Pro racers aren't like you and me.

Today's live coverage of the Tour de France on www.cyclingnews.com contains this gem:

The peloton is currently riding pedaling at a good 50 km/h [over 30 m.p.h.]. Is it strenuous? Well, Sebastian Lang's heart rate is not much above a hundred, sometimes below.

Metra clarifies folding bikes policy

From a poster on the Chicago Folding Bike Society list:

I just grabbed the new bikes on trains brochure since I didn't have one
(carrying on is encouraged because you can kind of make out that
folding bikes aren't subject to the normal bikes program). The new
brochure says 2008 across the top right corner and in it, it
says, "Folding bicycles in protective covers are permitted on all
trains at all times but should not block train aisles or doorways."

...it's clearly stated in something you can find at
the stations and carry with you. Hopefully this eliminates any
confusion.

All bicycles weigh 50 pounds

"All bicycles weigh fifty pounds.
A thirty-pound bicycle needs a twenty-pound lock.
A forty-pound bicycle needs a ten-pound lock.
A fifty-pound bicycle doesn't need a lock."
-- Anonymous

Bumper Sticker = Bad Driver

Bumper Sticker Shock

Drivers who personalize their cars take it personally. Beware of the bumper sticker.

That's the unexpected conclusion of a recent study by William Szlemko of Colorado State University in the Journal of Applied Psychology, reported in the Washington Post in Shankar Vedantam's column. "Drivers of cars with bumper stickers, window decals, personalized license plates and other "territorial markers" not only get mad when someone cuts in their lane or is slow to respond to a changed traffic light, but they are far more likely than those who do not personalize their cars to use their vehicles to express rage -- by honking, tailgating and other aggressive behavior."

It does not seem to matter whether the messages on the stickers are about peace and love -- "Visualize World Peace," "My Kid Is an Honor Student" -- or angry and in your face -- "Don't Mess With Texas," "My Kid Beat Up Your Honor Student." The personalizing of the vehicle might be seen as territory markers.

"The more markers a car has, the more aggressively the person tends to drive when provoked," Szlemko said. "Just the presence of territory markers predicts the tendency to be an aggressive driver."

The implications for bicyclists are obvious -- aggressive drivers are bad news. The problems are equally obvious -- very seldom do we get a look at a vehicle's bumper until it has passed us.

Chicago World Naked Bike Ride

For a variety of very good reasons, I'll not be participating in this ride. I just thought it was interesting to see the long list of rules and suggestions I was e-mailed.

CHECK-IN for the Chicago World Naked Bike Ride is at UNION PARK
Southern triangle, near 100 N. Ashland, near Washington/Ogden intersection,
South of Green/Pink Line Ashland/Lake stop, AT the statue of former mayor
Carter Henry Harrison Sr.
GoogleMaps: http://tinyurl.com/4jsjjr * YahooMaps: http://tinyurl.com/52vgo6
* MapQuest: http://tinyurl.com/3rfktm
Saturday June 14th, rain or shine, 6-9pm gathering, then riding for several
hours, ending near beginning.

DO NOT COME except participants on people-powered wheels, due to crowd
management.

NON-RIDERS go watch at the recommended VIEWING point Halsted+Belmont some
time after 10:15-ish. Belmont Red/Brown stop puts you in the neighborhood.
We should pass that point twice over a period. Last year a sizable throng
assembled there and your cheers were greatly appreciated! To get live
updates en-route text message JOIN WNBRC to 8762.

RIDERS come at/after 6pm if you need body painting or wanna hang for tunez,
contests, bike decorating, eco banners, camaraderie, donations, etc.
Or come to check-in closer to launch time, like 8:45pm at the latest.

YOU are responsible for your own bike+self, travel+lodging, ID+money,
food+water, clothes+towel, etc, and help others. m'K?
Maybe bring some snax or drinx to share; also bells/whistles,
blinkees/glowies, helmet/backpack, smiles, etc.
There's no storage to leave stuff behind for the ride, but at least we may
have a potty this year.

DONATIONS are solicited on site to help defray costs, or use PayPal from
http://ChicagoNakedRide.com

CELEBRATE positive body image and the end of the automobile era with WNBR-C.
Bare-as-you-dare outfits range from body paint to fanciful costumes to
beach-wear. GREEN is the theme color this year.
Chicago's past rides rallied hundreds of cyclists and numerous skaters
winding over a dozen miles of city streets. The ride's atmosphere is
extremely joyful, convivial, and transcendently fun. Now in its FIFTH YEAR,
Chicago's turnout is among the largest of many cities participating
globally.
With gas prices skyrocketing and obesity an epidemic, our messages have
become truisms.


