Cycle theft rampant

Some 199 cycle thefts are reported to the Danish police every day with only very few of the thieves being caught. In 2010, only 277 sentences were handed down, a mere 0.39 per cent of the 71,928 thefts.

Overall, a survey of bicycle thefts from 2007 to 2010 shows that a bicycle is stolen every eight minutes in Denmark, not including the thefts that are not reported to the police authorities.

“Bicycle thieves have an open road. There’s no point in reporting it to the police,” says Bicycle Association Communications Chief Frits Bredal, who says sentences should be much heavier for cycle theft, particularly those carried out by organised crime.

“The percentage of those caught is not good enough. There’s no doubt that it could be better,” says Insurance and Pension Trade Organisation Consultant Riccardo Krogh Pescatori.

In particular Pescatori is looking for a more targeted approach to organised crime bicycle thieves who are often foreign gangs who take stolen bikes across borders to sell them on.

According to the organisation some 63,587 cycle thefts were claimed from insurance companies last year, with average compensation at DKK3,902 per bicycle or in all some DKK248 million in 2011.

Source: Politiken.dk

Happy Earth Day !

Citing security concerns that bikes might be secret pipe bombs, NYPD officers clipped the locks of hundreds of bikes along Houston Street this morning in preparation for President Obama's speech at Cooper Union. The bikes were unceremoniously put in the back of the truck. There was no prior notification of the bikes needing to be cleared along the route by NYPD and onlookers were not given information as to what would become of the bikes. Happy Earth Day!

It seems that the President is no longer your new bicycle, but NYPD's overzealous response to his visit is your reason for needing to get one.

Source: thisisfyf.com

Man Gets 120 Days for Shooting Cyclist in the Head

This is downright infuriating. Perhaps you recall this story: while driving down the road one day, Charles Diaz grew upset at seeing a man riding his bike on a busy street with his 3 year-old son. So he shot him in the head. Thankfully, the bullet narrowly missed his skull, instead getting lodged in the cyclists' helmet. Well, Diaz has just been sentenced for admitting to nearly murdering a man by firing a gun towards his head--and he's received a paltry 4 months in jail.

That's right. 120 days. For coming as close to killing someone in cold blood as you possibly can without actually doing so.

WTF...!!! to read more click here

Source: treehugger.com

Cycling the world at 74

Not many people would swop a night's sleep in a regular bed for a snooze on grass on the side of the road in Woodlands.

Yet a 74-year-old cyclist from Italy is happy to do so.

Meet sprightly Janusz Rivers, who has been cycling solo around the world for the past nine years, getting by on the equivalent of $5 a day and sleeping rough. All this at an age when most people are sitting out their golden years in a comfy chair, not on a tiny leather saddle.

The intrepid (some would say eccentric) bachelor is visiting Singapore for the first time, having flown here from Poland on Tuesday. He is here to start the South-east Asian leg of his seemingly never-ending journey.

He aims to cycle across the Causeway, cover the whole of Malaysia and southern Thailand before returning in April for a month's rest. He will then fly to Papua New Guinea to cycle there and on through Timor Leste, before flying to Australia in early 2011.

Rivers, a retired sports manager, is being put up here by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports at the Singapore Sports School in Woodlands. Despite having a comfortable room to stay in, he reveals that he left it at midnight on Wednesday to sleep on a patch of grass he had found by the road.

"I always sleep in the open. It's quiet and natural," explains this self-described "citizen of the world" who has no home base.

Rivers hails from Poland originally but moved to Rome in 1979 until the call of the road hit on Dec 31, 1999, and he began his journey. He tours an area for about five months, rests for a month or so in one country he chooses as a base, and then continues.

He claims to have travelled to 115 countries, been kidnapped 30 times and survived a potentially deadly snake bite. What's more, he has made his epic journey on the same US$50 bike he bought when he first set out. The frame is original, but the tyres and gears are changed yearly.

Amazingly, he has not had a single puncture. He credits this to his German puncture-proof tyres, which he changes twice every six months.

Unlike some adventurers, Rivers is not undertaking his journey to raise money for charity or draw attention to himself. He says he is financially comfortable and is doing this just to stay active.

