People who drive cars have roads and people who walk have sidewalks.
But bicyclists in the Tampa Bay area?
Well, a small fraction of the roads out there have space designated for cyclists and there are also paved trails for multiple users that include bicyclists.
But most of the time you choose to ride a bicycle on the street and hope cars will share the road with you or you see many bicyclists around here biking on sidewalks.
Here is an interesting blog post about the issue sent to me by my North Carolina pal Willie Drye.
Monday, August 10, 2009
St. Pete Police Arrest 2 For Robberies on the Pinellas Trail
The folks at the Bicycle Outfitters bike shop in Seminole had warned people about crime on the Pinellas Trail and I'm glad to see that St. Petersburg police announced two arrests in connection with robberies on the Trail.
Read about the story here
Read about the story here
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Bicyclist In Boulder, Co. Survives Lightning Strike
It's amazing that I haven't heard of anty cyclists struck by lightning here in the Tampa Bay area because we are the lightning capital of the country. But one bicyclist in the Boulder, CO area lives to tell the tale of a lightning strike while cycling.
BOULDER, Colo. -- A woman riding her bike in Boulder in training for an Ironman Triathlon was struck by lightning Monday, but was not severely injured.
Terri Menghini was going north on North Foothills Highway, near Longhorn Road, when she was struck around 1 p.m. and thrown off her bike.
The 44-year-old mother of five said she was in Mile 78 of her 100-mile bike ride for the day when she saw a dark cloud overhead. She saw lightning in the distance, and estimated that she could safely race back to her car.
"I thought, 'I'm two miles from my car. That's about five minutes. I'm going to go for it,'" Menghini said.
She was on the crest of hill when lightning struck within 100 feet of her.
"It came out of nowhere," she said. "There was one lightning bolt and within a minute, the second one got me," she said.
Menghini doesn't remember what happened next because she blacked out and woke up to people standing over her, holding umbrellas to cover her from the rain. She couldn't move her arms at first and her vision went from blurry to black.
Meghini was transported to the Boulder Community Hospital, where she recuperated and regained full motion and eyesight. She was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon.
Menghini, who is from St. Louis, Mo. but stays in Estes Park every summer with her family, knows she is extremely lucky.
"I was just lucky. So I'm going to go buy a Powerball ticket now," Menghini said.
All that's left of her harrowing brush with death is a bad road rash and a cracked helmet. She feels she's back to her normal self and was extremely disappointed when doctors prohibited her from competing in the half-Ironman this Sunday. Her doctors are monitoring her heartbeats, which were erratic when she was first admitted, and believe she will be able to compete in the Ironman triathlon later this month.
"My training, I'm still going to do it," she said. "I've been an athlete my whole life, and I'm not going to stop that."
Menghini said she remembers thinking, when she became weak, that she would have to fall to her right so she wouldn't land in traffic.
Menghini, who runs a marathon every month and is outdoors all the time, said she is keenly aware of the dangers of thunderstorms. However, this one developed extremely quickly, she said.
"It wasn't even raining," she said.
The National Weather Service said within the state of Colorado, there are an average of three lightning-related fatalities a year and 15-20 injuries. It is lightning -- and not tornadoes, hail or flooding -- that is the most dangerous weather event to develop from thunderstorms, the NWS said.
The state sees a half-million cloud-to-ground lightning states every year.
If you see lightning and are outdoors, seek shelter in a building or go into a vehicle with a metal roof. "When thunder roars, go indoors," the NWS says.
BOULDER, Colo. -- A woman riding her bike in Boulder in training for an Ironman Triathlon was struck by lightning Monday, but was not severely injured.
Terri Menghini was going north on North Foothills Highway, near Longhorn Road, when she was struck around 1 p.m. and thrown off her bike.
The 44-year-old mother of five said she was in Mile 78 of her 100-mile bike ride for the day when she saw a dark cloud overhead. She saw lightning in the distance, and estimated that she could safely race back to her car.
"I thought, 'I'm two miles from my car. That's about five minutes. I'm going to go for it,'" Menghini said.
She was on the crest of hill when lightning struck within 100 feet of her.
"It came out of nowhere," she said. "There was one lightning bolt and within a minute, the second one got me," she said.
Menghini doesn't remember what happened next because she blacked out and woke up to people standing over her, holding umbrellas to cover her from the rain. She couldn't move her arms at first and her vision went from blurry to black.
Meghini was transported to the Boulder Community Hospital, where she recuperated and regained full motion and eyesight. She was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon.
Menghini, who is from St. Louis, Mo. but stays in Estes Park every summer with her family, knows she is extremely lucky.
"I was just lucky. So I'm going to go buy a Powerball ticket now," Menghini said.
