BikinginLA

We’ve got a lot to catch up on after yesterday’s unexcused absence, so let’s get right to it.

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This is a busy day in the LA bike world.

Pasadena is hosting a public workshop to design the proposed Union Street protected bike lane; there will be a short, easy ride along Union Street get to there.

Santa Monica Spoke is hosting a Handlebar Happy Hour at Fig Restaurant.

Metro is holding a design workshop for the new bike and pedestrian friendly forecourt and esplanade at Union Station.

Long Beach begins its multi-day lead-up to the Amgen Tour of California with a screening of A Sunday in Hell – Paris Roubaix 1976, complete with bike valet. And no, despite what the story says, it’s not about the 1796 Paris-Roubaix, although that would make a more interesting movie.

And if all that wasn’t enough, it’s National Bike to School Day.

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More activities for next week’s Bike Week in the LA area.

Pure Cycles and People for Bikes are hosting a pre-Bike Week Draft Meetup at the bike maker’s Burbank HQ this Friday, offering bike talk and free beer.

Pasadena Now looks at Bike Week activities in the Rose City.

UCLA will be celebrating Bike Week with pit stops at various locations almost all week.

The LACBC’s annual Ride of Silence will roll through NoHo next Wednesday.

Then again, not everyone will be celebrating the Bike Week festivities. Some will be getting more political, observing that bicycling is a necessity, rather than a choice, in many communities.

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The LAPD blames distracted walking for a series of pedestrian deaths in the San Fernando Valley, urging people to walk smarter.

On the other hand, the insurance industry blames bad road design for an increase in pedestrian deaths nationwide, not bad behavior or distracted walking.

Which probably explains many, if not all, of the deaths the LAPD blames on the victims. Because good infrastructure reduces problem behavior for people on foot as well as on bikes, just like the lack thereof it causes it.

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Local

Streetsblog has more details on Metro’s proposal to cut Metro Bike rates in an attempt to boost lagging ridership.

A new proposal would put Dodger blue bike lanes on Stadium Way, making it safer and more convenient to ride to games while improving safety for everyone.

The LAPD and LASD officers taking part in the Hollywood Memorial Ride stop by a Tennessee elementary school; the officers are riding nearly 3,000 miles across the US to honor fallen police officers.

A local website recommends five popular bikeways in the LA area.

Santa Monica Next celebrates the city’s ranking in second place on the list of bike friendly small cities.

A bicyclist had to be airlifted to a trauma center after crashing into a deer on Glendora Mountain Road on Sunday; no word on the condition of the rider. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.

 

State

Nothing like getting run off the road by a sheriff’s deputy who says he never even heard of the three-foot passing law. Thanks to Erik Griswold for the link.

A teenage boy suffered non-life threatening injuries when he was run down from behind by a driver while riding his bike to school in San Marcos.

Berkeley responds to concerned parents by agreeing to add a flashing pedestrian beacon at a dangerous intersection — but not a way for bike riders to trigger it, even though it’s on a bicycle boulevard.

 

National

LimeBike says Bike Month highlights the need for better urban bicycling infrastructure. Meanwhile, car makers continue to build distractions in the dashes of motor vehicles, inventing new ways to take the driver’s attention off the road. And you.

The Shift Up Podcast takes on an important topic as it considers the barriers to biking that keep us from closing the bicycle gender gap. Despite the bike industry’s best efforts, shrink it and pink it doesn’t seem to be the answer.

Forbes recommends the best gifts for bicycling mothers. Yet oddly doesn’t recommend a better bike, which is what most bike riding mothers probably really want.

Gear Junkie looks at the unglamorous, decidedly non-sexy performance-enhancing value of a well-maintained chain.

Portland will install sensors on the city’s three most dangerous streets for bicyclists to provide real-time data and more accurate bike counts.

It takes a pretty massive schmuck to steal a truckload of bikes from a Washington middle school.

Someone scrawled heartbreaking graffiti on a shattered wall where a Las Vegas bike rider was killed, reading “Drunk Killed Dad.”

Yes, that self-driving Uber car saw Elaine Herzberg in Tucson AZ before it killed her earlier this year, but decided she didn’t matter. In other words, just like human drivers.

The rich get richer. Bicyclists in my hometown, rated the nation’s most bike-friendly community by People for Bikes, may soon be able to legally ride through stop signs.

Heartbreaking, inspiring story from just outside my hometown, as a man who was described as “a hell of a cyclist” still rides despite suffering from advanced ALS — aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease — thanks to a friend and a customized adaptive cargo bike.

Two German bike riders were killed when they were run down from behind by a driver while riding on a Kansas highway.

Houston bike advocates hold a die-in to protest the city’s dangerous streets.

A new study has identified the most dangerous streets in Chicago.

Now that’s more like it. A 33-year old Illinois man will be 63 years old  when he gets out of prison if he serves his full sentence for the drunken hit-and-run death of a teenage bike rider last year.

Apparently, all you have to do is make plans for a $1.6 million, 12-foot separated bike path to make people actually call for a road diet instead, like this Ohio couple.

Twenty-six cyclists from Newtown CT are on their way to DC on their annual ride to call for stronger gun laws — one for each of the victims of the Sand Hook school shooting.

Curbed says New York has to do more to meet its Vision Zero goals. On the other hand, they actually are doing something, unlike some other cities I could name.

A rural Pennsylvania writer calls for a national biking network. Apparently, Los Angeles looks a lot bike friendlier from a distance of around 2,700 miles.

 

International

Mexican bike riders call for greater security after the bodies of two tourists are found off a Chiapas highway after being missing for several days, even though authorities insist the riders just lost control and no foul play was involved.

Brazilian women ride to fight sexism.

Don’t be disrespectful while riding in Alberta, Canada or the Mounties will be on your trail. And as we all know, the Mounties always get their man. Or woman.

Downtown Montreal is tripling the number of bike racks. Because it doesn’t matter if streets are designed for bike riders if there’s no place to park once you get there.

The top five cycling routes through Glasgow for your next visit to Scotland.

Six secrets behind the remarkable rise in bicycling rates in Sevilla, Spain, which built out an entire bike network in less that four years; one key was allowing the public to help design the bikeways — but only after telling them that doing nothing was not an option.

Indian bike riders attempt to take back the streets through sustainable mobility.

This year’s leading nominee for most creative use of existing space — a 1.3 mile bikeway through a Jerusalem sewage tunnel.

A New Zealand writer says even though critics call the city council “cycling zealots,” it’s actually being too cautious in its support for safe bikeways.

Aussie cancer researchers say if exercise was a pill, it would be prescribed to every patient. It would be anyway if pharmaceutical companies could just figure out a way to make money off it.

 

Competitive Cycling

Israelis were excited to watch the Giro d’Italia’s Jerusalem start last weekend, even if they’d never heard of it. Meanwhile, a writer for VeloNews questions how far is too far for the start of a grand tour. Which they may learn if the Giro follows through on discussions to start the race in the US.

In your nearly spoiler-free report on the Giro, VeloNews says Froome isn’t panicking yet.

The Astana cycling team says they’re sorry for nearly killing a race marshal with a team car in the Tour of Yorkshire.

Cycling Tips talks with world champ Peter Sagan about what’s next. Besides the Tour of California, that is.

The doping era may be over, but as long as there are performance enhancing drugs, someone’s going to use them. And may even get caught.

 

Finally…

When your annual ride is so popular you have to cancel it. Surviving a week in suddenly stylish bike shorts.

And before you bust someone for riding a stolen a bike, it’s always polite to let them finish the race first.