Once again, someone has been killed riding an ebike.
And once again, we have to take the police at their word that the victim was on an actual electric bicycle, rather than the e-motos and hacked bikes that too often pass for ebikes.
It’s also apparently unknown what kind of ebike she was riding, whether she was alone or with others, how fast she may have been going, if she struck the curb as a result of carelessness or because of some sort of obstruction or uneven pavement, or even if she was wearing a helmet. Which may matter, for a change, because she died as the result of a fall, although we don’t know if she suffered a head injury.
Anyone with information is urged to call Traffic Investigator Vishal Rattanchandani of the Huntington Beach Police Department’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team at 714/536-5231.
It’s not clear if the police or the medical examiner’s office will release more information, or if this is all we will ever learn about this crash.
This is at least the 58th bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the eighth we know about in Orange County. It’s also at least the second this year in Huntington Beach, which was recently named the state’s most dangerous city for bicyclists.
I can’t remember the last time a migraine knocked me out like that, or affected me so badly for so long after the pain was finally gone.
I’m told my migraines, and the associated dizziness, stem from a traumatic brain injury suffered in the infamous beachfront bee incident that put me in the ICU for a few days 20 years ago.
The impact knocked me cold for several minutes, erasing any memory of the crash and leading to one of those life-after-death visions you read about, which, real or hallucinated, both shattered and cemented my own personal faith.
The ER doctors at Santa Monica’s St. John’s hospital told me my helmet probably saved my life. But in those pre-MIPS days, it did nothing to prevent the concussions I suffered.
The first migraine I ever had came four years after that, and they’ve continued to grow more frequent and worse in the years since.
I’ve often been a critic, not of bike helmets, but of the overpromises made by so many people who equate bike helmets with seat belts or air bags, as if they would somehow magically protect you from a multi-ton motor vehicle traveling at highway speeds.
They won’t.
Even the best bike helmets are intended to protect you from relatively low speed falls off your bike, not collisions. But as I’ve learned the hard way, that limited protection can still make a huge difference in your health decades after a crash.
Now the Canadian-made Pikio Si Oblik has been rated the safest ever by the testing institute at Virginia Tech. It’s hard to recommend a helmet that costs nearly $400, especially when you can get a decent MIPS model for so much less.
But based on my own experience, it might be worth it.
Meister tells WeHo Online that the council didn’t receive any other options other than the bike lanes when they voted to approve the project — even though the street was subject to nearly a decade of discussion and public meetings — and she prefers a plan that would replace the bike lanes with parking spaces, calling it a “compromise.”
Although the C-words I would use are “capitulation,” and “convenience,” as in a surrender to the whims of motorists who are used to parking on the deadly street.
Never mind that protected bike lanes have been shown to improve safety up to 90% for all road users, while maintaining parking would only serve to keep the corridor deadly by forcing bike riders to use the single remaining lane or ride in the door zone.
Parking proponents will undoubtedly be out in force at the meeting, and will need to be met with an equal and opposite demand to improve safety for everyone. The alternative will be to keep Fountain Ave unrideable and unsafe to walk along and cross, as well as to drive.
If that’s the plan, they might as well save the money to pay for ghost bikes and white tires for all the victims yet to come.
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More evidence that ICE is out of control, after a Long Beach man was intentionally run down by ICE agents as he was riding an ebike and struck with an unmarked vehicle, then tased twice and handcuffed face down in the gutter, suffering a broken arm in the attack.
Ricardo Gonzalez was attacked by agents on Saturday, apparently because of the color of his skin, since they had no other means of determining his immigration status as he was riding his bike. Never mind that Gonzalez was born in Hanford, California, making him a US citizen by birth, despite Trump’s efforts to change that.
Note to ICE agents: Maybe try to determine someone’s citizenship and immigration status before you run them down with an SUV — or better yet, just don’t run them down in the first place.
Here’s what these critics miss: A bike lane makes a road safer even when no one is riding in it. Wide lanes invite speeding and inattention. Narrowing them slows traffic, and the striped buffer puts extra feet between moving cars and people on the sidewalk. Federal data cited by city staff show bike lanes on arterial roads cut car-bicycle crashes roughly in half. If anything, the city should go further and add bollards or other barriers, so a drifting driver hits a barrier before a person. That would also make riders feel safe enough to use the lanes more.
Now consider the money. Many roads in northwest and southwest Bakersfield were built with two lanes each way but enough pavement for three or four, on the theory that traffic would someday need it. At the pace we grow, that day is decades away, if it comes at all, and these roads will need rebuilding long before then. Where were the fiscal watchdogs when we paved all that unnecessary asphalt? Repurposing a few feet of it for the safety of everyone is a bargain by comparison…
And when it comes to bike infrastructure itself, fiscal conservatives have been making the case for years. The Kern County Taxpayers Association, hardly a group of free spenders, has long pushed for a better network of bike and walking paths across the city, including more than 50 miles of trails along abandoned and underused rail lines. When the region’s leading fiscal watchdog says safe places to walk and bike are worth the investment, critics who call it waste should take note.
