BikinginLA

Just 221 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.

So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’ve inched up to 1,147 signatures, so don’t stop now! I plan to forward the petition to the mayor’s office next week, so urge anyone who hasn’t already to sign it now! 

Photo from Nina Dobrev’s Instagram account. 

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When is an ebike not an ebike?

Vampire Diaries actress Nina Dobrev posted before and after photos showing her on an electric off-road motorcycle, and in a hospital bed wearing neck and knee braces, saying it’s going to be a long road to recovery.

The problem comes, like Simon Cowell before her, in how the media has reported it.

News stories have variously described the motorbike she was riding as an ebike, an electric dirt bike and an electric motorcycle. Or sometimes more than one.

But only the last two are accurate.

By conflating all two-wheeled electric bikes as ebikes, they add to the misperception that ebikes are dangerous, as Malcomb Watson points out below.

Here you go, roundup this one! Media goes with "e-Bike" description, yet this e-monstrosity is clearly an e-Moto, but by doing so media adds to the whole "e-Bikes are dangerous" narrative. https://t.co/7CJJvh3o4d

— Malcomb Watson (@MalcombWzzz) May 23, 2024

Part of the problem comes from the ebike classifications that began in California, and have been adopted by states across the US.

But there’s a big difference between a ped-assist ebike with a top speed of 20 mph, and a throttle-controlled moped that can do 30 mph.

Let alone a motor scooter or electric motorcycle.

Yet to most of the media — and much of the public — they’re all ebikes. So if you wonder what the ebike panic is all about, that’s a good place to start.

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A bike bill moving on to the state Assembly would ban sharrows from streets with speeds over 30 mph.

Now we just have to ban them from all the other streets, too.

✅ Passed the Senate Floor
SB 1216, our bill by @SenBlakespear prohibits the use of sharrows and class 3 bike lanes on streets above 30mph pic.twitter.com/5UMF05W9R5

— Streets For All (@streetsforall) May 22, 2024

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Gravel Bike California offers a beginners guide on where to start.

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It’s now 155 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

A Houston woman was the victim of a road-raging terrorist, who allegedly tossed roofing nails onto the side of the road following a back-and-forth encounter with a group of bicyclists; she suffered a broken collar bone, pelvic bone injuries and a concussion after hitting the nails on her bike while riding at around 25 mph. A crowdfunding page to help pay her medical expenses has raised over $11,000 of the $15,000 goal.

In yet another example of cops without a clue when it comes to bike law, a Georgia man was detained for riding his ebike in the street after dark, with the cops apparently unaware what an ebike is, and why he couldn’t just ride it on the sidewalk, where it’s prohibited.

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

A 36-year old San Francisco man is under arrest after allegedly running a red light on his bicycle and slamming into a 65-year old woman, then fleeing the scene and leaving the victim with life-threatening injuries. Yet another reminder that you’re required to stick around after hitting someone with your bike, just like the people in the big, dangerous machines. Even if they too often don’t. 

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Local 

Enjoy a ride under the full moon with tonight’s Moonlight Mash in Long Beach.

 

State

Caltrans officially opened a new bike underpass beneath the 5 Freeway in San Diego’s Carmel Valley, providing a new connection to the State Route 56 Bike Path, North Coast Bike Trail and Coastal Rail Trail.

This is who we share the road with. A Subaru driver apparently tried to turn a Goleta 7-11 into a drive-thru, plowing through the front windows to completely embed his Outback in the convenience store. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

Speaking of Goleta, a recent series of bicycle and pedestrian safety stings operations resulted in 53 citations, but the story doesn’t break down how many drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians got them. Thanks again to Megan Lynch. 

The Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission moved a step closer to ripping out the bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, and turning the bridge over to the people in motor vehicles, who want the whole damn thing for themselves.

Streetsblog asks how many San Francisco bike riders have to get doored before the city stops installing painted bike lanes.

 

National

Bike Index has launched a new app to simplify registering your bikes, for free, from anywhere in the world.

After 412 days and 18,000 miles, Spencer McCullough has finished riding to all 51 National Parks in the lower 48 states.

Gear Junkie picks 13 of the year’s best bike helmets for roadies.

Bicycling looks back at the horrific coal rolling case that nearly killed six bicyclists in a rural community outside of Houston. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you. 

Indianapolis is now the first American city to offer free bikeshare to all its residents, with a fleet of 325 new ebikes. Which could be the best way to keep people from stealing them, since they can just go out and use another one.

Tennessee invited bike riders to “explore 52 stunning, epic landscapes” on the state’s 52 curated bike routes, traversing 1,739 miles across 53 counties, complete with a nifty pedaling logo on their website.

A writer for the Harvard student paper says the contentious new bike lanes currently being built on the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts represent a bitter division in the city’s politics, leaving may residents at a loss for how it can be bridged.

New York’s Indian Consulate noted the “disturbing trend” of Indian citizens getting killed in the US, after an Indian student at SUNY university was killed in a collision while riding a bike on Wednesday; needless to say, the driver wasn’t charged.

 

International

Momentum offers ten must-try North American summer bike touring routes. The magazine also offers a guide to the World Naked Bike Ride, spreading its cheeks in over 70 cities across 20 countries this year; Los Angeles is set to bare it all on June 24th. Or most of it, anyway.

Road.cc offers tips on how to diagnose and deal with saddle pain, and why your bike seat may not be the problem.

A Cuban radio station recounts the many benefits of bicycling, in advance of next month’s UN World Bicycle Day.

Parents in the London borough of Ealing won’t let their kids ride bikes on the street, despite millions spent on new bicycling infrastructure, because illegal parking, congested roads and a lack of traffic enforcement have made many bike lanes virtually useless.

Londoners will get a new bike and pedestrian bridge connecting the boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham over the River Lea.

This is who we share the road with, part two. After finishing a 40 month sentence for killing a 15-year old bike rider in a 2021 hit-and-run, a British man led the cops on a chase at speeds up to 100 mph, despite a three year driving ban that began the day he got out.

Cycling Weekly considers why speed limits don’t apply to Brits on bicycles, and whether that really means you can ride as fast as you want in the UK.

A new Danish study shows people who bike for transportation seldom choose the shortest route, but rather one that feels the shortest, with fewer interruptions.

The Global Times examines the historic “cycling craze” that’s sweeping Chinese cities — and inspiring demand for luxury bikewear.

 

Competitive Cycling

Former pro cyclist Lizzy Banks describes how a false positive on a drug test derailed her racing career, and took a toll on her “mental health, finances, future earnings as a pro, and her love and faith in the sport,” despite being cleared of any wrong doing. Read it on AOL if Bicycling blocks you.

Bicycling Australia says if there’s anyone who can win the rare Giro – Tour de France double in the same year, it’s Tadej Pogačar, who has the first part pretty much wrapped up.

Former Unbound gravel race champ Ivar Slik suffered a severe concussion, broken nose and cuts and bruises when he somehow crashed into a car while on an Arkansas training ride with a group of his fellow Dutch cyclists.

Several cyclists collided on the 4th stage of the Tour of Albania; no word on any possible injuries. Bonus points if you even knew there is a Tour of Albania, now in its 81st year. 

 

Finally…

Busted for looking like a wanted man’s doppelgänger. Why go to court, when you can battle it out with the cops on Facebook?

And when you’re carrying meth and fentanyl on your bike, stop for the damn stop signs, already — and put a taillight on it.

The bike, that is. Not the drugs.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin