A day in the hood

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The neighborhood I live in has these big landscaped medians that separate traffic going one way from traffic going the other. I’m riding up the hill back to my place the other day, and this guys coming straight down the hill at me on another bicycle. He’s weaving around and I soon realize he’s busy watching his handlebar mounted rear view mirror instead of paying attention to whats in front of him. He is literally staring down at the mirror half the time with a pronounced forward heat tilt, leaving no doubt that he cannot see much of anything out in front of him for long stretches of pavement.

And he’s riding into traffic on a divided roadway. There is nothing behind him. All the traffic, me, the cars, all of it is coming straight at him. And he swerving back and forth staring at God knows what in his rear view mirror.

The irony does not escape me as I hug the curb and let ‘ol Swervy McGullicuddy pass by.

Another day, another dollar.

Today’s link dump:

[Oh my] cnn.com
[No egos here] kmeg14.com
[Good times] treehugger.com
[No war for chain lube] kentsbike.blogspot.com

In “gimmie some tunes” news: myspace.com/swizdchardcore.

Just three songs for your listening pleasure, but from one of the greatest “nobody ever heard of ’em” bands of all times. I got their self titled 12″ in the crates, and damn if it ain’t one of the best albums I’ve ever owned.

And it’s from 1988.

To the emails:

From: cyclesoc
Subject: The car did a U-turn in the street…
The panty waste that hit the dude in Des Moines that you had on your site under “The car did a U-turn in the street and plowed the bicyclist down…” turned himself in. Check out the mugshot, looks like he came off a 7 day bender. It’s the top story on www.dmregister.com right now and there is some video and other stuff. dmregister.com

And if that wasn’t enough, we had another in Muscatine this week and this guys dead: muscatinejournal.com

Also, in reference to the Des Moines Tri pics you had of the devil, a cyclist hit a spectator (by accident) when she tried to cross the road and killed her. Its old news but here is the link: kcci.com
Also, the Des Moines tri was re-broadcast on ABC later this year, pretty cool for Iowa.

Here’s some other old shit about two guys (racers) that got hit in Des Moines earlier this year. Still no fuckin charges from a motorist that “didn’t see them” and hit them from behind at 55. desmoinesregister.com

The number killed in Iowa this year’s probably better than 5 now and hit, probably close to 20. It ain’t been a good year in one the most bike friendly states out there.

But some good news. New Belgium premiers in Iowa on Monday and the fine folks from New Belgium are throwing a big ass pre-release party at the very bike friendly el Bait Shop in Des Moines this weekend. We’re been waiting 16 years for this! Should be a darn good time. bikeiowa.com

One more thing, you probably have some other Iowa readers out there but we’re trying to get about 375 more residents to commit to $35 for a custom Share the Road Plate. iowabicyclecoalition.org

I’ve been to Iowa twice to do Ragbrai. And I can tell you Iowa is one of the most bike friendly states I’ve pointed my wheels across.

Sounds like some good news out of New Mexico.

From: St Pauli Girl
Subject: bike boulevard in Albuquerque
Hey Johnny,
Hope you’re doing well and riding as much as you want to. Just wanted to pass on some good bike news to balance all the car-nage. Here in Albuquerque the city council just passed a bill to establish a “bike boulevard” spanning the city. 13mph speed limit for cars and preference for bikes and pedestrians. Check out the details at bikeabq.org

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