BikinginLA

We already have five shiny new members of the LACBC on just the first full day of the first ever BikinginLA LACBC Membership drive. Which means there’s only 95 more to go to reach our goal of 100 new or renewing members by the end of this month.

So stop what you’re doing, and click on this link to join Southern California’s leading bicycle advocacy organization, and help make LA County a better place to ride a bike for all of us.

Not to mention you’ll get some great bike swag while you’re at it.

And a special thank you to those who have already joined. Or are about to.

………

Thanks for the effort, but seriously.

Few things are more important to encouraging bike riding than finding a safe place to park your bike once you get where you’re going.

And few things are so often neglected.

As much as I’d like to, I won’t ride my bike to my doctor’s office because the only bike parking to be found in a several block radius is an old wheelbender rack hidden deep within the parking garage, where a thief would have time to pitch a tent as he leisurely sawed through my lock.

So I drive the three and a half miles, in as much time and with far more aggravation than it would take me to ride it.

I’m reminded of that because David Butler-Cole sent a photo of a series of relatively flimsy staple racks in the underground parking garage at the Target at Santa Monica and La Brea in West Hollywood. Which not only are hidden away where no one is likely to use them, but have clearly been converted to shopping cart parking.

Then again, at least a developer a little further down La Brea had his heart in the right place.

In preparing a retail space on the trendy boutique-lined corridor for rent, they apparently considered the current boom in bicycling, as well as studies showing bike riders spend more at retail establishments over the long run than motorists do, while taking up far less space.

And so, invested in a trio of brand new staple racks before the unit is even occupied.

Unfortunately, they located them so close to the storefront that they’re virtually useless to any cyclists over the age of five.

But I’m sure we all appreciate the gesture.

Right?

………

Today’s common theme is open streets.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton recaps Sunday’s sparsely attended open streets event in Downey, calling it a great event overall.

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune examines next month’s massive 626 Golden Streets, an 18-mile ciclovía winding through seven SGV cities.

Yet another event in the San Gabriel Valley, as El Monte and South El Monte team up to host their own event on Sunday, June12th.

Of course, let’s not forget the granddaddy of them all, as CicLAvia visits LA’s Southeast Cities in less than two weeks.

And while it may not be an open streets event, Monrovia’s bike friendly music and beer-filled festival on the same day doesn’t sound bad, either.

………

Local

TV’s Inside Edition puts a GPS device in a $2,500 bait bike borrowed from Helen’s to see how long it would take someone to steal it. Short answer: not very.

The Eastsider says the removal of flood control barriers on the LA River bike path will take several weeks. And even then, only the west side of the river along Griffith Park will be cleared. Barriers will remain on the east side of the river and only be cleared enough to allow access to an equestrian crossing and pedestrian bridge, apparently leaving the bike path closed indefinitely.

CiclaValley offers a jam-packed calendar of Bike Month events, two of which we’ve already missed. Although he somehow neglected to include the BikinginLA LACBC Membership Drive; just an oversight, I’m sure, especially since I neglected to tell him about it.

Speaking of the LACBC, they talk with Valley bike rider Erika Moreno as part of a new Bike Month series profiling people from around LA County.

The Echo Park Improvement Association will host a panel discussion this Thursday on Bicycling in LA “from the multiheaded bike god transforming civic politics in LA;” the speaker list reads like a who’s who of LA urban bike advocacy.

Santa Clarita is challenging businesses to get their employees to ride to work on Bike to Work Day on the 19th; the city is also looking for volunteers to help out at the finish of Stage 2 of the Amgen Tour of California on the 16th.

 

State

Over 400 Southern California police officers will ride in this year’s three-day, 280 mile Police Unity Tour to remember fallen law enforcement personnel. If any SoCal officers sill need to raise funds, send me a link to your fundraising page and I’ll give you a shoutout.

Writing for the Examiner, Edward Rubinstein says the Amgen Tour of California is coming, so batten down the hatches and prepare for severe weather.

The Times looks at the recent PCH safety study calling for significant improvements for the 37-mile segment of highway through Orange County. And it touches on the real problem; as long as we approach the highway from a city by city basis, rather than improving safety on the entire 37 miles, it will continue to be dangerous and dysfunctional.

Nearly 1,300 Orange County mountain bikers took part in the 50-mile offroad Ride for Rwanda to raise money to buy transportation bikes for people in Africa.

The Dana Point Times offers a look at last weekend’s Gran Prix.

Palm Desert provides a pop-up to show what San Pablo Ave could look like as a Complete Street.

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton talks Bike Month with Tony Molina of the Fresno County Bicycle Coalition. Meanwhile, a Fresno man lost 40 pounds after he took up bicycling, and reversed his Type 2 diabetes in the process.

A driver who commutes into San Francisco calls it the car-hating capital of the Bay Area, and says cyclists on busy streets are either road hazards or have a death wish. Although “very few” is not the right answer to his question of whether there are restrictions on what streets cyclists can ride; the correct answer is bikes are allowed on any public streets where motor vehicles are allowed, with the exception of limited access highways where there are alternate riding routes.

 

National

Bicycling Magazine wants to know how much you know about riding uphill.

Bike Portland looks at a new ad for Stromer ebikes, which uses the time-tested car ad model to sell a far greener form of transportation.

My hometown paper talks with local mountain biker Georgia Gould, who took bronze in the 2012 Olympics.

Forget riding to work; Providence RI will celebrate bike week with the H.P. Lovecraft-themed Tour de Tentacle. Cthulhu would undoubtedly approve.

Long Island cyclists call on the NYPD to start enforcing laws against blocking bike lanes, which motorists seem to do with impunity.

Pennsylvania cyclists will soon get a new 14-foot wide bike and pedestrian bridge over the Schuylkill River.

Once again, a bicyclist has been killed while riding on I-10, this time 1,900 miles away in New Orleans.

 

International

David Wolfberg sends word that the British Library is now posting one million copyright-free images online, including a treasure trove of classic bicycling images.

If current trends continue, bike commuters will outnumber car commuters in central London in just two more years.

A British charity ride has raised nearly $1.5 million to support over 14,000 Palestinian families.

A UK mountain biker wants to find the Good Samaritan who stayed with him and looked after his sons when he broke his neck in three places after a jump went bad.

A Glascow writer says she wants to cycle without being a cyclist. Which is sort of like saying you want to drive a car without being a driver.

Tel Aviv cyclists just got banned from the sidewalk, especially anyone on an ebike.

Singapore will now require developers to submit plans considering safety, convenience and accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists in any new development design.

 

Finally…

Evidently, the NYPD is now offering a flat repair service, not that that’s a bad thing. You may not be able to afford a titanium frame, but at least you can have a ti bike lock.

And when you’re carrying a loaded flare gun in your waistband, don’t ride on the damn sidewalk, let alone with no regard for pedestrians.

And hope like hell it doesn’t accidentally go off.