Tag Archive for bike advocacy

SaMo councilor withdraws anti-bike lane motion, calling out knee-jerk anti-bike bias, and Subaru bats just 300 at missing bikes

June 15, 2023 / / One comment

It looks like the Santa Monica bike community won this one.

Streetsblog is reporting that SaMo City Councilmember Phil Brock pulled his motion calling for a report offering more options for the 17th Street protected bike lane and pedestrian improvement project, which isn’t even completely finished yet.

The site says he wanted to prevent the sort of fiasco we recently saw in Culver City, where a newly conservative council voted to remove the highly successful Move Culver City project from the downtown area.

Santa Monica councilmembers report being flooded with dueling email campaigns, with one calling for preserving the bikeway, while another from residents of the Mid-City neighborhood called for its removal.

But for a change, more emails came from predominantly younger bicycle and pedestrian safety advocates, than from the more conservative — and presumably older — neighborhood activists.

So pat yourself on the back.

Even though the councilmember now says he never really wanted to radically alter or remove aspects of the project.

Good to know.

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Boy, does she get it.

In an op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle, a carfree former emergency room nurse, semiretired professor and septuagenarian bicyclist writes about the knee-jerk hatred of people on bicycles, both online and in what passes for the real world these days.

The next time you are tempted to pile on to such a discussion about bicyclists, ask yourself if you are doing so because you consciously or unconsciously resent them — for taking up space on the roads, for slowing you down in your car, for seemingly being so free while you are stuck in car traffic. And if so, stop and ask yourself if you can re-envision them in a non-stereotyped way: as your own kids, grandmothers, parents or other people who are placed at risk by negative comments. Your words have the power to reinforce hurtful stereotypes or to reshape perceptions.

Ultimately, hate of bicyclists comes from the same place as racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia: a desire to cling to the status quo power arrangements that favor some over others. As the bicycle becomes re-popularized as a legitimate form of transportation, there are inevitably more conflicts with those who continually and mindlessly assert that “streets are for cars.” But just as gay people are no longer willing to stay in the closet, nor women in the kitchen, bicyclists are no longer willing to settle for crumbs in terms of use of our public roadways.

It’s more than worth reading the whole thing.

Although you’ll have to find a way past the paper’s draconian paywall to do it.

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The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says Subaru’s EyeSight crash avoidance system shows promise, reducing crashes with drivers traveling parallel to bicycles by 30 percent.

However, it only showed a modest benefit in other types of crashes, which earlier versions — like the ones tested — weren’t designed to detect.

Although that means it failed in 70% of crashes, which may be a good record in baseball, but not so much in real life when it’s your ass that’s on the line.

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A co-working site cites Boston and Newark, New Jersey as the best cities in the US to live without a car, followed by New York, DC and San Francisco.

That’s followed by 15 other cities, none of which is Los Angeles, unsurprisingly.

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Apparently, Los Angeles County, which is responsible for maintaining the beachfront Marvin Braude Bike Trail, has once again allowed it to become overrun with sand.

And is apparently allowing it to stay that way, rather than promptly clearing it.

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

No bias here. A Wyoming police chief blames bike riders for most crashes with motor vehicles, claiming bicyclists have a misconception that they aren’t expected to obey the same traffic laws as motorists — even though the department doesn’t track bicycle crashes, so he’s really just guessing who’s actually at fault.

No bias here, either. English residents complain that “unsightly” bike hangers don’t get used, then complain when they do.

In an apparent attempt to thin the herd, Edinburgh officials say two-way street markings on a Low Traffic Neighborhood, the UK’s equivalent of our Slow Streets, will remain in place, even though they direct bike riders directly into oncoming motor vehicle traffic on the one-way street.

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

Adding insult to literal injury, an Edinburgh bike rider was convicted of dangerous bicycling after he ran a red light and was struck by a motorist.

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Local 

The popular Ballona Creek bike path will be closed for maintenance through 3 pm today, from Duquesne Ave to Jackson Ave. Or vice versa, depending on which way you’re traveling.

 

State

San Francisco Streetsblog says the city’s Hyde Street bike lane project is garbage, suggesting the “info-free outreach and terrible designs” demonstrate how little the city’s transit agency really cares about bicycle safety.

A Chico mom worries about whether she should send her kids to school on their bikes using dangerous major streets, or ride bike paths through homeless camps where she would feel unsafe.

 

National

GearJunkie has tips on how to buy a used ebike, whether online or in person.

A German brand has introduced a sturdy and capacious, but relatively pricey, e-cargo bike, with prices rising to seven grand for a belt-drive version; meanwhile, another German bikemaker is offering a more compact e-cargo bike for over two grand less.

PinkBike editors demonstrate the bike park protective gear they actually wear.

Speaking of protective gear, Bell Sports is recalling their “Giro” Merit helmets because they don’t comply with CPSC safety standards, and could pose a risk of head injury. Which kind of defeats the purpose of a bike helmet in the first place. 

A flight website offers tips on how to fly with your bicycle, complete with a table of major airlines’ policies. Which is not the same as flying on your bicycle, which usually happens if you hit a bump or something bumps into you. 

A “semi-new” Oregon explorer offers advice on overnight bike touring and bikepacking.

That crowdfunding campaign we mentioned last week to buy a new ebike for a popular carfree, 78-year old Longmont, Colorado man after his new one was stolen has topped the $3,500 goal, which means he’ll soon be riding again.

Missoula, Montana residents are resorting to a letter-writing campaign just to get the state transportation department to fund a study of a dangerous street, in hopes it will lead to safety improvements.

Good news from Chicago, where Streetsblog editor John Greenfield is on the mend, two months after he was placed in a medically induced coma with major head trauma, as well as several broken ribs and a broken clavicle, after he was struck by a plastic pipe sticking out from a passing truck while riding his bike on the sidewalk.

A Minnesota writer wonders whether we’ll ever have a European-style bike culture in the US, in which bikes are integrated into residents lives, rather than being considered exercise or an activity.

Vermont has opened its first fully adaptive mountain bike trails offering open accessibility to all trail users, able-bodied or otherwise. Read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

 

International

Momentum Magazine considers bike buses, calling them a global trend in active school transportation.

That’s more like it. Vancouver will offer a secure bike valet service for the downtown area. That contrasts with Downtown Los Angeles, where police warn your bike may not be there when you get back.

This is who we share the road with. After a 16-year old British bike rider was run down by a female hit-and-run driver while riding in a bike lane, the boy’s mother accused her of watching Netflix as she was driving; fortunately, the victim wasn’t badly injured.

This is who we share the road with, too. Video from the UK shows impatient drivers zooming down the wrong side of the road, on a street where three bicyclists have been killed in recent years. Then again, maybe they were just visiting Americans unable to comprehend the country’s left-side driving rules.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website considers the role of big data in shaping bicycle friendly cities.

 

Competitive Cycling

Women’s WorldTour cyclists condemn organizers of the Tour Féminin des Pyrénées, which was cancelled when riders protested dangerous conditions on the final stage, after they referred to pro riders as “girls” and “spoiled children” for cancelling the tour.

 

Finally…

If you’re making off with a stolen bike, maybe try stopping for the stop signs. And thank a 17th century mathematician and scientist for your air pressure gauge.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Guns versus cars, NIMBYs want to ban beach bike bridge in park named for late bike advocate, and SaMo anti-bike bias

May 8, 2023 / / Comments Off on Guns versus cars, NIMBYs want to ban beach bike bridge in park named for late bike advocate, and SaMo anti-bike bias

Thank you everyone for the kind comments. I can’t begin to tell you how much it means to me. 

