http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-123treed,0,7408048.story?coll=sfla-news-broward

one part self-loathing, one part insane aggression, three parts selfish indulgence.  mix well with high test. 

incidentally, i didn't get much good advice growing up but one gem was to not write checks with your mouth or actions that your ass can't cash.  you better not be bluffing when you get out of your car to "wrassle" with someone after an accident.  oh and carjacking someone who has stopped, ostensibly to help you: bad form.

- - - posted by scott

from waba but not up on their web site yet:

Act Now: Support HB 1826 for Bicycle Commuting Tax Credits

The Washigton Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) and the Virginia Bicycling Federation (VBF) urge all Virginia cyclists to support HB 1826 which is now before the Virginia General Assembly.  HB 1826 would promote bicycle commuting by encouraging employers to provide bicycle commuting accommodations at the workplace and by offering a modest income tax credit of $15/month for employees who commute by bicycle on 10 or more days per month.

HB 1826 proposes two different types of income tax credit for expenditures related to bicycle commuting

1. an employer tax credit up to $5,000 for expenditures to provide employee bicycle parking racks and/or showers at the worksite and
2. an employee tax credit of $15 per month for commuting by bicycle at least ten days in any given month. 

WABA and VBF strongly support both proposed tax credits, but we have suggested expanding the employer credit to include rented as well as purchased facilities, to include all types of suitable bicycle parking facilities (not just racks), and to include employee clothes changing and storage facilities as well as employee showers.

The bill has been referred to the House of Delegates Finance Committee and will reportedly be heard by Finance Subcommittee #3 on Wednesday, Jan. 24 and by the full Finance Committee as early as Monday, Jan. 29.  A favorable fiscal impact statement has already been issued by the Virginia Department of Taxation.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

1) Ask your Virginia delegate to co-patron HB 1826 before the bill is heard by the full House Finance Committee.  You can identify and contact your delegate from:

http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform

2) Ask your delegate to vote for HB 1826 at every opportunity.  If your delegate (or a nearby delegate) is on the House Finance Committee

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?071+com+H10

and/or on Finance Subcommittee #3 http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?071+sub+H10003, ask them NOW to vote for HB 1826 when it comes before Subcommittee #1 (on Jan. 24) and the full House Finance Committee (possibly on Jan. 29).

LINKS TO MORE INFORMATION:

HB 1826 bill history:
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?071+sum+HB1826

HB 1826 text as introduced:
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?071+ful+HB1826

this just in from kevin:

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/070122_technov_nasa_bike.html

this may be an engineering marvel, but it's completely divorced from reality.  this might play on the salt flats somewhere, but seriously, where could you use this thing?  the wheels are 1.62 meters ** apart at their base.  given that most travel lanes of roads are around 3 meters wide, you'll be taking up more than half the lane.  and can you imagine something like this on the capital crescent or wo&d?  it may be a neat idea, but where would one use something like this.  oh, forget it, let's just assume you had a place to use it that was ideal.  where will you store it?  yee gods, this is impractical...

- - - sg

** the union prefers systeme internationale!

damn, bryan finds the best links....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QdzzZCgFbU&mode=related&search

kelle posts here and here and does so with class.  kelle, your response was very gracious and is warmly received.  a hearty huzzah! to you, and an extra ration of cloth, potatoes and bulghar wheat as well.

in his official capacity as mabra vice president, will miller posts here and here in response.  what appears to be lost on him though is the irony.  here you are asking clubs to adopt your logo on their jerseys.  in many instances this request will delay orders and/or cost the clubs money to make a late change or a screen modification.  most people would assume mabra would take a "catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" approach.  but instead, will takes this totally unnecessary and gratuitous swipe at the people's cycling team.  hey will, your humorless and undiplomatic response is telling.  the revolution is in full effect.  mabra is visibly agitated and dissembling.  the union message is reaching a crescendo.  we ride a tsunami of revolutionary zeal and are on the cusp of victory. 

will's scurrilous attempt to associate the people's cycling movement with repressive fascists will never succeed.  i want to offer everyone my personal guarantee that will's inevitable indictment against racing union thought and his subsequent voluntary election to spend several winters in an agrarian cycling re-education camp and commune can only be thought of as progress of the highest order.  it will represent a true triumph of racing union thought and a fitting reward for his service to cycling.  bon voyage will.  and lest you think there's nothing waiting for you, it's not as bad as everyone says...

