Props to the Waukesha Sheriff's Department

What a great day for a ride. Sunny, warm, (relatively speaking), and light wind. I even saw another rider out, and I never see other riders on the route I was on today. Anyhow, it was a great ride except when Mr. SUV decided he couldn't wait to pass me until the oncoming car passed us, so he did the ole' squeeze play. Well I didn't like that so I followed him to his subdivision to try ask him to give the next cyclist a little more room. He told me to go away. So I told him if he didn't want to talk to me he could talk to the police.

That's where the Waukesha Sheriff's Department comes in. I have to digress a little here. I have contacted at least 8 different police agencies since my first complaint about unsafe motorists. Only twice have my initial contacts been positive. Both times have been when dealing with the Waukesha Sheriff's Department.

In this case the deputy looked at the video and said, "That was pretty close." Then he added that the car endangered both me and the oncoming car. He told me that I have just as much right to the road as the SUV. I knew that but apparently the SUV driver didn't, and neither do most of the other police agencies I've contacted. The deputy did exactly what he should have done in this situation at this stage of the investigation. He took my information and told me he would make contact with the driver. He did not make any assumptions about either party until he talked to both parties. I told the deputy that if he truly felt that the driver understood how dangerous and illegal his actions were and if he felt he would not do it again, I was ok with no ticket being issued. I told him that if he didn't believe that was the case I would like to have a ticket issued and I would testify. I have not heard back from the deputy yet, but I'm confident that when he contacts the driver he will take the appropriate action.

That is a rare feeling and that is why I'm sending props to the Waukesha Sheriff's Department.
Keep up the good work.

By the way the ride ended with a hawk swooping down in front of me trying to grab a snack, and then flying up to a low perch to watch the traffic go by. Pretty cool. It's hard to see on the video, but trust me it's a hawk, and it was cool.

Pow...Yeah!

Nothin beats a "yeah" ride in fresh powder. You know, a ride where you ask, wanna go this way? Yeah. Wanna go that way? Yeah.
So our favorite superhero, fixedgeargus came along and mid-ride we stopped at a mini-mart so he could transform himself yet again, into Dr. Fixedgeargus. Well at least that's what he looked like with those white botties fashioned from plastic baggies. It looked like he just walked out of surgery and forgot to take off his surgery booties. It was a good 2 hours and even though we both went down, (sorry no good video of the crashes, we crashed in dark spots) no broken bones.
I did experience a first, I mean besides my first crash on snow. A woman who almost pulled out in front of us caught us up at a light and apologized, twice. In almost 20 years of serious riding, that's the first time a motorist has apologized. There's hope after all. Thanks to that lady in the minivan and thanks to Dr. Fixedgeargus for coming along for the ride. If you all behave, I'll upload a crash from an earlier ride on some ice, it's amusing. Stay tuned.

He's Faster Than a Speeding Bullet...

Watch as our intrepid superhero effortlessly transforms himself from FixedGearGus to Nogeargus. NoGearGus's super powers were unable to produce any accumulation, though it did snow for most of our approximately 35 miles together. Maybe next time our superhero will bring his x-ray specs to protect him from the all powerful white death flakes.

The Good, The Bad, and The Unbelievable

The Good




is the response I got from Waste Management after one of their trucks passed uncomfortably close during a recent ride. This is how an incident like this should be dealt with.

Jeff,
On Monday, January 7, 2008, Sam Phillips (District Manager) and myself,
met with the driver that was involved in the incident that occurred
with you on December 26, 2007. During this meeting, we reviewed and
discussed the video that was taken by you while riding on your bike. I
believe that this was a real eye opener for the driver. We are
incorporating this video into our weekly Safety Meeting and that though

we are in the winter months we still need to be very aware of any cyclist that
may still be on the road. We do apologize for any anxiety this may have
caused you and want you to be confident in the fact that we at Waste
Management are totally committed to the Safety of everyone that uses or
crosses the roadways.

Sincerely yours,

Brad Stendahl

The bad, is the response I've gotten from authorities to the snow plow incident.
So far I've been warned off the road by the Milwaukee County DPW director and been told by the Milwaukee Police Department that since the incident involves a county worker, it has to be handled differently.

The unbelievable, is the fact that the Milwaukee City Attorney's office says that there is no evidence that the driver passed me unsafely, and they believe further contact with me will be unproductive. Stay tuned.

Foggy ride re-cut

O.K. so I had a little time to re-cut, but I still need to upgrade software.

Two dense fog rides in a couple weeks, who'da thunk it? It was a great ride though with some good mexican food after. I really need to get a better video editing program. Windows movie maker just ain't cuttin' it. But it's all I got for now. I'll try and recut later. Enjoy