Commuter dude and bonus Flame

Date: Oct 25
Mileage: 13
Ride type: commute
Bike: LHT
Temp: 35/48 p.m.
October mileage: 135
Year to date: 1813

on the bike today for no-nonsense ride. sorta cold in a.m., but feet did well. base sock covered by Assos windsock covered by plastic baggie covered by wool sock inside of Lake sandal. toes movable and comfy. pretty good system. stayed late grading papers and on ride, ran across fit-looking dude commuting home. sorta interesting in that i could tell he upped the pace and maybe was trying to leave me, don't know. it's a weired psychological thing. me, if i see a commuter, i wanna be social. this guy instead tries to leave me. i'm really surprised he didn't put it on me on the hill, but we eventually met at a light. he apparently commutes very regularly to downtown and back to the Highlands, giving him abt 14m round trip. drives here-n-there to take clothing. his commuter mount was a Schwinn or Trek hybrid with a tinsy weensy rack trunk. he's never heard of Surly before, which is fine.

good to know other folks are out. we had some monster Dodge truck rev the engine to get around us. sorta funny. "damn, these damn pansy bikers tryin' to take up the damn road. oughtta run their pansy asses over.." no, he didn't say that but i'm play acting just for fun.

the "bonus Flame" involves the following exchange. it's found on the kycyclist listserve. the background is that someone last week had their bike run over when a local car dealership employee drove wrong way down a street, and the cyclist had to Abort/Abandon ship to not get hit. ran his cool Dutch city bike over. then, a lady riding on River Rd. admitedly a busy road not suitable for bikes anymore- doesn't take away her right- was run off the road by a moving truck. both times, the cops made NO effort to do ANYTHING. made me rant and rave on the listserve about this BS, and this douchebag (sorry talking like the teenyboppers) instead rails at me. maybe i'm on the wrong side of this "discussion", but in reading this further, i think this 'Tom' should grow some stones.

Does anyone have any, ANY, example of late of a helpful policeman/woman/cop
with respects to local cyclists? It seems every time there is an issue
between cyclists and cars, the local police are either indifferent or
entirely unsupportive. If a person tries to run you over, that's assault
and I thought we employed the police to protect us from assault. If a woman
claims her husband assaulted her, does the policeperson say "didn't see it.
can't do anything about it...". Do we ride packing in case we need to
employ "self-defense"? I'm certainly empathetic to the person who was
assaulted on RiverRd., and I wonder what it will take in this town to be
anything more than a lawless, redneck cowtown. Maybe hizzhonorforlife isn't
getting the job done and we need a change to something substantive instead
of promos and PR. Do I have to move to Minneapolis to ride in a
less-menacing town? I was in NYC last Thursday, and admist the chaos, cars
seemed more accustomed and less agressive to cyclists. There were ALL
agressive, but not menacing.

Tim
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006 18:33:44 -0400
From: "Tom Recktenwald"
Subject: Re: [kycyclist] Police support
To: "Kentucky Cycling List"
Message-ID:
<2368ad380610231533x1ddc0a41i1b1deefb867beccd@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed

Chill, Tim,
Go ahead and vote for Kelly Downard if you choose to. It sounds to me like
that is what your ranting is really all about. However, if you want to see
change come about, it won't happen by spewing venom. Those with authority
to make changes are human, too, and you won't put them in a frame of mind to
effect change by putting them on the defensive right off the bat. And as
for Minneapolis, if that's where you'd rather be than in this lawless,
redneck, cowtown, then by all means go...I doubt that you'll be missed all
that much. I can't help but wonder why you're still here.

Tom

Change happens when people take a stand and let their actions speak. They TAKE ACTION!, and don't sit around and hand-wring. I love the line "I doubt you'll be missed all that much. I can't help but wonder why you're still here." the fuck, and this guy's some kinda asset to the community? he's fucking Mr. Rudolph Guliani?

in some ways, i wish i'd been taking good stats over the last 2-3 yrs in Louisville about cycling conditions here. i've accused myself of being too touchy, but appearences point to more altercations, more bad press, less police presence, more strife. actually, on my own commute i have few problems, but on 'road rides' in the parks or elsewhere the populace is nasty, and these flop-artist roadies like 'Tom' don't seem to be doing shit...and he doubts i'll "be missed".

and in the creepy world of the 'Net, i found a couple links to Mr. Recktenwald. he seems to be the voice of a generation. Mr. Prudence.

http://www.fox41.com/article/view/4708/?tf=wdrbview.tpl
http://www.louisvillebicycleclub.org/may06/spotlight.htm
http://www.ceridian.com/corp/article/0,2868,12452-59356,00.html

Apparently, he must of made buck selling gift cards. i won't be missed even though i've taught Spanish, and taught damn well, to maybe 2000 kids in the course of my career- Ivy League kids, scholarship kids, future Spanish teachers, appreciative and compeltely non-appreciative kids, and he mastered the gift card. good for him.

"The international gift card market is about where the U.S. marketplace was five years ago, with one exception: they have the advantage of learning from the 'best practices' SVS developed in implementing gift card programs over the past nine years in North America," Tom Recktenwald, SVS International's executive vice president and general manager, said.

SVS and Recktenwald were pioneers in the launching of gift cards in the U.S. almost a decade ago.

i wish i'd known so i could've been nicer to the guy and not ruined his sensibilities. then he could've sent me a gift card and made my world a better place.

OK, time to drop it. tomorrow looking for big rain, so decisions to be had. i can't deny that 45 and raining is NOT the best cycling weather. i don't know the $250 gore-tex suit, and won't any time soon.