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‘Tis the season.
CicLAvia is giving back to the community, donating 15 scooters, 50 sneakers and 53 bikes so far.
San Diego’s Metropolitan Transit System surprises 160 elementary school kids with new bicycles.
The Tulare County sheriff’s department gives 20 new bikes to kids who have excelled in school.
One hundred twenty Madera CA third grade students are surprised with free bicycles after thinking they were just getting a lesson in bike safety from the CHP.
A Colorado Whole Foods teams with a craft brewery’s charitable foundation to give 113 new bikes to disadvantaged elementary school kids at the opening of the new store.
A Chicago-area housing authority gave away 50 bicycles to children whose families might be having financial difficulties.
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World road champ Peter Sagan says clean cyclists could bring back sponsors to pro cycling, comparing the current testing regimen to being in jail with no chance to cheat without getting caught.
A Belorussian pro turns to the power of Twitter to save his cycling career after he was dropped by the Lampre-Merida team. After all, it worked for a certain president elect we could name.
American cyclist Joe Dombrowski wants to create an uphill hour record.
The Big Bear paper offers results of last Saturday’s California State Fat Bike Championships.
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Local
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports on the Palos Verdes Estates die-in on Tuesday to call for better bike safety in the exclusive community. Note the half-dozen cops standing watch in the background of the accompanying photos.
Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson observes that the die-in seemed to get a lot of support from passing motorists and pedestrians, but not so much with the city council. But as he points out, they’ll get the message the next time someone is killed, injured or harassed and decides to hold the city accountable.
CiclaValley is trying to scrape together parts to build and donate a Frankenbike to help get a young rider into road racing.
State
Three hundred chefs will ride 300 miles in three days next May, starting in Santa Rosa, to raise $2 million for the No Kid Hungry campaign.
Castroville gets a new bike and pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks. And no, the town isn’t named after the Cuban revolutionary.
Uber’s driverless cars briefly take to the road in San Francisco before state regulators run them off. Although video of one of the cars running a red light proves they really do drive as well as humans.
Talk about burying the lead (or lede, if you prefer). A San Francisco website reports on Sunday’s distracted-driving hit-and-run death of a bike rider in Watsonville. But fails to mention the driver was booked for being the influence until the very last sentence, never mind that her license was already suspended for DUI.
National
Elly Blue writes there may be more common ground between sport and transportation bicyclists than it would seem. In my case, they’re one and the same, depending on where I’m going and why.
Trek could be recalling your Bontrager lights.
A Portland website takes a look at the new UPS ebike delivery trikes.
Dirt Rag strives to understand Floyd Landis, who briefly held the Tour de France title before it was stripped away for doping, and who now markets marijuana-infused products under the Colorado-based Floyds of Leadville banner.
An Idaho bike mechanic warns you get what you pay for when you buy a bicycle online. And not in a good way.
A Louisville KY bike rider describes what it’s like to be a victim of a hit-and-run after being left for dead by a heartless driver; he has no memory of the wreck or anything that happened before being found three hours later.
Chicagoist says tip your bicycle delivery person more when the weather sucks. Which should be tonight in LA if the forecast holds.
Pittsburgh business owners warn that a planned bike lane would ruin street parking and crush their businesses. Never mind that businesses usually thrive after bikeways are installed, despite any loss of parking spaces.
A Pennsylvania hit-and-run driver gets probation after his big-hearted, bike-riding victim forgives him.
A Vermont man faces charges after using a stun gun on a 14-year old boy to recover a bicycle he thought had been stolen from his friend a few weeks earlier; however, the boy had a good alibi, since he’d purchased the bike three months ago.
Cambridge, Mass gets two new separated bike lanes, the first of what will hopefully become a citywide network.
Someone has posted fliers urging drivers to call the city to complain about the loss of five parking spaces for a New York City bike lane. Even though it was only four. And even though people are parking in it anyway.
A Florida paper asks if the shade of some new green bike lanes is too jarring. Only if Hollywood producers get a look at it.
International
Toronto is lowering speed limits on 14 streets in an effort to save lives.
An English woman was left with multiple wounds after an apparently random attack by someone who rode his bike up behind her and hit her over the head with an unknown object.
An Edinburg website asks if a new line of high-end bikewear designed by cyclists could be the next Rapha.
A Northern Ireland website offers 16 gift ideas for the cyclist in your life. Or yourself.
A UK man saves himself from depression by taking up bicycling following a bankruptcy and divorce.
Madrid gives itself a pre-holiday gift by banning cars from the city center for nine days. The restrictions will end this Sunday, so hurry up and grab your passport.
Australian police are looking for a road raging cyclist who smacked a car, striking the hand of a 74-year old woman passenger, after the driver honked at him for being in the way. Once again, there’s never any excuse for violence, no matter how justified your anger may seem at the time.
A New Zealand cop won’t face charges for knocking a teenage boy off his bike when the boy swore at him, but will have to offer an apology to the boy and his family.
A blind Australian woman falls in love with bicycling after taking to the back of a tandem bike, finding it easier than she expected.
Finally…
Road rage is one thing; a driver armed with a machete is another. Even back then, Barack Obama was one of us.
And there are worse ways to spend three and a half minutes than watching some of the most bizarre bike ads ever.
