Detailed update on court cases and killer drivers; deciphering a new study about, um, something; and reduced Metro Bike fares

July 2, 2026 / / One comment

As I mentioned yesterday, I plan to take tomorrow off to observe the legal holiday, and maybe even get a little sleep to make up for this past week. 

If SoCal’s semi-feral drivers let me, anyway. 

So get out there and enjoy the holiday. If you plan to attend the fireworks in person, a bike is the best way to get there and get back home without spending hours stuck in traffic. 

Personally, I plan to observe my usual 4th of July tradition, and spend the next few nights in the closet trying to comfort a cowering corgi as bombs burst in midair and everywhere else when Hollywood creates its own version of shock & awe. 

Just remember that a lot of people will be drinking and/or imbibing in various mind-altering substances before getting behind the wheel. And the World Cup viewing parties won’t help. 

Assume that every driver you encounter on the road this weekend is under the influence of something. And chances are, you won’t be far off. 

So ride carefully and defensively. I expect to see you back here bright and early Monday morning. 

And I don’t want to write about you or anyone else this weekend.

Photo from Ekaterina Bolovtsova on Pexels.

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I promised you an update on some outstanding court cases from our anonymous courthouse correspondent.

Make that outstanding, in the sense of yet to be concluded, as well as some of SoCal’s most unwanted. And yes, even I had to look some of these up to refresh my memory.

Fortunately, you have a three-day weekend to get through it all.

It seems updates on court cases are rather past due, so here’s a few. You might note that an inordinate number involve severe mental illness. If you’ve ever yelled, “Are you fucking insane?” at a driver, well, its highly likely they meet the DSM-5 (Ed. note: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition) criteria.

Buckle up, buckaroo! Gonna be a long ride email.

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Since February 2023, when he ran down and then stabbed Dr. Michael Mammone to death on PCH in broad daylight, Vanroy Evan Smith has spent a lengthy, medicated stretch in a psychiatric hospital. This past January, he was ruled mentally competent to stand trial. Before you rage against his racist comments at the scene, remember that he is also Jesus, or at least he’s reiterated this claim several times while unmedicated. His next hearing is July 24th.

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Six years ago, speeding in a stolen vehicle, Moises Iscaya ran down father Jorge Guerra & his young daughters as they rode their bikes; the injured kids survived. Naturally he fled the scene. Since his apprehension three months later, he has been held as a patient at the Metropolitan State Hospital, undergoing mental health evaluations on a regular basis, and showing little improvement.

On May 28th, all charges were dismissed due to lack of a speedy trial in violation of Isacya’s Constitutional rights.

The DA immediately refiled, and the case remains active.

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Speeding down Arrow Highway a stolen vehicle on July 9th, 2024, Jonathan del Carmen Calixto killed Raul Casteñeda in the crosswalk at the intersection of the San Gabriel River Bike Path, just in front of the Sante Fe Dam. He, too, is being evaluated, at Paxton State Hospital, pending yet another six-month mental health report; the next one is due in November.

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At Neil Storm Stephany‘s victim impact hearing, Shaun Eagleson’s mom told him that she will be present at every parole hearing he ever has. On Thursday, February 13th, 2025, he was denied parole, and Eagleson’s mama can rest until 2030.

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Unrepentant Becki Lee James is now going by the name Rebecca Gadberry. Rebecca Gadberry, formerly known as Becki Lee James,https://bikinginla.com/2012/07/28/breaking-news-cyclist-killed-by-suspected-drunk-driver-in-sunset-beach/ killed Kenneth Deryl Prevatte on PCH in Sunset Beach. Rebecca Gadberry somehow managed to hit Prevatte, who was riding in the door zone of a 23-foot wide lane on PCH. Although Rebecca Gadberry had at least 12 feet of available lane space to his left that she could’ve utilized to pass safely, she instead hit Prevatte with her car. Rebecca Gadberry stayed next to her car as others ran to her bloody victim to offer help. Rebecca Gadberry was arrested at the scene for impaired driving; this charge was dropped, and I question whether a large amount of money was dropped to make this charge go away, perhaps as much as Rebecca Gadberry has spent to scrub her previous alias Becki Lee James off the internet. Rebecca Gadberry killed an innocent human being whose son is growing up without a father. Rebecca Gadberry created a widow. Rebecca Gadberry, formerly known as Becki Lee James, is a killer.

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L’il Dylan Rand-Luby is also living a very private life. (Ed. note: Rand-Luby got a lousy one year behind bars for killing 55-year old John Greg Colvin in Laguna Beach in 2014.)

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Tommi Jo Meyer has another arraignment this morning. I expect she’ll double down on the ignorance defense (which has already been blown out of the water by bodycam video, showing the extremely humorless officer specifically informing her of the pertinent laws.) (Ed. Note: Meyer is the OC mom charged after her 14-year old son killed 81-year-old Vietnam vet Ed Ashman while riding an illegal ebike earlier this year.)

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Hit-and-runner Edjan Edit Rocha has been arrested for killing UCI Professor Dr. Francois Primeau in Santa Ana on June 19th. He’ll be arraigned on July 9th for vehicular manslaughter, hit and run, and destruction of evidence.

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Last October, Ahkeyajanique Owens was arrested and charged with reckless driving for slamming in to bicyclist Raul Augustin Gallopa on Fourth St. in Long Beach. He died two weeks later, and she was charged with manslaughter. In early January, her speeding ass slammed into two vehicles, killing two innocent people and and hospitalizing three. She fled on foot, turning herself in later. For this, the DA added two counts of murder one, reckless driving, and hit & run. And at least she’s stayin’ locked up this time.

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Like Mr. Rogers’ mama said, “Look for the helpers.”

(Ed. note: My mom never said that.)

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September 11th, 2022. A gorgeous California morning. Randon Cintron was riding in the bike lane on Jamboree Rd in Newport Beach when impaired driver Adriana Bernal launched him quite a distance into bushes on the far side of the sidewalk. His bike was snapped in half.

As Bernal’s tire struck the curb, she might’ve been recalling the Watson advisement issued to her by the Monterey County DA years ago. The tire disintegrated as she continued, sparks shooting off the exposed rim. Eventually she made a right turn and clunked to a stop. She & her passenger abandoned the dented car (and its new decoration of what the investigator described as “biological matter”) to make their way to the bleachers at Corona Del Mar High School, where they were detained shortly thereafter. They told the first officer to make contact that they’d walked to the location, but officers took a set of keys they spotted mere yards from the couple back to the damaged car, where the keys fit the locks & ignition.

A witness had attempted to follow a vehicle with suspicious damage and a “panicked” female driver, but lost sight. When the witness saw a black-and-white responding with lights & sirens, he pulled alongside and alerted the officer. Just seconds later, the officer saw several Good Samaritans performing CPR on the victim’s lifeless body. (One Good Sam is a former trauma center nurse, currently a PA at Mission Hospital. The same hospital where Shaun Eagleson died. The same hospital where Dr. Michael Mammone practiced, and perished.)

Interviewed by the Newport Beach investigators, Bernal’s detained-but-never-charged accomplice/passenger sang like a canary, with unprompted rapid-fire rambling, telling the investigator that he once had a friend who’d died in a DUI crash. He & Bernal had discussed the friend, and acknowledged to each other that driving drugged is dangerous.

In her interrogation, Bernal said she’d smoked heroin about 3am that morning, but had given up IV use several months earlier— a statement contradicted by fresh tracks sprinkled among years of scarring.

The preliminary hearing had such delightful questions as, “How far from the bicycle was the location of the blood?” (A hundred feet south, by the investigator’s measurements.)

The speed limit along this stretch of Jamboree Road is 55mph. At this location, the Google StreetView bicycle is riding on the sidewalk.

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Amber Kristine Calderon slaughtered Pastor Eric Williams on PCH in Huntington Beach last October. His friends Michael & Steve were hospitalized for weeks. Calderon pulled off PCH and blew past a Huntington State Beach parking kiosk before she was pinned in by a horrified Good Samaritan who’d followed her. The parking attendant radioed the state park rangers, but HBPD was already on the way.

That stretch of PCH has a 55mph speed limit and a bike lane frequently halved in width by the constant encroachment of sand.

Calderon bonded out, but in December the OCDA amended charges to reflect her lack of sobriety, which has more than doubled her potential prison sentence.

At his memorial service, with hundreds in attendance and his bike stage right, his daughter Alice read from a class assignment she’d written the previous year. The topic was “Best Relative Award,” and she was required to name three specific reasons for the award and describe how to emulate that relative. She chose her dad for the award: “To honor my dad being athletic, I’m going to be more into riding.”

