News
Stories of interest to Phoenix-area cyclists
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All News Items are now posted to the Geezers' Blog. The Blog will become the new News page, and this page will eventually be deleted.
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Geezers' blog added (3/10/2008)
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I added a blog on Blogspot for the Geezers. As it stands, anyone can post comments to the blog posts. The URL is: http://geezerride.blogspot.com/
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2007 Tour de France winners banned from 2008 race (3/9/2008)
The Amaury Sports Organization (ASO) has banned Team Astana from participating in any of the races that it organizes during all of 2008. These races include Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Tours, and most importantly, the Tour de France. The first- and third-place finishers in the 2007 Tour are thus barred from defending their titles in the 2008 even.
After the Discovery Channel Team was dissolved at the end of the 2007 season, Tour winner Alberto Contador and third-place finisher Levi Leipheimer were forced to find a new team. Both of them signed with Astana, a team which experienced major doping scandals in 2007 but which promised to ride clean in 2008. Later, ASO decided to ban Astana from all of its 2008 races, thereby barring these two riders from from competing in the Tour.
Supporters of both riders have set up Web sites to permit cycling fans from around the world to petition the ASO to let these two riders participate in the 2008 Tour. The Web site set up for Leipheimer is www.letleviride.com/. Contador's site in four languages is www.contadoraltour.com/. The English version isn't quite grammatical, but let's overlook that and support the initiative. After all, this site isn't always a literary masterpiece, either. :) -- Jack Quinn -
Hidden Hills redux (3/7/2008)
Bruce White sent me a link to the latest article in the Arizona Republic about the Hidden Hills situation. The article mentions a study of the possibility of installing speed-reduction devices.
A propos speed reduction, I believe that one of the things that encourages more cyclists to descend at higher speeds is the fear of getting dropped. Anyone who reaches the gate after the main group faces the prospect of having to peddle to AJ’s alone. I suggest that we adopt one of the practices discussed in the article: regrouping at the bottom of the hill instead of at the top. After each rider reaches the top, he or she could descent somewhere near the 20 mph speed limit and then wait outside the gate at the bottom for the other cyclists.
On another subject, several rides change times in April, moving from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Among the rides are the Granada Park breakfast ride, the Geezers’ ride and the Wednesday Wheelsuckers’ ride. I’ll try to remember to send out a reminder at the end of the month so you don’t show up at 7:30 and wonder where the hell everyone is.
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Scottsdale Transportation Commission votes to retain the cyclists' access to Hidden Hills (2/22/2007)
To red the article in the Scottsdale Republic, click here. -
Agenda of the Scottsdale Transportation Commission meeting on January 20 at which the Hidden Hills controversy will be discussed. (2/19/2007)
To read the agenda in PDF format, click here. -
Arizona Republic article about the upcoming meeting of the Scottsdale Transportation Commission meeting to discuss the Hidden Hills controversy. (2/19/2003)
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Another Arizona Republic article on the Hidden Hills controversy. (2/12/2007)
To read this article online click here. -
Scottsdale Republic calls Hidden Hills attitude "selfish". (2/10/2008)
I missed this editorial when I posted the link to the article (below) about Hidden Hills' attempts to ban cyclist. In an editorial, the Scottsdale Republic, using more polite language, effectively tells Hidden Hills residents to get a life. You can read the editorial by clicking here. The Hidden Hills controversy is the second topic in the editorial. -
Hidden Hills wants to close off the top of Via Linda to cyclists (2/8/2008)
The Scottsdale supplement to the Arizona Republic today published and article about the attempts of the homeowners' association of Hidden Hills to void an agreement with the City of Scottsdale that permits access to cyclists and hikers. Hidden Hills is the area beyond the gates on Via Linda Hill where the Geezers' ride and various other local rides terminate. To read the online version of the article, click here. -
Spanish motorist withdraws demand for $29,400 for damage to his car after killing cyclist (1/30/2008)
Tomás Delgado, the motorist who killed 17-year-old cyclist Eraitz Iriondo in Spain in 2004 had demanded that the cyclist’s parents pay him 20,000 euros (about $ 29,400) for damages to his Audi and car-rental charges incurred as a result of his striking the cyclist. On January 30 when the case came to court, the motorist withdrew his claim after hundreds of people gathered at the entrance to the courthouse to support the parents of the deceased cyclist. In the meantime, a justice of the high court of Rioja has announced his intention of reopening criminal proceedings against Delgado after the recent publication of a report that indicates that Delgado was driving in excess of 100 miles per hour when the accident occurred. The speed limit was 55 miles per hour. -- Jack Quinn, compiled from various Spanish Web sites. -
Tucson stripper sentenced today after laughing about killing cyclist while driving drunk (1/22/2008)
Tucson stripper Arrington, 27 years old, was sentenced to ten and a half years in prison today for killing 45-year-old cyclist Paul A. L’Ecuyer while driving drunk on December 1, 2006. L’Ecuyer was riding in a bicycle lane on Old Spanish Trail when he was struck. Ms. Arrington, whose blood-alcohol level read 0.156 percent two hours after the accident, was driving on a license that had been suspended for a previous DUI. Prior to hitting L’Ecuyer, Arrington had swerved off the road, and was trying to get back onto the pavement when she struck L’Ecuyer with the driver’s side of her pickup truck.
