Image Courtesy of Flickr

Before you jump onto the back of your bicycle and start riding around the city, you may want to make sure you are prepared. The following are some tips and tricks that will help keep you safe while riding your bicycle.

Remember to be Vigilant

Riding a bike takes more concentration than driving a car or walking. Remember to stay vigilant while riding a bike and you may be able to prevent an accident from happening. Hardcore bikers need to make sure that bike maintenance is a priority. A single broken chain or small hole in a tire could be the difference between getting home safely, and taking a detour to the local hospital. Finding a quick loan to pay for these emergency situations can be very stressful. Plain Green Loans provides personal installment loans that can help pay the hospital bills from an accident.

Staying vigilant requires you to do the following things:

• Constantly look around you
• Be aware of other bikers and cars
• Listen to the sounds around you for clues

Wear Proper Equipment

Many severe accidents could have been prevented if the person riding the bike was wearing the proper biking equipment. Many bikers don’t like to pull on the knee pads, helmet, or brightly colored jacket because they think it makes them look funny, but these pieces of equipment will keep you safe.

The following are some examples of the proper biking equipment you should have:

• Knee pads
• Elbow pads
• Helmet
• Jacket or vest made of reflective material for nighttime biking
• Bell or horn on the bike

Riding a bike around the city is a great way to help the environment, and get some exercise in. However, if not done properly riding a bike can be extremely dangerous. Following these tips and tricks can help ensure your next city biking ride experience is a safe one.

The joy of cycling can still be replaced with pain however, if an accident occurs. The need to train every muscle can lead to severe injuries, property damage or worse. Knowing the right lawyer becomes just as essential as knowing the right physician.

Cycling Statistics: Accidents and Fatalities

Biking boasts endless rewards, especially regarding health. However, each year offers statistics that can’t be ignored:

• 1500 cyclists are annually injured due to car, motorcycle, or other vehicular accidents.
• Over 50 cyclists are killed each year.
• One cyclist in every eight suffers from debilitating brain traumas.

A New York Bicycle Accident Lawyer may become essential then for some bikers, offering advice and legal representation. These individuals navigate the many laws of cycling and provide the best chance for compensation.

Bicycle Attorneys: Choose With Care

The need for an attorney is unfortunate. The need for the right attorney, however, is undeniable. Be patient with every selection and use these suggestions:

Specialization

Every lawyer boasts different skills. Choose one that specializes in cycling accidents. Define the search to those most experienced with these types of cases.

Recommendations

Succeeding within the court room requires more than clever arguing; instead, it demands absolute trust between an attorney and his client. Find legal professionals who inspire that kind of loyalty then. Seek recommendations from family, friends, and colleagues.

Credentials

Representing a cyclist demands the utmost professionalism and education. Choose attorneys that offer both. Examine schooling (class ranks, degrees, etc.) and business success. Consult also with former clients to receive a review of services provided.

Complaints

Achieving a flawless law record is often deemed impossible. A record defined to endless complaints and confusions is all too easy to find. Check any State Agency listings to verify an attorney’s abilities. Note any pending cases that cite fraud, malpractice, negligence and more.

Conclusion

Trying to master health is a worthy goal. A cycling accident can undo even the best intentions, however. Recognize the need for an attorney and find the perfect one. Are you ready to take care of your rights as well as your body?

Unfortunately, emergency situations occur regardless of whether someone is in between jobs, or living paycheck to paycheck. For people without money set aside, an unexpected expense can leave them overwhelmed and desperate for a financial solution.

Image via Flickr

Installment loans are becoming a commonly relied upon option for people who find themselves in an emergency, without the financial means to cover the cost. In short, installment loans are straight-forward loans that quickly provide an amount of money with a set repayment plan. The payment plan sets consistent monthly payments in place that include the interest, and a set time allocated for the life of the loan. This makes it easy to manage without having to stress over variable monthly payments.

Below are three common emergencies where people use installment loans for financial assistance.

Medical Expenses

A medical emergency in itself is a stressful situation. In most cases, the financial aspect of such an incident is usually the last thing considered. However, medical expenses can quickly mount up in the form of co-pays and insurance deductibles.

Installment loans can help relieve some of the financial burden associated with a medical emergency when the funds are not readily available through your own resources. They can be obtained quickly and provide straight-forward repayment plans that are transparent to the borrower.

