BikinginLA

It’s been a rough few days for SoCal cyclists.

A bike rider was hospitalized after being struck by a car in Pomona Monday night; no word on the victim’s condition. Thanks to Joe Linton for the heads-up.

A 16-year old girl is in critical condition after being hit by a Dial-A-Ride Bus while riding in Riverside with her mother; KABC-7 shows her mangled bike.

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Sad news from Ohio, as Danny Chew, two-time winner of the Race Across America, was paralyzed from the waist down after a solo fall while riding with a friend near Lodi, Ohio.

Chew was riding around 20 to 25 mph when he drifted off the road as the result of a dizzy spell, and broke his neck crashing into a drainage ditch. His long-term prognosis following emergency surgery won’t be known for several days.

A crowdfunding site has raised over $37,000 to help pay his medical bills.

He is an eight-time RAAM finisher, once crossing the US in eight days, seven hours, and 14 minutes as a solo competitor, and just 200,000 miles from his goal of riding one million miles on his bike.

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Three-time Vuelta winner Alberto Contador predicts Columbia’s Nairo Quintana will win this year’s race, though second place Chris Froome still has his hopes up.

Froome insists over half of the peloton should have been eliminated for missing the time cut-off, which would have left just 71 riders to finish the race.

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Local

Former LA City Controller Laura Chick endorses Jesse Creed in his race to oust incumbent Paul “No Bikes On Westwood” Koretz from the city council. Meanwhile, Josef-Bray Ali is hosting a fundraiser this Monday in his race to unseat Gil “No Bikes Anywhere” Cedillo.

Curbed races to Dodger Stadium to find the fastest way to get there from Union Station; the bicycle finished a close second to the car. But didn’t have to pay those parking fees, either.

Harrison Ford may be one of us, but doesn’t seem to have the hang of roof racks yet. Thanks to Steve Herbert for the link.

CiclaValley feels the call of the Great White North.

Pasadena’s Public Health Director will tell the city’s Complete Streets Coalition that their work aligns with public health efforts at the coalition’s monthly meeting tonight.

That didn’t take long. Just weeks after the Raleigh bike store opened in Santa Monica, thieves broke in early Monday and stole five e-bikes worth nearly $20,000.

Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson urges everyone to come out to support bike safety efforts in NIMBY haven Palos Verdes Estates at tonight’s Traffic Safety Committee meeting.

 

State

An Anaheim man has ridden across the country 64 times to raise funds to fight multiple sclerosis.

Santa Ana is offering eight hour Confident Cycling classes the next two weekends.

A writer for a North San Diego County paper calls for curb protected bike lanes to replace the painted lanes in the wake of a hit-and-run that left a cyclist seriously injured.

Sacramento police make their 41st bait bike arrest of the year to fight back against bike theft. Los Angeles doesn’t even have a bait bike program.

 

National

A health website attempts to raise a panic about the harmful effects of bicycling, which turns out to be nothing more than the old discredited fears that too much riding may make you a candidate for those ED commercials.

CNET recommends a $45 waterproof, 1080p action cam.

A new $250 smartphone attachment will allow you to control your phone and answer calls without taking your hands off your handlebars. Or you can get all that built into your helmet.

A Boulder CO designer has created a simplified bikeway map that includes ratings for difficulty.

Wichita KS changes the law to make biking under the influence a less serious offense than DUI.

A Dallas cyclist nearly gets into a fight with an aggressive driver who tells him to get on the sidewalk.

An Arkansas mountain bike park draws 1,000 cyclists a week; it will be the site of the International Mountain Bicycling World Summit in November.

An Ohio man gets four years in prison for blinding a 72-year old bike rider in one eye with a paint gun; however, he could be out in as little as six months with good behavior. Another reminder to always wear some form of eye protection while you ride. And have a good lawyer on speed dial.

New York’s Vision Zero is too ambitious, according to a writer the Post, who proposes making it Vision 123 instead.

The New York Times discovers the Rolling Coal movement, and drivers who think they have a God-given right to belch soot and smoke in the face of bike riders and pedestrians.

Solange Knowles is one of us, as she takes Ed Droste on a bike tour of her adopted hometown of New Orleans.

 

International

Yahoo offers typo-filled advice on how to ride your bike around the world.

Bike Radar lists the ten best movies about roadies. No, not those roadies.

City Lab takes up the issue of whether traffic dangers and population outweighs the benefits of bicycling, after the recent report from the Financial Times, and concludes the real danger is sitting on your ass. Thanks to Jon and Patrick Murray for the FT link.

An Ottawa columnist says separated bike lanes aren’t enough to protect cyclists, while another urges the city to embrace Vision Zero and consider all traffic deaths preventable.

Montreal considers improving safety for bicyclists by narrowing lanes, reducing speed limits and moving stop lines back to make room for bike riders at traffic lights.

A London bike lawyer says the police response to the recent Jeremy Vine case offers hope that they might finally take incidents involving other riders seriously.

Caught on video: A London cyclist catches a bus driver using his phone to place bets on soccer while driving.

A recent Polish immigrant tells the horrifying story of the vicious gay bashing he suffered while riding his bike in a Dublin park, and the suggestion from the investigating officer that he somehow provoked it. And what the hell difference would it make if he did?

Welsh cyclists — and anyone else — now have the legal right to propose new biking and walking routes, and local leaders are required to listen.

Apparently, road rage is no different in Mumbai than anywhere else.

 

Finally…

That’s not a bike, it’s a pedal-powered seismograph. Throwing your bike at police officers after stealing hash browns from McDonalds is not a generally accepted usage.

And let’s all go for a musical Pokémon bike ride.

Especially since the video seems to feature LA’s Ovarian Psychos.