As widelyreportedinternationallyandcapturedvividlyonvideo, on Tuesday, 7/18/2017 around 11 am in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, 65-year-old David Fox, nearly beat to death, a 74 year old cyclist with a small club, then drove off before police arrived, and was later arrested for aggravated assault and assault with a weapon.
While it is hard to imagine what the cyclist did to deserve this beating, and hope for some kind of justice, and a full quick recovery, it should be noted that 27 year old NYC cyclist, Neftaly Ramirez who was killed by a hit and run private, yet to be apprehended, sanitation truck at 12:30 am on Saturday 7/22/2017, prompted another NYPD response of ticketing cyclists (by the 94th Precinct).
Of note in this case, is that attorney Steve Vaccaro, of Vaccaro & White, whose website states: “Representing Injured Cyclists and other Accident Victims”, and “Client-Centered Representation for Accident and Crash Victims”, represented Citibke against Ronald, the injured party, presumably because the issue of forcing all cyclists to wear helmets came up as a legal argument, as some studies actually indicate that adding bike helmet laws discourages bicycling?
Over the last couple of years, somanyrockicons have been dying, the latest being Allan Holdsworth (no relation to the bicycle manufacturer) on 4/15/2017, a little known “guitarist’s guitarist”, who wanted to be a saxophonist (his parents could not afford one, so he took up guitar instead), one of his childhood inspirations being John Coltrane who he is now compared to for his ability to improvise.
His second life long passion was road cycling, one of the reasons he moved from England to Southern California in the early 1980’s, so he could ride in the hills. Before that “Holdsworth’s early career was frought with desperation and dry spells, and from his late teens through his mid-twenties music was a mostly sporadic venture and hobby; he supported himself primarily repairing bicycles during this time.”
On one of those, Hard Hat Area, the song ‘Tullio‘ is a reference to one of his cycling heroes Tullio Campagnolo, the inventor of the quick release skewer, among other cycling components, on Secrets appears ‘Spokes‘, and With a Heart in My Song with pianist Gordon Beck includes ‘Sundays‘ which is supposed to be bicycle related as well. Sadly, towards the end of his life, Allan was unable to ride his bike do to balance issues, according to his daughter Louise.
Photo source: Daughter Louise Holdsworth’s facebook page (notice the two bicycle wheels in the upper right hand corner behind the Holdsworth family).
The ‘happy ending’, if you can use that phrase here, is that a gofundme campaign which set out to raise $20,000.00 for his funeral expenses has already broken $107,000.00 as of this post, a testament to how his death has impacted his fans.
Photo Source: Allan Holdsworth Family Memorial gofundme page
Countless musicians have praised Allan Holdsworth’s guitar playing and innovative, independent nature, and are paying their respects including Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson, U.K., Genesis), Eddie Jobson (Roxy Music, U.K., Frank Zappa), Jean-Luc Ponty (Frank Zappa), John McLaughlin (Tony Williams Lifetime, Mahavishnu Orchestra), Stanley Clarke (Return to Forever), Dweezil Zappa, Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Steve Vai (Frank Zappa), and Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen) who once said “He is the best in my book”.
Allan’s former U.K. band-mate, Eddie Jobson, will be performing some U.K. tunes that Allan’s guitar playing was featured on, as part of the “Fallen Angels Tour” at BB King’s in NYC on 5/4/2017, that was actually organized before Allan’s death as a memorial for John Wetton (King Crimson, U.K.), and Keith Emerson (ELP), who both recently passed away, as well as Greg Lake (King Crimson, ELP). More formal public memorials for Allan will likely take place in California later this year.
UPDATE: According to the The unReal Allan Holdsworth facebook group 3 “Allan Holdsworth Celebration” memorial concerts will be held at the NYC Iridium jazz club on July 5th, 6th, and 7th featuring “the Allan Holdsworth Band: Steve Hunt, Evan Marien & Virgil Donati with Alex Skolnick, Alex Machacek, Tim Miller, Nir Felder, plus surprise guests.”
Gary, 62 years of age at the time he started his solo, self sustained bicycle journey in May 2016 across the United States carrying an entire mobile astronomy lab with him from New Orleans, LA, plans to keep biking to as many of the lower 48 United States (originally set at 13,500 miles), before ending his trip in Nashville, TN for the August 21, 2017 Great American total solar eclipse (75.0% visible from NYC), where he hopes to organize at least 1,000 cyclists to experience it with him.
