BikinginLA

Bike Week ain’t over until the fat lady sings.

And chances are, she’ll be in Downtown LA tonight, along with just about everyone else but me for the first ever Metro Bike Night at Union Station.

The event runs from 5:30 to 8:30 pm, with a full schedule of activities for the bicycling community.

This free event will feature special guests, live music, food trucks, outdoor booths, free bike valet, bike short films, trivia, bike portraits and a fashion show. There will also be a raffle for a chance to win a Tern folding bike, a one year supply of Clif Bar products, Abus U-locks, 30-Day Metro passes, Bike Week LA special edition t-shirts and more!

And did I mention it’s free?

It’s not that I don’t want to be there. But the wife is keeping me on a shorter leash than the Corgi until this diabetes thing gets more under control.

So let me know how it goes.

And have one for me.

………

Aussie Michael Matthews wins Stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia as a massive crash delays the peloton. He leads the overall standings, with Cadel Evans just 21 seconds behind.

Cycling scion Taylor Phinney takes Stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California in a thrilling solo breakaway; bike prodigy Peter Sagan is second. Between the two of them, you could be looking at the future of bike racing. Wiggins leads overall.

Meanwhile, Pasadena’s Bike Week will culminate with the penultimate stage of this year’s Tour of California and a mini-ciclovia on the closed streets. And here’s 10 things to know if you’re planning to watch the final stage of the ToC in Thousand Oaks.

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Local

Figueroa For All looks at last week’s highly staged public meeting about the North Figueroa road diet and bike lanes, which appears to have been so slanted against the proposal it’s a wonder the speakers didn’t slide right off.

A writer for City Watch is apparently competing to see how many things he can get wrong in a single article politely decrying LA bike lanes. For one, there is no law requiring bike riders over 18 to wear a helmet. And who can legally use a bike lane has long been defined, even if it’s often ignored, just like every other traffic regulation.

The Daily News profiles a physician who planned to ride his bike 60 miles from his Ventura home to Cal State Northridge for Bike to Work Day, then take the train back home. Yet they somehow file the story under Recreational Cycling.

The Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition calls on the city to pass a bike and pedestrian anti-harassment ordinance; you can sign the petition here.

Newly bike-friendly Rancho Cucamonga will host the Annual Cucamonga Challenge ride, run and walk on Saturday.

 

State

San Diego ‘s Bike to Work Day scheduled for today has been postponed two weeks due to the city’s fires.

Santa Rosa plans to substitute a greenway for a once-planned freeway extension that was canceled after public outcry.

A Los Osos woman has been biking to work for over 20 years.

 

National

NPR says bike commuting is picking up speed across the US, while a writer for the network explains the lingua franca of the bike world. So that’s where the term shoaling came from.

People for Bikes says a bicycle whizzing past stalled cars in a protected bike lane at rush hour is as powerful an ad for cycling as a 10 pm TV spot is for Taco Bell.

The Washington Post says America is anything but bike friendly.

Tragically, Portland suffers its first bicycling fatality since 2012, a record any other major city would envy.

Kansas City police dip into their own pockets to buy a boy a new bike after his was stolen.

New Jersey ups the ante by considering a four-foot passing law.

A DC real estate agent runs her business by bike.

 

International

A Vancouver writer offers advice on how to enjoy biking to work. As I’ve said before, though, the hardest thing about bike commuting is just deciding to do it.

Sad news, as legendary British long-distance cyclist Billie Fleming passed away just days after her 100th birthday.

A new film presents the tragic story of the late, great Italian racer Marco Pantani.

Aussie cyclists are outraged when a road safety official writes that bicycling does not fulfill an important transportation function; he later claims the comment was a clerical error.

 

Finally…

Some cool, beautiful and just plain bizarre bikes and riders from the early days of bicycling. But did they have bike locks that could alert you if someone tries to mess with your bike or use your cell phone to call for help if you wipe out?

And for every group-riding cyclist who ever said they can’t ticket us all, a Tucson cop would beg to differ.