Archive for April 30, 2018

Morning Links: May Bike Month, LimeBike ebikes in SaMo, Aviation road diet fight, and LACBC ED leaving

April 30, 2018 / / 4 comments

It’s Bike Month Eve in LA.

Both the LACBC and Bike SGV offer their own calendars of activities in the one month of the year dedicated to bicycling.

As always, the highlight of the month is Bike to Work Day, which takes place on May 17th, with Bike Night at Union Station the following night.

The international Ride of Silence rolls on May 16th to honor fallen bicyclists, including a ride through the San Fernando Valley.

My favorite event, the annual Blessing of the Bicycles will take place at Good Samaritan Hospital near DTLA on May 15th.

And you can ride the Metro Bike bike share for just one dollar for the month of May when you sign up using the code BIKEMONTH2018; after the first one, it will cost $20 for each additional month.

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Just in time for Bike Month, LimeBike has started dockless ebike service in Santa Monica.

According to a press release from the company, the bikes will cost $1 to unlock using your smartphone, and 15¢ per minute of riding.

Let’s hope they manage to avoid the problems that have developed in some other cities with abandoned or illegally parked bikes.

Because this could be a huge step forward for personal mobility in the LA area if they can avoid the usual bikelash.

………

Plans for a lane reduction and bike lanes to improve safety on Aviation Blvd face an uphill battle after opponents turned out at a meeting in Hermosa Beach to discuss the project.

As seems to happen in any public discussion of bicycles, at least one person insisted “When bikes start paying the registration fees that fund our streets, then they can start sharing our lanes.”

Which demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of both who the streets are for and how local streets are paid for.

So let’s be very clear. Neither gas taxes or registration fees pay for more than a small portion of the building and maintenance of local streets; the overwhelming portion comes from local taxes, which we all pay.

Although that may change to some degree with the state’s recent gas tax increase — if it survives an attempt to have it repealed this fall.

And our streets have never been the property of fee-paying motorists; streets are for the movement of people and goods, some of whom will be on foot, some on bikes, some using transit, and some in motor vehicles. Usually alone.

Funny how so many LA drivers seem to feel they have a God-given right to the road.

And aren’t willing to concede a single inch of it to anyone else.

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The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition is back in the market for a new Executive Director.

According to an email announcement from the organization, Executive Director Erik Jansen, who replaced former ED Tamika Butler less than a year ago, will be leaving at the end of May.

Erik is leaving the organization after two years of working with LACBC, first as its Development Director, then as its Deputy Executive Director of Advancement, and finally as its Executive Director. A father of two, Erik will be moving with his family to Australia, where his wife accepted a position as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney…

As LACBC enters its 20th year and begins a strategic planning process to outline the next five years, staff remains committed, more than ever, to making streets safer for those biking and walking in Los Angeles County. It is an exciting time for the organization, and the team is looking for an Executive Director to lead the team, LACBC members, and bicycle advocates across the county, to create safer streets in Los Angeles County. If you have an amazing candidate in mind, please send us an email.

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Get a whole body workout by using walking canes when you ride.

No, really.

Unless you’d rather play indoor fixie soccer.

………

Local

A Forbes writer says there are holes in Elon Musk’s plans to colonize underground Los Angeles with high speed transportation tunnels, with a professor reasonably noting that most people would rather walk or bike above ground.

The Talking Headways podcast chats with LADOT GM Seleta Reynolds, while the New York Times looks at her efforts to bring Play Streets to the City of Angels.

Metro has released a first-of-its-kind First/Last Mile Plan for the neighborhoods surrounding the Blue Line, calling for “better sidewalks, more and safer crosswalks, more lighting for pedestrians, better and safer bike lanes and facilities.”

Speaking of Metro, comments are now being accepted on the transportation agency’s Vision 2028 strategic plan.

 

State

The next time some NIMBY tries to tell you handicapped people can’t ride bikes, tell them about Jenn Ramsey, who’s ridden the eight-day, 575-mile California Coast Classic a dozen times, even though her crippling arthritis prevents her from standing for more than 30 minutes.

An Op-Ed from San Luis Obispo, where NIMBYs have risen up to fight a proposed bikeway, insists that bike riders aren’t the enemy.

A writer for the SF Gate calls out what he calls Car Blindness, the double standard in which people easily see the relatively minor problems caused by bikes, scooters and pedestrians, but can’t see the major problems caused by motor vehicles.

Redding officials consider closing a roadway entirely to allow for a safe crossing for a new bike and pedestrian trail. Meanwhile, Los Angeles officials won’t even remove a single traffic lane to improve safety for everyone.

 

National

Good piece from Slate, saying no one teaches ebike buyers how to ride them, which is a problem when some bikes can go up to 30 mph; Bicycling offers tips on how to do it safely.

The Wall Street Journal considers the next generation of bike helmets, which may be hidden behind their damn paywall.

There is something terribly wrong with any society where anyone feels the need to give advice on how to properly survive getting hit by a car. Never mind that most cars actually have drivers, which the article fails to mention. Thanks to Steven Messer and J. Patrick Lynch for the heads-up.

Strava’s CEO explains why the app keeps gaining a million users every 40 days, and where he wants to go from here.

Lawrence, Kansas, population 93,000, could soon have more bike boulevards than Los Angeles.

A Houston Op-Ed says the city doesn’t have to be deadly for cyclists. Then again, neither does any other city, even though most of them are.

The pedaling priests of Peoria have finished their 275-mile ride across their Illinois diocese to call attention to religious vocations. I might have considered the priesthood if they’d told me you get to ride bikes all day.

After a reader complains to a Michigan paper, saying someone needs to teach bicyclists the rules of the road, a columnist responds “Whoever does the training, I’m hoping they do a better job than they did with the car and pickup drivers.”

There’s a special place in hell for the hit-and-run driver who left an Indiana man dying in the street — and may have stolen his bike, wallet and mobil phone.

After Columbus OH opened a new two-way cycle track, bike collisions nearly tripled; authorities blamed a jump in ridership, combined with a break-in period for people to get used to the new lanes.

A Virginia couple is planning to bike across the US with their three young kids riding a tandem and a three-person bike.

Nice story about a Charlottesville SC cop who started a new community bike program after fixing kids bikes, then returning to ride with them every week.

 

International

If you build it, they will come. Bicycling rates jump in Victoria, British Columbia, after the opening of a new, safer bridge with bike lanes in each direction.

Heartbreaking news from Canada’s northern Manitoba province, where three boys were killed by a suspected drunk driver while walking and riding their bikes with a group of friends.

The Guardian says smart exercise will keep you young longer.

A writer for the Financial Times says London cyclists are abominable, and she knows because she’s one of them — and she’ll continue to break the law until streets are made with bikes in mind.

An English letter writer says she doesn’t ride a bike in her home town, but would like to if she felt safer. Surveys consistently show that roughly two-thirds of the people in the US feel the same way — including here in Los Angeles.

A British father and son planned to ride Penny Farthings 50 miles in top hats and tails yesterday to raise funds for the Aston Villa soccer team’s charity foundation.

This is who we share the roads with. A man in the UK learns the hard way that if you’re going to put your Tesla on autopilot, at least stay in the driver’s seat.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a truck driver walks on charges of killing a bicyclist, despite attempting — and failing — to overtake the rider on a blind curve.

The Telegraph says the best way to see the Netherlands is by boat and bicycle.

