Documents released this week by the state Department of Transportation show that Paleen Construction Corp. in Somers was paid over $40,000 for two days work to gouge out four miles of rumble strips on Route 100 in Yorktown and Somers.
The questionable highway “safety” project has created dangers for cyclists on what used to be one of the safest stretches of state road in Westchester County. Just this week, we learned of a fourth cyclist who was injured on the road.
State policy restricts rumble strips to limited access highway, where they can alert drowsy drivers who have veered onto the shoulder. The policy allows them on two-lane roads in cases where there is a proven history of drift-off road accidents. Data shows there were seven such accidents over six years, hardly a proven history. The data also shows that this stretch of Route 100 is twice as safe as the average state road.
Paleen Construction, whose offices are on Route 100 a few miles north of the disputed project, was paid $41,723 for the work, which took two days to complete. A look at the documents provides a glimpse at how your tax dollars were spent.
The state paid Paleen $24,549 to use its milling machine on the road for a day. Paleen received an additional $13,138 to apply a water-based emulsion sealant to the asphalt, which has already begun to seriously deteriorate, with several potholes developing before the freeze-thaw cycle.
Two laborers worked two days on the job. Paleen charged the state $56.89 an hour per worker for their time. Two flag persons were also there for two days. Paleen charged the state $43.14 an hour for each flag person’s time.
Paleen received $900 to haul away 100 cubic yards of asphalt millings to the DOT yard on Route 100.
The injured cyclist, Richard Wilt, lives on Boone Road, which intersects Route 100 in Yorktown. He was riding down to Route 100 on June 26 when he hit the rumble strips unexpectedly. It’s a road that he has ridden on for years, but wasn’t prepared for the roadway gouges. He went down hard, smacked his face on the pavement, chipped two teeth and split his lip so badly it took three stitches to close.
He recently filed a notice of claim with the state of New York, which is the first step in the legal process that will take him to the state Court of Claims in hopes that he can get his medical bills covered.

This past Sunday I enjoyed leading a WCC B level ride from Fort Montgomery North to the Newburgh-Beacon bridge and South on Route 9D through Cold Springs and back to Fort Montgomery. It was a busy weekend for rides and only two other’s joined me. Wayne Palladino from New Rochelle, brother of Ernie Palladino The Journal News sports writer and Juanxto Royo or Yonkers.
We climbed Mine and Mine Time roads right out of Highland Falls, which we took slowly to warm up as it was cool at 09:00am. This long off and on climb was perfect to raise the heart beat and work the lungs which got our core body temperature up.

We then headed across 293 to 218 just North of West Point and meet two riders looking for directions to the West Point Visitor’s center. They were with a group riding from Buffolo during the past week. We then dropped down 217 and found the road closed due to the heavy rain storm the night before. We decided to skirt the gates and descend with great care through the downed branches and debris. This was Juanxto’s first ride on these roads and they brought back memories of his climbs in his homeland in the Basque region of Spain as we snaked along the cliffs of the Hudson Highlands.
After crossing the bridge we stopped for a cup of coffee at the Muddy Cup in Beacon before heading quickly down Route 9D back the Bear Mountain Bridge and to the cars.
Juanxto also showed us his unusual crank that has made his rides pain free in the past year. He has cracks in his meniscus that have bothered his knees when he pushed a big gear or climbed a difficult hill. He found Rotor Cranks a little over a year ago and switched them with his Dura Ace cranks on his beautiful Carbon Orbea. Here’s what Juanxto has to say about why he looked for alternitives, My issue on the bike was that I just couldn’t push hard on hills or any other situation where I had to put a lot of pressure on my knees. Not just I felt pain but the pain will remain with me the rest of the day, sometimes one or two days more after that, which literally would ruin the whole experience.

The cranks have arms that move from twelve o’clock to the one o’clock position to move the dead zone at the top of t he peddle stroke. The cranks have nearly doubled the weight of his Dura Ace but more than make up the difference in comfort. Rotor crank says this increases the amount of watts transferred to peddle and even decreases lactic acid build up. Riding behind Juanxto I could not tell a difference in his peddle stroke. He is smooth and quick while maintaining a high cadence even when climbing. Here’s a link to Rotor Cranks website for more info.
Juanxto’s gearing is a bit out of the norm with a small 36 ring and a 52 big ring. This makes a lot of sense to me and something I want to look into. I’m riding a 34/50 and as I’m finding more fitness I’d enjoy that extra leverage of the 52. Free of pain he’s back on top of his peddle stroke.

“Since I’m using the Rotor crank I can ride with almost no pain and sometimes no pain at all during or after the ride.The crank is expensive, heavy and hard to put together, but as far as I’m concern, totally worth it, every gram and every dollar.” According to Juanxto.

It doesn’t hurt that these cranks were developed in his home country Spain at the Aeronautic Engineering School in Madrid, where some students developed an initial prototype back in 1995.

I’ll lead this same 42 mile look off and on throughout the fall and winter as a B or B+ level ride.

This just came across my desk from the NY Bicycle Coalition –
After seven long years, the Bicycle Commuter Tax Provision has finally passed both the House and Senate as part of the financial bailout package. President Bush has said that he is eager to sign the legislation. “We are delighted that the Bicycle Commuter Benefits Act has passed after a lengthy and persistent campaign spearheaded by Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR),” said League President Andy Clarke. “Bicycle commuters will now be extended similar benefits to people who take transit and drive to work – it’s an equitable and sensible incentive to encourage greater energy independence, improve air quality and health, and even help tackle climate change. Thanks to everyone who has helped reach this milestone, especially Walter Finch and Mele Williams, our government relations staff over the years who have worked tirelessly with Congressman Blumenauer, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and many others in Congress.”

Bicycle Commuter Tax Provision
Actual Language as Signed into Law
SEC. 211. TRANSPORTATION FRINGE BENEFIT TO BICYCLE COMMUTERS.

(a) In General- Paragraph (1) of section 132(f) is amended by adding at the end the following:

`(D) Any qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement.’.

(b) Limitation on Exclusion- Paragraph (2) of section 132(f) is amended by striking `and’ at the end of subparagraph (A), by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (B) and inserting `, and’, and by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:

`(C) the applicable annual limitation in the case of any qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement.’.

(c) Definitions- Paragraph (5) of section 132(f) is amended by adding at the end the following:

`(F) DEFINITIONS RELATED TO BICYCLE COMMUTING REIMBURSEMENT-

`(i) QUALIFIED BICYCLE COMMUTING REIMBURSEMENT- The term `qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement’ means, with respect to any calendar year, any employer reimbursement during the 15-month period beginning with the first day of such calendar year for reasonable expenses incurred by the employee during such calendar year for the purchase of a bicycle and bicycle improvements, repair, and storage, if such bicycle is regularly used for travel between the employee’s residence and place of employment.

`(ii) APPLICABLE ANNUAL LIMITATION- The term `applicable annual limitation’ means, with respect to any employee for any calendar year, the product of $20 multiplied by the number of qualified bicycle commuting months during such year.

`(iii) QUALIFIED BICYCLE COMMUTING MONTH- The term `qualified bicycle commuting month’ means, with respect to any employee, any month during which such employee—
`(I) regularly uses the bicycle for a substantial portion of the travel between the employee’s residence and place of employment, and

`(II) does not receive any benefit described in subparagraph (A), (B), or© of paragraph (1).’.

(d) Constructive Receipt of Benefit- Paragraph (4) of section 132(f) is amended by inserting `(other than a qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement)’ after `qualified transportation fringe’.

(e) Effective Date- The amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2008.

Organizers of the Rochester Twilight Omnium recently announced that the event would expand into a six-day, UCI-ranked 2.2 event for 2009. The race, which was three-days this year, will cover six stages next year through the Western New York and Finger Lakes regions of upstate New York from August 8th through August 13th, 2009.

