Cycling

Click the link for a short vid with Lance and a short speach.

http://livestrongblog.org/2008/09/09/statement-by-lance-armstrong-regarding-global-cancer-fight-and-his-return-to-professional-cycling/?tr=y&auid=3991019#comment-3268

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A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

Thanks for the link. Cool

So glad He's got cancer beat and is well enough to come back to racing. I might start watching it again with Him being back. Wink

Just got back from a 24 mile bike ride. The wind sure makes a big difference both head on and behind you. Shocked

Good challenging ride like usual. At the very end the two guys in front of me went really fast, and I went as fast as I could and they still smoked me. Shocked

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I think I road around 10 miles or more tonight, not sure exact amount, I'll tell ya later. I entered the corrdienents for a geocache on my GPS wrong, so I ended up going out for nothing, besides exercise.

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-Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder's eye on the Last Day.

-Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and proclaiming, "Wow, what a ride!!!"

I came across this in my local newspaper today. I'll let you digest it before I offer my take:

John Karastamatis
special to the star
"Hey, you," the cop said from inside his car. "You just broke the law."
It was the morning rush and I was on the sidewalk on King St. W., a U-lock in my hand, about to secure my bike to a post in front of my office. The "hey, you" startled me. The "you just broke the law" was incomprehensible. In all the years I had been cycling on the streets of Toronto – more than 30 – I had never been stopped by a police officer.
He noticed my confusion and probably sensed my fear. "Come closer to the car," he said. His voice was not friendly.
I felt like a kid being called to the principal's office.
"You failed to fully stop as you were turning right at the corner at Duncan," he said after I had walked over to his open car window.
Duncan ends at King. I believed I had stopped long enough to assess the situation: There were no cars or bikes coming along, so I completed my right turn. I didn't hit anyone, I didn't cut anyone off. But in this officer's opinion, I hadn't stopped long enough at the stop sign.
He was a young guy, early 20s, and I noticed he was in one of three patrol cars at King and Duncan that morning.
"Let me see your ID," he said.
"What kind of ID?" I asked.
"Licence," he said.
"I don't have one."
"You don't have one?" He would have used the same tone if I had said I was from another planet.
There was a pause while, I assume, he assessed whether I was telling him the truth.
"Health card," he demanded.
I fished inside my wallet and found my cracked and peeling card from 1975. Handling it as if it were contaminated, he typed the name from my card into his car computer. He looked at the screen with disbelief.
"I can't find you on our system. Have you've never had a licence?"
"I chose never to learn to drive a car."
He may have sighed in frustration but I couldn't tell, because at that moment a streetcar clanged by on King.
He asked for my address and phone number and wrote the information on a yellow pad of paper attached to a clipboard. "$110 fine," he said, handing me the first ticket I have ever received.
"And you'll lose six points off your licence," he added.
What licence? Or was this his idea of a joke?
He drove off, making a sharp U-turn to join the other two patrol cars down the street, leaving me in his dust to try to figure out what had happened.
"The cops are on a cyclist-busting mission," said a friend, another lifelong cyclist. "They're targeting bikes."
As if we didn't have enough obstacles to overcome, like the persistent threat of having your bike stolen or of being mowed down by some SUV. Now this fine.
"Wasn't $110 the same amount a driver was fined after he opened his door and killed a cyclist a few months back?" my friend asked.
I canvassed more cyclists, looking for moral support. The consensus was, cars, bikes and pedestrians have to share the road but one set of rules doesn't fit all. For instance, coming to a full stop on a bike is not realistic. If the bike fully stops, the cyclist will lose his balance and fall. A rolling stop is the thing to do.
There should be traffic laws that make sense for bikes. And there would be, along with licensing and cycling tests, if society were serious about encouraging alternative forms of transportation.
I also talked to a committed car driver who thought it was about time that police started ticketing bikes. "Cyclists think they can break all the rules and get away with it – going the wrong way down a one-way street, zigzagging through traffic, hogging entire lanes, riding on sidewalks."
The custodian of the building at Duncan and King, who had witnessed my getting the ticket, told me that corner is heavily patrolled.
"They are there because you can't make a left from King onto Duncan before 9 a.m., so it's easy for the cops to fill their quota of tickets in one morning," he said. "But in August, traffic was very low because of summer holidays. The morning you were ticketed the cops hadn't given out a single ticket. You were it."
I consulted a lawyer. "If you really feel you weren't in the wrong, you can fight it," she said.
So that's what I did. I waited two hours at a busting-at-the-seams court office to register my intention to dispute the charge. When it was my turn at the counter, I was told I would receive a letter in six to eight months and a trial would likely be within two years.
A woman who was also waiting at the court office (she had mistakenly been charged after she had already paid her ticket many months before) listened sympathetically to my story.
"The entire system is broken. Nobody seems to know anything," she said. "There are more and more cars on the roads, and bikes and skateboards and mopeds and motorized wheelchairs. It's chaos.
"You're lucky you don't drive. I'm thinking of giving it up and using a bike. Even if I occasionally get a ticket."[/url]

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"The monkeys are throwing stuff at me again."
-Survivorman in Costa Rica

That's a bucket of crap. Confused

I can't believe they treat bicyclists like that....

