March 18, 2004
FREE Rowbike for Riding NBG Relay Leg
If you feel adventurous and really want to earn your next two wheeler, the Rowbike people are offering a free 720 Sport (or Crew for people over 6'2") model Rowbike (worth $900) for riding one of their revolutionary bikes on select relay legs in our 3rd Annual National Mayors' Ride!! As per our schedule (noted below), these sections are:
Leg 1: Tampa June 1 to Washington DC 7/2 -- 936 miles (2 mayors)
Leg 2: Seattle 5/14 to Portland 5/17 to Eugene 5/21 -- 283 miles (3 mayors)
Leg 3: Santa Barbara 6/3 to San Luis Obispo 6/4 to Monterey 6/7 -- 266 miles (3 mayors)
Leg 4: Pittsburgh 7/9 to Columbus 7/14 to Indianapolis 7/23 -- 362 miles (3 mayors)
Leg 5: San Francisco 6/11 to Chicago 7/30 - 2428 miles (9 mayors)
Leg 6: Pittsburgh 7/9 to Chicago 7/30 - 788 miles (4 mayors)
You will need to meet Mayors, be able to keep on schedule and enjoy all the attention you will be getting. You will also need to be fit and able to handle your own routing and expenses for food and lodging. Cycle touring experience preferred along with the ability to undertake new challenge and come away a winner.
The Rowbike is a like a rowing machine with wheels on it. A cutting edge concept for getting a full body workout, the Rowbike was invented by Rollerblade inventor Scott Olson and is easily learned and an incredible joy to rode. Outfitted with seven gears and made of many high quality bike components, the Rowbike was ridden from Florida to Maine in 20 days. Which is to say that if you can ride one from San Francisco or Pittsburgh to our Chicago NBG Fest on July 30, the bike as well is yours to keep!!
If you want to make history with us next summer, apply at:
http://NationalBicycleGreenway.com/Forms/newriders.php
Where it says, "Anything else you'd like to share with us?", tell us that you want to take the Rowbike Challenge we are proposing here!
To find out more about the Rowbike: http://Rowbike.com
To See our 2004 Mayors' Ride Schedule: http://www.BikeRoute.com/NationalMayorsRide2004
March 15, 2004
Drowning deaths far outnumber Bicycle deaths
The number of US cyclists killed in 2000: 693
Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data)
Number of US accidental drowning deaths in 2000: 3,482
(Centers for Disease Control figures)
========================================
According to Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)
http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov
The first automobile crash in the United States occurred in New York City in 1896, when a motor vehicle collided with a pedal cycle rider (Famous First Facts, by Joseph Kane).
More than 47,000 pedalcyclists have died in traffic crashes in the United States since 1932 — the first year in which estimates of pedalcyclist fatalities were recorded. The 350 pedalcyclists killed in 1932 accounted for 1.3 percent of the 27,979 persons who died in traffic crashes that year.
In 2001, 728 pedalcyclists were killed and an additional 45,000 were injured in traffic crashes. Pedalcyclist deaths accounted for 2 percent of all traffic fatalities, and pedalcyclists made up 1 percent of all the people injured in traffic crashes during the year.
The number of pedalcyclist fatalities in 2001 was 14 percent lower than the 843 fatalities reported in 1991. The highest number of pedalcyclist fatalities ever recorded in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) was 1,003 in 1975. Pedalcyclists accounted for 13 percent of all nonmotorist traffic fatalities in 2001.
Pedestrians accounted for 85 percent, and the remaining 2 percent were skateboard riders, roller skaters, etc. “The 728 pedalcyclist deaths in 2001 accounted for 2 percent of all traffic fatalities during the year.”
========================================
According to the Center for Disease Control web:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/drown.htm
Water-Related Injuries
Overview
In 2000, there were 3,482 unintentional drownings in the United States, an average of nine people per day. This does not include those who drowned in boating-related incidents (CDC 2002).
Occurrence and Consequences
* For every child who drowns, six receive emergency department care for near-drowning or non-fatal submersion injuries. Half of those seen in the emergency department require hospitalization (CDC 2002).
* Nonfatal incidents can result in serious injuries including brain damage.
* According to the U.S. Coast Guard, 4,355 people were reported injured and 701 were killed in boating incidents during 2000. Among those who died, 8 out of 10 were not wearing personal flotation devices, also known as life jackets (USCG 2001).
