Yes, I know. We just got back.
The good news is, the bandages from my surgery were cut off yesterday, and the stitches removed.
And yes, it’s every bit as tender and sore as that picture over there suggests.
And that’s the bad news. Because as much as I tried, I couldn’t find a keyboard position comfortable enough to write for more than just a few minutes.
So I’m throwing in the towel tonight, taking my pain meds and hoping things thing work better in the morning.
No, we’re not back yet, unfortunately.
I’m still typing with one hand after last week’s surgery. My right hand is still heavily bandaged, mostly immobile and relatively useless.
Which is a big improvement over last week, when it was totally useless.
The good news is the doctor says the surgery went well, and I should regain full use of my hand. Just not as fast as I had hoped.
So check back later in the week. Hopefully I can be back to two-handed typing, and back to work.
We’ll have a lot to catch up on.
When it comes to my health, some nights are better than others.
And this is definitely one of the others.
My neuropathy has me writhing from the knees down, while my thighs are spasming like I just finished a century ride without training.
Or water.
Meanwhile, bilateral carpal tunnel has me in pain from my finger tips up.
Normally, I’d just try to work through it. But the meds I have to take for both have turned my brain to mush tonight. And the ones I took because the others aren’t working will knock me out any minute now.
So I’m throwing in the towel, making my way to bed while I still can, and hoping that, as usual, it goes away by morning.
Please accept my apologies, and come back tomorrow to catch up on anything we may have missed today.
My apologies once again.
I’ve been struggling with my diabetes since the holidays, but managed to work through it most nights.
Not this time.
Tonight my blood sugar levels are kicking my ass, and making it impossible to get any work done.
I’m throwing in the towel and putting myself to bed in hopes it will come back down by morning.
So get out on your bike and enjoy this beautiful sunny SoCal weather. Or try a little Viking biking if you find yourself somewhere else.
And I’ll see you bright and early Friday morning to catch up on whatever we missed today.
Roy Wallack wrote that bicycling would help you live to be 100.
Sadly, he didn’t make it.
The Irvine resident, author of Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100, was just 64 year old when he died following a crash on the Guadalasca Trail in Pt. Magu State Park Saturday morning.
According to the Ventura County Star, Wallack was riding with friends on the difficult trail when he fell around 9:20 am, although he had not been publicly identified yet in the original story.
The crash took place on the Guadalasca Trail, he said, which cuts through steep, technical terrain near the Backbone Trail. The cyclist, a man in his 60s, had reportedly been riding with friends when he crashed his bike and lost consciousness, Worthy said. The cyclist’s city of residence was not immediately known Saturday.
The man’s friends called for emergency medical assistance and performed CPR until the sheriff’s helicopter arrived with paramedics and a flight nurse. The crew continued life-saving measures but the cyclist did not survive and was pronounced dead at the scene, Worthy said.
And yes, he was wearing a helmet.
A former columnist for the LA Times, Wallack was a prolific writer, according to the Star.
Wallack was a health and fitness journalist who had penned stories and columns for publications including The Los Angeles Times, magazines including Outside, Bicycling and Men’s Journal, and had authored a book, “Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100…and Beyond,” according to his online profile on Twitter and on his Muck Rack page. His most recent tweet from Nov. 17 links to an LA Times story offering tips on buying and selling fitness gear during the coronavirus pandemic.
A Google search shows he’s the author of at least eight other fitness books.
The Times describes Wallack as a avid hiker, runner and bicyclist who took part in the Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley, as well as the 750-mile Paris-Brest-Paris bike tour.
Wallack’s work for The Times spanned barre classes, triathlons, kayaking, the L.A. Marathon and more. He penned a gear column for many years, keeping fitness fans in the loop about the hottest must-haves.
He began a 2016 piece: “Hiking the Grand Canyon was not on my bucket list. A marathon, yes. Bike 200 miles in a day, yes. Ironman triathlon, absolutely. But for some reason, a mere day hike, even in one of the world’s most spectacular natural wonders, was never on my radar.”
Wallack ended up being won over by the 15-mile trek, describing it as “an otherworldly journey into a land before time” and “a true bucket-list adventure.”
The paper also describes his efforts to keep his 84-year old father active, despite being housebound by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The paper reports that he recently finished one last book, about Richard Long, the founder of GT Bicycles, who was killed in a collision with a truck while riding his motorcycle to a bike race in Big Bear in 1994.
