Just a quick update.
As of this writing, we’ve raised $310 — just $90 short of our $400 goal — to give copies of Profiles in Courage and Do The Right Thing to the Mayor of Los Angeles and every member of the city council.
All to give them a not so subtle hint to show a little courage and do the right thing to protect the lives of everyone who walks, bikes or drives on the streets of Los Angeles.
You can donate through PayPal, or through the Zelle app using the email address you’ll find here.
And I hope you’ll join us in storming City Hall during Bike Week to demand safer and more livable streets for everyone.
Unfortunately, we have to change the original date, since the council won’t be in session on Bike to Work Day.
Instead, we’re in the process of selecting a new date, the morning of either Wednesday, May 16th before the Ride of Silence, or — more likely — Friday, May 18th before Bike Night at Union Station.
You can vote here if you have a preference.
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If this doesn’t put a smile on your face this morning, nothing will. Just in time for Bike Month, a new DIY PSA cobbled together from movie footage artfully makes the case for riding bikes instead of driving.
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It’s one thing to get dropped. It’s another to get passed by a ebike rider like you’re not even moving.
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Local
The Signal discusses upcoming events for May’s Bike Month.
Heat maps from the newly combined SaMo, WeHo, UCLA and Beverly Hills bikeshares show the desperate need for decent east-west bikeways on the Westside.
A pair of mountain biking groups have repaired the historic Gabrielino Trail in the peaks of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument above La Cañada.
The West Covina city council punts on an active transportation plan that would add over 50 miles of bike paths after they’re unable to reach a consensus; they’ll pick it up again on the 15th.
Good read from Peter Flax, who discovers what it’s like to be a fish out of water. Or more precisely, a life-long roadie in a Manhattan Beach SoulCycle.
State
The Sierra Club goes bike packing along the Southern California coast through San Diego and Orange Counties.
The Bay Area celebrates Bike to Work Day a week earlier than SoCal on May 10th; a Sonoma paper offers tips on how to make the most of it.
San Francisco bicyclists once again form a people-protected bike lane to call for better bike infrastructure. To the best of my knowledge, no one’s done that in Los Angeles yet, perhaps because they don’t trust LA drivers not to run over them anyway.
A bicycle-riding Santa Rosa doctor says bike commuting is the key to fitness.
In today’s edition of things that would never happen in LA, the Redding city council voted to close a little-used stretch of road entirely to make way for a new bike and pedestrian trail near downtown. Thanks to Casey Kerrigan for the link.
National
The new GOP-passed tax law includes plenty of tax breaks for corporations and the rich; bike riders, not so much.
Ten more bike companies have joined with Ford and Trek to develop a Bike to Vehicle (B2V) communication system, envisioning a world where you’ll have to ride with a sensor on your bike to avoid getting run down by self-driving cars. Rather than, say, just building cars that can actually see people on bikes.
Bike Snob takes on the myth that bikes are frivolous toys for Lycra-clad fitness freaks.
Outside offers advice for parents on how to get more girls riding bikes.
Nice piece from Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus, who calls on everyone to just chill and be a little more understanding of other people on bikes.
Denver bike riders are told to keep waiting for more protected bike lanes.
The family of a fallen Texas cyclist has filed suit against the driver that killed him, as well as a passenger in the car, after the driver walked with time served, without spending a day in prison, despite a two-year sentence for manslaughter. Thanks to Stephen Katz for the heads-up.
A pair of Walmart heirs are making Arkansas a fat-bike destination.
A Minnesota bike shop owner is running for the local city council on a platform of opposing bike lanes and traffic safety improvements, insisting that bike lanes aren’t used enough to justify their existence.
A Maryland town is installing 2,000 free bike lights to help reduce nighttime collisions.
International
Road.cc recommends their top eight front and rear daytime running lights. And yes, you should be using lights during the day.
Forget Copenhagen; traffic calming and an extensive bikeway network in Bogata, Columbia has resulted in 800,000 bike trips a day.
This is what we need. A new London bike map shows the safest routes, and where key interchanges are located.
A new British study suggests Google Street View can be used to estimate traffic patterns to help improve public health.
Ireland’s Transport Minister calls on drivers to pass bike riders safely, following a 50% jump in bicycling fatalities so far this year.
A pro cyclist explains why Croatia is a world-class mountain biking destination.
A New Zealand writer offers a surprisingly fair and insightful take on the divide between people on bikes and in cars, noting that “the cyclist you’re passing probably isn’t the same one who ran the red light in front of you the other day,” and the driver behind you probably isn’t the one who doored you last week.
Singapore says slow that e-scooter down already.
Competitive Cycling
Wednesday’s stage one of the Redlands Classic was cancelled due to bad weather in Big Bear.
VeloNews reports on the 11th edition of the famed fixie fest Red Hook Classic.
A 20-year old cyclist has bounced back from a near-crippling crash at the Red Hook Classic to become one of the few African American Olympic hopefuls.
Great cause. Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka is using this year’s Giro d’Italia to raise funds to put 1,000 African women and girls on bikes over the next two months.
In advance of the Jerusalem start of the Giro, Israel has made legendary Italian cyclist Gino Bartali an honorary citizen of the country for his clandestine work saving Jews in World War II.
A Palestinian cyclist who lost a leg when he was shot by Israeli soldiers during a protest says he’s disgusted that the Giro will start in Israel.
Finally…
You might want to skip the keto diet if you want to go fast. Who needs dockless bikes in trees when you can leave a car dangling from a bridge?
And bloomers and bikes sparked the feminist movement of the ’90s.
No, the 1890s.