I’d like to say I’m better now, but my blood sugar is still more reminiscent of a ballistic missile than a placid stream. And my mental state is still swirling around the drain, in part due to my health issues, and in part due too many stories like the ones below. 

The former should get a boost when I see my doctor this week, and impress on her the need for more urgent and aggressive action; the latter should improve once the former does.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t count on the health of our streets getting better anytime soon. Or our society, for that matter.

Now let’s catch up on a little news. 

I’ve lost track of who sent me what over the last week, so let me just apologize in advance and thank everyone who sent me something.

And I’ll try to do better next time. 

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This is who we share the road with.

On Saturday, an alleged rightwing extremist stepped out of a car in Allen, Texas armed with an AR-15 and opened fire, killing eight people and injuring at least seven others, before he was killed by a police officer.

The next day, a speeding driver plowed into a crowd of migrants standing outside a homeless shelter in Brownsville, Texas, killing eight people and injuring at least eleven others, in a crash witnesses allege was intentional.

If there is a difference between these two events, it appears to be one without distinction.

The body count is remarkably similar; the only difference is the choice of weapon, and the only question is one of intent. Which something tells me matters not one wit to the victims or their loved ones.

We will continue to fail as a nation, and a society, until we take comprehensive action to rein in guns and cars, and the out-of-control people in possession of both.

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George Wolfberg, right, talks with LA County’s Kristofor Norberg.

I received an email from a friend who lives in the Pacific Palisades area while I was out of commission last week.

She writes that a new park in Potrero Canyon has been named after our mutual friend George Wolfberg, a lifelong civic advocate and volunteer who fought for better beach bike paths, bike lanes and other safety facilities to help Angelenos bike more and drive less, both for cleaner air and to combat climate change, and just for the sheer joy of riding a bike.

George worked on what will now be known as George Wolfberg Park at Potrero Canyon for over 30 years, part of his larger vision of an interconnected Los Angeles.

What he envisioned was a park that would be open to all of the public, an oasis for recreation and beauty, in a fully sustainable environment of coastal native plants, while a restored riparian water capture system would protect the canyon.

Sadly, though, George didn’t live to see the park he worked for decades to build, passing away three years ago at age 82.

And taking nearly eight decades of civic pride and advocacy with him.

But more than just a park, George envisioned a bikeway that would safely allow average people to ride from downtown Pacific Palisades, through the park and across a bridge to the beach, as well as connecting to the bike path to take riders south to the Metro Expo (E) Line in Santa Monica, or even further to Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and Palos Verdes.

The final step seemed to be when Senator Ben Allen and others earmarked $11 million for the bridge and bikeway,

But as we’ve seen too often in the past, someone always seems to step in at the last minute to throw a wrench in the whole thing.

In this case, it’s a group of wealthy NIMBY homeowners who bizarrely don’t want bikes of any kind to besmirch a park honoring a lifelong bike advocate.

Here’s how she described it.

HOWEVER, there is a group of homeowners in the Palisades with homes on or near the rim of the park who have been very vocal about not wanting any bicycles or any type or e-bikes to be allowed in the park (which goes against what the community came to agreement upon years ago). They are making a lot of noise and asking to return the funds and cancel the bridge.

  • Even though the Coastal Development Permit for the Potrero Canyon Park requires access to the beach;
  • The Recreation and Park Board of Commissioners’ approval for the George Wolfberg Park at Potrero Canyon envisions a bridge access across PCH to the beach parking lot;
  • A bridge would provide safe passage across PCH rather than the danger of people trying to cross through the traffic on foot;
  • The bridge is also something that Caltrans supports (and it does not support adding a crosswalk or light at that location).

Yes, they want to cancel an already funded, and potentially life-saving, bike project.

Where have we heard that before?

But here’s the problem.

Because it was assumed that this was moving forward and funds were set aside, elected officials are only hearing from people opposed to the project, and not from anyone advocating FOR the bridge.

To complicate matters, supporters of the project only learned about the opposition last Wednesday, while the vote is set for this Wednesday, May 10.

Which means if you want a bike path and connectivity to the beach via a safe bridge over PCH, you need to speak up now.

No, now.

Email your support to the following California state senators today —

I’m counting on you.

Because banishing bikes from a park named for one of their biggest advocates would be this city’s ultimate bike fail.

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Speaking of NIMBYs, a group of motorists are once again raising their anti-bike heads to demand the removal of a SoCal bikeway, this time Santa Monica’s new 17th Street bikeway project.

And once again, they are arguing that a Complete Streets project designed to improve safety for everyone somehow makes them less safe for people in motor vehicles.

Which is just a socially acceptable way of saying they don’t want to be inconvenienced, and are willing to risk sacrificing human lives for their God-given right to go zoom! zoom! to their hearts content.

You can sign a free petition thanking the Santa Monica City Council and Mobility Division for the project, and expressing your appreciation for their work to make our streets safer.

Meanwhile, a new video explains how Santa Monica is turning into Amsterdam. And as you’d expect, drawing more people on bikes.

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Streetsblog spots new and improved bike infrastructure in Silver Lake, after motorists managed to destructively dismantle the previous effort.

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Streets For All will host a virtual happy hour with special guest CD1 Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez on Wednesday.

After all, anyone who could get “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo off the city council deserves all the support she can get.

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Mark your calendars for SoCal’s largest Pride ride on June 3rd.

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Speaking of Culver City, drop in for a Bike Month Handlebar Happy Hour this Friday.

https://twitter.com/Atticuz85/status/1653991731980034049

Meanwhile, LA’s Bike Week is next week, while Bike Day — formerly known as Bike to Work Day — will be Thursday, May 18th; Streetsblog offers an overview of Bike Month in Los Angeles and Long Beach.

And Santa Clarita is hosting its annual Bike to Work Challenge next week, as well.

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Gravel Bike California grinds it out in the Cleveland National Forest. Which, oddly, is nowhere near Cleveland, thankfully.

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Count on former Talking Heads frontman and bike advocate David Byrne to make a statement in white at the Met Gala.

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God only knows how many times I’ve been tempted to do exactly this.

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Who needs bike shorts, when you can just ride naked like Aquaman star Jason Momoa?

Although most bike riders don’t have that little bottle to follow us around.

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

Good question. A Montana writer wants to know when bicycle safety became a partisan issue.

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

There’s a special place in hell for the British hit-and-run bicyclist who left a two-year old boy lying in the street, after hitting him hard enough to knock the kid out of his shoes.

A Nairobi man faces charges after he was stopped while riding the bicycle he allegedly stole during a violent robbery of the bike’s original owner; his alleged accomplices are still at large.

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Local 

LA Times Letters Editor Paul Thornton writes about the whiplash of Culver City caving to car culture, while other cities, like Alhambra, are resisting it; he also said Culver City’s ill-advised move made it a horrible week for ‘climate friendly’ cities. 

LAist explains how you can get involved in reshaping the size and structure of the Los Angeles City Council.

 

State

Calbike is asking you to email the California State Senate and the Senate Budget Committee to demand that California policymakers to “divest from regressive road-building” and invest $10 billion in Complete Streets and California’s transportation future. Works for me.

California saw a whopping 10% increase in pedestrian deaths last year, with a pedestrian fatality rate of 1.29 deaths per 100,000 people — a full 25% above the national average.

