Your weekend reading and upcoming events — starting with Tour de Fat

This weekend’s can’t miss event marks the marriage of fun, bikes and beer as New Belgium Brewery’s Tour de Fat makes its first L.A. stop on Saturday, October 23rd from 9 am to 5 pm at Downtown’s Los Angeles Historic State Park.

Sunday, October 24th, Sony sponsors their bikeless, but probably still fun, Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, which means the closure of several Downtown area streets.

Explore the effects of bicycles on art and culture at Re:Cycle — Bike Culture in Southern California, at U.C. Riverside’s newly relocated Sweeney Art Gallery at the Barbara and Art Culver Center of the Arts3834 Main Street in downtown Riverside, exhibition continues through December 31st.

Glendale will host meetings to get public feedback on the proposed Safe & Healthy Streets Plan on Monday, October 25 at the Glendale Central Library Auditorium, and Wednesday, October 27 at the Sparr Heights Community Center; both meetings will run from 7 pm to 8:30 pm.

The first public hearings for L.A.’s proposed bicycle anti-harassment ordinance takes place at the City Council Transportation Committee at 2 pm on Wednesday, Oct. 27th at City Hall; a second hearing takes place on Monday, Nov. 1st before the far less bike-friendly Public Safety Committee.

Friday and Saturday, November 12th & 13th, celebrate the city’s favorite cuisine by riding your bike to the LA Tamale Throwdown sponsored by the Eastside Bicycle Club at Our Lady of Guadalupe church in Rose Hill; free bike valet sponsored by Flying Pigeon LA bike shop.

Flying Pigeon and the Bike Oven host the free Spoke(n) Art Ride on the 2nd Saturday of every month; the next ride will take place on Saturday, November 13th, starting 6:30 pm at 3714 N. Figueroa St. in Highland Park

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Everyone is praising next year’s Tour de France route; then again, that’s what they said about the last one before half the peloton crashed in the first week. Veteran rider Jens Voight follows the Schleck brothers to their new team for next year’s pro tour. After being cleared on a doping charge, Italian rider Franco Pellizotti considers legal action against the International Cycling Union (UCI); meanwhile, the Court of Arbitration rules UCI does not have authority to fine banned rider Alexander Vinokourov.

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Streetsblog says Public Safety Committee Chair Greig Smith won’t stand in the way of the proposed anti-harassment ordinance; on the other hand, some people think he doesn’t quite seem to get it, either. Gary makes his endorsements for Santa Monica City Council. Three cyclists will end a cross-country ride to raise awareness of child sexual abuse in Santa Monica on Sunday after nearly two months on the road. Pick the best recent roadside PSA. Famed L.A. photographer Gary Leonard offers his take on CicLAvia. Courtesy of the Claremont Cyclist comes word that L.A. will have its own Gran Fondo next year on a date to be determined. Video of an epic tall bike fail; evidently, it happened right here on the Westside at L.A. Brakeless. New Newport Beach Police Chief Jay Johnson talks bikes with members of the local cycling community. Bad bike parking in San Diego, contrasted with some that actually works. Cal State Fresno attempts to solve bike parking problems on campus with a bike barn. Just in time for Halloween, a haunted Sacramento bike shop. Giving bike corridors priority in pavement repairs.

Problems with the nation’s largest local bike organization evidently go far beyond firing, then rehiring, the executive director. Portland has a new bakfiets-based mobile bike service station. Seattle Transit offers graphic evidence that bike crashes go down as ridership goes up. An Albuquerque driver — and motorcycle safety instructor — is accused of intentionally running over a cyclist. Dozens of old autos, 449 horses, 10 covered wagons, 3 oxen, and 5 jackasses — and no, they weren’t the ones on the bike. A pajama-clad cyclist is charged with domestic battery, resisting arrest and riding without a headlight. For the second time in just six weeks, a cyclist is fatally doored in New York City; the driver received a summons for “unsafe exiting.” Just because a bike path is on the map doesn’t mean it’s actually a bike path. A reminder from the NYDOT why the speed limit is set at 30 mph; maybe we should try that out here where speed limits are just suggestions. Brooklyn has its own version of the Wilbur Ave road diet controversy; pro bike lane demonstrators outnumber those against 4 to 1. A nice story about bicycling for the blind on tandem bikes. A bicycle bakery in Burlington, Vermont. Remembering a Boston cyclist killed in a collision. Zeke takes a ride through the autumn Carolina countryside.

Evidently, it’s open season on cyclists in Canada, since killing two riders only costs $2000 and your license for two years. An Ontario cyclist is seriously injured when a dog walker lets go of the leash. Could this strange contraption really set a land-speed record for wooden bikes? Oxford cyclists fight back against a proposal that could create a hostile environment for cyclists. A motorist and cyclist come to blows after the rider somehow comes in contact with the vehicle’s side mirror. A profile of Taiwan’s Giant bicycle brand, while the island nation’s first professional bike race is cancelled by a typhoon. Does Mark Ronson’s The Bike Song represent the death of hipsterism?

Finally, BikeRadar offers scientific evidence that just about everything you thought was bad for you will help your riding. So go ahead and drink, swear, eat chocolate, flirt and have sex.

But if you’re biking to do a drug deal, don’t take your kid with you.

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