Two big bike races at once, a perfect example of press anti-bike bias, and a whole lot of link love

It can’t be Wednesday already, can it?

The week’s halfway over, so weekend riders can start looking forward to their next ride, while those of us who ride during the week can finally enjoy some cooler temperatures.

And everyone can limber up their clicking fingers and settle in for some serious bike links.

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Sounds like a great race is going on overseas, as Valverde holds off the newly reinstated Contador for a stage victory in the Vuelta.

Meanwhile, BMC’s Tejay van Garderen takes the leader’s jersey to go along with his stage two victory in the USA Pro Challenge; great to see the next generation of pro cyclists stepping up to the podium.

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In a highly biased story, police won’t file charges against a group of cyclists who struck a driver’s car and shouted obscenities when she merely tapped her horn at them. However, the original story notes a broken mirror and dents on the passenger side, which might give an explanation for the riders reaction if they resulted from getting Jerry Browned by a sideswiping driver.

Then again, this sort of bizarre narrative in which a wholly innocent driver is assaulted by a group of crazed cyclists never ceases to astound me. You’d think someone — anyone — would question why the riders reacted that way, but too often, no one ever does.

Thanks to Bill Strickland and LadyFleur for the links.

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City of Lights shows how to install bike racks. L.A.’s Pure Fix Cycles introduces a $399 glow-in-the-dark fixie. Just when the Ballona Creek bike path finally reopens after construction work in Culver City, it will shut down again for maintenance work between National and Overland. Wolfpack Hustle sponsors a ride to the opening of Premium Rush this Friday. A salmon cyclist is seriously injured in a Baldwin Park collision, though it’s far more likely that it was the cyclist, and not the bike, that collided with the driver’s windshield; thanks to Witch on a Bicycle for the link. Boy on a Bike embraces his inner bike geek and gets a mirror. Registration is open for the National Women’s Bicycling Summit in Long Beach next month.

Orange County authorities are cracking down on drunk drivers. Lake Elsinore-Wildomar Patch looks at California’s proposed three-foot passing law. A San Diego writer explains sharrows to the chronically clueless; despite the hateful tone, he gets it mostly right. San Diego State University works to become a bike-friendly campus. S.D. police are looking for a bike path groper. Paso Robles considers becoming a bike-friendly city. Confusing signage leads a bike path rider onto the Facebook campus where he’s hit by a car. San Jose sets out to build the Bay Area’s most bike-friendly downtown; something L.A. can and should do down here. A Rancho Cordova teenager is dragged 50 feet after a car hits his bike, suffering life-threatening injuries; once again, all blame falls on the victim — who can’t speak for himself — for riding into traffic. A Lodi flautist rides solo across country. How Santa Rosa police tracked down the hit-and-run driver who ran down a cyclist on a golf course.

The founder of Bikes Belong has passed away from cancer; one of the few things I hate more than dangerous drivers. NPR explores ghost bikes. Bike lawyer Bob Mionske looks at the newly available bike insurance. When you’re on a bike, the direct route is seldom the best route. Despite a confession from the driver, AZ police still haven’t filed charges in a hit-and-run that left a cyclist severely injured and the suspect vehicle torched in the desert. After a Utah cyclist is killed, apparently auto-centric police want to know why he was riding a bike, let alone at that early hour. You know you’re a bike-friendly community when even the bank robbers get away by bike. Attention guys: cyclists — especially women cyclists — really don’t need your unsolicited advice. A 10-year old Michigan boy rides his bike wearing just his underwear to get help for his highly allergic father after he’s stung by bees (I originally wrote he rode his bike in his underwear; thanks to Joe Linton for questioning how he got his bike in there). Two-thirds of New Yorkers say bike lanes are a good thing. Even red solo cups can be enough to separate a bikeway. Gossip Girl star Blake Lively bikes beautifully in NYC. Fewer bike collisions on Hilton Head island.

The former Attorney General of Ontario CA — no, the other one — who killed cyclist Darcy Allen Sheppard as the victim clung to his car has written a book to tell his side of the story, but the victim’s father doesn’t approve; no matter how hard the incident was on the AG, I suspect it was a lot worse for the guy he killed. A British cyclist clips a traffic cone, and falls beneath a tailgating 17-ton truck; in case anyone ever wondered why drivers need to give us some space, that’s why. UK cyclist fakes a fall to distract driver while partner steals from her car. A Glasgow cyclist is stabbed in the neck after stopping to speak with an apparent stranger.

Finally, a Denver hit-and-run driver claims he thought he hit a dog when he killed a cyclist — even though he dragged the victim’s bike under his car for several blocks.

Call me crazy, but I think all the sparks and grinding of the bike underneath his car should have tipped him off. And I don’t know many dogs who ride a bike.

3 comments

  1. Karl says:

    “Browned” .. hilarious.. had not head that, hope it’s gecko sticky.