Naturally, his widow also spoke: ”He discipled to people around him, both on and off the bike. He never feared death.  Whatever Eric was to you — comfort, strength, laughter, or simply a steady presence — go and offer that to someone else. Walk, or ride, alongside of them, through their joy and pain, and do it without judgement.”

(The lack of any mention of forgiveness makes me wonder whether the victim impact statements will be as gut-wrenching as the ones presented by Fire Captain Mike Kreza’s little daughters, whose angelic faces spewed anger and resentment.) (Ed. note: Kreza’s killer Stephen Taylor Scarpa received 15-to-life behind bars.)

The whole family’s in their front yard on Google StreetView, on a sunny January Wednesday morning. Having noticed the Googly-mobile, Eric is standing with his arms raised in a strongman pose. Kids in helmets. Bikes everywhere. Great big smiles behind the Google corporation’s privacy blurs.

……

Also, the asshat who drove through that morning’s very clearly demarcated investigation scene was FTA (Ed note: Failure to Appear) for his arraignment.

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Douglas Morton Adams left Blake Ackerman’s bloody body lying on Fountain Ave in WeHo, and he clearly remains completely unperturbed by his single count of hit-and-run, which is must be a profound relief to him, since an accurate charge would be manslaughter. He was in the courtroom for a couple of boring hours on May 12th, chatting with a pal about Hitchcock’s delightful body of work. Clearly, expounding upon the aesthetic mastery of North By Northwest is of more importance than the opportunity to reflect on the somber reason for his presence in the courtroom, and a much better use of his time than contrition. His lawyer is disturbingly confident. (Ed. note: We’re just eight days from the first anniversary of Blake’s July 10th, 2025 death.)

(Also appearing before the same judge that very morning: Alex Kristopher Earl Kirksey)

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Road rager Christian Diaz, who’d had to get his (now impounded) sexy red muscle car co-signed by his abuelita, remains charged with attempted murder, despite the defense’s attempt last month to have the charge reduced to assault with a deadly weapon. Porque no los dos, Mr. Spitzer?

One day last July, Mr. Diaz was engaged in something of a lover’s spat with his girlfriend/passenger, who disembarked at a red light. He was still yelling at her when the light turned green, so the bicyclist behind him smacked his trunk and bellowed, “Get the fuck out of the way!” Since Diaz did not, in fact, get the fuck out of the way, the bicyclist yelled again as he went around the vehicle. At this point, Diaz chose to focus his rage on the cyclist instead of his girlfriend.

When the cyclist realized he was being followed by an angry man operating two tons of deadly weapon, he attempted to evade, but Diaz maneuvered  across the roadway to hit him head-on. The defense argued that this was not possibly an attempt to murder, but the unconvinced judge allowed the charge to stand. The case continues.

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Road rager Samir Weiss attempted to kill professional racers Luke Fetzer and Ben Byra on PCH in Corona del Mar last March, yelling during the assault that he was going to kill them. After his failure to do so, he stalked Fetzer on social media to challenge him to a fight. He also bragged about his expensive weapon sports car, which has since been impounded as evidence.

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Last February, Christopher Bryant blasted his rental car through a stop sign in a sleepy residential neighborhood, and slaughtered pediatric occupational therapist Lori Ann Carreon as she rode her bike home from work. The next morning, his first call was to the rental car company; they towed the evidence away from his dtla apartment. Later that day, he called the police to make arrangements to turn himself in with an attorney present.

A few days later, I took flowers for the ghost bike, and rolled into a small crowd awaiting the media’s arrival. Under an overcast sky, emotional neighbors and friends spoke at length — but so little of it made the news at all. Less than snippets, frankly. But there were multiple speakers, and uncontained grief, and tears, and impassioned pleas to the powers that be for better infrastructure, for more accountability, for consequences. For change.

So now that intersection has fresh, bright crosswalks, which magically prevent speeding, unlike that useless stop sign right there. Lori Ann’s ghost bike is almost invisible under dozens of bouquets. Velodoras still burn nightly.

At the scene, after shooting b-roll from catercorner, KTLA’s cameraman survived his walk back to the ghost bike, even though he was nearly mowed down by not one but two impatient southbound drivers. Yes, right in front of a goddamn ghost bike, other media members & a dozen witnesses.

The eastern terminus of this month’s Beach Streets is a short block away from Lori Ann’s ghost bike.

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On November 22, 2024, rager Jonathan Antonio Rodriguez slaughtered 16-year-old Jonathan “Junior” Flores, who was left to die in the middle of MLK Jr Blvd. The cops located and impounded the murder weapon, but Rodriguez remains on the lam.

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Speaking of fugitives, Juli Ann Brown (now Juli Ann Britton) is currently fugitive for a 2020 DUI. In 2013, after her impaired hit-and-run against Long Beach’s Lightning Velo, she’d been sentenced to 15 years in state prison, which of course she did not serve in full.

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Repeat drunk driver 68-year-old Elias Madriz Gutierrez ran down Kristin Bellovich on Beach Bl. in Huntington Beach. It was just after midnight, and she had no helmet, no hi viz, no lights. No memorial went up for her in the days that followed, so I assume perhaps she was unhoused. I put up a little cross which disappeared quickly. Gutierrez was arrested in Fountain Valley, and he was driving after only having “a couple of beers,” which would’ve had to have been a couple of kegs, given his BAC. He’s facing charges of second degree murder and hit & run.

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Unlicensed Kaleah Beasley killed 12-year-old Michael Kejuan Ramaun James Smith on 83rd Street last July. Kaleah’s passenger/boyfriend-at-the-time told an officer at the scene that Immediately prior to popping a wheelie, Michael had waved her to pass him, and then swerved right in front of her Charger.

A witness (a former Metro coach operator) barbecuing in her front yard told investigators she’d heard Beasley’s Charger accelerate, and then saw Michael’s body fly up in the air. A 12-year-old witness told an officer that ”the car didn’t want to stop” after hitting Michael. Beasley didn’t hit the brakes immediately, but the distance she traveled after removing her foot from the gas pedal was most likely due to her excessive speed of approximately 45mph, which is “only” about 20mph above the speed limit according to an LAPD investigator at the preliminary hearing, not the 75mph as reported by multiple news sources.

Beasley passed a field sobriety test, which was administered because her vehicle (which had her baby in the back seat) smelled like pot. She certainly dotes on that little boy of hers, who, during her preliminary hearing, threw a tantrum out the hallway; the judge had to order her to remain in the courtroom as she attempted to dash out, protesting to His Honor, “Bro, my baby out there!”

I hurt for Michael’s mama thinking about her baby out there, bloody and face down in the street, surrounded by panicked neighbor kids.

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Since  Reddit’s r/bikeLA  had asked a few weeks ago: On May 27th, a swerving speeding asshat flew off the 5 North and into the LA River at half past 1am, taking out that protective k-rail by the shoulder & the equally protective chainlink fence, and then the bike path railing as well. Didn’t leave too much debris on the actual bike path as it flew over, so no harm, no foul, right? Unfortunately, the driver survived.

Just hours later, puffed-with-pride officials held a presser & bike ride to showcase the new bike infrastructure on Crystal Springs Drive in Griffith Park.

Thanks for the flimsy plastic bollards, LADOT! Surely they would’ve stopped alleged murderer Jairo Martinez, who’s still locked up awaiting trial, and has his next hearing on July 14th (Ed. note: Martinez is accused of the speeding, hit-and-run death. of 77-year old Andrew Jelmert on Crystal Springs Drive.)

No, really. I’m not crying, you’re crying.

Okay, it’s me. Even my hard heart weeps after reading all of that.

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A new study published in Nature clearly shows that “context-sensitive shared space design can harmonize perceptions across diverse road users, with implications for transport policy and urban design.”

Hopefully, we can get that translated into English sometime so we have an idea what the fuck they’re talking about.

But as near as I can figure out, they’re trying to say that removing visual clutter and clearly marking shared spaces resulted in more positive responses from pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers.

Or something like that.

Seriously, I used to get paid to translate scientific gibberish into English. And even I can’t make it out.

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Amidst all their World Cup viewing promotions, Metro Bike’s latest email also offers reduced fares for students, seniors and riders with a disability, among others.

Do You Qualify For Reduced Fare?

It’s easier than ever to get verified and enroll in a Reduced Fare pass for Metro Bike Share. There are 5 ways to confirm your eligibility:

  1. Senior (62+)
  2. Student
  3. Disability
  4. Golden State Advantage
  5. Reduced Fare TAP card

Eligible persons can get the Metro Bike Share 30-Day Pass for $5 and the 365-Day Pass for $50. Registered TAP card holders can select a Metro Bike Share 30-Day or 365-Day pass on taptogo.net/metrobikeshare.

Apply for Reduced Fare

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Local 

Santa Monica started automated AI enforcement of drivers blocking bike lanes yesterday, with violators subject to a $93 fine.

