BikinginLA

Just 97 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

Photo of protected bike lane in Redondo Beach by Ted Faber.

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Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that will make building bike lanes near the coast faster and easier by removing a requirement for a Coastal Commission study.

Happy to report that @CAgovernor has signed #SB689, which will cut unnecessary red tape in the development of bike lanes, dedicated transit lanes and pedestrian walkways along California’s coastline. We want to encourage projects in coastal areas that make non-driving options… pic.twitter.com/W0Tepj54In

— Senator Catherine Blakespear (@SenBlakespear) September 22, 2024

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The state also stepped in where Los Angeles tried and failed, as Newsom signed a bill banning cities from requiring automatic road widening with new building projects.

HUGE NEWS❗
AB 3177 by @AsmCarrillo and sponsored by us was SIGNED INTO LAW by @GavinNewsom

The bill stops cities from making builders of new homes spend more money and give up land needed for housing to widen roads.

This was supposed to be fixed by City of LA 2 years ago pic.twitter.com/s6B8WOOPjj

— Streets For All (@streetsforall) September 23, 2024

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The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is launching a new campaign to “demand a visionary Biking and Rolling Plan from our city officials, that helps us achieve our transportation, climate, and congestion goals — and makes our streets safer and more joyful. ”

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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Demi Moore is one of us — or was, anyway — riding her bike 60 miles roundtrip from her Malibu home to the Hollywood studio where she was filming Indecent Proposal back in the ’90s, to lose weight after the birth of her second child. Then again, the Boss was one of us back in the day, too.

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Add this one to the pantheon bad headlines.

Because of course it was the woman on the bicycle who hit the car, and not the other way around. And yes, there might have been a driver involved, too.

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It’s now 279 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 39 full months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

An English bike rider narrowly avoided serious injury when copper thieves failed to replace a manhole cover on a narrow bike path, leaving a large, gaping hole.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A group of bike-riding Stockton, California teens caused a couple thousand dollars damage by throwing terracotta pots at passing cars. Although it’s questionable what their bicycles had to do with it.

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Local  

There will be a public meeting in El Monte tomorrow evening to discuss dedicated bus lanes and class IV physically separated bike lanes on Rosemead Blvd in South El Monte.

Streets For All endorsed Santa Monica’s Measure K increasing the city’s Parking Facility Tax to improve traffic safety and safe routes to schools, while rejecting Measure PSK to divert half of that new revenue to the cops and other public safety departments.

 

State

Residents of San Diego’s Pacific Beach neighborhood are just the latest to complain about teenaged kids recklessly riding ebikes, although the ones shown are better classified as low-powered electric motorcycles.

Police in Santa Barbara busted a trio of suspected knife-wielding bike thieves after tracking them with an AirTag.

Ouch. A Fresno bicyclist was rushed to surgery with multiple stab wounds after his bike was stolen by a man armed with a garden rake.

Speaking of Fresno, the local cops wrote 206 citations during the city’s latest bicycle and pedestrian safety operation on Saturday, including 41 bicyclists and pedestrians.

 

National

Bicycling offers budget-friendly upgrades to improve your bike rides. But reading the article isn’t one of them, because you’ll need a subscription to do it. 

NPR’s Code Switch podcast considers the question of whether bike lanes cause gentrification, as UCLA researcher Adonia Lugo says says that’s the kind of question you have to ask to be part of the mobility justice movement.

Now you, too, can ride you bike to the 14,115-foot summit of Colorado’s iconic Pikes Peak — home to the iconic Pikes Peak Hill Climb auto race — covering 19 miles and more than 6,500 feet of vertical gain.

Houston’s Metro transportation agency pulled the plug on the city’s $10.5 million bikeshare program.

The Illinois State University student newspaper asks if bicycling is a form of civic engagement. Short answer, yes. Longer answer is the same.

Sad news from Massachusetts, where Parlee Cycles founder Bob Parlee died at age 70 after a four-year battle with cancer; Cycling Weekly credits Parlee with “revolutionizing the handmade bicycle industry with his expertise in composite materials.”

A handful of New York bicyclists found a way to game the Citi Bike bikeshare algorithm, earning thousands of dollars a month by bike flipping — moving bikes from one station to another, then moving them back 15 minutes late. Thanks again to Megan Lynch.

BMX pro Nigel Sylvester introduced a new version of his Nike Bike Air shoes at the Sneaker Con convention in New York, but no word on whether they will be released to the public.

A Baltimore program teaches kids how to fix their own bicycles, repairing their perspectives in the process.

 

International

A strategist for a London ad agency says bicycle brands need to reduce the cost of bikes before they lose the next generation of bicyclists.

A Chinese website looks back to consider how Shanghai became the country’s city of bicycles, producing China’s first bicycle in the 19th Century, before becoming home to the Phoenix and Forever brands after the communist revolution.

 

Competitive Cycling

L39ion of Los Angeles crit specialist Skylar Schneider is making her way back to the WorldTour, rejoining the SD Worx-Protime team three years after leaving to race in the US.

The African cycling movement continues to grow, as Tanzanian cyclist Richard Laizer became the first rider from the country to compete in the worlds.

Belgian pro Thomas De Gendt called it a career after 16 years with the pro tour, including stage wins in Tour de France, Giro and Vuelta.

 

Finally…

No, your ebike isn’t supposed to go 70 mph — especially on city streets. Your new ebike could be just one letter from a real schmuck.

And it’s never too early for a skeletal pedicab driver.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin