BikinginLA

More on Monday’s Vision Zero announcement, as KNBC-4 says LA Mayor Eric Garcetti is determined to bring the city’s more than 200 yearly traffic fatalities down to zero.

Although LA Observed seems more interested in the desk Garcetti left behind after signing the order.

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Somehow, this one flew under the radar earlier this summer, as David Wolfberg forwards a first-person riders-eye view of the last five laps of the Manhattan Grand Prix, courtesy of LA’s own former national crit champ Rahsaan Bahati.

It’s a shame Bahati never got a chance to show what he could do on the international stage.

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Alejandro Valverde announces his presence at the Vuelta by winning stage four. A rider with the IAM team describes the carnage of the race.

American rider Joe Dombrowski considers the race a rite of passage, while fellow American Ben King learned you have to watch out for bike thieves everywhere, after spectators try to make off with his Garmin, and possibly his bike, after a minor crash.

This is what it was like to ride in the inaugural women’s USA Pro Challenge.

And as it stands now, the seven-event national cyclo-cross competition won’t get any closer to Southern California than Reno.

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Local

If LA gets the ’24 Olympics, we could see mountain biking events in Griffith Park and road racing down Hollywood Blvd. That’s a big if, however; Paris is the odds-on favorite to win the Games.

An apparel website recommends taking your bike or walking through the Fashion District for the next several days, as MTV takes over for their annual Video Music Awards,

LA Metro’s planned bikeshare system will extend to USC next spring; not surprisingly, it will probably be incompatible with the Santa Monica/West Hollywood system that will open on the UCLA campus.

CiclaValley explains what’s involved in becoming a League Cycling Instructor from a first-hand perspective. You can attend a bike safety class this weekend in Culver City to learn the same skills the LCIs were taught to teach.

 

State

Coronado residents fear a simple bike path on the beach will somehow turn it into Venice, drawing hordes of tourists to destroy their pristine community. Sure, that could happen.

San Bernardino County approves plans to extend the Santa Ana River bike trail another 3.8 miles from San Bernardino to Redlands.

A Hanford couple out for a ride on their BMX bikes were struck from behind by a speeding hit-and-run driver; the man was thrown 176 feet by the force of the impact, while thankfully, the pregnant woman rider was not seriously hurt.

Forget a bike bell; sometimes even an air horn isn’t enough to get people to make room for a bike on a shared San Jose path.

A Berkley man gets one of his two stolen bikes back, in part thanks to registering it with BikeIndex. That’s the same free bike registration and bike theft reporting service you’ll find at the top of this page.

A driver in Shasta Lake does the right thing the wrong way, driving off after driving an 11-year old boy home, after she crashed into his bike. That’s still considered hit-and-run, though, since she didn’t exchange ID and insurance information.

 

National

Caught on video: A Portland driver was ticketed for careless driving and unsafe passing after a high-speed close pass that nearly took out another rider coming in the opposite direction.

The rich get richer. Portland considers approving plans for five new neighborhood greenways, aka bicycle boulevards, as well as improving six additional bike routes.

Seriously, what kind of city would approve a road diet to widen bike lanes like they did in Boulder CO, without anticipating that some people would be pissed off about it?

So wait. Did the bike collide with the car in Omaha, or did the car collide with the bike? Or did they collide with each other?

This is why you should always just ride away. After a Mississippi cyclist kicked a Jeep during a road rage dispute, the driver pulled out a gun and shot him; fortunately, the rider didn’t suffer life-threatening injuries. I should talk; I’ve gotten into it verbally with a-hole drivers more times than I care to admit.

If you’re planning to be in Rhode Island any time soon, five pretty nice sounding bike paths await you.

New York police are looking for a hit-and-run bike rider who left the scene after slamming into a toddler on a shared pathway.

City Lab says the threat by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and police chief — and former LA chief — Bill Bratton to tear out the hugely popular pedestrian plazas in Times Square shows a fundamental misunderstanding about the impact of public space. It’s also a ridiculous overreaction to a relatively minor problem — costumed characters and body-painted boobs — which calls the mayor’s judgment into question.

Atlanta’s rail system is installing bike repair kiosks at seven train stations.

 

International

Bicycling is the third most popular fitness activity worldwide, after walking and running. Evidently, sitting on your ass behind the wheel of a car is not considered a fitness activity.

A cool looking Kickstarter project promises to make your bike smarter, with directions, metrics, alarm, automatic headlight and text notifications. Another project promises you may never have to lube your chain again.

Caught on video: In a frightening assault, an angry pedestrian catches up to a bike rider and pushes her down in front of oncoming traffic; the jerk later turned himself in after police released the video.

A British couple get their stolen 76-year old Olympic style tandem back after they spotted it for sale on eBay.

Northern Ireland unveils a 25-year plan to turn the UK country into a cycling society.

NPR says riding a bike in India is a little different than in the US. Like fewer cows to bump into, and tune-ups cost a lot more.

Google plans to provide 1,000 internet-connected smart bikes to women in remote Indian villages.

The poor get poorer. Sydney, Australia is said to be decades behind other cities when it comes to providing for cyclists, even as the state roads minister moves to rip out a $5 million protected bike lane.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to use your bike as a getaway vehicle after burglarizing a few houses, don’t leave it in a driveway where someone could back over it. We only have to watch out for LA drivers cutting us off; a Minnesota bike rider t-boned a deer that violated his right-of-way.

And whatever you do, never repeatedly punch a teenage boy — or anyone else, for that matter — in a bike rage assault after colliding in the rain.