Nice Bike to Work Day Today--With Observations on Bicycle Types,Lighting, and Helmets

Left a little early so I could alter my route to hit some of the
energizer stations.

The station on Stelling in front of Quinlan had the usual Hobee's coffee
cake ("http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1144/848463518_f000731ef8.jpg" but
sans butter thank goodness) and coffee from The Roasted Coffee Bean on
Stevens Creek & Tantau
("http://www.roastedcoffeebean.com/Resources/Coffee%20Class%202005%20%235%20crop%20.gif").

Apple always promotes Bike to Work Day in a big way and this year was no
exception. Their Station on Mariani and De Anza, near their
headquarters, had good bagels, Tropicana Orange Juice, coffee, and free
CatEye TL170 tail lights
("http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/271"). They also gave a free
iPad to the first ten cyclists at their station, and Steve Jobs
explained to everyone how to mount the iPad to the handlebars (just
kidding).

Continuing, PGE's station on Homestead near Blaney had a coupon for 100
KWh of free electricity (just kidding).

Continuing down Homestead, Kaiser gave out little bottles of sunscreen
on a carabiner and water bottles.

The last stop prior to getting to work was Agilent's stop on Stevens
Creek near Lawrence. They had some Clif Bars, Powerbars, and water.

The bike mix was definitely more commuter style than in prior years,
with a much lower percentage of classic road bikes. Several nice
folders, including a KHS F-20r
("http://www.khsbicycles.com/09_F20r_07.htm"), and Costco hybrids
(Schwinn Broadway,
"http://reviews.costco.com/2070/11472593/reviews.htm"), and a
Specialized Globe.

I also always notice lighting systems of course, and the end of the
quartz-halogen system powered by an external battery pack is definitely
upon us. Almost every bicycle I saw with lights had either a
self-contained small LED light on the handlerbars or helmet, or a
flashlight mount with an LED flashlight. I got a couple of 'I used to
use lights like that' and stories of their homebrew systems. I did not
see a single dynamo powered light among the hundreds of commuter
bicycles I saw today. Usually I see at least one Breezer with a dynamo
hub, but not this year.

Now to include something about helmets...., I did not see a single
commuter without a helmet until the stop at Agilent where one very well
dressed person with a British accent and a very old steel frame racing
bike stopped at the energizer station. What was surprising is that he
said it was the first time he had biked to work in his decades working
for HP then Agilent.

My lights and horn always draw inquisitive glances, and I encouraged
them to "push the black button." This year the new Bell cup holder
("http://nordicgroup.us/bikecoff/bcimages/bellcruisinjoetogopackage.jpg") was
also of interest to many people, and drew inquiries of where to purchase
it (Target, $5.99).


Steve

"http://bicyclecoffeesystems.com/"
The Earth's Leading Authority on Conveying Coffee by Bicycle—Since 1996

Riding at Night? Visit the World's Top Rated Bicycle Lighting Site:
"http://bicyclelighting.com"

Undecided About Whether or Not to Wear a Helmet?
Visit Bicycle Helmets Myths and Facts at:
"http://sites.google.com/site/bicyclehelmetmythsandfacts/" 35 myths
debunked.

Earth's Independent, Authoritative, and Only Source for Bicycle Luggage
Rack Information, "http://bicycleluggageracks.com/"

Adding Water Bottle Cages to Bicycles without Braze-Ons
"http://nordicgroup.us/cageboss/"

On 13/05/10 9:13 AM, SMS wrote:

snip

Undecided About Whether or Not to Wear a Helmet?
Visit Bicycle Helmets Myths and Facts at:
"http://sites.google.com/site/bicyclehelmetmythsandfacts/" 35 myths
debunked.

Oops, it's now actually 36 myths debunked, not 35.

On May 13, 11:40*am, SMS wrote:
On 13/05/10 9:13 AM, SMS wrote:

snip

Undecided About Whether or Not to Wear a Helmet?
Visit Bicycle Helmets Myths and Facts at:
"http://sites.google.com/site/bicyclehelmetmythsandfacts/" 35 myths
debunked.

Oops, it's now actually 36 myths debunked, not 35.

http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/

Go evangelize Denmark you hysterical douchebag.

On 13/05/10 3:08 PM, landotter wrote:
On May 13, 11:40 am, wrote:
On 13/05/10 9:13 AM, SMS wrote:

snip

Undecided About Whether or Not to Wear a Helmet?
Visit Bicycle Helmets Myths and Facts at:
"http://sites.google.com/site/bicyclehelmetmythsandfacts/" 35 myths
debunked.

Oops, it's now actually 36 myths debunked, not 35.

http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/

Go evangelize Denmark you hysterical douchebag.

"If you can not answer a man's argument, all is not lost; you can still
call him vile names."

— Elbert Hubbard

On May 13, 8:26*pm, SMS wrote:


"If you can not answer a man's argument, all is not lost; you can still
call him vile names."

— Elbert Hubbard

"If you can not honestly answer a man's arguments, all is not lost;
you can put up a website where you misstate his arguments, and pretend
to refute them. By controlling the website, you can pretend you won."
- SMS

- Frank Krygowski

On May 13, 6:36*pm, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On May 13, 8:26*pm, SMS wrote:



"If you can not answer a man's argument, all is not lost; you can still
call him vile names."

— Elbert Hubbard

"If you can not honestly answer a man's arguments, all is not lost;
you can put up a website where you misstate his arguments, and pretend
to refute them. *By controlling the website, you can pretend you won."
- SMS

- Frank Krygowski

Is the anti-helmet website all unbiased and fair reporting? It's not
like there is no agenda there. -- Jay Beattie.

