HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: harold@cs.uq.oz.au (Andrew Wood)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.rides
Subject: A great MTB tour in the rain.
Date: 23 Nov 92 07:43:09 GMT
Reply-To: harold@cs.uq.oz.au

Well, here where I live in Aus, the weather is steaming up nicely towards
summer. Early summer in Brisbane typically involves warm humid days with
late afternoon thunderstorms.
I thought I'd post this for those in the North whose rain is turning 
kind of white and fluffy.

On Saturday morning in hot humid weather, four of us sweated our MTBs with gear 
up Spicers Gap. Spicers Gap is on the Great Dividing Range about 100km
west of Brisbane. The climb is up about 300m elevation of rocky dirt road.
We pitched camp, ate lunch, veged for a bit, then to the rumbles of the
brewing thunder storm, we set off to play!

We had a fantastic time on trails and the old cart tracks.
We rode through open forest, carried up and around rocky outcrops, pedalled
through sub-tropical rainforest, and gambolled through some wonderful mud.
In the rainforst section, the sound of the birds was deafening. We had 
an interesting time negotiating the long slippery tree roots continually
traversing the trail.

The rain came down in huge drops about half way through our 2 hour ride, 
and it was not long before we were covered from head to toe in thick black mud!
It brought back all those good feelings from being a small child as we
quickly became drenched and speckled by the warm rain and mud.

When what was the best riding I've ever done was finished, the rain
politly increased in intensity for 5 or 10 minutes while we cleaned up,
and then quickly stopped for us to dry up, pour a glass of wine, and 
get stuck into dinner. This was for me, the perfect wet weather experience.

The only negative point was that the next days ride was greatly hampered
by the sticky cloying black clay that clogged our wheels and gears until
they could turn no more. It took us a couple of hours more than we intended
to finish our ride, but it was a small price to pay for Saturdays fun.

Andrew
--
  __0    _-_|\      harold@cs.uq.oz.au is: Andrew Wood
 -\<,   /     * <-- Comp Sci Dept, U. of QLD, Brisbane 
0/  0   \_.-._/     
             v      "This is a job for 'The Australian'"    Delicatessen.
From: whalen@starch.enet.dec.com (Rich Whalen)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.rides
Subject: November Century
Date: 23 Nov 92 14:31:33 GMT
Reply-To: whalen@starch.enet.dec.com (Rich Whalen)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Shrewsbury, MA


I've been trying to ride at least one century a month since June;  I missed
doing a century in October because of family commitments eating up three of
the weekends.  I got the November one in on the 21st.

The weather report said that it might reach 50, and though it was going to be
cloudy, the rain wouldn't show up until the following day; so I decided that
it was a good day to ride a century.  The plan was to ride to the start point
of the day's club ride, join them, then ride home.

Unfortunately, it took me longer than planned to ride the 30 miles from my
home in Worcester to Wachusett Mountain, and I missed them by 20 minutes.
After visiting the restroom I decided to continue up the side of the mountain
and into Princeton center, then over to Barre center via state route 62
(going
up the "wall").  While on route 62 I saw numerous pickups, and a few hunters,
as it was the last day of bow (deer) season.  The deer seemed do be doing a
good job of hiding, as I didn't see a single hunter that had had any success
all day.  I took a break in Barre and visited with the owner of the bike shop
for a few minutes, and decided on my plan from there.  I was at about the 50
mile point now, and the ride back to Worcester on state route 122 was barely
25 miles, so that would not be enough.

I decided to ride North on route 122 far enough so that I would get the
additional miles that I would need.  Somewhere in Petersham I thought that I
noticed some rain on the shell of my head-light (which I had mounted for
insurance).  I was close to the desired distance, so I decided to press on
anyways, even though I didn't have any rain gear with me.  By the time I
reached the turn-around point - just shy of the junction with 202, it was
truly a shower.  I hoped that I'd reach a point where it wasn't raining yet,
as there were gaps between when I noticed the first few drops and when I was
really in it.  But I forgot that I was going to be heading South, and the
wind
(and weather) was from the South.  I rode through light rain through Barre
and
into Rutland, where I eventually got a rest from it.  I continued on through
Paxton, then enjoyed a long downhill in to Worcester, arriving home just
before
I would need to use my lights.