This is who we share the road with, too. A Corona man was found guilty of killing three teenagers, and critically injuring three others, when he ran their car off the road and into a tree, for the crime of playing Ding Dong Ditch and speeding off after mooning him.

The executive director of Bike SD says San Diego’s decision to widen SR-56 simply prioritizes short-term convenience over long-term sustainability.

San Diego’s Vision Zero is going the wrong way, as bicycling and pedestrian deaths spike on the city’s streets.

Arguello Boulevard in San Francisco’s Presidio will get a protected bike lane, after world masters champ Ethan Boyes was killed there last month. Although as usual, the decision to improve a dangerous street only came after it was too late. 

Hundreds of people rode their bikes in the annual Davis Loopalooza, as residents tried to reclaim their city in the wake of a serial stabber who killed two people, including one who was killed as he rode his bike through a local park.

 

National

If your favorite cyclist or bike advocate now has a blue check on Twitter, there’s a good chance they didn’t ask for it, let alone want it.

American men are three times more likely to ride a bike as American women, unlike many other countries.

Pinkbike’s editors explain what bike saddles they use on their own bikes and why.

A Spokane, Washington woman is — allegedly — a two-time hit-and-run loser, charged with killing two people after getting drunk and falling asleep behind the wheel, a decade after she was convicted of fleeing the scene after killing a bike rider. Which is precisely why drivers should lose their license for life after a single hit-and-run, because they’ve shown themselves to be unwilling to obey even the most basic requirement for driving. Let alone human decency. 

The definition of chutzpah. An Arizona driver, apparently dissatisfied with the gentle caress on the wrist he received for the hit-and-run crash that killed a bike rider, appealed his conviction and sentence of less than six months behind bars and five years probation; thankfully, the appeals court politely told him to pipe down and do his time.

A Salt Lake City TV station takes advantage of Yellowstone’s annual carfree soft-opening for a bike ride through the snowy Wyoming national park.

A Pittsburgh columnist argues the city should commit to zero traffic deaths by 2035. Although as we’ve learned the hard way, it’s one thing to commit to no traffic deaths, but it’s another to get elected leaders to actually invest the money and make the hard choices to make it happen.

If you build it they will come. No surprise here, as a controversial Staten Island lane reduction and bike lanes is seeing more two-wheel traffic as the weather warms.

There’s something wrong when a longtime advocate for bikes and improving New York’s deadly streets becomes a victim of them.

New York’s annual Five Boro Bike Tour brought 32,000 bike riders out for a 40-mile carfree ride through the city.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. The Washington Post looks at DC’s failure to rein in dangerous drivers, as one motorist manages to run up $186,000 in unpaid traffic fines. Just one more example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the streets until its too late.

WaPo also examines the dirty underbelly of “clean” electric vehicles, and explains why free street parking could cost you thousands more in rent.

 

International

Tragic news from the UK, where former track champ and Tour of Britain director Tony Doyle died after a brief battle with cancer; he was just 64.

An Irish columnist feels unsafe on the street after arriving at her office, then returns to find her bike missing.

They get it. France will spend the equivalent of $2.21 billion to boost bicycle use over the next five years.

More proof you can carry anything on a bicycle, as a Pakistani photographer catches a street vendor with his bike overloaded with garlic.

That’s more like it. A Johannesburg taxi driver has been sentenced to eight years behind bars for the drunken crash that killed a bike rider, after driving nearly one thousand feet — more than three football fields — with the victim trapped under his van.

 

Competitive Cycling

The home side was victorious in Sunday’s stage 2 of the Giro, as Italy’s Jonathan Milan took the day, and reigning world champ Remco Evenepoel held onto the leader’s jersey.

Dutch cyclist Martijn Tusveld survived a dramatic crash late in Sunday’s stage 2, but his bike didn’t, snapping in two when he was sent flying into a roadside barrier.

Cycling Weekly profiles four-time world champ Annemiek van Vleuten, saying Remco Evenepoel isn’t the only former soccer player to win the cycling worlds.

Conservative media was up in arms over a “biological man” winning the women’s Tour of the Gila, saying it renewed calls to ban trans women from competitive cycling. Which would only seem to matter if you ignore all the other times a trans woman didn’t win.

An Ohio woman finished the 2022 Race Across America, aka RAAM, in 11 months and seven days, completing the final 262 miles ten months after a crash into a wooden bridge left her with a broken hip.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you visit a Marin bike museum, and find your mother’s seatless bike on display. Your next bike could have brake levers poking out of the handlebars, even before you crash it.

And fortunately, this helped mitigate the trauma caused when Britain’s new figurehead not only failed to include a regiment of royal corgis in the coronation parade, but didn’t even his loyal four-foot soldiers a shoutout.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Support bike advocacy on Giving Tuesday, Metro rescinds disguised rate increase, and new bike lanes in CD1 at last

November 29, 2022 / / 5 comments

Happy Giving Tuesday!

It’s the day you give your hard-earned money to help one or more deserving organizations do some good in the world. 

We listed a handful of local organizations that deserve your support yesterday, like CicLAvia, Streets For All and LA’s legendary Bicycle Kitchen.

Other deserving LA and California bike groups include Calbike, Streetsblog, BikeLA (formerly the LACBC), SAFE and Walk ‘n Rollers. 

Then if there’s anything left under your sofa cushions, it’s also Day 5 of the 8th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive.

So let’s give a special thanks to Andrew G, David R, Eric L and SAFE for their generous donations yesterday to keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

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Apparently, they heard us.

After transit users and advocacy groups rose up against Metro’s proposed new rate structure, which was presented as a “simplification” but would have resulted in a disguised rate increase for many riders, the LA County transit agency backed down.

Metro is now keeping the existing $1.75 fares and free transfers, while capping daily fares for multiple rides at $5, with an $18 weekly cap.

Which should work better for everyone.

While we’re on the subject, Metro is recruiting members for the agency’s Public Safety Advisory Committee.

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It looks like LADOT is getting a jump on “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo leaving office.

After nine years of blocking most, if not all, bike infrastructure in LA’s CD1, new bike lanes are beginning to appear on the streets of long-neglected Lincoln Heights now that Cedillo has lost his bid for a third and final term, with incoming Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez set to take office in two weeks.

Let’s hope it’s just the first of many, starting with deadly North Figueroa.

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Apparently, it is possible to build a bike lane that’s actually protected from motor vehicles, without relying on those little car-tickler plastic bendy posts.

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Speaking of Walk ‘n Rollers, the Culver City-based kids bike safety and education group is hosting a fundraising donut ride this Saturday.

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And speaking of CicLAvia, you can chase your donuts with America’s largest open streets event as it rolls through South LA on Sunday.

Fingers crossed that it doesn’t rain, though.

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‘Tis the season.

Seventy-five students in a Colorado elementary school were surprised with new bicycles thanks to a local nonprofit, after the kids watched a performance by a retired BMX stunt rider.

Hundreds of 3rd graders at a pair of Greenville NC elementary schools got new bikes, thanks to the Poway, California-based Bikes for Kids Foundation.

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

A Michigan judge faces a judicial ethics complaint after falsely accusing a bike shop owner of a racist assault after she demanded for a discount due to a problem with one of the bicycles; security video showed she was the one who actually assaulted the bike shop owner.

No bias here. Bike riders in Winnipeg, Manitoba were warned not to clear snow from city bike lanes or risk a fine, even if the city doesn’t do it.

