Whatever your sentiments on Critical Mass are, this is just despicable.

Update: here is a little bit more information via BoingBoing. The cyclist was arrested and charged with attempted assault and resisting arrest. Wtf?!

Update 20080729

The police officer has been stripped of his badge and gun. He was just out of the Police Academy, third generation officer, and did not seem to file an accurate report of the event based on the video that was anonymously posted.

I missed posting last weekend, so I’ve got more for this weekend!

Windproof shoe toes using inner tubes, from Make.

Bike Chain Cuffs at Firebox, via Gizmodo. I wonder if they are susceptible to a chain tool attack? An interesting style, and may be a foreshadowing to bicycle thieves who get caught.

Bicycle art with light bulbs, from Make.

Light designs like a smiley face or other do-it-yourself persistence of vision (POV) images on wheels (like an animated PacMan,) from Make and more Make. A more chintzy and commercialized version over at HokeySpokes.

This place sells lights that don’t need batteries. They’re not powered like some old bottle dynamo ones, there’s no friction. Plus, here’s a more DIY approach for the tinker-hearty.

Lastly, for those of you who wear high heels don’t forget to dress appropriately when making your way down Massachusetts Avenue. This shade of green does not go with the worn blue look, though thank you for riding and representing the Green Streets Initiative! Seen on Boston.com.

One of my earlier posts included a tutorial on building a carbon composite frame. The picture and one of the links was to Brano Meres Engineering.

Go to his site. He has some amazing work over there. Here is the full list, and here are some examples

I’ve also posted on a bamboo bike frame. Brano has one as well.

Tip o’ the hat to you, Brano. Right on, ride on!

For those of you who have loads of money and love the carbon truss idea, there’s another one at Delta7Sports, discovered on Discover.

The Art of Cycling (A Guide to Bicycling in 21st-Century America) is a new title (and ever-so-slight revision) of The Art of Urban Cycling (Lessons from the Street), by Robert Hurst.

I originally purchased and read Urban about a year ago as I started getting more involved and interested in bicycling and bike safety. Urban is no longer printed, but all of the content (with one or two more pages worth of revisited material) is available as The Art of Cycling, sans Urban in the title.

There is an awful lot in this book, and it’s all broken down rather neatly. You can get a lot of ideas about what is contained by scanning the extensive chapter list.

The Art of Cycling, 251 pages

1. Frankenstein’s Monster
   • Continuum
   • Bicycles in the Age of Manure: Leonardo to Starley
   • The Bicycle Craze of the 1890s
   • Chumps of the Road
   • From Bicycles to Automobiles in Sixty Seconds
   • Speed and Greed
   • Barney Oldfield and the Arena of Death
   • A Dark Wave Cometh
   • Fake Gas Tanks
   • Transportation and the Shape of Cities
   • Automobile Suburbs
   • The Great Streetcar Massacre
   • Congestion
   • Enclosure
   • Rage
   • Cycling in the New American City
   • Invocation
2. The City Surface
   • Pavement: Get Over It
   • Responsibility and Surface Hazards
   • The Great American Pothole
   • Cracks and Seams
   • Waves
   • Lane Markers
   • Wet Metal
   • Drainage
   • Railroad Tracks
   • Toppings
   • Plazas
   • Curbs
3. In Traffic
   • Beyond Vehicular Cycling
   • Blame Versus Responsibility
   • Vigilance
   • Route Choice
   • Road Position and Location
   • The Invisible Cyclist
   • Space Versus Visibility
   • The Myth of Lane Ownership
   • Running Green Lights
   • Eye Contact, Stop Signs, and Fake Right Turns
   • The Gap Effect
   • Four-way Stops
   • Momentum
   • Notes on Traffic Lights
   • Waiting at Traffic Lights
   • Running Red Lights
   • Left Turns
   • Corner Cutters
   • Looking Back
   • Seeing without Looking
   • Instinct Unveiled
   • Turn Signals
   • Hand Signals
   • In Defense of Gutters
   • The Door Zone
   • Reading Parked Vehicles
   • Close Combat: Positioning in Heavy Traffic
   • Riding a Straight Line
   • Track Stands
   • Turning and Cornering
   • Panic Stops
   • Bicycle Lanes and Paths: Good or Evil?
   • On the Bike Path
   • Sidewalks and the Law
   • Riding in Suburbia
   • Riding at Night
   • Riding with Others
4. Bicycle Accidents and Injuries
   • The Statistical Quagmire
   • The Stats at a Glance
   • Cycling Fatalities
   • The Paradox of Experience
   • The Accident Immune System
   • Road Rash
   • Collarbones
   • How to Fall
   • Facial Injuries
   • Head Injuries
   • Other Injuries
   • Disclaimer
   • The Helmet Controversy
   • What Are Helmets Built For?
   • Torsion Injuries
   • The Helmet Verdict
5. Air Pollution and the Cyclist
   • A Historical Reality Check
   • The Good News about Air Pollution
   • What Am I Breathing and What Does It Do to Me?
   • Breathing Strategies for the Cyclist
   • Does Air Pollution Cancel the Health Benefit of Cycling?
6. Punctures and Flat Tires
   • Flat Repair Equipment
   • Fixing Flats: A Primer
   • Broken Glass
   • Tire Wiping
   • Glassphalt
   • Tribulus Terrestris
   • A Thorny Dilemma
   • Random Sharpies
   • Pinch Flats
   • Blowouts
7. Equipment
   • The Cult of Equipment
   • Bike Choice
   • Track Bikes
   • Bike Fit
   • Tools
   • Clothing
   • Messenger Bags, Backpacks, and Panniers
   • Drivetrain Maintenance
8. Epilogue: Of Bicycles and Cities

