BikinginLA

Redondo Beach has lost it.

David Drexler reports on the city’s seemingly unending war on bike riders on the beachfront bike path by the Redondo Beach pier.

For the uninitiated, Redondo Beach has long tried to force bicyclists to dismount and walk their bikes near the pier.

Never mind that the bike path is bizarrely routed through the pier parking garage, which puts bikes into unavoidable conflict with pedestrians exiting the garage to visit the pier.

And there’s no denying that many, if not most, people rode their bikes through the dismount zone, either politely waiting for pedestrians to pass or weaving through the people walking.

Myself included.

Recently, the city raised the stakes by issuing $300 tickets to anyone caught riding past the dismount signs.

Now they’ve installed a series of plastic K-rail baffles in an effort to make it difficult, if not impossible, to stay on your bike.

We’ll let Drexler take the story from there.

Back from cycling in the beach cities today Sunday and saw that Redondo Beach set up an obstacle course to make absolutely sure you walk your bike at the Pier.

Someone who works for Redondo must have (it out) for cyclists.  Seems like every time I am over there is a new cycling restriction.

It’s almost like a SNL parody of someone who hates cyclists and everyday dreams up another way to snarl them.

Now I am telling you Redondo is going to end up with an injury lawsuit for this one.  I was watching cyclist maneuvering through the course and some were hitting the barriers having difficulty making the turns.  Someone is going to fall down–I see the problem especially when it gets hot sunny and summer busy unlike today.  Someone is going to be rushed through,  or another impatient cyclist and push through causing a fall.

I had my beach cruiser there today and you have go very slow and cautiously not to run into the barrier making the numerous turns one after another.  This requires a certain level of coordination off the bike different than going straight.

It’s questionable whether this is actually legal, or whether liability would attach if someone is injured, as Drexler suggests. .

CVC 21211(b) prohibits any obstruction on a bike path, “which impedes or blocks the normal and reasonable movement of any bicyclist,” which these clearly do.

But it goes on to add a another clause that reads “unless the placement or parking is necessary for safe operation or is otherwise in compliance with the law.”

If anyone challenged the placement of the baffles on the bike path, Redondo Beach could argue they are necessary for the safe operation of a bicycle in that location, and comply with local regulations.

Whether that argument succeeds would be up to a judge, and probably more than one, since the case would likely be appealed regardless of who won.

If anyone has pockets deep enough to take the fight that far, that is.

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For some reason, I still can’t embed Tweets. So you’ll have to click through to see video of Santa Monica’s 3D concrete printer laying down a concrete curb on the Ocean Ave protected bike lane — as well as Santa Monica Forward riding the newly curb-protected bike lanes, which now may be one of the safest places to ride a bike in the Los Angeles area.

And which don’t need any baffles forcing riders to dismount due to poor design.

 

Maybe Elon has changed the Twitter algorithm once again, for reasons known only to him.

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Ride to the West Hollywood Pride parade this Sunday — not Saturday, as it says below.

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That feeling when your ride on the LA River bike path is interrupted by a Maywood police chase; police took one of two carjacking suspects into custody.

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A new Scottish campaign calls on drivers to give bike riders a safe passing distance, reminding them it’s not just a bike, it’s a person; meanwhile, 97% of Scottish drivers agree that passing a bike too close put lives at risk.

They just do it anyway.

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

No bias here. Santa Barbara residents complain about a proposal for safe bike lanes on the city’s State Street, with one man claiming he’s not anti-bike, just “anti-disrespectful and bad behavior,” and troubled they’re “bending over backwards for bikes.” Never mind that safe bike lanes have been shown to improve behavior by bike riders, who don’t have to ride like their lives are at risk.

Neither paint nor a cement curb seems to keep Toronto drivers from parking in the city’s newest bike lane.

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

Proving its never too early to start riding recklessly, a six-year old Illinois girl was seriously injured when she was struck by another child riding a bicycle.

A jaywalking 74-year old New York woman blames herself after she was struck by a hit-and-run ebike rider. And yes, you have just as much responsibility to stop after a crash as any motorist. Even if too many of them don’t, either.

People called for greater enforcement as seven bicyclists were filmed ignoring a London “cyclists dismount” sign in a period of just 22 seconds.

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Local 

About damn time. LA’s Westwood Village will convert a portion of Broxton Ave into a pedestrian-only plaza in time for summer; whether that will be enough to revive the university-adjacent village which has been destroyed by restrictive covenants, wealthy NIMBYs and a single owner controlling most of the village’s commercial properties remains to be seen.

Streetblog’s Joe Linton offers six takeaways from the newly approved Metro budget, which sadly continues to waste billions on destroying neighborhoods for induced demand-inducing highway projects. We’ll forgive the clickbait headline this time. 

Pasadena’s Cordova Street is going on a Complete Streets diet, reducing each direction to single lane lane for motor vehicles and a painted bike lane.

 

State

A San Diego letter writer calls for bike lanes and lower speed limits on Fuerte Drive from La Mesa to El Cajon, saying drivers routinely travel up to 50 mph in the 35 mph zone on the busy roadway. Although what good does it do to lower the speed limit when drivers ignore it anyway?

Police in San Jose are looking for the hit-and-run driver who dragged a bike-riding woman under his car for 400 feet — more than the length of an entire football field — as he fled from the crash scene; she survived, but suffered major injuries.

Sad news from Sacramento, where a 49-year old man was killed in a collision while riding his bike on the campus of Sacramento State University; no word on whether he was connected to the university or just passing through.

 

National

Popular Science offers pro tips for teaching your kid how to ride a bike.

A travel website ranks the ten most bike-friendly cities and towns to visit in the US. The bizarre list includes such decidedly bike-unfriendly cities as Houston, Oakland and San Jose, with the ostensible bicycling paradise of Bozeman, Montana topping the list.

Most city’s only have to worry about drivers when they build bike paths; Seattle’s new waterfront bike path has to take cruise ships into account, too.

A Houston writer offers suggestions to improve safety for bicyclists at the sprawling Houston Medical Center, while warning bike riders to stay away because it isn’t safe to ride there.

Minnesota is the latest city or state to beat California’s ebike rebate program to the staring line, offering up to $1,500 on the purchase of a new ebike — even though California was the first jurisdiction in the US to approve one. Meanwhile, Minnesota bike riders can now legally treat stop signs as yields when there’s no conflicting traffic.

A 76-year old Franciscan friar from Pennsylvania is preparing for his next fundraising bike ride, after raising half a million dollars for charity over 13 years.

A Brooklyn man was critically injured when his bike was struck by a driver, but police haven’t been able to identify him. Yet another reminder to always carry ID with you when you ride. And preferably not in your wallet or phone, which could be stolen while you’re incapacitated.

A writer for Streetsblog gets to drive the New York Department of Transportation’s petite new four-wheeled cargo bike, designed to replace larger delivery vans.

Speaking of New York, the city is finally completing the last 1.2-mile section of bike lanes on Queens Blvd, informally known as the Boulevard of Death before work began on turning it into a Complete Street in 2015; the work was delayed by community boards wanting to maintain the car-centric status quo.

Gothamist considers how New York’s successful Citi Bike bikeshare nearly failed, while Streetsblog offers three-lessons learned from the bikeshare program’s success. None of which LA’s Metro Bike seems to have learned yet.

 

International

Santiago, Chile celebrated a new 15-mile bike path by setting a record for the largest human bicycle, formed by roughly 2,000 people.

A writer in Havana considers the pros and cons of bicycling in Cuba.

In a problem most SoCal bike riders can relate to, bicyclists in Kingston, Ontario complain the faded bike lanes make it more dangerous to ride the city’s streets.

Yes, please. Montreal residents can now call a new hotline to report blocked bike lanes.

I want to be like her when I grow up. An 85-year old grandmother raised the equivalent of $70,000 by riding 1,000 miles through the Scottish countryside in honor of her three children, two of whom died from natural causes, and the other in an accident.

Police in Aberdeen, Scotland went undercover to catch drivers passing bike riders too closely, ticketing 11 motorists for violating the country’s five-foot passing distance. Despite repeated requests, the LAPD wouldn’t put plain clothes officers on bikes to catch drivers breaking California’s three-foot passing law, fearing it would be considered entrapment, while putting the officers at risk. So instead, they just let us deal with it. 

The aunt of two teenage Welsh boys killed in an ebike crash believes they were “chased to their death” by police.

Labour Member of Parliament Ed Miliband was roundly ridiculed in the British press after he was spotted wearing a Hövding inflatable bike helmet as he rode his bicycle to work, accused of not wanting to mess up his hair with a regular bike helmet.

A French company is introducing an ebike-specific helmet with a nearly full face design, complete with a shaded visor perfect for your next bank robbery.

The actress who created the roles of Elphaba in Wicked and Elisa in Frozen is one of us, as Idina Menzel rides a bike in Tuscany.

A Ukrainian engineer is using recycled parts to build his own DIY ebikes.

Don’t steal a bicycle in India’s West Bengal state, where a 55-year old man was tied to a tree and beaten to death after he was accused of stealing a bike.

Horrible news from Kuwait, where 15 Filipino and Indian bike riders were run down by a hit-and-run driver, causing several injuries — yet police blamed the victims for not having a permit and police escort to ride the roads.

Proving once again that supply meets demand, business is booming for Japanese bike helmet makers in response to the country’s new mandatory bike helmet law.

A five-hour joyride cost a New Zealand man $1,500 — the equivalent of $918 US dollars — after he stole a bicycle from a bike shop, then pushed it back through the front doors when he apparently tired of it five hours later.

 

Competitive Cycling

Slovenian cyclist Primož Roglič captured the Giro on Sunday, after passing former leader Geraint Thomas with a brilliant ride on Saturday’s penultimate stage, then movingly leading out his friend Mark Cavendish for a win on the final stage. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

Not many people have switched sports as successfully as Roglič, going from ski-jumping to winning the Vuelta and Giro.

Cycling Weekly explains why Unbound Gravel, formerly the Dirty Kanza, is the world’s premier gravel event, with thousands of amateurs joining WorldTour roadies, track world champs and Olympic mountain bikers.

Several women’s cyclists competing in the second stage of the Ford RideLondon Classique went down in a mass crash less than two-thirds of a mile from the finish line. Yet somehow, the MyLondon website can only manage to find a stock photo of male cyclists to illustrate the story.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can own your very own gold and diamond encrusted Colnago for a mere $133,000. Not every road bike comes with a built-in handle.

And evidently, we’ve had the answer to high gas prices for 99 years (fast forward to 5:55).

Thanks to Steven Hallett for the video.

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Thanks to Don H for his very generous, and very unexpected donation to help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every morning. 

Donations are welcome anytime, for any reason. And always appreciated. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.