Missing Oregon mtn biker drives himself home, WeHo vigil & rally for safer streets tonight, and Bike Talk talks bike stuff

July 18, 2025 / / No comments
Day 199 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Let’s start with the good news.

It’s a happy ending in Oregon, where a 52-year old man who disappeared on a mountain biking trip one week ago made it back to his car, and drove himself home after being missing for five days.

He explained his absence, which prompted searches with drones and National Guard troops, by saying he hid his mountain bike so it wouldn’t get stolen, then lost his footing while hiking and slid down a steep embankment. Unable to climb back up, he walked further down to a stream, becoming ill after drinking from it.

He eventually made it back to the trail, then hiked back to retrieve his bike — which was still there — before returning to his car and driving to a friend’s house.

But at least he’s okay.

………

The WeHo Times covers Wednesday’s ghost bike installation for Blake Ackerman, who was run down from behind by a hit-and-run driver last week at Fountain and Gardner.

As we reported yesterday, a 73-year old man was arrested by sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday, which gave him plenty of time to sober up if he had been under the influence.

The second part of the memorial honoring Ackerman will take place this evening, with a vigil beginning at 6 pm at Fountain and Gardner, before walking to West Hollywood City Hall for a rally and press conference.

I’ll be there for the first part of the vigil, but will have to skip the rest due to family obligations.

And yes, I’ll be the one with the corgi, and without the Hawaiian shirt.

………

Bike Talk talks about opportunities in the New York protected bike lane crisis, a Bike Life buyout for LA street vendors, and suspicions of an “anti-vehicle agenda” in San Diego.

Although that last part sounds a lot like the mythical war on cars.

I think the title says it all here. biketalk.org/2025/07/2528… @sophlebo.bsky.social @obcycler.bsky.social @bikinginla.bsky.social #bikesky

— Bike Talk (@biketalk.bsky.social) 2025-07-18T02:39:47.599Z

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Now you, too, can compete in the Grand Fondo World Championship in Kazakhstan next month.

I think.

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

Gothamist says New York Mayor Eric Adams efforts to rip out a parking-protected bike lane in Brooklyn are just an effort to appeal to Hasidic voters who live in the area.

Police in Fletcher, North Carolina are looking for a pickup driver who recklessly followed a bike rider, then threatened to kill the victim during an argument.

A British motorist deliberately drove into a man riding a bicycle in Birmingham, England, then the occupants of the car got out and beat the victim as he lay in the street; the unidentified victim walked off before police arrived, but one of the attackers was arrested on suspicion of affray. And yes, I had to look that one up.

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

Lime Bikes is rolling out a London billboard campaign reminding bikeshare users they’re required to stop at red lights, as if they didn’t already know and just don’t bother.

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Local 

Both the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Bass have signed off on the ground rules to implement Measure HLA, which took affect over a year earlier; the measure requires the city to build out the mobility plan whenever a significant portion of a street is resurfaced, which it hasn’t done up to now.

Don’t forget the bicycle and pedestrian safety operation 5 am to 8 pm today in Santa Monica; police are legally required to enforce traffic laws equally, regardless of who commits them, so ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.

A pair of “fearless adventurers” for The Inertia take an ebike tour across Catalina Island in a single day, saying the 4,000 feet of elevation gain and 360° ocean views make it an adventure you need to experience.

 

State

The state Senate has approved SB 720, a bill to modernize red light cameras to make it easier for cities to choose to install them; it now moves on to the Assembly.

A new report from Santa Cruz County reveals the county ranks second in California for bicycling deaths and injuries, and fifth for pedestrian crashes and deaths.

Streetsblog says it’s time to fix San Francisco’s Polk Street once and for all, calling it one of the city’s best streets for “nightlife, cookies, doughnuts, and city life in general,” as well as one of the most dangerous.

 

National

Seattle Bike Blog endorses a bike and transit riding mom for the city’s mayor.

A local advocacy group will post signs in a Denver park memorializing the 79 bicyclists killed in Colorado since 2020 as part of a bike safety campaign, with the blessing of the state Department of Transportation

A group of Houston artists are getting a jump on Dia de los Muertos, and will build ofrendas for the fallen bicyclists who have died in the city over the past year.

Indy rock duo Illiterate Light is taking their latest tour by bicycle, with a 700 mile bicycle trip from Harrisonburg, Virginia to Rhode Island, while passing through Pennsylvania with stops along the Jersey Shore.

The Asheville, North Carolina dump truck driver who killed two bicyclists and injured another in a head-on crash has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of death by vehicle, and driving left of center. Because apparently, killing two people riding bicycles just isn’t that big a deal.

 

International

The British Columbia bicycling community is in mourning after three bike riders were killed by drivers in a single week.

He gets it. A Whistler, British Columbia letter writer and practicing family physician complains about the Mounties focus on bicycle helmets when preventing crashes in the first place would do more good.

Momentum says Quebec’s 3,300-mile La Route Verte is North America’s most epic bicycling network.

A writer for Road.cc says London’s bicycling infrastructure is “bloody brilliant” these days, after learning how good he had it when he moved to another city.

A writer for The Guardian enjoys “freewheeling family fun” with a bicycling and camping trip along the Netherland’s Maas river.

Tragic news from Italy, where extreme sports star Andreas Tonelli was killed when he fell over 600 feet while mountain biking near Gröden/Val Gardena in the Dolomites; the 48-year old mountain biker and adventure sports guide posted a photo to Instagram after ascending to 9,500 feet around 7 pm, but wasn’t heard from again until his body was found around 1 am.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tadej Pogačar claimed his 20th Tour de France stage victory on the famed Hautacam, redeeming himself after losing to Jonas Vingegaard on the mountain three years ago, and reclaiming the yellow jersey with a more than three-and-a-half minute lead over second place Vingegaard.

The Tour de France peloton paused for one minute before Thursday’s 12th stage and applauded in honor of Samuele Privitera, the 19-year-old Italian cyclist who died after hitting a speed bump while descending and losing control of his bike during the first stage of Italy’s Tour of Valle D’Aosta.

Apparently, it’s okay to drop Tadej Pogačar when he’s peeing, but not after a crash.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website takes their eyes off the peloton, and looks to the sidelines to examine the stars who have graced the Tour de France over the last 45 years.

For the second time in less than two weeks, the Cofidis cycling team has been targeted by bike thieves, this time the women’s squad competing at the Baloise Ladies Tour; the team isn’t saying how many bikes were taken or what they are worth.

Over 120 volunteers turned out in response to an urgent social media plea by the organizers of the USA Cycling Endurance Mountain Bike National Championships in Roanoke, Virginia, after only a fraction of the expected race marshals showed up on the first day.

 

Finally…

Your next bike could be an adult tricycle. This is your brain, this is your brain on cars.

And I’ve ridden with a few short cranks, myself. But you can’t always pick your riding companions.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

73-year old man busted for fatal WeHo hit-and-run, new CicLAvia maps revealed, and we all need a pro-bike guidebook

July 17, 2025 / / No comments
Day 198 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

They got him, for once.

Allegedly, anyway.

Multiple sources are reporting that Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a 73-year old man for last week’s hit-and-run death of fallen bicyclist Blake Ackerman.

Douglas Morton Adams was arrested Tuesday on a charge of hit-and-run causing death, and released latter that same day on $50,000 bond.

Adams is accused of running Ackerman down from behind as on Fountain Ave near Gardner, and continuing west on Fountain without stopping.

Authorities said he was arrested after witnesses and tipsters helped identify his car. WeHo Times credits Florida resident Shanna Meade with giving investigators a video of Adams’ car and license plate.

Despite the arrest, the case remains under investigation. Anyone with information is urged to call LA County Sheriff’s traffic investigators at the West Hollywood station at 310/855-8850.

Unless additional charges are filed, Adams faces a maximum of four years behind bars under California’s lenient hit-and-run laws.

Meanwhile, more than 60 people turned out for a ghost bike installation honoring Blake Ackerman near the site of the crash Wednesday morning.

Matt Parker, one of Ackerman’s closest friends, gave a moving statement, while his fiancé and friends wrote personal messages on the freshly painted white bike.

Ackerman had recently returned to Los Angeles to work as associate at DTLA law firm Morgan Lewis. He was likely returning home from a late day at work when he was killed, have just taken up bike commuting and transit use rather than driving.

The ghost bike ceremony was organized by the West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition with assistance from Streets Are For Everyone.