The original event began in 2004 as the Saturn Rochester Twilight Criterium and has experienced exponential growth each year in all areas, including spectator attendance and economic impact. “2008’s three-day Rochester Omnium was designed specifically as a platform to introduce the Tour de New York. The planning has been in the works for several years and we’re incredibly excited to launch the six-day Tour,” said Scott Page, the event’s Executive Director. “The long term plan for the Tour de New York is to explore different areas of New York State each year for a portion of the event.”

Professional cyclists, including Olympic, World and National Champions, will compete in the following stages of the Tour de New York:

Rochester Twilight Criterium – Saturday, August 8th, 2009
Individual Time Trial – Sunday, August 9th, 2009
Genesee Valley Park Road Race – Monday, August 10th, 2009
Ellicottville Circuit Race – Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
Warsaw Road Race – Wednesday August 12th, 2009
Pittsford Road Race – Thursday, August 13th, 2009

For more information, contact Full Moon Vista Bike & Sport, 180 St. Paul St., Rochester NY 14604, 585.546.4030, or visit http://www.fullmoonvista.com .

Leave it to the folks at MIT to come up with ways for cyclists to connect through the Internet using digital technology.

The program, called “SmartBiking,” reportedly lets riders interact in innovative ways including through a Facebook application called “I crossed your path.”

Also, MIT reportedly is developing a “Smart Bike” that uses braking to charge a battery for a motor that supplements peddling power. The system is being designed to be retrofitted to existing bicycles.

Read about it in a blog posted on the Greenoptions Website:

gas2.org/2008/10/17/mit-developing-smart-bikes-and-a-facebook-app-for-bikers/

I spent the Columbus Day weekend cycling with my club through Pennsylvania’s Brandywine Valley.

Brandywine is in southern Chester County, just north of Delaware, about two hours and change from the NY metro area.

Although the main arteries are cluttered with the usual suburban commercialism, once you turn off onto a side road you’re soon pedaling past horse farms, cow pastures and covered bridges, crisscrossing the Brandywine River and its tributaries and winding through a handful of quaint towns.

We navigated with cue sheets that my club has used for years, but riders can also hook up with the West Chester Cycling Club. The club has regular rides leaving from West Chester, a college town with lots of restaurants and shops.

The valley features plenty of rolling hills – we averaged about 3,000 feet of climbing each day during a pair of 45-mile looping rides through the valley. You’re nearly always climbing or descending.

And of course, as soon as you clear the NY metro area, the roads get smoother and the drivers are more courteous toward cyclists.

For non-riding days, there’s Longwood Gardens, the Brandywine River Museum (lots of works by N.C. and Andrew Wyeth ), the Hagley Museum, Winterthur, the Nemours Mansion and the historic town of Kennett Square.

Brandywine doesn’t have Vermont’s challenging climbs or its spectacular foliage, but the riding is great for a trip that’s this close to home.

Lance – what’s up with the bunny ears, don’t they slow you down?

By FRAZIER MOORE
AP Television Writer

He’s the kid who taught a world of youngsters how to spell “aardvark” — and that’s not all.

He’s Arthur, the 8-year-old aardvark with Philip Johnson glasses, who’s back for a new season on PBS with his animated trans-species community of friends.

One of five new episodes of “Arthur” premiering this fall (with five more debuting next spring), Monday’s edition has an election-year theme — plus a guest appearance (in cartoon form) by Lance Armstrong.

In a nutshell: Arthur’s pal Binky (a willful bulldog) wants bike lanes installed in Elwood City, and he hits on the idea of persuading voters to adopt the plan in the upcoming election.

Binky doesn’t know much about campaign strategy. Fortunately, he hooks up with Armstrong (a biker-shorts-clad bunny in town for a race), who furnishes tips about bike safety as well as the value of promoting a good cause.

As always, “Arthur” is funny, charming and full of bright ideas. At the start of season 12, Arthur and his pals show no signs of growing up. But they have a lot to say to their young viewers, who will. (Check local listings for airtimes.)

