Didn’t have time to add links to last night’s rant; somehow, sleep seemed a little more important as the night wore on. But I’ve got lots of great stories for you, including bike chases, drunken homicidal pickup drivers and a dope smuggling cyclist. So limber up your link clicking finger, and start reading.
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Doored cyclist and KCRW host Warren Olney returned to the airways after a two-week absence. In case you missed it, listen to the podcast of yesterday’s technically plagued bike-centric Patt Morrison show on KPCC; Mihai offers the comments he couldn’t make during the live broadcast. WestsideBikeside transforms into the city’s first bike-oriented 501c4. Flying Pigeon officially endorses CycLAvia. Anonymous Cyclist offers a suggestion for NY’s legally limited Critical Mass. A proposal to ban texting and hand-held cell phones while cycling.
In a truly horrifying tale, a Montana cyclist barely outruns a group of drunks trying to intentionally run him down with their pickup. A bicyclist gets busted at the border with a novel method of smuggling dope. Only a handful of TIGER grants went to cycling projects. Organized opposition arises to Austin’s planned bike boulevard. Cycling collisions increase in Las Vegas, as authorities search for a hot-and-run driver.
A new movement to make cyclo-cross an Olympic event. A South African cyclist loses his leg to a hit-and-run driver. British Cyling unveils its inaugural Hall of Fame class, including Tom Simpson, the cyclist who died of exhaustion climbing Mt. Ventoux in the ’67 Tour de France. The UK pledges to put bikes at the heart of public transit and health policies. After far too many left-hook — the equivalent of our right-hook — deaths, London revives its police heavy-truck safety unit. A Brit writer responds to a writer’s comments that bikes have become a favorite tool of muggers by suggesting we ban pants and shoes, since muggers use those, too — and notes that cars have long been a favored tool of bank robbers, serial killers and rapists.
Finally, no, they weren’t filming a scene from the latest action movie; two bike messengers really did chase down a bike thief in a wild high-speed two-wheeled pursuit through the crowded streets of Downtown.
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One last note that has nothing to do with biking. Hats off to the alert Metro operator who helped rescue a kidnapped 6-year old girl over the weekend. If anyone from Metro is reading this today, nice work — and give that driver a full-time job already.