No bias here. An Aussie paper says “bike riders are still dicing with death.” Even though the article is really about dangerous drivers.

 

Competitive Cycling

New British pro discusses how his dream of making a WorldTour team nearly hit the rocks.

Yahoo previews Friday’s Jerusalem start of the Giro d’Italia. Tainted pro Chris Froome clearly intends to allow his alleged doing case to overshadow the Giro.

Organizers are confident that the Cascade Cycling Classic stage race will be back next year, despite its cancellation for 2018. Which is what bike event organizers usually say just before you never hear from them again.

 

Finally…

When spending $15,000 for bespoke bike is a relative bargain. If you’re going to drive in the bike lane while drunk and with a suspended license, at least stay closer to the speed limit.

And you haven’t got bike skills until you can flip pancakes while riding.

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Thanks to Stephen K for his generous donation to help support this site. I am constantly blown away by the kindness and generosity of our supporters. 

 

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Morning Links: Conservative writer claims bikes are killing machines, and Orange Grove road diet put on hold

April 27, 2018 / / One comment

A conservative writer says bicycles are unpredictable, crash-prone vehicles that are killing people.

According to a post by “radical Islam” writer Daniel Greenfield, urban bicycling poses a danger to cars and pedestrians, as well as bicyclists.

Bicycles are unpredictable vehicles. They crash much more easily. They’re driven erratically. Drivers have trouble spotting them and correcting. So do pedestrians. And bicyclists have to maneuver on roads that are built for large wheeled vehicles or for walking people. No amount of bike lanes will change that.

The urban cycling movement has gotten more people on bikes. But that comes with a false sense of familiarity. Riding a bike as an adult in urban traffic is very different than riding a bike down a suburban street as a kid. The risks are different and so are the reflexes.

Although about the only risk bike riders pose to cars is that we might scratch a fender. Or get blood all over the hood when the driver smashes into us.

But what’s really killing people are the careless, aggressive and/or distracted drivers in deadly 2,000 pound machines.

Bikes aren’t dangerous.

The people and vehicles we share the roads with are.

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Don’t hold your breath waiting for changes on Pasadena’s Orange Grove Blvd.

According to Pasadena Now, the proposed lane reconfiguration will be on hold for at least the next year due to construction of a new water main.

Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed grassroots opposition group patterned after KeepLAMoving — and at least partially run by a founder of that group, giving lie to its supposed Pasadena roots — claims that it’s continuing to gain members.

Although someone might want to tell them that Facebook friends and supporters tend to fade away in real life.

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Local

Ace of Cakes star Duff Goldman is one of us, losing nearly 30 pounds since the West LA resident participated in the first California Chefs Cycle in 2015.

CiclaValley lives one perfect day in LA by bike.

A Pasadena man raised $19,000 for a children’s charity by riding 2,000 miles down the left coast.

Bike SGV talks Bike Month events on this month’s SGV Connect podcast.

The Santa Monica Daily Press offers suggestions on how the keep the Earth Day spirit going by going carfree.

A Long Beach man found new friends and riding companions on the seven day AIDS/LifeCycle Ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

 

State

A San Diego-area nonprofit uses a track cycling team to teach values to disadvantaged kids at the city’s velodrome in Balboa Park.

Motherboard says dockless bikeshare and e-scooters are disrupting life in San Francisco, rather than merely disrupting existing models.

Nice piece from a Berkeley resident, who says his bicycle allows him to explore the diversity and complexities of the Bay Area, just as bicycles did for other residents over a hundred years earlier.

 

National

Streetsblog says the way to deal with sidewalk clutter from dockless bikeshare is to give them a defined space on the street.

Portland’s bikeshare system could get a Paul Bunyan-themed bike.

Tacoma WA celebrates the “mystical, magical” bicycle next month.

A Seattle pilot project will determine whether ebikes can co-exist with other trail users.

An Idaho Stop bill allowing local jurisdictions to decide whether cyclists can treat stop signs as yields and red lights as stops has passed the Colorado legislature; the governor is expected to sign it.

A Texas man faces DUI, DUI assault and hit-and-run charges for killing two bike riders and seriously injuring another when he drifted off the road and ran them down from behind as they rode on the shoulder of a highway. Note to MRT.com: When a truck runs down three bicyclists at highway speeds, it really doesn’t matter if they were wearing helmets.

Dockless bikeshare is finally coming to Chicago.

Testimony wrapped up Thursday in the Kalamazoo Massacre trial, as jurors heard that the driver took a handful of pills before getting behind the wheel.

Cambridge MA bicyclists form a human protected bike lane to call for safety improvements in the city.

Gothamist is back to tell of the toll New York’s ridiculous ebike ban has taken on the city’s largely immigrant delivery workers. Let’s hope that means LAist, now owned by Pasadena public radio station KPCC, will be back soon.

Note to New York Times: When visiting Copenhagen, chances are you can safely leave your bike helmet at home. Just saying.

A New Orleans website offers a guide to riding your bike to the city’s annual Jazz Fest, which begins this weekend.

 

International

A New York architect explains how to use barriers to protect bicyclists and pedestrians from fast-moving traffic in the wake of this week’s Toronto attack.

Iceland is quadrupling fines for bicycle violations, from running a red light — which was not previously illegal — to putting a sidecar on the wrong side of a bicycle.

England’s second city aims for a Dutch-style bicycling revolution.

A Scottish craft brewery chain is establishing a worldwide cycling club.

Dutch bikemaker Van Moof promises their bikes are virtually theft proof, sending bike hunters to track down your ride if it’s ever stolen.

“Furious” Aussie bicyclists demand police focus on dangerous drivers, rather than on whether the people on bikes are wearing a helmet.

The Financial Review calls dockless bikeshare the frontline battle between Chinese tech giants.

A driver in Singapore faces just two years behind bars if he’s convicted of killing two ped-assist bike riders and injuring a third.

 

Competitive Cycling

The two-year old Colorado Classic will expand the women’s race to four stages, equal to the men’s tour, on some of the same courses; no word on whether that equality extends to prize money, as well.

VeloNews profiles 22-year old California native Justin Oien, the only American on the Caja Rural-Seguros RGA Pro Continental team.

More on the death of women’s pro cyclist Jacquelyn Crowell, who passed away four and a half years after she was diagnosed with a rare malignant brain tumor.

Fabian Cancellara fights back against motor doping charges by offering to let people examine his bike. Even though there’s no way of knowing whether it was the actual bike he was riding when he was accused of using an illegal motor, since it’s not unusual to use multiple bikes during a race.

A writer for SBNation says Lance took al the fun out of it when he settled his lawsuit with the US government for $5 million.

 

Finally…

When one Bike Commuter of the Year just isn’t good enough. No, posting a sign telling bike riders to get off and walk does not count as fixing a dangerous intersection.

And if you’re going to compete in a bike race while out on disability leave for a bad back, turn off your Strava first.

 

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Morning Links: AAA says hit-and-run crashes rise nationwide, and BOLO Alert for a stolen bike

April 26, 2018 / / 2 comments

No surprise here.

A new study from AAA shows that hit-and-run crashes are at an all-time high in the US. Something that is born out by simple observation these days.

It should also come as no surprise that the overwhelming majority of fatal hit-and-run victims — nearly two-thirds — were bicyclists or pedestrians.

And 20% of all pedestrian deaths are the result of hit-and-run drivers.

