Yearly Archives: 2015

Busted – First Ticket of my Life on a Bicycle

This entry was posted in Just Life on by .

Yesterday was a first for me in cycling.  I received a ticket for running a red light on my bicycle. I have been riding bicycles for a really long time, and had avoided this my whole life.  But yesterday was the day.

I was riding up in Oceanside California and had about 45 miles to get back before dark.  I was in a rush since sunset was less than 2 hours. But being in a rush wasn’t the reason I ran the light.  I ran it because I’d be stopped by a gazillion lights in a row and that they lasted forever.

I ran the light, no doubt about it.  About a mile later an Oceanside police car pulled me over. The officer was super nice and asked me if in Kansas I didn’t have to stop at red lights.  I told him that generally we did.   He went on to explain if there weren’t so many other cars at the intersection he probably would have let me off, but he felt the eyes of all the other drivers on him, so thought he should pull me over to show them he wasn’t being lazy.

At that point I thought that maybe I’d get a warning.  But after a couple minutes, he asked me for my driver’s license.  And he went back and got his ticket book and started writing.

It took a while.  He was very thorough.  He even asked me how many “speeds” my bike was. And wrote Eriksen down on the ticket.  Not sure why that was?

I asked him how much it was going to be and he said he didn’t have any idea.  Then when he handed me the ticket he said that stop light violations tended to be pretty pricey.  Pretty pricey in California is going to be astronomically pricey compared to Kansas, I assume.  I just looked up the violation and I think it is going to be just around $500.  That is unbelievable.  He didn’t think there was a way to pay it up online, that I would receive a “courtesy reminder” in a couple weeks telling me my options.  I saw some fix-a-ticket ads on the internet.  I wonder how those work?

Anyway, I’ve ran a ton of stop lights and signs in my life.  More earlier in my cycling life than present.  So if I divide the $500 by number of violations I’ve committed, then it would be next to nothing.  I just wish it wouldn’t have been in California.

 

The officer was super nice and professional.

The officer was super nice and professional.

I pedalled pretty hard all the way back and had pretty good numbers for the whole ride. Is that an upside ?

I pedalled pretty hard all the way back and had pretty good numbers for the whole ride. Is that an upside ?

 

 

 

Bobby Lea Positive

This entry was posted in Racing on by .

I did a long-ish ride yesterday and when I got back I was perusing the internet and saw this article at Velonews that said that Bobby Lea has been suspended from racing for 16 months, for a positive sample at track nationals this past summer, for noroxycodone, a metabolite of oxycodone.  Oxycodone is a opiate, really a high power pain killer.

I’ve known Bobby for a long time.  He isn’t really a super good friend, but I say hi when I see him.  He has been around forever and is a smart bike racer.  And fast.  I believe he’s been on 2 Olympic track teams, was 3rd at the Worlds and was on a World Cup podium last year.  He is the real deal, a very good bike racer.  He and his family must be devastated.

Man, I don’t know what to think.  I know he is smart enough to understand what you can and can not take in competition.  For sure he is on the out-of-competition list and is really familiar with the whole process.  I can’t imagine him taking oxycodone at track nationals, knowing full well he will probably get tested.

I say all this, but was dumbstruck when I was talking to a friend a Richmond Worlds, that is involved in cycling at the highest level.  We were talking about the rampant use of tramadol and he said that many of the riders are now taking oxycodone and even oxycontin when they are racing.  That is crazy.  I took both those drugs after shoulder surgery and there is no way I could race a bike in that state.   Plus it doesn’t seem like it would be “worth the risk”, considering the benefits, whatever they may be.

So, oxycodone is in the peloton, but that still doesn’t explain why a guy like Bobby would take it when he knew that most likely he would be tested.

I hope he makes a statement and tells his side.  I’d like to hear it.

*And here is his side.  Guess it is the only thing that makes sense.  I guess Perocet helps you sleep?  It’s an opiate.  Pretty stupid way to “end his career” as he says.  Not sure that appealing the suspension is going to help him.  Seems like he has already admitted ingesting the drug.

Or you can click on Seth Davidson’s link, to the right, to get his take on Bobby’s deal.  It is pretty scathing, but humorous, of course.

And here is a link to an article that I posted 3 years ago about Bobby and his brother Syd.  It links to another article at Bicycling.

 

bobby

bobbyinstgram copy

His Instagram after track nationals this past summer.