Potholes and Road Apples

Pennsylvania’s Olympic bicyclists got international attention this week even before Friday’s opening ceremonies. Mike “Meatball” Friedman, a Pittsburgh native, and Bobby Lea, of Topton, arrived at the Beijing airport this week wearing surgical-type masks. The masks, also worn by cyclists Sarah Hammer and Jennie Reed, were worn because they feared the negative affects of the much-discussed air pollution in the Chinese capital.

Their arrival caused a stir, with Chinese Olympic officials being insulted by the cyclists wearing the masks. The four issued a public apology on Wednesday, Velonews reported. The cyclists were among about 200 arriving American athletes. The American delegation numbers nearly 600.

Friedman races for the professional Garmin team. Lea races for the Wayne-based Rite Aid pro team.

Also on Wednesday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Look Cycle USA, today announced a voluntary recall of 40,000 pairs of older model KéO bicycle pedals.

The recall affects the KéO Classic, KéO Sprint, KéO HM and KéO Carbon pedals manufactured between Jan. 2004 and Dec. 2005. Look has received 14 reports of incidents, including seven injuries, resulting from breakage of the steel axle.

The date code for the KéO Classic, Sprint and Carbon pedals is on a dial stamped onto the pedal. The date code for the KéO HM is on the bottom of the pedal, with the letters A through L corresponding to the month, and the numbers 4 and 5 indicating 2004 or 2005.

The pedals, sold at bike shops between Jan. 2004 and July 2007, should be returned to the place of purchase, or contact Look Cycle USA to arrange for shipping and free repair. The company can be contacted at (866) 430-5665 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Pacific time, Monday through Friday, or through the firm’s Web site at www.lookcycle-usa.com, or email the firm at KeoUpgrade@lookcycle-usa.com.

And, also Wednesday, Cyclingnews.com reported an interview with Tyler Hamilton in which Hamilton extends an offer to Lancaster County native Floyd Landis to come race for Rock Racing. Landis’ doping suspension ends Jan. 29. Rock Racing, the U.S. domestic pro team, has packed it roster with former greats who have come back to the sport after being banned from racing.

Last week I had a peach thrown at my head.

Coming toward Lititz, I had stopped at an intersection for a passing car. I looked the other way to see if traffic was also coming from the other direction. When I looked back toward the approaching car, I saw an orange orb flying directly at me. A good throw from a moving vehicle. The ripe peach skimmed my left shoulder. By the time I rode the nearly three miles home from there, my jersey had begun to smell like cheap peach schnapps.

I was angry, but lucky. It could have been much worse.

On Wednesday evening, a bicyclist was shot in the arm while riding in Landisville, East Hempfield Township police reported in today’s New Era. The 53-year-old Landisville man, whom police did not identify, was taken to Lancaster General Hospital, where he was treated and released.

The man was riding east on Main Street, Landisville, at about 7:30 p.m. He was about to turn right onto Nissley Road when he was shot by a passing motorist.

East Hempfield Police Det. Steve Draper said the incident appeared to “a senseless, random act.” He did not believe the bike rider was specifically targeted.

Apparently, it could have been much worse for this bicyclist too. Based on the victim’s injury, Draper believes he was shot with a BB gun.

The vehicle was described as a two-door, light-colored car with vinyl or cloth covering about half of the car’s roof. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the East Hempfield Township police at 898-3103.

Despite a mid-morning rain storm north of Lititz Saturday, there was a good turn out of riders for the Hammer Creek Road Race.

More than 200 riders registered by the Thursday evening deadline for online, advance registration. The ranks of the six category races were further swelled by the cancellation of the competing Deodate Road Race. That race was to be held nearby, near Middletown, Dauphin County, at the same time.

Rich Ruoff, the Hammer Creek race director, said he began getting contacted by riders Friday morning who had been registered for Deodate. Those riders reported getting e-mail messages from Deodate race director David Butterworth that he had cancelled his race.

Saturday was the first time that race promoters Ruoff and Butterworth were to go head-to-head since they parted company as partners of Lancaster-based RedRoseRaces.com at the beginning of June. Butterworth, the controlling partner in that company, cancelled the remaining races on the RedRoseRaces calendar. He said the company was losing money.

Since then, several teams have joined with Ruoff to organize races. The Hammer Creek race was presented by the Swashbuckler/PaRenFaire.com cycling team. Results from the race were still not available online early today.

The next race being organized by Ruoff is the Londonderry/Conoy Road Race, this Saturday. That race is also being presented by the Swashbuckler team. Butterworth has no further races for this year listed on his Pro-Am Cycling website. 

An 11-year-old Lancaster City boy was struck and killed by a motorist while riding his bicycle near Reservoir Park on Sunday evening, city police reported.