The only surprise is California was not one of the worst states for the crime, which was led by New Mexico, Louisiana and Florida.

Then the report dips into absurdity by offering drivers advice on how not to flee the scene following a crash.

AAA said drivers can avoid hit-and-run crashes by being aware of their surroundings, yielding to crossing pedestrians even if they’re not in designated crosswalks and giving cyclists “plenty” of space when passing them on the road. Should drivers get involved in a crash with a pedestrian or cyclist, AAA State Relations Director Jennifer Ryan said they should stay on the scene because the penalties for fleeing are “significantly” more severe, regardless of who is at fault for the crash.

Actually, the way drivers can avoid being involved in a hit-and-run is to just take their foot off the gas and stop their damn car.

Seriously, is that so hard?

But the problem is, while the penalties for fleeing may be more severe than the drivers might otherwise face, they may be less severe than other factors, such as driving under the influence or without a valid license or insurance. Which can actually give a driver an incentive to flee.

And some drivers just assume that they’ll never get caught — and in most cases, they’re right.

Of course, while AAA did a great job of highlighting the problem, they were silent on any real solutions.

I’ve already offered my suggestions.

But something has to be done. Now.

Because politely asking drivers to stick around just isn’t good enough.

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Be on the lookout for a beautiful 2017 Specialized Allez DSW DL Sprint Expert stolen from the CSUN campus Wednesday.

This one belongs to a friend of a friend, so I’d consider it a personal favor if you spread the word.

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Local

The LA Daily News reports that bicycling deaths have tripled in Los Angeles this year, compared to just two this time last year.

Best wishes to endurance cyclist and nutritionist Matt Ruscigno for a full and fast recovery, after he was seriously injured when he was left-crossed by a driver while riding his bike two weeks ago. Ruscigno is the founder of LA’s legendary hill climb competition Feel My Legs I’m a Racer.

Continuing today’s theme, no surprise here either, as car-supremiscist traffic safety deniers Keep LA Moving is trying to fight long-standing plans for a road diet and bike lanes on Aviation Blvd near LAX.

As we mentioned last week, nonprofit group Bikes 4 Orphans is holding a fundraising concert next week to raise money to provide 110 bicycles for an all-girls school in Kenya. You couldn’t ask for a better cause.

 

State

Costa Mesa tries out a pop-up protected bike lane on Merrimac Way.

San Diego students and faculty morn the Grossmont College professor killed by an allegedly sleeping driver while riding his bike last week.

Men’s Journal looks at the coolest bikes and gear they saw at last weekend’s Sea Otter Classic.

San Francisco’s Tenderloin District gets its first protected bike lane.

The formerly staid Wall Street Journal says adults on tiny electric scooters are terrorizing San Franciscans. Yes, we’ve all seen the news reports of panicked Bay Area residents fleeing what remains of the city laid waste by cute little dockless scooters.

Napa Valley will be home to CampoVelo this weekend, described as a three day celebration of “food, wine, cycling, music and philanthropy.”

 

National

Vision Zero has just gone national. The US National Safety Council has set a goal of eliminating all traffic deaths nationwide by 2050.

The American Prospect calls for limiting cars in American cities to shift the focus on our streets to moving people, not cars.

Apparently there’s not much reasoning going on at Reason these days, as the conservative website says don’t blame WAZE for shifting traffic onto neighborhood streets, blame local officials for not building more freeways and traffic lanes. In other words, keep doubling down on the auto-centric planning and induced demand that got us into this mess.

A new documentary examines a coast-to-coast bike tour dedicated to living beyond diabetes.

Next City asks if congestion pricing can be equitable, as Seattle considers becoming the first US city to implement it.

Houston bike advocates are calling for changes at the intersection where a woman was killed while riding her bike, at the same spot another rider died a year earlier. Meanwhile, an Op-Ed from a Houston writer says why bother writing yet another Op-Ed about yet another bicycling fatality.

A community college instructor complains about the abysmal bike infrastructure in Port Huron MI.

No surprise here, as the survivors of the 2016 Kalamazoo massacre say they have little memory of the crash allegedly caused by an allegedly stoned driver now on trial for the alleged murders.

Philadelphia plans to fight bicycling deaths by quipping all new trash trucks with side guards, larger mirrors and 360 degree cameras.

They get it. An Op-Ed in the New York Times says cars are ruining our cities.

 

International

Mark your calendar for June 3rd, which is now officially World Bicycle Day.

A leading climate change expert says don’t bother making a case for bicycling because we’re all doomed anyway.

A Columbian town has banned gravity biking, and will confiscate any bike with modified handlebars for maneuvering around sharp curves.

Cars built in the European Union will now include a cyclist detection system developed by the Netherlands.

Dublin bicyclists stage a die-in to call for safer streets, as over 100 people participated.

Apparently having nothing else to be afraid of, Edinburgh residents are living in fear of scofflaw bicyclists riding on the sidewalk.

For the first time, more people in the Netherlands are now being killed riding bicycles than in cars, led by a rising tide of older men riding ebikes involved in solo crashes.

Twelve Israeli cycling trails to add to your bike bucket list.

Dubai plans to build over 500 miles of bikeways in the next 12 years. Let’s remind them that sharrows don’t count.

An Aussie state scraps a proposal for presumed liability after police stats show bicyclists were at fault in 41% of traffic collisions involving bikes. Which has little to do with it, of course; presumed liability simply assumes the driver of the more dangerous vehicle has a greater responsibility to avoid crashes, and should be held at fault unless it can be shown that the other party was responsible. But that last part usually gets ignored in the resulting uproar anytime someone proposes it.

 

Competitive Cycling

San Diego’s Barrio Logan cycling race returns on Saturday.

Once again, the Cutters team that was made famous in the film classic Breaking Away has won the famed Little 500 at Indiana University.

Austrian cyclist Bernhard Eisel had emergency surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain caused by a subdural hematoma, apparently resulting from a crash in the Tirreno-Adriatico classic back in March.

Former Dutch pro cyclist Karsten Kroon admitted to doping during his career, which ended four years ago. At this point it probably makes more sense to do breaking news stories on the riders who didn’t dope. If they can find any.

Colorado Public Radio talks with ex-Tour de France winner Floyd Landis, who went from disgraced doper to medical dope entrepreneur.

Sad news from USA Cycling, which announced that pro cyclist Jacquelyn Crowell has died after battling a brain tumor.

 

Finally…

Evidently, shorts-clad bike cops chasing miscreants is comedy gold. When you have no idea what the hell you’re doing, the easiest solution is just to ban something — like ebikes, for instance.

And who says you need skis to go skiing?

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Morning Links: Getting facts straight on Venice, fight for safer streets in South LA, and Forsyth Cup returns

April 25, 2018 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Getting facts straight on Venice, fight for safer streets in South LA, and Forsyth Cup returns

In a must read piece, blogger Harrison Hopkins politely takes Keep LA Moving and other traffic safety deniers to task for manipulating data on the Venice Great Streets project to make it appear the street is less safe after last year’s road diet.

Nothing, he points out, could be further from the truth.

Ultimately, the data is clear: the Venice Road Diets did not result in an increase in injuries along that stretch of road. At worst, injuries have remained flat from 2016 in 2017 during the same time period. The Great Streets project isn’t some unsafe wasteland — it’s alternative infrastructure that works just as well as it did before.

When coupling this with LADOT data on commute times remaining largely unchanged (at worst, the average commute increased by half a minute), there is ultimately no real argument to be made from collision data for the removal of the road diet. The folks behind KeepLAMoving (who seem to be content hiding their identities) are, at best, misrepresenting the data, and at worst, deliberately misleading the Venice community for some ulterior motive.

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It looks like bike riders in South LA are trying to turn their anger over the recent hit-and-runs and the deaths of their friends into positive action.

Jane Voodikon forwarded news of a community meeting tomorrow night to address the issue.

Just wanted to let you know that Edin of Chief Lunes Ride has organized a Bicycle Community Meeting this Thursday at 7 p.m. at Sole Bicycles, USC Village location (835 W. Jefferson) to discuss what concerned cyclists can do in the face of recent hit and runs, and the general lack of infrastructure for cycling in South LA. All are welcome to attend, and if you can help spread the word, we’d appreciate it!

Let’s hope a big crowd turns out and demands real change for a change.

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The recently postponed Wolfpack Hustle: The Forsyth Cup 2018 series of track races at the Encino Velodrome have been rescheduled for five Saturdays in the coming months.

  • May 5
  • June 2
  • July 7
  • August 11
  • Sept. 8

Be sure to show up to enjoy some great bike racing; you can register here if you want to compete.

And special thanks to bicycle attorney Thomas Forsyth for his continued support of SoCal cycling — and his ongoing sponsorship of this site.

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Today’s common theme: e-scooters and the people who love — or hate — them.

A new bill under consideration in the California legislature would legalize e-scooters on sidewalks.

The New York Times says not everyone is happy about the spread of electric scooters, though as one Bird employee says, “I’ve never seen a scooter-on-scooter accident kill somebody.”

And The Guardian asks if the ride-share electric scooters that have taken over the streets of Santa Monica are the future of urban transport.

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Local

CD15 Councilmember Joe Buscaino testified before the LA city council Transportation Committee to make the case for a proposed cycle track connecting parks and business districts in the port area. Let’s hope this gets the backing it deserves.

Metro Bike could soon be spreading to Echo Park and Silver Lake. Meanwhile, Streetsblog points out that Metro’s bikeshare system is far from a rousing success, and faces increased competition from less expensive dockless bikeshares.

Pasadena will hold another public meeting to discuss the proposed complete streets makeover of Union Street on May 9th. Don’t miss the cool mouse-over demo of what the street could look like if NIMBYs and traffic safety deniers don’t get their way.

CiclaValley shares photos from Sunday’s CicLAvia, and looks forward to its return to the San Fernando Valley in June.

 

State

Is anyone really shocked that a new study shows California has the most aggressive drivers? I didn’t think so. Thanks to Patrick Pascal for the heads-up.

Like Dylan at Newport, San Francisco’s Ford GoBike bikeshare goes electric.

A campaign to get Oakland to repave the crumbling asphalt on Telegraph Avenue gets results.

The local paper questions whether bike lanes belong on a busy downtown Chico street. Which is kind of the point; they aren’t needed on quiet ones.

 

National

Switzerland is offering a free day of bikeshare in four US cities, none of which are named Los Angeles.

An Oregon paper says ebikes don’t belong on the state’s beach bike paths.

A Louisiana man has been convicted of critically injuring a bicyclist participating in the 2016 Iowa RAGBRAI when he drove over the man’s tent while driving at twice the legal limit.

How can you tell when a street is too damn dangerous? When a Houston bike rider gets killed in front of a ghost bike for another rider killed in the same spot a year earlier.

The Evanston IL city council rejects an attempt by one councilmember to have a protected bike lane removed.

Opening statements have begun in the trial of an allegedly stoned driver for the death of five bicyclists in Kalamazoo MI two years ago, and injuring four others.

Boston bike riders complain that bike lanes on a rebuilt bridge fall far below modern safety standards, with one rider saying it seems inevitable that an inattentive driver will catch up with him.

 

International

Road.cc offers a beginning guide on how to load loads of stuff on your bike.

Pink Bike delivers a stunning photo essay on fat biking the Haida Gwaii archipelago off the northwest coast of British Columbia.

Five epic Canadian rides to add to your bike bucket list — unless you prefer cycling around Taiwan.

A Quebec bill would increase fines for bicyclists by as much as 433%.

A British triathlete’s efforts to complete a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile overnight ride to London to compete in the London Marathon were derailed by a pothole in the road.

Life is cheap in Ireland’s County Cork, where a driver walks with probation for killing a bike rider when she turned around to take a tag off her child’s new toy.

City Metric examines how Copenhagen puts bicyclists at the top of the social hierarchy.

 

Competitive Cycling

The USA Cycling Team will be led by Megan Guarnier and Katie Compton at the Amgen Tour of California Women’s Race next month.

Cycling News lists the top ten contenders for this year’s Giro d’Italia. Guess how many are from the US. No, really, go ahead and guess.

The Giro declares Lance persona non grata as he announces plans to travel to Israel for the start of the race.

A Northern Irish cyclist says he’s lucky he landed on barbed wire after a driver forced him off the road while on a training ride.

So maybe e-mountain bike racing isn’t so easy after all.

 

Finally…

Go mountain biking in Westworld. Taking your penguin for a ride on a Penny Farthing.

And not everyone can win a KOM, but you can always try to break the record for riding a bike backwards with no hands while playing a violin.

Or not.

………

Thanks to Danila O for her generous contribution to the unofficial BikinginLA Dead Laptop Replacement Fund. As always, any donation in any amount is deeply appreciated. 

Category: Morning Links /

Morning Links: BOLO Alert for bike-riding sexual assault suspect, and road and bike rage rears their ugly head

April 24, 2018 / / 2 comments

Beverly Hills police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a bike-riding sexual assault suspect who attempted to rape a woman early Sunday morning near the Beverly Hilton at Wilshire and Santa Monica Blvds.

He is described as a Hispanic man in his 30s, around 5’6″ with black hair pulled back in a ponytail and facial hair, riding a red single speed bicycle.

Police think someone in the bike community may know him due to his riding skills.

Anyone with information is urged to call BHPD detectives at 310/285-2158.

Security cam photos from Beverly Hills Police Department.

………

Today’s common theme: road rage and bike rage rears their ugly head.

This is who we share the roads with. A driver in DTLA intentionally ran down four pedestrians because he was mad that they woke him up from a nap in his car.

A DC bike advocacy group discusses trail etiquette after a man was deliberately knocked off his bike by a rider passing in the opposite direction.

Bike anger rages even in the Netherlands, where a mountain biker pushed an 80-year old man off his bicycle after the older man complained about getting cut off. Seriously, it takes a special kind of jerk to attack an 80-year old man.

………

Local

You can now use bikeshare systems in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and UCLA interchangeably with a single membership, and ride from one system to another without penalties.

Interesting piece from a part-time wrench in an LA bike shop, explaining to a Middle Eastern audience the business model of fixing bikes sold by big box stores so people can actually ride them.

A writer for City Watch calls LA Mayor Eric Garcetti a bully for doubling down on Vision Zero “based on lousy science, lousy presumptions, and a lousy narrative that somehow Angelenos don’t care or do enough for pedestrians and bicyclists.” Even though a) most bike riders can tell you Angelenos don’t car or do enough for pedestrians and bicyclists, and b) city leaders don’t seem to take Vision Zero seriously.