- - - posted by scott.  this post does not reflect the opinions of the racing union, only myself.

the racing union strives to deliver for the working cyclists and citizens.  a vote for the union is a vote for progress.  a vote for the union is a vote for solidarity with your brothers and sisters in cycling.  a vote for the union is a vote against the subtle tyrrany of the status quo. 

many choose to walk through life in somnabulent fashion; unquestioning and satisfied with the pittance they are offered.  they do not ponder why the system makes their daily struggle so difficult.  they lack the curious nature and inquisitiveness that is the hallmark of the intellectual vanguard.  it is as if their eyes, heavily lidded, cannot see the very world around them.  the hated but triumphant four-wheeled hegemon strides like a colossus across a landscape of devastation.  accomodations for those who take a different path are sparse, and their work is often repaid with insults to their character, judgement and patriotism.  no more!

sleepers awake!  see for yourselves what has been wrought.  view your society, your landscape and your daily activities through fresh eyes.  ask not what you see or know now, but what can be.  the promise is boundless.  the potential is astounding.  and the way forward is clear.

it is time to throw off the shackles of the status quo!  it must be every riders aspiration to break the very yoke which has contained you, which forces you into servitude and harnesses your best efforts for purposes which are clearly contrary to any given cyclist's natural goals. 

the union is in ascendency.  it's message is strong, it's members stronger still.  the inversion of the status quo has begun and change will come.  rally to the union banner.  da! union da!

- - - posted by scott

updated below

pete lindeman just sent me a link.  i don't know quite what to say about it.  chris's post earlier today clearly shows that there are misunderstandings between those who consider themselves commuters and those who consider themselves racers.  but the guy who designed this thing?  i think our misunderstandings of each other pale in comparison to this misunderstanding of how bicycles are supposed to work.

link is here

check it.  then check it again.  my top three list of things which leave me baffled.

3) the steering linkage is particularly cryptic.  are both mtb-style bars fixed in place? do both people need to turn in tandem if you'll pardon the pun?

2) the pedal system.  it looks like a bit and brace type system.  i have to assume it's a semi-normal bottom bracket, but if it's a one piece crank, i have to assume it was difficult to get in there.

1) the set post/mount.  either your weight is going to be directly over the bottom bracket or your leg is going to hit that damn pipe affixing the seatpost holder to the frame.  hilarity would ensue.

post your own hit parade in the comments.  pete is, incidentally, leading the year so far with the mostest and the bestest links to weird cycling phenomenon

update: who thinks they have the skill to ride solo on that bike?  i mean, on one saddle with no one and nothing on the other side?

- - - sg

The blog WashCycle has this entry today  (http://washcycle.typepad.com/home/2007/01/biker_on_biker_.html#trackback):

Someone sent me a link to this discussion about an incident on the CCT,

Witnessed a biker on biker assault this morning. I was riding up the Capital Crescent Trail (Washington DC) this morning when a saw a fellow commuter approaching me. Then from behind him I saw two riders in racing gear swing out from behind him. The first rider pulls up along side, reaches out, and gives the commuter a hard shove with his hand.

This pushes the commuter off the trail and sends him sprawling down over a 6 foot embankment. I stopped and checked. Fortunately he was all right. Apparently there had been something going on that I hadn't seen, but to deliberately push someone over a 6 foot embankment is just out an out bullying.

I've never seen anything like that. Not even close. It's kind of surprising. Usually these incidents involve a car. I know that I have at times - when cars invade my space (gunning it past me by inches to make it to a red light) - confronted someone driving a car. I quit though. It doesn't do any good, and eventually I was going to confront the wrong person. Plus it just left me angry for hours.

My commute isn't on the Capital Crescent Trail, and I wasn't there to witness what happened.  It's hard for me to imagine a situation which would justify such behavior.  But what’s interesting to me beyond the actual incident is an underlying tone to this entry (and, often, the comments that are posted on that and other blogs) and what is definitely clear in the original discussion that’s linked, is the notion of commuter versus racer (or commuters versus riders in racing gear, as it’s called here).

I like to ride fast at Hains Point.  With Comrade Gibbons' advice, I try my best to treat training with racing in mind.  I’ve only done a few races, and I want to do more.  I wear a team kit.  So, I’m guessing I’d be labeled a racer.  But, I’m also a commuter.  So are a lot of us on Racing Union.  The principles of Racing Union, it seems to me, are about harmony between these two groups.  The revolution against the hegemony of the four-wheeled society will never succeed if we are fighting each other.  There’s obviously a lot of territory to cover here, and clearly a lot of work to be done.

-- posted by Chris

Just wanted to throw this post out there for the commrades to see; I said I would report back so here it is.

