Something that would have been easy for the former motorcycle racer better known as Pinkyracer, but nearly impossible under the circumstances on her bicycle — especially since her bike computer showed a more modest 18 mph.
We got to know each other as she underwent a painful rehab program to rebuild her shattered body, and resumed her fierce advocacy for safer streets for everyone on two wheels.
She fought for the environment and social welfare, working with homeless children, people suffering from addiction, and the down and out on Skid Row.
She had recently moved to Barcelona with her boyfriend, reveling in the city’s newfound bikeability. Yet even from that distance, continued to argue online for street safety in the City of Angels.
According to her obituary, Susanna “Pinkyracer” Schick died of heart failure in Barcelona less than two weeks ago, on October 30th.
A motorcycle racing magazine adds a little more detail, explaining that she was hospitalized with a bacterial infection, then contracted pneumonia. She was finally released after several weeks in the hospital, but collapsed and stopped breathing just a day later.
She was just 50 years old.
To say I’m stunned and heartbroken is putting it mildly. And judging from the reaction I’ve seen online, I’m not alone.
Schick was one of those rare people who lived life to the fullest, and made this world a little better and brighter for everyone around her.
Photo from the obituary for Susanna “Pinkyracer” Schick.
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Los Angeles unveiled a cute little electric street sweeper for protected bike lanes.
Dutch cyclist Dylan Groenewegen got a nine month ban for forcing Fabio Jakobsen into a horrific crash with a roadside barrier in the final sprint on the first stage of the Tour of Poland, resulting in a medically induced coma and reconstructive surgery on Jakobsen’s face and jaw. But at least Jakobsen was given the stage win.
Take a few minutes to read this great thread from a man who worked his way back on his bike after nearly dying from a heart attack; just click on the date to load the full thread.
About 10-15 minutes after I was waking up I coded as my heart sac had filled to capacity due to the leaky artery and it had no room to beat. This necessitated that a long needle be put into that heart sac in order to drain the blood.
A British bike rider blames an overly close pass on the perceived protective powers of a thin strip of magic white paint.
Perfectly OK to overtake a cyclist with a 30cm gap here, as the magic white line provides all the protection the cyclist needs. Cycle lanes passing through pinch points are asking for trouble. @RichmondCycling@LBRUT@KingstonCyclingpic.twitter.com/Kw1OBqZ1sw
The new bike is second hand. Only used a few times during lockdown. The lady resold it after a few months because the traffic got too heavy and she was scared. 🤷♀️☹️ pic.twitter.com/P52QNKwe4V
If we can’t give them safe places to ride, those new bike riders who started during the coronavirus lockdown are likely to head back to their cars after getting frightened off the streets.
And a once in a generational opportunity to reimagine our streets will be lost forever.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A British TV fashion advisor apologized after saying she “fucking hate(s) cyclists” and wants to kill them all with her car — including her own bike-riding husband. Although her apology only came after extensive online criticism, and doesn’t change the fact that she said it to begin with.
The East Side Riders Bike Club teamed with the LA Galaxy for a ride to the closed-to-the-public Dignity Health Sports Center for Saturday’s match with LAFC; it didn’t help, though, as the Galaxy fell to their crosstown rivals.
The New York Times examines the problem of ensuring marginalized residents are heard in the rush to repurpose streets due to the coronavirus, and that outdoor dining, Slow Streets and popup bike lanes don’t just benefit wealthy white residents. At least the last one’s not a problem in Los Angeles, because the city doesn’t have any.
They get it. A WorldTour team offers advice on how to safely watch cycling again as they prepare to start the season. But say if you’re in doubt, just stay home.
We’re just one week away from restarting the season after more than four long months. Here’s a few rules we kindly ask our fans and everyone at the races to follow, so that they protect themselves and all those around. Video: @lapedaleccpic.twitter.com/T6kFLQ72zD
— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) July 20, 2020
And listen to the founder of the Major Taylor Cycling Club discuss America’s first Black sports hero with his son. (Correction: I originally misread that as a discussion with Major Taylor’s son, even though he didn’t have one, and would be pretty old if he did. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link, and Andy Stow for the correction.)
In the late 1800s, Marshall “Major” Taylor was an African American cyclist that broke both world records and racial boundaries. John W. Tolbert III sits down with his son to discuss Major’s legacy. From @WOSU with the #StoryCorpsMobileTour. https://t.co/fGxcrw6DFt
I’m told the victim may be a homeless man who lives in the area.
Police suspect the hit-and-run driver may live in the neighborhood; they’re looking for a late model red Mini Cooper with a white roof and sunroof, with probable damage to the front-end and windshield.
Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD Detective Juan Campos at 213/833-3713. As always, there is a standing $25,000 reward for any hit-and-run resulting in serious injury to the victim.
Let’s find the jerk.
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A surprising number of chefs in the Los Angeles area ride bikes.
This is a tragic reminder that while bicycling provides exceptional cardio-pulmonary benefits, it can also trigger underlying medical conditions.
It’s vital to see your doctor on a regular basis to make sure you’re up to the stresses you put on your body, especially those of us who like to ride hard.
It’s natural to think you’re bulletproof and avoid seeing a physician when you’re strong on a bike.
It’s also a mistake.
For nearly two decades after I started riding, the only time I saw a doctor was in the ER when they were patching me up after my latest two-wheeled wipeout.
If I had, it’s possible someone may have caught my diabetes before it did so much damage.
If you see a doctor regularly, good for you. Just push him or her to look a little harder and make sure everything’s okay under that muscular physique.
Well, muscular from the waist down, anyway.
