Thank Trump for higher bike inflation, libertarians call for transportation neutrality, and literal hatchet jobs on bike riders

August 4, 2026 / / One comment

Gracias por nada, Mr. President.

Donald Trump persists in insisting on imposing tariffs on much of the world, using a different section of the law that allows him to tariff countries that either have not established or adequately enforced rules regarding forced labor.

The result is new tariffs of between 10 and 12.5 percent on goods imported from 60 countries — including every major bicycle producing country.

And yes, that includes parts and accessories, too.

Which means you’ll soon be paying more. Even on American-made bikes, virtually all of which rely on foreign-made parts. And you can probably drop “virtually” from that sentence.

So unless the courts find a reason to throw this one out, too, count on a new 10% or so inflation rate at your friendly local bike shop.

Photo by MART PRODUCTION for Pexels.

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No bias here.

A writer for the San Diego Reader calls on the city to give drivers a break, citing an “avid cyclist” and Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, who says government should be neutral in how people choose to travel.

One such proponent of the car-centric society is Randall O’Toole of Bandon, Oregon. He’s an avid cyclist, but he’s also a think-tank guy, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, who opines that it’s time the car got its due and that — despite the hype heaped on other modes of transport — Americans appreciate the right that the automobile has wrought on the Republic.

When I spoke with O’Toole, he wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t be construed as anti-bicycle or anti-public transportation. His stance is that the best form of transit is the one that pays for itself, which leads, he says, to vital questions: Why should the government subsidize non-automotive transportation, and if said modes can’t make it on their own, why should they be preferred? O’Toole urges governmental neutrality when it comes to how Americans choose to travel, adding, “That neutrality should extend to financing. There should be no subsidies to any form of travel.”

Never mind that state and local governments in California subsidize motor vehicles with a whopping $25 billion or more each year for roadwork, highway construction, and pavement maintenance.

Not including the cost of traffic enforcement.

And while bike riders are often depicted as freeloaders, as they are in this hit piece, we pay the same taxes as anyone else. The only exception is car registration fees and gas taxes, which makes sense since bicycles cause approximately zero damage to the roadways, unlike any and every motor vehicle.

In fact, bike riders subsidize the cost of roadways we don’t even use, like limited access highways. And that doesn’t take into account the fact that most bike riders also drive, which means they pay the same taxes and fees any other driver does.

So I’m absolutely fine with calls to stop subsidizing bicycles, as long as we stop subsidizing motor vehicles, too.

Let’s stop using general tax dollars and state and federal grant money to pay for roadwork, and let drivers pay their own way with costs based on vehicle weight, required road space and damage caused to the roads.

And see how they feel when they start getting several thousand dollars in road taxes, while bike riders end up paying pennies.

Then there’s this rocket scientist from the conservative Reason Institute.

“If the streets are underused and there’s room for the bicycle lanes, I have no problem with San Diego putting them in. They’re relatively cheap to install, assuming all you’re doing is re-painting lines or painting the bicycle lane green. That’s fine. The challenge is that when you have a lot of car traffic in that area, the bike lane will make congestion worse. Since car traffic seems to be dominant in San Diego, motorists are the folks we should actually be building the infrastructure for. There is a subsidy for automobiles, but it’s typically much smaller than the ones for other forms of transportation. Cyclists don’t pay for the use of the infrastructure they’re utilizing; there’s no ‘bicycle tire tax’ or anything like that. But we should be planning for the way people actually commute, not the way we’d like them to commute. Since most San Diego residents are driving, I’m hesitant to take away lanes for cars and allocate them for bike use unless there’s excess capacity.”

Yet governments have literally always planned for the way they want people to commute, from the first Roman roads to auto-centric policies that have built today’s automotive hegemony on the roads.

But no one is building bike lanes to force anyone to ride a bike. Bike lanes are built to a) calm traffic, because so many drivers seen unable to take their foot off the gas, and b) provide viable alternatives to driving.

The latter is nothing more or less than an attempt to balance the scales, so people have options in how they want to get around. Which is less a matter of putting a finger on the scales than it is of taking it off.

Whether in San Diego, Los Angeles or anywhere else, when 100% of spending and traffic planning has gone to motor vehicles for over a century, devoting a relatively small amount of funding and road space may seem like we’re taking it from cars.

In reality, though, we’re just giving it back to the people, so they can decide how they want to get around.

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A Fresno man was the victim of a bizarre attack while riding a bicycle with a friend Monday morning.

Someone reportedly came out of the surrounding neighborhood and began arguing with the victim, then pulled out a hatchet and chopped the bike rider in the ribs; fortunately he was hospitalized in stable condition.

No word on whether a suspect was arrested.

Bizarrely, though, that wasn’t the only hatchet job on a bicyclist in recent weeks.

A 43-year old Indiana man was charged with felony aggravated battery, intimidation and criminal recklessness last week, after allegedly using a hatchet to attack a man he had gotten into previous arguments with, shouting “I’m going to fucking kill you” at the man riding a bicycle.

Luckily, his blow struck the bike’s handlebars, narrowly missing the victim’s hand.

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More proof of LA’s current level of incompetency, where the city’s incessant delays and public meetings have caused a nearly 50% budget increase in a project to close a gap in the LA River bike path in the San Fernando Valley — forcing bike riders to cross streets at surface level, rather than going underneath as originally planned.

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Thanks to Megan for forwarding more on the Colorado bike shop embroiled in an FBI asset seizure.

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

A woman was heckled by three teens on an ebike while she was riding her bike up the Shady Canyon trail in Irvine, leading her to question whether she’s too old to keep riding the trail, before recovering and continuing on — and remembering why people hated middle school. Never mind that any ebike that can carry three people isn’t an ebike, and isn’t legal. 

Boulder County, Colorado sheriff’s deputies are on the lookout for a driver who sped down a fully separated bike path at speeds up to 50 mph Sunday afternoon.

Talk about blaming the victim. After a Singapore woman was right-hooked by the driver of an on-demand rental car while riding her bicycle with her husband, the driver blamed her for riding too fast, even though her fitness app said she was doing about 10 mph, and demanded that she pay for damage to the car when she was still in the ER.

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Local 

PeopleForBikes is joining with a number of Southern California advocacy organizations for Ride LA Together, a regional campaign to accelerate bicycle projects across the Los Angeles area before the ’28 Olympics and Paralympic Games. Which is a good thing, because the city sure as hell isn’t doing it. Thanks to Cycling Utah for the heads-up.

Metro Bike is celebrating its 10th birthday with a pair of rides on August 15th and 22nd.

The adult children of a 92-year-old Venice man filed a lawsuit on Monday against the City of Los Angeles and the driver who killed him in a right hook while he was riding an e-scooter, alleging that the roadway striping and pavement markings did not show the the bike lane as it passed through the intersection.