A larger vigil will be held Friday starting at 6 pm at Fountain and Gardner, followed by a short march to West Hollywood City Hall for a rally and press conference.

Everyone is urged to attend to call for safer streets in WeHo, and throughout the area.

And yes, I mean everyone.

Today’s photos show the newly installed ghost bike for Blake Ackerman, along with the installation ceremony.

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CicLAvia unveiled the map for October’s Heart of LA CicLAvia, marking the 15th anniversary of America’s largest open streets event.

Although someone should tell NBC4 that if you’re going to do a story about a new CicLAvia map, you should at least include it.

However, there are two events preceding it, in August and September.

………

Good question.

Having seen the congestion, safety, and emergency access arguments deployed against bike lanes in literally hundreds of places, why have we not developed a little guidebook or something on how to deal with them?

— Bike Talk (@biketalk.bsky.social) 2025-07-17T00:52:51.247Z

As I recall, back in the dark ages when I served on the board, staffers at the former Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition — now BikeLA — developed a short guide on how to respond to common objections.

But it really would make sense for someone to pen a handbook with effective arguments against the most common complaints, which would undoubtedly become an instant best seller.

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Call it elder abuse.

Anyone who is still riding a bicycle at 85 deserves better than to be killed by an alleged drunk driver, like this man in Portland, Oregon.

The same goes for an 83-year of British Columbia woman killed by the driver of a semi truck, who played the international Get Out of Jail Free card by claiming he didn’t see her.

………

People For Bikes says there are six things any city can do to improve bicycling, using the acronym SPRINT:

  • safe speeds
  • protected bike lanes
  • reallocated space
  • intersection improvements
  • network connections
  • trusted data

………

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

No bias here. London’s walking and cycling commissioner decries the “antagonism” between bicyclists and motorists on social media, saying it’s “not representative of real life.” But all the Evening Standard wants to talk about is his statement that some bike riders “are idiots” — even though he included motorists in that statement, too.

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

An English bicyclist calls for building a pump track so kids will stop digging up woodlands and damaging ancient archaeological artifacts in search of somewhere to ride.

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Local 

Los Angeles Magazine offers an oral history of Pee-wee Herman’s iconic bike from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure; six bikes were made for the 1985 movie by the Pedal Pusher bike shop in Newport Beach, one of which will soon find a well-deserved home at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

 

State

A California political newsletter consider’s Vista’s move to remove the protection from the city’s protected bike lanes, after “overwhelming feedback” from bicyclists. Thanks to Phillip for the heads-up.

Chico breaks ground on a new bike track that will bring state-of-the-art amenities for riders. Presumably without damaging any ancient archaeological artifacts. 

 

National

Walmart has issued a recall of 200 children’s bikes that pose a risk of illness or death due to excessive levels of lead; parents are urged to destroy the bikes sold under the SPPTTY brand.

National Guard service members and Air Force reservists have joined the search for a 52-year old Oregon man who disappeared after leaving for a mountain bike ride last Friday.

Two men from Grand Rapids, Michigan are way ahead of schedule on their fundraising ride to Los Angeles to benefit Pedal to the Rescue, a nonprofit on a mission to support the heroes who fought LA’s wildfires, on track to finish the ride in half of the 82 days originally estimated.

No surprise here, as four of New York’s five boroughs rank at the top of a new analysis of active transportation in the US, led by Manhattan, where 60% of all trips are taken on foot or bike. Needless to say, auto-centric Los Angeles didn’t even make the list.

 

International

Momentum recommends international alternatives to Airbnb for your next bike tour.

Road.cc suggest ten things you really shouldn’t copy from the pros. Although I could add an 11th, like doping, for instance. 

Cycling Weekly tests four of the best road bikes for under $2,400, and says you can get a lot more for your money than you could ten years ago. Tell me about it. I spent about that much for a 2014 LeMond, which doesn’t hold a candle to today’s bikes. Although putting a candle on a bike doesn’t make a lot of sense. 

Um, okay. Dame Joan Collins — yes, that Joan Collins — pens a confusing “diary” post that starts with complaints about the British prime minister, even though it’s about the invasion of Lime Bikes, or maybe an invasion of immigrants on Lime Bikes, before moving on in truly Trumpian fashion to talk about hard working movie people and telling Ingrid Bergman’s daughter to bugger off.

German direct-to-consumer mountain bike brand YT declares financial insolvency and enters a “self-administered legal restructure,” meaning they will continue to run the company with outside oversight.

Um, okay, too. A new Chinese study examines “The nonlinear relationship between built environment and cycling propensity for different travel purposes − based on extreme gradient boosting decision tree.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from Italy’s Giro della Valle d’Aosta, where 19-year old Italian cyclist Samuele Privitera died following a crash on Wednesday’s stage 1; Privitera was a member of the Jayco AlUla World Tour team, owned and managed by Alex Merckx, son of the legendary Eddy Merckx. Stage 2 was cancelled following Privitera’s death.

Velo says Wednesday’s stage 11 of the Tour de France was the “wildest day of racing yet” amid “wire to wire chaos,” as Norwegian cyclist Jonas Abrahamsen won in what ended as a day-long two man breakaway.

Tadej Pogačar crashed in the closing moments Wednesday, but say’s he’s “quite ok” after “losing a bit of skin;” his crash came with around 4km — 2.5 miles — to go, outside of the 3km safety zone. However, race leader Ben Healy slowed the pace to allow Pogačar to catch up to the leaders.

Norway’s Tobias Johannessen admitting causing Pogačar’s crash, saying he was “terrified” by the online abuse he received afterwards.

An anti-Israel protester attempted to disrupt the final sprint of the stage, jumping over the barricade and running opposite the cyclists wearing a T-shirt reading “Israel Out of the Tour” while waving a black and white keffiyeh, before he was tackled by a security official.

Bike Radar goes “in search of the truth” about how clean pro cycling really is, 12 years after Lance came clean about not riding clean.

Easy Reader presents a recap of Sunday’s 62nd Annual Chevron Manhattan Beach Grand Prix.

 

Finally…

Probably not the best idea to ride a stolen scooter to your appointment at the police station. It may not be the best idea to ride a bike with a live cobra around your neck, either.

And that feeling when you get overnight delivery by Porsche for your newly painted yellow bike.

You know, to match that new yellow jersey.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Let’s end hit-and-runs once and for all, Mid-City Neighborhood Greenways break ground, and tell LADOT we can do better

July 16, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 197 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Let’s call this a trial balloon.

For years now, I’ve been calling for an end to hit-and-runs, in a region where nearly half of all collisions end with a fleeing driver, according to a report from LA Weekly that is no longer online.

Although to be fair, the LAPD has consistently said that roughly 33% percent of all collisions are hit-and-runs, based on COMPSTAT data, less than 10% of which ever get solved. In fact, most are never investigated if someone isn’t dead or seriously injured

But either way, it’s too damn high.

While the legislature has worked around the edges to address the problem, those efforts haven’t gone nearly far enough to put the slightest dent into the problem.

So I’m proposing a simplified version of the reforms I’ve been calling for, to see what you think, before I try starting a petition and taking it to legislators and advocacy groups.

You can leave your thoughts in the comments below.

  1. Make the penalty for hit-and-run equal to the penalty for DUI, including fines, jail time and license suspensions, to remove one of the primary incentives to flee.
  2. Anyone who leaves the scene of a KSI crash — Killed or Serious Injury — will automatically have their license revoked by the DMV, regardless of any criminal conviction or plea,
  3.  Anyone who leaves the scene of a KSI crash will have their car impounded as evidence once it’s found; upon conviction, the car will be sold and the proceeds donated to a victim’s fund, after any loans or liens are payed off.
  4. Prosecutors should have the option of charging drivers with 2nd degree murder, or attempted murder, for making the conscious decision to flee and leave the victim to suffer the consequences.

That’s it.

It is, admittedly, a tough approach.

But it’s the only approach I’m aware of that will remove the incentive to flee, while making the penalty harsh enough to make drivers think twice. Or three times, even.

And let’s be honest. Anyone who flees a serious crash has already demonstrated that they can’t be trusted to be obey the law, and shouldn’t be allowed on the streets.

So now it’s your turn. What do you think?

………

Streetsblog is reporting that Los Angeles finally broke ground on the long-gestating Mid-City Neighborhood Greenways, a project originally put together by the Mid-City Neighborhood Council to connect Mid-City with Hollywood.

