A bike-raging Hermosa Beach bicyclist could face charges for attempting to punch a motorist.
Then again, so could the driver.
The incident started when the guy on the bike complained that the driver passed too close while he was riding on the city’s sharrows. Then allegedly attack the other man after he stepped out of his car.
Police officials say the incident is still under investigation, but that both men could be responsible for the incident.
Meanwhile, the man who shot the video says he rides a bike too. But thinks the sharrows make bike riders “feel entitled to more than common sense would allow.”
Even though that’s the exact purpose of sharrows, to demonstrate to everyone that bicyclists are entitled to ride in the lane, and just where they should be positioned.
And even though sharrows don’t give bike riders any rights we don’t already have on virtually any other street.
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Good Twitter thread asking what the hell is going on with the seemingly endless closure of the Arroyo Seco Bike Path in Gil Cedillo’s 1st Council District, as LADOT insists they’re working on it.
And the LACBC politely responds, not very hard.
Our bike program is developing detour routes to minimize impact during the path's closure and damage assessment. Please note that several agencies are involved regarding repairs.
— LADOT (@LADOTofficial) July 17, 2019
2) We were told there were multiple agencies involved too & the City didn't have all the permits to do the work. It will take time. We can't understand how it is the City doesn't have approvals in already place in order to do whatever maintenance/repairs are needed at any time. pic.twitter.com/cXpvTNHAAC
— BikeLA (@heybikela) July 17, 2019
So now this is what the path looks like. 3) We were told that it's a major job and more complex than it looks. Is it? Maybe. Maybe not? We do know that the Dept of DIY has cut holes in the fence several times and the City has fixed that (last we checked). pic.twitter.com/Zo6hyAHSbj
— BikeLA (@heybikela) July 18, 2019
So most of the Arroyo Seco path is in Council District 1: Gil Cedillo. That may explain things, but it may also be that AND someone's dropped the ball. Still, we encourage folks to contact Cedillo's office & the Mayor. mayor.helpdesk@lacity.org councilmember.cedillo@lacity.org pic.twitter.com/dG3lYhzsua
— BikeLA (@heybikela) July 18, 2019
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Thanks to Opus the Poet for forwarding this educational video on how to throw a monkey wrench into the usual auto-centrism.
Want to help to stop the madness of car-centrism?
It is simple!Start crossing the road like this. Reveal the inherent design flaw of the iron cage…#Monkeywrenchingpic.twitter.com/p5nrTVJ7zf
— MonkeyWrenchGang (@M_WrenchGang) July 17, 2019
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Bakersfield bike riders go on their monthly full moon ride.
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If you think riding the cobbles of the spring classics are rough, check out this ride from the Åre Bike Park in Sweden.
But you might want to take a little Dramamine first.
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Now this is a mountain bike race.
https://www.singletracks.com/blog/mtb-videos/watch-2019-mountain-of-hell-mountain-bike-race/
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Sometimes it’s the people on bikes behaving badly.
A Wyoming man suffered serious injuries when he was literally run over by someone on a bicycle, as proven by the tire tracks on his chest.
Wichita KS police are looking for someone on a bicycle who shot the windows out of cars with a BB gun.
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Local
LA officials unveil three proposals for a major new park on the former Taylor Yards site along the LA River.
Dubai’s Open Skies magazine visits a recent CicLAvia, questioning whether it means an end to LA’s love for cars. We should be so lucky.
State
A San Diego TV station demonstrates how to rewrite a NIMBY press release without adding any information, while tossing in an anti-bike tweet from one of their news people for good measure. Thanks to F. Lehnerz for the heads-up.
An op-ed in the Desert Sun lists all the NIMBY reasons why the 50-mile CV Link trail around the Coachella Valley is a bad idea. Seriously, folks, it’s just a bike path.
The Ojai Valley Bike Trail will be closed fo five months for drainage repair work, starting on the 15th of next month. Ever notice that they seldom seem to close the roadways drivers use for months at a time?
