Author Archives: howrad

Oct 22 2009
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Former Dentonite Hit and Badly Injured in Austin

ianhospital

From http://helpian.tumblr.com/:

On the night of Saturday October 17th, while riding his bike home, a car hit Ian Mcdougall, guitarist of our band Riverboat Gamblers.  He sustained some pretty heavy injuries including a broken hip, a broken wrist and hemmoraging under the skull along with many lacerations, torn ligaments, bruises and and scrapes.

He was rushed by ambulance to Brackenridge hospital in Austin and stayed in the ICU for 2 days before being moved into his own room where he is undergoing physical therapy while awaiting the results on X-rays and MRIs as well as a deluge of other various tests.

That being said, the prognosis is better than we had first thought.  We are happy that he is going to be ok and that he is alive and with us.  Unfortunately, not only is he in for a long recovery and is in a lot of pain, but he will be celebrating his birthday in bed with hospital food.

On another unfortunate note, there are a pile of bills currently gaining a Mt. Everest-like summit from all his hospital expenses.  We set up a PayPal account for our band mate and friend to try and help him get on top of the debt and focus on his recovery.  His PayPal account email is ian.gambler@gmail.com.  Anything you can afford to give will be greatly appreciated by Ian and his family.  Thank you all for your support and we wish Ian the speediest of recoveries.

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Oct 22 2009
3 Comments
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NCTCOG Oct 21, 2009 recap

So I made it to another NCTCOG meeting yesterday, and there were a couple interesting presentations I’d like to mention:

  • TXDOT just opened their program call for “Transportation Enhancement” project submissions.  They have about $70 million to give out, and bike/ped programs will get top priority.
    • I didn’t see any representatives from Denton present at the meeting.  Contact your council member and mayor if you want to encourage participation.
    • Caveat: TXDOT will give priority to shovel-ready projects, so if Denton’s planning department doesn’t have a proposal ready, we won’t have a good chance at getting funding.  You can call them at (940) 349-8541 and ask that they submit application to TXDOT.
    • Remember this opportunity, because next time you hear “we’re broke” as an excuse to not improve Denton’s bike/ped infrastructure, you’ll know we missed a chance at federal funding.
    • The program call closes in December.

The federally-funded program supports transportation-related activities that promote the quality of the environment through aesthetic enhancements associated with transportation.

Projects should go above and beyond standard transportation activities and be integrated into the surrounding environment in a sensitive and creative manner that contributes to the livelihood of the communities; promotes the quality of the environment; and enhances the aesthetics of our roadways.

Eligible projects must demonstrate a relationship to the surface transportation system through either function or impact. Project nominated must incorporate one of the following 12 categories:

  1. pedestrians and bicycles facilities
  2. safety and education activities for pedestrians and bicyclists
  • Don Koski, respected planner for Ft Worth and BFOC interviewee, has left to work for the Federal Transit Administration.  Could this bode well for public transit in DFW?  We’ll see.  He was the chair of the NCTCOG bike/ped committee, so we’ll see who replaces him.  He’s left an impressive standard in Ft Worth to uphold.
  • Dave Carter of Richardson gave a presentation on their Bicycle Route Masterplan.  It’s a great start, and they worked hard with the community to include all angles.  The Canyon Creek HOA, stakeholders at Richardson Bike Mart, and cyclists were all included in the planning for this since 2007.  There are only a couple dedicated bike lanes, but it’s a start.
    • I liked Dave’s candid admission that post-WWII planning has been negligent of non-car transit.
    • Dave presented pictures of the Custer Rd bike lane, and it’s pretty interesting because it allows parking in the bike lane.  Now, that lane appears to be 11′ wide, so it may turn out to work just fine.  I’m skeptical, but I could see how this might work ok.
    • If you look at this diagram, you’ll see that the City of Richardson is just fine with a 10′ car lane, an 8′ parking lane, and a 4′ bike lane.
    • Denton’s traffic engineer, Bud Vokoun, uses totally different math, as seen at the controversial Oak/Hickory bike lane proposal, which was tabled and shows no signs of reappearing.
    • I am flabbergasted that the suburb (Richardson) in which I grew up is executing more progressive transit planning than Denton.  Is that because they’ve sprawled to capacity and are now looking inward for improvements?  When will Denton catch up/wake up?
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Oct 21 2009
6 Comments
Denton

Southridge Neighborhood Requests Pennsylvania Bike Lane

At last night’s city council meeting, Southridge resident Sarah Richey addressed the council to request a bike lane for Pennsylvania Drive.  With support from others in Southridge, Sarah requested the city council to take action and respond to the request.

Pennsylvania is quite wide for a residential street, but it also lacks sidewalks.  Children attending Sam Houston Elementary off Teasley must walk or ride in the street to get there, and Sarah’s request aims to change that by having a dedicated space for cyclists and pedestrians.  She’ll be checking back with the City Manager’s office in two weeks to inquire whether any action has been taken.

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Oct 16 2009
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Cyclist Injury Trend Shows Infrastructure Need

wreckage from hit and run in Denton

From a MedIndia article, Dr. Jeffry Kashuk:

Look at all the safety factors that have been incorporated in automobiles and streets and highways. If even a percentage of that kind of investment went into safety vis-a-vis bike paths and community infrastructure, we would protect people from major injury.

Anthony Brown, MD, writes a very interesting article about a growing trend in cyclist abdominal injuries in the US.

Bicycle injuries in the US have become more severe and there has been a marked increase in chest and stomach injuries.

Moreover, despite greater public awareness, helmet use has not increased and head injury rates have not fallen.

“There is a paucity of studies looking specifically at bicycle injuries,” lead researcher Dr. Jeffry Kashuk, from the University of Colorado, Denver, told Reuters Health. In the last several years, greater environmental awareness, economic downturns, an emphasis on fitness, and other factors have fueled greater bicycle use in the US.

The study indicated that 1/3 of all bicycle injuries (at least those which make it to the ER) had a significant head injury.  While they don’t explicitly say that the other 2/3 are all abdominal injuries, it seems implied.

The severity of injuries and time spent in hospitalized for bicycle injuries tended to increase in the past decade, according to the findings he presented Tuesday at the American College of Surgeons annual meeting in Chicago. The number of chest injuries rose by 15 percent, while abdominal injuries increased threefold over the last 5 years.

Dr. Jeffry Kashuk points out that cycling injuries are trending toward older age, and he notes that injuries are affecting commuters more, as opposed to recreational riders.  On one hand, it’s great that more people of all age groups are commuting.  On the other hand, doesn’t this indicate a need for increased cycling infrastructure?

Kashuk:

“Although the public is very enthusiastic about bicycle use as a means of transportation, we think that infrastructure has lagged behind in the US,” he explained. “The government is pushing bike days, and rebates for bike use. Communities are putting in bicycle kiosks.” However, there is only limited data to show that “we have bikeways to support this increase in bike use.”

 

 

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Oct 14 2009
1 Comment
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What Do Women Want (in order to cycle more)?

BFOC just linked to a thoughtful Scientific American piece about a correlation between gender roles and cycling prevalence.

“If you want to know if an urban environment supports cycling, you can forget about all the detailed ‘bikeability indexes’—just measure the proportion of cyclists who are female,” says Jan Garrard, a senior lecturer at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, and author of several studies on biking and gender differences.

This is fascinating, and I wonder if they have the data broken down by age?  In any case, it’s a well-rounded case that supports drastic need for cycling infrastructure.  As this study says, we should have “improved mobility options for everyone”.

Denton is easy to ride because of its relatively small size, but Denton can also be difficult to ride because automotive transport is exponentially prioritized over people-first transit.  That will only change if the citizens demand that people be prioritized over cars, a concept that I think the Denton square is struggling with right now.

