We may be burning in California, but hell has officially frozen over.
The former Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills continues to burnish its new-found bike friendly image, with plans to co-host a CicLAvia with West Hollywood and Los Angeles sometime next year.
The proposal would reprise the 2019 route that ran along Hollywood Blvd to Highland Ave, and south to Santa Monica Blvd. If Beverly Hills can work out the details, it would then extend west to Beverly Drive.
Even more surprising, Beverly Hills is the driving force behind this effort, rather than the other way around.
And no, I never would have imagined it when we were butting heads with less enlightened city officials back in the day.
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This is who we share the road with.
A Culver City man faces charges for intentionally running down a man standing outside a Santa Monica restaurant on Monday.
Except he ran down the wrong man.
We’ll let the Santa Monica Daily Press try to explain the bizarre attack.
According to SMPD, Sloan was asked by restaurant staff to leave Busby’s on Santa Monica Blvd. before the incident. Sloan, angered by this demand, exited the establishment, and retrieved his vehicle. He then drove through the parking lot in an aggressive manner before attempting to intentionally hit a customer standing in front of the business. However, Sloan only ran over the foot of his intended target and instead struck the victim.
Oops.
To make matters worse, he knew the guy he actually killed, and had been drinking with him before he went berserk behind the wheel.
The driver, Nicholas Ralph Sloan, was arrested 15 miles away in the San Fernando Valley when the CHP stopped his Porsche Panamera for speeding.
He was booked on suspicion of murder, assault with a deadly weapon and DUI.
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This, too, is who we share the road with.
A Rhode Island woman was pulled from her car and brutally beaten by a group of ATV and dirt bike motorcycle riders when she had the audacity to honk after they sat through two green light cycles.
To make matters worse, they did it in full view of her friend’s eight-year old daughter, who was inside the car along with the girl’s mother.
Needless to say, the victim was “shaken and injured” in the aftermath of the attack, but didn’t need to be hospitalized.
There’s just no fucking excuse. Ever.
Period.
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And you thought things were bad on this side of the Atlantic.
Bike infrastructure in South Wales is perfectly accessible for people with mobility issues. pic.twitter.com/J0tBC26Tnh
— Phil Sturgeon 🚴🌍🔥 @philsturgeon.bsky.social (@philsturgeon) May 18, 2021
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A San Luis Obispo letter writer calls plans for a recently approved bike boulevard “racist, ableist, ageist, elitist, and plain mean, nasty, and rotten to neighborhood residents…” But seriously, how does he really feel?
No bias here, either. A local British paper spends a few paragraphs reporting the death of a man riding a bicycle, then devotes another 17 paragraphs to how much the locals hate people on bikes.
Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
New York police are looking for a pair of men sharing an ebike who stabbed two men in a car in an apparent road rage attack following an argument.
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Local
If you’ve been waiting for the long promised bike lanes on the North Spring Street Bridge, you can keep holding your breath. Streetsblog reports work still hasn’t begun on the the bike lanes, which were expected to be completed three years ago; local advocate point the finger at CD1 Councilmember Gil Cedillo, who has fought bike lanes and other safety projects in the district since taking office.
Good news from San Pedro, where a 19-year old man who disappeared while riding his bike has been found; no word on his condition or where he’s been for the past two weeks.
State
Sacramento Magazine considers the most useful bicycling apps.
National
Forbes shares their picks for the best ebikes. And for once, the choices make sense.
A Portland lawyer is suing aerosol makers and companies that sell them in an effort to halt “driving zombies,” after woman was killed while riding in a bike lane, by a driver who was caught on security cam huffing a computer keyboard dusting spray outside a Home Depot. Interesting approach, but good luck with that.
A Minnesota paper offers tips on basic fit and maintenance to keep your bike rolling.
Tragic news from Detroit, where an 18-year old nursing student was killed in a shootout as she was riding her bicycle in front of a friend’s duplex a couple weeks ago; police now say she was an innocent victim caught in the crossfire.
A 68-year old man has come forward, claiming to be the only witness to the crash that killed a companion to heiress Doris Duke when he was a 13-year old paperboy riding his Schwinn ten speed; it has long been rumored that the Rhode Island crash was murder, along with the earlier “accidental” death of Duke’s husband.
New York’s popular TD Five Boro Bike Tour returns this Sunday; the 40-mile ride through the city’s five boroughs, which Forbes calls America’s biggest bike ride, expects to draw a pandemic-restricted 20,000 riders instead of the usual 32,000. Although CicLAvia usually draws more than that on a bad day.
A newly signed bill will now require New Jersey drivers to change lanes to pass someone on a bicycle.
International
Your new ebike could be a Harley. But only if you’re willing to go to Europe to buy it.
British bikemaker Hope Technology unveiled a road bike prototype of the innovative Olympic track bike they developed in collaboration with Lotus Engineering. Although it’s allegedly based on a stolen design.
Heartbreaking news from the UK, where a three-year old boy was killed when his own father backed over his bicycle while he was riding on their Welsh farm.
A British trucking trade group apparently wants defend their right to keep killing people, complaining that a proposed rewrite of the country’s Highway Code to protect vulnerable road users is “inherently unjust.”
RM, one of the masterminds behind K-pop stars BTS, is one of us, sharing his love of bicycles with a fan site.
Finally…
If you insist on riding your bike drunk, try to stick with roads where bikes are allowed — and to just one lane at a time. A gun site says always wear a bike helmet when carrying a concealed weapon on your bike.
And yes, bike riders have to pull over for emergency vehicles.
Just like most drivers don’t anymore.
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Thanks to Mark J for his generous donation — and kind words — to help keep this site going; as always, any donation, no matter how large or small, truly helps and is deeply appreciated.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
