Risk Management

As a lot of you famous, a bicycle owner in Washington state was just lately 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 be aware, such assaults are fairly uncommon, although you might recall that again in 2018 a bicycle owner was fatally attacked in the identical space:

It was large information on the time, and CNN gave it the complete therapy, with wildlife consultants and a wincing anchor and every little thing:

[CNN anchor reaching out to milk the teats of tragedy.]

Shockingly, as but CNN has not milked both tragedy additional by making an attempt to hyperlink them each to local weather change.

Right here in New York Metropolis and the encompassing space you’re even much less more likely to run right into a harmful animal. For instance, it’s been years since there was a rabid coyote free 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. After I noticed that bear I stood there till it disappeared, attempting to not soil myself; and but I’ll assume nothing of driving on a busy street 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 growing risk of falling sufferer to the micromobility revolution:

New York Metropolis noticed 21 ebike deaths final yr, which implies we’ve reached a morbid milestone in that ebike fatalities and ebike hearth 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 town is holding the supply apps accountable:

Nah, simply kidding, town is footing the invoice:

I understand 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 may anticipate extra automobile visitors than ever, plus a whole forfeiture of your bicycle infrastructure with lethal conflagrations as an added bonus. Actually, at this level the one web optimistic has been than thieves not care about common bicycles:

Anecdotally, stolen bikes typically wound up being bought to supply staff, so now that supply staff not experience common bikes I believe the black marketplace for them has principally dried up. I imply I’m certain 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 treasured Surly was stolen from exterior of the bar, and I’m guessing the shift to ebikes for supply work is the rationale why.

As for me, I search respite from the hectic tempo of city life within the forests of suburbia, the place I can faux 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 might encounter a pink bicycle:

But it surely’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 street ethos–although I did carry out a gratuitous improve by including a Dura Ace rear derailleur:

This in fact was a competitor within the Basic Cycle twenty first Century Friction Shifter Shootout:

The issue I encountered with it within the Shootout was that it was a bit too brief 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 could have encountered within the space-time continuum. Plus, I just lately 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’ll must get one among these items, 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 stage.