Anger only begets rage.

There's been a lot of buzz about a particular incident that occurred on the busy streets of London in the U.K. recently.  It's the story of a motorist and a cyclist that got into a fight over the bicycle box at an intersection. The footage was captured by another cyclist. Here's the video:

There are many who side with the cyclist claiming that he didn't deserve to get punched by the driver of that Audi. I agree that punching people is wrong, but I can't side with either party because they're both jerks in their own way.

I'll admit that I'm not well-versed in British traffic law. What I know is based on common sense, my own cycling experience, and Top Gear.

First of all the cyclist is a shoaler* which discredits him from being a faultless victim. It's a reasonable assumption that the driver got stuck at that traffic light and is already pissed. I can relate because I hate getting stuck at red lights despite speeding to avoid them. This cyclist stopped right in front of the car instead of queuing up behind the other cyclists that were waiting on the far left. The driver probably planned to gun it at the green light, blow past the cyclists and hopefully catch a green light at the next junction. That plan was foiled when our guy stopped his bike in front of the Audi. He's within his right since that's what the box is for but he also could have lined up behind the cyclists on the left shoulder. Sometimes it just makes more sense to give way to cars even if you're legally not obligated to, especially when it doesn't put your safety in jeopardy. That would have given the car enough space to safely clear the cyclists. It makes sense that the Audi pulled into the bike box beside the cyclists so that he can get past them. It wasn't a legal manoeuvre but everyone pulls stunts like that, especially in a busy city.

The cyclist gets upset over the fact that the Audi drove past the limit line and into the cyclist's box. The Audi isn't supposed to do that and the cyclist was rightfully upset. Was it worth screaming at the driver? I wouldn't do so but I also wouldn't try to silence someone else voicing their displeasure. That's as far as I go in terms of being supportive for the cyclist though. What he did afterwards annoyed me.

He rides like hell to catch the Audi at the next junction and starts screaming at him. Yes, the driver is an asshole but catching up to him just to call him a "fucking prick" isn't going to make him apologize. So it's no surprise that he punches the cyclist. In fairness the driver shouldn't have hit the cyclist but it's also not the cyclist's place to try and give the driver a sermon either. The driver knew what he did was wrong, he just didn't care. Let the police deal with him, if he tries to start another boxing match with them he'll land in jail. Speaking of boxing, what I found most disappointing is that a motorist finally stepped out of their car to scrap with a cyclist and the cyclist didn't fight back. It's not often that motorists decide to brawl instead of just mowing bikers down with their cars. A golden opportunity, wasted. 

Another thing worth noting: if you look at London's streets on Google Street View you'll notice they're freakin' narrow. These roads would be considered alleys where I live. It's not hard to imagine why people get so agitated about sharing the road. With that much congestion, tempers flare and there's no reason for anyone to mind what a cyclist thinks. So unless you're a cop or you can land a punch like Tyson, sometimes it's best to let things go.

*Term derived from the water feature "shoal" to describe a cyclist that squeezes in front of other cyclists already waiting at a junction. I first came upon the term from bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com

Riding for tacos is the best kind of riding.

The other day I went for a ride to watch the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. I took a picture as it sank, I apologize for the lens flare. Normally an attentive blogger would edit the photo a bit but I can't be bothered, so there it is.

Huntington Beach, CA. The land of sunsets...

Upon turning back to go home I realized there was a noise coming from somewhere inside my gastrointestinal tract. I determined that this must be a sign of hunger so tacos were in order. The catch is that the tacos I wanted were ironically located in Little Saigon. I had to decide whether to take the MUP in the dark through numerous homeless camps or to brave surface streets filled with distracted drivers shopping for the Chinese New Year. I figured I had a better chance with the homeless camps since homeless people only go after you if you're dragging a case of this behind your bike. I had a GoPro mounted on the seat tube taking still shots. Here are some of the keepers that were taken:

For now I think my GoPro provides a fantastic service just taking stills as I ride. Though someday I plan to use it to film myself as I destroy my collarbone for the sake of filming an attempted 60+ mph run.  

