Don’t mess with women.
Or their bikes.
A Toronto woman ran out of a store and beat up the thief who tried to make off with her unlocked bike, even kicking him when he was down. Unfortunately, the video is posted to a private account, and I haven’t managed to find a copy.
And a 72-year old British great-grandmother wrestled a stolen mountain bike away from a thief after reading about the theft on Facebook; the man had tried to sell her the $1,500 bike for the equivalent of just $200.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvfHTDhx3uU
Photo by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay.
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Retired pro Phil Gaimon somehow manages to maintain his sense of humor, even after a recent crash left him with $250,000 in medical bills.
Funny paragraph from “Draft Animals” given recent events pic.twitter.com/qIjgo47l8u
— Phil Gaimon (@philgaimon) January 17, 2020
And yes, that’s with insurance.
Just another example of how broken America’s medical and insurance system is.
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A Dublin Bus driver is under fire — and under investigation — after a frighteningly close punishment pass.
Seriously, keep watching after the first one.
On my way home from a @dublincycling meeting and had the joy of two close passes from @dublinbusnews No. 37 in Stoneybatter. First he overtook me and pulled in sharply in front of me, forcing me out of the lane. He then did a punishment pass a few seconds later. Why risk my life? pic.twitter.com/RpAJgThdS3
— Suzanne (@Dublin_Suzy) January 6, 2020
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Take a break for few minutes with a video of mountain biking in Israel.
Work can wait, right?
Unless you’d prefer a ride through Madeira, Portugal.
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Pink Bike offers some clever ideas on how to stash your tools on your bike when you don’t want to use a pack.
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Local
Who knew? A Reddit post points out that LA County has a page devoted to reporting problems with bike paths, promising a pretty remarkable two-day response time.
State
Things are looking up for the San Diego-area man with Parkinson’s disease whose new ebike was stolen before he could even ride it; a crowdfunding campaign raised enough to buy a new bike in just four hours, while local company Juiced Bikes gave one to his wife so they can ride together. Meanwhile, police have arrested two suspects for the theft.
Clearly, drivers aren’t the only risk people on bikes face these days. A Riverside man joined the rising toll of bike riders across the US who’ve been shot in recent weeks; the victim was discovered lying in the street after several people reported hearing shots and died after being taken to a hospital.
Ventura County’s Ojai Valley Bike Trail reopens today, after construction work to repair storm damage forced it to close five months ago.
National
The fat bike craze is getting skinnier, with just half of the fat bike makers from 2015 still here five years later.
A Tucson letter writer says bicyclists should be required to use lights at “dusk, night and dawn,” just like the law already requires. And says those “handlebar ringydingy bells” would be nice, too.
Other cities continue to make progress while Los Angeles just keeps falling back, as the already bike-friendly Mile High City commits to building another 125 miles of bike lanes over the next three years. Unfortunately, the Denver Streetsblog won’t be around to cover it, at least not in its current form.
A Chicago bike lane remains faded, months after the city promised to repaint it following the death of a woman on her bike.
A New York community board says the lack of crosstown bike paths through Central Park are a ticking time bomb; they claim one rider has already lost his life as a result.
You’ve got to be kidding. Life is really cheap in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where a woman was fined just $1,000 for the distracted driving crash that killed two people on a club ride — which works out to just $500 for a human life. And she’ll get her license back in a lousy six months. Shameful.
Kindhearted Florida cops buy a new bike and helmet for a nine-year old boy after his was stolen, even making him an honorary junior officer.
International
Bike Radar continues their look at the year’s best bikes, with a ranking of the top steel framed bicycles.
Victoria, BC swears it’s not clearing snow off bike lanes before the rest of the street.
The rumored future Bond, James Bond is one of us, as James Norton rides his bike through the streets of London. But why does the press always seem to assume someone had to “settle” for riding a bicycle?
Britain’s biggest bike retailer said scooter and ebike sales nearly doubled compared to the last quarter of the previous year.
The Wall Street Journal reports bike riders are driving up real estate prices in Girona, Spain, which has seen prices go up 15% in the last year. Unfortunately, the usual WSJ paywall problems apply. Thanks to Jeff Vaughn for the heads-up.
India’s Hero Cycles develops plans to rule the bike world. Or 5% of it, anyway.
US Customs says ebikes are motorcycles, but that’s a good thing. The misclassification allows them to avoid Trump’s onerous 25% tariff.
Competitive Cycling
Fayetteville, Arkansas has been selected as the site of this year’s Pan-American Cyclocross Championships.
Dutch champ Anna van der Breggen looks forward to defending her Olympic road race gold metal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Finally…
Indoor climbing walls are nothing new, but indoor bike park, not so much. Unless maybe you’d rather ride your bike on water.
And someone has finally developed an all-weather corgi carrier for your cargo bike.
What.
