Bella Bites Again!

It rained some more today, but I was undeterred. I have a fendered single speed for just such occasions.

I don't often ride in the rain, mostly because it is relatively rare here. The rain comes hard and fast, and then clears off. But it has rained sporadicly Friday, very hard all night and then it was light rain all day today. (More than 4 and one half inches at dusk today by my rain gauge.) But while I rarely ride in the rain, most of my crashes have occurred in wet conditions. [1] I therefor never ride in the rain without my helmet. [2]

I hadn't been on this bike since I my rear-wheel spoke needed to be fixed, (July?) so I was making adjustments as I left the house- lower handlebars, so more weight on my hands. Shorter cranks, so my feet make smaller circles, stuff like that.

I ride up toward Bud and Bella's house, and a gang of five dogs hanging around spot me from afar. When I rode up, they are waiting in the road for me. I am concerned that one of them will dash under a wheel and take me down. Bella is great fun when it is just her and Bud. In those situations, she is content to just have a good run.

But she is a different dog in a pack. She is aggressive. I am convinced it has to do with wolf-pack hierarchy and status. She feels compelled to be the dominant one. So I am focused on her.

Bella comes at me from my front right and the rest are milling about. Bella leaps up and attempts to bite my hand or arm. She misses but catches my my handlebar instead. This precipitates a diversion style fall: My bicycle goes right, and I continue straight and down, rolling on my forearm-shoulder-back.

This all played out at a rather slow speed, so I am unhurt, but gee whiz! I climb back on my bike after adjusting the brake handle to it's proper position, and continue on, slinging ammonia at any dog that comes near. Within moments, the incident is out of my thoughts, and I have a nice trip to town.

I have made a habit of favoring a longer route to town because it has smoother roads, but it also has three railroad crossings, two of which are at a steep angle. I avoid that way in the wet. No need to tempt fate on wet train tracks! So I return back the way I came.

This time, I wasn't spotted as soon, but not so late that I can get a lead on them. Bella crosses the road in front of me and again attacks on my right side. I maneuver away and fling ammonia at her, but I miss, as does she. She crosses behind me while I avoid other dogs in front of me, and the distraction prevents me from switching hands on the ammonia bottle. Bella comes up behind me on my left and she bites my left leg and pulls me down. (I crash.) I am again doing the forearm-shoulder roll on the same side, but this time I get to use the groceries in my messenger bag to cushion part of the fall! (None of the eggs broke, imagine that!)

Picture the scene: Five barking dogs running every which way in the rain; A crazed and bleeding cyclist splashing through puddles in his cleats, chasing Bella across her yard to home; Four of Bella's people yelling at the dogs and running every which way trying to corral them... Whoo-wee we had us a ruckus!

After I came to my senses, and I had checked my bicycle for damage and peeked at the eggs, Bella's folks provided medical care. (We decided not to wait for Obama to provide it for us) They ruined some great pictures by being nice and cleaning up most of the blood.

WARNING! Photos of Bella's loving caresses follow this announcement. Be advised that ChipSeal took these pictures of himself while in the shower! (YIKES!) Yes, my dear readers, both of you have been warned: Yet more body part photos.[3]

To help orient you, Bella's nose is on my shin side, and her lower mandible was on my calf side.





The calf wounds are simple puncture injuries, but not as deep as the shin injury, where the punctures are deeper and there is a bit of tearing from the twisting movements caused by the dynamics of our motions at the moment of the bite.





While these photos are dramatic, and the wounds gory, they are not very painful, and I am not very concerned about them. I think the blood stained socks makes for a great "war story"! It is said that puncture wounds are the most prone to infection, But it bled freely and hydrogen peroxide was liberally applied within minutes of the injury. I don't think professional medical care would be able to do much more. I am more concerned that Bella will get sick from biting me!



This next photo is included purely as an ego shot, as I remembered to flex my calf muscle before taking it. How 'bout them guns, eh?



So those are the facts. Now to the judgment. Going forward, I need to be more cautious if Bella is out with friends. I am grieved that Bella will lose her freedom over this, as her kennel will soon become more secure. I hope Bella will be allowed to freely roam if the other dogs are penned up for a while- sort of a rotational thing.

As I pointed out in the first post about Bella's bites, we had three or four runs a week for more than a year when she was content to just run alongside the road enjoying the "chase". It is the wolf-pack dynamics in the presence of other dogs that seems to bring out her aggressiveness.

And now to classification. I had two crashes today. In the rain. The first one was a wee bit over the average of miles between crashes, and the second was considerably shorter than average. (I crash about once every 1,500 miles) The averages are a bit misleading though, as this is the second time two of them occurred on the same day- Although on that other day only one of them was in the rain!

Until today, all of my crashes that happened in the rain were because of the wet conditions. (And my failure to adjust how I operated my vehicle in those conditions.)
Ain't statistics fun?