All that's left of her harrowing brush with death is a bad road rash and a cracked helmet. She feels she's back to her normal self and was extremely disappointed when doctors prohibited her from competing in the half-Ironman this Sunday. Her doctors are monitoring her heartbeats, which were erratic when she was first admitted, and believe she will be able to compete in the Ironman triathlon later this month.
"My training, I'm still going to do it," she said. "I've been an athlete my whole life, and I'm not going to stop that."
Menghini said she remembers thinking, when she became weak, that she would have to fall to her right so she wouldn't land in traffic.
Menghini, who runs a marathon every month and is outdoors all the time, said she is keenly aware of the dangers of thunderstorms. However, this one developed extremely quickly, she said.
"It wasn't even raining," she said.
The National Weather Service said within the state of Colorado, there are an average of three lightning-related fatalities a year and 15-20 injuries. It is lightning -- and not tornadoes, hail or flooding -- that is the most dangerous weather event to develop from thunderstorms, the NWS said.
The state sees a half-million cloud-to-ground lightning states every year.
If you see lightning and are outdoors, seek shelter in a building or go into a vehicle with a metal roof. "When thunder roars, go indoors," the NWS says.
Bicycling Up The Ladder
Debb Carreno from Hillsbrough County's public works department sends in this bicycle photo that reminds me of the days I hauled the Bicycle Bash billboard around Tampa Bay. This year's Bicycle Bash by the Bay, Presented by Cure on Wheels is set for Oct. 11 in downtown St. Petersburg's N. Straub Park.
Firefighter Shoots Bicyclist Out Of Safety Concerns
Asheville, NC Firefighter tries to teach a bicyclist a safety lesson by trying to shoot him. Read it for yourself:
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- A driver, now identified as an Asheville firefighter, shot a bicycle rider because he was angry the man was riding with his child on a busy road, Asheville police said.
The shooting happened Sunday morning on Tunnel Road.
Officers said the victim was riding with his wife and had his 3-year-old son in a child seat attached to his bicycle when a driver approached him.
Police said the driver, Charles Diez, claimed he was upset that the victim was bike riding with his child on the heavily traveled Tunnel Road.
Diez pulled a gun and opened fire, hitting the victim in his bicycle helmet, according to police.
They said the bullet penetrated the outer lining of the helmet but did not actually hit the victim's head.
Police arrested Diez and charged him with attempted first degree murder.
His bond was set at $500,000.
Diez has been a firefighter with the Asheville Fire Department since 1992, according to officials.
On Monday, they confirmed he has been placed on paid investigative leave pending the outcome of this investigation.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- A driver, now identified as an Asheville firefighter, shot a bicycle rider because he was angry the man was riding with his child on a busy road, Asheville police said.
The shooting happened Sunday morning on Tunnel Road.
Officers said the victim was riding with his wife and had his 3-year-old son in a child seat attached to his bicycle when a driver approached him.
Police said the driver, Charles Diez, claimed he was upset that the victim was bike riding with his child on the heavily traveled Tunnel Road.
Diez pulled a gun and opened fire, hitting the victim in his bicycle helmet, according to police.
They said the bullet penetrated the outer lining of the helmet but did not actually hit the victim's head.
Police arrested Diez and charged him with attempted first degree murder.
His bond was set at $500,000.
Diez has been a firefighter with the Asheville Fire Department since 1992, according to officials.
On Monday, they confirmed he has been placed on paid investigative leave pending the outcome of this investigation.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
SWFBUD Pleased That Hillsborough County Commission Votes To Apply For Friendship Trail Repair Money
Good news for the Friendship TrailBridge. The Hillsborough County Commission voted 5-2 to partner with Pinellas County to apply for federal transportation grant money to fix the TrailBridge, which has been closed since last November.
I represented SWFBUD and spoke at the public comment period of the commission meeting this morning to voice our support for applying for the "TIGER" transportation money to fix the deteriorated sections of the Old Gandy Bridge, which now serves as the Friendship Trail, connecting St. Pete and Tampa.
Commission members Rose Ferlita and Mark Sharpe led the charge to apply for the grant, and were joined by Ken Hagan, Kevin Beckner and Kevin White. Commissioners Jim Norman and Al Higginbotham voted against.
The application will be for $20 million -- $15 million for the bridge trail work and $5 million for trail systems leading to the old Gandy Bridge.
The application has to be in by Sept. 15 and Pinellas and Hillsborough counties should find out whether they got the grant within a month after that.
By the way, during the commssion meeting, audience members got a laugh when window cleaners came rappelling down the side of the county center building right in the middle of the meeting.
One of the TV news guys turned his video camera to the window cleaner from the county commission.
TrailBridge On The County Commission Meeting Agenda Today
The Friendship TrailBridge issue will be on the agenda this morning at the Hillsborough County Commission meeting, which starts 9 AM.
Come out and sign up to speak during the public comment period of the meeting, which is at the start of the session.
SWFBUD will be there.
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