It has been a while since I have posted

It is simply because the riding has been uneventful and nice. Well that all came to screeching end tonight! I had someone come so close to me I am still amazed when I watch the video clip that this person did not hit me. I mean no excuse for what happened. This person could have moved to the right behind me and entered the turn lane. But no they have to literally pass an inch or so from me. I guess they figured to scare me off the road. After 40 years of riding on the roads I don't think that is going to happen buddy. It is a shame that my bike lights are so bright that it completely washes out the license plate. It is just barely visible as the rear begins to pass me but then between this idiot's brake lights and my 2500 lumens of light the plate is just a whitewash. I wish NC plates were some other color than white!

More Deer

There were more deer on late Friday morning. I was working the late shift and going in for the noon start when I came upon a deer at about 11 am. What I initially missed in this encounter was that was mom and her fawn out. I saw the one deer and slowed down since the deer was being hesitant so I waited then the deer finally moved on. Then as I went to go again I spotted movement on the other side of the road and it was the fawn moving. I have circled both in this video then took a snapshot and enhanced it as best I could to show the fawn. It was rather hard to see from a distance. But once I was closer I was able to see it. But my video only saves video in 2Gig chucks and wouldn't you know it I was right at the 2Gig mark at this time and it takes a couple of seconds to close the file and open the next so we miss what happened as I noticed the fawn. But at least on this road it is generally very quite as far as cars go.

Cyclists and stop signs why do they feel the need to run them?

This is what drives me nuts about cyclists. They have this tendency to run stop signs. Giving us law abiding cyclists a bad name. I would say every single cyclist wants respect out on the road. They want car drivers to give them more room. But when you act like this how is that going to happen? I have to pay for these type of incidents from drivers everyday of my life. I might have scared the one you see pull to the curb and stop. I was moving along a really good clip. Fully loaded on my way home from work carrying at least 30 lbs of stuff. Not bad for an old man. Oh and you can see I came to a full stop in the beginning of this clip.

Amazing

Interesting ride home. This one section was extremely busy with cars. I have a right turn lane having cars passing me on the right. And cars are moving over and passing on the left. So I have cars on both sides. Then I get to the end of the right turn lane and they have cement divider to prevent turns. Well one car decides I am not going to wait and drives on the other side of the cement divider going the wrong way. Right behind that one is a truck that just lays on the horn to I guess scare me off the road? That is not going to work with me not after doing this for 40+ years. Just an amazing section. Other things happened on this ride but not  really video showing worth.

Tuesday Morning

Well I saw this car run a stop sign this morning. So I figured what the heck lets post the runner. This car did not even slow down or do a rolling stop. It looked to me like they just drove right thru it. This road has no outlet the only car coming from that direction is comming from a person that lives down that road. So they can't say  I did not know there was a stop sign there. No excuses!! People will always say cyclists never stop well here is the proof that cars also don't stop. It is very simple there are a large number of people that don't feel the need to follow the laws it is not limited to cyclists but drivers of motorized vehicles have the same issue. I bet this person rides a bike and does the same dumb thing!

Thursday Morning

Well I had 2 deer and a fawn come into the video on my ride into work. It is a busier street then I normally ride but when I am behind schedule I use it. I much prefer to go the longer way which uses less traveled streets. After all I am out there to enjoy the ride to work. But anyway onto the video. As I am passing the Post Office in Morrisville NC on 54 I suddenly spot a deer coming out and then the fawn. the fawn decided it was not safe I don't know if it as me that spooked it or not. We will never know but it turned once it was on the pavement and lost it's footing and went down. For a brief period I thought it had enough speed that it was going to slide right into me but it did not.

I still wonder if when it was back on its feet did it continue across the road? Also what did the other two deer do did they stop and wait? All these questions I have with no answers. I need a rear facing camera to see what is going on behind me!

The video:

Monday

Well Well Well lookie here! I caught one of those occasions when a car runs a stop sign. Cars run stops signs all the time. I bet he even runs them if he rides a bicycle. But I bet if I did the same thing he would let me know how illegal it is to run a stop sign like that.

This was not even close to stopping. This was most blatant running of a stop sign ever!

You be the judge do you think this was a legal stop? Just watch the video!

