Heavy Weather in the Lafayette Area

We had the tornado sirens going off in the Lafayette, Indiana area tonight. (Well, it's after midnight, so yesterday evening.). May 30, at about 7:00 PM or so, the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Warning for Lafayette and the surrounding region. The Storm tracked through Battleground, Indiana. I was able to get video footage of the storm as it passed to the north. I believe I may have gotten a tornado on the ground briefly, or at the least a very strong downburst.



It was a wild ride, though, watching this and I'm afraid I got the wwife a bit mad at me that I was out there getting footage rather than hiding in the tub, but it was too good an opportunity to miss.

WLFI-TV did also pick up a small amount of my video footage for the 11:00 Weather Report. The above is my footage post edit to assemble it. I left the audio raw. This same storm front apparently also dropped a strong tornado on Indianapolis and nearly leveled 300 apartments at 38th and Mithoffer. Wild night in Indiana tonight!

80 Million Reasons and More!

80 million reasons

The government over here have decided to spend £80 million every year to make sure that pregnant women
will eat healthy to get babies who will eat healthy.
I’ve heard a lot of bull in my days from politicians but this is just stupid.

More here, it's a great article!

This article makes a lot of sense, by the way. Christa has touched on some words of wisdom in her article. A healthy diet and a sensible active lifestyle will go a long way toward better health. It really isn't "Rocket Science" after all. Another thing, be sure to check out Christa's recipes over there at "My Swedish Kitchen! She has some great food up!

Cycling News

As a leadup teaser, the Spinner Saturday Group has topped 72000 miles for the year so far. Not all the reports are in though, so get me your mileage!

Sanchez

Menchov still leads overall

The Associated Press

Published: September 16, 2007

Cycling Sanchez takes 15th stage of Spanish Vuelta, Menchov still leads Eds: UPDATES with quotes

GRANADA, Spain (AP) - Spanish rider Samuel Sanchez won the 15th stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Sunday, with Denis Menchov maintaining his overall lead with a ninth-place finish.

The Euskatel-Euskadi cyclist went ahead after the first climb nearly halfway in before holding off his rivals to win the 201.4-kilometer (125.1-mile) leg in 4 hours, 45 minutes, 59 seconds.

More..........

Information wanted: Chicago Critical Mass Incident

This was posted in the Great Lakes Forum at Bike Forums. If any of my readers in the Chicago area have information on this incident, please pass it along to the email address below.

If you are also a Blogger, could you please crosspost this to your cycling blogs? It would be great if we managed to help nail this person!

Hello all,

I'm new to this forum, so if I make any mistakes, please bear with me.

Last friday night, my family (5) and a young friend of my daughter's rode in Chicago's Critical Mass. We've been doing CCM rides since 2001, and we are very experienced cyclists (kids included). There were at least 1500 cyclists for this ride, with the destination being the endangered Berwyn Spindle (public art Car-kebob, featured in Wayne's World movie).

We were at the end of the Mass, on 18th Street, riding through the wonderful Pilsen neighborhood when all hell broke lose. A maroon car with front end damage came careening off Throop street, and proceeded to plow through the tail end of the Mass of about 100 cyclists. Bikers scattered in all directions trying to avoid him. Unfortunately, my 10 year old son wasn't so fortunate, and he was hit by this alleged drunken driver (who actually accelerated into him).

Thankfully, my son suffered no permanent damage. He will recover. He is also moving beyond his fear of getting on a bike again.

The State's Attorney's office is seeking any other victims of this crime. The driver was uninsured and had a revoked driver's license. I would like to see him unable to drive a car for a very long time. The more evidence they have of this driver's willful and reckless driving, the better the chances of keeping him off the road.

If you were injured or your bike damaged in this incident, PLEASE contact me offlist (at repto@aol.com, or at 708-388-8662). If you know of anyone who was injured or who's bike was damaged, please forward this email to them! Time is of the essence, so please feel free to forward this to any listservs or other cycling venues that you are aware of.

http://www.chitowndailynews.org/Chic...es_young_rider
Tiny url link--
http://tinyurl.com/2ww3na
The Sun-Times has interviewed me, but I'm not sure if they have run the article yet or not.

Thank you for any and all help!

Jane Healy
mom to Will (10), Katie (7) and Genevieve (3)

p.s. I've included a photo of his legs taken today. You can't see it in this photo, but his entire right lower leg is swollen. His elbows, left hip, right arm and face are also bruised. And yes, he WAS wearing his helmet (thank God).

Prokop Travesty! Cyclists set back by Prokop ruling.

Here is the article on the Prokop case out in Los Angeles County. It seems that Los Angeles is Immune! Since this is the case, then cyclists have to use any cycling facilities with due regard, even if they are constructed by a government agency.


Here is a link to the article as posted on Metnews:
http://www.metnews.com/articles/2007/prok052207.htm

Here is a particularily pertinent extract from the article, under fair use:

Justice Paul Boland, writing for the Court of Appeal, said the trial judge was correct, noting that a series of cases have held that bike paths, both paved and unpaved, are trails and that absolute immunity applies as a result. In doing so, he rejected the argument that Farnham, which dealt with an accident on the Sepulveda Basin Bikeway along the perimeter of Balboa Park in the San Fernando Valley, should be overruled or distinguished.

Prokop’s expert insisted that the gate where the injury occurred does not comply with the criteria set out in the California Highway Design Manual, as required by the California Bicycle Transportation Act. But even if that is so, Boland explained, the immunity has not been waived because Government Code Sec. 815 makes clear that a statute granting immunity takes precedence over any enactment purporting to impose liability on a public entity. -Metnews Staff Writer

Found this over at Midnight Riders Place.....

Quite a cool short video about the 5 boroughs ride in NYC

3000 Miles to fight Obesity! Seth Margolies

Seth was in much the same boat as I was. Fritz, over at Cycle-liscious first brought this story to my attention. Meet Seth Margolies, a fellow post bariatric cyclist.

The story is here, with either Hi resolution video or low res for dialup.

Seth is riding from Coast to coast on the Southern Tier route If you see him out there, wish him luck. GO SETH!


By the way, I've set my newscrawlers loose to try to track his story and progress, hopefully, I'll have updates!