86-year old Carlsbad ebike rider killed by apparent driverless car, PCH driver tries to punch bicyclist, and doctor applies medical test to bike radar

August 24, 2026 / / No comments

After living with topical chemo for a few weeks, I now have a gaping, pulpy hole in my right cheek, and virtually no skin left on the top half of my left ear; we’ll learn in a few weeks if that got rid of the skin cancer, or if I will still need surgery. 

Seriously, wear sunscreen when you ride. Your future face will thank you. 

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An 86-year old man was injured in a collision after allegedly riding an ebike through a red light in Carlsbad on July 31st, and died later at the hospital.

But once again, the story fails to mention whether he was riding a legal Class 1, 2 or 3 ped-assist e-bicycle, or an electric motorbike.

It also fails to mention whether the vehicle that hit him had a driver, which would seem to be an important detail.

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No bias here.

A road-raging Laguna beach driver got out of his car to confront a bike rider on PCH on Saturday, attempting to punch the bicyclist as the other man backed away.

Needless to say, many people sided with the driver, blaming bicyclists for simply riding on the busy highway, despite having no idea what had spurred the incident.

Never mind that the driver committed assault simply by getting out of his car to confront the rider, and again by trying to punch him.

Funny how people get upset about bicyclists riding the coastal highway on weekends, but have no problem with people clogging it with their cars, taking up far more space less efficiently.

Instagram post

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Interesting insight, as a physician says his 36 year of medical training convinces him not to use a rear-facing radar to detect oncoming motorists, because it would not hold up to a randomized clinical trial.

The problem, according to Dr. James H. Stein, is that an unbiased funder would look at the premise, and immediately concluded that it is unlikely to hold up to scrutiny.

At its limit of roughly 450 feet, for a vehicle driving 55 mph, the device provides about 5-6 seconds of warning (less if they are driving faster). That is enough time to register an alert, but I do not think it meaningfully changes the decisions available to a cyclist. The options remain the same as seeing a vehicle in your rear view mirror or hearing it approach: hold your line, move right (even if that means moving off the road), or signal your presence by waving your arms. Those decisions are made as the car approaches, not from that far away. Earlier detection, in this context, adds information without adding options.

A radar also tells you nothing about a driver’s trajectory, or whether it will hit you or go around you. It only notifies you of the vehicle’s presence.

The problem is that the constant notifications may lead to divided attention and notification fatigue, as  the rider’s focus is repeatedly diverted from the roadway to the screen and back again.

Furthermore, most of what can hurt a cyclist is in front of them: potholes, gravel, debris, pedestrians, other cyclists, and cars either parked or entering the roadway. Even before radar, I have seen cyclists become so absorbed in their cycling computer that they rode off the road, and others have hit parked cars in front of them because they were not paying close enough attention. And I can’t count the number of times riders I know forgot to charge their light (the one with safety evidence) but did remember to charge their radar device.

Stein says looking at the marketing materials is where his research training kicks in, telling “There are no data showing that radar, or even early detection, reduces crashes or injuries,” and “Showing that an intervention changes something we can measure is not the same as showing that it improves the outcome we actually care about.”

It’s worth taking a few moments to read the whole thing, and giving it some thought. And even learning something about supplemental oxygen and treating anemia in hospitalized patients, while you’re at it.

Because he brings up a perspective that you may have never considered.

I know I hadn’t.

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Today’s common theme follows the pattern in recent weeks of ebikes of all stripes and the people who hate them.

Additional ebike-related news, good and bad, includes —

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BikeLA announces the return of their annual Bike Fest fundraiser this November.

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

Literally war, in this case, as Russia’s 3rd Army posted video of a drone attack on an unarmed Ukrainian civilian riding a bicycle, before removing the online video, perhaps after realizing they had just posted evidence of a war crime.

Speaking of bias, the Adelaide, Australia Advertiser says forget toll roads, and make bicyclists pay a toll to pay for the $12 million the city is investing in bikeways. But then they kindly hide the story behind one of the country’s typical draconian paywalls to avoid the disservice of making us actually read that dreck.

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

A British writer confesses to riding through red lights, but says the solution to scofflaw bicyclists is fewer laws governing bicyclists, not more.

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Local 

South Pasadena will host a pair of community meetings next week to discuss Metro-funded makeovers of the Fremont Avenue corridor from Columbia Street to Alhambra Road, and the Huntington Drive corridor from Alhambra Road to Garfield Ave.

A Cal Poly student describes riding his bicycle back to school from the San Fernando Valley to San Luis Obispo via Topanga Canyon Boulevard and PCH. Not once, but twice.

 

State

LAist says a $10.7 million bike lane project is coming to a long-overdue ten-mile stretch of PCH in Huntington Beach.

 

National

Two Navy vets in their 50s reunited for the first time in 30 years for a cross-country bike ride from California to New York to mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11.

A Portland writer describes the law, or lack thereof, behind the trail crossing sign that has been used nationwide since 2000 under the MUTCD, showing a yellow warning square with a pedestrian and a bicycle; yellow signs are considered advisory, and not legally binding.

Good idea. Three Chattanooga, Tennessee microbreweries host weekly bike nights. Although if anyone tried that here, you’d probably have cops lined up outside waiting for anyone biking under the influence.

A 38-year old Raleigh, North Carolina woman was under the influence, driving with a suspended license and had her six kids under ten years old in her car when she hit and killed a 69-year old man out for a midnight bike ride.

A North Carolina cyclist is calling for safety changes in the state, after two young men he knew were killed in the Milligan University massacre, saying he raced with or against every victim of the crash.

 

International

A writer for Cycling Weekly says riding a fixed-gear bike is the best way to demonstrate your superiority over riders on carbon superbikes. Although the name of the magazine describes by own riding style these days, of cycling weakly. 

Speaking of good ideas, Calgary, Alberta, hosted a women’s-only Gran Fondo, with 180 women lining up for timed rides of 25 and 44 miles.

Two English men, ages 31 and 24, face murder charges for killing a 27-year old man riding a bicycle by punching him in an unprovoked attack.

A bike route crosses four European countries, crossing from the Netherlands through Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg on the Vennbahn, and ending with a soak in Aachen, Germany’s historic thermal baths.

Momentum says Japan’s newest national bike route draws a 101-mile circle around Mount Fuji, combining bicycling with mountain scenery, cultural attractions and “some very good reasons to stop for ice cream.”

Australia’s Bicycle Networks says a new bike and pedestrian bridge marks another step forward for Sydney as a bicycling city.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mauritian cyclist Kim Le Court-Pienaar won the women’s Tour of Britain by a 24-second margin, after claiming the leader’s jersey with an uphill solo attack on stage three; Lorena Wiebes finished second by claiming four of the five stages, just not the one that counted. 

Twenty-one-year old British rider Matthew Brennan won the second stage of the Vuelta, the longest stage the race’s 21 stages, as Tadej Pogačar held on to the leader’s red jersey; as it now stands, Wout van Aert and Matthew Brennan are second and third.

Julian Alaphilippe says he’s done with pro cycling, and is calling it a career “with immediate effect” at age 34.

 

Finally…

If you’re underage and riding an illegal e-moto, try not to crash directly in front of the cop shop. If at REI you don’t spend, your car’s not welcome here in Bend.

And yes, a bright kit will make you more visible to everyone. Thanks to Norm for the link.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

State senate committee votes to keep drunks on road, driver didn’t brake in Milligan massacre, and LA sued for Pershing Drive death

August 21, 2026 / / No comments

Evidently, Sacramento legislators support drunk drivers.

Or at least one does, anyway.

The Senate Appropriations Committee, led by Sen. Sabrina Cervantes, approved a hostile amendment that gutted a bill that would have required interlock devices for drivers convicted of DUI.

The bill, which has widespread support, would simply have brought the state in line with most other states, which already require the devices.

According to CalMatters,

Cervantes, you might remember, was arrested for a DUI in Sacramento last year, but prosecutors chose not to press charges after a blood test found she had “no measurable amount of drugs or alcohol in her system.” (She later sued the Sacramento Police Department, arguing the arrest was discriminatory and in retaliation for her legislation restricting police data collection.)

Her sister, Riverside City Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes, has two DUI convictions.

So anyone whose loved ones are killed by any drunk drivers with a previous DUI can send the thank you card directly to Cervantes office.

And hey, let’s have another one for the road.

Thanks to Joel for the heads-up.

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More fallout from the crash that killed two members of the Milligan University cycling team, and injured seven others — nine casualties out of the eleven member team.

The crash occurred when the car ahead of driver John Alexander Benfield moved from the right lane to the left lane. But rather than follow the first driver to the other lane to avoid the team, Benfield smashed into them, with investigators alleging he didn’t brake or take any other evasive action to avoid them.

It’s’s not even clear if Benfield ever saw the cycling team before plowing into them.

A county deputy helping to secure the scene allegedly detected the odor of marijuana coming from Benfield’s car.

You know, just a little wake and bake behind the wheel.

Allegedly.

Milligan University sophomores Haylan Engdahl and Brayden Rogers, both 19, died at the scene.

I said yesterday that Engdahl was from Kenosha, Illinois, but he was actually from Kenosha, Wisconsin; the other victim, Brayden Rogers, was a native of Huntsville, Alabama.

At last report, four of the surviving victims remained in critical condition in the ICU; three required surgery from the orthopedic trauma team, and one will require additional surgery.

Meanwhile, Benfield remained in custody after his bail was doubled to $300,000.

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No surprise here, as the husband of fallen bicyclist Regan Cole-Graham announced plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles.

Matthew Graham alleges that his wife’s death, along with that of his unborn daughter Ophelia, resulted from the removal of bike lanes from Pershing Drive, endangering bicyclists and ultimately leading to the deadly crash.

The 87-year old driver hasn’t been charged, supporting the argument that the crash was caused by poor road design.

I have argued since the bike lanes were installed in 2017, then ripped out months later to appease angry pass-through motorists, that the city would ultimately be responsible for any future deaths that occurred there.

Now Los Angeles taxpayers will be on the hook for yet another costly settlement — one that could easily reach into eight figures, because the city knowingly created a situation that was less safe than it had been when the bike lanes were installed.

But there’s no amount that could make these needless deaths right.

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This has nothing to do bikes, or anything else this site normally discusses.

But I literally laughed out loud when I stumbled on outraged articles about Australia’s national debt topping $1 trillion dollars, the same week the US national debt topped $40 trillion — a difference of a mere $39,000,000,000,000.

Never mind that $1 trillion Australian dollars equals just over $700 billion USD.

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

A London bike rider says we have met the enemy, and he is us, arguing that cars aren’t the problem, and bike riders have to look to their own ranks to improve safety.

In a typical over-response to ebikes, bicycles of all types will now be banned from the historic city center of Como, Italy, after Mayor Alessandro Rapinese was struck by an ebike rider in June; bike riders will now be forced to dismount and walk their bikes.

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Local 

Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and challenger Nithya Raman debated in Sherman Oaks on Wednesday, with questioners seemingly dedicated to protecting established businesses and homeowners, and opposing increased housing allowed under SB 79. My main takes were 1) Bass doesn’t seem to know she’s been mayor for three years, when she could have gotten a lot done, but didn’t, and 2) LAist probably didn’t need to talk over Bass and Raman with a station ID every ten minutes, as if we all had no idea who or what we were listening to.

More on CicLAvia returning to Pasadena this November after a ten-year absence.

Santa Monica drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians are urged to slow down and stay alert as the new school year begins. Good advice, but do they really want people to walk slower near schools? 

 

State

Orange County DA Todd Spitzer is hosting what may be the country’s first ebike buyback event, providing up to $1,000 in an effort to get illegal e-motos and hacked ebikes off the road; the first 75 people will also get two Angels baseball tickets. There’s probably no truth to the rumor that the next 75 people will have to take four Angels tickets. Thanks to Edward for the tip.

San Diego is one of the largest US cities without a bikeshare system, something local bicyclists want to change, seven years after the city’s DecoBike system went down the drain. But you’ll have to get past the Union-Tribune’s draconian paywall if you want to read it. 

San Diego’s Bike the Bay rolls for the 19th year on Sunday, giving local riders their only opportunity to pedal across the city’s iconic San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge. Although to be honest, the ferry is more fun, anyway. 

 

National

You know bikes are taking over when a new bike park opens in windswept Laramie, Wyoming, in the middle of cowboy country.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole an ebike from a Derby, Kansas father who was declared legally blind earlier this year, taking away his only form of transportation and forcing him to miss work.

Tragic news from New York, where a 51-year old father called his wife to say he was just minutes from their home; moments later a hit-and-run driver doing an estimated 100 mph ran a red light and slammed into him on his bicycle, no doubt killing him instantly. Have I mentioned lately that hit-and-run drivers one the lowest forms of human scum occupying the earth? I didn’t think so. And don’t get me started on excessive speeding. 