And I promise that’s the last time I’m going to use the phrase Mid-City here. Unless it isn’t.

As I recall, the project was originally proposed in those heady days before the pandemic, so it’s been in a works for quite awhile.

The neighborhood greenway will be one of the city’s few examples of a bicycle boulevard, or a series of bicycle priority streets, similar to Santa Monica’s successful Michigan Avenue Neighborhood Greenway, aka MANGo.

It will run on on Rosewood Ave, Formosa Ave and Orange Drive to connect La Cienega and Hollywood boulevards, through a series of diverters, traffic circles and protected bike lanes to provide a low-stress, relatively carfree route through the Mid-City area.

Oops.

………

Streets For All says we can do better than an unprotected bike lane on Alameda and Spring streets, and want you to tell LADOT so.

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Here are the full details for today’s ghost bike installation for Blake Ackerman, as well as Friday’s vigil and rally.

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

A Portland, Oregon certified League Cycling Instructor was back on his bike just ten days after he was intentionally run down by a road-raging driver.

The pendulum is continuing to swing on New York Mayor Eric Adams’ efforts to rip out a protected bike lane in Brooklyn, after an appellate judge issued a temporary restraining order to halt the demolition, just days after a judge said it could go forward.

No bias here. A bike rider in Lancashire, England was falsely told a ban on bicycling was caused because a bicyclist hit a pedestrian — then it turned out they posted the “No Bicycling” sign in the wrong part of town.

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

Or maybe not. According to a British paper, a motorcyclist was critically injured in a crash with a bikeshare bike, which apparently didn’t have a rider, unless maybe it was the other guy who wasn’t seriously injured.

………

Local 

Santa Monica expanded the list of items prohibited from public demonstrations, but the city council could re-examine a ban on bike helmets, which could lead to a $500 fine unless someone is actively riding a bicycle.

 

State

Sad news from Chula Vista, where a memorial is growing for an eight-year old boy who was killed by a motorist while riding a scooter Sunday afternoon.

More on the complaints from business owners on Black Mountain Road in San Diego’s Rancho Peñasquitos neighborhood, who somehow don’t think their businesses can survive the loss of just 30 to 40 parking spaces. As if their customers won’t walk a few more feet to visit them, and a safer road for bike riders doesn’t offer the potential to bring them far more customers.

National City received a $2 million grant from the Port of San Diego to help complete a segment of the 24-mile Bayshore Bikeway. Thanks to Megan for the heads-up. 

I want to be like him when I grow up. A press release says 85-year old Bonita resident Jacobo Melcer is “inspiring a regional health movement” through his training to break the age-group hour record in the fall.

Caltrans awarded $14 million to the Silicon Valley’s Valley Transportation Authority to fund initial planning work for a bicycle superhighway between Santa Clara and San Jose.

Great idea. School teachers and administrators in Davis can get a free bicycle when they agree to become Roll Models with The Bike Campaign.

 

National

Bicycling lifted their paywall to offer “expert tips from a veteran bike messenger” to help you master bike commuting without stress.

New Mexico’s Picuris Pueblo, one of 21 Native American nations that have survived for centuries in the region, is investing in its own community with the newest bike park in the US, which will open with a competition offering more than $8,000 in total prize money.

Wyoming’s 80-mile Tour de Wyoming is called one of the best bike tours in the US — and one of the most exclusive, with just 250 participants selected in an annual lottery.

A 66-year old woman was killed when she fell after hitting a speed bump while descending a hill in Watertown NY, weeks after the bike community warned that they could pose a danger to people on bicycles.

New Jersey broke ground on the nation’s newest rail-to-trail conversion to convert “zombie tracks” into an 8.6-mile bike and walk greenway.

 

International

Road.cc offers everything you always wanted to know about bike cams but were afraid to ask.

The organizers of British Columbia’s Okanagan Granfondo are under fire following a crash killed one man and injured two others when a driver slammed into a group of riders, and organizers allowed the fondo to continue as if nothing happened.

A new report from Toronto demonstrates the need to rethink urban bicycling for older adults, who need safer places to ride and better mobility options for healthy aging.

Three men confessed to rioting in Cardiff, Wales after two teenage boys were killed when they crashed their ebike while being followed by police.

Bloomberg examines how Dutch-style protected intersections are coming to save American bike riders and pedestrians.

Advocacy groups in the Netherlands argue that separate bike lanes for faster riders and better enforcement of illegal ebikes would be more effective than a planned speed limit for bike riders.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo examines why Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard both rode their aero bikes on the first mountain stage of the Tour de France.

If cycling events for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics remain on the current dates, it could conflict with the Tour de France, forcing the ’28 Tour to start weeks earlier and throwing off the year’s entire cycling calendar.

 

Finally…

Don’t try riding with no hands or popping a wheelie in this town. You haven’t partied until a Black carnival on bikes comes to town.

And you haven’t lived until you’ve ridden a gelato-themed rapping bike saddle. No, really.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Ghost bike and rally for fallen WeHo bike rider, the worst states for bike commuters, and LA pays dearly for Deadly del Mar

July 15, 2025 / / No comments
Day 196 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Let’s start with an update on 26-year old Blake Ackerman, the lawyer and bike commuter killed by a hit-and-run driver in West Hollywood last Thursday.

A ghost bike will be installed tomorrow at 9 am in a small ceremony at Fountain Ave and Gardner Street. The public is welcome to attend.

A larger vigil will be held on Friday, July 18th, starting at 6 pm at Fountain and Gardner, followed by a short march to West Hollywood City Hall for a rally and press conference. Everyone is urged to attend and participate.

And I do mean everyone.

And yes, that includes me this time.

Meanwhile, a crowdfunding page to raise funds to support Blake’s mother and sister has raised nearly $160,000 of the newly increased $200,000 goal.

There’s still no word on the identity of the heartless coward in a white, older-model BMW sedan who left Blake Ackerman in the street.

It’s also worth taking some time to look over WeHo’s two-year old Vision Zero Plan. Because Fountain isn’t the only street that needs to be fixed before it’s too late.

Again.

Photo of Blake Ackerman in better days from GoFundMe page.

………

A new study from a bike insurer ranks Texas as the nation’s second-worst state of bike commuters, behind only South Carolina.

California comes in at a relatively safe 18th best. Which really makes you wonder just how bad the other 32 states behind us must be.

Vermont was rated the best state for bike commuters, followed by Oregon, Minnesota, Alaska and West Virginia.

………

They get it.

Streets For All says Los Angeles is caught in a money-draining spiral of spending millions to pay for deaths and injuries caused by our dangerous streets, rather than spending to fix the streets and avoid the damn injuries in the first place.

As a prime example, they call out Playa Vista’s Deadly del Mar, aka Vista del Mar, where 20 people have been killed in the past 20 years.

That includes five deaths since 2017, when the city briefly installed safety improvements following a nearly $10 million settlement for the death of a 16-year old girl, which were promptly ripped out at the order of former “World Climate” Mayor Eric Garcetti to appease entitled commuters from Manhattan Beach.

(Click this link if Elon Musk’s “improvements” keep the video from embedding.)

………

An anonymous source forwards a Reddit post highlighting a problem too many people fail to consider, myself included, as a Deaf Scottish woman posts a plea for a little more consideration from bike riders on shared trails.

(Click on the post if it doesn’t embed in full)

Cyclists of Edinburgh, I ask a favour please
byu/VoiceDouble217 inEdinburgh

I have always relied on a shouted “passing on your left” to warn others of my approach. But neither that nor a bike bell will do any good if the other person can’t hear you.

She then followed up on the over 100 replies her post received with this.

“Thanks all for the comments and insights, really helpful!” she said. “Not intending to diss cyclists or anything; I know people have opinions of them.

“My post genuinely was just asking for a bit of respect/shared responsibility although some people don’t seem to get that my being deaf, they seem to think it’s somehow my fault for nearly getting spooked by someone coming behind me.”

As the person who emailed me points out,

It is an important issue to raise because hearing people don’t often think about the fact that sometimes yelling or a horn is not going to be effective. Deaf people are more likely to respond to lights, but even that might not work if you’re coming up behind someone on a path in the open so slow down and avoid close passes of people moving more slowly than you are.

My emailer also pointed out something else I was familiar with, but maybe don’t consider as often as I should, referring to a story based on the Reddit post from Scotland’s Daily Record, which seemed more biased against bicyclists.

