Bruce Rosar killed in Apex
Gregg
Every life is precious, but the victim was more than a cyclist. He was Bruce Rosar, who many of us know, have talked to or emailed with. He teaches effective street riding and bike safety. Read last year's story on him below. I am stunned and shocked and shaken up. I can't believe it's a freakin' hit and run. Makes me sick. -- Diane DanielThe News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina)
April 20, 2008 Sunday
Final Edition
Yearning to pedal brave and free
BYLINE: Joe Miller, Staff Writer
SECTION: ARTS & LIVING; Health & Fitness; Pg. D13
LENGTH: 738 words
The first thing Bruce Rosar asks his aspiring road cyclists is this: "What did you like about riding a bike as a kid?"
"The freedom," Janis Ayers of Durham answers in an instant.
"Yeah, that's pretty much it," agrees fellow classmate Florence Amadi, who lives in Willow Spring.
Freedom. For generations of kids, their first taste of freedom came the moment the training wheels came off. For city kids, exotic parts of the neighborhood they'd only heard about were now theirs to explore. For kids in rural areas, the mobility of two wheels could mean a chance to disappear unnoticed on a sleepy summer's day and ride to a nearby town. The bicycle, in fact, played a key role in liberating an entire sex. According to the Web site annielondonderry.com, during the bicycle's heyday in the 1890s, a heyday driven by female cyclists, Susan B. Anthony told the New York World's Nellie Bly that bicycling had "done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world."
No wonder Ayers and Powers were willing to sacrifice three hours of this and their next two Saturday afternoons to take the Street Cycling course Rosar leads, offered through the town of Cary at its Middle Creek Community Center.
The class, designed by the League of American Bicyclists, is aimed at folks who would like to ride beyond the neighborhood and the greenway, but who cringe at the thought of mixing it up with motor-propelled vehicles.
A fear not without cause. In 2006, the latest period for which information is available, 773 cyclists were killed riding their bikes (about 2 percent of all traffic fatalities) nationwide, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Twenty-one of those fatalities were in North Carolina (accounting for 1.3 percent of all traffic fatalities).
Scary as those figures may be, Rosar assures his class that knowledge is safety by quoting biking educator John Forester: "Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles." Thus, the goal of Street Cycling is to give "cyclists the confidence they need to ride safely and legally in traffic or on the trail."
The class seems overly basic at first. An early lesson: Riding a bike is about more than just balancing the thing.
But the curriculum quickly moves on. Rosar addresses subtleties that may escape casual cyclists. The ideal seat height for maximum efficiency (a slight flex of the knee when your leg reaches the bottom of a downstroke) or seat angle for maximum comfort (no more than 5 degrees pointed up or down). He talks about proper clothing, showing off a blinding neon green vest for visibility, essential tools (including a dollar bill, which can be used to purchase a snack or to patch a nasty blowout), that the most significant bit of equipment other than the bike is cycling shorts, which are padded and will keep you from chafing.
Alas, when it finally comes time to ride and learn some valuable pedaling skills riding in a straight line, starting and stopping, hand signals and "scanning" (looking over your shoulder while continuing to ride the aforementioned straight line) it starts raining.
"You can ride in the rain É" says Rosar, who has been teaching the class since 1991. But they won't this day (that's covered in a more advanced commuting class). Instead, the aforementioned skills will be homework. Homework in preparation for next week's full immersion session.
Riding the mean streets of downtown Cary.
For more information
On the League of American Bicyclists: www.bikeleague.org.
On Bruce Rosar's next Street Cycling class: http://brucewr.home.mindspring.com/ec/index.html.
Ten Commandments - Bicycling
As handed down by the League of American Bicyclists:
I. Wear a helmet for every ride and use lights at night.
II. Conduct an ABC Quick Check before every ride. (ABC as in air for your tires, brakes, and crank and bearing. "What they really mean by crank and bearing," explains Bruce Rosar, "is your drivetrain. But they had to come up with a 'C.'")
III. Obey traffic laws: ride on the right, slowest traffic farthest to right.
IV. Ride predictably and be visible at all times.
V. At intersections, ride in the right-most lane that goes in your direction.
VI. Scan for traffic and signal lane changes and turns.
VII. Be prepared for mechanical emergencies with tools and know-how.
VIII. Control your bike by practicing bike handling skills.
IX. Drink before you are thirsty and eat before you are hungry.
X. Have fun.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Diane Daniel, freelance writer
Blog: www.placeswegopeoplewesee.com
NC guidebook: www.farmfreshnc.com
Everything else: www.bydianedaniel.com
1221 Clarendon St., Durham, NC 27705
919-286-9293; di...@bydianedaniel.comIn a message dated 7/11/2009 2:36:05 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, b...@bernardglassman.net writes:
http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/5553372/
Apex, N.C. — A bicyclist was killed after a collision involving a vehicle at the intersection of S. Salem Street and Apex Barbecue Road just after noon on Saturday, Apex police said.
