BikinginLA

Day 50 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Hats off to my old friend and former longtime LACBC staffer and volunteer Colin Bogart, who has organized a bike donation program for victims of the Eaton Fire for Pasadena nonprofit Day One.

According to the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition, the nonprofit is working with the Bicycle Kitchen, the Bike Oven, the Bikerowave, and the Long Beach Bicycle Co-op to collect and repair the bikes, along with local bike shops including Around the Cycle, Pasadena Cyclery, and Trek Pasadena.

The organization has received requests for over 300 bicycles.

So if you have a bike you don’t need, or can help in some other way, drop it off at Day One’s Pasadena office at 175. N. Euclid Ave from 9:30am to 5:30pm Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays, or by special arrangement 626/657.8744 or colin@godayone.org.

Photo by Olya Kobruseva from Pexels.

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It’s been a dozen years since a hit-and-run driver crashed into Damian Kevitt on Zoo Drive, and dragged him under his van onto the nearby 5 Freeway as he fled the crash.

Remarkably, Damian channeled the trauma of the crash that cost him a leg, and nearly his life, into the creation of Finish The Ride and Streets Are For Everyone to fight for safer streets and an end to hit-and-run.

And no, the driver was never found.

Yesterday marked the 12th anniversary of Damian's hit-and-run that almost killed him.

He decided to mark the day with a bike ride – retracing his exact route that day – his Finish The Ride. These photos are at the location where he was hit.#FinishTheRide #NeverGiveUp #Survivor pic.twitter.com/ezrTGTnu02

— Finish The Ride (@FinishTheRide) February 19, 2025

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More proof New York’s congestion pricing is working, even as Trump vows to kill it.

Your quality of life is improving in $9 increments. With decongestion pricing:

♥️ 55% drop in crashes
♥️ 51% drop in crash injuries
♥️ 14% drop in daily vehicles (Jan 2025)
♥️ 10-30% drop in river crossing travel times
♥️ 34% drop in morning commute travel time https://t.co/fBbb3nxVhs pic.twitter.com/g1sNXw7sSV

— Andy Boenau (@Boenau) February 18, 2025

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

Police in Detroit are looking for the woman who used her car as a weapon to intentionally ran down a man riding a bicycle after an argument, along with her male passenger who got out of the car and hit the victim with a baseball bat.

Seriously? A writer for the Boston Globe investigates who has the right to public space on the streets, after a mayoral candidate calls for hitting pause on building bike lanes, and can only manage to conclude that bike lanes are the third rail of Boston politics. Even though the law is clear that bike riders have a right to the road, and well-designed bike lanes improve safety for all road users.

No bias here. Residents of Suffolk, England are up in arms because a car-shaped bike corral replaced a single parking space. Yes, one.

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Local  

The annual LA Chinatown Firecracker run, walk and bike ride has been rescheduled for March 8th and 9th, after it was postponed due to the January firestorms.

Streets For All says the long-sought extension to the Ballona Creek bike path is moving forward, despite missing out on ATP funding, after Metro recommended it for regional funding.

Streets Are For Everyone is teaming with the Pico Union Neighborhood Council to clean up MacArthur Park on Saturday morning, including the 7th Street bike lanes.

As we noted the other day, some people are criticizing a new demonstration bike lane in Santa Clarita, complaining that the flexible plastic bollards separating it from motor vehicles are a form of visual blight, but even the president of the Santa Clarita Valley Bicycle Coalition sympathized with the outcry over the “aesthetic unattractiveness.”

 

State

Calbike is hosting a webinar this Thursday to discuss creative approaches to funding active transportation infrastructure, as the usual sources threaten to dry up.

Apparently, former baseball star Barry Bonds is killing it on Strava, saying bicycling is his second passion. Although no one tests for steroids on the bike app.

A San Francisco website says anarchy has ensued on Valencia Street, as work begins to remove the contentious centerline bike lane and move it curbside, with people riding bikes forced to choose their own route on the street.

A Yuba City bike co-op is refurbishing bicycles and donating nearly 20 a month to homeless people.

 

National

Bicycling recommends ten expert-approved road bike upgrades for under a hundred bucks apiece. But you’ll have to fork out for a subscription if the magazine blocks you, because this one is limited to members only. 

It looks like bicycles, ebikes and bike components won’t be subject to Trump’s new 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, but will be affected by other tariff increases.

The mayor of Honolulu signed a new law requiring helmets for bike riders under 18, while limiting the power of ebikes and providing guidelines to prevent reckless riding.

A Las Vegas writer wisely observes that sometimes, the best bike ride is the one you don’t take.

A Park City, Utah website says riding a fat bike through the snow could be the cure for the winter blues.

The Illinois legislature is considering legislation that would fix a bad court ruling that said bike riders aren’t intended road users unless a street or highway is designated for bicycle use.

 

International

Momentum recommends the top six routes for solo bike tourism. And for once, the Los Angeles area is included, as part of the 800-mile California Coast ride.

Bike Radar recommends nine bikes that give you the best bang for your bucks.

A London food delivery rider says he’s been knocked off his bike by drivers eight times already, arguing that bike couriers are people too, and deserve safer streets.

A retired English man has earned the moniker “Dr. Bike” for fixing bikes for community members or to donate to people in need, while raising the equivalent of over $11,000 for local charities.

A British writer took part in an study riding around York measuring air quality with a small device on his handlebars, and found the air was even dirtier than expected — even on quiet country lanes.

Ebike makers in the UK are worried about whether they can rsurvive after the government scrapped anti-dumping tariffs on China earlier this month, with one calling it the final nail in their coffin.

 

Competitive Cycling

Former pro cyclist Jérôme Pineau called out the World Anti-Doping Agency, aka WADA, for giving top-ranked tennis pro Jannik Sinner a three-month slap on the wrist for testing positive for a banned substance twice last year, saying a cyclist would have been banned for at least a couple years.

 

Finally….

2 Chainz may be a rapper, but two chains could be coming soon to a bike near you. If the city won’t clear snow from the bike lanes, just put a plow on an ebike and do it yourself.

And what could be more humiliating than getting busted for bike theft in front of your mom?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.