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Using dial-up is like riding a tricycle at Indy.

All the rules do apply to bikes, but if you stop at a stop sign you loose all your momentum, and waste a ton of energy starting back up. The cops around here don't like people riding on the sidewalks, although little kids are allowed to, but they don't really do anything about it. I've noticed that almost every biker around here does things that are illegal, but nobody seems to notice. Bikers unlike the opinion in that article are allowed to take up a lane in traffic. They have the same rights as cars do. Confused

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Round here people on bikes do what they want, its just all about respect. In small towns if your being respectful, it doesn't matter if you don't stop, or if you ride on the sidewalk.

_________________
-Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder's eye on the Last Day.

-Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and proclaiming, "Wow, what a ride!!!"

Here's what I've been told by the police dept. is wrong with riding on the sidewalks. When people are backing out of their driveways they can't see you in time to do anything. Also you can get in the way of pedestrians really easy.

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I am at various times a pedestrian, a cyclist, and a driver. I have seen all 3 groups do stupid, illegal, and dangerous things. Here, adult size bikes are banned from sidewalks, cyclists under 18 must wear a helmet, and all traffic laws must be obeyed. I see all of the above ignored on a regular basis, but I have never seen a cyclist pulled over by the cops, and it is extremely rare to hear of a cyclist being given a ticket. The police are much more concerned about motorists. So why was that cyclist ticketed? The building custodian he talked to summed it up in one word: quota. It was a slow morning and the police were concerned about meeting their quota of tickets for that day. Police departments will tell you there is no such thing as ticket quotas, but come on, we all know better. Almost every day I see drivers run red lights, speed down residential streets, and force pedestrians who have the right of way out of crosswalks as they make turns with no regard for anyone else. So why aren't the police patrolling all the streets to make them safer? Because it's not about making the streets safer. It's all about making their quota of tickets so the government has some extra income from fines. And the easiest way - maybe the only way - to make one's quota is to have 3 police cars sit at a busy downtown intersection nabbing people making illegal turns. And if things are slow, ticket a cyclist, too. Were the police correct in ticketing the cyclist? Technically, yes, if he did indeed not come to a complete stop. (From the way the article is worded, I'm not sure if he came to a complete stop or not.) But what about all the other more serious infractions that were commited that day by motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians? I'm glad he's fighting the ticket. I'm betting the cop doesn't bother showing up for court, in which case the ticket will be thrown out. On the other hand, if after 6 months to 2 years there is a trial and the cyclist is found guilty, I would like to know how the court will go about deducting demerit points from a non-existant drivers license.

_________________

"The monkeys are throwing stuff at me again."
-Survivorman in Costa Rica

Here you can get a ticket for riding on the sidewalk on your bike or if you ride your bike in the rode you can get a ticket for obstructing the flow of traffic. Rolling Eyes

	schmitty wrote:
	Here you can get a ticket for riding on the sidewalk on your bike or if you ride your bike in the rode you can get a ticket for obstructing the flow of traffic.

What a Catch 22 situation. Here, you are expected to ride on the road, about 3' out from the curb.
There is a semi-major road near me that runs about 8km. They say they are going to put bike lanes on it. If they do, I hope they repave it. There are some wicked frost heaves and pot holes, mostly near the curb. The kind of ruts that don't bother a car, but are the perfect size to grab a bike tire. I rode on it today and they have done nothing all summer to fix it. You have to ride in the middle of the lane or risk going @$$ over applecart.

_________________

"The monkeys are throwing stuff at me again."
-Survivorman in Costa Rica

> Its Fact that Lance Armstrong will be in the 2009 Tour Cool

About to turn 37 next week, Armstrong is intent on becoming the oldest Tour de France winner in history next summer after fully three years out of the sport. Don't bet against him. There is a comic book quality to Armstrong's sporting life that rules nothing out and makes the extraordinary seem mundane

Two major thoughts occur. Armstrong has clearly missed the Tour desperately and has manifestly failed to fill the void in his life that retirement prised open. Frankly, that was always on the cards. He devoted his sporting life to the Tour de France - not just 23 days every July - and winning the Tour was a 24/7 preoccupation for the other eleven months every year.

No rider has ever targeted the Tour with such a single minded obsession, even his detractors have to concede that, and his days must have seemed empty in recent years. He will have badly missed his team-mates and even the Peloton banter, albeit if he used to dish out plenty of stick to lesser mortals.