A Toronto roadway vigilante asks if he was wrong to honk at a bike rider who started off from a red light during the Leading Pedestrian Interval, saying he’s tires of bicyclists making up their own rules; a columnist politely points out that there are too many traffic infractions at every intersection to enforce every one, and it ain’t his job anyway. Correction: I originally wrote that California bike riders are allowed to proceed along with the walk signal, in advance of the green light; however, Bryan J Blumberg explains that the rule won’t take effect until 2024. 

No bias here, either. London cops took a bike rider to task for swearing after they parked their unmarked car in bike lane, forcing the rider into the street — even though bicyclists are required to used the bike lane, and even though he had no idea they were cops. The Metro police later apologized, admitting the cops were wrong.

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

The FBI is continuing to search for a 38-year old armed robber, despite removing him from Ten Most Wanted list 18 years after he allegedly shot a 24-year-old armored-car guard five times in the head, then fled on a mountain bike with $56,000 in cash.

Students at England’s Cambridge University have a tradition of ignoring the university’s one-way traffic regulations, according to a university fellow.

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Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State 

Calbike offers suggestions on how young people can get started in advocacy to get more people riding bicycles.

More bad news this week, as a 71-year old man suffered critical injuries when he was struck by a driver while riding in Rancho Santa Margarita.

Oakland is moving ahead with a $295 million package of infrastructure improvements between the city’s Jack London Square and a proposed new stadium at the port, including a bike path, regardless of whether it actually gets built.

 

National

VeloNews examines whether MIPS bike helmets really prevent traumatic brain injuries, as the manufacturers claim. However, you’ll have to sign up for a free account to read the story.

Bicycling looks at the problem of ever-shrinking passing zones, as bike lanes have failed to keep up with larger private vehicles — let alone vehicle sizes that force bike riders who don’t take the full lane even further into the door zone. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Bike Portland takes an early look at Oregon’s proposed ebike rebate program, which would offer up to $1,200 to purchase a standard ebike, or up to $1,700 for a cargo ebike. Although that could change as the bill moves forward.

Utah has suffered a 30 year high in bicycling fatalities; 15 people have been killed riding bikes in the state this year, with over a month to go.

Once again, authorities have managed to keep a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late. A Utah man faces up to 20 years behind bars after pleading guilty in the drunken crash that killed a 13-year old boy riding his bike in a crosswalk; he was still on the road despite three previous DUI convictions, as well as violating court-imposed alcohol restrictions.

A sitting judge, who was the co-founder of the nonprofit Bicycle Coalition of New Mexico, was killed by her husband in murder suicide; he also shot a number of their pets before taking his own life.

A defendant in Colorado’s Operation Vicious Cycle bike theft scheme agreed to a plea deal of three years behind bars, followed by another three years of probation; seven other defendants are also accused of stealing high-end bikes from Denver-area bike shops for resale in a Mexican bike shop.

Good news, as Christian singer Amy Grant returned to a Memphis stage for the first time since she suffered a traumatic brain injury hitting a pothole on her bike in August; she was reportedly unconscious for up to 15 minutes following her fall. And yes, she was wearing a helmet.

New York’s fire department will require landlords to post a notice warning about the risk of ebike and e-scooter battery fires when charging them indoors.

Prosecutors in North Carolina have charged a driver with killing an Asheville man riding a bicycle, even though the driver played the Universal Get Out of Jail Free card by claiming he just didn’t see him; police say the area was well lighted, so the driver should have seen the victim in time to avoid the crash.

 

International

Road.cc asks its readers what’s the scariest thing that’s happened to them on a bike that didn’t involve a driver, with responses ranging from rampaging cows to exploding rims. In my case, it was probably when a log resting on a Louisiana roadway started moving when I rode closer, and snapped his alligator jaws at me as I swerved around it.

A writer for We Love Cycling makes the case for why requiring registration plates for bicycles doesn’t make sense.

A Japanese writer takes on the new rinko trend, defined as taking a folding bicycle on a train to explore your destination at the other end.

 

Competitive Cycling

A British man has been sidelined in advance of this week’s Cyclocross Masters World Championships after someone broke into his home and stole his bikes.

 

Finally…

Build your own DIY bicycle turn signals and brake light. Your next ebike could be your caddie, although it probably sucks at selecting the right club.

And presenting the answer for everyone who ever wanted to pedal through the library.

Or in it, anyway.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Tamika Butler moves to LA’s Toole Design, suspect busted in Hyperion hit-and-run, and LA SciFi Bike

January 17, 2019 / / One comment

She’s back.

After stepping away from local bike advocacy for a few years, Tamika Butler is stepping back onto the field.

The former head of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition is taking a position as Director of Planning, California, and Director of Equity and Inclusion for Toole Design Group, working out of their Los Angeles office.

This is how the company announced the hire.

A civil rights attorney with a diverse background in law, nonprofit leadership, and community engagement, Tamika brings a unique perspective to the intersection of transportation, inequality, community, and shared values. Formerly the executive director of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, Tamika helped the LACBC shift its advocacy platform to include and incorporate the voices of communities of color, LGBTQ communities, and young people into its work improving active transportation in Los Angeles County. Her three-year tenure leading the LACBC brought numerous advocacy wins and earned the organization national attention for its work on ensuring that bicycle planning and programs across Los Angeles County includes and acknowledges its community members’ values and lived experiences.

In addition to her responsibilities on planning projects, Tamika will also lead Toole Design’s internal efforts to become a more diverse, inclusive workplace that employs people of all backgrounds. This includes collaborating with Human Resources on recruiting and hiring practices, leading trainings for staff, and serving as a resource for colleagues across the country.

Let’s hope they know what they’re getting into.

During her too-brief stay with the LACBC, Butler quickly rose to national prominence as a public speaker and community leader, challenging the predominately white world of bike advocacy to broaden its horizons and refocus its efforts on creating genuine equity on our streets. A role she continued after she left the coalition.

As the above link shows, she’s not one to pull her punches, which has led to inevitable pushback, and sometimes anger, from those she challenges.

But she’s opened far more eyes, and caused countless people in and out of the advocacy world to rethink their approaches to communities of color.

Myself included.

I’d say I hope Toole allows her to keep up her fight for inclusiveness. But knowing Tamika, from my own time with the LACBC, I doubt she would have taken the job if they had restricted her voice in any way.

So let’s welcome her back.

And look forward to many more years of speaking truth to power, and challenging us all.

………

A suspect has been arrested in the hit-and-run death of a mother who was gathering recyclables on Hyperion Ave to pay for her daughter’s college tuition.

Meanwhile, a crowdfunding page in her honor has already raised nearly $4,000 over the $15,000 goal.

I’m told that community members reached out to LADOT and Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell’s office over two years ago to request safety improvements to the intersection where she died, but never got a response.

Let alone any action.

Which sadly shouldn’t surprise anyone.

………

Your next bike could have levers instead of pedals.

A new Kickstarter campaign from an LA-based inventor promises to let you ride more efficiently with less effort. And on a very cool, if very strange, SciFi-looking frame.

All for the low, low price of $3,600 for just the frame and drive system; all the other components — wheels, seat, handlebars, etc — are on you.

Although so far, it’s raised just $211 of the $347,000 goal, with 28 days to go.

………

Local

The LACBC’s next Sunday Funday Ride will take a tour of historic San Fernando and Pacoima on February 3rd, for anyone who’d rather ride than watch the Super Bowl pregame. Which should be just about everyone, unless the Rams win on Sunday.

