Chain Ring Cowboy

Today's El Paso Times is now focusing in on finding the driver of the car that killed Heinz and fled. Click on the link to read all about it.

The comment following this paragraph was written in the previous post, but the words of AJ and the importance compels me to post it again, up front and center. If you are reading this we need your help. The street that Heinz was killed on has one of the widest right hand lanes in the whole city, at least 30 feet. It had to be a very unusual circumstance for this to happen. But two things NEED to happen. 1. Get the person who did this to come forward or get caught. 2. Do something to memorialize this event to make our streets a safer place. Tomorrow I will give another idea on what can be done, but for now I don't want to take the gravity of what AJ has to say. AJ said... Rick, I sent you our email address if you have any information as to how we can contribute to a reward fund or make the public more aware of what happened to Heinz. The initial write-ups indicated that he was "elderly." What a laugh. Maybe in years but he and his wife were in better shape than most 20-som

Bicycling overall is far safer than motorcycles, ocean swimms, horses, hospital stays, or climbing ladders. 9 out of 10 serious bicycling injuries don't involve a car or other motorized vehicle. "There is no greater danger to the urban cyclist thant the cyclist's own incompetence". These words come from Robert Hurst in his book The Art Of Urban Cycling. It's a good book, so no matter how experienced a rider you are don't let those words upset you because he backs that statement up with some very encouraging teaching. The point I want to make is that we as cyclists need education, with continuing education. I count myself right up there in the front of the class. Fewer then 1 in 70 car/bike collisions are fatal. 2 out of 3 cyclists walk away after treatment. In the USA about 700 cyclist die each year compared to 4,000 motorcyclists, 5,000 pedestrians, and nearly 40,000 car/truck drivers/passengers. These statistics can be found on the National Highway Traffic S

Arlene, please contact me: jordan630@gmail.com When one sees the deep scrape marks the bicycle frame left as it ground its way down the street some 75 feet maybe took only a second or two. When I see the blackened curb and tire prints made from a swerving vehicle I wonder which story in my mind is closest to what really happened when Heinz met his fate. I wonder if he was spinning his crank at a high cadence with the great feeling only an early morning ride in El Paso can bring. The makeshift cross craftily created on the fly with a picture frame, probably torn apart for the purpose. Attached to shelf bracket to anchor it to Mother Earth, the dust from which we come. Flowers and candles set against the desert breeze to pay homage to a Salt of the Earth gentleman, fallen, gone. I pray that this memory does not fade so quickly. I pray that a seed is planted to allow this tragic event to grow into a better cause. I pray that the other party(ies)involved will bring themselves to justice.

Even though I may have to eat some crow and apologize for my rant about the El Paso Bicycle Club, my main purpose that day was to rally up support to memorialize the unfortunate way Mr. Heinz Duerkop had to die. I do, however, like it that it has stirred the stew. Based on the last post's, to bridge some gaps and make an amends, not only for the way I portraid the club, but also to extend a hand to concerned cyclists for more unity. After all, I do claim to want raise advocacy awareness in this city. It could be that the advocates are here, alive and well, like Fred, Becky, and other unnamed pedalcyclists. So let's come together and make a difference. Fred frequently commutes with his bike to work from EP to Juarez and back. He knows what the traffic can be like and how to navigate in it. Becky commutes from the northeast to the central part of the city. I would like to hear more about hers and Fred's experiences. There is a guy out there who rides a nice bike and doesn'

It happened yesterday in this fair city, El Paso, Texas. A cyclist was killed while on an early morning ride, a time when the roads are still sleepy and a time when there is not much concern for safety. Mr. Heinz Duerkop, 67 years old was taken from life on earth by a car which hit him from behind. I went to the spot this morning to see that the cyclist had been hit from behind by an automobile who had not applied brakes, leaving fairly deep scrape marks in the asphalt for a distance of about 20 feet. According to the El Paso Times newspaper the rider was thrown a distance. The driver is being sought for hit and run. From what I could see by the remnant marks on the street, the rider was about 15 inches from the curb riding on a street(Georg Deiter) that had a wide inside lane. someone had to be veering extremely far left of the dashed lane stripe to have hit this cyclist. I don't want to exploit the unfortunate, but I feel like doing something to memorialize this man and this eve

At intersections on most every road anywhere that has a right turn only lane, I use a neat trick that seems to keep me out of harms way as well as keep the motorized traffic somewhat happy with me, the rider. A lot of bicycle riders remain in the right turn only lane when they are going straight through the intersection. This is the wrong thing to do. Forget about it that it's not legal; legal schmegal. Don't get me wrong, I believe in riding legally. The state's drivers handbook says I the cyclist has a right to the road, but am supposed to be responsible when I use it. But what I am talking about here is safety, you know, survival. Anyway there is this place in the road see, I call the No Drive Zone at an intersection that has a right turn only lane. When enough cars and trucks turn right in that lane debris seems to pile up in an arc shape. In other words, if a driver is half way through a right hand turn and if they look down to the pavement outside their window where t

Saturday I road down into the Rio Grande Valley, the fertile grounds where Indian tribes long ago found a way of life. The culture continues to hold on to its roots in this historically rich river bottom. On this early sleepy morning gun shots startled me, my first thoughts were not to get caught getting in the middle of a gang war. After all I was just a couple of stone throws from the international border which is know for daily violence. But when I went around a corner I could see a parade of Indians and onlookers marching to the Ysleta Mission, one of the oldest on this continent. Someone please take a close look at the picture on the right and tell me if the marcher in the white wearing a reddish cap is Bishop Ochoa.

Meet Joaquin (pronounced Wackeen) a happy guy who tools around on his bike with no particular place to go. We both talk a lot, so we stood there for a while. It was a nice morning.

You may remember when I wrote about the guys back in Austin ragging on me, of course with good humor, how I like to admonish people for when they do something wrong or dangerous on the road. I gotta say that during the year I’ve been here in El Paso, the traffic is very tolerable and safe. I actually think it safer to ride here than in Austin, even though there are a lot more cyclists in Austin. I think I spent a good bit of time looking up the registered owners to vehicles so I could send them a no no letter about their misdoings on the road. In the past year I’ve only done two lookups. A great rate in my opinion, however those two don’t get off so lightly as not to hear from me with a nice packet inside a legal envelope. Yep, I feel it my duty to let them know that in this world we live in today, random acts can be traced to the person doing them. The picture you see here is registered to a gentleman named Daniel J Portugal, a supervisor working for the USPS. A female was driving the

With the passing of Texas House Bill 488 , there will be a bit more legal protection for vulnerable road users like pedestrians, runners, physically disabled, highway construction workers, horse riders and of course, the subject nearest and dearest to me; bicyclists. Actually, I think it is a crying shame that there has to be a law that will discourage a common motorized vehicle driver frome skirting too close to a child walking on the side of the road, or a utility worker repairing, in all possibility, that very driver's electric line. The law will take effect on September 1, 2009. I hope there is a way to get the word out to all the transportation world from the big truck driver, the pickup truck driver, the automobile driver, and on down to the cyclist, and the pedestrian well before the law is the law. House bill 488 is easy to read and understand, won't take long to read it. Please go ahead and give it a glance. Then tell someone about it, whether it be possitive or negat