The greatest part of this video is the description tells you to "Always ride with a helmet!". It should say "Always ride with common sense!" since that's what people seem to forget at home most often. 

Anyway, I said earlier that I went to pick up some delicious tacos. I won't leave you hanging, so here's a picture of the tacos:

Kogi perfection.

My only regret with this ride was that I should have ordered more tacos. I only had 5 and when I finally got home I was a bit hungry again. I'll have to make amends on the next taco ride.

Lights!

I finally made a decision on my lights! Normally I like to use lights that can easily be removed to keep the bike looking sleek-ish. This bike is, however, not sleek.  It's more like a giant monument to bike dork-dom. So big, flashy, sophisticated lights sounded like the way to go.

Behold the German-made Busch and Muller Luxos-U!  It's the top dog in dynamo-powered lights. There isn't much that's brighter and this is the only light I know of that has a built in USB charger for charging almost any electronic device smaller than a iPad.

First there's the light, because most importantly it has to work well as a light. The light is very bright but spread out very evenly. You get a beam about 15-20 feet (4.5-6 meters) wide across with usable light across the entire beam. The light at the top of the beam is the brightest which makes sense since it would be shining on the road farthest ahead of you. The light also powers a tail light which is a Busch and Muller Toplight. The rear light is equipped with its own capacitor that keeps the light on for 3 or 4 minutes when fully stopped.

What's really remarkable with this setup is Busch and Muller designed the headlight to be sensitive to the amount of current coming from the dynamo. This tells the brighter LED's to shut off when the bike slows down and directs power to the smaller LED's at the front of the light for visibility. Busch and Muller said the light should dim at around 9 mph (15 kph) yet it seems the dynamo provides a substantial amount of power; enough to keep all the LED's on down to 3 mph (4 kph). So it's only when I'm pretty much at a full stop that the light starts to dim at all. This is excellent for slow climbs or technical terrain where a lot of light is needed but there isn't a whole lot of speed to power the dynamo. The SP Dynamo has exceeded my expectations.

At the rear of the light, there's a multifunction button. You hold it to power the light on or off and tap it for the floodlight function. A second button on the USB charging port does the same thing. The floodlight basically pumps extra current from an internal battery to the light for a more powerful beam. The difference is definitely noticeable. The lights at the back indicate normal beam / floodlight / tail light status. The orange light in the picture is just saying the headlight is on.

I tested the USB charging feature on a long ride and hooked up my Samsung Galaxy S4 to the port. The USB port works exactly as you would expect with one exception. The internal battery in the light has to be topped off before any current can be spared to charge your cell phone. This means that if you stop at an intersection, the charging will be interrupted. It will start again after you've pedaled for a minute or two. This is because at each stop, the battery takes over to keep the light on since there's no current coming from the dynamo. I suppose if you turn the light off, the charging can go uninterrupted but I haven't tried doing that yet.

This is the light as a motorist would see it when the bike is stopped at a junction. The front light stays on under it's own power for quite a while before shutting off. The USB charging port can be seen just below the stem on the steerer tube.

One of the biggest trade-offs with dynamo lighting is the unsightly wires that have to be routed throughout the bike. I was able to avoid some of the ugliness by routing the leads from the dynamo to the headlight inside the fork leg. The wiring from the front light to the rear light however was a different story. Since there's a lot going on underneath the down-tube, I decided to pair it up with the rear brake cable. I might reroute it some other way in the future but for now this is the best I can do. It's not the worst wiring job ever seen... is it?

For all of those who are interested in seeing the light in action, I took a couple of photos from about 18-20 feet (5.5 - 6 meters) away from the fence in my backyard. The lighting in both photos is as close to the actual lighting as I could get. This light is BRIGHT.

I've become a fan of this light for it's features and the extremely good visibility it provides, both for the rider and for those nearby. Anyone looking for self-sustained visibility should take a look at a dynamo setup like this.