BikinginLA

Looking for a deal this weekend?

Right now, you can get 20% off the Mini Monkey Light I reviewed last year, or save 10% on Dutch-style cycling attire from Road Holland. And you can still get half off a cycling vest when you buy a retro-style jersey from Solo.

Or you can bid on bike items in the California Bicycle Coalition’s online auction through the end of the month.

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The Amgen Tour of California kicks off on Sunday. On the eve of defending his title, Chris Horner still doesn’t remember his vicious crash in last year’s Tour de France. Bissell rider Eric Young rises from the Little 500 Cutters team made famous in Breaking Away, to a competitor in the Tour of California. And six weeks after getting hit by a car while training in Europe, Levi Leipheimer says he’ll ride, but not compete, in the ToC.

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Damien Newton says we may never know what happened to Susanna Schick, aka Pinkyracer. Bike and business-friendly non-politician Austin Beutner backs out of the L.A. mayor’s race. The LACBC offers a series of tips to get started riding for Bike Month. It you build it, they will come; the green Spring Street bike lanes see what the Times calls a moderate boost in cycling traffic and Streetsblog considers an explosion in ridership, while L.A. sees a 32% increase in cycling in just three years. A cyclist illegally rides the 101 Freeway — and in the middle lane, no less — but at least he had clothes on. LADOT Continues to tweak the Expo/Gramercy crossing on the Expo bike path. What it means to be an HIV positive cyclist. Highland Park’s Flying Pigeon bike shop will soon be moving to a new location on North Figueroa. Paris Hilton rides with her puppy in Hollywood. Montrose will host a kid’s bike safety rodeo on Saturday, May 19th. Progress continues on highly anticipated Calabasas bike café Pedalers Fork, which is now looking at a fall opening. Simi Valley rejects new bike lanes at the urging of local businesses, who evidently assume we don’t spend money; local cyclists beg to differ.

It looks like California’s simplified three-foot passing bill will pass the state legislature, and the governor promises to sign it this time after vetoing a similar bill last year. The Times visits the bike-friendly Long Beach borough of Bixby Knolls. Long Beach’s biking expats say it’s time to redefine the roadtrip. Orange County’s annual Breathless Agony ride tortures participants with 12,000 feet of climbing. Corona del Mar cyclists will finally get sharrows on the Coast Highway after a member of the city’s Task Force on Cycling Safety has a change of heart. Laguna Beach ranks as the most dangerous town for cyclists and pedestrians among 98 California cities of similar size. San Diego cyclists get their first bike corral. A 75-year old Santa Cruz man dies in a solo fall after going over the handlebars, despite riding at a leisurely pace. The CHP recommends a misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charge against the 84-year old driver who drifted onto the shoulder of Highway 1 to kill a cyclist. Richard Masoner of Cyclelicious deals with the helmet morality police. Drivers should treat green bike lanes the same as any other bike lane; and no, they don’t have to worry about slipping on the paint. Tulare County says we all can share the road. Did Alameda police protect the driver who killed a 13-year old boy, as his mother suspects? Thanks to Erik Griswold for the link.

People for Bikes is now officially halfway to their goal of one million pledges; if you haven’t signed up yet, what are you waiting for? No offense to the anti-bike leadership in the U.S. House, but 83% of Americans want to maintain or increase funding for bikes and pedestrians, not cut it. Don’t try to ride between a fire truck and a parked car; seriously, just don’t. A New Hampshire police chief wants cyclists to stop chatting and ride single file; thanks to Eric Griswold for the heads-up. Bikeyface offers another great look at the cycling life, this time on biking in the other guy’s shoes. A Pennsylvania teenager is seriously injured in a horrible accident as a mower bar protruding from a truck strikes him in the chest while riding; thanks once again to Eric Griswold for the heads-up. A Syracuse cyclist is shot in the eye with a BB gun from a passing car; yet another reason to always wear shatterproof glasses when you ride. A cycling poet rides 40 miles a day cross country with a communal typewriter in tow; thanks to Stanley E. Goldich for the heads-up. A Charleston SC cyclist is killed in a sideswipe collision barely six months after killing a pedestrian as the driver in a DUI collision. Even in South Carolina, there are too many hit-and-runs. Alabama film maker Katie Rogers — no relation — is less than $1100 away from funding her Kickstarter project to finish a documentary on living carfree in L.A.

Even Dickens dealt with an out of control driver who wasn’t held accountable for his crime, though his solution seems a little extreme. What some consider Britain’s dumbest cycling lane isn’t; rather, it’s a modified form of sharrows. A UK driver walks with a suspended sentence after ramming a teenage cyclist in a road rage attack. Why there’s no war between drivers and cyclists in the Netherlands. A little boy riding with training wheels becomes the iconic image of Russia’s political protests. A look at the world’s top 10 cycling destinations from a Malaysian perspective; two American cities make the list, and no, Los Angeles isn’t one of them. The second Pedal Asia podcast is now online, offering a fascinating look at cycling on the other side of the world.

Finally, the Eastside Bike Club’s Carlos Morales offers proof that dogs can ride bikes, after all. And L.A. cycling expat Amanda Lipsey says a donation to support the U.S. Bicycle Route System could keep zombies at bay, or at least give you an escape route.

Maybe that’s why a Seattle cyclist seems to have traded his bike for something a little faster.

Happy Mother’s Day!