London’s Evening Standard offers what they call the ultimate feel good guide to Los Angeles — as long as Los Angeles doesn’t extend much beyond the Westside. But at least they recommend renting a bike and riding the beachfront Marvin Braude bike path.

Culver City will hold a ribbon cutting next Friday for segment 7 of the Park to Playa Trail, a 13-mile regional trail connecting Baldwin Hills to the Pacific Ocean.

State

A proposal in the state legislature would eliminate the need for duplicate federal and state environmental reviews for roadways, bikeways and pedestrian projects, reducing costs and speeding the approval process.

Encinitas may cut the speed limit on the Coast Highway from 35 mph to 30, in advance of construction on new bike lanes and sidewalks.

Perhaps making up for the demise of Interbike, the opening day of the inaugural CABDA West bike expo in Del Mar drew 1,200 retailers, mostly from Southern California.

Robert Leone forwards this story about the UC San Diego fencing team deciding to wear helmets any time they bike or skateboard, noting that fencing was one of the first sports to require helmets. Then again, they also have swords, which should help immensely in slicing through traffic or cutting across campus.

A San Diego man is asking for the public’s help in identifying the thief who stole the bicycle he was using to recover from injuries suffered in a motorcycle crash. On the other hand, that’s about what you can expect when you leave an unlocked bike on your front porch.

A Canadian writer goes mountain biking at SkyPark at Santa’s Village near Lake Arrowhead.

A year in, not everyone in Santa Cruz is happy with Jump’s dockless ebike program.

A new San Francisco bike brand can be ordered online and built up for whatever kind of riding you want, from gravel to touring. And then a local bike shop or mechanic will put it together for you.

National

Nothing like a DARPA designed foldie for the next time you need to jump out of a plane and hit the ground rolling.

This is why you shouldn’t fight with a bike thief. An Albuquerque man was fatally shot after struggling with a man who tried to take his bike as he waited for a bus. Seriously, just let it go. No bike is worth your life.

The company behind the late, lamented Interbike trade show floats a trial balloon, saying they could combine a bike trade show with Denver’s Outdoor Retailer shows.

Bicycling injuries and fatalities spiked in Dallas last year; a local magazine blames the introduction of bikeshare on streets without bike lanes. Although as others have told me, correlation does not equal causation; blaming bikeshare is meaningless until we know how many of those deaths and injuries happened to bikeshare riders.

A Boston area bicyclist and former selectman says bike lanes would be great, but they’re a luxury until the crappy pavement is fixed.

Bicycling says Whoopie couldn’t be more wrong about bike lanes, and the one she complained about on The View doesn’t even exist. She didn’t seem any calmer the next day, either. Meanwhile, a writer for Denver Streetsblog says he still loves Whoopie, even though she hates bikes.

A Philadelphia councilmember wants to know if e-scooters are good for black neighborhoods not served by the city’s bikeshare system. Although a better option would be a bikeshare system that serves everyone.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is in a wheelchair as she recovers from a broken hip socket and pelvis suffered in a recent bike crash.

Orlando FL follows Santa Monica’s lead, and installs parking boxes where dockless bikeshare ebikes can be left and picked up without blocking sidewalks. Los Angeles, not so much.

Good Samaritans use a floor jack to rescue a Florida bike rider after he was run over by a pickup driver and trapped under the truck.

International

Road.cc considers 15 things they say every cyclist loves. Which, of course, not everyone does.

Bicycling as a moving meditation to keep you grounded. I’ve long considered riding a bicycle a form of meditation, and the only place I’ve ever experienced the Zen state of satori.

A UK columnist says bicyclists should have properly policed, protected bike lanes, and drivers should have to retake their driver’s test every seven years.

A British man faces serious charges after he was busted for the hit-and-run bike crash that left a 70-year old woman with life-changing injuries.

A bike-riding Brit hit man has been convicted of two murders, tied to the crimes by his fitness tracker. Note to the wise: If you plan to kill anyone, leave the Apple Watch and Fitbit behind.

Only in Ireland would a story on bike safety begin by quoting George Orwell and the poet Philip Larkin.

No bias here. A former Irish mayor describes bicyclists as “vicious.”

You can now legally use your e-scooters and hoverboards in Denmark’s bike lanes.

A New Zealand driver slammed into a group of bicyclists riding home from a race, hitting two directly, while several others fell like dominos; fortunately, none of the victims were seriously injured. And do we really need to say the driver kept going without stopping?

An Aussie news site offers tips on what kind of bike you should get.

Complaints about bikeshare were up 450% in Shanghai last year, making up nearly 20% of all complaints the city received.

Also in Shanghai, a man got a month in detention for running down a bike rider while still drunk from the night before.

Competitive Cycling

The Amgen Tour of California releases this year’s designs for the leader’s jerseys.

Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss says drug testing a 90-year old cyclist is just going too damn far.

Finally…

Yes, it may wrap around your waist and sit on your hip, but don’t call it a fanny pack. The key to preventing bike theft is finding a safe place to park it.

And Lance Armstrong, venture capitalist.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Bikeshare safer than cycling, challenging LA’s stupidest bike lane, and re-striping Washington Blvd

April 3, 2016 / / 2 comments

It was a busy weekend in the bike world.

So get comfortable. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.

………

Evidently, bikeshare is safer than other forms of bicycling.

According to a new study, not one person has been killed while using a bikeshare bike anywhere in the US, with over 35 million rides in at least 94 systems.

And despite the overwhelming lack of helmet use.

That compares with an estimated fatality rate of 21 deaths per 100 million bicycling trips. Which means statistically, we could have expected at least seven bikeshare deaths so far. And there hasn’t been.

Among other factors, the study credits the heavy, slow bikes typical of bikeshare, and the fact that bikeshare trips are usually taken in urban areas where traffic tends to move slower.

Though there are exceptions.

My take is that in addition to being heavy, most bikeshare bikes are made with a step-through design, which makes them easy to jump off of in the event of danger or a fall.

Hopefully that track record will continue as bikeshare begins to spread through the LA area.

……….

Maybe we need a tape measure.

Streetsblog discovers a one-block long bike lane in Pleasanton that they say may be the shortest bike lane in California; a city official admits that yes, it’s short, but it’s a little better than nothing.

Don’t send the trophy up to the Bay Area yet, though.

It was just eight years ago when Slate declared a one-block long bike lane on Galey in Westwood the Stupidest Bike Lane in America.

A title it should hold on to, even if Pleasanton’s measures out a little shorter.

………

My spies tell me the lane markers have all been stripped out on Washington Blvd between the Marina and Sepulveda Blvd, apparently so the lanes can be realigned, with the existing bike lanes extended all the way to Sepulveda.

Let’s hope the lanes are being moved to make room for a buffer. Or better yet, protected lanes.

After all, the new protected lanes on Venice look pretty comfy. Maybe once LA drivers get used to the ide, we can turn those bollards into planters.

Thanks to Margaret for the tip.

………

bikesbelongposterIn a piece that should be mandatory reading for everyone in the bicycle industry, British bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid says if bike makers and sellers want the bicycle market to grow, spending on advocacy is an investment, not an expense.

