Good news for Ohio cyclists!
Adapted from an e-mail sent by OBF Chair, Chuck Smith:
The Ohio Bicyle Federation’s House Bill 389 Better Ohio Bicycling Bill was approved by the Ohio Senate Wednesday night by a unanimous 33-0 vote. The bill now goes to Governor Taft (ed: and he’s an OBF member!) for his signature.
HB 389 makes the Ohio Revised Code governing bicycle operation conform more closely with the Uniform Vehicle Code, which has been made more bicyclist friendly over a period of several years. With HB 389, the Ohio Revised Code becomes a good framework for bicycle operation throughout our state.
For full information on the bill, go to www.ohiobike.org/hb389info.html.
I came across this at cycling.finial.blog:
New bike day rules! New bikes and gold medals!
And the gold medals are made from chocolate! Awesome!
So… where’s my new Bianchi Pista Concept?
So yesterday I took the Pista out for a spin. I was feeling pretty good, hammering up the slight hill by the park Pantani-style. Some time later I noticed an odd pain in the back of my left knee (the “good” one). Analyzing the evidence I realized that I had, apparently, hyper-extended it, going all Marco P on that hill before I’d had a chance to warm up. I thought briefly about turning around and going home, or of stopping and flipping the back wheel around to the 17 to make things a bit easier. “Nah, screw that; I’m riding!” I decided, soldiering on. As my ride progressed I realized that I might have made a mistake, as the pain in the back of my knee grew more incessant. Still, though, I made no concessions (I’m stupid that way).
By the time I got back home I knew that I had definitely hyper-extended the knee (it’s a pretty specific pain, one that you remember), and that I probably shouldn’t have ridden (especially the fixed gear) on it. I also knew it would be fine, but that it would probably keep me off of the bike today (I’m not that stupid).
I consoled myself with the thought that it might rain, and overnight it did rain a bit. There was a front pushing through, so it was very windy all day, which was some solace. Then we had some pretty intense thunder storms this evening; even a tornado warning for a bit so, in the end, I felt much better about not getting to ride.
The good news? My house didn’t blow away, and my knee is much better, hardly hurts at all. Oh, and I ate tamales all day!
Back on May 8th I got a ticket; 79MPH in a 50MPH zone. I’ve really been sweating, thinking it was going to cost me a fortune. Around these parts, anything above 25 over the limit and you have to appear in court, the fine (if you waive your right to spend the day in court) for 15-25 over is $135, so I’m thinking this is going to be a $200 deal, minimum.
Anyway, I originally went to night court on the 15th, but there was a civil trial that was running extremely late, so they let me postpone; I could come back any day there was open court (Monday or Tuesday at 5:30PM, Wednesday at 9:00AM) within 2 weeks. After over a week of dread-filled procrastination, I decided Wednesday morning would be the least busy, so today was the day.
So, I show up at 9:00, find a parking spot right at the door, then discover the meter is only 30 minutes max. “No worries”, I think, “I’ll just move the car to a 2 hour spot down the block after I sign in.” I sign in, and sit and wait. Much better looking crowd in the mornings, apparently, so that’s a plus (Monday night it looked more like they were taking job applications for carnival workers). 9:30 comes, they haven’t called me into the courtroom yet, so I ask the lady next to me to listen for my name and I run down to the car. Naturally, the meter’s expired and I now have a parking ticket, too. Oh, joy!
Thankfully there’s an open 2 hour spot just down the block. I move the car and return to the waiting room. They didn’t come for me while I was gone, so I sit and wait some more. Finally around 10:30 they call me and a couple of other lucky contestants into the court room.
The girl before the judge (the Honorable Susan L. Goldie) finishes up with her time and the Judge says: “Gregory Evans”, Gregory, just to remind me that I’m in trouble. I approach the bench, feeling like I just got called into the Principal’s office. She reads the complaint against me and tells me the maximum fine is $150. “Yep”, I’m thinking, “with court costs that’ll be twohundred-something.” She asks how I plead, I plead guilty, and she fines me… $35! And I swear, she even gave me an almost imperceptible “I’m letting you off easy” smile. No apologizing, no begging for leniency, and for whatever reason she gives me a huge break and sends me on my way.
With court costs the total was $102. I was so relieved that it wasn’t double or triple that amount that I didn’t even care about getting the parking ticket anymore.
Since I wouldn’t have gone to court if I didn’t have to, it actually would have cost me more money if I had been going slower!
So, the other night I was perusing the usual overnight cable TV wasteland when this Japanese cartoon with English subtitles caught my attention. A group of adorable raccoons were leading an idyllic existence in an abandoned barn until it was demolished by the evil humans. This was apparently the last straw and the raccoons decided they had to fight back against the horrible humans who were encroaching on their habitat. Fairly plausible and normal so far, right?
Okay, so the raccoons band together and parachute down upon their evil oppressors, kamikaze-style, using the enormous testicles they apparently sprouted just for the occasion as both parachute and weapon. Seriously!
Things have come a long way from the days of my youth when Japanese animation meant (no one I knew had heard of “anime” back then) Speed Racer, Trixie, Spritle, and Chim-Chim! I probably would have been scarred for life if Chim-Chim had grown a giant pair of nuts and leapt out of the Mach V’s trunk.
Let the record reflect: I am opposed to animated woodland creatures with ginormous gonads. That’s just wrong.
Postscript: No, I didn’t dream the whole thing. Apparently this is what I saw.
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