Sad news from Reseda, where someone died of an apparent medical crisis while riding a bike on the sidewalk on the 7000 block of Tampa Ave Tuesday night.
Despite initial reports of a traffic collision, authorities believe the victim collapsed on their own, and was beyond medical help by the time paramedics arrived.
There’s no word on the identity of the victim.
Photo by Tucă Bianca from Pexels.
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Calbike tells Governor Gavin Newsom that California needs more active transportation funding, not less, as he attempts to claw back half of the already approved funding in the coming budget.
And there’s still no date set for the start of California’s long-delayed ebike rebate program, though eligibility has been reduced from 400% of the federal poverty level to just 300%.
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Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, calls for volunteers for Saturday’s big die-in at LA City Hall to protest traffic violence and deaths in the City of Angels.
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But it there was a bike path there, it would be closed.
Right?
https://twitter.com/EntitledCycling/status/1615436151309078528
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LADOT invites you to a family friendly ride on newly improved Anaheim Street in Wilmington next month.
https://twitter.com/LADOTofficial/status/1615832535912652806
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The East Side Riders are hosting their annual Ride 4 Love on February 11th, just three days before Valentines Day.
Ride 4 Love 2023 join us @BikeMetro @LADOTofficial @LADOTlivable @heybikela @CozmoLAGalaxy @ChuckTheCondor @RampageNFL @HollyJMitchell @McOsker4LA @SteveBradford @sydneykamlager @GRoWAnnenberg @WattsLeaders @WLCACCEO pic.twitter.com/eEGnUbgiNm
— eastsideriders™️ (@EASTSIDERIDERS) January 18, 2023
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More proof that bike people are the best people.
Although that looks like a pants suit, to me.
Born on this day, January 19, 1946:
Dolly Parton, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actress, author, & humanitarian. And, judging from this photo, she's someone who's not worried about her dress getting caught in her spokes.
Happy #bicyclebirthday, Dolly!#BOTD pic.twitter.com/FvcpxiI1I5— Cool Bike Art (@CoolBikeArt1) January 19, 2022
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We’re always told no one will ride a bike in LA’s 60° winters.
So how do you explain Londoners riding to work at 26°?
CS4 is a game changer! Hats off to @willnorman @TfL for pushing this through. Was Baltic yesterday but great to see so many still braving the cold. pic.twitter.com/TeXlzr5QCg
— Rory McCarron (@CyclingLawLDN) January 18, 2023
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
An Indiana woman faces charges for intentionally running down a man riding a bicycle, after they had allegedly had a physical confrontation at her home.
A Scottish driver was fined for throwing a tub of hair gel at a pair of bike riders, after becoming angry because they weren’t moving fast enough. Either that, or he was kindly assisting them with the inevitable helmet hair at the end of their ride.
Well, that’s a new one. Residents of an oceanfront British town formed a conga line to protest a new segregated bike lane.
https://twitter.com/LiamFox/status/1487409022600945665
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A dozen or so teenaged bike riders stormed the San Francisco Bay Bridge, popping wheelies and swerving through traffic on the roadway where bikes are banned, before being escorted off the bridge by the CHP.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cnf3pvDBmmd/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=0462d8c9-86ba-4841-97f1-eea98f2b2a14
The US Marshall’s Service pats themselves on the back for capturing their Fugitive of the Week for November 30th, after arresting a repeat flasher who failed to register as a sex offender, and attempted to escape from authorities on his bicycle. And failed.
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Local
Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry took their two-year old daughter on a cold weather bike ride to the Los Angeles Zoo.
WeHoVille encouraged “residents and renters who’ve voiced their dismay” over proposed bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd and Fountain Ave to make themselves heard at last night’s meeting to present a feasibility study on the bike lanes. Because evidently, their belief that the bike lanes are infeasible should outweigh whatever the study shows.
LA County has ordered a safety study of two Altadena roads after a pair pf pedestrian deaths; reports on Holliston and Fair Oaks avenues are due back in 45 days.
The annual San Francisco to Los Angeles AIDS/Lifecycle fundraising ride will end near the Santa Monica Pier this year. Although I wonder how much that has to do with the death of Glen Brown in a solo fall at the end of last year’s ride in LA’s Fairfax district.
Cycling Tips profiles Compton’s own Rahsaan Bahati, after the Black former national cycling champ founded his Bahati Foundation to get more people on bikes who look like him.
State
A Bay Area TV station says Marin County bike thieves are using sophisticated tools to steal bike from garages with glass windows, cutting a small hole in the glass, then inserting a long hook to defeat the lock. Doesn’t sound that sophisticated to me, but what do I know?
