Archive for General

An aimless weekend wandering through the wild, wonderful and wacky world of bikes

May 18, 2013 / / 3 comments

I wasn’t really planning to write anything tonight; somehow, getting a little sleep seemed like a much more inviting option.

But sometimes, there’s just too much going on in the world of bikes to let it slide.

So grab a seat and strap yourself down.

This is going to be a bumpy ride.

………

With just two stages left, rising American rider Tejay Van Garderen has surged into the lead of the Amgen Tour of California.

Meanwhile, merchants in Avila Beach, host city of Thursday’s finish, reported mixed results from the tour’s presence. But at least one grammatically challenged local business didn’t seem happy at all.

Joe%20Mamma%20coffee%20house%20hates%20Amgen[1]

Thanks to Jeffrey Fylling for the forward.

………

A Valley bicyclist reports he had an exciting ride home from work recently.*

I caught a car thief in the act. I left work around 9 tonight and headed home on my bike. 2 blocks from work I see a suspicious guy hanging around the passenger door of a parked Toyota. I pass him and pull around the corner, stopping to observe. I see him attempting to slim Jim the door open so I dial 911. I got a quick connection and started to do scribe what I was seeing. After a minute, the perp gets the passenger door open, unlocks the driver’s door then hops in. It takes him another minute to get the car started and to take off. The operator asked me to describe which way the car was going, so I figured I would see how long I could follow and give a running dialog using my wireless headset. I guess I was pumped up as I had no trouble maintaining the 30 MPH needed to keep up with the car as it weaves its way through the residential neighborhood. That’s quick for me, I normally do 20. I continued to provide a running dialog of my position. The LAPD was really on it, because they had a helicopter and three patrol cars pull the thief over in a half mile. My phone log shows the call duration was only 5 minutes.

After I hung up, I turned and headed for home. This part is really interesting. After I got over a mile away from the scene of the arrest, the police helicopter tracked me down and had me stop. I wonder if the GPS in my phone gave my location. A patrol car pulled up shortly after, the two officers got out and asked me for a witness statement. After I gave a full description of everything that transpired, the officer taking the statement asked me one last question. Mind you, I’m riding one of my nice road bikes and I’m fully kitted up. “What kind of car was I driving when I was following the stolen car?”

*Given the circumstances, I’m withholding his name to protect his privacy.

………

Santa Monica gets a boost in Bike Friendly rankings, rising from Bronze to Silver. And is rated as the nation’s 5th most bikable community, though some would question the value of that.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles consistently gets left off everyone’s lists of bikable communities. And now we can’t even manage a single bikable neighborhood, either.

………

Turns out all an artist has to do to get a private showing in New York is get run over by a truck. Then again, dying has always been a good career move in the art world.

………

Pasadena bicyclists observe Wednesday’s Ride of Silence; thanks to hard-working organizer Thomas Cassidy for making sure our local fallen riders aren’t forgotten.

My goal is to one day have a Ride of Silence straight down Wilshire Blvd from Santa Monica to Downtown.

Let’s see the media try to ignore that.

………

An exclusive Bay Area town considers banning out-of-town bicyclists from their affluent community. They may be able to legally do that since their roadways are private, rather than public, property.

Just don’t give Beverly Hills any ideas.

………

Winners are announced for the recent Feel My Legs, I’m A Racer hill climb competition.

………

Several openings on the job front for those of us who want to work in bike advocacy when we grew up.

First up, Seattle’s Cascade Bicycle Club — the nation’s largest local bike advocacy organization — is looking for a Policy and Government Affairs Manager. Transportation for America wants a Field Director for their DC office. L.A. expat Amanda Lipsey sends word that the Adventure Cycling Association is looking for a Web Developer ­– Systems Analyst to work in Missoula MT.

Closer to home, Bike Bakersfield is in need of an Executive Director; affinity for fog, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard highly recommended.

And yes, I have walked the streets of Bakersfield.

………

An article in Shape magazine offers 30 reasons bikes are better than boyfriends, including:

  • # 17. Bicycles aren’t afraid of a lifelong commitment; and
  • # 22. Bicycles that go flat are easy to pump up again.

………

Verizon celebrates creativity while supporting local community causes through their FiOS SoCal Experience, as well as offering you a chance to win a bike.

As a salute to the Southern California way of life, Verizon created the Conquer your Creativity Sweepstakes. Participants can win a locally crafted Villy Custom beach cruiser valued at over $700. The beach cruiser would be virtually designed by those participating through a unique computer-based design template that allows users to integrate colors, personal photos and text into their designs.

The FiOS SoCal Experience is actively supporting local community causes such as the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Monica, Habitat for Humanity Ventura and the SurfRider Foundation’s Huntington/Seal Beach Chapter. You can get involved by influencing local change at www.FiOSSoCal.com.

You can also find them at the Huntington Beach Duck-A-Thon this weekend, where you can enter to win the beach cruiser or other prizes.

………

NPR says biking to work is good for you until you hit a pothole.

………

Bike Week wraps up in the L.A. area with the region’s first Bike Local Weekend. Just bring proof of ridership — such as a helmet or maybe a bike — into a long list of local businesses and attractions for special bike-only discounts.

Meanwhile, someone who writes a lot like me questions just what Bike to Work day is all about on LA Streetsblog.

………

Finally, an Alaskan newspaper says sure, go ahead and celebrate Bike to Work Day, but you’ll probably get killed.

And they quote a cop recommending that you make eye contact with drivers who may pose a risk — and if they don’t see you, pick up a stick and beat on their hood until they do.

No, really.

Evidently, drivers are a lot more forgiving up there in the Great White North.

Category: General / Tags: , ,

I’m back! Well, sort of…

May 15, 2013 / / 4 comments

Good news.

After 11 days without internet access, I’m finally back online. And the proud owner of a new MacBook Pro, thanks to your generosity and my wife’s overworked credit card.

It’s a long, complicated story, and not one I think anyone terribly wants to read.

Suffice it to say it involved the sudden death of my previous MacBook in mid-Tweet. On my wedding anniversary, no less. Followed by a convoluted comedy of errors involving Apple’s usually much better repair department, two non-functioning borrowed computers, and countless hours on the phone trying to figure out why I didn’t have functioning internet service on the rare occasions I had a functioning computer.

