Bikes and the City

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Bike Oven

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Bicycle Art

Bikejuju

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Creative Bike Racks

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Superhero Bikes!

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More Cool Bike Structures!

Click here to read about these amazing bike structures!

Urban Adventours Series Ride 8/18/11

Nice way to spend the evening out on the bike with the Urban Adventours (Atlantic Ave. Boston) Series Ride. It departs every Thursday at 6pm (arrive at 5:30pm to sign waiver) and heads out for a good 20 miles.

 
 

Bear Creek Challenge 8/13-14/11

What a weekend! I headed down to Macungie PA Friday evening to race Short Track, Super D, and XC for the US Cup Triple Crown, as part of the AMBC series. I decided this trip was worth it because I had the opportunity to visit and stay with family 45 minutes away.  My parents and I arrived late Friday night and I woke up early Saturday morning to get a good warm up in. I was unfortunately the only woman signed up in the Pro/Elite Category. There were a few other Cat. 1’s and a Cat. 2 racer. I got the hole shot and never looked back. On the first lap I was already 30 seconds ahead of the 2^nd place Cat. 1 rider. By the end of the race I was over 2 minutes ahead of her. I felt like I was on fire the whole race. I kept a good rhythm and powered it out. My legs were tired by the end, but I loved the course. My laps ended up being 30 seconds and over faster than the Cat. 2 MEN laps and close to a minute faster than the Cat. 3 MEN laps. On one of my laps, I was only 10 seconds slower than the fastest Pro male finisher. When I was done, I had a chance to get a shuttle ride up to the top of the Super D. It was very rocky and technical. I only had my XC bike and no gear, but wanted to just do the race anyway and complete all three events. The race got very delayed, since they could only fit 5 people and bikes at a time into the truck shuttling up the mountain. There were over 45 riders. They were not organized at all. But I had a blast once I finally got to ride the course. I placed second in the Pro/Elite category, the other female only showed up for the Super D race. I placed second overall out of 7 females. My parents and I waited around for well over an hour for awards before we finally had to leave to visit with family. It was a bit ridiculous how much time they took to do everything. The next day, I ended up getting my prizes of a DH tire and a very expensive and nice floor pump. Sunday’s XC race was brutal. It had been pouring rain since shortly after the end of the Super D race Saturday. The ground was soaking wet. I got to the race plenty early, went out and rode about a mile in the woods in the pouring rain. I ended up going inside and trying to warm up there because it was just miserable out. Also, there were racers on the course and I did not want to go too far in the woods to where I would have to ride backwards on the course (there were racers on course). I was getting pretty antsy because I wanted to be spinning out my legs from all the garbage built up in them from the day before. Luckily the skies cleared around 1:30pm and everyone went back outside and spun around. I went back into the woods and did a short loop two times. There were literally rivers running through sections. Everything was so slick and the mud was making the tracking very difficult. The start of our race was very delayed, go figure, but we eventually got underway and I had the hole shot. I maintained first place for ¾ of the first lap (each lap was 7 miles long), but at about 4.5 miles in, I punctured my tire on the descent. Everything was so technical and rocky. I was very ill-prepared in the sense that I had no tube or way to inflate the tire. Normally I always carry something, but it just slipped my mind today. Sigh. I just started running with my bike. I finally had a chance to guzzle down half of my mix and take some GU. There was literally NO place on the course that was safe to take a hand off the handlebars and do so in these conditions. Anywhere that was flat was flooded and squirrelly with the mud. The second place girl was a few minutes back and ended up passing me, and then the third place girl. She said she had a CO2 and handed it over to me. It was nice of her, but unfortunately I could not get the tire to inflate. 3 guys that we had passed all stopped to give it a try, but were also un-successful. I just started running with my bike again, and then ran into the guy who set up the Super D course. He finally got the tire to inflate on his second attempt it did! But, immediately we heard all the air leaking out and he put his finger over the hole to shake some of the Stan’s around, but most of it had leaked out and there was not enough to seal it. Sigh. I started to ride on it again, but it instantly started to flat again. I came running into the parking lot area and yelled to my Dad to grab a tube and pump. By the time I got the change done, the other three women in the race passed and the top 5 Pro men, who were completing their final lap. At this point, I was at least 15 minutes back from the leader, so I just got finished my mix and got a fresh bottle from my Dad and on my bike I went. I had to pump up the tire up to 40 psi in case the tire started to leak again. I knew that mentally it was going to be a very hard lap, but it would be harder to have just tossed in my chips and called it a day. I ended up passing the last place woman, who ended up not even finishing the race, so I was the last racer out on the course. Whenever you pay for a race, you want to at least get your moneys worth out of it! I had driven all the way, and also knew that riding in those conditions would only make me stronger. It was a good thing that I completed the second lap because I walked away with enough cash to cover all three entry fees and still some left over (to buy new REAL tube-less tires with!). I also walked away with a 1^st place trophy for the triple-crown, the ONLY female to compete in all three events for the weekend out of any category. Never ever, ever give up! 

 
 

Fast and Fierce on Two Wheels

SPEED BUMPS ARE DANGEROUS!

