HumanPoweredTransport

Hecho en Baja

When one finds oneself in beautiful Todos Santos with a damaged ribcage and plenty of time on ones hands to contemplate the surf that can not be partaken in, one indulges heavily in the following pastimes: sleep, food, reading, repeated as neccessary until the flight home.
Between naps, chapters and nosh one contemplates who the hell is winning the Cali Dope Tour and what is going on in the blogosphere around the discussion of group rides and the law. In NYC, much is being made about the agression shown by the local PD, while in LA much is being made about an article that appeared last week in a local free press publication. Le Squadra will probably not attend the grande finale of ToC at Hermosa Beach tomorrow in favor of the local farmers market and doing yardwork. Plus, there's this scavanger hunt to train for. Meanwhile, we're all being watched because every speaker is a microphone. Onward!

Ok, So I Got Gas...

Maybe it was the dude at Bike Forums who asked me if I had any other bottled opinions to regurgitate - ummm yeah dude, I actually bottle'm myself in old mason jars. Funny that his screen name is vomitron. whatever. Here's some classy crassy crappola to suck up your time. The city of NY is still trying to figure out how to tame Critical Mass, and failing. Suckers. Squadra emertus and general sage of the mighty pen, Andrew Vontz has a no-holds-barred interview with Rockwell in DR. Another master wordsmith, Stosh Machek hits me up with this gem - a photo-less photography site. Pretty sharp images wink wink nudge nudge. I know Segways aren't exactly HPT, but the guy who invented them is now turning his formidable brain towards solving the problems of power and sanitation in the third world. Speaking of the third world, Nawlin's and Ol' Miss are still completely upkafukt from Katrina; these folks and these other folks are doing some real on-site work to help those people in need. Onward.

Buuuuuuuurp redux

Even more linkage. Cool art at the beach in Sandy Monika. Lucas makes badass videos. Phil Zajicek is blogging from the ToC. Lotsa folks like taking pictures of bikes. Some Italians prefer to draw. Aussies get fixed. This could be a fun challenge. Vontz blogs! Viva.

Buuurrrrp

Here's some link regurgitation and random gas. Kona is making bikes for Africa; that's a bandwagon who's tune we like. The EPO Tour de Cali start's Sunday - 10pm west-coaster time on ESPN. Speakin' of tele, OLN's cycloschedule is recently posted. The opposite of doping??? Some cool bike sites. Encino! This book looks interesting. This race looks hella hard. This one not so much by comparison. Onward...

Ridazz Aftermath

Here's a quote from the BikeForum website - a firsthand account of the worst of Friday's crashes.
"There was three of us coming down Sunset, as we were crossing Echo Park, a lady tried turning in front of me. I got around her, but she kept goin almost hitting the kid right behind me. At this point she was completely blocking the street and the bike lane. The third rider(i do believe his name was Oscar) can not do anything at the speed we were travelling(18-20 mph), he hit the right side of her car, he was ejected off the bike and over the hood as the bike was sucked underneath the car. For some reason there were police and security guards just hanging out across the street, that is how all the emergency vehicles showed up so fast. The kid who got hit was able to talk and move the upper half of his body at first, not sure how things turned out because the cops started freaking out and telling everyone to get away. The lady tried running his bike over some more, but the cops did stop her. It was the ladies fault, but the kid riding had no lights on the front of his bike, so they will most likely both be blamed. I am not sure how the kid is, hopefully he is not seriously hurt, but I highly doubt he will be riding a bike for awhile. It was one of the worst car bike crashes I have ever witnessed."
Damn. We'll see what we can learn about poor Oscar in the coming days. Maybe there will be a fund raiser or something. Having been in many falls, including three car/bike crashes on my rig in various cities over the years, I thank helmets, bike handling and luck - but sometimes luck runs out, like it did for the kid last Friday. The Kitchen's blog has a post on the ride and some interesting dialog in the Comments as well. You'll notice a quote or two from HPT in the mix. At the end of the day we've all got to take responsability for ourselves. Nonetheless, some greater groupthink about common sense and codes of conduct would be welcome and preserve the continuation of an amazing happening that we all can get something out of. On the biciblog, The Reverend says it's all about taking to the streets and getting respect. Well, you can get a form of respect by punching someones teeth out in rebellion, or you can win the fight without drawing the sword. We're a struggling minority type of traffic in the streets of not only Los, but any city in the world. It can still be a mob action good time, but cyclists need to think about how their behaviour effects the Ridazz around them. Don't forget that in NYC the cops have ratcheted up their efforts against cycling actions by physically assaulting cyclists to stop group rides, confiscating bikes and most recently infiltrated the cycling population to interfere with Critical Mass. SWAT was invented in LA brothers and sisters, so don't think for a second that it can't happen here.

Update on the kid who got hit, from Hawkear at BikeForum :
" 1. If you're wondering about the guy who got hit
Friday: Animal is ok. We aren't sure of the status of his bike, but he was
seen out and upright by Saturday night, thank goodness."