Emergency Repair Bill

Unexpected repair bills are commonly linked to installment loans. Whether you are a one car family and cannot wait till payday, or the repair is simply too much to cover on your own, the speed and ease of an installment loan is a practical solution to aid your financial woes.

Urgent Past Due Bills

With the ailing economy, many people are unable to cover expenses that others take for granted. Utilities are one of these expenses that just like any bill, carry consequences if left overdue. Installment loans provide financial relief for people who are in between paychecks but need a little funding to get the last of their utility bills paid before the shut-off deadline.

In all, installment loans carry many benefits as a solution for emergency situations. Between the speeds in which the money is granted, to the easily manageable repayment plan, these loans are an important resource that should not be overlooked.
Have you used an installment loan for any of the issues above? Share them in the comments box.

reviewed by John Henderson

My Finish Line chain cleaner finally
cracked and became unusable after about five years of service. I’ve been using the Park Cyclone Chain Scrubber
for a couple of months now.

I fill the Cyclone with solvent (I use Simple Green), run the chain through
the machine a bit, change the solvent once or twice more, then switch to
water to wash the solvent off the chain. It helps if you clean the gunk off
the derailleur pulleys and chainring before you start, and maybe clean the
cassette as well. I wipe the chain down with paper towels and let it
dry before re-lubing.

Pros:

The solvent reservoir holds a good amount of cleaner and has a magnet in
the bottom that keeps any metal bits out of suspension in the fluid. It
has three rotating brushes, one that cleans the sides, and two that clean the
spaces between the rollers. A sponge at the end keeps the fluid from
sloshing out as the chain exits. Park sells replacement brushes.

It has a handle, which allows you to keep a good grip on it when cleaning,
and also keeps it stable when you set it down. The sponge
and brushes are easily removed for cleaning, and the extra width of the
unit makes it easier to clean gunk out of the bottom.

Cons:

The chain line through the machine is straight, making it easy to put
on and take off. It also makes it possible to use on bikes without a derailleur. But
this means that the links and rollers are not rotated while the chain is in
the solvent.

Cycling in the New World

Two weeks after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, Bicyclewire.COM went
to talk with John Kaehny, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives, New
York City’s bicycle and pedestrian advocacy group. They have an office in midtown not
far from Penn Station. The main difference between T.A.’s space and the offices of the
architects and graphic designers on the same floor is the six bikes hanging near the T.A.
reception desk.

While the office was nice, John wasn’t there for our appointment. He had been running
in and out of meetings around town ever since Mayor Giuliani announced that no cars with
single occupants would be allowed in midtown between 6 am and 12 noon on weekdays.

John was kind enough to reschedule the discussion after hours at his home on
Manhattan’s Upper West Side. We talked about the attack’s immediate effect on transportation here,
and, more generally, the age-old question of how to bring down the barriers to cycling in the great
city of New York.

Jump to one of the topics listed below or read and enjoy in an old-
fashioned linear manner.

CYCLING THROUGH TRAGEDY

The Restrictions on Single Occupancy Cars in Manhattan

Do Times of Crisis Equal More Cycling?

Cycling Increases After WTC Disaster

Cycling In a State of Fear

Vision Failure at City Hall

Most-Traveled Bike Path in U.S. Currently Blocked

ENCOURAGING BICYCLING

Getting More Cyclists on the Street

Number One Complaint

Why Bike Lanes Are Important

Why Bike Lanes Fail

Huge Demand For Cycling

Long-Term Repercussions of September 11

The Restrictions on Single Occupancy Cars in Manhattan

In some ways it’s momentous, and had it come about because of work by Transportation
Alternatives and the other transit and environmental groups in New York City as a matter
of a change in philosophy, that the city was trying to reduce traffic and encouraging
people to take transit or ride bikes, then I would probably be doing cartwheels in Central Park.

But it came about because of the tragedy at the World Trade Center and in particular
because the police are at a state of maximum terrorist alert, and the FBI and the Police
Department believe that the greatest threat to New York is a truck or a car bomb.

Because of the huge backups at the bridges and tunnels caused by the police searches, the
mayor was desperate for some kind of way of reducing traffic and this is what they hit
upon. So this is not a matter of a radical change in way of thinking, this is an emergency
measure to buy time, for the city to come up with other things.

Do Times of Crisis Equal More Cycling?

The last time something like this was tried was in 1980, when there was an 11-day transit
strike. Very similar plan. And of course once the strike was over, that ended.