As you can see from the table of contents there is a diverse range of topics covered. History, road surface types and conditions, repairs and maintenance, health, statistics, even different philosophies of riding are given a fair shake, and if the author feels anything needs to be dismissed from the cyclist’s habits there is an adequate reason provided.

Robert’s prose talks to the reader in a familiar, friendly manner. It is like chatting with someone over coffee and you have just asked them all sorts of questions about biking around. The right questions. The answers come in an articulate and pleasant manner and is mixed with all kinds of extra bits of knowledge (perfect for trivia) that make the entire read enjoyable and hard to put down.

The word “blame” came to the English language by way of the Latin word blasphemare, meaning “to blaspheme.” The Old English version of the verb “to blame” had a very negative connotation. It implied dishonesty. Blame had roughly the same meaning as “malign” or “libel.” Somewhere along the line, the definition of blame got all twisted up. Blame ceased to be a very bad thing and became quite respectable - not a proud or useful moment in human history.

The Art of Cycling, pg. 66

This is a book geared towards many varieties of cyclists, but is mostly based around urban cycling. A good deal of the book is devoted to the very important aspects of safety: handling yourself in traffic and knowing how to avoid or handle a bad situation.

In the Introduction Hurst lets the reader know that the content is not catering entirely to one particular type of cyclist, but picks useful things from different camps to come out with a style that is advanced and at the same time not hooked to bike-as-a-vehicle (vehicular) or the invisible bike styles. An “organic” style.

The vehicular style is just that: ride and pretend you are a car, do everything a car would do, and you should be safe. The invisible bike style is more ninja-like, you ride as if no one can see you so you try to find a space on the road where you will be safe regardless of your visibility. Hurst finds that there are benefits to both styles, but these benefits are found when applied at appropriate times and places. Knowing when to adopt certain aspects of any style comes mostly through experience and a rider’s personal skill level. If you can’t jump a curb then you should not find yourself too close to one all the time, you need to leave yourself a way out of any situation. Common sense plays a big part of the decision making.

Accounting for the perceptions and reactions of others is one of the cyclist’s primary tasks.

The Art of Cycling, pg. 154

Most of all I enjoyed reading this book because of the ideas it presented. The author considers some parts it covers to be adult themed because decisions of safety in traffic don’t come immediately to riders who haven’t matured in their understanding of the various dangers. Responsibility of the rider is key, and cannot be substituted for with laws. Being able to identify potential situations, being aware, and knowing one’s own riding abilities are core skills, but deciding how to handle a situation is more a matter of the responsibility of the rider.