Drew Bogroff, whose family lives near the park, had seen a fight or some other disturbance in the park and was riding to his home to alert family members to call the police, a witness said. Instead, police responded to a report of the boy being struck after he rode his BMX bike into the path of a 1992 Honda Accord driven by a 42-year-old Lancaster City man. The motorist, Michael Scott, was not charged.

In a separate accident, 77-year-old Elmer Leid, of 431 N. Shirk Road, was stuck while riding his bicycle in Earl Township on Friday evening. Leid reportedly turned his bike in front of a vehicle driven byD. Lamar Weaver, of Wissler Road. The accident occurred at Wissler and Voganville roads, near New Holland.

Leid was listed in serious condition this morning at Lancaster General Hospital. The full New Era article is here.

Also, Bob Mionske, who writes the “Legally speaking” column for Velonews, recently chronicled the case of a 19-year-old woman who was hit while riding her bike in nearby Lebanon a year ago. Autumn Grohowski subsequently died from her injuries, while the drunk driver who killed her received a mere slap on the wrist. That account is here.

Local bicyclists Mike Ridgeway and Robin Smith will be taking turns on the pedals this weekend to raise money for a single mother and her infant daughter with brain tumors.

Ridgeway, founder of the local Dream Ride for Lancaster bicycle rides, and Smith will be doing “The Longest Day” ride, beginning Saturday afternoon.

They are asking for donations to be made to benefit a resident of the Milagro House women’s transitional home. The plight of the woman, Ashley, and her daughter, Kialie, who has cancerous brain tumors, was profiled by Sunday News columnist Renee Valentine earlier this week.

Ridgeway and Smith will be riding a 30-mile loop in northwestern Lancaster County from 3 p.m. Saturday until 3 p.m. Sunday. They hope to log 500 miles during that time.

Anyone interested in donating to help Ashley and Kialie may do so by bringing donations to the Riverview Elementary School, on Route 441 in Marietta, or by pledging a donation online, at: http://www.active.com/donate/teamcyclesmart414b.

They are also encouraging other bicyclists to join them on the ride. In addition to the 24-hour option, riders can ride four, eight or twelve hours.

Anyone wishing more information may call Ridgeway at 341-0132.

Ridgeway and Smith comprised half of the Cycle Smart team that completed the non-stop, cross-country Race Across America in June. The four-person, mixed team was the first Lancaster-based team to do the race.

The former partners of RedRoseRaces.com are going head-to-head Saturday - each with a race of their own.

David Butterworth, the controlling partner of RedRoseRaces.com, is organizing the Deodate Road Race, near Middletown, in Dauphin County. Rich Ruoff, RedRoseRaces’ founder and former director, is organizing the Hammercreek Road Race, north of Lititz, in Lancaster County.

The prospect of competing races would have seemed too good to be true to local bicycle racers less than two months ago, when Butterworth pulled the plug on RedRoseRaces.com. He said the race promotion company was losing money. The move essentially cleared the local racing calendar for the remainder of the season. (You can read Butterworth’s and Ruoff’s divergent accounts of the sudden demise of the company under the “Quick Links” on the right of this page. They are entitled “RRR: Butterworth’s side” and “RRR: Ruoff’s side.”)

Since then, local cycling teams have stepped up to fill the vaccum. With Ruoff at the helm, the Spinners Cycling and Swashbuckler/PaRenFaire teams and the West End Cycling Club quickly organized races. Butterworth, under his Pro-Am Cycling company, reintroduced three RedRoseRaces’ events that had been canceled.

Some local racers declared their loyalty to Ruoff and said they would not participate in Butterworth’s events.

Attendance at both the Ruoff-promoted events and at Butterworth’s events has fallen short of the more than 400 riders who participated in RedRoseRaces events this spring and totals for the events from previous years, although Ruoff’s events have gotten larger numbers.

Results listings show 72 riders participated in Butterworth’s Peiffer Hill Road Race on July 12. Eighty-two riders raced in his Brownstown Road Race on June 28. Last year, Brownstown drew 202 riders and Peiffer Hill had 220.

Ruoff’s Comback Criterium, on July 20, drew 158. It was a first-time race. Last weekend’s Grandview Grand Prix, in which Ruoff was involved, had 245 riders. The 2007 results for the RedRoseRaces’ Great Grandview Criterium were not available online. In 2006, the race had 284 participants in the various categories.

Late this morning, there was 135 riders pre-registered for Ruoff’s Hammercreek race. There was no “confirmed riders” listing this morning for Butterworth’s Deodate race. On-line registration for both races closes at 8 p.m. today. There will be race-day registration Saturday for the Hammercreek race. The Deodate race is limited to advance registration.

