BikinginLA

Once again, a driver has used his car as a weapon to deliberately run down a group of bike riders.

The road rage attack began when the 73-year old Italian man passed a group of bicyclists, between the towns of Lanzo Torinese and Coassolo, while angrily honking his horn; when one of the riders gestured in response, he put his car in reverse and plowed into the group, throwing one rider nearly 100 feet.

Then when one of the other riders raced after him to capture his license plate, he spun around and sped into them again, striking another rider before slamming into a several riders who had stopped to help their fallen comrade.

According to Wanted In Milan,

Four cyclists were injured, two of them seriously. Two were airlifted to Turin’s CTO hospital, while the other two were taken to San Giovanni Bosco hospital. One victim, aged 60, suffered a fractured femur, a compound fracture to the left leg, and facial and chest trauma. A second, aged 68, sustained serious injuries to his shoulder and pelvis. Neither is believed to be in life-threatening condition.

The man was placed under house arrest after turning himself in, while he faces an investigation for multiple counts of assault and attempted manslaughter.

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Meanwhile, an Apple Valley man was arrested for the same weaponization of his car against someone on a bicycle.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested 58-year old Apple Valley resident Michael Garbush on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after he was accused of intentionally crashing his car into the victim following a verbal dispute Wednesday evening.

Garbush was arrested after leaving the scene, while the victim was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

At last report, Garbush was being held in lieu of $40,000 bail, and was scheduled to appear in court this past Friday.

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And yet another driver stands accused of weaponizing his vehicle to attack someone on a bicycle.

Last week, we mentioned that a bus driver had struck a bicyclist in a West Hollywood bike lane. Now WeHo Times is reporting that the driver, 39-year old Edward Mosby, has been arrested and charged assault with a deadly weapon, with great bodily injury.

According to the paper,

Cyclist Ruben Rubalcava told the WeHo Times that the incident followed a road-rage confrontation with Mosby, who was driving a Cityline shuttle. Rubalcava said he confronted Mosby after the shuttle allegedly came too close to him while he was riding his bicycle on Santa Monica Boulevard. “I told him he needed to be three feet away from me and it enraged him,” he said.

According to Rubalcava, the confrontation escalated when Mosby allegedly began yelling and cursing at him before striking him with the shuttle.

“He ran over my bike in a fit of rage,” Rubalcava said. “First he hit me from behind and I was knocked off the bike. Then he ran over the bicycle. It was two hits.”

Although despite the charge, Rubalcava didn’t suffer any serious injuries, and declined medical treatment. Mosby was being held on $30,000 bail.

All of these stories serve as reminder that every driver is in possession of a multi-ton locked and loaded weapon, and all it takes is a momentary flash of anger to use it that way.

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Good point.

A letter writer in the Los Angeles Times complains about the framing of a recent story about triathlete Marc Papas attempting to ride every street in Los Angeles.

According to Los Angeles resident Misch Takemoto,

Kudos to Marc Papas for his project and promoting biking! And shame on the Los Angeles Times for the headline and framing of, ”Is Los Angeles the world’s best biking city?” and “L.A. is actually bikeable” (“Is Los Angeles the world’s best biking city? He’s biked 5,840-plus miles in one year to find out,” Aug. 4).

Claiming that Los Angeles is “bikeable” because a young male triathlete who is unbothered by extreme heat has the spare time and ambition to bike every street as a personal challenge is ridiculous. By the same logic, Mt. Everest is a “hikeable” hill. Yes, people do it — but it’s incredibly hard, and a lot of people die trying, so most people don’t do it.

He goes on to say that Papas’ effort is remarkable because he’s doing it despite much of the city being uncomfortable, if not hostile, to someone on a bicycle, and that Papas himself recognized the need for more bike lanes.

By framing it the way they did, the Times makes it appear that Los Angeles is just fine the way it is, when in reality, we desperately need more options for “safe, clean, affordable, non-congesting, efficient” ways to get around this city.

Which is how I should have responded to the article, but didn’t.

So kudos to Takemoto for a response that was much more on point than mine. And shame on me for missing the mark.

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

Boulder County Sheriff’s deputies tracked down the driver seen speeding down a Colorado bike path at up to 50 mph, posing a “significant safety risk” for anyone using the path for anything other than a traffic bypass route, and charging a 44-year-old man with reckless driving and reckless endangerment.

A 33-year old Wisconsin man was arrested for threatening to kill a neighbor’s child for riding an ebike in the street, and siccing his dog on the kid; the confrontation ended up in an armed standoff with the police when he refused to give up his weapons.

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

A 34-year old Visalia man was arrested for riding a bicycle while wearing a tactical vest, with an AR-15-style BB gun slung over his back. Until this moment, I did not know it was against the law to carry any replica gun in public, even if it only fires BBs. 

When you’re a wanted felon riding your bike carrying meth, heroin and fentanyl, seriously, don’t ride salmon.

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Local 

Metro’s $600 payment to up to 2,000 Los Angeles households to leave a car at home for five weeks is starting to make the larger national news.

 

State

A San Francisco website says California’s ebike wars are exploding in Orange County, as ridership reaches “epidemic” levels, and the DA has had enough. Although let’s be clear, once again, the entire problem stems from the easy availability of e-motorbikes, electric dirt bikes, and ebikes that can be hacked to exceed the permitted speeds, not basic ped-assist bicycles.

San Diego is launching a public education campaign in advance of the city’s crackdown on ebikes for kids.

A man suffered life-threatening injuries when he was hit by a pickup driver while riding an ebike in Hesperia; photos from the scene showed the bike at least had pedals.