Arrington could have received as little as four years for L’Ecuyer’s death, but the judge threw the book at her after a recording of one of her prison telephone conversations came to light. In the conversation, a male caller told Arrington: “You deserve a medal and a f***ing parade, because you took out a gay guy, a cyclist, a f***ing tree hugger, and a Frenchman in one shot.” The caller added “that’s terrible” to which Arrington replied: “No, it’s not” and laughed. -- Jack Quinn, compiled from various press reports. -
Paradise Valley's anti-cyclist police chief to retire (1/21/2008)
John Wintersteen, Paradise Valley's anti-cyclist police chief, has announced his intention to retire. He'll remain on the job until his successor is found, then he is expected to work as the town's director of public safety.
In a telephone conversation with me, Chief Wintersteen once called cycling a very dangerous sport "more dangerous than rock climbing". Under his leadership, Paradise Valley began a crackdown on cyclists under the guise of a "bicycle safety program". Some of his concerns were legitimate, such as large groups of cyclists running stop signs, but on several occasions patrol cars were seen trailing groups of cyclists in the apparent hope of catching them doing something wrong. On at least two occasions, police officers yelled through their bullhorns for the cyclists to ride further to the right, apparently in the mistaken belief that there is a law requiring cyclists to "ride as far to the right as possible" at all times. [ARS 280815 actually requires cyclists to "ride as close as practicable" when they are traveling "at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing" and goes on to list a number of exceptions to that requirement.]
I, for one, will be happy if Chief Wintersteen is replaced by someone who will enforce traffic laws as they are written, not as he would like them to read, and who is not on a crusade against cyclists. -- Jack Quinn - If your missed the Tortilla Flat ride on New Year's Day,
count yourself lucky! (1/1/2008)
At 8 a.m. New Year's morning, a group of cyclists of widely-varying ability assembled at Apache Junction for the annual ride to Tortilla Flat. If you stayed in bed and missed the, you made a wise decision. The winds were incredible. On the way out to Canyon Lake, several cyclists reported having to drop into the little chain ring to peddle down the final few hundred feet of the steep descent to Canyon Lake. Even so, a few of them mentioned that strong gusts of headwind at time momentarily stopped them in their tracks. On the sections where the wind blew from the side, the strong gusts made it difficult to keep the bicycles under control. Added to the problems of maintaining control in the wind was the irritation of a constant string of passing motorcycles, most of the Harleys whose motors emitted an almost deafening roar.
After breakfast and/or coffee at Tortilla Flat, the ride back was a pleasure with the exception of the motorcycle noise. The wind was now mostly from the rear, making it possible to freewheel along on the flat sections or peddle at high speeds. On the slightly descending final miles back to Apache Junction, I spun the 53/11 to attain peek speeds of 39 miles per hour and an average speed of 33 miles per hour, much faster than I had ever ridden that stretch before. Now why can't I have a tailwind like that on both the out and back sections of a time trial? -- Jack Quinn - Google Ads added to Geezers' Web site (12/31/2008)
In order to defray part of the cost of hosting the Google Web site and paying the small monthly fee charged by our mailing list provider, Google ads have been added to our Web site. Every time a visitor clicks on one of the ads, our Google credits out site a few pennies. The ads are automatically selected to be in accordance with the Website contents, which means that most of them should be of interest to cyclists. - Wednesday ride time shifts to 7:30 a.m.
The Wednesday ride out Via Linda & Mountain View now departs at 7:30 a.m. from the traffic circle at Ivergordon and Northern in Paradise Valley. The ride departure time is expected to remain at 7:30 a.m. through February, 2008. - Paradise Valley ticketing bicyclists
Large group ticketed for running stop sign while descending Cheney Dr.
The Paradise Valley Police Department has been conducting a crackdown on bicyclists who ride through their town. There has been at least one incidence in which tickets were issued to riders in a large group that ran a stop sign while descending Cheney Drive in the early morning. The police operation seems to have been planned in advance, as several police units were pre-positioned to intercept the cyclists. The Paradise Valley Police are aware of some of the groups that ride through the town. They know the times and routes of some of the rides, so please be careful.
Some of the police activities can only be described as harassment, such as following groups of bicyclists and sometimes sounding the siren and shouting at them to ride farther to the right. On the other hand, the police have every right to ticket anyone who commits a genuine traffic violation, such as running a stop sign. When the leaders of a group run a stop sign, it is very tempting for the following riders to do the same to not get dropped, but it is better to fall behind the group than to get a stiff fine followed by a possible jump in your auto insurance premiums.
Despite rumors to the contrary, several cyclists who have been issued traffic tickets for running stop signs have had points added to their driving records, just as if they had committed the violation while driving a motor vehicle. Although you are not required to carry a driver's license to operate a bicycle on the streets, you are required to identify yourself if you are stopped for a traffic violation. Once a police officer has your name and address, a quick computer search can bring up your driver's license record, so that a traffic ticket can be associated with it.
The police seem most interested in controlling groups that ride through the town. Because part of the Geezer Ride goes through Paradise Valley, cyclists are encouraged to obey stop signs to avoid traffic tickets and to stay to the right, riding no more than two abreast.