 

International

Bike Radar presents their short list for Bike of the Year.

The Guardian goes riding up Norway’s Mjølkevegen, as bicyclists are discover “the road’s breathtaking panoramas of peaks and lakes, dotted with cozy inns.” Although you shouldn’t be allowed to ride it unless you can pronounce it. 

An Australian researcher says yes, ebike subsidies and safer infrastructure matters, but what will really encourage more people to ride bikes is having sufficient skills, confidence and support to ride.

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-two-year old Welsh cyclist Josh Tarling will line up for the start of the Vuelta a España for his Netcompany-Ineos team, just one week after his 19-year old brother Finlay was killed when a van driver got onto the course at the Volta a Portugal last Friday.

Calls to improve safety in professional cycling have only gotten louder in the week since Tarling’s death.

The same thing that happened to Tarling nearly happened to Aussie cyclist Maeve Plouffe at the women’s Tour of Britain as she was trying to catch up to the peloton after a puncture, and was almost struck head-on by a driver in a roundabout when traffic was allowed back on the course before all the riders had cleared.

It happened again on the race’s second stage, when the stage was neutralized for an hour due to a traffic collision ahead of the riders, as UCI seems incapable of keeping a race course clear long enough to run a race; Dutch superstar Lorena Wiebes has won both stages so far.

The BBC says the Tour of Britain is inspiring more Muslim women to ride bikes; then again, they said the same thing about the Tour de France Femmes. And once again, you’ll have to get past their paywall if you want to read it.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a runaway pig evades an ebike rider, and ends up living with Grammy-winning Hollywood celeb. Or when using cracked pavement as a bike stand becomes an internet bicycle meme.

And this is what you call a scary effing close call.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Driver mows down elite college cycling team, killing two and injuring seven; and Michigan Make-A-Wish killer begs for reduced sentence

August 20, 2026 / / No comments

A beautiful Appalachian highway became a death trap for members of an elite college cycling team yesterday morning.

Two members of the Milligan University cycling team were killed, and seven others injured — four critically — when a 69-year old driver plowed into the whole fucking team.

Sophomores Haylan Engdahl and Brayden Rogers, students at the small Christian liberal arts college, were killed. The small private university is located in Elizabethton, Tennessee, in the northeastern corner of the state.

A CNN report offers photos of the victims, one of whom, 19-year old Haylan Engdahl, graduated high school in Kenosha, Illinois.

And yes, it feels like an extra gut punch to share my last name with one of the victims.

The driver, Newland, North Carolina resident John Benfield, was arrested and charged with two counts of vehicular homicide by recklessness and five counts of aggravated assault by vehicle by recklessness. At last report, he had not been released on bond.

It’s not known at this time if he was under the influence.

According to NBC News,

Sam Rogers said he passed by the accident. At first, he saw Carter County sheriff’s vehicles and ambulances arriving, and then he came upon the aftermath.

“I was horrified to see numerous crumpled bikes. There was a person on the road injured and another covered in blood being helped,” Rogers said. “The bicycles were completely destroyed.”

They were only 11 miles from the campus when Benfield somehow managed to take out over 80% of the 11 team members on the training ride.

At least the other seven beat the odds. The speed limit on that section of Tennessee Highway 19 is 50 mph, which means the victims had a 25% chance of survival if the driver was doing the speed limit, according to AAA.

And as we all know, the chances of a driver actually doing the speed limit or less is somewhere south of nil.

One victim has been released from the hospital, and two others were in stable condition.

Below is a statement from the university.

According to CBS News,

“This is an elite cycling team. It’s not a bunch of club guys getting together to ride. They know what they are doing,” said Carter County District Attorney Steven Finney.

Milligan’s men’s cycling team won the team time trial at the USA Cycling Collegiate Road Nationals in Wisconsin earlier this year.

There’s no word at this time on how the crash occurred, other than it was at or near a curve in the roadway.

This is yet another tragic reminder that a driver’s license allows someone to operate a weapon of mass destruction, which even in the right hands is just one critical error from becoming a ground-hugging ballistic missile.

As for the wrong hands, just go back and read this again.

To argue that something like this should never happen is an obvious understatement. Yet it does, far too frequently.

And I’m sick to death of shedding tears and saying prayers for people I don’t even know.

To wit, see below.

Thanks to Mike and Al for the heads-up.

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Michigan driver Mandy Marie Benn could have her sentence shortened for the 2022 crash that killed two people and injured three others taking part in a Make-A-Wish bicycle ride.

A jury found Benn guilty on 15 counts, including two counts of 2nd degree murder, possessing prescription drugs, operating while intoxicated causing serious death and reckless driving causing death. She was sentenced to two consecutive 35- to 60-year terms in prison.

According to WLNS 6 News,

The deadly crash happened four years ago on Stage Road in Ronald Township, northeast of Ionia, as Mandy Marie Benn was driving north. She tried to pass a truck, driving into the path of bicyclists participating in a Make-A-Wish bicycle tour. Two cyclists were killed: Edward Erickson, 48, of Ann Arbor, and Michael Salhaney, 57, of Bloomfield Hills. Three others were hurt. The prosecution said evidence showed that Benn had a prescription medication called Lorazepam, a sedative that had not been prescribed to her, in her system at the time of the crash.

Now her attorney is arguing that her sentences should have been applied concurrently, rather than consecutively, and an appeals court has sent it back to the trial judge to explain why the consecutive sentences were imposed.

She’ll have a hearing in November to argue her case.

Personally, I don’t care if her sentences are consecutive, concurrent or inside out as long as she never gets out from behind bars.

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Somehow, this seems like a good place to mention that I have a new and improved design for one of my earlier T-shirts, which also comes in yellow and blue versions, now that I have a slightly better idea what the hell I’m doing.

Because it’s true, and they do. As too many of us have learned the hard way, myself included.

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

A judge ordered work on a Crown Height, New York bike lane halted, after a resident asserted the city had broken the law by failing to notify her, and hadn’t provide equired certifications showing consultations with FDNY, NYPD, Small Business Services and the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities; needless to say, the NYDOT begs to differ.

A Canadian website argues that The Ontario Court of Appeal’s recent unanimous decision allowing the provincial government to rip out Toronto bike lanes over the objection of city leaders is about much more important issues than just bike lanes. I’m sure that will come as cold comfort to the riders now forced to confront city traffic, or the impatient drivers following behind them.

