September 22 - Jim's motor vehicles

Not only am I a bike junky, I am a reformed motorhead. My first “street legal” car was when at 17 years old in 1979, I owned a 1969 Plymouth Sport Satellite with a large enough V-8 motor with 3 sets of carburetors to generate power enough to now supply electricity to a small town for ever and ever. That car today, if still around, is worth a small fortune. I sold the car to pay college bills to get my degree in Environmental Science - there might be something to this? Since my MOPAR days (or daze) it has been VW's, bicycles, and small foot-print vehicles. Those days, a 20-gallon tank of high octane gasoline and a can of octane booster was $20.00 - yeh, like in the late 1970’s I had that much money to burn....., and as I recall, it wasn’t all that fun.

$44.10 today. A year ago $25.00. What will it be next month to fill up the minivan? I see $5.00 per gallon of regular on the horizon. When we get to $5.00 per gallon, I see us all on the edge of a socio-environmental revolution/evolution. Change is good. Pinching the pocketbook is bad. But seeing that I am very rich, yet perpetually poor, higher energy costs are just an added layer of expense to which I can borrow from the future to pay for today - good system, right? If for years deficit spending has been O.K. and working well for the government, it should work for me, right?...... [Note: The minivan has an 18 gallon fuel tank. It takes me about 4 weeks to burn through 3/4 of a tank. The vehicle gets used about every other day to move 4 or more people to here to there around town, and it is used on road trips which aren't being considered here. The VW Beatle (@31+ MPG) is used for moving groups of 4 or less around town, and many times a day on really nice sunny days - this is a convertible New Beatle, wouldn't you indulge a little here?]

I own (vehicle No. 3) a Ford F150 pickup truck. "The best selling vehicle in America!", or something like that according to one of those over paid consulting firms that benchmarks statistics of consumer over consumption. Also, with the amount of recall notices I have received from FORD, perhaps "best" is a term better left in the eye of the beholder/owner. Yes, there are a lot of F150's out there, and I suggest there are too many, especially the elevated, painted, testosterone inject behemoths that burst the boundary of utilitarianism by miles, if not light years. Usually, I drive mine when (1) I am saving the world and responding to environmental incidents and I need to carry Hazmat equipment, or when (2) my home business has a need to move large volumes of material, that it does often. Because my truck only has a V-6 engine (note: an engine smaller than most minivans), it is amazingly fuel thrifty. I drive the truck once, usually twice a week for load carrying missions, and when I feel like it, a third time on dates with my wife or when I want to feel competitive with SUV drivers. On the highway, with a 1,000 pound load, I get an honest 25 MPG – but I consider this is appropriate use of a motor vehicle (what do you think?). Here, I clearly do not have a single occupant vehicle on a daily commute. My F150 is a workhorse, and it is for sale - $14,000.00, 2002 F150 Supercab (4-door, 2-regular front and 2-small rear suicide), V-6, Automatic w/overdrive, A/C, cruise, AM/FM/CD, sprayed-on epoxy bed liner. I last filled up with gasoline in August costing $1.98 per gallon. I am still at 1/3 tank. This truck is awesome.

Regarding beer runs, this is work only for a bicycle. The bicycle applied for transportation beer is appropriate for many reasons, but mainly for the fact you can’t drink too much beer and then ride a bicycle – it just doesn’t work. This isn’t rocket scientist work, just recognition that too much coordination and sense of your surroundings are required to move a bicycle forward without falling over. Once coordination (3 or 5 beers later) is lost, the bicycle doesn’t go too far, the rider ends up upside down a few feet from the start point, and well, you paint that picture from here…..

September 20 - It's over!!!! (my rotation at work)

What a great ride home! Traffic at 6:30 PM in the suburbs of "Mega Metropolis Land" is so great! Bountiful is the warming exhaust of bus traffic, beautiful is the all too present sight of solo motorist wrapped in 7,000+ pounds of mind numbing steel, sweet is the odor of burnt hydrocarbons lingering at every intersection where jackrabbit starts are the norm. I only wish more humans would see and understand this absurdity.