 

State

Escondido has gone back to the drawing board, after residents complained the city’s proposed ebike ordinance was too restrictive.

A Bakersfield bike rider is in critical condition after being shot by a suspect who fled the scene Tuesday evening. Because most shooters just stick around until the cops show up. 

San Francisco-based dockless micromobility company Lime went public yesterday, with shares priced at $25. That was followed by immediate complaints about shares being left randomly blocking sidewalks.

He gets it. The ebike program manager for the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates says ebike panic is distracting California from legitimate discussions by not making a distinction between e-bicycles and electric motorbikes.

 

National

Bike Retailer’s Rick Vosper floats the idea of a Federal excise tax-funded campaign to encourage more people to ride bicycles, similar to the nearly 30-year old Take Me Fishing campaign, funded by an excise tax on fishing tackle and motorboat fuel.

A Missouri man is riding across the US 50 years after his father rode from Astoria, Oregon to Yorktown, Virginia on the Adventure Cycling Association’s coast-to-coast bicycle ride, but going in reverse, from east to west.

Aerial footage shows a bike thief fleeing from a cop on foot after being caught stealing one of those Oregon bait bikes we mentioned yesterday. Maybe that’s why the LAPD won’t use bait bikes — they don’t want to pay for new sneakers so their cops can outrun the evildoers. 

The former state treasurer of the New Mexico Republican Party is being held without bail after her arrest for the hit-and-run death of a man riding a bicycle last month, then changing license plate on her car on hiding it at another property in an attempted coverup; naturally, the political party disavows any current connection with her. Meanwhile, the victim’s family has filed a lawsuit against her for the death of the devoted father.

Tragic news from Denver, where a 13-year old boy was killed by a driver while riding a Veo bikeshare ebike, just six days after the company launched in the city; company policy prohibits minors from renting the bikes, but they rely on the honor system for age verification.

A 500-mile bike route developed by the Adventure Cycling Association takes you through Western Wyoming, from the spectacular Teton Mountains and Teton National Park, along the National Elk Refuge, through the Wind River Reservation and Sinks Canyon State Park, to the Saratoga Hot Springs and the Colorado border. We visited every one of those when I was a kid, and frequently camped on the Wind River Reservation, home to the Eastern Shoshone and the Northern Arapaho tribes.

A Madison, Wisconsin magazine traces the city’s bicycling culture all the way back to the 1970’s, when “6-year old Andy Hampsten and a friend” drove to the city for the summer, and quickly found himself on Eric Heiden’s wheel. Precocious though he may have been, I think they meant Hampsten was 16-years old. Because it’s very hard to get a driver’s license at six, even in North Dakota. 

A 13-year old Wisconsin boy was cited for crossing the center line on his non-street-legal minibike and hitting a bike rider head-on; fortunately, neither the bike rider or the kid was seriously injured.

Opponents of a Chicago bike lane appear to have given up, after counter-protesters supporting the bike lane overwhelmed them.

A Massachusetts man faces multiple charges after running down a bike rider while under the influence of multiple drugs, including stimulants and narcotic analgesics, then backing up and driving over the victim’s bicycle, before abandoning the car and fleeing on foot; fortunately, the victim did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

The 70-year old great-great-great-great-grandson of flag maker Betsy Ross is in the midst of a 3,600-mile bike trip through the country’s original 13 colonies, repeating a ride he took 50 years ago.

 

International

Spike Fearn is one of us, as Interview Magazine talks with the rising English actor and star of the upcoming Finding Emily, who’d rather just ride his bike.

No shit. According to his step-daughters, a former contestant on the British survival show I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! has anger issues, after he admitted to once kicking over an entire row of Lime bikes outside his London home — even though he uses them himself.

Shades of California’s ebike incentive program, as an Irish plan to encourage drivers to scrap their infernal combustion engine vehicles in favor of EVs, including ebikes, closed in just two hours after all 2,000 vouchers were claimed.

Cycling Weekly says the Tour de France isn’t the toughest ride in France, it’s Paris-Brest-Paris, which has been “humbling cyclists since 1891.”

A German company has built a bike path with embedded sensors to provide city engineers with “near real-time dashboards showing where bicycling peaks at rush hour, how fast riders are moving, and where the pavement starts to vibrate more, indicating roughness or early-stage cracking.” Los Angeles expects to adopt the technology sometime after hell freezes over.

Life goes on in Ukraine, even in the midst of the ongoing Russian bombardment, as nearly 2,800 bike mentors across the country continue to teach children to travel safely and responsibly on bicycles, scooters and other micromobility devices.

This is who we share the earth with. An Indian motorcyclist was lucky to survive when an entire rain-soaked mountainside collapsed onto the roadway he was riding on; he somehow managed to leap off his bike moments before the road was engulfed.

Chinese ebike brand Luyuan Group was forced to issue an apology after releasing a series of highly sexualized promotional videos depicting women in short skirts and stockings in suggestive poses. They should also apologize for calling their e-motorscooters bicycles, despite the Vespa-style design and apparent lack of pedals.  

 

Competitive Cycling

Six Americans will be among the 184 cyclists lining up for the start of the Tour de France on Saturday, all serving as domestiques for the stars of their teams, with little or no chance of making the podium.

Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel admits that time is catching up to him, and suggests he might retire after the ’28 Los Angeles Olympics. So get your tickets while you can, because it may be your last chance to see one of the great riders of our time. 

 

Finally…

You don’t have to ride your unicycle alone anymore. You won’t be getting your bikes from L.L.Bean anymore.

And your next bicycle may be half off.

The back half.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Calbike celebrates as major bike bills move forward in legislature, and SGV residents can rent an ebike for a year for just 75 bucks

July 1, 2026 / / No comments

Look, I know you’re probably in three-day weekend mode already.

But come back tomorrow for our last post of the week, when, in addition to our usual news and feeble witticisms, our long-missing anonymous courthouse reporter returns from the wilderness to update us all on the many court cases we haven’t kept up with in her absence. 

I’ll be taking Friday off for the holiday to spend time with with my wife and corgi, until we have to drug her to the point of unconsciousness before all the illegal fireworks make it sound like a war zone around here. 

We’ll probably have to drug the dog, too. 

I expect you to do whatever it takes to stay safe and sane over the weekend, so we can see you back here again on Monday. 

Those new T-shirts aren’t going to buy themselves. 

I have some new designs ready that I hope to get online later today. And yes, there will be coffee mugs coming once we get this thing up and running. Thanks to Joel for the suggestion. 

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Calbike has had a lot to say today, as bills backed by the statewide bicycle advocacy group advanced in the state legislature.

AB 2168 moves on to a vote by the full senate after passing out of committee by an 8-to-4 vote, although they neglected to mention which committee; the bill is designed to strengthen California’s Active Transportation Program by improving how projects are chosen, funded and delivered, while increasing accountability.

Encinitas state Senator Catherine S. Blakespear’s SB 1167 was unanimously passed by the Assembly Transportation Committee, banning deceptive marketing that advertises or sells electric motorcycles, mopeds, or other higher-powered vehicles as electric bicycles, and required clear disclosure if a vehicle doesn’t meet the legal definition of an ebike; the bill — co-sponsored by CalBike, PeopleForBikes, Streets For All, and Streets Are For Everyone — now moves on to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Which is where good bike bills too often go to die. 

SB 569, also sponsored by Blakespear, was approved by the Assembly Transportation Committee by a 13-to-2 vote and moves to the full Assembly for a vote; also known as the Preserving Safe Bikeways bill, it establishes a public process before a local agency can remove or weaken an existing bikeway. So take that, Encinitas.

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San Gabriel Valley residents now have two new ways to get a discounted ebike through the GoSGV program.

City Commuter ebike rentals are available for just $75 for 12 months, with a $125 refundable deposit, while e-cargo bikes are available for $105 for a three-month membership.

Residents may qualify if they live in South El Monte, El Monte, Avocado Heights, Rosemead, South San Gabriel, San Gabriel, Alhambra, or Monterey Park, or if they meet income eligibility requirements or receive public assistance.

Meanwhile, GoSGV continues to offer vouchers worth up to $2,000 on the purchase of an ebike from select dealers in the San Gabriel Valley.

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

Once again, a road-raging driver has used a motor vehicle as a weapon to attack someone riding a bicycle, this time in Stockton, California, where 75-year old driver was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after backing his car into the 32-year old victim following an argument; fortunately, his injuries weren’t life-threatening.

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

An apparent self-hating bicyclist claims the active travel policy in Edinburgh, Scotland prioritizes “greedy” bicyclists over pedestrians; a leading local architect, he says he feels guilty over the space he gets on his daily bike rides across the city compared to walkers. So, wouldn’t the solution be to demand more space for pedestrians, rather than chastising bike riders for getting enough room to ride safely?