Oddly, in both crashes, I fell in the exact same way, breaking my fall in a safe and controlled way, without thought. Perhaps in doing it just once I would not even be bruised, it was so smooth. (After the first crash I remember being annoyed that my left sleeve was now covered in road grime. I didn't think I had been hurt at all.) But pull that move twice and you feel it the second time!

My helmet has no scrapes that show it was needed, but because the event was not observed by a scientist, we cannot claim it as evidence for anything.

With that observation, I close this chapter of ChipSeal's real life adventures in Texas. I would hope the next chapter is not so dramatic. Please!

[1] I count it a crash when I hit the pavement. I exclude, however, clip out failure type falls from the tally. Those aren't crashes, they are just amusing entertainment for onlookers.

[2] I do not regard cycling in the rain inherently dangerous. I think that I ride in a dangerous manner in the rain. Nearly all of my wet weather crashes are due to my not adjusting for the conditions while turning. I am good at allowing for a greater stopping distance, so that hasn't been a problem.

[3] It is becoming ever more clear to me why fashion models earn the kind of money they do. My body is in no way photogenic!

Computer Trouble!

To my loyal reader, an update!

My internet provider has chosen to stop servicing my area, and I have not yet replaced it. My banking and such are performed over the net, so this process has been hindered because my lap-top crashed and will not re-boot.

This note is being sent via a friend's computer at a public hot-spot. (All hail Rockin' R; keeper of a working portable computer! Thanks Rod!)

I shall give a proper whiny blog-post when I am able. Any comments may have severe delays before they are approved, due to the intermittent ability for me to log on.

This too shall pass, and in a few weeks it will be a long forgotten experience.

Tailwinds to all!

Due To Technical Difficulties...

...this blog post has been modified from its original form.

Oh I had a good post planned! There is a catch-22 situation in town, and I captured it by digital photographs- and I had a serendipitous encounter with scofflaw cyclists, capturing automobile/bicycle conflicts as they scraped along the curb face...

But alas, I inadvertently deleted the files simultaneously from my hard drive and my camera. (What tha...?!) I won't be doing that again, and I am (Once again!) mourning the truism that education is always expensive!

So, a blog about odds and ends!

RANTWICK IS RIGHT

Please provide us with good roads. I prefer chip-seal over this.

 

Yes, the dreaded parallel cracks! This is a way too common phenomena of the roads around here. Our ground heaves and contracts as we change from wet season to dry. High clay content of the soil or some such thing. I have heard various theories from the natives, but the why isn't really the issue. The hazard is the issue!

 

I will not ride on this particular road at night. It is one of the compromises I have to make because I have chosen to travel with "to be seen by" lights rather than "lights to see by".

These cracks tend to appear running down the right tire track, but they are found anywhere at all some of the time. Most of them are not this wide, and this is admittedly the most extreme example I have come across locally.

But it is a beauty!

MY BIKE EATS STANDING UP!

 

I have never been hassled for bringing my bicycle in with me to eat at this Taco Bell. In fact, there is only one fast food restaurant that has ever objected! The key to taking your bike with you is to just do it as though that is how it is done.

For fourteen months or so, I have done all of my grocery shopping at Ennis Wal-Mart. (That is the old style of their name. They are now Walmart) I take my bike with me, and nine out of ten times there are no objections. Occasionally, a greeter will say; "Hey, you can't bring that in here!" It is always after I am three or four steps past them! I just say, "Sure I can! Watch!"

TOWNIE BIKES

I have noticed a few folks do not take their bicycles into Wal-Mart and "lock" them outside. After looking more closely at them, I wonder why they even bother locking them. That sounds really snobbish, I know. What do you think?

 
 
 

When I first thought to photograph these, I was thinking along the lines of PM's How Not To Lock Your Bike tutorials, but then I noticed the shape the bikes were in.

FOR HIM, BICYCLING IS DANGEROUS

There is another one that is in even poorer shape. When I looked at it closely, it had been reduced from a ten-speed to a single-speed from inoperable dérailleurs, and both caliper brakes were inoperable due to missing brake pads! No photos though. (Rats!) I met to owner the other night. I was surprised to see him locking up his "bicycle" when I was leaving the store.

I thought to myself; "Self, that guy not only has one gear and no brakes, he is a nighttime ninja! Yikes!" So I dug out a blinky light with batteries that I carry for just this sort of thing and gave it to him. We'll have to see if he uses it.

READER'S QUESTIONS

Perhaps one of my reader's questions is interesting to the other person who visits my blog. Or perhaps not. But if you don't ask how will you ever know? (I know there are more than two people who visit this blog, but only if I include my Mom.)

So finally, SteveA asked about a water bottle I am using with dog repellent, specifically, "Where did I get it?"

I received it as a promotional gift at either the 2007 Tour D'Italia or the first annual Head For The Hills Bike Rally. Both were very well organized and challenging. Rally riders are commonly asked by non-cyclists; "Why would you ride your bike 65 miles?"

The answer, of course, is: "Because it was the longest ride they offered!"

