Jason Lohr R.I.P.

 When a crash results in the death of a cyclist, the tragedy doesn’t end there. 

Such is the case of Jason Lohr. The 49-year-old bartender was riding northbound on Frankford Avenue, one of Philadelphia’s major thoroughfares, around 11:30 pm on 20 November. A driver traveling southbound made a left turn on East Hagert Street and collided with Jason, who died from his injuries last weekend.

The driver remained at the scene and is cooperating with the investigation

Jason was, apparently, extremely popular not only with patrons where he worked, but also in the local music and arts scenes.  Certainly, many people will miss him, but perhaps none more than his brother Dan. He is pleading with the city for more bike lanes—there is none on Frankford—and for cyclists to be “proactive.”

The Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia is urging anyone who knows, or has lost, someone who was involved in a crash to reach out to Families For Safe Streets Greater Philadelphia by emailing nicole@bicyclecoalition.org.

And Standard Tap has a GoFundMe page for Jason Lohr and his family.

Learning Their ABCDEs

 Those of us who attended school in countries that use the Roman alphabet (or variations of it) began our education by “learning our ABC’s.”

Well, some young people in central Kansas are continuing their education by learning the ABCDE’s.

Oh, and their lessons will come on Sunday. But they won’t be part of “Sunday School” because, for one thing, they have nothing to do with religion and, for another, they’re being conducted at the Barton County Fairgrounds.

The bike repair workshops will run from 1 to 3 pm and are open to anyone in grades 4 to 12.

Hosting this event are the Golden Belt Badgers. If that sounds like a really cool name for a school mountain bike team, well, that’s exactly what it is.  The Badgers are sanctioned by the National Interscholastic Cycling Association.

Even if none of the kids go on to become professional mechanics or racers—or employed in any way by the cycling industry—I can’t help but to think that learning the ABCDEs will make them more confident riders. I know it had that effect on me.

By the way, the ABCDEs are:

Air (tires & pressure)

Brakes

Chain

Derailleur 

Everything else.

Tell Us More

 When I wrote for a newspaper, I occasionally covered what my editor called “cops and robbers” stories.

One such tale involved someone who thought he could avail himself to some, shall we say, after-hours discounts.  As in “take one, get one free.”

Absent a store security video (not so unusual in those days), the investigating officers had to rely on eyewitnesses accounts—which, as any criminologist will tell you today, aren’t very reliable.  One such account described the suspect as a “White, possibly light-skinned Black or Hispanic” of “about average” height and build, wearing “jeans, a T-shirt and sneakers.

I looked at one of the officers. He started to laugh. So did I. “How many dudes fit that description?” I wondered.

“Exactly!” he replied.

I though about that when I saw this announcement in the Skagit Valley (WA) Herald:

A Schwinn bicycle with a rear rack? I’ve had a couple of those. But other than bearing the same brand and a rear rack, they had almost nothing else in common. 

Bicycles have been made and sold with the Schwinn name for 130 years, and have included everything from Krates to Heavi Dutis and Phantoms to Paramounts. Oh, and they’ve been made in a vast range of sizes and a wide spectrum of colors.

So, tell us more about that bike you found!