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Local 

Streetsblog offers a recap of Sunday’s Leimert Park meets Expo Park CicLAvia, along with some incredible photographs, saying the “open streets festival highlighted the significance of culture in reclaiming streets for people.”

A writer for Mashed says his favorite beer garden in LA has artsy vibes, a bike shop and the best French fries in the city. In other words, welcome to Frogtown’s bespoke Spoke Bicycle Cafe.

 

State

A Caltrans webinar will kickoff the new statewide bicycle and pedestrian plan on July 30th. Let’s just hope it’s worth the wait. 

San Francisco Streetsblog offers a sneak peak at new curb-protected bike lanes in El Cerrito.

 

National

Um, no. An AI-curated MSN slideshow purports to show 13 comfort and safety upgrades for senior bicyclists — and somehow thinks granny needs aero trim handlebars for her Dutch-style bike.

A writer for Forbes contributes to the confusion over what is and isn’t a street-legal ebike by singing the praises of a $6,000 motorcycle-style machine capable of doing up to 60 mph, while insisting it’s still a bicycle because it has pedals.

Deputies in Oregon’s Washington County have made 34 arrests using a bait bike, something the LAPD still won’t even try. Or maybe it was Washington’s Oregon County. 

A Vermont man drove 1,900 miles to ride a 109-mile gravel trail through the prairies and Black Hills of South Dakota. Lately I’ve been feeling the pull of the prairie myself, jonesing to return to the Pawnee National Grassland in eastern Colorado just one more time. Although that’s a little harder to do now that I don’t drive anymore. 

A 41-year old St. Louis woman has been charged in the April hit-and-run death of a 66-year old man; she allegedly crossed the centerline to hit his bicycle head-on, then briefly got out of her car before fleeing the scene.

Trek celebrated its 50th birthday in Waterloo, Wisconsin last week, while the co-founders of the company reminded people there’s only so much the company can do to promote bicycling when there’s not enough infrastructure, and people still don’t feel safe riding a bike.

Chicago Streetsblog invites readers to take a virtual ride along a new protected bike lane, while politely asking another site to stop pushing the “tired and disproved narrative” that it could put local businesses out of business.

A Virginia man suffered minor injuries when a 53-year old woman threw a cup of bleach on him after accusing him of stealing her bicycle.

A Wake Forest med student is riding across the US to raise awareness of colorectal cancer in honor of his grandfather, who was diagnosed with the disease two years ago, in addition to suffering a stroke, which led to discovery of a brain tumor. But other than that, he’s doing just great. And yes, you want to raise awareness “of” an illness, rather than “for” an illness, as the story states, because increased awareness is not likely to benefit the illness, though it may benefit those who learn about it. 

In what I assume is killer sarcasm, an Athens, Georgia website says help is on the way for the beleaguered city, after it scored a woeful 23 out of 100 on People for Bike’s most recent city rankings, with the progressive college town ranking just 60th in the state, “behind bastions of socialism like Jefferson, Canton and Dahlonega, where the Lycra-clad elite hold sway over oppressed drivers.”

A 22-year old woman was arrested for the hit-and-run death of a 68-year old woman riding in a bike lane on a Fort Lauderdale drawbridge, after a security camera captured her driving in the bike lane, pausing briefly after hitting the victim, then speeding away; police watched car after finding it abandoned a couple miles away, and arrested her when she returned three hours after the crash to remove her belongings, then got in an Uber to make her failed getaway.

 

International

He gets it. An Ontario letter writer says bicycle networks should be judged by their connections and usability, arguing that “gaps and barriers can make even high-quality infrastructure hard to use.”

A 76-year old woman was arrested for the hit-and-run that killed an 11-year old boy as he rode his bicycle in Québec City, Québec. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive. 

A new inquest will look into the death of a 15-year old Birmingham, England boy who was found hanging from a tree, nine weeks after disappearing on a bike ride 42 years ago; his death was initially ruled a suicide, but reclassified as a murder in 2002. However, the main suspect in his death was died shortly after the boy’s body was found.

A 36-year old London man is suing the city after breaking both arms and his jaw when he hit a lane divider for a protected bike lane with his bicycle; the divider was missing the usual plastic bollard intended to mark them for exactly that reason.

London’s dockless e-bikeshare provider Forest will use AI to determine how well a user parks their bikes, encouraging them to repark it in a better position if it judges they did a poor job.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Movistar Team will show up for the Tour de France Grand Depart in Barcelona on Saturday wearing a special jersey that pays homage to the city, and Gaudí’s Sagrada Família cathedral.

The Tour Down Under announced the longest route in its 28-year history, with the men riding 543 miles over six stages in next year’s race, and the women riding just 243 miles over three days. Because apparently, male race organizers still think women’s dainty, frail bodies can’t handle too much time or too many miles on the saddle. 

 

Finally…

That feeling when the suspect walks into the middle of a stolen car investigation while riding a bicycle. Your next smart bike could distinguish between international turns and falling, with support systems kicking in to help keep you upright.

And now you, too, can buy a replica of Tadej Pogačar’s yellow Colnago race bike for less than $200.

Even if it is the size of a tennis ball.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Trial set for accused hit-and-run killer of 6-year old Hudson O’Loughlin, and a call for less parking and more options at UCLA

June 30, 2026 / / No comments

Mark your calendar for September 8th, when the hit-and-run driver accused of killing 6-year-old Hudson O’Loughlin is scheduled to stand trial.

The boy was riding bikes with his family in Pacific Beach in January when he was allegedly struck by 33-year old Tiffany Sanchez as she turned into an alley. Sanchez reportedly knocked the boy off his bike, then paused briefly before stepping on the gas and driving over Hudson as he was trying to get back on his feet.

She faces 12 years behind bars on charges of gross vehicular manslaughter, hit and run with death, and driving without a license in the Jan. 17 incident.

Sanchez has pled not guilty to all charges, and is free on bond.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels. 

………

He gets it.

An op-ed from a UCLA law student refutes the idea that the school should provide more student parking and reduce costs, arguing that Westwood is well served with other transportation options, and only 25% of off-campus students drive to their classes.

Rather than subsidize driving, UCLA should invest in better means of transportation. Coordinated policies between the university, Westwood Village and city and regional governments have reduced and can continue to reduce car dependency in this eminently walkable, bikeable and scooter-friendly area that is well-served by public transit. Bruin U-Pass is a perfect example of that coordination. Metro Bike Share is similarly a good idea, but it needs investment and expansion.

The goal in Westwood should not be more parking or more permits, but less driving and fewer cars.

He’s going to make a damn good lawyer.

………

Streets For All is hosting a webinar on July 9th to discuss the status of their bills in the state legislature.

………

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

No bias here. An op-ed writer for the very anti-bike New York Post argues that ebike riders and their bikes must be licensed and registered, and commercial ebikes should be geofenced to keep them off sidewalks and pedestrian paths, and prevent them from speeding, arguing that “disorganized cyclists are just as fed up as pedestrians with the reckless e-bike takeover of bike lanes.” Except she makes the common mistake of lumping all ebikes together, when the problems are caused by people on e-motos and motor scooters, not people on ped-assist ebikes. And the problem isn’t caused by bike organizations, either. 

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

A video appeared to show a group of teenage boys assaulting a man in Maine, after they had allegedly ridden their bikes through a stop sign and forced him to brake suddenly, to which he responded by getting out of his car and tossing one of their bikes into a pond.

………

Local 

No bias here. LA Reported says Los Angeles has finally resumed resurfacing streets, but have focused on the wealthy community of Bel Air over less advantaged areas like Boyle Heights — not because of the political power of the ultra rich, but because the streets need less work and don’t require conforming to Measure HLA or the Americans with Disabilities Act, significantly lowering the cost of repairs.

Participation in the Culver City Pride Ride has gotten bigger in each of the last six years, despite “the algorithms of billionaires…making us all feel smaller and less important.”

ActiveSGV will host a free, family-friendly Tour de Arroyo bike ride on Sunday, July 12th, providing participants with a behind-the-scenes look at existing and proposed water projects in the Arroyo Seco.

Talk about bad timing. Long Beach’s Beach Streets open streets event will return with Beach Streets Kickin’ It Downtown on July 19th; unfortunately, that’s the same day CicLAvia returns to Hollywood and West Hollywood, forcing a difficult choice over which one to attend. Unless they are both taking place in honor of my wife’s birthday, in which case, carry on.

 

State

No news is good news, right?

 

National

WTF? A Portland man faces charges for trying to kidnap a three-year old boy following an argument over a bicycle; the boy’s father was in the park with his kids when a stranger tried to make off with his ten-year old daughter’s bike, then tried to snatch the kid when he couldn’t get away with the bike.

