I Hope 5 Hermanos Will Band Together And Recover

 Sometimes I and other longtime cyclists blame e-bikes, motorized bikes and scooters for "ruining" or "wrecking" cycling.  They have all but taken over some bike lanes in my city, New York, where some of those lanes are just barely wide enough to accomodate two cyclists approaching each other from opposite directions.  And the majority of those e-bikes and motorized bikes are ridden by delivery workers racing to meet ten- or fifteen-minute delivery windows guaranteed by restaurant delivery apps.

Now, an e-bike is to blame for destroying actual bicycles. Well, sort of.  On Monday afternoon, an employee at 5 Hermanos bike shop--less than a mile from my apartment--plugged an e-bike's lithium-ion battery for charging.  That employee and others, as shop owner Jorge Molina Carranza explained, understand how dangerous those batteries can be and therefore don't leave them to charge overnight.  

His and employees' precautions, however, weren't enough to prevent what happened next.  "It was very sudden, like firecrackers," Molina Carranza explained.  "When that battery exploded, all the other batteries started to explode as well."

The result was a two-alarm fireball that destroyed his and his employees' work.  All of the inventory--which included regular pedal bikes, mainly used, as well as parts and accessories (The shop seemed to make much, if not most, of its money from repairs.) burned.  "I lost everything," Molina Carranza said. 

5 Hermanos, after the fire.  Photo by Kerry Burke. (Somehow I didn't feel right about photographing it myelf. )

 Although it wasn't my regular shop, I would sometimes stop at 5 Hermanos for a tube, cable or some other small item, or simply to say, "Hola, como estas?"  The folks in the shop, including Jorge, were friendly and seemed not to mind my gringo accent.

Anyway, I hope he and his employees recover and prosper.  If they re-open the shop, I wonder how they'll deal with e-bikes.  Their mishap is not the first I've heard about batteries catching fire or exploding even as people take proper precautions while charging them.

Sometimes It Takes A Ukrainian To Do What An American Won't

Not many people have to look for reasons to support Ukraine in their battle against Puto's, I mean Putin's, invasion.  Even so, I will offer one more.  

A Ukranian prosecutor has done something law enforcement officials and the justice system in the US rarely, if ever, do.  Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has filed to indict someone for killing a cyclist.

Of course, the circumstances are a bit different from the all-too-typical DUI hit-and-run or the MAGAt in a pickup truck who plows into an organized bike ride. So far, the victim in this case has been identified only as a 62-year-old Ukranian civilian who was riding his bike home in the Sumy region of the country when Russian militants shot him in February, shortly after Putain's, I mean Putin's, invasion begin.

Veneditkova announced her action Wednesday on social media websites.  Her indictment of one of those soldiers--identified as Vadim Shishimarin--is the first of a soldier for killing a civilian during the conflict.  If convicted, he could face 10 to 15 years or life, depending on the charge. 

A cyclist in Debaltseve, Ukraine, 20 February 2015. Photo by Vadim Ghirda for AP.

It's terrible that someone riding his bike didn't make it home because soldiers shot him.  I feel bad for his loved ones, whoever they are.  But it's good to know that a prosecutor is actually trying to bring his killers to account--even if she's charging one of them for a war crime (at least, as I understand the definition of that term) rather than a crime against a cyclist.  

A Spring Afternoon Reverie

Yesterday marked the last time until mid-August that the sun set before 20h ( 8pm).  Still, I had plenty of time to get in a Point Lookout ride--120 kilometers (75 miles):  I took a couple of detours in Long Beach and near Forest Park-- and get home before dark. even though I didn't start until about 14h (2 pm). During my last mile, along 31st Avenue in Astoria, I was literally pedaling into the sunset. Oh, an I had the wind at my back, as I did on my way back.  That, and the colorful sky, felt like a reward for pedaling into a brisk wind all the way out.  

In short, it was a perfect Spring afternoon ride.  Also, an interesting one, even though I've taken it many times before.  You see, when I started, hardly a cloud veiled the bright blue sky.  The temperature, around 20C (68F) seemed to be on the rise, though the wind, of course, made it feel cooler.  I rode through this seeming diorama of an idyllic spring afternoon until I crossed the Addobo Bridge from Howard Beach to Beach Channel.

Beach Channel, or BC, as its residents and fans like to call it, includes part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. It occupies an isthmus washed by Jamaica Bay.  And I mean washed--Superstorm Sandy really dumped its fury there.  Most of the damaged areas have been repaired or rebuilt, and the residential parts look something like a cross between Sea Bright, a Jersey shore locale where I did a lot of riding during my high school years, and a New England fishing village.  In other words, it's easy to forget you're still in New York City--and many residents rarely seem to, rarely, if ever, going to Manhattan or even Brooklyn or other parts of Queens. 

And the weather, along with that in the Rockaways, often differs dramatically from that on the other side of the Addobo Bridge.  At this time of year, you can feel the temperature drop a few degrees as you cross the bridge, and even further when you cross the Veterans' Memorial Bridge into the Rockaways.  Now, the water temperature is about 10C (50F) in both the bay and Atlantic Ocean.  The wind blowing off those bodies of water--which I rode into on my way out and blew me back home--can also change the skies:

As much as I love a sunny day, I also love the light that seemed to fill with the sea.  As thick as those clouds are, they posed absolutely no threat of rain.  If you've spent a lot of time in a coastal area, you've probably a similar veil of clouds rippling across the face of the sun and sky, especially early and in the middle of Spring.

All of it, while riding, opens my senses.  That alone makes such a ride a treat, almost a guilty pleasure!