Thomas Oehler, the rider you saw in the video, will be in Tucson tonight demoing trial biking during the Tuesday Night Bike Ride.

Emily Astiz, who works for Red Bull, Oehler’s sponsor, said he will be doing his demo at the Main Library whenever the ride makes its way there.

Check out Oehler’s site here.

Here is a some info from Wikipedia about mountain bike trial riding, which appears to be the similar.

Mountain bike trials, also known as observed trials is a discipline of mountain biking in which the rider attempts to pass through an obstacle course without setting foot to ground. Derived from motorcycle trials, it originated in Catalonia and is said to have been invented by the father of Ot Pi, a world champion motorcycle trials rider. Pi’s father had wanted his son to learn motorcycle trials by practising on an ordinary push bike.

Trials riding is an extreme test of bicycle handling skills, over all kinds of obstacles, both natural and man-made. It now has a strong — though small — following worldwide, though it is still primarily a European sport. Skills taken from trials riding can be used practically on any bicycle for balance, for example controlled braking and track standing, or balancing on the bike without putting a foot down. Competition trial bikes are characterised by powerful brakes, wide handlebars, lightweight parts, single-speed low gearing, low tire pressures with a thick rear tire, distinctive frame geometry, and typically lack of a seat.

Unfortunately, I can’t attend the ride tonight to check it out. If anyone takes photos or video, please send it along and I’ll post it on the site.

Details about the Tuesday Night Bike Ride.

Tucson Police Department officers skipped last week’s Tuesday Night Bike Ride because of the rainy weather, but are planning to speak to the riders this evening.

According to an email from TPD officer Bart Rohr, they skipped the ride last week because they were told the ride would be small or nonexistent because of the storm.

He said the department did not receive any 911 calls about the ride last week.

Jerry Skeenes said in an email that he and a few other officers are planning on speaking to the riders tonight.

Pima County’s bicycle and pedestrian program manager said he would try to have a bike ambassador introduce the officers before the ride.

In an online post, Forrest Carr, KGUN9′s news director responded to criticism about his station’s reporting on bicycle issues in Tucson.

Carr wrote:

After we posted the web version of the story, comments started immediately, with some posters beating up on KGUN9 News and others tying into each other.  A blog devoted to bicycle issues also lit up, with most posters objecting to the story and working us over pretty good.  A few of those bicycle blog posters also shared their views on KGUN9′s website and Facebook page, where they more or less got shouted down by angry motorists.

Many of the early posters on the cycling site Tucsonvelo.com also complained about the language we used in referring to the crazy guy caught on video.  We do call it like we see it at KGUN9 News.  In writing the TV and web versions of the story, we considered, and rejected, the phrase “pedal-pushing pinhead” to describe the nut.  My grandmother probably would have called him an “idjit.”  “Butthead” seemed to be a fair compromise.  If, after viewing the video, anyone feels that label is unfair or inaccurate, this is the place to say so.

Keep in mind that we are talking about an unnamed individual. If we had known who did it, obviously we would not have called that specific person any names.  But we still would have described the actions depicted in the video as moronic.

Read the rest of the response here.

Post any interesting links you find in the comment section.

• Pics from a Tucson ride
• Ontario Attorney General Runs Over Bicycle Messenger
• Daredevil bikes across line 260 feet high without a net
• Urban cycling spawns its own peddlers
• Cyclist killed in confrontation with former AG remembered one year later
• Bicyclists Swarm Coronado Bridge For ‘Bike The Bay’
• Winning Transit Referenda
• When Two Wheels Are Too Many
• Old Shanghai bicycle and sneaker brands back in the spotlight

Editor’s note: KGUN9′s video would not embed in the page. You can watch it here.

KGUN9 produced a follow up to yesterday’s story, which many said was biased against cyclists and contained no quotes from bike riders.