Streetsblog reports on Sunday’s CicLAvia in the San Gabriel Valley. Meanwhile, CicLAvia gears up for a return to the northern San Fernando Valley June 24th.

 

State

Auto-centric opponents of a plan to reconfigure the Coast Highway in Leucadia have appealed to the state Coastal Commission to stop the project, saying that the plan to make it safer to visit the coast without a car “fails to consider public access to the coastline, that fails to adequately consider public safety, and fails to give adequate consideration to environmental concerns.” Sure, let’s go with that.

San Diego’s University Avenue is one of the nation’s most dangerous streets for bicyclists.

Mountain bike legends Tom Richey and Thomas Frischknecht have teamed with a Carmel couple to open a bike-themed coffee shop.

Sad news from Manteca, where a bike rider was killed when he crashed into the rear of a pickup and fell under the wheels of the boat trailer it was pulling; witnesses said the victim didn’t appear to even see the truck and trailer in front of him until it was too late.

Sacramento begins installing the city’s first parking-protected bike lanes.

 

National

Honolulu honors a bike rider who was killed in a 2010 hit-and-run by naming a new bike path after him.

While Seattle fights over every inch of bike lanes, opposition has melted away in nearby Vancouver, where bicycling numbers are up and driving rates down after the city built a network of protected bike lanes. Vancouver faced the same sort of bikelash we’ve seen in Los Angeles, but city officials had the courage to move forward anyway.

The murder trial is set to begin in the case of the stoned driver who killed five bike riders in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, and injured four more; he faces life in prison if he’s convicted.

Bicycling catches up with five New York bicyclists to discuss their plans for getting to work when the city shuts down a major subway line for maintenance next year.

In a very tongue-in-cheek piece, a Virginia writer says he hates the Amish, farmers, equestrians and especially cyclists for startling him when he looks up from his phone while driving, and forcing him to slow down for a few seconds. But commenters don’t get the joke.

 

International

Next City offers an excerpt from Copenhagenize author Mikael Colville-Andersen’s new book explaining how design can reclaim our life-sized cities.

The Guardian looks at the international Warmshowers network, giving bike tourists a floor to sleep on, a place to clean up, and someone to listen to your tales of life on the road.

A pair of Hamilton, Ontario bike riders were struck by a 72-year old driver when they stopped in the curb lane to fix a bike trailer. Another reminder to move your bike out of the roadway if you need to stop for any reason, because too many drivers won’t be looking for you.

Road.cc looks at the highlights of Britain’s only handmade bicycle show.

The Beeb asks if ebikes are the future, while a travel website questions whether they’re the best or worst thing to happen to bike tours.

Dublin bicyclists will hold a die-in on the government steps tomorrow. Something we desperately need to do here in Los Angeles if we could get enough people to show up.

Italian cycling legend Gino Bartali will be awarded honorary Israeli citizenship prior to next month’s start of the Giro d’Italia for his role in saving Jews during World War II, 18 years after his death.

A Kiwi adventurer is stranded in South America after riding from Philadelphia to Alaska, then down the Pacific Coast, when a merger between shipping companies costs him his planned ride on a container ship.

There’s always another side to the story. A New Zealand mountain biker insists the trail crash that left another rider paralyzed from the neck down wasn’t his fault. On the other hand, he’s not the one who ended up in a wheelchair.

China’s Mobike dockless bikeshare company promises to stop putting more bikes in oversaturated cities, and to share their data with local governments.

 

Competitive Cycling

A Monterey County weekly catches up on the action with photos from last weekend’s Sea Otter Classic.

Bicycling reports on Saudi Arabia’s first-ever women’s bike race.

No surprise here: World champ Peter Sagan is cycling’s most valuable social media persona; one Facebook post alone generated $330,000 worth of exposure for his sponsors.

Efforts to revive the women’s La Route de France Féminine have failed after the withdrawal of a host city.

 

Finally…

Bad bike infrastructure doesn’t speak, but it does tweet. Pedal your way across the Greek islands from above.

And sometimes, riding a bike is poetry.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Not so fast for Vision Zero funding, Union Street protected bike lane, and Blumenfield bike ride

April 23, 2018 / / 4 comments

So much for the $91 million we were promised for Vision Zero.

Just days after LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced he was proposing that amount for Vision Zero in next year’s budget, it turns to be yet another disappointment.

Instead, the newly released budget contains $90 million for all street safety improvements, which includes Vision Zero and any other street improvements. And while it’s a significant increase, that’s up from $78 million for street improvements in last years budget, not the $27 million that was budgeted for Vision Zero, as we were led to believe.

As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Meanwhile, the budget does call for $71 million to repave LA’s broken streets, and another $41 million for sidewalk repairs.

………

The bruising battle for safer streets goes on in Pasadena, with a public workshop schedule for May 9th to consider plans for a protect bike lane on Union Street.

Greg Gunther of the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition has put together this practically perfect primer for the project:

Protected bike lanes (PBL) are a simple concept with powerful benefits.

  • In essence, they’re like sidewalks for bikes
  • They put a protective buffer between drivers and bike riders
  • They make it pleasant for anyone to bike – just as sidewalks make it pleasant for anyone to walk
What are the benefits?
  • Increase safety 
    • 89% fewer bicyclist injuries 
    • Reduce driving stress by bringing predictability to the street 
    • Less sidewalk riding reduces pedestrian injuries
  • Promote economic vitality
    • Business revenue increases along PBL routes (NYC DOT, Measuring the Street, New Metrics for 21st Century Streets)
    • Bicycle lanes increase the value of nearby property

Why do PBLs Matter?

  • With increased safety, comes increased ridership (Do you think that biking in Pasadena feels unsafe?  You’re not alone… )
    • Most surveyed expressed an interest in riding a bike more often, but resist because it feels unsafe (2012 – Jennifer Dill)
    • Safe places to ride increase ridership – protected bike lanes have shown to create a proven spike in bicycle traffic (2014 – Monsere, et al)
  • With increased ridership, comes universal benefits
Why on Union Street?
  • Union Street is a major east-west corridor in Pasadena’s Central District – when combined with the proposed Bike Boulevard on Holliston Avenue we will have a network that connects Caltech, Pasadena City College with the Playhouse District, the Civic Center, Old Pasadena and the Gold Line
    • Current traffic volumes are far below the street’s capacity
    • Current plans for the street also include multiple pedestrian enhancements to make the entire street segment safer for everyone 
  • In the future, there are also plans under discussion that would create a “link” restoring historic connections between the Central District and the Arroyo – after that, watch out!
    • The Arroyo Seco Bike Path already provides more than 2 miles of protected bikeway from South Pasadena through Highland Park to Mt. Washington
    • Future improvements are slated to connect downstream to the Los Angeles River – bringing Downtown L.A. within biking reach across comfortable and safe protected lanes
What can I do to help make sure this happens?
  • Make sure you weigh in to voice your preferences
    1.  At minimum, Visit the project website and share your thoughts http://bit.ly/UnionStProtectedBikeLanes
    2.  Even more help:  Send an e-mail that registers your support to Rich Dilluvio [ RDilluvio@cityofpasadena.net ]
    3.  First Prize:  Attend the City’s Community Workshop
      • Wednesday, May 9th – 6:30 to 8:30pm 
      • Pasadena Presbyterian Church – 585 Colorado Blvd (@ Madison) – Gamble Lounge

“The best thing about a bike-friendly city isn’t the bikes – it’s the city!”

