San Diego completes 75% of bike plan, stoned double killer appeals murder convictions, and WeHo opens ebike voucher portal

August 6, 2026 / / No comments

San Diego, you’re looking good.

In a story hidden behind their usual draconian paywall, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that a new study from San Diego State University shows the city has completed 75% of the bike infrastructure called for in the city’s 2013 bicycle master plan.

Which compares favorably to Los Angeles, which has completed somewhere south of 5% of its plan adopted a few years earlier.

In addition, just over 80% of the city’s major streets have some sort of bikeway, even if most have disconnected sections forcing riders to fight their way through traffic, and only 8% of that is protected.

According to the paper,

The report also pointed to the need for more low-stress biking options, such as designated bikeways or multi-use paths dedicated to cyclists and pedestrians — types of infrastructure where riders face less traffic stress. While 63% of the network is considered low-stress, over 30% of the network is considered high-stress, the study found.

“While a majority of the network is technically bikeable, a substantial portion consists of high stress segments that may discourage use, particularly among the ‘interested but concerned’ population,” the authors wrote.

Still, it seems like they’re doing a lot more, and a lot better, than their much larger neighbor to the north, even if the city is experiencing some bikelash right now.

Meanwhile, another report shows that despite a recent dip on eight monitored corridors, San Diego bike ridership is still up 17% since 2019.

While San Diego makes progress, today’s image offers the view from Los Angeles. 

………

Once again, most of the story is hidden behind a paywall.

But there’s enough left uncovered to know that Mandy Marie Benn, the now 46-year old woman who was (allegedly) stoned out of her mind on prescription drugs and participating in a live Facebook chat when she killed two men taking part in a 300-mile Michigan Make-A-Wish fundraising ride in 2022, is appealing the murder convictions that resulted in a minimum 70-years behind bars, alleging prosecutors failed to prove a required element of the crime.

Benn was sentenced to two consecutive 35-to-60 year terms, which would make her about 160-some years old if she served her full terms. Which somehow seems a little unlikely.

So I’ll settle for her getting out at a tad over 112 years old even if she serves the minimum. Because that’s someone who should never see the light of day again, but you never know what the courts will do.

………

West Hollywood is accepting applications for their new ebike incentive program, offering up to 50 vouchers covering the full cost of purchase, plus maintenance.

That compares favorably with Los Angeles, which instead is considering cracking down on ebikes, seeing ebikes as a problem to be squashed, rather than an asset to encourage.

Meanwhile, a Los Angeles teenager warns about the dangers of ebikes after she was severely injured going over the handlebars “at a really high speed” last year.

Which is a pretty good indication that she was probably riding an illegal e-moto, or at least an illegally hacked ebike, rather than an electric bicycle.

Thanks to Andrew for the heads-up. 

………

Local 

WeHo will new require dockless ebike and e-scooter users to park in mandatory designated areas.

 

State

Irvine has officially been crowned as the least-stressed city in Southern California, and the 7th in the nation by WalletHub, and oddly, scored exactly the same rankings as SoCal’s fittest city and the 7th in the US, according to the American Fitness Index.

Australian bike retailer BikesOnline has opened their first physical US location in San Clemente.

A new report shows San Francisco is experiencing a higher number of severe crashes now than when the city adopted Vision Zero in 2014. Or as we say here in LA, welcome to the club.  

 

National

Triathlon site Slowtwitch discusses the most common mistakes new cyclists make. Actually, the most common mistake new cyclists make is trying to become cyclists, instead of just learning to enjoy riding a bicycle before trying to win a Grand Tour.

A pair of college students rode across the US, raising $15,000 for lone soldiers in Israel. Although maybe someone can explain what the hell a lone soldier is, and why they need our financial support.

A Cedar Rapids, Iowa nonprofit is working with the city to refurbish bicycles and distribute them to people who lack reliable transportation.

