BikinginLA

If you were the victim of a hit-and-run in East Hollywood yesterday, a commenter on Reddit may be looking for you.

So for once, there may be a little justice here. But only if the victim turns up to file a complaint.

Thanks to Evan G for the heads-up.

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Metro is considering transferring responsibility for policing buses and train lines from the sheriff’s department to the LAPD in some areas.

This comes after years of complaints from bike riders about biased enforcement or unfair treatment from sheriff’s deputies involving collisions with buses, unsafe driving or harassment by drivers.

So this may end up being good for LA bicyclists. Or not.

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We have a guess on who makes the screaming yellow bike lock that beat the thieves in yesterday’s photos from David Drexler, as both Mark B and J. Patrick Lynch suggest it’s The Club Bicycle/Motorcycle Utility Lock.

It certainly looks like it.

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UCI finally comes to the realization that women cyclists aren’t delicate little things, and can actually handle distances up to 100 miles.

What a schmuck. Former Dutch cyclist Teo Muis received a lifetime ban for injecting his own son with steroids without his knowledge; his 18-year old son’s four year ban has been reduced to two years since he did not know about the doping.

Meanwhile, a South African track cyclist has been suspended for a year for doping.

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Local

KPCC looks at how the new Trump administration could affect federal funding for LA transportation projects, including bikeways currently funded by TIGER grants. And no, it ain’t pretty.

Los Angeles has expanded its cycle hoop bike rack pilot program from Westwood Village to the Hollywood Walk of Fame district, installing 49 racks each capable of holding two bikes on parking meters in the area around Hollywood, Cahuenga and Sunset. However, it’s still illegal to lock your bike to a parking meter without the racks, though that’s rarely enforced. Thanks to LA Great Streets for the link.

A meeting will be held tonight to discuss the feasibility of restoring ten miles of the Arroyo Seco, which could impact the Arroyo Seco bike path.

Pasadena officials try to explain to uncomprehending motorists how bike lanes work and what all that green paint on the street means. Which should be a requirement for getting or keeping a driver’s license.

California’s only international cyclocross competition returns to the Whittier Narrows this weekend.

Santa Monica’s Breeze bikeshare celebrated its first anniversary over the weekend, logging 285,000 trips covering over 618,000 miles over the first year..

 

State

An Orange County writer discovers that riding a bicycle for the first time in 40 years is not just like riding a bike.

A new six-minute documentary from the Oxnard Fire Department tells the story of 12-year old Joey Johnson, who was killed in a collision while riding without a helmet on Father’s Day in 2013.

A new Atascadero bikeway offers a pleasant ride along the creek. Although someone should tell the local paper the difference between a bike lane and a bike path.

Long Beach wasn’t the only city to hold a ciclovía this weekend; San Franciscans enjoyed their final Sunday Streets event of the year.

Forty years later, Lake Tahoe finally completes the last segment of the West Shore Bike Trail.

 

National

Hawaiian Airlines misplaced former UCLA and NBA star Bill Walton’s extremely big bike; he tweeted last night that it had been recovered.

Houston is in the process of getting protected intersections to keep sidewalk cyclists safe along the city’s notoriously auto-centric streets.

It will cost Chicago $2.5 million in damages after a cop crashed into a commuter train while chasing a bike rider last year for the crime of riding a bike on the sidewalk; the city had argued that the law prohibiting dangerous pursuits only applied to chases involving motor vehicles. My apologies, I lost my record of who sent this one to me. But thank you, anyway.

Racist and anti-Semitic graffiti was painted on a New York area bike path.

Once again, a bad bike crash may have saved a rider’s life, as doctors discovered a stage three lung cancer when a Pennsylvania cyclist was being treated for injuries suffered in a collision.

A North Carolina city uses a Christmas tree made of bicycles to encourage people to donate a new bike for local kids.

 

International

Anti-bike terrorists strike again in the UK, where a Welsh mountain biker barely escaped serious injury when he ran into barbed wire strung at neck level over a trail. Whoever did this should face an attempted murder charge, since this could easily have killed someone.

A British driver is asking for a reduction in his nine-year sentence for killing a bike rider while texting behind the wheel, even though he had deleted his last three texts in an attempt to cover up his crime, and dispite eight previous convictions for distracted driving.

Great idea. A British report calls for giving a tax break to businesses that promote bike commuting.

It sounds like snake oil, but a Brit triathlete is standing again after suffering multiple fractures in a collision last year, thanks to an “innovative, ground-breaking treatment” that reportedly allows paraplegics to walk again by retraining the nervous system. Thanks to Opus the Poet for the tip.

The Guardian catches up with the young, Lycra-clad members of the Congo’s Goma Cycling Club.

Once again, a cyclist is a hero, as an Aussie rider drags a homeowner to safety from his burning house, then goes on a 40 mile ride despite suffering smoke inhalation.

 

Finally…

Nothing like sharing your ride with a ‘roo on the roadway. You can carry anything on a bicycle, even a body; they’re also good for disposing unwanted body parts.

And be on the lookout for a turquoise-faced, armed and dangerous, bike-riding anti-Trump vandalism suspect.