This is a new time. There’s never going to be an ordinary time again in New York City.
Or at least for the next 20 or 30 years. It’s a time where there’s going to be heightened
security for the foreseeable future. The destruction of the World Trade Center and the
reconstruction money coming in and the rethinking of how the financial district and
downtown is going to work and the fact that everyone wants more transit down there is
going to change some things in New York City.

One thing we do know is that the transit strike in 1980 led to a huge increase in bicycling.
That lasted for a while. Maybe five years or so.

Cycling Increases After WTC Disaster

This is an important time for New York City cycling. All East River bridges are open
24 hours a day seven days a week to bikes. And you have the Hudson River Greenway that allows a quick car-free
route through Midtown, though part of that is currently blocked. Big increases in cycling activity are expected
because of these changes.

Right now in New York, 100,000 people ride a bike each day. From a numbers standpoint, it’s as if one in five people in San Francisco
rode every day. I think it’s easily possible to see cycling in New York City double in the next few years to over 200,000
cyclists a day using their bicycles for transportation.

The counts that we’ve done of bicycle use during this crisis have shown that
there’s a pretty big increase in cycling, at least in Manhattan. Somewhere on the order of
50 percent or so on the main avenues. In particular at Battery Park City and other areas
south of Canal Street there’s a huge increase in cycling because residents don’t have
transit right now, and there’s no cabs down there.

Will that last? We hope. We hope it will last. Are people abandoning their cars and
starting to bike? Well, at least a couple people did, just anecdotally today, on the
Queensboro bridge.

Cycling In a State of Fear

One of the key things Giuliani did for cycling is knock crime way down. So that other
issues besides crime could be discussed, including transportation and bicycling. And if
we live in a state of fear and terror the way Israel does, for instance, everything else
becomes secondary and it’s very, very hard to find the political will or interest in doing
innovative things. We were suffocated by crime for decades in New York City in terms
of public debate and discussion, creating new public spaces, and the last ten years have
been great. We’ve seen the revitalization of Central Park, Bryant Park, Herald Square, all
these places.

Vision Failure at City Hall

That said, there’s a vision failure at city hall. One of the things that groups like ours are trying to
do is add some vision into the mix, and get people talking about things like making the
area around the financial centers and the stock exchange permanent pedestrian areas, like
they did in the city of London. They did that in the early 80s after the IRA set off a truck
bomb that caused over a billion dollars worth of damage.

We want to see improved security go hand in hand with creating beautiful public spaces
and plazas. For instance Times Square, Herald Square, should be closed and turned into
pedestrian streets. There’s just no question about it.

Mayor Giuliani is not someone who really sees the role of transportation in how the city
functions economically, socially, culturally. He’s a guy who grew up in the suburbs, a
guy who goes everywhere by car, and has for decades. He has windshield perspective.
Which is a very odd thing for the mayor of the only city in the United States that has
more people that don’t have cars than do have cars.

I guess I’m most grateful to Giuliani for not identifying bicycles as one of his special
menaces.

Most-Traveled Bike Path in U.S. Currently Blocked

There are some aspects of what’s going on that are really disappointing. The Hudson
River Greenway, which has been open from Battery Park all the way to the George
Washington Bridge, now is closed between 56th Street and 40th Street because the city
plopped down the victim’s assistance center at Pier 94. That’s no problem. The problem
is they sealed off Pier 94 and put down the entrance tents and security checkpoints
literally on the bike path. And they made no provision to route people around it at all.

Instead of using this unbelievably successful greenway as a way of getting people out of
their cars and encouraging them to use it as bicyclists [during this time], they have
blocked it.

Already the path, from the numbers we have, is the most heavily used path in the United
States—and potentially the numbers could have doubled. We were seeing 400 to 600
bicyclists an hour before [the attack]. That’s staggering. With this crisis, that probably
could have doubled.

Getting More Cyclists on the Street

For profound changes in how many cyclists are on the street, two things need to happen.
One of those is a big encouragement campaign. In Chicago, the mayor rides a bike.
Mayor Daley goes to Bike Week and kicks off their celebration. He is a cheerleader
for cycling. And that sends a message to people in the administration that this is serious
stuff. [Other ways to promote include: TV and radio spots, bike cops heavily patrolling bike lanes during Bike
Week, driver education programs, etc.]

We don’t have that. For the last 11 years, Transportation Alternatives has run Bike Week
here, and we have never received one dollar from the city to do that, not a dime. All our contributions
have been from the companies like Patagonia and Power Bar, and the Port Authority. This is in contrast with other
big cities that help fund bike promotions.

