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When The Media Gets It Wrong

When Joy Covey, former Amazon.com CFO, was killed while riding her bike in California last week, the media once again began to admonish cyclists and remind us of how “dangerous” it is to ride a bike out on the road. Covey leaves an 8 year old son.

Several years ago, a friend was killed cycling coming down a hill toward her gym in North Carolina when a car backed out of a driveway and my friend hit the car – a situation very similar to that of Covey’s this past week.  My friend left a grieving husband and family.

In both instances, the driver was at fault; yet, there is no mention of the illegalities of an ill-timed left turn or the backing out instead of backing in-pulling out of the driveway as is the law in many states. No – it is always the cyclist who is somehow blamed – whether implicitly or explicitly – for the driver’s misdeeds.

An automobile is AT LEAST as lethal as a gun when in a “shoot-out” with a cyclist.  Yet, 99% of the time, the perpetrator gets a slap on the wrist or the minimum possible sentence.

It is time that the media follow the facts of the story and report it as it truly happened.  Admonish the driver(s), remind people that bicycles are legal vehicles, and especially, make the penalties for hitting and killing a cyclist harsh and automatic.

 

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Show #161 – September 21, 2013

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GUESTS: ENCORE PRESENTATION OF MY FIRST INTERVIEW ON WJCU WITH BEN SEROTTA & A QUICK INTERBIKE COMMENTARY

 

This week, Diane was away at Interbike, and the John Carroll football Blue Streaks are playing under the lights (which means we’re podcast-only today). So we thought this would be a good time to take a breath and reflect.

Just over three years ago, The Outspoken Cyclist began with Diane’s interview of Ben Serotta, who was at that time the CEO of Serotta Cycles. Ben was recently ousted by new ownership at Serotta, and he’s getting on with the next chapters in his life. This week we present an encore of that conversation, and get Diane’s brief first impression of this year’s Interbike.

Next week, we return with an all-new show, in on-air, web-stream, and podcast formats, featuring interviews captured at Interbike.

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Show #160 – September 14, 2013

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GUESTS: ADAM SOKOL, CHRISTIAN POLANCO, DEAN MASELLO, MAX BOYAJIAN, KRISTINA PINTO

I’ve always known that most cyclists are funny people. Some are actually humorous, while most are funny in the eccentric sense. But how many comedians are cyclists? As it turns out, at least four of them, and we lured them into the WJCU studios this week for an interview. Laugh Strong: Tour de Comedy is Adam Sokol, Christian Polanco, Dean Masello, and Max Boyajian, and they have biked 500 miles from Cincinnati to Cleveland, performing standup comedy in several cities along the way. They perform their final show on this tour at 8:00 p.m. tonight at SB Eighty One in the Cleveland suburb of Westlake, Ohio. 440-835-3559 for more information.

From the humorous to the more serious, Kristina Pinto joins us in the second half to talk about the book Fit & Healthy Pregnancy, which she co-authored with Rachel Kramer, MD. As you might gather by the title, the book is a resource for pregnant women on what to do (and not do) as far as fitness and exercise throughout pregnancy and immediately after childbirth. Rule #1 is no core exercises while lying on your back (such as situps). Now I ask you: even if you’re not pregnant (or not even a woman) why take chances? 😉

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Show #159 – September 7, 2013

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GUESTS: PAT HUS, CHRIS SMITH

 

New Year!  Happy New Year to all who celebrate and happy new year for The Outspoken Cyclist as we begin year #4 on air.

Having said that, we are not “on air” this week – we are #PodcastOnly – WJCU is broadcasting the first football game of the new school year.  So… you can pick this up early 5:30pm EDT instead of 6:30pm.

This week, we are speaking with Pat Hus, show director for Interbike.  Interbike is less two weeks away and a lot of new things are happening for 2013 including a new venue (Mandalay Bay) and the first, ever Consumer Day (Friday, September 20th).

