Bicyclists are being urged to avoid PCH between Deer Creek Road and Sycamore Canyon Road for the next two days.
The roadway will be reduced to a single lane for construction work from 9 am to 2 pm, with traffic allowed through in alternate directions, while the bike lanes will be completely blocked.
However, there’s no word on what road conditions will be like if you arrive before or after that five-hour time period.
It’s also questionable whether bikes can be prohibited from using PCH during those hours, since California allows bicycles on any public road where cars are allowed, with the exception of limited access highways in most urban areas.
Whether it would be smart to put yourself in that situation is another matter.
Image from RoadTrafficSigns.com.
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West Hollywood sheriff’s deputies report that crime was up a whopping 137% in the city last year. Fifty-two bicycles reported stolen, a rate of one per week; just over half were classified as grand theft with a value in excess of $950.
Five bikes have been stolen in WeHo so far this year.
Both of those totals are undoubtedly higher, since the majority of bike thefts never get reported to the police.
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File this one under Stupid Driver Tricks.
I often get asked if any place is really safe from dangerous drivers. People like this are why I usually say no.
The officers were able to stop the vehicle at about the 1600 block of the beach bicycle path. The suspected DUI driver was taken into custody before anyone was hurt. (2/2) 📸@S_BixlerPhoto
— Santa Monica Police (@SantaMonicaPD) March 15, 2022
Thanks to @yoScot for the heads up, who added this thought.
Recklessly — is there a safe way to be driving on the bike path?
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
There’s a special place in hell for a group of Georgia teens who terrorized a young kid by surrounding him as he rode his bike on a golf cart path, then shot him repeatedly with liquid-filled splatter pellets in yet another harmful TikTok challenge; the boy escaped with a bloodied nose and pellet gun wounds to his torso.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
An English man was busted for bicycling under the influence after crashing into a woman, who suffered minor injuries when she was knocked to the ground.
Police in the UK are looking for a hit-and-run bicyclist who fled the scene after crashing into a 75-year old bike rider, leaving the man fighting for his life with a critical head injury.
Then there’s this.
Morning Cabbies! 🚴♀️🥴 pic.twitter.com/yLjq4zPMJG
— Scott (@schscott) March 10, 2022
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Local
Los Angeles is installing bright red bus lanes in East Hollywood and DTLA, with others coming soon on Alvarado and La Brea; LA interprets state law as allowing bike riders to use bus-only lanes, though some other cities may disagree.
An Atwater Village elementary school is working with the PE Learn-To-Ride program sponsored by All Kids Bike to teach the youngest students how to ride using balance bikes, after a teacher discovered no one really wanted to win a bicycle as a reward for good behavior.
It looks like protected bike lanes on Pasadena’s Union Street could soon bcomee a reality, after the city council formally blessed a contract for a 1.5 mile lane reduction with traffic island and bollard-protected bike lanes; the project also includes a short bike boulevard on Holliston Ave.
Hermosa Beach police used bait bikes to bust a pair of bike thieves, while making sure the bikes had a value of more than $950 so it would count as felony theft. Which serves as yet another reminder that the LAPD still doesn’t use bait bikes to cut high theft rates, thanks to a misguided opinion from the city attorney’s office concluding they could be seen as entrapment; meanwhile, that same city attorney wants your vote for LA mayor.
State
A San Francisco op-ed says gas prices aren’t high enough, and should be $15 a gallon to include the associated costs of global warming, military, traffic and crashes.
Around 250 people turned out for a weekend rally in Berkeley calling for a carfree Telegraph Avenue, and blocking traffic to show what the street could be like.
San Raphael residents are complaining about plans to remove a traffic lane on Point San Pedro Road to install a buffered bike lane, even though the bike lane was mandated as part of a 1971 permit agreement, but never built.
National
CityLab says many Americans are taking up ebikes and e-cargo bikes as an alternative to high gas prices, so why are they absent from government policy discussions?
Planetizen examines how bike advocates can strengthen existing partnerships and make strategic alliances to secure federal funding for projects that will benefit bicyclists, pedestrians and other vulnerable road users. Surprisingly, the answer isn’t promising to waste as much government money as much as possible.
A Staten Island teenager will spend the next four years behind bars for a carjacking and police chase that ended when he crashed into a man riding a bicycle in a crosswalk; fortunately, the bike-riding victim was not seriously injured.
Atlanta bike riders protested a surprise decision to remove bollard and planter-protected bike lanes on iconic Peachtree Street; the lanes were originally installed as a two-month pilot project, but have been in place for over 200 days.
A Savannah, Georgia Catholic school celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with their annual bike parade for kids from Pre-K through 8th grade.
Diddy is sort of one of us, saying he gets around Miami on a five grand water bike.
International
A vote by the UN General Assembly calls on member nations to integrate bicycles into public transport, while improving road safety and promoting the use of bicycles to increase bicycle trips to improve sustainability and reduce greenhouse gasses.
Cycling News examines how bikes get made, starting from iron ore or a vat of petrochemicals to the finished bicycle in your garage. Although you’re better off keeping it inside your home, since garages are often easy targets for thieves.
Life is cheap in Toronto, where a newspaper columnist questions the justice of a lousy two-year sentence for a speeding, uninsured driver who killed a popular science teacher as he was riding his bike, while trying to escape a police chase; police clocked him going over twice the 40 mph speed limit. But at least he’ll be forbidden from driving for five years — even though it should be a lifetime ban.
A British man is being tried for manslaughter for the death of a teenager outside a nightclub; the fight began when he and his companions started kicking and riding the victim’s bicycle. Two other men have already pled guilty in the case.
Competitive Cycling
When your famous bike-riding dad gets his image on a wall.
Macs got a surprise yesterday down Maindy. “Oh that’s my Dad.” And his cousin Alys went “yeah that’s Ger”. And then they rode on 🤣🚴 pic.twitter.com/4YqBds8kLX
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) March 15, 2022
Finally…
That feeling when you get run off from a historic mansion while walking a bike. Your next ebike could have a driveshaft instead of a chain.
And who needs a $10,000 gold bar when you could win a beer-branded bike instead?
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
Yes, and best of all… fuck Putin.
I’m not sure what is a greater threat to humanity, nuclear war or the gigantic stupidity that has made nuclear war possible. Is Ukraine really worth a nuclear confrontation between the US and Russia? Well, is it?
Alan covert is upset that his mother bought the wrong type of Pepsi this week. As a result he has to take it out on us by posting RT talking points from his bedroom when he is not trying to get attention on bike forums by writing screeds about oval chainrings.
Feel free to disagree as much as you like, but please avoid personal attacks.
I have ridden on some of those traffic detours both as lead or last. I do prefer the last person through since the people controlling the road have radio communication.
Still they can be rough, either because of half done roadwork before final pavement, or stuff on the road from construction. Lumps of dirt smashed into the road way making for negative cobbles…