The burden of educating people about cycling has fallen on us, a non profit that’s not
particularly well-funded because we’re considered too cutting edge or threatening to the
status quo by most major foundations.

This should be government money. There’s no shortage of money. There’s more than $25
million dollars that the NYC Department of Transportation has unspent for pedestrian and bicycle improvement.
And the only reason it’s only 25 million is the feds don’t want to give them more because
they haven’t used the money they already have. So money’s not the problem. The
problem is one of policy decisions about who gets street space, is it bikes, is it cars.

Number One Complaint

The second key thing is to get employers to provide secure bike parking. Because in
NYC you cannot park your bike on the street.

This is a huge, huge issue, it’s T.A.’s number one complaint, How do I get secure bike
parking in my building. In a survey of likely cyclists done by the Department of City
Planning at our request, of every member of every bike club in New York City, about
10,000 people, the number one reason for not commuting by bike was no secure place to
park the bike. The number two reason, and substantially below it, was fear of getting hit
by a car. The number three reason was rough street conditions.

It always astonishes me when I go to Chicago and visit my good friends at the Chicagoland
Bicycle Federation, whose office is in a place analogous to T.A.’s. It’s in the central
district, right near the train station. It’s in a similar building. Except they park their bikes
outside on bike racks. All the bikes. Every day. Year round.

Well, if we did that, on our block, there’d be no wheels, no brakes, you know, etcetera
etcetera. There’d be no seats. The level of petty theft and vandalism of bikes that are left
in one place day after day is extraordinary.

Yes, you can go to a movie or a store and leave your bike out if you’re properly locked.
But if you leave it there day after day, you just can’t park your bike outside and not
expect to have it molested.

T.A. is seeking to pass legislation to require building owners and managers to classify
bicycles as freight, as they would a photocopier being brought into the building, or a new
desk. So that bicycles would have access to the freight elevator. We’ve found that it’s not
the employers–most businesses are fine with people bringing their bikes in. Park by your
desk, throw it in this closet, whatever. It’s the building’s managers and owners that are
the problem. We’ve twice lost in attempts to pass this despite some very strong support
within city council.

Why Bike Lanes Are Important

One of our favorite debates at T.A., after work on Friday when the beers come out, is
bike lanes.

A couple things. One, in the Western European countries that are looked at as the best
places for cycling in the world, places like Holland, and Denmark and Sweden and
northern Germany, there are bike lanes all over the place. And these people know what
they’re doing.

In the United States, and in New York City, fewer than one percent of all trips are cycling
trips. And yet in Germany it’s somewhere around 12 percent. In Holland it’s 30 percent.
And it’s not just a matter of Oh, they’ve been riding bikes forever, it’s the culture. In fact,
in the 1950s and early 60s those countries were in single digits as far as total portion of
trips that were done on bicycle. It’s active government intervention.

The reason bike lanes are important is they tell motorists that bicycles are legitimate road
users, they have a space. They’re a political statement and a symbolic statement, and
that’s not to be underestimated. They provide a space for people that like to ride slowly.

There’s a big difference between American urban cycling and the best European cycling
in that people ride a lot slower in Europe. People who ride here tend to be experienced,
higher speed cyclists. And the reason for that is they’re the only ones who have the
confidence, skills, boldness to ride in the kind of everyday conditions that exist here.
Whereas when you go to those idyllic cycling places, the age spread is much greater, you
see older and younger people, kids, riding. And this is in cities, I’m not talking about the
country.

So bike lanes are a way of creating space for those groups of people that we really need
to be appealing to the most. People who are not going to ride their bike fast, are not going
to ride a high performance bike, that need every confidence builder they can possibly get.
So we are big into bike lanes that are well designed.

Why Bike Lanes Fail

People say every time I ride in a bike lane, there’s double parking, there’s taxis stopping,
there’s da-dada-dada. The problem there is that the city does not have a rational
transportation system. We don’t have proper parking fees so that trucks can get on the
curb and don’t have to double park when they’re unloading. You have private cars
camped out there for hours and hours and hours and hours. We need to price cars off the
curb and get trucks there. It’ not a failure of the bike lanes it’s a failure of the rules.

Huge Demand For Cycling

We know there’s a huge demand for cycling, so we talk about it in terms of reducing the
barriers to cycling, because we know people want to bike. Every year there’s a huge
number of people who try bicycling for the first time. Once people experience cycling
around the city once or twice its fun, it’s a really fun way to get around, especially in the
outer boroughs where you have less traffic. Where we lose is keeping people on bikes.

