BikinginLA

Just 10 days left in the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Let’s all thank Kevin, Glenn and Mandy for their generous support over the weekend to keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day! 

Time’s running out to donate. So seriously, what are you waiting for already?

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And have happy Chanukah if you’re celebrating this week!

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Believe it or not, traffic is getting better in Los Angeles.

So says transportation analytics firm INRIX, which says Los Angeles was “only” the world’s 10th-most congested city this year, down from 8th last year.

Although that comes after years of ranking #1 year after year.

Which made most of us feel like #2.

In fact, we weren’t even #1 in the US, coming in 4th behind Chicago, New York City and Philadelphia, as the city showed a slight 1% drop in traffic delays.

Granted, that ain’t much, but it’s better than going the other way.

Istanbul led the international rankings, followed by Mexico City, Chicago and New York.

However, that drop’s not necessarily a good thing, according to the Los Angeles Times.

So what is going on? Experts cite several theories:

• Reworked commuting habits spurred by the COVID pandemic
• The continued struggles of downtown Los Angeles, where office vacancies remain high
• L.A.’s already notorious congestion, which has long been so severe that it’s easier for conditions to get slightly better than any worse

That’s not to say L.A. drivers had it easy, though. In 2025, the average Angeleno driver still spent 87 hours — more than three full days — sitting in traffic, down from 88 hours the year before, according to the report.

Not cited as a reason, of course, is any noticeable increase in bicycling and walking rates, as the city remains notoriously dangerous and inconvenient to travel outside of a motor vehicle.

Not that it’s convenient in one, as the study shows.

Transit use has also rebounded after dropping considerably following the pandemic, though apparently not enough to be cited as a reason for the city’s slight improvement.

However, the study also shows that Los Angeles has a very long way to go if we’re actually going to achieve the mayor’s promise of a carfree Olympics. Let alone avoid the massive traffic congestion that was so feared the last time around.

It also not enough to make a dent in the city’s notoriously high death rate for anyone not safely ensconced in a couple tons of glass and steel. That would likely get even worse with any noticeable decrease in congestion, which could lead to an increase in average traffic speeds.

So as usual, it’s good news for drivers. Bad news for the rest of us.

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‘Tis the season.

Over 100 kids in Eastern Iowa will receive refurbished bicycles for the holidays, thanks to the efforts of a Cedar Rapids bike shop and a dozen volunteers.

More than 120 kids in Lansing, Michigan received refurbished bicycles, thanks to a local bike co-op.

A North Carolina woman affectionally known as “The Bike Madea” gave away nearly 2,500 donated bicycles to kids in need Saturday, continuing a 35-year tradition started her lat husband Moses “The Bicycle Man” Mathis in their backyard.

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Strasbourg has become the bike heft capital of France.

Thanks to Megan for the video. 

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Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

A bike trail near the Temecula VFW has been renamed in honor of Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin, a graduate of Chaparral High School, who died in Iraq in March of 2016.

The victim of a fatal bicycling crash in Bakersfield on December 6th has been identified as a 23-year old man.

Sad news from Petaluma, where the victim in last month’s fatal hit-and-run while bicycling was identified as a 67-year old man from San Raphael.

The Sacramento Bee traces the bicycling history of bike-friendly Davis, home to America’s first bike lane 58 years ago.

 

National

Trump’s tariffs appear to be taking a toll, as bicycle imports to the US are down 24% year to date.

Singletracks wants to know if you keep any of your favorite trails a secret to keep ’em all to yourself.

Wired recommends the best bike gear for brisk, wintery commutes. Which probably isn’t, but still. 

Thanks to Mike for forwarding news that a Seattle bike rider was killed by a hit-and-run driver, which may have been the city’s first bicycling death in two years.

A Wisconsin man rode his bike across country the hard way, traveling nearly 6,800 miles from Key West, Florida to Homer, Alaska in 102 days, averaging 66 miles a day.

A 60-year old Black woman from Houston, Texas has been missing for more than seven years after leaving her home on her bicycle, which still has not been found, either.

A 54-year old man from Columbia, Missouri has ridden every day for the last ten years, averaging 33.65 miles a day, in temperatures as high as 114 degrees and wind chills of minus 60, for a total of more than 122,000 miles.

Tern’s longtail e-cargo bike has now run up over a million miles making deliveries through its commercial partners of the streets of New York City.

Once again, someone has covered an otherwise family friendly Florida mountain bike trail with swastikas and otherwise hateful graffiti, which is being investigated as a hate crime.

Good on them. After Florida demanded the removal of all Pride murals, St. Petersburg responded by installing 11 Pride-themed bike racks.

 

International

Calgary, Alberta faces a crossroads, as the newly elected mayor hasn’t taken a public stand on whether the city’s recent progress on installing bike lanes will continue.

The transport minister for Britain’s Labour government has declared the mythical “war on the motorist” over, accusing the former Conservative government of inflaming tensions on the road by “shamefully” pitting drivers against cyclists; meanwhile, Nigel Farage’s ultraconservative Reform UK party celebrates a new bike path marking a “green environment,” after nearly a decade of calling them a waste of money.

Cycling News visits the Hutchinson bike tire plant in Châlette-sur-Loing, France, where high-end race tires are made using century-old equipment.

Three men have been arrested for a years-long crime wave in Bern, Switzerland, charged with stealing hundreds of bicycles and selling them online at a steep discount.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling site considers what happens to your body if you stop riding for the winter, saying the damage isn’t as bad as you think. Or you could just live in SoCal, and keep riding all year.

A 62-year old Ukrainian civilian was killed when he was critically injured by a Russian drone strike, and rescue personnel were unable to get to him safely.

Saving lives by delivering the four-dose malaria by bicycle in Malawi.

A man from Singapore went back to thank the people from Kota Tinggi, Malaysia, who came to his rescue when he suffered a flat tire on his bike, providing him with food, transportation and a camping site, while a man worked for over an hour trying to fix his tire.

 

Competitive Cycling

Remarkably, 31-year old Belgian cyclist Ludovic Robeet is already back to training after suffering a stroke in September.

 

Finally…

Riding from Ottawa to Montreal the long way. But is it really a Swiss Army Bike if it doesn’t have a can opener?

And your next bike could be repulsive.

But in a really good way.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.