From the BikeDFW website:

Wednesday, February 1, 7 PM
Studio Movie Grill
Royal Lane and Central Expressway, Dallas

Purchase Tickets Online

or at the door.

Bicycle Dreams, the award-winning feature-length documentary about the Race Across America (RAAM), will premiere in Dallas/Fort Worth at the Studio Movie Grill Royal Lane on Wednesday, February 1 at 7 p.m. The screening is a benefit for BikeDFW.

The film, which has won numerous awards at film festivals all over the world, “is an up-close look at what RAAM riders go through,” says Stephen Auerbach, the director and producer of Bicycle Dreams. “They deal with searing desert heat, agonizing mountain climbs, and endless stretches of open road. And they do it all while battling extreme exhaustion and sleep deprivation. It’s a great subject for a film.”

“Bicycle Dreams is a spectacular and heartfelt film that offers a riveting portrait of extreme courage in the face of inhuman obstacles,” writes TheLoveOfMovies.com. “It is an artistic triumph that renewed my belief in the power of desire and the strength of the human will.”

Bicycle Dreams web site

Facebook event page

Most of you know her as Extreme Susan, for those who don’t we’ll call her Susan Reeves.  She is one of the kindest people you will meet on two wheels, she’s a hoot too!  Susan and I have been discussing some of the recent bike crashes and two in particular were a wake up call for some of us.  One escaped serious injury but his helmet split into two pieces, and the other has an array of broken bones and lacerations yet she’s slowly recuperating.  This subject hits home for Susan, as you’ll read below, so I asked her to write something on the topic. When I asked her to meet me so I could take some current photos of her she said she was in on her way to a Viking themed party and ride and wondered if I’d rather meet her one day when she was not in costume.  Are you kidding me,  was my reply.  – Chris

Extreme Susan

Happy 2012 bikers!  I’m looking forward to another great year of biking in Dallas and as I reflect back on 2011, there are a few things I would like to see change in the coming year.  First and foremost, I do not want to see ANY more of my bike buddies injured in crashes.  I know we are a small community and as much time as we all spend on the bikes it is bound to happen but if we all commit to acting and thinking more about safety, we might be able to prevent some of these senseless accidents.  Here are the details of my own:

My accident happened on Saturday,  September 24th.  I was not wearing a helmet

ouch

and I ALWAYS wear a helmet!  I was running late and drove part of the way to my destination.  I had my helmet in the car but jumped out and forgot it.  I was riding around the corner at the DART rail Mockingbird station where there were a couple of guys ahead of me.  The road was closed due to a huge crane working on a building.  They said “get left” and as I was looking at them moving to the left side I followed their path without closely watching what was immediately in front of me. Then I hit a double row of “city titties” which popped my front tire and I lost control. My injuries included two lacerations and stitches to the forehead, mild concussion, stitches in my right calf, bruised ribs and some soft tissue damage in my right hip-joint.  And a slightly bruised ego.  I feel very fortunate that my injuries were not more severe.

Looking back, I can recall a pretty serious bike crash involving a friend almost monthly in 2011.  I hope we can put an end to that in 2012.  Here are a few tips I have put together to help us all have a safe and happy 2012

Wear your lid, people!  Heads burst like watermelons when they hit the pavement.  Even wearing a helmet does not guarantee you will not have a head injury in a crash but it sure helps.  Bring lights and use them.  Be visible.  Use reflective tape.  A seen biker is a safer biker. Check your bike for loose parts before you ride it and make sure to have it serviced regularly.  We have plenty of great independently owned bike shops in the area such as Transit Bikes in Uptown, Switching Gears in Fair Park, Oak Cliff Bicycle in Oak Cliff and Trinity Bicycles in Fort Worth.  Check them out.

on the Katy Trail

Know your road limits, especially when it comes to your downhill speed. And if the most you have ever ridden is 5 miles, you are probably not ready for a 40 mile trip.  Communicate your limits to the leader if you are on an organized ride.  It may be decided that the ride might not be best for you.  Better safe than sorry. Obey the law and never assume that “THEY” see you because you have the right of way. Ride defensively and stay aware of your surroundings. One second of distraction can put you quickly on the ground.   Ride friendly and most importantly enjoy yourself and have fun.  Best wishes bike buddies and keep it safe!