This is who we share the road with. An alleged drunk sent pedestrians on the Venice Pier diving out of the way after she hit a pedicab, then sped onto the pier, doing donuts at the end before speeding off; police arrested her nearby.

Long Beach is nearly finished installing speed cams and ready to begin issuing tickets later this month, beating Malibu, Glendale and yes, Los Angeles, under a new pilot program.

 

State

The streets of Bakersfield could become a little more accommodating to people on bicycles, as the city is poised to adopt updated guidelines prioritizing wider bike lanes into street designs.

 

National

An 18-year old Arizona man was sentenced to five years behind bars for robbing a 12-year old boy at gunpoint to steal his ebike; police arrested the suspect riding the purloined ebike moments later, as well as his 14-year old accomplice after a few days. And no, five years isn’t anywhere near enough for pointing a gun at a little kid to steal his bike. 

Biking in Las Vegas could become less of a gamble, as the city builds its first protected bike lane, connecting Henderson, Nevada with the headquarters of the Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders.

Life is cheap in Abilene, Texas, where a hit-and-run driver got a lousy 120 days behind bars, along with eight years probation, for killing a 41-year old man riding a bicycle.

Texas-based Segway introduced a new ebike that isn’t an ebike, regardless of what Popular Science calls it; anything that can do 43 mph off the showroom floor exceeds the top speed for a Class 3 e-bike by a solid 15 mph.

Boston bike advocates keep up the pressure on the city to improve safety in the wake of a city transportation planner getting killed while riding her bike home from work.

A New York state senator is sponsoring a new campaign to encourage bike riders and ebike riders to “Slow Your Roll, Respect the Stroll,” urging bicyclists to yield to pedestrians, don’t bike on sidewalks, stop at red lights, and don’t bike against traffic. Which is all great, but where’s the messaging to drivers to slow down, signal turns, look before changing lanes, put your phone down, respect crosswalks, stop at stop signs and red lights, and yield to bike riders and pedestrians?

Life is really cheap in Maryland, where a school bus driver walked with a lousy $390 fine for killing an 11-year old girl in a right hook as she was riding her bicycle in a crosswalk, after investigators concluded they “each contributed to the circumstances that led to the crash.” What part of 11 years old don’t they understand? Or do they seriously expect little kids to operate their bikes at the same level as a 55-year old trained bus driver?

 

International

The bike and walking path on the new Gordie Howe International Bridge is set to pen this week, connecting Detroit, Michigan with Windsor, Ontario.

Heartbreaking news from Australia, where 82-year old motor neuron disease (MND) advocate Bob Montgomery died one day after completing a 3,300-mile fundraising ride across the continent; Montgomery died after suffering an episode on the way home from a celebration of his latest ride. He had raised more than $300,000 for research and service support in his five charity bike rides for MND.

 

Competitive Cycling

Norway’s Sigrid Haugset stunned the peloton by swiping the yellow jersey from Dutch star Lorena Wiebes, leapfrogging the leaders with a “bonkers” 50-mile solo breakaway, and ending the day with a two-minute lead over second place Kimberley Le Court Pienaar, as Wiebes dropped out of the top ten.

Nineteen-year old Harshita Jakhar has became the first Indian woman to compete in the Tour de France Femmes.

The BBC calls 23-year old British track cyclist Emma Finucane a “generational talent” after she left the Commonwealth Games with four gold medals.

Newly minted five-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar will compete in the Vuelta a España later this month, after a seven-year absence, attempting a rare double Grand Tour win in the same year.

Finally…

That feeling when your triathlon includes a 3,000 mile bike ride and swimming around Manhattan — and you’re the only competitor. When you’re riding your bike with an outstanding warrant for illegally keeping a pair of alligators in your home, put a damn light on it, already.

And forget doping. The latest form of cheating in pro cycling is padded bras.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Today’s post, in which I admit bicycling made me thin skinned, and proof bike riders face the same problems everywhere

August 3, 2026 / / No comments

Call me thin skinned.

No, literally.

If I brush against something, I get a bruise. Bump anything with point or a rough edge, and I bleed like a stuck pig.

Or just give me a sharp look from across the room, and I’ll probably start bleeding.

Yesterday I accidentally bumped something in a restaurant, and seconds later, blood was running down my wrist. I carry bandaids and alcohol pads everywhere I go, just in case.

I’ve used six in the last week.

The other day, my dermatologist finally explained what the problem is. No dread disease or blood disorder, but skin baked thin from all those years riding a bike for hours on end, back in the olden times when the sun was supposed to be good for you.

The damage runs the full the front of my arms, from mid-shoulder to my finger tips. Or put another way, the entire area exposed by a bicycling jersey while holding the handlebars.

But this is a story with a moral.

There’s nothing I can do about it at this point. But you still can.

Use sunscreen.

Lots of it.

It’s too late for me. So save yourself.

Photo by Tara Winstead for Pexels.

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More proof that bike riders face the same problems everywhere, as a Japanese bicyclist tries to navigate a Tokyo bike lane.

Twitter post

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

WTF? A 39-year old Minnesota man was hit with a lousy misdemeanor charge after he was accused of of boobytrapping his own yard with a homemade spike strip embedded with dozens of 3-inch screws, just to keep neighborhood children from riding bicycles across his property. He faces a maximum of 180 days in lockup. Because who cares if a few kids get fucked up if it keeps them out of his yard, right?

Tragic news from New York State, where a 47-year old man was likely left paralyzed after a witness said a 21-year old driver intentionally slammed his pickup into the victim’s bicycle, directly in front of the victim’s home; the driver’s father later called to threaten the newspaper for reporting the story, adding the they aren’t the family “that owns everything.”

Nothing like blaming the victims. The UK tabloid Express says Britain’s new prime minister has already been hit with a crisis on the roads, with ebike riders jumping London red lights, and bicyclists accounting for 6% of traffic deaths, as “Cyclists have always been a safety issue for drivers.” Yes, killing bike riders is a safety issue for drivers — not for, say, the people who get killed or anything.

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Local 

A tip of the hat to LA’s KNBC-4. which shares dashcam video of a cop chasing an ebike rider in Upland, without bothering to note that he was riding an illegal e-motorbike.

 

State

Dozens of Orange County parents may face charges after being warned their kids have been riding illegal e-motorbikes, as well as riding them in an illegal manner, and allowing them to do it anyway.

 

National

Ex-Talking Heads singer David Byrne shared the bicycling playlist he listens to while riding between dates on his ongoing Who Is the Sky? tour, ranging from Mitski and Ibeyi, to Harry Styles and Paul McCartney.

More tragic news today, as rock musician Nathan James says his father was found dead after disappearing on a Colorado bike ride; no cause of death was reported.

