It’s Day 6 of the 2nd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive! Donate today, and help keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.
Let’s start with a couple of upcoming events.
First up, this Saturday’s Lankershim Community Pop Up will demonstrate what the boulevard could be if it’s reimagined as a Complete Street — complete with protected bike lanes — as part of the city’s Great Streets program.
Lankershim was scheduled to have bike lanes installed several years ago, but the plans were halted by then-Councilmember Tom LaBonge as part of his successful campaign to keep LA streets dangerous. Now that he’s been termed out of office, there may be hope for progress on the dangerously auto-centric street.
The LACBC will be hosting a #RideLankershim community bike ride as part of the event.
And a week from Sunday, Finish the Ride will host a Ride, Run, Walk ‘n Roll + Cyclocross Holiday Challenge at Woodley Park in Van Nuys, in conjunction with SoCal Cross and SAFE.
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Local
Shinola has opened their latest Los Angeles location in the Arts District in DTLA (scroll down).
Bella Thorne is one of us, as the 19-year old actress and singer rode the streets of LA in her hoodie and ripped jeans.
Bike SGV invites bike riders to join them in tomorrow’s Monrovia Holiday Parade.
CiclaValley says riding the Cogswell Dam trail offers the solitude of getting away without much hassle.
You’re invited to ride a pedal-assist ebike with 1984 LA Olympian Nelson Vails at Saturday’s Electric Bike Expo in Santa Monica.
State
San Diego cyclists will ride to the city’s December Nights celebration in Balboa Park Friday night to highlight bikes as transportation and a way to fight climate change. Meanwhile, the city is making the temporary Bicycle Advisory Committee permanent as part of the city’s Climate Action Plan.
A Corona bike rider was lucky to escape with minor injuries when his bicycle was clipped by a train as he walked it along the railroad tracks.
Pedego is opening a shop in Palm Springs.
San Luis Obispo’s Bike SLO County is working to help put low-income, homeless and at-risk children and adults back on bicycles; they’ve given refurbished bikes to 17 people so far.
National
Peer-to-peer bikeshare system Spinlister is starting a new program to help bike shops rent bicycles.
An Oregon woman rode solo on a 5,350 mile journey across the US by following Adventure Cycling’s northern tier route.
Houston plans to double the size of the city’s bikeshare system.
Chicago’s Divvy bikeshare system celebrates the season with a fully reflective, candy cane stripped bike.
Streetsblog Chicago calls it a waste of police resources to ticket bicyclists who cross the street during a leading pedestrian interval crosswalk signal.
A Detroit non-profit wants to spread bicycling to every neighborhood in the city, giving away hundreds of used bikes to make sure every kid can have a bicycle.
It takes a real jerk to steal a ghost bike for a fallen Kentucky rider.
Despite the mayor’s upbeat pronouncements, New York’s Vision Zero is headed in the wrong direction, as more pedestrians and bike riders have lost their lives in the two years the program has been in effect.
The NYPD has released a near-real time map tracking traffic collisions in the city, including crashes with bicyclists and pedestrians. Which is something Los Angeles can and should be doing as part of Vision Zero. Thanks to Opus the Poet for the heads-up.
Philadelphia women describe the harassment they experience working as bike messengers on the city’s streets.
International
A new study shows exercise really does lower your risk of death. Although bicycling drops your overall risk 15%, but oddly, doesn’t reduce the risk of cardiovascular death.
Bike Radar says you don’t need an expensive bike to enjoy mountain biking, but it helps.
British police are looking for the bike rider who collided with a 71-year old woman, who later died of her injuries; the rider did stop and provide assistance until the woman was airlifted for treatment, but left without providing his contact information. Yet another reminder to always ride carefully around pedestrians, especially the elderly. And yes, you need to provide your ID and insurance information, just like drivers do.
Caught on video: A Brit driver barrel rolls into a ditch after hitting a bike that fell off the roof rack of another car at 70 mph. Always make sure to mount your bike securely. And double check it before you hit the road.
Britain’s Prince Charles was one of us, reporting that he was lucky to survive being hit by a bus while riding his bike as a youth.
An Indian rider describes the experience of riding the country’s first cycle superhighway.
A UNICEF program has donated 150 bamboo bikes to help girls in Ghana stay in school by providing the means to get there.
Caught on video too: A road raging Australian cyclist boarded a Brisbane bus and repeatedly punched the driver in the face before getting back on his bike and riding away. Once again, no matter what the driver may have done, violence is not the answer; take down the time, location and number of the bus and file a formal complaint instead. Preferably with bike cam video to back it up.
An Aussie website examines the history of bikewear.
Finally…
If you’re going to scam someone out of a bike by dressing like fake cop and saying it’s stolen, at least make sure it’s worth stealing; no, this wasn’t him.
And if you’re going to sell your used bike, at least make sure the wheels face the right way.
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If you missed it yesterday, take a few minutes to read David Kooi’s insightful guest post explaining why you should support your local bike shop.