Here’s a key thing to remember. Forty percent of trips are trips of under two miles. If
someone says, well I can’t ride my bike I live a hundred miles away from work, it’s like
yeah, ok, no kidding. We don’t expect you to. But lets say we can get 10 percent, one out
of 10 trips under two miles to be bike trips, which is completely realistic thing to do, that
would be a huge change. Two-thirds of all trips are under five miles, probably more in New York City. So the distances are
not impossible, it’s the infrastructure, it’s the way the streets are laid out

The city needs to be allowed by the state to install speed cameras and red light cameras.
The city right now has 50 red light cameras. Legislation to allow unlimited amounts, and
to install speed cameras, was defeated by motorhead forces.

London has hundreds and hundreds of automated enforcement cameras. That has sharply,
sharply reduced their pedestrian and cycling fatalities, and created a better environment
for cyclists. Because speed is what kills cyclists and makes it scary to ride.

Long-Term Repercussions of September 11

Is it causing people already to look at changes in how things are done? Yes. In a big
way. The jury’s out though, because if there’s another major terrorist attack then who can
say. If Grand Central Station gets blown up tomorrow, God only knows what will be
done in this city. I don’t.

This week, some high level cops I know were genuinely worried that they had missed a
truck bomb, that one had made it in. They were crusty, cynical cops, and they were
scared. These are not normal times. We continue to plug away and be optimistic.

Williamsburg is only one stop from Manhattan on the L train, but you know you’ve left
the island of skyscrapers behind as soon as you
emerge from the subway onto Bedford Avenue. The buildings out here in the flatlands of Brooklyn are squat,
like a frontier town. The other thing that’s hard to miss are all the bicycles,
scattered across the streetscape like truants from a J Crew photo shoot.

A painter of tropical fish might
want to live on a coral reef somewhere in the South Seas. You probably couldn’t do
much better than call Williamsburg home if you are a painter of bicycles looking for
inspiration.

There are two chained to the iron railing guarding the subway stairwell and a dozen more
clustered on a rack 10 feet from the top of the steps. Walking south on Bedford toward Broadway
it seems like every pole, every bit of fence has
a bicycle in its clutches. A blue Triumph three-speed hitched to a No Parking post has a carefully
laminated sign hanging from the top tube:

“2 NEW TUBES NEW BACK TIRE VERY
NICE IN GENERAL. $35 HELL, YES CHEAP. YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT ALL
THE KIDS HAVE EM NOWADAYS. CALL JOHN.”

Joined to their immovable objects the well-used bikes seem to be waiting patiently for their latest
owners to return and mount the saddle and ride off.
(The new owners for the most part being an assortment of artists and yuhs.)

These are not the sprayed-black mountain
bikes used to hustle Chinese take-out around the Upper West Side or the sleek track machines
favored by seasoned midtown messengers. The bicycles of Williamsburg are mostly three-speeds and
coaster brake cruisers, Raleighs, Columbias and Schwinns, with fenders and chain guards
and rubber pedals and racks, perfect for a trip to the local bistro or an errand across town.

Taliah Lempert’s building is down from a corner lot infested with tree-size weeds and just up from
the open expanse of the river and its view of Manhattan. The World Trade Center sits like a postcard at the
end of her block. Directly behind her building the Williamsburg Bridge bicycle path,
enclosed in rhtmlberry-pink fencing, angles up toward the first trestle
like some sort of giant BMX launching chute.

A knock on the battered steel door of Lempert’s third floor loft sets off an
impressive round of barking from her Akita. A dozen or so bicycles lean against the graffiti-covered brick wall
at the back. She shares the 6,000-square-foot living and working
space with six others. Before we look
at some of her paintings, Taliah finishes taping the handlebars on her new track
bike. She’s an avid racer at the world-famous Kissena Velodrome in Queens. She rides
out to the track with her buddies for the Wednesday night races.

bicyclewire: Are you obsessed with bicycles_
Taliah Lempert: I think it’s important to paint what you know, what you’re doing, what
you’re interested in. When I went to college my father said it’s not what you learn, it’s
learning how to learn. With painting, I feel if you paint what you know, other stuff comes
through it. And I really like bikes, I think they’re really beautiful.