By all accounts he remains a doting father to his three children, he has worked hard with his own Cancer Foundation and kept in shape running marathons and messing around on his mountain bike.

There have also been a series of high profile relationships - Sheryl Crow, fashion designer Tory Burch and actress Kate Hudson - in the aftermath of his divorce to wife Kirsten, but in the three years since he 'retired' nothing has brought him complete fulfilment and certainly nothing has remotely sated his smouldering competitive instincts.

Secondly, he 'ended' his Tour de France career entirely on his terms, after a seventh consecutive, almost routine win. Before his cancer he was vulnerable, after coming back in 1999 he never cracked, not once. The Tour never defeated him, either physically or mentally.

He starts with a clean slate and his return next year - the build up, the early races and the Tour itself - is going to be one of sport's great modern day quests. I sniff another best selling book around the corner.

_________________
A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

A recent letter in the Toronto Star brought about some clarification on the issue of whether or not cyclists can receive demerit points against their drivers licence. According to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, they cannot. It's too bad that there are so many ill-informed police officers out there.

Nov 22, 2008
Q: I received a $110 ticket for "failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign" while I was riding my two-wheeled, 10-speed bicycle (pedal-power only, no motor).
The officer stated the charge includes three demerit points which would go against my motor vehicle driving record.
Although I must pay the fine (or contest it in court), I thought I can't get demerit points since my bicycle is not a motor vehicle.
A: Ontario transportation ministry spokesperson Bob Nichols replies:
Bicycles are not included in the definition of "motor vehicle" under the Highway Traffic Act. As such, and in relation to section 210 of the HTA, convictions for offences that occurred on a bicycle are not recorded by the ministry (on an individual's driving record) and the Demerit Point System does not apply.
Eric Lai adds:
The same is true for skateboards and other non-motorized vehicles.
Section 210 HTA specifies that only convictions for offences committed by means of a motor vehicle, streetcar or motorized snow vehicle are recorded by the ministry – and thereby incur demerit points on your driver's licence.
Incidentally, while a justice of the peace does have the power to suspend a fine, they cannot "waive the points" when issuing a conviction for a motor vehicle offence.
Demerit points are automatically added by the ministry upon notification of the conviction.

_________________

"The monkeys are throwing stuff at me again."
-Survivorman in Costa Rica

More news about Igor Kenk. Kenk is the guy previously mentioned in this thread
who is charged with - among other things - stealing a gazillion bikes and stashing
them in dozens of rented garages. Seems he recently went to one of those garages
to retrieve some of his 'property' without realizing that A) the police had already
seized all his stuff, and B) this particular garage had been sold to new owners who
had no idea why this guy had showed up:

Dec 14, 2008 09:47 PM
Carmen Chai
staff reporter
A 50-year-old Toronto man faces three charges after he swung a
metal pipe at two people this afternoon.
The suspect was trying to remove property from a home on Dufferin St.
and Wallace Ave. when the homeowners tried to stop him.
"He says it was his (property), and the owners are saying it was theirs,"
said Det. Hoffmeyer of Toronto police.
The suspect swung a metal pipe at the homeowners. No injuries were
reported. The suspect drove away after the confrontation.
Police say the victims and suspect are not related.

An hour later, Igor Kenk was arrested and charged with assault with a
weapon and two counts of assault.

He will appear in court on Dec. 15 at 10 a.m.

He is the owner of The Bicycle Clinic at 927 Queen St. W.

Since his arrest, police have recovered some 2,700 bikes found in
12 locations, mostly in downtown garages rented by Kenk, and 1.5 ounces
of marijuana.

Kenk was out on bail set at $250,000 for provincial charges related to
bike theft, $10,000 for federal charges including 21 drug offences,
and $15,000 surety bail to be split collectively by three supporters.
While under house arrest, he wasn't supposed to step outside unless
accompanied by one of his three sureties.

_________________

"The monkeys are throwing stuff at me again."
-Survivorman in Costa Rica

This guy is an idiot, lol.
Good follow up Bushrat Cool

_________________
A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

If you just can't get enough of Igor Krenk (Really, he's better than Amy Winehouse or Brittany Spears), here's a more in depth article. I'm providing a link so you can see the before and after photos of him. Nothing like an upcoming court appearance to make a guy decide it's time for a makeover. Laughing

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/556706

_________________

"The monkeys are throwing stuff at me again."
-Survivorman in Costa Rica

We didn't need any more evidence that Igor Kenk was a one man crime wave,
but here it is anyways:

'We're definitely hearing a lot fewer complaints' after suspect's arrest

Jun 02, 2009 04:30 AM
Comments on this story ( Cool

Robyn Doolittle
STAFF REPORTER

It's been nearly a year since Igor Kenk was put of business.

Kenk, who is accused of being the city's most notorious bicycle thief, was charged with
58 offences related to stolen bikes last summer.