Wednesday July 24th

Well riding home tonight and as I am crossing the road and heading down it. I hear SURLY! Someone in a car recognized the brand of bicycle I am riding. I hadn't had the kind of reaction to any bicycle I have ever owned. It just goes to show that Surly is a brand that when you like it you really like it. From the decals to the disc brakes on it. Everything on it screams Surly. For the past 6 years or so I have been attracted to the Surly brand simply because they are one of the few companies that make a really good Touring style bicycle. I just bought this bicycle about a month ago after my wonderful Trek 520 was stolen. I was pleasantly surprised to find a dealer of the Surly brand in Raleigh NC by the name of All Star Bike Shop. Which if you are ever in a bicycle buying mood I would highly recommend them to anyone looking to buy a bicycle. I was an easy sell but they were still able to tell me things about the bike I was not aware of so they know what they sell. As always when buying a bicycle you want a shop that will listen to what you needs are and then shows you what you are looking for not some other bicycle that is not what you need. Hear that Performance Bike? I do not recommend buying a bicycle at Performance Bike simply because when you say you are daily commuter and need fenders and racks then they take you to a carbon fiber frame bicycle and those tiny small brakes that keep you from having fenders! No eyelets for racks or fenders. You just have to shake your head in wonder and move on. Well here is the clip. If you listen carefully you can hear SURLY! being yelled after I am moving.

Way too close

I was on my way home riding in the road and staying away from a work van/truck while this SUV makes a turn and just heads straight at me. This driver fully intended to hit me. I mean it was less the two inches from me when passing me! I mean I was already there. It was basically a single lane and this SUV just plows right on thru even though I was already there.

Just plain insane. This is why I have a video camera to prove who did what.

Wednesday

This what happens when people talk about a right hook when riding. It is when a person driving a car gets next to you and then turns right across your path. I mean what was this person thinking. Oh there is a cyclist next to me but I DON'T CARE I AM TURNING ANYWAY!

I will give credit that they did hear me yell and did not complete the turn. But I should not have to YELL to make you realize there is a living person that you are about to hit.

Wow

I was heading home from work tonight going the short way. It is amazing how many people will just do stupid things along this route. In the clip I show you someone who decides he wants to pass me. He goes almost completely into the other lane. Which under normal circumstances I would appreciate. But I really don't think a person should do this on a two lane road with cars coming the other way. I thought there was going to be an accident and I was going to be collateral damage! The car going the other way I think actually left the road to avoid the collision. People amaze me daily!

Google Street View!

 Yes after 278 Days google street view of me riding my bicycle to work has been posted! I have checked everyday for 278 days payoff finally.

It was getting to the point I even doubted it took place!

The link to the map

Well now what am I going to look for on google?

Back on the road

My first day of riding after replacing my stolen bicycle and I catch a cyclist running a red light! This type of activity should be ticketed. This is against the law. Why do cyclists feel they are above the law? I will never know why this thought process takes place. These people drive cars and they would not even think about doing this type of blatant law breaking as in this video. Most car drivers break laws we all know this they blow off red lights when they have just changed, they are pink after all right? They tend to not stop at stop signs. They even make turns into oncoming traffic lanes. But this one was just so bad. It wasn't even close to green. The left turning light was red by the time he went thru the red light. You can't talk your way out of this.

The Video

New Ride

Well I picked up the new wheels Saturday! It was a sad way to get a new bicycle. This the the fourth bicycle I have bought in the past 20+ years and not once did I buy it because I wanted a new bicycle. The last time I bought a bicycle just to buy a bicycle was in 1989 24 years ago! That was a Trek 520. Which was stolen in 1995 when I bought a Mongoose Mountain Bike which was never really what I wanted but... Then that was hit by a car with me on it and destroyed in 2002. At which point I bought another Trek 520 which was stolen last week on June 20th. So now I bought a Surley Disc Trucker in 2013. So 1989 was the very last time I bought a bicycle just to buy a bicycle. Every Time since then my bicycle was stolen or destroyed in an accident.

Here are some pics of the new ride. It is not complete yet I am still waiting on the headlights and taillights to come from Amazon.

So the first ride is tomorrow. I have been lazy about locking the bike up at home. That will now end. Being as it is near impossible to secure it properly I will be using the small room outside that we have a freezer in. I'll be hanging it on the wall and keeping that door locked. It is amazing how much more money the bicycle cost after 11 years. Granted this is not the Trek 520 but the Trek 520 price was the same as this one. So the bicycle cost 50% more than what I paid for it in 2002. With basically no changes. Looking forward to the next 100,000 miles on this bike I only had 64,192 on the previous Trek 520 I plan on making 100,000 on this Surley.

