This is a new show from ABC that I like (so far) but I was worried about last nights show from the promo's they were running.
It was the annual bicycle messenger race in the city and it looked like bedlam was going to hit the hospital.
Actually it wasn't all that bad. There are messenger races in the big city (we all seen the videos posted here) and the carnage was only 2 cases.
The worst case was a pedestrian who lunged out of the way of a passing racer and ended up getting hit by a car resulting in brain death. Plausable.
The other case was about a racer who had a (seemingly) superficial wound. It was nature of that wound that had me chuckling a little bit. He had about 6, 6 inch sections of clean spokes imbedded in his right side.
Now how in the world could that happen? It reminded me of that episode of ER when they had a cyclist come in the er one rainy night after a car hit him and in the ensuing operation they removed an entire crank and chainwheel (looked like the whole assembly, possibly Atabasha) from his leg. That would be quite crash to have that whole unit, and that whole unit alone, be embeded in your leg.
As a whole I wonder about the general image writers have about riding a bike in the city. It looks like they think it's pretty suicidal.
Raiyn
04-11-05, 03:10 PM
This is a new show from ABC that I like (so far) but I was worried about last nights show from the promo's they were running.
It was the annual bicycle messenger race in the city and it looked like bedlam was going to hit the hospital.
Actually it wasn't all that bad. There are messenger races in the big city (we all seen the videos posted here) and the carnage was only 2 cases.
The worst case was a pedestrian who lunged out of the way of a passing racer and ended up getting hit by a car resulting in brain death. Plausable.
The other case was about a racer who had a (seemingly) superficial wound. It was nature of that wound that had me chuckling a little bit. He had about 6, 6 inch sections of clean spokes imbedded in his right side.
Now how in the world could that happen? It reminded me of that episode of ER when they had a cyclist come in the er one rainy night after a car hit him and in the ensuing operation they removed an entire crank and chainwheel (looked like the whole assembly, possibly Atabasha) from his leg. That would be quite crash to have that whole unit, and that whole unit alone, be embeded in your leg.
As a whole I wonder about the general image writers have about riding a bike in the city. It looks like they think it's pretty suicidal.
This has what to do with advocacy and safety?
closetbiker
04-11-05, 03:43 PM
I suppose safety is addressed by the messenger races shown and we know happens in real life. I don't think those are good for anyone.
Advocacy is addresed by the non-cycling public's view of these reprobates. They're not representative of us, but some think they are.
randya
04-11-05, 04:06 PM
I saw part of the show and am familiar with the Dead Baby Bike Club and the Dead Baby Downhill race, both of which actually exist in Seattle (I wonder if permission was actually recieved from the group to use their name and event in this episode). Personally, I think the show was a gross exaggeration of the event; I think there may be an occassional injury to a participating cyclist, but the spokes in the side thing was really hard for me to envision happening, and the implication that this race is as hazardous to bystanders as the show implied (the pedestrian that was brain dead) is a stretch also, IMO. I don't think anyone has ever been injured in this way during the actual real-life event.
http://www.deadbabybikes.org/
LordOpie
04-11-05, 04:09 PM
are we surprised that a crappy TV show is representing any particular group in an irresponsible fashion?
Please don't start a writing campaign as that'll only boost ratings.
closetbiker
04-11-05, 04:18 PM
I don't think anyone has ever been injured in this way during the actual real-life event.
That's what I was thinking when I saw the promo's. Not a realistic representation, lots of carnage and death. I didn't think that there were any real serious accidents in the dead baby bike races.
Just how did those spokes unscrew themselves from the rim, shorten their length and imbed them selves in the racers side? Must have been one heck of an accident. That, I'd like to see. :)
Feldman
04-11-05, 04:38 PM
Broken spokes? Messenger musta been riding Mavic Ksyriums, with aluminum spokes!
Roody
04-11-05, 04:51 PM
Spokes were ridiculous but looked pretty cool. I guess that's the important thing on TV.
patc
04-11-05, 05:06 PM
This has what to do with advocacy and safety?
From an advocacy standpoint representations in the media and/or entertainment are extremely important. Debates, protests, education, court challenges... none of these things affect public perception as much as a single episode of a popular TV show. Pathetic but true: most people in western countries form their world-views from a haze of news clips, pop culture, and what Bob said at the water cooler.
TeleJohn
04-11-05, 07:57 PM
Just turn that thing off.
closetbiker
04-11-05, 08:10 PM
Yeah turn it off, but lots of people still do watch (millions actually) and get the idea that bikers are bad asses and cause accidents.
