BikinginLA

Riding your bike is the best way to beat traffic to get to your 4th of July celebrations.

Just remember to ride defensively. Independence day drivers are more likely to be looking for parking than for you on the way there, and focused on cutting through traffic on the way back.

If you find yourself riding during the 4th of July fireworks shows, consider that drivers will probably be looking up at the pretty lights in the sky, not the bike directly ahead of them. So be sure to light yourself up, and make your bike as conspicuous as possible.

And don’t get me started on holiday drunks.

Standard protocols apply — just assume that any driver you encounter on the road after noon tomorrow has probably been drinking.

And any driver you meet before that may still be stoned from the night before.

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A racist jerk was caught on video harassing a woman riding her bicycle with her daughter in Sunnyvale.

The man, later identified as an Apple employee, called her a bitch and a Cambodian n**gger as they waited to make a legal left turn. Even though she’s from the Philippines.

Not that he’d probably give a damn.

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A San Marino man is riding 3,000 miles across the US to raise funds to fight leukemia.

Just ten days into a planned 27-day trip, Steve Gilmore has raised $30,000 out of a half-million dollar goal.

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The LA Times provides a heartbreaking look at the bike-riding victim of last week’s Florence-Firestone shooting.

Seventeen-year old Johnny Salas appears to have been collateral damage in a drive-by shooting as he rode home from the dentist.

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The Tour de France is as prepared as it can be for terrorist attacks, but the race director says it’s important to carry on living in the face of fear.

Sunday was a day of contrasts at the Tour de France.

Just three years after being told he’d never run again, let alone ride a bike, when a race motorcycle sent him into a guard rail at 60 mph, Taylor Phinney sealed his miraculous comeback; Phinney rode in a breakaway Sunday with his “friend for life.” VeloNews explains his challenging journey to a long overdue Tour debut, while the New York Times offers a nice piece relating Phinney’s literally torturous comeback.

Spain’s Alejandro Valverde had surgery on his broken kneecap after crashing out during Saturday’s time trial at the Tour; Kiwi cyclist George Bennett didn’t fare much better on the rain s oaked streets.

Lance promises brutally frank commentary on his new Tour de France podcast.

There’s actually another major stage race going on right now, as women cyclists are competing in the Giro Rosa, aka the women’s Giro d’Italia.

Last week’s death of a cyclist in a Kansas City crit has been blamed on crashing into sharp-edged crowd control barriers, which had not been properly secured.

Sports Illustrated discovers Phil Gaimon’s Worst Retirement Ever, as he travels the country seeking Strava KOMs on the most difficult climbs. Officially making him more famous as an retired cyclist than he was as a pro.

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Local

KPCC considers how bike lanes are seen as symbols of gentrification in some LA communities.

The Santa Monica Observer looks at the Playa del Rey road diets, even if they can’t quite figure out what neighborhood they’re in. And implies that there were no traffic backups on traffic clogged Lincoln Blvd before they went in.

Needless to say, South Bay drivers think reversing the road diet and keeping speeds up on Vista del Mar will keep everyone safer. After all, it’s worked so well already, right?

Over 500 children are expected to turn out for tomorrow’s kid’s bike parade in Long Beach.

 

State

San Diego bicyclists get a new bike path, finally providing a safer route through Mission Valley.

This is why you don’t trust drivers who try to waive you forward. A Los Banos driver waved a teenage bike rider to go across the street, then plowed into him as he rode in the crosswalk; she fled the scene after stopping briefly to ask if he was okay. No word on whether the driver was careless, or if the act was intentional.

A San Francisco writer says the city’s residents are the victims of the mythical war on cars, especially one that favors ride-hailing services.

 

National

Good piece in the Daily Beast, as a writer says not all bicyclists are rich or poor, and many people in between use their bikes as transportation.

An Austin TX bicyclist says give bike commuters time to adjust their routes before judging whether a new bike bridge is working.

A Michigan public radio station offers a great examination of the right of bike riders to be on the road, as the state considers adopting a five foot — yes, five — passing law.

New York police arrest the bike-riding suspect who allegedly shot four people on Memorial Day weekend.

A new study from Clemson University suggests the best way to increase your visibility on you bike is to put lights on your ankle so people notice the movement when you pedal; meanwhile, another study show front and rear daytime lights can cut crashes up to 19%.

 

International

Caught on video: Toronto police would like to charge a wheelie-popping cyclist who posted video of himself weaving dangerously in and out of traffic, except they can’t pin down the date and time of the violations.

Former Happy Mondays and Black Grape frontman Shaun Ryder is one of us, saying bicycling all day got him off drugs.

Manchester United’s Matteo Darmian is one of us, too, as he goes on a honeymoon bike ride with his new wife.

The Guardian says making room for bikes in parking garages — or eliminating car parking almost entirely — could encourage more people to ride to work. Another story says the key question planners should be asked is whether they would let their own kids bike there.

Two people were injured, and a third died of a heart attack, after a Romanian driver plowed into a trio of bike-riding British tourists.

Start making plans for your next mountain biking vacation Lapland, where 90 miles of trails were just added to a 556-mile trail network.

A South African mountain biker is in intensive care after she was attacked by two robbers who stole her bike and cell phone — while she was competing in a race.

A bike-hating Aussie motorcyclist gets eight years in prison for the hit-and-run death of a bicyclist; he told people in a pub right after the crash that “the cunt deserved it.” He should consider himself lucky, though; he had faced up to 25 years.

This is where abandoned Chinese bikeshare bikes go to die.

 

Finally…

Next time you crash, you could be wheeled off on a unicycle. If you’re going to mug someone and steal their cellphone, try not to ride through a red light and get hit by a car trying to make your getaway.

And now you can have bike dreams delivered directly to your doorstep.