Bike Thieves Prey On Crash Victim

The late, great Tom Cuthbertson--author of "Anybody's Bike Book" and "Bike Tripping"--wrote that stealing a bike from someone who loves and depends on it is one of the lowest things one human being can do to another.

As someone who loves and depends on my bikes, I agree.  But I also believe that some forms of bike theft are lower than others.  

On 23 February, some time between 5:30 and 6:30 pm local time, a young cyclist fell off his Carerra Vengeance mountain bike and suffered serious injuries.

Two men in their 20s stopped by on the premise of helping him.  They did indeed help him to his feet and waited with him until medical help arrived.  They were not, however, the Good Samaritans they pretended to be.  The victim's vulnerability became an opportunity for them to get a free bike--which they took with them as they fled into the York (UK) city centre.

A police spokesperson is urging anyone who might have information to contact Constable Eleanor Stevens.  

Why Do I Have A Cat?

This is why I have a cat:

What Do A Bike Race And An ‘80’s East Village Club Have In Common?

During my youth, there was a joke:  If you want to clear out an East Village club, all you had to do was walk in and yell, “DEA”—meaning “Drug Enforcement Agency.”

The East Village has gentrified enough that I doubt any of those clubs still exist.  About fifteen years ago, Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood was more or less like the EV of my memory.  I guess it’s a sign that I really am well into midlife that I don’t know where the current epicenter of the club scene is—or whether they can be cleared out by yelling “DEA!”

I was reminded of that old joke when I read about an eight-day stage race in Spain. One week ago, on Day/Stage 6, 130 of the 182 riders bailed out because of “flat tires” and other maladies that coincided with the arrival of Spanish anti-doping authorities the way plane crashes, defenestrations and “accidental” poisonings follow expressions of dissent from, and other opposition to, authoritarian regimes.

Alvaro Marza, a former time trial champion who finished eighth in the race, noted that relationship between flat tires and the arrival of the anti-drug officers. “It is not a complicated mathematical formula, but it is the harsh reality,” he wrote in an Instagram post.