National
Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss says if government officials really want to save the environment, they should forget electric cars and start subsidizing ebikes.
A bike commuting fashion writer offers tips on how women can dress to ride a bike, with nary a spandex in sight.
A self-described avid bicyclist insists bikes don’t belong on the streets, and says Las Vegas should start building wider sidewalks that bike riders can share with walkers and joggers. Aside from the obvious conflicts of sharing sidewalks, that begs the question, if bikes don’t belong on the streets, where does he ride now?
A memorial sculpture composed of multiple ghost bikes honors the eight bike riders killed in Nevada in 2017.
Once again, a bike rider is a hero, as a Kansas man who was out riding with his wife teamed with a cop to rescue a teenage girl trapped in a river.
There’s a special place in hell for the grown men who punched an eleven-year old Nebraska boy in the face to steal his bicycle.
There’s a good reason why business was buzzing at a Texas bike shop.
A Chicago weekly questions whether fears of reckless cyclists are overblown. Gee, you think?
A New York website says the city should take a page from London to make it safe for bike riders.
New York’s leading alternative transpiration advocacy group is looking for a communications associate.
When a New Jersey woman’s car broke down, a group of bike cops who were training nearby were happy to give her a push.
Heartbreaking story from Atlanta, where a married man who had just graduated college with two degrees — paid for by Starbucks, his employer — was killed by a drunk driver as he rode his bike to work at 5 am.
A report from a Georgia public radio station says Atlanta’s rapid growth and lack of safe infrastructure is putting bicyclists and pedestrians at risk, with crashes up 53% in ten years.
More heartbreaking news, this time from Florida, where a 17-month old toddler is dead, her mother in a wheelchair and her father still in a coma, 46 days after a driver jumped the curb and slammed into the family as they were riding on the sidewalk to help the child fall asleep. A GoFundMe account to help pay their medical expenses has raised nearly $45,000 of the $100,000 goal.
International
Thirteen bike bells to help drive Quasimodo crazy, and tell other road users that an angel just got its wings.
If you build it, they will come. Despite the usual arguments that no one would ever use it, a 10-year old separated bike path across a Vancouver bridge has proven hugely successful, becoming the busiest bike lane in North America, with over a million bike riders a year.
Speaking of Vancouver, the city is dealing with a rash of bicycle chop shops.
A woman who was injured in a terrorist attack outside London’s Houses of Parliament while riding her bike to work has been too frightened to ride her bike ever since. The driver was convicted of intentionally plowing his car into a group of bike riders waiting on a red light, before attempting to hit a pair of police officers.
Former London mayor and possible prime minister Boris Johnson is accused of lying during a debate about the bike he rode while mayor having been stolen; he’d previously said it died of old age.
Life is cheap in Great Britain, where a woman walked with a bare slap on the wrist for killing a renowned conservationist because she “just didn’t see him” as he rode his bicycle across the street.
An English e-bikeshare program was scrapped after vandals destroyed the bikes, making it financially unfeasible to go on.
An Irish group calls for separated bikeways because too many women feel judged due to intimidating behavior by men and boys on the road.
Your next Dutch bike could be a shaft-driven ebike that never needs charging.
An Indian website looks at how Hero Cycles got the country on wheels following its independence from the UK.
Competitive Cycling
A Denver op-ed calls for equality for women in pro cycling, starting with next month’s Colorado Classic women’s stage race.
London’s Telegraph says Julian Alaphilippe may be a genius on his bike, but questions how long he can hold onto the yellow jersey in the Tour de France.
Cycling Tips ranks the top four mountain bike jumps over the Tour de France.
The weirdest rules of the world’s greatest bike race.
Finally…
One reason it’s better to be a road cyclist than a mountain biker: roadies hardly ever run into bears. Evidently, Alfred Hitchcock was right about the birds.
And a letter to the editor from a self-identified non-Luddite says roads were built for horses, bicycles and streetcars, not cars.
Then again, it was written in 1908.