Finding a new ride

Well since my steed was stolen I have begun the search for a new bike. It is down to three models. The Surley Disc Trucker, Charge Filter Hi Cyclocross Bike, and the GT Wheels4Life Peace Tour Commuter.

These are in order of what I want and also in price range. Sad to say but the Trek 520 lost out. Not only is the thing more expensive then all these bikes it lacks something I decided I needed on the new bicycle. that is Disc brakes.

I really like the Surley here is a picture of it.

What is shocking is that on a casual look it looks so much like the Trek 520 I had. It's color is very similar. Here is a picture of my stolen ride

So it will be hard for the casual user to that sees me to even realize I have a different bike. Of course once I get my new panniers they will not be the same. Nothing about panniers remains the same after 11 years.

As far as I am concerned once I have made my decision and I hope I get enough from the insurance company to buy the Surley!

My bicycle was stolen!

Well my bicycle was stolen last night sometime between the hours of Midnight and 7am.

Above is my stolen bicycle. It had 64,193 miles and I spent about 4,100 hours riding it over the last 11 years. It was a good bike and it will be missed. Needless to say until I get a replacement I will not be posting to this blog for a while.

Driver passes me too close then slows down

Well it happened again where I had to deal with a driver that felt they just had to pass me. Pass me in a way the broke the law. Then once in front they slow down. So I sped up and caught this person and passed them back. I was just 1 MPH over the speed limit after getting around them. I never saw them again.

Here is the video

Cyclist runs red light

One thing that really irks me is when cyclist breaks the law. I hear every cyclist complain how cars don't respect us. Cars yell at me. Cars tell me I don't belong. Well if you want respect you need to go above and beyond to earn that respect. Ask any car driver about a cyclist and this is what they will say.

They run red lights.
They run stop signs.
They pass at lights.
They don't obey any laws.

Why do they say these things?? Well lets start with the cyclist in this video. He blows off the red light. I mean When I get there it takes about 8 seconds for the light to sense me and turn green so why did he have to run the light??

Maybe he just doesn't understand how light signals work and how to trip them. After all most people think the sensors sense weight. Well they don't sense weight the most common technique is the inductive loop. An inductive loop is simply a coil of wire embedded in the road's surface. To install the loop, they lay the asphalt and then come back and cut a groove in the asphalt with a saw. The wire is placed in the groove and sealed with a rubbery compound. You can often see these big rectangular loops cut in the pavement because the compound is obvious.

Inductive loops work by detecting a change of inductance.

So... Let's say you take a coil of wire perhaps 5 feet in diameter, containing five or six loops of wire. You cut some grooves in a road and place the coil in the grooves. You attach an inductance meter to the coil and see what the inductance of the coil is. Now you park a car over the coil and check the inductance again. The inductance will be much larger because of the large steel object positioned in the loop's magnetic field. The car parked over the coil is acting like the core of the inductor, and its presence changes the inductance of the coil.

A traffic light sensor uses the loop in that same way. It constantly tests the inductance of the loop in the road, and when the inductance rises, it knows there is a something waiting! The best type is the double loop two circles that overlap in the middle. If you put your bike right over the center it has an easier time sensing you. Oh no I said get in the middle of the road!


The video of the red light runner

Tuesday fun on the bike

Coming home from the dentist this morning I was able to hit 38MPH on the small down hill after I leave there. The rocking you seeing the video is not because I can't ride straight. I was pedaling trying to get the speed up high. Once I say that's good enough is smooths right out while I am coasting.

But right after that light some bozo decided he was going to lay on the horn to let me know something. I have no clue what the issue was. I am legally entitled to the road your not even in my lane so why?????

Anyway here is the video enjoy!

Wow a car passing the cars passing me!

In my 30+ years of riding this is the first time I have seen this move. A car passing the cars that are passing me on a two lane road with a short left turn lane. As you can see in this video the guy is going around the people going around me.

What is not visible in this video is the havoc  that is caused when he needs to merge back in to lane of traffic. It looked from my point of view that he was going to cause and accident. Since the video does not pick that up you can't enjoy what was going on.

All this to save??? Maybe 10 seconds?? Yes people are willing to cause an accident and maybe die over 10 seconds savings???

It always amazes me what people will do....

