Morning Links: Doris Day was one of us, the war on bikes goes on, and this is who we share the roads with

Just a quick reminder that Doris Day was one of us, too.

The popular actress and singer who passed away over the weekend was a lifelong bike rider.

And the inspiration for one of the best quotes to ever come out of Hollywood.

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The war on cars is a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps going.

Sometimes literally.

An Oregon bike rider was run down by the driver of a Mercedes convertible after he stopped on the side of a road to check his map. And the driver — who witnesses said had been swerving recklessly all over the road — kept going, giving the victim the finger as he drove away.

Police are looking for a man in his 60s with a baseball cap and a Tom Selleck mustache.

………

Speaking of the war on bikes, KCRW’s Press Play talks with the president of Burbank-based Pure Cycles about the effect Trump’s China trade war will have on his business.

Thanks to the increase in tariffs, the duties for Pure’s most recent shipment of bikes jumped from $30,000 to $50,000.

………

This is who we share the roads with.

A Chicago driver speeding in reverse ran down a woman who was walking her dog in a crosswalk. And unbelievably, got off with just a pair of traffic tickets.

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Local

Streetsblog talks with John Yi, the new executive director of Los Angeles Walks.

UCLA is considering changes to its bikeshare program, after confronting the same competition from dockless scooters challenging bikeshares throughout the US.

Culver City Walk & Rollers will host a bike themed student art exhibit this Saturday, addressing the question of “Why drive when you can…?”

Pasadena announces road closures for Saturday’s final stage of the Amgen Tour of California. Fortunately, the early announcement gives Rose City NIMBYs a full week to fume.

A Pasadena website looks forward to Sunday’s 626 Golden Streets: Mission to Mission. Which, of course, gives gives Rose City NIMBYs another full week to fume. Or make the same week, depending on how you want to look at it. 

A bike-riding JPL climate scientist hasn’t flown in seven years to reduce his carbon footprint.

The Pomona Valley Bicycle Coalition will host a pit stop at Claremont Depot on Bike to Work Day, along with a Pomona Color Wheels Ride on Saturday.

 

State

An advocacy group passed out free bike lights at an Encinitas farmers market in advance of Bike Week.

San Diego celebrated the completion of a $16 million road reconstruction project to give San Ysidro students a safer route to school, with bike lanes and sidewalks replacing a dirt path.

Robert Leone forwards news on a series of San Diego area bike projects, including the completion of a rail-adjacent coastal bikeway in Encinitas, and updates on additional projects.

Fresno bike lanes get fresh Kermit., while to local police celebrate Bike Week by cracking down on bicyclists and pedestrians.

San Francisco vows to fix its deadly intersections after 13 bike riders and pedestrians have been killed in the city so far this year. Something tells me LA’s total would be a hell of a lot higher; we’ve already seen six bicyclists alone killed on Los Angeles streets.

That’s more like it. Oakland has added adaptive bicycles for people with disabilities to its bikeshare system.

 

National

The Sierra Club offers tips to keep your bike from being stolen, saying it may be Bike to Work Week, but it’s steal a bike week for thieves.

USA Today asks if ebikes are the answer to health, traffic and environmental issues. Short answer, yes. But not without safer places to ride them.

A healthy living website gives us five reasons why bicycling is better than driving, while Consumer Reports says bicycling to work can transform your body and your well being.

An Arizona public radio site looks at the controversy over plans to build a bike ranch — think dude ranch, but with bicycles instead of horses — across the street from Saguaro National Park.

Des Moines, Iowa, rips out a parking protected bike lane after drivers couldn’t figure it out and local businesses didn’t back it.

Dallas police bust the hit-and-run driver who ran down a bike cop over the weekend; the Lyft driver turned himself in after seeing the news coverage.

Arkansas continues to make itself a center for mountain biking with new trails at a number of state parks. Meanwhile, tiny Silverton CO vows to get some of that action, as well.

Heartbreaking story from Michigan, where the brother of a fallen bike rider took his own bicycle to the exact spot where his brother was run down, and finished the ride his brother couldn’t.

Ohio bike couriers are still in business, despite the rise of e-filing for court documents.

Columbus, Ohio dockless ebike startup will offer a bizarre looking green fat-tired bike-scooter hybrid.

Evidently, if you want to grind a little gravel, go to Vermont.

Boston considers cutting speed limits to 20 mph to improve safety, while an advocate called for doing something about the city’s stroads — multi-lane thoroughfares that represent a cross between a road and a street.

This is the cost of traffic violence. The victim of a fatal Brooklyn bicycling collision was just biking home to watch Game of Thrones with his dad.

New York’s mayor continues his bizarre opposition to ebikes, while other officials go about the business of legalizing them.

A Gotham letter-writer calls on the city to crack down on bicyclists who ride like many people drive, but cause far less harm.

Half the bicycling deaths in New York this year have occurred in Southern Brooklyn, which lacks the bicycling infrastructure installed in other parts of the city.

A New York bike racing tradition could be over, after a private company jacked up the use fee for a former naval station a whopping 22566%. And no, that’s not a typo.

This is who we share the roads with too. A Florida man was busted for crashing into a police car while drunk as a skunk and high on coke — and driving a riding mower.

 

International

An Edmonton, Canada city councilor says bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists are all responsible for road safety. Even though statistics show the people in the big, dangerous machines are responsible for almost all crashes in the city.

Canadian police continue to turn to 529 Garage for bicycle registration to help stolen bikes find their way back home, this time in Ottawa.

A British teenager is called a hero after jumping into the ocean to save the life of a friend who lost control of his bicycle and fell 15 feet into the water.

Add this one to your bike bucket list, mais non? How about a scenic 560 miles bike route through France’s picturesque Loire Valley to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the original Renaissance Faire?

 

Competitive Cycling

Forty-one-year old former Olympic road cycling champ Samuel Sanchez has received a two-year ban for doping, even though authorities accepted his excuse that it was the inadvertent result of a bad supplement. And backdated the ban to cover the two years he’s already been out of cycling since testing positive in 2017.

VeloNews says America’s wide roads will have an impact on the outcome of this week’s Amgen Tour of California. And catches up with Belgian cycling legend Roger De Vlaeminck, who’s still racing today at 71.

It was a good day for a Danish rider at the Tour of California, and a better one for an American.

Upon further consideration, the winner of Monday’s third stage of the Giro didn’t.

 

Finally…

Apparently, fixies serve no purpose and only appeal to rich people, which probably goes double for e-fixies. Los Angeles is bike friendly, or maybe it isn’t.

And ask not for whom the bugle blows.

It blows for thee, if you’re competing in the AToC.

One comment

  1. David says:

    Big cycling weekend here with the Amgen Ciclavia on Sat at the Rose Bowl till 8 pm, and the 626 Ciclavia on Sunday. I plan to be at both.

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