The purpose of the project is two-fold, to show to as many people as possible:
1. Paths to personal astronomical discovery are open to everyone.
2. Bicycle transportation is not only accessible, healthful and responsible, it’s fun.
Gary will do this by attending as many astronomy, and cycling events as he can both large and small nationwide, as well as anyone he meets along the way.
PEDALING ASTRONOMER PROJECT
Gary, a self described ‘non-athlete’, is also not actually an astronomer either, but is the Managing Editor of Astronomy Technology Today a leading publication about the instruments and technology that amateur astronomers use. Believe it or not, several years ago, he had a medical condition that makes him unable to drive an automobile anymore, that is why he took up biking which was his primary mode of transportation, even before this trip.
Gary rides a Surly Big Dummy long-tail cargo bike on his trip, he prefers to call “The Big”, that with all of his equipment, and camping gear, weighs in at about 150 pounds. An average biking day for him is 50 miles. He also carries a least one refractor telescope, capable of being used for both nighttime, and solar observing, which he can attach to a specially designed mount behind his seat, when not biking.
PEDALING ASTRONOMER PROJECT
His future plans are to bike across Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Australia, all with his mobile astronomy lab, to carry on the same mission.
Gary says he will be back in NYC for the Bike Expo New York, in 2018, just missing the 2017 edition, which is in a few weeks, so stay tuned, if you want to meet, likely, the world’s first ‘pedaling astronomer’.
In the meantime you can follow his adventure, on facebook.
Another Bike Jumble type event has been announced, the “Brooklyn Bike Swap”, for the 5th year now, on Sunday 4/30/2017 from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm, at 224 Franklin Street, Greenpoint Brooklyn (t.d.b. bar).
According to the event description, admission is free, as well as selling, though if you want to reserve a space to sell, that price is $10.00, as space is limited. Setup is outside, so the event happens rain or shine.
Email nycbikeswap@gmail.com for more information.
This event is happening the same weekend, as the Red Hook Crit, which happens the night before.
Today, 4/15/2017, there was a memorial for Lauren Davis at the Greenpoint Reformed Church who was killed by a motorist one year ago on Classon Avenue in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn while biking to work in the morning.
In attendance were many of her family and friends, including her mother, sister, and a brother who all flew in from California for the anniversary. Although the mood was somber, people spoke about their memories of Lauren, a song written especially for the occasion, was performed live, and someone danced, “as she would have liked it”, followed by a mostly vegan reception. But it was clear that her loss was still fresh in everyone’s hearts and minds.
The spring edition of the NY Bike Jumble swap meet, the largest bicycle flea market in NYC, is coming again to the Old Stone House in Park Slope on Saturday 5/13/2017. Here is your chance to get a great deal on bicycles, accessories and clothing.
At 5th Ave. and 4th Street in Brooklyn, you’ll find vendors representing established bike shops as well as people with new and used bikes to sell.
Plus there will also be advocacy groups and bike mechanics from Time’s Up offering free bike repairs…so come on down!
If you are interested in becoming vendor yourself, you can sign up here
The late Summer edition of Bike Jumble has also been announced as occurring on Saturday 9/9/2017, so there is always a second chance to attend this event if you miss the first one.
According to a 3/31/2017 article in Bicycling Magazine, Seattle shut down its Pronto bike share on that day, which started in 2014, and expanded to 500 bikes and 54 stations.
There are many theories, according to the article, like Seattle hills:
and a mandatory helmet law (although it is legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk):
Meanwhile, in NYC, according to the New York Post (4/5/2017) ‘at least five rogue companies are muscling in on Citi Bike’s turf with service that eliminates the use of docking stations’.
Not sure when the New York Post became an anti-capitalist publication?
Companies like Ofo, Mobike, bluegogo, Spin, and Noa could dump 100,000’s of GPS based bikes on USA streets for as little as pennies for a single ride.
According to the upright sign, to become a member, one either needs to download the free Zagster app, or visit their website. Looks pretty cool, the first 4 hours are free (Citibike could take note), but not sure why the phone number is a 202 area code for a service based in NYC?
While some might view this as another sign of Brooklyn gentrification, at least this seems like a step ahead for city cycling, while only a few short years ago, a bicycle parked in front of a luxury high rise was the scourge of the neighborhood. Let’s see how long those bicycles last?
