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Richard Ballantine, Author who did More than Anyone to bring Back the Bicycle Dies

While I was in the States with limited computer access, Richard Ballantine, the  man whose book, "Richard's Bike Book" along with a lot of his other writing brought bicycling into the mainstream died May 29. He also famously maintained that if he were to own just one bike, it would be a trike......


An avid bicycle collector, Richard Ballantine was passionate about pedal power in all its forms, especially recumbent bicycles that had been banned from road-racing competitions

Here is the obitury that appeared in the Guardian:

Richard Ballantine obituary

Cyclists' champion who made the case for assertive urban cycling before it became fashionablee

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• Richard Grant
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 7 June 2013 12.41 BST
• Jump to comments (2)

Richard Ballantine, who has died aged 72, was one of cycling's most influential and eloquent advocates, inspiring generations of cyclists. He was instrumental in promoting cyclists' rights and popularising mountain bikes and recumbent bicycles. Richard's Bicycle Book, first published in 1972, quickly became the cyclists' bible, selling more than 1m copies through numerous editions. Its encyclopedic format combined astute practical advice on buying and maintaining bikes with an original, passionate, eco-conscious manifesto for cycling – presciently, in light of the Opec oil embargo of 1973-74.

For Richard, riding a bicycle was a defence against the alienation of modern life and the dehumanising effects of cars. "Now look at what happens to you on a bicycle," he wrote. "It's immediate and direct. You pedal. You make decisions. You experience the tang of the air and the surge of power as you bite into the road. You're vitalised. As you hum along, you fully and gloriously experience the day, the sunshine, the clouds, the breezes. You're alive!"

"Sex," as one interviewer asserted, "had Dr Alex Comfort. Cycling had Richard Ballantine."

Richard made the case for assertive urban cycling long before it became fashionable. He provided bold, colourful advice on how to handle motorists (compete for road space as an equal – don't cower in the gutter), lorries (beware when riding on the inside, make yourself obvious) and – despite being an animal lover himself – aggressive dogs (reciprocate hostility as needed). He proposed a utopian future of separate bike lanes and free bikes in city centres. "A better deal for cyclists," he wrote, "is a better deal for society." An advocate of campaigning through direct action, he had a radical's fearless instinct for a cause and a pen to match.

Born in Kingston, New York state, Richard was the only child of Ian and Betty Ballantine, who pioneered paperback publishing in America, first with Bantam and later with Ballantine Books. Richard grew up between Woodstock and New York, where he attended the Browning school and, briefly, Columbia University. As a student, he was an activist in the New Left movement.

His real education came from growing up in the family's publishing business, which mass-marketed JRR Tolkien, Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov, and introduced authors such as Ray Bradbury, Philip K Dick and Tom Robbins to a wider readership.

After working variously as a chef, shooting gallery attendant, book editor and housing community organiser in New York, Richard moved to the UK in the early 1970s. Following the success of Richard's Bicycle Book, he launched Bicycle, the UK's first glossy cycle magazine for everyday cyclists. His passion for innovations that improved urban cycling led him to import the first high-security, anti-theft D-locks from the US.

After testing an imported US prototype mountain bike in 1982, Richard realised that they could transform cycling, but needed to be promoted. When two young Australian law students, Tim Gartside and Peter Murphy, approached Bicycle with a plan to ride across the Sahara on roadsters, Richard decided they should ride mountain bikes and that he and I should import them together. The success of the landmark, 3,410-mile, north-south crossing of the Sahara inspired us to import a further 20 mountain bikes to kickstart interest in them. Subsequently Richard co-launched the Fat Tyre Five series of mountain bike races, staged over five weekends in 1984.

An avid bicycle collector, he was passionate about pedal power in all its forms, especially aerodynamic, recumbent bicycles that had been banned from road-racing competitions. He co-founded the British Human Power Club in 1983 and was its chairman, and also chairman of the World Human Powered Vehicle Association, until his death.

He wrote several more books on cycling, including (with myself) Richards' Ultimate Bicycle Book (1992), as well as campaigning columns for publications such as the Guardian and New Cyclist. In his last book, City Cycling (2007), he returned to providing inspirational and amusing instructions on how to survive as a cyclist in an urban environment.

A warm-hearted and fun-loving colleague, he had an editor's eclectic range, editing books that included an 18-part series on the Vietnam war; the astronaut Michael Collins's memoirs of the Apollo 11 moon landing; and The Sawtooth Wolves, documenting a six-year study of a wolf pack.

Richard was an accomplished blues guitarist and five-string banjo player, having been taught the banjo in Woodstock by the American folk musician Billy Faier.

He is survived by his wife, Sherry, whom he married in 1974; his children, Danielle, Katharyn and Shawn; his grandchildren, Alexander and Norah; and his mother.

• Richard Ballantine, author and publisher, born 25 July 1940; died 29 May 2013

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Cyclist Injured by NYPD Car Gets Billed $1,263 for Damage to Vehicle

NYPD (Pete Stewart, Wikimedia Commons)

A cyclist in New York City who was hospitalised after being struck by an unmarked police car has spoken of his disbelief after being billed more than $1,200 for the damage that happened to the vehicle during the incident.

According to the New York Post, it’s at least the third time in recent months that city authorities have sent victims bills in similar circumstances – and each time, they have quietly dropped the demand for money after being challenged.

The latest bill, in the sum of $1,263, was received by Justin Johnsen, a 31-year-old resident of South Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who was riding his bike to work as a design-engineer in Red Hook last November when he was hit by a Ford Taurus that happened to be an unmarked police car.

“I think it’s preposterous,” said Johansen of the bill he received. “I was upset,” continued the cyclist, who had to visit hospital after the incident to have stitches inserted in wounds to his arms.

“I was in kind of disbelief that they were going to send this letter after four months or so and ask me to pay damages for their vehicle, when they hit me when I was on a bicycle.”

Describing the background to the incident, which happened at 8.30 in the morning on 5 November, he said: “I had left the bike lane to make a left turn, and I looked behind me and saw that it was clear, and the farthest car was a fair distance.

He indicated to turn, but said that before he could do so, he “was swiped by this car on my left side. I didn’t feel too good . . . I got some big gashes to my elbows,” he explained, adding that the while the two officers in the vehicle were “pretty friendly” after the collision, they were “not apologetic at all.”

While his medical bills ran to several hundred dollars, Johnsen said he hadn’t thought about suing the police, but in the matter of the demand for money for damage to his vehicle he has a lawyer, Daniel Flanzig, acting for him on a pro bono basis.

Flanzig, who had volunteered his services after hearing that the city had told Johnsen it would sue him if he didn’t pay, said: “They should be sending an apology letter instead of a bill.”

courtesy: http://road.cc/content/news/80569-cyclist-injured-nypd-car-gets-billed-1263-damage-vehicle