Better than bells

On Tue, 05 Sep 2006 19:12:48 -0400, John Forrest Tomlinson
wrote:

On Tue, 05 Sep 2006 19:13:19 GMT, "Bill Sornson" wrote:

wrote:
On Tue, 05 Sep 2006 17:28:45 GMT, "Bill Sornson" wrote:
{context???}

(And yes, he got a big wide scrape on his helmet; would
have lost some scalp for sure.)

How do you know "for sure"? Was the scrape as deep as the thickness
of the helmet? If not, wouldn't his head missed entirely whatever it
was that "scraped" the surface of the helmet?

Can't argue with THAT "logic"!

He asked you a few questions. Can you answer any of them?

JT


Do insults count - the chances of those emannating from Sorni are much
greater than facts.

On Wed, 06 Sep 2006 00:47:32 GMT, "Bill Sornson" wrote:

John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:
On Tue, 05 Sep 2006 23:23:42 GMT, "Bill Sornson" wrote:
Why do you rail against helmets while owning numerous models and
photographing them admiringly, comparing their ventilation
characteristics (not to mention wearing them about 70% of the time
you ride)?

You know, the more I think about your comments about helmets the more
I realize you're just plain stupid. Equating skepticism about the
efficacy of helmets, or even just questions about them with being
anti-helmet or railing against helmets. Dopey.

As I've said many times, we're all ignorant about some things. I'm
ignorant about many things. But I'm also aware of most of my
ignorance and try to deal with it -- either by learning or by at least
not arguing about things I don't know.

While the true dopes revel in their ignornance and argue about things
they don't understand. Like simple division. Or questions about
helmets. LOL.

{8 annoying sig lines snipped}

Gee, for a bright guy you sure have to answer posts TWICE a lot.

Gee for a dopey guy you're pretty clever at avoiding answering simple
questions.

LOL.

JT

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Bill Sornson wrote:
wrote:
On Tue, 05 Sep 2006 17:28:45 GMT, "Bill Sornson" wrote:
{context???}

(And yes, he got a big wide scrape on his helmet; would
have lost some scalp for sure.)

How do you know "for sure"? Was the scrape as deep as the thickness
of the helmet? If not, wouldn't his head missed entirely whatever it
was that "scraped" the surface of the helmet?

Can't argue with THAT "logic"!

LOL ROTFL LOL

(Psst. Try falling sideways suddenly and unavoidably from 4-to-5 feet in
the air while suspended and moving forward, and magically STOP YOUR 12-POUND
HEAD A HALF-INCH FROM THE PAVEMENT. And then, KEEP IT THERE just off the
ground a few more seconds as your body mass settles. Good luck with that.)

Would not an old fashioned "hair net" work just as well to prevent
scalp abrasions as a CPSC, ANSI or Snell approved foam hat?

I expect my fleece cap with Gore Windbloc [TM] liner would be fairly
effective in preventing sliding abrasion scalp injuries.

--
Tom Sherman - Behind the Cheddar Curtain

Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman wrote:
Bill Sornson wrote:
wrote:
On Tue, 05 Sep 2006 17:28:45 GMT, "Bill Sornson"
wrote: {context???}

(And yes, he got a big wide scrape on his helmet; would
have lost some scalp for sure.)

How do you know "for sure"? Was the scrape as deep as the thickness
of the helmet? If not, wouldn't his head missed entirely whatever
it was that "scraped" the surface of the helmet?

Can't argue with THAT "logic"!

LOL ROTFL LOL

(Psst. Try falling sideways suddenly and unavoidably from 4-to-5
feet in the air while suspended and moving forward, and magically
STOP YOUR 12-POUND HEAD A HALF-INCH FROM THE PAVEMENT. And then,
KEEP IT THERE just off the ground a few more seconds as your body
mass settles. Good luck with that.)

Would not an old fashioned "hair net" work just as well to prevent
scalp abrasions as a CPSC, ANSI or Snell approved foam hat?

Possibly. However, if /my/ head bounces off and/or scrapes along a rough
road surface, then I'll take the hard-shell lid TYVM.

I expect my fleece cap with Gore Windbloc [TM] liner would be fairly
effective in preventing sliding abrasion scalp injuries.

Possibly so. I'd still prefer slightly more substantial protection.

"Paul Hobson" wrote in message
...

I stick to:
"Let's go, man"
"Watch it there, idiot"
"HEY HEY HEY HEYYYYY!!!"

I yell warnings, exhortations and praise.

Warnings are usually short, to get the motorist to look, and usually to get
the motorist to either stop or stay stopped. Simply "Bicycle!" is the most
common. "See me?!" or "Look!" is another one I use a fair bit. "Stay there!"
if they've already stopped. I also yell "Turning!" when coming down Madison
and then turning right, because I don't dare take my hands of the brakes for
a second because the hill is so steep.

Exhorations are to get them to move along:
At the green light: "All right! It's green!" If that fails to move them
along, I add, "Green means 'Go!'"
When the car in front of me needs to roll a bit so I can maintain momentum
without unclipping: "Keep on rolling, Toyota, thatta boy, keep on rolling"
When overly polite Seattle drivers are frozen into immobility at the sight
of a cyclist: "You have the right of way! Go!"

Praise is for doing the right thing. Usually it's just "good job!", although
sometimes I'll say, "good little car", too, if I'm feeling snide. "You got
it!" is for cars that passed me successfully, especially if they appeared
scared or hesitant to do so at first. A "there you go" is also for cars
doing the right thing.

Putting it all together: On the way to work, I need to stop people coming
from the Richard's Road off-ramp from whipping around the corner, illegally
taking a free right to the mall without stopping at the red. I've learned I
have to be smack dab in the lane (not Crosswalk of Death) so they'll notice
me at all, as they are still in Freeway Brain. I yell, in succession:
"BICYCLE! See me? STAY THERE. ...Good job!"

Last resort: Shriek of anticipated imminent pain. This happens
involuntarily, so it isn't like I plan to use it. It just sort of escapes.
It's when I'm convinced that something really awful is seconds away from
happening. Usually this blood-curdling cry is enough to stop a motorist in
his or her tracks.

--
Warm Regards,


Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

"Pat Lamb" wrote in message
...
The human voice: the ultimate alert device.

The other night I was heading home at dusk when I came upon a string of
8-10 Canada geese wandering across the road. There was almost no
traffic, and the geese were blocking three of five lanes, and heading
for my lane.

What to do? Hitting one would trump most squirrel stories, but I really
didn't want to do that. I've seen the geese in this area ignore car
horns, squealing tires, people shouting, etc.

After a few moments thought, I let out my best imitation dog howl. All
the geese looked at me. The lead goose eyed me suspiciously, as though
I didn't LOOK like a free-running dog, but decided to turn around
anyway. It slowly waddled back until it almost walked into goose #2,
who decided to turn around then, and the ripple effect was back to the
third and fourth geese before I passed them.

It was almost as much fun as yelling "beep-beep" at a couple kids last
week -- one of them asked me as I passed, "Do you have a horn on that
bike?"

Pat

I've used the dog barking technique with good results. There are some bike
paths around here with lots of feral cats that people feed. After having
hit two cats, the second time the cat hit me. It ran into my back tire
after my front tire had passed it. Now as soon as I start down that stretch
of path I start barking loud and continuously until I've cleared the area.
Works every time.

"Bill Sornson" wrote in message
...
Bob wrote:

I'm not a big fan of bells but they aren't dangerous. Dangerous is
riding in the door zone and relying on your reaction time, the caution
of parked motorists, and their reaction time when that caution fails.

Funny (not) you should mention that. My buddy Ken just got doored at the
end of our ride on Sunday afternoon. (Cops, paramedics, taped to board
like Gumby, E.R., whole works). Huge welt/bruise on front right chest;
arm and back jacked up. (And yes, he got a big wide scrape on his helmet;
would have lost some scalp for sure.) Picked him up later that evening;
he could barely move.

He ended up out in the middle of the road and couldn't get up; very lucky
no cars were coming up behind him.

I just missed seeing a dooring occuring in front of me (I was checking
traffic left and right at a four way stop and missed it). Surprisingly, the
guy was all right, just bruised. The top tube of the bike was badly bent and
had obviously taken a direct hit from the side of the car door. The car
door was jammed and would not close.

For those who ca he was wearing a helmet, but didn't remember hitting his
head and the helmet didn't show any impact damage.

Claire Petersky wrote:
"Paul Hobson" wrote in message
...

I stick to:
"Let's go, man"
"Watch it there, idiot"
"HEY HEY HEY HEYYYYY!!!"

I yell warnings, exhortations and praise.
[snip]
Praise is for doing the right thing. Usually it's just "good job!"... [snip]

No need for that in Atlanta

[snip]
Last resort: Shriek of anticipated imminent pain. This happens
involuntarily, so it isn't like I plan to use it. It just sort of escapes.
It's when I'm convinced that something really awful is seconds away from
happening. Usually this blood-curdling cry is enough to stop a motorist in
his or her tracks.

I'm not proud to say that the system gets hacked and the F-bombs get
dropped all over the world in that situation. The only time I feel it
was justified was when I car rubbed [1] my rear tire at ~23 mph with a
free lane to the left and then totally ignored me at the stoplight
further down. That baby-blue Caddy is lucky I left my U-lock on the
rack that day.

[1] "Rubbed" as in, "Rubbin' is racin', Cole."

\\paul
--
Paul M. Hobson
Georgia Institute of Technology
..:change the f to ph to reply:.

wrote:

Nothing throws a monkey wrench into a delivery
like hitting a door. Don't ride in the door zone,
rookies. At least, not with any speed.

I reckon you never earned any money with your bike, and you won't in a
large city with traffic congestion, not that I'm recomending it or
saying it's safe; it's just the way things got done. And like I said,
going through stopped traffic

wrote:
Nothing throws a monkey wrench into a delivery
like hitting a door. Don't ride in the door zone,
rookies. At least, not with any speed.

wrote:
I reckon you never earned any money with your bike, and you won't in a
large city with traffic congestion, not that I'm recomending it or
saying it's safe; it's just the way things got done. And like I said,
going through stopped traffic

You're new, huh?
\\paul