BikinginLA

Let’s start by catching up with the upcoming bike events.

Santa Monica is hosting a Halloween Kidical Mass tomorrow.

Long Beach’s popular Beach Streets open streets event tomorrow has a Halloween theme.

Meet the founder of Cycling Without Age in Manhattan Beach tomorrow afternoon.

Helen’s Cycles is hosting four separate rides across the LA area this weekend.

San Diego is hosting its CicloSDias open streets event on Sunday.

Santa Monica’s Breeze bikeshare is celebrating its second anniversary on November 4th.

Also on the 4th, the new Cub House in San Marino is holding a bike show, bicycle swap meet and ride.

The LACBC is co-hosting their monthly Sunday Funday ride with AARP as they explore LA history along the Expo Line on the 5th.

Join Bike SGV to bike to the Taste of South Pasadena on November 9th.

CICLE is hosting BEST Ride: Flower Power Ride to visit the LA Flower Market on the 11th.

The San Diego Padres are hosting their 5th annual Padres Pedal the Cause across the Coronado Bridge November 11th and 12th.

Bike SGV and Metro invite you to ride to the Taste of Glendora on the 18th.

………

Jim Lyle forwards the sad news that Dan Martin, a member of the popular Big Orange Cycling was hit by a motorist while riding home from a club ride on Sunday. He’s currently in the ICU suffering from a broken neck, and faces a long recovery.

A crowdfunding campaign to help pay his medical expenses has raised over $13,000 in just over 24 hours.

I hope you’ll join me in praying for a full and fast recovery.

………

Another beautiful piece from Peter Flax, as he reminisces about riding across the continent with his best friend half a lifetime ago.

………

Next year’s Amgen Tour of California will kick off in Long Beach before moving to Ventura and Santa Barbara.

Pro cyclist Ben King credits God with saving him from an eating disorder as a teenager.

………

Local

Streetsblog offers suggestions on how Councilmembers Englander and Krekorian could respond to injuries to bike riders, instead of their motion to remove bike lanes — including supporting Vision Zero and reading the 2010 bike plan, which includes an unimplemented requirement to inspect and maintain bike lanes. Only two of six lawsuits recently settled by the city actually occurred on streets with any kind of bicycling facilities.

Multicultural Communities for Mobility offers a video discussing bikeshare equity.

A San Luis Obispo writer goes biking in Venice.

The fire chief in Manhattan Beach is retiring after 40 years, and plans to go back to college and ride his bike to class.

 

State

A Santa Ana bicyclist was seriously injured after allegedly riding into oncoming traffic.

Kindhearted Redlands cops replace the bike a five-year old girl got for her birthday after thieves ransacked her parent’s home.

Caught on video: There’s a special place in hell for whoever mugged an autistic Visalia teenager and stole his bicycle.

No wonder drivers don’t take hit-and-run seriously. A 77-year old Napa County woman is expected to be sentenced to just three years probation after copping a plea in the hit-and-run death of a well-known bike commuter. At least her license has been permanently revoked, which should happen to any driver who can’t manage to stop after a crash.

A San Jose columnist says road diets are spreading across the state, even if parents ignore them near schools, and LA is busy ripping them out.

Ride a Ford GoBikes bikeshare bike in the Bay Area, and you could earn miles on Alaska Airlines. Whether you could earn enough to actually go anywhere is another matter.

A San Francisco reporter looks into who is responsible if you get hit by an Uber or Lyft driver, getting Lyft to pay up after blowing off a bike rider who wanted his damaged bicycle replaced.

Marin cyclists swarm the preliminary hearing for the 21-year old driver who allegedly ran down four bicyclists on purpose; his bail was quadrupled to $200,000, even though he has only been charged with hit-and-run.

 

National

Buy a new $65 Balance Cycle Wear jersey, and $25 will go to hurricane relief.

Hurry and you may still be able to get a basic GoPro for just $63.

Several states have forfeited a total of $28 million in federal funding intended for bicycling and walking projects. Fortunately, California was not one of them.

A governing website examines why AARP supports bicycling infrastructure.

If a proposed fee increase passes, it could cost you $30 just to ride your bike into a National Park.

A Portland garbage company blames the victim after one of their drivers fatally left-crossed a woman riding her bike; the company said she didn’t have a front light on her bike, wasn’t wearing hi-viz, and was riding under the influence.

People for Bikes talks with a Seattle community leader about the power of private dockless bikeshare to transform road design.

Boulder County CO is testing a pair of road signs that tell drivers to give three feet to pass a bicyclist, or instructing them to change lanes to pass a bike.

A Michigan man hit the road on his recumbent following his divorce, spending the last three years traveling the country and living on his modified bike, which, counting him and a trailer, now weighs 600 pounds.

Tragic news from New Hampshire, where a 91-year old woman was killed in a collision with a bicyclist as she walked near her retirement home.

Harvard Med School offers tips on how to teach your kid to ride a bike.

A Georgia bike shop replaces the bike a man used as his only form of transportation after it was stolen.

 

International

Caught on video: A London TV newsman uses bolt cutters to free his bicycle after someone chained a child’s bike to it, then bought a new chain to replace the one he cut. However, it’s a common bike theft technique for thieves to chain a cheap bicycle to one they want to steal, then come back for it later when there are fewer witnesses.

A British letter writer says the country must avoid the domination of the car, unlike Los Angeles.

Cycling rates are climbing steadly in most major English cities, with the exception of Birmingham and Manchester.

Over half of all trips are now taken by bicycle in Utrecht in the Netherlands, and nearly half in Amsterdam.

Orlando Bloom is one of us, as he goes for a ride with his dog on the streets of Prague.

Residents of Johannesburg, South Africa, are now riding to work thanks to an innovative private bicycle rental company.

Caught on video: An Aussie driver confronts a group of cyclists who were riding at the speed limit on the road ahead of him; it took him less than a minute to get around them.

A Korean writer discusses the country’s bike boom from a windshield perspective, after comparing bicyclists to road kill.

 

Finally…

Yes, it often feels like you’re invisible on a bike; no, it won’t help you elude the police. Maybe long bike rides cause babies.

And Nissan’s new Electric car prototype will sing to you as it runs you down.