………

David Drexler took part in the rescheduled Blumenfield Bike Ride through Councilmember Bob Blumenfield’s 3rd Council District in the San Fernando Valley on Saturday.

According to Drexler,

It was a great ride with all streets closed by LADP for us so we did not have to stop. I highly recommend it — lots of bike advocates were there and it was very well run.

He also reports the councilman’s wife and two kids were along for the ride, and Blumenfield told him they regularly ride as a family.

There may be hope for this city yet.

Councilman Blumenfield addresses the crowd

A good sized group gathers as Blumanfield prepares to lead the ride

It always helps to have a police escort

………

Richard Fox sends word of a new Facebook group for casual SoCal bicyclists.

A new Facebook group has been created for casual cyclists to share favorite rides, announce events, and develop ideas to improve cycling facilities throughout SoCal. Casual cyclists are those who prefer to ride at slow to moderate speeds on trails and low-traffic roads with bike lanes, or even sidewalks when roads seem dangerous to ride on. Most public cycling organizations and bike clubs are composed of road cyclists, racers, and commuters that lobby for safer roadways. We also want safer roadways, but we prefer riding on bike trails away from traffic altogether. This group joins together all the SoCal regions so that we can share experiences beyond our boundaries and help each other in our lobbying efforts. Follow or join at: www.facebook.com/groups/430036694076594/.

………

Local

Great piece from LA Times columnist Steve Lopez, who spends a day at a South LA bike shop to get a feel for the city’s spandex-free bike culture. Thanks to Alan Ginsberg for the heads-up.

A fundraiser organized by an LAPD officer raised over $5,000 for the family of fallen teenage cyclist Sebastian Montero; police are looking for his bike that was stolen two months before his death so they can return it to his mother.

The AP offers a brief report on Sunday’s CicLAvia.

Somehow we missed this one last week, as Wolfpack Hustle’s Don Ward and Bikes Belong founder and former Long Beach Bicycle Czar Charlie Gandy talk bike politics and environmentalism on Bike Talk.

 

State

It’s a well-deserved seven years behind bars for the 18-year old driver who killed a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student as he rode his bike to class in a drunken hit-and-run. Cases like this are doubly tragic; not only is one life needlessly ended and another ruined; but two families shattered.

 

National

c|net provides your guide to dockless e-scooters.

A new documentary about the faith and determination required to compete in the Race Across America will screen in theaters across the US on May 22nd.

Arizona’s Pima County offers a $2.1 million settlement to a bicyclist who was seriously injured on a bike lane described as a death trap.

The Illinois legislature is considering bills that would require drivers to learn the Dutch Reach, add bike questions to the driver’s test, and teach bike safety to school children.

A Massachusetts paper says the best way to celebrate spring is from behind the handlebars. Something we can probably all agree on.

A Brooklyn letter writer gets it, saying you don’t have to ride a bike to know that carving two blocks of police parking out of a protected bike lane is a mistake.

The same day the LA area celebrated its latest CicLAvia, New York opened up 30 blocks of the Great White Way to bikes and pedestrians for a two-mile carfree open streets event.

If they can do it there, we can do it anywhere. New York finally gives the boot to cars in Central Park. Raising hopes that maybe one day we can see cars banished from Los Angeles city parks, including Griffith Park. Because parks are for people, not cars.

 

International

A 60-year old Canadian woman is riding solo through 5,000 miles of the US and Canada.

No irony here. A British bus driver spent the day training to share the road with bicyclists, then got hit by a bus while riding his bike back home; police say the cell phone in his back pocket may have saved him from paralysis.

Nice video from the UK, where a man surprised his 88-year old father, a former cycling champ, with an ebike and swiftly got him back to racing form.

A 77-year old Scottish man spent three weeks shoveling dirt and debris from three miles of roadway to make it safe for bike riders, after being told the local government wouldn’t get around to it until summer.

Who says politicians are useless? A member of the Scottish parliament rescued an 81-year old bike rider who accidentally rode into a canal.

A Bollywood actress complains that five-star hotels don’t accept bicycles. But rides her single speed bike to them anyway.

Police in New Zealand are taking to their bikes after recognizing what the rest of us already knew — that bikes give you a better view of what motorists are really doing in their cars.

Tragic story from New Zealand, where a mountain biker has spent the last two months in a hospital paralyzed from the neck down except for a little movement in her arms after she was struck by careless trail rider, and calls for better bike rider behavior.

The killer hit-and-run epidemic has spread to law-abiding Japan.

 

Competitive Cycling

Spoiler alert: Skip this section if you’re still planning to watch yesterday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Cycling Weekly provides five talking points from Liège-Bastogne-Liège to impress everyone around the water cooler, who probably never heard of it.

Luxembourg’s Bob Jungels won the men’s race, while Michael Woods became the first Canadian to podium in Liège-Bastogne-Liège; Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen won the women’s race for the second year in a row.

Italy’s Alberto Bettiol will miss the Giro after breaking his left clavicle and a rib in the race, while women’s great Marianne Vos suffered a broken collarbone in a collision with another cyclist.

A semi-pro New Zealand cyclist is showing signs of improvement after being roused from a drug-induced coma following a collision that shattered his upper body.

Everything you always wanted to know about Lance Armstrong but probably didn’t care enough to ask.

 

Finally…

Be vewy, vewy quiet, we’re hunting KOMs. Why buy an ebike when you can just build one yourself?

And if you’re going to ride a bike naked in the middle of a thunderstorm, fasten balloons securely to protect your modesty.

Although if you actually had any, you probably wouldn’t be doing it to begin with.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Trinh ghost bike ceremony, Lance settles with the feds, and the golden age of cycling this ain’t

April 20, 2018 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Trinh ghost bike ceremony, Lance settles with the feds, and the golden age of cycling this ain’t

My apologies again for yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

Let it serve as yet another reminder that on a scale of one to ten, diabetes sucks. If you’re at risk, do everything you can to avoid getting it — ride your bike, stay active, lose weight, eat better. 

Whatever it takes. Because you don’t want this crap. 

Trust me.

………

Let’s start with Wednesday’s ghost bike ceremony for Lenny Trinh, the Burbank postal worker and father killed in a dooring on Monday.

Steve S sent moving photos from the installation ceremony, which appeared to draw over 100 people.

Meanwhile. CiclaValley agonizes over the recent rash of bicycling deaths as he helped organize the ghost bike ceremony for Trinh. 

………

In today’s most surprising news, Lance Armstrong has settled the $100 fraud lawsuit against him for a relatively paltry $5 million.

A quarter of that could go to former teammate and fellow doper Floyd Landis, with the balance going to the federal government.

Meanwhile, Business Insider catches up with where the members of Lance Armstrong’s US Postal Team are now, most of whom have also admitted to doping.

Although Landis appears to be the only one who went from doping while pedaling to pedaling dope.

………

Bike Snob asks if this is the golden age of cycling, before concluding probably not. For reasons that should be obvious.

On the other hand, you’ve got the cars. Some call them “freedom machines,” others call them destroyers of cities and harbingers of impending environmental apocalypse. But no matter how you feel about the automobile, there’s no getting around the fact that cars and bikes have an intensely symbiotic yet ultimately disastrous relationship. They’re like George and Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, or that couple at the party who are always one more cocktail away from either hurling crockery at each other or having hate sex on the dining room table, and you never know which until it happens.