I also have a conversation with Chris Smith – Lazer Sports PR “Helmeteer” (that’s like Mouseketeer without ears!)  Lazer has upped the ante at the wildly popular CrossVegas 2013 Races this year by matching the men’s purse for the Elite Women’s Race.  Lazer is a huge supporter of all types of riding – from grass roots to elite racing!

Enjoy the show!

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Show #158 – August 31, 2013

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GUESTS: CLARK SMELTZER; CHUCK MAHRON

Oh August, where did you go? You were here just a minute ago, and now you’re down to less than a day, and it’s time to welcome September. We’re racing towards the Autumnal Equinox, which means the beginning of Daylight Rationing Time™. So make sure your lights and reflective gear are a part of evening rides from here on out.

Part and parcel of fall is Cyclo-Cross, and the Providence Cyclo-Cross Festival (aka Holy Week) is coming up in early October. The festival will feature three days of racing, a massive consumer and industry expo, expanded food court, and fun for kids and families. Clark Smeltzer is on the show this week to tell you all about it.

Our second guest this week is Chuck Marohn, Founder and President of Strong Towns. Strong Towns is a “non-profit, non-partisan organization that helps America’s towns achieve financial strength and resiliency.” Chuck is one of a new wave of certified planners who sees that the municipal development models used over the past 50-60 years are both inefficient and inherently unsustainable from a financial standpoint. Strong Towns is educating and advocating for development practices that put people at the center of community development.

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Show #157 – August 24, 2013

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GUESTS: HERBIE HELM, CHRIS MILLS

 

Isn’t it funny how good form can sneak up on you? For those of us who don’t actively and purposefully train (I already have a job, thanks) at some point in the season, we realize we’re riding a mile or two per hour faster than usual without being winded. Or we ascend a tough climb in a slightly taller gear than before. I hope you’re finding some “accidental form” about now, and that you will enjoy longer and stronger rides in the cool days of autumn that lie ahead.

As we pedal towards those falling leaves, we have two great guests on The Outspoken Cyclist this week:

Herbie Helm is a Michigan-based framebuilder (but we won’t hold his home state against him) who learned the craft from none other than Doug Fattic. In addition to being the force behind Helm Cycles, Herbie participated in Doug’s Bike Project in Ukraine, which endeavors to build bikes for church pastors who typically can’t afford to own and operate a car in order to serve their congregants. Herbie has a great sense of the form and function of a bicycle, and Helm bikes feature uncommon elements like SON dynamo-specific dropouts and internal wiring for lights.

To helmet or not to helmet? If you leave your house on or with your bike, you probably don’t think twice about grabbing your helmet on the way out the door. But what if you’re hopping on a bike share bike for a one or two mile ride in the city? Unless Inspector Gadget is hanging out by the bike share dock, you’re probably riding lidless. Chris Mills has a better idea: Helmet Hub. It’s a solar-powered machine that will dispense a helmet that is designed to be returned after use, sanitized, inspected, and re-used. Boston’s bike share is rolling them out, and they may be popping up in other cities as well.

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Show #156 – August 17, 2013

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GUESTS: KAREN BLISS, JOANNE KIESANOWSKI, MEREDITH MILLER, INGA THOMPSON, AMBER PIERCE

 

This week’s Outspoken Cyclist is the culmination of many months of planning and plotting to bring together five women who are either current or former professional bike racers, for a panel discussion on their experiences and expectations racing in the shadow of their male counterparts. The ladies often race the same courses at virtually the same speeds as the men (minus the high-profile cheating) and yet there is an order of magnitude of difference in the pay and media coverage. Why is that, and what will it take to change it? Well, that and many other questions are the subject of a full hour with five very smart and talented women racers.

You can learn more about each of this week’s guests by following the links below:

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Show #155 – August 10, 2013

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GUESTS: DAVID EPSTEIN, ROB GREENFIELD, SEAN WEIDE

You know that feeling when the temperature is just right, and there’s enough of a breeze to cool you down, but not enough to impede forward progress, and your bike is shifting and riding with the silent precision of a Swiss watch, and your legs feel like they could turn the cranks at this rate indefinitely? Yeah, me too. Rarely. But just often enough to lure me out in case today is that day.