Speaking to Life! at the Singapore Sports School, he recalls the fateful New Year's Eve when he decided he wanted a change in life. "I was sitting at home, eating macaroni and sipping Italian wine, when I thought, 'I'm getting old. What can I do with my life?' "

The next day, he bought a cheap bicycle and jumped on a ferry bound for Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. He says the decision was easy because he is not married and has no children.

From Lanzarote, he went back to Europe and cycled north to Norway in five months. It marked the beginning of his love affair with the open road that he says has taken him 125,000km across the world. He reckons it is the best way to see the world.

Each day, he aims to travel 30km. Every country he visits, he ensures that he has the sanction of the local government. He obtains this by either faxing or calling ahead, and the government usually provides his accommodation and food.

He sticks to the backroads so that he can interact with locals.While traversing the desert in Egypt, he says the local tribes would follow him on their camels to give him food and water. He says he has encountered generosity everywhere, and claims it is almost impossible to spend any money. This is just as well, as his prize possessions on the road consist only of an Italian coffee maker and a small radio.

He names Cuba as his favourite country so far, where he says he was the first tourist to cycle around the island without a police escort.

Rivers' world tour was scheduled to finish at the Beijing Olympics last year, but after taking a fitness test at the Russian space centre and finding that his heart and lungs are strong, he has set his sights on the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.

Then he plans to stay in a South American village for the rest of his days. But for now, when asked why he keeps on cycling, he says: "I don't want to be found dead in front of the TV."

Source: The Straits Times/By Christian Seiersen

Royal Mail's one-man competitor

As biblical levels of rain pour down on Plymouth's streets, Ken Holder still manages to have a smile on his soaked face as he cycles though the deluge with a heavy rucksack of post on his back.

He's been working since 7.30 in the morning, and won't stop until 7.30 at night, riding up and down the Devon city's notoriously steep roads collecting and delivering mail.

And while Royal Mail workers are beginning a two-day nationwide strike, Mr Holder, 39, will definitely still be working.

This is because Mr Holder is one of Royal Mail's 29 competitors, and with just one member of staff - himself - he is its smallest rival.

There is only one problem for firms or individuals thinking of switching from the Royal Mail to his services - his company, City Centre Curriers, currently only collects and delivers across three Plymouth postcodes.

In business as a courier since September of last year, Mr Holder has been in competition with the Royal Mail since March, when he was awarded a licence by postal service regulator Postcomm.

The way this works is that anyone can set themselves up as a courier firm to deliver parcels, but if you wish to deliver standard letters - those weighing 350 grams or less - you need a postal licence from Postcomm.

Armed with his licence, Mr Holder now collects, sorts and delivers 200 letters per day on average, compared with the Royal Mail's 95 million items.

But while Mr Holder is currently not likely to be giving Royal Mail bosses sleepless nights, he does have plans to grow the business.

'Word of mouth'

"Applying for a license was surprisingly easy," he says. "The application fee was only £50, and it didn't take much longer than a month.

"The license is UK-wide, but as the business is essentially just me and my bike, I don't have the legs - or the time - to deliver outside of Plymouth."

Mr Holder now collects and delivers the local mail for 12 companies in Plymouth, ranging from solicitors to estate and travel agents, and a roofing firm.

For standard-sized letters he charges 32 pence for guaranteed next day delivery, which compares with 39p for a first class stamp with the Royal Mail.

"Business is growing slowly through word of mouth," he says. "And enquiries have certainly grown in recent weeks as more and more companies are concerned about the Royal Mail strike action."

Environmentally friendly

Back in Plymouth, Mr Holder admits he does get tired.

"It's a great job for me, as I have always been an avid cyclist, but I am shattered at the end of the week - I'm cycling 250 miles each five days, and burning 15,000 calories more than a normal person," he says.

"The bonus is that I can eat pretty much what I want."

To help ease the workload, Mr Holder now employs a student one afternoon a week to help with the collections, and his longer term plan is to consider franchising the business in other cities.

"Some people have told me I should buy a van, but I think a large part of the attraction for customers is that it is just me and my bike - it's as environmentally friendly as possible.

"I'm currently earning between £60 and £70 per day, which isn't a lot, but it is still early days.