………

Local

In addition to the $91 million in Vision Zero funding announced earlier this week, Mayor Eric Garcetti’s new budget for the City of Los Angeles includes increased funding for street safety, repairing LA’s crumbling streets, and fixing broken sidewalks.

Curbed examines the rash of hit-and-runs in South LA.

Retired UCLA parking meister Donald Shoup has a new book. ‘Nuff said.

KCRW wants to know what it’s like for you to ride a bike in Los Angeles. Go ahead, don’t hold back.

Speaking of KCRW, the station’s Madeleine Brand talks hit-and-run with with Streetsblog’s Sahra Sulaiman in a short seven-minute segment.

If you’re headed to Sunday’s Heart of the Foothills CicLAvia, MetroLink is offering additional bike cars, while Metro is providing free bus and train service for Earth Day.

A columnist for the Daily Bulletin attempts to learn how to ride a bike to before Sunday’s CicLAvia. And fails.

 

State

Sunset ranks the top ten bicycling towns in the west, with Davis coming in fourth and San Francisco tenth; not surprisingly, Portland took the top spot. Needless to say, Los Angeles was not on the list.

Not only did the driver who killed Grossmont College professor Brian Jennings as he rode near El Cajon in East San Diego County tell police she fell asleep at the wheel, she also had four children under the age of ten in her minivan at the time of the crash.

Two bicyclists suffered minor injuries when they apparently were collateral damage in a crash between two cars in Thousand Palms; the wreck occurred on the same road where Mark Kristofferson was killed by an alleged speeding DUI driver during the Tour of Palm Springs. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.

Bakersfield is in the process of adopting new wider standards for bike lanes, though they won’t apply to existing lanes.

An 18-year old Los Osos woman has been sentenced to seven years behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run death of a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student as he was riding to class last year.

San Francisco is extending the carfree pilot program for the Twin Peaks road by another two years.

Sad news from Shasta County, where a bicyclist was killed in a head-on crash with a motorcycle rider; the victim was a grad student at UC Davis.

Chico is experimenting with a pilot bike lane project for the next few weeks, using electrical tape to mark off buffered bike lanes instead of paint.

 

National

Bicycling says it has the facts on concussions and what to do if you think you have one. But in talking about helmets, they fail to mention that only MIPS helmets are designed to prevent concussions, and cite the long-discredited study claiming bike helmets reduce the risk of injury by 85%.

Great news, as The Inertia website says cycling only ranks fifth on the list of sports most likely to kill you, behind things like BASE jumping and extreme skiing.

The Wall Street Journal discovers the nationwide bikelash, with motorists fighting for their convenience over everyone’s safety. As Treehugger’s Lloyd Alper put it, anywhere there’s a bike lane, it seems there’s a backlash.

Arizona becomes the ninth state to follow California’s lead in passing regulations for ebikes.

Colorado’s legislature passed a bill allowing local jurisdictions to decide whether to allow bicyclists to treat stop signs as yields and red lights as stop signs, aka the Idaho Stop.

Houston’s mayor continues his efforts to make the auto-centric city safer and friendlier for people on bikes, committing another $10 million to the effort. Anyone who’s spent any time in the Texas city can attest that if they can do it, so can Los Angeles.

An Ohio man has gotten the death sentence for abducting and killing a 20-year old woman as she was riding her bike last year; he had committed an almost identical crime nearly 30 years earlier.

A bicyclist was killed by a hit-and-run driver at New York’s La Guardia Airport back in February. So naturally, they respond by restricting bikes, not cars.

A Charlotte SC writer concludes that dockless bikeshare bikes don’t suck after all.

A New Orleans man faces up to 10 years behind bars after being convicted of the hit-and-run death of a 65-year old bike rider.

A new report says Florida’s 1984 Complete Streets law saved as many as 4,000 lives over a 30-year period, even though the state remains one of the most dangerous for bicyclists and pedestrians. And it didn’t end auto-centric design.

 

International

The UN’s Share the Road program released their 2017 Annual Report. Although it would help if the link actually worked.

If you’ve questioned whether World Bicycle Relief is worth supporting, consider that they gave out nearly 55,000 bicycles to change lives in nine nations.

Bike Radar considers the all-time worst bike tech.

If the price of that new bike seems too good to be true, it probably is.

A Vancouver bike nonprofit says riding a bike to work may be the key to happiness.

A new study says swapping cars for European bikeshares could save 73 lives a year.

The UK’s largest grocery chain is now experimenting with delivery by e-cargo bike.

If you build it, they will come. Aukland, New Zealand experiences its busiest bike month ever, with 430,000 trips taken on the city’s bikeways.

A Kiwi columnist says people who stir up road rage against bicyclists are dangerous. Someone please tell that to KFI’s John and Ken.

An Australian professor says forcing bicyclists to register to prevent bad behavior would cause more problems than it would solve.

A Korean physician says the dangers of bicycling under the influence is underestimated, but has no figures to back that up.

 

Competitive Cycling

Swiss businessman and BMC cycling team owner Andy Rhis passed away Wednesday at age 75; he was also behind the Phonak team that disbanded after team member Floyd Landis was stripped of his Tour de France title.

Austrian cyclist Marco Haller will miss this year’s Tour de France after suffering multiple fractures in his left knee when he was struck by a driver who ran a stop sign, while on a training ride.

More bad news, as New Zealand cyclist Alexander Ray faces facial reconstruction surgery after he was left crossed by driver, leaving him fighting for his life.

A 25-year old Belgian cyclist died in his sleep, the second rider from that country to die under questionable circumstances, after Michael Goolaerts died of a heart attack during the Paris-Roubaix classic.

Heartbreaking news, as a 21-year old Palestinian cyclist lost his leg to an Israeli bullet after joining what he thought would be a peaceful rally in Gaza, ending his hopes of competing in the Asian Games.

Perhaps overstating the obvious, world champ and Paris-Roubaix winner Peter Sagan says being the pope is much harder than being a cyclist. Although you do get to wear more interesting hats.

 

Finally…

A new study from the University of Duh shows bike crashes happen for exactly the reasons we already thought. We may have to deal with angry drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about road raging elephants. Or bison, for that matter.

And get those applications in; you have just five more days to become the bicycle mayor of Bengaluru.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

Move along, nothing to see here

April 19, 2018 / / 2 comments

My apologies.

My diabetes picked tonight to kick my ass, knocking me out most of the night.

I’ll try to catch up on everything we’ve missed tomorrow.

Category: General /

Morning Links: $91 million promised for LA Vision Zero, Frazier press event, and impounding bikeshares in San Diego

April 18, 2018 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: $91 million promised for LA Vision Zero, Frazier press event, and impounding bikeshares in San Diego

This could be good news.

Buried in an LA Times report on the rash of recent traffic deaths in South LA — and the well-deserved anger over them — is this bit of unexpected news.

Mayor Eric Garcetti, who created L.A.’s Vision Zero program in 2015, said Tuesday that he is committed to the program, and will recommend $91 million in funding for Vision Zero in next year’s budget, more than triple the amount allotted this fiscal year.

“We’re saying here right now to every activist, we are with you on this,” Garcetti said.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Daily News says Garcetti was responding to complaints, after he failed to mention Vision Zero, hit-and-run or the recent deaths in his state of the city address.

Garcetti revealed the funding figure Tuesday during a City Hall news conference on an unrelated matter, after traffic-safety activists criticized him for failing to highlight the politically touchy subject during his state-of-the-city address Monday.