When people discuss the Critical Mass bike rides that take place monthly in cities across the country, many different opinions and views may come up. In my own personal experience these opinions range anywhere from complete disgust to a near infatuation to a complete lack of knowledge. CM is a widely used cycling advocacy ride whose stated aim is “to celebrate cycling and assert cyclists’ right to the road.” (Taken from the Critical Mass website)

After finding out about the Washington, DC CM ride for January for the first time I decided to go ahead and check it out and ride along and see what it was all about. I met some cool people and had a pretty good ride in a sort of Tour de Downtown fashion. While I have no plans on riding this ride again, I also would not completely write it off and say that I never will.

The group that turned up on the wet but warm winter evening was right around 40 strong and included everyone from bike messengers, to commuters, to casual riders and probably a few people who were in it for the form of general protest which the ride takes. Bikes were decorated with lights and after hanging around Dupont Circle we all took off in the direction of 18th St and Adams Morgan. It started off slow without much opportunity to really cause much of a scene as we started out due to relatively slow and heavy traffic and we made it up through AM with only the sound of the riders’ cheers as well as some “friendly” honks from cabbies and a few other drivers and some folks walking on the sidewalks.

The ride rolled out to 16th Street heading south where we saw our first real confrontation of the evening. A number of cars ended up lined up behind us as we slowly spun down the hill and at one point a guy laid on his horn for at least 30 seconds straight. All the while the riders are yelling to “honk if you love bicycles…” At one point during this stretch one rider actually went back to a car behind and explained what we were doing and why we were doing it; this was by far the most productive thing I witnessed during the ride.

The rest of the ride included similar though not quite as intense or extended run-ins until the one that took place on K St that caused me to separate myself from the ride. We rode through some busy areas, U St and Gallery Place as well as some nearly empty places, down the mall and up to the Washington Monument. After my departure those left in the group continued on to Georgetown also. The majority of run-ins with vehicles were treated with either complete lack of interest or a cheer and overall the cause of cycling on city streets was likely not helped and most likely harmed a little bit.

The incident that drove me from the ride had more to do with the anarchistic approach that I feared from the ride. We were riding down K St (not positive about the street, may also have been Pennsylvania) in the 2 right lanes leaving the third open for the few cars that were on the street there at that time. A police cruiser drove up and asked us to remain in the one lane and leave the others open and ended up having some words with some of the riders. The majority of those around me were saying to just do what he says and stay over and were riding where we were asked. At a red light a number of the riders jumped out back into the 2nd lane though and basically egged on the officer. Lights flashed and sirens wailed and the officer attempted to pull over and stop the riders, essentially using the car as a weapon to do so. The feeling here was of ego’s and tempers on both sides getting out of control and it became evident that some riders had more interest in anarchy then advocacy.

Despite a few things, my overall opinion and conclusions of the ride are positive. Unfortunately with an event such as this that is borderline on being downright illegal, there are naturally going to be people out there who bring that anarchistic feel to the event. This approach and attitude does nothing but aggravate sides and create even farther extremes, likely endangering cyclists in future bicycling activities. If it weren’t for this slight bit of a feeling in the ride I would almost certainly have plans to join up and probably ride it on a monthly basis.

A few additional things I that think could and should be done to increase the effectiveness and decrease to harmful aspects of these rides would be to have shirts or signs proclaiming the ride as a cycling advocacy ride and not just some free-for-all bike chase through the city at the cost of drivers. Also flyers should be brought to the rides explaining the mission of CM and including helpful links to internet resources on the ride that could be handed out to the affected motorists and pedestrians and other cyclists that happen upon the group. Otherwise it just looks like some unruly parade of bikes through the city and does nothing to promote the cause. Letting people know the reasons behind the ride are far more important then showing them you can hold up traffic for four city blocks on bicycles.

(Once I get my internet connection at home back I will get pictures from the ride posted for the write up found here)

I also recieved a comment on this from Freewheeling Spirit that I thought sounded like a great idea:

"I always wondered whether it would be worthwhile to do CM in D.C. I'd prefer a lawful Ride of Silence once a month in memory of cyclists who have been killed."

I know they do this in NYC but maybe we could get something like this organized here in DC with the same sort of route and ideas as CM but with a completely legal approach.