"There is the odd day I question my sanity, but I really believe the business has a lot of potential, especially as more firms explore alternatives to the Royal Mail."

Source: BBC News by Will Smale/ Plymouth

One angry biker..

Source: reddit

Old bicycles, new journeys: Village children find it fun to ride to school

MUMBAI: In 2007, the Institute of Information Technology's security officer Vijay Kumar came up with the idea of auctioning the bikes to campus residents and putting the proceeds in the staff welfare fund. Around 150 bicycles then went under the hammer, though there were many more that had to go back to the parking lot near the main gate. But now that IIT-B has heard about the Bicycle Project, there's no looking back. "Henceforth, all bicycles will be donated to the project,'' says dean (planning) K V K Rao. Indeed, students will now be actively encouraged to leave behind their set of wheels.

Three weeks ago, after taking charge of the bikes, Hemant Chhabra and his small team of do-it-yourself heroes who run the Bicycle Project, assessed this as the "largest lot ever received''. "Close to 200 bikes had to be scrapped but the rest will be jazzed up once financial resources are raised,'' says Chhabra. "In fact the money from the scrap sale was used to refurbish 118 bikes earlier procured from various donors.'' Chhabra now needs to raise about Rs 2 lakh for the makeover of the IIT bikes.

At the project's cycle workshop at Jhadpoli, 120 km from Mumbai, tubes, tyres and seats are replaced, and bruised and battered frames are worked on till they shine as good as new. Italian artist Diana Linda, who joined the project recently, gives them an aesthetic finishing touch with exuberant colours.

To date, 300 bicycles have been given to children studying in schools in Wada, Alonde and Dahanu under the project that began in 2008. And most students have stopped missing school thanks to their new vehicles. Old boys of IIT-B used to write bicycle diaries on their expeditions around the then undeveloped Powai. Soon the new owners of the same bikes will have their own tales to tell.

What is the Bicycle Project?

This one-year-old venture has sped along changing lives. Second-hand bicycles are collected, sexed-up and given a new lease of life. They are then donated to school-going boys and girls in rural India. Under Phase I, this project is helping children residing in the villages of Thappar Pada, Wada and Vikramgarh. The Hideout, about 120 kilometres from Mumbai, is where all the action takes place-this is where the bikes are refurbished and distribution to the children. The Bicycle Project team has a modest aim of reaching out to students in SSC schools in Alonde, Vikramgarh taluka, Wada, Jowhar, Mokhada and Dahanu. Once all needy students from these regions receive a bicycle each, the project will move on to other villages and so on. Bicycle donors can even visit students who benefit from their old steeds. To donate a bicycle call Hemant Chhabra on: 9820149022

Source: Times of India/ photo from Pratham Books

Second man dies in Wednesday bicycle crashes

A Lowell man died Thursday of head injuries he sustained in a bicycle accident Wednesday in that city, authorities said. He is the second Massachusetts man to die after being hit by a car while cycling that day.

Aaron B. Shickman, 41, was struck on his bike by a sport utility vehicle on Middlesex Street. He was not wearing a helmet, Lowell Police said.

An 18-year-old Lowell woman driving a 1999 Ford Explorer hit him near the intersection with Pawtucket Street at about 1:35 p.m.

About three hours earlier in Marshfield, a 69-year-old Marshfield man was killed when a sedan struck him while he was crossing Dyke Road on his bike. Authorities today identified the victim as Richard Campbell.

A woman in her 20s struck Campbell, who was not wearing a helmet, near Green Harbor Marina, police said.

Neither of the drivers' names in the two incidents has been released because police are still investigating. Charges have not been filed in either incident.

Source: The Boston Globe-MetroDesk by Jack Nicas/ photo from cyclelicio.us

Few options for victim of bicycle hit-'n'-run

MONTREAL – When a cyclist skidded into Léna Chabot while she was walking on Mount Royal, leaving her with cracked ribs, bruises and cuts in the shape of a bicycle chain, she was incredulous. She also soon discovered that as a victim of such an incident, she is nearly powerless.

“He said, ‘I’m sorry,’ ” Chabot, 26, recalled of being crashed into from behind on Aug. 3 on a crowded Olmstead Rd., the wide, gravel path that curves up the mountain.

