Christmas time is here

Greetings from post-christmas-land! Me and mine had a nice holiday spent with family relaxing and enjoying each others' company. I also had a nice 11 day stretch of no work. And no work means no commute. I did manage to get my studded snow tires mounted, just in time for a winter warm up and snow-free roads. Yes! I was told not to ride my bike today because we are meeting some folks for dinner tonight after work and I need to be ready. So I took the train/drove. Which is hard to do when you've got brand new tires just waiting to be ridden. And even harder when you've got a brand new pair of Trek Neoprene Booties to try out! I found my wool sock stockpile while I was on vacation, so I was going to give the bootie/sandal/big sock combo a try. Tomorrow is another day.

In other news, a photographer in China got some amazing pictures of a cyclist doing a mean faceplant after hitting a pothole on his bike. This first picture is my favorite. The cyclist is in mid-fall. He's got the nice commuter bike set up with the oversized chain guard and rear rack. And he's apparently cycling with an umbrella.


The next picture hurts. Face down, in a puddle. No helmet. At least, I believe that he's wearing a white baseball cap rather than a helmet.


And finally, insult is added to injury. Just as the poor guy jerks his head away with a grimace of pain, the blaze orange briefcase on his rear rack comes down to smack him in the head. Plus, his foot is about to become horribly tangled in the front spokes. The umbrella looks like it will fight to see another day, but this poor guy may need some recovery time. Ouch.


The photographer has come under criticism for lying in wait to take his pictures rather than warning the cyclist of the danger. While I agree that he was a complete bastard for allowing this to happen, I'm not sure he was 100% obligated to warn people either. Karma is going to get him in the end, one way or another. If the pictures prompt the government to fix the pothole, perhaps he'll be rewarded with total consciousness on his deathbed. Which is nice.