Also, because of this book I am currently becoming familiar with Effective Cycling by John Forester, which is the epitome of vehicular style riding, and is referenced by Hurst. I feel there are some great values to vehicular riding, and even greater lessons to be learned about the mentality of refusing to put bicycling in an inferior position on the road. That said I would give more credence to the idea of an “organic” approach to cycling as safety does not stem purely from an idealistic point of view; practicality is a more sound approach in my opinion. One day I hope to leave behind the debates cyclists have with each other about whether or not having bike lanes or side paths are a good idea. Until then I’ll use whatever road devices are at my disposal to ensure my safe and enjoyable travel from A to B. And wish you all safe an happy travels as well.

I highly, highly recommend this book in either of its titled forms. I’ll be re-reading it again shortly, myself.

About the Author

Robert Hurst is a veteran bicycle messenger and all-around urban cyclist who has cycled more than 150,000 miles and 15,000 hours in heavy traffic. in this time, he has completed something like 80,000 deliveries. Robert is also the author of Mountain Biking Colorado’s San Juan Mountains: Durango and Telluride (FalconGuides) and Road Biking Colorado’s Front Range (FalconGuides).

I’m continuing the bike-centric movie kick I’m on with another documentary called B.I.K.E. (Be Inclusive, Kill Exclusivity.)

The documentary frames itself as being the personal journey of the filmmaker, Anthony Howard, as he attempts to join a radical bike club in 2004 called Black Label (New York City chapter.)

Time for a little bit of background: Black Label features tall-bike riding, tall-bike jousting, and a lot of partying as somewhat unifying tenets to the organization. They have an image of being anti-corporate, anti-consumerism, and filled with members who often see the current stage of decline leading to an apocalyptic future where bikes will rule after the downfall of cars.

I’ve seen some of the creative spirit that can embody a bike culture and I had hoped this to be an exclusive peek into an example of that community and the human condition, despite the Mad Max sound of things from the bike club’s description. While it was about the human condition it was mostly about the condition of tragedy. It was only vaguely about bikes or bike culture.

My first thought after watching B.I.K.E. was that the description on Netflix is incomplete. The comments there pick up the slack, quite a bit. This is not much of a film about the Black Label the organization, or tall-bike riders, but is really just about Tony (Anthony Howard, the filmmaker.)

Tony is a starving artist. At the end of the film I was still questioning his initial motives in trying to join Black Label. There was little enough passion shown by him about biking at all, the film just started out with him trying to become a member and explaining to his friends his desire to basically infiltrate the group. It was more a flair of bravado or daring to join a rebellious group and document the journey of accomplishment. The Cool Thing To Do. Only he didn’t accomplish it, and in fact many bad things happened to him over the course of the year.

The film changes focus at about the time that Tony goes through a bad breakup, falls deep into a hard drug addiction, and he becomes painfully away of his own loss of self-identity. His attempt to join the Black Labels then becomes a mission to find inclusion, community, and identity. He fails to gain consensus among the club members when votes come up to decide whether or not to include him in their ranks. He sinks deeper into depression. In the end he starts his own club with a basic intent on humiliating Black Label at their own major party (Bike Kill,) and somehow tries to tie in philosophy and politics.

It is in a sense the age-old story of a person trying to find their concept of self, spun slightly differently to include a bicycle counter-culture group.

This is a human documentary, and it is quite dark at many points. It is raw: it has nudity and scenes of hard drug preparation and use. It is sad: you feel the need to intervene in this person’s life because it hurts to watch someone spiral down as Tony did. There was snippets of humor and community that were positive and brought some balance to the film. And loads of drama, as only an artist can bring.

I think the part I took most to was the deleted scene of Johnny Payphone, a member of Rat Patrol. Part of the interview made the trailer for the film and was included on the DVD as an extra. The film would have been even slightly more about the bike clubs if it were included, but that was not the film’s focus. I wish it could have been, as that would have been more interesting to me.

I hope Tony is doing better and is in a better position now in life. I feel like Black Label were cheated of a possibly interesting peek into their lives, and instead only an aspect of them was represented in this film. I would not recommend this film to followers of bicycle-related issues. I find myself struggling to come up with any group of people I would recommend it to. It’s not a pleasant story, and except for one or two deleted scenes filled with philosophical message I found myself wanting the one-and-a-half hours of my life better spent.

