Innehållsförteckning för June 2017 från Bicycling

RIDE JOIN THE ENOUGH! Drivers need to stop killing us. It’s hard to stomach those words in print, but the reality is that distracted and hostile drivers threaten our freedom to ride. It’s a b ig enough problem that 5,325 of you shared personal stories of fear and frustration in our recent survey on cycling safety (P. 38). Among the startling revelations: THOUSANDS of you have been hit by a driver—or personally know another cyclist who was killed. LET THAT SINK IN. Even more troubling, the law is of ten soft on motorists while the media and public sent iment are HARD ON CYCLISTS.. The accounts of tragedy and injustice starting on PAGE 40 should motivate you to FIGHT FOR CHANGE. Three ways to get started: 1. Don’t just brush off hostile or distracted…

In January 2016, while on a training ride with his Giant- Alpecin team, cycling star John Degenkolb and five of his teammates were hit by a car. The news shocked the cycling world. Many of us have had a close call on home roads, but this was a group of seasoned professionals. Weren’t these riders immune to the challenges faced by the everyday cyclist? The harsh truth of Degenkolb’s crash, which kept him off his bike for a significant part of that season, is that pros and amateurs alike face the same vulnerabilities and hazards. Every one of us must take measures to avoid them. At the time of Degenkolb’s crash, Trek was focusing its efforts on teaching cyclists how to enhance their visibility with the ABCs of Awareness. The…

INSIGHTS, IDEAS, AND INSPIRATION FROM ALL KINDS OF RIDERS When I was a university student, there was nothing I wanted to do. One day I was depressed and crying. An old lady approached me and said, “You shouldn’t sweat and cry for yourself, but for others.” Those words changed me, and I wanted to meet more people in the world. After graduating, I saved money working in construction, and in 2007 I began a quest to see the world by bike. By last year, I’d cycled 96,623 miles across five continents, visiting 157 countries. I’ve had many challenges, including 110 flat tires, 24 broken chains, and one bout of malaria. But I’ve made new friends and second families, and I want to inspire other people. After all, dreaming is free.…

HERE’S A HINT: It involves lifting weights. But not like you’ve ever done before. “The key to being faster on a bike is not necessarily just going faster, but also not slowing down,” says Jacques DeVore, CSCS, a Los Angeles–based strength and conditioning coach. Most strength training plans improve power. But DeVore’s program, detailed in his new book, Maximum Overload for Cyclists (Rodale, 2017), coauthored with Roy M. Wallack, aims to boost what he calls Maximum Sustainable Power (MSP), which he says allows you to stay fresher longer. “You’ll feel as good on the last climb as you did on the first.” DeVore initially developed the program to help improve his results as a longtime masters road racer and to fight age-related slowdown. He chose weights because they build strength—the…

Reporting by Lynn Donches, with assistance from the following or ganizations: Bicycle Coalition of Maine, Biking inLA, Coalition of Arizona Bicyclists, Iowa Bicycle Coalition, SanFrancisco Bicycle Coalition, and Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition. Abdul Azizl Abigail Dougherty | Adel Mikhail | Agustin Elizondo-Valverde | Aiden Lupo | Al Gorman | Alan L. Ruth | Alejandro Gonzalez | Alexa Cioffi | Alfred Zaldivar | Allen Brumm | Alonzo Cota-Alvarado | Alvin Colon | Amanda Phillips | Amber Harrington | WE WERE MOTHERS | Amin Hopkins | Anand Singh Asi | Anastasia Ciolpan | Anastasia Kondrasheva | Andres Hulslander | Andrew Fang | Andrew Gerard Mal izio | Andrew J. Nowak | Andrew Russoniello | Andrzej Kurkowski | Andy A. Whitener | Andy Heines | Angel Preciado | Anita Kurmann | Anita Louise…

The words reporters use when detailing how a cyclist is injured or killed often give drivers a pass, For example, they may refer to a collision as “an accident_” suggesting that it was unpreventable_ There is no industry stan dard for when to use “crash” versus “accident.” The Associated Press Stylebook calls both terms “generally acceptable” for collisions and wrecks, but suggests avoiding “accident” when negligence is claimed or proven, However, the in-house style guides at the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and Los Angeles Times list no stated preference, BICYCLING’s own research sheds light on the prevalence of the terms, Combing the Nexis news archive for appearances of either “accident” or “crash_” without the other, in cycling-related articles, revealed some telling details, In those three papers, “accident” has always…

