Before we get to another great week of bike news, let’s take a look at last week’s best stories…
— Did you catch that crazy video of a guy on a motorcycle who hit someone riding a bike in the hills above Los Angeles? Turns out it was a group ride being led by none other than famous pro George Hincapie.
— Outgoing US DOT Secretary Ray LaHood is talking about bikes right up until the end. Here’s his recap of the recent Bike Safety Summit he led in Minneapolis.
— A group of high school students in Eugene has raised over $1,000 for bike parking at their school via a crowdfunding campaign.
— If you remember the movie E.T., this amazing photo of a guy biking in front of a full moon will be even better.
— People for Bikes released a new video in honor of National Bike Month. It’s called, “Standoff” and it’s trying to promote peace and love whether you are on two wheels or four.
— The fact that someone was shot while riding a bike in southern California isn’t what caught my eye with this story, but that it’s the fourth such incident over a three-day stretch last week.
— Bicycling Magazine published a story about new research showing how concussions are a major type of bike-related head injury and helmets don’t do a great job preventing them.
— Is this just another sign of bicycling’s rising popularity in America? BikeRadar has the scoop on how counterfeit bike gear and frames are costing the industry millions a year.
— The Adventure Cycling Association launched a funding effort for their U.S. Bicycle Route System and the promo video features lots of Portland places (how many can you name?).
— And since it’s bike travel season, now would be a great time to learn more about how (not) to take your bike on Amtrak.
— Tragic timing for our friends in Seattle who experienced a fatal bike collision on the first day of National Bike Month and the day Washington was ranked the #1 Bike Friendly State.
— While the tabloid hoopla continues in New York City, Crain’s New York Business has presented a more measured (and accurate) view of what’s going on with bikes in that city. They published a good Q & A with DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan as well an excellent article about how Citi Bike bike share is already impacting the city.
— Compulsory cycling education for kids in schools? Sounds like a great idea to me.
— Here’s a low-tech way to prevent bike theft: Just put some menacing eyes on the street.
— This seems like a good idea: A seatpost that turns into an air pump.
— A lot of people are freaked out that no U.S. cities made the Copenhagenize Top 20 list. One of the reasons, says the list’s creator Mikael Colville-Andersen, is too many people associate riding with a sport.
— And then there’s a guide to how to use your bike commute as a training ride via OR Bike.
— Newly confirmed Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell visited with a bike shop owner in Virginia, and rumor has it Jewell has a Portland stop on her schedule.
— In Scotland, a man was given a five-year driver’s license suspension for his involvement in a fatal collision with a 75-year old woman who was riding her bike. Not only did the judge say the woman’s lack of helmet use “contributed to her death” but the man who was driving had already served two years for killing another person who was biking back in 1985.
— In London, they’re so serious about creating a world-class bikeway network they have created full-scale test models of Dutch roundabouts.
— A highway just for cycling was built in Los Angeles in 1897. I say let’s dust off those plans and rebuild it!
— Detroit might have led the auto-making revolution in America; but now that cars aren’t as popular as they used to be, the “Motor City” is starting to make bikes.
— A Medford, Oregon man who doesn’t approve of people riding mountain bikes, plead guilty to assault and reckless endangerment after he strung ropes across trails and spiked trees with nails.
If you come across a great bike story, send it in or Tweet @BikePortland and we’ll consider featuring it here next Monday.
Thanks for reading.
BikePortland has served this community with independent community journalism since 2005. We rely on subscriptions from readers like you to survive. Your financial support is vital in keeping this valuable resource alive and well.
Please subscribe today to strengthen and expand our work.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that helmets don’t prevent concussions because of the nature of the injury. They do a good job preventing skull fractures, however, which is reason enough to wear one if you are so inclined.
I would like to thank you JRB, for the polite, and wonderfully inclusive invite to wear a helmet. I hope those who deem it necessary to berate others in the choice not to, will learn from your kind example.
There has been a lot more research done on testing methods and transfer of concussive force with motorcycle helmets, here is a very good article ‘Blowing The LId Off’: http://www.westcoastweasels.com/archives/PDF/Blowing_the_Lid_Off.pdf
One thing that the Bicycling article points out about hemet use is that there appears to be a correlation between helmet use and a reduced risk of death from bicycle accident:
“since 1998 thousands of people have died in bicycle accidents, more than 90 percent of whom weren’t wearing helmets. In 2008, IIHS stats show that 714 cyclists were killed. Only 58 of those cyclists were wearing helmets. The rest, 656, were lidless.”
missing from this data is how many people not wearing helmets were not killed
They also didn’t bother to mention how many of the deceased died of actual head injuries as opposed to other things like crushed rib cages, dismemberment, shattered spleens, extreme blood loss, etc.
We should also wonder how many of the deceased were ignoring basic safety measures that we tend to ignore in favor of a helmet. Little things like using lights after dark, riding in the direction of traffic, and stopping for cross-traffic will keep a rider from ever getting hurt at all. Staying alive often has nothing to do with body armor.