The day Apple called to tell me they couldn’t — or  more precisely, wouldn’t — repair my laptop was one of the lowest days of my life.

And yet, it lead, just hours later, to one of the most inspiring moments of my life, when the one email address I could access using my phone unexpectedly reported that someone had made a donation to my nearly forgotten PayPal account.

Followed by another. And another.

To say I was stunned is to put it mildly. It never would have occurred to me to ask my closest friends for help buying the replacement laptop I couldn’t afford — let alone people I only know through this blog. Or that anyone would want to dip into their own hard-earned funds to help me get back to writing it.

This is, in many ways, the hardest job I’ve ever had. And by far the most rewarding, even if it doesn’t pay a dime.

Which is something I obviously have to work on.

But thanks to you, I get to keep doing it. And I couldn’t be more grateful.

The donations eventually added up to a little over half the cost of the least expensive MacBook, along with a couple of badly outdated programs that had to be replaced after several years of non-updates before I could access the files I need on a daily basis.

And those are just the ones I had to have to get back to work; there are several others that will eventually need to be replaced before I’m back to full working strength.

So if anyone would still like to contribute, you can send a donation through PayPal to bikinginla at hotmail dot com.

But please, don’t feel obligated. I know as well as anyone how tight money can be these days; your continued readership is more than support enough.

Because it doesn’t matter what I have to say if no one wants to read it.

Finally, allow me to thank my friend thesqueak for filling in for me with Bike Week updates this week while I was still trapped in the seventh level of Unable to Connect to the Internet Hell.

And most of all, to the people listed below who dipped into their own wallets to help rescue me from it.

  • Danilla O.
  • Jessica D.
  • Mark J.
  • Vanessa G.
  • Todd M.
  • Michael E.
  • Brian N.
  • Nicholas A.
  • Joe R.
  • Steven H.
  • Todd R.
  • John L.
  • Harris M.
  • Chet K.
  • Michael B.
  • David H.
  • Michele C.
  • Dave M.
  • Philip L.

Update: We can add a few more extremely generous names to that list:

  • Vahe G.
  • Allen A.
  • Robert P.
  • Lisa L.
  • Richard R.
  • Kevin H.
  • Natalie C.
  • Philip W.
  • Gil S.
  • Glen S.
  • John H.

You guys truly amaze me. I can’t begin to tell you just how touched and humbled you’ve made me feel. And if there’s someone I’ve missed on that list, I sincerely apologize, and thank you as sincerely as I possibly can.

It’s going to take me a few days to get back up to speed. I’ve already spent over four hours today just sorting through the nearly 400 emails that piled up over the last near-dozen days.

Not to mention slogging through my blog to delete the many spam comments that managed to slip through the cracks while I was otherwise occupied.

So bear with me.

I hope to get back to bike news before the weekend, as well as filing in for Damien Newton on Streetsblog on Friday.

And to keep writing this blog as long as you’re willing to read it.

Category: General / Tags: , , ,

Bike Week continues… NOW WITH NEW IMPROVED WEATHER!

May 15, 2013 / / Comments Off on Bike Week continues… NOW WITH NEW IMPROVED WEATHER!

Wednesday offers beautifully cool weather, with sparking sunshine all day and a lovely waxing crescent moon to go along with your evening ride. A bike commute on a day like today is like playing hooky… without having to play hooky at all.

From 10am to 3pm today, BikeSGV will be at the Baldwin Park Metrolink Station to provide info, maintenance checks, minor repairs, and, most importantly, free swag!

This afternoon, Walk’n’Rollers offers a family-friendly bike ride along Ballona Creek in Culver City. Helmets are required and fun is practically guaranteed.

In the Valley, an after-school memorial ride departs Grant High School at 3:50pm in honor of David Granados, whose killer remains at large.

Cali Bike Tours leads a leisurely ride through Long Beach to showcase the city’s spectacular bikeyness.  The ride departs at 4:30pm from Bikestation Long Beach and returns at 6pm. Naturally, there will be coffee.

The City of Santa Monica and Santa Monica Spoke co-host a fantastic tour to show off its impressive new bike facilities. The ride departs SM City Hall at 4pm sharp and returns for a press conference at 5pm. And afterwards, join your fellow cyclists for Handlebar Happy Hour at West 4th and Jane.

Orange 20’s TJ Flexer guides you through the cradle of L.A.’s bike movement; it’s a rolling tour of the Bicycle District! See where it all began, and then return to HelMel for Scoops and maybe a chainring tattoo. Ride departs at 6:30pm from Orange 20 at Melrose & Heliotrope.

In Pasadena, C.I.C.L.E. hosts Ladies’ Night, beginning with a hands-on maintenance review courtesy of the lovely LUNA Chix, starting at 6:30pm at Paseo Colorado. There will be plenty of hydration on the Urban Expedition that follows, especially for ladies fond of coffee and/or wine! (Take a moment for a wistful peek out behind the Jones Coffee building to imagine the lovely elevated Cycleway that once soared above what is now that concrete alley.)

The annual Ride of Silence and its thundering message will roll through numerous cities tonight. Pasadena’s will be the largest in L.A County. The United Riders lead the way in South L.A., while Bici Libre holds its own
Rodado de Silencio.

Other SoCal Rides of Silence take place in Oxnard, Irvine, San Clemente, Rancho Cucamonga, Ridgecrest, San Diego, Temecula, Thousand Oaks and Ventura.

If today’s riding wasn’t enough, plan tomorrow’s Bike To Work Day commute around how many pit stops you can hit on the way to & from work. And there’s still time to register your pledge to pedal on Bike to Work Day; you could win a new folding bike from REI!

Check back tonight for details on tomorrow’s Bike to Work Day fun and the extraordinary list of events planned for the wild bikeapalooza that this upcoming weekend will be.

Category: General /

It’s Bike to Work Week!

May 13, 2013 / / 7 comments

As you may have noticed, it’s Bike to Work Week in Los Angeles. Did you miss the official kick-off event at Grand Park this morning? Well, sooth your broken heart (and sweaty brow, given that it’s 90 degrees downtown already) with a leisurely iced coffee at any of our bike-friendly Spring Street sidewalk cafes. Or, heck, in this heat, ice cream will make a perfectly acceptable lunch.

In Santa Monica, free safety checks at various bike shops throughout the day will get you rollin’ right.

Visit BikeSGV’s info booth at the El Monte Transit Center from 10am to 3pm today, and you can get your bike checked and score free swag!

Tonight you can roll with A Taste of Pasadena, one of many Bike Week events planned in the lovely City of Pasadena. The ride meets at Memorial Park, conveniently adjacent to the Gold Line’s Memorial Park Station.

And of course, you’ve already got your calendar marked for tomorrow’s Blessing of the Bikes at Good Samaritan Hospital. Whether you’re a true believer or merely superstitious, you can get blessed and fuel up for free.

You could win a new folding bike from REI, among other great prizes, if you take Metro’s pledge to Bike to Work this Thursday.

Take a break from all that riding to fill out Bikeside’s bike-friendliness survey. All the data are important, and your opinion counts!

There’s a bajillion more events going on this week, including movies, guided rides, and award announcements. Which lucky bike commuter will win Metro’s Golden Pedal Award in the “Treacherous Commutes” category? Stay tuned and BikingInLA will fill you in on everything so you won’t miss a minute of the fun!

Category: General / Tags: ,

Update: Due to a computer failure, BikinginLA will not be updated for now. My apologies.

May 7, 2013 / / 16 comments

I’m afraid my laptop died over the weekend. And took with it my abilty to maintain this blog.

So there won’t be any new updates until I can come up with a solution.

My sincere apologies.

Update: Thanks to Danilla, Mark, Vanessa and Jessica for contributing to help me get a new laptop, and to Patti for making the suggestion and Margaret for providing a link to my PayPal account in the comments below. I can’t begin to tell you what you’ve done to restore my faith after a very difficult few days. To say I’m blown away would be a massive understatement.

I have the best readers in the world. You guys amaze me.

Update 2: My earlier update may have given the wrong impression about the amount of money raised so far. While the total is less than $100, I’m just incredibly grateful that anyone would donate their own hard earned money to help me keep up this blog.

In the meantime, I hope to be back online next week with a borrowed pc. Keep your fingers crossed.

Update 4: Thanks to Todd, Michael, Joe, Nicholas and Brian for your contributions. You guys rock.

Update 3: Thanks to Todd and Michael for your contributions.

Category: General /

Update: More bad news — 14 year old bike rider killed by school bus in Glendale

May 2, 2013 / / 16 comments

More bad news in what is turning out to be a horrible week for SoCal cyclists.

The Montrose-La Crescenta Patch is reporting that a 14-year boy was killed this afternoon when he was hit by a school bus.

The victim was riding his bike on the sidewalk around 2 pm when he was hit by the northbound bus at the intersection of Riverdale Drive and Columbus Ave, presumably when he attempted to cross the street.

The bus reportedly hit him at a slow rate of speed, pinning him underneath. He was pronounced dead at Glendale Memorial Hospital about an hour later.

The site reports his mother has been notified, but the victim’s name does not appear to have been released. He was a student at Theodore Roosevelt Middle School in Glendale.

This is the 22nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 11th in Los Angeles County — half the total for the entire seven county region.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his family and friends.

Thanks to Stephen Messer for the heads-up.

Update: The Glendale News-Press reports the victim was riding west on the sidewalk on the south side of Riverdale when he entered the intersection against traffic, and was struck by the bus headed north on Columbus.

Witnesses said he was riding at a high rate of speed, which suggests he did not stop at the cross street, despite the four-way stop. The driver, who would have been looking in the opposite direction towards oncoming traffic, told police he never saw the boy coming.

Another tragic reminder that riding on a sidewalk is far more dangerous than it may seem. 

Update 2: KNBC-4 says that the victim was a 7th grade student, but that it isn’t clear if he attended the nearby Theodore Roosevelt Middle School. Thanks to gomerzed for the link.

Update 3: According to the Daily News, there were no passengers on the bus at the time of the collision.

Update 4: The Glendale News-Press identifies the victim as 13-year old Roosevelt Middle School student Jonathan Hernandez; Glendale police had initially said he was 14.

Reading between the lines, it would appear this collision occurred when the rider came off the sidewalk onto the street in front of the bus. The driver was likely focused on oncoming traffic, and may have pulled forward without looking directly ahead or to the right. Even if the driver had looked right earlier, she may not have seen the victim given the speed witnesses said he was riding. 

Whether or not this tragedy could have been avoided with more care on the driver’s part is debatable.

What is not debatable is that this was a slow speed collision, and was only fatal because the victim became trapped under the bus. If school buses and other large buses and trucks were required to have safety panels to keep victims from falling underneath in the event of a collision, this tragedy might never have happened.

Category: Bicycle Safety, General, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: ,

Catching up with today’s way too long compendium of all the latest bike news and links

April 25, 2013 / / 3 comments

Let’s take a few minutes to catch up on this week’s news now that things have settled down a little.

Or maybe quite a few minutes.

It’s a long list.

………

Beverly Hills isn’t the only place where a road raging driver has left an injured cyclist in his wake.

Around 5 pm last Friday, a group of women visiting from Las Vegas were riding single file on eastbound PCH in Newport Beach, when a Cadillac pulled up behind one on the riders and started honking impatiently — then plowed into one of the riders, rather than wait a few seconds until they could get out of his way.

The jerk driver fled the scene, but returned later, claiming it was the victim’s fault. Evidently for having the audacity to occupy the same space where he wanted to put his car.

The woman was transported to a local hospital with a head injury; a comment to the story indicates she was released after being kept overnight.

And no word yet on whether the driver was cited, or if charges are pending.

Thanks to Lois for the link.

………

An unarmed bike rider is shot by an L.A. Sheriff’s Deputy who thought he was acting “suspicious” and might have had a gun.

Maybe I’m missing something here, but since when is the mere possibility that someone might a weapon sufficient justification for using deadly force?

Maybe that’s why some drivers have been so aggressive lately. They can’t tell if I’ve got a gun in my bike shorts, or just happy to see them.

………

On the job front, Safe Routes to School is looking for an Active Transportation Fellow in DC. The League of American Bicyclists is looking for a Development Director. And if you’re a bike enthusiast with wrenching skills, GMR Marketing has a job for you at this year’s Amgen Tour of California.

………

The LA Weekly trolls for web hits once again, claiming, among other things, that the best way to improve L.A. traffic is to rip out bike lanes in favor of restoring regular traffic lanes. As evidence, the bike-baiting writer who shall remain unnamed claims the 7th Street bike lanes are unused and result in angry motorists.

Yet he somehow fails to explain why the city’s worst traffic problems are on streets that don’t even have bike lanes.

As someone who rides 7th Street on a regular basis, I can attest that I have never seen a traffic jam there since the bike lanes were put in, even at rush hour. And seldom find myself the only cyclist using the popular lanes, which have become the primary feeder route for riders coming into Downtown from the Westside.

But then, the Weekly doesn’t always let the facts get in the way of the story when it comes to bikes these days.

………

Once again, L.A. County’s killer highway claims another life, this time a pedestrian crossing Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

Which is a needlessly tragic lead-in to the news that Malibu is hosting a pair of public meetings next month to discuss the city’s PCH Safety Study next month. If you ride on PCH — or ever find yourself trying to cross the street there — you owe it to yourself to attend one.

………

Maybe it’s just because the producer is my nephew. But this looks like a pretty decent distracted driving PSA. Especially considering it was made by a 16-year old who just got his license.

………

The city council gives the go-ahead for bike share in Downtown L.A., while CD14 Councilmember Jose Huizar introduces a motion to repaint the Spring Street green bike lanes. Speaking of which, the most recent bike count shows ridership on Spring Street is up another 40%, after a 52% increase last year; I suppose the Weekly would say no one uses those, either. Construction will begin soon on shared bike/bus lanes on Sunset Blvd. Mark your calendar for Bike Week; pledge to ride on Bike to Work Day and you could win a bike from REI. Examined Spoke offers some good thoughts about CicLAvia; I missed that somehow in yesterday’s roundup. Will Campbell unwillingly shares a burger with a man who blames cyclists for everything that’s wrong with Los Angeles; maybe he’s a regular Weekly reader. A Silver Lake bike rodeo is scheduled for May 18th. Metro works to improve bike and pedestrian access in Boyle Heights and Little Tokyo. How to get abandoned bikes removed from racks. Both Helen’s Cycles in Santa Monica and Pasadena’s Incycle Bicycles invite you to ride with them this weekend to learn about Tour de Cure. County Commissioner Zev Yaroslavsky says NBC Universal has agreed to complete — and help pay for — a missing link in the L.A. River Bike Path through Universal Studios; now if he could only apply a little pressure to the anti-bike city of Vernon. Calabasas bike-centric farm-to-table restaurant, coffee roaster and Moots bike boutique Pedalers Fork is open, and the first reviews are already in and looking good. In other food news, bike-powered Peddler’s Creamery is now open in Downtown L.A. The San Marino paper offers what may be the most accurate estimate of attendance at Sunday’s CicLAvia, putting the total at an open-to-interpretation several hundred thousand.

The third attempt at a California three-foot passing law passed its first hurdle in the state legislature; now its on the Appropriations Committee, even though it wouldn’t seem to require any. Riverside boldly decides to study a disputed bike lane. An open letter to the AAA. No charges against a stop sign-running Apple Valley driver who hit a cyclist. A call for artistic bike racks in Beaumont. A Newport Beach city councilmember criticizes the sentence given the killer driver in the Campion-Ritz hit-and-run; but why is the death of a “significant citizen” any more important or tragic than anyone elses? Presenting the best bike ride around San Diego’s Mission Bay; I often followed a similar course when I lived down there. Escondido’s Muffler Man will get bike drag in time for the Amgen Tour of California. When a little girl’s bike is stolen, an Oxnard cop buys her a new one at his own expense, then teaches her how to ride it; thanks to our Carolina friend Zeke for the heads-up. Red Kite Prayer drops in on this year’s Sea Otter Classic. A new bike path opens connecting Downtown San Jose to the Bay. A case so old I’d forgotten all about it finally comes to a conclusion, as a Santa Clara County deputy gets a warm caress on the wrist when he’s sentenced to four months, possibly to be served at home, for killing two riders while asleep at the wheel. Unlike its L.A. counterpart, the San Francisco Weekly doesn’t have it’s collective head planted firmly up its own posterior, explaining why protected bike lanes are good for business; then again, even NBC says the same thing, at least for small businesses. It’s been a bad year for NorCal cyclists, as a 79-year old rider was the latest to killed; if a bike rider can fall under the wheels of a passing car, doesn’t that suggest the car was passing dangerously close — let alone that it might have caused the fall?

A Portland driver somehow finds herself on a separated bikeway rather than the interstate highway bridge next to it; local police say “oops.” Another self-hating bike rider who says cyclists don’t belong on the road (scroll down). Those bike-riding Portland kids sure have it easy these days. Bike share will launch in Seattle next year. An Alaska cyclist rides his fatbike over 2,000 miles in the middle of winter along two of the state’s famed sled dog trails. Big hearted strangers give a new bike to the victim of an Oklahoma hit-and-run victim. America’s only surviving Tour de France winner says he has no vendetta against Lance Armstrong; can’t say the same about the U.S. government, though. Louisiana driver gets a minor citation despite hitting and seriously injuring a bike rider who stopped in a bike lane. Bikeyface wishes bikes were more like cars. New York imposes new restrictions on bike delivery riders. NYC’s new bike share program isn’t even open yet, and it’s already being vandalized.

A UK nurse was over twice the legal alcohol limit — and on her way to work — when she killed a cyclist and fled the scene, stopping only to pull the bike out of her way. A driver with a suspended license killed a cycling married couple as he fled from police. Amazingly, British police refuse to file charges against a road raging driver was captured on helmet cam beating the crap out of a bike rider; thanks to Joni for the heads-up. Parliament members call for reducing speed limits and jailing dangerous drivers, as well as boosting spending levels to £1 billion to encourage more people to take up bicycling. Photos of eyes over bike racks cut theft rates. Town Mouse is more concerned with the safety of the dog chasing her. The director of a Dutch — yes, Dutch — road safety institute calls for a mandatory helmet law for riders over 55. A new book looks at Italian cycling great Fausto Coppi. The authoritarian state of Uzbekistan is banning bicycles in the capital, seizing bikes and advising bike shops to shut down. A Persian Gulf writer asks if taking a dangerous shortcut is really worth it. Queensland is relaxing their mandatory helmet laws to allow religious requirements. An Aussie woman is ticketed for using a handheld cell phone while riding, but the local press is more freaked out by her “bizarre” tall bike. Tempers run hot Down Under, as a cyclist is punched out by an angry driver. Why women should ride to work and how to get started.

Finally, build your own sandwich bike; peanut butter and jelly optional. A British thief returns a stolen “lusciously smooth” bike with an apology and a coupon. And trust me, you don’t want to read the comments to the Times’ story  about the Beverly Hills road rage case — let alone the ones on the CBS version.

But you’re probably going to anyway.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Car vs Bike, General, Injuries and Fatalities, Law Enforcement / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Catching up on CicLAvia, bike lawyer Dj Wheels unmasked, and I meet one of my few bike heroes

April 24, 2013 / / One comment

People have been asking me what I plan to say about Sunday’s CicLAvia to the Sea.

At this point, not much.

As a result of the delay caused by this week’s breaking news, others have already offered the insights I was going to give, and in some cases, better than I would have done.

Like this one for instance, in which a USC professor pretty much took the words right out of my mouth.

No, go ahead and read it.

I’ll wait.

………

One of the highlights of any CicLAvia is running into friends along the way.

And this one certainly didn’t disappoint, offering a chance to catch up with former LACBC board member Chet Kostrzewa, who followed up with some insights that might never have occurred to me.

I wanted to pass on some of my own thoughts and observations I made, while teaching basic bike skills to a group of very young riders and watching the inspiring sight of upwards of 150,000 people enjoying taking the street for those few hours. CicLavia has very quickly grown to be an institution, an event to look forward to and count on as an antidote to the traffic fatigue that too many of us endure on a daily basis. As inspirational as CicLavia has become, however, what seems to me to be missing is an inherent motivator in the event that empowers people to see this as a game changer in their lives and not just a rare distraction from the routine on our streets. The sad reality is that starting the next morning and succeeding days until the following CicLavia, River Ride or other bike event, only a very small fraction of those bikes will be getting much new mileage on them.

There are probably as many good reasons to ride regularly and to ride often as there were bicyclists between downtown and Venice yesterday, here is a short list that came to my mind from talking to a variety of bicyclists yesterday:

  1. All the young riders I coached yesterday were, without exception, excited about riding their bikes and taking the challenge of trying out new skills. Unfortunately, without a broad based bicycle skills curriculum in our schools, such learning opportunities offer only a single snapshot in what should be a gradual and incremental development process. The challenge and opportunity here, would be for the parents of these beginning riders to take on the task of role model and long term coach, guiding their development over an extended period toward becoming fully street smart and confident cyclists. The game changer for these parents is to improve their own skills, such as through a confident cycling class, such as taught by League Certified Instructors (LCIs) from the League of American Bicyclists.
  2. While teaching beginning cyclists during CicLavia, I had the opportunity to talk to parents and other adults who stopped to comment and, in some cases, ask for tips to improve their own cycling experience. Many of these casual riders were on bikes that were clearly poorly maintained and which did not fit their riders. One woman I spent some time coaching started our conversation by complaining about how physically difficult the ride down Venice Blvd. was for her. It was quickly evident that her immediate problem was that she had no idea how to shift out of the highest gear on her bike. Her total exposure to cycling was to drag her rusting bike out for just one or two days a year and muscle her way through just a few miles in high gear, before calling it quits until the next CicLavia. With a basic tune up and brief lesson on how to use her bike, it would be a small step to an easy game changer. Instead of just dragging the bike out for those very rare occasions, find weekly opportunities to make a bike ride special. Maybe breakfast out on Sunday morning by bike, or a short daily ride as a stress busting habit right after the evening commute home.
  3. Use technology to facilitate riding and as a feedback tool to improve your riding and fitness level. A basic bike computer provides a wealth of data to measure your results, while providing a tool for setting new goals for improvement. Other technology makes it increasingly easy to insert a bicycle in place of a car in our daily routines. The bus bike racks and increasing number of bike lockers along key transport routes make it easy and economical to start to use a bike for part of all of a commute. Recent bike design technology, such as the highly engineered folding bikes Tern Bicycles was demonstrating at CicLavia make it possible to take your bike with you anywhere. This opens a whole new world of bicycling opportunities, whether as part of a daily routine, or an easy way to enhance a vacation getaway. The game changer here is to realize that technology makes the bicycling experience more flexible, convenient and economical in many scenarios than the typical paradigm of transport being limited to where your car can take you along with a just a few additional blocks you can conveniently walk once you get there.

CicLavia is a fantastic enabler to get rarely used bicycles out of garages and on the road. All most of us need is just a little help and a couple of mental and physical tools to experience a major paradigm shift to move the bicycle from a toy of last resort to become a key tool for enhancing our daily lives. Hopefully a few other of the 150,000 on Venice Blvd yesterday are having similar thoughts tonight and will be changing the urban roadscape in the days and weeks ahead.

………

Another friend I ran into along the way was someone most readers of this blog should know by now, at least by his bike de plume.

Dj Wheels has been a key contributor here for the past several years, offering legal updates and insights on many of the cases involving bicyclists.

It was Wheels who broke the news that Christine Dahab had pleaded guilty and was going to jail; in fact, he told me she started her 90 day evaluation behind bars on Monday.

And it was Wheels who reported from inside the courtroom in the trial of road raging L.A. bike boogeyman Dr. Christopher Thompson, enabling me to scoop the major media and break the news to the world when he was convicted.

So I’ve long been frustrated that I couldn’t tell you who he really is while a court case he was involved in dragged through the legal system. But Sunday, he let me know the case was finally finished.

And I was free, finally, to reveal his identity.

Granted, it may not be a big secret in some circles of the Los Angeles cycling community, where he has long been a popular member.

But for those who don’t know, allow me to introduce Daniel F. Jimenez, Esq.

Jimenez is one of the few lawyers I know who has made bike law his specialty, rather than just an area of practice. And unlike many lawyers, he doesn’t limit the cases he takes on to potentially high-payout liability lawsuits.

Yes, he takes the cases of injured cyclists on a contingency basis, just like most other lawyers. But he has also represented riders in everything from criminal cases to simple traffic violations, and even defended a rider who collided with a pedestrian and was being sued for the injuries he suffered.

Southern California cyclists are lucky to have a number of excellent bike lawyers; I can personally recommend many of the men and women you’ll find listed over there on the right.

But any time someone asks me for a good lawyer to represent a bike rider, you can bet that Daniel Jimenez will be on the list.

………

The Times offers a look at CicLAvia and decides it gives L.A. a small town feel, even though some motorists grumble; then again, I’d grumble too if I was stuck in my car when so many Angelenos were out having fun. Many people complained about the bike congestion caused by closing just half of Venice for CicLAvia; outgoing Councilmember Bill Rosendahl says plans are already in the works to repeat CicLAvia to the Sea next year — and this time, with both sides closed to vehicular traffic.

Streetsblog offers a lively discussion of the day, and notes that for some it was more than just fun. For others, it was the smells that were most memorable. Even the Mayor rode on Venice once again, this time without falling down. Leading mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti rode at CicLAvia; if opponent Wendy Gruel was there, I haven’t seen any sign of it yet. Flying Pigeon offers suggestions to make L.A.’s happiest day even better. A road racer does her first CicLAvia and asks WTF just happened? KPCC’s Larry Mantle talks CicLAvia with co-founder and Executive Director Aaron Paley.

And clearly, the Stoopidtall bike was the hit of the day.

………

Finally, I’m not much on heroes.

I learned early in life that they too often turn out to be human, and so, likely to let you down. See Armstrong, Lance; Hart, Gary.

But one exception has always been track cyclist and US Bicycle Hall of Fame member Nelson Vails, who captured a silver medal in the 1984 Olympics and helped prove that Americans — and African-Americans — could hold their own at the highest levels of the traditionally white European sport.

So excuse me if I was just a little awed — rather than merely odd, which I freely confess to — when I ran into Eastside bike advocate Carlos Morales, the new owner of Stan’s Bike Shop in Monrovia. And he introduced me to the man sitting next to him in the bike car they rode at CicLAvia.

And if Nelson Vails wants to give a shout out to his friends at Stan’s, far be it from me to say no.

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bike Cam Video, Bike Events, Bikes & the Law, General, Guest Columns / Tags: , , , , , ,

Hit-and-run on Mulholland Hwy, boat racing by bike and train, win a bike trip to Tuscany from LACBC

April 19, 2013 / / Comments Off on Hit-and-run on Mulholland Hwy, boat racing by bike and train, win a bike trip to Tuscany from LACBC

Lots of news coming in through my inbox this past week.

So let’s take a few moments to catch.

………

First up is news of a hit-and-run on the dirt road section of Mulholland Highway. Fortunately, the rider wasn’t hurt, but that doesn’t change the need to find the driver and bring her to justice.

According to the email, the owner of a Valley bike shop was riding between the trail head near Topanga Canyon and the Reseda trail head when he was struck by what’s described as a white crossover SUV. He landed hard on the hood of the car, leaving a major dent.

The driver was reportedly looking down at her phone when she hit him. She got out of her car to look at the dent on the hood, then sped away without talking to her victim, who wasn’t able to get the plate number or make of car before she left.

If you see a vehicle that matches that description with a large dent in the hood, take down the license number and call the police.

Thanks to Dan at Santa Monica Helen’s for the heads-up.

………

A couple weeks ago, Michael Eisenberg, who has contributed a number of items here in recent months, emailed me asking for info on taking a bike on an Amtrak train.

He was planning to participate in a Newport to San Diego sailboat race, and wanted to drive his boat trailer down to San Diego, then use a combination of bike and train travel to come back up to get his boat and start the race.

I’ll let him tell you how it worked out.

I’ve returned from my sailing/biking weekend and I thought you might want a travel report.

After launching the boat in Newport Harbor, I headed down to San Diego to leave the car and trailer. As I expected, I was running late and wasn’t ready to start cycling back to Newport Beach until 3:45. With a stop for dinner I calculated that I would arrive at my destination  around 10. I really didn’t want to finish the ride on PCH after dark, so I changed my plans and headed over to the Amtrak Old Town station.

The train was scheduled to depart at 4:08, so I needed to hustle to cover the 5 miles in time. I got there with 2 minutes to spare. As an aside, as I was speeding up Rosecrans Blvd passing block upon block of stalled rush hour traffic, I came upon a police cruiser with a cyclist pulled over and with his hands spread out on the hood awaiting a pat down. I have no idea what led up to this.

I’ve never ridden on a train before, so I had to ask around to find out what to do next. I was told that the only bike storage was on the lower level of the first car. When I entered to car, I found 10 bike racks in the front. This car also contain the area for special needs travelers. There were already 7 bikes in racks, and these must all have arrived. At the first stop, as Old Town was the second stop. I noticed that every other bike was locked, so I new I would have to get up at each stop to keep tabs on my bike as it was the low hanging fruit.

While on the train, I figured out how to register on-line with Amtrak and to purchase a ticket. I was ready when the conductor came by to scan the bar code on my phone. The ride was of course extremely pleasant. As I was dressed in cycling gear, I had two people come up to me asking about where to find good cycling spots in SD. Talk about the blind leading the blind. I was able to tell them about the excellent bike path that traverses the South Bay from Coronado around to Chula Vista and up to San Diego.  But when I mentioned the path was only about 30 miles long, their eyes got really big. My how perceptions change after a time.

The only glitch occurred when we arrived in Irvine. The train overshot the platform, and I had to carry my bike up the stairs and back to the second car before heading back downstairs to exit. Talk about tight.

Once I exited the station, I Googled the directions from Irvine to Corona Del Mar in walking mode. I was given 3 choices, all the same length of 15 miles. Two were major boulevards, and one was listed as Shady Canyon / Bonita Canyon. That sounded the most appealing and it did not disappoint. I was a first rate bike path with spectacular views. I arrived at my destination at 7:00 with a sense of accomplishment in discovering a new method of travel.

Once back at the boat, I removed the bike wheels, packed the bike into a travel bag, and stored it down below. The next day I won my singlehanded division in the Newport to San Diego sailboat race.

I’ve written this for you, not because I’m looking for any publicity, but instead to inform you about how easy and satisfying bit was to combine rail and bicycle travel.

Just goes to show what you can do with a bike and a little imagination.

As an aside, he notes that he’s planning to bike down to Knott’s Berry Farm for an annual car show later this month, a distance of 115 miles round trip. Which should impress his friends more than any car he might take down there.

………

Eisenberg's DIY bike rack

Eisenberg’s DIY bike rack

Eisenberg also writes that he’s gotten in the bike rack business for a friend.

I went to the gym last night. The gym manager showed me a video taken in the morning of some low life creep cutting a cable lock on a $1000 bike and riding off. I hope they catch the bastard. Anyway, there was no proper place to lock a bike before, just around a 6″ x 6″ support post. So I whipped this up for him today. It’s now out being powder coated. I made this one for about 1/2 of what I saw similar ones online if anyone is in interested.

I should note that LADOT offers a free bike rack program, installing U-racks on request anywhere within the City of Los Angeles.

But if you’re outside the city or want a larger rack, you can contact him at maecomotorsport@bizla.rr.com.

Bike rack 2

You could have a rack like this of your own

And he notes that, now that the rack has been installed, the gym owner hopes the rack gets enough use to justify a second one.

………

The LACBC is offering you a chance to win a bike trip to Tuscany by fundraising for the upcoming River Ride.

Fundraise for LACBC’s Annual Los Angeles River Ride.  It is easy.  The top prize for the highest fundraiser is a bike trip to Tuscany, courtesy of VBT. We also have a prize for the fundraiser who gets the most people to donate to the cause: a bike from DTLA Bikes. Runner-up prizes include a New Belgium Brewing Cruiser Bike and signed copies of Where to Bike Los Angeles. Prizes are guaranteed for meeting fundraising minimums at the $100 (LACBC socks), $250 (River Ride jersey), $500 (access to the River Ride VIP tent and beer garden), $1000 (recognition at LACBC donor and supporter party), and $5000 (custom vintage cocktail mixology, tea ceremony, or dinner with our Excutive Director and Board President) levels. Go to http://www.active.com/donate/riverride and  www.la-bike.org/riverride for more information.

The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition has long been fighting for a safer, cleaner, quieter form of transportation for all Angelenos whether they bike, walk, or drive. The Annual Los Angeles River Ride provides much of the funds LACBC needs in order to transform the face of Los Angeles County and give future generations the option of enjoying Los Angeles by bike! This year’s Annual Los Angeles River Ride also incorporates a campaign to complete all 51 miles of LA River Bikeway. Imagine it: a completely car-free uninterrupted bike highway running right through the middle of Los Angeles, from Canoga Park to Long Beach!

When you raise funds for the River Ride you are contributing to this campaign. What a legacy to leave, the knowledge that you helped make such an enormous and positive change to the landscape of the 5th largest economy in the world. In addition to helping LACBC do such great work, high fundraisers win great prizes.

………

Reporter Roger Rudick produced a story for KCRW’s Which Way LA contrasting the impressive bicycling infrastructure in the Dutch city of Rotterdam with the far less notable bikeways here in the City of Angeles.

Yet surprisingly, he discovers that the two cities aren’t that different.

Which suggests that Los Angeles could do a lot more to encourage cycling and keep riders safe.

………

Police have concluded that the driver was at fault in the death of Cal Poly Pomona bike rider Ivan Aguilar. Charges against the driver, who has not been publicly identified, are on hold pending the result of a final report from the L.A. County Coroner.

………

The family of cyclist Donny McCluskey published a moving memorial to the fallen cyclist, who was killed in Rancho Mirage when a speeding driver ran a red light and hit another vehicle driven by a drunk driver. The cars spun out of control and hit McCluskey, who was stopped at the red light.

McCluskey was killed despite doing everything right. Except being in the wrong place when two drivers broke the law.

Yet shamefully, neither has faced more than a slap on the wrist for taking the life of an innocent human being.

Donny McCluskey Memorial

………

Finally, it turns out that those green bike lanes on Spring Street in Downtown L.A. aren’t so hard for filmmakers to remove in post-production after all.

Which begs the question of why Hollywood really wants them gone. And why FilmLA, the L.A. Times and L.A. city officials have fallen for what appears to be one big anti-bike lie.

Let alone why the city appears to have caved in to bogus demands to let the highly popular green lanes fade to oblivion.

Credit to LA Streetsblog’s Damien Newton for getting the truth in this story.

………

I’m going to be at the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition booth at CicLAvia from 2 pm to 3:30 pm this Sunday at the Culver City hub; stop by and say hi if you get the chance.

Better yet, bring a few bucks, checkbook or credit card with you and I’ll be happy to sign you up as an LACBC member if you’re not one already.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bikes & the Law, Contests, General, Hit-and-Run, Injuries and Fatalities, Legal Cases / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Eastside teen cyclist critically injured; murder charge in last week’s Cathedral City DUI hit-and-run

April 18, 2013 / / 4 comments

The Eastsider reports a teenage bike rider was critically injured in a Glassel Park collision on Tuesday.

The student at the Alliance Environmental Science and Technology High School was making a left from westbound San Fernando Road to Fletcher Drive when he was hit by a car and dragged underneath the vehicle, suffering severe head injuries.

And no, he wasn’t wearing a helmet. In this case, it might have made a difference.

My prayers for a fast and full recovery.

Thanks to Patrick Pasqual for the heads-up.

………

Twenty-seven year old Palm Springs resident Brandon Royce Melton has been charged with homicide in the DUI hit-and-run death of Edward James Shaieb in Cathedral City last Saturday.

This is Melton’s second DUI case; under California law, a previous conviction for DUI can elevate the charges to second degree murder. In addition, he faces charges for DUI, gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run resulting in death or injury.

Unless prosecutors completely screw up the case, he should off the streets for a very long time.

………

LAist offers a list of the best bike rides in the L.A. area, including my all-time favorite L.A. ride. Great job by LAist’s Lauren Lloyd.

Meanwhile, SFist could only come up with five great rides by the Bay.

………

LADOT Bike Blog implores you to stop running stop signs and red lights.

They’re right, though I might argue for different reasons; running stops greatly increases your risk of a collision — for which you’ll be found at fault — and virtually eliminates any chance of a financial recovery afterwards.

………

I don’t usually link to fundraisers that benefit individuals unless they’ve been injured in riding collisions; after all, most of us could use a little help, myself included.

But I’m going to make an exception for this project for Michele Chavez, one of the top bike advocates in the Antelope Valley. She’s run out of funds after going back to school to develop the skills to work full-time in bike advocacy, and currently finds herself just under $800 short of her 4th quarter tuition.

I can personally vouch for Michele and the job she’ll do to make the world a better place for bike riders.

And maybe you followed the recent links to the heartbreaking, and ultimately triumphant, story of Patrick Brady’s newborn son. Now you can contribute to a Kickstarter project to publish a book of the Red Kite Prayer writer’s best work — some of the most beautiful bike writing anywhere — to help defray their heavy medical costs.

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The Veggie Grill is offering a free meal to anyone who bikes in during the next seven days.

………

Everything you need to know for this Sunday’s CicLAvia, along with four feeder routes from South L.A. and more from the Westside. The Weekly says CicLAvia could see tightened security, including undercover cops mixed in with the crowd. And Will Campbell shows how CicLAvia can be used for an unusually pleasant bike commute.

………

The LAPD asks If you see something, say something to fight terror; I wonder if that extends to the terror on our streets, where I see speeding and distracted drivers every day. USC’s Daily Trojan looks at the upcoming MyFig project, which should benefit the school’s many bike-riding students. Evidently, L.A. Street Services has figured out how to seal street surfaces without covering over sharrows, as they did in Westwood last year. Sign, sign, everywhere a sign — except on the L.A. River bike path, which will be the sight of a walk and bike-in movie on the 27th. Santa Monica will soon allow pedicabs, but not on the bike path. Popular cycling route Topanga Canyon Blvd could be designated a state scenic highway from PCH to the Ventura County Line. Another look at bike-centric Calabasas farm-to-table eatery Pedaler’s Fork, which opens next Monday, and will host the first ever Moots boutique. Black and brown bicyclists band together to demand justice in the Gardena hit-and-run that took the life of bike rider Benjamin Torres. Cyclists debate the safety of a planned two-way cycle track through Redondo Beach; thanks to Jim Lyle for the link. Long Beach will have have it’s own mini-ciclovía Thursday, courtesy of the Long Beach Grand Prix. Every bike shop should have a dog.

A call for justice for an Indio bike rider who was shot by police in a case of mistaken identity. Why shouldn’t Big Bear students ride a bike to school; why indeed? A San Diego program uses bikes to help keep ex-cons from returning to jail. If a San Diego brewer meets its Kickstarter goal, they’ll make a $2,200 donation to BikeSD. San Diego wants to know where you want a bike rack. The 28th annual Crusin’ the Conejo Bike Ride rolls through the Thousand Oaks area on May 11th. A Santa Rosa motorcyclist wasn’t at fault in a collision with a cyclist, but broke the law by fleeing the scene. An Apple bike is finally photographed in its natural habitat, and turns out to be underwhelming. Cyclelicious updates pending bike legislation in Sacramento; the much hated bill that would absolve government agencies for liability for defective bike lanes may be dead or dying. Bad grades turn a pending art school dropout to a life of bike crime.

People for Bikes is planning a bike hackfest next month. Apparently, riding can beat dementia; including the craziness of driving when you could ride. Bicycling reviews the latest city bikes. Denver city council makes bike and pedestrian safety its top budget priority. Boston cyclists will soon get enhanced sharrows. In light of the recent bombings in Boston, NYC’s Five Boro Bike Tour pulls ads showing flames at the starting line; good call. New York’s new bike share program sells 5,000 memberships in the first two days, leading New York’s bike-hating Daily News to call for panic on the streets. A road diet may be on the way for Brooklyn’s most dangerous street for pedestrians. Remarkably, a New York cyclist can’t sue for injuries following a collision with an unleashed dog, even though the owner called on the dog to cross his path. There is no war on cars, despite what some auto-centric AAA directors may tell you.

Actor Gerald Butler rides a bike share bike in Mexico. Brit bike scribe Carlton Reid provides a preview of his free e-book, the upcoming Roads Were Not Built For Cars. London’s Guardian looks at why male cyclists shave their legs; I’ve done it ever since I found myself trying to field shave a badly cut calf so I could get a bandage to stay on long enough to ride back home, besides, I’ve got the legs for it. London mayor Boris proclaims himself a wily, curb-hugging cyclist. Dutch bike riders are most likely to have their bikes stolen while shopping. Turns out Lance failed four doping controls in the ’99 TdF. Great read from the Wall Street Journal on an American woman supporting the budding yet banned women’s bike movement in Afghanistan. An Aussie rider says unsanctioned races could be the future of cycling.

Finally, the family of a fallen Albuquerque cyclist is understandably upset about repeated vandalism and theft of his ghost bike; but did they really have to post the story under Paranormal? And it turns out green bike lanes aren’t the only problem Hollywood has with today’s Downtown; it’s all those damn people.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Bikes & the Law, Car vs Bike, General, Hit-and-Run, Injuries and Fatalities, Legal Cases / Tags: , , , , , , ,
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