Posted by the rookie/newbie/baby/commrade

word is rippling out that a certain local administrative affiliate of the national sanctioning body of cycling has gone and found itself a webmaster.  if you close your eyes, you can probably picture the scene that precipitated this.  sitting around some gigantic table in deeply cushioned chairs, they enjoy canapes and brandys.  their normal expressions; the wry and cynical smile that only comes from the smug and wealthy, the blankness that comes from detachment, the carelessness and inattentiveness of the unaccountable, it has now somehow twisted itself into discomfort.  well, as much discomfort as can possibly be expressed by these people.  "THERE'S A REVOLUTION AFOOT" they bellow.

while they sat around on huge piles of cash, the cyclists and citizens oppressed by their brutal yoke have tired of their servitude.  they have organized and rallied around the great and glorious cause.  they have been encouraging people to ride and then to race.  this movement, from the ground up, threatens the very basis for organized cycling.  will the gravy train run off the rails?  they hope the answer is no, but brothers and sisters, citizens and cyclists, we know better.

this is a last desperate measure on their part.  they are attemtping to develop a communications operation like ours but it won't work: a day late and a ruble short.  their days of reclining while casually indulging in the finer things and tossing bon mots back and forth are over. 

the revoluton has arrived.

the supreme revolutionary council for propogation of message has prepared some new graphics to help you better understand the important differences between how mabra continues to treat racers like serfs on their land versus how the racing union seeks to liberate bicycle racing and bicycle riders.

racing union!!  boldest and brightest.  beacon to all who labor on two wheels.  the banner which all cyclists and citizens rally.  hope for all those who ride, inspiration for those who seek an end to the dominance of the four wheeled hegemon.  union!!  da!!

mabra.  unaccountable tyranny, organizational despot, bitter oligarch, wringing the last few rubles from our pockets in a joyless and mechanical fashion.  an organization that now pretends at supporting the cyclists and seeks to provide a messenging platform.  clutching to it's own pretensions it's sense of self importance, the myth it has created of it's own relevence, but ultimately doomed to the dustbins of cycling history.

the time is now.  citizens and cyclists, heed the word.  rally to the banner.  union!  da!  union!  da!

josh sent me this.  i think it's hilarious.  

i can think of several funny things to say about it but none of them are quite right.  so bring your best material in the comments.  i don't have a prize handy but I'll scare something up. 

- - - sg

note: updated below with informed opinions, as opposed to what i normally publish -sg!

note: updated again with even better material

this is an open thread to discuss the idea that there is some benefit to restricting the gears of junior cyclists.  fixed gear cyclists, put a sock in it for now.  this thread assumes we are talking about riders who choose multiple gears and some mechanism for selecting which gear to ride.  Is there some benefit to restricting what gear the kids can ride?

info from usa cycling: link.

in canada, there is an evolving gear restriction.  link.  juniors under 13 have a maximum possible gear of 42 x 16, juniors under 15 have a maximum possible gear of 45 x 16, and juniors under 17 have a maximum possible gear of 52 x 16.

i am currently trolling for research but it's difficult to find directly applicable stuff.  this article would appear to say that there is little difference.  this article along with this article appear to show that arbitrarily modifying cadence (for instance by riding a fixed gearor using a gear restriction) may lead to suboptimal muscular contraction patterns.  check this as well.  demographically speaking, this is an interesting article, but i don't know if it provides useful proof for gear restrictions.

anyhow, plant your thoughs in the comments.

update (applied experience!): i solicited some feedback from pete lindeman who ran the junior program for ncvc for a few years before becoming their equivalent of maximum leader.  as always, h is insightful and amusing.  he has a lot of experience on all sides of this issue and i think his comments are well worth considering.

new update:  i was sent some more correspondence on this topic.  this is the most coherently argued perspective against this arbitrary rule that i have come across.  i virtually never post anonymous material, but in this case, I will say only that this is from a parent of an active junior racer.  this communique has everything.  be sure to check out the last paragraph.  the ending is brilliant.  simply brilliant.  enjoy...

This Juniors gear ruling is not founded on any empirical research that I can uncover. I've done a lot of research on the origins of the rule and it appears to come out of the UCI, based on nothing more than popular opinion. I believe USA Cycling has adopted the rule only to ensure that US Juniors and Espoirs remain compliant with and competitive in international competition. If that's the case, then why don't they so state. Is there a body of knowledge with the Espoirs National Team supporting the rule? Who knows? Other countries like Australia and Great Britain have even more restrictive Juniors gear rules that change with each racing age year from 12 to 23. Queries to clubs and organizations there have turned up a lot of support for the rule, but no rationale and no origin.

 

Our position of coordinating the 2008 US Air Force 60th anniversary bike race came out of my queries to USA Cycling as to the origins of the Juniors gear restriction rule. No one that I addressed at USA Cycling would discuss the rationale or origins of the rule. In fact, they wanted to get off the topic as quickly as possible.