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

A 59-year old British Columbia man now believes bicyclists should be licensed and insured, after he was struck by another rider while on his own bike, after the second man crashed into him at a signalized crosswalk, leaving him with a broken humerus, a crushed rotator cuff, metal plates, stitches and screws in his shoulder; without a ride home, he posted his situation on Facebook, and a kindhearted stranger picked him up from the hospital, and got his pain meds for him.

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Local 

Culver City is the first SoCal city to have Amazon deliveries made by e-cargo bikes, even if they look like mini cargo vans.

Long Beach is hosting its sixth annual Long Beach Safe Streets Awareness Week, returning with the theme of “Long Beach Moves Together.” Which is undoubtedly the most times I’ve ever used “Long Beach” in a single sentence.

 

State

California Streetsblog’s Damien Newton talks with Streets Are For Everyone founder Damian Kevitt about the last minute votes pending in the state legislature before it adjourns next week.

Streets For All says your help is needed to keep critical transit funding off the state chopping block.

This is who we share the road with. Heartbreaking news from Huntington Beach, where a 74-year old man in a motorized wheelchair was killed by a driver as he was crossing the street.

This is who we share the road with, part two. San Jose police are looking for a road-raging driver who stabbed two people during an altercation, at an intersection where residents have long complained about speeding drivers. But apparently not stabbing ones, until now. 

 

National

A 17-year old high school senior from Arizona likely set a new record for riders under 18 by finishing the 2,700-mile Tour Divide Race in just 20 days, as well as completing both the Arizona and Colorado Trails, making him the youngest person to finish the Triple Crown of bikepacking. And I was today years old when I learned there’s a Triple Crown of bikepacking. 

A Washington State newspaper patiently explains that bike riders aren’t breaking the law by running stop signs, because the Idaho Stop is legal there — and not stopping is safe than stopping. Would someone please explain that to Gavin Newsom, who’s vetoed it twice? Wait, don’t bother. He’ll either be President Newsom or unemployed in a couple years, anyway. 

A Colorado man claimed he thought he’d hit a deer when police tracked him down three weeks after he hit and killed a man riding a bicycle, and just kept going; he had the car repaired in the meantime, and evidently no one bothered to tell him the damage came from a human being. Call me crazy, but wouldn’t most people at least stop to examine the damage to their car if they thought they’d hit a large animal — let alone see if it was okay?

As if today’s news wasn’t bad enough, the family of a Springfield, Missouri couple filed a lawsuit against the parents of a young child, arguing the couple encountered the kid in the roadway as they were riding their bikes, and had to choose between hitting the child or crashing into an embankment; they chose the embankment, and both suffered catastrophic injuries, with the husband dying two weeks after the crash, and the wife suffering “permanent and disabling” injuries.

Streetsblog celebrates the “one-of-a-kind” bike path on the new Gordie Howe International Bridge between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, despite — or maybe because of — Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to kill it.

Hoboken, New Jersey risks its perfect Vision Zero record after the city council voted to end a bike lane project a couple months early, even as the mayor pledged to keep it open in the planned October end date.

When is a bike lane not a bike lane? When a Philadelphia funeral home uses the protected bike land to stage funeral processions, while apparently trying to drum up additional business.

 

International

Cycling Electric offers tips on how to choose a cargo bike, as well as loading and riding it safely.

Good for them. A group of English kids faced down a bulldozer to save a 20-year old DIY bike park.

That’s more like it. Reported bike thefts from UK train stations dropped 11%, while the number of thieves charged for stealing bikes from them more than doubled after police reversed a policy of not investigating thefts if the bikes had been there more than two hours.

Must be nice. A South Korean city is automatically insuring all of its more than 900,000 residents against injuries or liability when riding a bicycle or personal mobility devices.

A New Zealand writer places tongue very firmly in cheek, and writes about the harrowing passage of crossing the street outside the prime minister’s former residence, after he complained “to a crowd of no doubt weeping voters” about “a whole bunch of bike lanes…that made it very difficult for me getting from my apartment into the parliamentary precinct,” even though it’s been two years since he’s lived there. I need to send The Spinoff politics writer Lyric Waiwiri-Smith a thank you card, because I really needed that after today’s news.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch pro Lorena Wiebes responded to the death of 19-year old Welsh cyclist Finlay Tarling as she lined up for the opening stage of the women’s Tour of Britain, saying “Parents shouldn’t fear their children not coming home from a race.” Or a training ride, for that matter. 

EF Education-EasyPost chief Jonathan Vaughters blasted UCI for its focus on “ridiculous little” safety measures, such as minimum handlebar widths, “when they’re unable to keep traffic off the road.”

A Colorado man set a new course record in winning the 53rd Annual Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb, shaving two minutes off the previous mark, and moving LA-based former pro Phil Gaimon’s 2022 course record down into third place.

 

Finally…

Call him the Pied Piper of bicyclists. That feeling when you campaign against drug use by popping a 1,400 mile wheelie, convincing everyone else you must be on drugs.

And if you’re attacked by a grizzly, don’t try to whack it with your bike.

I mean, seriously.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Huntington Beach ebike rider dies in solo crash, 5 lousy years for doubly fatal 124 mph crash, and Bass demands Forest Lawn Drive keep sucking

August 19, 2026 / / No comments

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

I’m using a form of topical chemo to treat a couple minor skin cancers on my face, which doesn’t seem to play well with my other meds. I tried to work through it Monday, but just kept feeling worse and worse as the night wore on. 

So seriously, use sunscreen, already. 

Photo by Tucă Bianca from Pexels. 

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The Huntington Beach Police Department reports that a man 21-year old man died after a single vehicle ebike crash.

After giving it a lot of thought, I’ve decided to only write about ebike deaths when the story actually refers to a bicycle, since we often can’t be sure whether the victim was on a ped-assist bike, or an illegal e-motrbike.

While the Huntington Beach cops do call the victim of this crash a bicyclist, it sounds more like an e-moto crash than an electric bicycle.

I could be wrong, though. Here’s the full HBPD press release.

On Tuesday, July 21, 2026, at approximately 12:30 p.m., the Huntington Beach Police Department (HBPD) responded to a traffic collision at the intersection of Warner Avenue and Plaza Lane regarding a single-vehicle collision involving an e-bike.

Upon arrival, officers located the e-bike rider, a 21-year-old man from Westminster, unconscious on the sidewalk next to the roadway. Paramedics were called to the scene and the bicyclist was transported to a local hospital for medical treatment. On July 26, 2026, he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased. It is unknown if impairment was a factor with the rider of the e-bike.

