We’re off to a rip-roaring start to the 7th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
After just three days, donations are already running well above last year’s record-setting pace!
So let’s keep it up! Your contribution will help fund this site until our sponsors renew in the spring, and ensure SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy keeps coming your way every day.
Thanks to Janice H, Michael S, Robert K, Kim D, Daniel F, Arthur B, Mark J, Joseph B, Andrew G, Theodore F, Megan L, Steven S, Elizabeth T, Jonathan P, Douglas M, Amy S, and Jamie S for their generous donations.
And that’s in addition to Robert L, Eric L, David V, Mitchell G, and Olivia K, who donated even before the official start of the fund drive on Friday.
Give now via PayPal, or with Zelle to ted @ bikinginla.com.
………
Police allege a San Diego man may have been murdered by a hit-and-run driver, after witnesses apparently told them the driver deliberately attacked him Thanksgiving morning.
Relatives of 40-year old San Diego father Octavio Mendoza called for additional witnesses to come forward in hopes of catching the driver.
Police are looking for a light-colored, older model Chevrolet Suburban or Tahoe; unfortunately, there’s no description of the driver.
Mendoza is at least the 17th person killed riding a bicycle in San Diego County already this year, perhaps three or four times more than in most years.
It’s also the second time in just two months someone in the city has been accused of intentionally murdering a bike rider with their car.
………
This is who we share the road with.
Sometimes, I don’t even know what to say. So we’ll let NBC News start things out.
A New Jersey police officer is accused of fatally striking a pedestrian, taking the man’s body home to discuss what to do, and then returning to the scene with the dead man in his back seat, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
They on on to explain the off-duty cop and his passenger fled the scene without bothering to aid the victim or call for help.
Then this.
They reportedly went back to the scene multiple times before they put Dymka into the Honda Accord. They then went to Santiago’s home, where he, Guzman and Santiago’s mother, Annette Santiago, discussed what to do, Stephens’ office said.
Louis Santiago eventually went back to the scene, and his father, who is a Newark police lieutenant, called 911, officials said.
New Jersey State Police arrived and found Dymka dead in the back seat, the prosecutor’s office said.
Did we mention that he’s a cop?
Yet apparently, despite his training, he still had no idea what to do after killing someone with his car.
At least this time, there should be consequences. The killer cop faces charges including reckless vehicular homicide, desecrating human remains, and official misconduct, along with a raft of other counts.
Meanwhile, his mom and passenger are both charged with conspiracy to desecrate human remains and hindering apprehension, among other varied and assorted crimes.
No word on whether the cop and his passenger were drunk or stoned. But you’d sure as hell hope no sober person would do that.
Let alone a cop.
………
This is who we share the road with, part two.
A Tucson woman face charges, apparently for allowing an angry driver to assault them.
And yes, he’s a cop, too.
Aloisi and her daughters were walking across the parking lot after brunch, they said, when a vehicle approached them fast before the driver abruptly stopped.
The driver, a man, waved his arms at them and appeared to be yelling, they said, though his windows were closed. The women waved their arms and yelled back at him. Aloisi has a leg problem that prevents her from walking fast after sitting for a length of time, she said…
“He zoomed into that back parking spot, jumped out of his car, threw his hands up in the air and screamed ‘Just f—ing walk’ at us,” Nicole Whitted said.
They tried explaining that their mother can’t walk fast, but the cop continued advancing towards them, before allegedly chest bumping one of the women and angrily taking her to the ground.
He then took the 62-year old mother to the ground as well, holding her down with an arm across her throat while pinning her daughter down with his knee, shades of Derek Chauvin.
Only the intervention of a bystander ended the ugly confrontation after their attacker identified himself, for the first time, as a cop.
Yet only the daughter he allegedly chest bumped was cited for misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
Meanwhile, the alleged road raging attacker denied everything and placed all the blame on the three women, apparently getting off with a pat on the back.
And shamefully, did it all with his family waiting and watching in his car.
………
Some things are just wrong. And others are wrong as hell.
Zoning officials in Dayton, Ohio voted almost unanimously to allow the city to demolish the first bike shop operated by the Wright Brothers, overruling the city Landmark Commission, which voted to preserve the 129-year old building.
I mean, it’s not like those guys went on to do anything important or anything.
As justification, the city bizarrely cited the Florida condo collapse, somehow seriously equating the dangers of the collapse of an occupied 12-story building with the possible fall of the long-vacant two-story shop.
Apparently, irreplaceable historic sites must be a dime a dozen around there. Because they don’t seem to give a damn about this one.