A Michigan woman is impressed by a young man she saw riding a bicycle on the gravel shoulder of the road as she drove by, assuming from his fast food uniform that he must be a dedicated worker riding to and/or from work dressed like that. If she’s that impressed, maybe she should leave her car at home and try it herself next time. 

New York’s city council is considering at least 17 bills cracking down on ebikes and e-motos, which is like comparing apples and IndyCars; meanwhile, New York Mayor Mamdani orders 42 makes of illegal ebikes to stop selling in the city.

 

International

The CBC talks with the first “excited” bicyclists and pedestrians to cross the newly opened multi-use path on the newly opened Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan.

Talk about not getting it. The UK is closing a number of shared-use paths located near major roadways, because the nearby traffic makes them too heavily polluted.

Shocking, I know. But despite the 134 “cycle streets” in Brussels, Belgium, where drivers are limited to 19 mph and not allowed to overtake bicyclists, bike riders still worry about their safety because too many drivers refuse to follow the rules.

The 18-year old grandson of legendary Australian ultracyclist Bob Montgomery remembers his 82-year old grandfather and riding companion, who died suddenly just one day after completing a ride across the continent to raise funds for a Motor Neurone Disease charity.

 

Competitive Cycling

For the first time in four days, the yellow jersey remained on the same shoulders as Marlen Reusser defended her narrow 12 second lead, while Demi Vollering outsprinted Kasia Niewiadoma and Reusser to win the 5th stage of the Tour de France Femmes.

Former Swiss champ Noemi Rüegg was knocked off her bike when a race moto clipped her handlebars in the “chaos” of the Tour’s 5th stage; she got back on her bike and finished the stage, but it was unclear if she was injured.

Aussie triathlete Tilly Offord is working her way back to competing in the LA Olympics in two years, after her road to the ’24 Paris Games was derailed by a near-fatal distracted driver while on a training ride in 2022.

 

Finally…

It took a bicycling food vendor for us to discover there’s a California in Trinidad & Tobago. Your next bike could be a sit-down electric scooter with pedals.

And your next cup of Joe could help fund safer streets.

………

One last note.

I just got my first order of these T-shirts, and even I have to admit they look damn good, and even better in person. So order one, already.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Pantless Kiwi car thief attacks woman, cars, teen bike club and murders dog; and LA proposes performative ebike crackdown

August 5, 2026 / / No comments

Excuse the vernacular, but what the fuck?

One woman was assaulted, three teenaged bicyclists were injured, and a dog was murdered by pantless New Zealand man “known to police for mental health illness.”

According to reports, the series of incidents began when the 49-year old man, who was not publicly identified, attacked a woman on a public street around 7 am with no warning, causing bruising to her face, head and upper body.

And yes, without pants, apparently naked from the waist down.

When a passing Good Samaritan stopped his car and ran out to help, the pantless man jumped in and sped off.

After striking a number of cars, he veered his car into a cycling club on a training ride, striking five teenage victims from behind, and injuring three, one critically. Although it’s not clear if he intentionally struck the bicyclists, or if they just happened to be in his way.

After crashing into the bike club, he approached a woman walking two dogs, grabbed one and strangled it.

He then apparently got back in the heavily damaged car, and drove to a gas station, where he crashed into one of the pumps, and tried to jack another car, but couldn’t start it because the driver had taken the key.

He was finally tased by police and arrested, and booked on 14 separate charges.

The only good news is that no one was killed, and it was not a premeditated attack.

But seriously.

What. The. Fuck.

Image by Joel Fazhari from Pixabay. 

………

Los Angeles is apparently preparing to join the parade of cities cracking down on ebikes.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the motion, introduced by Heather Hutt and unindicted City Staffer B, two of the more conservative members of the city council, passed the council’s Rules Committee yesterday.

It asks LADOT to come up with ways to regulate ebikes, because the bills currently under discussion at the state level apparently aren’t good enough. Or maybe they just want to appear to be doing something about the problem before facing voters in two years.