Relatives of an 85-year old Arizona man believe he was attacked while on a routine morning bike ride, after he woke up in the hospital with around a dozen broken bones, including a neck fracture, and no memory of what happened. Although I still don’t have any memory of how I ended up in the hospital after the Infamous Beachfront Bee Encounter, and that was almost two decades ago.

A 23-year old Texas man faces charges for the hit-and-run death of two men training for an Ironman triathlon near Denton, Texas last year; Eliseo Mauala was allegedly speeding and not paying attention to the road when he slammed into the two men from behind as they were riding their bikes, and refused to take a drug and alcohol test after returning to the crash scene.

A Cincinnati area man is repairing a thousand discarded bikes to donate to people in need this year.

Sad news from Illinois, where a 29-year old man riding a bicycle was killed in a collision with a car, which apparently did not have a driver.

An 18-year old New Jersey man faces two murder counts for killing two young women sharing an ebike last year; he is accused of intentionally slamming into the two 17-year old girls while doing at least 70 mph in a 25 mph, before fleeing on foot. He will be charged as an adult after relatives accused him of persistently harassing one of the girls, who had reportedly sought a restraining order against him.

Electrek says Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed a bipartisan ebike bill for “the most Florida reason ever,” because it could lead to increase government surveillance of civilians; leaders in Florida’s Orange County are working on their own ebike bill as a result of the governor’s veto.

 

International

Canada appears to be going the wrong way, as a new report shows both children and adults over 65 were constantly more likely to live further from bicycling infrastructure than just a decade ago.

More than a thousand London bike riders took place in a mass trespass when the latest Critical Mass ride went around road closure signs to ride on a highway where bikes aren’t allowed, which is currently closed for repair work.

The London borough of Brent finally got around to publishing its annual monitoring report for 2025, showing car ownership and injuries from traffic violence continued to rise, despite local targets calling for a drop in both.

Cyclist talks with the CEO of iconic British bike brand Pashley.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 83-year old British man hopes to set a new Guinness World Record as the fastest octogenarian to ride the length of the UK; if all goes well, he expect to beat the existing 14-day record by a whopping four days.

A 27-year old Irish man fulfilled his dream of riding a bicycle back into his hometown, over two years after losing his sight due to a rare health condition.

Road.cc looks at the unreleased aero gravel bike prototypes and concept bikes from the recent Eurobike trade show.

Spanish bike riders face fines ranging from the equivalent of $228 for using a handheld phone, to over $1,100 for biking under the influence.

Forget Mallorca and the Canary Islands; the new Cycle Tourism Index says Croatia’s Adriatic Coast is the place to be for bicyclists this summer.

Tragic news from Poland, where the heat wave gripping Europe claimed the lives of two men, ages 71 and 30, participating in a mass mountain biking event. Although the “blistering heat” the competitors faced was just under 97° Fahrenheit, which wouldn’t bat an eyelid in most of the US.

Taiwanese bikemakers are moving to reimburse migrant workers following accusations of forced labor and human trafficking.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Olympics website offers tips on who to watch in this year’s Tour de France, and how; you can watch live on live on NBC Sports and streaming the race on Peacock.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you have to remind drivers that bike riders are people, too. Or when you spot a giant octopus along the local bike path.

And your next really, really expensive watch could be a homage to classic Tour de France winning bikes.

And not just because of the tiny motor hidden inside.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Happy 19th anniversary to BikinginLA, and suspect arrested for shooting two men with BB gun at World Naked Bike Ride in DTLA

June 29, 2026 / / 2 comments

So, Saturday was the 19th anniversary of this site. It seems like something I should be celebrating, if I wasn’t so damned tired.

I had no idea what this was going to become when I started, and not sure I would have started it if I did. I just know I was pissed off about the state of bicycling in Los Angeles at the time, and surprised to learn there were others out there just as pissed off as me. 

A lot has changed since then, not all of it for the better. But one huge improvement is the number of people who give a damn about our God-given right to ride a bike and get back home in one piece. 

I used to say I was just a voice calling in the wilderness. And I still do. But now there a hundreds more voices calling for change, and thousands more listening. 

I was hoping to have a new merchandise site up and running today, but I’m still busy trying to figure out how everything works, and learning product design on the fly. Sort of like building the bicycle while I’m riding it, except both wheels are flat and the chain is broken. 

But other than that, it’s going great. 

I’m still making changes, tweaking designs as I get a better idea what works and what doesn’t, and adding new ones as I get them done. 

So take a look when you get a chance, and let me know what you think. I’d appreciate any constructive criticism to keep me going in the right direction — what you like, what you don’t, what you’d like to see and what I could do better. 

And since I’m still working out the bugs, I’m extending my introductory sale for another week, with 20% off the regular price through July 4th. So if there’s anything you like, now’s the time to grab it. 

Now let’s get back to work, because the next year isn’t going to write itself. 

Dammit.

……….

A suspect is under arrest and likely facing charges after allegedly shooting two men with a BB gun near Saturday’s World Naked Bike Ride in DTLA.

The victims may have been among the hundreds taking part in the 19th annual Los Angeles edition of the Naked Bike Ride, though that hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Police responded to reports of the shooting around 11 am near the intersection of Temple Street and North Alameda Street, about an hour after the ride started, after a man dressed entirely in black had rolled up on a scooter and opened fire.

It’s also not clear if the men were targeted or shot at random, or who else may have been in the vicinity. Fortunately, they weren’t seriously injured, and were treated at the scene for lacerations.

Video showed a bald man in black being taken into custody after being located by police. KNBC-4 identified him as Edward Sherpa, and said he was wandering around under the influence.

Meanwhile, the New York Post excitedly focused on the suspect’s facial tattoos, while calling him a “madman.”

………

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

A New York driver chased a bicyclist down a parking protected bike lane, before getting out and trying to take the victim’s bike, all because the guy gave the driver’s car “a little tap” after the driver almost hit him while trying to make a right turn. Seriously, as many of us have learned the hard way, some people lose their shit if you so much as touch their precious cars, no matter how close they just came to killing you.

Reddit post

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

A British dog walker and bicyclist makes the case for the use of bike bells around such furry four-footed critters, after getting into a heated argument with a bike rider who became angry when a dog darted into his path, despite failing to give any notice of his presence. The bike rider, that is, not the dog. And as I’ve said many times before, I find a voice more effective than a bike bell, if only because it allows you to ask someone to rein their dog in so you can pass safely.

………

Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton examines new peak hour bus lanes on Florence Ave and on Alvarado Street, which can also be used by bike riders.

South Pasadena approved plans for a two-way protected bike lane on Fremont Ave, which will require removing parking on one side of the street and replacing 89 trees, at a cost of $23 million; the plan also calls for roundabouts where the street intersects with Hope and Oxley Streets.

 

State

Sad news from Fremont, where a man riding an ebike in a bike lane was killed by a driver attempting to enter a freeway onramp, at a typical conflict zone where bike riders are expected to cross the paths of oncoming drivers entering the freeway, the apparent victim of bad road design; however, SFist reports the bicyclist was riding salmon in the bike lane, heading against traffic, when he was struck.

More sad news, this time from San Joaquin County, where a person towing a shopping cart with a bicycle was killed by a hit-and-run driver, along with their two dogs; the three victims had been dead at least four to 12 hours before their bodies were discovered by police. No word on whether they might have survived if the driver had simply stopped and called 911 like any normal human being with a conscience.

 

National

BGR list five Apple Watch functions bicyclists will use every day. I got mine for the fall detection feature, which will automatically call 911 and notify my wife if it detects a hard fall — or the corgi tugs too hard on her leash — unless I cancel it with 30 seconds. But hopefully not every day. 

Police in Eugene, Oregon arrested a 25-year old “prolific car thief” after he severely injured a 40-year old woman riding a bicycle, then abandoned the stolen truck and tried to flee on a bicycle himself.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a custom adaptive tricycle belonging to a 23-year old autistic Vancouver, Washington woman, who relies on it to get around since she can’t drive. A crowdfunding page has raised just more than the modest four grand goal.

Nope, no bias here. The New York Post calls out the mayor’s “insane” decision to end criminal enforcement against ebike riders, demanding “How many New Yorkers have to get killed or seriously injured by rampaging e-bike riders before the political class stops protecting them?” Even though under the same circumstances, drivers would only get a traffic ticket, rather than a summons for criminal court, despite posing far more risk to others than people on ebikes; all Mamdani did was level the playing field.

No bias here, either. The NY Post says the cops are looking for a “cycling psycho” on a “dinky” little “bike bike,” who whacked a 73-year old man with a metal pipe following an argument. Even though his “bike bike” looks a lot more like a mo-ped or e-moto. And who the hell carries a metal pipe on their bike, anyway?