Coming Back At You

Or, "Reflections On Being Seen At Night"

 

Texas requires:

"SAFETY EQUIPMENT. sec. 551.104 ...(b) A person may not operate a bicycle at nighttime unless the bicycle is equipped with:

(1) a lamp on the front of the bicycle that emits a white light visible from a distance of at least 500 feet in front of the bicycle; and
(2) on the rear of the bicycle:
(A) a red reflector that is:
(i) of a type approved by the department; and
(ii) visible when directly in front of lawful upper beams of motor vehicle headlamps from all distances from 50 to 300 feet to the rear of the bicycle; or
(B) a lamp that emits a red light visible from a distance of 500 feet to the rear of the bicycle."

So where do I go to find out what reflectors are "approved by the department"?

So do either of my bicycles comply with the law? My single-speed above or my main ride below?

 

If my front light is operating, and my Planet Bike Super Flash (PBSF) tail-light is not, then only my single-speed would be legal, as I have no red reflectors on the back of my main bike, though I do have a red patch of reflective tape on my helmet. This is assuming that my reflective tape would meet the approval of "the department".

Legalities aside, is the minimum lawful requirements adequate? What can be done to maximize nighttime visibility? What is reasonable? What are the compromises I have made and why?

For all practical purposes, reflectors are helpful to be seen by overtaking and oncoming traffic only, and leave you invisible to cross traffic vehicles. Reflectors, by their nature, "send back" to the source a portion of the light that falls on it. Different reflectors and reflective tape are better at this than others. There are a lot of sites dedicated to the question of which one is better, and for what purpose, with side by side pictures and stats and on, and on, and on... It is a guy thing. I am going to cut through all that static for you and talk about the stuff that works with cycling, so you don't have to plow through considerations for aviation, railroads, marine use, trucking, chemical exposure and on, and on, and on...

Rigid plastic reflectors, of the type that came on the bike when it was sold to you, in general do a better job of returning light to it's source than tapes. (Absolute brightness) But absolute brightness is just a part of the equation. There is also perceived brightness.

A reflective surface will always be have a greater perceived brightness the greater it's area. Thus a reflector of a greater absolute brightness can seem to be "dimmer" than an inferior reflector if the inferior's reflective surface area is a lot bigger.

This leads me to the conclusion that the minimum legal requirements of a red reflector to the rear is inadequate for the task of being seen at night. A positive light source is necessary to be seen from the side or from an angle. You can trust me on this: reflectors only work when headlamps fall on them, and it is a surprisingly narrow angle of observability. The more frequent hazard to a cyclist is from crossing traffic, and a cyclist's reflectors are invisible to them. For a brief, but clear explanation, see John Schubert's essay on it. To find source data and a rant about it, this is the best!

I have discarded the notion of using rigid reflectors, as they are small and I dislike hanging hardware on my bicycle. The best reflective tape for our purposes is DOT/NHTSA 49CFR571.108 and SOLAS (Save Our Lives At Sea) rated tapes. SOLAS tape reflects about the same as DOT tape, and tends to be more durable, but DOT tape is easier to find. Both are spendy.

So you can see that I have gone for "area" in applying reflective tape!

 

 

 

 

When it comes to lights, there are basically three categories. Lights to "see by", lights to "be seen by" and inadequate. Lights to "see by" are so costly I have chosen to get lights to "be seen" instead. And since that is my goal, to stand out on the road, I run my positive light sources on "blink" mode. My tail light, as mentioned before is a PBSF, and my headlights are Cateye HL-EL135. While looking for the model number, I noticed their Uno which according to them is a bit brighter and lighter. (Whoo hoo! But it will require more frequent battery changes.) They will likely replace my present ones when they need to be replaced.

On my multi-speed bicycle, I have slung the light underneath the handlebars for aesthetic reasons, but it is not designed to operate that way. To prevent the battery cover from coming off (I ride on fairly rough roads) and another mount failure, I have employed a rather inelegant "electrical tape solution".

 

 

Because I am car-free, I can expect to travel after dark. So I want to have lights on my bikes at all times, and I carry spare batteries. I don't run them in the daytime beause, after all, I ride in the left third of the lane!

I am careful at night to ride on familiar roads, avoiding roads with known hazards. This is an operational compromise for not running with lights to "see by". My single-speed is expected to be pressed into service on foul weather trips, and it has more area for tape to be mounted because of its fenders. I also put both spoke reflectors on the front wheel. As Steve pointed out, not likely to be of much help, what can I say? (ChipSeal shrugs)

However, I will dispute his contention that I have put reflective tape "on the sides" of my bike. Reflective tape has the ability to reflect back to its source even when struck from a very high angle. Here are two pictures, taken with low sun, at an approximate angle displayed to overtaking and opposing traffic.

 

 

Oh, and one last thing, sometimes tape has uses beyond reflective duties! I ride on gravel roads with some frequency, and carbon fiber is allergic to dings. I have put reflective tape on the underside of my down-tube to protect it from pebbles and stones thrown up from my wheels.