Just 167 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
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Always fun getting knocked offline by a server problem, like I was yesterday. As if I don’t have enough problems already these days.
Speaking of which, if you’re interested in filling in here for a day or two, or submitting a guest post, when I’m out next month following my shoulder surgery, just email me at the address on the About page, above.
Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.
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No surprise here.
As had been feared, the elderly driver who killed masters cycling champ Ethan Boyes walked without a day behind bars when he was sentenced on Monday.
Judge James Donato sentenced 82-year old Arnold Low to one year of home vacation confinement, followed by a year of supervised release, and a lousy $25,000 fine.
None of which represent any kind of justice for killing Boyes, while allegedly under the influence, as he rode his bike in San Francisco’s Presidio last year.
But at least his killer has pinky promised not to drive anymore. Let’s hope the DMV at least makes that official.
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In health news,
A new Scottish study shows bike commuting cut your risk of early death nearly in half, while lowering your risk of hospitalization from any cause by nearly 10%.
European Parkinson’s patients say riding a bicycle makes them feel closest to normal, almost forgetting they even have the disease.
And Bicycling somehow feels the need to lock up news of a new study showing walking can relieve back pain, as part of their members only content, even though you can find it all over the internet.
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Amazon’s annual Prime Day seems to have become the new summertime Black Friday, with everyone scrambling to find the best deals.
- CBS Sports highlights the best bicycling deals, with “big savings on outdoor bikes, bike pumps, kids’ bikes and more.”
- In an unlocked article, Bicycling lists Prime Day deals on lights, locks and other hardware.
- Offroad.cc picks out the best deals on mountain bike and gravel gear.
- But Cycling News says just ignore Prime Day, because you can find the best bike deals other places.
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Caltrans is hosting a pair of virtual meetings tomorrow to discuss how to improve safety on the killer highway that passes for Malibu’s main street.
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Streets For All is hosting a backyard fundraiser for Los Angeles CD2 City Council candidate Jillian Burgos on Saturday.
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Now this is the kind of bikeway we need on every major street.
https://twitter.com/BikeSD/status/1812249805126803656
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Join Active SGV for a ride this Saturday.
Join us on Saturday, July 20, for our Bike the Rivers & Hike the Mountains series! 🚴♂️ Starts/ends at Pasadena Central Park. Intermediate 12-mile ride.
RSVP & More Info: https://t.co/rO5SlLkPBe#RiversAndMountains #BikeRide #ActiveSGV #SanGabrielMountains pic.twitter.com/L2NofyJOiK
— ActiveSGV (@ActiveSGV) July 9, 2024
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It’s now 209 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 37 full 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.
Police in Bellevue, Washington are looking for the driver of a car full of teens who deliberately swerved to the right to slam into a 13-year old boy riding a bicycle, leaving the innocent victim lying bleeding on the side of the road.
No bias here. When a British journalist asks if drivers even care that bicyclists are dying at an alarming rate, readers respond by unloading on scofflaw riders “who think they own the road and then suffer the consequences,” while calling for licensing and registration, insurance and mandatory bike helmets.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Belgian bicyclist learns the hard way why you don’t go around railroad crossing barriers.
After an Aussie BMX rider was struck by a driver while running a red light, he leapt up and pounded on the car’s windows, as his BMX-riding girlfriend tried to pull open the doors.
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Local
Friends and loved ones held an emotional memorial for Raul Castañeda, after the father of two was killed by a driver fleeing police in a stolen car in Irwindale last week while training for an upcoming event.
Velo recommends the top eight bicycling destinations by the beach, from Santa Barbara to Kyoto — and for once, Los Angeles makes the cut. Even if they mostly mean Malibu and Santa Monica.
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is teaming with Canyon Bicycles to launch a new venture intended to inspire a new generation of bike riders and change lives through bicycling; James also owns a small piece of the bikemaker.
Streetsblog reminds us that CicLAvia comes to the Hollywoods next month, along with the remaining CicLAvia open streets events through the end of the year.
State
A writer for the libertarian Cato Institute examines whether California drivers are really subsidized by the state — and concludes they are, to the tune of over $3 billion a year.
Calbike considers how Caltrans shortchanges pedestrians through its woefully incomplete Complete Streets program.
There’s an unconfirmed report on Reddit of a 70-year old woman killed while riding her adult tricycle to the grocery store in Huntington Beach on Sunday. Bearing in mind that Reddit isn’t exactly the most reliable source. Thanks to Mobility For Who for the heads-up.
Members of Santa Barbara’s State Street Advisory Committee complain about the long, drawn-out process of redesigning the city’s main street, which they say has involved three years “wasting time ‘sitting around talking about lanes and stuff.'” As if “lanes and stuff” somehow aren’t important.
Sad news from Taft, where a man riding a bicycle was killed by a passing driver.
The owner of San Francisco’s Market Street Bicycles says he’s struggling to keep from giving up, after a driver lost control doing donuts during a sideshow street takeover and slammed into the store, causing significant damage.
Community leaders in San Francisco’s Chinatown claim they were blindsided by plans for the neighborhood’s first bike lane.
National
Gear Patrol discusses the need for more protective helmets for ebike riders.
A Portland writer says if you really want to clean up the problems on I-84 through the city, just get rid of all the cars beleaguering it, since it’s already cleaner than any bikeway they’ve ridden.
The attorney representing one of the two teens accused of deliberating killing former Bell, California police chief Andreas Probst as he rode his bike in Las Vegas failed to get a charge of elder abuse thrown out, after unsuccessfully arguing that the law was intended to stop violence and exploitation of elderly people by caretakers, not targeting an older person with a car.
The family of murdered gravel cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson has filed a second lawsuit against convicted killer Kaitlin Armstrong, alleging that she drained her bank account and transferred properties to mother or sister to avoid paying $15 million in damages from the previous suit; Armstrong was convicted of fatally shooting Wilson in Austin, Texas two years ago over a perceived love triangle with professional cyclist Colin Strickland.
International
Pop icon Self Esteem is one of us, posting photos of the aftermath of a bloody British bikeshare crash. And no, I never heard of her, either.
The European Cyclists Federation considers the transformative power of community bike rides.
A stuntman riding a bicycle in a high wire act plunged 23 feet to his death during a Russian circus, horrifying the children in the audience.
Hats off to Bapi Debnath (Neel), who became the first Bengali bicyclist to reach the base camp on Mount Everest by bike — and just the 8th person ever.
Vietnam’s Hue City is painting a section of sidewalks green to create the county’s first sidewalk-level bike lanes. Pedestrians be damned, evidently.
Competitive Cycling
Mountain biker Valentin Anouilh jumped over the peloton on stage 11 of the Tour de France. But he was far than the first to do it.
L39ION of Los Angeles founder Justin Wilson says he’s riding through extreme pain after breaking his wrist in the Tulsa Tough’s Blue Dome Criterium in early June.
Finally..
When you’re a felon riding a bicycle while carrying illegal drugs and brass knuckles with built-in knives, maybe don’t ride salmon or tell the cop to pick up your bike, especially if it isn’t actually yours. That feeling when your 6-meter high Havana tall bike is significantly shorter than the world’s tallest rideable bike.
And I really, really hope this story about a new scenic bike route going through an “elf refuge” isn’t a typo.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin
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