In article
,
Jay Beattie wrote:

On May 13, 6:36Â*pm, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On May 13, 8:26Â*pm, SMS wrote:



"If you can not answer a man's argument, all is not lost; you can still
call him vile names."

— Elbert Hubbard

"If you can not honestly answer a man's arguments, all is not lost;
you can put up a website where you misstate his arguments, and pretend
to refute them. Â*By controlling the website, you can pretend you won."

Is the anti-helmet website all unbiased and fair reporting? It's not
like there is no agenda there. -- Jay Beattie.

Yes, there is an agenda. It can be clearly stated.
Do you have an objection to that agenda?

--
Michael Press

On May 13, 9:29*pm, Michael Press wrote:
In article
,
*Jay Beattie wrote:





On May 13, 6:36*pm, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On May 13, 8:26*pm, SMS wrote:

"If you can not answer a man's argument, all is not lost; you can still
call him vile names."

— Elbert Hubbard

"If you can not honestly answer a man's arguments, all is not lost;
you can put up a website where you misstate his arguments, and pretend
to refute them. *By controlling the website, you can pretend you won."

Is the anti-helmet website all unbiased and fair reporting? It's not
like there is no agenda there. -- Jay Beattie.

Yes, there is an agenda. It can be clearly stated.
Do you have an objection to that agenda?

Yes. If it is dishonest. Most organizations that take one side of
any dispute usually ignore or mis-cast information that is contrary to
their position. Fair and balanced does not describe any of the web-
sites I have seen either advocating or protesting MHLs. Frank's and
SMS both go over the top and many that are true for them but not
others. Individual risk profiles are entirely ignored. -- Jay Beattie.

Jay Beattie wrote:

snip

Is the anti-helmet website all unbiased and fair reporting? It's not
like there is no agenda there. -- Jay Beattie.

OMG, have you looked at some of those sites? It's like watching Fox News
with their motto of "We distort, we decide."

The site I put up was mainly to counter, with statistics, facts, and
logic the distortions, junk science, and junk statistics on sites like
horribly misnamed "Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation," "The Vehicular
Cyclist," and others that intentionally lie to advance their own agenda.
Those sites look at helmets from a political and emotional perspective,
not from a statistical or scientific perspective. They first decided on
what outcome they want, then they distort the facts to reach that
outcome, very much like Faux News.

The site I put up was mainly to point out the scientific, statistical,
and logical errors of those other sites. I've gotten six e-mails
pointing out minor errors which I've corrected.

On May 14, 10:12*am, Jay Beattie wrote:
On May 13, 9:29*pm, Michael Press wrote:



In article
,
*Jay Beattie wrote:

On May 13, 6:36*pm, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On May 13, 8:26*pm, SMS wrote:

"If you can not answer a man's argument, all is not lost; you can still
call him vile names."

— Elbert Hubbard

"If you can not honestly answer a man's arguments, all is not lost;
you can put up a website where you misstate his arguments, and pretend
to refute them. *By controlling the website, you can pretend you won."

Is the anti-helmet website all unbiased and fair reporting? It's not
like there is no agenda there. -- Jay Beattie.

Yes, there is an agenda. It can be clearly stated.
Do you have an objection to that agenda?

Yes. *If it is dishonest. *Most organizations that take one side of
any dispute usually ignore or mis-cast information that is contrary to
their position. *Fair and balanced does not describe any of the web-
sites I have seen either advocating or protesting MHLs. *Frank's and
SMS both go over the top and many that are true for them but not
others. *Individual risk profiles are entirely ignored. -- Jay Beattie.

Jay, if you want to talk about "Frank's" website, you should be
talking about Bicycling Life. That was the one I initiated and helped
found.

If you're talking about Cyclehelmets, I'm a very minor player there,
although I certainly approve of their work. The people that
contribute most of the content are people like professional research
statisticians, medical researchers, nationally famous cycling authors,
authors of multiple refereed journal articles on the topic, etc.
Unlike Scharf, they people who are recognized as top authorities by
people _other_ than themselves.

As for individual risk profiles: I've said many times on this list
that helmets probably make sense for certain types of riding, for
example amateur criterium races and challenging mountain biking.
Those are activities that, by their very nature, generate lots of
crashes that are within the thin capacity of a standard bike helmet.
(I think it's smarter to avoid such activities, but that's beside the
point.)

And I suppose if someone really is so clumsy on a bike that they fall
frequently, they might justify a helmet for ordinary riding, just as
some people with seizure disorders justify one for walking around. I
can think of two friends who might qualify. One of them fell three
times on a single bike ride, with two of the falls occurring while
walking or standing in a parking lot. BTW, later that year she broke
her arm while skiing, and supposedly gave up all such sports afterward
- which was probably wise.

But can you point me to any institutional literature that promotes
bike helmets ONLY for riskier-than-normal riding? I seriously doubt
it. In fact, yesterday I responded to a "bike safety" article whose
author said he ALWAYS wears a bike helmet, even for riding back and
forth in his own driveway.

Face it: Helmet promotion is all about fear mongering, portraying ALL
cycling as incredibly dangerous, and pretending cycling is a very
significant source of serious head injuries.

But those points are demonstrably false. And even if they were true,
it would be foolish to pretend that these flimsy things that pass for
bike helmets would tip the balance from "dangerous" to "safe."

In summary: If there is distortion or misleading information, only a
very small percentage must be on the part of the helmet skeptics.
Your reaction is not based on a rational evaluation. It's based on
your own prejudices.

- Frank Krygowski