Many of the current crop of unpaid promoters of our products are burning the candle at both ends, working tirelessly in their free time to get more people on bicycles. With substantial financial and moral support these advocates could truly work wonders. It’s shocking, really, that the industry stays largely aloof from such a passionate and committed volunteer army. (Bikes Belong in the US, and the Cycling Industry Club initiative from the European Cyclists’ Federation are stand-out examples of how the worlds of advocacy and the industry can meet in the middle.)

………

April Fools Day came and went. And as usual, it didn’t leave the bike world out.

Streetsblog says LA’s Great Streets will now be named after the councilmembers whose districts they’re in, which means Koretz and Cedillo will have their names permanently attached to failed streets they’ve made. We could only wish that one was true.

West Hollywood comes up with a brilliant name for their coming bikeshare system — Bikey McBikeface.

Cyclocross Magazine says the 19-year old Belgian motor-doper is making a comeback at the Sea Otter Classic’s e-mountain bike race.

How about a bike helmet that doubles as a pour-over coffee maker?

And Google launches a self-driving bicycle in the Netherlands. Although that may not be as much of a joke as they seem to think.

………

Lots of news from the racing world this weekend.

Slovakian pro Peter Sagan won Belgian’s Tour of Flanders on Sunday, overcoming a string of second-place finishes to claim his first Monument.

Meanwhile, a team mechanic became the latest person to be struck by a race vehicle when he was run down by an Etixx-QuickStep team car; no word on whether he was injured.

A writer for the Guardian says the death of Belgian pro cyclist Antoine Demoitié in a collision with a race moto — 66 years after a French rider suffered the same fate — should be a wake-up call for pro cycling’s overly crowded races. This crap is going to continue until race vehicles are required to remain behind the peloton. If a rider suffers a mechanical, he — or she — can wait until the peloton has passed, or just fix himself like the great riders of the past.

British world champ Lizzie Armitstead won the women’s Tour of Flanders in a photo-finish sprint to claim her fourth major victory of the year.

Eleven-time British world champ Anna Meares still suffers pain, eight years after she went from a wheelchair to the Olympic podium in just eight months following a bad fall while competing in Los Angeles.

A Taiwanese amateur cyclist feels the need, the need for speed, while an Aussie woman prepares to compete in triathlon at the Rio Paralympics just 18 months after taking up the sport — and despite being born with just one hand.

And a London doctor claims that he helped dope 150 athletes, including unnamed top British Tour de France cyclists; the Telegraph says a 39-year old amateur cyclist rolled over on the doc to get a reduced sentence from doping authorities.

………

Local

Councilmember David Ryu’s staff continues to study the Rowena Ave road diet.

Streetsblog suggest supporting the inaugural Los Angeles Bicycle Festival on Kickstarter, while Bike Talk talks with LABF founder Nona Varnardo, as well as our friend and frequent linkee Richard Risemberg.

No bias here. A Santa Monica paper says a cyclist was arrested riding salmon while carrying burglary tools in a hot spot for break-ins. Chances are, they would never refer to the alleged thief as a motorist or pedestrian in the headline under similar circumstances.

The blog post may have come out on April 1st, but it’s no joke that Santa Monica’s Breeze bikeshare is ready for the opening of the Expo Line and all the people it will bring looking for a way to explore the city or travel the last few blocks to their destination.

 

State

San Diego’s Downtown News looks at opposition to the city’s bike and pedestrian plan for the downtown area.

The 32nd annual Redlands Bicycle Classic starts this Wednesday, while fans of vintage bicycles will want to turn out for Paso Robles’ annual three-day Eroica California starting this Friday.

A self-righteous Clovis letter writer says cyclists have to stop being self-righteous and “assume responsibility for the proper use of their toys.” Yes, toys.

San Francisco’s People Behaving Badly reporter goes looking for bicyclists with earbuds in both ears. Nice to know they’ve solved all the other safety problems in Bagdad by the Bay.

A writer from New Jersey outs himself and his family as a few of those tourists on rental bikes that people in Sausalito claim are ruining their fair city; no such objections seem to have arisen from their ride through Yosemite, though.

Marin sheriff’s deputies will be lying in wait for the rogue one percent of mountain bikers who exceed the 15 mph speed limit on county trails.

A Fairfield driver faces DUI charges for running down a drunk salmon cyclist; he told police he’d supported his two-gram-a-day habit by using meth 30 times that day before getting behind the wheel.

 

National

Bicycling offers advice on how to climb hills.

The Christian Science Monitor explains the benefits of bicycling attire, especially for long rides. Seriously, you don’t need spandex to enjoy your ride, but it does make a difference.

After high-stakes gambler Dan Bilzerian won his $1.2 million bet by riding from LA to Vegas in less than 48 hours, the New York post calls him the biggest jerk on Instagram. Judging by the little I’ve seen of his fascination for guns and boobs, you won’t get any argument from me.

Las Vegas police stopped the driver of an off-road vehicle but somehow let him go, just one hour before he killed a bicyclist while driving under the influence.

A Boulder CO company acts like a legal chop shop by breaking down bikes and selling the parts on eBay.

A Colorado city will vote Tuesday on whether to require bicyclists to ride single file through town, despite a state law allowing cyclists to ride two abreast.

In a horrifying hit-and-run reminiscent of the crash that nearly took the life of Finish the Ride founder Damian Kevitt, a Texas woman survives after being dragged several blocks under a truck as the driver fled the scene. But unlike the jerk who ran down Kevitt, this driver was found and arrested, held on a $100,000 bond and an immigration detainer. Thanks to Steve Katz for the heads-up.

Thanks to a Michigan company, your next bike may have a spring instead of a down tube.

Great piece from the Washington Post refuting five myths about bicycling. Although I’d quibble with the suggestion that it wouldn’t make much of a dent in congestion even if more people rode bikes.

A North Carolina cyclist thanks the driver who said her tire was flat, and drove home to get an air compressor to fix it.

 

International

Bike Radar lists seven rookie mistakes that could ruin your ride to work.

Chances are, you sit on something made by the most powerful woman in cycling every time you ride.

An anti-bike British lawyer says police are ignoring law-breaking cyclists, to which nearly everyone else says au contraire.

A new study says Brits support bike lanes across virtually all age and political groups, even if it means a longer commute.

Caught on video: A British bike rider tries to pass a bus. And fails.

Protected bike lanes come to Belfast, though drivers don’t seem to get it yet.

A new bike tour takes tourists on a post-midnight ride through the streets of Mumbai. Now that sounds like fun.

A Maltese cyclist says animals get more respect than bike riders; “No one honks at a horse, but cyclists are often harassed.”

An Australian website says the risk of riding in large cities is extremely low, while the individual and social benefits are high.

 

Finally…

When you crash your car while driving under the influence with a suspended license while carrying drug paraphernalia and prescription meds, “borrowing” a bike to make your getaway may not be the best idea. Now you can print your own parts for an ugly ass ebike.

And good luck selling this stolen bike.

 

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bikeshare, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure, The business of bikes / Tags: , , , , , ,

Weekend Links: Support bicycling on your neighborhood council, stupid insurance tricks, and more bike events

February 6, 2016 / / Comments Off on Weekend Links: Support bicycling on your neighborhood council, stupid insurance tricks, and more bike events

There’s one sure way to make a difference on our streets.

Run for your neighborhood council.

LA’s neighborhood councils are where decisions are made on whether or not to support bike lanes, road diets and other bike-friendly improvements and livability issues. And they can have a big influence on elected officials, who are reluctant to do the right thing without public support behind them.