That’s more like it. A 41-year old Texas man was sentenced to 13-1/2 years behind bars for the drunken killing of a 53-year old man riding a bicycle. Although I have to wonder if the sentence would have been as harsh if the driver was white.

A kindhearted Toledo cop worked with a local bike shop to get a man a new bicycle after a driver destroyed the bike the man relied on to get to work.

The New York Post angrily insists the mayor and state government need to “face the deadly ebike menace now,” without noting the problem is caused by people on e-motorbikes and illegally modified ebikes. Or that people in cars kill more New Yorkers in a day than ebike riders do in a year. 

You’ll now have to register your ebike in New Jersey, even if you’re just visiting from one of the other 49 states where registration isn’t required.

Vandalism charges were predictably dropped against former Olympic rower and Masters cyclist David Hearn for damaging DC’s reflecting pool, after the Justice Department was forced to concede the damage was due to rushed, poor quality installation work — although Trump continued to insist the damage was due to vandals, who had cut a virtually impossible 300 foot slit all the way across the pool.

Southern Living says the Gulf Coast’s most scenic bike ride is hiding in plain sight with a 28-mile trail system in Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama. That wasn’t there when I spent a long weekend at the park back in the ’80s, which is how I ended up riding my bike along the coast to Pensacola, to the astonishment of the park ranger at the gate on my return.  

A three-year old South Carolina bike club for Black women gave back to the community by donating school supplies to students, including college students.

A Florida letter writer says forget the whole ebike thing, and just get your kid a regular bike, already.

 

International

Road.cc considers the best road bikes for the equivalent of two grand.

Montreal maps the city’s most dangerous intersections for bicyclists.

Under the category of life isn’t fair, a British bike rider was fined the equivalent of $1616 for filming a close pass by a driver while squeezing past a parked car, while the driver who caused the squeeze got off with a driver training class. And the cops said it would be “inappropriate” to release the video — after it has already gone viral.

Meet the bicycling sommelier of Girona, Spain, who observes “The bicycle has helped me to understand the territory. Understanding the territory is understanding wine.”

Horrible news from South Korea, where a man in his 60s was killed when his bicycle was rear-ended by the driver of an excavator on a bridge in Yeongcheon, in the southern part of the country.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch star Lorena Wiebes looks comfortable in yellow, taking the first two stages of the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift with a combined margin of 14 seconds over Kimberley Le Court Pienaar, with Demi Vollering two seconds back in third.

Slovenian pro Urška Zigart is back in action at the Tour de France Femmes, just six weeks after breaking her jaw crashing in the Tour de Suisse.

American team Human Powered Health will contend some flat stages of the Tour with one rider on a SpongeBob SquarePants themed bike.

Belgium’s Wout van Aert cruised to victory in the Tour of Denmark by winning three of the five stages, with Lukas Kubis second overall and Henrik Pedersen third.

Remco Evenepoel has claimed a record fourth victory at the Basque Country’s Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa single day classic. And no, I never heard of it either. 

German cyclist Frederik Niessen can now tell everyone he beat Slovenian star Tadej Pogačar to the summit in the second stage of his fundraising Pogi Challenge on Sunday, even if Pogačar gave him, and everyone else, a seven-minute head start.

UCI doesn’t just sanction bigger sports like road cycling, mountain biking and gravel racing, also sanctioning lesser known things like bike polo, artistic cycling and snow biking.

Finally…

That feeling when track cyclists start to look like hockey players. How to ride the Costco half-century.

And no, posing on the beach with a stationary bicycle for publicity photos does not equate to actually riding it.

Twitter post

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Transportation bills still alive in CA legislature, no action on America Bikes Act, and “old coots” ignore real problem

July 30, 2026 / / No comments

I’m having some sort of major allergic reaction on my forearms. So if you see this post, it means I didn’t scratch all the skin off ’em.

Most, maybe. But not all.

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If Sacramento has seemed peaceful lately, it’s because the legislature has been on summer vacation, which ends on Monday.

According to California Streetsblog, included among the bills still alive in this session, 

Assembly Bill 1421 would continue a study of whether a road usage charge could eventually replace the gas tax, which would stop EV users from getting a free pass. I’m good with it as long as the charge is based on vehicle weight, so users of massive vehicles pay more for the harm they cause to the streets, and the human bodies they hit.

Assembly Bill 1546 would increase the penalties for DUI to bring them more in line with other states. Now do the same for hit-and-run, where drivers in other states can get significantly more time for leaving people to die in the streets. 

Assembly Bill 1662 would change the law so that drivers who avoid fines as a result of a court-ordered diversion program would still get points on their driving record.

Assembly Bill 1837 would make camera enforcement of drivers who block transit lanes and bus stops permanent statewide. Now do bike lanes, too. 

Assembly Bill 2015 stops navigation apps from routing traffic onto neighborhood streets designed for local access, walking, and biking.

Assembly Bill 2168 would, among other things, prioritize leveraging of more state transportation funding to the Active Transportation Program. Yes, please. 

Senate Bill 569 would make it harder for local governments to remove or weaken existing bicycle infrastructure, prohibiting the removal of a Class I, II, III, or IV bikeway, or reducing the physical protection of a bikeway, unless they replace it with infrastructure providing equal or greater levels of safety and connectivity. I’m looking at you, Encinitas. 

Senate Bill 1167 clarifies the differences between ebikes and e-motorbikes or electric motorcycles, and prohibit false marketing of vehicles that don’t meet the requirements and limitations of ebikes.

Senate Bill 1423 requires the Active Transportation Program to steer half of State Transportation Improvement Program funding to projects that make streets safer for people walking, biking, and taking transit, while also making the state’s top safe streets grant program easier for cities to access.

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US Rep. Mike Thompson discussed the America Bikes Act in an appearance in his home district in Davis yesterday.

According to Sacramento’s ABC10,

He said the legislation would expand federal support for safer bicycling infrastructure and bicycle safety education. Local leaders and advocates said safer and better-connected bike routes could also help save lives.

The bill would remove tariffs on imported bicycle components when they are used to assemble bicycles in the United States…

Other provisions would expand local access to federal funding to improve roadway safety for bicyclists and pedestrians.

What he did not explain was how he expects to get the bill through the Republican-controlled legislature, where it still hasn’t been scheduled for a hearing, let alone a vote.

The bill comes at a time when the US Secretary of Transportation is inexplicably attacking “DEI bike lanes,” and removing any reference to road diets, protected bike lanes or speed cams from government websites.

And no, no one else seems to know what a DEI bike lane is, either.

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He gets it.

Santa Barbara columnist Nick Welsh wonders why the “angry old coots” are getting so worked up over ebikes, while ignoring the real problem.

