The man accused this week of killing a 13-year-old bicyclist in a hit-and-run collision in Massachusetts was typing a text message on his cellphone when he lost control of his SUV.

Prosecutors say the 31-year-old man thought he had struck a mailbox in the 12:30 a.m. collision. The boy, Earman Machado, was riding at the edge of the road while his friend walked on the soft shoulder.

The frequency of such accidents have prompted legislatures in New Jersey and Washington to prohibit text-messaginig while driving as of next year. It’s amazing that people need laws to prohibit them from doing something so obviously distracting as text-messaging while behind the wheel. California also enacted cellphone laws effective in 2008.

Read the rest of the story. 

The ultimate top 10 list of “Top 10″ bicycling lists

by Gene Bisbee at 07:00AM (PST) on December 30, 2007  |  Permanent Link  |  Cosmos

Everybody likes Top 10 lists. It gets us thinking about a topic and wondering why some items were picked over others.

For instance, Seattle often lands on “best cities to bicycle” lists, but has yet to show up on the League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly Communities list.

Anyway, here is my Top 10 collection of “Top 10″ bicycling lists over a range of topics — best bicycling cities, best bicycle rides in cities, best bike stores, best ways to avoid being hit by a car, etc., etc. It’s all very unscientific, but the decision of the judges is final.

Read the rest of the story here. 

Yeah, I can get over the speed bummps on my road bike but I’ve never managed to do the same on the 29er. It’s big and heavy and I’ve only recently put clipless pedals on it and you know how often I’ve actually been out on that thing this year. So, I’ll starr preparing mentally by reading this tip and the Gary Fisher interview.–Corrie

Learn to Bunny-hop: A Skill For Every Mountain Biker

By Edmund R. Burke, Ph.D.
For Active.com

Every mountain biker needs to know how to bunny-hop, or how to jump over rocks and other obstacles on the trail.Beginners should start in a large area free of obstacles. Load yourself like a spring by crouching on the bike with extremely bent elbows, knees, and hips, rolling slowly along, pedals parallel to the ground.

Read more

An interview with Gary Fisher, December 7, 2007

From Cyclyingnews.com 

Mountain biking’s second coming

One of pioneers of mountain biking, Gary Fisher, is the man behind the Fisher brand mountain bikes. Cyclingnews‘ Sue George spoke with the Californian to see how he was reading the pulse of the sport.

Photo ©: Sterling Lorence

Gary Fisher has seen a lot of change in mountain biking. During his time in the industry, mountain bikers have graduated from rigid forks and frames and pedals with toe clips and straps to lightweight, plush, full suspension mountain bikes.

Read the rest of the story

I post this knowing its likely to start Steve itching again. And Doug and Jim too. This group is becoming more touring friendly than I feel comfortable with. Oh, well, at least Linda hasn’t started lobbying for a cross country trip.–Corrie

Across the Country in 25 days

from Nantucket’s Inquirer and Mirror

After training in the mountains of Maine, Hank Varona hopped on his 1978 10-speed Peugeot bicycle in Jacksonville, Fla. and headed west in late October. It took the Nantucket resident only 25 days to ride 2,359 total miles from Florida to Ramona, Calif. on the 30-year-old bike. He rode over 100 miles per day for 15 of the 25 days.
Along his ride people would as him why he was doing it.

“No reason. I figure I might as well do it while I can. You never know when you are not going to be able to do something like that,” said Varona, who turns 54 on Saturday.

Photo by Jim Powers

Hank Varona, with the wheel of his 1978 10-speed bicycle, rode 2,359 miles from Florida to California this fall.

I discovered the Bike Nazi blog this morning. It has a focus on the bicycle as transportaton. This post seems to represent the tone and attitude tlhroughout. Most significantly this guy is in Boise. Steve should look him up–or, not. Sometimes too such strong opinions conflict. –Corrie

The Bike Nazi
Bicycling 101 for Non-Cyclists

There’s no denying it – a rift exists between motorists and cyclists. Motorists tend to see cyclists as obstacles and road hazards. Cyclists tend to view motor vehicles the same way.

Most cyclists – at least adult cyclists – know the motor vehicle traffic laws, because they have driver’s licenses and drive cars. And that means at some point in time, they had to take the test.

But many motorists (and cyclists, too) seem to be ignorant of traffic laws as they pertain to bicycles and their riders. After all, many have either not ridden a bike since childhood, or they ride bikes recreationally, but steer clear of the roads. (Bicyclists who ride on the roads have no excuse for not knowing bicycle traffic laws!)

This is the article in Bicycling Magazine I was referring to on Nov. 26 when I wrote about the cyclist on the wrong side of the road. It is directlly from Bicycling Magazine and well worth reading if you haven’t already. It makes a good comapanion piece to The Bike Nazi’s post on Cycling 101 for Non-cylcists. –Corrie

Broken - By Bicycling.com
Broken
Every time we take to the open road, we entrust our lives to a safety net of legal protection and basic human decency. That system has failed.

