BikinginLA

Not surprisingly, things are getting dirty in CD1.

Now that bike shop owner Joe Bray-Ali has forced incumbent Councilmember Gil Cedillo into a runoff, it’s been anticipated that Cedillo would pull out all the stops to hold onto his seat.

Including, apparently, trolling Bray-Ali with a parody Twitter account run directly by Cedillo’s campaign. If not the man himself.

According to a post by Jon Leibowitz, the Lyin’ Joe Twitter account began tweeting early Saturday morning — April Fools Day — and continued throughout the day.

That is, until someone noticed a tweet featuring a screenshot from a Facebook Live post by Bray-Ali, which appears to have been taken from Cedillo’s own Facebook account.

That suggests the parody account was either run by Cedillo himself, or by his campaign with his direct involvement. Which would seem to violate all kinds of ethics rules, city and otherwise.

Not to mention devolving into the kind of dirty tricks that would make Nixon proud. Or maybe Donald Trump, given the resemblance between Lyin’ Joe moniker, and Trump’s use of the Lyin’ Ted nickname in reference to Ted Cruz.

Needless to say, once the ruse was exposed, the account was quickly taken down.

But it only makes you wonder what will come next, with a full month to go before the election.

Full disclosure: I was one of the first people followed by the parody account. And quickly blocked it because I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with that kind of crap.

………

This may be the best two stories you read today.

National Geographic talks with Pradyumna Kumar “PK” Mahanandia, the Indian man who rode his bicycle 4,000 miles to be with the woman he loves.

And a British reporter discusses riding 4,000 miles from London through the Middle East to show it’s “…far from the volatile hub of violence and fanaticism people believe. And that a woman could cycle through it safely.”

………

Former women’s world road champ Lizzie Armistead is the latest British woman to complain about sexism in pro cycling; she says she could kick herself for the three missed drug tests that put a cloud over her career. Thanks to George Wolfberg for the heads-up.

Men’s world road champ Peter Sagan says the key to dealing with the pressure of winning a championship is just don’t think about. And that anyone who dopes is stupid.

Spoiler alert: If you still have yesterday’s Tour of Flanders on your playlist, skip to the next section.

• Belgium’s Philippe Gilbert restores a little pride to his country by winning the race Taylor Phinney calls the Super Bowl of cycling in a 34-mile breakaway.
• On the women’s side, Tustin’s own Coryn Rivera upset the favorites by becoming the first American to win Flanders; she edged cyclist Gracie Elvin, who was the first from her country to podium in the race, in a mass sprint to the finish.

………

Local

LA County sheriff’s deputies discover an apparent suicide victim while searching for an injured bike rider; fortunately, the rider was not seriously injured.

Over 3,000 USC students have signed a petition calling for keeping a bike repair shop on campus; Lil Bill’s repair shop is getting the boot due to a non-compete clause with a new bike shop moving into a college-owned building.

The new WeHo sheriff’s captain wants to increase bike and foot patrols.

 

State

Environmentalists oppose the proposed state transportation bill that would raise money to repair roadways and fund active transportation projects while allowing truckers to keep polluting.

The lead engineer behind the transformation of New York’s streets is moving on to become the first head of Oakland’s recently created Department of Transportation. Which means there’s now an opening in New York if you want to get your application in.

Apparently, bike-friendly Davis isn’t so interested in ebikes.

 

National

A veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division is nearing the end of a 2,300 mile ride across the US to call attention to the Mission 22 campaign to end veteran suicide.

That’s more like it. A Wisconsin driver gets 15-years for the heroin-fueled crash that killed an Oregon cyclist.

Apparently, lowrider bicycles are a gateway drug to Hispanic culture for Phoenix kids.

A columnist for the Denver Post says cyclists are collateral damage for careless drivers.

The bike-hating president of the Montana senate has tacked an amendment onto a bill to fight invasive species that would charge out-of-state bicyclists $25 to ride on Montana roadways. Aside from driving a stake through the heart of the state’s thriving bike tourism industry, it’s probably unconstitutional.

NPR goes for a bike ride through a carfree Yellowstone.

An Iowa bill that would require drivers to change lanes to pass a bicyclist stalls after a legislator attached an amendment that would have forced riders to wear neon colors over 50% of their body. Which would prohibit riding in street clothes without a neon jacket; even a hi-viz vest would fail to qualify under that standard.

Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel is accused of caring more about flowers and bike lanes than combating violence in the city.

The mother of one of the victims in the Kalamazoo massacre says the killer’s insanity plea is just a ploy; she now wears a tattoo memorializing all of the victims.

The Village Voice takes a tongue-in-cheek look at NIMBY outrage over the bicycle lobby, as New York’s mayor overrules a local community board to overhaul a street in Queens for Vision Zero.

The head of ad agency J. Walter Thompson is one of us, commuting to her New York office by bicycle.

A South Carolina teacher was successful in her efforts to raise enough money to buy a new bicycle for every student in her school, raising $80,000 for 650 bikes.

A recently returned New Orleans man started riding his bike because of a DUI; now he’s the head of a Black-owned riding club that that draws as many as 500 people.

 

International

A writer for Bike Radar asks why people are afraid of bicycles, noting you’re more likely to be struck by lightening than killed in a crash with a cyclist.

A drunk driver who killed two Canadian cyclists, as well as the passenger in his own car, made a tearful apology in court; he was three times the legal blood alcohol limit hours after the crash. No matter how bad he feels, the friends and relatives of the victims feel a hell of a lot worse.

A new London study shows speed cameras save lives, reducing crashes by 30%. Unfortunately, they’re currently banned under California law, something that will have to change if Vision Zero is to succeed; there aren’t enough cops in the entire state to stop California drivers from speeding.

Caught on video: A Brit bike raider snatches the keys from a distracted motorcyclist who was busy vlogging instead of signaling; needless to say, the motorcycle rider was not pleased.

Police in a British town decide to spend their time fighting actual crimes instead of ticketing people on bicycles, resulting in a drop from 103 cycling tickets in 2014 to just two last year.

The 11-year old son of bike-riding former UK Prime Minister David Cameron was praised for coming to the aid of a bicyclist following a crash, along with three of his schoolmates.

Taking a page from Jules Verne’s playbook, a Scottish man is attempting to bike around the world in just 80 days, which would beat the current record by 43 days.

Pakistani women stage a number of bike races across the country to reclaim their place on the road in response to harassment and abuse.

An online petition apparently derails a parliamentary proposal to ban bicyclists and pedestrians from Indian highways.

A new 1.5 mile elevated bikeway is planned to allow bike commuters to bypass traffic signals and motor vehicles on their way into downtown Melbourne, Australia.

Two men are under arrest in China for scamming bikeshare users out of their money by attaching fake barcodes on the bikes that sent the money to the wrong bank, without unlocking the bikes.

Twenty teenage cyclists were detained by Malaysian police for racing at 3 am in the same location where eight riders were killed during a similar gathering in February.

 

Finally…

Caught on video: If you’re going to ride home after drinking, make sure you can stay upright on two wheels — or two feet, for that matter. If you’re going to intentionally sideswipe a cyclist, try not to leave your side mirror behind. Or get caught on bike cam.

And nothing like taking a little 1,818 mile ride through the frozen Yukon.

The again, he could have just taken a nice hot bath.