 

As you know, 15 - 18 year old juniors must be Cat 3 rated or higher to qualify for National Championships. Here are some obvious facts that tend to question the merits of the new ruling that Juniors now must use restricted gearing in Seniors races as well:

 

1. The vast majority of Cat 5, 4, 3 races are flat-ground criteriums decided by a mass sprint in the final 500 meters or less. Loss of control from spinning out (150-200 RPM) in a 40 mph mass finishing sprint presents far more dangers to young riders than potential stress on joints and muscles from larger gears.

 

2. A large body of physiological research indicates that younger atheletes (under 23) are virtually incapable of self-induced stress injuries to muscles or joints, particularly in a sport like cycling, but are more highly susceptable to impact injuries, such as crashing, due to lack of skills and expereince (combine this with #3 above). In fact, adults over 23 are much more susceptible to repetitive stress injuries than juniors from lack of core strength, diminishing muscle mass (30+) and flexibility, and a more sedentary lifestyle.

 

3. USA Cycling cannot rule, measure nor enforce a rule on a minimum pedaling cadence, which is the stated rationale for the rule. Moreover, a bike race is not the place to teach or learn high-cadence pedaling technique. A fixie bike on a track is likely the best place to teach spinning. But in a race, instincts take over, and no amount of screaming from the sidelines will influence a kid trying to win a race, or just hang on to the pack and finish.

 

4. Pedaling stress on joints and muscles is relative to terrain, speed, wind, bike weight and measures, rider weight and measures, rider fitness, rider genetics, and rider pain tolerance, and NOT on the available gear selection. So, a 150lb. Juniors rider ascending a 20% grade at 17mph in a 52 X 17 gear is placing far greater stress on joints and muscles than a 120lb. Junior going 15mph in an illegal 53 X 12 gear on a flat course criterium. Moreover, every competitive Junior trains with one to two days of intervals to increase speed. There are tons of empirical data that support interval training as the only effective way to increase your speed.  So when Juniors spin out doing intervals on flat terrain, they seek nice long really steep hills to get HRs into Zone 5 - rule and rationale defeated.

 

5. Neither NORBA nor USCF Cyclocross rules have Junior gear restrictions, despite encouraging far lower cadences and radical terrain changes with steeper climbing grades.

 

6. There is no empirical data that I can find showing 80 rpms as the universal optimum cadence for men, women and children, in any cycling venue, but its taught and published 10,000 times a year. Where did this optimum come from and when? What types of riding and bikes were around when someone suggested this cadence? What empirical data supports the suggestion?

 

Year after year, I've watched Morgan Gerlak go off the front early in a Junior's race, pedaling at a godawful slow cadence in his largest 52X14 gear, while his mother screamed red-faced at every lap for him to pick up his cadence. He never did. He usually won. He's never had a stress-induced injury from mashing a large gear at a low cadence. He goes right from road racing into cyclocross every year and does suffer injuries there from crashing. Sean Yates (Motorola) was known for his slow cadence, while Lance Armstrong debuted his newly reengineered 120 rpm TT cadence at TdF win #5 I believe. Within the most successful of the pro ranks, there's a huge variance in pedaling cadence, so I conclude that the Juniors gear restriction rule is based solely on popular opinion from some outdated and outmoded cycling official who thought it was a good idea at the time.

 

Popular opinion also taught us that the world is flat and the center of the universe; that spinach is full of iron and good if you're anemic; that bathing causes the black plague; that beer and wine are good for hydration on long, mountainous, hot stages of the TdF; and that the atmosphere is warming and the polar ice caps are melting. Well, sorry Popeye but spinach has no iron. The troposphere has only risen 1 degree Farenheit in the last 100+ years, while the stratosphere and the eastern Pacific ocean have experienced much more significant cooling in the last 20 years. The same supercomputers that are pumping out this doomsday crap about waterfront in DC by 2025 can't even predict the weather three days from now. There's been no significant change in the total ice mass of the poles for decades - it melts a little over here and grows a little over there. 2006 was the calmest hurricane season in decades with the least amount of property damage for a long, long t ime, but that fact isn't newsworthy because it doesn't support Juniors gear restrictions.

 

One thing USA Cycling will accomplish with the new rule is the enduring angst and mistrust of a generation of up and coming Juniors, likely for the rest of their cycling careers. <name withheld> already competes against juniors that are 10, 11 12 months older because he was born in December. What difference would it make to USA Cycling to have your racing age change on your birhtday, rather than the calendar year? That's how it works with drinking age and voting. Now they're going to force Juniors to compete in sprint finishes in Cat 1/2/3/4/5 Seniors races (<name withheld>'s goal is Cat 2 before season end) with a 20% gear-inch handicap (52x14 vs 53x12).  That makes about as much sense as adding weight to a Junior's bike so he'll learn what it's like to race when he gets older and fatter.