They also lower cased “Deaf” when the OP clearly identifies as upper case “Deaf” (which is not just a medical condition, but a culture and thus capitalized when someone identifies as part of that culture).

It’s very easy to go through life — and yes, riding a bicycle — seeing it only from the lens of someone who is hearing and sighted. But it’s important that we also consider the needs, safety and dignity of those who aren’t.

………

Bike Talk talks tactical urbanism in two cities, with diametrically different results.

In our last episode, we talked to bike activists in two cities who made their own bike lanes with opposite results. soundcloud.com/biketalk/252… @pattybikes.com @cascadebicycleclub.bsky.social @merlinrain.bsky.social @seattlebikeblog.com #bikesky

— Bike Talk (@biketalk.bsky.social) 2025-07-15T02:22:45.709Z

………

Okay, that is a little close.

………

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

Despite the Ontario provincial governments efforts to rip them out, most Toronto residents support bike lanes and mixed-use roads.

Huh? A rightwing commentator says the solution to Britain’s immigration crisis is to make all aspiring British citizens pass the country’s cycling proficiency test.

A Dublin, Ireland journalist says that as a new bike rider, she’s “astonished” by the amount of aggression she saw from drivers on her daily commute.

………

Local 

Next City says Denver solved it’s sidewalk problem by reclaiming responsibility for fixing broken sidewalks from property owners, suggesting it could be a solution for Los Angeles, aka “the city of broken sidewalks” in the words of the late, great Donald Shoup.

Streetsblog calls attention to a series of Metro meetings continuing this week and next to discuss the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit project, and the Sepulveda Transit rail project to connect the Valley with West Los Angeles, where rich Bel Air residents are demanding an inefficient monorail so no one will have to dig a subway tunnel under their very expensive homes.

Santa Monica hosts yet another in a continuing series of bicycle and pedestrian safety operations in SoCal cities, this time on Friday, July 18, 2025 from 5 am to 8 pm. Even though they say it’s targeted at dangerous driver behaviors, police are legally required to enforce the law equally against all violators, regardless of mode of travel. So ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line so you’re not the one who gets ticketed. 

West Hollywood sheriff’s deputies issued just 46 tickets during their recent bicycle and pedestrian safety operation, but it doesn’t break down who got the tickets or why.

 

State

Laguna Beach is looking for public input on a proposal to build a mountain bike pump track.

San Francisco wants to expand the Embarcadero protected bike lane, which would require removing up to 30 parking spaces and 15 palms trees. Which is okay because palms are just giant grasses that suck up water and don’t shade anything. 

She gets it. A San Francisco letter writer says “If you oppose bike lanes, pedestrian improvements or expanding public transit, you’re voting for more congestion.”

Residents of the Bay Area’s Alameda County can enter a lottery to receive up to $1,500 towards the purchase of an ebike from the local energy company. To which LA’s DWP responds <crickets>.

Sacramento city officials are upset that the city received a failing grade in People For Bikes new City Ratings, arguing they should have been rated higher. Never mind that Sacramento was rated a full ten points higher than lowly Los Angeles, and not one city official here even gave a damn. 

 

National

Authorities in Oregon are using drones to search for a 52-year old man described as an experienced mountain biker, who disappeared after leaving on a ride Friday morning; searchers found his cellphone in his car, which could have helped pinpoint his location. Which is a reminder to never, ever leave yours behind when you ride. 

Thousands of bike riders took part in the annual 200-mile Seattle to Portland bike ride.

It’s now illegal for Utah drivers to block a bike lane. And yes, Deseret News, that does make it safer for everyone. 

A New Mexico letter writer says most drivers are really polite and considerate, and have your best interests at heart — but if you want to stay safe, you need to dress like a DayGlo clown. Sadly, he may have a point. About that last part, anyway. 

That’s more like it. An Indiana festival combines bicycles, whiskey and bluegrass. So who’s going with me?

An MIT transportation researcher and self-identified car enthusiast says you can love cars, and still support public transportation and decarbonization.

Six hundred people from 37 states descended on New York to bike the full 400 miles of the Erie Canal to mark the canal’s 250th anniversary.

A Manhattan community board called out New York’s mayor for cutting bike and bike lanes out of his auto-centric redesign of the city’s iconic 5th Avenue.

Seriously? A study from a Florida law firm shows that Bay County is the state’s most dangerous county for bicyclists — but instead of demanding safer streets or better drivers, a Florida political site says “wear a helmet.”

 

International

For once, police in the UK are asking for someone riding a bicycle to come forward when they’re not in trouble, as police in Yorkshire look for a bike rider who may have witnessed a driver kill a pedestrian.

An Irish food delivery rider settled a lawsuit over a dooring for the equivalent of $70,000, which required surgery to fix a broken little finger.

Dutch advocacy groups says forget helmets and bicycle speed limits, and upgrade the infrastructure, instead.

A pair of New Zealand Olympians are riding 2,500 miles through Africa to train for the ’28 Games while raising funds to buy bicycles for people in the towns they’re riding through.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Tour de France peloton stormed into Tuesday’s rest day with a major upset, as Irishman Ben Healy took the yellow jersey off Tadej Pogačar’s back, moving from nearly four minutes back to become the first Irish cyclist in yellow since Stephen Roche in 1987.

Britain’s Simon Yates celebrated Bastille Day by winning the Tour’s stage 10 yesterday, coming out on the right end of a long-range breakaway that was slowly whittled down from 28 cyclists to just six at the end.

Bike Radar visits France’s volcanic Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, which hosted the finish of Monday’s Tour de France stage for the first time in the race’s 122-year history.

A Mexican news site celebrates the country’s newest cycling star, after 21-year old Isaac del Toro won last week’s Tour of Austria, to go with his second place finish in the Giro.

 

Finally…

You know things have gone too far when even Jesus objects to ebikes. If you see a pedestrian in a bike lane ahead of you, should you blame the government or deploy torpedos?

And when you’re riding a bike on the 4th of July while smoking crack, and with an outstanding warrant on a meth charge, put a damn light on it, already.

And don’t be a famous musician, for Pete’s sake.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Anger boils after deadly WeHo hit-and-run on Fountain Ave, and 79-year old San Diego man injured in crash with bike rider

July 14, 2025 / / No comments
Day 195 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

A handful of protesters turned out on Friday evening to demand safety improvements on Fountain Ave, following the Thursday night hit-and-run that killed 26-year old Blake Ackerman.

According to WeHo Times,

Local cyclist and advocate Nicholas Renteria organized a grassroots demonstration at the intersection of Fountain Avenue and Gardner Street, where the deadly collision occurred on Thursday, July 10, around 9:47 p.m. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the victim, Blake Ackerman, 26, was riding westbound on Fountain when he was hit by an older-model BMW sedan, which fled the scene. The victim was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he later died from his injuries.

Anger has built following Ackerman’s death because individuals and advocacy groups have demanded action on the deadly corridor for more than a decade.

Plans have finally begun moving forward over the past few years, but are hung up by the usual demands to persevere parking at the expense of human lives.

As calls for accountability grow louder, local leaders have pointed to upcoming initiatives like the Fountain Avenue Streetscape Project, which aims to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety with measures such as protected bike lanes and wider sidewalks. A community meeting about the project is scheduled for August 19 at Plummer Park.

Renteria hopes awareness leads to action before another life is lost. “This isn’t a fight between drivers and cyclists,” he said. “It’s a fight between people and a government that’s not being responsive.”

In addition to the community meeting next month, plans are underway for a ghost bike to be installed in the coming days.

You’ll know more when I do.

Photo: Streets For All and Measure HLA stickers on a bicycle parked at Lowes Home Improvement in Mid-City LA Sunday afternoon.

………

A 79-year old man was seriously injured when he was struck by a bike rider while walking in a bike lane in San Diego’s Clairemont neighborhood.

The victim was hospitalized with a skull fracture and a brain bleed.

No word yet on what he was doing in the bike lane, or why the bicyclist was unable to avoid him.

………

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

Another Canadian province appears to be going the wrong way, as the provincial government of Alberta is “actively reviewing” bike lanes that have raised the ire of some residents, with the government questioning both current and planned bike lanes that “reduce road capacity.”

Police in Australia are looking for six men who brutally beat a man riding a bicycle in an apparent road rage attack; the occupants of two vehicles chased a pair of bike riders following an argument, before jumping the curb and beating one of the bike riders with baseball bats. The other rider somehow got away.