Virginia opened a new 2.5-mile paved shared use trail as part of a new $660 million freeway express lane extension project. Although something tells me the shared use path amounted to little more than a rounding error in the freeway budget. 

Critical Mass riders in New Orleans turned out to honor a 47-year old restaurant worker who was killed while riding his bicycle earlier this month.

President Trump’s granddaughter says that returning to golf after major surgery was “just like riding a bike,” even though she failed to make the cut in a Florida tournament. Actually, the only thing that’s just like riding a bike is riding a bike. And it sounds more like she fell off it, anyway.

A Florida woman is planning a century ride on July 4th to honor her late daughter on the seventh anniversary of her suicide, while raising funds for a faith’s program to support youth in need.

A Florida man riding a bicycle was killed when he was hit head-on by a man on a motor scooter, who suffered critical injuries; police note that neither victim was wearing a helmet, though they didn’t say if either suffered a head injury.

That’s more like it. A 25-year old Florida woman was sentenced to 29 years behind bars and had her license permanently revoked for the hit-and-run death of a 67-year old man riding a bicycle; she was driving 80 mph in a 40 mph zone, with a BAC over four times the legal limit, when she slammed into the victim from behind

 

International

Momentum highlights six “amazing” Dutch-style bicycles.

A Calgary, Alberta op-ed writer says the city knows how to make things safer for bike riders, but is focusing on the wrong things — like a bike safety post from the cops that doesn’t even mention drivers, let alone bad street design.

Toronto cops handed out 9,500 tickets to bike riders last year, although a quarter of those were to bikeshare users for not wearing a helmet. Apparently, everyone is expected to always carry a bike helmet with them 24/7 on the off chance they might decide to use a bikeshare. 

Ultra-endurance cyclist Dr. Sarah Ruggins now holds three world records, including fastest south-north crossing of Europe, and the greatest distance ridden by a woman in a single week, despite not being able to ride a bicycle until three years ago, after spending 10 years recovering from a rare autoimmune condition.

The recent Eurobike trade show demonstrated that the bike industry is doubling down on smart bikes and AI, building into bikes the same sort of tech now found in cars. So soon, you, too can play video games when you should be watching the road. And no matter how smart bikes get, it’s not likely to make up entirely for stupid drivers. 

An op-ed from German biking magazine Tour says it’s not cool to copy pro cyclists when you ride on public roads, unless maybe you actually are one, arguing that you’re not in a race, so don’t act like it.

Ukraine’s Supreme Court rules that bike riding victims can lose some of their legal settlement if they were under the influence at the time of the crash.

 

Competitive Cycling

The official Olympics website lists the full team rosters of everyone taking part in this year’s Tour de France, which begins on Saturday.

 

Finally…

Nothing like standing in line for Metallica when a few hundred mostly naked people roll by on bicycles. That feeling when a search for bike news from the last 24 hours somehow turns up a story about Andy Schleck — from 14 years ago.

And even an expert in conflict resolution and deescalation can give in to that sudden urge to flip off a reckless driver.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Building bike lane straw men to knock them down, judge denies Vermont injunction, and CicLAvia connects Expo and Leimert Parks

June 26, 2026 / / No comments

Oh, me?

I was just hard at work Wednesday night, and fell asleep at my keyboard sometime around 2 am. 

When I woke up, I found a screenful of random, nonsensical letters and spaces. And since it made more sense than anything else I’d written all night, I gave up and go to bed.

Image by HANSUAN FABREGAS from Pixabay.

………

Nope. No bias here.

A Larchmont op-ed writer creates his very own straw men to refute the argument that Los Angeles can be another Amsterdam. And, not surprisingly, very effectively knocks them down.

Except no one I know expects Los Angeles to be another Amsterdam, unless it’s West Hollywood’s plan to dominate the city’s demand for legal weed.

We just want a city where you have reasonable, safe choices on how to get from here to there, and aren’t forced into a car by default.

According to the writer, Joe Vein,

Supporters of expanded bike infrastructure often respond with examples such as Amsterdam, Copenhagen, or Paris. They are correct to do so. These cities have achieved remarkable success in increasing bicycle use. But acknowledging that success is not the same as concluding that L.A. can replicate it.

Amsterdam occupies roughly 85 square miles. Paris covers approximately 41 square miles. Los Angeles spans nearly 470 square miles and sits at the center of a metropolitan region approaching 13 million residents. More importantly, L.A. County does not function around a single urban core. It operates as a network of major employment centers including downtown, Century City, Santa Monica, Burbank, Pasadena, Culver City, El Segundo, Long Beach, and many others.

Oddly, most advocates of alternative transportation are acutely aware of what kind of city we live in, since we’re often the ones who don’t traverse it in a hermetically sealed vehicle, with the windows rolled up and entertainment system on, without stopping until the GPS says “You’ve arrived at your destination.

We know that far too many people are forced to live far from their jobs. Or choose to, so they can go home to a manicured little suburb with its own police department, and pretend that Mayberry wasn’t just a show runner’s dream.

We also know that most trips in LA County are three miles or less, which can easily be done by bus, bicycle or ebike, or even walking if you’re in semi-decent shape.

Again, according to Vein,

Supporters also frequently cite UCLA research suggesting that some road diets produce less congestion than traditional traffic models predict. However, the research examines whether specific corridors under specific conditions can be redesigned successfully. It does not conclude that all road diets are beneficial. It does not establish that parking reductions are harmless. It does not evaluate impacts on local businesses, deliveries, service vehicles, emergency access, or regional commuting patterns. Most importantly, it does not answer the broader question of whether enough residents will ultimately switch transportation modes to justify the costs.

Actually, I prefer to rely on the US Department of Transportation, even in the Trump era.

A classic Road Diet typically involves converting an existing four-lane, undivided roadway segment to a three-lane segment consisting of two through lanes and a center, two-way left-turn lane.

The resulting benefits include a crash reduction of 19 to 47 percent, reduced vehicle speed differential, improved mobility and access by all road users, and integration of the roadway into surrounding uses that results in an enhanced quality of life. A key feature of a Road Diet is that it allows reclaimed space to be allocated for other uses, such as turn lanes, bus lanes, pedestrian refuge islands, bike lanes, sidewalks, bus shelters, parking or landscaping.

Why consider a Road Diet? Four-lane undivided highways experience relatively high crash frequencies — especially as traffic volumes and turning movements increase over time — resulting in conflicts between high-speed through traffic, left-turning vehicles and other road users. FHWA has deemed Road Diets a proven safety countermeasure and promotes them as a safety-focused design alternative to a traditional four-lane, undivided roadway. Road Diet-related crash modification factors are also available for use in safety countermeasure benefit-cost analysis.

I don’t see anything there about enough people switching their mode of transportation to justify the costs. Although I suppose a significant reduction in collisions, and the resulting auto and bodily injuries, possibly could.

Supporters of Measure Healthy Streets L.A., an approved citizen-led ballot measure that mandates safer infrastructure whenever L.A. performs street improvements, often argue that voters have already settled this debate. I disagree. HLA passed and is now the law, but passage of a ballot measure does not transform a policy into a proven success. California has a long history of adopting complex policies through initiatives, often based on compelling slogans and campaign messaging rather than detailed analysis of long-term consequences. Whether one agrees or disagrees with measures such as Proposition 13 (the limits on property taxes statewide in California), it is difficult to dispute that ballot initiatives can produce effects that are not fully understood at the time they are approved.

The proper response to HLA is continued scrutiny—not blind opposition, but certainly not blind acceptance either. Policymakers and residents should continue asking whether the assumptions underlying the measure are sound before irreversible changes are made.

Actually, HLA it wasn’t just voter approved. It was approved by a two-thirds majority.

Which doesn’t mean that two-thirds of Angelo voters are right, and we will seamlessly transition to a multimodal city. But it does mean that two-thirds of Angelenos want to see that change.

And yes, while Vein does skillfully dispatch another straw man, the proper response to any change in policy is continued scrutiny.

Like the change in policy that took Los Angeles from a city with the world’s best private transit systems, to the car-dominated hellscape we live in today. Unless, of course, you’re privileged to live behind one of those nice, quiet, well-manicured lawns of Larchmont.

This city has transformed many times over. From horses and buggies, to bicycles, to the Red and Yellow Cars, to automobiles.

And it’s hard to deny that the last one has failed, as the roads continue to get more crowded and cramped, with no room left to expand, and innocent people get killed and maimed just trying to cross the street or get home from work.

The automotive hegemony of Los Angeles is a failure, by virtually every measure. Yet the people of Los Angeles didn’t vote to get rid of cars. They voted to give themselves an alternative.