And now on to this week’s show:

If you’ve ever wondered why your buddy climbs so much faster than you, or can out sprint you, even though you train just as hard (or harder) David Epstein has your answer. It turns out that almost all athletic achievement is, to some extent, genetically predisposed. The way our bodies respond to training, food and drugs varies according to our DNA. Epstein’s new book, The Sports Gene is loaded with information about how our potential for different sports is determined, and how it’s realized.

Our second guest this week is not a competitive cyclist, but he handily walks away with the prize for most interesting and creative use of his time. Rob Greenfield has traveled far and wide on a shoestring (or less!). His latest adventure involved a 4700-mile ride across the U.S. on a bamboo bike while living off the grid. Rob’s tiny carbon footprint makes mine look like a Sasquatch by comparison.

Finally, the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah is happening now, and Diane caught up with Sean Weide, the press liaison for Team BMC, which is racing the ToU. Diane and Sean talk about racing in the U.S., drug-testing, and the consistent success that BMC’s riders have been having this year.

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Show #154 – August 3, 2013

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GUESTS: GEORGE THOMAS, SEAN PETTY

 

Here we stand at the intersection of July and August, and I can see the light in the opposite direction has gone from green to yellow, which means it’s time to get a foot clipped in and be ready to push off on green. It also means there are just two months left for U.S. cyclists to log miles for the National Bike Challenge. Rolling!

If you need a bit of inspiration to get you moving, here’s much more than a bit: George Thomas joins us this week for the first half of the show. George is a solo and team Race Across America finisher, director of the Race Across Oregon, and host and producer at Over the Top Productions. But his story is much deeper than those accomplishments. After being hit by a drunk driver, he had to learn how to walk again, and then overcome debilitating seizures before he could become an ultracycling legend.

After a break and a trip through the week’s news, Diane is joined by Sean Petty, Chief Operating Officer of USA Cycling, to talk about the USA Pro Challenge, which is coming up August 19-25 in Colorado. The 2013 Pro Challenge will feature top pro teams and riders, including, it appears, TdF winner Chris Froome and Richie Porte of Team Sky!

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Show #153 – July 27, 2013

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GUESTS: JANE GEISSE, GINNY SULLIVAN, CLIFF COLE

 

If you read the news at all, it’s easy to see that there’s no shortage of seemingly intractable problems in the world today. Read the news too much, and you might think there are no solutions to these problems. Ride a bike, and the world starts to look a little better, and its problems a little smaller. Listen to The Outspoken Cyclist, and discover how your fellow cyclists are taking on the world.

First up is Jane Geisse, a 60-year-old road and cyclocross racer from right here in NE Ohio. Jane has been racing for only 6 years, but has racked up an amazing set of palmares. She’s competing in the 2013 Senior Games, held in Cleveland this past week, and then it’s on to Nationals in Oregon. Proof that there is no expiration date on a motivated person!

After the news, Diane turns her attention to trains, specifically the ability to take your bike on an Amtrak train without taking it apart and boxing it up. Ginny Sullivan of Adventure Cycling and Cliff Cole of Amtrak both weigh in on the current state of efforts to make it easier to travel by train and bicycle. It turns out, slow but steady progress is being made.

And here’s a bonus tip I simply must share: Road ID has released a free smartphone app that will text up to five friends to let them know you’re headed out for a ride or run. It provides your friends with a live GPS tracking map to show your route and current location. There’s even an option that will alert them if you haven’t moved in five minutes (“dead in a ditch” as my wife likes to half-joke). Road ID calls these tracks “eCrumbs” (like a trail of bread crumbs, get it?). Besides the safety aspect, I can see this being very useful for cyclists trying to meet “on the road”. Check it out.