Once again, a driver has used a motor vehicle as a weapon, leaving broken bodies in his wake.
This time during a bike race in Show Low, Arizona Saturday morning.
The town of just 11,100 people, 175 miles northeast of Phoenix, was the starting point for the 13th Annual Bike the Bluff Championship Arizona State Road Race.
But just minutes after the men’s 55 and older masters race began, the driver of a Ford F-150 pickup traveling in the opposite direction deliberately crossed over three lanes of traffic to slam into a group of bicyclists, critically injuring six people, with a seventh rider hospitalized in stable condition.
Two other people suffered less serious injuries.
A witness describes the horrors of the crash, which came just six minutes after the start, with bodies flying in every direction. Be forewarned before you click on the link, though, because the story features disturbing photos of the victims lying on the ground after the crash, as well as their mangled bikes and helmets.
You’ll find most of those same photos here, without the graphic photos of the victims. But even then, there’s a photo of a bike wheel and busted fork stuck in the truck’s grill that will haunt me forever.
This is how a Phoenix TV station describes the aftermath.
Helmets, shoes and crumpled and broken bicycles were strewn across the street after the crash, and a tire was wedged into the grill of the truck, which had damage to its top and sides and a bullet hole in a window.
The New York Times reports the driver crashed into a utility pole and was surrounded by angry bicyclists pounding on the windows and screaming for him to get out.
Instead, he backed out and drove down the road, before making a U-turn and heading back toward the bicyclists, who feared a second attack that thankfully never came.
Police attempted to stop the 35-year old Show Low man, who has not been publicly identified, as he fled the scene. They cornered him behind a hardware store a short time later, and shot him in a confrontation, the details of which have not been released.
He remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition.
There’s no word yet on why he did it. Or what charges he’ll face, assuming he survives his wounds.
It should be at least six counts of attempted murder. And hopefully, with a sentence to be served consecutively so he’ll be locked up for a very long time.
Thanks to everyone who sent this one to me.
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This is who we share the road with.
Homophobe in Florida with a Trump flag defaces a Pride crosswalk pic.twitter.com/cOwHLS6QtW
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) June 19, 2021
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The team competition in the Race Across America, aka RAAM, kicked off in Oceanside, California yesterday, as teams of 2, 4, and 8 people set on on a race across the continent to the Empire State Building in New York.
Solo riders are seven days in on the race after starting on Tuesday, and allowed just another five days to complete the course.
An Oklahoma team is riding to promote mental health and suicide prevention, something that’s especially important after a year of Covid losses and lockdowns.
Endurance cyclist and semi-retired star San Diego bike lawyer Richard Duquette forwards a photo of himself sandwiched between three-time Olympian, four-time US road cycling champ and Ironman World Champ John Howard and former national crit champ Rahsaan Bahati, who’s competing in this year’s RAAM for Team Thin Energy.
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The Eastside Riders want your support to win an LA 2050 grant.
Save the date 6.21.21 we need all of your votes, shares and telling a friend to help us win 1k. We’re in the @LA2050 grant finals and we need you to help us #win!! We’re a finalist in the play category hope to get your vote starting on Monday 9:00 am pst.https://t.co/XP2U50Rb7g pic.twitter.com/FyWceSBJGM
— eastsideriders™️ (@EASTSIDERIDERS) June 18, 2021
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A Kenyon rider offers a fascinating view of bicycling conditions in east central Africa, with a challenging soda-fueled, 102-mile ride to the Tanzanian border and back on torturous tuk tuk filled roads.
Thanks to Stormin’ Norman for the link.
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Pro cyclists have to move obstacles out of the way, too. Even Liège–Bastogne–Liège women’s champ Demi Vollering.
But damn, check out that scenery.
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Are two riders faster than one?
Probably not.
Thanks to Tandem Mike Wilkinson for the heads-up.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. Opponents of a bike path through a Florida seniors community insist that “bicycles and people do not mix.” Apparently forgetting that people ride bicycles, including many older people. And those who do are usually healthier and happier than those who don’t, regardless of age.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Now that’s more like it. Responding to complaints of anti-social behavior from groups of bike riders and skateboarders, London police welcome them to ride in the city center, where its relatively safe compared to other areas.
A 28-year old Welsh man could face charges of manslaughter and causing bodily harm by wanton/furious driving after killing a 79-year old woman while allegedly riding his bicycle recklessly.
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Local
Metro will vote this Thursday on whether to modernize their Highway Program to open up spending for bus lanes, bike lanes, pedestrian infrastructure and other projects that work to reduce Vehicle Mile Traveled, instead of adding lanes to already overcrowded freeway.
Unincorporated Los Angeles County has a short new protected bike lane on Workman Mill Road in Avocado Heights.
State
Work is set to begin this week on installing spacious seven-foot parking- and post-protected bike lanes on 30th Street in San Diego. Meanwhile, local residents and business people decry the loss of 450 parking spaces for the project.
Ride with the American Institute of Graphic Arts next Saturday, and take in the murals of La Jolla.
San Francisco police have arrested a 40-year old man on suspicion of a “prolific” string of pharmacy thefts, including the recent theft where a man on a bicycle was seen clearing pharmacy shelves into a bag before riding out of the store.
