Bill Hangley, Jr. sends word that his wife, Cheshire Agusta, a prominent West Philly rock musician and the drummer for the veteran trio Stinking Lizaveta is recovering after surgery following a serious hit-and-run bike/car accident. Agusta was on the bike and her injuries required metal plates and cadaver bone chips.

Agusta was struck on Friday, June 1, at 60th and Chestnut Streets while riding to her gym for a morning workout. After waiting at a traffic light, Agusta had just started pedaling north on 60th Street when a car on her left took a right turn across her path – a maneuver known among cyclists as the “right hook.” Agusta and her bike ended up trapped beneath the car. As Agusta recalls, the driver stopped briefly, backed up, paused again briefly and then drove off with the bike still underneath his car, leaving Agusta sitting in shock on the pavement.

Thanks to helpful bystanders who got the car’s license plate number, police soon located the driver, an 18-year-old man who told police that Agusta was in his “blind spot” and that he did not know anything was wrong. In part because of his clean driving and criminal record, police declined to charge him. Both Agusta and the driver were insured.

The accident partially crushed the top of Agusta’s left shinbone, which had to be reconstructed with cadaver bone chips and titanium plates. She faces a total of six months of rehab. Possible long-term complications include chronic stiffness and early-onset arthritis in the joint. Doctors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) say Agusta now faces a painful rehab but should be ready to tour in September in support of Stinking Lizaveta’s latest record, “Seventh Direction,” to be released in the U.S. and in Europe.

“My summer plans have changed dramatically, but my fall plans are still the same,” said Agusta. “We’re really proud of this record. There’s eighteen years of work behind it.”

“The worst thing that could have happened is that I could have died,” Agusta said, “but the next worst thing would be if I couldn’t get out and play this music.”

The band has scheduled a five-week European tour starting in September to support “Seventh Direction,” recorded at Chicago’s Engine Music Studios. The record features original compositions from all three band members (Cheshire Agusta and brothers Alexi and Yanni Papadopoulos).

Agusta is the second member of Stinking Lizaveta to be seriously injured in a West Philadelphia traffic accident. Alexi Papadopoulos, a co-owner of the popular Satellite Café on Baltimore Avenue, was struck by a car on his motor scooter two years ago, suffering multiple fractures and internal injuries. “The consensus among friends is that I’m next,” said his brother Yanni but the guitarist had no comment on any steps he might take to avoid his bandmates’ fate.

We are wishing a speedy recovery to Cheshire Agusta and hope that this was the last in the series of unfortunate happenings involving Stinking Lizaveta members.

A not-so-subtle reminder this morning in front of the CVS at 43rd and Locust. Here are some bike locking tips from the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.

West Philly’s newest bike shop, a branch of the Glenside-based Keswick Cycle, opened this weekend just in time for the return of students to the area. The shop occupies about half of the first floor in the building that formerly housed the Strikes Bowling Lounge at 4040 Locust St. Workers were still moving in bikes and other merchandise Saturday afternoon, but customers were invited in to have a look around.

OK all you cyclists (bicyclists?) time to pat yourselves on the back a little. The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia released a report today that shows that Philadelphia has twice as many cyclists per capita than any of the top 10 largest cities in the country.

Bicycle commuting jumped 151 percent here between 2000 and 2009. Two neighborhoods in particular – Center City and South Philly – rank in the top 25 neighborhoods in the country for percentage of bike commuters. Only Portland, Minneapolis and San Francisco have two neighborhoods in the top 25.

Some other interesting findings:

• The number of bikes crossing the Schuylkill River has increased nearly four-fold in the last 20 years.

• The number of female cyclists in our fair town has increased dramatically as well, an indication, the Coalition says, that the city’s streets are becoming bike-friendlier.

• Sidewalk riding, the scourge of pedestrians across the city, dropped 20 percent on streets with bike lanes.

• The average number of bikes per hour at 38th and Spruce has gone up 68 percent since 2006 (Yep, people stand there and count them).

So, all in all, nice work bicycle folks. Just please stay off the dang sidewalk.