Oklahoma City

I’m a little late on this one, but News 9 has a well made Christmas time story on the Alan Spencer Hit-and-Run case and a continued plea for any information regarding the driver in this case:

As a reminder, there is a $6,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest in this case. If anyone knows anything about this tragic event, they should contact Crimestoppers at: 405-236-7300.

I reported a few weeks back about Jim Reading’s stolen Red and Black Cervelo.  Well, great news for the new year, according to the family’s Facebook Page, the bicycle has been recovered by the Moore Police Department.  The bicycle is apparently in perfect condition.  Additionally, an arrest was made in relation to the case.  It’s not too often that stolen bicycles are recovered, so this is just great news for the Reading family!

Grace and I along with Gwen and Mercedes attended the Flaming Lips New Year’s Eve Freakout last night. I only had my camera phone which isn’t the best of cameras, but here are a few snapshots plus a video from a pretty amazing show:

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The Oklahoman has a nice story about the bicycle giveaway provided by the Thunder on Christmas night:

On a Christmas night most folks left the arena buzzing about the Thunder’s 114-106 victory over the Nuggets and Kevin Durant’s 44 points, there were more than a hundred kids from the Oklahoma City Boys and Girls Club who walked out of the building with bigger memories. Lasting memories. Lifelong memories.

They received tickets as part of the Thunder’s “Tickets for Kids” program, and they thought that was their big present.

[Read More]

This is a little late, but on December 4th, The Oklahoman published a neat photo essay about the Buck$ 4 Bikes assembly day event:

[caption id=“attachment_360” align=“aligncenter” width=“465” caption=“Photo By: Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman”][/caption]

Buck$ 4 Bikes is a program organized by The Salvation Army and the Oklahoma Bicycle Society, acquires and builds new bicycles for kids throughout the area.

UPDATED 1/1/2011: This bicycle was recovered in perfect condition by the Moore Police Department.  Full details here.

Many of you probably met Jim Reading at some point.  He was a local cyclist who passed away on July 17th after a battle with leukemia.   Well, to make matters worse, on Monday his beautiful Red & Black Cervelo R3 was stolen from the family in Oklahoma City.  The family has set up a Facebook Page and a Twitter account to disiminate information about the theft.    The serial number for the bike is #CVR3512044.  It is a 2006 Cervelo RS Carbon bike, 56cm with a 2010 SRAM red front derailier, SRAM dual pivot road calipers, LOOK Keo pedals and a 2010 Mavic Ksyrium SL wheelset with one red spoke.  A picture of the bike in question is below:

Another cycling fatality occurred yesterday near the corner of Northwest Expressway and MacArthur:

Anthony Guzman, 14, was riding a 20-inch BMX bicycle in the 5700 block of Northwest Expressway when he tried to cross from south to north and was hit by an eastbound car.

Guzman was dead at the scene, said police Maj. Hugh Osborn. He lived in the area, Osborn said.

via Name of boy killed on bicycle in Warr Acres released | NewsOK.com.

The Oklahoma Gazette is reporting that Oklahoma City is beginning to lay down the first of many new miles of designated bicycle routes:

The city of Oklahoma City is laying out the first of what will be approximately 200 miles of new bike routes around town.

The designated routes are individual bike lanes or lanes shared by cars and bicycles, known as “sharrow” lanes — named as such because of the combination of “share” and “arrow.”

[Read More]

These absolutely wonderful, and given the limited nature of the cycling efforts around here, very surprising signs have been appearing around town.  Finally, some recognition about the rights of cyclists on the roads and what is expected of motor vehicles.

However, someone has decided that these signs shouldn’t be put up in the first place:

Oklahoma City workers began installing signs to promote cycling in October, but vandals have torn down some of the new signs. The destruction has the cycling community concerned.

[Read More]

Good news on Zach Perkins who was involved in last week’s crash.  According to the DNA Racing home page, he has been discharged from the hospital:

After six days at OU Med Center Zach had finally been discharged! I’m pretty sure I hear him clicking his heals and saying, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home. Get some rest buddy and heal quick!

via After six days at…| DNA Racing.