Today, the ride to work was "so bad". The moon was full and provided more than ample light to justify a 3:45 AM wake-up. I had to be sure I was on the road by 4:30 AM to be at work on time. [Note: Night Sun, et.al., natural area lighting is the best, please work on “moon lighting”. Also note: All riders need to be real! Ride with a helmet, and front and rear lighting – it’s cheap, use it!] Going to work, I felt challenged to draft the one car that actually tried hard to pass me (foolishly, they stopped for every red light – At 4:45 in the morning, what were they thinking? Ooops, should I have done a track stand for 2-minutes when no one passed across my path?). Over a distance of 4 miles, I beat the car before they turned onto the highway and drove off to wherever their destination was. Besides the afore mentioned, when I passed the local Dunkin Donuts with all that gusto to draft that car, it was a bummer to see all the Police cruisers from the surrounding towns in that parking lot. Like, enforcement?

Bottom line, I need a few daze(s) to recover from the shift work. Today I just finished a 6-week rotation at work: 7-12-hour days 7-12 hour nights; a straight 40 hours thrown in to confuse the mix; well, my mind is mush.

Please be safe. Plan and ride for the worst, and enjoy all the moments that aren’t bad. I wish you all more good times than bad. Most important. Please keep peddling. Thanks.

September 19th - Dark ride.

3:45 AM actually turned out to be 4:15 AM - that snooze button is very dangerous. I was out of the house by 4:33 AM, at the coffee shop (for tea) at 5:00 AM, and I rolled up to the office at 5:15. By the time I took a baby-wipe bath and dressed in my "business attire", it was 5:35. I was well early for the start of my my 6:00 AM shift.

I believe the moon was full, or at least pretty full last night because it was still shining just before sunrise. The moon did a great job illuminating the road, but I still riode a little slower in the dark. After 3 months I know the road pretty well, but there are always some surprises (skunks, tree branches, McDonald bags, etc.).

The ride home was energizing, or at least enough so that now at 9:00 PM I am still awake enough to blog. On the ride home I passed one of my crews. I guess they are not use to seeing this big guy on a mountain bike with panniers barrelling down a hill, I took them by surprise. They are good guys, but they weren't wearing their proper safety equipment - not good.

Also not good was how I was riding in traffic - I have to watch myself. At traffic stops I found myself weaving through stopped traffic to get in front of the line. I probably shouldn't do that. For the traffic stops where I did stop at the side of the road, or in line with traffic, my ride definately slowed down a lot. So in heavy traffic tonight my ride was 45 minutes, it is usually 30. If I drove today, it probably would have taken the same amount of time to get home, but by riding I saved the gas, energy, and left a small foot-print.

I did something interesting over last weekend. Google News lets you subscribe to news alerts using search terms you define. I signed up for a daily digest of links to internet news articles that contain the word "bicycle" in their titles. It is rather interesting to see all the news about bicycles, there are a lot of fatalities listed, but some political, and activist stuff too. For example, today there was an article from an Austin Texas newspaper about one of their editors test riding a Tide Force 750x - there were quite a few references to Lance in that article. I subscribed to the same type of service about 15 years ago when I used CompuServe. I recomend doing it if you have the interest, time, and resources to read daily news involving bicycles, it is simple and dosen't cost anything.

Well, here I am 9:13 PM. Bed time. Tuesday is my last early wake up for 5 days. I have to make the best of it. Chow!

September 18th - Drove, top down....

There was so much rain, and the puddles were so deep last night on the ride home that my drailers got super gunked up with road grime, so much so that my derailers stopped working - not good.

With not enough time to work on the bike before work Sunday (another12-hour shift), I took the VW Beatle. I went top down - I think convertibles are as close as a car will ever get to being a bicycle.

I got home and wrenched around the bike for about an hour, lubed lubable parts, added air in airable parts, and polished (yes it now shines) the frame - there was way too much road grime. I could go on for hours about road grime - just don't get it on your work clothers - it never comes out.

Monday, it's tie day at work. My "dress" clothes are laid out and they'll go into the panniers.

3:45 is looking pretty early for a wake-up, but well worth it.

September 17th - Quack, quack, I am a duck - boy did it rain!

I am a three alarm kind of guy. Today, the first alarm went off at 3:45 AM, the send at 3:55, the third (the dangerous one) sounded at 4:00 AM - this is the one with the 7 minute snooze [who came up with 7 minutes? Is 7 minutes the standard for a snooze?]. 4:00 AM quickly became 4:21, I dashed out of bed, brushed my teethed, evacuated my bladder, ran three fingers through my hair, grabbed my gear, and peddled off to work.

This morning I made good time. 7.5 miles in 30 minutes, and I wasn't pushing it (thank you peddle assist). I was a little sweaty with a little more stink today, so I used some babby wipes to decontaminate the crutial parts.

The shift went o.k. but my relief overslept and was late by about 20 minutes, the minutes that made a 1 hour difference in my commute. Had my relief been on time, I would have been home before the heavens opened up. Because "he" was late, I got stuck halfway home with torrential rains resulting in up to 6 inches (and more) of local flooding. Luckly, I made it to the local train station before I got soaked and I waited out most of the storm, including hail and lightening (plus about 3 inches of rain). I hung out for an hour watching the storm pass - there is something kind of peaceful about that - but it would have been better if I watched the storm from home.

By the time I restarted my ride home I had my rain gear on, the roads were littered with branches, motorists were "extra" crazed, and power was out to signal lights in half the intersections I rode through.

I got home, I am sipping a glass of California wine, I am going to eat, shower, cutle my wife (we had to put the dog "down" yesterday - she had cancer, so the bed is more "open" now which is much better now for cuddling).

Dinner is on the table, I shall go. My gear is drying out. I need to get up earlier in the morning to regrease/lube the important parts of the bike since it got drench.

Goodnight for now.

September 15th - Cold Beer (in the morning)!!!!!!

What a night at work. A bag of popcorn in an unauthorized microwave caused the fire alarm to go off and the building had to be evacuated. The sirens were tested at the local nuke plant, but most people didn't know about the test and thought there was a meltdown in progress - I got those calls. Some member of the public shot a blow-gun dart into a sensative piece of equipment. And, I could go on, and on, and on, etc.

As I sit writing the blog, I am glad to say it is pouring rain outside. I made it home without getting rained on and soaked. At 5:55 AM it was dark and humid, but no rain. [I need to think about getting some serious rain gear if I am going to keep this up.]

Now for the beer part, when I got home (at 6:25 AM) I found the bottom shelf of the refridgerator fill with very cold Budwweiser! Awesome. It's now 7:13 AM and I am on my third! Catching a buz in the morning (after working all night long) is great! I guess today is a bad day to want to walk the kids to school - what will the other children's parents think? Ha! Who cares! The beer is ice cold!

September 14th - One more night to go.

Working nights is unnatural. My bio-clock will now be toppsie turrvie for the next 4 days. However, the exercise I am getting e-bike commuting to work really helps keep my energy level up.

The night before last I read the New York State Motor Vehicle Laws (it was a slow night). Much to my surprise, electric-assist bicycles are not allowed to be opperated on public roads in New York State. There is a bill the State Assemble passed and moved onto the State Senate that will change the definiation of an electric-assist bicycle (whose primary propulsion is human power) to be a bicycle that will in essence remove prohabition for their use on public roadways. What a bummer, it is no wonder why more people don't ride electric-assist bicycles - it's against the law. Go figure.

Well, my noncompliance with the law will willfully continue. I just hope the Assembly Bill dosen't die a misserable death in the Senate Transportation Committee.

I am already setting my sights on the spring and new batteries. I am thinking about swapping to NiMH and upping the voltage to 48 volts, this change shall add some pazzaz to the ride. I brushless motor would also be a good thing, but I need a big tax return, or higher gasoline prices to justify the payback period.

I am also thinking about new panniers, or other type of load carrying devices. I have corrugated plastic that I might try my own design. I also am thinking I can zip-tie a plastic crate, or small garbage can to my Blackburn rack - I could do the same with old picnic baskets for a cool retro-style look.

The ride to and from work was descent, however it was a little warm yesterday and a little humid this morning. Now that I am home, it is a good time to take a quick shower.

Still no Blogging from work.

September 13 - Working nights

Days are getting shorter! I left the office at 6:00 PM in the dark. The sun was up by the time I got home. I am begining to really enjoy early morning rides, the air is cleaner, and there are fewer people and cars on the road. It almost feels like I own the place.

I am off to bed. I will get up at about 3:00PM when the kids get home from school and get ready to ride back to work.

September 12 - $3.24 per gallon

I finally had to put some gasoline into my pick up truck. The last time I gassed up the truck was in mid-July when I cam back from a trip to Maine. $40.00 bought me a half tank of regular gas (about 13 gallons). Hopefully, this will last until winter time.