It’s the height of stupidity to tell other people how they should feel about anything. I, however, have never stopped trying. I figure, sooner or later, I’ll get it right.

Here goes. For the past couple of years, Santa Barbara has been held captive by a cabal of angry old coots who are addicted to being in the state of perpetual apoplexy. They call this disorder apoplexy nervosa for which, sadly, not even Jerry Lewis has found a cure. They have endlessly hijacked public meetings about the future of State Street, using these public forums as the megaphone through which to rail endlessly about the scourge and menace of e-bikes. (And yes, God will strike me dead with an e-bike.)…

If you need to be apoplectic about something, why not light your hair on fire about the “surge” in pedestrian deaths because Detroit insists on building bigger and higher trucks and SUVs and we — as premeditatedly stupid accomplices in our own undoing — happily and stupidly buy these trucks and SUVs.

Since 2009, we’ve seen hood heights “surge” from 30 inches to 40 to 50. This reduces drivers’ sightlines. Pedestrians go unseen. Whammo. With the lower hood heights of yore, their knees might have taken the brunt of the blow. But today, it’s their internal organs. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the United States averages 7,080 pedestrian deaths a year. Of those, the institute estimates 700 are due to the higher hood heights. By contrast, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reports there are 30-to-45 e-bike deaths
a year.

Go ahead and read the whole thing. It’s more than worth your time.

We’ll wait for you.

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

Good grief. Bicyclists aren’t even safe on bike paths now, after a bike rider was run down by a hit-and-run driver on the CV Link multiuse path in Coachella over the weekend, leaving him with scrapes, a swollen leg and knee, and damage to his bicycle; according to News Channel 3, people driving on the pathway seems to be a common problem.

Bike hubs and indoor bicycle parking facilities were temporarily shut down in Middlesbrough, Stockton, and Hartlepool, England, as a local Member of Parliament warned that bicycling and walking should not be “treated as an afterthought.” If only. 

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

Kenyons were suitably outraged after a large group of young bicyclists took over a Nairobi roadway popping wheelies and other “high-risk bicycle stunts” in an undated video.

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Local 

The nonprofit LA Local says the death last week of a 60-year old homeless man at 7th and Vermont is a reminder that Los Angeles, and Koreatown in particular, remain too damn dangerous for pedestrians.

Streetsblog says Spectrum News 1 offers another “windshield perspective” view of the Pico Blvd Safety Project, which would remove parking to make room for protected bike lanes, among other things.

Vanity Fair interviews Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, who is pictured wearing the classic P-22 CicLAvia T-shirt. And if that alone isn’t reason to vote for her, I don’t know what is.

Thanks to KABC-7 for making it clear that a man was killed and a woman critically injured in a Burbank collision involving an e-motorcycle, rather than just calling it an ebike. Although that doesn’t make it any less tragic.

 

State

Police in Laguna Beach cracked down on motorcycles and out-of-class ebikes, issuing 136 tickets, while failing to note that the problem stems from e-motos and illegally modified ebikes.

Bicyclists and residents of Woodside — as if the bike riders somehow aren’t “residents — packed a city council meeting Tuesday night to urge local leaders to push for stronger safety measures after a speeding driver killed a bicyclist earlier this month.

A 60-year old Los Gatos man suffered head injuries after his “bike was hit by a vehicle” Sunday morning; the story doesn’t mention that the vehicle had a driver until the final five words.

A San Jose bike rider is in critical condition after they were struck by a driver yesterday afternoon. Although judging by the headline, the victim was somehow injured after the crash, not during it. But at least the story mentioned the driver this time.

A San Francisco forum this evening will discuss how to build a bike lane. If you leave now, you could just make it. 

 

National

The Cherokee Nation is now accepting applications for next year’s Remember the Removal bike tour, commemorating the infamous Trail of Tears.

The far-right Daily Wire discusses, among other things, “blowing up bike lanes,” which I assume does not refer to inflatable protective barriers. And no, I have not watched it.

Seriously? USA Today considers what’s driving the increase in ebike injuries in kids and teens, without considering even the possibility of e-motos, illegal dirt bikes and illegally modified ebikes.

Gadget Review recommends 15 smart bike gadgets that actually make bicycling better. But as they used to say in those golden early years of the internet, your mileage may vary.

A Boise, Idaho man who says he’s been riding for 50 years apparently can’t grasp the purpose of the city’s first protected intersection, criticizing the raised islands for posing a hazard for “group rides that can include 10 to 20 cyclists traveling close to 20 mph.”

For the 81st year, the Green Bay Packers started training camp with the players riding borrowed kids bikes to the first session, while children lined up outside for the honor of having one ride their bike.

 

International

Author Phil Cavell’s new book examines why bicycling appeals to so many neurodiverse people, with one cyclist claiming ADHD offers an advantage at. the starting line.

A Montreal runner and bike rider asks “Why can’t we all — motorists, cyclists, pedestrians — just get along?” Which is one of the best questions I’ve seen or heard all month. 

A 51-year old English man is riding from North Wales to the southernmost point of Spain on a 36-year old bike to encourage men to open up and talk about their mental health, five years after he narrowly avoided taking his own life.

Who says bicyclists aren’t tough? A British man plans to ride 100 miles this month to raise money and awareness for Prostate Cancer UK, which is more than he’s ridden in the last three years — despite riding with a broken shoulder.

No surprise here, as almost three-quarters of UK bicyclists say distracted drivers put them at risk at least once a month.

In a story that reads like it was written by AI, a Kenyon website bizarrely identifies the victim of a bicycling fatality in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood, but brings it home at the end by saying the death reflects a “global global urban planning deficit that prioritizes vehicular throughput over human life,” offering a grim parallel to the challenges faces by East African urban planners.

Unbelievable. An Indian circus performer known for his “daring bicycle stunts, including riding without looking ahead, balancing on the handlebars and standing upright while the bicycle was in motion,” was killed in a burial stunt, in which he was supposed to be buried underground for 24 hours, but was left there for 36 hours because the organizers refused to dig him up until the crowd donated the equivalent of $74; needless to say, he died of suffocation.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch cycling star Demi Vollering feels like she’s the only pro cyclist talking about the problem of racing during her period, and wishes more women’s riders would speak out.

Velo offers 21 hot takes from the recently concluded Tour de France.

.

Finally…

That feeling when the cops decide it would “inappropriate” to release a video that led to a bike rider getting a ticket, after it had already gone viral when they released it the first time.

And an 11-year old San Clemente girl found her new best friend hiding in the bushes while she was riding her bike to Target, rescuing a small kitty she named S’mores.

Something that would have never happened if she’d been in her mom’s car.

