BikinginLA

Seriously, this is getting old.

My apologies, once again, for yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

Let’s just say the transition to daily insulin has not gone as well as I would have hoped. 

Today’s photo comes from a report on the successful Move Culver City project, which some conservative Culver City counselors want to remove. 

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In response to Wednesday’s post, which featured the American College of Surgeons call for a kinder, gentler bike helmet mandate, Barry Tantlinger reminds us of Calbike’s stance on the matter.

And not surprisingly, they say no.

Or maybe, hell no.

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A new short video accurately captures the sheer idiocy of Culver City’s newly conservative city council attempting to rip out the Move Culver City bus and bike lanes that have made the downtown area more livable.

Or maybe we should just say livable, period.

Because it wasn’t that great when it was a car sewer, even for people in cars.

The council will vote on the proposal on April 24th.

Which gives you a little over three weeks to let them know you’re happy with things the way they are now, thank you.

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LA County Sheriff’s deputies are looking for a bike-raging man riding a high-end red and black Cervelo road bike, who allegedly shattered the windshield of a car in Westlake Village with a metal water bottle after yelling at the driver through the closed passenger window.

Anyone with information is urged to call LA Crime Stoppers at 800/222-TIPS (8477).

This is yet another reminder that violence is never the right answer, and only serves to make you the aggressor, no matter what the driver may have done, or how tempting it may be in the moment.

And yes, we’ve all been there.

Although something tells me there’s another side to this story. Besides, I don’t see any metal bottles in that photo, just a pair of plastic bidons.

Thanks to Geri for the heads-up.

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They get it.

NACTO, aka the National Association of City Transportation Officials, says bike lanes on streets with speed limits over 30 mph need protection.

And LADOT’s favorite flimsy plastic car ticklers don’t count.

Big changes changes coming in the new NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide

Most important is that High Speed Roads >30mph must use either medians (1st pic) or barriers (2nd) to be All Ages & Abilities

Flex posts aren’t enough which feels correct w/ lil kids https://t.co/yRYlyrMowk pic.twitter.com/wYxFdMxw1l

— Robert Foster (@soc4austin) March 30, 2023

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The drumbeat of public corruption in the City of Angels goes on, with the conviction of former County Supervisor and current recused LA City Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas.

His conviction on bribery charges meant to benefit his son at USC means he will be forced to resign from the city council, requiring a special election or the permanent appointment of his replacement.

Ridley-Thomas’ 10th Council District is currently being represented by former staffer Heather Hutt.

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Looks like you’re going to have to find another route up to Angeles Crest from Glendora this weekend.

*State Route 39*
SR-39 is CLOSED in both directions starting at post mile 32.5 at the gate near Colbrook Campground in Los Padres National Forest due to hazardous road conditions and snow removal. #SR39 #snow pic.twitter.com/LSj6fNIlnc

— Caltrans District 7 (@CaltransDist7) March 30, 2023

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Gravel Bike California grinds it out above Orange County, with DTLA in the distance.

Black Star Gravel Guide (4K) https://t.co/fg05iSQR3P via @GravelBikeCal

— Amanda Nauman (@_amanda_panda_) March 30, 2023

Thanks to Zachary Rynew for the link. 

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We may have featured this animation a few years ago, but it’s definitely worth revisiting.

bicycle pic.twitter.com/gt3jsTWRik

— Cool 3D World (@Cool3DWorld) October 15, 2019

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

A North Carolina man faces a murder charge for intentionally running down a 27-year old man riding a bicycle, who died a week later; police don’t have a motive for the killing, and say there was no apparent connection between the two men.

Seriously? A hit-and-run Port St. Lucie, Florida cop walked with a lousy warning citation after he “bumped” a 14-year old boy who was riding his bike across a street with the walk signal; the cop lied about even being involved in the crash, but got off with a gentle caress on the wrist anyway.

Belgian cycling star Wout van Aert was nearly roadkill following a punishment pass from the road-raging, horn-blaring driver of a cement truck, according to retired pro and training partner Jan Bakelants.

Someone is sabotaging a bike trail in Australia’s New South Wales with “an alarming number of tacks, screws and nails,” which have resulted in injures to bike riders, and forced some to walk miles with flat tires.

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

Philadelphia police busted the city’s “Bicycle Burglars,” following a six week crime spree.

A man accuses bodyguards for Floyd Mayweather Jr. of giving him a beatdown after he asked the bike-riding boxing legend for an autograph in Miami Beach.

An English mother is calling for reckless bike riders to be subject to penalties similar to reckless drivers, after the bicyclist responsible for the crash that killed her motorcycle-riding son walked with the equivalent of a lousy $1,200 fine.

Local 

Alhambra considers early plan concepts to reconfigure the stub end of the 710 Freeway, which unceremoniously dumps drivers off in the city; options include plans for a separated bike path to reduce motor vehicle traffic.

 

State

Streetsblog offers suggestions on how to improve California’s public right-of-ways.

A Calbike press release from two months in the future call for an end to racial profiling and pretextual stops, arguing that bicycling is not a crime, regardless of the neighborhood or color of the rider.

While the LAPD partners with Bike Index to register bicycles to combat bike theft, the Costa Mesa Police Department has joined other Orange County jurisdictions by signing up with Project 529 for the same purpose.

San Francisco’s misguided and deeply unpopular plan to build a two-way center lane bike lane in the middle of Valencia Street is on track for approval next week.

 

National

Business Insider argues that America’s lack of safe bicycling infrastructure is keeping people off their bikes.

Jalopnik points out what should be obvious to anyone who has observed emergency vehicles trying to navigate their way through a sea of drivers ensconced in their hermetically sealed cars and SUVs lately, that modern motor vehicles are so good at blocking out exterior noise that drivers can’t even hear a fire truck bearing down on them with sirens blaring.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says if you bought a bike helmet on Amazon from JBM International Electric, you might want to get your money back; the CPSC also says if you own a Campagnolo Ekar-equipped OPEN Cycle gravel or road bike, you shouldn’t ride it until you get the brake hose replaced.

A new Congressional bill to close gaps in urban protected bike networks would honor decorated American diplomat and fallen bicyclist Sarah Debbink Langenkamp, who was killed riding her bike after returning to DC from her last posting in war-torn Ukraine.

A plus-size writer for Well + Good says riding an ebike is a reminder that exercise doesn’t have to make you suffer. Just don’t tell that to the avid roadies, for whom suffering is a way of life.

Apple is working on an Apple Watch ebike detector that would calculate your energy expenditure when you ride.

School Library Journal recommends 16 kid’s books about learning to ride a bicycle. No word on which ones have been banned in Florida because they might possibly offend someone who is easily offended.

Portland’s chief bike planner says he’s stumped about why the rate of bicycling has declined in the ostensibly bike-friendly city.

A Eugene, Oregon letter writer says technology can be a bitter pill to swallow, as he warns against anti-ebike men in their 60s and early 70s on a local bike path who will curse you and the electric horse you ride.

An Apple AirTag led to the recovery of an Utah man’s ebike two years after it was stolen.

State Bicycle Company announced they will supply the bikes for Indiana University’s iconic Little 500, made famous by the equally iconic Breaking Away.

Still no motive for the shooting that took the life of a Pittsburgh-area man, who was murdered as he rode his bike to play baseball with his friends.

A Pennsylvania cop faces charges for last month’s distracted driving death of a 75-year old man riding a bicycle; he lost control of his patrol car while looking at his onboard computer as he responded to a call about an erratic driver. Which is the same irresponsible behavior that killed music executive Milt Olin on Mulholland Drive a decade ago. Except no one was ever charged for that crime.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a three-year old Maine kid’s Spider-Man bicycle while he was in a store with his mom. Schmuck.

No bias here. A New York site does the math, and concludes there’s just not enough room for protected bike lanes on the city’s side streets. And besides, they’d make life too difficult for the garbage collectors.

A New Jersey man is on trial for murder in the stabbing death of his 51-year old neighbor, who confronted him for forcing the victim’s 17-year old son off the road as the boy rode his bike hours earlier.

A Florida crash report alleges that Dartmouth College football coach Buddy Teevens was at fault for failing to yield, and didn’t have lights on his bike, in the crash that left him with serious injuries as he rode home from a nearby restaurant

 

International

Bored Panda ranks the world’s 50 best examples of urban planning.

A new small study confirms what you already knew — bicycling fights aging in middle age, helping retain more muscle mass and composition than non-bicyclists. But you have to average at least 83 miles a week for 15 years or so to benefit. If those benefits last after you stop riding that much, I’ll live forever; if not, I’m screwed.

Auto Evolution looks at five car and motorcycle makers jumping on the ebike bandwagon; meanwhile, Jalopnik lists all the carmakers around the world who are branching out into ebikes.

She gets it. A Toronto writer describes SUVS as dinosaurs headed for extinction, arguing that huge cars don’t suit human life in cities, and their time is over.

Bicycling belatedly catches up to the news that bike riders now outnumber motorists in central London. Something Forbes reported on the first day of March, and we mentioned here a day later; as usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

London’s mayor says protests against the city’s Ultra Low Emission Zones have been hijacked by far right groups, including Nazis, anti-vaxxers and Covid deniers.

Slate considers how Paris kicked out the cars, transforming itself into an “unlikely utopia” for bike riders and pedestrians.

One third of the drivers in fatal Finnish crashes were under the influence, with 283 drunk drivers causing the deaths of 308 people between 2017 and 2021, including six people on bicycles and three pedestrians.

A Ghanan website says the country’s plan to use bamboo bikes to solve its transportation problems may be farfetched, since most of the country’s roads lack safe bicycle infrastructure.

Ouch. An Australian man discovered the dangers of homemade ebike batteries the hard way when the battery on his bike exploded as he was riding it.

 

Competitive Cycling

Rouleur looks forward to Sunday’s Tour of Flanders, the most important date on the Belgian cycling calendar, which has been held every year since 1919.

Cycling Weekly spends a week with 20-year old WorldTour rookie Oscar Onley, as the Scottish cyclist has a difficult introduction to the big leagues.

The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians explains why they supported the annual Redlands Classic with a total of $140,000 that enabled the race to expand to five days.

 

Finally…

Specialized says seriously, who needs seat post, anyway? When you’re riding with drug paraphernalia on your bike and meth in your bra, put a damn light and reflectors on it — the bike that is, not the bra.

And anything that manages to combine corgis and metal bollards will always get my undivided attention.

And THIS ladies & gentleman is how you beat the bollards.#WorldBollardAssociation
https://t.co/aCZBWKR2EV

— World Bollard Association™ (@WorldBollard) March 29, 2023

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Ramadan Mubarak to all observing the Islamic holy month. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.