Yet while some councils get it, others are too often dominated by auto-centric nay-sayers who find it easier to just say no than to take the time to understand how bikeways can provide an alternative to driving and improve safety and livability for everyone.

You could change that by signing up to give a voice for bicyclists right where you live, work or study, as online registration is open now for 35 of the city’s 96 councils.

Naturally, mine is not among them. Nor is the Westwood council, which desperately needs some help.

Those you still have to register for the old fashioned way.

………

LA Bicycle Advisory Committee member Jonathan Weiss forwards news of a lawsuit that really should have been settled out of court.

According to a notice in the LA Daily Journal, a cyclist asked for $25,000 in damages after he was injured in a right hook while riding on Ocean Ave in Santa Monica; the insurance company countered with an offer of just $6,300, before doubling that to $13,000 just before trial.

The jury, on the other hand, awarded the cyclist over $78,000 — over three times what the rider was asking for — after a three day trial.

That’s what the insurance company gets for being cheap.

And that’s a good example of why you need to talk to a good lawyer if you get hurt while riding.

………

Even after last week’s massive listing of bike events, there are still more coming up in the next few weeks.

Streetsblog looks at the coming Great Streets Challenge Grant Events for February and March, starting today in Reseda.

CiclaValley reminds us he’s leading the LACBC’S Sunday Funday CicLAvia Preview Ride through the Valley tomorrow.

The LA Planning Commission considers amendments to remove bike lanes on Westwood Blvd and Central Ave from the recently approved Mobility Plan this Thursday; if you can’t be there, email your support for keeping the plan intact.

Santa Monica hosts a Valentines Day Kidical Mass Ride on the 13th.

A free screening of the acclaimed documentary Bikes vs Cars will be held at Debs Park in Northeast LA on the 17th; you can see a trailer for the film here. Thanks to Alice Strong and Harv for the heads-up.

On the 20th, Culver City Biking Buddies invites you to join in on the Family Ride: The Sustainability Tour.

There will be a Lunar New Year Bike Train celebrating the Tet Festival in El Monte on the 21st.

BikeSGV will Bike the Gold Line in celebration of the opening of the Gold Line extension on March 27th.

BikeSD is hosting a 20-mile Bikes & Beers SD ride through the streets of San Diego on March 26th.

And start training now for the eighth annual Pablove Across America ride from San Francisco’s East Bay to LA to raise funds to fight childhood cancer; October 2nd through 8th.

………

The LA Times says BMX legend Dave Mirra was the “reason little kids tried to create separation between a tire and the ground” while riding their bikes, as athletes and celebrities respond to his death.

Bicycling notes Mirra won the 2014 RAAM team competition with former pro Dave Zabriskie and two other riders, while gossip blogger Perez Hilton is unusually kind in posting a statement from Mirra’s wife.

………

The chips keep falling in pro cycling, as Russian cyclist Eduard Vorganov becomes the latest rider to be banned for doping; his Katusha team could face sanctions since he’s the second rider from the team to be banned in the past year.

A medical website says bike racing is rapidly reaching the point of no repair when it comes to doping and other forms of cheating, and asks where’s the outrage within the sport? Meanwhile, a writer for the Guardian says don’t judge the beautiful, brutal sport of cyclocross based on the motor doping scandal.

Cycling Weekly says motor doping comes out of the Wile E. Coyote section of the cycling rule book, along with painting tunnels on brick walls and dropping anvils on your competition.

And America’s only remaining Tour de France winner offers a six-point plan to eradicate motor doping. Which will undoubtedly be ignored by those in charge, just like his warnings about doping were.

………

Local

Don’t count on the LA River bike path through Silverlake and Atwater Village reopening anytime soon.

KPCC says not so fast on that report that LA is the most dangerous place in the US for pedestrians; the county ranks just 10th when ranked on a per capita basis. On the other hand, 10th may suck a little less, but it still sucks.

The Santa Monica Bike Center is looking for experienced part time tour guides. Or you could be an organizing rep for the Sierra Club, or maybe manage the new PUBLIC Bikes store in SaMo.

Support is growing for a bike ferry linking the beachfront Marvin Braude bike path across the Marina del Rey inlet.

Family and friends remember Long Beach bike courier Daniel Nguyen, who fell to his death while rescuing a fellow hiker on Mt. Baldy this week.

Long Beach’s Pacific Avenue bike corridor is being extended into Los Cerritos.

 

State

The Orange County Transportation Agency recommends riding the San Diego Creek Trail, calling it an inviting escape from the urban environment.

San Diego moves to improve safety on a one-mile stretch of one of the city’s most dangerous streets; as usual, local residents prefer keeping their parking to saving lives.

Three young Fresno-area men were shot while riding their bikes; fortunately, only one was seriously injured.

A Modesto bike rider suffered life threatening injuries when he was struck by a big rig truck.

Good news from Berkeley, as a research scientist who was critically injured in a collision while riding her bike is expected to pull through. The driver, an actor who lists cycling as a skill on his resume, has been charged with driving under the influence of drugs.

 

National

City Lab says it’s time to put sharrows to rest, and maybe get rid of centerlines while we’re at it.

Six-foot ten-inch Denver Nuggets basketball star Danilo Gallinari is one of us.

Bicycling looks at the unofficial Fat Bike World Championships in Crested Butte CO.

A Kentucky man has been charged with murder for running down a teenage bike rider while under the influence. Evidently, they take traffic crime seriously there.

Residents of New York’s Upper East Side rise up against plans to install painted bike lanes on six streets to calm traffic, even though they wouldn’t remove any parking or traffic lanes.

They take traffic crimes seriously in Florida, too, as a driver gets 12 years for the DUI death of a cyclist.

 

International

I want one. A British man has developed a $37 DIY device to measure how close cars come when they pass you. Maybe we can combine it with a sign to show their score as they zoom by.

The company behind that solar power-generating bike path in the Netherlands will apply the technology to 600 miles of French roadways.

Maybe you want to spend your next vacation sampling the local cuisine on a bike tour of Macedonia. Or discovering why cycling in the Middle East is so attractive.

 

Finally…

Memorize this list for the next time you need a good excuse for failing your urine test; then again, none of them worked, so maybe not. We can all be grateful for bike commuters, especially if they’re riding to make beer every morning.

And this may be the greenest Super Bowl ever, but don’t try to bike there.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bike Events, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: Cut off in a green lane, an 11-year old voice of reason, and an insightful look at LA’s Mobility Plan

September 19, 2015 / / 9 comments

Even with a green Santa Monica bike lane, some drivers can’t be bothered to look for bikes before cutting into it.

Thanks to John Montgomery for the video.

………

It’s kind of sad that the voice of reason at Monday’s town hall meeting to discuss the Rowena road diet came from an eleven-year old boy.

Let alone the hate it inspired in some quarters.

Matty Grossman has become the perhaps unwilling star of LA bike advocacy, with an interview on KCBS-2 and a profile in the LA Times that features the following video, recorded by Sean Meredith.

It’s a little hard to hear — after all, he is just eleven — but it’s worth cranking up the volume as far as it goes to catch every word

Especially this segment excerpted from the Times’ story.

“I have lost track of the number of cars who have purposely violated my legal right to three feet of safety or shouted obscenities at me,” Matty said at Monday’s town hall. “Can you imagine the kind of monster who yells ‘F you’ to a child?”

And Matty, a sixth-grader, is over it.

“It’s whiny, entitled behavior you wouldn’t tolerate from a kid,” he told the room. “Why should I tolerate it from adults?”

