We’re sill stuck on 14 new or renewing members of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition in the first-ever May BikinginLA LACBC Membership Drive.
So who wants to help take it up to sign up now or renew your membership to take it up to at least 15 today? You’ll help give bike riders a real voice in the LA area, and get some great LACBC gear in the process.
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A town hall meeting will be held on Wednesday to discuss the much-needed road diet on 6th Street between La Brea and Fairfax.
As someone who used to regularly ride that stretch of road when I lived on the Westside, I can attest that it can be pretty intense, whether you’re on two wheels or four. Especially at night, when traffic lets up and drivers feel free to haul ass without regard for who or what may be in their way.
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KPCC looks at the remaining 15 days of Bike Month, starting with today’s Blessing of the Bicycles.
West Hollywood is celebrating bike month on Thursday, with a Bike to Work Day hub near Santa Monica Blvd and Hancock Avenue; some WeHo restaurants will offer a 10% discount to bicyclists through May 28th, though details are lacking.
Santa Monica’s Breeze bikeshare is free this Thursday through Saturday.
And don’t forget that you and your bike get free rides on Metrolink this week.
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Lois forwards word of recovered bike in Redlands.
From the Redlands Police Department page. RPD recovered a stolen Giant road bike.
“Police contacted four subjects in a vehicle in the 10 block of W. Colton Avenue and made several arrests for warrants and probation violations. Officers located a Giant road bicycle inside their car, and no one in the car claimed ownership of the bike. If you recently had a Giant road bike stolen, please contact the Redlands Police Department at rtolber@redlandspolice.org.”
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Maybe he should ride the wrong bike more often. A former Slovenian ski jumper wins the Giro time trial after his bike is disqualified, and he’s forced ride a backup bike with the saddle set too low, and no water bottle or computer.
On the other hand, Russian rider Alexey Tsatevich was sent home by his Katusha team for illegally drafting another rider during the time trial.
No surprise Sunday in the Amgen Tour of California, as last year’s champ Peter Sagan wins the first stage. But the second stage was a big surprise, as American Ben King won in a two-man breakaway, taking the leader’s jersey just four months after ankle surgery.
It was a perfect starting place for Stage 2 of the race for pro cyclist Geoffrey Curran, whose family has lived in South Pasadena for over 50 years.
Today’s stage starts in Thousand Oaks and finishes in Santa Barbara.
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Local
Something’s wrong when even students at high-end private academies aren’t safe on their way to school.
Paul Koretz tells UCLA’s Daily Bruin he wants Westwood Blvd removed from the Mobility Plan before studies of alternate routes are complete, because he may not be on the council when they are finished. So basically, he wants to impose his bad decisions on whoever is elected to replace him.
LADOT’s Seleta Reynolds talks transportation in DTLA, assuring drivers there’s no war on cars, even if she does want to discuss making some Downtown streets car-free.
The seemingly omnipresent CiclaValley looks at the semi-protected bike lanes coming to Van Nuys Blvd. Apparently, CD7 Councilmember Felipe Fuentes’ staff liked the story.
Streetsblog’s Sahra Sulaiman says Sunday’s successful Southeast Cities CicLAvia was four years in the making, while KPCC says a good time was had by all. Or words to that effect, anyway.
LA’s Fox-11 asks if you can ditch your car in 2016.
Pasadena proposes spending $1.8 million to install bicycle detection systems at key intersections.
Santa Monica will host a mini-ciclovía on June 5th to help welcome the Expo Line to town.
Mark your calendar, as LA’s own Swrve hosts one of their semi-irregular warehouse sales on Saturday, June 11th.
State
The OC Register’s Dan Whiting looks at Wednesday’s Ride of Silence, with a record five rides planned in Orange County.
The madness continues in Coronado, as the city tosses out its already approved and funded bike plan after last year’s bizarre complaints from residents, and votes to start over.
A Santa Rosa woman clearly doesn’t get that bicyclists are allowed on the road, bike lane or not, and allowed to ride in the middle of the traffic lane. The solution to the “dangerous” conditions she describes is to drive safely, not for bikes to get the hell off the road.
This is why you don’t want to chase after bike thieves; a Fresno man was stabbed trying to get his bike back. That was just days after a Fresno bike rider was stabbed to death as he rode past a bus stop.
The woman who tried to flee after hitting a San Francisco cyclist has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon for the apparently intentional attack.
AAA is now using ebikes to rescue drivers in San Francisco’s Embarcadero.
Monterey gives free bike helmets to kids to encourage them to ride their bikes.
Sacramento is planning a $17 million, 4.5 mile rail-to-trail bike path.
National
Seattle is backsliding on the bikeways promised in its bike plan.
KC gets its first green bike box, with more bike racks and another 50 miles of bike lanes on the way.
A reportedly suicidal Sinead O’Conner was found safe after disappearing on an ebike ride in Chicago on Sunday.
A New York site says taming the city’s notorious Boulevard of Death is worth the effort, even though it calls plans for bike lanes on the street “radical.”
In a city notorious for vehicles blocking bike lanes — including police vehicles — the NYPD finally gets around to doing something about it. For one whole week, anyway.
Usher is one of us, as GQ uses his stylish ride through New York as the model for us all.
A Maryland county is measuring traffic stress levels to study how biking comfort affects connectivity.
The Atlanta Falcons are participating in Bike to Work Day this week. So will we see the new LA Rams on their bikes this Thursday?
International
A British man is convicted in the road rage stabbing of a prominent bike advocate following a traffic collision; the National Health Service admits they got things wrong in managing the killer’s paranoid schizophrenia, even though he was not psychotic at the time. His actions might tend to argue otherwise.
An English motorcyclist gets just two years for killing a bike rider while pulling high-speed wheelies.
Caught on video: An Irish paper investigates bike safety, and finds hundreds of near misses on the streets of Dublin. Although to be fair, a number of the close calls appear to be the riders’ fault.
A 14-year old Spanish cyclist sponsored by pro rider Vincenzo Nibali was killed in a collision with a garbage truck; Nibali was reportedly devastated, regarding the boy as a godson.
A road raging Spanish cab driver was charged with attempted murder for running down a bike-riding former Olympic medalist.
In Guyana, even the police are under the influence, as a drunk cop runs down a 10-year old boy while on duty.
Queensland is reconsidering its ten-year bike safety plan halfway through, as new thinking around the world threatens to leave the Aussie state behind.
Finally…
Maybe you need a bike with a bendy down tube. Seriously, it’s better to be arrested for outstanding warrants than get hit by a car trying to flee the cops on your bike.
And it’s probably not the best idea to run down the mayor while riding on the sidewalk.
