Two wheels good, four wheels bad - Indonesian, and L.A. style

Reuters reported a major earthquake near Indonesia yesterday, that triggered fears of another Indian Ocean tsunami disaster. Photos coming out of the country highlight the advantages of single-track vehicles in an evacuation scenario, as millions of scooters and mopeds filter past gridlocked cars.

On your marks,..

...get set,..

...GO!!!

Much closer to home, my friend Susanna "Pinkyracer" Schick was cycling in L.A. the other night and had an altercation with the driver of a white Lexus. Knowing Susanna, I'm sure she had a few choice words for the driver who swerved across several lanes and into the marked bicycle lane where she was riding. After harassing her for the next block or so, the driver rear-ended her and drove away, leaving her unconscious in the street.

Susanna's injuries include a broken collarbone, several broken ribs, and a broken pelvis. This angers me, especially, because it denies me the opportunity to complain about my own recently broken collarbone!

If there's a lesson in this, it's that if you're going to have an argument with a car driver while you're on a bicycle, you'd better haul the fucker out of his car and beat the shit out of him, because leaving him able to drive puts you at risk when you ride away from the scene.

My friend Paul Livingston, of Falkner-Livingston Racing, once gave me his theory on a non-violent way to 'mark' offending drivers. It was to equip everyone with paintball guns, and encourage drivers to pop a paint cap on cars driven by assholes. That way, cars covered with paint splats could be avoided, and they'd probably end up getting closer scrutiny from the cops, too.

Anyway, I digress. Susanna's going to be slowed down for a couple of months, at least. Please make a donation to this ChipIn fund that has been set up for her.




If it gets to $10,000 I'll write a funny Backmarker column about the first time I met Susanna, which was years after I stopped racing against her. (And don't worry, Susanna, I won't mention the time that...)