Flatballer

I read that quickly as "oxygen" and I was very interested in how they fit much oxygen into a pill.

big john

You guys see where a guy who crashed is suing a group ride? https://www.bicycling.com/news/a2211...es-group-ride/

A guy on one of our informal weekday rides is suing another rider for taking him down, but the guy in that article is suing the whole ride.

Years ago a woman on our club ride slipped and fell in a MacDonalds. She sued Miki D but she also sued our club because we told her to go there. She didn't get any money from us.

revchuck 

I'll be in Colorado Springs for a week next month to go hypoxic in preparation for LOTOJA. Day One's ride is a relatively short one up Gold Camp, down Cheyenne Canyon and back to remind my legs what climbing feels like. Part of Gold Camp is unpaved. How bad is that road? Just want to know if I need tougher tires for it, currently running Turbo Cotton 28s (the "Hell of the North" version).

hubcyclist

Back from my european vacation, wish I was still there (I suppose being anywhere on vacation makes it more appealing than the day to day grind at home). If anyone is interested in seeing the local mountain climb near my family's place, feel free to watch this

Hermes

I read the article about the Spectrum rider's lawsuit. If there is a legal jurisdiction where a case such as that can get some legs, IMHO, it will be in California. We'll see.

himespau 

Was that his first time on the ride? Did he know the level of risk?

Flatballer

Regardless of the possible merits (which I think are non-existent, personally) you have to be a huge ******* to sue a bunch of people on a group ride.

Is it possible he had insurance on his skills as a doctor (on his hands or whatever) for lost wages, and it's actually the insurance company doing whatever they can to recover their payout to him?

Flatballer

I feel like even if that was his first time and he somehow had just stumbled upon the ride and didn't know the level it was going to be (we're really stretching here), unless the crash happened in the first mile he had plenty of time to realize the level of risk and drop off the back.

himespau 

You'd think, but one of the articles I read about this (maybe the one posted above) said something about accepting assumed risk (don't know enough legalese), so I was thinking that at some point he should be aware of what he was getting into.

There was a segment on NPR on my way into work this morning that talked about how LeBron James rode his bike to a game when he played for the Heat and so they had a reporter (who sounded like maybe not a regular cyclist or at least not a commuter) ride their bike from near James's house to the Staples Center to determine the amount of risk involved. I don't know the route, and wasn't pleased at what seemed to come off as scaremongering away from cycling on city streets, but them thinking about the risk involved seems to tie into this. You have to calculate some of the risks and do a cost/benefit analysis before you choose to do something. Sure, if someone is negligent or openly attempts to hurt you, that's one thing, but accidents do happen and you kind of have to gauge your risk before doing any activity.

Flatballer

Looks like I'm getting the engineering supervisor job with the utility that I interviewed for a couple months ago (literally 2 months I think). Won't have a formal offer for another week or so, and then two weeks notice, but eventually I should actually start.

It's been a long wait, and my motivation at my current job has waned throughout, but it took a nose dive once I found out I basically got it and they're just doing paperwork. Between being exhausted from the new baby and not having much motivation, plus a ton to do both here and at home, it's tough to keep going.

big john

That's what I was thinking. The guy who sued another rider in our club doesn't ride with us anymore, neither does the guy he sued. The club bought some kind of insurance after the McDonald's lady tried to sue us. A lawyer said we couldn't be sued as a club because there are no owners, employees, etc. Or something like that.

topflightpro

Our team has two insurance policies, a general liability and one for the officers and directors, specifically in case we got sued.

It's happened before too. There was a guy on here a couple years ago discussing how another rider crashed into him at a cookie ride then sued him. IIRC, his insurance settled for $75k cause it was cheaper to just pay her than to fight it in court.

kensuf

I hate insurance companies and lawsuits. I teach goofy stuff scuba diving and need to carry professional liability insurance for it. There have bee a few lawsuits within the industry that were probably frivolous but were filed because all scuba instructors carry a $1m insurance policy, which paints an attractive target on our backs. Almost every lawsuit I am aware of was settled out of court, only 3 that I know have gone to trial and the plaintiff's in two of them lost (1 one).

One of the lawsuits was extremely crazy -- it was filed by the spouse of a deceased photographer against a dive gear manufacturer. During testimony it came to light the photographer was not trained in the equipment he died using, the equipment was not properly maintained (it had several consumable parts that were well past their expiration date), and he was on narcotics while diving. It cost the defense close to $700k to defend the case. They'll never recover that.

For sure there were some legitimate lawsuits, but there were also some egregious ones that should have never been filed or been thrown out of court.

My insurance renewal this year was a nightmare because two underwriters quit covering some of the stuff I teach, mostly because of lawsuits like the one above.

rubiksoval

I'm going to have to fork out about $800 this year for liability insurance in order to get my master's degree. For teaching. Elementary School.

WTF kind of country is this.

Flatballer

Is this so that you can do your classroom training while still in school? It seems like that should be something your university would cover. I can sort of understand the school system wanting you to have liability insurance since you aren't their employee (although it still seems very strange), I can't really understand your university not covering it under their blanket policy.

In other news, I think I'm going to quit my job and open a small engine repair business. I've been without my mower for 4 weeks now. First three at one place that lied, tried to take my money, and in the end wasn't even qualified to work on it, and now one week with a second place. Both places said they'd get to it in a week, first place took three and never did fix it. Second place is going to be 2 weeks now (supposedly) before they look at it.

Clearly there is demand. Meanwhile, I'm out $50 so far for a pro to cut my lawn, on a 6 month old mower that's under warranty.

Ygduf

nitrates really

Ttoc6

A rider died in SLC last night getting hit by a train during the "999 ride" which I think is like a critical mass type ride.

Really sad. He was the same age as me, raced cross / mountain and worked at the University. Never met him, but I probably took pictures of him from last cross season. Man.. RIP.

rubiksoval

No. I'm already a teacher. This is just an additional degree and certification. I've been teaching for four years without it. It's not a requirement to teach in my district, but I know people who have used it for defense lawyers against absurd attempts at lawsuits or litigation.

But it's a requirement of the university for some reason, and I'm not sure if it's supposed to be for my benefit or theirs. Another fellow teacher is in a similar boat with having to get the insurance to get his administrator's license.

Flatballer

Well that's even stranger then. The university wouldn't seem to have any liability there, so why would they care about anything?

topflightpro

A lawsuit could easily cost 10s of thousands of dollars to defend, even it if is completely frivolous. And it's gotten to the point that when lawyers file suits, they file them against everybody. So, in this case, it could be that you and the university could be sued as separate parties, and the university may have experience being sued. The university's legal counsel would not represent you or your interests. The university could be trying to make sure you are protected in that case.

gsteinb

my hand is never going to work the same again. All due to something someone did after a race from an entry level category, that was avoidable on a number of levels. I gave serious thought to suing.

Flatballer

If it's after a race and negligent that's a pretty different case in my mind.

topflightpro

In another thread on the Track racing forum, I posted that if someone were to show up at a race using cheap, knock-off handlebars, and they were to fail causing a crash and injury, I could see the injured riders filing suit against the person using the knock-off bars. Others thought I was nuts to suggest that could happen.

furiousferret

Negligence is also decided by a jury who are probably not cyclists.

Enthalpic

In Canada both sides usually say sorry and carry on.