Click the link above for the full WRAL story. This was a hit and run, it appears.
bglassman
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Pugsly
There's been some suggestion that we use the NCBC summer rally as a memorial ride for Bruce next Sunday. Bruce was an NCBC officer, and this seems like an appropriate way to honor his memory.
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5553372/
Gloria Bohmuller
I am so sorry for the loss of a wonderful person
God Bless his family and Friends
Gloria
Herb Cunningham
Herb
Freedom. For generations of kids, their first taste of freedom came the moment the training wheels came off. For city kids, exotic parts of the neighborhood they'd only heard about were now theirs to explore. For kids in rural areas, the mobility of two wheels could mean a chance to disappear unnoticed on a sleepy summer's day and ride to a nearby town. The bicycle, in fact, played a key role in liberating an entire sex. According to the Web site annielondonderry.com <http://annielondonderry.com/> , during the bicycle's heyday in the 1890s, a heyday driven by female cyclists, Susan B. Anthony told the New York World's Nellie Bly that bicycling had "done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world."
No wonder Ayers and Powers were willing to sacrifice three hours of this and their next two Saturday afternoons to take the Street Cycling course Rosar leads, offered through the town of Cary at its Middle Creek Community Center.
The class, designed by the League of American Bicyclists, is aimed at folks who would like to ride beyond the neighborhood and the greenway, but who cringe at the thought of mixing it up with motor-propelled vehicles.
A fear not without cause. In 2006, the latest period for which information is available, 773 cyclists were killed riding their bikes (about 2 percent of all traffic fatalities) nationwide, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Twenty-one of those fatalities were in North Carolina (accounting for 1.3 percent of all traffic fatalities).
Scary as those figures may be, Rosar assures his class that knowledge is safety by quoting biking educator John Forester: "Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles." Thus, the goal of Street Cycling is to give "cyclists the confidence they need to ride safely and legally in traffic or on the trail."
The class seems overly basic at first. An early lesson: Riding a bike is about more than just balancing the thing.
But the curriculum quickly moves on. Rosar addresses subtleties that may escape casual cyclists. The ideal seat height for maximum efficiency (a slight flex of the knee when your leg reaches the bottom of a downstroke) or seat angle for maximum comfort (no more than 5 degrees pointed up or down). He talks about proper clothing, showing off a blinding neon green vest for visibility, essential tools (including a dollar bill, which can be used to purchase a snack or to patch a nasty blowout), that the most significant bit of equipment other than the bike is cycling shorts, which are padded and will keep you from chafing.
Alas, when it finally comes time to ride and learn some valuable pedaling skills riding in a straight line, starting and stopping, hand signals and "scanning" (looking over your shoulder while continuing to ride the aforementioned straight line) it starts raining.
"You can ride in the rain É" says Rosar, who has been teaching the class since 1991. But they won't this day (that's covered in a more advanced commuting class). Instead, the aforementioned skills will be homework. Homework in preparation for next week's full immersion session.
Riding the mean streets of downtown Cary.
For more information
On the League of American Bicyclists: www.bikeleague.org <http://www.bikeleague.org/> .
On Bruce Rosar's next Street Cycling class: http://brucewr.home.mindspring.com/ec/index.html <http://brucewr.home.mindspring.com/ec/index.html> .
Ten Commandments - Bicycling
As handed down by the League of American Bicyclists:
I. Wear a helmet for every ride and use lights at night.
II. Conduct an ABC Quick Check before every ride. (ABC as in air for your tires, brakes, and crank and bearing. "What they really mean by crank and bearing," explains Bruce Rosar, "is your drivetrain. But they had to come up with a 'C.'")
III. Obey traffic laws: ride on the right, slowest traffic farthest to right.
IV. Ride predictably and be visible at all times.
V. At intersections, ride in the right-most lane that goes in your direction.
VI. Scan for traffic and signal lane changes and turns.
VII. Be prepared for mechanical emergencies with tools and know-how.
VIII. Control your bike by practicing bike handling skills.
IX. Drink before you are thirsty and eat before you are hungry.
X. Have fun.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Diane Daniel, freelance writer
Blog: www.placeswegopeoplewesee.com <http://www.placeswegopeoplewesee.com/>
NC guidebook: www.farmfreshnc.com <http://www.farmfreshnc.com/>
Everything else: www.bydianedaniel.com <http://www.bydianedaniel.com/>
1221 Clarendon St., Durham, NC 27705
919-286-9293; di...@bydianedaniel.com
In a message dated 7/11/2009 2:36:05 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, b...@bernardglassman.net writes:
http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/5553372/
Apex, N.C. — A bicyclist was killed after a collision involving a vehicle at the intersection of S. Salem Street and Apex Barbecue Road just after noon on Saturday, Apex police said.
Click the link above for the full WRAL story. This was a hit and run, it appears.
bglassman
Looking for love this summer? Find it now on AOL Personals <http://personals.aol.com/?ncid=emlcntuslove00000003> .
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