“I was hysterical. I was screaming at him, saying, ‘You were going way too fast. You could have killed me.’ He was bleeding a bit, but he didn’t get hit by the bike like I did.”

The cyclist, who was sporting an iPod, wouldn’t give Chabot his name. “He was gone in about two minutes.”

In a city where cyclists and pedestrians are crossing paths more and more, Chabot was shocked to discover she couldn’t even ask police to look for the cyclist as a hit-and-run offender as they would had a motorist hit her.

That’s because while those helming cars, motorcycles mopeds, boats and planes are covered in the federal Criminal Code section dealing with hit-and-runs, cyclists are not.

“It added insult to injury,” said Chabot, a law-school graduate who plans to specialize in civil or commercial law.

“I’m not that badly hurt. What if someone is really badly hurt by a cyclist?” she said. “It’s very hard to pursue a cyclist for civil damages since he’s not obliged to stay at the scene of an accident.”

In an Aug. 10 letter to federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, Chabot asked: “What message is sent out to negligent cyclists with no empathy?” Sections 249 and 252 of the Criminal Code should be amended to include bicycles, Chabot suggested to the minister.

On Friday, an aide to Nicholson said an answer to Chabot hadn’t been formulated yet.

But Montreal police Constable Nathalie Valois, of the traffic and road safety division, said changing the federal hit-and-run law would be “almost useless,” since bicycles aren’t required to have licences, and fleeing cyclists aren’t as easy to spot as cars.

Police don’t even keep track of how many pedestrians are hit by cyclists, she noted.

“We take it down as an incident,” Valois said. “It’s like if a person hit their head while rollerskating. These events are in a big category labelled ‘Other.’ They’re accidents.”

If the Chabot collision had occurred on a street, police might have gone after the cyclist using the Quebec Highway Safety Code, Valois said. Article 327 forbids any speeding likely to imperil someone’s life or safety. That offence could result in a $300 fine and four demerit points.

Of course, that’s only if cops could apprehend the cyclist.

Pedestrians hit by bicycles are also out of luck if they seek victim compensation.

“We only compensate victims of accidents with vehicles that require a licence and registration,” said Audrey Chaput, spokesperson for the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec. That excludes bicycles, all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles and electric bicycles, some of which look like mopeds and can weigh 100 kilograms, yet can only go as fast as 32 kilometres per hour.

Claude Fabien, 66, a recently-retired Université de Montréal law professor, said it’s time the SAAQ considered compensation for pedestrians and cyclists who are hit by bicycles.

“The paradox is that cyclists and pedestrians hit by motor vehicles can get compensated, but if they are hit by a bicycle, they get zero.”

On the de Maisonneuve Blvd. bicycle path Friday, pedestrians and cyclists alike said that sharing the roadway is less about any law than about common decency.

“I’m stressed just heading up to Sherbrooke St.,” said Alexia Maschowsky, 25, as she rode a Bixi rental bicycle. “Drivers just don’t care and they drive so close they push cyclists to the side. Sometimes I have no choice but to ride on the sidewalk.”

Jackie, a pedestrian in her 40s who would only give her first name, said stiffer laws aren’t the answer.

“It’s more about being aware of what you’re doing and looking both ways. Just be conscious.”

Source: The Montreal Gazzette- by Max Harrold

Astana fined for late sign-in before stage 3

Lance Armstrong's Astana team was fined on Monday after failing to sign on within the specified time at the start of the third stage of the Tour de France.

Heavy traffic in Marseille city centre meant Astana broke the organizers' rule that teams must register for the stage at least 20 minutes before the start of the race.

The Kazakhstan-backed cycling team have been fined 65 euros for the infringement.

"How typical that this team were late. It is disrespectful to the public who came here just to see Armstrong," said race director Jean-Francois Pescheux.

"The money makes no difference to them.

"We will ask the UCI to make the fines harder."

Before the start, Armstrong was seen sharing a cup of coffee with actor Ben Stiller, who was visiting the Tour's VIP area on Monday morning.

Armstrong had a cameo role in the 2004 movie Dodgeball in which Stiller starred. It wasn't clear whether the coffee stop contributed to the delay in signing in.

