For years I have used a Quick Stick tire tool. This tool is so easy to use instead of three tire levers. I have never pinched a tube with a Quick Stick and it fits nicely inside my seat bag. Once upon a time I bought them at Academy Sports + Outdoor but now I can only find them at REI.com. While fixing flats is not my favorite activity this tire tool makes it easier. The link.
Austin International postponed until 2008
According to this article at www.cyclingnews.com, the 2007 race has been postponed to 2008. So if you were planning on getting close to some top name riders you will have to wait.
The official reason is the fallout from the recent doping scandals slowing sponsor signups.
California and Texas wrangling over 3-foot clearances for bicycle riders
Bicycle advocates in California and Texas are lobbying for state laws that would require passing vehicles to give at least 3 feet of clearance when passing bicycles.
Efforts to pass 3-foot legislation have failed in both states before.
The California bill, entitled AB 60, was introduced by Assemblyman Pedro Nava of Santa Barbara in memory of a cyclist killed by a passing truck on a narrow road. The Texas bill has yet to be filed. If the bills pass, the two states would join seven others that currently have similar laws on the books.
The Texas Bicycle Coalition, in addition to the 3-foot clearance, is seeking 6 feet of clearance when a commercial vehicle passes. The Texas bill hasn’t been filed yet in the state legislature, where it lost by four votes two years ago.
Bud Melton, chairman of the Texas Bicycle Coalition, told the Dallas Morning News that about 50 cyclists are killed every year on Texas highways; about 20 of them are struck from behind by motorists.
A 3-foot law “would add teeth to a situation where you have a bicycle-motorist crash. It’s almost always the fault of the motorist, but they get off scot-free, and there is no real law that they have to give adequate clearance to the bicyclist when they go past. What this sets out to do is highlight the importance of that spacing.”
Houston Chronicle Cycling Notebook
Today’s Houston Chronicle’s Cycling Notebook column reports that the Hotter’n Hell Hundred organizers are holding an open meeting to discuss improvements for the 2007 event. The meeting is completed by now. Some of the issues they are looking for comments about:
– registration lines
– closing Hell’s gate early
– route marker vandalism
– different starting procedure
In the coming days or weeks you can probably learn what people had to say by visiting the hhh.org website.