“To every activist, we are with you on this, we have done over a thousand Vision Zero improvements,” he said. “One or two get all the press, because we don’t always do them perfectly. We always have to look at the impact of them. But we will keep moving forward on them.”

So maybe he heard us after all.

Although someone should ask him why people who don’t want to die on the streets are considered “activists” instead of residents. Or voters.

But it won’t do a damn bit of good as long as councilmembers remain cowed by traffic safety denying drivers.

And have the authority to overrule both Vision Zero and LADOT to keep LA’s streets dangerously auto-centric.

Today’s photo shows the broken bike Frederick Frazier was riding when he was killed by a hit-and-run driver.

………

The Daily News writes about yesterday’s press conference to call for the arrest of the hit-and-run drivers who killed Frederick “Woon” Frazier, and seriously injured another man at a protest over Frazier’s death the next day.

Police formally announced a $50,000 reward in the Frazier case, and released security camera video showing the moments just before the driver of a white Porsche Cayenne slammed into him from behind.

Which raises the question of why the driver couldn’t see a grown man on a bicycle directly in front of him. Or her.

………

Frank Lehnerz forwards a photo of bikeshare bikes impounded by San Diego’s Little Italy district, which evidently hates when customers don’t get there by car.

………

Survivors of the Las Vegas mass shooting will hold a 300-mile stationary bike-riding event at the Newport-Mesa Family YMCA in Newport Beach on May 19th to benefit trauma sufferers.

And yes, we don’t normally mention events for bikes that don’t go anywhere. But this one seems to be a good cause.

………

Local

A ghost bike will be installed in Burbank tonight to honor Lenny Trinh, the bicyclist who was killed in a dooring on Monday.

NBA Hall of Famer Reggie Miller is one of us, going all in on mountain biking in the hills above Malibu.

 

State

KPCC’s AirTalk program says California has a rentable electric scooter problem.

Bicycling catches up with the death of cyclist Mark Kristofferson during February’s Tour of Palm Springs, which resulted in a murder charge against the — allegedly — speeding and intoxicated driver.

A Santa Cruz paper asks if either side can be trusted in a dispute over a rail-to-trail conversion that has somehow become the county’s most divisive issue.

Streetsblog looks at San Francisco’s shiny new curb and bollard-protected bike lane.

Bay Area advocacy group Bike East Bay profiles a pair of bicycling librarians.

Caltrans has released its bike plan for District 4, encompassing the Bay Area, the first Caltrans document of it’s kind anywhere in California. Thanks to Neal Henderson for the heads-up.

 

National

Reader’s Digest — yes, it’s still around — offers 13 bike tours throughout the US to add to your bicycling bucket list.

Your next bike helmet could have built-in front and rear cams, even if the front does look like you have it on backwards.

Even in bike friendly Portland, parents aren’t comfortable riding with their kids.

In a long-winded commentary, a Seattle writer insists that allowing ebikes on sidewalks amounts to a war on pedestrians, while Washington state is poised to remove sidewalk restrictions on ebikes statewide.

The Colorado House overwhelmingly approved a bill that would let local cities decide whether to allow bicyclists to treat stop signs as yields.

A Lincoln NE councilmember says bikes should be allowed on the sidewalk, as long as they have bells. The bikes, that is, not the sidewalks.

The Chicago Tribune urges Mayor Emanuel to stop thinking small, and commit to a large riverfront park with bikeways and walking trails.

Justin Theroux is one of us, too, going for a ride through the streets of New York.

 

International

Bike Radar offers advice on how to strengthen your back muscles to avoid back pain caused by riding.

A new kid’s mountain bike is designed to grow with them, rather than having to be replaced as they outgrow it.

A Canadian bus company is investigating an altercation between a bicyclist and one of their drivers resulting from a dangerously close pass, with the driver telling the cyclist to go ride in a bike lane two blocks over.

A British Columbia student wins a $15,000 prize for inventing an e-wheel that can be attached like a trailer behind a bike to give you a boost.

A Calgary driver complains after police gave him a ticket for a bike rack that partially obscured his license plate, since police use the same thing on their cars.

Powerful piece from a Toronto cyclist, who writes that the pickup driver who nearly killed him in an illegal left turn got off with a measly $125 fine.

A Nova Scotia bicyclist says he was wrong to criticize police after receiving $700 in tickets for what began with a simple violation of the province’s mandatory helmet law.

Drone footage shows a new “floating” bikeway under construction around Italy’s Lake Garda, suspended off the side of a cliff next to a narrow roadway. Let’s hope users don’t have a fear of heights. And that the bike path has railings.

A Polish researcher has built a web app that can calculate the benefit to the planet in switching from a car to a bike for your commute. Maybe that will finally have an impact on the supposed environmentalists on the city council, when we can show the actual impact a bike lane could have in reducing greenhouse emissions by getting more people in bikes.

Indian bike makers call on cities in the country to use their bicycles for bikeshare systems, rather than importing them from China.

One of Israel’s leading public relations consultants was killed when he was hit by a bus while riding an ebike. Or maybe it was a truck; the paper doesn’t seem to be clear.

Bicycling is booming in Israel, with a nearly 20% mode share in Tel Aviv spurred in part by bikeshare.

The cycling community in Cape Town, South Africa is in shock as a man was shot and killed by someone who stole his bike as he was riding home from work.

A New Zealand bike advocate calls for a nationwide Vision Zero. Something that would be a huge benefit here in the US, where over 40,000 people died on the streets last year alone.

A Kiwi company is getting around the high cost of ebikes by selling them on a subscription basis for $30 a week.

 

Competitive Cycling

New Zealand cyclist George Bennett says he’s lucky to be alive after he was left-crossed while training at high speed in Italy; fortunately, he doesn’t seem to have been seriously injured.

The head of the Quick-Step Floors cycling team says race motorcycles are having too great an effect on bike races, with too many riders are drafting in the motorcycle slipstreams to make breakaways.

Indiana University’s legendary Little 500 rolls this weekend, with the Cutters team made famous in Breaking Away going for their 13th win.

 

Finally…

A riding tide may lift all boats, but not so much for stranded bicyclists. Apparently, not bike-riding witches are in the Wizard of Oz.

And Barbara Bush was one of us, too.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Update: Bicyclist killed when driver drifts off the road near El Cajon

April 18, 2018 / / 6 comments

It looks like LA’s recent epidemic of bicycling deaths has moved south.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, a man on a road bike was killed when a driver drifted off the road, and lost control on the soft shoulder of a highway just outside El Cajon.

The crash occurred around 3:15 pm on Olde Highway 80 west of Flinn Crest Street.

The 67-year old driver reportedly sideswiped the victim, identified only as a 58-year old Alpine resident, before continuing to strike a bus stop sign, mailbox and a parked pickup truck.

The victim was taken to San Diego’s Sharp Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Video from the scene posted by San Diego’s KGTV-10 shows a badly mangled bike, and the driver’s minivan with the front end smashed in.

This is at least the 19th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third in San Diego County.

Update: The victim has been identified as 58-year old Brian Jennings, a professor of comparative politics and U.S. Government at Grossmont College.

Police believe the driver of the minivan fell asleep before drifting off the road and slamming into Jennings.

Update 2: I originally said the victim was riding a mountain bike, based on the initial reports; however, the video above clearly shows a road bike. Thanks to BV for the correction. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Brian Jennings and his loved ones.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,
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