This is a story of love, loss and restoration.
This is a story about a man and his bicycle.
Tracy Bowman, 42, had ridden bicycles since he was a child. He would drag home bikes other people put out with trash.
A dozen years ago, Bowman walked into a bike shop in Red Lion and saw a shiny new Schwinn. It was love at first sight.
The $1,000 price tag was steep for Bowman, a restaurant cook, but it was on sale and he had to have it.
He rode the bike, a Schwinn S-20 full-suspension mountain bike, the 30-miles from Red Lion, in York County, to his job at Willow Valley daily.
After moving to a Lancaster apartment, he kept the bike locked on a second-story balcony. Very early one morning, he came out and the bike was gone.
He couldn’t bring himself to get another one. Another bike just wouldn’t have been the same, he said.

“I’ve been offered bikes and turned them down,” Bowman said. “Nothing is like the bike you had.”
For 10 years, Bowman walked to work. Now the breakfast cook at the Perkins restaurant on Lincoln Highway East, he would usually leave home at 4 a.m. to be at work by 5:30 a.m. Occasionally, he would take the bus. For a period, he owned a car. But mostly, he walked.
He was walking down West King Street Monday, near Manor Street, when his eye caught something familiar. It was his bike, out in front of a house, along the sidewalk.
“It was like somebody just took it out of the yard and put it there,” he said.
It was changed. There were cobwebs. The orange metallic paint was more dull. The rear tire was flat. The seat had been changed and the accessories had been removed. But Bowman knew it was his bike.
The wheels, he said, were unmistakable.
“There aren’t another pair like them.”
The Spin titanium three-spoke rims were an upgrade he had made to the bike. The rims alone were probably worth $500, he said.
Bowman didn’t want to be accused of stealing the bike, so he restrained himself and didn’t touch it. He quickly walked to his home, near North Plum Street, and dug out his old paperwork.
With his receipt and serial number, he went back prepared to confront anyone who would question him.
“There wasn’t anyone there to confront, so I just took it,” Bowman said.
He didn’t call the police, he said. He tried that two years before.
The only time he had spotted the bike, he was in Farnum Park along South Water Street when someone rode past on it. He immediately called the police, but the officers wouldn’t stop the rider or hold the bike because they had no record of it having been stolen.
Bowman said he filed a theft report but the record had been lost.
On Tuesday, he had it at Tom Podlesny’s Cycle Circle bike shop on North Plum Street. Bowman had scrounged a pair of water bottle cages, pedals and an old saddle, but the bike needed work. Bowman guessed he would be spending $100 or more to get it road-worthy.
Before it was stolen, Bowman said he would take long rides out in the countryside. He’s looking forward to doing that again.
“After Tom’s done with it, I’ll be back to the 30, 40, 50-miles of riding,” he said.
He’s delighted to have it back. “I feel like a little kid with a new bike,” he said. “I feel like I’m in another world.”
Turning to Podlesny, Bowman said: “I’m going to get going. I’m going to go ride my bike.”

In case you missed it in Tuesday’s Intelligencer Journal, there was a good article on Beijing-bound Olympic track cyclist Bobby Lea, his brother, Special Olympian Syd Lea, and their mother, Tracy Lea.

They came to the Acadia Neuro Rehabilitation Center, in the Greenfield Corporate Center, on Monday to talk about the challenges they have faced.

The Associated Press today put raw video footage on-line of Friday’s Critical Mass ride in New York’s Times Square. In the tourist-shot video, one of the city’s finest apparently gives a passing bicyclist a big shove - off his bike and onto a sidewalk - for no apparent reason. It makes you feel appreciated for doing your part to save the planet.

Bicycle racers came from across the mid-Atlantic and spectators came from inside their homes to the Grandview Grand Prix criterium race on Saturday. About 240 racers participated in the various categories that ranged from beginner to professional. About another 50 children competed in free kids’ races.

Spectators who saw the professional/category 1/2/3 race on Saturday afternoon got to see Rite Aid professional rider Bobby Lea recognized, above. Lea, of Topton, will soon be going to Beijing, where he will be a member of the U.S. track cycling team. Lea, 24, is formerly a member of the Toyota United pro team. He took second place in the overall results of April’s Tour de Ephrata. He placed second Saturday, behind Jason Snow of Team Mera/Wendy’s. Results are here. Below, Lea leads around a corner onto McGrann Boulevard.

Lea’s younger brother, Syd, also competed at Grandview on Saturday. He was in the Category 5 race. Syd Lea is also an Olympian, taking home two gold medals from the Special Olympics in China last year. Their father Rob Lea was an Olympic rower in 1964. Lea was the subject of an Associated Press article, here.