Santa Rosa police are looking for a heartless hit-and-run driver who left a bike rider lying in the roadway with severe injuries.
National
CNN confirms that it’s not your imagination. Drivers really have gotten worse during the pandemic.
A design site recommends bicycle accessories that run the gamut from smart to cool to…strange.
A writer for c|net recommends a pair of bone conduction headphones from Aftershokz, crediting them with saving his life by allowing him to hear a truck bearing down on him from behind as he rode his bike; they’re on sale now for Prime Day.
Keith Johnson forwards information on a one-year bicycle technician program at the Northwest Arkansas Community College.
Minneapolis bike riders vote with their feet — or their pedals — riding on bike trails more and bike lanes a lot less.
Take a 33-day ride along the entire length of the Mississippi River.
On one of the area’s first post-pandemic group rides, around 50 Michigan bike riders remember the victims of the Kalamazoo massacre, five years after a drunk and stoned driver killed five people and injured four others when he slammed into their group ride.
In yet another example of keeping dangerous drivers on the road until it’s too late, a Massachusetts man was arrested for his fifth DUI after hitting a bike rider (scroll down), following four previous convictions; he was also arrested for possession of a powdery substance believe to be coke. Let’s hope they finally take it seriously this time, and he never drives again.
An op-ed writer in the New York Post insists that the city has to reign in ebikes after the death of Gone Girl actress Lisa Banes, and the ebike hit-and-run that left her seriously injured. Except Banes was struck by a rider on an e-scooter, not an ebike. And in her case, the problem wasn’t the ebike, it was a salmon delivery bicyclist going the wrong way in a bike lane on the wrong side of the street.
Once again, a bike rider is a hero, after a passing bicyclist teamed with a New Jersey state trooper to rescue two women who fell from their overturned kayak.
International
Bike Radar offers a 12-week plan to get fit this summer.
Cuban bike riders turned out to protest the ongoing US blockade of their country, which hasn’t accomplished anything 50 years.
A British Columbia man thought he was in good shape thanks to mountain biking, but his first visit to a doctor in years uncovered stage 4 thyroid cancer than had spread to his spine; he’s now planning a solo 465-mile bike ride across Minnesota in September to benefit the Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association.
It takes a major schmuck to knock an 11-year old Toronto boy off his bike after speeding through a stop sign, then flee as the kid stumbles to the curb. And schmuck is putting it mildly.
Big news from London, where Oxford Circus, one of the city’s busiest intersections, will be transformed into a pair of pedestrian plazas separated by a significantly smaller street, with traffic further reduced by closing nearby feeder streets. Seriously, if they can do it there — and in Paris and New York — there’s no reason we can’t do it here. Or wherever you live and ride.
An Indian immigrant learns to ride a bike again at 70 years old, nearly 50 years after giving up riding when she moved to Great Britain.
A writer for Cycling Weekly takes a ride through the UK’s equivalent of Top Gun on Northern Wales’ Mach Loop, one of just two places on earth where you can look down and see ground-hugging fighter pilots roaring beneath you.
British lawyer “Mr. Loophole,” whose job is to get celebrity drivers off the hook for traffic crimes, wants to make bicycle and e-scooter riders wear a license plate. Seriously.
Evidently, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will keep the bespoke Bilenk bicycle given him by Joe Biden, after commissioning a matching tricycle for his one-year old son.
Several Philippine bicyclists were injured, including a 14-year old girl, when they collided with each other while passing a truck during an illegal bike.
Competitive Cycling
Congratulations to Lauren Stephens and Joey Rosskopf for winning the US national road cycling titles; SoCal’s Coryn Rivera finished second to capture her third silver of the nats, while retiring cyclist Brent Bookwalter finished second for the men in his final race as a pro.
LA’s vaunted L39ION of Los Angeles cycling team came up short in the men’s crit, when pre-race favorites Cory Williams and Travis McCabe of Best Buddies Racing hit the pavement on the final turn; 18-year old U-23 team member Luke Lamperti won a surprise victory, while Kendal Ryan won the women’s crit.
In a major surprise, L39ION of Los Angeles founder Justin Williams won his 12th national title — but his first representing Belize, switching his national affiliation to his father’s homeland after winning eleven US national titles.
Reuters previews the road cycling competitions at next month’s Tokyo Olympics.
Team USA introduces the 14 paracyclists who will represent the US in Tokyo.
Twenty-five-year old South Africa native Nicholas Dlamini was named to the Tour de France roster for the Qhubeka Assos team, becoming the first Black African cyclist to ride in the race.
Finally…
Your next ebike could have some good bones. Don’t use a riding crop on your fellow naked bike riders, even if you are a dominatrix.
And that feeling when a bicyclist and TV news host turns out to have pretty good taste in music, too.
Join me and the @foofighters @beck @johnmellencamp @eltonofficial @springsteen @bandofhorses @timmyers_music @aloeblacc @MissMargoPrice @USAquarium @TheRyanAdams @RyanBingham @tearsforfears @OfficialSting tonight at 6 on @885fmsocal https://t.co/gjVHEuUkAB
— Jeff Vaughn (@JeffVaughn) June 19, 2021
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
