BikinginLA

Gracias por nada, Mr. President.

Donald Trump persists in insisting on imposing tariffs on much of the world, using a different section of the law that allows him to tariff countries that either have not established or adequately enforced rules regarding forced labor.

The result is new tariffs of between 10 and 12.5 percent on goods imported from 60 countries — including every major bicycle producing country.

And yes, that includes parts and accessories, too.

Which means you’ll soon be paying more. Even on American-made bikes, virtually all of which rely on foreign-made parts. And you can probably drop “virtually” from that sentence.

So unless the courts find a reason to throw this one out, too, count on a new 10% or so inflation rate at your friendly local bike shop.

Photo by MART PRODUCTION for Pexels.

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No bias here.

A writer for the San Diego Reader calls on the city to give drivers a break, citing an “avid cyclist” and Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, who says government should be neutral in how people choose to travel.

One such proponent of the car-centric society is Randall O’Toole of Bandon, Oregon. He’s an avid cyclist, but he’s also a think-tank guy, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, who opines that it’s time the car got its due and that — despite the hype heaped on other modes of transport — Americans appreciate the right that the automobile has wrought on the Republic.

When I spoke with O’Toole, he wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t be construed as anti-bicycle or anti-public transportation. His stance is that the best form of transit is the one that pays for itself, which leads, he says, to vital questions: Why should the government subsidize non-automotive transportation, and if said modes can’t make it on their own, why should they be preferred? O’Toole urges governmental neutrality when it comes to how Americans choose to travel, adding, “That neutrality should extend to financing. There should be no subsidies to any form of travel.”

Never mind that state and local governments in California subsidize motor vehicles with a whopping $25 billion or more each year for roadwork, highway construction, and pavement maintenance.

Not including the cost of traffic enforcement.

And while bike riders are often depicted as freeloaders, as they are in this hit piece, we pay the same taxes as anyone else. The only exception is car registration fees and gas taxes, which makes sense since bicycles cause approximately zero damage to the roadways, unlike any and every motor vehicle.

In fact, bike riders subsidize the cost of roadways we don’t even use, like limited access highways. And that doesn’t take into account the fact that most bike riders also drive, which means they pay the same taxes and fees any other driver does.

So I’m absolutely fine with calls to stop subsidizing bicycles, as long as we stop subsidizing motor vehicles, too.

Let’s stop using general tax dollars and state and federal grant money to pay for roadwork, and let drivers pay their own way with costs based on vehicle weight, required road space and damage caused to the roads.

And see how they feel when they start getting several thousand dollars in road taxes, while bike riders end up paying pennies.

Then there’s this rocket scientist from the conservative Reason Institute.

“If the streets are underused and there’s room for the bicycle lanes, I have no problem with San Diego putting them in. They’re relatively cheap to install, assuming all you’re doing is re-painting lines or painting the bicycle lane green. That’s fine. The challenge is that when you have a lot of car traffic in that area, the bike lane will make congestion worse. Since car traffic seems to be dominant in San Diego, motorists are the folks we should actually be building the infrastructure for. There is a subsidy for automobiles, but it’s typically much smaller than the ones for other forms of transportation. Cyclists don’t pay for the use of the infrastructure they’re utilizing; there’s no ‘bicycle tire tax’ or anything like that. But we should be planning for the way people actually commute, not the way we’d like them to commute. Since most San Diego residents are driving, I’m hesitant to take away lanes for cars and allocate them for bike use unless there’s excess capacity.”

Yet governments have literally always planned for the way they want people to commute, from the first Roman roads to auto-centric policies that have built today’s automotive hegemony on the roads.

But no one is building bike lanes to force anyone to ride a bike. Bike lanes are built to a) calm traffic, because so many drivers seen unable to take their foot off the gas, and b) provide viable alternatives to driving.

The latter is nothing more or less than an attempt to balance the scales, so people have options in how they want to get around. Which is less a matter of putting a finger on the scales than it is of taking it off.

Whether in San Diego, Los Angeles or anywhere else, when 100% of spending and traffic planning has gone to motor vehicles for over a century, devoting a relatively small amount of funding and road space may seem like we’re taking it from cars.

In reality, though, we’re just giving it back to the people, so they can decide how they want to get around.

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A Fresno man was the victim of a bizarre attack while riding a bicycle with a friend Monday morning.

Someone reportedly came out of the surrounding neighborhood and began arguing with the victim, then pulled out a hatchet and chopped the bike rider in the ribs; fortunately he was hospitalized in stable condition.

No word on whether a suspect was arrested.

Bizarrely, though, that wasn’t the only hatchet job on a bicyclist in recent weeks.

A 43-year old Indiana man was charged with felony aggravated battery, intimidation and criminal recklessness last week, after allegedly using a hatchet to attack a man he had gotten into previous arguments with, shouting “I’m going to fucking kill you” at the man riding a bicycle.

Luckily, his blow struck the bike’s handlebars, narrowly missing the victim’s hand.

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More proof of LA’s current level of incompetency, where the city’s incessant delays and public meetings have caused a nearly 50% budget increase in a project to close a gap in the LA River bike path in the San Fernando Valley — forcing bike riders to cross streets at surface level, rather than going underneath as originally planned.