………
Metro Bike is offering a pair of specials for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Black Friday Weekend – 30-Day Pass for $1
USE PROMO CODE: BIKESEASON21
$1 for a 30-Day Metro Bike Share Pass (Regular Price: $17)
Sign up for a 30-Day Pass online at metro.net/bikeshare.
Valid Thursday, 11/25/2021 – Monday, 11/29/2021.Cyber Monday – Save 50% on 365-Day Pass
USE PROMO CODE: CYBERMONDAY21
$75 for a 365-Day Metro Bike Share Pass (Regular Price: $150)
Sign up 365-Day Pass online at metro.net/bikeshare.
Valid Monday, 11/29/2021 only.
………
Zachary Rynew reports progress on an extension of the San Fernando Road Bike Path, but notes there’s still work to be done.
The San Fernando Road Bike Path Extension down to Lankershim looks open, but just short of complete. (Pic#2) The control box has been removed, but still dirt. (#3) No crosswalk at Sheldon. Otherwise, a good amount of lighting and ramps placed.@bikinginla @StreetsblogLA pic.twitter.com/qZnfb5UXJI
— Zachary Rynew (@Ciclavalley) November 27, 2021
………
Apparently, there wasn’t a lot of bikewashing at the Los Angeles Auto Show this year, unlike last year when ebikes made a splash. David Drexler forwards this photo of a Shinola bike, noting it’s the only bicycle he saw at the show this year.
Except for all of the mountain bikes used as props on the backs of SUVs, of course.
………
Our German correspondent, Ralph Durham, forwards a photo showing how bike lane detours are handled in a country where bikes, and the people on them, actually matter.
I’m sending you a picture of a short Bike and ped detour in Munich.
This is at the corner of Ludwigsbrucke (over the Isar river) and Steindorfstrasse. It is a major intersection. the bikes heading north and south have a direct path under the bridge and can avoid the issue. If you need to turn onto the bridge or off the bridge you will hit this. This bike path has a counter and records hundreds of thousands of trip per year.
The road is 2 lanes in each direction and there is work being done that directly impacts the pedestrian walkway and the 2 way bike path. So they shut down the two northbound car lanes and retriped for bikes and pedestrians to get around the construction.
A lot of care is put into allowing bikes and pedestrians to avoid direct interaction with motor vehicles when construction impacts roads and sidewalks.
Compare and contrast that with how your town handles it.
………
Remember this next time you have to lock your bike up to a street sign or parking meter.
To make its city center even more accessible and attractive for visitors, @GemeenteUtrecht is investing in modern bicycle parking.
The latest and largest such facility opened last month, with 900 secure (and free) spaces in a newly-renovated retail shop.https://t.co/m2zy0o2waz pic.twitter.com/JM0pBKI0gs
— Dutch Cycling Embassy (@Cycling_Embassy) November 27, 2021
Thanks to Keith Johnson for the heads-up.
………
Over the long weekend, I received an email from a British man, asking me to mention the new foldie developed by his San Francisco brother-in-law — the first folding bike where the wheels fold, too.
We’ve mentioned this one before, but it’s worth mentioning again, since wheels are the biggest size limitation for folding bicycles. And with just one day left to go, the Tuck Bike still has over $42,000 to go to meet their funding goal.
So if you’re in the market for a $1,300 bike that really folds, this is your chance.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. In an interminably long screed, San Diego’s bike-hating OB Rag accuses “extreme” bicyclists of holding sway over area planners for demanding crazy things like stop signs to slow speeding drivers, and not wanting to get killed when they ride.
A British YouTuber and self-proclaimed Voice of Reason offers a bizarre rant, concluding that “supercilious nature is out of control,” and bike lanes — or maybe bike riders — must be banned for the good of the planet.
An unlicensed Aussie driver was finally sentenced to a decade behind bars after repeatedly bragging to people for nearly ten years about the night she chased down and killed a Hong Kong man who was just riding his bike home from work, after he allegedly flipped her off, getting more racist with each retelling.
Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A bike-riding British man got three year behind bars for snatching a woman’s purse, and leaving her with hip and leg injuries after knocking her to the ground. Which is two years and three months more than a career criminal in the UK got for stealing four bicycles in five weeks, on top of more than 100 prior convictions.
………
Local
Streets For All urges you to contact the city council to support completion of the Expo Line bike path by closing the absurd Northvale Gap, which was skipped to appease homeowners on the afore mentioned Northvale Road, who worried criminals would ride their bikes into the neighborhood to steal their stuff. No, really.
Streets For All is also calling on everyone to support a Metro board motion scheduled for Thursday to provide an additional $2 million in open streets funding; current funding allows funding of just less than half of the 27 open streets proposals from around the county.
The student newspaper at Cal State Northridge calls on the university to use surplus funds to develop its own campus-wide bikeshare system.
The massive new Burbank bridge finally opened after 20 months of construction, featuring bike lanes on either side, but only a single sidewalk on the south side of the bridge. Evidently, they couldn’t squeeze in another sidewalk because the needed to make room for three traffic lanes and a freeway onramp lane in each direction.
State
The San Diego Reader celebrates all the infrastructure options available for bike riders in the city. Although sharrows are nothing to celebrate.
A Berkeley woman is expected to survive after she was critically injured in a collision while riding her bike; thankfully, she was revived after having no pulse and not breathing when paramedics arrived.
A bike rider was killed in a collision in Moraga Friday morning; unfortunately, no details were available about the victim or the crash.
There’s a special place in hell for whoever left a 15-year old Stockton boy sprawled in the street after slamming into his bicycle, apparently not seeing the group of teens on their bikes directly ahead of him or her after rounding a corner.
National
A writer for The Atlantic confronts the deadly myth that human error is responsible for 94% of traffic fatalities — unless that human error is actually committed by the people who design and engineer our roads.
A blogger offers tips on buying an ebike, along with recommendations on what to buy.
Singletracks offers their favorite picks for Cyber Monday deals on mountain bikes and gear.
An author Philadelphia author relates how riding her bike helped her cope with a series of losses during the pandemic, including the death of her mother, who taught her how to ride a bicycle.
A five-year old Louisiana boy is able to ride a bike for the first time, thanks to a dozen people who rode their bikes 108 miles from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, raising $30,000 to buy adaptive bicycles for handicapped kids like him.
In yet another example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late, a “groundbreaking” Florida neurosurgeon faces a vehicular homicide charge for killing a bike-riding triathlete while driving on the wrong side of the road at over four times the posted 20 mph speed limit in a borrowed Tesla; he’s been ticketed at least three times for speeding in the past five years, at speeds up to 112 mph.
International
A coalition of 125 community groups rode and rated Toronto’s bike lanes, concluding that nearly half deserved a failing grade. Anyone want to guess how LA’s bike lanes would fare?
It takes a major schmuck to steal an old, rusty bike from a Nova Scotia man, whole he was busy ringing the bell for a Salvation Army kettle.
That’ll teach ’em. After drivers complained about what they consider overly wide bike lanes, English officials threatened to narrow traffic lanes even more if drivers keep causing crashes.
You’ve got to be kidding. A judge in the UK ordered a former professional cyclist into rehab and wished him well following his drunken strong-armed robbery of a 13-year old girl’s bike.
A Irish man graduated at the top of his class as a bicycle mechanical engineer, 18 years after he was blinded in an assault as a teenager; he built his own tandem bike as part of his coursework.
Bike Radar reports on the cutting edge findings from the Science & Cycling Conference in Leuven, Belgium to help you go faster
An Indian district president rode his bicycle to thank voters for electing him to another term, as well as “raise awareness about the environment, simple living and fitness.”
An Indian man was busted for biking under the influence, just a day after a new Kolkata policy went into effect to give breath tests to suspected intoxicated bike riders.
A Philippine mayor was ticketed for riding a bicycle without a helmet, just a year after she signed a bill requiring them.
Philippine bike riders took to the streets to celebrate yesterday’s National Bicycle Day.
Once again, a member of New Zealand’s parliament has ridden her bike to the hospital to give birth, delivering a. healthy baby about an hour later; she also rode her bike to the hospital three years ago to deliver her first child. Thanks to Victor Bale for the link.
Competitive Cycling
Cycling Weekly profiles rising American cyclist and college student Megan Jastrab, who won three world titles in 2019 as a 17-year old junior, and took Bronze in team pursuit at the Tokyo Olympics in her first race at the elite level.
Finally…
That feeling when your training as a stunt person lets you walk away from a crash with another bicyclist, with nothing more than a bruised pinkie. Making bike thefts stats drop by giving up on reporting it.
And there’s more than one good use for an ebike.
@bikinginla pic.twitter.com/eeeAKbaubU
— keith johnson (@keith_johnson) November 28, 2021
Thanks again to Keith Johnson.
………
Happy Chanukah to everyone celebrating today!
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
I’ve sent a couple of other pictures from the detour you posted. In the rain I didn’t notice the bridge work and the fact that they included temporary trestle bridges on both side of the bridge for the construction duration.