Monday, December 15, 2008

Not called Christmas any more

They say it is not called Christmas any more, but I just cannot kick the habit. Whatever you call it, don't forget your bicycle and your bicycle friends. The LACBC, our Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition has come up a with a nice selection of T-shirts for all frame and chest sizes, with marvelous designs, and a good cause it is too. www.zazzle.com/lacbc1. And don't forget one for yourself, after all those missed stops at the gas station, you surely have earned one, or even two.



Next year the Bicycle Coalition (www.la-bike.org) is planning a big membership drive at UCLA. T-shirts are good, but with all the work that waits for us to make the bicycle really viable in Los Angeles, we need smart and angry cyclists who join in and take charge. We could have a cordon of stations at most entries to the campus, and hail cyclists with good news about supporting the bicycle party. Now that the other election is over, we need to vote the bicycle king, and we need to do it soon. Please let me know if we can count on you to be on the sidewalk at the crucial time, and greet, thank, inform, count and recruit our brave and beautiful souls on the saddle. This is going to be a big one, and we want 50 bicycle recruiters placed at 12 points, and the exercise may include a short questionnaire and some counting of the bicycles.



There was also talk about a different kind of bicycle event: A ride from USC to UCLA, and one from UCLA to USC, 11 miles each way. Crews depart at the same time, they meet twice on the road, and a noisy encounter it may be. Before the return trip, each crew is fed and watered at the other campus in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, as only the bicycle can produce it. And the winner is: The group which sends more cyclists, and offers a kinder welcome to the arriving peloton. -

Lets hear from you if you can help to get this off the ground: velocipedus@gmail.com

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Crash Data

Please enter your crash data below as a comment, using some or all of the following criteria. This will help us to get a measure of the danger-spots around campus.
Crash Data Criteria:
Location, direction, speed
Time of day, date, daylight
Type of crash: Dooring, right hook, left hook, harassment (specify), distracted driver/cyclists, failure of gear,
Infrastructure involvement (Potholes, signage, bike-lane)
Injury, ambulance, hospital ?
Police Report? Cell phone useage, Alcohol, Drugs
Cyclist helmet / ear-phones
Insurance Involved? Lawsuit? Justice served?
Lesson Learned ? (How could we have avoided this incident)
Cyclists trained to League standards?