    About Spoke though- is this the same policy your referred us to some weeks ago? I researched that as best Icould and IJ can’t recall if it’s about the same or completely different.

    Just solving the individuals bias towards theft risk is huge. We all need to hurt just a tiny bit when abike gets stolen, and the way to do that is to pool our funds- and insurance is regualted so it’s not secret how much of every dollar is just distributed among us and not taken in profit. INsurance tends to be the biggest bargain unlesss it’s for cars- for cars it’s just basically all spent and wasted on preventable catastrophes- and it’s not reallyh insurance- they really can’t make the msafe, it’s just actualloyh enabling there death and destruction.

    FOr bikes though it disables there death and destrcution in being miniorites. Insurance GOOD. VERY GOOD. Me approve totally.

    Sometimes you even havhe to spent more beign first. ANyoe involve din selling us legit pay it forward so we dont’ have to be otu of pocket to replace our bikes when some rich kid hires some asshole to sneak itfrom us instad of buying htere own.. and inso doing… here is where it’s realdl yr realloy really the beswt bargain ever- in so doing we create a- a police like effect- a corporation who is not a friend of bike thieves! Unlike evne bike dealers who steal tehre own customres rides- insurers wil have none of that. They will investigate adn oput those shop owners in prison- and lower our rates at the same time!

    It’s chaper then calling 911. It’s a no brainer. I”m serious not sarcastic. Yo udon’t even need abike to get a liability policy I bet.

    Just in case rocks! Before you bike- insure. If youru to scared to own a bike- why not at least have insurance? Just do it. It only takes aminute. BUYIng is htge wayt ospeak loudest- this is true- and i’m fine iwth it.

    besides- if youbuy insurance for your kind when he’s in the womb it might pay for itself in lower premiums when he’s bmxing into adolescence. NO joke.

  2. Karl says:

    How indeed- by requiring a citizen not die before the dangerous obviously clinically so driver struck again only worse enough to get the police to bother writing anything down. This man probably had the police called on him many times and they refused to enter his license intot thereh database- to go and interview him at there liesure- and if this woman would of moved to the next town the driver woujld of never been caught- he would of just brushed the grass off his undercarriage and likely killed before they ‘caught’ up with him.

    His relatives should be indicted of course- but heads should roll in this department as well for creating the hostile environment that required a citizen to do there job for them. When we get something thrown at us as Sunbeam or whatever the rag is recently had commented on it’s pdf of it’s story that has it claiming that working not just driving is far more lethal then biking they need to put our info into there total info systems and accept our MMS’s without us having to give our name or drop them other then anonymously- to let the video speak for itself to trained eyes paid to watch them.

    I was shocked when a police report I filed online got read by a human year ago- and in the unrelated matter that this case echoes to me the boy who drove by me and shot me was caught for returning to the scene of an earlier in that day crime and them taking down his plate after he shot me. I garnished his wages to pay for the ambulance etc. but the driver was able to still goto amilitary academy by hiring a lawyer who hired a private investigator when his dad got the call about the car having been seen.

    I breathlessly arrived for the dude’s sentencing nearly too late to see him sitting there silently and I had no prepared remarks so when asked to speak I asked him why. I said I didnt’ understand why they where driving around vandalising and then shooting me. It felt like a rock by the way it really hurt much more then it’s precision would suggest- it felt heavy and large and ragged.

    The judge couldn’t believe the delinquent remained silent as he was there to take a plea. My mom had not been allowed to visit him in jail. It was likethe veins inthe judges face popped up. Heh told the boy to answer. I was given the form for restitution but failed to get the taxicab trip to my fiance’s home after the hospital reimbursed as that was a comp even though I got the paperwork from the hosptital and it was very very long Christmass ride that had me catch a rare snowfall and at least let my fiance who I would later have a child with not just misscarry with know about it as she was not there but hearing how I’d been shot was happy I had let myself in and could enjoy a little bit of white. I didnt’ want my mom to know what had happened yet. To do so would of victimised both of us more.

    The remarks of this man who saved his own life so spectacualrly- who got teh driver to screw up the golf, who demonstrated just how much biking can be the new golf by daring to bike on the course much more so then the ‘cart’ driver did in joining him, are those of someoen freshly assaulted- who is if not grateful not blaming the cops enough for only getting involved when important turf got trespassed on- not caring if that ladies ass got slapped by this same man however many times as long as he did so from assphault. She of course wasn’t as welcome on the nine.

    re
    “Police arrested Smith after a tip by Rose Zoia, an avid Sonoma County cyclist, who had a run-in with Smith last October and at that time took down his license number.”

  3. Karl says:

    pardon me I meant: “…he would of just brushed the grass off his undercarriage and likely killed before ‘they’ [“the police”] caught up with him.
    …”

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