RocketsRedglare
04-12-05, 10:34 AM
Its a good show. But infortunately PATC is right. A lot of people get their information from what is supposed to be entertainment.
Years ago "Quincy" did a show about the 80's Punk Rock Scene. Scared a lot of parents, into thinking the whole scene was like "Sid and Nancy" on speed.
But in reality the actual punk rock scene was pretty tame.
Roody
04-12-05, 11:02 AM
Its a good show. But infortunately PATC is right. A lot of people get their information from what is supposed to be entertainment.
Years ago "Quincy" did a show about the 80's Punk Rock Scene. Scared a lot of parents, into thinking the whole scene was like "Sid and Nancy" on speed.
But in reality the actual punk rock scene was pretty tame.Sid & Nancy were on speed. Weren't they?
RocketsRedglare
04-12-05, 02:27 PM
I would guess everything but speed.
Then they died
wabbit
04-12-05, 02:59 PM
haha... i watched that show and thought, oh,brother. I ended up getting in a debate with another cyclist about whether it's possible for that spoke-impalement injury to happen. I kept saying There must be SOME way... but how? I saw a twisted up MTB wheel outside the bike shop, the result of its owner being hit by a car, and all the spokes were in place. I have no idea how it could happen, maybe if you really collided with another bike and somehow all the spokes came loose... basically i think it was just to look dramatic on tv. In general, it's a crappy show but i watched it for that episode.
AT least they showed them wearing helmets!
djbrod
04-12-05, 03:16 PM
My brother put a spoke through his hand. One spoke, not six, and don't ask me details of how it happened as I wasn't there. He was wearing my gloves though. :mad: He's a MTB and was out in the woods.
webist
04-12-05, 03:22 PM
Perhaps the spoked cyclist went through the window of an LBS and crashed into a pile of clipped spokes.
KrisPistofferson
04-12-05, 03:26 PM
I'm a Quincy punk.
jakemoffatt
04-12-05, 03:31 PM
Would it be possible to snap 6 spokes on a wheel at one time? Like if you were on a bike with few spokes and you inadvertently hit a 3 or 4 foot drop and snapped the spokes out of the wheel and then landed on them when you were thrown over the handlebars?
closetbiker
04-12-05, 03:39 PM
Sid & Nancy were on speed. Weren't they?
I think they went from glue, to booze, to "H"
midgie
04-12-05, 03:42 PM
I like Greys Anatomy, have watched all the episodes. When I saw the trailer, I was worried how cyclists would be portrayed. At least it wasn't aimed at all cyclist, just crazy messengers. I say crazy, cuz you would have to be a little crazy to do what they do. And I honestly think that they can unintentionally put other people in danger, only because pedestrians and drivers do not credit them with knowing what their doing. If drivers would just relax and allow the messengers to fly through without panicing, there would be no problem. And pedestrians stepping off a curb without looking, is their own stupidity.
I couldn't figure out the spokes either. 6 of them off the rim and off the hub, protruding from his side.?.
But the episode did not help the way others see cyclists, and the general public will lump us all together.
closetbiker
04-12-05, 03:44 PM
Would it be possible to snap 6 spokes on a wheel at one time?
Sure, just run the derailer past the last cog into the spokes (limit screw would have to be way out), but there is no way they would look like they did on the show much less end up in the racer.
It's just the director or effects, makeup or set dresser thinking, here's some bike parts, lets stick them in the racer.
wabbit
04-13-05, 11:59 AM
Yeah, pretty much.And if the spokes were stuck into someone like that, wouldn't they be all bent and decrepit from the impact? Instead,they were sticking out like the prongs of a garden rake; just ludicrous. It was obviously done to look good on tv.
jakemoffatt
04-13-05, 02:45 PM
I just saw the episode and the spokes looked like a ninja had thrown a handful of them at the rider like darts.
LittleBigMan
04-13-05, 04:31 PM
The worst case was a pedestrian who lunged out of the way of a passing racer and ended up getting hit by a car resulting in brain death. Plausable.
The other case was about a racer who had a (seemingly) superficial wound. It was nature of that wound that had me chuckling a little bit. He had about 6, 6 inch sections of clean spokes imbedded in his right side.
They forgot to show the one with a guy who had handlebars sticking clear through his head, but was walking around perfectly fine, and ended up living a normal life--with the handlebars permanently embedded because it was too risky to remove. Can you say, "Bullwinkle?"