If you don’t, what the hell are you waiting for? Stop reading, pick up the phone and make an appointment.
Studies have shown that business owners consistently overestimate the percentage of their business that comes from motorists, and underestimate how much comes from bicyclists, pedestrians and transit users — let alone how much more would if customers had more complete, livable streets.
Those same studies show that bike lanes are good for business, increasing sales, reducing vacancy rates and increasing property values in the surrounding area.
But who would want that?
As for the climate, we have to start somewhere.
And the best place to start is reducing the number of motor vehicles on the streets. Which means creating walkable, bikeable, transit-rich communities so people don’t have to drive.
If that also benefits businesses and residents, everyone wins.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes is all too real.
A Victorville man faces charges for pistol whipping a 16-year old boy with a semi-automatic handgun for the crime of simply riding a bicycle in the area. Apparently he did it with the gun loaded and the safety off — and it went off while he was beating the boy with it. Let’s hope they find a very deep pit to drop him in.
This is why people keep dying on our streets. A Berkeley woman walks without a single day behind bars after she left crossed a 69-year old man on a bike, dragging him under her car for several seconds, then got out, yanked his bike out from underneath her car, and drove off as the victim and a witness tried to stop her. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
New York’s senior senator, the Democratic leader in the US Senate, calls for a plan to replace all gas-powered motor vehicles with electric ones by 2040. Great idea, except that until the US achieves 100% renewable power, it just exchanges one form of carbon-burning power for another, and doesn’t take a single car or truck off the road.
New York City considers adopting a three-foot passing law to pre-empt the state’s requirement for a safe passing distance. But will only fine drivers a lousy fifty bucks for breaking it.
The DC City Council responds to bike and pedestrian deaths with proposals to lower speed limits, ban right turns on red lights and allow private citizens to ticket drivers blocking crosswalks and bike lanes, as well as require protected bike lanes anytime a street in the bike plan gets overhauled. Maybe we could get them to come teach their LA peers what to do to make Vision Zero work.
Tampa FL police say they’re getting a handle on the problem of biking while black, saying they’re stopping and ticketing fewer African American bike riders, though black riders are still more likely to get a ticket or warning than a white person.
This is who we share the roads with. Five people are dead and nine injured after a Shanghai driver went on a hit-and-run rampage, starting by hitting a taxi and an ebike rider, followed by crashing into an SUV after running a red light, and wrapping it all up by slamming into three non-motorized vehicles and several pedestrians. And yet, Xinhua still calls it an accident. Let’s hope that’s just a bad translation.
Not the way I often do at the mall, where her petite five-foot frame too easily disappears behind department store racks.
And not the way I sometimes fear, when I foolishly question whether love is stronger than the anger that never fails to fade following a fight.
This time the heart I fell in love with gave out without a warning.
Or rather, without one we heeded.
Like the odd pain she complained about last night, that felt like someone punching her between the shoulder blades.
Or this morning, when she was too tired to help make the bed. Something we put off to a long standing iron deficiency still awaiting approval for another round of treatment.
But off to work she went, just like any other day.
Then a little after noon, she told her boss she wasn’t feeling well. Moments later, she was passed out at her desk.
Fortunately, the people she works with found her right away, and knew exactly what to do. And within minutes, paramedics from the Beverly Hills Fire Department had her on a gurney and on her way the ER, red lights and siren blaring.
She was already in surgery before I was halfway to the hospital.
That was followed by a tense couple hours in the waiting room, surrounded by strangers with worried faces just like mine, waiting for word on loved ones of their own.
A steady parade of physicians walked through the door, calling names that weren’t mine. And breaking news that brought smiles to faces that weren’t mine, either.
Finally I heard my name, and looked up as a doctor in surgical scrubs beckoned me down a hall leading to the cardiac ICU.
His words didn’t make me smile. That heart I loved was badly broken.
But unlike Humpty Dumpty, they were able to put it back together again. And the prognosis, thankfully, is good.
Only time will tell how much damage was done. If any.
Her life will be different. She’ll be on medication for the foreseeable future, and under the care of a cardiologist for life.
But at least she’ll have one. And I’ll still have her.
It could have been different.
If her coworkers had been at lunch. If the hospital had been farther away. If it had happened tonight, when I would have been away at a meeting, and she would have been home alone, with only the dog to call 911.
And the dog can’t reach the phone. Even if she did know how.
As cyclists, we accept a certain degree of risk. We understand that bad things can happen when we ride, but probably won’t.
And we get angry when it does, usually to someone else. Maybe because we’ve all had enough close calls to know it could be us, some other place, some other time.
People are fragile.
And bad things can happen to anyone. Anytime. Anywhere.
And sometimes, there’s no second chance to say the things you wish you’d said.
So say them. Please.
Now.
Take a moment to tell the people you love that you do. Before you ride. Before you go to work. Before it’s too late.
Because one day, hopefully not soon, it will be.
Tonight I’m going to sleep in an empty bed, with just the dog to keep me warm. And my heart will be miles away, badly broken. But getting better.
This morning I received word that a cyclist died last week while mountain biking on an Orange County trail.
According to the Orange County Register, 52-year old Santa Fe Springs resident Reynaldo Canlas suffered a heart attack either before or after falling while riding in Peters Canyon Park on Monday, January 30th. Despite CPR attempts performed by bystanders, followed by an air rescue by county firefighters, Canlas was declared dead at 2:3o pm a local hospital.
It’s unknown if the fall caused his heart to stop, or if he fell because of the heart attack.
As the woman who forwarded the story to me said, the people who performed CPR may think they failed to save him, but they may have provided precious minutes that gave him a chance, however slight.