Source: Velo News/ photo from supertouchart.com

This is how time & money can be wasted through cycling!

By tomorrow, a personal instructor wearing a diaper could become the first person in Malaysia to cycle nonstop on a gym bike for 48 hours.

Wong Wai Hoong, 31, is only allowed a 15-minute break every three hours. Therefore, he requires the added support of a diaper in case he needs to relieve himself during his attempt to cycle into the Malaysia Book of Records.

The freelancer is eager to prove his mettle to inspire Malaysian youth.

"They must pursue their dreams," he said before starting on his feat at the SynarGym at Kuala Lumpur Sentral at 10am yesterday.

The event is organised by SynarGym Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad.

Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Razali Ibra-him, who flagged off the cyclist, urged the media to cover positive aspects of Malaysian sports like Wong's trail-blazing attempt. He said the media needed to help instil confidence in the country's competing sportsmen.

Mattouring: Hmm..cheap publicity stunt..SIMPLY RIDICULOUS!

Source: NST Online

Kohl tells all about doping

Former Gerolsteiner rider and Tour de France podium finisher Bernhard Kohl is now an open book on doping practices in the peloton after he was caught for blood booster EPO-CERA in August last year and recently announced his retirement from the sport. In an exclusive interview with L'Equipe, the Austrian detailed how he "prepared" himself for last year's Tour and received blood transfusions from his manager during the event.

As he had already confessed earlier, Kohl had two litres of his own blood available for re-injection at the Tour, of which he used 1.5 litres. "Nothing else," he said. "Too many surprise controls. No testosterone patch, nothing, except caffeine, pseudo-ephedrine and some analgesics. EPO, growth hormone, insulin - I took that before [the Tour], not during the race."

The blood transfusions took place in the evenings at the team hotels. Kohl's manager, Stefan Matschiner, flew to France three times during the Tour to meet the cyclist and provide him with a pouch of 0.5 litres of blood. "He sent me an SMS: 'You can come to my room'. I disappeared for 20 minutes, nothing more. Nobody noticed anything," Kohl stated.

The rider continued by saying that the anti-doping controls taking place at 7AM on the mountain stages could be outsmarted. "By re-injecting half a litre of blood, the blood parameters are not subject to suspect variation. My manager also injected me with albumin to dilute my hematocrit. Moreover, I always practiced the transfusions 48 hours before the decisive stages: you're not at the top on the next day, you have to wait two days for the effects to be felt."

The International Cycling Union 's (UCI) biological passport failed prevent Kohl from practicing blood doping on a regular basis during his career, he said. "The top riders are so professional in their doping that they know very well they have to keep their blood values stable not to be detected. The UCI sent us the values resulting from the controls: we thus referred to those to mark the next ones. In a way, the passport almost helped us."

As to his positive control for third-generation EPO, CERA, Kohl did not know why it was him who tested positive - along with teammate Stefan Schumacher and Riccardo Riccò - and not other Tour de France riders.

"Everybody in the cycling scene was convinced that this EPO was not detectable. Many more riders had taken it. Oddly enough, we were only three to fall. I am convinced that the top ten could have been positive," the Austrian said. "It just happened to be me, tough luck. I didn't ask for a counter-analysis: this masquerade was over."

Kohl also pointed at the omertà within the peloton, giving the impression that everybody knows about doping. "I did not cheat anyone in the peloton, be sure of that. When I was a young rider and did not win anything, I didn't take the costly products because I didn't have the money. I knew what the 'big ones' took, but that's just how it was. There is like a social organisation within the peloton, these things are accepted. The guys appreciate and respect the efforts of others without taking doping into account."

The young Austrian became a 'big one' and could afford top level performance-enhancing products and methods like CERA and autologous blood transfusion. After admitting to doping, Kohl is now collaborating with Austrian police and anti-doping authorities, and wants to do the same on an international level with the UCI and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). He does not think of a comeback.

"I know the rules in the scene: those who really speak out do not come back. Therefore, I move on to something else, without regrets."

Source: cyclingnews.com/ photo from guardian.co.uk

Penal Tour de France pedals off

Nearly 200 French prisoners are preparing to take to their bikes in the first ever penal Tour de France.

