Archive for August 4, 2022

Free LED safety gear for low-income Culver City commuters, and reasoning with an angry climate denying driver

August 4, 2022 / / 2 comments

Bike Culver City is starting a light giveaway program for bike riders and pedestrians in the city.

BCC steering committee member Art Nomura writes to say the organization has won a grant from the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) GoHuman program to purchase and distribute hi-quality LED safety equipment to low income workers in Culver City and the vicinity.

Bike Culver City will be giving away a free top-rated LED Vest or a pair of hi-vis LED lights to qualified recipients; night or early morning workers that bike or walk to work (including first and last milers) are especially encouraged to apply.

Anyone interested in the program can click on this link to see what is available and to fill out a simple application form in English or Spanish.

However, he stresses that the application period ends on August 16, so this is a limited time opportunity.

………

Um, okay.

An angry Portland driver goes off on a cargo bike rider because of his sticker reading This Machine Fights Climate Change, calling climate change a hoax and a scam, and saying the rider’s Antifa buddies can go to hell.

No, really.

………

People For Bikes urges you to contact your US senators to demand the inclusion of an ebike tax credit and bicycle commuter benefit in the final draft of the new climate bill, aka the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

Although at last report, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was the last remaining holdout on the bill, looking to add back tax breaks for corporations and private equity managers.

So the question isn’t what your senator will support, but what can they get Sinema and bill co-author Joe Manchin of West Virginia to sign off on.

………

This is the cost of traffic violence.

Indiana Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski was killed in a traffic collision, along with two of her staffers, when a driver traveled onto the wrong side of the road and hit her SUV head-on.

………

That feeling when a famed mountain bike park is full of bears. And no, you probably shouldn’t greet one like a lost puppy.

………

If you need me, I’ll just be pretending I’m on my way to Bruges now, thank you.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

After a Toronto bike rider was hit by a cop rolling a stop sign, he claimed the same officer had been harassing riders in a city park all day.

A 65-year old English man was injured when a road raging driver pushed him off his bike for the crime of not riding in a bike lane; he says he was hurt so badly he had to quit his job as an undertaker, and now struggles to play his trombone and bass guitar. Although probably not at the same time.

A British driver and his passenger face murder charges for deliberately driving onto a sidewalk and killing a man who was riding a bicycle with his girlfriend on the handlebars, before fleeing the scene without stopping.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Police in New York are looking for a Brooklyn bike-by shooter who shot a man who was standing outside his house, leaving the victim in critical condition. Although the NY Post can’t seem to decide whether the shooter was riding an ebike or a scooter.

………

Local

Streetsblog is over halfway to their summer fundraising goal of $15,000, and just needs to raise another $7,000 to keep up their vital work reporting on Los Angeles and California transportation issues.

The Meet the Hollywoods CicLAvia route returns on August 21st, once again heading along the Hollywood Walk of Fame before dropping south to Santa Monica Blvd.

Camilla Cabello is sort of one of us, trying a kids bike on for size at a Los Angeles area Walmart.

 

State 

Carlsbad’s long-awaited 94-acre Veterans Memorial Park could soon be home to the city’s first bicycle park, complete with pump track, jumps and a slalom course.

Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, pled not guilty to a charge of DUI stemming from a May injury collision in Napa County; the 82-year old driver had a blood alcohol level of .082% after the crash — just over the .08% limit.

 

National

A trio of Republican senators are fighting for your right to drive drunk, introducing a bill that would remove a requirement for carmakers to install passive drunk-driving detection mechanisms on all new cars by 2024.

The prestigious National Law Review considers the causes of bicycling crashes and how to avoid them.

Planetizen says accurate bicycle counts on city streets matter, because inaccurate — or non-existent — counts could lead to an underinvestment in bike infrastructure.

Streetsblog considers the multiple strange and varied vehicles that get called ebikes, and where they belong on the road, while Wired offers the latest deals on ebikes, e-scooters and accessories.

Prevention recommends the best women’s bike shorts. Only one of which is actually intended for, you know, riding a bike.

Seattle is testing a number of alternatives for building protected bike lanes this summer, from armadillos to low concrete barriers, with a goal of placing the winner throughout the city.

A Durango, Colorado letter writer insists residents of the city have been duped into thinking ebikes can have a tangible reduction on greenhouse gas emissions. Although he seems to think the point is to replace regular bike trips, rather than replacing car trips with ebikes.

A bighearted Odessa, Texas shop owner bought a new bike for a longtime customer after his was stolen outside the store.

Heartbreaking story from Michigan, where one of the two men killed by an alleged DUI driver shared his motivation for participating in the challenging 300-mile ride just hours before his death — a bracelet with the name of a Make-A-Wish child that he looked at whenever he needed inspiration.

A kindhearted Connecticut cop bought a new bike for a little kid who started crying after realizing he didn’t win one in a raffle on Tuesday’s National Night Out.

That’s more like it. A Manhattan community board is onboard with plans for a road diet and bike lanes, but are insisting on concrete barriers instead of just paint.

Another tragic ebike fire in New York, where an exploding battery took the life of a five-year old girl and a 36-year old woman in a Harlem apartment, along with their three dogs; the girl’s father survived in critical condition. Although once again, the local CBS station can’t seem to decide if it was an ebike or an e-scooter.

 

International

Bike Radar recommends the best torque wrenches to work on your bike. And no, that’s not what you use to hammer a tight nut you can’t get off.

An 80-year old Canadian man is trying to set a new world record for the longest journey by motorized bike, riding an ebike over 8,000 miles from Alaska to Panama.

Canadian bicycling injuries jumped 25% in the first full year of the pandemic, likely due to an increase in bike ridership. 

More proof that opposition to bikeways melts away over time. Despite the opposition of some drivers, local residents strongly support the UK’s Low Traffic Neighborhoods, Britain’s version of Slow Streets; in one study, 44% opposed an LTN in their neighborhood before it was installed, but after five years, less than 2% wanted it removed.

Porsche is jumping deeper into the ebike market by creating two new companies — one to make ebike components, and the other to build complete ebikes based on them.

A new German study suggests drivers pass bike riders just as close, if not closer, on streets with low speed limits as they do on faster streets.

Australia has issued an urgent recall notice for the children’s eZee Viento folding ebikes, which could suffer a broken frame while being ridden. The bikes were also sold in the US, but no word on a recall here yet.

 

Competitive Cycling

USA Cycling has announced the members of the US team for the Mountain Bike World Championships in Les Gets, France later this month.

Note to race organizers — speed bumps defeat the purpose of bike races. A half-dozen cyclists went down hard after clipping a speed bump in the last quarter mile of Spain’s Vuelta a Burgos.

 

Finally…

Is it really an ebike if it doesn’t have pedals, looks like a dirt bike and goes 38 mph? Or if the pedals are so hidden away they’re almost impossible to use?

And the story may be science fiction, but at least Amazon’s Paper Girls gets the ’80s bikes right.

And yes, you can read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Bike incentives pulled from climate bill, bikes really are good for business, and L39ion of LA gets into beer business

August 3, 2022 / / One comment

They get it.

The loss of bicycling incentives in the new climate bill didn’t escape the notice of DC’s hometown newspaper, The Washington Post.

Provisions designed to supercharge the sale and use of traditional bikes and the battery-powered variety were dropped from the climate deal reached by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Joe Manchin III (W.Va.), the Senate’s most conservative Democrat. The absence is grinding the gears of bike manufacturers and cycling enthusiasts who pushed for months to include the pro-bike provisions in Democrats’ climate package…

Dropped from the deal is a tax credit worth up to $900 to help cyclists purchase electric bikes. Also gone is a pretax benefit for commuters to help cover the cost of biking to work. Versions of both benefits were included in the roughly $2 trillion spending package that passed the House last year.

The proposed commuter benefit for bikers, which Republicans repealed in 2017, would be similar to a perk many employees already get for taking a car or subway to work.

As it stands, the bill — officially titled The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 — is a gift to makers of electric cars, with a $7,500 tax credit for new electric vehicles, as well as a tax credit for used ones.

Yet it inexplicably excludes the hottest selling electric vehicles in both Europe and the US.

Ebikes.

Which are somehow outpacing sales of electric cars, despite being outside the price range of many potential buyers.

And which offer the greatest potential for getting drivers out of their cars, and reducing the number of cars on the street.

Which you’d think would be a reasonable goal for a climate bill.

But apparently, you’d be wrong.

Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels.

………

This is the key point to remember.

Because business owners will always oppose anything that takes parking away, without realizing they will probably be better off without it if they just give it a little time.

………

Now that’s more like it.

L39ion of Los Angeles is teaming with Colorado’s New Belgium brewery to introduce the L39ION X Fat Tire Golden Ale, brewed with lemon peel and sea salt for “post ride consumption.”

Proceeds will benefit the Grow Cycling Foundation to provide education, access and opportunities that promote diverse representation and equity in cycling.

However, the hyper-limited release may be difficult to find, unless you have the brewer ship it directly to your door.

You’re welcome.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Life is cheap in New Zealand, where an impatient driver walks with a measly $1,200 fine and a six-month driving ban for intentionally driving into the path of a group of bike riders, and physically attacking one man who crashed into his car.

………

Local

The LA Times questions whether the new $588-million 6th Street Viaduct is an architectural and cultural wonder or a symbol of so much that is wrong with Los Angeles. I vote for c) All of the above.

Los Angeles expanded a prohibition on homeless encampments near schools and daycare centers, which also prohibits blocking roadways and bike paths. Of course, the problem is getting someone to actually enforce it if a homeless camp blocks a bikeway. 

A passing bike rider in Tujunga called 911 after noticing a man in a car who appeared to be unconscious; police discovered the driver was dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

 

State 

San Francisco 49ers General Manager John Lynch is one of us, although he might skip the upcoming NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony after falling off his bicycle and bruising his face. And no, he wasn’t wearing a helmet.

Streetsblog says leaked communications prove San Francisco’s mayor is trying to kill off the city’s popular Slow Streets program.

On Focus highlights the Bicycling Hall of Fame in Davis.

 

National

Bicycling looks at the best bike headlights available on Amazon. Which isn’t exactly the same as the best bike headlights, period. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you, although this one doesn’t seem to be paywalled. 

A Dutch man with peripheral neuropathy is riding an ebike across the US to call attention to the disorder, as well as promoting ebikes for people with physical disabilities. I suffer from the same condition, albeit from a different cause. So maybe there’s hope for me yet. Once again, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

A new bike taillight launching soon on Kickstarter promises to make you look more like a human and less like an object. As if there are a lot of floating red flashers out there roaming the roadways on their own.

Someone is stealing locked-up, high-end bicycles from Colorado mountain towns. Just like pretty much everywhere else.

Strange case from Texas, where a 48-year old woman remains missing four days after she set off on a bike ride, even though her bicycle mysteriously showed up outside her parents home Tuesday morning.

A Michigan bike advocacy group demands that new cars come equipped with automatic emergency braking that can detect bicyclists, along with driver alcohol detection systems.

Boston bike riders formed a human bike lane during Tuesday’s morning commute, telling the city’s new mayor it’s time to get going on building new bike lanes.

He gets it. A New York Congressional candidate responds to the recent death of a bike-riding woman by saying the feds can do a lot better when it comes to bike lanes and traffic violence.

Great story about a 13-year old neurodivergent Georgia boy who learned how to ride a bike with a little help from his friends, who told him to “stop saying you can’t.”

 

International

Americans are coming out of their Covid shell, and celebrating their newfound freedom by biking through Europe.

A Halifax, Nova Scotia group objects to plans to remove up to 125 mature trees to make room for new bike lanes. Then again, I’d probably object to that, too.

A British student’s call for mandatory bike helmets has made it to the halls of Parliament, though a government minister says they’d rather encourage helmet use than require it.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a driver walked with probation and a one-year driving ban for attempting to drive off with a bike rider still clinging to the hood of his car following a crash.

Several Iranian bikemakers have shuttered their shops in recent weeks, pummeled by high production costs and a lingering recession.

A bike rider from Myanmar is suing Singapore’s water agency after his front wheel got caught in a metal grate with grills running parallel to the roadway. Something that shouldn’t exist there, or anywhere else.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly offers five takeaways from the first women’s Tour de France in 33 years.

USA Cycling was accused of transphobia after trans cyclist Leia Genis was allowed to compete in the women’s individual pursuit at last week’s USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships, then stripped of her silver medal the next day.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to pop a wheelie, try not to crash into a taxi and pull an endo in the process. Now you, too, can ride your Corona while you drink one.

And feel free to accessorize with someone’s old bike tubes.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Breaking news: 78-year old man killed riding bike in Mission Viejo crash, no details available

August 2, 2022 / / One comment

News broke late this afternoon that an elderly man was killed riding his bike in Mission Viejo Tuesday morning.

According to Mission Viejo Patch, the victim, identified only as a 78-year old man, was killed in some sort of crash around 8 am Tuesday, near Los Alisos Boulevard and Entidad.

There’s no word on how the crash occurred, or even if there was another vehicle, let alone a driver, involved.

Hopefully, we’ll get more information soon.

This is at least the 51st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the ninth that I’m aware of in Orange County.

My deepest prayers and sympathy for the victim and all his loved ones.

Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , ,

Killer Michigan drugged driver allegedly a repeat offender, and California to get $631 million for climate resilient infrastructure

August 2, 2022 / / One comment

This is why people keep dying on our streets.

The 43-year old woman who killed two men and critically injured three others participating in a 300-mile Michigan fundraising ride for the Make-A-Wish program faces her second arrest for driving under the influence of prescription drugs.

Mandy Marie Benn reportedly had been prescribed Aderall and Suboxone, and had prescription bottles for Benzodiazepine in her car at the time of the crash.

Suboxone is used to treat opioid addiction.

The prosecuting attorney in her case described her as so stoned that she “had slow and slurred speech, lack of balance and couldn’t follow instructions,” and told police the jumble of mangled bikes and bodies “almost looks real.”

She had previously been arrested on a charge of operating a vehicle while visibly impaired back five years earlier.

However, there’s no word on a conviction. Which suggests the charge was dropped or bargained away, allowing her to keep driving until she killed someone.

And she did.

Allegedly.

Just one more example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late.

Benn is charged with two counts of operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death, as well as a couple misdemeanors charges.

She’s being held on a million dollars bail, and faces a maximum of 31 years behind bars.

Which pales in comparison to the cost paid by the victims and their families.

Meanwhile, the victims were identified as a 57-year old man and a 48-year old man, both from Michigan.

Two of the men who were injured have been released, while the third remains hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

And the Make-A-Wish foundation reports they’re “heartbroken” over the needless deaths and injuries.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

………

U.S. Senator Alex Padilla announced that California will receive over $631 million for “climate resilient transportation infrastructure” over the next five years through the federal infrastructure bill pass last year.

The bill includes provisions for transit, bicycling and pedestrian projects designed to combat extreme weather conditions.

Meanwhile, Calbike looks at how pandemic bike riding led to the birth of SB 932, the Plan for the Future Bill.

The bill from California Senator Anthony Portantino, and sponsored by Streets for All and Calbike, requires local governments to include provisions to make streets safer for people biking, walking, using scooters and taking public transit in the circulation elements of their general plans.

And it includes deadlines for starting and finishing construction of the new facilities, so cities have to actually build them.

………

Seriously?

A writer for City Watch says residents of Eagle Rock deserve better than a remake of Colorado Blvd to make it safer and more livable for everyone, accusing Metro of jamming plans for a bus rapid transit down down their throats.

Evidently, keeping it a deadly, traffic-inducing car sewer is somehow better for them, in some inexplicable way.

………

Yes, you can do stunts on a commuter ebike.

………

Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Police in New Orleans are looking for a bike-riding man who fired a single shot at a group of people walking down the street.

………

Local

A Los Angeles couple has filed suit against Seattle ebike maker Rad Power Bikes, blaming a flawed design that makes it difficult slow down and stop while going downhill for the death of their 12-year old daughter from head trauma last year.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton examines the newly renovated Culver Blvd bike path in Culver City, noting that the project improved pedestrian and rainwater facilities, but didn’t make major changes to the bikeway itself.

Helicopter and paramedic crews with the Los Angeles Fire Department rescued an injured mountain biker from a trail in in Shadow Hills on Saturday.

West Hollywood is now home to the next generation of Lime ebikes, with new ebikes from Bird coming later this month.

Santa Monica is planning another bike and pedestrian safety operation for today, ticketing any traffic violations that could put bike riders or pedestrians at risk, regardless of who commits them. Which means the standard protocol applies — ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.

 

State 

Sad news from Bakersfield, where a 40-year old man was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike through an alley Monday morning.

Sad news from Grover Beach, too, where a 29-year old man on an ebike was killed when he reportedly crossed in front of an oncoming fire truck.

A 69-year old driver crashed into a Berkeley bike rider participating in a group ride Sunday afternoon, before slamming into three parked cars and flipping over; both the driver and the 29-year old man on the bike were taken to a local hospital with injuries that didn’t appear to be life-threatening.

SFist questions whether San Francisco’s mayor is trying to kill off the city’s popular Slow Streets program.

 

National

Ebike and e-scooter provider Bolt Mobility, founded by Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, has ceased operations in several cities virtually overnight, abandoning its vehicles on the streets.

Bike Portland talks with a disabled Portland woman and new bike rider who gained greater mobility on her adaptive bicycle. Proving once again that bikes are for everyone, not just for the healthy and strong.

A 16-year old Las Vegas boy has been missing since he left for his new job on Friday; his phone is turned off and his bike was found in a dumpster ten miles from his home.

Operators of Colorado’s Palisade Plunge mountain bike trail are urging everyone to beware of the scorching heat and bring extra water, after the heart-related death of one man.

Houston patients with pre or existing diabetes or hypertension can now get a prescription for rental bike use.

A Minnesota advocacy group offers a 45-minute recorded discussion on tips for utilitarian bicycling, complete with a print transcript in case you’d rather read it.

Bike lanes in a Boston neighborhood has become the latest battlefront in the battle over gentrification, as Black and Latino residents complain they’re neither needed or wanted by the residents in danger of being pushed out. Even though Black and Latino people ride bikes, too.

The New Yorker ponders what a 9,000 pound electric vehicle should sound like, since silent cars and trucks pose a significant danger to bike riders and pedestrians who rely on vehicle noise for their safety.

That’s a good problem to have. The Manhattan Borough president is suggesting that the city convert a traffic lane on the West Side Highway to a separated bike path to relieve bike traffic congestion on the popular Hudson River Greenway.

NPR talks with the Director of Transportation for Hoboken about how the New Jersey city has eliminated traffic deaths for the past four years through a series of incremental safety changes.

Another reminder to always carry ID when you ride a bike, as authorities in Baton Rouge, Louisiana struggle to identify a man killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding a bike.

 

International

After a British teacher flipped over his handlebars and broke his collarbone, he credited the what3words app with pinpointing his rural location for the paramedics.

Here are 18 bicycling routes throughout the island nation for your next trip to Singapore.

 

Competitive Cycling

Another day, another major crash in track cycling at the Commonwealth Games; Australia is leading a push for better safety measures.

Veteran Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten says she’s “super proud” to have won the first women’s Tour de France in 33 years, despite nearly quitting due to stomach issues early in the week.

The Astana Qazaqstan cycling team reinstated Colombian rider Miguel Ángel López after he was questioned, and apparently cleared, in the investigation into the alleged activities of a Spanish doctor suspected of drug trafficking.

 

Finally…

Celebrate a Tour de France finish on your next bike ride, complete with cheering fans. Your next ebike could have a built-in boombox to annoy everyone as you ride by.

And Aquaman is one of us.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Alleged DUI Michigan driver kills 2 fundraising riders and injures 3 others, and Culver City remakes Culver Blvd bike path

August 1, 2022 / / Comments Off on Alleged DUI Michigan driver kills 2 fundraising riders and injures 3 others, and Culver City remakes Culver Blvd bike path

Once again, a motor vehicle in the wrong hands has become a weapon of mass destruction.

Two people were killed, and three critically injured, when an alleged DUI driver plowed into a group of bicyclists participating in a Michigan Make-A-Wish fundraising ride.

The driver reportedly crossed the center line in an ill-advised effort to pass a slower driver, hitting the victims head-on.

Meanwhile, a Canton, Michigan family went out on their own as a tribute to the victims, after the third and final day of the ride was cancelled in the wake of the crash.

This comes just six years and less than 70 miles from the infamous Kalamazoo massacre, where a stoned driver killed five people and injured several others taking part in a weekly ride.

That driver was sentenced to a well-deserved 40 years behind bars.

Let’s hope this one sees the same sort of justice.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

The knock on the Culver Blvd bike path has always been the increased risk bike riders face at intersections.

Hopefully they’ve improved the signaling to improve safety.

https://twitter.com/schneider/status/1552803279628685313

………

If you’ve been reading this site over the last decade or so, you’ll know I’m a big fan of the Militant Angeleno’s CicLAvia guides, and even co-hosted a epic guided ride with the notoriously shy masked man during the CicLAvia celebrating the LA Symphony’s 100th anniversary.

He’s never asked us for anything in return.

Until now.

Now, for the first time, the Militant is asking you to send a little much-deserved love his way, in the form of a PayPal donation.

So I hope you’ll join me in opening your heart and wallet to support one of the city’s most loved personalities.

………

This, too, is the cost of traffic violence.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

They clearly don’t get it. A Staten Island website complains about plans for a road diet and removing parking spaces, saying bike lanes aren’t the answer to speeding drivers. Except that’s exactly what road diets are for, and bike lanes are just a tool to narrow traffic lanes and force drivers to slow down.

You’ve got to be kidding. A New Jersey columnist sides with a Jersey City councilmember who fled the scene after crashing into a bike rider, saying the crash shows bicyclists think they’re above the law. I’d say hit-and-run is just a tad more serious than mistakenly thinking you’ve got the green light, as the rider claimed. But that’s just me.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

New York police are looking for a bike-riding snatch-and-grab thief who is targeting women to steal their cellphones.

Um, no.  A British bike courier faces charges after going on a rampage when his bike was stolen, smashing the windows on twelve businesses with his U-lock, then attacking the cops who tried to stop him. Seriously, don’t do that.

Life is cheap in Ireland, where a bike-riding man walked with an 18-month suspended sentence for plowing into a pedestrian, leaving the man with a serious brain injury.

………

Local

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will consider a proposal to decriminalize riding a bike on a sidewalk tomorrow, in response to an LA Times investigative report that showed sheriff’s deputies used the sidewalk ban to disproportionately target people of color.

NBA great LeBron James puts his money where his passion lies, investing $30 million dollars in Germany-based, direct-to-consumer Canyon Bicycles.

 

State 

No surprise here. The family of a 34-year-old man who was killed riding an e-scooter in a bike lane on San Diego’s Pershing Drive is suing the city; John Sepulveda was killed just two months and a few blocks from where noted architect Laura Shinn was killed by an allegedly stoned driver while riding her bike.

This is who we share the road with, too. A Riverside man is being hailed as a hero after he ran into busy freeway traffic to save the life of a motorcyclist caught up in a multi-car crash.

Hats off to Simi Valley Eagle Scout Chad Agruso, who installed a bike repair station on the Arroyo Simi Greenway Bike Trail.

Camarillo and Ventura County are considering a proposal to extend the Calleguas Creek bike path from Pleasant Valley Road to California State University Channel Islands, and possibly beyond.

Life is cheap in Bakersfield, where a woman walked with a lousy two-years probation for the hit-and-run death of a bike rider. And then we wonder why drivers don’t take hit-and-run seriously. Or killing someone, for that matter.

Sad news from Fresno, where a 23-year veteran of the police department was killed in a collision while riding a bicycle on Saturday; he was taking part in the annual Tour De Lakes put on by the Fresno Cycling Club.

Caltrans has begun taking comments on building a comprehensive multimodal corridor plan for the I-5 corridor through Sacramento County, which will analyze impacts to all modes of transportation, including bicycling and walking.

 

National

REI is holding a bike sale through August 8th.

Streetsblog examines what’s in the new Senate climate bill for sustainable transportation — and what isn’t. Hint: Ebike rebates.

Google Maps will soon offer information on bike lanes, hills and turn-by-turn directions specifically for people on bicycles.

Bike Portland offers a photo essay from this weekend’s edition of the World Naked Bike Ride, easily one of the nation’s largest.

Portland celebrated the opening of a long-awaited new bike and pedestrian bridge named for bike-riding Congressman Earl Blumenauer.

Seattle’s Critical Mass ride turned into a memorial for a fallen bicyclist killed in a hit-and-run earlier this month, as the victim’s widow insisted “We should all be safe.” Thanks to Pops for the heads-up. 

A kindhearted Choctaw Nation Tribal cop bought a new bike for a 13-year old girl on the Oklahoma reservation, after hers was stolen.

Two Minnesota bike riders were collateral damage when a driver’s SUV rolled over following a collision, and crashed into them as they waited at an intersection; both victims were hospitalized with serious injuries.

Christian singer Amy Grant is reportedly resting comfortably at home in Nashville after she was released from the hospital following a fall off her bike, postponing all her concerts planned for this month.

They get it. A Buffalo NY editorial board says rising bike and pedestrian deaths demand better road designs.

They get it, too. DC is considering allowing bike riders to treat stop signs as yields, and banning right turn on red for drivers.

 

International

Road.cc offers helpful advice on what to do if an airline loses your bike. Hint: Don’t go ballistic and trash all their planes, tempting though it may be.

Vancouver responds to a recent bicycling death by making sideguards mandatory for city-owned heavy trucks.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a custom adaptive bike from a ten-year old Calgary girl with cerebral palsy.

A Toronto paper says making a right turn on a bike is harder than you think, offering tips on the right way to do it — including taking the whole right lane.

Welsh leaders back off plans to improve safety for everyone by reducing speeds to 20 mph after drivers complained, and will now raise speed limits back to 30 mph on some roads.

Dangerous drivers aren’t the only risk Ukrainian bike riders face, as a woman was lucky to escape harm by riding away just seconds before a Russian rocket struck.

Bicyclists in Malta are complaining that the island’s bike lanes must be designed by someone who has never ridden a bike. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

China is once again the bicycle kingdom, as the coronavirus and rising fuel prices bring bikes back in vogue.

 

Competitive Cycling

Maybe it’s the Rouleur jinx. Just one day after the European cycling magazine asked if the great Marianne Vos could continue to dominate the Tour de France Femmes, the answer was no.

Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten made that an emphatic “no,” burying the field with a solo attack on Saturday’s penultimate stage, and winning by a whopping three minutes and 26 seconds.

The 39-year old Dutch cyclist somehow survived six bike changes due to a mechanical issue early in Sunday’s eighth and final stage to win the Tour with a final margin of 3 minutes and 48 seconds; van Vleuten’s win comes six years after her horrific crash in the Rio Olympics.

Twenty-seven-year old Veronica Ewers was the top American finisher in 7th place.

CNN calls the inaugural race an “absolutely beautiful moment” that can change women’s cycling.

Sunday’s morning track cycling session at the Commonwealth Games was cancelled due to a mass crash in which England’s Matt Walls and Canada’s Derek Gee went over the wall into the crowd; Walls was treated for over 40 minutes before leaving in an ambulance.

American mountain bikers made history, as Christopher Blevins and Gwendalyn Gibson topped the men’s and women’s podiums at the UCI mountain bike World Cup in Snowshoe, West Virginia, the first time Americans have won both races.

The second edition of L39ION of Los Angeles founder Justin Williams’s Into the Lion’s Den crit has been postponed until next year.

 

Finally…

When you’re riding your bike with a joint and a couple stolen social security cards, put a damn light on it. Or when you’ve got an open beer, meth and three ounces of weed on your bike, maybe try riding with traffic, instead.

And that feeling when you enjoy a romantic tandem ride with 330 million of your closest friends.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
  Recent Entries »
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee