bicycling

Boston Police report that when a bicycle rider stopped into Alex's Chimi Restaurant in Hyde Square for some food Friday evening and spotted some guy riding away on his bike, he ran after him - and caught up with him:

As officers got closer, officers observed the male chasing behind the bike (the victim) take a punch to the head just before he regained control of the bicycle.

Carlos Tirado, 24, was charged with armed robbery for the incident shortly after 6 p.m.

Innocent, etc.

And this guy, spotted by a T worker at Back Bay station today, has probably just exceeded it:

Vasant Marur photgraphed this memorial to Phyo Kyaw, who died in a collision with an 18-wheeler in Cambridge Tuesday night.

Channel 4 reports a fatal crash involving an 18-wheeler making a right turn and an unnamed bicyclist at Mass. Ave. and Vassar Street last night.

Photo by Matt Tomlin.

The day after local bicyclists celebrated the opening of bike lanes on the BU Bridge, an irate citizen forwarded this photo of lane-hogging cabs just a few blocks away outside BU's Warren Towers:

Apparently the bike lane on Comm. Ave. is now a cab stand. 8 cabs in a row were parked there this morning around 8:40.

Not everybody straps a tree on the top of their car.

Liam, who lives in Forest Hills, explains his support for a proposal to replace the crumbling hulk of an overpass by the T stop with an at-grade crossing, rather than with another overpass:

I am aware that traffic engineers in your department have determined that both a bridge and the at-grade option will handle the predicted traffic flow of 2035 in roughly the same way. In light of this I see no reason to build a bridge. In future projects, I believe that the recently consolidated MassDOT would serve Massachusetts better to find ways to hold traffic flow around our fair city to the levels of 2011 or less instead of planning for traffic increases. This could be accomplished in many areas by developing public transportation, a safe connective bikeways network and pedestrian-friendly streets that encourage active transportation and healthier lifestyles.

The current situation under the bridge is quite the harrowing experience for pedestrians and cyclists and even for motorists. ...

The Globe reports some guy from Martha's Vineyard learned this morning you're not allowed to ride a bike on I-93, when State Police stopped him in Milton, gave him a ticket and told him to not do it again.

UPDATE: That wasn't just some guy. Boston Biker reports he was "local crazy man" Lucas Brunelle, who is known for his two-wheeled stunts.

Cambridge Police tweet about a collision around 5 p.m. at Windsor and Main streets:

Bicyclist transported to the hospital w/ serious injuries after she was struck by a truck making a right turn.

Boston Biker reports Cambridge is looking at a ban on bicycles without brakes.

The Daily Free Press reports on a collision around 6 p.m. Wednesday at Commonwealth Avenue and Buick Street. Both driver and victim are BU students.

Channel 4 tracks down and interviews the driver captured on Eoin O'Carrol's helmetcam on Mass. Ave. a couple weeks back.

Leslee watched bicyclists on some sort of protest ride down Newbury Street on Saturday (she wonders who they were).

Posted under this Creative Commons license and in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Channel 25 reports on an incident this afternoon on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain. Note the location of one of the bicycles - right by a "sharrow" meant to tell drivers and bicyclists to watch out for each other in the shared lane. Injuries were minor, 25 says.

Maria Varmazis videoed the start of the annual Hub on Wheels race at City Hall Plaza today. Mystery Pill photographed the race underway:

Photo copyright Mystery Pill. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Also don't realize that some bicyclists now wear helmetcams for just such occasions, as Eoin O'Carroll demonstrates in this video from Mass. Ave. (the Boston one) yesterday:

Update: Both drivers were arrested.

BU Today reports on a battle royale on Comm. Ave. near the BU Bridge yesterday afternoon that left two SUVs with smashed windows and a bicycle beneath the wheels of one of the vehicles - its rider having managed to leap to safety just before he wound up there as well.

Casey Graves (CAS'12) says the driver of the first SUV at the intersection honked repeatedly at a bicyclist, apparently hoping he would make room for an escape from the irate driver of the other vehicle. Graves says the two drivers smashed each other’s windows and threatened each other, one wielding a baseball bat and one an iron bar, until Boston Police arrived on the scene to end the altercation.

Douglas McGregor watched a two-wheeled BPD officer secure his ride outside the Kenmore Square Dunkin' Donuts, notes:

The bike cops are smart to not carry the weight of a superfluous bike lock! It was the fastest bike lockin' I have ever seen... at perp-arresting speed.

State Police report that Joseph A. Santo, 19, of Somerville, was transported to Mass. General with serious injuries following the collision around 12:30 a.m. at Rte. 16 and Broadway.

A 2006 Hyundai Elantra struck the bicycle in the right lane of Route 16 eastbound.

The State Police investigation determined that the driver of the Elantra, a 46-year-old Medford man, did not contribute to causing the crash. The Elantra's driver, who is not being identified, was not injured. The Elantra was towed from the scene.

Boston Biker reports on the planned facilities at Braintree, Ashmont, Davis Square, Oak Grove and Malden Center - and that they will use a different and better rack design than the existing cages, based on input from actual bicyclists.

Dan recounts a couple of sightings of tourists on rental bikes:

Here they came up Congress Street, arriving at the five way intersection of Congress, State and Devonshire just as the light turned green. Zig-zagging slightly, the male, who was in the lead, stopped in the middle of the road, clearly unsure where to go. Straight? Slight right? Sharp right? He turned to consult the female, and then something caught his eye. "I think that's it!" he yelled behind him, gesturing in the direction of the Old State House. ...

The man unslung his camera, still blocking traffic. Drivers hollered insults not heard at that spot since the Boston Massacre nearly two and a half centuries ago. Arms shot from windows as cars swerved by the still-oblivious couple, fingers extended in the universal sign for "get out of the road you $&@?/! dumb-ass $?%#!!".

Via Red Mass. Group.

The Dorchester Reporter discusses.

Chris reports this video shows a guy in a delivery-type uniform checking out bikes at 99 High St. downtown last Thursday, then making off with one - unfortunately, his.

He reports it's a black Novara Express, with a custom leather seat, SPD pedals, black gear bag under the seat, a pump and two water bottle cages mounted on the frame. There's a paint scratch on right side of the top tube in line with the brake lever. If you spot it, drop him a line at christophgervais@gmail.com.

Andy Riga, who writes about transportation for the Montreal Gazette, writes today that what I (and other folks) took as umbrage at Boston was, in fact, umbrage as his own city's civic leaders.

Seems Montreal officialdom has to promote the fact that other cities have adopted their Bixi-style bike-sharing program in an effort to justify the tens of millions of dollars in subsidies the city has poured into the system. So when Riga noted that a front-page Globe story on our own Hubway ignored Montreal completely, he was sternly wagging his finger at le maire, not at us. And he swears he didn't really mean that crack about the Bruins. And he now knows why a Boston network might have "Hub" in its name.

An alert citizen reports this morning that somebody took offense to the Hubway bike-rental station outside the Brigham Circle Diner on Huntington Avenue.