Based on the preliminary investigation, it appears the e-bike was westbound on Warner Avenue west of Plaza Lane when the rider lost control and went down.

The collision investigation is ongoing and is being handled by the HBPD Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT). Anyone who may have witnessed the collision or events leading up to it is encouraged to contact HBPD Traffic Investigator Vishal Rattanchandani at (714) 536-5231.

Thanks to Bill for the heads-up. 

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This is who we share the road with.

A 21-year old Pico Rivera man has been sentenced to a lousy five years and four month behind bars for killing two passengers in his car two years ago.

Leonardo Rodriguez was allegedly doing 124 mph on the Ventura Freeway in Ventura County, when he tried to pass a slower vehicle on the right shoulder of the roadway, and slammed into the back of a stopped semi.

His girlfriend and another man were both thrown from the car, and died at the scene.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty to two felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter in June, and was sentenced on Friday.

There’s something seriously wrong with California’s overly lenient traffic laws when recklessly taking two lives amounts to just 32 months apiece. And a lot less than that given California’s prison overcrowding and early release programs.

In some states, he would have faced a pair of life sentences. And even a plea deal would have resulted in at least a couple decades in jail.

I’m not a fan of today’s prison industrial system, which simply warehouses inmates instead of offering them any form of rehabilitation. We desperately need a better system.

But sentences like this, for a crime like that, shows just how un-serious this state is about traffic violence.

………

Streets Are For Everyone issued a new report covering the fiasco on deadly Forest Lawn Drive, calling Mayor Bass’ halting of the safety project a “poster child” for why LA streets are so dangerous.

I’m including their full press release below.

And yeah, I’m pretty effing pissed off about it, too.

New Report Questions Why Los Angeles Paused a Fully Funded Safety Project on One of Its Dangerous Roads
SAFE’s report examines Forest Lawn Drive, how dangerous it is, and how a 1-mile road safety project has become the poster child for why roads across LA City are so dangerous.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Streets Are For Everyone today released a new report examining why a fully funded safety improvement project on Forest Lawn Drive was halted despite years of public planning, extensive community outreach, and documented safety concerns.

Titled “Forest Lawn Drive: Why a Fully Funded Road Safety Project Was Delayed,” the report explores how a road known for speeding, serious crashes, and a lack of pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure became the focus of a political intervention that stopped construction just weeks before work was scheduled to begin. It also examines the broader question of whether Los Angeles is prioritizing road safety at a time when traffic violence continues to claim more lives than homicides for the third year in a row.

“Forest Lawn Drive is about much more than one road,” said Damian Kevitt, Executive Director of Streets Are For Everyone. “It is a case study in how difficult it has become to build proven safety improvements, even after years of planning, community engagement, environmental review, and secured funding. When projects like this can be stopped at the last minute, it sends a troubling message about how unimportant the safety of those using LA roads is.”

Forest Lawn Drive serves as an important connection for bicycle commuters between Griffith Park, Glendale, Hollywood, and the San Fernando Valley. Yet approximately one mile of the corridor has no sidewalk, no bicycle lane, a badly damaged shoulder, and a posted speed limit of 45 mph. According to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, 95 reported collisions occurred along this section between 2013 and 2023, including crashes that seriously injured or killed three people. Just a few days ago, on August 13th, another person died in a fiery crash on Forest Lawn Drive.

To better understand current conditions, SAFE volunteers conducted more than 14 hours of independent speed surveys during the summer of 2026. The organization found that 53 percent of drivers exceeded the posted speed limit, with one in five traveling between 51 and 75 mph while passing just inches away from people walking, running, and bicycling.

The City’s proposed Forest Lawn Drive Safety and Mobility Project would have reconfigured the roadway to calm traffic, reduce dangerous passing and lane changes, add separated bicycle facilities, and improve conditions for everyone using the corridor. According to LA DOT, the redesign would have had little impact on travel times for most drivers while significantly improving safety.

Construction was scheduled to begin in 2026 but was halted after Mayor Karen Bass directed LA DOT to review alternatives that would maintain all existing traffic lanes. The report notes that this decision followed lobbying efforts by Forest Lawn Cemetery and Mount Sinai Memorial Park, which opposed the planned lane reductions.

Beyond the Forest Lawn Drive project itself, the report also examines the City’s broader investment priorities. It notes that while Los Angeles has substantially increased spending on policing and homelessness programs in recent years, funding specifically dedicated to the Vision Zero Program has been cut by 59%.

SAFE is encouraging residents, transportation professionals, policymakers, and community leaders to read the report and participate in an informed public discussion about how Los Angeles prioritizes road safety and delivers life-saving infrastructure projects.

The full report is available at: www.streetsareforeveryone.org/blog/forest-lawn-drive

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As long as we’re doing press releases and turning this into an epic post, here’s another one announcing a city hall demonstration next week about the city’s backsliding on a legal settlement to fix the crumbling sidewalks.

10 Years After $1.37 Billion Sidewalk Settlement, Advocates Ask: Is LA Moving Forward or Backward?
The Willits SLIDE brings disability advocates to City Hall for a civic performance marking a decade of the landmark accessibility settlement

LOS ANGELES — Ten years after a landmark settlement committed Los Angeles to spending $1.37 billion over 30 years to make its sidewalks and curb ramps accessible, disability and mobility advocates will gather at City Hall on Tuesday, August 25, at 9:00 AM to ask a simple question: Is Los Angeles actually moving forward?

Their answer will take the form of The Willits SLIDE, a civic performance in which participants move forward and backward together, physically representing a decade of progress and setbacks since the Willits v. City of Los Angeles settlement.

The City has spent more than $333 million during the settlement’s first 10 years. Yet broken pavement, missing curb ramps and inaccessible paths continue to create barriers for Angelenos who use wheelchairs, white canes, walkers and other mobility devices.

Advocates are also highlighting a costly contradiction: while approximately over $30 million annually is allocated toward Willits improvements, the City has spent roughly $40 million more annually settling sidewalk-related injury claims.

“The Willits settlement was a landmark victory for disability rights, but spending the money isn’t the same as delivering accessible streets,” said Alex Ramirez with Los Angeles Walks.

“Ten years later, we’re asking what it will take to stop moving backward and fix our sidewalks for good,” said Reanne Estrada, Artist and Creative Director of Public Matters, which developed the civic performance. 

