Let’s start with a little good news for a change.
According to the the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, US traffic fatalities fell 1.2% last year.
And that drop extended to bicycling deaths as well, which declined 3% compared to 2018.
There was also a 2% drop in pedestrian deaths.
All of which is great news.
But it would be even better if bike and pedestrians deaths hadn’t spiked in 2018 by twice as much as they fell in 2019.
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Today’s common theme is the nation’s bike boom and the spread of Slow Streets across the US.
Bike riders are taking over the streets of San Jose as drivers stay home, and people get out on their bikes.
Sonoma County bike shops got the okay to reopen on Monday, just in time to capitalize on the boom in bicycling.
Bike shops are booming in Las Vegas, where one shop manager says iconic Las Vegas Blvd is turning into a fitness trail; bikeshare use is up in Vegas, too.
Pennsylvania bike shops are missing out on the coronavirus bike boom, prohibited from selling bikes during the lockdown.
Baltimore is getting on the Slow Streets bandwagon, closing streets so people can get out for fresh air and exercise during the Covid-19 lockdown.
New Orleans is getting on the Slow Streets bandwagon, too. But Arlington VA won’t be closing streets for social distancing anytime soon.
Missing from that list is Los Angeles, which continues its longstanding policy of automotive hegemony on the streets.
Although Mayor Garcetti hinted yesterday that changes may be coming, albeit too late to help Angelenos make it through the lockdown.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on.
They clearly don’t like people on bikes. An English man was pulled off his bike and attacked by the occupants of a car following a punishment pass, in the same area where a family was harassed for riding their bikes last month.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Police in Chicago are looking for a gang of bike-riding robbers who have been terrorizing pedestrians in Rogers Park.
A man was busted for stalking an Idaho Falls, Idaho woman after riding his bike 15 miles from another town to harass her, despite a restraining order.
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Local
Former US Women’s National Team cyclist Ryan Kelly walked 44 miles from Ventura Harbor to the Malibu Pier to raise $4,400 for pediatric cancer research.
Michael Keaton is one of us, as the former Batman and 80’s sitcom star took a spin through Pacific Palisades on his ebike.
Adam Sandler is still riding his bike through the ‘Bu, stopping off at a mobile bike repair van for a little work
State
Orange County beaches and beach bike paths will reopen on a limited basis, with users required to keep moving.
The San Diego Bike Coalition is taking Bike Month into the virtual world with a series of riding challenges for both new riders and seasoned commuters.
Sad news from San Francisco, where 22-year old Twitter staffer and bike advocate Courtney Brousseau was murdered Monday night, apparently collateral damage in a shootout between two groups of men.
National
Bicycling’s Selene Yeager discusses how to keep going when the going gets hard, while cycling coach Chris Carmichael offers advice on how to descend faster — and safer.
A Chicago woman tracked down the thief who stole her cargo bike, and eventually let him go after talking him into giving it back — and after he complained about being harassed. No, really.
Once again, it takes the death of a bike rider to get needed safety improvements, as Chicago installs protected bike lane bollards where a woman as killed in a collision six months ago. Although “protected” is a relative term when the only barrier is a row of thin plastic sticks.
Seriously, how fast do you have to be going to kill a 72-year old New York bike rider while backing into a parking space?
A writer looks back to his New Jersey childhood with a warning to look out for inanimate objects during May’s Bike Safety Month, while another writer from the state says he knows he’s taking a chance, but riding a bike is therapy right now.
A Virginia company is distributing free bike locks to frontline workers after reading about an Irish doctor whose bike was stolen during her 12-hour shift.
Heartbreaking story from Mississippi, where an 11-year old girl was killed by a hit-and-run driver as she rode her bike next to her mother, after they were both run down and left in the street to die.
Sad news from Florida, where a 71-year old man was killed, and a 70-year old woman injured, when a pickup driver slammed into the tandem bike they were riding.
International
Canadian bike advocates say people taking up riding for the first time during the pandemic need a new mindset to stop thinking like they’re driving a car.
Famed Italian bike builder Ernesto Colnago has a new boss, after his eponymous company was sold to an Abu Dhabi investment fund.
No bias here. A European website says Spanish bicyclists are out of control after finally being released from the county’s severe lockdown, and fed-up residents are ready to teach them a lesson.
Competitive Cycling
The revised WorldTour calendar has been released, assuming pro cycling will return in 2020 — which is a big if right now; all three Grand Tours will take place, along with the Monuments, although the the compact calendar means the Giro and Vuelta will overlap. There will also be a women’s Paris-Roubaix on the same day as the men’s race.
Legendary French journalist Philippe Brunel looks back on 40 years of the Giro d’Italia, as well as Italian cycling great Marco Pantani.
Speaking of legends, the BBC looks back on triple Giro and double Tour de France winner Gino Bartali on the 20th anniversary of his death; as great as he was, Bartali’s cycling exploits are overshadowed by his secret work to save Jews during WWII.
Finally…
Apparently, investing is just like riding a bike. And who needs a Naked Bike Ride when you can just strip down and go for a ride?
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already.