Which would seem to give them enough time to see what the state legislature does this year, but still.

According to the Times,

The motion outlines a number of possible measures including banning the sale of e-bikes, e-motorcyles and electric mopeds that don’t meet legal standards out of the box, banning modifications that can make e-bikes faster and requiring education for riders under 18 or who don’t have a driver’s license. The motion, authored by Councilmembers Heather Hutt and John Lee, also suggested implementing rules for storage and charging to prevent battery fires.

“Banning the conversion of e-bikes to an e-moto will be an important step to preventing injuries,” Hutt’s office said in a statement. “Most importantly we need to ensure children are riding the appropriate vehicle for their age,” including kids staying off e-motos until they are 16 years old.

Although it’s not clear if they can legally go beyond state law by requiring education for riders under 18, while the other measures are already covered by state law, though perhaps not yet explicitly.

The proposal now moves on to the Public Safety Committee, then the full City Council.

Meanwhile, New York City is considering a crackdown on illegal ebikes, too, although the city council’s speaker wants the state to copy New Jersey’s fatally flawed crackdown on anything with a battery.

And Calbike offers a detailed report on why ebikes belong.

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The Los Angeles Times profiles mechanical engineer Marc Papas, who is on a mission to ride every one of the streets in Los Angeles, and is about 80% complete in his goal of covering 7,500-plus miles of public streets.

The bike rides were connecting him to his city in ways he never expected. “I’m not necessarily saying that everybody needs to go out and ride their bikes,” said Papas, though he’d certainly love it if more Angelenos did. Instead, he hopes his biking project is showing people what’s possible — in the most extreme way. Yes, you can bike in Los Angeles, as many Angelenos often do out of necessity. It’s even enjoyable. And yes, you can do it across every single mile of the city, even if the cycling infrastructure isn’t perfect yet. “I think to me, success would be if people just go out and explore their own neighborhood,” he said. He views cycling as a form of civic engagement and a way to see things otherwise invisible when speeding by in a car. For beginners, Papas recommends sticking to bike paths and joining cycling groups. More experienced riders should venture out into new areas, said Papas. “Biking is like a superpower to gain familiarity with your neighborhood, but it just needs to be unleashed.”

It’s worth taking a few minutes to read the whole thing, because maybe it will inspire you to take that turn you always ride past, and discover what’s waiting for you.

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Donate now to support Streetsblog California

Somehow I missed this earlier, but Streetsblog California is trying to raise ten grand to help close a $125,000 gap left by reduced foundation funding.

They’re among the good guys in the battle for safer streets, so help ’em out by clicking the banner above if you’ve got some extra cash stuffed in the sofa.

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No surprise here, as a new international study finds that cities that continued to bike lanes saw continued growth in bicycling even after the pandemic bike boom.

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Gravel Bike California explains randonneuring, and takes a 200 km — 124 miles — test ride.

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

A Pasadena lawyer says he just doesn’t get the federal government’s war on bicycles, with one DOT spokesperson defending his boss’ defenseless battle against bikes by saying it makes sense “despite the Left’s belief that everyone should ride a bike to their shoebox-sized apartment to eat crickets to achieve a phony climate agenda.” He says he takes offense because he loves his bike, and doesn’t eat crickets. Same here, on both counts.

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

Young ebike riders have caused thousands of dollars in damage to an Oklahoma City golf course, tearing up fairways and greens, as well as breaking things and vandalizing restrooms. Although something tells me those ‘ebikes’ are all e-motos and dirt bikes, maybe with a few illegally hacked formerly legal ebikes.

Organizers of a bike race on Canada’s Prince Edward Island were forced to apologize after some participants blew past fire trucks forming a barricade, and nearly collided with the annual Oyster Festival Parade.

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Local 

Metro is expanding the One Car Challenge countywide for up to 2,000 participants, so you could get paid if you agree to leave one car parked for six weeks to explore other ways of getting around. And yes, one car households are eligible this time around.

Streets For All explains why they bought full page ads in early Democratic primary states South Carolina and Nevada calling out Governor Gavin Newsom for cutting $2 billion from programs supporting public transit, affordable housing, and clean air and water in the new state budget. I understand their anger, but that’s a lot of money that could have been used right here at home.

 

State

San Diego is lowering speed limits on some streets, and could lower limits on 20% of the city’s streets by this time next year.

 

National

Cycling industry advocacy group PeopleForBikes says they’re committed to proving bikes are good for you, mentally and physically.

Bike advocates in Austin, Texas are calling on the University of Texas to reconsider banning bicycles, scooters and other micromobility devices from a large area of the central campus.

A Concord, Massachusetts newspaper digs into the numbers, and finds that crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians were evenly divided over the last seven-and-a-half years with 38 each, as the city prepares to adopt a new transportation plan.

A Boston public radio station examines what the mayor has learned about bike lanes since one of the city’s transportation planners was killed while riding her bike.

A new protected bike lane connecting New York’s Inwood neighborhood to the Hudson River requires bike riders to cross a busy highway on-ramp and carry their bikes up and down a flight of stairs to preserve 40 precious parking spaces, which the local community seems to value more than the safety of bicyclists. I think we can all look forward to bicyclists slipping down icy steps this winter, if not rain-slicked steps before then. 

A 46-year old Sanford, Florida city employee faces hit-and-run charges after right-hooking a bike rider while driving a park and recreation garbage truck — like a regular a garbage truck, but smaller — killing the victim, then just continuing on her merry way; she was taken into custody after being located by police with the help of a witness.

 

International

Cyclist looks at the year’s best titanium bikes.

A 31-year old Windsor, Ontario man is camping out for 24 hours to become the first person to bike from the Canadian side of the new Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Windsor to Detroit, Michigan. Although it only seems right that riders should be required to explain who Gordie Howe was as kind of a toll or password before being allowed to use the crossing.

Seriously? Life is cheap in the UK, where a 35-year old van driver walked without a day behind bars for killing a 54-year man riding a bicycle, because he was really, really sorry and had no idea why he hadn’t seen the victim, who was lit up like a Christmas tree in the predawn darkness, describing the crash like he wasn’t responsible for, or even aware of, what happened.

Ireland is adopting the UK’s 21-year old National Standard for Cycle Training and its popular ‘Bikeability’ program for adults, as well as children. We could do a lot worse than offering a similar program here on a volunteer basis.

 

Competitive Cycling

The yellow jersey moved to the third rider in three days, as Swiss cyclist Marlen Reusser powered to victory in Tuesday’s stage 4 time trial at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, giving her a 14 second lead over Demi Vollering. For anyone who’s not a fan of women’s cycling, when was the last time you saw lead changes like that in the men’s Tour?

Male volunteers are undoubtedly lining up to perform bra checks at the Tour de France Femmes, after bra padding became the latest form of illegal doping by improving aerodynamics in a tuck position.

Cycling News looks at all the yellow cards, fines and other penalties issued to riders in the Femmes Tour, including penalties for illegally tossed bidens and riding on the sidewalk. Although there’s no mention of fines for illegally enhanced bust lines.

Velo looks at how Belgian pro Sandrine Tas transitioned from speed skater to WorldTour cyclist in just six months. Tas follows in the footsteps — or maybe tire tracks — pioneered by siblings Eric and Beth Heiden, who both won Olympic speed skating medals before becoming top pro cyclists back in the 80s. 

Velo also looks at the Tour’s hottest day, as 102° Fahrenheit temps wreak havoc on the peloton.

Finally…

Yes, you can legally bike in your underwear, as long as the naughty bits are covered. And who needs a war over parking spaces, when bike trails could interfere with mule deer crossings?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

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

August 4, 2026 / / 2 comments

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.

………

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.

………

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.

………

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

………

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.

………

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.

………

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.

………

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.

………

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.

………

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.

 

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