Getting back to the pedestrian "death," that happens all the time--except for one twist: it's usually caused by a motorist on a cell-phone calling in to a radio show to be the 17th caller and win two tickets to a ball game.
cabana 4 life
04-13-05, 04:36 PM
viper thats all i have to say
closetbiker
04-13-05, 05:41 PM
... the pedestrian "death," that happens all the time--except for one twist: it's usually caused by a motorist on a cell-phone calling in to a radio show to be the 17th caller and win two tickets to a ball game.
Yeah!
dookiex
04-14-05, 07:10 AM
Nope, nobody asked us, none of us were even contacted (informed?) that it was going on... I read about a possible "future episode" involving our Race a few weeks ago, guess I shoulda turned the TV on on Sunday.
And it seems as a club we're not diligent enough tube users, nobody we know had the presence of mind to record the nonsense, a few of us did however view it live and relate the nonsensical tales of exploding spokes and the like.
For the record, there have been only 2 trips to the hospital in 8 years of racing, both by racers who recovered fully in a matter of hours. If the TV folk knew anything, they would have surely had a tallbike jousting accident, easy to make spectacular looking enough, but thankfully (miraculously?) never occuring in real life. Of course we wouldn't spoil our sport for bad press, so they were SOL on that one.
So does anybody have a tape? contact via the website: www.deadbabybikes.org if you do, we're dying (hehe!) here.
-dx, defender of the noble name Dead Baby Bikes
closetbiker
04-14-05, 08:06 AM
Thanks for the real tale straight from the horses mouth dookiex.
2 trips in 8 years with the injured fully recovered in hours. Sounds like a great record to me.
I wonder if it could ever be possible for the motorists to manage such a sterling safety record?
Also, by the way, my daughter was born with multiple medical problems and has had a transplant. Both she (shes all grown up now) and my wife have lectured on behalf of organ transplantation including the topic of brain death and the harvesting of organs, so a big part of the rest of the show about those subjects was done all wrong too.
catatonic
04-14-05, 08:39 AM
Well when I washed out on my Trek, I had to literally pull the 53 chainring out of my leg...so it is plausible...the puncture wounds were about 1/2" deep each.
Now if the crank separated from the BB, that is a bit improbable.
I havent seen either of those shows, do I dunno.
wabbit
04-14-05, 01:38 PM
There's a photo on the website of photographer Yuzuru Sunada. HE takes a lot of cycling photos. One photo shows Fabio Fontanelli, after that terrible crash in the Tour with Laurent Jalabert; in this photo, Fontanelli is being taken away on a stretcher. The imprint of a chain ring is on his face; it's quite a sight.
you can see the site: <www.yuzurusunada.com>
look at "gallery" and then check out the photos from 2004, "Crash".
As for pedestrians. A few years ago, this poor woman was creamed by a messenger when she stepped onto a bike path. THe path runs right in front of a big building and people cross the road all the time, and it's also used by messengers a lot. She wasn't killed but suffered permanent brain injury.
powers2b
04-14-05, 02:29 PM
I just saw the episode and the spokes looked like a ninja had thrown a handful of them at the rider like darts.
Speaking of Ninjas, does anyone watch the turtles??
That Donatelli really slays me....
Enjoy
catatonic
04-14-05, 08:44 PM
Drivers will never have the kind of safety record cyclists have for one reason: respect.
No respect for other drivers
No respect for police
No respect for pedestrians
No respect for cyclists
No respect for the law
Respect is a cornerstone of society. Respect does not equal understanding. I have no clue what goes through the head of half the people at my work, but I do respect them...even the guy that sits there all grouchy ranting and raving about how people my age are all delinquents...I think otherwise, and don't agree with his choice of words, but hey...he's old enough that he's set in his ways...plus it's kinda funny to hear him rant :p
...back to the point...if a person has no respect for another, they won't care about that person...period.
IMO, driving is a PRIVELAGE, and should be enforced as that. More people should not have their licenses. Such as the "lady" who threw a beer bottle at me from her car the other day...I managed to bat it right back in, but the point remains...she has no respect for the safety of others, nor respect for the law (ignorance is not an excuse)....as such she does not deserve to have a license (as far as I'm concerned she has no right to anyhting more than a swift kick in the pants...but that could be just me). If I could get her plate number it would have been nice...but oh joy..no plate!
....it's people like that which make me think the gene pool is really a gene toilet.