Ride Paris–Roubaix

Anyone up for the Paris–Roubaix Randonnee? "Nothing, and I mean nothing can prepare you for the cobbles of Paris Roubaix. The initial road sections beguile you into a false sense of calm, but when you hit your first pave your world is turned upside down, and inside out." Oooo, sounds like fun. Mark your diary for June 2008, if you're crazy enough.

Ding!

Wow, check out these cool bells at the appropriately named dringdring inc. real old-school metal bells, with original hand painted designs.

Lessons learned—the hard way

Dave Moulton recently commented on the circumstances and aftermath of a collision he had with a SUV a year ago. Good advice to be had here.

Only one street

Rooman points to the One Street project:

We know that increasing bicycling will solve many of the world's problems and aim to guide these organizations onto the smoothest path to prosperity. Serving non-profits, for-profits and government agencies, we coach leaders of these organizations towards ethical management standards so that they can focus their talents and time on increasing bicycling.

More room please

A few weeks ago, I mentioned in passing that an asshole-motorist repellant is not at all a good idea. Surly Dave took the discussion further, even finding a picture of such a device—hopefully a joke.

But in skimming over the topic, I neglected to mention that safer alternatives to the "big metal spike" idea have existed for ages (although they are mentioned in the responses to the question on MetaFilter). In a recent post on transporting children, hielke described "an orange reflector shaped as a ping-pong paddle with a really really long handle", which I think is the Safety Wing.

Another variant is the Flash Flag, which is now available with spiffy high tech retroreflective and fluorescence treatments, making them highly visible at night and day.

The key with any of these things is that they make you look like a dork but they also make you look wider, making you more visible and making drivers think a bit about getting past you. And I've always thought it's better to be a live dork than dead sexy.

Comments

Surly Dave

I was only semi-serious. A mate of mine sent me a safety wing for Christmas. It was in fact from the very fine Abbotsford Cycles to boot!

At first I thought there was no way on earth I'd use it, but a few more close calls have had me rethinking the issue. I'd rather be a live dork than a dead hipster and lately I've been feeling like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I'm going to ponder the issue - I'd like it if the thing protruded a little more, but it might make it hard to ride through stopped traffic.

Treadly and Me

I hadn't really considered that, but then I tend not to carry a single pannier (it's both or none for me). It definitely makes sense to take advantage of whatever you're carrying to make yourself look more bulky.

Charlie B.

The "looking wider" thing is why I always carry a single pannier, if I only have the one on me, on the traffic side (so if in a country where we drive on the left, the pannier is on the right side). It's purely an optical effect, but it makes you look wider that side, and if that means you get another foot of room, that can only be a good thing.

In fact, it erks me when I see single panniers on the wrong side...