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Thanks to Megan for forwarding more on the Colorado bike shop embroiled in an FBI asset seizure.

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

A woman was heckled by three teens on an ebike while she was riding her bike up the Shady Canyon trail in Irvine, leading her to question whether she’s too old to keep riding the trail, before recovering and continuing on — and remembering why people hated middle school. Never mind that any ebike that can carry three people isn’t an ebike, and isn’t legal. 

Boulder County, Colorado sheriff’s deputies are on the lookout for a driver who sped down a fully separated bike path at speeds up to 50 mph Sunday afternoon.

Talk about blaming the victim. After a Singapore woman was right-hooked by the driver of an on-demand rental car while riding her bicycle with her husband, the driver blamed her for riding too fast, even though her fitness app said she was doing about 10 mph, and demanded that she pay for damage to the car when she was still in the ER.

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Local 

PeopleForBikes is joining with a number of Southern California advocacy organizations for Ride LA Together, a regional campaign to accelerate bicycle projects across the Los Angeles area before the ’28 Olympics and Paralympic Games. Which is a good thing, because the city sure as hell isn’t doing it. Thanks to Cycling Utah for the heads-up.

Metro Bike is celebrating its 10th birthday with a pair of rides on August 15th and 22nd.

The adult children of a 92-year-old Venice man filed a lawsuit on Monday against the City of Los Angeles and the driver who killed him in a right hook while he was riding an e-scooter, alleging that the roadway striping and pavement markings did not show the the bike lane as it passed through the intersection.

This is who we share the road with. An alleged drunk sent pedestrians on the Venice Pier diving out of the way after she hit a pedicab, then sped onto the pier, doing donuts at the end before speeding off; police arrested her nearby.

Long Beach is nearly finished installing speed cams and ready to begin issuing tickets later this month, beating Malibu, Glendale and yes, Los Angeles, under a new pilot program.

State

The streets of Bakersfield could become a little more accommodating to people on bicycles, as the city is poised to adopt updated guidelines prioritizing wider bike lanes into street designs.

National

An 18-year old Arizona man was sentenced to five years behind bars for robbing a 12-year old boy at gunpoint to steal his ebike; police arrested the suspect riding the purloined ebike moments later, as well as his 14-year old accomplice after a few days. And no, five years isn’t anywhere near enough for pointing a gun at a little kid to steal his bike. 

Biking in Las Vegas could become less of a gamble, as the city builds its first protected bike lane, connecting Henderson, Nevada with the headquarters of the Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders.

Life is cheap in Abilene, Texas, where a hit-and-run driver got a lousy 120 days behind bars, along with eight years probation, for killing a 41-year old man riding a bicycle.

Texas-based Segway introduced a new ebike that isn’t an ebike, regardless of what Popular Science calls it; anything that can do 43 mph off the showroom floor exceeds the top speed for a Class 3 e-bike by a solid 15 mph.

Boston bike advocates keep up the pressure on the city to improve safety in the wake of a city transportation planner getting killed while riding her bike home from work.

A New York state senator is sponsoring a new campaign to encourage bike riders and ebike riders to “Slow Your Roll, Respect the Stroll,” urging bicyclists to yield to pedestrians, don’t bike on sidewalks, stop at red lights, and don’t bike against traffic. Which is all great, but where’s the messaging to drivers to slow down, signal turns, look before changing lanes, put your phone down, respect crosswalks, stop at stop signs and red lights, and yield to bike riders and pedestrians?

Life is really cheap in Maryland, where a school bus driver walked with a lousy $390 fine for killing an 11-year old girl in a right hook as she was riding her bicycle in a crosswalk, after investigators concluded they “each contributed to the circumstances that led to the crash.” What part of 11 years old don’t they understand? Or do they seriously expect little kids to operate their bikes at the same level as a 55-year old trained bus driver?

International

The bike and walking path on the new Gordie Howe International Bridge is set to pen this week, connecting Detroit, Michigan with Windsor, Ontario.

Heartbreaking news from Australia, where 82-year old motor neuron disease (MND) advocate Bob Montgomery died one day after completing a 3,300-mile fundraising ride across the continent; Montgomery died after suffering an episode on the way home from a celebration of his latest ride. He had raised more than $300,000 for research and service support in his five charity bike rides for MND.

Competitive Cycling

Norway’s Sigrid Haugset stunned the peloton by swiping the yellow jersey from Dutch star Lorena Wiebes, leapfrogging the leaders with a “bonkers” 50-mile solo breakaway, and ending the day with a two-minute lead over second place Kimberley Le Court Pienaar, as Wiebes dropped out of the top ten.

Nineteen-year old Harshita Jakhar has became the first Indian woman to compete in the Tour de France Femmes.

The BBC calls 23-year old British track cyclist Emma Finucane a “generational talent” after she left the Commonwealth Games with four gold medals.

Newly minted five-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar will compete in the Vuelta a España later this month, after a seven-year absence, attempting a rare double Grand Tour win in the same year.

Finally…

That feeling when your triathlon includes a 3,000 mile bike ride and swimming around Manhattan — and you’re the only competitor. When you’re riding your bike with an outstanding warrant for illegally keeping a pair of alligators in your home, put a damn light on it, already.

And forget doping. The latest form of cheating in pro cycling is padded bras.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.