@alaynanovini7

My sweet Madison found a kitten in need today on her bike ride. She is so scared. We took her to the vet and she is severely under weight and dehydrated. 16 weeks old and only 1.6 lbs. we gave her fluids and a dewormer. Next week will vaccinate her. Welcome home S’mores 🫶🏼😭🩷 #kittyrescue #kitten

♬ a punk – 3 minute audios

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Road rage driver in Rapp death had 13 prior arrests in 14 years, and elderly Hollywood musician badly injured in SaMo hit-and-run

July 29, 2026 / / No comments

Charles Eric Medina, the Texas driver accused of the alleged road rage killing of 26-year old boxer Hannah Rapp, was scheduled for a bond hearing yesterday.

Medina faces three charges, including manslaughter and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and criminal mischief, after passing Rapp and her boyfriend too closely at a high rate of speed. When Rapp’s boyfriend shouted and gestured in complaint, Medina allegedly slammed on his brakes, then sped into the couple in reverse, killing Rapp.

He is currently being held on a total bond of $1,229,000. Medina has an extensive history of criminal charges, including deadly conduct, reckless driving, assault and evading arrest, with at least 13 arrests since 2012 — an average of nearly one arrest per year.

The bond total appears to include priors for “evading arrest” on March 17, 2025, and “deadly conduct” on February 14, 2024.

Seems like a real prince.

Meanwhile, a petition for “Hannah’s Law,” started by Rapp’s mother, has garnered nearly 11,000 signatures to give Texas judges more freedom to order defendants with a documented pattern of dangerous behavior held without bond, which is very difficult under current Texas law.

Photo by Kindel Media from Pexels. 

………

Hollywood and session musician Stanley Behrens, aka “The Baron,” is recovering from serious injuries he received when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bicycle in Santa Monica last month.

Behrens had just performed at the Summer Solstice street festival on Main Street in Santa Monica, and was hit by a driver who turned left into the bike lane he was riding in, while less than a mile from his Venice Beach home.

The crash left him with “multiple broken bones, including his orbital bone, nose, clavicle, scapula, C7 vertebra, ribs and ankle, and a serious brain injury that required emergency surgery on Father’s Day to address a significant bleed,” and has resulted in ongoing fever, delirium and confusion.

There’s no information provided about the driver or suspect vehicle.

According to CBS News,

The accident has halted Behrens’ active, music-filled life and independent routine. As a career musician with a wide-ranging résumé, he has contributed harmonica, saxophone and flute work to television soundtracks (“The Rockford Files,” “Quantum Leap,” “My Name Is Earl”), films including “The Rum Diary,” and albums by artists such as Willie Dixon, Jimmy Smith, Alice Cooper and Canned Heat, with whom he toured worldwide in the early 2000s.

A crowdfunding campaign to help pay his medical expenses has raised over $22,000 of the $50,000 goal.

………

Writing for Cycling West, Peter Abraham, former head of marketing for the Los Angeles Marathon, who helped develop the popular “Stadium to the Sea” course, questions whether the upcoming Olympics will do for Los Angeles bicycling what it did in London and Paris.

The Olympics are a rare opportunity for a city to expand its bike infrastructure. I have spent time speaking with the people who led bike ridership initiatives in both Paris and London around the 2024 and 2012 Olympics. They were very strategic about how they thought about building infrastructure. It was not just “let’s build some bike lanes.” Careful thought was put into motivating people to get out on bikes, to ride to work and participate in cycling events. Big urban bike share systems were built into the plan as well as extensive investments in infrastructure. And importantly there was true leadership around bikes from the mayor of each city. Read former London mayor Boris Johnson’s 30-page manifesto on bike infrastructure, or the story of Anne Hidalgo’s leadership in Paris around bikes. We’re two years out from the LA Olympics, and I don’t see this kind of leadership from either the Governor Newsom or Mayor Karen Bass. That’s a shame. I realize there are many challenging things going on in Los Angeles right now: recovering from the devastating fires we had last year, ICE raids, the FIFA World Cup and elections this year for both LA mayor and California governor. But I would love to see some of our political leaders prioritize safe streets for pedestrians, bikes and cars.

He’s right.

Despite multiple promises made as part of former Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Twenty-Eight by ’28 program of bike, pedestrian and transit projects that were to be completed in time for the LA Olympics, there’s been virtually no progress, and a lot of backsliding, in the short four years since he left office.

It would take a massive commitment from the city and state to make anywhere near the progress the other two former host cities made, something I don’t see happening under the current Los Angeles and California leadership.

Whether anything at all will be done in time for the games depends a lot on the coming November election.

………

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

Chicago Streetsblog “degreases” an anti-bike lane screed from a local writer.

No bias here. The anti-bike New York Post says New York Mayor “Mamdani loves the hipsters who love their bikes,” so they’re attempting to speed up the process of building bike lanes by cutting complaints out of the process. Considering most complaints can be summed up as “parking,” that’s not a bad idea. 

A London woman was the victim of a “terrifying” road rage assault after her shoe grazed the side of a car as she was squeezing by on her bike in crowded traffic, despite her attempts to apologize profusely.

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

A four-year old Denver dog is recovering after he was struck by a hit-and-run ebike rider who zoomed by on the sidewalk, then told his owner “to ‘F’ myself and to ‘F’ off, and that it was my fault, and he had the right-of-way, and he was glad my dog was hit.” Nice guy. From the photos, it’s hard to tell if he was on a ped-assist ebike or an e-moto. 

………

Local 

An attorney says a “high-end” Manhattan Beach store could be held responsible for the theft of a customer’s ebike, if it can be shown that there was a history of previous thefts, and they knew or should have known about the risk of theft.

A 27-year old old Dutch woman bicycling across the US on the Bikecentennial route started her trip in Los Angeles, and decided to bike down to Disneyland for the 4th of July fireworks — but didn’t realize it was 80 miles away, and arrived too tired to visit the park.

 

State

Seal Beach city leaders were due to meet at the Rotary Club last night to discuss the problem of ebikes in the city, which is better defined as a problem with mostly underaged riders on illegal e-motorbikes and electric dirt bikes, as well as on legal ped-assist bicycles that have been illegally modified to exceed speed and power limitations; it benefits no one to tar legal ebike riders with the same broad brush.

San Diego bicyclists will have to continue to practice potty training, after the city’s mayor rejected a proposal to reopen a number of closed restrooms along the popular Mission Bay bike route.

A proposed Berkeley protected bike lane is pitting neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother in the fight for and against it.

 

National

The American College of Surgeons says it’s leading the conversation on ebike safety, but once again fails to make clear that the problem stems from illegal e-motorbikes and electric dirt bikes, rather than relatively sedate ped-assist ebikes. Shouldn’t identifying the actual problem be the first step in actually solving it?

A Seattle woman was killed when she struck a bridge gate on her bicycle.