Bottom line, speed bumps are DANGEROUS!!! Especially on a bike, and especially when they are not marked. Town Estates Condominiums in Brookline Massachusetts is responsible for my recent bicycle accident. I wanted to take them to court over this matter, but with the costs, time, and energy involved it will not be worth it. They are lucky I did not break myself somehow! Their first defense that it is "Private Property" and here is my counter-defense: I just moved to Newton at the end of June and do not know my way around the area. I bought a booklet at the Newton Historical Society Museum that has a list of all the walks in the area. One of them was Chandler Pond. On the map, it shows to take Kenrick Street and Lake Shore Road to access the pond. I also goggle mapped the route, and this is the way it told me to get to the pond from where I live (71 Faxon St) in Newton. There was nothing stated about a private road. I was on my bike with my neighbor, Lauren, and we saw Lake Shore Road on our right so we turned in. The signs saying Private Way are not on the street sign and are very small and hidden below the condominium sign, which neither of us saw! I only saw it when I went back to take more pictures of the complex the next day. We were heading down the hill slowly when all of a sudden the first of the 5 unmarked speed bumps was underneath me and I slammed to the ground, my bike went skidding across the pavement. Lauren luckily saw what happened and was able to slam on her brakes, alleviating her of any physical harm and bicycle damage. I was very lucky that I did not hit a car, or that any car was coming when the accident happened. There was a car that went over the speed bump as I was getting up from the ground and they just proceeded to travel on through. I was in a lot of pain, and bleeding from my right elbow pretty bad. My right knee had hit, but only had a minor scratch. My right hip was hurting the worst and it had a raspberry already forming on it and bruising. There was a minor rip in my shorts. My rear wheel and drive train was a mess. My rear derailleur had come up into my spoke, snapping the hanger as well. It also damaged one of the spokes on the drive side. My right handlebar tape was destroyed, leaving some scratches on the $200 bars. My left handlebar hood was completely angled inwards. I could not clip back into my pedals, because the right one was broken. I had to call my boyfriend, Ryan, to come pick the two of us up back out on Kenrick Street. We had to wait until dark, since he was still on his way home from work (via a bicycle) and had to get the car to rescue us. I got home and was very upset. I could not even sit or sleep on my hip the night the accident happened. I work a job where I stand all day on my feet and the next day, I was in a lot of pain in my hip and elbow. I had to constantly ice both parts, which are not easy to ice, and change the bandages on my elbow a few times a day. The least the property manager could do is fess up and pay for my bicycle damage. I am not asking for much, my request is simple and that is the way I would like to keep it. Property, public or private, is liable for injury and damage on a speed bump, and also if they exceed guidelines in any way. Design guidelines are guidelines, no matter the road jurisdiction. Public street design standards should not be lowered for private. Guidelines are to have signage. Town Estates Condominiums has NO signage what so ever, and NO paint that is visible to the driver, cyclist, pedestrian, whatever mode of transportation. Town Estates has argued that there is paint. This is quite hysterical, in the fact that the only paint I found is on the right hand side of the 2nd speed bump  (not even any on the one I hit!) where the cars park in front of! IT IS NOT visible and a splatter of yellow on the edge is not proper warning for a speed bump. Property should be maintained. Town Estates has not maintained in a safe condition and has not given adequate warning to ANY of their 5 speed bumps on the property. They have not exercised reasonable care and violated their duty to do so.


I spoke with their lawyer and here is the Towne Estates defense:



1.      You were trespassing on the Condominium’s land;
2.      Other than your friend, there are no other witnesses;
3.      There is no police report contemporaneous with the time and date when you claim to have fallen over the speed bump;
4.      There are many speed bumps throughout the complex, the speed bumps are open and obvious, and you were on notice as you rode through the complex;
5.      The speed bump over which you claim to have fallen has yellow paint;
6.      You were speeding and/or driving recklessly which is why you fell off of your bike.

My Follow up:

1. There is no road sign stating that it is a private way and no trespassing, it comes up online as a through way, and is the only way to access public property from where I live on a bike

2. Why is my neighbor, who I was riding with, not a good enough witness? 

3. I did not think to contact the police, figuring that I could simply contact the property manager and he/she would be understanding and acknowledge to the fact that they do not have marked speed bumps and have not maintained their property. I was being considerate to them by not contact the police or town and trying to settle it without getting too much involvement. I can involve them and have them come check the property for themselves to see the lack of safety on the speed bumps.

4. I only noticed the rest of the speed bumps because I was not able to notice the first speed bump! Hence why I hit it and fell. I am a very experienced cyclist and know how to control my bike. This speed bump was not marked and blended in with the shadows and rest of the pavement. It was very dangerous. All of them are. 

5. This "yellow paint" cannot even be considered as visible! They have to be out of their minds to think so. I did not even notice it until I went back to take more pictures and cars park right in front of it. The yellow paint needs to be across the entire speed bump so it is visible to bikes and vehicles. 

6. I was not speeding I was going 8mph on my bike, I was not driving, odd that is even mentioned. The speed limit is 25mph in the complex. I could not even feasibly go 25 mph on the bike upon entering the property and reaching the speed bump. I can prove that to them. 

See photos below: