Archive for General

Move along, nothing to see here, aka the never-ending joys of diabetes

My apologies once again.

I’ve spent the last several hours trying to work on today’s post, despite battling very low blood sugar levels.

Unfortunately, I’ve spent more time flat on my back in a semi-conscious state than I have committing words to paper. Or cyberspace.

Or something.

And still haven’t been able to get my blood sugar up to a normal level.

So I’m throwing in the towel tonight, and going to bed to sleep it off. With a little luck, I’ll be better in the morning.

As always, we’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on anything we’ve missed.

Move along, nothing to see here

My apologies once again.

My diabetes kicked my ass last night. I’m just coming back to life after low blood sugar knocked me out for several hours.

And yes, the Corgi tried to warn me once again, but I didn’t get the message until it was too late.

As usual, we’ll be back on Friday with anything you missed.

Move along, nothing to see here. Again.

My sincere apologies for the lack of a new post today.

One of the joys of diabetes is dealing with the unexpected spikes in blood sugar, followed by a sudden crash. Which often leads to another spike trying to recover from the crash.

That’s the roller coaster I’ve been on since about 9 pm last night. And trust me, it’s not a fun one.

Hopefully, I should have things back under control by morning. As usual, we’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on anything we missed.

And let this serve as a warning. If you’re at risk for diabetes, do everything you can to avoid it. Work out, ride your bike, eat right, lose weight, and follow your doctor’s advice.

Because you don’t want this crap.

Seriously.

 

Today’s Morning Links called on account of sick corgi

My apologies once again.

I’ve spent this week caring for a very sick dog, who’s felt an urgent need to rush outside every few hours since Sunday night. And too often hasn’t made it in time.

As a result, neither of us has gotten much sleep.

The good news is, she’s doing better after getting an IV from the vet yesterday. And we’ve both been passed out ever since we got back home.

So I’m taking today off to get some desperately needed rest. As always, we’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on everything we missed.

She should be back to her usual rambunctious self in a few day.

And with a little luck, so will I.

 

 

Move along, nothing to see here

My apologies.

My diabetes knocked me out last night. We’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on anything we missed.

See you on Tuesday

Let’s just call it an early start to the three day weekend.

A number of problems have kept me from being able to write tonight. So rather than keep fighting it, I’m going to throw in the towel and try to get a little rest for a change.

Get out and ride your bike, and enjoy the holiday. Just ride safely.

And I’ll see you back here bright and early Tuesday morning.

Move along, nothing to see here. Again.

My apologies.

Every night is a battle to do my work while managing my diabetes, and fighting off the combined effect of the multiple medications required to control both it and my neuropathy.

And which most nights requires copious quantities of coffee just to function sufficiently to update this site.

And even that doesn’t always help.

Last night I lost that battle, passing out in mid-sentence with my laptop still on my lap.

So please forgive me once again.

I’m working with my doctors to adjust my medications to keep this from happening. Or at least, happening so often.

As usual, I’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on anything we’ve missed.

Now get out and ride your bike.

And I’ll see you at City Hall on the 18th.

 

Move along, nothing to see here

My apologies.

My diabetes picked tonight to kick my ass, knocking me out most of the night.

I’ll try to catch up on everything we’ve missed tomorrow.

Morning Links: Venice Blvd open house tomorrow night, and study shows daytime running lights and hi-viz work

Tomorrow night we’ll find out how great the Venice Blvd Great Streets project really is.

And how far the traffic safety deniers are willing to go to fight it.

LADOT is holding an open house Wednesday night to discuss the project, which is intended to improve safety and create a small town downtown atmosphere in Mar Vista.

If you live, work or ride in the area, you owe it to yourself to attend, and get the real facts on how the project on Venice Blvd is working.

Because if the past is any indication, the people fighting to keep Venice Blvd an auto-centric nightmare will be quick with their own set of “facts” to deny it’s working. And demand the restoration of the traffic lanes that were removed to improve safety and livability on one of the Westside’s key corridors.

Photo of Venice Blvd protected bike lane by Joni Yung.

………

Evidently, visibility works.

A new study shows that daytime running lights cut your risk of a collision by nearly half, while wearing hi-viz lowers it by more than a third.

Mark Goodley took a deep dive into the question of daytime lights in a series of popular guest posts over the past several years.

………

Local

Neel Sodha reports that buffered bike lanes are now going in on Figueroa next to LA Live as part of the My Figueroa project.

A new bike shop has opened in the North Hollywood Arts District.

The next Metro BEST Ride will visit the Pasadena Arts Center on March 24th.

 

State

A state appellate court rules that the new law allowing you to cross the street while the walk signal is counting down applies retroactively, which means you might be able to get a refund if you got a ticket for crossing after the countdown began. Thanks to Henry Fung for the heads-up.

San Francisco is re-envisioning iconic Market Street as a complete street.

Interbike will team with the Northstar California Resort in Truckee for a massive bike festival preceding the annual bike trade show this September.

 

National

Apple Maps now shows bike share locations for 179 cities in 36 countries.

Dockless shared e-scooters looks to be the next mobility trend spreading across the US, including scooters from LimeBike and Santa Monica’s Bird scooters.

A new app allows you to find travel options across most cities, including participating bikeshare systems, ride-sharing and transit.

Colorado Public Radio looks at the debate over allowing ebikes on trails.

An Arkansas paper discovers gravel bikes.

After struggling through his first century ride, a Connecticut man decides he’s going to ride his age until he’s 100.

 

International

Business Insider looks at the movement to reduce the reliance on cars — or even ban them entirely — in cities around the world. Meanwhile, an Aussie Op-Ed calls for banning car ads, like cigarette ads.

Scandinavian countries are successfully building a bicycling future, despite long distances, cold winters and a lack of infrastructure. And yet, they tell us no one will ever commute by bike in sunny Los Angeles.

A German man is 20,000 miles into an around the world bike tour, after surviving skin cancer and a brain tumor, and realizing he could ride a bike easier than he could walk.

A third person has died during this year’s snake-bit Cape Town Cycle Tour in South Africa, with the death of a ride marshal; two of the deaths, including that one, are being investigated as culpable homicide, similar to a manslaughter charge in the US.

Kiwi bicyclists are planning a protest ride to demand the repeal of the country’s mandatory bike helmet law and allow adult riders to choose whether or not to wear one; clearly, not everyone agrees. A New Zealand mother is credited with the law, after her 12-year old son was paralyzed after being hit by a car.

Adelaide, Australia’s free public bikeshare system could come to an end, the victim of spreading dockless bikeshare systems, despite its remarkably low $60,000 annual cost.

Protected bike lanes have come to the Philippines. If you consider plastic posts protection.

 

Finally…

Is it the future of public transportation, or just street litter? And no, those aren’t bicycles those squirrels are riding.

 

Update: Bike rider killed in early morning crash with a truck driver in Pomona

A man has been killed in a collision with a truck while riding his bicycle in Pomona this morning.

Unfortunately, that’s about all we know right now.

According to KCBS-2, the victim, described only as a man in his 40s, was struck and killed by the driver of a semi-truck in the 2800 block of Pomona Boulevard, a block east of the 57 Freeway, at 4:22 am.

The driver reportedly remained at the scene of the crash and was cooperating with investigators.

No other information is available at this time.

A street view shows a wide two lane street with a center turn lane in an industrial area, and a wide parking lane that would probably have been empty at that hour.

Meanwhile, a brief video from KCBS-2 says the victim was thrown a significant distance from the crash site, suggesting that the driver may have been traveling at a relatively high rate of speed.

This is the eighth bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third Los Angeles County.

Update: The victim has been identified as 49-year old Robert Evans; no hometown was given.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Robert Evans and all his loved ones.

Thanks to Henry Fung for the heads-up.