San Antonio, Texas will hold a community celebration on Thursday to mark the completion of the city’s first protected bike lane, providing a safe route along one of the city’s busiest corridors, while supporting the city’s Vision Zero plan.

August 5th marks opening day for bicyclists and pedestrians on the new Gordie Howe International Bridge between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario.

Massive Maine-based appliance maker Whirlpool delayed its quarterly earnings reports after the company CEO was injured in a “minor bicycle accident.” No, a minor bike crash is when you show up at work the next day with a little road rash and a gnarly story to tell; missing a required earnings report hints at something more significant. 

Vermont will build a bike and pedestrian bridge across the state’s busiest highway interchange. That compares favorably to Southern California, where bike riders are expected to play Frogger across highway entrances and exits, and cross only on automobile and smog-choked overpasses.

New York is planning to build 500 secure bike-parking locations across the city, capable of holding 6 to 80 bicycles, depending on size.

The Orange County school board approved a ban on ebikes at county schools; no, the one in Florida.

 

International

The UK’s somewhat less than bike friendly The Sun says new research shows that half of ebike riders in Glasgow run red lights, before making it clear that the problem riders are mostly delivery riders on illegally modified e-motorbikes.

A British man rented a Lime bike to follow the motorcade of Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara on a visit to London this past March, in a quest to find justice for his jailed, then murdered, father, and compensation for the seizure of their home by a government official.

Speaking of Lime Bikes, the Daily Mail tested the handlebars of the London bikeshare ebikes, and found “high levels of biological residue from skin cells, sweat, saliva, food residue – and in some cases, fecal matter.” No shit. 

A German man says he feels “embarrassed” and “naïve” after his bike was stolen from a Newcastle, England metro station just days after completing a 1,000-mile ride down the length of the UK.

Sad news from Germany, where bike touring pioneer Heinz Stücke, who spent over 50 years exploring the world by bicycle, has passed away in his hometown of Hövelhof at age 86; Stücke rode more than 378,000 miles, visiting nearly every country on earth.

A Durban, South African bicyclist was killed when he was hit head-on by an alleged drunk driver on the wrong side of the roadway, on a three-mile beachfront circuit where riders train.

Johannesburg, South Africa’s Girls on Bikes turns heads with their bright pink helmets, in a movement built on friendship, confidence and proving that women belong on the road.

An op-ed in the South China Post considers how Hong Kong can embrace bicycling as a means of transportation, improving residents health while reducing road congestion and contributing to sustainability goals.

Sad news from Tokyo, where stunt cyclist Lilly Yokoi died at her Tokyo home at age 96; Yokoi gained fame riding her gold-plated bicycle at the halftime of Harlem Globetrotters games, as well as at Radio City Music Hall, the London Palladium and the Lido in Paris, and on television programs like “The Ed Sullivan Show” and “The Hollywood Palace,” and in the 1966 circus film “Rings Around the World.” And yes, I’m old enough to remember her on the Ed Sullivan Show — or “Shoe,” as he pronounced it. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo says the Tour de France’s Montmartre circuit finally gave the race the ending it always needed.

 

Finally…

Your next race-ready kit could come with built-in crash protection. Wining fans and influencing people, Ricky Bobby style.

And how to tell when your tire is screwed.

Literally.

Reddit post

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Huntington Beach ebike rider killed, San Diego candidate calls for part-time bike lanes, and sycophantic LADOT credits Bass for crosswalks

July 28, 2026 / / No comments

Once again, someone has been killed riding an ebike.

And once again, we have no idea what kind of ebike they’re talking about.

Multiple sources are reporting that a 21-year old man, identified as Westminster resident Jeffrey James Marlow, died five days after losing control of his ebike and crashing into a curb at Warner Avenue and Plaza Lane in Huntington Beach, around 12:30 pm last Tuesday.

But nothing in any of the articles clarifies whether Marlow was on a Class 1, 2 or 3 electric bicycle, or an illegal e-moto or electric motorcycle.

I honestly have no idea how to handle stories like this. Do I write about it like any other fallen bicycle rider? Or do I assume he was on an electric motorbike, which seems likely, and just mention it in passing, like I did here.

Any thoughts?

………

No bias here.

A candidate for San Diego city council trots out the usual arguments against bike lanes, saying he absolutely supports recreational bicycling, but the city was built around and for cars, and San Diegan won’t just switch to bikes for transportation.

Families juggle work, school, sports, shopping and appointments that often require driving across several neighborhoods in a single day. That reality is unlikely to change simply because more bike lanes are painted on our streets.

At the same time, San Diego’s population is aging. Seniors are one of the fastest-growing segments of our community, and many depend on convenient vehicle access and nearby parking. Local businesses also depend on customers who can easily park and walk into their stores. When parking is removed to make room for bike lanes that see limited use, businesses and residents understandably question whether the tradeoff makes sense.

Maybe someone should tell him that older people make up the fastest growing segment of American bicyclists. And providing a safer bicycling network is the best way to encourage more of those people to ride, offering significant health benefits to an aging population.

Or that about half of all urban trips are under three miles, which most people can do without much difficulty, particularly in the age of ebikes.

Then there’s this.

One practical compromise would be to allow on-street parking in designated bike lanes after 5 p.m. on commercial corridors such as Convoy Street, where approximately 300 parking spaces were removed to install a barely used bike lane. Bike lane usage is almost completely not existent during evening hours or at night.

So apparently, no one who commutes by bicycle gets off work at five or later, like people who have the good sense to drive. And anyone foolish enough to try is on their own, as far as he’s concerned.

And if no one rides at night, then why do most traffic deaths occur after dark? Are drivers actively seeking out the few people foolish enough to risk it?

I don’t know how many people ride bikes on Convoy Street, before or after 5 pm. But something tells me he doesn’t, either.

He finishes like this.

The goal should be to give San Diegans safe, practical and realistic transportation options while protecting neighborhood quality of life and supporting our local businesses. That’s not anti-bike. It’s simply common sense.

So maybe he can explain how removing bike lanes gives San Diegans “safe, practical and realistic transportation options,” when they can already drive anywhere they want, anytime of the day or night.

Don’t people who want the option to ride a bike deserve that, too?

Apparently not. At least if he gets elected.

………

Nope.

No inappropriate campaigning here, as a city department states it’s installing new crosswalks at the insistence of Mayor Karen Bass, who is running for re-election against CD4 Councilmember Nithya Raman.

So are we to assume she didn’t offer that direction in the first three-and-a-half years she was in office? Or they just didn’t think it was worth mentioning until she was campaigning for re-election?

Twitter post

If she’s responsible for getting those crosswalks painted, does that mean Mayor Bass gets the blame for removing 5.6 lane-miles of partially protected bike lanes on Van Nuys Blvd, and replacing it with just 4.8 lane-miles of unprotected bike lanes on Terra Bella Street, roughly eight blocks away?