The performance is the latest action from the Boo-Boo Bandage Brigade, a Downtown LA coalition using art, humor and civic action to advocate for lasting solutions to broken street infrastructure.

“Disability advocates have challenged us to make Downtown a blueprint for accessibility across Los Angeles,” said Hilary Norton of FastLink DTLA, who leads the coalition-building effort. “That means working together to build a system that works for everyone.”

Alongside stronger implementation of the Willits settlement, advocates are calling on the City to fast-track its Capital Infrastructure Program to better coordinate how Los Angeles plans, funds, repairs and maintains sidewalks and other public infrastructure.

MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES

  • The Willits SLIDE: A visual civic performance in front of Los Angeles City Hall
  • Disability advocates sharing their experiences navigating LA’s sidewalks
  • Boo-Boo Bandage Brigade props and visual installations
  • Interviews with advocates about the Willits settlement, sidewalk liability costs and long-term infrastructure solutions

ABOUT THE WILLITS SLIDE

The Willits SLIDE is a civic performance marking the 10-year anniversary of the Willits v. City of Los Angeles settlement. Through a collective movement forward and backward, participants will make visible both the progress and unfinished work of making Los Angeles’ sidewalks accessible to everyone.

The action is part of the ongoing work of the Boo-Boo Bandage Brigade, which uses art, humor, disability justice and civic engagement to draw attention to failing street infrastructure while advocating for lasting solutions.

Coalition partners include: Public Matters, FASTLinkDTLA, DTLA Mobility for All, Los Angeles Walks, CALIF, disability justice advocates and community partners.

Somehow, we can host a World Cup and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, but we can’t house the homeless, pick up the trash, fix the potholes or do anything about the damn sidewalks.

Chop wood, carry water.

Do the basics first.

………

Thanks to David for sharing his own extensive views of the new bike and pedestrian bridge over the 5 Freeway in Irvine, as well as the surrounding park.

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Very few people ever looked this good on a bike. Even if he was probably just posing for a promotional photo.

Bluesky post

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

An apparent road-raging driver plowed his truck down the flimsy plastic bollards “protecting” Santa Monica’s 23rd Street Bike Lane. More proof that plastic won’t protect anyone.

No bias here. Hoodline says Berkeley is ripping out 145 parking spaces to build protected bike lanes on one of the city’s most contested streets. Never mind that the project is intended to save lives on a deadly street; the way they frame it makes the loss of parking the most important detail. 

In a truly sickening story, a Pennsylvania man pled guilty to 3rd degree murder for knocking a 40-year old man off his bicycle, then beating the victim to death with his own bike, even though he says he doesn’t remember it, after prosecutors dropped a 1st degree murder charge as part of a plea deal; the vicious attack came just half an hour after the suspect was released from Central Booking, where he had been held for some unknown reason.

If local leaders even oppose a lighted bike path through a Bath, England park, why are they called the Green Party?

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

A driving website calls out a “goofball” bicyclist who ran a red light, directly in front of a Burbank pedestrian with the right-of-way. And while they’ve got a point, just wait until they see the crazy things drivers do.

Reddit post

London’s Daily Mail gets its knickers in a wad over a report that 60% of bike riders don’t stop for pedestrians at floating bus stops, accusing scofflaw riders of “dicing with death.” Yes, you should always stop for pedestrians. But maybe someone should tell them that exactly zero pedestrians have been killed by bicyclists at London’s floating bus stops, and only six pedestrians were injured by bike riders at the city’s floating bus stops in 2024, compared with 11,400 pedestrians injured by motorists in London over the same period.

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Local 

Letter writers to the Southern California News Group discuss ebikes, though you may need a shower after reading them, even if the last two seem to get it.  Although that’s the first time in years I’ve clicked on a story in the Los Angeles Daily News without crashing into their paywall. 

The Times of India, of all sources, writes that the owners of Redondo Cyclery refused to sell in the 1980s, so Redondo Beach built the Redondo Shores shopping center around it. Although their ChatGPT image of a small, family-owned bike shop surrounded by a larger development is probably the funniest thing you’ll see all day. 

 

State

California Streetsblog updates the legislative agenda, highlighting the more important transportation bills still alive as the legislature moves to floor votes; among the bills is one that would increase the penalties for DUI, and another redefining the differences between electric bicycles and electric motorbikes. Maybe if it passes the cops and media will stop calling any damn thing with two wheels and a battery a damn ebike, already. 

Meanwhile, CalMatters calls out the legislature’s inability to pass California transportation bills that matter.

Sad news from Monterey County, where a 58-year old man was killed by a semi driver in a right hook while riding his bicycle.

San Francisco bicyclists demand a safer Market Street, after the city’s previous mayor cancelled plans for protected bike lanes. Which sounds oddly familiar, somehow.

 

National

A new study shows just six 30 second sprints on a bicycle does far more to lower your risk of diabetes and obesity than 90 minutes of moderate bicycling.

Despite all the handwringing and pearl clutching, 55% of ebike-related deaths over an eight-year period involved a motor vehicle, and only 6% involved pedestrians. And yes, that appears to include anything with two wheels and a battery.

World Atlas looks at the steepest roads in the US, including our very own Eldridge and Baxter streets.

Escape Collective writes about Joe Bell, calling him the Godfather of bicycle painting. Although as usual, you’ll run into their paywall after a few paragraphs.

This one hits a little close to home for me, after a 15-year old kid who was passionate about bicycling was killed by a driver while riding his bicycle on the sidewalk, in the small, rural Alaska town my brother called home for several decades; the boy’s parents understandably call it “every parent’s worst nightmare.” A crowdfunding page has raised nearly $81,000 of the $90,000 goal.

Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park has gone against the recent anti-bike lane DEI insanity coming out of Washington, and approved plans for a fully separated paved bike path along one of the key roadways in the park. If you ever get a chance to bike through the Tetons, take it. 

A Bozeman, Montana mountain biker says sometimes the smartest thing he does on a bike is get off it. Wiser words were never said.

He’s got my vote. An Oklahoma Democrat running for Congress is campaigning by bicycle, riding through all 14 counties in his district to meet with the voters. Not to mention it helps take some of the suck out of campaigning.

Great idea. A Wheaton, Illinois United Methodist Church is hosting “Bike to Church Sunday” on August 30th, but invites churchgoers to ride to services any other Sunday, too.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani finally acceded to the demands of his constituents — or the tabloids, anyway — and wore a little plastic hat that will magically make him impervious to motor vehicles. Look, I’m a firm believer in bike helmets, but they’re made to protect you from falling off your bike at relatively slow speeds, not protect from a driver doing 20 miles over the speed limit. They may help, but they’re not magic. 

A New Jersey website says ebike sales are off anywhere from 20 percent to 90 percent since the state passed a requirement for licensing and registration for any type of ebike, regardless of speed.

A kindhearted Pennsylvania police sergeant paused his patrols to help a boy fix his bike, popping the chain back in place while the kids peppered him with questions about being a cop.

Those boots may have been made for walking, but Nancy Sinatra apparently took them on tandem bike rides with Elvis Presley during the filming of Speedway at North Carolina’s Charlotte Motor Speedway. No word on whether he wore his blue suede shoes. 

 

International

Cycling News looks at the Wild West world of buying used kits. Sorry, but I draw the line at putting my parts where someone else’s pits and bits have been. 

A British Columbia road biker more or less bunny hopped a dying deer, riding over it after it was thrown directly into his path when a driver in an SUV crashed into it.

A Calgary writer says it’s time to accommodate all modes of transportation on Canada’s roads, even if an Ontario high court ruling that the province can rip out Toronto bike lanes over the objection of city leaders is likely to embolden Alberta to do the same. Although the conservative National Post is all in on the ruling.

Cambridge, England became the first city in the UK to institute a speed limit for bicycles, restricting bikes to 15 mph on a busy 16-mile bike lane running through the city. Call me crazy, but 15 mph seems reasonable under the circumstance. 

An English farmer says no, maniacal ebike riders did not chase his horses, claiming news reports had been blown out of proportion. And even if they had chased those ponies, it’s unlikely they would have been riding the kind of ped-assist bike used to illustrate the story. 

A British bicyclist starts a conversation about the condition of the roads by taking a photo of his bike wheels securely wedged in a deep crevasse in a local highway.

Road.cc examines just how good Mallorca, Spain really is for bicycling.

 

Competitive Cycling

A new report says bystanders waved the van driver onto the course where 19-year old Welsh cyclist Finlay Tarling was killed during the 8th stage of the Volta a Portugal on Friday. The photo of his shattered race bike is just heartbreaking. 

The race resumed Saturday with Alexis Guérin wearing a black jersey instead of the usual yellow leader’s jersey, and the peloton wearing black armbands, following a moment of silence before the race; Guérin was the eventual winner after Sunday’s final stage.

A crowdfunding campaign launched by Tarling’s manager has raised the equivalent of over $84,000 to help other young riders realize their cycling dreams.

An Aussie cyclist explains why road racing can never be entirely safe. But allowing a driver onto a narrow road course before the entire peloton has passed is a major fuckup that can, and should, be avoided. 

An ill-timed appendectomy cost former USPro crit champ Lucas Bourgoyne a shot at winning the American Criterium Cup. Then again, is there ever a good time for an appendectomy?

 

Finally…

That feeling when you try, but ultimately fail, to catch a runaway pig with your ebike. Your next ped-assist ebike could be a Harley-Davidson — though not, sadly, a hog.

And remembering those heady days of the ’60s and ’70s, when kids dreamed of muscle cars and rode muscle bikes.

Although my hand-me-down bike looked more like the one on the right, if you added red and white streamers to the handgrips.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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

Today’s post called on account of blech

August 18, 2026 / / No comments

My apologies. I’ve been trying to work through it, but just not feeling well tonight. I’ll see you on Wednesday.

Category: General /

CicLAvia returns to Pasadena, 19-year old Welsh cyclist killed in Portugal race when driver enters the course, and why Trump hates bike lanes

August 17, 2026 / / One comment

The Little Old Lady from Pasadena can leave her bright red Super Stock Dodge in the garage this November.

CicLAvia made the surprise announcement last week that the popular open streets event is returning to Pasadena for the first time since 2015.

It will run down a section of Colorado Boulevard on Sunday, Nov. 15, with the exact route and hours to be announced.

The event appears to be so last minute that it’s not even on the CicLAvia website yet.

Photo of the iconic, 113-year old Colorado Street Bridge by mcbruin from Pixabay; Photo of the memorial to Jackie and Mack Robinson by Mike from Pixabay.

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Tragic news from Portugal, where 19-year old Welsh cyclist Finlay Tarling was killed during Friday’s 8th stage of the Volta a Portugal; a rider with the NSN Development Team, Tarling was reportedly struck head-on by a van driver who prematurely entered the course after the majority of the peloton had passed.

The stage was neutralized after Darling’s death, and the NSN Development Team pulled its five remaining riders out of the race.

According to IDL Pro Cycling,

At the time of the accident, Finlay Tarling was riding alone, at the back of the pack as a chaser. On a descent, he was going so fast that a GNR support car couldn’t keep up with him. At that moment, there was one other support car—the last car in the race indicating that the peloton had passed (the broom wagon)—and two motorcycles following behind the race.

In principle, all three riders—who had fallen behind at that point—could have had a lead bike, but Tarling was going too fast on a descent. As he took the inside line in a fast left-hand turn, the car suddenly appeared there, driving in its own lane—but of course, it should never have been on the course at that moment.

The driver reportedly had waited for the racers to pass, and when he didn’t see anyone else coming, he asked if the race was over and it was okay to enter the course. After waiting a little, he pulled onto the course, with tragic results.

The driver tested negative for drugs or alcohol, and isn’t expected to face charges.

Cycling News reports Finlay was the brother of Josh Tarling, a cyclist on the Netcompany-Ineos team, and expected develop a successful career.

Needless to say, the Cyclistes Professionnels Associés (CPA), the union for pro cyclists, was angry over what was described as a “catastrophic” lack of security. 

We are speechless and filled with anger after the news of Finlay Tarling’s death at the Tour of Portugal,” the CPA posted. “It is not right that a young athlete’s life should end this way, and we are furious that even today it is still not possible to prevent such serious accidents.”

The president of NSN Cycling called for better helmets in the wake of Tarling’s death.

“One thing we have to look at is helmets. They need a major upgrade. Bike helmets only need to meet standard testing like all helmets, EU standard CE EN 1078 is only rated for 19.5km/h (12.11 mph) and I do not believe this is enough for road racing.”

(Actually, that’s not enough for anything other than falling off a beach cruiser after too many fruity cocktails; I’ve long complained about the lack of protection offered by bicycle helmets.)

Darling’s parents released a statement, asking you to think of him the next time you clip into your pedals.

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The Skepchick podcast considers why Donald Trump hates bike lanes.