Anyway he is the video clip

Three people that thought they would let me know cycling is dangerous

Well this morning I had three different drivers want to show me how unsafe cycling is! News flash people after 40 years of riding of various roads across the country you are not going to scare me off the road. The first one was much like the Town of Cary truck. Passing me in the same spot the same way. On my right as the lane begins? Really people do you really think is leagal and wise to pass me on the shoulder as a lane is appearing on the right?? So that as I head into the lane I am pulling into your path???

Then there was the person that so wanted to pass me. He moved out and then the truck coming the other way had to practically get off the road to avoid you? So your very scary driving is proving what? That you are a danger to others.

Then the tractor trailer driver that moved over too quickly.

Well enjoy the video it is below of all three.

Cars Running Stop Signs/Dislike Greenways(MUPS)

Well Lets just say cars run stop signs. I get them all the time on video doing this. Today I have selected two of them to show to the world. I do get tried of people saying "Well you cyclists don't stop at stop signs" Well here is a generalization for cars. "Well you know you car drivers don't stop at stop signs" There I said it and I have the proof in this video so get off your high horse and just live with the fact that car drivers don't stop all the time.

Now for another generalized statement. You know I hear quite often about how cyclist should ride on the sidewalk and we should ride on the greenway. Well these same people just go on a greenway and then take up the whole paved road and just don't act like they are sharing it. Much like when they drive on the road. They don't want to share the place with a cyclist. You can't have your cake and eat it too people. That is why I am going back to the road where at least the law is on my side.  I generally don't like greenways and I will present a video today of why I don't like greenways. In this video we see people that use the path to practice baseball stuff. Walk across without looking till they are in front of you and let a 3-4 year old just wander on the path? Now would a person let a 3-4 year play in say a parking lot? In the road? Then why on a paved greenway that carry's traffic too? Do people not see the danger they are causing me?  Then there is the adults the freeze up when they are looking at you and can't decide where to go so I have to do a track stand while they decide where they are going to go. Now I love to show off and do track stands. A track stand is where you come to a complete stop with out putting down a foot you just sit on the bicycle balancing it while not moving. Anyway here is that video. Enough ranting for the day!

Illegal pas on the right!

Now the women driver in this clip passes me on the right! What she used was a right turn lane to turn into Office Depot. It did not even go as far as the light. I guess she wanted to save time? But the funny thing was she saved no time she had to stop for the red light? So what was accomplished by doing this??? She was in such a rush that she wanted to save nothing? Where are the Police when you need them?

Wrong way sidewalk cyclist

The cyclist you see in this video not even paying attention is running a red light on the sidewalk against traffic. I was almost hit by this guy. Just insane why should I as a cyclist have to worry about other cyclists? Don't ride on the sidewalk and don't ride on the wrong side of the road! Doing both at the same time is just plain Darwin award material. Just plain stupid riding. Imagine if I was a car? Follow the laws people!!!

Wow what and end to the week!

This crazy woman just comes up along side me. She knows I'm there but then well she is going to go right at the corner and she is the type of driver that is going to go right to the edge of the road to turn. It does not matter that a cyclist is there.  Just push my butt off the road! Then lets pretend no one is there and never look at me? You can see that I end up on the grating for the storm drain.

CRAZY PEOPLE!!!!!

What a start to the day

I had three incidents. Two of them commercial vehicles. One was just a car. Two of them never even fully pass me before they stop. The car driver in the first incident does not like to hear anything because he/she lays on the horn after I speak my mind.

The second incident in the video is a Town vehicle. This amazingly smart person passes me on the right as the lane begins to emerge on the right. I was lucky that I looked back and saw what he was doing otherwise it would have been an even worse start to the day.

The last one is a landscape truck from Yard-nique. Two of the trucks manage to pass me but the last one pushes me out of the lane and then stops because they are at a line of cars basically the other landscape trucks. Then when I confront the driver he tells me to basically get off the road and on the shoulder. Funny thing is there is no shoulder there there is a right turn only lane. Not very observant.

But the good news is I reported both commercial drivers to the company's. One being the Town of Cary. I have had incidents before so I know the person in charge's email address. And he at least seemed to be concerned about this incident. You know what they say? A picture is worth a thousand words? Video is worth  millions. The other Yard-Nique the owner called me back and was very upset with the incident involving his driver. He says he is also a cyclist and understands my frustration. He says that driver will be disciplined what ever that means. His drivers attitude was you don't belong on the road and when I told him I was videoing the ride and would show his boss the video he just laughed as if I wouldn't do that.