My helmet is the last thing that will protect me from death by head injury, so it’s the last consideration. It should probably also be the last thing we ask about when a cyclist has died.
I would like to ride to Albany and Eugene this summer to visit family and catch the train back to PDX.
Does anyone have any experience vis a vis bikes with the Amtrak Cascades service to Portland? Far more interested in using a hook than disassembling my bicycle, putting it into a disposable box and checking it as luggage. (even writing all that out is a hassle!)
Know if they will accommodate a group?
cascades from seattle to eugene: yes! roll on bike service. it’s the best. they can handle 6(?) bikes this way, so if your group is smallish and you reserve the bike hooks early, you have a good shot!
Hey Thanks. That’s great news.
Yep, pretty much what gl. said, except I think they might have 5 hooks per train, not 6. Also, note that you can reserve bike hooks online when you book your travel – don’t forget to do this as I don’t think you can book them separately. Also, you will need to check or carry on your panniers separately – they won’t accept them on the bike.
Hey wsbob, and Grandpa… The “anti mountain biker ” civil servant/psychiatrist/ saboteur in Medford should get attemted murder IMO, not agg-assault for his actions. See, not every trail/user/ lover acts in the same manner.
Last week someone put large rocks on the MAX tracks, which fortunately didn’t lead to injuries. This kind of cowardly behavior approaches terrorism IMO.
Marid,
No one put the rocks there with malicious intent… TriMet figured out they got there from a nearby construction site.
It might help if you would note where you came by your information. A couple days ago, I read in the O, that TriMet did believe the rocks came from a nearby landscape construction project, but not that they weren’t put their maliciously. In fact, the report was the that the transportation agency had offered up $1000 to anyone with info leading to arrest of persons responsible.
Source?
I can’t find an update on that.
Here’s the link to the Oregonian story about the landscape rocks having found their way to the light rail tracks, subsequently resulting in $20,000 damage: http://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/index.ssf/2013/05/trimet_offers_1000_reward_in_c.html
And an excerpt from that story: “…Police believe whoever placed the rocks on the tracks had to trespass into the restricted right of way. …” rose/oregonian
Definitely would be nice if the rocks hadn’t been carried with malicious intent, onto the tracks by trespassers into the restricted right of way, even though damage was nevertheless caused. If there was some reasonable explanation for why someone without malicious intent, would set big, bowling ball sized rocks on train tracks for the train to try run over…hopefully,the people that did this will come forward and explain.
Maybe so…by your personal sense of justice and other people sharing the same…but certainly not by the U.S. system of justice.
Love the “Standoff” video. Well done, nice message. I love when the car driver crushes her damn bluetooth earpiece under her spike heel.
oh is that what that was. i thought it might be an earring. might be helpful to make this more obvious to those of us who are unfamiliar with these technologies.
i don’t quite get why she had to be made up to look so pallid, and why she had to wear spike heels. but i guess the designers of the message had this all figured out.
That high school in Eugene with the bike parking fundraiser is none other than Sheldon High School, my alma mater! Go Irish!
Dahon has been putting pumps inside the seat post of their folding bikes for a number of years now already, it’s not a new concept.
That BBC news story about roundabout research states that London will be spending 900+ million pounds for cycling infrastructure over the next 10 years. Thats about $1.4 billion or $140 million/year.
Holy cycle tracks, batman!
The story and pics about the 1897 California Cycleway are fascinating. Next to the completed decking, trestle supports without decking suggests it was intended to be two separate, side by side cycle tracks, decent width of 8′-10′. It really is unfortunate that this didn’t get built. Today, L.A. could really benefit from having cycleways.
Side interest: note in the top picture, what looks to be something like a huge stump with some kind of structure atop it.
Do the students in that high school also have to have bake sales and begathons to raise money for paving and striping a place to park cars at their school or are thy jut automatically provided? Thought so.
Also on that shrink booby-traps mountain bike trails, I was concerned that Handsaw Mikey from the rec.bikes newsgroups on USENET had branched out from direct assault around SF to less confrontational methods in OR.
“nails and small trees,” not “spiked trees”
Back in the day, my bike commute to high school finished when I hid my bike behind the church nearby. This prevented ridicule and rejection. Now, down the valley a piece, the bike-riding kids are out and proud and requesting accommodation! Exciting times.
I recall someone (Tioga?) made a seatpost/pump advertised for mountain bike use way back in the early 1990s or maybe even the late 80s. Hardly a new idea. Would be even better now that we have gone beyond the skinny 27.2 “standard.”
Odyssey Aerator Seatpost – happened in 1988. Came in sizes as big as 31.8, and as small as 25.4.
At some point in the 1980’s Zefal made a thin, silver pump that fit entirely inside the seat post tube of a bicycle.
The stories of shootings of bicycle riders in LA seems to be more gang violence related than bicycle related.
My first thought was to chastise JM for succumbing to “If it bleeds it leads” but I see now his point in including this was to point out that cycling is now mainstream even with appearance obsessed gangbangers.