T here’s a wooden board nailed to a tree outside of Lexington, Kentucky— the word “UNBROKEN” painted on it in blocky letters. Every time Mike Kennedy sees it as he cranks up that last hill on the road back to town, he thinks of his former cycling buddy Mark Hinkel. The inscription comes from the title of Hinkel’s favorite book—a biography of Olympic distance runner Louis Zamperini—and is something Hinkel always said, punctuated by a round of fist bumps, when he and his teammates conquered the final rise. The sign hangs in memory of Hinkel and his fellow rider, David Cassidy. Both were killed by dr ivers less than a year apart—a devastating blow to the Zombie Zone cycling club, made up of roughly 18 “old guys, and some women,…

I n 1997, the Swedish parliament implemented the world’s first Vision Zero traffic safety program based on a simple ethos: “It can never be ethically acceptable that people are killed or seriously injured while moving within the road transport system.” It was a federally funded campaign for all road users— motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians alike—and over the past 20 years it’s more than halved the fatality rate. In 2014 some American cities, including New York City and Los Angeles, began rolling out Vision Zero programs with the goal of eliminating all traffic deaths as early as 2024. Today there are more than two dozen US cities in the Vision Zero Network, now a national nonprofit initiative. Their mayor’s offices and departments of transportation must work with legislators to allocate resources within…

THE FIRST TIME BECCA SCHEPPS tried kombucha, she thought a conspiracy might be afoot. The label on the bottle of fermented tea claimed that it was low in sugar and loaded with natural health benefits, but the drink gave her “a buzz of clarity” and tasted like a slightly tart soda. So Schepps, a Type 1 diabetic and Cat 1/2 crit racer (and coowner of the team LA Sweat) used herself as a guinea pig and tested her blood sugar after downing 16 ounces of the stuff. Turns out kombucha’s low sugar-to-flavor ratio was as good as promised—no postdrink insulin injection needed. She started sipping kombucha to rehydrate after races and in the morning before evening crits— and eventually took to brewing her own after moving to Boulder, Colorado, in…

18% CYCLISTS WHO EFFECTIVELY DRAW ATTENTION TO THEIR MOVING PARTS ARE UP TO 83% MORE NOTICEABLE. Wood, et al., 2012 WE ALWAYS HEAR A FLUORESCENT TOP IS SUFFICIENT BUT THAT IS ONLY PARTIALLY TRUE. MYTH VS REALITY HIGHLIGHTING THE MOVING PARTS THAT MAKE YOU RECOGNIZABLE AS HUMAN— YOUR FEET AND LEGS—WITH FLUORESCENT APPAREL DURING DAYLIGHT HAS A MUCH GREATER VISUAL IMPACT. DEVELOP A PERSONAL SAFETY PLAN No matter when you ride, having a personal safety plan takes the worry out of every ride to make them more enjoyable. This is how we ride: LITTLE THINGS, BIG IMPACT When it comes to being seen, little things can make a big difference. Stand out with shoes, socks, and warmers that highlight your body’s moving parts. BRAIN KNOWS BEST The brain has identified…

The deadlift—which closely replicates the biomechanics of pedaling—is DeVore’s number one strength exercise in his five-part Maximum Overload program. Lift- ing heavy weights from a dead stop makes you crazy strong, and it eliminates the rubber-band effect (in squats and other exercises) that helps you bounce back up. This variation of the deadlift causes less stress on your back because you don’t have to clear your knees as you would with a straight bar (a hex bar works too, though an unweighted one is 60 pounds, so you won’t use it until you can deadlift that much with proper form). WORKS Glutes, quads, hamstrings, and lower back YOU NEED Two dumbbells or a hex bar HOW TO DO IT GET LOW! Lower your hips to pick up the weights or…