After all, no one who rides a bike needs to go anywhere on or near Van Nuys, right?

………

Despite threats from Donald Trump to keep the completed bridge closed, the new Gordie Howe International Bridge is now open between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, including a bike path allowing people to ride their bikes from the US to Canada.

Whether you can claim refugee status on the other side remains to be determined.

Twitter post

………

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

Even in Louisiana, you’re not allowed to ride a bicycle while waiving a machete and shouting threats at people. Who knew?

………

Local 

Despite the common claims that no one rides public transit in Los Angeles — besides me, I mean — high gas prices appear to be behind record ridership surges across LA Metro, Metrolink and Metro Bike Share.

Upcoming phases to improve safety in Griffith Park include a road diet on Crystal Springs Drive, narrowing lanes and adding bike lanes on Griffith Park Blvd, and giving one half of Western Heritage Way and Zoo Drive over to bike riders, pedestrians and equestrians; Zoo Drive is where Finish the Ride and Streets Are For Everyone founder Damian Kevitt was struck by a hit-and-run driver in 2013.

If you had hoped that plans to “Reimagine Ventura Blvd” would somehow involve bike lanes, don’t hold your breath.

A self-identified cyclist and resident of South Pasadena’s Fremont Street says she strongly opposes plans for a bike lane on the street, arguing that the street is too narrow and the loss of parking is more important than the lives of people like her.

My New LA reports a “pickup truck collided with a bicycle” in the San Gabriel Valley Sunday afternoon, because apparently no humans were involved with either vehicle.

A bike rider suffered a major leg injury when they were struck by the driver of an SUV in Rowland Heights Sunday night.

If you missed last night’s public meeting to discuss Pasadena neighborhood greenways project, the city will host another one on Wednesday.

Monrovia and ActiveSGV will host a community bike ride and movie in the park this Saturday.

 

State

Seriously? Riverside County sheriff’s deputies are looking for a hit-and-run driver who left a Coachella bike rider with minor injuries, and urging bicyclists struck by hit-and-run drivers to get as much information as possible about the fleeing driver. Which is real easy to do when a driver is assisting you in doing a faceplant on the pavement. 

Bakersfield bike riders discuss how to stay safe, as Kern County ranks among the top ten California County’s for bicycling deaths.

Unlike a certain megalopolis to the south, Oakland continues to expand its bikeway network, nearing completion on a new curb-protected bike lane on Franklin Street.

 

National

Trek recognizes the risks of the ebike power race, and voluntarily limits the speed of its e-mountain bikes, while calling on other bikemakers to do the same. But why limit it to mountain bikes?

Electrek says schools banning ebikes highlights the debate over safety versus freedom. Because kids deserve the freedom to ride illegal e-motos posing as ebikes to school every day, evidently.

Inc. looks at the implosion of Seattle-based Rad Power Bikes, which was once the dominant American ebike maker, with a $1.65 billion market cap.

A bike rider was found lying dead on the side of the road in Aurora, Colorado yesterday morning, the victim of an apparent hit-and-run; however, there was no word on how long they may have been lying there before being discovered, or wether they might have survived their injuries if the driver had stopped and called for help.

The FBI seized over half a million dollars worth of property, including a $250,000 Lamborghini Huracan, as well as $115,000 in cash, from an ebike dealer who was accused of scamming Colorado ebike voucher recipients, taking their vouchers and deposits, but never delivering the promised bikes.

A popular influencer family documenting their mountain bike trip between Canada and Mexico only made it as far as Montana before a driver clipped one of their eight kids, causing a multi-bike crash that took down the entire family; fortunately, no one was seriously injured.

The family of a Wisconsin woman can’t understand why the driver who killed their 27-year old daughter hasn’t been charged, two months after the 61-year old man ran a stop sign and slammed into her as she rode a borrowed bicycle for the first time in over a decade; a crowdfunding campaign calling for justice has raised nearly $9,000 of the $11,000 goal.

Nashville is installing concrete Toronto barriers to protect several bike lanes in the downtown area, while Los Angeles is busy removing them.

A tragic reminder that crashes with pedestrians are as dangerous for people on bikes as they are for the people they hit, after a Kentucky ebike rider was killed when he collided with someone walking.

A Boston man rode his bike 2,600 miles from Key West to Maine, raising $50,000 to fight colorectal cancer, in honor of a friend who died from the disease.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wants to eliminate funding for green projects, including bike lanes, eliminate New York’s congestion pricing system and keep any other city from tolling anything but specific roadways.

The always sensationalist New York Post quotes the mother who gave a bicycle to the 12-year old boy killed by a stay bullet fired by a “possible” gang member as he was riding his bike ripping New York Mayor Mamdani for not clearing up the “gang-infested” neighborhood in the six months he’s been in office.

Tragic news from Alabama, where a 30-year-old Slovakian man was killed while attempting to bicycle from San Diego to Savannah, Georgia; he was struck by the driver of a delivery van around 4 am yesterday. There’s something very wrong with this country when people fly over here to ride their bikes, and we send them back home in a box.

A North Carolina man was pepper sprayed and stabbed repeatedly when he confronted a man he had loaned a bicycle to, but which was never returned; fortunately, he was expected to survive. Yet another reminder to let the cops handle it, because no bicycle is worth your life.

 

International

Bicyclists in Halifax, Nova Scotia, say a recent dooring death points to the need for safer road systems and upgraded infrastructure to prevent fatal collisions.

Two men riding across Canada to raise funds for a men’s mental health campaign are resuming their ride after their bikes were stolen in Winnipeg last week, thanks to a fundraising campaign by the local community.

The coach of the third-place England team in the World Cup is one of us, taking advantage of a Lime bike for a morning coffee run. And I’m sure the choking gesture captured by the paparazzi had nothing to do with his team’s collapsed against Argentina in the semis.

Evidently, Ireland is seeing the same confusion over legal and illegal ebikes as we are over here, as local officials call on the police to make a clear distinction between “lawful pedal-assisted bicycles and illegal motorized vehicles.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo offers a recap of the just-finished Tour de France, as Tadej Pogačar confirmed his dominance over the World Tour peloton.

Every member of Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG team will get a special commemorative yellow Colnago Y1R to mark his win, except for Isaac del Toro, who will get a white one to celebrate his white jersey as the best young rider.

Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme offers his thoughts on what was his 20th Tour, arguing that cheaters exist everywhere, not just in pro cycling, and American Quinn Simmons is “magnificent.”

Finally…

That feeling when you discover that the bear does indeed shit in the woods. Or when Lycra is enough to end a political career.

And when the cops pony up almost nine grand for an ebike “oopsie.”

