Today’s common theme is the recognition that people aren’t safe from drivers anywhere.
Like the nine people who were injured in LA’s Westlake District Saturday morning when a driver jumped the curb at Wilshire and Alvarado, plowing through pedestrians and street vendors gathered on the sidewalk.
Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. Police discounted the driver’s claim that he lost control when someone pointed a gun at him.
Or the two people who were killed, including an eight-year old boy, and another woman injured, when a speeding motorcyclist went off the shoulder of a New York State roadway and slammed into a group of pedestrians standing on a bike path.
Seriously, something is wrong when people who aren’t even in the roadway still aren’t safe from drivers and their deadly machines.
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The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will consider a motion tomorrow to reduce speed limits on some streets.
https://twitter.com/ActiveSGV/status/1535466515981488128
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More proof that driving usually isn’t the best way of getting there.
Wherever there is.
Beating traffic easily up Coldwater this morning…@bikinginla pic.twitter.com/9SCHsDj5Pl
— Zachary Rynew (@Ciclavalley) June 11, 2022
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BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette offers a brief recap of Saturday’s Giro Di San Diego Grab Fondo.
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Great idea from the UK. Now let’s do it here.
Sustrans and Bosch introducing free e-bike charging stations on National Cycle Network routes #ebikehttps://t.co/wq8VSwqLUl pic.twitter.com/ZBcdDSZjxb
— ebiketips (@ebiketips) June 12, 2022
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bike just keeps on going.
No bias here. A Scottish automotive journalist is calling for bike riders to be required to have compulsory training, licenses and insurance before being allowed on the road, apparently confusing the risk to others posed by cars for the negligible risk posed by someone on a bicycle.
No bias here, either. A gay Londoner was snubbed by his date after he arrived on a bicycle. If the guy can’t appreciate a bike, he’s better off without him.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A New York resident took matters into their own hands, posting DIY signs to remind scofflaw bike riders not to ride on the sidewalk. Not to mention skaters, rollerbladers, scooter and skateboard riders.
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Local
No news is good news, right?
State
Heartbreaking news from La Jolla, where a 90-year old man was killed riding an e-scooter when he was struck by an 80-year old driver. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive.
Now you can be the proud owner of 20 years worth of classic T-shirts from the Redlands Classic, with all 58 shirts for just twenty bucks.
National
People For Bikes’ Final Mile program proves that cities can build out bike networks faster, more efficiently and more equitably, with Austin, Texas and Denver, Colorado building over 100 miles of bike lanes in just two years.
Electrek says you can buy an ebike on Amazon for the cost of five tanks of gas if you own a truck or SUV, or seven if you own a car. Or less of you live in California. You’ll probably be happier, too.
Forbes recommends what they say may be the best ebike for under $1,400.
Portland unveiled a new bicycle ambulance based on a Tern e-cargo bike. Although the lawn chair bolted onto a wooden bike trailer to transport patients leaves something to be desired.
The last remaining segment of Seattle’s oldest long bike path just turned 125 years old.
Good idea. A Utah law allows bike riders to sue in small claims court for up to $11,000 to force insurance companies to quickly replace bicycles damaged in collisions for their full value, without affecting the victim’s right to file a separate injury claim.
A tragic warning to use extra caution in hot weather, as a Colorado man died after running out of water while riding a mountain bike trail in 100° weather; three other riders who tried to help him had to be rescued when they ran out of water, too.
A Colorado man lovingly restored the 1982 Colnago owned by the late Breaking Away and American Flyers screenwriter Steve Tesich, who passed away in 1996.
The manhunt — or woman hunt, in this case — continues for Kaitlin Marie Armstrong in the shooting death of elite gravel cyclist Mariah “Mo” Wilson in Austin, Texas last month.
Hundreds of bicyclists and pedestrians gathered with community leaders to demand safer streets in Chicago, after a two-year old boy was killed crossing the street on a scooter, and a three-year old girl was killed riding on the back of her mother’s bike.
A volunteer firefighter in Upstate New York was the victim of a hit-and-run driver as he rode his bike to respond to a call; fortunately, he was uninjured, but his bike, not so much.
Thirty-nine year old Semmie Williams was found competent to stand trial in the stabbing death of a 14-year old Florida boy who went missing after going out for a bike ride, despite Williams previous diagnosis of schizophrenia.
International
A Vancouver man is dead after an exploding ebike battery caused him to fall off a window ledge.
London’s edition of the World Naked Bike Ride drew over 1,000 people riding nine different routes to call for better safety, while keeping photo editors at the tabloids busy blurring the naughty bits.
Led by a Kharkiv priest, 20 Good Samaritans are riding bikes to deliver food and medicine to 700 elderly residents of the devastated Ukrainian city.
A 44-year old South African man will spend the next 25 years behind bars for the murder of former South African cycling champion Etienne van Wyk; the brutal crime went unsolved for 15 years.
A young Indonesian man arrived in Saudi Arabia for the Hajj, following a 3,600-mile journey by bicycle to visit Islam’s Three Holy Mosques.
Three bicyclists were hospitalized, one in the ICU, when a drunk driver slammed into a group of 14 riders in Singapore; the driver was arrested for DUI.
Sad news from Thailand, where a well-known Thai bike rider was killed when he was struck by the driver of a semi, who claimed he never saw him; 53-year old Nirantra Phramthong gained famed after riding through several countries.
Competitive Cycling
Slovenian pro Primož Roglič set the stage for next month’s Tour de France by winning the Criterium du Dauphine stage race on Sunday.
Colombian cyclist Juan Sebastián Molano was disqualified from the Dauphine for punching another rider in the head at 43 mph, then continuing the dispute — and the punching — after crossing the finish line.
Italian road champ Elisa Longo Borghini refuses to get caught up in the hype, saying it’s great that there’s now a women’s Tour de France, but it’s just a bike race like any other anywhere else.
Thirty-two-year old Russian pro Ilnur Zakarin called it a career after his Gazprom-RusVelo team shut down following the ban on Russian cycling teams.
Former pro Peter Stetina claimed the Asheville NC Belgian Waffle Ride, while Sarah Max won the women’s race after a disappointing finish in the Unbound Gravel race.
Finally…
Your toddler can now ride his or her own electric Kawasaki. Maybe don’t trust someone named Scurvy to deliver your new beach cruiser.
And evidently, a bicycle is something a gorilla shouldn’t monkey with.
Although maybe he just needs a better bike fit.
Stupid cycle 😡!!!……….😃 pic.twitter.com/hGXZBEGSL7
— Dr.Samrat Gowda IFS (@IfsSamrat) June 8, 2022
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
