BikinginLA

It looks like life is starting to get back to normal around Casa BikinginLA.

My wife returned to work part time this week, and will get back to full time if all goes well. Once she does, I may even get back on my bike for the first time in nearly a month.

And the dog seems happy to get back to her normal routine, as much as she may have enjoyed having us both around every day.

Allow me to offer a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has expressed their concerns or offered prayers and best wishes.

If I ever doubted how many truly caring people there are out there, or how many friends I have — many of whom I’ve never even met — I never will again.

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One quick note.

The LACBC Civic Engagement Committee will meet at 6:45 pm tomorrow, after last week’s scheduled meeting was postponed. The meeting will take place at Johnnie’s Pizza in Museum Square, 5757 Wilshire Blvd, just east of the La Brea Tar Pits, Page Museum and LACMA. It’s easily accessible by bus, and there is plenty of bike — and yes, car — parking nearby.

This month’s meeting will be the last for this year, and will focus on developing questionnaires for the candidates for L.A. mayor and city council in next March’s primary election. We’ve also received commitments to co-host a candidate forum for Council District 11 to replace retiring Councilmember Bill Rosendahl, and are in discussions to co-host a mayoral debate after the first of the year.

If you’d like to have a say in what questions we ask, or would like to help arrange a candidate forum on biking and transportation issues for your council district, you’re more than welcome to attend. You don’t even have to be a member of the LACBC; anyone who lives or rides in the County of Los Angeles is welcome to participate.

Or feel free to email suggested candidate questions to me at bikinginla at hotmail dot com before 5 pm tomorrow.

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Streetsblog confirms last week’s rumor that the First Street buffered bike lane in front of LAPD headquarters will be removed in favor of cop-only door zone parking; seems like the perfect opportunity for the city’s first protected bike lane if we raise enough hell with city officials. Flying Pigeon hosts their Get Sum Dim Sum ride this Sunday. Downtown L.A. is about to get bike-powered gourmet ice cream. A Baldwin Park bike rider is injured in a drive-by shooting. Long Beach police are searching for a bike riding groper, with at least 12 incidents so far; bicyclists should be on the lookout to catch this jerk, since we have the best view of other riders.

Three arrests have been made in the shooting death of cyclist Omar Sura in Anaheim last July. Encinitas cyclists are about to get a new bike lane on the coast highway. A Santa Barbara writer urges female cyclists to ride like a woman. A Natomas man is under arrest for throwing his bicycle at his wife, and hitting his three-year old daughter. A new separated bike path in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park has slowed speeds for cars and bikes.

Team Type 1 morphs into Team Novo Nordisk, creating the world’s first all-diabetic pro team. Velo looks at former rising pro Saul Raisin’s comeback from the brink of death in a 2006 solo fall. A Facebook post explains why bikes belong in the traffic lane; link via Santa Monica Spoke’s Cynthia Rose. A Chicago writer says when it comes to bicycling infrastructure, don’t let the perfect become the enemy of the good; something I’ve been advocating for years. St. Louis area signage supports cyclists’ right to the full lane, at least in one community. Sometimes, bicycling is just the easiest, laziest way to get there. Jobs and bike lanes are not mutually exclusive. The first rule of group bike parties is stop being an asshole. Florida cycling fatalities rose an incredible 58% in 2011; Florida was already the most dangerous state in the county for cyclists and pedestrians.

An Ottawa writer makes the case that every driver makes mistakes, and shouldn’t be held accountable; excusing dangerous drivers is why we have a holocaust on the streets. While cyclists fear a new BBC documentary will be anti-bike, an automotive writer finds it fair and balanced, which should worry us all. A London cab driver confesses to criticizing cyclists, until his own grandson was killed by a bus after getting doored. Three hundred London firefighters turn out to honor a fire engine mechanic killed in a bicycling collision last month. UK cyclist rides 14,000 miles from Bangkok to Gloucester. A British man finds his stolen bike in a storefront window. Nottingham police want all children to receive an education in bike safety before they leave school. There once was a bike share in Limerick… or rather, will be. A doping expert says zero tolerance in cycling is unrealistic. Is Greg LeMond the right choice to run UCI; seriously, could he do worse? A woman cyclist is elected the new UCI representative for the Oceana region. The aftermath of a horrible bicycling collision illustrates the need for better safety in Australia. No bias here: “Police blitz on arrogant Sydney cyclists who push the law.”

Finally, there are some things SoCal cyclists don’t have to worry about, anyway; an Austrian cyclist is injured when he’s attacked by a wild boar. And it turns out you and I are kind of hot.