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

A New York teenager riding an ebike was killed a hit-and-run driver while he was being pursued by police who suspected him of a knifepoint robbery; a 28-year old driver was arrested for the hit-and-run shortly later.

………

Local 

Streets For All offered their July newsletter, including news that a total of $7 million has been approved to move forward with necessary technical and environmental clearance work on the proposed extension of the Ballona Creek bike path.

 

State

Police in Huntington Beach busted a bike thief who stole a bait bike valued at over $2,000, enough to qualify for felony charges. Yet the LAPD still won’t use bait bikes, following outdated advice from the City Attorney’s office that it could be considered entrapment

 

National

Bike Magazine recommends a selection of the year’s best bike locks, depending on your needs.

Outside highlights seven of the best bikepacking trip across the US. None of which are in California.

A hit-and-run driver left an Oregon woman lying in a ditch all night after they crashed into her bike sometime Saturday night; she was found by a passerby after 7 Sunday morning suffering from serious leg, facial, and other injuries. The driver should be charged with attempted murder when they find them for making the conscious decision to risk the victim’s life by leaving her there to die. 

Sad news from Nevada, where the founder of Bob’s Bikes died following a battle with prostate cancer; retired mechanic Bob Crane had repaired and given away more than one thousand bicycles for needy kids.

A Wyoming website recommends putting a bell on your mountain bike, as well as shouting and carrying bear spray, to reduce the risk of deadly bear encounters. Mountain lions seem to pose a bigger risk on SoCal trails; I can’t recall a mountain biker mauled by a bear down here, even though we have a lot of ’em. 

Now even the trees are out to get us. Someone riding a bicycle was killed in Urbandale, Iowa when a tree fell on them as they were riding on a trail.

Forget the Tour de France. America’s only Penny Farthing bike race rolled for the 11th time over the weekend, with 50 competitors from the US and around the world competing on “wheels are bigger than most 5th graders.”

 

International

A Vancouver Grand Fondo resulted in yet another mass casualty event, as one person was killed and two others injured when a driver somehow plowed into a group of bicyclists.

Police in an Ontario city put bicyclists on a stationary bicycle so they could get a feel for what it’s like to be passed by a driver at the legally mandated one-meter distance (approximately three feet); most felt shaken after the experience, with several wanting the mandatory passing distance increased to two meters. Although it would have done a lot more good to put motorists on that stationary bike, so they would understand just how it feels.

That’s more like it. A drunk and stoned British driver was sentenced to nine years and three months behind bars for killing a 70-year old woman as she walked her bike across the street; his license was already suspended at the time of the crash for a previous DUI, among other offenses.

Cargo bikes dominated the recent Eurobike show, resulting in plans for a separate cargo bike-only show.

Irascible TV celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey completed his first triathlon in over a year in Luxembourg on Sunday, after he was seriously injured crashing his bicycle in June of last year.

The Malay­sian Natio­nal Cycling Federation calls out the lack of sharing on the country’s roads, where bicyclists have the right to ride but “tolerance between cyclists and motor vehicle drivers is declining.”

Bicycling rates are up in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, New Zealand, rising 40% since 2017. But like most American cities, there’s room for even more growth by tapping demand from people who don’t own bikes, or lack confidence to ride them.

 

Competitive Cycling

European road champ Tim Merlier sprinted to victory in Sunday’s ninth stage of the Tour de France to secure his second win of this year’s Tour, after the peloton reeled in Mathieu van der Poel following a day-long breakaway; van der Poel dropped to sixth in the GC standings despite Sunday’s long solo ride, while race leader Tadej Pogačar held onto the yellow jersey.

Pogačar’s chances of wearing yellow in Paris took a hit on Sunday, however, as key domestique João Almeida was forced to abandon, two days after breaking his ribs in a fall.

Tensions are starting to build in the Tour peloton, with Pogačar objecting to feed zone tactics from the Visma-Lease a Bike team that seemed intended to force him to defend the yellow jersey before he wanted; Pogačar was also caught on camera pushing Visma’s Matteo Jorgenson when Jorgenson got in his way, preventing both from getting their bidons.

Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini repeated as Giro champion after winning last year, securing a slim 18-second margin of victory on the final day, as Germany’s Liane Lippert won the stage in late breakaway.

Australian Sarah Gigante was thrilled just to make the Giro podium after a long and challenging comeback from iliac artery endofibrosis surgery.

Baja California’s Isaac del Toro proved he’s too legit to quit, showing his second-place finish at the Giro was no fluke by winning the 75th Tour of Austria.

 

Finally…

How to stop worrying and love the bicycle. How to play AirTag with a bike thief.

And that feeling when bike riders get buzzed by a cop traveling at twice the speed limit, yet commenters blame the people on the bikes, anyway.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Update: 29-year old man riding bicycle killed in early morning crash in South LA’s Vermont Square neighborhood; driver also injured

July 13, 2025 / / No comments

A man riding a bicycle was killed by a driver early this morning in the Vermont Square neighborhood of South Los Angeles.

According to KTLA-5, the victim was riding east on West Vernon Avenue at South Figueroa Street shortly before 1 am Sunday.

A driver traveling south on Figueroa slammed into him, then continued on to hit several parked cars.

The victim, identified only as a 29-year old man, died at the scene.

The driver was badly injured, and remained at the scene.

The station reports that local residents rushed out to assist the victims after the crash, and attempted to lift the driver’s car off the other man. It’s unclear if they succeeded, but at least he didn’t die alone.

The driver was extracted from his car, a while Honda, and taken to a hospital suffering from facial injuries.

There is video from the Citizen app showing the aftermath of the crash, but portions are fairly graphic, so be sure it’s really something you want to see.

Police were unsure this morning whether speed or alcohol were involved. But given the early morning hour and the damage to multiple vehicles, it seems likely the driver was traveling at a high rate of speed.

The intersection is controlled with a red light, but it’s unknown at this time who had the right-of-way.

This is at least the 25th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the ninth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also the fourth we’ve learned about in the City of Los Angeles.

He was the fifth bike rider to die in LA County in just the past two weeks.

Update: The victim was identified at Jonatan Perez, no city of residence given. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Jonatan Perez and his loved ones. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , ,

Bike rider killed in West Hollywood hit-and-run on deadly Fountain Ave; one third of 2025 SoCal bike deaths hit-and-runs

July 11, 2025 / / 2 comments

This time it’s personal. And yes, I’m mad as hell.

Once again, someone riding a bicycle has been murdered by a hit-and-run driver, this time in West Hollywood.

And this time, at an intersection I’ve passed through literally thousands of times, on foot, on bike and in a car.

It was about 10 pm last night when a notification on the Ring app said someone had been struck by a driver at Fountain Ave and Gardner Street; video from the scene showed sheriff’s deputies had blocked the entire street in both directions, which is never a good sign.

That was confirmed today, when we learned the victim didn’t make it.

According to multiple sources, the victim was riding west on Fountain around 9:47 pm when he was run down from behind by the driver, who continued west on Fountain without stopping.

The victim was taken to the trauma center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he died of his injuries. He has not been publicly identified.

Investigators are looking for a white, older-model BMW sedan, which will likely have a shattered windshield on the passenger side. There is no description of the driver at this time.

Fountain has long been one of the deadliest streets in West Hollywood, along with Sunset Blvd just a few blocks north. Gardner connects them at the east end of the city, and has been the scene of fatal hit-and-runs at the intersections with both streets less than two weeks apart.

And if that’s not a problem, I don’t know what is.

Fountain is also a designated bike route, where bike riders are encouraged to ride by the presence of sharrows, regardless of experience. And despite drivers who frequently exceed the posted 25 mph speed limit, sometimes by two or three times.

Plans have been in the works for at least two years now to fix Fountain, but have been held up by the usual endless series of public meetings and redesigns, as if residents concerned about parking somehow know more about designing safe streets than the people trained to do it.

The next meeting is planned for August 19th at 6 pm, in the Plummer Park Community Center.

And yes, I will do my best to be there.

Anyone with information related to the collision is urged to contact traffic investigators at the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station at 310/855-8850. Anonymous tips can be called into Crimestoppers at 800/222-TIPS (8477), or by texting 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads).

This is at least the 24th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

This was also at least the eighth SoCal bike rider killed by hit-and-run drivers since the first of the year.

But at least the Sheriff’s Department told us about it right away, unlike the LAPD.

