It’s Friday, and no one really wants to work.
So kick back with a veritable boatload of links, starting with a couple of perfect pre-weekend timewasting videos.
………
Anyone can ride a bike, but how many of us can actually play one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwbgt0B78eg
………
Turn the sound down and pretend you’re working while you watch Danny MacAskill turn the rooftops of a Spanish town into his own cycletrack.
………
A Swiss inventor claims to have perfected the first self-inflating bike tube, which works with standard wheels and tires by pushing air into the tube through the mechanical energy from riding.
This would be great if it actually works. But they’ll have to prove it to me.
Update: British bike historian Carlton Reid notes that this technology is nothing new, pointing out that a patent for this same technology was issued in 1913. He adds that it really does work, but has a number of downsides, including cost.
………
Submitted without comment.
Britain’s 18-year old junior national time trial champ admits to using EPO because cycling’s doping culture made it seem normal and justified.
A banned British masters champ swears he wasn’t doping, he just borrowed someone else’s used syringe.
And Lance says his biggest regret isn’t doping, it’s being such a colossal effing jackass in the way he treated people. Okay, I may have paraphrased that a little.
………
Local
Nice OpEd from the Times, as a young woman overcomes her fear of riding in LA traffic by bicycling from Marina del Rey to DTLA with the help of LA Bike Trains.
The planned redevelopment of the Redondo Beach waterfront includes a bicycle drawbridge.
The mayor of Agoura Hills plans bike-friendly improvements in the city, including a bike path on Agoura Road and a new bike race.
Clear your calendar for BikeSGV’s Holiday Social and Open House on the 19th.
State
The SoCalCross Prestige Serious wraps up their cyclocross season with the Santa Cross this Sunday in Silverado.
Wilshire Blvd is getting traffic circles and being converted to a bike friendly street. No, not LA’s iconic boulevard, this one’s in Fullerton.
San Diego installs a road diet to slow traffic on Clairemont drive, where speeds range up to 70 mph despite the 35 mph speed limit.
San Diego firefighters rescue an injured mountain biker who fell while riding in heavy fog.
Sad news from Kern County, as a bicyclist was killed while riding in East Bakersfield.
The active transportation coordinator in bike-friendly Davis says don’t pile leaves in bike lanes, for obvious reasons. The same goes for trash cans, parked cars, delivery trucks, or anything else that keeps the people they were intended for from using them.
The CHP finally releases the 911 call from when a Sacramento judge ran down a cyclist last month. Clearly, I’m not the only one who thinks something stinks with the investigation on this one.
National
Gizmag looks at the year’s top 10 bicycling innovations, which doesn’t include a 14 pound foldie.
The president of People for Bikes talks about the new federal transportation bill and what’s in it for us.
Bicycling isn’t just a way to get from here to there, it’s a lesson in physics.
Traffic author Tom Vanderbilt talks with Kurt Searvogel, the American rider trying to break the year record for most miles traveled by bike in a 12-month period.
Fort Worth is finally on the long road to becoming bike friendly, even if it takes a Chihuahua in a backpack to make drivers back off.
Fast Company looks at New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare brought itself back from the brink.
Someone strung a rope across a bikeway in New York’s Prospect Park where it clotheslined a cyclist. Acts like this aren’t pranks, they’re deliberate attempts to injure and intimidate bike riders, and should be treated like the crimes they are.
A DC website says letting cyclists yield at stop signs won’t lead to chaos, despite what detractors say.
A Virginia professor discusses his new book on the golden age of cycling in the 1890s.
Key West riders celebrate the holidays with the traditional Christmas dolphin bike.
International
Caught on video 1: A London bike rider blows a red light and come within inches of crashing into a pedestrian.
Caught on video 2: A British cyclist gets caught in a terrifying ongoing dispute with a road raging driver who repeatedly attempts to run him off the road.
The UK’s Milton Keynes wants to become the city of bicycles, with its 170 miles of bikeways.
Touring Spain’s Andalusia region by bicycle.
Czech and Polish border towns are teaming up to build nearly 125 miles of singletrack for your off-roading enjoyment.
Recycled bikes from Britain gives South African kids a way to ride out of gang life.
When he’s not crashing vintage airplanes, Star Wars’ Harrison Ford is one of us as he rides his bike and fixes a flat Down Under.
Caught on video 3: A Kiwi rider’s multiple bike cams lead to the conviction of a road raging driver.
Thailand’s crown prince will lead an estimated 500,000 cyclists in a ride to honor the country’s king today.
Finally…
If you’re riding brakeless with dope in your backpack, try not to get hit by a car. Anyone can tow a trailer behind a bike, but how about a houseboat?
And evidently, every lane really is a bike lane, as a woman is under arrest for riding her bicycle in the middle of I-10 just outside New Orleans.
………
Extra added bonus: If, like me, you’re struggling to get into the holiday spirit, a polka version a Christmas tune couldn’t hurt. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.