Tributes were beginning to pour in as word of his death began to spread Sunday evening.
RIP Roy Wallack. You were always so fun to work with, your copy a joy to read, your passion for all things endurance and outdoor adventure inspiring. https://t.co/JsUrGnuTW0
— Erin Beresini (@eberesini) December 21, 2020
RIP journo Roy Wallack who died earlier today after crashing his MTB in the Santa Monica mountains. We rode together each year at Press Camp in Utah. One year he gave me his book, “Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100 and Beyond.” He was 64. pic.twitter.com/5zkqM8nZhf
— Carlton Reid (@carltonreid) December 20, 2020
This is at least the 66th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fifth that I’m aware of in Ventura County.
My deepest condolences and prayers for Roy Wallack and all his loved ones.
Thanks to Zachary Rynew and Mike Burk for the heads-up.
It’s Day 20 of the 6th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
Thanks to Jamie S for a generous donation to help bring all the best bike news and advocacy to your favorite screen every morning — and especially for the kind words.
Don’t wait. Give to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive today!
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Today’s common theme is the nomination of former South Bend IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg to take the helm of the US Department of Transportation in the new Biden administration.
Curbed’s Alissa Walker says Buttigieg isn’t a transportation visionary, but he may not need to be because his new boss is.
Streetsblog considers what Mayor Pete would mean for the Transportation Department, noting some of his progressive campaign promises, as well as a few problems.
And The Points Guy considers what hims nomination means for transportation.
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Here’s your chance to add another bike-friendly voice to your neighborhood council, if you live or work in Hollywood.
— Hollywood Hills West (@HLWD_HILLS_WEST) December 16, 2020
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Aussie authorities are looking for the man responsible for the bizarre crime of using the throttle on his ebike to draw phallic symbols on a bike path with the bike’s tire.
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Metro Bike offers tips on how to stay safe riding a bike during the holidays. No, from Covid-19.
Pasadena police wrote 155 tickets during their latest bike and pedestrian safety crackdown, writing up 108 drivers, 25 bike riders and 22 pedestrians. Even though the biggest danger the last two posed was to themselves, which isn’t the case for the people in the big, dangerous machines.
Santa Monica is establishing a one-square mile, first-in-the-nation zero-emissions delivery zone in the downtown area, which should lead to an abundance of e-cargo bikes and delivery vans.
Bicyclists in Encinitas called for safety improvements in the coastal San Diego County city as a ghost bike was installed for Dr. Dr. Jennings Worley, a noted authority in the battle against cystic fibrosis, who was killed in a collision while riding his bike last month.
Sad news from the Bay Area, where word broke that the chief financial officer of the Sports Basement was one of the five victims who were killed last week when a trucker smashed into a group ride outside of Las Vegas.
Streetsblog says 2021 could be the tipping point when driverless cars become inevitable.
Cycling USA is raffling off a pair of Cannondale/Rapha/Palace bikes used in the 2020 Giro d’Italia, with funds going to support co-ed teams at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Tribal Colleges and Universities for the next three years
Popular Science tries out the new Harley Davidson ebikes.
‘Tis the season. A Tulsa OK organization donates over 200 bikes for local family in need.
Police in Ohio are looking for the red light-running hit-and-run driver who killed a 60-year old man out for a bike ride on his birthday.
Boston police recovered dozens of hot bikes after a large-scale investigation.
New York will finally begin work on finishing the long-delayed Queens Boulevard protected bike lane next year, even after the mayor attempted to pull the plug at the behest of a car-centric community council member.
Snopes confirms that a Florida manatee really did free itself from a bike tire that was stuck around its body for up to a year.
An 89-year old resident of a massive Florida retirement community pled not guilty in the hit-and-run that injured two bike riders, one seriously. Yet another example of keeping dangerous drivers on the road until it’s too late.
Cycling Weekly considers what the bike industry can learn from the bizarre Tesla ebike prototype.
Portugal is mourning legendary, record-setting cyclist and firefighter Carlos Vieira, who died of Covid-19 at 68.
Bike riders in Calcutta, aka Kolkota, asked the police commissioner to allow bicycles on all of the city’s streets, as a growing number of people, many of them poor, are riding to work to avoid crowded public transport during the pandemic; bikes are currently banned from major arterials.
Two Chinese college students filed suit against former dockless bikeshare giant Ofo in hopes of getting their deposits back. Meanwhile, Ofo competitor Mobike is shutting down after being purchased by another company.
