Manhole covers - Definitely call that out!

Hey, Here's a message from Frank:


Something to be aware of while riding our bikes in Long Beach.

"New Street Crime: Thieves Lift Manhole Covers"USA Today (06/29/08) ; Frith, Stefanie
Hundreds of manhole covers have been stolen in several states over the last three months. The 200-pound covers have been reported stolen in California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Georgia. Law enforcement officials believe that the unusual thefts are tied to the weak economy and record-high scrap metal prices. The price of heavy melt steal, which is used in manhole covers, rose from $329 per metric ton in January to $519. A thief can get up to $15 for an individual manhole cover. Long Beach, Calif., has lost over 80 covers this year and faces lawsuits from people who damaged their cars driving over open manholes. In Philadelphia two children were injured when they fell into uncovered drains.

4th of July Road Rage

The following is a message from David Kramer, a racer from Cynergy Racing. Keep your eyes open out there!


From: David Kramer
To: cynergyracing@yahoogroups.com
Sent: 7/7/2008 11:44:01 AM
Subject: July 4th Road Rage

Report and pics are from my friend Chris Roberts. L. Ron and Christian had waited with me after I crashed near the top of the hill. They left when EMTs were loading me into the ambulance and then this happened. Thats L. Rons blood on the trunk of the Infinity. That driver (a doctor) needs to be put away for a long time. Ive heard he has had other incidents with cyclists.
Dave


Subject: July 4th Road Rage

This is a description of what happened.

The mood was great as we all had a great, safe and uneventful ride to the top of Mandeville Cyn. We then all left at different times down the Canyon. My friend Ed, was riding about 40 yards ahead of me. I was traveling at approximately 25 mph.

I was then passed by 2 cyclists, Ron and Christian, who I have seen many times before on our weekly rides in the South Bay and these Holiday rides. I would estimate their speed at probably 3 to 5 mph faster than myself. They slowly pulled ahead of me and when they were about 50 ft. in front of me, a car started approaching from my rear with it's horn blaring intermittently and passed me in a very aggressive way. The red Infinity, which was traveling at a speed that I would estimate to be between 40 to 45 mph, passed around to my left over the dividing line with it's right side tires still in the right lane. I would guess the car to have been about 3-4 ft. away from me on my left. My position was just to the right of center of the lane.

Ron and Christian were ahead of me and Ron was close to the center of the lane and Christian was to his right. The car continued on the same line and as it approached Ron and Christian, it passed them and then immediately cut in front of them in an intimidating deliberate, aggressive way.

The driver was about 3-5 ft in front of Ron and Christian, who then yelled out to the driver in startled amazement and the driver then abruptly and with no notification whatsoever, slammed the brakes of his car. Ron immediately slammed into the back end of the car impacting the trunk portion and shattering the rear windshield with his face. Christian, who at the moment just prior to impact was about 2 feet behind and to the right of Ron, attempted to stop and hit Ron's bike and flew over the trunk of the car to the left into the opposite lane of traffic.

I immediately applied my brakes to stop at the scene. The time lapse from the car veering into their path and the impact and crash was about 2-3 seconds. As I approached the car about 4 to 5 seconds later, Ron was leaning against the trunk motionless, bleeding profusely from the face, his hands over his face, clearly in shock. Christian was lying on the ground moaning in severe pain. As I was holding onto Ron, the driver got out of his car and approached towards us.

I yelled at him in utter amazement "Why did you do this? What are you doing, get the fuck away".

He was aggressive in his response saying, "Don't tell me what to do".

I said to him "Look what you've done, get away."

I then yelled at him to turn his car off.

He again said "don't tell me what to do."

I again ordered him in a very terse and commanding tone to turn his car off, which he then did.

I then sat Ron down and headed towards Christian who was lying on the ground in severe pain. I looked at his shoulder and it was protruding out which appeared to be either a dislocation or broken collar bone. Cars then approached and I went to the first car and the woman driver already had her cell phone out and ready to give me. I called 911 and told the operator that we need an ambulance, that there were severely injured cyclists and the police, as a blatant crime of assault with a car had just happened.

About 3 to 5 minutes had elapsed at this point when numerous drivers and neighbors had stopped and were assisting in the care of Ron and Christian. When I walked back to Ron, a gentleman named Bruce Rogan was tending to him. He was making a suggestion about his care when the road rage driver interjected something about what to do regarding Ron's care saying he was a Doctor. The man attending to Ron then stated that he was a Doctor also.

It was about 10 minutes later that Fire Department Paramedics personnel arrived and took over the care of Ron and Christian. I then walked over to Christian, who by this time was on the side of the road in a neighbor arms. She was comforting him until paramedics arrived. Her name was Wendy Lynch.

Christian was in obvious pain and I could see his shoulder bone protruding and he was stating that he felt like he was going to faint. Wendy stated that she and her husband were walking their dog when she heard the commotion of the "accident". She pointed out her husband about 50 to 100 yards away slowing traffic approaching the scene. About 5 minutes later, the first of many LAPD arrived.

I was subsequently asked by paramedics as I was walking around to assist in holding Ron's head stationary as the rescue personnel were concerned about possible neck injuries to him while they applied a body brace. I was also asked a few minutes later to assist in keeping Christian's arm still as the paramedics applied stabilizing straps to him. Shortly thereafter the police officer approached me for my statement.