I counted bicycles on the rack at the local train station today. Total, 24 bikes, and much to my suprise were the 9 scooters mixed in with the bikes. Now, especially with the high gas prices and nice weather, there are clearly many more people on bicycles. This is a trend that if it contunies might defeat the oil giants at their own game. If less people drive, and those that do drive more economical model cars, then much less fuel will be consumed at whatever price the gas giants can through at us consumers. I am still comfortable and confident that I can continue to ride my bike for months, likely all year long.

I have been driving. There are just some trips where it makes more sense to drive, like if I have little time to go a long distance, or if I am car pooling, or if I am taking a bunch of people somewhere in the minivan, or I have a load to haul in the truck. This is what I consider appropriate use of transportation technologies.

I work nights this week, so the bike commute will be easy. There is some rain predicted, but I'll get wet and change into clean clothes at work.

September 2, 2005 - $3.77 per gallon and I haven't driven in days

Today, if I were to sell the 13 gallons of gasoline remaining in my pickup truck I would profit on the sale by more than 100%. This is a rather sick notion considering I only filled my truck up with gasoline 6 weeks ago.

On my e-bike ride home today, I observed the gasoline station that 48 hours ago posted gasoline at $2.44 per gallon is now selling it for $3.77 per gallon. A $1.33 per gallon more in 48 hours, and for what reason? It is likely the same gas has been in his tanks the entire time.

You be crazy, not me. I am sticking with the e-bike.

Note: this weekend I need to repack bottom bracket bearings on e-bike, at 15 years it has been too long and they don't sound too happy. Also, I need to start an inventory on Trek 400 replacement parts to rebuild that frame. If gas and electric gets too crazy, the Trek 400 frame makes a good and fast commuter/cycle-cross type bike good for all weather (i.e. winter) conditions.

I got the new fork for my delta trike. Soon, I'll be e-commuting on my trike.

Anyone want to buy an e-bike? I'll sell my electric C'dale for the first $700.

September's Somber Song, and more reflections on today's e-bike commute.

Just today, I read one of those "global" type emails from the "internet police" at work describing how a fellow employee abused their internet privileges and subsequently lost their job. [Actually, from the email it sounds like the person spent more time surfing than doing their job while at work] As such and here forth, my blogging will only be from home.

Considering the death, discomfort, and humiliation being felt by so many American's as a direct result of Hurricane Katrina, in today's work environment loosing your job over internet surfing seems too petite.

Here in New York, I pledge my support to do what ever I can for America to help American's recover from the Katrina tragedy. Mr. Bush, I have not heard you make this pledge, where are you?

TODAY'S COMMUTE
I left the house this morning at 4:45 in the dark, but it was humid and warm (remnants of Katrina). During my 7.5 mile commute, I was passed by only 1 automobile. It was actually a very pleasant ride. However, and refer to a past blog, there was this one little skunk in the same place I almost ran over it last time. Not that I want to run over a skunk (pew!), but this is definitely the type of landmark you want to be riding well clear of.

My head light worked well, even on the more dimmly lighted streets. I also wore a hi-vis DOT Class III reflective vest so anyone within a 1/2 mile using headlights saw me before they could ride me over. [google hi vis clothing for some cool stuff] My ride was about 40 minutes, I stopped at the bagel store, but they would not open for another 15 minutes - gerrrr. I also stopped at the bank to get cash for breakfa$t at the office cafeteria (way more than the bagel shop).

While riding to work today, I notice a local gas station was open and the board in front showed regular gas at $2.45 per gallon. I told Chris, the guy who relieved on our shift, about the cheap price thinking he might want to top off his tank (Ford F150 Super Crew V-8) on the way home. Well, on my way home I saw the price at the same gas station, and on the same price board being $3.65 - $1.20 more per gallon in less than 13 hours.

My energy cost for today's round trip commute was 1,200 calories (the equivalent of my lunch), plus $0.05 for the electric charge in my bicycle battery. Hybrid pedal-electric definitely is a winner in my book.

Hey, does anyone out there want to buy my pickup truck?

September 1: $3.10 per gallon - I rode.

Need I say more. Gasoline is up, and will keep going. I bet it will hit $4.00 by the end of next week. I keep riding my bicycle.

I am seeing more and more people riding, and riding baddly. Riders riding against traffic, and without helmets, hi vis clothing, or lights. A new disaster wieghting to happen.

August 28 - Rain, I drove.