By ANDREW DAMPF
AP Sports Writer

ROME (AP) _ Lance Armstrong agreed Monday to ride in next year’s Giro d’Italia and suggested the Italian race — not the Tour de France — will be the main target in his comeback season.

The American has never competed in the three-week Giro, considered the sport’s most prestigious stage race after the Tour.

“Everyone is saying that the Giro will serve to prepare for the Tour,” Armstrong said in a written statement released by organizers in Italian. “Actually, it could be that I come to Italy to win and the Giro will actually be my real three-week stage race of the year.”

Winning both the Giro and the Tour in the same year after more than three years away from the sport would be an unprecedented challenge for someone of Armstrong’s age.

The 37-year-old Armstrong announced last month that he is returning to cycling after three years in retirement and hoped to win the Tour for an eighth time.

The 100th anniversary edition of the Giro is scheduled for May 9-31. The Tour de France starts July 4. The last rider to win both the Giro and the Tour in the same year was Marco Pantani in 1998. Pantani died of a cocaine overdose in 2004.

“I raced a long time professionally and never did the Giro,” Armstrong said in a video message released Monday by race organizers. “It was one of my biggest regrets and now I’m going to be able to erase that regret and be at the 2009 Giro. And who knows, maybe with a good result.”

Armstrong also seemed to take a swipe at Tour de France organizers, with whom he has feuded over drug-testing issues.

“I look forward to starting a race that respects not only the riders but also maintains the highest integrity in sport,” he said.

Armstrong spokesman Mark Higgins said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that “it doesn’t look like” the rider will be in Paris as expected on Oct. 22 when Tour de France organizers unveil next year’s route.

Higgins said Armstrong has to be at an annual fundraising ride in Austin, Texas, where he lives, a few days later.

There have been subtle hints all along from Armstrong that he is fed up with the Tour.

When the new head of Tour organizer ASO, Jean-Etienne Amaury, said recently that Armstrong had embarrassed the French race over the years, Armstrong responded by saying, “Nobody ever said that I need the Tour de France” to raise cancer awareness.

Giro director Angelo Zomegnan indicated that Armstrong may have entered the Giro to protect himself in case more problems arise with the Tour.

French anti-doping authorities recently asked Armstrong to retest his 1999 urine samples to see whether the French sports daily L’Equipe was right when it reported they contained the banned substance EPO.

Armstrong rejected the notion and lashed out at the French agency’s leader, Pierre Bordry, saying the samples have been preserved improperly.

“He would like to race the Tour de France, because the Tour is the biggest stage in cycling and it would give him and his foundation the most visibility,” Zomegnan told The Associated Press. “But there are complications on the French front.”

Zomegnan said the Giro strictly follows the anti-doping rules of cycling’s governing body, the UCI.

“We would never get in the way of the sport’s authorities,” he said.

Armstrong has joined the Astana team, which also features Alberto Contador, the defending Giro champion. However, Contador is unlikely to enter the Giro and Armstrong will not have to risk the possibility of being relegated to a support rider for the Spaniard, as he might at the Tour.

“Until I see Armstrong at the start of the 2009 Giro I won’t believe it. It doesn’t seem like a very wise choice,” said Francesco Moser, the 1984 Giro winner and 1977 world champion. “At 37, after three years of inactivity it seems pretty risky. Plus, racing the Tour in the same year isn’t simple.”

By competing in the Giro, Armstrong will have raced in all three major multistage races. He finished fourth in the 1998 Spanish Vuelta.

“Maybe his career was incomplete,” Zomegnan said. “I think he’s coming to race and be a top contender. And the differences between being a top contender and winning include small and large details. We’ll see how it plays out in May.”

Armstrong’s comeback is meant to draw attention to his global campaign to fight cancer, a disease he survived before winning seven straight Tours from 1999-2005.

Armstrong will begin his comeback at the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia, in January, then will likely enter the Tour of California in February.

Armstrong is loading his schedule to get more racing days in before the Tour. In his heyday, Armstrong usually only entered a handful of short races before the Tour.