Fixed Ain't Free

Midnight Ridazz "I Love My Bike" Ride was last night and boy was it a doozy. Had to be the most crowded gathering yet; they even ran out of spokecards. The largest influx of newbies at the ride also seemed to be newbies at fixed gear riding. This didn’t stop any of them from a I’vehaditaweekIamsoproridingfixtIcanopenmybeerwhileI’mstarting attitude. Who needs handling skills when there are other cyclists to bounce off of? I’ve never ridden around so many people incapable of holding a straight line in my life. (and that includes a few Acura Tours) Just like in your car, it’s a good idea to look and signal before swooping across eight lanes of (bike) traffic to get to the curb so you can re-light your hand-rolled. Random stopping was another trend of the look-at-me-and-my-new-bike crew – hey why not just lock it up in the middle of the road to chat with your pal? There’s only 200 or so folks behind you and we’re all paying attention. I must have rolled past at least six crashes and when the LAFD went by sirens blaring while we had pit-stopped, I knew there was trouble. Sure enough when we got underway again and crested the rise some poor kid was being strapped to the gurney right at the intersection where the ride had started, his bike mangled under the tires of an impatient Mercedes. Many folks in the bunch sported some variety of cyclist-rights advocacy propaganda; Civic Code 20212, Share The Road, etc. I find it ironic that we ride in these large groups with some desire for achieving compassion and support from motorists, all the while violating every traffic law in the books. How are we supposed to gain respect riding alone or in small groups when as a bunch we; don’t wear helmets, run every stop light, go against traffic, ride through businesses, take up two or three lanes of the road, throw trash as we ride, flaunt the open container law and pick fights with cars because we find false security in numbers? Ridazz is fun, but riders are foolish. Godspeed to the poor schmuck who took on the Merc and lost and to all the newly-fixed who learned to ride yesterday, please go practice. Fixies don’t kill the buzz, people who think riding fixed is the same as riding free kill the buzz.

Racers de los Calipornication

The new badasses of domestic cycling had a big press launch today, and the business model for United Pro is pretty interesting. Apparently the boys have been training in Malibu - surf's up! Local promoter extrordinaire Brad House has a new gag - The Masters Cycle League. It's sort of an open category team series aiming to increase participation in cycling; looks ambitious but fun. It ain't racin', but Ridazz is this Friday if yer heart's in it. Cali's Makers-Of-EPO Tour starts in a week or so; coverage will be Tivoable on yes-pee-en during the wee morning hours. Viva.

Licking Wounds

Is anyone really suprised Lancypants and the Crow are splitsville? It's not about the bike Cheryl. Saul Rasin won the stage today in Langkawi; that kid is gonna be the new hot 'merican. What can you say about Sven Nys; the guy cracked his hip last Sunday, won today. Hard.

And Ya Don’t Stop?

Ever wonder what it'd feel like to hit the deck at 50 kph? Today unfortunately I got my chance, blasting down the back of Griffith when a group appeared on the way up. In a sharp, dirty turn, the last rider turned out through the curve instead of in as she climbed. I was already far right, had to swerve a touch, the terrain was dirt, leaves and gravel. For the first time in years I was rocking tunes in my headphones, so there was a soundtrack for that weirdly timeless moment of realization, impact and the world coming to a halt. The third verse of Flogging Molly’s Cruel Mistress pounded in the vacuum of having my wind violently punched from my lungs. Surreal. Some how the drums were making me want to puke. I finally got my breath and pulled out the headphones to get my bearings and take a survey - no limbs broken. Lacerated fingers, road rash, a hipper, maybe a cracked rib. I looked around. Back around the bend and up the hill, one of the group had stopped. He asked if I was okay, but I couldn’t speak. Slowly got to my feet and grunted, so he took off. Only in LA would someone just keep going, not check on someone who just crashed. I checked the bike, no damage so I straightened the bars and sat down again. Fuckers, I recognize those team jerseys. See ya around kids. Partly it was her fault with the bad uphill etiquette – even in a car the downhill vehicle has right of way – but I was wailing at around 47 klicks where I probably shouldn’t have too. Still, you don’t just leave another rider on the deck. Bad form, bad karma, bad mojo gonna come back atcha. It was an adrenalin charged yet conservative 20k back home, solo, dripping blood and breathing shallow. Happy Saturday. Nys cracked his hip at Worlds and plans to race today, so suck it up. Bruiserella helped me clean me up at the compound.

Prior experience dictates that the rib is most likely bruised, not busted. The ring finger could use a stitch or two but hell if I’m gonna spend my afternoon in the ER for that. Prior training gets put to use in the wound care dept. as the old Africa first-aid kit comes out of the cabinet. After scrubbing, showering and smearing on the Brave Soldier it was Tivo time for me. At least it was just a chick on a bike acting like a Hummer driver. Our pal Corey had the front end of his Impala ripped off by an H2 who used a right-turn-only lane to go straight. They didn’t stop either, but somehow that’s less of a shocker than some fellow cyclist acting like an jackass. Fuck the H2’s and double fuck the cyclists with bad form. Smell the glove bitches; karma’s a mean mofo. Corey and I limped away, others aren't so lucky.

Tripping Over January

Ahhh, February. A short spew is in order, here ya go. DrunkCyclist has a nice link to video from Cross Worlds. We pointed out the absence of Rebecca Much from the cross calander this year and a brief websearch has nothing more current than her 2004 Time Trial Silver Medal. Anyone know what's up with the wunderkind? Speaking of wunderkind, Boonen just hat-tricked Quatar and looks poised to kill it in the Spring Classics. Booya. Somber note; both of these stories have been all over the cycling web, but what the hell we're a day late and a peso short around here. Kendra Payne was killed a few hours north of here by a renegade trucker on a mountain decent who passed her on a tight curve and sucked the bike under the wheels. He's walking no charges, it was of course her fault. WTF! Another girl in Cannuckistan walked away from this fight, but the chav in the footage can now look forward to a pleasant greeting should he ever encounter one of the u-lock brigade in a pub or dark alley thanks to the power of the web. Final tally on the cycloputer for January, given a last minute park sprint with Sellers and a quick roll to diner last night: 25:23 in the saddle, 448.5 ks rolled, 15 days of riding. It's something, not sure what yet. Seriousish, I guess. Viva February.