David Drexler strikes a cautionary note in warning about the dangers of even the best cable locks. Even when firmly attached to your car in public spaces.
They almost had my bike yesterday.
Parked in the In-N-Out Burger on Beach Blvd in Huntington Beach for 30 min. Parked right in front in a high traffic area at the entrance .
My hybrid bike was on the hitch rack with the tires and the downtube clamped in. For added security I wrapped the pictured thickest Kryptonite cable through the tires and the rack frame.
Hanging by a thread
In the time I was in the store, thieves unlatched the two tire clamps and cut the cable pictured, in one more minute they could have had the bike but something scared them off?
Brazen for them to be working in such a high profile visible location.
He added this in a follow-up email.
Sunday was a real wake up call—I let my guard down and left my hybrid bike on a rack unattended twice for more than 30 minutes each time with just a cable lock on it. I would never do that if it was not on a car rack. I felt comfortable in Huntington Beach in a high profile parking space and cable locked. I did not believe that someone would approach my car with tools and attempt to take a bike in a busy parking lot with me close by inside. The rack is new—just got it three weeks ago and I will adjust my security accordingly. The bike will be both cable locked and u-locked on the rack if I need to leave the bike unattended–same as I do when locking it up around LA and the OC to go in stores.
Bike chained to car rack
What the thieves were after
It seems like overkill sometimes, but I try to keep my bike with me whenever I can.
If not, I field strip my bike, removing anything that can be easily stolen. Then take off my front wheel, and lock it to my rear wheel with a heavy U-lock through the frame, then wrap the whole thing with a cable lock.
And never, ever leave it unattended on a car.
It’s a pain in the ass, but it’s worked so far.
Knock on wood.
And don’t forget to register your bike, just in case.
………
Wesley Reutimann forwards word of an informational meeting to discuss the proposed Union Street Cycle Track in Pasadena next week.
Want to weigh in on the Union Ave Cycle Track project? The City of Pasadena will be hosting two meetings on the same day Tuesday August 16th (one AM, one PM), following a request by the Pasadena Playhouse District Association.
Union Street Cycle Track Informational Meeting
Pasadena’s newly-adopted Bicycle Transportation Action Plan identifies a two-way cycle track along Union Street between Hill and Arroyo Parkway. Learn about project design, implementation, potential impacts, and funding at meetings hosted by the City of Pasadena.
- WHERE: Pasadena Presbyterian Church, Gamble Lounge, 585 E. Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91101
- WHEN: Tuesday, August 16, 2016
- TIMES: 8:30 – 9:30 am or 5 pm – 6 pm
If you are unable to attend the meeting but would like to participate in the process, please contact Rich Dilluvio, Pasadena Department of Transportation, at (626) 744-7254 or rdilluvio@cityofpasadena.net.
………
Thanks to Dave R for forwarding this video offering six ways to greet a fellow cyclist, which garnered nearly 60,000 views in its first day online. And is sure to bring a smile to even the most curmudgeonly rider.
I’m a master of the quick nod and handlebar hand raise, myself.
………
The head of UCI, bike racing’s governing body, says don’t blame us for the dangerous road course in Rio, blame all those injured bike riders for screwing up, although others may beg to differ. Then again, safe courses reduce the risk of rider error. Not to mention it couldn’t hurt to allow a few practice runs on the course without having to share the roads with vehicular traffic.
Good news from one of those injured cyclists, as Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten says she’ll be fine, despite suffering a concussion and three fractured vertebrae. Thank goodness she has some random guy on Twitter to tell her how to ride a bike properly.
Cycling Weekly questions whether Peter Sagan did the right thing in dropping out of Saturday’s road race. Greg Van Avermaet’s victory says no, while the injuries to van Vleuten, Geraint Thomas and Vincenzo Nibali, et al, say yes.
Meanwhile, an Aussie track cyclist was hospitalized after her pursuit team crashed while training.
NBC previews tomorrow’s men’s time trial. Lets hope they do a better job covering the women’s time trial, also on Wednesday, than they did the women’s road race.
New York Magazine says doping is only going to get harder to detect, especially when gene splicing becomes a thing in the very near future. Although that sounds a lot better than dosing with whiskey, egg whites, and strychnine.
………
Local
CiclaValley takes a look at what cyclists lost in the recent Sand Fire.