By David Darlington

BY ALMOST ANY MEASURE, Sonoma County should qualify as cycling heaven. Spanning more than a million acres from the Pacific coast to the Mayacamas Mountains, it has every kind of riding, from flat to steep to gently rolling, much of it on lightly traveled roads through quiet forests, farmland and vineyards-a pastoral landscape that, blessed by a balmy climate, amounts to a paradise for two-wheeled travel. That, no doubt, is why race organizers chose it for two stages of the 2007 Tour of California-the first one rolling up the coast and heading inland toward Santa Rosa on Occidental Road, the second passing through -Sonoma and Napa Valleys via Trinity Grade, an 8.2 percent slope of chaparral.

I spend on hour or so surfing, reading the blogs each morning gathering post material for the next day. Here are some of the pages I’ve liked best. I’ve added the links on the Advocacy and Links page but you can visit the links from here. –Corrie
Advocacy

Safe Streets from the Gristmill Blog. Excellent article with lots of links exploring the question of just how safe cycling is. The author uses his son as his touchstone.I posted this on Nov 27th on New at Twin Rivers Cyclists

Read this and then study Street Smarts below

Bicycling Street Smarts An online text book for safe cycling with clear illustrations for handling difficult traffic situations inclluding what do when the bike lane comes to an intersection. It’s not staying in the lane.

Bicycling 101 for non-cyclists from the Bike Nazi in Boise

Complete Streets is short hand for laws which require new and rebuilt road construction to account for egress for all, cars, pedestrians, and cyclists. This website explains it all.

International Bicycle Fund A non-governmental, nonprofit, advocacy organization, promoting sustainable transport and international understanding. Major areas of activity are non-motorized urban planning, economic development, bike safety education, responsible travel and bicycle tourism, and cross-cultural, educational programs.

Downloadable Resources for the police to use in enforcing and educating cycling law from the League of Illinois Bicyclists.

New on the Links page

Pedaling.com find rides, post rides, safety tips, resources

Jim Langley This is a wonderful site for all things cylcing from repair to collecting.

Cyclingnews.com Not for the faint of heart. Packed with small text links on racing and technology.

Bicycling Quarterly Do you want polished, high quality production values and elegant layouts? This may be the journal for you. Uh–Linda, you can’t look at this.

Just one more reason you don’t see me on those night rides! –Corrie

Now get out of that! By Mike Davis
Paduang-style headset assembly This week’s reader-contributed bodge repair clearly represents some sort of karmic balancing for last week’s. Our previous offering featured no zip ties at all, with the inevitable consequence that this one uses nothing but the nylon wonders. Read the rest of this experience at the link above. For more tales of “bodge” cleverness (It’s a UK site) visit the Know How page.

Should bicyclists be licensed to ride?
Should bicyclists be licensed to ride?
They share the road, so some say they should share costs

By ANGELA GALLOWAY
P-I REPORTER

Motorists help pay for roads with gas taxes, tolls and license tabs. Boaters subsidize maritime programs with vessel registration and boat launch fees.

Maybe bicyclists, too, should pitch in for the costs of their trails and lanes.

It’s a suggestion — sometimes born of sincerity, other times of snarkiness — that drivers, tax-weary citizens and others make whenever politicians and cycling advocates talk about investing public money into cycling facilities. Some raised the idea again in recent weeks after the Seattle City Council and Mayor Greg Nickels endorsed a $240 million, 10-year plan for new bike lanes and street upgrades.

Joe Kurmaskie isn’t exactly the poet laureate of bicycle tourists; he’s more like the comic laureate.I caught Kurmaskie’s very entertaining talk at the Seattle Bike Expo, and I’m happy to see he’s returning for another Metal Cowboy Holiday Spectacular at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11 at the downtown Seattle REI. (Cascade Bicycle Club members, 2 for $5; nonmembers $5.)

read the blog for Joe’s “Ar lyou addicted to cylcing” humor.

So the Commuter Act did not pass. There’s still some good news for cyclists.

Missouri Bicycle News :: Some small advances for walking/bicycling in the federal Energy Bill :: Missouri Bicycle Federation
Some small advances for walking/bicycling in the federal Energy Bill
Monday, December 24, 2007
The recent federal Energy Bill (full text here) was to include a suite of conservation measures. The Bicycle Commuter Act, which would have allowed employers to give tax-free subsidies to bicycle commuters similar to those they can now give to carpoolers and transit riders, was part of this proposal.

Unfortunately the entire suite of conservation measures was stripped from the bill at the last minute, by a vote of 59-41 in the Senate (60 votes required to pass).

Some small but important measures did make it into the final version of the bill that was signed by the President Bush:

I’ve integrated Joe’s and Carol’s items into one list. I’m not really certain I understand everything on the list but it is a start. I think we need to establish some time lines. How soon do we need to arrange for the park? With NORBA? How many forms do we need?

But the list is better organized now, I think.

–Corrie

Lots of pretty homely Santas in this event, Santa Winter Rampage, from the Chicago Bike Winter Schedule. These guys have made winter cycling an art form. I’ll wait ’til spring thank you.

Merry Christmas! –Corrie