I would also wish to bring the message of A Perfect Circle’s “The Hollow” [YouTube] to Tony, which is to break from the downward spiral of addiction as it does not fill the emptiness within. (Not that I can say that as an expert, just as a concerned person who actually watched his film.)

Last night I watched the documentary “Red Light Go,” which highlights a few NYC bike messengers and Alleycat races.

Netflix link

My riding habits haven’t guided me full-on into many of the different bike subcultures like SCUL or messengering, so I don’t know much about what goes on within them. Much of what I have learned I have picked up from discrete observation or small conversation. Every club has their own rules, their own lingo, styles and presence. To learn more you generally need to be ‘in’. So I enjoyed the peek into part of one of these cultures that I know little about.

What I found great was some filling-in of informational gaps I’ve had. Some may scoff, but I only heard about Allycat races about two weeks ago. Before watching this documentary I thought the cards tacked in to the wheel spokes I see from time to time were just stylistic flair, not racing badges. I’ll have a closer look next time I see one, as my curiosity has been piqued.

This wouldn’t be a film I’d sit down with a budding young mind, it has adult themes beyond the occasional scenes of street riding in auto and pedestrian traffic. It’s a documentary, so it’s a catalog of a small piece of life with a lot of the child-filters removed. Partying, drinking, plenty of drug references, even some glorification of fighting. Nothing the average R-rated film wouldn’t have. I’d recommend it to most people I know.

Wounded Pride

It took my sister’s scorn to get me into the habit, but once I started wearing a helmet I feel naked riding without it. Some might say riding naked is liberating (I’m sure it is,) but the helmet is one of the most important safety devices a rider has. After all, everything about riding starts by firings in the brain, all senses get processed there, all decisions get made there. Common sense trumps style.

My sister’s device for persuading me was familiar to anyone with a sibling. She made me feel bad, wounded my pride, even managed to use my own words against me. She was earnest in trying to make me do something that I already knew was a good idea. I was trying to be rebellious, to be free of the imposition that I am mortal. I was, of course, being stupid. And I knew it.

I really hate to be ‘that guy’ that knows to do things a certain way and does them contrary to that for no decent reason. So I changed my ways. So long as I live I hope I continue to do the same. It can hurt to have your pride wounded, but pain is inevitable. Suffering is an option. Suck it up, learn, adapt, and move on.

Knocking Sense into People

Last night a few friends of mine got together at my apartment for poker. I learned today that one of them got clipped by a car while riding back to his place.

Holyfuckingshit!

My friend was going straight and riding to the left of a car that ended up taking a left hand turn in the intersection. He didn’t see any indication that the car was intending to do this, and he was riding aggressively. His rear wheel got clipped while both he and the car that hit him were going at normal traffic speeds. In the end he was extremely lucky, no major body damage (or none discovered so far.) Pretty much he walked away with a wrecked bike and a badly shaken ego.

I have not been in that situation. I have been in other kinds of accidents, but every one can be unique to the situation. Walking away from an accident, any accident, is a blessing. Then comes the troubling period of dealing with what happened so that future occurances can be avoided.

My friend was riding with a warm hat on to stave off the chill. This event has scared him into making two safety purchases: a helmet and a very bright front light. It’s a start. I’ll be loaning him my copy of The Art of Urban Cycling once I get it back from another friend. I don’t know if he was in the wrong being where he was, but being to the left of a car isn’t usually a good position to be in.

I am the Nag

I don’t like being the Nag, which my roommate no doubt recognizes I am at times, but I’d rather not lose friends to disaster. It’s not my character to sound scornful, so I’ve never become adept at reflecting someone else’s risk-taking at them in a way that shows the bravado for the silliness it usually is. And who am I to preach when I have faults of my own?

But that doesn’t stop my gob from flapping. Wear a helmet. It’s a good idea. Get some lights going on you at night, put on something reflective, and ride safely. You a tough guy? You a crazy girl? Fine. Okay for you. Kindly remember: if something bad happens and it could have been avoided, well, that looks pretty bad, too.

To each their own in the end. Ride however you like, take whatever precautions you feel you must. I do my own thing and I find it works for me, and hope it continues to. To my friends I caution: do not die on me, especially for something stupid, or I will use you as an example when I share your tale of woe and despair. But I’d rather not have to share that story.