BikinginLA

Day 154 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Happy World Bicycle Day!

AOL marks the day by counting down the most iconic bikes in pop culture history. And it’s a tough crowd, since mean Miss Gulch’s bike from the Wizard of Oz only comes in at number four.

Meanwhile, a travel website says the future of US travel is two-wheeled, and it’s happening now. They also list some of the best cities for bicycling now, and a trio of cities to watch.

None of which is Los Angeles.

You can celebrate by getting out on your bike today and riding somewhere, anywhere. Because the best argument for more and better bicycling is seeing more people on them.

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No surprise here.

A new six-year, 28-city study shows that protected bike lanes resulted in 1.8 times greater bicycle commuter usage compared to standard bike lanes, 1.6 times greater than shared lanes — aka sharrows — and 4.3 times more than streets without any bicycle infrastructure.

Yes, that’s 430%.

Protected bike lanes also showed 52.5% greater bike commuting mileage than standard bike lanes, and a whopping 281.2% more than shared-lanes.

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The California Ebike Incentive Program offered an update on last week’s surprisingly successful round of voucher applications, and somehow managed to avoid patting themselves on the back for finally getting it right.

Although that legal disclaimer on the last line is a winner.

Meanwhile, the San Diego Union-Tribune offered an update on their ongoing series of reports examining the program, not always favorably, saying the third time was the charm.

Although I can’t seem to find a way to read it without a subscription, so let me know if I missed anything.

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Metro will offer free transit and Metro Bike rides this weekend, starting at 4 am  Friday in honor of the grand opening of the long-awaited LAX/Metro Transit Center.

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Hats off to the Burbank Leader for correctly recognizing the difference between ebikes and electric motorbikes, as Burbank cops stage a crackdown on the latter, rather than the former.

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Local 

The Culver City city council approved funding to work on plans to extend the Ballona Creek Bike Path northeast from where it currently ends at Culver City’s Syd Kronenthal Park. Or begins, depending on your perspective.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers photos and an open thread from Saturday’s Let’s Go Glendale open streets event on Glendale Ave.

Crispin Glover is one of us, as the “reclusive” Back to the Future star went for a bike ride in Los Angeles, days after his father Bruce Glover passed away at 92. I rode the hell out of my bike to cope with the death of my father over 30 years ago. And yes, it helped.

Jennifer Garner is one of us, too, as she took a casual ebike ride through the streets of Brentwood.

Santa Monica unveiled a trio of options for the city’s erstwhile airport, although none appear to offer any consideration for bicycling.

 

State

The Los Angeles Times says Gavin Newsom and the California legislature are preparing the biggest CEQA overhaul in a generation, as a result of national criticism that the state can’t build sufficient housing and public infrastructure anymore.

 

National

Over 22,000 people have signed a petition calling on the US Department of Transportation to prioritize funding for bicycling infrastructure in major US cities.

Momentum recommends five rail trails to explore this summer — although the closest one to Los Angeles is Redding’s 16-mile Sacramento River Trail.

Bicycling examines strategies to keep girls from quitting bicycling when they grow up, while inspiring a lifelong love of riding. Unfortunately, the story is hidden behind their paywall, so you’re out of luck if you don’t subscribe.

The Today Show talks with the founders of All Bodies On Bikes, a size-inclusive nonprofit bicycling community with 14 chapters across the US.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 83-year old Sitka, Alaska man continues to ride, after switching to an ebike in his late 70s when he started having trouble keeping up with his younger friends.

Cleveland continues its transformation from last century’s Mistake by the Lake, to a modern multi-modal American city, announcing plans to convert a couple downtown streets into paired one-way streets with protected bike lanes to improve comfort and safety for bike riders and pedestrians.

It may be harder to tell shit from Shinola now, as the upscale Detroit brand will no longer be making and selling bicycles.

A pair of New Jersey women will spend the next six years behind bars, after pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter for killing a 22-year old NYU graduate who was riding a bicycle on a state highway last year, while they were doing 90 mph in a 50 mph zone and illegally passing other vehicles on the shoulder.

 

International

Road.cc examines the new study that shows “rude” and “impossible to please” British bike riders are putting local leaders off, and “unwittingly undermine their own discourse” online. Which is a reminder to always be nice and polite to the commenters who threaten to kill you on social media.

Bollywood actress Nia Sharma is one of us, explaining that bicycling is freedom on two wheels, and she’ll take riding a bike over driving any day.

An Indian website examines why the country’s workplaces still discourage bicycling, even though it reduces sick days and boosts productivity.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mexico News Daily says Isaac del Torro may have finished second in the Giro after losing to Simon Yates on the penultimate stage, but he won in the hearts of his countrymen.

 

Finally…

Freddy Mercury, on the other hand, wasn’t one of us, fat-bottomed girls notwithstanding. That feeling when a bike race is like a nearly empty bottle of ketchup.

And apparently, riding a bike naked is better than having a brain tumor.

I mean, who know?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.