Now for the video

Cyclist need to respect laws

In this video you will see a cyclist pass me going the other way. I am going the long way out so that I can take a certain road. There is no way to get to said road legally if I don't go this way. This cyclist is going to circumvent the problem by jumping a large paved shoulder! This is not legal nor right. Cyclists are always complaining that cars don't respect them. Well this is just an example of way cars don't respect you! Don't take liberty's just because you are small. Now what would happen if a car did the exact same thing??? If a Police Officer saw it do you think they would get a ticket? Damn straight so the cyclist that does it should get ticketed if they do it.

Triangle Transit gets a bit too close

There was no room for this bus and I to share this lane. He should have known that but what ever the driver was thinking it was not about my safety. Of course you expect a professional to know better but commercial bus drivers are only marginally better then school bus drivers. Any way I had to hit the brakes to keep the bus from crunching me. Needless to say I have fired off a complaint to the bus company. Usually they reply back. I have offered the video to them and hopefully they will take me up on it and I said they should show it to the bus driver and ask them how they would have felt with a large object almost hitting them.

Why I hate bike lanes!

Cars/SUVs have no respect for you as a cyclist. In this video you can see this car blow off the stop sign cross the road and then come all the way into the bike lane while I had to brake hard to keep from hitting her. What the heck do people think or rather the problem is people do not think. They have no concept of how fast I am really moving and since it is a nice large vehicle they will be gone before I get there. Once again you were wrong. I was there at the same time and you almost took me out! All this rushing and she as only going one block! ONE BLOCK!!!

Cars playing chicken with me!

Now I have been amazed at what drivers of cars will do to a cyclist in their need to keep going at all costs. They can't possibly be delayed for anything even on a side street. But I had a bunch of cars go around a garbage truck this morning. In order to go around this garbage truck they had to drive on the wrong side of the road. So none of them thought anything was wrong with driving towards me. But the last one really was intent on hitting me. I had to move out of the travel lane or risk being hit head on! I just wish hope that the time she saved by not waiting was worth it to her!

Nice Share the road video

Share the Road
AAA Public Affairs

Share the Road from AAA Public Affairs on Vimeo.

Daylight savings!

I haven't posted in a while all the crazies seem to be staying home. So with daylight savings in effect both my rides are in day light! This hasn't happened in over two years! I was working strictly second shift up to 4 months ago. I switched to days just after the clocks flipped to standard time. So it was like nothing changed! Well here is a full video with music sped up 32x to make just about 2 hours of riding only last a little over 3 minutes. Enjoy the music.

Albino Squirrel!

Well I almost hit an albino squirrel on the bike. Squirrels has done this to me before. I once had one run between my wheels at 18MPH. But this is the first time I have seen an Albino one! To be honest I never saw it till it was in front of the bike. It reminded me of a guinea pig when it first jumped out since I was not looking for it. I was like what the heck was that? When I turned around he was sitting on the grass where he started.

Not everyone hates cyclists

I had a nice couple turn around and check on me tonight. I had finally decided it was just too cold to keep going in shorts. I mean the temperature was 43 when I left work which is border line too cold for my shorts. But within a half an hour it was 35 and my knees were not happy with me for making them work in the cold. So they finally convinced me to pull over and cover them bad boys up! Just as I'm finishing the layers a car pulls up to make sure I was OK  That one kind act restores my faith in people again. Actually I never lost my faith in people even though there are so many people that just want me off the roads.

The middle of the video is sped up.


I am amazingly close to 15,000 miles on my rear tire. It is 14,800+ now. I should break 15K soon. But how much longer can this tire last! This has been a wet cold winter. The cold does not cause tire problems but rain can sure lead to flats since things stick to your tires when wet and cause punctures but so far so good this year.

Car running a red light!

Nothing was going to stop this person from making the left not me not the car that was stopping for the red light and making a right. Nothing was getting in this persons way! I mean he buzzed not only me but another car! Where are the police when you need them. This spot is good for police usually because they park down the road a bit so you always see them in this area. Too bad they were not there tonight!

He is baaack!!!!!

That is the red light runner was there again this morning. I almost missed him but traffic held him up long enough for me to catch him run the red light again.What I find curious about it is how he does it. I'm sure in his mind it is alright to run it in the fashion he does. I say that because yesterday you could see in the video he was on the sidewalk and when he ran the light he was using the crosswalk. So I guess in his mind it is OK to run a red light if you get in where peds are supposed to be? What ever I just wish the Police would witness it and then have the guts to ticket this person. I HATE red light runners!!!