My guess is he just didn’t get enough fawning admiration from cyclists when he briefly ran the Tour de Trump.

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A Denver news report says a raging Colorado wildfire threatens the population Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race, and all the financial benefits it brings to the struggling mountain town.

Thanks to Megan for the heads-up.

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

A 71-year old Upstate New York man faces charges for a road rage attack on a bike rider, swerving his car at the bicyclist and cutting the rider off, then pepper-spraying and kicking the victim in the face; he faces counts for assault in the third degree, reckless endangerment in the second degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford won the lawsuit attempting to stop him from ripping out Toronto’s bike lanes, as the Ontario Court of Appeal, the province’s highest court, ruled in his favor, but a Toronto website reminds readers its an election year there, too, and they can voice their displeasure at the ballot box.

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Local 

Courthouse News considers the struggle to close the eight-mile gap in the Los Angeles River bike path through DTLA, Vernon and Maywood. Maybe because the process has been such a trial up to this point. 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton checks out the new concrete curb-protected bike lane on Clark Ave in Long Beach.

 

State

Police in Irvine used a “specialized K9 officer and cutting-edge drone technology” to recover a high school student’s stolen ebike from an ex-con in a homeless encampment. That’s one very specialized dog if it knows how to pilot a drone. 

LAist celebrates the newfound freedom to bike, skate or walk over the 5 Freeway in Irvine, thanks to a new bike/ped bridge over the busy highway.

Cops in Huntington Beach busted two men for using a fraudulent credit card to order five ebikes valued at more than $8,000 from the Jax Bicycle Center; employees became suspicious due to the size of the purchase.

Writing for the Voice of OC, a 12-year old Laguna Niguel middle school student says Orange County needs ebike safety reform immediately. Although they could have done better than illustrating it with a kid jumping a non-electrified mountain bike. 

The California Coastal Commission finally approved a long-gestating plan to transform much of the northeastern corner of San Diego’s Mission Bay into marshland and recreation space — but not so much for bicycles, after ruling that a planned bike and pedestrian path has to be moved so it doesn’t pass through any wetlands. Although you’ll have to find a way around the Union-Tribune’s paywall if you want to read about it. 

Tragic news from Sacramento, where two ebike riding teens were killed when then were both hit by a truck driver.

 

National

A new national survey shows strong support for sustainable transportation, local energy policies, and green infrastructure investments, though responses varied between urban and rural areas.

He gets it, the hard way. A Nevada bike rider questions why a hit-and-run driver left him lying bleeding in the roadway, saying “I can think of a lot of reasons why someone would hit me, but I can’t think of one good reason why someone would just leave the scene and leave me there.”

A 20-year old Arizona woman was lucky to survive when she was washed off a flooded bridge while trying to cross on her bicycle, then sucked through a flood tunnel; a woman who jumped in to rescue her had to be pulled out, too.

Utah endurance bicyclist Matthew Lefthand set a new world record for averaging 30 mph over 200 miles on a standard upright bicycle.

A Colorado woman says not only did becoming a one-car household reduce her family’s carbon footprint, it also made her life better.

Police in Chicago are looking for a reckless hit-and-run dirt bike rider who left a 45-year old woman riding a bicycle along the lakefront pathway with “catastrophic injuries.”

Tragic news from Indiana, where a 31-year old man drowned after apparently riding his bicycle around warning barricades, and falling into a gap where the road had been washed out.

A Boston suburb proves that Vision Zero works, as Somerville, Massachusetts — population 85,000 — goes four years without a traffic death.

A 63-year old New Jersey man raised $8,836 for a Newark homeless charity by competing in the 3,300-mile cross-country Trans Am Bike Nonstop Race.

A Biloxi, Mississippi couple celebrated their 50th anniversary with a 50-mile bike ride. My wife and I used to celebrate our anniversaries with a bike ride, too — I’d take the bike ride, and she’d celebrate when I made it back in one piece. 

Horrible story from Birmingham, Alabama, where a 39-year old man was killed after he was struck by multiple drivers over an eight-minute period while riding his bike shortly before 4 am, including a sheriff’s deputy in a patrol car.

 

International

Forbes examines the more than 70 World Naked Bike Rides from around the globe, calling it a protest against “indecent exposure to cars.”

Cyclist’s Undercover Mechanic blames a “feast of information but a famine of knowledge” for why bicyclists are so bad at buying bicycles.

A writer for Road.cc says the collapse of Raleigh bikes is a British cultural tragedy, which feels personal to him and other riders of his generation.

An Irish woman rode 374 miles across the island alone to support two friends who had developed lymphoma, raising the equivalent of nearly $9,500 to fight the disease.

Multiple bicyclists have been arrested for violating the Isle of Man’s annual ban on riding the Mountain Road during the summer motorcycle racing season, even if it is the home of Sir Mark Cavendish. Then again, it’s also my ancestral home, which seems to count for nothing. 

The Kazakh Embassy organized a Brussels bike ride to mark the 34th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Belgium.

A 66-year old Israeli man on a solo cycling trip in Finland has been found dead by the side of a road a week after his family lost contact with him; police believe he was the victim of a hit-and-run driver.

Momentum talks with a woman in St. Petersburg, Russia about her bike life, who describes her riding style as agile, unpredictable and fast, even if she rides a heavy retro bike people have called a “circus bike.”

Former South Korean Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Yoo In-chon is on a seven-day, six-night pilgrimage to bike to 15 Catholic shrines in the country to mark the first anniversary of his younger brother Bishop Timothy Yoo Kyung-chon’s death.

Great idea. A Sydney, Australia bike scavenger hunt is designed to help riders discover the city, sending them to 15 locations where they have to find a stamp to mark their passport, with locations divided into Parks, Cycleways and Destinations.

 

Competitive Cycling

Wout van Aert demonstrates that he’s not invincible on gravel, as his training parter beats him to the finish at the Belgian Gravel Championships.

Former Argentine one-day classics specialist Juan Antonio Flecha may have retired from the sport, but he hasn’t given up bicycling, telling a writer “a cyclist is someone who lives life with a bicycle, not just someone who does sports,” as he drops his two daughters off at school on his bike.

A writer for Cycling Weekly says the recent Tour de France Femmes has has a major influence on women, who have taken up everyday bicycling as a result of the race.

 

Finally…

Riding naked with a group of other nude and partially clad bicyclists, good; riding pantless by yourself, not so much. Now you, too, can build your very own tandem unicycle.

And this is what you call a major phone fail. Thanks to Steven for the photo.

 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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