=== GUIDELINES ===
1. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT visibly carry open alcohol.
2. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT arrive naked or be anywhere near the park naked.
3. DO NOT COME unless you are participating on people-powered wheels due to
risk of overcrowding. NON-RIDERS come watch at Halsted near Belmont some
time after 10:15pm.
4. No photographs allowed before ride except by identified authorized
personnel. Assume however by participating that you may be photographed
anywhere anytime.
5. Exposed goodies may make you a target for arrest. Even naked butts may
be risky. Do so at your own risk or remain minimally covered or painted.
6. If confronted by police obey commands and comply, do not escalate and do
not argue. If told to put something on simply do so immediately. And thank
them en-route for their help.
7. This ride is monitored by National Lawyers Guild volunteers who can serve
as witnesses in case of trouble. If arrested immediately call the NLG office
at 312-913-0039
8. Remember the messages: Promoting freedom from oil addiction and positive
body image. Not antagonizing cagers and residents and authorities. Hostile
acts are completely uncool towards cars not directly threatening riders.
9. For maximum First Amendment protection integrate your messages: "burns
fat not oil", "nude not lewd", "no concealed weapons", "naked is how
vulnerable I am sharing the roads with cars"
10. DO NOT LITTER.
11. For more information see ChicagoNakedRide.com or try the hotline at
773-578-6289 or text JOIN WNBRC to 8762.


=== PRACTICAL RIDE ADVICE ===
1. Keep a slow pace, it's easy to get excited and start pedaling faster, but
we need to stay together and not get stretched out.
2. We don't need to blast through every red light. They're a great chance
for the group to mass up, so we must stop every so often to allow the group
to remain in a tighter formation.
3. Avoid passing cars and swallowing them up in the ride. Drivers caught in
bike masses tend to make erratic moves, so it's best to just stop behind a
pack of cars and wait for them to move on.
4. Stay out of the oncoming lane, we don't need both sides of the street and
must leave room for emergency vehicles.
5. If you have never been on a big group ride in Chicago here's some helpful
tips: http://chicagocriticalmass.org/about/newbies
6. Mr Bike has some great tips for riding naked:
http://www.mrbike.com/how.php


==== SOUND BITES ====
"Say no to oil."
"Less gas, more ass."
"Cars support terrorists."
"Naked is how vulnerable I am sharing the roads with cars."
"Bikes don't block traffic, bikes ARE traffic"
"Why are we naked? Because it got your attention."
"This is an annual free speech exercise promoting bicycling."
"Bicyclists make better lovers!"
"My bush would make a better president."


THANK YOU participants for being the most wondrous community I've known, and
crew for having brought your A games, and the mayor and police for being so
bike friendly. C U tomorrow!

~ ~
WNBR-C Coord and avid inline skater.

Car runs into bike race

A driver, possibly an American citizen, fell asleep at the wheel and ran into a bike race in Mexico, causing mayhem.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,362147,00.html

Trib Gets Bike Religion

Today's Chicago Tribune devotes the Q section to a bike issue.

It's pretty well done. I'm not sure I can handle all this trendiness, though.

From Pakistan, the Inventor Spirit

I wouldn't ordinarily post about electric bikes, but there's a post here about the bike pictured above and the man from Pakistan who put it together. It's a good story.

Instead of using expensive speed controller I've used relays to
connect batteries (4 of them) parallel and series to get 12, 24, 36
and 48 volts by a throttle switch that I designed it my self by using wood....


Most importantly I've not connected the motor directly to the wheel,
instead I've connected it to the gearing mechanism so this gives me
the choice to go for speed on straight roads and go for torque on
hills. This saves my batteries and reduces the load on motor.

With slight power of paddling it is giving me 60 km/hr these days,
I¢m really enjoying my ride to my office which is about 14 km away.

Thought for the day

"I delighted in the supreme sense of freedom that comes with the
first mile of a bicycle journey. No bills, no messy
relationships, no job. All I needed was stuffed into four sturdy
panniers."
-- Dan Buettner, on setting out on a 12,000-mile ride across Africa

A kid dreams of bike racing with the pros

If I had known about bicycle racing when I was 11, I might have dreamed of starring in this video.

Wheel Rage

Kevin Williams (bike commuter and Tribune writer) writes:

We're mad as hell, and it's all because of the wheel.

Cyclists are dropping [two Chicago cyclists killed in the last few days], and the whole bike-versus-car showdown has become a tinderbox...

"Those bikers had it coming. They don't obey traffic laws," says a motorist.

"SUV-driving pigs hog the road and waste resources as they try to kill me," says a cyclist.

Kevin's got a theory that's as good as anybody's:

Everybody's angry, and everybody's wrong. As a cyclist and driving enthusiast, trust me—both sides are being buttheads.

But why does this blind, festering, almost cauterizing rage seal off logic? Why does it make everyone as stupid as the day is long?

I repeat: It's the wheel. Wheels make life a race. If you are strolling 10 feet behind an elderly couple, do you break into a run to reach a spot before they do? No. Do we try to outwalk each other to work? No.

But put us in a wheeled conveyance, and it's competition.

And Kevin's thought a bit about a solution:

take these easy steps:

•Use wheels sparingly. You already know they're evil.

•Self-witness, as [psychologist Leon] James puts it. The psychologist recommends turning on a little tape recorder while driving. Verbalize all the invective you're feeling, and play it back later. Shameful, isn't it? Realization is the first step toward correction.