J eff Dusenbury, 51, had just set out on his bike to meet friends for an allday ride in his hometown of Anchorage, Alaska, on the morning of July 19, 2014, when he was killed by a driver in a hit-and-run. The motorist, 17-year-old Alexandra Ellis, had been driving backward down the road—and took off after allegedly making eye contact with a witness who waved at her to stop. ¶ Officers found her at home less than a half-mile away with a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit and THC in her system. She’d just relapsed from substance abuse treatment and had thrown a party at her parents’ house the night before. She was charged as an adult with manslaughter, leaving an accident without assisting the injured, and a DUI.…

F or the first time in her life, Nako Nakatsuka felt hopeless. On April 6, 2014, the typically upbeat biochemistry grad student and member of the UCLA triathlon team had been making a left turn off Santa Monica Boulevard on her road bike when a car drifted into the turn lane and hit her from behind. But it wasn’t the crash that got to her—it was what came in the mail a month later: an insurance bill for damage to the vehicle that hit her, along with the threat of a lawsuit. Things had started off normal enough postcrash. According to Nakatsuka, then 23: The driver got out of the car, apologized profusely, and even fetched water for her as she lay dazed in the middle of the busy road.…

Don’t Smell It First “It’s a fermented drink,” says Schepps. “You don’t sniff a pickle jar before eating a pickle—you just eat it and it tastes fine!” It’s Good for Your Gut Like other cultured foods, kombucha supplies probiotics, which can improve digestive health by promoting the growth of certain bacteria in your gut, says Stacy Sims, PhD, an exercise physiologist and the codeveloper of nuun’s performance line of drinks. A 2016 review in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition suggested that improving athletes’ gut bacteria diversity could reduce their post-exercise physical and mental stress. It Might Calm You Down Kombucha has L-theanines, amino acids that occur naturally in tea. “They stimulate a positive and relaxed feeling that gives you a jitter-free energy boost,” Schepps says. It’s…

80% OF ACCIDENTS HAPPEN DURING THE D AY NHTSA, 2 015 SOME THINK LIGHTS ARE IMPACTFUL ONLY AT NIGHT MYTH VS REALITY FRONT AND REAR DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHTS CAN SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE DETECTABLILITY DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHTS WORK Cycling has taken some of its best cues from the automotive industry. We can thank cars and motorcycles for suspension and disc brakes, for instance. These days, cars come standard with daytime running lights because cars with DRLs are less likely to be involved in a collision. Applying that logic to bikes is a no-brainer. Madsen, et. al, 2013. VEHICLES 25% Daytime running lights on cars resulted in a 25% decrease in collisions. Paine, et al., 2006 BICYCLES 33% Daytime running lights on bicycles significantly reduce the likelihood of collision. MOTORCYCLES 13% Daytime running…

“Let mistakes go ASAP— one mistake in a race will not make or break your overall result. There are so many trails and corners, and no riders make it through a day without fumbles.”—Kelli Emmett, Juliana-SRAM Pro Team, 2016 USA Cycling Enduro National Champion “I choose one stage that fits my riding style best and race it 100 percent. On the rest, I’ll go about 95 percent to make sure I finish without crashing or breaking something on the bike. Winning in enduro is about going fast, taking calculated risks, and finishing.”— Paul Serra, Yeti- Fox National Team, 2015 & 2016 California Enduro Series U18 Champion “Try to appreciate the cool venue you’re riding at, because the venue is often what brought you to the race in the first place.”…

THE LOST LIST Remembering riders who have been killed. P. 36 THE STATE OF YOUR SAFETY Perspectives from 5,325 BICYCLING readers. P. 38 WHAT’S LEFT BEHIND 5 harrowing stories of riders run down on the road. P. 40 IT’S NO ACCIDENT How word choice creates a culture of victim blaming. P. 41 DOES THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE CRIME? What really happens to drivers who kill cyclists? P. 44 PLUS Vision Zero: How Close Are We? P. 52 Streets of the Future! P. 54 8 Things You Can Do Now P. 56…

T he first thing Dulcie Canton heard when she came to was, “Is she alive?” It was almost midnight on August 7, 2014, and a crowd had gathered around her. Her friend Jay, who had been skateboarding alongside as she pedaled her bike down Bleecker Street in Brooklyn, New York, was calling an ambulance. ¶ Surveillance cameras had captured the whole thing—from the moment the Chevrolet Camaro struck Canton from behind, to the driver speeding off without slowing to check that the 37yearold cyclist was, in fact, alive. ¶ Canton was hospitalized with a broken shoulder, fractured ankle, and a massive brain bleed. At 2 a.m., an employee at the bike shop where she worked put her in touch with local cyclistand pedestrianrights lawyer Steve Vaccaro, who filed an additional…

SCOTT MULLEN WAS pedaling his bike home from work in Chicago on May 10 2007, when a dump truck driver turned left and hit him as he was riding through the inter, section of Chicago and Milwaukee Avenues. “I was in a bike lane, on a sunny afternoon,” says Mullen, now 44. “I broke my back, arms, and hands. The driver didn’t even get a traffic viola, tion.” Our reader survey (p. 38) surfaced hun, dreds of stories like this. It’s no wonder 65 per-cent of respondents said they believe that drivers aren’t given appropriate legal penalties when they’re at fault for hitting a cyclist. When motorists kill cyclists, do the penalties go far enough? To find out, we combed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System…

A sif Rahman got his first bicycle before he was even tall enough to reach the pedals. From that moment on, bikes were an important part of his life. As he grew older—and developed interests in photography, spoken-word poetry, and beatboxing— he explored New York City on two wheels, zipping from borough to borough, far beyond his family’s home in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens. His mom, Lizi, worried about his safety, but he would always say: “Don’t worry, Mom—there are bike lanes everywhere.” On February 28, 2008, the 22-year-old was riding home from work in Queens when he veered around a double-parked car on Queens Boulevard and was killed by a truck. The driver wasn’t charged—and Lizi says the assistant district attorney told her there would be no investigation.…

1 STOP DISTRACTED DRIVING All but four states have some kind of ban on texting while driving, but a 2014 study found that those laws lead to only a three percent reduction in traffic fatalities (possibly because many people do it anyway). Technology that prevents drivers from texting while driving will likely be more effective, says People for Bikes president Tim Blumenthal. That technology exists (the app Cellcontrol, for example, which you can program to disable functions like texting while the car is in motion). And the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration recently announced design guidelines for car and phone companies to create a kind of “Driver Mode” that’s akin to airplane or do-notdisturb settings. Given that the guidelines are voluntary, it may take more assertive measures to get companies to…

Take what you think you can do, and multiply it by 10. Why did you—and a group of other long-distance riders—start the Adventure Syndicate? When I first started commuting on a bike in London when I was 23, I was terrified. But two weeks into it, the sense of capability I felt is the same one I still get when I do my long, solo bike tours. We want to bottle that feeling and make it as accessible to as many women as possible. How has the response been? We’ve been super successful—sometimes our events sell out before we advertise them. The last two years, more women have started thinking they wanted to do long, hard rides. We offer classes and workshops on how to do it. What’s the first…

I t used to be, if you wanted a faster bike, you’d simply get a lighter one—or look to shave weight on your current one by swapping parts. Today, while weight is still an important factor to consider, it’s taken a backseat to aerodynamics. So why the change? For decades, we’ve known that, aside from those times when we’re on steep terrain, the primary force we push against on rides isn’t gravity; it’s air. And over the years, thanks to our ability to reliably and accurately measure the impact of aerodynamics on things like power output and handling, we’ve begun to get a grip on just how important it is. As little as five years ago, says Chris Yu, head of applied technologies for Specialized, refining aerodynamics meant shipping frame and…

ELLIE GREENWOOD 38, VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA Professional ultrarunner and running coach I’ve never owned a car. I mostly cycle and run to get where I need to go. I call it a “selfpropelled lifestyle.” In my twenties I lived in Switzerland and Norway. In Europe, not as many people have cars as in North America. Here, it’s assumed that you have a car. We have this convenient lifestyle. I like the idea that you should work a bit to get somewhere, and try to live a more local life. I shop at stores I can walk or ride to. Sure, life would be easier if I had a car. Even for running— sometimes I have to catch a ride with a friend to get to the trailhead. Still, to me,…