The 194 inmates, escorted by 124 prison guards and sports instructors, will set off from Lille and cycle about 2,400km (1,500 miles), ending up in Paris.

They will have to cycle in a pack, will not be ranked and, for obvious reasons, breakaway sprints will not be allowed.

Prison authorities say they hope the race will help the inmates learn values such as team work and self esteem.

The prisoners, all serving jail terms of between five and 10 years, will make stopovers in 17 different towns, each of which has a jail.

"It's a kind of escape for us, a chance to break away from the daily reality of prison," said a prisoner identified as Daniel at the project's launch in May.

"If we behave well, we might be able to get released earlier, on probation," he said.

Prison official Sylvie Marion said the project aims to help the prisoners "reintegrate into society by fostering values like effort, teamwork and self-esteem".

"We want to show them that with some training, you can achieve your goals and start a new life," Reuters quoted her as saying.

Source: BBC News/Europe

Tyre sabotage brings race to halt

Police are investigating after carpet tacks were spread across roads bringing a major cycle race to a halt.

More than 3,500 people were taking part in the Etape Caledonia, over 81 miles around Pitlochry in Perthshire.

It is the only cycle event in Britain where all the roads travelled on are closed - which has angered some locals.

Tacks were strewn on a section of the race, bursting hundreds of tyres. Police said it was a reckless act and it was fortunate no-one was hurt.

Cyclists ended up with damaged tyres and the event had to be stopped but organisers cleared the road and the race was completed.

The winner Veli-Matti Raikkonen - who is originally from Finland and is a member of Aberdeen's Granite City racing team - was one of those who suffered a puncture after riding over the tacks.

A spokeswoman for the race said organisers were now working with Tayside Police to discover what had happened.

The event has been running for several years and has developed into the Perthshire Cycling Festival, but has brought protests over the disruption caused by the three-hour Etape Caledonia.

Some campaigners are angry because they believe their freedom of movement is being restricted, visitors may be put off coming to the area, affecting tourism and business, and locals could be prevented from getting to church.

Peter Hounam, from the Anti Closed Road Event (Acre) group, said: "Acre is against the closure of roads for cycle events in our area, we do not object to cyclists or people taking part in events.

"We totally deplore anyone taking direct action and we want people to have peaceful protests.

"We don't condone what has happened, but it shows there is real frustration from people who feel the authorities are not listening to them."

He said the event discouraged tourists because of the road closures and that it did not bring the kind of sustainable tourism needed in Perthshire, as many of the participants only stayed overnight.

But Kathy James, who runs a bed and breakfast in Aberfeldy, said the race brings millions of pounds to the area.

She told BBC Scotland: "What they've done is they've spread, from Rannoch down to us, tiny, tiny carpet tacks - I've got one - they've just spread the road with them.

"There's a chap outside who came off his bike, there's been a lot of people coming off their bikes and basically they had to stop the race further up.

"This area relies on tourism, it disgusts me as a local, I just think there's no logic behind it."

Source: BBC News/UK

My cycling helmet saved my life

Have you ever watched those all-action police video clips, the ones where drug squad officers sprint up the garden path of some unsuspecting dealer's house and smash down the front door brandishing a sturdy, hand-held battering ram? Last year, I pioneered a new, if slightly unorthodox, "battering ram" technique of my own which may well be of interest to police training officers everywhere. The ram I employed was a tool that proved robust, powerful and effective: my head.

I wasn't on a police raid at the time, although my actions did prompt a 999 call to the emergency services. And my head didn't actually ram a door. Instead, I used it to butt the front wheel of a car, parked in a street near my home.

I feel extremely fortunate to have escaped serious injury, or even death. The precise circumstances of my tumble are now a little hazy, but one recollection remains crystal clear. The nurses and doctors who treated me each asked me the same simple question: "Were you wearing a helmet?"

If my ordeal, which left me nursing strained shoulder ligaments, torn muscles and a bruised ego, has convinced me of one fact alone, it is surely that my cycling helmet saved my life.

And yet many cyclists, free to choose whether or not to wear protective headgear, choose not to. According to the Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation, the average cyclist would have to pedal for more than 3,000 years to suffer a serious head injury – and yet some 150 cyclists a year die in accidents.

