Thanks to Mark G, Stephen A and Stephen C for their generous donations to close out the 3rd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. And to everyone who gave from their hearts to help keep SoCal’s best bike news coming your way every day.
The kindness and generosity of the readers of this site never fails to amaze me.
And let’s all give a special thanks to over there on the right sponsors, without whom this site wouldn’t be possible.
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Local
Things are looking good for Metro’s trial bikeshare station at Echo Park.
Glendale approves the next phase of a bike and pedestrian path that will eventually connect the Glendale Narrows to Griffith Park.
The head of the San Diego Mountain Biking Association writes the LA Times to say mountain bikers will not be taking over the Pacific Coast Trail, even if a new bill allowing bicycles in federal wilderness areas passes.
State
An Orange County nonprofit provided six special needs kids with customized adaptive bikes.
A San Diego weekly calls the possible advent of dockless bikeshare “Chinese bicycle torture.”
Sad news from Tulare, where a homeless man was killed riding his bicycle on Christmas Eve.
More bad news comes from Santa Rosa, where a 67-year old man died two days after his bike was hit by a car.
A Sacramento parolee was busted as he was riding his cruiser bike for injuring several drivers by tossing boulders off a freeway overpass; he has two previous arrests for similar crimes.
It takes a real scumbag to leave an 11-year old Rancho Cordova kid bleeding in the street after crashing into his ebike.
National
NBC News looks at the spread of Vision Zero across the US, including the failure of the Playa del Rey lane reductions here in LA.
In a couple months, you could be riding your very own $400 Ikea bike. And yes, you have to assemble it.
Slate calls the lighted Lumos bike helmet something every bike commuter needs. Ignoring the fact that countless bike commuters successfully ride without it every day.
X-Shifter is developing voice and gesture controls that could allow more disabled people to ride bicycles.
Iron Chef Cat Cora is one of us.
Bicyclists are calling Seattle streetcar tracks a death trap after one rider is killed falling on the tracks and another seriously injured.
A Washington bike cop gets credit for busting a pickpocket by racing to the store where the alleged thief was using the victim’s credit card.
Las Vegas is planning to pilot a program that would use computer analytics to warn drivers about the presence of bikes, as well as warning bicyclists about encroaching drivers and how to time traffic lights.
The next time someone tells you LA’s 60° winter weather is too cold to ride in, point them to this guy riding in a -40° wind chill factor in Fargo ND.
Don’t Tase me, bro. New Chicago guidelines forbid shocking bike riders, or other fleeing suspects, with Tasers.
An Illinois city exonerates its police department after officers arrested two boys for riding a single bike, with one on the handlebars. Which was probably the single most asinine police action of 2017.
A Minnesota woman and her son were released from custody after they were arrested for a hit-and-run crash that killed a bike rider; police still haven’t been able to locate the killing machine.
A kindhearted Michigan cop buys a bicycle for an 11-year old boy after learning he’d never had one.
A 10-year old New Hampshire boy received an inspiring New Year’s greeting from hockey star Milan Lucic after he fell riding his bike, lacerating his liver and damaging his pancreas.
A Massachusetts woman was sentenced to up to four years in prison for the hit-and-run death of a bike rider, as well as intimidating a witness; her boyfriend was previously sentenced for helping to hide the victim’s bicycle.
No bias here. Residents of a New York community say they’re not opposed to bike lanes, but they don’t belong on historic streets or in front of schools. Never mind that bicycles have a longer history track record in the city than the cars that no one seems to object to.
A New Jersey man is suing a railroad after his bike tire got caught in a gap in a rail crossing near their home.
CityLab looks at how DC built a bike boom. Meanwhile, DC authorities say please don’t call 911 to complain about dockless bikeshare riders.
International
Strava says their stats show bicyclists around the world rode a total of 4.5 billion miles this year. Even more impressive when you consider how small a percentage of the worldwide bicycling community actually uses the app.
Caught on video: This is what it looks like to ride a bicycle at 125 mph on a Brazilian roadway.
A British Columbia letter writer says bike riders should be forced to carry liability insurance, citing the death of a London woman killed by a sidewalk riding bicyclist. Here in California, your car insurance should cover you in the event of any crash while riding your bike.
Ottawa, Canada police have your back, at least when it comes to anti-bike distracted drivers.
A pair of San Diego men pass through India on an around-the-world bike ride, after deciding they were having so much fun riding from Vancouver to Tijuana that they wanted to keep going.
In the best story of the day, 200 Kung Fu nuns on bikes swap their traditional robes for Lycra leggings on a month-long ride around Kathmandu.
Nairobi’s deadly streets could be getting safer and more inviting for bike riders and pedestrians.
Sydney, Australia area cities combine to impose new regulations on dockless bikeshare providers, including a requirement for geo-fencing to keep them within approved areas.
Two Malaysian men are riding their bikes to the seven wonders of the modern world to raise money to fight cancer. Only one of which is really all that modern.
Competitive Cycling
Lance loved the Icarus doping documentary. Maybe it reminded him of the good old days.
The four-day Colorado Classic bike race and music festival will return this August.
A Turkish rider quits the new Israeli cycling team over the controversy started when Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Peter Flax looks at the “comedy, tragedy and pure circus” of the past year in pro cycling.
Finally…
Nothing like celebrating Christmas with Santa on a sex-toy bike. Sure, anyone can ride naked in the middle of summer.
And save a little bike-riding kid from a dog attack, and get honored in the Rose Parade.
Especially if you have four feet and a tail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Opm9b2WDk&has_verified=1
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I’ll try to be back tomorrow. But if we don’t meet here, for whatever reason, stay safe on the streets and we’ll see you again next year.
Could you possibly post a tad more detail on LA Times stories (like today’s Glendale bike trail) for those of us who don’t pay for the digital access?
To Fox, the way we get that done is to pay for biking in la subscription to whatever paywall today, so tomorrow someone else will pay for the next one.
This site is private, he may not have a public library giving him proxy access or other journalistic employer paid healthcare etc. But relies on spouse and readers to write his own ticket. He has never claimed to read the linked to’s in full or verify the link is not a poor secondary itself.