Arizona’s Kimberly Lucie won the women’s pro race at the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix on Sunday, while LA’s Justin Williams took the men’s title.
The San Diego Reader suggests biking along the beachfront bike path to visit Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach, which it calls LA’s last real beach towns.
Long Beach officially cuts the ribbon on the first segment of what will eventually be two miles of parking-protected bike lanes on the city’s North Side.
State
Orange County puts its money where its mouth is, approving nearly $20 million to fund 13 bicycle corridor projects in the county and six OC cities; an additional bicycle boulevard in Huntington Beach could be funded if they can keep the cost of the project below $488,000.
Anaheim’s draft bike plan calls for 120 miles of additional bikeways. Of course, as we’ve repeatedly seen in LA, any plan is only as good as the city’s commitment to it.
San Diego’s Bike the Bay rolls at the end of this month, allowing 3,500 participants a once-a-year opportunity to ride over the sweeping Coronado Bay Bridge. And arrive in the city where bike lanes make people dizzy.
A proposal would give Stockton Street in downtown San Francisco a bike and people friendly makeover, converting it “from yet another auto sewer into a car-free pedestrian-transit-bicycle mall.”
The Department of DIY strikes in the Bay Area, as San Francisco bicyclists take safety improvements into their own hands.
Forget making America great again. The new director of the UC Davis Bicycle Program wants to make riding a bike fun again. They also offer a smart program to store students’ bicycles for the summer, safe from thieves and out of the elements, for just $20.
National
Co-Exist says protected bike lanes and bikeshare systems are the key to making cities safer.
Bike riders on Hawaii’s Big Island are turning to bike cams for protection, in a story that reads like a press release for the Fly6 and Fly12 cams, which it probably is. Seriously, they could have at least mentioned any of the other numerous bike and helmet mountable action cams on the market. GoPro, anyone?
The Colorado State Patrol blames the victim in Sunday’s fatal Ironman crash, saying she swerved out of a lane blocked off for competitors and hit a truck in the next lane.
I want to be like her when I grow up. A 77-year old Minnesota woman rides 660 miles to attend her 60th high school reunion in Cheyenne WY. Except I have no interest in attending a high school reunion. Or living in Minnesota.
A federal appeals court rules against a Michigan woman who sued Target for selling her a bike with defective brakes after she fell off and hurt her shoulder; the court said she’s entitled to a fair jury, but “not one that believes whatever she says.”
New York considers a proposal to add wider bike and pedestrian lanes to the Brooklyn Bridge.
Drivers using bike lanes as de facto passing lanes seems to be a universal problem, even in Greensboro NC.
No bias here. A Miami bike rider gets the blame for colliding with a police cruiser, even though the cops were making a U-turn in the middle of a causeway.
International
OMG! The Brit press freaks out when One Direction’s Harry Styles is caught riding without a bike helmet, which is perfectly legal in the country. And perfectly safe, as long as you manage to stay upright.
It’s better not to hit a bike rider than to try and save his life afterwards. Just a suggestion.
The UK’s Radio X lists the greatest songs about bicycling. Mark Ronson’s The Bike Song apparently didn’t make the cut.
A Dublin woman calls on the city to make immediate safety improvements after too many near-death experiences riding her bike to work. The photo illustrating the story of a rider squeezing between city buses is truly terrifying.
After carrying them nearly 25,000 miles around the world, an English couple’s bikes go missing at Ireland’s Shannon Airport, along with the rest of their belongings.
Bicycling offers nine lessons learned from riding in the Swiss Alps. Or you could take the road less travelled and explore the Tatra Mountains between Slovakia and Poland.
Caught on video: Copenhagen somehow manages to keep a bikeway open next to a construction site, despite a road crew lifting hundreds of pounds of dirt over riders’ heads. Maybe they could teach us something about being a less litigious society, as well as being more welcoming to bike riders. Because something like that would never fly here.
Finally…
Don’t Pokémon GO on the go in Taiwan. The Rio road course may have been dangerous, but at least there weren’t any wallabies.
And please, can we just give the whole “Be a Roll Model” thing a rest, already?
You must take good care of your bike. Wiping it down, proper oiling and maintenance makes the bikes karma to be near you which why the theft was thwarted. On the other hand I can’t
say nice thing for the thieves as they will be severely punished for the actions.