Sad news from Modesto, where an ebike rider was killed after allegedly going through a red light, and was struck by “an SUV,” which remained at the scene. Once again, however, there’s no word on whether the victim was actually on an electric bicycle, or an e-motorbike, although the police did note it had pedals, in addition to an electric motor. And once again, there’s no mention of a driver, as if the SUV somehow made the decision to stick around after the crash on its own.

Sonoma County is on the verge of building California’s first New Urbanist community, built around the idea that it should be walkable, bikeable, and affordable by design.

The UC Davis community is mourning a student who was killed while riding his bike in a bike lane last week.

 

National

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved the five-year BUILD America 250 Act (H.R. 8870), or Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America’s 250th Act; the bill would provide a 10% boost for Transportation Alternatives, but would allow states to move the funds to other programs. I’d be happy if they’d just stop giving bills awkward titles just to get a good acronym out of it.

A Redditor says a rear-facing radar has given him renewed confidence, six years after recovering from a bad crash; meanwhile, some Reddit users say they’re moving away from saying “on your left.” I found I could avoid any confusion in most cases by just adding “‘Passing’ on your left,” rather than simply saying “on your left,” which can be confusing for some people.

A writer for Bike Mag lays out the five best uses of AI for bicycling, which basically boils down to, don’t.

An Oregon edition of the World Naked Bike Ride rode through the parking garage of Willamette shopping mall to protest its closure in its final days. Meanwhile, the New York Times considers the split over whether a naked bike ride should be a party or a protest. However, the first two stories show full-frontal nudity from both sexes, and are definitely NSFW.

A Colorado mountain biker’s life may have been saved by a simple shade shelter after he suffered a mechanical breakdown while riding in record heat; the shelter had been built in honor of a man who had died of heat exposure and dehydration on the same trail four years earlier. Seriously, folks, look at the damn weather report, and if it’s too hot, either ride early or late, or save it for another day. 

Tragic news from Massachusetts, where a seven-year old kid was killed when they “unintentionally” entered the roadway their bike, and was struck by a motorist. Oddly, the story makes a point of mentioning the victim was wearing a helmet, as if a magic plastic hat will somehow protect a little kid from a bigass, multi-ton motor vehicle. 

A former Angeleno accepts an invitation for a free lecture on the subconscious mind, and finds himself walking his bike into a Harlem Scientology lecture — and biking back out after working his way through a phalanx of staffers trying to talk him out of leaving early.

The mother of a 12-year old boy shot and killed in the Bronx while he was riding his bike last month joined legislators to promote a new bill in his name that would increase penalties for killing a kid.

An 84-year old Tampa, Florida man was killed when his allegedly drifted out of a bike lane on his bicycle, and was struck by a driver. Although it’s just as likely that the driver drifted into the bike lane without realizing it and struck the victim. A lot depends on whether there were any independent witnesses, since it’s human nature for the driver to see their own actions in the best light. 

City leaders in Gulfport, Florida take a surprisingly rational approach to ebikes, deciding to wait for crash data to come in before making any rash decisions.

 

International

If you build it, they will come. Edmonton, Alberta drivers may hate the city’s new bike lanes, but ridership is expanding in tandem with the increasing bike network.

An Ottawa, Canada man with cerebral palsy was shocked when someone stole the $6,000 adaptive bicycle he’d used to get around and take part in road races for the past 30 years — and was probably more shocked when it was recovered after someone turned it in to a scrapyard. Thanks to Megan for the heads-up. 

A former pro basketball player in Girona, Spain discovers a whole new city after she retired and bought a bicycle; as a player, her contracts had forbidden her from riding a bike.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch cyclist Demi Vollering won the Tour de France Femmes for the second time by winning Sunday’s final stage by a comfortable one minute and 10 seconds, after the 2023 champ started day just 8 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney, and 4 minutes and 29 seconds ahead of former Giro champ Elisa Longo Borghini in third.

Controversy entered the Tour when Niewiadoma-Phinney accused French champion Célia Gery of a lack of ‘fair play,’ for blocking her against the rails on the final sprint on stage 8, denying her the chance to defend the yellow jersey, which was taken by Vollering; Niewiadoma-Phinney had claimed the yellow jersey the day before with a dominating breakaway on the famed Mont Ventoux.

Five-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar talks about his relationship with with four-time Vuelta a España winner Primož Roglič, before the two cross swords at this year’s Vuelta.

Someone broke into the Unibet Rose Rockets cycling team trailer in Poitiers, France, and stole the bikes they needed for a race in Spain — then they got them back because a team mechanic had thought to put an AirTag in his tool box.

At least 17 people were injured in a massive crash during a youth bike ride in Poland, with six of the victims hurt badly enough to require hospitalization, though fortunately, none of the injuries were life-threatening.

A Massachusetts cyclist was airlifted to the hospital after going over a guard rail during a race, and thrown into the woods; no word on the severity of their injuries, but they don’t use a med-assist flight for a few scrapes. Somehow, the newspaper still hid most of the story behind a paywall, even though it appears to have been based entirely on the publicly available press release we linked to.

You’re invited to take part in the eighth stage of the Chocolatería Antonella Cycling Cup this Sunday in Rosarito, Mexico, a 1.2-mile crit offering 35,000 pesos — the equivalent of $2042 US — in total prize money. Somehow, it sounds better in pesos. 

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can ride an ebike that doesn’t look like an ebike, for a mere $2,400. Or maybe you’d rather 3D print your own airless bike tires.

And you must abide by the rules to ride a real scraper bike.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.