Good news for diversity-based cycling team L39ion of Los Angeles, which just announced a sponsorship agreement with deep-pocketed Zwift. You can join a virtual Zwift ride with the team next Tuesday.
A new documentary recounts the long road to recovery for Belgian cyclist Stig Broeckx, who was nearly killed in a horrific collision with a race moto in the 2016 Tour of Belgium, after almost miraculously awakening after six months in a coma.
Just sprinkle a few kids bikes around the neighborhood in hopes that someone who needs one finds it. When traffic backs up at a drive-through holiday event, always blame the people on bikes.
And that feeling when your only motorcade is a bicycle.
@bikinginla Here's something every leader of every nation should aspire to. https://t.co/VUG1nqGvoy
— W Corylus (@CorylusW) December 16, 2020
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already.
Welcome to the 6th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive.
Think of it as sort of like a pledge drive for your favorite public radio station. Except we don’t take away the reason you came here while we ask for your money.
Or maybe plead is a better word this year.
Like a lot of people, we’re hurting this year, emotionally and financially, after my wife’s job disappeared along with the company she worked for during the first Covid-19 lockdown. And we’re facing an even bigger cliff when her health insurance disappears along with her job at the end of the year.
Good times.
But those are my problems. You’ve undoubtedly got your own right now.
Which is why I’m not asking for your help if you’re struggling, too. If you can’t afford it, don’t sweat it. Just coming here to read this site means more than I can ever begin to tell you.
But if you’ve to a few extra bucks lying around, keep reading.
Because running this site is a more than full-time job, for a lot less than minimum wage. And while I truly appreciate each of our sponsors, their support, as valuable as it is, doesn’t begin to cover what’s needed to keep this site going.
I count on whatever comes in during the annual fund drive to tide me over until those sponsors renew in the spring.
If they do in the middle of this pandemic, which could be in doubt, just like everything else right now.
But that’s where you come in.
Your support helps fill in that gaping gap, and allows me to devote my working hours to bringing you all the latest bike news, from around the corner and around the world.
And devote whatever time I have left in this world to helping make it a safer place for people on bicycles, and a more livable world for all of us.
Because we can’t fix the problems we all face if we don’t know what they are. And our elected leaders can’t hide the truths we shine a light on.
So please, give what you can, or what you want.
But give something if you can.
You can contribute with just a few clicks by using PayPal. Or by using the using the Zelle feature that came with the banking app already on your phone; just send your contribution to ted @ bikinginla.com (after removing the spaces, of course).
As always, any donation, in any amount, is truly and deeply appreciated. And will help keep all the best bike news coming your way every day.
Thanks to Arthur B and Eric L for their generous contributions before this fund drive even began.
And a special thanks to Todd Rowell, who came up with the idea for this fund drive in the first place.
Finally, say hi to the new corgi puppy, as she takes a break from training to be a diabetic service dog to make her debut as official spokesdog for the Holiday Fund Drive!
It’s two in the morning as I write this, after writing about the 82-year old man killed riding his bike in Temecula over the weekend.
And to be honest, I’m emotionally exhausted after writing about someone killed on SoCal roads every day this month.
So I’m going to throw in the towel and take myself to bed. And hopefully find a better frame of mind in the morning.
As usual, we’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on anything we missed today.
And ride safe. I don’t want to have to write about you, or anyone else.
Looks like I’ll be out of business for awhile.
I spent all day yesterday begging Spectrum cable to come fix the internet modem their massive outage broke on Sunday. The earliest appointment I could get was Sept. 18th, until they finally agreed to squeeze us in tomorrow.
Which was good news, until it wasn’t.
Because the corgi puppy did something really cute tonight, squeezing herself into a pillow case she’d previously chewed a hole in.
Only problem is, in trying to extricate her, I knocked over a glass of water, which landed on the laptop I thought was safely out of reach.
And even though it was closed, it’s now dead as hell.
Which is why I’m pecking this out on my phone.
So unless there’s some sort of MacBook Air miracle in the morning, it looks like we’ll be offline for the foreseeable future until I can get another one.
Which could be a long damn time since both my wife and I are out of work. Me because of the diabetes and neuropathy keeps me from holding a job, and Sandy because the company she worked for closed down permanently during the coronavirus shutdown.
Hopefully, Congress will get its collective head out of its collective ass and do something, because we’re hurting like everyone else out there.
Until then, I’ll try to figure something out.
But it may take awhile.
