Before we start, there’s a lot of grief in the LA bicycling community today.
On Saturday, news broke that someone had been killed riding a bike in Canyon County.
While the story is still developing, we’ve learned that the victim was 37-year old John Hermoso, a popular Los Angeles Rapha ride leader, better known as Panda.
He was apparently riding with a small group of cyclists on a seldom-used roadway in Canyon Country, near Santa Clarita in north LA County.
It appears to have been a head-on collision on a blind corner. We’ll likely learn more today as we hear from more voices.
But it’s just one more heartbreaking reminder of the cost of traffic violence, in a year when bicycling deaths are spiraling out of control. And this time, it’s touched people throughout the community.
Not exactly the way we wanted to start Bike Month.
Photo by Photo by Matej Novosad from Pexels.
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Around 1,600 people turned out for Sunday’s Finish the Ride in Griffith Park, just two weeks after 77-year old Andrew Jelmert was killed riding on Crystal Springs Drive.
The annual ride began when founder Damian Kevitt invited the community to join him as he finished the ride that was interrupted when he was run down by a hit-and-run driver a decade ago, and dragged onto the 5 Freeway before he was able to free himself.
Kevitt lost the lower portion of his right leg in the crash, and nearly his life. And has since devoted it to fighting hit-and-runs and making the streets safer for all of us.
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We ended with a link to this story as a blind item on Friday, but it’s worth bringing it back up today.
Cycling Tips takes a deep dive into the many lives of Australian cyclist Nick Clark — pro cyclist, soldier, CEO, lawyer, author, academic, hostage responder, weapons instructor and Virginia bike shop owner.
But underneath them all, was just a single con man, whose web of lies was undone by a Strava KOM.
Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.
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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 Diego writer insists the city’s mayor and “his bike extremist minions” are blind to the needs of disabled drivers and older people, ignoring the fact that many disabled and older people ride bikes. And fails to see the irony in saying he sees more cars illegally parked in bike lanes than people riding in them.
A New York Citi Bike bikeshare dock was apparently destroyed overnight by a hit-and-run driver, raising the question of whether it was a deliberate attack.
https://twitter.com/cosmicamericana/status/1520765125623492608
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Police are looking for a New York man who fled the scene on a bicycle after fatally shooting another man following an argument.
An Edinburgh bike rider held up a tram in rush hour traffic after the driver honked at her to move, riding as slowly as she could with her middle finger extended. And I don’t blame her one bit.
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Local
LAist offers an in-depth explainer of the newly approved NoHo to Pasadena bus rapid transit line, which will include a lane reduction and protected bike lanes through Eagle Rock.
Spectrum News 1 offers a guide to yesterday’s 626 Golden Streets open streets festival.
State
Hundreds of San Francisco bike riders stage a slow ride in support of slow streets, calling for more to be closed to through traffic.
Sacramento residents remember a 22-year old man killed by a hit-and-run driver last week while riding his bike home from work.
National
Cycling Savvy offers advice on how to successfully navigate traffic circles and roundabouts.
Electrek offers this month’s picks for the best ebikes at every price level, while T3 considers the downsides of owning an ebike. Although they may be mistaken about the limited health benefits of ebikes.
He gets it. An information security expert says the way to stop bicyclists from running stop signs is to remove the requirement for them to stop, saying bike riders have as much need to stop for stop signs as drivers do in roundabouts. Which is none.
A Las Vegas paper marks the one-year anniversary of the hit-and-run death of a 66-year-old grandmother, who was killed just crossing the street to her granddaughter’s birthday party, by calling for greater protections for bike riders and pedestrians.
A carfree Houston developer insists the notoriously car-centric city is becoming more bike friendly.
Wisconsin Republicans blocked plans to spend just 1.5% of the $283 million the state is receiving under the federal infrastructure bill on bike and pedestrian projects to reduce traffic congestion, while doubling down on traffic-inducing highway projects.
A 40-year cycling instructor from Pennsylvania insists that while there’s room for improvement on American roads, it will never replace the need for bicycling instruction to improve safety. Although most experts would flip that equation, and say that education, while helpful, will never replace the need for safer streets.
In an entirely predictable incident, 15 people were injured when an Atlanta party bike tipped over rounding a corner, two critically but none with life-threatening injuries. The operator was later charged with driving under the influence.
International
An eight-year old boy raised the equivalent of nearly $8,000 by riding his bike two laps around London’s Richmond Park, a total of 14 miles.
A Leicester, England paper recalls forgotten local legend Bert Harris, who set the cycling world on fire until his tragic death after crashing in a race 125 years ago.
A shameless masked thief rode off on a British girl’s one-week old bike as she sat just feet away in a friend’s car, with the door open.
Singapore bike riders and bus drivers swap roles to see the roads from the other’s perspective.
New Zealand bicyclists, pedestrians and bus riders call for travel justice, demanding better safety and accessibility for anyone not inside a two-ton metal box.
Competitive Cycling
American pro Alexey Vermeulen won the 137-mile Belgian Waffle Ride, after dropping late breakaway partner Alex Howes.
VeloNews offers photos from the women’s Belgian Waffle Ride, won by pro cyclist Mo Wilson by 25 minutes in a breakaway.
Liège–Bastogne–Liège women’s winner Annemiek van Vleuten will be out of commission for awhile after breaking her wrist in a training crash.
A Redlands paper recaps the “triumphant return” of last week’s Redlands Classic.
Finally…
That feeling when you might have gotten away if you’d stolen a bike instead of a truck. Your next foldie could be lighter than a miniature poodle — and a lot more fun to ride.
And you — yes, you — are a bike person.
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Eid Mubarak to all those celebrating today!
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
The guy in the Lyft/Divvy ad will find that ankle strap a lot more useful on his right leg.