Jesus. I have to stop reading the Ethernets. A possibly hammered bimbo who pleaded guilty in 2007 to driving while impaired is in the Tulsa lockup after croaking two cyclists and injuring a third with her SUV, according to the Tulsa World:
After striking the bicyclists, the SUV swerved off the roadway and into a ditch, knocking over a stop sign before eventually coming back onto the highway, (Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Brian) Warren said. A passing motorist managed to get the woman to stop, but she tried to drive away again and was stopped a second time by another driver, he said.
Look at the size of that shoulder these folks were cycling on — we have roads smaller than that here in Bibleburg, f’chrissakes. You couldn’t be any safer riding a stationary trainer in your living room. Or so you might think. Clearly, you’d be wrong as long as scumbags like Tausha Borland enjoy happy hour behind the wheel.
Happily, in this instance she has been charged with more than littering: Borland faces two complaints of first-degree manslaughter, good for four years to life in the graybar hotel.
Now there's a Mavic wheel for ya: Open Pro rims, stainless-steel DT spokes and Dura-Ace hubs. And the only thing cracked, broken or bent is the sumbitch ridin' it.
I don’t want to turn this site into a poor imitation of the DrunkCyclist “Biker down” series, but you really should check out this article by VeloNews editor in chief Ben Delaney — especially if you’re riding a Mavic R-Sys wheelset (even a post-recall version). He had a post-recall front wheel explode underneath him during a race and took a header, breaking his shoulder.
Ben and I have always ridden Mavic wheels, and will continue to do so — but only steel-spoked models. For years the wheel of choice around here was the Excel Sports Cirrus, a pair of 32-hole Open Pros laced to Dura-Ace hubs with DT spokes. That wheel has been replaced by the Nimbus, which uses Ultegra hubs, but I’m still riding my old Cirrus wheelsets on two ‘cross bikes. Nary a broken spoke in many a bumpy mile.
I also like the Neuvation wheels — I have a pair of R28 SL3s on my road bike, and they’ve been rock-solid (plus the prices are killer, especially right now).
• John Crandall update: Kathy Crandall reports that John had a good day yesterday — pain under control with medication and “lots of physical therapy,” including a device similar to a recumbent bicycle. “In occupational therapy he got to take a shower … first one in 11 days,” she adds. I’ll bet that felt good.
• One less psycho on the roads: And finally, the driver who killed two Colorado Cyclist employees is in the hoosegow for three years. Barbara Thomas was stoned on prescription morphine and barbituates and driving without her glasses when she swerved her 1986 F-350 into a pack of cyclists at 26th Street and Westend Avenue, killing Jayson Kilroy, 28, and Edgar “E.J.” Juarez, 30.
Police reportedly said Thomas had been shoplifting at the Safeway on West Colorado Avenue and clipped a man’s car in the parking lot before driving off toward the fatal collision. She also had quite the rap sheet — an outstanding summons for a hit-and-run two months previous, four shoplifting convictions, a citation for drinking in a vehicle and minor traffic infractions, according to the Bibleburg Gaslight.
That a 64-year-old woman who takes 18 daily meds to control pulmonary disease and arthritis is rolled away to the slammer in a wheelchair, clutching an oxygen tank, is not a moment for glee. But I can’t conceive of any suitable alternative. Unless it would be jailing the family members who let her careen around town, full of drugs, in a one-ton truck.
• Plenty more where she came from: You think that’s bad? Take a squint at this. There are 53,201 people who have three or more drunken-driving offenses in Colorado? Jesus H. Christ. I may never ride the roads again.
As expected, John Crandall didn’t remain immobile for long — wife Kathy reports that the old throttle jockey is rockin’ a motorized wheelchair. “As you can imagine, he’s aced it already!” she writes.
John is also enjoying plenty of physical and occupational therapy. Psychotherapy would seem like another must-have item, given his years in the bicycle business, but electroshock at this stage would probably be a bad idea. Just think of John rocketing around the sick bay, sparks shooting from his fingertips as he wheels the chair this way and that.
Kathy also tipped us to John’s room and phone numbers at Memorial (7652A and 365-2741, respectively). The rules are no visitors until after 5 pm. on weekdays so John can undergo therapy and catch some rest between sessions (weekends will be more flexible). I may try to pop by tomorrow and snap a pic for those of you from out of town.
In the meantime, I’ve spoken with John by phone and he sounds like — well, like John. He knows what he’s up against — “It’s going to be a really long rehab,” he concedes — but he’s already gotten a good, if painful, start on the long road home.
Happily, John has a great staff to keep an eye on the bottom line at Old Town Bike Shop while he gets himself back in the game. If you’re planning to spend any money on velo-toys in the near future, I recommend you spend at least some of your stimulus package there. You’ll be glad you did, and so will John.
Kathy Crandall advises that John has been shifted to a new room in rehab at Memorial Hospital. She’ll provide room and phone numbers later today for would-be visitors.
One caveat: No visits until after 5 p.m. on weekdays so John can do his therapy and get some rest. Weekends will be more flexible.
“He’s already, as you can imagine, very involved in his physical therapy,” says Kathy. “He’s even helping his therapist to adapt the equipment! Thank you all for caring so much.”
There is something dreadfully wrong about awakening to the sound of the furnace clicking on in June. If I wanted to be cold and wet all the time, I’d be a fish. At least then I’d be getting plenty of healthy exercise, swimming here and there. When was the last time you saw a fat fish?
At least it’s not raining right this minute, so maybe I have a chance of getting out and about on a bicycle today before the skies crack and the deluge resumes. A two-fer would be the lawn drying out enough for me to mow it. It looks like friggin’ Vietnam out there. Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger.
At least I’m still alive to walk (or ride) the earth. Kwai Chang Caine is not.
Mad Blog Media 