As lots of you famous, a bicycle owner in Washington state was not too long ago attacked by a cougar:
There may be now a Gofundme for the sufferer, and it’s a harrowing learn:
As all of the information shops word, such assaults are fairly uncommon, although you could recall that again in 2018 a bicycle owner was fatally attacked in the identical space:
It was huge information on the time, and CNN gave it the complete therapy, with wildlife specialists and a wincing anchor and the whole lot:
[CNN anchor reaching out to milk the teats of tragedy.]
Shockingly, as but CNN has not milked both tragedy additional by trying to hyperlink them each to local weather change.
Right here in New York Metropolis and the encompassing space you’re even much less prone to run right into a harmful animal. For instance, it’s been years since there was a rabid coyote unfastened in Yonkers:
And whereas I’ve run throughout the occasional bear, the closest to my residence I’ve ever seen one is 90 miles away:
Maybe the best irony of being a biking citydweller is that the a whole bunch of motorists I work together with on any given day pose a a lot increased risk to my well-being than any of those creatures. Once I noticed that bear I stood there till it disappeared, attempting to not soil myself; and but I’ll assume nothing of using on a busy highway the place I’m continuously one text-messaging driver away from going to that nice Gran Fondo within the sky, go determine.
Then there’s the rising risk of falling sufferer to the micromobility revolution:
New York Metropolis noticed 21 ebike deaths final 12 months, which implies we’ve reached a morbid milestone in that ebike fatalities and ebike fireplace fatalities now kill roughly the identical variety of individuals:
I imply holy crap:
One purpose for all these fires is that meals supply riders use ebikes with substandard batteries, however fortuitously the town is holding the supply apps accountable:
Nah, simply kidding, the town is footing the invoice:
I notice smuggies in the remainder of the nation nonetheless assume ebikes will save society from motordom and cease local weather change, thereby ending disagreeable climate and cougar assaults as soon as and for all, but when New York Metropolis is any indication you possibly can anticipate extra automotive visitors than ever, plus a whole forfeiture of your bicycle infrastructure with lethal conflagrations as an added bonus. Actually, at this level the one internet constructive has been than thieves now not care about common bicycles:
Anecdotally, stolen bikes typically wound up being offered to supply staff, so now that supply staff now not journey common bikes I think the black marketplace for them has largely dried up. I imply I’m positive there are a handful of artisanal bike thieves left who know there’s a specialised market on your gravel bike or no matter, however you don’t hear almost as many tales of woe about how somebody’s valuable Surly was stolen from exterior of the bar, and I’m guessing the shift to ebikes for supply work is the explanation why.
As for me, I search respite from the hectic tempo of city life within the forests of suburbia, the place I can fake I’m deep within the wilderness, but I’m extraordinarily unlikely to come across both a harmful animal or an inflammable ebike battery:
Positive, you could encounter a pink bicycle:
However it’s not even a scorching pink, as an alternative it’s extra of a strawberry yogurt:
I need to say I’m extraordinarily happy with the Faggin, and I daresay it represents the apotheosis of the dirtbag highway ethos–although I did carry out a gratuitous improve by including a Dura Ace rear derailleur:
This in fact was a competitor within the Traditional Cycle twenty first Century Friction Shifter Shootout:
The issue I encountered with it within the Shootout was that it was a bit too quick for the 29-tooth low gear I used to be utilizing for the check, however there aren’t any such issues with the tighter gearing on the Faggin:
I’m even pairing the Dura Ace derailleur with a Document hub, which might clarify any fissures you’ll have encountered within the space-time continuum. Plus, I not too long ago discovered that later Document hubs can settle for freehub our bodies from Campagnolo and Fulcrum wheelsets, which implies I might probably create a Shimano-splined Document hub:
That sucking sound you hear is the universe turning itself inside out. I could need to get one among this stuff, if solely to show the Faggin right into a rolling Shimagnolo fractal that mixes elements from each proper all the way down to a microscopic degree.
