Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 06/25/2010 - 22:22.
To me Friday night in Cleveland is a lead poisoned child crying...
Glad to see Sherwin Williams employees enjoying Ed's Island, and all the young Cleveland Bridge Builders frolicking in the pollution... was there a cool-off swim in the Cuyahoga?
I guess I'm supposed to just smell the roses... but was this an outlaw ride of some sort.... I see like two helmets among 100 riders, and none of the riders seem to be following the rules of the road. How does this balance with the silent ride white bikes stuff, really. What is the message from the bike community, because I had a friend who didn't wear a helmet on a casual ride and she died that way so I kinda see the sense of helmets, and educating the community about them.
Are we smart about bikes in Cleveland, or dead wrong?
Same goes for pollution... this ride would have been a great opportunity to bring a community voice against Mittal pollution, as the air was thick tonight, and will be all weekend.
I see your angle, too, Norm. You will appreciate the fact that I saw many of these riders light up their cigarettes before, during and after the ride. But, it's not all gloom and doom. We are changing. We can change. And we can be a better city. You are raising awareness. I also took this picture yesterday for you Norm.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 06/26/2010 - 11:04.
A major concern with air pollution is the particulates you breathe in - they penetrate into your blood through your lungs and cause genetic mutations, lung disease, cancer and such... stuff young bike samurai in Cleveland may not take seriously at 20 but will ruin their offspring end their lives at 40something. The more you breathe harder in air pollution the more of these bad particulates you get in your lungs and blood - the higher your lifetime risk of cancer, etc... it is cumulative.
Was that a topic of discussion among all the bicyclists who are proposing to build a bikepath along a major pollution source point - a freeway - because I consider that one of the most socially foolish ideas in the history of Cleveland - even the talk of this is insulting to real pollution victims in town.
I don't see signs anyone here in Ohio muchless Cleveland has learned jackshit about pollution yet... do you watch the pinhead legislators here still promoting clean coal... the incompetent EPA that can't tell us how polluted we are... as death spirals out the the Mittal stacks?
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sun, 06/27/2010 - 11:55.
Watching this video, I have a hard time believing there were serious bicycling advocates involved. Were the police involved?
Is this what the yuppies are all excited about - a bike revolution. Taking over the roads - riding free like birdies. They look so invincible, and young and stupid.
All serious bicycling community leaders have know people who have died riding bicycles and they take the rules of the road and bicycle safety seriously. I learned that lesson from the death of my friend Laurie Morrill... if you don't know anyone who died from not wearing a helmet and not having the rules of the road and good fortune work out one day, meet Laurie as well... and know funerals are not fun.
Laurie could have straightened out Cleveland... she looked a lot like the girl without the helmet here:
A Milton women who was scheduled to enroll in the Harvard Graduate School of Education in September died Saturday in a bicycle accident on Matha's Vineyard.
Laurie Morrill was riding her bicycle on the resort Island when her bike's brakes locked and she struck a car, according to a police report of the incident.
Morrill, 27, suffered what police described as severe head injuries and was taken to Martha's Vineyard Hospital.
She was later transferred to Boston City Hospital, where she died at 9:51 p.m. according to the police report.
A police official in Edgartown, the municipality where the accident took place, said the investigation of the accident is ongoing.
So far, no charges have been field against the driver of the car, Richard K. Morse, 70, of St. Louis, Mo.
Morrill graduated from Columbia in 1987, where she majored in urban studies.
A funeral mass has been scheduled for Thursday at 10 a.m. at the St. Elizabeth Church in Milton. Complete arrangements are yet to be announced.
Morrill is survived by her parents, Ronald and Hilda, and two siblings.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sun, 06/27/2010 - 12:29.
While I'm bitching about Cleveland's elite bicycling bridge builders, do you know you have the same laws as cars. You don't go on the sidewalk... you stop at stopsigns and lights... you maintain your lane and signal when turning, etc...
I've noticed a prima donna cult riding in full racer garb on the Euclid Heathline bus lanes, like they are built for them (this even though there are BIKE LANES). You don't see the ghetto bicycle commuters doing that, and they'd probably get arrested for it.
So, the billion dollar Euclid boulevard bus tunnel is for yuppies to get home to Cleveland Heights on their bikes faster... now I get it.
So does everyone else.
Guess what... all the bicycle commuters in Ohio will never make up for the carbon footprint of that project.
If you want to ride a bike to commute or for fun, do it someplace clean, and do it right. The US Olympic Team trains in Colorado and Austin TX.
Common sense is important in every thing we do. Who can predict a bicycle accident? No one. Sure, wearing a helmet is common sense. I should wear one. I am taking a risk. I ride on sidewalks, because I figure the infrastructure is there and no one else is using it. Plus, I don't have to interact with cars. I have already survived one nasty bike-car collision. I don't need another one.
I knew a very smart girl from my high school, who died suddenly and without warning. A graduate of Stanford and destined for great things. She slipped on a stairwell, lost her balance and hit her head. I am very careful going down steps.
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Get your ride on
It was a perfect summer night in the City of Cleveland.
I guess I'm supposed to just smell the roses
To me Friday night in Cleveland is a lead poisoned child crying...
Glad to see Sherwin Williams employees enjoying Ed's Island, and all the young Cleveland Bridge Builders frolicking in the pollution... was there a cool-off swim in the Cuyahoga?
I guess I'm supposed to just smell the roses... but was this an outlaw ride of some sort.... I see like two helmets among 100 riders, and none of the riders seem to be following the rules of the road. How does this balance with the silent ride white bikes stuff, really. What is the message from the bike community, because I had a friend who didn't wear a helmet on a casual ride and she died that way so I kinda see the sense of helmets, and educating the community about them.
Are we smart about bikes in Cleveland, or dead wrong?
Same goes for pollution... this ride would have been a great opportunity to bring a community voice against Mittal pollution, as the air was thick tonight, and will be all weekend.
But there are beautiful roses all over town.
Disrupt IT
What to see...
I see your angle, too, Norm. You will appreciate the fact that I saw many of these riders light up their cigarettes before, during and after the ride. But, it's not all gloom and doom. We are changing. We can change. And we can be a better city. You are raising awareness. I also took this picture yesterday for you Norm.
A bike path next to a freeway...
A major concern with air pollution is the particulates you breathe in - they penetrate into your blood through your lungs and cause genetic mutations, lung disease, cancer and such... stuff young bike samurai in Cleveland may not take seriously at 20 but will ruin their offspring end their lives at 40something. The more you breathe harder in air pollution the more of these bad particulates you get in your lungs and blood - the higher your lifetime risk of cancer, etc... it is cumulative.
Was that a topic of discussion among all the bicyclists who are proposing to build a bikepath along a major pollution source point - a freeway - because I consider that one of the most socially foolish ideas in the history of Cleveland - even the talk of this is insulting to real pollution victims in town.
I don't see signs anyone here in Ohio muchless Cleveland has learned jackshit about pollution yet... do you watch the pinhead legislators here still promoting clean coal... the incompetent EPA that can't tell us how polluted we are... as death spirals out the the Mittal stacks?
A bike path next to a freeway... how about building one past a steelmill while you are at it!
Disrupt IT
Student Dies in Bike Accident. RIP, Critical Mass.
Watching this video, I have a hard time believing there were serious bicycling advocates involved. Were the police involved?
Is this what the yuppies are all excited about - a bike revolution. Taking over the roads - riding free like birdies. They look so invincible, and young and stupid.
All serious bicycling community leaders have know people who have died riding bicycles and they take the rules of the road and bicycle safety seriously. I learned that lesson from the death of my friend Laurie Morrill... if you don't know anyone who died from not wearing a helmet and not having the rules of the road and good fortune work out one day, meet Laurie as well... and know funerals are not fun.
Laurie could have straightened out Cleveland... she looked a lot like the girl without the helmet here:
RIP, Critical Mass.
Disrupt IT
While I'm bitching about Cleveland bicyclists
While I'm bitching about Cleveland's elite bicycling bridge builders, do you know you have the same laws as cars. You don't go on the sidewalk... you stop at stopsigns and lights... you maintain your lane and signal when turning, etc...
I've noticed a prima donna cult riding in full racer garb on the Euclid Heathline bus lanes, like they are built for them (this even though there are BIKE LANES). You don't see the ghetto bicycle commuters doing that, and they'd probably get arrested for it.
So, the billion dollar Euclid boulevard bus tunnel is for yuppies to get home to Cleveland Heights on their bikes faster... now I get it.
So does everyone else.
Guess what... all the bicycle commuters in Ohio will never make up for the carbon footprint of that project.
If you want to ride a bike to commute or for fun, do it someplace clean, and do it right. The US Olympic Team trains in Colorado and Austin TX.
Disrupt IT
People having fun...
Cooled off after two long softball games at Loew Park Pool in Cleveland...for FREE.
These people are having fun. Shame on them!
More fun in the sun...
I rode my bike here (Parma)...and back without a helmet...on the empty sidewalks (because no one walks).
I am a very bad person...
Safety
Common sense is important in every thing we do. Who can predict a bicycle accident? No one. Sure, wearing a helmet is common sense. I should wear one. I am taking a risk. I ride on sidewalks, because I figure the infrastructure is there and no one else is using it. Plus, I don't have to interact with cars. I have already survived one nasty bike-car collision. I don't need another one.
I knew a very smart girl from my high school, who died suddenly and without warning. A graduate of Stanford and destined for great things. She slipped on a stairwell, lost her balance and hit her head. I am very careful going down steps.