Must be Tuesday!

Well the first thing in this video I posted today is a cyclist! The first time we see said bicyclist he is on the wrong side of the road. Then he makes a left and we find him riding properly as I come up on him and pass him. A bit later when he finally shows up while I am waiting at a red light he is now on the sidewalk. This guy just can't make up his mind how he wants to ride. But he knows he is not waiting on the red light. So he runs it. He just makes it across and the light has turned green!

The next thing in this video a bit later towards the end of my ride. I show three cars passing me with plenty of distance which I much appreciate! But then naturally the fourth car thinks he does not need to wait on the car coming at us in the other lane. So he squeezes by me with just inches to spare!

The final person of the day was on my way home. Now the other driver was really close but this person redefines how close can we get. In looking at the video you would think he must have touched me! Less then a inch off my handlebars I mean that is just too damn close people.

Impatient Pickup Driver

Well what can I say about a driver making a left and I'm making a right at the same corner. This person just did not want me to have the right of way. I run over 2000 lumens of light you can not say you didn't see me. I'm right in front of you. You can see my shadow from the trucks lights as he comes right up to me. then passes me just to make a right just up ahead. I mean come on you why couldn't you give me 15 seconds?

Today's entertainment

Well lets start out today with the truck that did not want to wait so he just pulls out in front of me amd makes me slow down. I know I'm being a complainer but what the heck! I can so I will.

Then there is the stop stop sign runners. I will be posting these as I can find them in the videos. I really hate how drivers of cars/truck never run stop signs and never run red lights. But every single cyclist does. So I will be pulling out of my videos any cars that I feel have broken the law. We will see how many over time I find.

Starting today I have two stop sign runners. Enjoy the short video.

Will Be boring this week

Well this week I working the swing shift. So I am working 12PM to 8PM. So far today was rather boring. Maybe I'll look for cars that don't sop and run stop sins and red lights. I'll try to pay attention and catch cars breaking the law! Cars run stop signs and blow off red lights all the time.

Crazy people

Well tonight it was just a crazy person out there. Apparently they think it is normal to drive by and open a door to talk at me? I guess rolling the window down did not cross their minds? Maybe they think I'll hear it better if they open the door? Notice to crazy people I can't really hear you as you pass me. There is wind noise and car noise that keeps me from hearing you say "Hey dude you are my hero!" Like that was what was said NOT! I slowed down the part where the person has the door open. all I can say is WOW!

Another Close Call

Wow what are people thinking. I have been on days for just over two months and I have lost count of the close calls. I worked second shift for two years with 2 incidents. Now it happens all the time. People are just doing some stupid things for the savings of a couple of seconds. In this video you will see the woman had to see me. Why? Because she is going into the oncoming lane on the road she is turning into just so that she wouldn't have to wait on me!

Close Call Tonight!

I have complained twice now to the Town of Cary about how much sand they have put down on some roads and tonight I was missed by mere inches tonight for some bozo that was only going another 30 seconds? You want to take the chance on hitting someone and you are barely stopped at your house by the time I get to the same spot! Just insane people. They claim they are cleaning it up but come on. You put down so much sand on Madison that it is like a dirt road. Put that road on top of your clean up list!

Impatient people

Ok so on my way to work this morning I have this car that decided to cut me off so that they could make a right turn. Rather then come in behind me they felt they should pull in front then hit the brakes. They could have just slipped in behind me and did the same thing. But so many people see cyclists as obstacles/inconvenience. They of them don't understand someone might get hurt with their actions. I believe that was the case this morning. The driver seemed surprised that I was next to her window yelling at her. It was like where did you come from? You just cut me off lady at 30+ MPH.

Careless drivers and bullies

Well I had a very careless School bus driver this morning just push me off my line coming to a corner. I mean I was in the center of my lane and this driver just gets next to me and then moves over!


Then on the way home a driver wanted to let me know he does not like cyclists. I mean he was not held up but he felt the need to lay on the horn to let me know he was not my friend! Video is below!

Strange things drivers do

Well I had this happen this morning but you can't see it in the video so no point in posting it to show you since it was taking place behind me. I move over to take full control of the lane. When I say that I was really maybe 1 1/2 feet from the double yellow line with my arm out indication I am turning left. Now I begin to sense a car attempting to pass me on my left. While I am about to turn left. All I can say is that the only reason the guy had to pull in behind me is because I was going to have to wait for a tractor trailer that was coming down the opposite way. So this idiot in the van pulled in behind me and had to wait but come on! It was so much safer riding when I worked nights. I didn't have to deal with these types of people. Everyone treated me with respect at night. Not so during the day!