Rich

P.S. to pamela@keps.kodak.com

I tried to send you mail accepting your challenge for next year.  (I've got
to
do something to be in shape for BMB.)  Unfortunately we've been having some
mail problems and it bounced.  I've made an attempt to mail you the various
postings from rec.bicycles.rides that I saved for you, but I don't know if
they'll make it or not.

------------------------------------------------------
Rich Whalen

You don't know where these bits have been!
From: pamela@keps.kodak.com (Pamela Blalock)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.rides
Subject: Attention Sam Henry
Date: 16 Nov 92 22:47:37 GMT
Organization: Kodak Electronic Printing Systems

Am I getting out? Sam, if you see this message would you send me some email?
Thanks

pamela@keps.com


-- 
Pamela Blalock                                              pamela@keps.com
KEPS, 164 Lexington Road                                    11 down, 1 to go!
Billerica, MA 01821-3984   
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.rides
From: shenry@cs.rice.edu (Sam Henry)
Subject: Re: Guide to Bicycle Touring in Europe
Organization: Rice University, Houston
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 16:22:53 GMT

Thanks, Bruce.

-- 
sam henry <shenry@rice.edu>
Wanna ride?
From: uevans@med.unc.edu (Elizabeth A. Evans)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.rides
Subject: Rides wanted in western SC, GA, and eastern AL
Date: 15 Nov 92 21:29:48 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: UNC-CH School of Medicine
Originator: uevans@winton

Do any of you have rides you would recommend for this time of year in
western SC/GA or eastern AL?  A friend (hi, Rick!) and I will be
traveling through Thanksgiving weekend and are looking for good places
to ride.  We'll have our mountain bikes with us, although short road
rides would be fine, too.  We have the national forest maps for those
areas, so can refer to them if you have suggestions.
areas so we can refer to them for suggestions.

And, even though this isn't rec.travel, if any of you have stayed
anywhere that was especially nice (where nice means scenic, good food,
quiet, fun, etc and doesn't mean elegant or fancy), please let us know
that, too!  Any places to visit other than biking would also be good.

Thanks in advance!  Depending on how the riding goes, we'll try to
post something here about it.

-- Libby
From: bhilden@bigriver.Eng.Sun.COM (Bruce Hildenbrand)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.rides
Subject: 2nd Annual Day After Thanksgiving Ride(Silicon Valley)
Date: 19 Nov 1992 09:23:46 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems Inc., Mountain View, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: bigriver-248

No we will not be celebrating Joan Van Ark's departure from
Knott's Landing after 14 years, rather we will be trying to
burn off a few calories from the previous day's gourging.

The 2nd annual Day After Thanksgiving Ride will leave Gunn
High School at 10am on Friday, November 27.  The proposed
route heads out to Woodside and climbs King's Mountain Road,
turning right and heading north on Hiway 35 to Hiway 92
and return on Canada Road.  Pace on the flats will be 15-18mph,
on the climb, whatever it takes(we will regroup on top).
We will stop at Robert's store on the return leg.

No need to RSVP, just show up with warm clothes for the descent.

Bruce

ps - this is a non-competitive ride, the idea is to keep the group
together on the flats and then re-group at the top of the climb.
From: greg@redeye.EBay.Sun.COM (Greg)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.rides
Subject: MTB rides in Tahoe area?
Date: 16 Nov 92 02:20:13 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems Inc., Mountain View, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: redeye.ebay.sun.com


I will be going to the Lake Tahoe area this coming weekend,
specifically a cabin near Squaw Valley.

I was wondering if there are any great trails to ride. I
like singletrack and long downhills.  I am used to rides
about 10-20 miles long, preferablly with gradual climbs
and steep descents.

How bad does the altitude affect your breathing?  How is
the weather this time of year?

Please post, I am not sure if I can receive email.

Thanks for any advice.