He could revive his rivalry with Ivan Basso at the Giro. Basso’s two-year ban for doping expires later this month. The Italian finished third and second behind Armstrong in the 2004 and 2005 Tours, respectively.

Here are the remarks I made at the rumble strip rally on Route 100.

Welcome to all the cyclists who came out in today’s wet weather to protest the state Department of Transportation’s installation of rumble strips on Route 100, which used to be one of the region’s safest state roads to ride upon.
The installation of rumble strips on Route 100, between routes 118 and 100 in Yorktown and Somers, has created a public safety hazard for cyclists in the region. For many years, this four-mile stretch of road has been a destination for cyclists, who enjoy the gentle terrain, wide shoulders, and spectacular vistas by the Croton Reservoir. At least three cyclists have gone down on the rumble strips, and it seems certain that a cyclist will be seriously injured from this highway “safety” project, which has actually made the road more dangerous.
I want to thank all who helped with the rally – Kevan Full, who helped conceive it; Robert Olsson who designed the t-shirts, ride leaders James Rather, John Coppinger, Harvey Loeb, Tom Viola and Jeff Gitlin; Katie Marshall who made signs, and Lauren Press who helped with the shirts, and the entire Westchestr Cycle Board, who supported the venture. Also thanks to Sen. Vinnie Leibell who has been an ally for us in this fight. He was with us from the start, sending a letter to the DOT on April 2 asking for a response to our concerns. County Legislator Mike Kaplowitz has called on the state to consider repaving the road. And Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano spoke on Friday to Joan Dupont, director of DOT’s Region Eight office in Poughkeepsie, expressing his concerns for the safety of cyclists on Route 100, where the county’s Muscoot Farm welcomes hundreds of visitors each week.
There is something that stinks about this project. Not only has it created a dangerous situation for cyclists, which I predict will lead to serious injury. But this project was conceived with scant planning and poor professional judgment. Meanwhile the state Department of Transportation has continue to stonewall in our attempt to figure out exactly how, and why, our government squandered $41,000 of our money on this travesty of a public works project.
A Westchester Cycle Club investigation has found that the state installed the strips – at the cost of $41,000 – in contravention of DOT policy. The policy states the rumble strips, which are intended to awaken drowsy drivers and prevent what’s called drift-off-road accidents, should be installed on limited-access highways, like parkways or interstates, during construction or reconstruction.
The policy warns of the dangers of installing the strips on two-lane roads frequented by cyclists. It states the DOT could consider rumble strips on “limited stretches of highway or specific locations with a proven history of drift-off-road accidents, in advance of bridges where the shoulder substantially narrows, at gore areas (triangular intersections), and as short warning strips on the outside of curves that follow long tangents.”
Accident data shows there just seven such accidents caused by fatigued or drowsy drivers in six years, hardly a proven record. That’s not the kind of “proven history” to justify the extraordinary measure of installing rumble strips on a two-lane road.
If that is the state DOT’s standard for installing rumble strips, then New York state cyclists should brace themselves for a bumpy ride over the next several years.
The accident data provided by DOT showed that this four-mile stretch of Route 100 in Yorktown and Somers is safe, and getting considerably safer. From 2001 to 2004, there were 1.02 accidents per million miles traveled. From 2004 to 2007, there were 0.6 accidents per million miles traveled, a 42 percent drop. The statewide average on two-lane roads is 1.45 accidents per million miles traveled.
So the most recent data available to the state DOT show that Route 100, between Route 118 and Route 35, is more than twice as safe as the average road in New York. The data here should not have driven the state DOT officials to install rumble strips on Route 100.
When I shared these facts with DOT regional director Joan Dupont, and her assistant, Mike Cotton, Cotton said the DOT didn’t base its decision upon accident data but on a sense that there was a conflict between motorists, cyclists, and the fishermen who have shared the road quite well for years. There is no evidence of any such conflict. Over six years, there was one collision between a cyclists and a motorist.
Heavily redacted emails from DOT regional engineer Michael J. McBride revealed that the strips were installed after McBride, and two of his employees, were rear-ended on Route 100 as they turned into the DOT regional facility. The emails were only released after I was forced to appeal to the DOT’s general counsel in Albany under the state Freedom of Information Law. I knew the emails existed. But the regional office declined to release them originally under a request.
What did the regional office want to keep secret? The emails show that McBride ordered 700 feet of rumble strips around the DOT facility entrance. But the state contractor installed 43,000 feet of rumble strips, and was paid about $41,000 for the job. The state said there was no documentation indicating who authorized roughly 42,000 feet of rumble strips.
If these accidents had happened at a private residence or a private business, the state might have put up a No Left Turn sign there because turning left at the DOT facility was dangerous. Or they might have figured out how to squeeze in a left turn lane if they were insistent on turning left there. But they wouldn’t have installed rumble strips.
Now cyclists are getting injured and I fear there will be a serious injury soon. Christine Dasa of Mount Kisco went down on Aug. 12 when she rode over the rumble strips to avoid a car legally parked on the shoulder. She lost control of her bike and went down in the travel lane, where cars and trucks speed by at 55 miles an hour.
Christine was lucky that she wasn’t knocked out and ended up laying there in the travel lane. But I guarantee you that someone will suffer a serious injury if something isn’t done soon.
The breaks in the rumble strips, which were a concession to cyclists, aren’t much help. They were installed every tenth-of-a-mile to give cyclists a rumble-free way to avoid parked cars. But using the breaks with traffic is very dangerous. They are short, so you have to make turn into the traffic lane to use them. Creating a situation in which you have cyclists turning into the travel lane, with cars and trucks traveling 55 miles an hour, creates a dangerous situation.
The rumble strips have already begun to deteriorate, and potholes are developing among the rumble strips, even before the winter freeze-thaw cycle opened up more craters on the once-smoothly paved road. The DOT has yet to attend to the potholes. And it will be interesting to see if they bring the rumble strip machine back to put ruts in the pothole-repairs.
I know it will be expensive to pave over the rumble strips. It will cost more than the $41,000 already wasted by the state on the hastily conceived plan this spring. But the alternative promises to be even costlier for the state’s taxpayers if a cyclist is seriously injured on Route 100. WCC member and attorney Michael Allen, of Shapiro Forman Allen & Sava of Manhattan, put the state on notice on June 25 that the DOT has created an “extremely hazardous situation” along Route 100 in Yorktown and Somers.
“The cost of restoring the road surface is minor compared to the danger than the DOT has created, not to mention the cost of potential lawsuits should someone be seriously hurt as a result of the DOT’s actions,” warned Allen, a Westchester Cycle Club member, in a June 25 letter to DOT Region 8 Regional Director Joan DuPont. “The potential cost to the DOT could increase exponentially if it is in fact the case that the installation of the rumble strips was done in violations of the DOT’s own rules and regulations.”

Do real men wear bibs? And if they do, why do they wear them?
That’s the question I was asking this week after I tried a pair of Primal Wear’s latest bib shorts. When I arrived in Albany to write a profile on cross-country cyclists Pearson and Pete Constantino, they scoffed at my attire. Both had worn baggy mountain bike shorts from Oregon to Albany, and they couldn’t see why anyone would wear a pair of shorts that made you have to take off your shirt when he had to hit the loo.
But after riding 25 miles east with them that morning, I can report that these Primal bib shorts were well worth the effort. The new Primal bibs give your entire mid-section more support out on the road. The muscle compression from Lyrca supports the muscles and makes it so you don’t get fatigued quite as quickly. The form-fitting bib hugs you in all the right places. And the well-positioned chamois kept me positioned just right on my seat.
Primal’s chamois, which is made in Switzerland, contains silver ions, which kill bacteria and helps prevent saddle sores. There are four layers of foam on these bibs and they could have come in handy for the Transportation Alternatives Century in early September that left my rear rather raw.