BikinginLA

Today’s big news is the reopening of the LA River bike path.

According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the bike path was finally reopened following months of repair and maintenance on the stretch below Griffith Park, after it was closed to install needless flood barricades for the storms that never came last winter.

Now weekday riders can finally stop following that circuitous and bike-unfriendly detour that was put in place to get around the construction work. Or more likely, start riding the path again after finding other routes or modes of transportation for the past several months.

Here’s the link to the Corps LA River page that was included in the above tweet.

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Another Chinese-style app-based bikeshare system is coming to the US, as San Mateo’s LimeBike has raised over $12 million in venture capital funding. The company says its bikes will rent for $1 for 30 minutes, and can be picked up and left anywhere, rather than at a dock.

That could pose a significant challenge to the more traditional bikeshare programs — if you can call something that only gained significant US acceptance in this decade “traditional.”

Programs like LA’s Metro Bike, which costs nearly three times as much if you don’t have a membership while offering less flexibility, could struggle to compete against cheaper competition that will inevitably arrive within the next few years — at a significant cost to the taxpayers footing the bill.

If Metro Bike, and others like Santa Monica’s Breeze and West Hollywood’s WeHo Pedals, are to succeed, they will have to expand quickly into currently unserved areas, while somehow addressing the issue of affordability.

Because, as the taxi industry has learned the hard way, it’s a lot more convenient to just pick up your phone to find and pay for a ride.

Whether you’re on four wheels. Or soon, two.

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Local

Los Angeles Magazine offers advice on how to keep ridership surging on the Expo Line, including a call for better pedestrian access. The same could be said for bicycles, as Westside bikeways leading to and from the Expo Line aren’t just bad, they’re virtually nonexistent.

Santa Monica will have four bike valets for the LA Marathon on Sunday; however, three Breeze bikeshare stations will be disabled for the day.

Grab your bike, hop on Metro and hit the bars.

CiclaValley is starting a campaign to bring a former LACBC intern from the Netherlands back to compete in the Amgen Tour of California.

The Street Librarians will hold their monthly ride to restock street libraries on the 26th, while reading selections from the poet Rumi.

 

State

Speaking of app-based bikeshare, San Francisco approves rules for the dock-less systems, which seem more like an attempt to regulate them out of business.

A San Francisco driver faces charges for attempting to flee the scene after hitting a bike rider; fortunately, the victim is expected to recover.

 

National

Bicycling, the magazine, gets it right, as contributors say bicycling, the sport/transportation/activity, is the key to a lifetime of pure, unadulterated joy. Although my personal joy has been adulterated on numerous occasions by angry drivers, bad roads and bees on the beach. Not to mention my own damn carelessness from time to time.

Speaking of Bicycling, after the magazine offered seven reasons why bicycling was better than running, Running, the magazine, responds with a whopping 37 reasons why they think their sport is better.

A writer for a design site says building the new Ikea bike was the worst hour of his life. Besides dental work and real emotional loss, that is.

A new Portland bicycling collective composed of women of color is attempting to crack the city’s overwhelmingly white and male cycling scene. And doing it with a donut ride, which is always a smart move.

WaPo belatedly discovers the glowing Texas bikeway everyone was talking about last month. Or last year, even.

Instant karma strikes hard in Little Rock AR, where a wrong way truck driver fleeing a previous hit-and-run was killed in a collision with a bike rider, who also died in the crash.

Caught on video: A Minnesota driver faces charges after brake checking a bike rider, then threatening to kill him before nearly running over his foot. All for the crime of being in the driver’s way at a red light.

Life is cheap in Michigan, where a judge refuses to reconsider her original sentence of just one year in county jail for a killer drunk driver who was over twice the legal limit when he ran down a bike rider; sentencing guidelines called for a minimum of nearly two and a half years in state prison, with a max of 15 years.

Indiana homeowners — and passing bike riders — have to literally dodge bullets escaping from a nearby gun range.

Courses were unveiled for the US national road cycling championships in Knoxville KY this June.

An Ohio letter writer says it’s unfair to segregate bike riders onto bike paths, because people on bikes have to get to businesses and residences just like anyone else.

New York releases plans to make bicycling safer for commuters looking for an alternative after the L train shuts down for 18 months of repair work.

 

International

A new study shows bicycling really does improve your memory.

A Philippine actor tells fans he’s okay after he was injured in a bicycling crash.

Don’t bother biking to the airport in Bangkok for the next seven months.

 

Finally…

If you don’t want the cops to shoot at you, put a damn light on your bike — and don’t flee when they try to stop you. If you have to pee while you ride, try not to do it in view of the breathless British press.

And why settle for a time trial when you can have a six-legged obstacle course?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX9rpfl5WTw