Police discovered 2,865 bikes stashed in more than a dozen garages around the city and

in Kenk's rundown Queen St. W. repair shop.

In the aftermath of the closing of Kenk's store, The Bicycle Clinic, across from Trinity
Bellwoods Park, the question has been out there: Are bike thefts down?

The answer is: Yes.

At this time last year, Toronto police had recorded 768 complaints for stolen bicycles.
This year to date, 636 thefts have been reported, a drop of 17 per cent.

"We're definitely hearing a lot fewer complaints about bike thefts," said Assif Hassanali
at Cyclemotive on Bathurst St. "But at the same time, you see all these little shops opening
up around the city and those shops don't have suppliers. And you wonder: where are
they getting that inventory?"

Sitting in the Jet Fuel coffee shop, a cycling hub in Cabbagetown, cyclist Andrew Randell
said he suspects stolen bikes are now being shipped out of the city.

Det. Sgt. Ed Roseto, who was involved in the Kenk sting, said police haven't been made
aware of any location trying to flip stolen bikes.

"I think (thieves) are just trying to cash in for whatever they can. There are second-0hand
shops, or they put up ads to sell bikes on different online sites," said Roseto.

"The important thing is, people need to lock up their bikes properly. A steel railing is a lot
better than a wooden one – (and) make sure to register your bike."

Molly Connolly, who works at Cogs Cycle in the east end, said it's fairly obvious when
someone is trying to pawn hot property.

"Most used bikes we acquire are through regular customers. We can tell if somebody is
trying to sell us a stolen bike. You look to see if it's completely the wrong size for the
person or if they look desperate," she said.

What has been noticeable, in the east end at least, is an increase in parts theft, Connolly
said.

Often one larceny sets off a chain reaction, she said. "Someone will have a bike seat stolen,
so they try to replace it with someone else's."

Back at Cyclemotive, Hassanali said the best way to protect your bike is to remove a wheel,
then use a U-Lock to secure both wheels and frame to a steel rack.

If that's too much trouble, Hassanali recommends purchasing what's called a pinhead – a
lock for the wheel. Then buy the smallest U-Lock you can.

"You want to cut off as much space as possible for anyone who might put a bar in
there," he said.

_________________

"The monkeys are throwing stuff at me again."
-Survivorman in Costa Rica

News & Events > Burrard Bridge Protected Lanes Trial

Burrard Bridge Protected Bike Lanes Trial
On July 13, the City of Vancouver opened trial protected bike lanes on the Burrard Street Bridge. This is a vital safety improvement, and with about 40,000 people walking and cycling over the bridge weekly, many will benefit.

The success of this trial is dependent on the lanes being widely used.

You can help make the Burrard Bridge trial a success! Here's how:

Bike over the Burrard Street Bridge as much as possible, especially during the first day and week of the trial. Even if it means going out of your way, using the lanes is the best way to show the City you appreciate this safe bridge crossing, as well as future bike infrastructure.
Tell your friends, family, and coworkers to bike over the bridge. The new lanes mean a safer crossing for everyone--even those who may have been nervous to bike over the bridge before. What better way to get from downtown to the beach and points beyond?
Email Mayor Gregor Robertson and Council (and cc us) to let them know you support the bike lane trial. The City will hear from irritated motorists; make sure they get the other side of the story, too. You can also phone them.
Send emails or letters to media letting them know you support the trial. The media often focus on conflict between drivers and cyclists. Positive words from people who use the new bike lanes demonstrate this trial is a win for everyone.
Tell us, and the media, about success stories. We want to hear about how the trial has affected your cycling experience over the bridge. Has it resulted in you taking the bridge more regularly? Cycling more frequently? Are you a driver who's decided to park the car and cycle over the bridge? How frequently?
Join the Burrard Bridge Bike Lanes Facebook group.
Don't take motorists' confrontational bait. If you're biking over the bridge (or elsewhere) and are confronted by an angry motorist, be a good ambassador. Ride on.
A few points to consider:

From June to October 2008, 8 cyclists were admitted to emergency as a result of accidents involving interactions on the narrow Burrard Bridge sidewalk. Five of the injuries involved motor vehicles. Only one serious accident was recorded on the Cambie Bridge and another on the Granville Bridge in the same five-month period.
The trial means better safety for everyone - cyclists, pedestrians and drivers.
The number of people walking, cycling and jogging over the bridge is expected to increase as more individuals choose sustainable transportation methods and the city's population continues to grow.
The City is encouraging motorists to take Granville Street Bridge.
Update July 14 - The predicted "traffic gridlock" has failed to materialize. We know that because of this trial, a number of drivers have parked the car and are biking or walking to work.
Find out more about the bike lanes trial at the City of Vancouver website.

_________________
A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

{ A cool site i found of a guy cycling around the world }

http://www.cyclingaroundtheworld.nl/

_________________
A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing