Input wanted on improving access to Santa Monica Expo Line station, and yesterday’s ride out honors Kobe Bryant

Santa Monica Spoke is asking for your input on proposed new safety enhancements to improve access for bicyclists and pedestrians to the 26th Street/Bergamot Station Expo Line Station in Santa Monica.

The project could be in jeopardy after one business owner in the area complained. Even though it was designed with input from the local business community.

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Hundreds of bike riders from across the city turned out for the decade’s first ride out.

And paused along the way to honor former LA Laker Kobe Bryant, who was killed in a helicopter crash Sunday morning, along with his daughter and seven other people.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7zD9ivn3b1/

Although similar rides in Fremont don’t seem to be as welcome as they are in Los Angeles.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

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Tragic news from the world of music, as Mars Volta, Marilyn Manson and Racer X bassist Juan Alderete is in a coma after suffering a serious TBI in a solo bike crash.

And yes, he was wearing a helmet.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes — and runners — goes on. 

Someone booby trapped an Australian trail with nail-spiked wine corks hidden under leaves, which could penetrate a shoe or take out a bike tire — or a person in the event of a fall.

But sometimes it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly. 

San Diego police are looking for a BMX-riding arsonist who set fire to a business in the Talmadge neighborhood, causing $1 million damage.

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Local

The Red Car Bridge is now officially open, providing a bike and pedestrian alternative to the nearby Glendale-Hyperion Bridge over the LA River between Atwater Village and Silver Lake.

Rather than the dying commercial district that MarVista NIMBYs and traffic safety deniers would have you believe, the road diet and protected bike lanes that make up the Venice Blvd Great Streets project has resulted in a thriving business district.

An op-ed in the LA Times says ebikes may be the greenest form of transportation in human history. And questions why cities aren’t taking advantage of that. No, regular bicycles already claimed that title a long time ago, even if ebikes do offer a number of advantages.

Selena Gomez is one of us, going for a casual bike ride through Studio City.

Bike the Vote LA has endorsed Dan Brotman in his run for Glendale city council.

 

State

Streetsblog says former LACBC Executive Director Tamika Butler left the not-very-diverse California Transportation Commission due to a conflict of interest, but doesn’t shed much light on the subject.

A San Diego TV station talks with Maya Rosas, Policy Director for Circulate San Diego, about the city’s Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic deaths within the next five years.

Bicycling catches up on the story of a San Diego man who rode his bike 1,426 miles across the US to meet the parents of a 32-year-old Navy flight surgeon, after receiving the service member’s heart to save his life. Thanks to Victor Bale for the link.

An Oxnard woman was rushed into surgery after she was struck by a heartless coward who fled the scene, leaving her bleeding in the street.

A 75-year old Pacifica man is in critical condition with major injuries after he was struck by a driver while riding his bike.

The San Francisco Chronicle offers a timeline of the 114-year effort to ban cars from the city’s iconic Market Street. Or maybe it was really 124 years ago.

 

National

The Motley Fool says you could save as much as $9,000 a year just by kicking your car to the curb.

Forget Vision Zero, a third of US states are expecting an increase in traffic deaths.

Over 80 percent of drivers admit to road rage, while nearly half of all drivers are armed, legally or otherwise. And the other 20% are probably lying. Thanks to Erik Griswold for the tip.

Life is cheap in Denver, where a dump truck driver walks without a single day behind bars for the sudden right turn that took the life of a young mother as she rode her bicycle in a bike lane; needless to say, the victim’s family isn’t happy about it.

The Des Moines Register announces the route for this year’s RAGBRAI ride across the state.

The NYPD has finally decided to focus their efforts on unsafe bike riding, instead of targeting everyone on a ebike; ebikes could soon be legal in the state anyway.

New York Jets and former USC QB Sam Darnold may or may not be one of us, but his linemen are after the quarterback bought them all ebikes as a holiday gift.

DC plans to combat the growing clutter on the sidewalk by installing 100 on-street parking corrals for dockless bikes and e-scooters.

A Baton Rouge LA bike rider was collateral damage in a street racing crash between two brothers in their 50s, who should have effing known better; now one is dead, along with the bike-riding victim, who was planning to propose to his girlfriend on Valentines Day.

Nearly 200 Miami bicyclists rode in honor of the leader of a local bike club, who was shot to death outside a bike shop three weeks ago while waiting for members to arrive for another ride.

 

International

The BMJ, the former British Medical Journal, pulls the plug on fossil fuels in the prestigious publication.

Cycling Weekly recommends what to buy when you have too much money and need to find some damn thing to spend it on aren’t willing to settle for anything but the best, or at least most expensive, components.

A British Columbia judge rules that yes, bike lanes extend across intersections even when they’re not painted all the way across, and 89-year old drivers don’t have the right to right hook women on bikes.

An Edmonton, Canada soccer player was flown home on Friday after a crowdfunding campaign raised over $136,000 when she was paralyzed from the chest down in a fall while bicycling in Costa Rica.

Local bike riders are often told by non-bike riding NIMBYs that no one will ever ride a bike in a Los Angeles winter. But an Ottawa, Canada bike rider explains how and why he started riding the city’s freezing, snow covered streets.

An English bike paramedic was viciously kicked in the head while tending to a patient last month, something he describes as becoming increasingly common.

A British truck driver got a well deserved three and a half years for killing a bike rider while high on coke and weed, despite playing the nearly universal Get Out of Jail Free card by claiming the sun was in his eyes.

Congratulations, Critical Massers, you’re now on a counter-terrorism watchlist, at least in the UK.

People in the Belgian city of Ghent seem happy they kicked cars out of the city center.

Aussie cops take their vindictive bike helmet enforcement to a ridiculous extreme, fining bicyclists on a popular beachfront bike path $344 for not wearing a helmet on the offroad trail. That’s what we have to look forward to if helmet laws ever take hold here.

 

Competitive Cycling

Australian Ritchie Porte claims his home country’s WorldTour race, taking the ochre-colored jersey as winner of the Tour of Australia.

Lance Armstrong wants to take you on a bike tour of Mallorca with fellow doper George Hincapie for the low, low price of just $30,000. Or you could go with another world champ and cancer survivor for a bag of dirt.

 

Finally…

When your own backyard is a BMX park. If you’re carrying meth on your bike, put a damn light on it — the bike, not the meth.

And if you’re going to use your bicycle as a getaway vehicle after burglarizing a bakery, don’t ride salmon.

And don’t fall off when the cops close in.

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RIP #8 #24.

And all the other victims of Sunday’s helicopter crash.

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