A Bay Area man will face a murder charge for intentionally crashing into a 52-year old man riding a bike three years ago; the passenger in his car testified that 40-year old Ric Acosta announced he was going to run the victim down; he had to wrestle the wheel from Acosta to keep him from running over the victim a second time.
Heartbreaking story from Oakland, where a local website examines the 35 lives lost to traffic violence last year. Maybe if every city did that, we might have fewer of them.
National
Momentum offers a “quick and easy” guide to bike fenders, while a writer for CyclingNews provides lessons learned while traveling with a bike.
A Portland artist says he didn’t mean to offend anyone with his installations of all-white children’s bicycles as part of an anti-violence campaign, not realizing the significance ghost bike-like white bikes have for the bicycling community.
Seattle’s Rad Power Bikes is introducing a three-wheeled e-cargo bike for stability-challenged riders.
Tempe, Arizona’s new Culdesac development is intended to provide a walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented community of 761 apartments with blissfully carfree streets.
A Las Vegas nurse says she was just in the right place at the right time to save the life of a 61-year old man who suffered a massive heart attack while riding his bike.
Another Las Vegas bike rider wasn’t so lucky, the victim of a DUI driver who was on her way to the methadone clinic when she smashed into him at 4 am, before flipping her car.
A San Antonio, Texas man credits his Apple Watch with saving his life when he broke his femur failing to make a corner on his bike in the rain; his watch automatically called paramedics, and gave his exact location when he didn’t know where he was.
The parents of a three-year old girl killed riding her bike in a Chicago bike lane last year have filed a lawsuit against the city alleging “willful and wanton misconduct” for failing to maintain the bike lane, as well as against the power company whose driver parked in the bike lane, forcing the family into the traffic lane where the girl was killed by the driver of a semi-truck.
Speaking of Chicago, the city will begin a pilot program using city-owned cameras to ticket drivers who park in bus and bike lanes.
They get it. The Houston Chronicle says it may seem counterintuitive to slow traffic and remove lanes on a major Houston street, but it makes perfect sense when you consider the purpose is to save lives. Hint: Try stopping the page as soon as it loads to get around the paper’s paywall.
Contemporary Christian singer Amy Grant says she’s still suffering from memory loss following her July bike crash in Nashville, forgetting the lyrics to her songs and even the death of a longtime friend’s husband.
Video show the admitted killer of eight people in an ISIS-inspired attack running with what turned out to be fake guns at the end of his 14-block rampage on a New York bike path; Sayfullo Saipov is on trial to determine whether he will be executed for his crimes.
International
Road.cc recommends their picks for the best winter road bikes. Because evidently, N+1 dictates different bikes for fair and foul weather.
Bike Radar offers eight tips they wish they knew before they started mountain biking. Here’s one more — make sure your health insurance is up to date. Because sooner or later, you’ll need it.
Talk about a silver lining. More Europeans are turning to bicycles and e-scooters to combat rising energy prices, with 69% of motorists now using their cars less than before.
The next time you can’t find a safe place to lockup your bike, try not to think about Amsterdam’s new 7,000 space underwater bike parking garage.
A bicycling group slammed plans for an elevated bike and pedestrian pathway through Brussel’s European Quarter, calling it an unneeded vanity project.
A new Japanese study shows that traveling farther distances by walking or cycling may help older adults prevent early functional disability and mortality.
This is why you don’t try to stop a bike thief yourself. A 16-year old Australian boy is on trial for fatally stabbing a man who was trying to stop him from stealing a kids bike; he was reportedly overheard confessing the crime to his best friend by the other boy’s mother.
Competitive Cycling
Australia’s Grace Brown beat Amanda Spratt in a sprint to win the final stage of the women’s Tour Down Under, topping the podium for the three-stage race.
Rain put a damper on the men’s Tour Down Under prologue won by Italy’s Alberto Bettiol; Australia’s Rohan Dennis won stage 2.
Bicycling reports competitors in the Tour Down Under’s individual time trial went out of their way to bend the rules prohibiting time trial bikes. Read it on AOL, which somehow still exists, if the magazine blocks you.
British pro James Knox was kicked off the Tour Down Under for drafting on a team car after he crashed; needless to say, he was not pleased.
Mark Cavendish will get one more chance to set the record for most stage wins at the Tour de France after signing with Astana-Qazaqstan; the 37-year old pro from the Isle of Man is currently tied with the legendary Eddy Merckx at 34 stage wins. As it turns out, I have something in common with Cav, since the Isle of Man is my family’s ancestral home, as well.
Finally…
That feeling when authorities attempt to thin the herd by placing a power pole in the middle of a cycle track. Or when you’re driving drunk on three wheels, when you should have four.
And more proof you can haul ass on your bike.
Or a donkey, anyway.
https://twitter.com/MazaCiclismo/status/1615380185171349506
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
