A writer for a conservative website accuses car-hating liberals of wanting to take everyone’s cars away because they hate freedom.
No, really.
If there is one thing liberals hate more than guns, it’s automobiles, and not because of the climate; our vehicles are scorned by the Left because they free the individual to go anywhere he or she chooses.
In a word, privately owned cars and trucks equal F-R-E-E-D-O-M.
That’s why, in the same spirit as Charlton Heston once warned the gun grabbers, I now notify today’s successors to what Car & Driver‘s Brock Yates famously called the Anti-Destination League that they will have to pry my cold, dead hands off the steering wheel before they get me out of my pickup.
Never mind that the ongoing burden of car payments, gas, insurance and maintenance represents the exact opposite of freedom, as far too many Americans have to work just to keep a shiny hunk of metal and glass parked in their driveways.
The purpose of encouraging alternative forms of transportation isn’t to force anyone out of their cars — let alone take them away.
It’s to provide people with viable alternatives to driving, so they have the freedom to to travel however they choose, rather than forcing them into the tyranny of car ownership as the cost of getting from here to there.
Which you’d think any real conservative would understand.
………
The sadly neglected Encino Velodrome, a 50-year old open-air treasure nestled in Balboa Park, is raising funds for a much-needed upgrade to the current dilapidated lighting system.
LA's oldest velodrome needs your help to keep night racing going:@bikinginla https://t.co/HLHUYQ6pcQ
— Zachary Rynew (@Ciclavalley) January 4, 2022
The facility, which has seen bigger and better days — and was nearly home to the track cycling events in the ’84 LA Olympics — has raised just $1,498 of the modest $20,000 goal.
We could easily get them over the top in the next few days with a little support from the city’s bicycling community.
………
California may call surfing the official state sport, and three states claim rodeo.
But only Delaware names bicycling as the state’s official sport. Which raises the inevitable question of why the hell don’t we all live there?
………
Streets For All is hosting my state senator for their next virtual happy hour one week from today.
………
Cincinnati’s newly elected mayor one-ups New York’s new mayor, who took a bikeshare bike to his second day at work, by riding the city’s bikeshare to his inauguration.
Despite the cold, Cincinnati's new Mayor takes to the streets on a Red Bike to ride – on the STREETS – from City Hall to Washington Park for the swearing in ceremony… definitely sending a message that this is a NEW beginning – this shot from Cincy Biz Journal pic.twitter.com/ygoq50WIGl
— Steve Magas (@OhioBIkeLawyer) January 4, 2022
………
Now this is art.
First photograph of the new year for my series "Bicycle Culture / fahrradelig". #endcars #carisover pic.twitter.com/lcA7OjpgvX
— Stefan Draschan (@stefandraschan) January 3, 2022
………
Local
CicLAvia recaps last month’s South LA event, calling it a view to LA’s open streets future.
State
Sad news from California’s San Joaquin Valley, where a Bakersfield man was killed when a driver crashed into his bike yesterday. And a 69-year old man was killed in a Fresno hit-and-run when a truck driver swerved onto the shoulder where the man was riding, and left him there to die alone in the street.
On a happier note, a San Francisco dad is taking advantage of the city’s carfree and slow streets to form a bike bus to get kids riding to school, with pent-up demand quickly swelling it to several dozen bike-riding children.
National
Forbes recommends cold weather gear to help keep you riding throughout the winter. Just in case you live somewhere where the weather actually gets, you know, cold.
JBL’s new handlebar-mounted speakers are perfect for your next bike party, or when you just want to annoy everyone else around you.
I want to be like him when I grow up. An 81-year old man relates his own history with ebikes, while walking you through everything you need to know to keep up with him on one of your own.
The founder of Bike Index details his investigation that helped uncover a Colorado bike theft ring that funneled hot high-end bicycles to a bike shop in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, for resale at slightly less than their actual value. Yet another reminder to sign up for free lifetime registration with Bike Index today.
Sad news from Iowa, where a longtime mainstay of the annual RAGBRAI mass ride across the state has passed away at 94; she participated in the ride for nearly 30 years, starting when she was 65 and continuing into her 90s.
After watching it deteriorate for a couple years, a Brooklyn writer rescues a rare 1998 Litespeed softail titanium mountain bike that was in the process of slowly being stolen, one piece at a time.
North Carolina has given away over 30,000 kids bike helmets over the past five years, funded by the state’s Share the Road specialty license plates.
International
This is why people keep dying on the streets. A British driver has been busted for distracted driving nine times over the past four years, but was still allowed to keep driving. Just one more example of authorities going out of their way to keep a dangerous driver on the road.
Travel site Lonely Planet explains how to tour Edinburgh on two wheels, calling the city surprisingly easy to bike despite its ancient streets and undulating topography.
Life is cheap in the UK, where a van driver was fined the equivalent of less than $750 for knocking a man off his bicycle, fracturing bones throughout his body and leaving him unable to move for two months.
A new study from Zurich, Switzerland shows that shared ebikes and scooters may not be as eco-friendly as we were led to believe.
Commercial cargo bikes are changing the look of German streets.
A Cypriot woman was arrested for injuring a bike-riding woman while driving at six times the legal alcohol limit — before 9 am.
Bike riders in Hyderabad, India are calling for major safety improvements to make the city bike friendly after a man was run down by a drunk driver while riding with three companions.
A new Chinese bike cam system combines a front headlight, rear taillight with brake light, and an action cam into a single unit.
Competitive Cycling
Argentina’s early season Vuelta a San Juan has been cancelled for the second year in a row, courtesy of our old buddy Covid-19.
Admittedly, I’m no expert when it comes to ‘cross. But I don’t think this is supposed to happen.
Is there a VAR in cyclocross? 🙈 pic.twitter.com/qCMxltPrd2
— Cyclocross24.com (@cyclocross24) January 4, 2022
Finally…
Zwift’s virtual Tron Bike could soon be coming to a real world near you. Your next ebike could be powered by hydrogen. And pedals, of course.
And you’ll now have to put a headlight on your ass to ride it in the roadway after dark.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Your link to the German cargo bike site goes to the Lonely planet article.