In the middle of the journey of my life, I am--as always--a woman on a bike. Although I do not know where this road will lead, the way is not lost, for I have arrived here. And I am on my bicycle, again.
Why? According to the company, some of their aluminum frames and rear triangles have a defect that can cause them to bend or buckle.
Now, I don't want anyone to get hurt because a frame or fork buckled under him or her. And I am glad Santa Cruz bicycles is trying to make things right for their customers.
Still, I thought it was kind of funny that frames shaped like the ones in the recall are being replaced because they might bend.
I mean, someone not familiar with the bikes wouldn't know they were bent, would they?
The bikes and frames in question were sold from June 2019 to October 2020.
Yesterday’s story told the tragic end of an award-winning journalist—and cycling enthusiast—on a Florida road.
The story I’m going to relate today didn’t end as badly—the cyclist survived. But it had this in common with Tim O’Brien’s mishap: It had a cause in something neither that cyclist, O’Brien (or, for that matter anyone else) could have foreseen. That cause, however stemmed at least in part from poor planning, design or policy.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, O’Brien was struck by a car that ricocheted after it was struck by a pickup truck making a left turn on Route A1A: a two-lane road (for most of its length) where drivers drive at highway speeds and make left turns onto side streets where, as often as not, there are no signals or signs. Also, on A1A, the sidewalks serve as bike lanes and, too often, shoulders or pull-over lanes for cars.
The cyclist I’m going to mention today was swept off his bike by a tide—while pedaling along a bike lane that skirted the edge of the water.
This near-tragedy struck on the path between Lake Michigan and Chicago’s Lakeshore Drive. Although Michigan, like the other Great Lakes, is filled with fresh water, it—like Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario—is really a vast inland sea with its own tides.
Those tides are affected by the same things that whip up the oceans: the moon’s gravitational pull, geocentric forces—and the weather, the wind in particular.
I know these phenomena quite well: I often cycle along the Verrazano Narrows, Long Island Sound, Upper New York Bay (where the Hudson River ends) Jamaica Bay and the misnamed East and Harlem Rivers. All are inlets or bays of the Atlantic Ocean: something people living by them learned the hard way during Superstorm Sandy! I have been reminded of the waters’ provenance a few times when waves spilled onto the paths or streets I was riding.
Now, some might say that my and that Chicago cyclist’s experience were unfortunate accidents that were just part of life in the big city. There was, however, a flaw in the Chicago path that I’ve noticed on some waterside bike lanes I’ve ridden: It sits several feet lower than the adjacent roadway. Oh, and there’s no barrier between the lane and the water.
A bike lane sandwiched between a major roadway and a tidal waterway—built several feet lower than the roadway, with no barrier between the lane and tides? If I were just a little more paranoid, I’d think that it wasn’t just bad planning and design: I’d believe it was designed to do away with cyclists!
In earlier posts, I've mentioned that Florida, in spite of its climate and many communities with bike lanes, is terrible for bicycling in at least one way. The Sunshine State is beclouded with the distinction of being the deadliest state for cyclists. For about as long as I've been writing this blog, Florida has had the highest death rate for riders, and it's not even close.
More than a few reasons have been posited. One is the state's car-centric culture. Another is that because it's America's leading state for retirees (a.k.a. God's Waiting Room), there are lots of old drivers, some of whom shouldn't be driving anymore. I think that characterization is only somewhat fair: While riding in Florida, I've encountered any number of hot-rodding, or simply careless, young drivers. Again, to be fair, their state doesn't have very stringent requirements for a driver's license.
Whatever the causes, the dangers (and pleasures) encountered by cyclists do not discriminate: Accidents injure the young and the old, the rich and the poor.
And the famous as well as the anonymous.
The latest cycling fatality in Florida was a familiar face for many people. He covered a number of major events, including the September 11 terrorist attacks. For his contributions to CNN's coverage of that event, he won an Emmy. Another highlight of his career, "Escape from Justice," was one of the first exposes of Nazi war criminals living in the USA.
In addition to CNN, he covered the Supreme Court and other legal issues for 22 years at ABC. An attorney by training, he was able to lend depth, as well as explain proceedings, in terms comprehensible to folks like me.
Upon his retirement, he moved to northeastern Florida, near Jacksonville. Like many before him, he relished the chance to spend days following one of his passions: cycling.
My guess is that Tim O'Brien was a careful cyclist and, for a 77-year-old, his reflexes were still good. They weren't enough, however, to avoid the fate that befell him.
According to police, a pickup truck traveling northbound on Route A1A turned left to Mickler Road in Ponte Vedra Beach. The truck collided with a car traveling southbound on A1A.
The force of the crash sent the car ricocheting to the sidewalk--where O'Brien was pedaling.
Both drivers remained at the scene. Police have not said whether either would be charged.
Whatever their fate, it won't change the fact that someone they might've watched on their television screens is the latest cyclist casualty in Florida.