Are you worried about becoming The Bicycle Painter_
A lot of people call me That Bicycle Painter or The Girl Who Paints Bicycles. I
don’t mind. I’ve been painting bikes for about five or six years. I don’t know if I’ll be
doing it forever. Right now I really enjoy it. They’re wonderful to paint.

How come you don’t have people on your bicycles_
I think the bicycle itself is pretty figurative. There’s a
lot of stuff with the angles that make me think about the figure, like the whole front of the
bike.

I notice none of the bicycles in your paintings is equipped with STI.
I like older bikes. I like the newer stuff too, but, people have to leave the bike in the
studio for a while and—what I’m trying to say is I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

I thought maybe it was a philosophical thing.
Not really.

If someone brought in their brand spanking new frame and wanted a record of it
before it got beat_
If they paid me go to town, sure! I don’t dislike newer bikes, but I do go for older
bikes. There’s some new frames that intrigue me, like some of the suspension stuff. I
love bikes that people love. I’ve always been intrigued with painting things that people
like. You know, like people’s guitars, musical instruments. The idea that this is an object
that somebody loves. For me, when I see my bikes, I think of getting on
and getting out, riding around and having a great time.

Your boyfriend has a bike shop. Is that a good source for you_
It is, I like the shop bikes, those are fun to paint. There’s a lot of super interesting
stuff that goes through there. But I also like to paint bikes that belong to people. It’s a special
treat to paint friend’s bikes.

Is the Internet working for you_
It’s good. It’s amazing but it is a lot of work. I spend a lot of time promoting the
web site…it’s interesting and it’s getting easier… This is a JC Higgins chopper…dual
shifter…Yeah, isn’t that hot_ This thing is difficult to ride but it makes a nice
picture. It’s great, but it’s not like people are just lining up to buy your work. I have a
commission for next month, the bike is being shipped here from California.

Where did you get this Spaceliner_
A comic book shop in Detroit years ago. I was working on a job there. I take my
paintings to the post office, I pick up art supplies on it.
Sweet.
That’s a Lady Spaceliner Super Deluxe right behind it, with the tank and the
color-coordinated pedals. They’re beautiful bikes but they aren’t the best ride in the
world compared to a Rollfast or a Schwinn.

How many bikes_
I probably own about 11.
That sounds low. Are you counting your half of all these tandems_

And that Rollfast is from what year_
The Rollfast is early 50s, I think. It’s a really good bike. I can actually outroll
David’s spaceframe Moulton on it.

In the middle of a blinding snowstorm, while watching the 1995 Cyclocross National
Championships in Leicester, Massachusetts, Lyle Fulkerson decided that if he were
having a blast, so would others like him.

Since that ephiphany, he has been the man behind the SuperCup, a national cyclocross
series which is arguably behind the sudden emergence of U.S. cyclocrossers in
international competition.

Bicyclewire: Why cyclocross_

Lyle Fulkerson: I look at myself as a target demo. I saw those thousands of people who came out to Leicester in
dangerous conditions to watch an event. I saw it as something, if promoted differently, it
could be something. I think cycling is one of the few untapped marketing platforms out
there.

What has happened is that there’s a real separation between enthusiasts and the average
cycling fan. They don’t understand the Tour, they don’t understand tactics. They don’t
understand a crit. A crit is pretty complicated if you don’t understand it.

I’m talking about your average person. In a mountain bike race, a person stands in one
spot in a half-hour watching people go by, he can’t get excited. The average person
raised on football, the attention span is five-six minutes. Keeping their attention is the game.
What I saw in Leicester, I saw a passionate group who weren’t affected by conditions.
Cyclocross is a difficult sport to compete in, but easy to put on in average conditions.
Cyclocross is the platform.

That isn’t to say you can’t put out a good product to the racers. It is essential to get a
good product to the racers. They are the show, the event, they are the ones who make the
event successful. I sort of put together a promotional philosophy that I refer to as The
Four Pillars of Promotion. The are: the riders, the spectators, the sponsors, the media.
You need to treat them all differently, but equally. If you don’t do it reasonably well, it
will topple. Each of those groups has different needs. In order to make it successful, you
need to address all of them. I also started to coin the term “The Wow Theory.” When
somebody leaves one of my events, I strive to have them say “Wow, that was a great
event!”

I need to put together an event that generates that enthusiasm. That’s my goal. As
far as the SuperCup goes, the event promotion—those are the operating principles.

