Richard Rosenthal notes one of my long standing complaints, accompanied by the photo on the left.
Cities construct protected bike lanes with great fanfare, then promptly lose interest in maintaining them.
There are brand-new bike lanes on Marina Drive at the 2nd & PCH Center in Long Beach. I ride down the center of that street with the cars rather than being in that debris-filled chute.
Simply put, it’s not enough for cities to build a bikeway, then forget all about it.
They have to be maintained on a regular basis, with particular attention paid to problems affecting that particular bike lane.
Like fallen palm fronds, for instance.
Even in a city as bike-friendly as Long Beach.
Because objects that would simply be a bump for someone on four wheels can be a major hazard to someone on two.
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CiclaValley’s Zachary Rynew takes a not-so coincidental ride along the newly threatened Yucca Street Bicycle Boulevard.
As we noted Monday, a motion before the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council would remove a key traffic diverter from Yucca Street in Hollywood, still LA’s lone bicycle boulevard.
You can voice your opinion at tonight’s board meeting starting at 6 pm at the Will and Ariel Durant Branch Library on Sunset Blvd just west of La Brea.
Or you can email your comments, though I’m told they will only be seen by the board president, and only be read at the meeting if there’s time remaining after the comments, which is pretty unlikely.
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The LACBC is pulling the plug on today’s bike light giveaway in Koreatown.
Due to predicted rain, we are postponing tomorrow night's #OperationFirefly to another time. We don't like to make our #TeamFirefly volunteers stand (or sit) in the rain. It's just not nice. Our next Operation Firefly will be in the Valley after Thanksgiving. Stay tuned! #bikeLA https://t.co/zu05NxJSFX pic.twitter.com/LHmghzkVg7
— BikeLA (@heybikela) November 20, 2019
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Costa Mesa councilmember Arlis Reynolds invites you to bring your whole family to this Sunday’s Turkey Trot cyclocross race. Including the dog.
Even if you’re just ‘cross curious.
Curious? Join the Beginners Clinic at 8 a.m., enter the First Timer race at 9 a.m. (only one lap!), then watch the pros.
Know what you're doing? They've got categories for junior & adult Masters & Elite.
Check out the full schedule and sign up here: https://t.co/o4nelJEKBw
— Arlis Reynolds (@arlis4costamesa) November 19, 2019
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Local
Westbound Rowena Ave through Los Feliz and Silver Lake will face partial closures through December 6th, then be closed entirely on December 7th for work on water pipes.
LAist says LA’s most DIY cafe meets in a small park along the LA River every Wednesday morning, with rocks for seating and BYO coffee and snacks.
Santa Monica-based Bird wants you to wear a helmet when you ride their scooters, so they’re offering free ride credits when you post a selfie wearing a helmet.
Long Beach is fighting the current docked bikeshare retrenchment with plans to expand into North Long Beach.
State
A recent landslide means a section of the San Clemente Trail in Orange County will be closed for the foreseeable future.
San Diego’s ambitious bike network is already a year behind schedule and $79 million over budget, with only nine of the planned 77 miles completed.
A San Luis Obispo developer is doubling the width of a bike path and replacing the asphalt with longer-lasting concrete, as a condition for building a new 580-unit housing and commercial development project.
Palo Alto is finally ready to start construction on a long delayed bike and pedestrian bridge, which has nearly doubled in cost over the past five years.
Sad news from San Mateo County, where a bike rider was killed in an apparent collision on Monday.
Streetsblog offers photos from the first day of the newly opened Richmond-San Rafael Bridge bike path, stretching six miles over the San Francisco Bay.
National
Australia’s Bolt Bikes is coming to the US, offering an ebike subscription model allowing you to start riding for $39 a week, with a rent-to-own option for $49. Though they may run into copyright problems with Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt’s Bolt Scooters.
Lime’s head of sustainability says we need to rethink how we move around our cities — starting with using more pollution-free e-scooters, of course.
Bicycling says if you’re riding for fitness, you need to ride smarter, not more.
An Oregon website offers a surprisingly practical — and affordable — holiday price guide for the bike rider on your list, ranging from extra tubes and wool socks to a new WaveCel helmet. Or you could just buy them a subscription to BikinginLA.com. No, wait, it’s already free. But still.
Las Vegas investigators are using DNA to search for a girl who disappeared while riding her bike in 1999 when she seven years old, which would make her 29 now.
A new study from Brigham Young University concludes that ped-assist ebikes allow you to ride faster and farther with less exertion, encouraging more people to ride a bike.
A second Chicago bike rider has been killed along a dangerous stretch of road where local aldermen have blocked long-standing plans for a bike lane because “the community” doesn’t want it. Sounds like Los Angeles, where councilmembers block bike lanes based on the whims of a handful of residents.
An editorial in the Chicago Sun-Times says the city needs to invest in making the streets safer for people on bikes.
Completing our Chicago triptych, the police walked back a victim-blaming statement, saying the death of a bike rider at the hands of an unlicensed and uninsured driver had nothing to do with where he was riding on the wide, high speed street.
New York’s mayor signs a bill authorizing 250 miles of protected bike lanes and 150 miles of bus lanes.
A New York news service says everyone wants safer streets, but no one wants to change the way they get around.
Apparently, DC isn’t Copenhagen, either.
That’s more like it. A South Carolina man gets 20 years behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run that killed a man on a bicycle, followed by a second DUI just a week later; his victim was a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing.
A Florida bike cop faces charges for allegedly smashing the windshield of a passing car with a two-by-four while on patrol duty.
International
Shimano’s trying to make your derailleur obsolete.
A Toronto shop owner says she’s looking forward to a protected bike lane being extended to her area, because she knows bikes are good for business.
London may be making major improvements in bicycling infrastructure, but Strava says it isn’t Britain’s leading bike city.
A “Mini Holland” pilot project in London’s Walthamstow neighborhood has reduced traffic in the surrounding area by 10,000 trips a day, with a big jump in people walking and bicycling.
Bike scribe and historian Carlton Reid says maybe building British bikeways out of wood chips isn’t so crazy after all.
Aussie food delivery riders are getting stiffed to the tune of up to $322 a week. Although that’s just $219 in US dollars.
A new Australian study show a typical Melbourne bike commuter is subjected to dangerous passes by drivers an average three times on their way to work.
Competitive Cycling
VeloNews examines how Gen Z cyclists like Remco Evenepoel and Egan Bernal are changing pro cycling.
Virginia’s Sika Henry intends to become the first African American female pro triathlete.
The New York Times attends the funeral of 83-year old French cycling legend Raymond Poulidor.
British pro cyclist Adam Kenway says he was very lucky to survive a crash with a van driver while he was riding his bike home from work.
Finally…
If you’re riding a stolen $3,000 mountain bike, probably not the best idea to tell strangers it’s hot. When you’re carrying a handful of stolen credit card numbers on your bike and already have an outstanding drug warrant, just stop for the damn stop sign, already.
And don’t wait 86 years for your first bike ride.
Seriously.