None of this is a liberal plot to take away anyone’s car. It’s about two things conservatives have always championed: freedom of choice and public safety. People should be free to choose how they get around, whether that’s driving, biking, walking or some mix, to save money on gas, to get some exercise, or to let their kids gain a little independence. But that choice only means something if every option is reasonably safe. Too often, it isn’t. A parent may hesitate to let a 12-year-old ride to school. A retiree may not be able to safely walk to the corner store. Someone who can’t afford a car, or can’t drive one, may be taking their life in their hands just crossing the street. Keeping people safe is among the most basic jobs of local government, and the right to get home alive shouldn’t depend on being encased in a car. Responsible spending, personal choice, public safety and strong families are supposed to be conservative values. Safe streets serve all four.
Maybe someone should show this to Sean Duffy, our current Secretary of Transportation, and tell him enough with the “DEI bike lane” crap.
And I say “current,” because no one seems to have job security in this administration, except for those who seem to least deserve it.
My colleague Lily Janiak, our San Francisco Chronicle theater critic who bikes to shows and everywhere else, coaxed me along like a mother duck, warning me about the risks of tires sticking in streetcar rails, getting “doored”, and even other cyclists. Struggling to remember it all, I felt certain I was going to die.
In the process, I’ve gotten healthier, spent less money and saved time cruising past traffic jams. But the results extend beyond all that (and the smugness that often comeswhen cyclists lecture about health, money and traffic). I’ve become a better journalist and a better community member. I may not live longer — did I mention that I bike in San Francisco? — but I’m definitely doing a better job working for you.
Unfortunately, the story is hidden behind the paper’s draconian paywall. But it’s worth finding your way around it if you can to give it a read.
Years ago, Maximilian Schnell left his job and his life in Paris and began a nomadic lifestyle on his bicycle. The road has given him freedom and adventure. And he has set himself grueling physical and mental challenges.
Perfect Road, a documentary from Danish directors and cousins Adam and Christian Bonke, follows him on an extreme journey through some of Europe’s highest mountain passes, while also providing a meditation on modern life and character study. For one, even in an age of digital nomads, Schnell’s lifestyle pushes the envelope. And then, his relationship with his partner Nina makes him question his life priorities.
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We’ve seen this video before, depicting a Slovakian mountain biker outrunning a bear, possibly without even knowing he was doing it.
In one of the most shameful episodes I’ve seen, a Quebec City family called off a planned ghost bike ceremony for their 11-year old son after receiving “hateful” messages; a member of the group Souliers et vélos fantômes Québec — Ghost Shoes and Bicycles Quebec — called the comments “wildly inappropriate.” Seriously, there’s not a pit deep enough for anyone who’d send something like that to parents whose child had just been killed, under any circumstances.
There’s a special place in hell for anyone who would crash into two six-year old kids as they’re riding their bikes in Half Moon Bay, and just drive off leaving them on the side of the road; 37-year old Robert Schumann faces multiple charges after cops used a drone to track him down as he bravely hid in the woods to avoid capture. Fortunately, the children are hospitalized in stable condition. Once again, however, you’ll have to work your war around yet another unproductive paywall.
National
Aussie pro cyclist Lachlan Morton succeeded in setting a new record for the old Pony Express route last week, beating the relay team that carried Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural address to California by nearly 12 hours, while covering the 1,966-mile route in 6 days, 21 hours and 15 minutes. Although Morton did have the advantage of paved roads, pneumatic tires and something slightly more aero than a horse.
A London writer who wisely chooses to remain anonymous justifies why they’ve ridden though roughly 40,000 red lights and have no plans to stop, although kindly choosing not to ride through red lights and crosswalks when pedestrians are present.
Two German men are retracing the route of China’s Long March by bicycle; the military maneuver by the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army became a defining chapter in modern Chinese history, leading to the defeat of the forces of Chiang Kai-shek in the Chinese Civil War.
Competitive Cycling
Former cycling scion Taylor Phinney finished eighth in the men’s individual pursuit at the 2026 UCI Track World Championships, while beating his personal best by a massive 11 seconds, nearly seven years after he retired from road racing. Although his wife Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney is still kicking ass on the women’s road circuit.
I hate to give up on this week, but after trying to respond to a few comments on here, I realize I’m just not up to looking at this screen for an extended period, and this ringing in my ears is driving me crazy.
One day, we’ll have a discussion about persistent post-concussive syndrome and the need for a helmet designed to prevent concussions. But we’ll save that until I’m feeling better.
In the meantime, have a good weekend, and get some good riding in. And I’ll see you next week.
I’m sorry, I truly am. But I have to put off our usual morning links for yet another day.
The good news is my migraine pain finally went away, but left me so dizzy that I’m only managing to avoid tossing my cookies through the marvels of modern pharmacology.
However, I want to alert you to yet another threat to the previously settled dispute over installing protected bike lanes on Fountain Ave.
In other words, sacrificing human lives for the sake of convenience. Evidently, the death of Blake Ackerman on Fountain Ave wasn’t enough for them.
Opponents of these bike lanes will undoubtedly come out in force, and will need to be met with an equal and opposite force of supporters demanding that the council stick with the already approved plans.
This is an all hands on deck situation. If you ride on Fountain Ave — or would if it wasn’t at the risk of your life — or live or work nearby, you owe it to yourself to attend the meeting, or contact the councilmembers in advance.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go lay down before my stomach overturns the medication keeping it in check.
My apologies. I’ve been battling a migraine that’s kept me flat on my back with my eyes closed for the past 48 hours. Hopefully we’ll be back tomorrow. If this doesn’t get better soon, I may go as the headless horseman for Halloween — and it won’t be a costume.
So maybe stay inland for a few days. Or if you ride near the coast, at least check your route for flood conditions and damage before you go, and turn back at the first sign of standing water. You don’t know what may or may not be hidden by the water, and salt water can be very harmful to your bike.
And to you, if a stray wave catches you.
Today’s photo depicts the most recent deadly crash on Forest Lawn, reportedly due to speeding.
Even though her own staff says it won’t do much to reduce speeding and improve safety. But it will keep her backers at Forest Lawn and Mount Sinai cemeteries happy, as they strive to keep the street dangerous and drive up business.
Yay, us.
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Life can be hard. Especially when sudden fame brings promises that no one keeps.
Despite never having ridden a bike before, and only 15 years old, she made the trip in just seven days in the middle of the lockdown, often riding on an empty stomach.
But sadly, her father died of a heart attack just a few months later.
Here’s how she explained the rest of the story to NPR, and what happened after the acclaim died out.
That was in 2020. “Now — life is hard,” Kumari told NPR.
What happened to all the promises made — for financial support, especially to support cycling as a competitive sport?
Many promises were not kept, she says.
“The politicians who made promises, saying they would give money for my sports or education — nobody actually gave anything,” she says. “Whatever reward money we collected back then [from individuals who extended help and a government award that came with a cash prize], we put it all into our house, rebuilding it. We had a brick house before, but it only had bare walls. Now we have completed it, added a toilet, a bathroom, and a running water connection. By doing all that, the house has finally become livable,” she says…
At the moment, her mother works as a cook. Her meager income supports Kumari and her three siblings at home (an older sister has married and moved out).
“There are days when we go to sleep hungry,” she says. “Our brother-in-law used to help us earlier, but now he also has a child, a wife and his father to take care of. He works a small job in the city — how much can he really do? So now he isn’t able to help us much.”
It’s worth taking a few minutes to read or listen to the story.
If nothing else, it’s a remind that as hard as life may seem at times, we’ve got it pretty good over here.
And that heroes and remarkable achievements are too often quickly forgotten.
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Over the weekend, I ran into Stephen Post, a candidate for the West Hollywood City Council, at Plummer Park.
And no, I didn’t hurt him. And yes, I should be more careful.
We didn’t really have time to chat, since my wife was anxious to leave, and the corgi had squirrel treed a few feet away, and was being very aggressive in her attempts to either a) climb the tree to get it, or b) bark it into submission.
However, I did discover Post is a multi-modal bike commuter who lives just a couple blocks from where Blake Ackerman was killed, and he’s a big supporter of the planned safety improvements on Fountain Ave, including protected bike lanes.
I’ll leave it to you to find out more about his positions on other issues. But we agreed it’s long past time for a new generation of leadership. And he seems like someone ready to take that next step into local governance.
So if you live in WeHo, check him out. And if you don’t, check him out anyway.
And to think I had a hard time just talking our dad into riding around the block with us. Then again, the racing bike he kept hanging on the garage wall was over 40 years old by then, and it was hard to get parts for a 1920s vintage road bike even back then.
No surprise here, at least not if you’ve been paying attention, as a new study from Johns Hopkins reconfirmed that narrowing traffic lanes does not result in more crashes, and makes streets safer for bike riders and pedestrians.
Hats off to Irish ultra-endurance cyclist Joe Barr, who is now the official Guinness World Record holder for biking the entire 2,448-mile length of Route 66 in 10 days, 6 hours and 27 minutes.
Um, okay. A 66-year old Connecticut priest says he felt like Moses in the desert on just the first day of a 350-mile ride through the Alps to raise funds for a Catholic school. Even though Moses spent 40 years wandering through that desert, and never did get where he was going.
New York is embarking on a ten-year safety review of the city’s streets, with an emphasis on improving condition for bicyclists and pedestrians. The difference between New York and Los Angeles is that when they conduct a safety study, they actually do something about it.
Wired examines how a tiny Vancouver-based startup studied head-banging woodpeckers to discover a new approach to skull protection, leading to the world’s safest bike helmet.
In response to a question from the Irish parliament, the country’s Minister for Justice says 1,368 bicyclists and 253 e-scooter riders were fined for running red lights since 2024 — and no, they didn’t note the number of drivers ticketed for the same offense, though a previous study showed drivers run more red lights than bike riders do. Maybe it’s just me, but that number actually seems pretty low for a country of five-and-a-half million people.