- Susan

“Every minute spent on the bicycle is one spent in perfect balance.”  – Jacquie Phelan

Jan 12, 2012 update:  Kat is home and on the mend. She has several broken (or fractured) bones and lacerations but all indications are she’s going to recover, over time, without complications or permanent damage.  Obviously we’re delighted to hear this and glad to bring the news.  Plans are in the making for a Kat benefit, I’ll publish those details when I have them. 

For those of you who are not aware, last Saturday Kat crashed during a downhill on the group ride in McKinney.  Someone who was with her said that they noticed her front wheel began to wobble and the next thing they knew she was down.  After the crash her chain was undone but that could have been a result of the impact and not a contributing factor to it.

I’ve been told that she has a fractured vertebrae in her neck, fortunately there is no damage to the spinal cord.  The doctor said if you’re going to fracture a vertebrae, you want the one that she fractured because it is not associated with paralysis.  She also has a broken clavicle, and some broken ribs.  She can move all her fingers and toes and everything just fine.  She’s out of ICU and in a regular room now.  She was wearing a helmet and that likely saved her from a more severe head injury.

My guess is her recovery process is going to be lengthy.  I’m trying to determine what if anything we, the greater Dallas cycling community, can do to help. I’ll post updates when I have them.

So, Kat, in case someone mentions this to you, many folks are pulling for you and keeping you in our thoughts.

- Chris

]]> http://www.bikingindallas.com/our-thoughts-are-with-liberty-kat-aka-misty/feed/ 7 http://www.bikingindallas.com/seen-at-the-biking-in-dallas-arts-district-bike-crawl/ http://www.bikingindallas.com/seen-at-the-biking-in-dallas-arts-district-bike-crawl/#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:00:05 +0000 Christopher Curnutt http://www.bikingindallas.com/?p=13104

What started out as a solo romp through the Dallas Arts District morphed into a nice group ride crawl.  I would guess 25 people or so attended including Dallas Cycle Chic and the Dallas Biker Chicks.

photo by Mark Manson

We toured the Crow Collection of Asian Art, then had lunch at the many food trucks nearby.  Hint – the green tea with honey from the Korean BBQ place is awesome.  Then we crawled through the district, took some photos at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center and ended the day touring the Nasher Sculpture Center.

The weather was perfect and it was nice spending time with old friends and making ones.  We had folks attend from all over including far north Dallas, Plano, Deep Ellum, and even Wiley (Kris #2) join us.  I’ll be planning another Arts District event, one that will include a formal route and ride and that happens on a weekend so that more people can take part.  Thanks to those who came out and it was a pleasure meeting and spending the day with you all.

Finally, I’m using a new gallery plug-in to display photos, as you can see below.  Now you can scroll through or even click the slide show link to see photos easier than the way I was posting them previously.  No more click, click backwards, click again business.  I think this is a better presentation and easier to view.  Once I figure out how to make them align in the center of the page I’ll be happier.

- Chris

[Show as slideshow]

Back in June of this year cyclists in Dallas celebrated as the Dallas City Council adopted the 2011 Bike Plan , and with ease it seemed.  Everyone who participated in the many planning sessions, provided feedback, contacted their council members, and provided other contributions were rewarded for their effort.  As as Bike Friendly Oak Cliff described it,

Richardson has bike lanes, Dallas not so much. photo credit Richard Wezensky via Suburbanassault.com click for source

“…the city’s 2011 bike plan was unanimously adopted by the city council with no opposition and encouraging words by several of the council members who championed the project, including Angela Hunt, Sheffie Kadane, Linda Koop, Delia Jasso, and Pauline Medrano.”

Dallas was finally going to carry out a modern and progressive bicycle infrastructure that utilized striped lanes, cycle tracks, enhanced routes while leveraging our existing bike trail system and DART light rail and bus service.  Happy days were here…for once.  But we’re talking about the City of Dallas, after all,  so naturally six months later a council committee was advised that implementing the Dallas Bike Plan would cost in the neighborhood of $16,000,000 and there was no money in the budget for it.  The numbers even got sketchier, some claimed the 16M figure was not high enough while others said it would cost closer to $0. Let’s just say the “he said she said” thing was in full swing, and this was going on in mid-December when not many people are watching the bike plan, we’re busy planning for the holidays instead.

The Dallas Morning News City Hall blog covered one event here. They wrote,

“The first Dallas bike plan was approved this year with the promise that the city of the car would take big steps soon to stripe streets with dedicated lanes for bicycles.

But a council committee was told Monday that implementing the plan will be complicated and costly.

Now, what had seemed like a simple and straightforward effort to change Dallas is suddenly tangled up in the bureaucracy of City Hall.

Specifically, the plan to re-stripe 840 lane miles for bikes and place accompanying signs will cost some $16 million that is not available and that drafters of the plan hadn’t anticipated.

“There was not funding identified (in drawing the bike plan). It was not a fiscally-constrained plan. This was the ideal plan. This was my daughter’s Santa Claus list,” said Theresa O’Donnell, director of the city’s development department.

Council member Angela Hunt, who chaired the city’s bike plan committee, appeared angry at that information.

The cost, she said, was supposed to be minimal because striping was to take place during the normal street re-construction process.

“I recall as we worked on the bike plan, that a point was made during more than one of the presentations by our consultants – with city staff present – that the bike plan would be implemented during re-striping processes.”

“No staff member jumped up and said, wait, wait that’s not correct we don’t have the funding for that. No one pulled me aside …and said we aren’t gong to be able to implement this as easily as our consultants are telling us,” she said.

O’Donnell said she didn’t have a good answer why the additional cost of re-striping wasn’t explored by staff during the drawing of the bike plan.

when we started hearing that the City had no money to fund these improvements, that said improvements could cost billions (or nothing at all, depending on who was quoted) we felt right at home, again.”

A few days later, as reported by BikeDFW, the city issued a clarification, sort of, claiming they remain committed to implementing the Bike Plan.  Then Jim Schultze from the Dallas Observer weighed in and describes it as a game of chicken, one that the “bike advocates” won, this round at least (note to Jim Schultze, not everyone who’s vocal about supporting the Dallas Bike Plan is 30-something or a hipster, just sayin’ bro).  Bike Friendly Oak Cliff kept readers up to date with each new round of developments.  it’s been a bit of a circus to say the least.

If your head is spinning from all this you’re not alone.  I don’t have the bandwidth to attend most council meetings but I can let them know my thoughts on the subject. If you want to help make sure that the 2011 Bike Plan gets implemented my suggestion is that you write a letter or email to your city council member and let them know what’s important to you. They get more than their share of bitter and/or psychotic rants, so writing something thoughtful to your council member, something that indicates why the bike plan is important to you and how you feel Dallas will benefit from it, is probably the best approach.  It will take about 5 minutes of your time and if you click here you’ll find an interactive district map that indicates what district you live in and links to contact your city council member.

I hope you’re enjoying these holidays and if you’re not working this Thursday then plan to join us at the Biking in Dallas Arts District Crawl.

- Chris

The Dallas Cycle Chic Ride was a fun one.  It was more of a shopping and social excursion on bicycles than a formal ride. We ended the day at Barcadia for food and drinks.  There were several people who had never been on one of the many leisure rides in Dallas and it didn’t take them long to meet everyone and fit right in.  Be sure to drop by the Dallas Cycle Chic site and look at the photo slideshow they put together.  I took many photos myself, I’ll be posting more here and on my Tumblr photography page soon.  I’m looking forward to the next ride.

ps: Big thanks to Transit Bikes for the pre-ride Mimosas.

- Chris