•Recognize that we're all vulnerable. On a bike, you earn the karma you might have spawned by buzzing a pedestrian or running a light. In a car, you buzzed a rider, now an SUV is crowding you. Is that 18-wheeler crowding you, SUV driver?

Good advice, Kevin. Or, in a word: CHILL!

Sheldon Brown's April 1

I humbly post this link to Sheldon Brown's past April 1 posts

[Sheldon having died recently, there won't be any more.]

Pink bike site.com

Much more here.

Sheldon Brown, 1944-2008

Sheldon Brown, justifiably one of the most famous bicyclists in history, died this week.

You can pay respects at sheldonbrown.blogspot.com

Sheldon was nominally a bike mechanic, but that does not begin to explain the influence of his website, and of his voluminous writings over decades.

He not only invented the real man saddle
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/real-man.html
he was a real man.

Obituary in the Boston Globe.

Retire up where it's cold

Under the heading of "things I would not have expected to be true" is this
article suggesting Canada is the most popular retirement destination for the
British:

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/02/01/canada-retirement.html

Wouldn't someplace warmer be nicer?

Chutzpah

Driver who killed teenager sues parents over damage to his car
By Harold Heckle
The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 01/25/2008 05:24:00 PM MST

Posted: 5:23 PM- MADRID, Spain -- A

speeding motorist who killed a teenage cyclist is suing the boy's parents over damage to his luxury car, the government says.

Enaitz Iriondo, 17, died instantly in August 2004 when businessman Tomas Delgado's Audi A8 crashed into him at 100 mph near Haro in northern Spain, an Interior Ministry traffic report said. The speed limit was 55 mph.

Iriondo was not wearing reflective clothing or a helmet, the ministry report said. As the sun had set when he crossed the path of Delgado's car from a side road, a regional court found both parties at fault and closed the case, the report said.

Get this. The driver is going 45 miles over the speed limit, and the cyclist is not wearing gear he isn't legally required to wear (based on US vehicle code, which I've heard is similar to what's required in most European countries). Yet they are both considered at fault.

"Chutzpah" is headline used by the person who sent me this article, and that's pretty appropriate term.

Water-filtering bike

http://www.ecospace.cc/water/water-filtering-bike-0108.htm#comment-1679

"The Aquaduct is a pedal powered vehicle that stores, filters and transports water; aimed for use in the developing world. It consists of a storage tank, filter, peristaltic pump, clean tank and clutch."

It's an interesting idea and worth a look if you like engineering designs of this sort. I think it would be better if it were two-piece (bicycle separate from tank/filter apparatus), but then I didn't design it.

Winter Bike to Work Day

I didn't make it this year. I was working from home while the chimney guys did some tuckpointing on my chimney. But Dave B. did as usual. Here's his report:

http://discgolfer.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1809917%3ABlogPost%3A55173

Bicycle Licence Plates?

The League of Illinois Bicyclists seems like a fine organization doing good work, and I'm happy to be a member, but I don't have to agree with everything they do.

Annually, they flog their commemorative license plate, which costs $28 and can be used for one month instead of a regular plate. A bicycle license plate on your car always seemed to me like a commemorative handgun for a pacifist, and I've always passed.

But wait!

This year, they are trying for a permanent plate:

"This year we are working a getting a permanent SHARE THE ROAD license
plate for Illinois and are surveying our plate holders. We must get a
minimum of 850 firm commitments for this to happen."

There only need to be 850? No wonder Illinois has so many difference license plates. The Illinois Secretary of State's office lists the following plates:

* Amateur Radio
* America Remembers

So, who can quickly tell me what we are remembering here?

* Antique Vehicle
* B-Truck
* Charitable Vehicle
* Collegiate [21 different plates for various colleges]
* Education
* Environmental
* Farm Truck & Trailer
* Firefighter Memorial
* Hearing Impaired
* Illinois Hospice

* Illinois Michigan Canal
* Illinois Pan Hellenic Series [Four of these, honoring those fraternities who have had the most drunk driving arrests over the years.]
* Mammogram
* Master Mason
* Mileage Tax Truck
* Military [18 different plates]
* Motorcycle [3 plates]
* Organ Donor [only one! I was expecting one plate for each organ, but no...]

* Park District Youth
* Passenger
* Peoria Wildlife
* Persons With Disabilities
* Pet Friendly

* Police Memorial
* Prevent Violence
* Recreational Trailers
* Recreational Vehicles
* Route 66
* Sporting Series [There are 6 of these: duck, turkey, rival gang member, bass, pheasant, duck]
* Trailers
* Trucks over 8000 lbs.


How can such a confusing array of license plates possibly serve one of the main purposes of license plates, which is to allow people to easily identify the car? The answer is, that this confusing array just causes confusion. With such a small minimum order, it's hard to imagine the state ends up making much net income from these. But they make a lot of political interests happy. Do cyclists have to stoop so low?

Another good tandem.

http://www.velonews.com/images/prn/8366.11940.f.jpg