Why should any of us?

Maybe it was being shamed by a kid that caused one rabidly anti-bike commenter to lash out in protest over a kid interrupting the conversation on “adult issues” like bike lanes and transportation policy.

But that’s exactly the point.

Because if some drivers will treat a little kid like that, imagine how they treat a grown-up on a bike.

According to the press reports, Matty wants to grow up to be mayor of Los Angeles. Or an astrophysicist.

He’s got my vote.

But if that doesn’t work out, I think we can get him a job with the LACBC.

………

Speaking of Rowena, and by extension, the new mobility plan, Times’ architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne offers an insightful explanation of just why it’s so desperately needed, despite rumblings from some quarters.

Sometimes we tell ourselves it has been this way for all time. Recently a reader sent me an email that included this line: “Driving by car is how it’s done here.” (The word “son” at the end of the sentence was implied.)

But that’s not really true — not if you take a broad view of Los Angeles history. Look at a photograph of, say, Broadway in downtown L.A. in the late 1920s. It is full of people walking. But it is also full of people in cars, on bikes and on streetcars.

It looks vital. And guess what? It also looks very congested. In the decades that followed, in our tireless efforts to stamp out the congestion — something we became truly expert at — we wound up stamping out the vitality too.

Seriously, take a few minutes and read it all the way through.

I’ll wait.

………

Yet another young man has been fatally shot while apparently riding a bike in South LA, this time in the Florence neighborhood just after midnight Friday.

Excuse my language, but just when are we going to stop this fucking waste of life? The right to keep on living is the most basic of all human rights.

………

There’s a new world record for a human-powered vehicle, set by a bullet-shaped bike ridden by Canadian Todd Reichart and the AeroVelo team at the annual World Human Powered Speed Challenge. It was clocked at 85.71 mph, beating the old record by 2.58 mph.

………

That didn’t take long. The world championships haven’t even started yet, and a bike thief already made off with a $10,000 Specialized S-Works belonging to the Dutch team. And no offense to The Verge, but I’ve done a lot faster than 30 mph.

Former world champ Mark Cavendish is the latest high-profile rider to pull out of the worlds, along with Aussie Rory Sutherland.

WaPo offers a quick 11-point world championship overview, while Men’s Journal proffers seven reasons why you should care. One small problem with the course, though, is its made-for-TV tour through a virtual shrine to the Confederacy.

And it’s been 21 years since the carbon frame conquered the world of racing.

………

Local

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton takes an in-depth look at LADOT’s new annual report, and offers four metrics to guide future bikeway implementation.

Bicycling isn’t a luxury in South LA, where a bike count shows people who can’t afford cars riding to or from work and school. And people there have more to fear than dangerous streets and drivers.

He doesn’t mention bikes, but 3rd District Councilmember Bob Blumenfield writes about revitalizing Reseda through the Great Streets program on Sherman Way. Let’s just remind him to include some decent bike lanes while he’s at it. And slow the damn traffic down.

Nonprofit creative arts center Art Share LA is giving you one last chance to say goodbye to the soon-to-be demolished 6th Street Bridge with an exhibit called Ode to the Bridge.

After winning joint custody, Chris Brown wants to treat his daughter Royalty royally by teaching her to ride a bike.

 

State

An off-duty CHP officer spotted a man sleeping in an Oceanside bike lane; when he stopped to investigate, he discovered the man was the victim of a hit-and-run. He was in critical condition as of Friday morning.

After riding over 9,300 miles through 31 states with his rescue dog to promote pet adoption, an animal activist had his bike, iPod, GoPro and dog toys stolen in San Diego. At least he managed to hold onto the dog.

Prospects for the Coachella Valley’s proposed 50-mile CV Link bikeway aren’t looking good, as Indian Wells and Rancho Mirage both vote to block the proposed route.

Sad news from Lompoc. A bike rider was killed when he was rear-ended by an SUV, as the driver apparently tried — and failed — to pass. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

Morgan Hill decides to expand efforts to make the downtown area “inviting to visitors on all modes of transportation.” Note to Morgan Hill: Sharrows don’t make for Complete Streets.

A San Ramon attorney will be sentenced next week for the hit-and-run death of a Chinese tourist three years ago. Sentencing is at the judge’s discretion; he could actually get probation for killing another person and running away to cover-up his crime.

Thanks to Google, we may one day hear the anti-bike brigades say LA isn’t Silicon Valley instead of comparing us to Copenhagen.

Not taxing bikes or bike riders wins out with 56% of the vote in the SF Gate’s very unscientific poll.

Streetsblog is looking for someone to run the San Francisco site and cover transportation issues in the Bay Area. I’d consider it, but it would mean becoming a Giants fan. And some lines a man just can’t cross.

 

National

This Tuesday is Worldwide Car-Free Day. Which is not the same as free car day, unfortunately.

In case you’re desperate for a physics lesson, Wired obliges with a discussion of pulling a bike with a giant rubber band.

Bicycling reports on the Breaking Away reunion at Interbike, although the Las Vegas Review-Journal does it much better.

The level of bike commuting in Portland has reached an unheard of — in the US, at least — 7.2%; it was only at 2.8% in 2004.

Fifty-two soldiers complete a two day, 167-mile ride from Fort Knox KY to Fort Campbell.

When some Michigan hikers looked at pictures they’d just taken off a cliff, they discovered legs and a bicycle in the photos; when rescuers arrived, they found a the body of a man in his 30s at the base of the cliff.

Now this is a great idea. Over 70 businesses and many homes in Ashland VA have bike gardens — bicycles with planters or arranged like sculptures. Love to see something that spread around the LA area.

Very strange case from upstate New York as a cyclist has been unresponsive since he was found lying in the road, suffering from a double skull fracture and a broken orbital socket and clavicle. Yet his bike and helmet were undamaged and there was no sign of a collision.

Caught on video: It takes major huevos to steal a Philadelphia cop’s bike. Or maybe just major stupidity, since the bike was clearly marked “POLICE.”

A Charlotte NC writer says both cyclists and motorists have control over whether they get out of control. However, bicycling is not particularly dangerous, as he suggests; people in motor vehicles aren’t immune from collisions and serous injuries, or worse.

 

International

A Saskatoon city counselor says new bike racks are a waste of money, since cyclists can “tie up” their bikes to loading zone signs. Sounds like he’s more used to hitching posts.

You’re kidding, right? Toronto proposes producing a paltry 2.5 miles of new bike lanes a year for the next 10 years. No word on whether those are centerline miles or lane miles; the latter would mean bike lanes on just 1.25 miles of roadway per year.

The 18-year old London man convicted of fatally stabbing a 15-year old boy to steal his bike will now spend the rest of his life behind bars.

A Singapore court cuts the sentence of a hit-and-run cyclist to three weeks; he’d originally been sentenced to eight weeks behind bars for fleeing after injuring a 69-year old woman while riding on the sidewalk.

Kuala Lumpur cyclists crowd-source a route map to make the city more bike friendly.

 

Finally…

Evidently, commie bikes are hard to find in the UK, even if the new head of the Labour party rides one. If you’re selling crack cocaine from the seat of your bike, try not to ride into a car while making your getaway from the cops.

And maybe it’s better to quaff that ale post ride rather than pre. Although after reading the effects booze has on a bike rider’s body, you may need a drink.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Bike Cam Video, Car vs Bike, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , , , , ,
 
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