Get this, $2.89 - 9/10 at another local gas station. Higher yet! With what's going on in the Gulf of Mexico with uricanne Katrina about to strike Louisianna, I am sure we will see $3.00+ per gallon next week.

It was raining today, and is suppose to rain through tomorrow's commute, so I drove today.

August 28 - Dark ride home.

I seem to have flown home. The trip seems more normal now, rather than a novelty. Unfortunately, days are getting shorter. I left the office in the dark, and I just got home to see the sun rise. My new Cat Eye headlamp works well.

For Bagel Day (Sunday's in my house) it started out at 72 degrees with 92% (ouch) humidity. My shirt was soaked through by the time I got home - a small price to pay.

Another local gas station I regularly pass is now chargine $2.82-9/10 for a gallon of regular gasoline.

August 27 - Overnight Shift: Biked

Great afternoon. Not too hot, not too cool, and not too humid. Of all the cars and trucks I shared the road with, there were only two notable boneheads - it is good to have a loud bell.

I am finding the more I bike commute, the more I want to bike commute, and the more I need to. When I don't ride, inside myself I get this burning feeling, a strong desire, almost like being caged and knowing that just on the other side is freedom, a potential for euphoria, this is very distracting and is occupying more of my mind than I can afford to allow it to.

Academically, I am an Environmental Scientist and clearly understand the cause and effect humans have on their environment, and I know bicycling with electric power-assist is one of the most efficient machines for personal transportation; this deserves a thesis on to itself. Now with gasoline prices being as high as they are (today I saw $2.89 9/10 at a gas station near the office) the economics are clear. I am avoiding hundreds of dollars of transportation costs by using an e-bike instead of my car, truck, or mini van (yes, I own 3 vehicles - 1 is for sale). These are easy justifications to satisfy my need to know by riding I am doing the right thing.

Hard is explaining the mental aspect associated with physically feeling better, but I do. My mind is clearer, I am more alert at work, my clothes fit better making me feel more comfortable, and I feel encouraged to do more now I have better endurance. My muscles ache, my wind is better (I am starting to you use stairs when previously I only used the elevator), and I feel good.

August 26 - Second day back to work.

We'll I've got it bad, a head cold. So even being the second day back to work, I drove. If I am feeling better, I'll ride tomorrow. We'll see then.

Nine days is San Francisco was a blast. We did all the touristy types of things like Muir Woods, Fisherman's Warf, China Town, Cliff House, Alcatraz, did a cable car ride, visited friends and family, and we did the thrift shops on Mission, Fillmore, and Haight Streets. Even though San Francisco has "mega" hills, it is an awesome bike city. I wish I had access to a ride while I was there, I probably could have covered the entire city in a day or two, and what a different perspective that would have been. Bike rentals were running between $40 and $75 per day, a little more than I would have enjoyed paying. I did seriously consider picking up an older 26 inch department-store type mountain bike while in a thrift store on Mission Street, but I would have had to wrench it a little to mike it rideable, and without my tools or helmet it started to look like a time consuming project and time was not something I had a lot of.

All the longing to ride in San Francisco has made me think seriously of picking up a folding bike like a Dahon or Downtube VII - inexpensive and compact!

I sold my Sun EZ3 SX Delta Trike. It was a great machine, I commuted some on it before buying the aluminum version, EZ3 AX, a totally different machine. I am going to take the proceeds from the sale of the SX and complete the project of electrifying the AX. I can't wait until I have an electric-assist delta trike with a full fairing - I won't ever need a car to commute.

On the topic of cars, I have placed my Ford F150 Pickup Truck for sale on Craigs List (for New York). It has been a great truck, but I just don't drive it enough to justify hanging on to it. [It's white 2002, automatic w/overdrive, v-6 = better than usual gas mileage, less then 20,000 miles, A/C, CD player, extended cab with "4-doors"].

August 12 - 21 San Francisco California

I have been reduce to chauffer and driving a rented mini van around San Francisco for the past 10 days - but, what a great way to move people quickly around town.

San Francisco is a great city. I am glad my sister has been renting a house all summer, otherwise I don't think we would have made the trip because I would never have been able to pay for a hotel room for 4 (wife and 2 kids).

The San Francisco bike world is amazing. It is clearly obvious more people depend on two-wheeled transportation in this city than in New York. From bike lanes, bus mounted bike racks, etc.

Well, dinner is ready, so more on this later.

