Monday Morning Commute - Bicycle Lady

Congratulations to my former classmate Harrison Frazar. 355th time is the charm.

• Prince George's County will be holding a workshop to discuss the MD 193 Corridor. "The upcoming workshop, which is the first public meeting targeted at the broader community, will include a Greenbelt East interactive session focusing on Greenway Center, Maryland Trade Center and Hanover Parkway office properties. Topics to be discussed include land use, transportation, public safety and the environment. Upcoming workshops in the summer and fall will focus on the Greenbelt Metro station and the corridor west of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway." The meeting is from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, June 14 at the Greenbelt Middle School.
• Karin Vartowski, aka The Bicycle Lady, passed away recently. She pretty much defied every stereotype about cyclists and biking you can come up with. 
• Bloomingdale resident chases down bike thief. The kid was 12 years old, but had bolt cutters with him. 
• World Naked Bike Ride 2011.
• This is a fantastic article about the Race Across America on its 30th Anniversary. "There is nothing else in the culture of sports like the RAAM," says Jim Lampley, who covered the first race and four after it for ABC's "Wide World of Sports." ''To this day I still see it as the greatest undiscovered sports event on the planet." One of the original participants was John Howard Michael Shermer of Skeptic Magazine fame.
• This is a great Price Waterhouse Coopers video for its employees on bike commuting that was filmed here in the DC area.

Comments

[DaveS]

Seen on twitter: Capitol Hill residents observed a minivan they believe was connected with stealing bikes - it had 10-15 inside already. They have a description and license, but it's reported that MPD didn't pursue. (I don't know what that actually means, and twitter isn't a good place to get the details of something like that.)

Also on Cap Hill I'm pretty sure I watched a thief check out my bike while we were eating outdoors. He came up the block and walked straight up to the bike, and when my wife called out he ignored her but turned and walked back. We saw him walk up and down the block two more times checking out bikes, but eventually he got into a car and drove away. (I followed him. He went to a home 12 blocks away.)

These bike takers are not sophisticated or careful, and it really wouldn't take much for the MPD to fight back, but as long as they're non-responsive or happy to release a caught thief "to his parents" the message they're sending is that our bikes are there for the taking.

[Foo]

An entire article on RAAM's history, and no mention of Jure Robic. I understand they were concentrating on early history, but wow.

For whose who do not know, Juri Robic is the 5-time dominator of RAAM who was killed in a car crash recently. His secret power was unique in the professional athletics world: he would go crazy. Literally. It's how his team kept him in the saddle for up to 23 hours a day for almost two weeks straight. Managed insanity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jure_Robic

[Crickey7]

A number of the solo RAAM competitors fall outside the Bell Curve of sanity.

[Cap Hill Keith]

DaveS

That is very interesting.

My 14 year old son had his Mt. Bike stolen on Capitol Hill yesterday. He had done a bad job of locking it up.
A grey Binanchi Mt bike.

[satan]

uh, john howard was a raam guy but...

you mean michael shermer, of shermer's neck, phd, and columnist for scientific american and skeptic magazine. he has some interesting books out as well. too bad he's a reductionist...but not a bad guy at all...and completely rational...hows that for a change in this blog! -- someone to disagree with on the merits, rather than on the politics or the posturing or some other psychological assinine issue (as when dealing with law enforcement, etc..)

[washcycle]

Thanks, I corrected it. That's what I get for posting at 1 in the morning.