Update: The victim has been identified as 27-year old Blake Ackerman, no city of resident given. 

According to a crowdfunding page to support his mother and sister,

Anyone who knew Blake was lucky to call him a friend. Many of his friends became an extension of his family. Blake and his family welcomed everyone with open arms, into their home, their gatherings, and their family dinners. No matter who you were, you were always welcome.

Blake was full of limitless potential. He lived well and accomplished so much in his all-too-short years. He was a born leader, he served as student-body president and vice president at Beverly Hills High School, undergraduate vice president at USC, senior articles editor for the Loyola Law Review, and president of Loyola’s Surf & Ski Club. He also co-founded a human-rights advocacy group dedicated to prison-to-school education.

Prior to graduating law school, Blake externed for Judge Autumn D. Spaeth of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. In 2023, he earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School, then clerked for Judge Clyde J. Wadsworth of the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals in Oahu, where he met his soulmate, Torie. Together they moved back to his hometown of Los Angeles, and Blake joined Morgan Lewis as a litigation associate. Even in his busy professional life, Blake’s caring heart extended to pro bono work, he arranged one final matter to help someone in need, and his firm has honored to carry it forward in his memory.

As of this writing, the page has raised over $126,000 of a $150,000 goal.

Photo of Blake Ackerman from GoFundMe page

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Blake Ackerman and his loved ones. 

Thanks to Brian Nilsen for the heads-up. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , ,

Homeland Security labels bicycling a “violent tactic,” and someone please buy Malaysia some time trial bikes

July 11, 2025 / / No comments
Day 192 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a warning that just riding a bicycle or skateboard at a protest demonstration can be considered a “violent tactic,” creating a pretext for an aggressive police response.

According to Wired,

Threat bulletins issued during last month’s “No Kings” protests warn that the US government’s aggressive immigration raids are almost certain to accelerate domestic unrest, with DHS saying there’s a “high likeliness” more Americans will soon turn against the agency, which could trigger confrontations near federal sites…

Protesters on bicycles, skateboards, or even “on foot” are framed as potential “scouts” conducting reconnaissance or searching for “items to be used as weapons.” Livestreaming is listed alongside “doxxing” as a “tactic” for “threatening” police. Online posters are cast as ideological recruiters—or as participants in “surveillance sharing.”

At least DHS knows there’s a “high likeliness” they’re going to piss a large segment of Americans off, if they haven’t already.

But if you’re not outraged by that warning, read on.

Vera Eidelman, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, says the government has no business treating constitutionally protected activities—like observing or documenting police—as threats…

“Exercising those rights shouldn’t be justification for adverse action or suspicion by the government,” Eidelman says. Labeling something as harmless as skateboarding at a protest as a violent threat is “disturbing and dangerous,” she adds, and could “easily lead to excessive force against people who are simply exercising their First Amendment rights.”

Whether you’re on the right or left, or — like me — somewhere in between, we all have a 1st Amendment right to protest the actions and policies of our government.

We also have a right, under state law if not the Constitution, to ride a bicycle on a public street, as long as you don’t create a disturbance. Even if you’re riding it to or at a protest, or while filming the police.

I took the local cops to court as editor of my high school newspaper to establish that we did, in fact, have the right to photograph them in public, as long as we didn’t interfere with their actions.

So I’m pretty well versed on that one.

Just riding your bike at a protest like the one above could invite an aggressive police response.

Thanks to Erik Griswold for the heads-up. 

………

Anyone want to start a GoFundMe?

The Malaysian road cycling team’s hopes of winning gold at the Thailand SEA Games this December have seriously dimmed after the country’s National Cycling Federation turned down their request to buy six new time trial bikes.

They need roughly an additional $140,000 to match the latest tech employed by regional rivals Thailand and the Philippines, but only have about $38,000 left in the budget after competing in the Asian Cycling Championships earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the head of the aforementioned Malaysian National Cycling Federation reminds everyone that bicyclists have a right to the road.

Yes, even there.

He urged the government to protect bike riders from death threats on the road, as well as on social media, following a viral confrontation between bus drivers and a group of bicyclists.

It would be nice to be protected from that here, too.

On both counts.

………

Bicycling highlights the best deals from yesterday’s penultimate Amazon Prime Day.

And a writer for Cycling Weekly says the only earbuds she’ll wear while riding, because they allow her to be aware of her surroundings, are on sale now for Prime Day, which enters it’s final day today.

………

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

The British government is pausing the rollout of one type of floating bus stop following complaints from bus passengers, especially blind passengers, that they had to cross a bike lane in front of bike riders who too often didn’t stop for them as required.

………

Local 

The Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition is hosting a Beginner’s Bagel Ride on Sunday. Which works whether you’re new to bicycling or bagels.

 

State

San Diego has reopened Bachman Place, a popular shortcut from the Mission Valley to Hillcrest neighborhoods, after two years of reconstruction, with a sidewalk-level bike lane in one direction and a buffered bike lane in the other.

California’s newest lift-served mountain bike park has just opened at Mountain High Resort in Wrightwood, just 90 minutes outside of Los Angeles. Then again, it can easily take more than 90 minutes to cross Los Angeles just to get outside of it. 

Sad news from Santa Cruz County, where a 78-year old Soquel man was killed when he somehow veered off the road on his Specialized ebike, and crashed into a dirt embankment.

The Santa Cruz Country community of Scotts Valley hosted a kids bike parade for the 4th of July.

Apparently, San Francisco is no safer for pedestrians than it is for bike riders, as 400 people took to public stairways to raise funds and call for safety improvements, after pedestrian deaths reached a ten-year high last year.

 

National

Seattle Bike Blog says that despite “five years of process and some scary collisions,” Seattle’s mayor removed safety improvements from an “already watered-down” street project at the insistence of wealthy homeowners along the route.

Nevada US Senator Catherine Cortez Masto celebrated former Reno resident Greg LeMond’s newly minted Congressional Gold Medal.

A Washington mountain biker used his own helmet straps to slow the bleeding and save his own life after falling over 500 feet down a mountain side.

After a New York PE teacher was quoted in the local paper saying she’d like to start a bike program for her students, a kindhearted retired physical education professor from her alma mater dipped into her own pocket, and mailed a check to cover the cost of the bicycles.

A British artist has just 17 days to bike around New York, while drawing a map of key points in all five boroughs.

Hats off to 23-year old Floridian Alisa Cade, who stopped at 2 am to help a total stranger who had been knocked out following an ebike crash, and could have been there for minutes or hours; the victim ended up hospitalized with multiple brain bleeds, a broken skull and a fractured pelvis. But she’s alive, thanks in part to a Good Samaritan who wasn’t afraid to help.

 

International

Momentum looks at ten “incredible” bike bridges around the world. None of which are in Los Angeles. Or the US, for that matter. 

Seriously? A British Columbia letter writer says she and her husband are very concerned about the “dangerously high speeds” of ebikes on a local trail, while noting that the bikes have a top speed equivalent to just 18 mph, which most people can do on a decent road bike without any electric boost.

A British bike industry trade group is trying to identify the challenges and barriers that keep women from advancing and being underrepresented in the field. In other words, exactly the kind of program the Trump administration is committed to stamping out.

Police in the UK say they’ve seized over 500 illegal electric bikes, scooters and motorbikes so far this year, claiming they’re cracking down on their use in serious crime, reckless criminals and antisocial behavior, rather than law-abiding bicyclists.

Life is cheap in Ireland, where a taxi driver was fined the equivalent of $1,168 for breaking a bike rider’s leg when he ran him down from behind, after concluding the driver’s vision was obscured by a roundabout — but at least he said the fact the victim wasn’t wearing a bike helmet was of “no relevance.”

In a first for the city, a Parisian bike lane was officially dedicated in honor of a 27-year old man who was killed by a driver while riding his bike there nine months earlier. But you’ll have to subscribe to read more than the first few paragraphs. 

Iran has finally confirmed the arrest of an 18-year old French and German citizen who disappeared after hostilities with Israel broke out as he was bicycling through the country last month; two other French citizens have been held for three years in conditions “akin to torture.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch pro Lorena Wiebes won her second Giro Donne stage of the week, beating Marianne Vos and Liane Lippert in a sprint to the finish, after crosswinds blew the peloton apart, as Marlen Reusser held on to the pink leader’s jersey.