Let me be clear: this is not an anti-bike argument. I support cycling. I support recreational riding. I support safer streets. I support targeted bike infrastructure where it makes practical sense. What I question is the assumption that L.A. can or should become Amsterdam simply because Amsterdam has succeeded.

Good for you, Mr. Vein. I’m sure you make your mama proud.

But the people who voted for Measure HLA, and who support those bike lanes and road diets — and bus lanes, and sidewalks, and crosswalks — don’t want to build another Amsterdam.

If we wanted to live in Amsterdam, we’d move there.

We just want our Los Angeles to be the best version of Los Angeles. Is that really too much to ask?

………

So far, it’s Metro 3, Linton 0.

LAist is reporting that the judge hearing Linton’s lawsuit against Metro and Los Angeles for violating the terms of Measure HLA — there’s that term again — in redesigning the Vermont corridor denied a request for a preliminary injunction, ruling that the work can go forward for now.

Sans the bike lanes that the city’s mobility plan calls for, and which Measure HLA requires — if it’s a city project, as Linton argues, and not just a Metro project, as Metro and the city insist. Although the latter just seems like a blatant attempt to skirt the law.

According to LAist,

L.A. County Superior Court Judge Kristin Escalante denied the request on June 15. Escalante wrote in her decision that the city neither initiated the project nor selected Vermont Avenue for resurfacing and won’t be constructing the project itself.

“Metro’s coordination with the city does not transform the project into one made by or undertaken by the city,” Escalante wrote in her decision.

In April and June, Escalante denied Linton’s requests for pre-trial judgement on two other issues in his lawsuit, including deciding if resurfacing work on Vermont Avenue service roads triggered HLA-mandated upgrades and determining whether the city’s HLA ordinance represents an “impermissible amendment” of the ordinance.

That does not mean, however, that Linton has lost. It just means that the case will now go to trial.

Kind of like the US loss to Turkey in the World Cup last night. Yes, the US lost on a last minute goal, but they will go on to the next round anyway, and have a chance to prove they can win.

So too, will Joe Linton, on our behalf.

……….

Don’t forget Sunday’s Leimert Park meets Expo Park CicLAvia.

Twitter post

Meanwhile, Bike Long Beach is hosting a feeder ride to CicLAvia on Sunday.

………

This is who we share the road with.

A bill that would have required speed limiting technology in all new cars was vetoed by Governor Newsom, who ironically doesn’t like governors, at least when it comes to speed.

California Assembly Bill (AB) 2276, which would have required speed limiting technology only for chronic reckless drivers, died in the Appropriations Committee, at least for this year.

Twitter post

………

While he’s not a sponsor here — and should probably reconsider that — attorney James Johnson has long been a friend of this site, often pointing me to stories I might not have heard about yet. Or at all.

Today he discusses the problem of dooring, which is one of the most common types of bicycling crashes, after a bike rider was doored in Felton.

And yes, I had to look up where the hell that is.

Twitter post

………

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

An Indiana University staffer is in hot water for getting out of her car at an intersection, and pointing a laser-sighted gun at a group of people on bicycles; she insisted she’d been in fear for her safety, claiming the boys on bikes had “surrounded her,” even though witnesses reported the bike riders had waited patiently behind her SUV at the red light, and “had not been causing any issue.”

A Minneapolis bike rider rides up a ramp to discuss illegal parking in the bike lane. And you have no idea how many times I’ve been tempted to do that myself.

Twitter post

No bias here. A New York lawsuit attempts to force the city to return to a policy of issuing criminal citations to scofflaw ebike riders, even though infractions by drivers only result in a traffic ticket. I’m actually fine with that, as long as lawbreaking drivers have to appear in criminal court, too.

Ireland’s Sinn Féin political party has come out against a Safe Routes to Schools project, teaming with a local councillor who insists he’s not anti-bike, and a local coal supplier who warns “there could be a bike lane outside your own door next. There’s a lot to unpack here, starting with a local elected official who supports bikes while opposing bike projects, and a coal supplier(!) warning about bike lanes. And clearly, Sinn Féin ain’t what it used to be, for better and for worse. 

Moving north, a group of 21 Belfast, Northern Ireland residents met to “unanimously” oppose plans for a protected bike lane, due to the possible loss of a small number of trees that “survived the Blitz and the Troubles” and are ‘full of goldfinches,” as well as losing parking spaces in front of the local Airbnbs.

………

Local 

A new LADOT survey wants your input on how to improve access to Dodger Stadium. How about a subway stop — or at least a damn people mover — from Union Station?

Calbike says the 5.5-mile Rail-to-Rail Active Transportation Corridor through South Los Angeles and Inglewood is an example of what California’s Active Transportation Program can make possible — if it is adequately supported and funded.

A bike rider in Palos Verdes Estates learned the hard way that if you’re carrying meth, drug paraphernalia and someone else’s financial card on your bike, stop for the damn stop sign, already. Thanks to Jim for the heads-up.

 

State

Speaking of Calbike, they have some new T-shirts and other assorted merch that definitely doesn’t suck.

Let’s thank the Orange Police Department for making it clear that their motorcycle cop was chasing a 13-year old kid on an e-motorcycle and not an ebike, as the officer’s bodycam picked up his play-by-play commentary of the chase.

Encinitas will spend $3.5 million to rip out a protected bike lane that was completed just last year, in a race to beat new state legislation that would require the same level of study to remove a bike lane as there was to build it.

Nine months after Chula Vista’s ebike ordinance went into effect, residents are questioning whether an average of just two citations a month is really a sufficient crackdown on scofflaw teen e-moto riders.

Congratulations, San Diego, you’re getting your very own edition of Streetsblog on July 27th — but now they need your help to make it a reality. Although you’ll have to find your own Joe Linton, ’cause we ain’t giving him up. 

Speaking of San Diego, the East Village Association has lost two-thirds of it’s budget due to a loss of parking revenue — not because of bike lanes, but because the city decided not to share its parking revenue with community parking districts anymore. But someone will inevitably find a way to blame bikes, anyway. 

Oakland’s iconic scraper bikes are back, if they ever went away.

Sacramento will host a two-day Clean Mobility Forum focused on shared mobility and equitable clean transportation at the end of September; CARB is one of the sponsors, so give ’em hell about killing the California Ebike Incentive Program.

 

National

PeopleForBikes new city rankings finds that small towns are leading the fight for bikeability. Which only makes sense, since it’s easier to make a profound change with less effort and expenditure in a small town than a big city.

Bike riders in Cheyenne, Wyoming celebrated Bike to Work Week, with city leaders citing a strong bike culture going back to the ’70s. Look, I’ll believe things have really changed in the city, where cowboys used to threaten to kick my ass just for riding a bike, when they add a bike rodeo to the Cheyenne Frontier Days. 

Hats off to a Denver-area firefighter who rode an ebike with a dead battery back to the fire station after its owner suffered a medical emergency.

A Texas man did the right thing, and turned himself in for the distracted driving crash that killed a 16-year old boy and severely injured his younger sister as they were riding their bikes — and he only waited four and a half months to do it.

A Minneapolis driver faces a pair of criminal vehicular homicide counts for killing a bike rider while a) on the unholy trinity of alcohol, coke and weed, while also b) speeding and c) driving distracted.

The Chicago Courrier Classic revives ancient alleycat tradition to prove bike messenger culture refuses to die. No matter how hard drivers try to kill it. And them. 

In a surprising move, conservative Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill that would have imposed a 10 mph speed limit for ebike riders within 50 feet of pedestrians, saying it would be hard to enforce (true) and lead to increased surveillance by local governments.

 

International

A 31-year old “deeply selfish” British man was sentenced to nine years behind bars for killing a retired math teacher riding a bicycle in a head-on crash, while 16-times over the legal limit for cocaine. And yes, the UK has a legal limit for coke.

Here’s one for your bike bucket list. A new 205-mile gravel route in southwest Scotland connects Dumfries and Galloway through a series of three interconnected loops. Let’s see Gravel Bike California make a video about that one. 

Dublin, Ireland’s monthly Critical Mass Ride will turn into a music-filled pre-Pride Ride tonight.

The Eurobike trade show will move to a biannual basis following the 2027 show, after it lost a number of major exhibitors.

 

Competitive Cycling

Likely Tour de France competitors are dropping like flies, as the Visma-Lease a Bike team says Edoardo Affini ‘will be monitored’ after he was taken away by ambulance following a high-speed crash at the Italian Road Championships.

Not only did ultra-endurance cyclist Victor Bosoni smash the existing record to win the Tour Divide, he finished two days ahead of second-place Laurens Ten Dam, even sleeping eight hours a night; he broke the record by a whopping 11 hours, finishing in 11 days, 8 hours, 37 minutes.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can own an Eddy Merckx team bike that was definitely not ridden by Eddy Merckx. You can be replaced by a self-riding bicycle robot capable of an unassisted acrobatic front flip. Pinarello is now haute couture.