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Court docs confirm Texas boxer Rapp killed by road rage driver, and LA drivers could save $13,000 a year switching to ebike

July 27, 2026 / / No comments

I’m going to cut it a little short today, after I just fell asleep while typing, and work up to find three screens of single-spaced commas in the middle of this post. 

We’ll catch up on the rest tomorrow.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

……….

Court documents confirm what we previously learned about the road rage murder of rising boxer Hannah Rapp outside San Antonio, Texas last week, even if prosecutors aren’t calling it that.

According to investigators, Rapp was riding with her boyfriend when they were passed closely at a high rate of speed. He gestured and yelled at the driver, who slammed on his brakes, then reversed at high speed, slamming into Rapp and killing her.

The evidence contradicts the story told by the driver, 31-year old Charles Medina.

Court documents obtained by ABC13 allege that when Medina was questioned by a deputy responding to the scene, he said he passed two cyclists whom he thought were flagging him down. Medina said he then braked and slowly reversed but did not see Rapp until the last moment before he hit her, records show.

Medina told deputies that he hit Rapp at “15 miles per hour,” according to court records. But investigators suggested evidence from the scene suggested otherwise.

Too often, we only get the driver’s version of events following a fatal crash, because the victim is unable to tell their side. And as this document shows, drivers will paint their actions in the best possible light, consciously or otherwise.

Yet even with the evidence pointing to Medina’s intentional act, he remains charged only with manslaughter.

Maybe someone can explain that, because I can’t.

………

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from our old friend Peter Flax, who calculates that a Los Angeles resident could save $13,600 a year by switching from a gas-powered car to an ebike.

………

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

A Boston man provided the very definition of a major schmuck when he was caught on security camera passing a man using a walker while riding his bike on the sidewalk, then rushing toward the man and pushing him to the ground after the pair appeared to exchange words.

A 25-year old Amazon worker was charged with two counts of felony assault after he deliberately rode his cargo ebike into a 79-year old pedestrian after exchanging words with the man.

A Latvian social media post complains about rude bicyclists not giving a proper warning when they pass someone on the sidewalk — although one bike rider said some people even complain when he uses his bell.

………

Local 

Two “young people” were seriously injured by a hit-and-run driver in Long Beach while riding “motorized bicycles” Saturday evening; one was treated for a moderate injury, while the other suffered critical but non-life-threatening injuries.

The CHP reports a pickup driver hit someone riding a bicycle in La Puente Sunday afternoon, but there’s no information about the victim or their injuries, or whether the driver was cited.

 

State

San Diego’s new ebike restrictions go into effect next week, banning children under 12 from riding ebikes, which the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition says goes too far, suggesting the city should focus on safer infrastructure for ebike riders, instead. I have to disagree with the bike coalition on that one; while the city should build safer infrastructure, I think kids 11 year old and younger are too young to handle the added power and speed of an ebike.

A local website offers a guide to the best mountain biking in Big Bear, beyond the bike parks.

 

National

A Portland TV station offers 94 not-necessarily safe for work photos from that city’s World Naked Bike Ride, which drew hundreds of people in in various degrees of undress; riders rolled naked through the streets of St. Louis, too.

Sad news from San Antonio, Texas, where a man died after he crashed when his bike hit a patch of loose gravel, a reminder of the risks we all face from road conditions.

A Chicago bike tour marked the 107th anniversary of the city’s 1919 race riot.

A group of 12 students from my Kentucky alma mater raised over $100,000 to fight Alzheimer’s by riding their bikes across the US.

The New England Patriots players marked the second day of training camp by personally giving 40 new bicycles to children in need.

Tragic news from New York, where the 12-year old son of a New York cop was killed by a stray bullet while riding his bike, after a fight broke out between a group of men on the sidewalk; a suspect was arrested on multiple charges, including murder.

A Florida man complete a 17,300-mile ride around the world, raising $25,000 for an Alzheimer’s association in honor of his parents, who both died of the disease.

 

International

In what appears to be a repeat of a story from last year, Momentum lists the world’s top 30 bicycling cities based on the Copenhagenize Index. None of which is Los Angeles. Or in the US, even. 

The magazine also lists “12 of the world’s best waterfront bike trails for scenic adventures;” once again, Los Angeles isn’t mentioned, though San Diego’s Mission Bay is.

Forty-six-year old supermodel Gisele Bundchen is one of us, along her husband Joaquim Valente, as the paparazzi catch them riding their bikes during a recent getaway in Rio de Janeiro.

A British rider sympathizes with the Turkish governor fired for wearing bikewear in public, saying the only safe place for Lycra after 50 is on your bike.

In horrible news, a 70-year old Bangladeshi woman was beaten to death by her neighbors, who allegedly struck her repeatedly with bamboo sticks when she complained about the neighbor’s five-year old son attempting wheelies too close to her feet.

A Japanese attorney explains the country’s new bicycling regulations, which range from the equivalent of $73 for holding a cellphone while riding, to $18 for failing to slow down for pedestrians on the sidewalk.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tadej Pogačar joined the all-time greats by winning a record-tying fifth Tour de France in convincing style on Sunday, raising the question of whether he’ll follow tradition by riding off into the sunset, or return to attempt a record-breaking sixth win. Although I seem to recall some Texan winning seven times, but that now seems to be a drug-induced hallucination.

Mexico’s rising star Isaac Del Toro finished third in the Tour, helped along by Pogačar as he struggled with illness on the final week of the race.

The final stage of the Tour was shortened by a third, from 133 km to 89 km, due to the French wildfires, as Mother Jones called it the year climate change came for the Tour de France, which doesn’t seem far off the mark.

The BBC looks at the psychology of the Tour de France, where strategy matters as much as riding skill, while Road.cc asks if speeds have gotten too high in the race.

Once again, a race vehicle has injured a cyclist, as Colombian Einer Rubio slammed into the back of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG support car, which reportedly jammed on the brakes when a spectator fell in front of it, although that’s not visible in the video; Rubio withdrew from the race after getting 20 stitches to patch his bleeding face. one more argument for why race vehicles of any type don’t belong in the peloton.

Twitter post

American Sepp Kuss lost his chance at winning on Alpe d’Huez when he crashed hard on the descent, saved from a dangerous fall down the mountainside only by netting put up to avoid just such a catastrophe; he ended up finishing third behind Richard Carapaz and Remco Evenepoel. Adding insult to injury, Kuss was fined 1,500 Swiss Francs for littering — the equivalent of $1844 and change — along with being docked 75 UCI points and one minute on the general classification of this Tour de France, which won’t affect his standing, finishing in 13th place.

Twitter post

 

Finally…

That feeling when you ride your bike off the top of a perfectly good hot air balloon. Or when you invent the tall bike, again.

And that feeling when you get fined for your own infraction after sending the cops video a driver’s faux pas.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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