BikinginLA

Maybe there’s hope for my part of town yet.

CD4 Councilmember Nithya Raman rode ebikes with Streetsblog’s Joe Linton and the LACBC to learn just what bike riders face on the streets of her district.

And the overwhelming lack of safe bike infrastructure that forces them to.

Due to Raman’s council predecessors, there are not a lot of bikeways in this part of CD4; the only bike lane on the ride was on Hauser Boulevard through Park La Brea. The southern part of the district does feature many fairly well-biked areas, including 4th Street, a low-traffic sharrowed bike route long preferred by cyclists and pedestrians (during COVID, parts of 4th saw more walking and bicycling than driving.) The ride also visited neighborhood traffic-calming street closures along Fairfax Avenue, and the relatively calm 8th Street – which appeared on SBLA’s list of suggested relatively easy bikeways that Raman might consider taking on. There are currently no protected bike lanes in Raman’s district…

“My dream for this district and for the city as a whole is that we can make it safer and easier for people to be able to move around outside of their cars: have it be not just possible, but a pleasant and beautiful experience to get around this city.” “We started six months ago,” noted Raman, “but we’re at the beginning of that process now. And I am really excited to get the entire community involved in thinking about that.”

Let’s hope that she can and will finally get LADOT to actually get something done around here. And repair some of the damage cause by her less-than-bike-friendly predecessors.

This weekend our team hit the streets with @lacbc on our @himiwaybike e-bikes to gain first hand experience of the realities facing cyclists in CD4.

We look forward to connecting with partner orgs and constituents to explore all viable options to improve street safety! https://t.co/vU0ihF9FTW pic.twitter.com/hxEMDx9vM6

— Councilmember Nithya Raman (@cd4losangeles) July 6, 2021

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Sunset4All is now 36% of the way to their $25,000 goal to create a private/public partnership to install protected bike lanes on Sunset and Santa Monica blvds east of Hollywood, after crossing the $9,000 barrier.

We just broke the $9,000 mark! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has donated to the @SunsetForAll project campaign. We've still got a ways to go so please continue to share with family, friends and neighbors! https://t.co/s4BCw4ZM7u pic.twitter.com/OnOlKq2ZxL

— BikeLA (@heybikela) July 6, 2021

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A bike-riding Houston couple open up about the 4th of July incident, when the husband shot a road raging driver who shouted they didn’t belong on the street before intentionally ramming his car into the wife; police arrested the driver after concluding they shot him in self-defense.

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Local

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Two scientists from opposite ends of the earth converged in San Diego to help change the world. And both lost their lives riding bicycles within 24 hours of one another.

One of those deaths was caused by an alleged drunk driver, part of a disturbing increase in DUI deaths in San Diego County.

Residents of San Diego’s Hillcrest and North Park neighborhoods are taking matters into their own hands to recover their stolen bikes by pushing the apparent thieves off their bikes and demanding them back.

A San Jose man was left for dead after a hit-and-run driver fled the scene while the victim was on a group ride with 20 other people.

Tragic news from Fremont, where a 15-year old boy suffered life-threatening injuries when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike on the 4th of July; for a change, the 23-year old driver stuck around.

Big win in Oakland, where the city council voted unanimously to keep and improve the successful protected bike lanes on Telegraph Ave, rejecting a DOT plan to replace them with an unprotected buffered bike lane.

 

National

A trio of Utah advocacy groups are using a tandem bike as a two-wheeled metaphor to call for parents to support their LBGTQ+ kids to help keep them off drugs and alcohol.

The family of a popular Colorado Springs CO bike fitter has filed wrongful death suit, following his death in police custody while handcuffed and prone on his stomach after being tased multiple times; 49-year old Chad Burnett had allegedly threatened a neighbor with a knife while suffering a mental health crisis.

Here in Southern California, we have to worry about bearish drivers, but we seldom have to face the real thing, as a Montana bikepacker was killed by a grizzly that wandered into his campsite.

A Black Army vet used bicycling to recover from a devastating disease after receiving a stem cell transplant. Then she went on to found an annual bike race and a family bike fest to inspire others. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

A Michigan man began fixing discarded bikes as therapy for his depression. Now he’s fixed and given away nearly 400 bicycles to people in need.

A Streetsblog op-ed calls for the NYPD to combat the department’s windshield perspective by requiring officers to get out and bike their beats at least once a year. Although once a week would be much more effective for everyone.

The New York Daily News says the city’s 80,000 delivery riders are the unheralded heroes of the pandemic.

 

International

The owner of a bike touring company is refusing to pay damages for a bike-on-bike collision on an Edinburgh pathway, insisting she’s not to blame when the other rider was doing 20 mph around a blind corner.

An Irish newspaper calls bike fitting a 90-minute analysis that will change your bicycling life forever.

 

Competitive Cycling

The beat goes on, as Mark Cavendish, who wasn’t even expected to ride in this year’s Tour de France, is now just one win from tying The Cannibal’s once unreachable record of 34 Tour stage wins.

Defending Tour champ Tadej Pogačar says he doesn’t need to cheat since he’s leading this year’s race because he pushes “good watts.”

Today the Tour peloton with tackle the legendary Mount Ventoux, not once, but twice from different directions — 54 years after British cycling champ Tom Simpson collapsed and died on the slopes of the mountain.

By now, we’re all familiar with how the legendary Gino Bartali saved countless Jews by smuggling documents in his bike frame during WWII. But he also saved his own country a few years later when Italy was on the brink of anarchy, providing his countrymen with something to cheer for by gaining an incredible 30 minutes in just two stages to win the Tour, after being 21 minutes down in the general classification with just one week to go.

Dutch cyclist Lorena Wiebes took the fifth stage of the women’s Giro d’Italia Donne, while defending Olympic champ Anna van der Breggen held onto the pink leader’s jersey.

Aussie cyclist Lachlan Morton isn’t the only rider trying to beat the Tour peloton into Paris; seven-day cycling distance record holder Jack Thompson is attempting to ride the entire Tour de France route in just 12 days.

Let’s hope you’re happy with the current direction of pro and amateur cycling, because we’re going to be stuck with it for another four years.

David Lappartient is the only candidate for UCI Presidency, meaning he'll b confirmed for a second 4 year term without it being put to a vote. https://t.co/72VyReqAnv

— Orla Chennaoui (@SportsOrla) July 6, 2021

 

Throwing a bicycle through a business window is not one of the recommended uses for it. And when a driver blocks the bike path, just walk your bike over it.

The car, that is.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.