I’m trying to apply fundamental business principles to the SuperCup. All customer-
service based. I didn’t pick cyclocross out of the blue. I saw there was an opportunity
with the fans, the competitors, the calendar, and focused in on a few hotbeds around the
country.

BW: Do you think the customers are getting what they expect and deserve_

LF: Everyone has a different view. Go back to where cyclocross was four years ago—I
started it, well, re-acquired it in 1998 and relaunched it—cycloross has grown
astronomically. I don’t pretend to be fully responsible for it, but the growth of it, the
people it brings, have helped give cyclocross what is now recognized as a legitimate
season. You have people like Tim Johnson, and even Marc Gullickson, who are focused
on the sport.

Developing SuperCup the way I have, I’ve grown the competition for the riders. Before
SuperCup, only at the nationals would you see Knapp against the McCormacks. Now,
you have them competing against one another frequently. The increased SuperCup
competition has helped at the worlds. We’re now competitive internationally.

Are people getting what they deserve_ I’m doing the best that I can. I think that
most people who attend the SuperCup feel they have witnessed a great event. I have
people telling me that the SuperCup is the best race they have ever been to.

BW: What are the necessary elements for a good cyclocross race_

LF: First of all, venue. It’s critical to have a venue that affords spectators a chance see
all or most of the course from one vantage point. It has to be an area to get walk-by
traffic or so that people don’t have to travel far. It has to be a fair course, a balanced
course, that doesn’t favor one individual. We do UCI races, but you have to have it for
the American mindset, you have to have reasonably fast lap times. I believe six-minute
laps for the elite men is ideal—that’s 10 laps in an hour.

The venue has to have interesting terrain features to it. We’ve shown you don’t have to
have hills. Look at Chicago, we have no elevation change and it isn’t a dirt crit. Venue is
what the piece of property affords you and how the spectators see it. It’s about forming
partnerships and relationships with the city and the associations to make this work.

Ultimately, cyclocross is about fun. It is passionate, supported, it’s after road or
mountainbike season. Yes, people are serious, but you don’t have the same kind of effort
to prepare. At the end of the day, cyclocross needs to be fun. Cyclocross is about…you
can’t hide on a cyclocross course. You’re racing against your buddies. There is a high
fun factor. That’s what I strive for.

—Bicycleretailer.com

If there is a topic of discussion the Scorcher religiously avoids more even than politics,
it’s gender politics. Especially with ladies present. Being a man, Scorch has found that
this is always a no-win situation, no matter where his sensibilities may lie.

But we also must rise to our journalistic duty, and with the announcement of Team
Cannondale USA, duty calls. And so Scorch will dip his toe in these dangerous waters, but
reserves the right of self-preservation and declines to plunge.

First, let us all agree that athletics fairly reeks of sexuality. It is, after all, the celebration
and exploration of the physical limits of the human body. And then there’s those tight,
short, tennis dresses.

For anyone who thinks ogling athletes is a one-way street, grill your local rabid female
football or baseball fan and you’ll soon find it’s high butts in tight, long, pants as much as
box scores and touchdowns that attract them to the game.

The controversy often enters when it comes to how female athletes are dressed. Whether
it’s simply the sports marketing conglomerates spicing things up or an attempt to insure
the public that, no, our players are not lesbians, see how feminine and pretty they are,
what female athletes wear to work has gotten an inordinate amount of attention over the
years.

Ironically, cycling has often been cited as the impetus for the invention of bloomers, and
as a symbol of the growing women’s sufferage movement in the late 1800s. So should
sex appeal be used to market a women’s cycling team in 2002, or would that be
tantamount to blhtmlhemy_

Scorcher will not say, but he will admit he misses Rebecca Twigg. And anything within
reason that will give the moribund women’s cycling scene a bit of a kick in the pants is
probably worth trying, though we would stop at a team sponsored by Hooters.

In any case, while highly trained athletes in Lycra have a certain appeal, from the
Scorcher’s viewpoint, nothing is sexier than a fit, attractive woman dressed in sensible civvies pedaling around the town on an old 3-speed, sans helmet.
That’s just a fantasy, of course. We know in the real world we all need to slip on a helmet before engaging
in cycling—even if you’ve known your bike for a long time.

   2.10.02

]]> http://www.bicyclewire.com/pretty-in-pink/feed/ 0 http://www.bicyclewire.com/head-games-part-ii/ http://www.bicyclewire.com/head-games-part-ii/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:11:36 +0000 admin http://bicyclewire.com/?p=8 Do Helmets Help Or Hurt_

by Charles Komanoff

“I never wear a helmet for the same reason I never wear Lycra.
I think the idea that you have got to dress up like a bloody spaceman in order to ride
a bike is just completely potty.”