Groups at Risk
* Males: In 2000, males accounted for 79% of those who drowned in the United States. (CDC 2002)
* Children 1 to 14 years of age: In 2000, 943 children ages 0 to 14 years died from drowning (CDC 2002). While drowning rates have been declining slowly over time (Branche 1999), it remains the second-leading cause of injury-related death for children ages 1 to 14 (CDC 2002).
* African Americans: In 2000, the overall age-adjusted drowning rate for African Americans was 1.4 times higher than for Whites (CDC 2002). However, differences were observed by age. African American infants under one year had a drowning rate 2.9 times that of White children (CDC 2002). Many of these drownings occurred in bathtubs and household buckets. Among children 1 to 4 years of age, African Americans have a lower drowning rate than Whites; drownings in this age group typically happen in residential swimming pools. African American children ages 5 to 19 years drowned at 2.4 times the rate of White children in this age group in 2000 (CDC 2002). As children get older, drownings occur more often in open water areas such as ponds, lakes, and rivers.
Risk Factors
* Children under age one most often drown in bathtubs, buckets, and toilets (Brenner et al. 2001).
* Among children ages 1 to 4 years, most drownings occur in residential swimming pools (Brenner et al. 2001). Most young children who drowned in pools were last seen in the home, had been out of sight less than five minutes, and were in the care of one or both parents at the time (Present 1987).
* Alcohol use is involved in about 25% to 50% of adolescent and adult deaths associated with water recreation (Howland et al. 1995 and Howland & Hingson 1988). Alcohol influences balance, coordination, and judgment, and its effects are heightened by sun exposure and heat (Smith & Kraus 1988).
March 13, 2004
Power Cranks Help Bents Set One Hour Record
This comes from the Power Cranks newsletter. Seems that record breaking Sam Whittingham has found the edge he needed to make his fast recumbent even faster as per:
========================================
Another world record set. Last November PowerCranker Sam Whittingham set another world record, pending certification. Sam, who has gone over 82 mph under his own power (for 200 yds) this time set a new one-hour record traveling over 52 mi. in the hour. This was done on a rolling closed course in Texas. A link can be found on the web site.
========================================
Dr Frank Day, the Power Cranks inventor is raising the bar all over the cycling world with his amazing pedal cranks that train the brain as they teach the pedaling muscles how to work in the most efficient way toward optimum power (teach you how to pedal correctly). Power Cranks was at our NBG Fest in Santa Cruz last August and when his system showed me I waste a ton of power trying to make my bike wheels move, I then tried to let his stationary trainer show me the correct way. And it's a good thing the pedal arms he makes ft on your regular bike for your regular rides because I could see I needed a ton of practice.....
If you want to see the new training tool that many of the top racers are using, go to Power Cranks
March 11, 2004
March 04, 2004
Famed Unicyclist & HPV Cyclist Join Mayors' Ride
Famed Unicyclist, Famed HPV Cyclist Join Mayors' Ride
Lars Clausen, the author and Guinness World Record holding unicyclist who has unicycled across
America and been in all 50 US states on one wheel just got back to me today. A couple days before Christmas, I had introduced him at our Recumbent News blog and when he replied with a thank you, it dawned on me that I should ask him to do a part of our Mayors' Ride as a way to get his story out there and as a way for him to help us.
When he agreed to help us kick Seattle off today, I found these words in his signature:
========================================
Security is mostly a superstition.
It does not exist in nature
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
Helen Keller
========================================
While the last time he and exchanged I found these:
========================================
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
MARK TWAIN
========================================
Does this man not fit perfectly into what we are all about? Lars will be leading cyclists to our Friday May 14 City Hall celebration and say a few words about the need to improve the conditions for cyclists as well as sign a few of his books and whatever else he and his agent come up with!!
========================================
As for the world of Human Powered Vehicles, Nick Hein tells us he will make the Washington DC to Pittsburgh run for us starting July 2. A well know member of the HPV community Nick has an impressive collection of such bikes that can be seen at the link below. He has an all-weather streamliner. a bike that fits what looks like a family, and a machine that he uses on his daily 100 mile bus and bike commute, etc.
It remains to be seen which HPV Nick will be using for our challenging but beautiful route. Heck, he might even build one just for that ride!! I can tell you one thing tho, the Pittsburgh people are excited that they will once again be getting a recumbent bike to lead the rest of the riders into town!! Last year Jim Muellner did the run on his trike and yet the rain storm that hit chased the crowd of expectant onlookers away from his arrival there.
Lars' web site
Blog entry for Lars
Nick's bikes
Jim Muellner