I called the reporter and news director to express my frustration as a journalist with yesterday’s piece because cyclists weren’t represented in the story and because of the reporter’s editorializing. I also offered to speak with them for any future story they were going to do about cycling.

I also spoke with the news director, who said he couldn’t comment on the story and the language used without speaking to his corporate office. He did, however, point me to the comment he left on the online version.

“In reference to some of the comments below… after watching the story, if anyone still thinks the cyclist caught on video was not a “butthead”, then this is the place to say so.  But we tend to call things like we see them at KGUN9, and that’s our call in this instance.”

They decided to follow up with the cyclists perspective this time around.

As it turns out, “Big Al, there traffic pal” thought he caught cyclists breaking the law by riding two abreast while one of them wasn’t in the bike lane.

The Oro Valley Police Department educated the reporters that their actions were actually legal and if the traffic van had tried passing them without giving them enough room, the news crew could have been cited.

To get the cyclists point of view, they stopped by a party I was attending to speak with me.

The reporters asked about the video of the rider who was holding on to the car and, “what our beef is with Tucson drivers.”

Rather than add fuel to the fire and sensationalize the story I hoped to add a calm and rational voice to the discussion.

Hopefully I accomplished that.

You can read the online version of their story here: Cyclists Spin Road Debate in their Favor

The reporters were requesting video of motorists behaving badly, BB left a link to his YouTube page with just that. You can check that out here.

What do you think?

Update: I’ve got a call into both the reporter and the news director asking if they would like to comment on the language used by the reporter in the piece and offering to be interviewed for their, “follow-up story.”

Wow, I just read their story and I am surprised any media outlet would run this as news.

Here is a snippet from KGUN’s story:

The incident began in the left turn lane of southbound Kolb Road, turning eastbound onto 22nd street. That’s where the unmotorized moron grabbed onto a door handle of white-colored car that was also turning left. “He held onto the vehicle for almost half a mile before letting go,” MacFarland wrote in an e-mail to KGUN9 News and to MIX fm’s Bobby Rich. “What a way to save on gas but very dangerous. I don’t even think the driver knew he was there until he pushed off and they saw him and hit the brakes.”

and

Back to the door handle-grabbing bicycle-borne butthead that Lucas documented. Is such daredeviltry legal?

Notice there are no quote marks around the comments made toward the cyclist, which mean they are the reporter’s words. While, many people here may even agree with them, I am surprised they would publish it.

Victor Noriega and his son Gabe ride their Mercurio bike to and from school each day. VIctor said he got the bike at a garage sale for $100 and rides it almost 20 miles each day.

He said the bike isn’t build for speed, but works great for taking his son to school and picking up groceries.

Editor’s note: Tucsonans and their bikes is a feature I hope to have every weekend.

In the weekend open thread you can suggest story ideas, talk about what happened in the news last week, rail against drivers, anything.

Xtracycle is looking to hire someone in Tucson to fill a part-time opening with the company.

According to the job description the primary duties include:

‐    Phone
 Answering/Sales
‐    Email 
Answering
‐    Dealer 
Program 
Familiarity/Signing
 Dealers
 (phone
 and
 online)
‐    Order
 Processing
‐    Communication
 with 
fulfillment 
center 
about 
inventory/order
 questions/etc.
‐    Purchasing
 from
 domestic 
vendors
‐    Handling
 All
 Warranties, 
Returns,
 Shipping
 Errors
‐    Manage
 Phone
 System/phone
 routing
 as
 needed
‐    Take
 messages,
 forward 
calls,
schedule 
calls
 for
 exec
team
‐    Invoicing, 
billing,
 collecting
 receivables

Download the job description for more detailed information about the position and instructions on how to apply.

Have a bike-based job you would like listed on TucsonVelo? Send me an email with the details to tucsonvelo@gmail.com

Editor’s note: Xtracycle is a sponsor of TucsonVelo.com

Aside from that goofy cyclist they interviewed, what did you think?