Snapshots found earlier this week along one of my regular cycling loops...

This is hilarious:

To Vancouver City Council - please pass a resolution prohibiting Vancouver's wonderful lanes from ever looking like New York City's!

Hat tip to @pathlesspedaled.

Dear residents of Vancouver, please carefully consider the following:

City considers underwater bike tunnel (April 1, 2011 - The Vancouver Courier) Plan may cost $420 million [...] James "Bud" McElroy, professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, is a consultant with DigableProjects, one of the contractors mentioned in the city report. McElroy visited city hall in October, and alongside deputy city manager Sadhu Johnston, helped city planners draft the tunnel proposal.

Speaking by phone from his home in San Francisco, McElroy said the Funnel plan was modelled after bike tunnels in Venice, Italy and the controversial Tsrif Lirpa connector in Helsinki, Finland.

Those adept at reading backwards will recognize the name of the controversial connector as being 'April First' in reverse. Unfortunately and likely with the intention of spurring on additional anti-cycling sentiment, the article's writer, Mark Hasiuk, seems to have snared quite a few people into his April Fools trap.

This is about the coolest bike frame I've ever seen! It is produced by a company in Portland called Renovo Design and they do amazing things with wood. Yes, wood!

Some folks view these frames as works of art, too nice or delicate for daily use, but they aren't your mom's dining room table. We chose wood for it's ride quality and sustainability, and got beauty as a bonus; but it's not a weakness. An impact that will dent and ruin a butted metal or carbon frame merely bounces off the Renovo frame leaving a small dent. http://renovobikes.com/

Click the thumbnail images for larger views of my friend Elizabeth's new frame being fabricated:

Down goes bike, and rider. Rider has various cuts and bruises, a sore back, and road rash; sadly my mountain bike has a severely bent front wheel at the very least and possibly more damage. The bill is going to the driver or to his insurer.

Beyond having my morning interrupted with my bike on top of me and a car on top of my bike, a number of things disturb me about this incident:

• The driver insisted that he was blinded by sunlight, despite the fact that, at 9:15 am on October 5th, the sun was high in the sky, and the space I was cycling through was in full shade; the driver would not take me up on my challenge to climb back in his car and tell me honestly that he couldn’t see me 3 meters away;
• The driver was far more interested in escaping responsibility than ensuring that he didn’t hurt me, and more importantly, admitting his error, which is of course the first step in avoiding another;
• The driver seemed completely unaware of traffic around him – I witnessed him almost hit the eastbound car, pause momentarily, and then surge forward to follow the car he’d almost hit… only to slam right into me.

I’d seen the car almost hit the eastbound vehicle, right in front of me, and was myself attempting to get clear, but the driver in apparently blind zeal to get going just gunned his car after the eastbound car cleared his bumper, and ran right into me… not even stopping until my yelling finally woke him up.

The man claims to have 55 years of accident free driving. This may be so, but on Thursday I certainly did not witness an alert driver, and I will be reporting this fellow to police as a possible unsafe driver. Like it or not, there is a point in life after which our reflexes and driving abilities deteriorate. I’m not convinced this man gets it.

I was hit on a major east-west city bike route, one travelled by hundreds of cyclists every day – 37th avenue – and this driver lives three doors away.

Over the years I have learned that cycling in the city requires “aggressive defensive” tactics, and being vocal is one of the tools of the trade. I’ve no problem at all shouting ”HEY WATCH OUT” at the top of my voice, long before a problem asserts itself painfully. Sometimes drivers take this the wrong way and give me the finger or some banal and generally very rude commentary. I don’t care, as I figure even the rudest of drivers doesn’t actually want to hit a cyclist, no matter how much they may say to the contrary.

Sometimes I get in a little hot water for being so aggressive, but that’s the price of safety. Yesterday I can’t figure out if I was in too good a mood to don my loud warning demeanor, or if I just didn’t have enough time. Watching the driver almost hit the eastbound car definitely distracted me too – between attempting to dive my bike out of the way and taking in what was happening, it seemed like I didn’t get my warning out fast enough. Perhaps there just wasn’t time, a sobering thought even for this experienced cyclist.

Still, I’ll keep on yelling for safety. Countless times this has prevented serious mishap. If you hear a cyclist yelling a warning at your car-wrapped carcass, don’t get mad – smile and thank your lucky stars that the rider, and the bike, aren’t under your front tires.

This is not new information, apparently the vulnerability has been known since the early 1990’s, but the information then quickly disappeared from public view.

Bring on the power of the 2000 era Internet, where its trivial to record and distribute a how-to movie around the world, and where on-line community discussion (both good and bad folks) is far more common—the 1990’s problem becomes a giant nightmare.

• Informative article with links to said movies as well
• Globe and Mail article – Sometimes the pen is mightier than the lock
• Locks pulled from Calgary shelves

The bottom line – virtually all U-locks and many other types of heavy duty locks, most of which use cylinderical keys these days, are at risk.

Mountain Co-Op might be one of the better resellers from which to get replacement service; Kryptonite themselves have not announced any formal recall or replacement plan. I’ve my doubts, as this is a company shattering development for them, despite the issue affecting all such locks, not just theirs.

No doubt there will be a run on locks around town although it being a rainy fall here, perhaps the sunny weather cyclists will forget all about this. I’m going shopping for at least a couple alternatives today.

Mike

Oddly interesting – the bike. The arrest – shameful.

Shocked that the arrests aren’t receiving more attention. Surprised that Mayor Bloomberg, who, as founder of The Bloomberg, financial media giant, ought to know a thing or two about putting on a good show. Arresting cyclists en masse, a group probably salted heavily with pacifists, doesn’t make for good press.

Saw Liz and Stan's new Bushnell tandem - its the same colour as our Bushnell. Oh no, a fashion trend - bright "mango" tandems cruising the streets of the lower mainland. We also met up with another tandeming family which may come along on the Galiano Island adventure, which hopefully will get delayed until later in July so we can go too!