The words of an aging retro-grouch_ Nope. That was Steve Norris, the chair of Britain’s
National Cycling Strategy Board, aka the UK Cycling Tsar, in a widely quoted sound
bite he gave last month. Predictably, the statement sent bicycle helmet
advocates on both sides of the Atlantic into a snit, with some going so far as
to suggest the Tsar may be suffering from a new malady—brain damage
from cycling without a helmet.

Au contraire. The UK guy has it right. To make cycling far more widespread—hence
safer, since nothing improves cycling safety as much as a larger presence of
cyclists on the road—it needs to be seen as something everyone can do without
special equipment, clothing and mind-set.

Helmets don’t make cycling much safer. Unfortunately, many organizations and news sources still refer
to a study done in 1989 that claimed helmets reduce head and brain injuries by 85 to
88 percent.

The authors later redid the study with a larger sample. They also controlled for behavioral differences between
helmeted and bareheaded cyclists. This time, helmet-wearing was associated with a
69-74 percent reduction in all head injuries, including minor ones—less
than in the original study, though still significant—but with only a
10 percent (and not statistically significant) reduction in all serious injuries.

“Helmets had no apparent effect on the [overall] risk of serious injury,” they wrote,
“probably because head injuries accounted for fewer than one in six of all injuries
and the majority of head injuries were not severe.¹”

Do the math, and you’ll see that if abolishing helmets led to just a 20 percent rise in
cycling, even the helmetroids would be safer riding bareheaded than they are now.

While the United States is admittedly too far gone for a helmet-abolition movement
to succeed, helmet culture isn’t yet entrenched in the rest of the world. Let’s hope it stays
that way.

Eight years ago, when I asked Bjarne Eir, the 55-year old head of planning for Copenhagen’s Road Department,
why he didn’t wear a helmet on his 10-mile round-trip daily bike commute, he said,
“A bike is, for me, like shoes—I want to jump on my bike when I wish
—it’s just an instrument. I don’t want to have to be another person when I bike.”

The UK tsar’s words last week were uncannily similar: “You should be looking at it
[cycling] as something that normal, fat, middle-aged men like me do.”

Hooray!

Over the years, many people have embraced biking as an environmentally friendly mode of transportation especially when traveling to work. Reasons for choosing to ride a bike include the physical and mental benefits it brings to promote a healthy lifestyle as well as a lot of savings on resources.

Benefits of Biking

The maintenance of a bicycle costs much lower compared to a car. Riding a bicycle allows you a panoramic view while you weave through traffic in a city, and you need not pay for your parking in some areas.

Apart from being a mode of transportation to work, it is also a great way of working out, thus, allowing you more time to do other things. Biking strengthens your muscles in the legs, arms and also tones your stomach. It is also a great way in alleviating stress, releasing tension and clearing your mind.

It is so much fun to go biking, but it is important to practice bike safety. There is a need to wear protective gear as well as to be alert to your surroundings at all times. Pay attention to traffic lights, yields and stop signs.

Surviving a Bike Rider’s Emergency Situation

Unfortunately, due to the large amount of bicycle riders, there are increasing amounts of bicycle accidents which happen in countless ways. Depending on the accident, they often result to cuts, scrapes, bruises and fractures.  More often than not, damage is extended to your bicycle, your very means of transportation to work.

In  case of unforeseen events occurring such as medical emergencies, and there is a need for you to access cash immediately,  installment loans, such as PayDay One Loans, is just one way to get the emergency money to take care of an urgent need.

Emergency Cash within Your Reach

It is a wonderful emergency cash alternative when friends or relatives are unable to help you out financially, or when it is not possible to do cash advances on your credit card and you don’t have valuables to put up for sale. However, it is important to be completely aware of the given interest rates, the amount to pay as well as payment dates.  It is necessary to read the terms and conditions on the contract before accepting it.

The application is easy, fast and convenient. Approved applicants will have the money available in their bank accounts in as fast as one banking day. The emergency cash you need is already within your reach. You will be given the opportunity to pay for the loan in short yet flexible payment terms.

While you can’t always predict what will happen, it is good to know there is a means for financial back-up to get back to biking again. This really helps relieve the stress unforeseen expenses can bring.