Don't ever break your own rules

For the past two years I have broken a cardinal rule of mine. I have always had more then one head light just like I have more then 1 tail light. The reason I use is that if something happens to one you have the second to fallback on. Well for the past two years I have had only 1 headlight. It is a super bright 1000 lumen led light. Way more then bright enough. Well on my way home tonight in the dark the thing shutdown. Luckily it was only about 2/3 of a mile from home and it was not so bad going that distance with out a light. It could have been much worse though if it happened at the beginning of the 13 mile ride. I'm pretty sure I can fix the wires but I also sat down an ordered another light just to be back on the safe side of things again.

I ordered this one from amazon which is supposed to 1800?? Lumens

The page for this  one is here

Black Ice Crash!

The day started out so nice after days of rain then last night the winter storm warning 1-3 inches of snow. Turns out to be a dusting. Roads were good. I did not encounter any ice on the road. But there is a section where to avoid heavy traffic I take a greenway. Well I was not paying attention and the only bridge I cross over was covered in snow. I tried to break before the bridge but I still went down. From what I remember I thought I just slid right at the bridge but in watching the video of the crash in slow motion I realized I started sliding much further out then I thought. I have some bruises on my thigh and good bruise on my forearm. But I really hurt my right thumb. I must have really wrenched it so to say. But all in all I am OK.  I now feel for those professional riders that go down and jump back up and race away. Granted I'm much older but man it hurt the rest of the way to work. And the ride home tonight was painful!

Cyclist hit and run in Durham

This story ran the other day about a cyclist being involved in a hit and run. His name is Steve Saltzman:

"Despite Saltzman hugging the far right line, the vehicle's mirror clipped him and snapped off. With fragments of the hit and run vehicle left at the scene, Saltzman hopes the perpetrator or an eyewitness will come forward."

Now the driver turns self in as has something to say:

"The cyclist said he was hugging the right side of the road when Brown passed too close, hitting him with his right-side mirror. The mirror broke off, leaving clues to the make of the vehicle at the scene."

ABC11 spoke with Brown as he left the Durham County Jail Tuesday. He said he didn't realize he'd hit anyone and apologized to Saltzman and his family.

How do you hit something so hard that you break your mirror off and claim you had no idea you hit anything? This is the problem with people he knows what he did but he figures he will lie people will believe him and he will get a slap on the wrist. The truth is that is exactly what will happen.

What is the problem here? Sometimes its is the way most cyclists ride. They like to break the law by running lights and stop signs. So when something happens all a person has to say is the cyclist ran the light/stop sign and most people on a jury will believe that because they have seen cyclists do just that. Of course we all know that cars also run lights/stop signs all the time but for some reason people don't seem to see that.

I have seen people when they make a left turn they turn onto the wrong side of the road. What I am saying is that thy turn too early and actually are on the wrong side of the road they are turning on. Of course they eventually end up on the right side but this is so common it actually amazes me that people do not realize they are even doing it.

Lousy Weather

The weather has been dismal for the last couple of days. So I really haven't tried the camera out much. It say weather proof. I don;t think that means water proof. Nothing much has been going on riding to work. Once I gain confidence in the camera and weather I will most likely just post the dumb things drivers do. Watching my ride for an hour would be rather boring. But I will keep the entire ride on my server.

It once again has been a while

I have not stopped riding I just haven't been making posts here. I switched to a day job a couple of months ago and I miss all the quiet of the midnight rides. But my family likes me being on first shift so I gave up all the nice rides. In two years of riding to work on the second shift not once did any one hassle me!

I bought a toy this weekend so maybe that will entice me to make entries here again. I bought on of those very small video camera to use on my bike. Pictures are below. In the pictures you see a full handlebar! I have my 900 Lumen light, bicycle computer, and then the new tiny camera. It only cost $50 so I did good. It was on sale at Tiger Direct. Amazon is selling it for $87. So buy getting it at Tiger Direct with he Micro SD card it was still cheaper then Amazon for just the camera!

Midland XTC205VP2 HD Action Camcorder - 720p, 1280 x 720, Weather Resistant, Helmet Mount Included, MicroSD Card Slot