August 8 - Drove (convertible)

I have one more wake-up to go before I start a 16-day vacation. The last two days I gave up the bike commute for an extra hour of sleep, likely I will do this tomorrow too - but we shall see.

When I work 12-hour day shifts it is really difficult waking up at 3:30 AM, get on the bike at 04:30 AM, arrive at work and dry off and change, and then take over the shift at 5:30 AM is really very early. After working a 12-hour rotating shift for the past 6 weeks, by the last 4-days I am burnt-out and the extra hour of sleep I get by driving is well worth costs associated with driving

luckily, I have been driving my wife's convertible VW Beetle, not quite a bike, but with the top down I still have the wind in my face. The car also gets about 32 miles per gallon of gasoline (or it only cost me $5.00 in gas to commute 4 days).

There was interesting article in the New York Times on Sunday, August 7, 2005, Section 14 - the "Westchester" section, commuters Journal, "The Ride Is Sweatier But a Lot More Fun", by Jack Kadden. The article is written about those commuters who bike commute to railroad stations.

Thinking about what I have observed at train stations in the New York metropolitan area, if you add up all the bicycles chained "willy-nilly to signpost and railings" you will find out there are a significant number of commuters who rely on bicycles for some, if not most of their commutes. I feel if the number of uncounted bike commuters are organized they could become a strong lobbying group for getting better bike commuting infrastructure. If you count the 47+/- railroad stations in Westchester County (http://ny.existingstations.com/counties/Westchester.html) and conservatively estimate an average of 10 bike commuters per station, that's almost 500 people using bicycles as part of their commutes, and this is likely underestimating the real number!

There is a lot information on bicycles as transportation system solutions and how to integrate bicycles into every day commuting. With the price of fuel and the nation being obese, now is a good time to start bike commuting.

Ebike as a vehicle, not a bicycle.

On my commute to work this morning, aside from dodging juvenile skunks along the side of the road, I was revisiting a series of thoughts I have been having relating to the feeling I have that my bicycle is no longer a bicycle, it is a motor vehicle. Kind of deep, kind of obvious, and really dangerous, isn't it.

Adding the power-assist to the bike has definitely increased my top speed and dramatically reduced the size of hills (it has also reduce the amount of ga$oline I would normally buy). The added speed must release some type of adrenaline because the faster I go, especially in traffic, the more invulnerable (numb) I feel as a cyclist. I sort of relate this feeling to how when motorists enter their vehicles they quickly become detached to their surrounding environments and act in ways that lead me to believe when people drive a car their IQs are lowered proportionately to how much the car cost.

The last thing I want to be doing is be riding fast in traffic and feeling invincible. I am vulnerable, and I could easily find myself on the ground with thousands of pounds of motor vehicles inches from my body. These thoughts leave me feeling very uncomfortable.

Too bad that because we live in an over-automobiled world cyclists can't feel comfortable on the road. I guess this is a reminder to myself to be vigalant, remain aware, and not get too cockie.

August 6 - Morning Commute

Today's a first. I left the house at 04:30 this morning, in the dark. Riding in the dark is a blast, totally different from daylight commuting.

First, I don't recomend night riding for the week hearted or unlight rider. I have been riding the same route for 2 months and I have a pretty good idea of what the road conditions are along the way (i.e. where the "mother...." potholes are, road breaks, ripples, broken pavement, etc.). But in the dark, you don't see the road blemishes very well. It's a good thing to know your route well before trying it in the dark. One benefit to my ride is, because there is so much light pollution, there really isn't any strech of roadway you can't see except perhaps the surfaces that are in shadows - again a good reason to know your route well.

For safety, I wore a reflective vest and used 3-blinking LED reflectors (of course, I always wear a helmet). I am going to pickup a Cateye headlight on the way home today.

Regarding helmet use. About 12 years ago, a mentor in the consulting firm I was working in was riding his old black Raliegh home from the railroad station. A person delivering newspapers from their car was driving on the wrong side of the street and looking for house numbers, not looking at the road like they should have. Well Peter was hit head-on, thrown over his handle bars, and landed on his head. Peter wasn't wearing a helmet and died of head injuries. Peter was 64, a recent cancer survior, and 6-months from his retirement date. The driver of the car was found not guilty of anything and probably is still driving on the wrong side of the street somewhere. According to Peter's son and based on the type of injury, Peter would likely have survived had he been wearing a helmet. I now always wear a helmet - no excuses.