Ireland’s Ben Healy soloed to an easy victory on stage 6 of the Tour de France — easy being a relative term — by breaking away from the breakaway group with about 26 miles to go, while American Quinn Simmons and his long locks finished an “agonizing” second.

The yellow jersey switched hands, or rather torsos, once again as mountain bike star Mathieu van der Poel reclaimed the Tour leader’s jersey from yesterday’s leader Tadej Pogačar.

Former Welsh cyclist Luke Rowe wrote in his soon-to-be-released memoir that Chris Froome once stormed onto the Astana bus, grabbed Vincenzo Nibali by the throat and told him “to never fuck with him or his team again” following a crash he evidently blamed the Italian for. Although social media seemed to think the anecdote strained credibility just a tad.

An insurance site looks back fondly to the good ol’ days when The Cannibal was supported by a fleet of orange Volvos.

 

Finally…

Yep, that just about sums the situation up.

And what’s a 4th of July celebration without a stuntjumper?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: General / Tags: , , , , , ,

San Francisco embarrasses LA with speed cam warnings, and last remaining US Tour winner gets Congressional Gold Medal

July 10, 2025 / / No comments
Day 191 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

In news that should surprise absolutely no one, a new report from San Francisco shows just how many motorists drive at dangerous speeds.

As California’s first city to install speed cams, San Francisco issued almost 132,000 warnings to people caught on camera driving 11 mph or more over the posted speed limit since the cams were installed in March; actual speeding tickets will start being issued next month.

That’s just four months, and in just 50 locations throughout the entire city of over 800,000 people.

Which suggests that there are a hell of a lot of people who didn’t get caught —  or maybe didn’t get caught yet — simply because they did their speeding in some other location.

But that’s still about 132,000 more warnings than Los Angeles has issued, since the City of Angels continues to drag its feet on installing speed cams.

After all, we don’t want to interfere with anyone’s God-given right to use a heavy right foot on an open stretch of roadway.

Or one that’s not, for that matter.

………

Congratulations to Greg LeMond, as America’s last remaining Tour de France winner finally received a long overdue honor by becoming the first cyclist to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

He’s also just the tenth athlete honored with the Congressional medal, joining such sporting notables as Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, Billie Jean King and Jack Nicklaus.

LeMond became the first American to win the Tour in 1986, then came back to win twice more in 1989 and 1990, after overcoming a near-fatal shotgun blast to the gut.

Conspicuously not honored were ex-Tour de France winners and notorious dopers Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis, the latter of whom has largely been forgiven after owning up to his actions, and the former who just refuses to go away.

………

Amazon Prime Days continue to dominate the news, as numerous sites urge you to buy more bike stuff to help pay off Jeff Bezos wedding and buy his new wife another new yacht or two

………

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

A New York judge has ruled that the city’s mayor is free to rip out a protected bike lane in Brooklyn, lifting a previous injunction preventing the removal.

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

An Ontario, Canada teenager was charged with reckless driver and violating the province’s bike helmet law, after the 17-year old was struck by a driver while riding salmon and without a skid lid, which is required for any bike rider under 18.

………

Local 

Listeners to public radio station LAist’s AirTalk program share their joyous memories of riding a bicycle through the streets of Los Angeles while growing up, and question whether those days are gone forever.

 

State

The former owner of one of the nation’s first ebike stores describes how she went from Orange County bike shop owner to founding the Bellemont Project to promote ebike safety.

Fullerton caves to the Hallmark-ization of America, hosting its 3rd Annual Christmas in July Bike Ride on Friday, July 26th.

Chula Vista becomes the latest city to crack down on ebike riders, adopting what leaders say is the strictest ebike regulations in San Diego County.

Seriously? A beauty salon owner in San Diego’s Rancho Peñasquitos neighborhood called for the removal of a new bike lane, saying the loss of curbside parking will put her customers in needless danger by making them walk cross the street. Never mind that the bike lanes are there to improve safety for everyone. Or that if it’s not even safe to cross the damn street, the problem isn’t the bike lanes. 

Sacramento is building an entire new bridge to replace a never-opened bike and pedestrian bridge connecting two major pathways, after the city’s engineer of record refused to sign off on the construction because the bridge wasn’t built to contract specifications.

 

National

Streetsblog examines the GOP’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” and finds what it calls five of the ugliest transportation policies, including the unceremonious death of the bike commuting benefit, along with just about every a number of other green policies.

People For Bikes credits itself with halting dozens of harmful bike bills in “a critical year for bicycle legislation,” including anti-bike bills in New York, Illinois and yes, California.

Tragic news from Arizona, where a 75-year old man died from his injuries, over a year after he was struck by a driver while riding his bike, with the cops blaming him for allegedly turning in front of the driver.

The US version of The Sun says “certain road users” in a “major US state” no longer have to come to a complete stop at a stop sign. Except they’re actually talking about bike riders in the “major state” of New Mexico, which ranks all the way down at 36th in population. And it’s not like many motorists come to a full stop, anyway. Or any, for that matter.

A Denver TV station warns its viewers after a retiree was scammed out of $2,000 using Zelle while trying to sell an old bicycle on Facebook.

A new report from a Denver attorney group revealed that most of the city’s bicycling collisions occurred between 8 am and 9 am, and 4 pm and 5 pm, and on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

A Colorado attorney and cycling safety educator tries to clear up confusion over that state’s Stop As Yield Law, which allows bike riders to treat stop signs as yields and red lights like stop signs, as long as it’s safe to proceed. Count me among the confused, since I didn’t think Colorado had adopted the red light portion of the law.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A Birmingham, Alabama man is facing reckless manslaughter charges for killing two people in separate collisions, first crashing his car into an ATV ridden by a 13-year old boy, followed by fatally running down a 30-year old woman riding a bicycle just five months later.

 

International

A new London campaign is urging elected officials to make bicycling more accessible and inclusive, under the banner Dare to Dream: A Bike for Every Londoner, even as the city has some of the UK’s most dangerous streets for bike riders.

The family of a 71-year old London man called for the “immediate deployment of speed and road traffic cameras” at the “notorious” intersection where he was struck by a driver while riding his bike, dying five days later, adding “no one should suffer this heartbreak.”

Over one hundred people are preparing for an “epic” 290-mile ride from Cleckheaton to London to remember the late Member of Parliament Jo Cox, who was assassinated in 2016, as well as marking the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the UK.

 

Competitive Cycling

Defending champ Tadej Pogačar won the day on Wednesday by finishing second in the time trial, 16 seconds behind winner Remco Evenepoel; the second-place finish was enough to put Pogačar in the yellow jersey with a 42-second lead over Evenepoel, with Frenchman Kévin Vauquelin third in the GC standings, 59 seconds behind.

Two-time champ Jonas Vingegaard had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, dropping more than a minute off the pace and saying afterwards he just didn’t have the legs and had no excuse for his performance.

Canadian cyclist Michael Woods says it’s crazy that officials haven’t mandated protective gear and other safety policies for cyclists; he calls for protecting riders by lowering speeds, decreasing peloton size, reducing distraction, and rethinking the relegation system — or they may have to race in hockey gear.

Velo examines what’s changed with racing bikes over the past decade, comparing Chris Froome’s Pinarello F8 with Pogačar’s Colnago V5Rs.

A Florida man says he finished the Race Across America, aka RAAM, to keep a pledge with his father that if he didn’t quit the race, his dad would stick with his treatment for stage 4 prostate cancer.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can become the official Bike Path Mayor — or maybe your cat can, anyway.

And you can put your tush on a weird-looking saddle for the low, low price of over $360.

But only if you live in Europe.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: General / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Density boosts bike & walking rates, Metro protects parking over bike riders, and buy bike stuff to pay off Bezos’ wedding

July 9, 2025 / / 4 comments
Day 190 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

If you build it, they will walk.

And bike.

A new report on transportation mode share from Streetlight Data shows a direct correlation between increased urban density, and bicycling and walking rates.

In other words, the closer things are together, the more likely people will walk or bike to them, as well as being more likely to use transit.

According to Government Technology,

“Both [walking and biking] are impacted by the availability of transit, because transit makes it possible to get to your destination on a trip that could involve both walking and transit,” (Martin) Morzynski (of Streetlight Data) said. “The availability of transit will impact this data. The availability of access to transit.”

What is clear is that 9 out of 10 U.S. counties with the highest levels of active transportation — walking and biking — have a population density of at least 4,000 people per square mile. For example, New York County, N.Y., which includes Manhattan, has the highest level of active transportation, where 48 percent of trips are taken via walking, 11 percent are taken by bicycle and 41 percent in an auto.

