of a car. In fact, he says, that's good.

"The idea is you are slowing traffic, which may be frustrating to some motorists but making the road safer for everyone," Peel says. "Creating safer roadways and right-of-ways for all users sometimes requires taking space away from automobiles."

Taking space away from cars? Ouch. When late to work, it pains a driver to slow down for a bunch of bicyclists hogging the roadway. In the past, you might have tried to steer around them. These days, they are right in front of the car.

It will be interesting to see how far this goes, whether bicyclists are allowed to stay in the middle of the highway. As the deaths mount, maybe it will become clear they need ride to the right.

Here's a breakdown from Peel about where bikers can ride in various states:

States that require cyclists to use trail or pathways when one is adjacent to roadway:

Louisiana

Nebraska

New Mexico

Oregon

States that require cyclists to use bike lanes when present:

Louisiana

Maryland

New Mexico

Oregon

Rhode Island

West Virginia

States that require cyclists to ride on the shoulder when present:

Alaska

Hawaii

Maryland

South Dakota

A 1997 bike rally by Critical Mass in San Francisco, by Sam Morris/AP

Rolling for a Empire of Dirt

December or the twelfth month of the year. The End of the beginning. At least one day outside on wheels every month of the year some more than others. Out again this morning beating the light at 6:50. Layered and warm for a bit of bliss and a scone to follow. Pain was in the legs as the raitos from the summer make the legs Hurt. It is in the numbers and their is light @ the tunnels end, I can see it.