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Oct 13 2009
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E.C. Pendry, Fort Worth Highwheeler

Thanks to Remington for the link:

See more Texas Highwheelers here.

First ever riding of the US Capitol building stairs!

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Oct 12 2009
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Cycling Parents Killed in San Antonio

BIKE MEMORIAL 100609 001

(Photo: Tom Reel/San Antonio Express News)

Summary from Erik Ryberg of TusconBikeLawyer:

Folks, that is a photograph of seven year old Kylie Bruehler. She is at a funeral service to bury her parents, both of whom were killed last week when a driver veered onto the shoulder and drove his pickup truck into them.

They were riding together on a tandem.

The local news reports that “investigators say there are no charges on the driver. They believe this was an accident and that somehow the driver lost control of his truck.”

Texas’s governor recently vetoed a law that would mandate a safe passing distance for cyclists, saying it was unnecessary.

This is one of the saddest, most senseless cyclist killings I’ve ever heard of.  If it’s manslaughter when the driver is drunk, then isn’t it manslaughter when the driver is distracted or texting or adjusting the radio?  MYSA News has run a few followup stories, like this one and this one, detailing Texas cyclists’ outrage at the lack of state legal protections.  Remember Denton resident, Nick Magruder, who was hit and run earlier this year, narrowly escaping with his life?  It didn’t make the newspaper headlines or blotter, and it also didn’t make the Traffic Safety Commission agenda.  Like most pressure for positive change, unfortunately it often takes tragedy with fatality to bring attention to where it’s needed the most.

BikePortland just ran a story on this and readers from all over America are commenting.

Rest in peace, Gregory and Alexandra Bruehler.

Bruehlers

Photo courtesy of Michelle Mondo and Eva Ruth Moravec of MYSA News.

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Oct 09 2009
2 Comments
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Tyler St Block Party – Saturday 6-11PM – Oak Cliff

Don’t miss out on the final weekend of Cyclesomatic festivities in Dallas (Oak Cliff).  Tonight’s Bike-In film was cancelled, so starting tomorrow at noon we have the Oak Cliff Historic Home Ride, then the massive Urban Bazaar with 100+ vendors from 12-8.  Oak Cliff Bike Co will have roller races set up for Gold Sprints, as Amanda mentions in the below comment, and sign up starts at 6PM.

Earlier we made a call for ArtBikes, so don’t forget to be there by 3PM if you want to participate.  Awards are to be done around 7 or 8PM.

Photopol.us is opening up the building at 421 Tyler with the bands Happy Bullets and Boom Boom Box performing from 8pm to 11pm, Mighty Fine Arts will host an art show, T-shirt silk screening will be taking place, and Matt and Rob’s BBQ will be on hand serving some delicious smoked confections.

Sometime around 8:30 or 9PM we’ll cone off some pavement and let the Texas Toast fixie crew tear it up.  I am not kidding.  You can’t afford not to be impressed.

And FINALLY: Tallbikes, tallbikes, bring out ye tallbikes for the TallBike Freakshow.  I’m making some ridiculous trophies for the winners.  We thought about awarding gift-certificates, but what does a tallbike owner need to buy at a shop besides welding wire?  Come find me (Howard) or Jeremy of Oak Cliff Bike Co before 9PM, and park your tallbikes with all the rest. We’ll line them up and make this freakshow into a proper beauty pageant.

I can be found near the Querencia Community Bike Shop table all evening, so stop by and check out information on their fantastic community service to Denton.

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Oct 02 2009
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Cyclesomatic !!! Oct 2-11 Schedule of Events

10 days of Dallas bike love starts NOW.  Read the whole schedule and you’re bound to find something you want to participate in.  BikeDenton.org and Oak Cliff Bike Company are teaming up to put on events around 8-10PM on Oct 10.  Bands, Texas Toast fixie crew (incredible trick riding), TallBike Freakshow, etc.

A good number of us Denton folk are headed to Dallas for the Hellhound On My Trail historic-themed group ride tomorrow at 2:30PM.

Full schedule of events:

Bike Friendly Oak Cliff is proud to announce Cyclesomatic, a week long bicycle festival in North Oak Cliff from October 2nd to the 11th. Events will include a history-themed group ride, bicycle competitions, Bike to City Hall, Biketoberfest! in Bishop, an Urban Bazaar, a “Kiddical Mass” Ride, Bike to School Day, BBQ, Bands,Bicycle Films at the Texas Theatre, Art Bike Shows, and guest speaker councilwoman Angela Hunt. New Belgium brewery is sponsoring part of the week, and we’re coordinating efforts withDART, BikeDenton, the Oak Cliff Bicycle Company, the Cube Creative, Eno’s Tavern, and more.

FRIDAY, OCT 2

8:30PM 75208 Presents Dallas Group Night Ride


9:30PM “B.I.K.E.” Film at Texas Theatre

SATURDAY, OCT 3

2:30PM BFOC Historic Blues Group Ride

7PM Eno’s & New Belgium presents the film “”Beer Wars” at the Texas Theatre

SUNDAY, OCT 4

12PM 75208 & Photopol.us present Bicycle Photo Scavenger Hunt

2PM – 9PM Eno’s Presents Oktoberfest in Bishop Arts District

1PM Doom Presents Oktoberfest Alley Cat Race

MONDAY, OCT 5

8PM 75208 Presents “Bikeoke at Barbara’s Pavillion”, bicycling, beer, and karaoke.

TUESDAY, OCT 6

7PM – 9PM Tyler Street The Oak Cliff Bicycle Co. Presents Dallas Bike Polo Club Game in Bishop Arts

WEDNESDAY, OCT 7

7AM Rosemont Bike to School

7:30AM – 9AM Dallas Bikes to City Hall with Council Members

3PM Rosemont Kiddical Mass

4PM Kids’ Floats at Eno’s

THURSDAY, OCT 8

7:30PM Council-member Angela Hunt speaking @ Texas Theatre

8PM OCTA Presents “Contested Streets” @ Texas Theatre

FRIDAY, Oct 9

7:00PM (or sundown) – 11PM Belmont Hotel and SMOKE present Bike-in Movie Night by the Pool featuring the classic film “Breaking Away”. Beer and BBQ!

SATURDAY, OCT. 10

12PM Old Oak Cliff Conservation League Home Tour, Group Ride. Meet @ The Kessler Theatre.

12PM-8PM Make Presents:Urban Bazaar

7PM – 11PM OCBC & the Cube Creative Present: Tyler Street Block Party. Races, Competitions, Bands, Art Bike Competition, BBQ and more.

Tyler Street Block Party

SUNDAY, OCT 11

12PM – 4PM Make/Eno’s/OCBC/BikeDenton Present:

Urban Bazaar

6PM “Triplets of Belleville Film at the Texas Theatre

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Sep 29 2009
1 Comment
Denton

Follow Up to “Parked In the Bike Lane”

Lancine Bentley, with City of Denton/Keep Denton Beautiful, provided clarification on the earlier “Parked In the Bike Lane” post.

Just to clarify……the Code Enforcement Officer is not actually parked in the bike lane but is taking pictures of the vegetation growing into the bike lane.  He was following up on a complaint received by a citizen, more than likely a concerned cyclist.  So…we are trying to do our part to keep bike lanes accessible and safe for the cycling public.

And on that positive note, I’ll say that yesterday eve I saw five other cyclists in the Hinkle bike lanes during my daily ride home from UNT Discovery Park.  Over the last few years of riding this route daily, I think more and more folks are using it.  Last week I met a gentleman in a wheelchair who uses the bike lane to get to Northlakes Park because Hinkle lacks a sidewalk.

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