Shocking—But It Didn’t Have To Be

 When we hear about a cyclist killed or injured, it seems that the most common cause is an unfortunate encounter with a motorist.

Well, today I read a “first”:  a rider who was electrocuted.

No, he wasn’t riding an eBike.  And his electronic shifting system wasn’t to blame because, well, he didn’t have one.

Rather, the cyclist in question was pedaling along a suburban bike path when he hit a downed power line.

First responders got the call just before 8:30 pm yesterday. So, it probably wasn’t dark, but I would suspect that in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania—just slightly south of my hometown New York—the light conditions were less than optimal.

Also, from all accounts, Robert Anderson was not only an experienced cyclist, he was also a physical education teacher who practiced what he taught.  So, he was in better condition than most people his age (63) and therefore cruising at a pretty good clip. 

That meant, as one of his friends explained, he most likely didn’t see that power line until he was, or almost was, on it and thus had no time to react.

Given other things that friend—and others—have said, it’s fair to wonder how long before Anderson’s fateful encounter the Duquesne Light Company knew about the problem, and whether they could have cordoned off the area before Anderson unwittingly took his last ride into it.

How The News Could Have Arrived Faster

Happy Juneteenth!

As you may know, on this date in 1865, a Union officer in Galveston, Texas read the order stating that, under Federal law, all slaves in the US were free.  

Texas was the westernmost Confederate state and news traveled slowly in those days. (Remember, they didn't have telephones, let alone the Internet.)  So slaves in the Lone Star State wouldn't learn of their freedom until two months after the end of the Civil War.

The news might've traveled faster if it had been delivered by this man:

He is, of course, "Major" Taylor:  the first African American champion in any sport and one of the greatest athletes who ever lived. 

Ride Here. Just Don’t Go Bare

 I have cycled many times in Palm Coast, Florida. It never occurred to me, however, to ride in the nude.

That’s probably a good thing. According to a survey from Lawnstarter.com, Palm Coast ranked fourth-worst among 500 US cities surveyed for naked bike riding. Each city was ranked in five categories:  Naked Biking Popularity, Cyclist-Friendliness, Nudist-Friendliness, Climate and Safety.

Although I could ride on lanes that paralleled some of the main roads, they sometimes began seemingly out of nowhere and ended abruptly. (It’s been nearly two years since I’ve been to PC; perhaps things have improved.) Also, for all of its bike lanes, the city and state are auto-centric. So while there is some semblance of a cycling infrastructure, and I wasn’t the only cyclist using it, I wouldn’t say Palm Coast is particularly cyclist-friendly.

I would love to know how the surveyors gauged the nudist-friendliness of Palm Coast (or any place else). Jacksonville, about 100 miles to the north, is often seen as the port of entry, if you will, to the Bible Belt. I don’t know whether PC qualifies as BB territory, but it’s definitely conservative in a Southern way. So someone who decides to unbuckle might suffer the fate of two Dutch racers who changed from their cycling kit between two car doors in a Kansas parking lot.