Greg

greg@redeye.ebay.sun.com
Xref: sparky rec.bicycles:23654 rec.bicycles.soc:1006
From: coleman@rocky.cs.ucla.edu (Mike Coleman)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles,rec.bicycles.soc
Subject: Re: Peds on Boston Bike Path (was: Motorcyclist Hits Bicyclist...)
Date: 16 Nov 92 02:50:34 GMT
Organization: UCLA, Computer Science Department

Re peds on bike paths:

This is a big problem on the beach bike paths in Southern California.  So bad,
in fact, that serious cyclist pretty much avoid them altogether, particularly
on weekends.  Pedestrians tend to collect on the path like cows at a feed
bin--you get the distinct impression that most beachgoers would be much
happier if they'd just pave over the whole fucking thing so they wouldn't have
to deal with all of this annoying sand.  :-(

Mike


-- 
--Mike Coleman (coleman@cs.ucla.edu), Lord High Executioner of Anhedonia-----
I saw a commercial on television the other day which began, "Southern
California--there's no place in the world quite like it."  Kind of like
saying, "Grant's tomb--only one person ever buried there."
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.soc
From: iba@kronos.arc.nasa.gov (Wayne Iba)
Subject: Re: REAL statistics on bicycle accidents (?)
Organization: NASA/ARC Information Sciences Division
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 23:13:47 GMT

Along the lines of this subject header,  awhile back Carl Gooch
at stanford was conducting a r.b survey on bicycle accidents.  

Did the results ever get tallied?  Did I miss them here?

--wayne (iba@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov)

From: frankb@hpsad.sad.hp.com (Frank Ball)
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 23:10:06 GMT
Subject: Re: Shoullights be req. Std. Equipment?
Organization: HP Signal Analysis Division - Rohnert Park, CA
From: byer@adobe.com (Scott Byer)
Subject: Re: Ticketing illegal cycling
Reply-To: byer@adobe.com (Scott Byer)
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:31:17 GMT

Otto-Ville Ronkainen writes

> Transatlantic flights don't fit my budget, could you give a brief
> description?

> The last time I stopped at a stop sign was months ago. The last
> time I ran a stop sign must have been years ago ;-)

Lucky dog.  See, here in the U.S., legislative / budget controlling
bodies love to get more money without having to be responsive to
their constituencies (they only have to appear responsive).

So, city councils love stop signs.  Cheap, they can generate revenue,
and are a very easy and standard response when someone in a
neighborhood complains about traffic.

Nevermind that there are almost always better solutions.

Same thing goes for lights, to a lesser degree.

So, here, seeing an obviously useless stop sign is a far more
frequent occurence than seeing one which is actually useful.

--
Scott Byer                             NeXTMail: byer@mv.us.adobe.com
Adobe Systems Incorporated               These are *my* opinions, and  
1585 Charleston Road, P.O. Box 7900        do not necessarily reflect
Mountain View, CA 94039-7900             the opinions of my employer.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.soc
From: mack@oakhill.sps.mot.com (Gregg Mack ( Sun ))
Subject: Re: Swiss Army Bike
Organization: Motorola Inc., Austin, Texas
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 19:18:31 GMT

ccsdhd@sunlab1.bath.ac.uk (Dennis Davis) writes:

>In the referenced article, sp@u36.kwnet.on.ca (Sean P Goggin) writes:
>>The Swiss Army will retire their old single gear bikes for their
>>mountain troops over the coming two years.
>>They will replace these aged wheels with a new bike, 10 speed,
>>designed to carry 100 lbs. 

>    
>    [....]   So why change it now ?
>    
>    The main reason is cost.  Many parts for the bikes are simply
>    not available on the market any more and have to be specially
>    made.  The new bike, to be made by the Swiss firm Condor, is
>    essentially a simplified version of the standard mountain
>    bike.  It has 7--10 gears instead of 20 or more, and a stronger
>    frame to support the rider and his 130 pounds of equipment,
>    including a machine gun and ammunition.  The replacement, with
>    a grey-green camouflage frame, weighs 11 pounds less than its
>    predecessor but at 50 pounds it is considerably more rugged
>    than even the stoutest mountain bike.
>    