However, cyclists may soon be compelled to strap on a helmet before setting off. Last week, a High Court judge ruled that cyclists who fail to wear one should receive up to 15 per cent less compensation for injuries resulting from accidents in which the helmet could have made a difference.

The ruling, by Mr Justice Griffith Williams, came in a case brought by 29-year-old Robert Smith who sustained a serious brain injury when he was knocked off his bike by a speeding motorcyclist in Brightlingsea, Essex, in 2005. Because of the speed of this particular collision, however, the motorcyclist was held fully liable. But the judge ruled: "There can be no doubt that the failure to wear a helmet may expose the cyclist to risk of greater injury."

What continues to amaze me is how few cyclists wear a crash helmet. The day after my accident, my daughter, Rosie, who is 13, counted 50 cyclists on her way home from school: "I saw 26 not wearing helmets – that's crazy!"

Excuses not to wear a helmet range from youngsters who protest "It doesn't look cool", to one of my Telegraph colleagues who said: "I never wear one because I get cold ears if I do".

Last year, Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London and a renowned cyclist, wrote in this newspaper about his only serious cycling accident in almost a decade of pedalling around the city. He was "negotiating Knightsbridge with extreme caution when a French tourist walked across the road without looking (you could tell he was French by the noise he made on impact)"; Johnson sustained a sprained wrist. A helmet – or, an "undignified plastic hat", as he described it – would have made no difference. "If I'd had a foghorn, it might have come in handy, or possibly a cow-catcher fitted to the front of my bike. But a helmet?"

Helmet-dodgers are always quick with their excuses. They were even given a licence not to buckle up in 2006 when traffic research from the University of Bath suggested that wearing protective headgear could put cyclists at an advantage. In surveys, drivers tended to give those they perceived to be "unsafe" cyclists – those wearing helmets – a wider berth.

However, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents insists that, in an accident, helmets do help protect against injuries. Peter Hutchinson, honorary consultant neurosurgeon at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, who regularly operates on cyclists with brain injuries, said: "Helmets act as a cushion and protect the skull. Common sense would dictate therefore that it reduces the risk to the underlying brain. If you're not wearing a helmet, there's an increased chance of fracturing your skull and causing a brain injury. If you are wearing one, then the helmet will fracture and protect the skull. It's better to have a fractured helmet than a fractured skull."

Source: telegraph.co.uk/ health

Lance Armstrong won't face sanctions

No sanctions against Armstrong: France's anti-doping agency said Friday it will not seek sanctions against Lance Armstrong over a dispute with a drug tester.

At issue was a 20-minute delay when Armstrong said a drug tester who showed up March 17 to collect blood, urine and hair samples agreed to let him shower while the American rider's assistants checked the tester's credentials.

"Just got the word from the French agency AFLD on the shower gate incident," the seven-time Tour de France winner wrote on Twitter. "Case closed, no penalty, all samples clean. Onward."

Source: The Seattle Times/ photo from telegraph.co.uk

Cycling shows slow beauty of nature

These times require "green life innovation," and reinventing carbon-free bicycles as a main means of transportation is our given task, President Lee Myung-bak said in his bi-weekly radio address on Monday (Apr. 20).

Bicycles fall down when they move too slowly, and likewise we should prepare for a "bicycle era" before it gets too late, the President said.

"By 2012 when the restoration of four rivers – the Han, Geum, Yeongsan and Nakdong Rivers - is complete, bike paths totaling a length of 2,000 kilometers will be set up. Somebody living in Mokpo [in South Jeolla Province] will be able to reach Seoul by bicycle, running along the Yeongsan and Geum Rivers. Another person living in Seoul can reach Busan [South Gyeongsang Province] via the Han and Nakdong Rivers," he said.

He also said that major bike arteries connecting all major provinces will also be connected to the feeder roads of every town and village.

Bicycle tours will show people "the beauty of slowness," which cannot possibly be sensed from inside rushing cars, Lee said. When comparatively less developed towns utilize their resources and provide bicycle riders with attractive spots to rest or stay, it will contribute a great deal to the development of the regional economy, he added.

He regretted that Korea currently imports over 2 million bicycles from China, the Netherlands and Canada, and suggested the country develop core technologies for bicycle manufacturing.

Instead of falling down, bicycles go straight ahead when their riders pedal fast, Lee said. "I hope everyone will have a great start to the week with hope-filled pedaling," he added.

Source: korea.net

Not again Tyler!!

United States cycling star Tyler Hamilton says he is definitely retiring from the sport after testing positive for banned substances for a second time. The 38-year-old admitted using an anti-depressant which contained the steroid DHEA. He was banned for two years in 2004 after an illegal blood transfusion and says he could not face having to sit out another ban.

Hamilton's top years were 2003 and 2004. In 2003, he won races including the Liège-Bastogne-Liège and, in 2004, came fourth in the Tour de France. He went on to win gold in the time trial at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

Source: Radio Netherlands Worlwide/ photo by Matt Benassi

Bicycle Recall

RECALLED HL HHANDLEBAR, MODEL NO. ALR-13 NTFOV

About 14,000 Specialized 2009 model bicycles, made in China and imported by Specialized Bicycle Components Inc., of Morgan Hill, Calif., because the handlebars can break, posing a fall hazard to the rider. The company has received two reports of the handlebar breaking during use.

This includes one instance of a rider suffering head trauma which resulted in unconsciousness and a puncture wound to the arm. This recall involves HL handlebars on these 2009 Specialized bicycles: Cross Trail Comp, Myka HT Comp, Myka HT Elite, Rockhopper, Rockhopper Comp and Rockhopper Comp 29. The model number of the HL handlebar is ALR-13 NTFOV. The recalled products were sold at authorized dealers nationwide from June 2008 through February this year.

RECALLED SPECIALIZED BICYCLES WITH HL HANDLEBARS, MODEL NO. ALR-13 NTFOV

About 3,000 Roubaix Comp and Roubaix Pro 2004 bicycles, made in Taiwan and imported by Specialized Bicycle Components Inc., of Morgan Hill, Calif., because the cable stop on the bicycle can loosen, which can cause the rider to lose control and fall from the bike. The company received reports of two falls that resulted in fractures requiring medical attention and surgery.

The recalled bicycles include: 2004 Roubaix Comp 18; 2004 Roubaix Comp 27; 2004 Roubaix Pro 18; and 2004 Roubaix Pro frameset models. Only bicycles with a single rivet fastening the cable stop to the frame are subject to recall. The recalled products were sold at Specialized authorized dealers nationwide from September 2003 through August 2004.

2004 ROUBAIX PRO

SINGLE RIVET CABLE STOP IS RECALLED

CPSC is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Please tell us about it by clicking here.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Specialized toll-free at (877) 808-8154 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. MT Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s Web site at www.specialized.com

Source : AP & CPSC

See the world on a bicycle

AFTER 11 years, 78 tyre changes and travelling across 144,000 km on the same bicycle, intrepid Daisuke Nakanishi has criss-crossed 123 countries, with Singapore being his 124th stop.

The 39-year-old cyclist enthusiast from Osaka, Japan, decided to embark on this trip when he was just 20 as he had a great desire to explore the world and meet new people.

The economics graduate worked for six years and saved up about S$75,000 before starting on his world tour.

During his experience, he has encountered hyenas in South Africa, thieves in Brazil and even a biking accident in India. South America is his favourite place so far.

He said: 'The people there are very friendly and open. During my time in Chile, a family even let me put up at their place.' He eventually picked up Spanish during his stay there and even had the privilege of being given honorary citizenships in countries such as Venezuela and Peru.

During his trip, he also had the opportunity to meet famous figures like football star Pele, former US President Jimmy Carter and the current Nepalese President.

Daisuke prefers to travel alone as it gives him more freedom and control over his journey. He let on that he has only felt lonely once in the 11 years. He keeps in constant contact with his parents and his older brother via email whenever he is able to gain access to the internet.

His journey will come to an end this year as he has decided to go home by then.

Daisuke left Singapore on Tuesday afternoon for Indonesia.

To find out more about his travel experiences, you can visit Daisuke's website at www.daisukebike.be

Source: The Straits Times