But while biking and walking as seen as key transportation elements that can benefit from density, those aren’t the only benefits.

Increasingly, walking and biking are seen as key pieces of the overall transportation ecosystem in a region spurring the development of infrastructure like bike lanes, mobility hubs and the advancement of micromobility programs for sharable bikes and scooters. And indeed, public transit is viewed as an enabler of active transportation, since if it were not an option, a number of biking and walking trips would simply become car trips, Morzynski said…

Increasing density can accomplish more than converting car trips to walking or biking. It can also help to solve housing shortages, urbanists have said. Researchers with the Urban Institute have cited studies showing increased density, coupled with reduced parking requirements, help to bring down the cost of housing, while also making smarter use of transit investments.

Your move, Los Angeles.

Photo by Josh Hild from Pexels. 

………

No surprise here.

Streets For All says Metro is once again protecting the convenience of drivers over the lives of bike riders, this time on the NoHo to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit project.

Metro is choosing parking spaces over a protected bike lane!

Metro is seeking feedback about the North Hollywood to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project. The BRT will add 19 miles of faster and more reliable transit and 22 bus stations between NoHo and Pasadena, connecting Burbank, Glendale, and Eagle Rock.

But…the latest design completely removed the protected bike lane on Glenoaks through Glendale because it would have required removal of 30% of the on-street parking spaces.

Tell Metro that it’s unacceptable to choose parking over safety, and demand they restore the protected bike lane through Glendale!

There are six Metro community feedback meetings, attend as many as you can, and make your voice heard! 

Meeting Details:

Virtual
Thursday, July 10, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Call-in: 213.338.8477
Webinar ID: 849 6832 2391
Link to Join

Pasadena
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Pasadena City College, Circadian Room
1570 E Colorado Bl, Pasadena, CA 91106

Glendale
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Adult Recreation Center
201 E Colorado St, Glendale, CA 91205

North Hollywood
Saturday, July 19, 2025
10:00am – 11:30am
East Valley High School
5525 Vineland Av, North Hollywood, CA 91601

Eagle Rock
Monday, July 21, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Yosemite Recreation Center
1840 Yosemite Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90041

Burbank
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Buena Vista Branch Library
300 N Buena Vista St, Burbank, CA 91505

Thank you for fighting for a safe, sustainable, and equitable future for Glendale and beyond!

………

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock lately, it’s Amazon Prime Days, giving you the opportunity to help pay off Jeff Bezos’ recent Venice wedding.

Oh, and get some bike stuff, too.

………

This is who we share the road with.

A 24-year old road-raging driver is charged with 1st degree murder after allegedly ramming his Tesla into a San Diego motorcyclist, killing the victim instantly.

He then tried to walk away from the crash in his bare feet, offering cash to other drivers to give him a ride before flipping them off when they refused.

He was finally taken into custody at gunpoint by CHP officers, reportedly incriminating himself with his own statements afterwards.

………

This is who we share the road with, part two.

The CHP reports 1,311 California drivers were busted for DUI over the holiday weekend. Although the only real surprise is that the number is that low.

Officers wrote a total of 34,548 during the enforcement period that began Wednesday evening and ran through Sunday night, 21,328 of those for issues related to speeding.

And no, I have no idea what “issues related to speeding” means, as opposed to just violating the damn speed limit.

Especially since all you have to do to catch a speeding driver in California is pick one and point a speed gun at them.

………

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

Over 100 bike riders turned out on Saturday to protest plans to either reduce the width of Manilla bike lanes to make room for motorcycle lanes, or convert them to shared lanes with motorcycles. And on a related note, Philippine residents say it’s fear, not laziness, that keeps them from riding bike — a situation that’s not likely to be helped reducing or eliminating bike lanes.

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

A Singaporean man filed a pair of formal complaints, alleging that reckless bicyclists and e-mobility users are endangering his pregnant wife by the way they ride on walkways, and leave their bikes blocking the way. Although when I look at the photos he submitted, all I see are hundreds of bicycles safely and considerately parked along the sidewalk, while leaving space for people to pass.

………

Local 

Metro approved $2.9 billion in transit fund allocations for the 2026 fiscal year to help fund municipal and local transit operations throughout LA County, including bike and pedestrian projects.

 

State

Calbike says don’t believe the misinformation coming from Big Highway — aka companies who profit from highway expansion — about mitigating Vehicle Miles Traveled, or VMT, offering a detailed explainer of why the highway builders are wrong.

The new San Diego State University Mission Valley is the nation’s first college campus purpose-built as a bicycle-friendly, transit oriented development, or TOD.

San Diego’s stormwater department has belatedly come to the realization that bike paths shouldn’t be underwater, and committed to fixing a frequently flooded section of the SR-56 bike path. Even if a bike path deserves better than to be named after the freeway that blights it.

Vista will remove berms and bollards from protected bike lanes, just months after they were installed, due to complaints from bicyclists who said they made them feel less safe. Although they don’t seem to have bothered to gather safety stats to determine whether they actually increased or reduced injuries. 

Mountain View is considering a road diet on El Monte Ave after a series of pedestrian deaths, removing one lane to create a single lane in each direction with a center turn lane, and converting the existing bike lanes to buffered lanes.

 

National

You can now legally ride an ebike on Oregon bike trails and park roads.

The youngest of the four kids who killed an Albuquerque nuclear scientist as he biking to work by — allegedly — intentionally driving into him with a stolen car has been charged with murder, despite being just 12 years old; he was 11 at the time of the crime, and suspected of being involved in a string of burglaries dating back to when he was just ten.

New York will hire up to 45 unarmed “peace officers” to enforce rules against illegal moped, ebike and e-scooter use. Because apparently, the city’s existing 36,000 sworn peace officers aren’t up to the task. Or maybe just don’t want it. 

Hundreds of Asheville NC bike riders took to the streets and gathered in bike shops to honor two men who were killed when the driver of a dump truck crossed onto the wrong side of the road, and hit them head-on as they rode their bikes; a friend said one victim’s greatest fear was dying alone, which he tragically avoided by getting killed along with the other victim.

He gets it. The father of one of those Asheville victims says unsafe roads are a national problem.

 

International

One of the most prominent British politicians of the Thatcher era of the 1980s has died at age 94; Norman Tebbit, aka Lord Tebbit of Chingford, was responsible for popularizing the now common English phrase, “On yer bike,” for which he may never be forgiven.

Former pro cyclist Molly Weaver says she was relieved and disoriented after shaving a whopping 17 hours off the record for riding around the coast of Britain, while becoming the first woman to hold the record.

New research shows demand for ebikes is growing in the UK, even as bicycling rates are dropping — although bicycling rates appear to be rising in the Scottish Highlands.

TNT Magazine says bicycling is the best way to connect with “authentic” Spanish life.

A local writer says yes, bicyclists have a right to ride on Malaysian roads, but have to ride single file under every circumstance.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tadej Pogačar surged at the finish to take stage four of the Tour de France, marking his 100th career victory, while pulling even in overall time with race leader Mathieu van der Poel, who retained the yellow jersey for one last day. Meanwhile, a 22-year old Scotsman was stunned to find himself just off the podium.

Bike Radar offers 11 surprising things you need to know about Pogačar. Some of which actually are, but none of which you actually do. 

A UK site examines how the Tour is mitigating its environmental impacts.

All 11 bikes stolen from the Cofidis cycling team before the Tour’s second stage have now been recovered by police across the border in Belgium, though no arrests appear to have been made.

USA Today looks back to the deep, dark days of the 1980’s, when America’s only remaining Tour de France winner was dominating the race, despite a shotgun blast to the gut.

Meanwhile, women are still racing, even if they’re overshadowed by the Tour, as Dutch pro Lorena Wiebes took a crash-filled stage three of the Giro D’Italia Donne, while Britain’s Anna Henderson retained the pink leader’s jersey after a late crash that involved all but 10 riders, resulting in almost the entire peloton receiving the same time.

 

Finally…

That feeling when even husbands of Bachelorette stars aren’t safe from hit-and-run drivers. Or when you try nearly every bike bag known to man before finding one you can live with.

And a new study shows that saddle height and setback, pedaling intensity, rider height, and sex can affect comfort in the lower limbs.

Although it should be obvious that sex on a bike saddle would affect the lower limbs — especially this one.

Or so I’m (ahem) told.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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