Maybe they should have consulted with Spiro Bikopoulis (Spike Bike)
before settling on this design!  I remember one of his designs had
a bazooka (or was it a rocket launcher) built into the top tube, and
I don't think his bike weighed anything near 50 lbs.  ;-)


-- 
Gregg Mack                  ---------- __o       __o       __o       __o
gmack@paceline.sps.mot.com  -------- _`\<,_    _`\<,_    _`\<,_    _`\<,_
Motorola RISC uProcessors   ------- (*)/ (*)  (*)/ (*)  (*)/ (*)  (*)/ (*)
Austin, Texas  USA          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.soc
Subject: Let's be careful out there
From: moore+@CS.CMU.EDU (Dale Moore)
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 13:54:37 GMT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University

Reprinted without permission:

	GLENOLDEN, Pa. (UPI) -- Police in Delaware County are seeking a hit
and run driver who killed a bicylist who was pedaling home from work on
Sunday.
	Mark Clinton, 35, of Philadelphia, had just left his job at a
McDonald's restaurant across from the McDade Mall when he was struck
from behind on McDade Boulevard about 3:30 a.m.
	Glenolden police said Clinton suffered a broken neck and was
pronounced dead at the scene.
	Police believe Clinton was struck by an older model gold-colored car
and that the car's passenger side window shattered in the collision.
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.soc
From: chris@wg.estec.esa.nl (Milquetoast)
Subject: Re: Request for statistics concerning bicycle helmet use in Holland.
Keywords: Inujuries, solo crashes
Reply-To: chris@wg.estec.esa.nl
Organization: WG/Estec, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 16:00:42 GMT

I've no statistics, just some observations. 

In article <1992Nov16.035633.24084@cbnewsm.uucp>, madine@cbnewsm.uucp (G. E.
Madine, AT&T-BL/AL, cbnewsm.) writes:
> 
> At a meeting of our local bicycle advocacy group 4 days ago, we
> viewed a slide show about bicycling in Leiden, Holland.  The photographer
> is a U.S. citizen who lived for some time in Leiden.
> 
> I noticed during the slides of hundreds of utility-motivated cyclists
> that not one was wearing a helmet.  Two children per adult driven bicycle
> sitting in crude bicycle seats fore and aft.  None had helmets.  Passengers
> sitting "sidesaddle" on rear racks.  No helmets.  The photographer
> said he wore his own helmet for about 2 days there before unbearable 
> local peer pressure stopped the practice.

Leiden is where I've lived for the last 2 years. In that time I've never seen
a cyclist on a standard utility bike (one of the heavy sit up and beg types
that most people use) with a helmet. 

When I first arrived, my helmet was unusual enough for people to stare at. Now
it's unusual to go out for a ride and not see another cyclist wearing a helmet
(always on a racing/touring bike and usually with the rest of the day-glo
gear).

Utility bikes are taken for granted. The average Dutch person would no more
consider wearing a helmet while riding one than they would while walking.

Regards,


Chris
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Rouch                                              chris@wg.estec.esa.nl
Serco Space Ltd                                            Tel: +31 1719 84672
ESTEC, The Netherlands                                     Fax: +31 1719 84192
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Think of it. I don't
From: ccsdhd@sunlab1.bath.ac.uk (Dennis Davis)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.soc
Subject: Re: Bicycling history: references etc.
Date: 20 Nov 92 14:25:22 GMT
Organization: Bath University Computing Services, UK

In the previous article I droned on and on about the Swiss army bike
and boring bicycle history.

   [boring stuff deleted to stop you all falling asleep]

Nevertheless I was surprised to receive a small amount of email on the
the subject.  As you all probably realised, the latter part of my
article was culled from various sources plus odd bits of information
I've picked up over the years.  I thought the original article was
getting rather long and so didn't bother giving any further
references.  However I checked last night and the relevant written
sources I have on my shelves at home are:

(1) "The Peguin Book of the Bicycle" by Roderick Watson and Martin
    Gray, 1978, ISBN 014 0042970, Penguin Press.

(2) "On Your Bicycle: An Illustrated History of Cycling" by James
    McGurn, 1987, ISBN 0 7195 4378 9, John Murray.

(3) A small booklet on bicycle maintenance I picked up in a junk shop.
    This was printed either during or after the Second World War.
    There is no date on this booklet, but it contains an icon to
    indicate that it was printed according to the war economy measures
    in force.  The booklet contained a loose brochure and pricelist for
    Resilon Cantiflex brakes.  The brochure and pricelist date from the
    late 1940's and are now framed and hanging on my wall.  As if you
    would be interested in knowing that.

The use of bicycles in third world countries is described in both (1)
and (2).  I'd recommend both of these books as interesting reading for
anyone interested in the history of the bicycle.

The use of the bicycle in warfare, including the Japanese invasion of
Singapore, is described in (1).  No explicit reference is given there,
but the bibliography includes the following book:

"Bicycles in War" by Martin Caidin and Jay Barbree, Hawthorn Books, New
York, 1974.

I haven't seen a copy of the above book, but I suspect it may contain
further information.

(2) includes the following book in its bibliography:

"The Bicycle in Life, Love, War and Literature" by Seamus McGonagle,
Pelham Books, London, 1968.

This may contain further details of the use of the bicycle in warfare.
However I haven't seen this book so I can't comment.

My description of bicycles being seen as munitions of war is taken from
the advertisements in (3).  These clearly indicate that bicycles were
part of the war effort.

The book:

"The Bicycle and the Bush" by Jim FitzPatrick, Oxford University Press

was recommended by an email correspondent as well worth reading and is
also acknowledged by the author of (2) as his prime source of
information on the use of the bicycle in the development of the
Australian outback.
-- 
Dennis Davis, BUCS, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK
D.H.Davis@bath.ac.uk
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.soc
From: guy@slustl.slu.edu (Guy Smith)
Subject: Re: Swiss Army Bike
Organization: Saint Louis University  Saint Louis, MO
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 18:30:59 GMT

In article <92322.122934TOM@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> <TOM@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> writes:
>How does one get one of these Swiss Army Bikes?  This might be the answer to
>Rednecks in four wheels...by the way, does it have a handle bar mount for a
>357 mag.?
No, just a built-in corkscrew.
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.soc
From: tomk@netcom.com (Thomas H. Kunich)
Subject: Re: Request for statistics concerning bicycle helmet use in Holland.
Keywords: Inujuries, solo crashes
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 17:20:28 GMT

I think that we ought to get something straight in this conversation:

Mileage is _not_ a good indicator of danger in vehicles. It is a 
commonly available indicator that can be used to _approximate_
the amount of _time_ spent on the road. Or to put it more heroically,
you can use mileage to determine the time in harm's way of the
occupants of the vehicle. But only in a _statistical_ way and
not very factually.

The statistics being bandied about on this subject completely ignore
the fact that while bicycles may travel only 10% of the mileage of
automobiles, they may, nevertheless, have more _time_ in traffic
and therefore a much greater exposure to accidents.

It is also difficult to compare the bicycle accident rate in a country
like Holland where there are many bicycle paths and total areas in cities
where bicycles have normal right-of-way, and other countries like the
U.S. where the bicycle is simply a vehicle and expected to take care
of itself.

None of the statistics I've seen are any sort of indicators of what the
true relative safety of bicycles are. And the total traffic deaths
of bicyclists in the U.S. is about 800 -- some very small percentage
of the traffic deaths (40,000/yr.?)

Those who wish to believe that bicycling is so dangerous that we should
pass more laws regulating the operation of bicycles are _not_ supported
by any reasonable inspeection of the pertenent facts.

Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.soc
From: sp@u36.kwnet.on.ca (Sean P Goggin)
Subject: Swiss Army Bike
Organization: U36 Research
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 21:15:26 GMT



The Swiss Army will retire their old single gear bikes for their
mountain troops over the coming two years.
They will replace these aged wheels with a new bike, 10 speed,
designed to carry 100 lbs. 
What can the net.wisdom contribute to these sketchy pseudo facts ?

I suppose this might be considered the ultimate car deterrent - 
heavily armed cyclists. :-)

Ride safe.

 	Sean
email sp@bbi.kwnet.on.ca
 

Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.soc