And clearly, bike lanes and sex workers don’t mix.

Voulez-vous coucher a vélo ce soir ?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

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

Santa Ana hit-and-run victim leading UC Irvine oceanographer, and Chicago shows bike lanes don’t hurt local businesses

June 24, 2026 / / 2 comments

This is the cost of traffic violence.

Road.cc has revealed that Francois Primeau, the 60-year old man killed by a hit-and-run driver in Santa Ana Thursday evening, was a leading oceanographer whose work helped scientists better predict the effects of climate change.

A statement from Kieron Burke, the Interim Dean of School of Physical Sciences at UC Irvine reads, in part, 

Francois joined the UC Irvine Department of Earth System Science in 2001 and quickly became an indispensable member of our community. He served as Chair of the department from 2021 to 2024. During his tenure, he helped the school navigate the aftermath of COVID-19 and worked to minimize disruptions for students and faculty members.

He was an internationally recognized leader in physical oceanography and ocean biogeochemistry, whose work helped deepen our understanding of global ocean circulation and global carbon and nutrient cycles. His research yielded foundational insights into the ocean’s role in regulating climate, including landmark studies on ocean ventilation, the global nitrogen budget, and the strength of the biological carbon pump. His work has equipped scientists with the tools to make more accurate climate predictions—a legacy that will benefit generations to come.

Francois was a dedicated leader, researcher, mentor, colleague, and friend. He will be remembered for his excitement in sharing mathematical insights and his enthusiasm for Bayesian statistics. His smile was always warm, and his door was always open. We were all fortunate to know him and to count him among our community. We have lost one of our best.

He is survived by his wife, Juno, and their son, Louis

However, that makes his death, not just a loss for his family and friends, but for all of us and the planet we call home. Not just for the research he will no longer conduct and the warming climate he will no longer work to forestall, but for the future scientists who won’t benefit from his teaching and guidance.

Primeau was killed while riding his bike at Standard and Warner avenues in Santa Ana around 6:15 pm Thursday.

Thirty-eight-year old Edjan Rocha turned himself in to Santa Ana police over the weekend, after investigators had discovered and impounded the vehicle he was allegedly driving. At last report, the Santa Ana resident was being held on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit-and-run.

Photo courtesy of UC Irvine School Of Physical Sciences.

………

Well, they don’t hurt, anyway.

According to Book Club Chicago, a new report from the City of Chicago examined six distinct economic corridors, comparing streets with bike lanes with those without.

And while they were unable to conclude that the bike lanes help businesses, due to the number of uncontrolled factors, they concluded that at the very least, the bike lanes don’t hurt business.

Despite what business owners everywhere will try to tell you.

The Chicago Department of Transportation last month published a report on the economic impacts of bike lanes that examined six commercial corridors with different types of bike lane projects. Researchers analyzed data as well as surveys and interviews with local businesses, residents and real estate developers.

The case studies compared the surveyed areas with “control” corridors nearby, and looked at the change in sales tax revenue, commercial property vacancy and employment, as well as safety and bike usage data since the lanes were installed…

According to the survey results and data gathered in the report, however, the six bike lane projects have not hurt business activity after their installation, although the study does not assert that the lanes themselves improved an area’s economic outlook.

The study found improved economic activity in most of the areas studied, although in some cases the control group outperformed the studied corridor on some metrics.

But there was no case where the bike lanes, whether painted or protected, made things any worse.

The city’s transportation department did not provide someone behind the report for an interview. In a statement, spokesperson Erica Schroeder said the studies show that bike lanes contributed to either “positive or neutral” trends along most of studied areas — and that the report “complements” the city’s analysis of improved and safer street design.

“Although it is not possible to isolate the effects of bike lanes from broader economic factors, the case studies show no evidence that bike lanes negatively impacted retail sales, commercial property values, or employment,” she said.

To which we can all anticipate a chorus of voices shouting “But they didn’t study my street, in my town, which is somehow unique from every other street in every other town.”

Because as we’ve learned, there is no way to convince some people unless you conduct a study on their exact street, under the exact same conditions under which they do business.

And even if you do, they won’t believe the results unless it confirms their preconceived bias.

Because, people.

……….

It’s Prime Day, uh Days.

Which is Amazon’s self-proclaimed shopping frenzy holiday, for anyone who chose this particular week to hide under a rock. And if you did, I don’t blame you.

But for those of you willing to wade into the online frenzy, credit card in hand —

Singletracks recommends the best Prime deals for mountain bikers.

Velo highlights Prime deals on gear they’ve actually tested, as well as competing offers at Competitive Cyclist and Backcountry.

Road.cc offers links to their choices for all the best UK bike deals, though those may or may not translate to the same savings on this side of the Atlantic.

………

Streets For All is holding a July members drive.

………

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

A local Scottish council resists demands to rip out a bike lane, but decides to build more parking so maybe all the damn drivers will stop parking in it.

An Irish woman is calling for a ban on angry honking after a school bus driver blasted his horn for 40 seconds as he followed her, incensed that he couldn’t pass as she rode her bike home from visiting her brother’s grave. It’s illegal here in California to use your horn for anything other than an emergency warning, not that it’s ever stopped anyone. 

………

Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports Culver City’s Elenda Street is getting an upgrade to curb-protected bike lanes, replacing the armadillos installed in 2021.

 

State

The state senate is poised to approve scaled-back legislation that would make it easier to get approval for bike and pedestrian projects in coastal zones, including in Santa Monica, after it was watered down to something everyone could live with. Legislation by committee is never a good idea, because you end up with a law that is acceptable to everyone, but barely for anyone.

San Diego passed a ban on any type of ebike for riders under 12 years old, as well as banning passengers on ebikes without a permanent second seat, although it will need to pass a second vote at the end of the month. I’m actually good with a ban on ebikes for kids that young, although I’d rather see the age limit raised to 14. 

A 68-year old Bakersfield man is competing in the iconic Race Across America, aka RAAM, for the 20th time, with his team leaving Oceanside this past Saturday on their way to Atlantic City, New Jersey. Seriously, the next great cycling movie would be about a solo rider competing against all odds just to finish the race. You don’t have to thank me; an “Idea by…” title in the credits will suffice. 

Fresno’s Blackstone Ave, described as the “spine” of the city, is getting a 6-to-4 road diet to make room for bike lanes, wider sidewalks and elevated bus platforms.

Oakland has begun work on installing a protected bike lane on a one-mile segment of Lakeshore Drive, scheduled to open early next year.

 

National

Cycling Weekly says a female design engineer at Salsa Cycles is the first person to figure out how to make 32″ wheels work for everyone, including those with her petite 5’2″ frame.

Apparently, you now need 21 separate products to teach your kid how to ride a bike. Because a just bicycle just isn’t enough anymore. 

A new Anchorage, Alaska bike park honors a local fallen bicycle advocate who was killed by a driver in 2014.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A Massachusetts man is celebrating his 80th birthday by riding 80 miles. I rode my age every year on my birthday until I was 51, and fresh out of the ICU following the Infamous Beachfront Bee Incident.

I want to be like him when I grow up, too. An 81-year old elite cycling coach from Connecticut has no plans to give up riding, despite recent heart surgery; Bill Humphreys developed his love of bicycling in his 20s after a judge threatened to take his driver’s license away if he got any more speeding tickets.

 

International

Canyon’s newest ebike incorporates vehicle-to-everything technology, for all those drivers who are inexplicably drawn to bicycles.

Bike riders in Canada’s Yukon Territory say things aren’t getting any safer, and harassment from drivers is getting worse, as they held the second annual memorial ride for a man who was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bicycle in 2024.

British extreme endurance cyclist Lael Wilcox has given up her attempt to set a new record for riding around the world, after suffering nausea and heat exhaustion during the European heatwave.

Spanish F1 driver Fernando Alonso makes an unexpected walk-on cameo in a music video promoting this year’s La Vuelta a España, aka the Vuelta, “delivering an absolutely flawless ‘what am I even doing here?’ shrug to the camera,” against a blurry Monaco backdrop.

A Melbourne, Australia bicyclist discovers a fake bike shop scam when he spots his face all over its website.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from France, where former pro Saïd Haddou, a two-time winner of the Breton gravel classic Tro-Bro Léon, was killed in a traffic collision while riding his motorcycle on Monday.

A new video re-examines the motor doping scare of the last decade or so.

 

Finally…

Well I, for one, think it’s about damn time someone built a bicycle with front and rear handbrakes, complete with butt-powered steering.  If you steal an ebike, probably not the best idea to ride it back to the same store you took it from.

And, uh, no. Just…no.

Credit, or discredit, goes to Google AI. Although “prominent local cycling news site” I can live with. 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

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