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Wednesday 27th 37/50F, bright, clear and sunny, with only a hint of mist. A walk to the lanes then busy all day.
Thursday 28th, 37F, calm and cloudy but bright. An early shopping ride beckons. Nope! A walk first in a cold and steady, West to North-westerly wind.I was allowed out for a shopping ride. Returning heavily laden. Only 7 miles.
The death of Mike Hall, a top British and world class endurance cyclist was "avoidable." He was riding in Sky-style, dark clothing, at night, with unknown areas of reflective material and [presumably] no lights. He was struck by a car doing 60mph and suffered critical injuries.
Lessons to be learnt? Don't ride in dark clothing day or night! Only professional asthma sufferers wear dark clothing on a dark bike and they ALWAYS have the roads closed and an escort for their own safety. A few even manage to complete a ride without falling off. Stabilizers spring to mind but they would have to be chemically ingested to avoid added weight.
Be visible! Because car drivers have enough distractions without you appearing from nowhere. An iPhoney covers an awful lot of windscreen and phones are getting bigger! The compete opposite of the brains of the mugs whom buy them and use them behind the wheel. Think retard. Or whatever the PC term is these days for a drooling, criminally insane, lump of toxic meat, with no useful purpose.
Riding at night, without lights, should mean a mandatory term in a mental institution for the criminally insane. Including several mandatory tours of A&E departments following serious RTAs. RTA is an innocent term for slaughter house levels of human injuries. Including mangled children. Bring your own sick bag!
You can be literally covered in flashing lights these days without the weight penalty of a single light of my youth. Get a light! Keep the only life you have on loan.
Nobody gives a flying shit how far you've ridden on your bike today. Except other cyclists. And most of them are completely, bløødy invisible! So they don't count. Except in the gory statistics of blood and bone and shattered limbs and skulls. The "competition" has air bags and massive steel cages for protection. Are you feeling THAT lucky, punk?
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Scientists have discovered a low energy way to produce solid carbon from CO2, at room temperature, using liquid metal. So you can still drive your VW diesel guzzler the 25 yards to the nearest McLardy's with a completely clear conscience. Assuming you had one in the first place. Statistics would strongly suggest otherwise.
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