01 August 2020

Girls Rule--The World!

Half a century ago, Beryl Burton broke the 12-hour time trial record.  Not "just" the women's record, mind you:  She broke the record by a full eight kilometers (five miles), which is something like a runner shaving five minutes off a marathon record.  

Almost two years ago, Denise Mueller-Korenek rode faster on a bicycle than any woman--or man--before her.  She beat a then-23-year-old record by 27.3 kilometers, or 17 miles, per hour.  At 296 kilometers per hour (183.93 mph), she rode faster than an Airbus A340 taking off.

Now, here's another addition to the pantheon of women breaking men's records:  Cat Dixon and Raz Marsden pedaled a tandem bicycle around the world in 263 days, beating the previous record by 18 days.

Cat Dixon (l) and Raz Marsden (r)


Their 29,391 km (18,263 mile) route took them through 25 countries, where they encountered everything from a continent-wide heat wave in Europe, monsoons in Asia and brush fires in Australia.  

But perhaps their most daunting challenge was one they couldn't have anticipated.  They caught one of the last ferries back to their native England--where they began their ride--on the day, in March, when the COVID-19-induced travel ban began.

Oh, and they're only a few years younger than I am!

Their feat has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.

(Thanks to "voyage of the eye" for alerting me to Ms. Dixon's and Marsden's story.)

31 July 2020

Going For A Cyclist's Jugular--Or His Neck, Anyway

Getting knocked or pulled--or simply falling--off your bike is almost certain to cause you injury.   Trust me, I know!

So when someone sent along this news clip, I felt rage at the cops.





What isn't clear is what, exactly, the kid did to warrant that kind of treatment. The street was closed off so neither the young man, nor the friends who were riding with him, "obstructed" traffic, as one of the officers claimed.

It seems that those boys did little, if anything, more than to taunt the cops: something that kids of that age, who naturally thumb their noses at authority figures, are wont to do.  


I have to wonder, in the wake of George Floyd'ss murder, what one of those cops was thinking when he went for the kid's neck.

30 July 2020

Nobody's Flying

Here in New York, some people have returned to their normal workplaces and most stores, bars and restaurants--at least, the ones that survived the shutdown--are open, if operating at a fraction of their normal capacities.



If anything, life is more restrictive for people coming into this city--or New York State--from about 30 other states or territories.  Visitors, or people returning from, those places are required to self-quarantine for 14 days.  An airline ticket, especially if it's purchased online (as most are these days), makes it easy  for authorities to track arrivals.

As a result, yesterday morning, I took 50 kilometre ride along the north shore of Queens and Nassau County--that is to say, directly under the paths of flights that would normally take off from or land in LaGuardia International Airport--and didn't see a single aircraft in the sky.



This brand-new LaGuardia terminal disproves, at least for now, the notion that "if you build it, they will come" (or go).

Or perhaps it shows that even if something has wings, it might not fly.




If even s/he isn't flying, who else is?