Archive for Morning Links

Huntington Beach ebike rider dies in solo crash, 5 lousy years for doubly fatal 124 mph crash, and Bass demands Forest Lawn Drive keep sucking

August 19, 2026 / / No comments

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

I’m using a form of topical chemo to treat a couple minor skin cancers on my face, which doesn’t seem to play well with my other meds. I tried to work through it Monday, but just kept feeling worse and worse as the night wore on. 

So seriously, use sunscreen, already. 

Photo by Tucă Bianca from Pexels. 

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The Huntington Beach Police Department reports that a man 21-year old man died after a single vehicle ebike crash.

After giving it a lot of thought, I’ve decided to only write about ebike deaths when the story actually refers to a bicycle, since we often can’t be sure whether the victim was on a ped-assist bike, or an illegal e-motrbike.

While the Huntington Beach cops do call the victim of this crash a bicyclist, it sounds more like an e-moto crash than an electric bicycle.

I could be wrong, though. Here’s the full HBPD press release.

On Tuesday, July 21, 2026, at approximately 12:30 p.m., the Huntington Beach Police Department (HBPD) responded to a traffic collision at the intersection of Warner Avenue and Plaza Lane regarding a single-vehicle collision involving an e-bike.

Upon arrival, officers located the e-bike rider, a 21-year-old man from Westminster, unconscious on the sidewalk next to the roadway. Paramedics were called to the scene and the bicyclist was transported to a local hospital for medical treatment. On July 26, 2026, he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased. It is unknown if impairment was a factor with the rider of the e-bike.

Based on the preliminary investigation, it appears the e-bike was westbound on Warner Avenue west of Plaza Lane when the rider lost control and went down.

The collision investigation is ongoing and is being handled by the HBPD Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT). Anyone who may have witnessed the collision or events leading up to it is encouraged to contact HBPD Traffic Investigator Vishal Rattanchandani at (714) 536-5231.

Thanks to Bill for the heads-up. 

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This is who we share the road with.

A 21-year old Pico Rivera man has been sentenced to a lousy five years and four month behind bars for killing two passengers in his car two years ago.

Leonardo Rodriguez was allegedly doing 124 mph on the Ventura Freeway in Ventura County, when he tried to pass a slower vehicle on the right shoulder of the roadway, and slammed into the back of a stopped semi.

His girlfriend and another man were both thrown from the car, and died at the scene.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty to two felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter in June, and was sentenced on Friday.

There’s something seriously wrong with California’s overly lenient traffic laws when recklessly taking two lives amounts to just 32 months apiece. And a lot less than that given California’s prison overcrowding and early release programs.

In some states, he would have faced a pair of life sentences. And even a plea deal would have resulted in at least a couple decades in jail.

I’m not a fan of today’s prison industrial system, which simply warehouses inmates instead of offering them any form of rehabilitation. We desperately need a better system.

But sentences like this, for a crime like that, shows just how un-serious this state is about traffic violence.

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Streets Are For Everyone issued a new report covering the fiasco on deadly Forest Lawn Drive, calling Mayor Bass’ halting of the safety project a “poster child” for why LA streets are so dangerous.

I’m including their full press release below.

And yeah, I’m pretty effing pissed off about it, too.

New Report Questions Why Los Angeles Paused a Fully Funded Safety Project on One of Its Dangerous Roads
SAFE’s report examines Forest Lawn Drive, how dangerous it is, and how a 1-mile road safety project has become the poster child for why roads across LA City are so dangerous.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Streets Are For Everyone today released a new report examining why a fully funded safety improvement project on Forest Lawn Drive was halted despite years of public planning, extensive community outreach, and documented safety concerns.

Titled “Forest Lawn Drive: Why a Fully Funded Road Safety Project Was Delayed,” the report explores how a road known for speeding, serious crashes, and a lack of pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure became the focus of a political intervention that stopped construction just weeks before work was scheduled to begin. It also examines the broader question of whether Los Angeles is prioritizing road safety at a time when traffic violence continues to claim more lives than homicides for the third year in a row.

“Forest Lawn Drive is about much more than one road,” said Damian Kevitt, Executive Director of Streets Are For Everyone. “It is a case study in how difficult it has become to build proven safety improvements, even after years of planning, community engagement, environmental review, and secured funding. When projects like this can be stopped at the last minute, it sends a troubling message about how unimportant the safety of those using LA roads is.”

Forest Lawn Drive serves as an important connection for bicycle commuters between Griffith Park, Glendale, Hollywood, and the San Fernando Valley. Yet approximately one mile of the corridor has no sidewalk, no bicycle lane, a badly damaged shoulder, and a posted speed limit of 45 mph. According to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, 95 reported collisions occurred along this section between 2013 and 2023, including crashes that seriously injured or killed three people. Just a few days ago, on August 13th, another person died in a fiery crash on Forest Lawn Drive.

To better understand current conditions, SAFE volunteers conducted more than 14 hours of independent speed surveys during the summer of 2026. The organization found that 53 percent of drivers exceeded the posted speed limit, with one in five traveling between 51 and 75 mph while passing just inches away from people walking, running, and bicycling.

The City’s proposed Forest Lawn Drive Safety and Mobility Project would have reconfigured the roadway to calm traffic, reduce dangerous passing and lane changes, add separated bicycle facilities, and improve conditions for everyone using the corridor. According to LA DOT, the redesign would have had little impact on travel times for most drivers while significantly improving safety.

Construction was scheduled to begin in 2026 but was halted after Mayor Karen Bass directed LA DOT to review alternatives that would maintain all existing traffic lanes. The report notes that this decision followed lobbying efforts by Forest Lawn Cemetery and Mount Sinai Memorial Park, which opposed the planned lane reductions.

Beyond the Forest Lawn Drive project itself, the report also examines the City’s broader investment priorities. It notes that while Los Angeles has substantially increased spending on policing and homelessness programs in recent years, funding specifically dedicated to the Vision Zero Program has been cut by 59%.

SAFE is encouraging residents, transportation professionals, policymakers, and community leaders to read the report and participate in an informed public discussion about how Los Angeles prioritizes road safety and delivers life-saving infrastructure projects.

The full report is available at: www.streetsareforeveryone.org/blog/forest-lawn-drive

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As long as we’re doing press releases and turning this into an epic post, here’s another one announcing a city hall demonstration next week about the city’s backsliding on a legal settlement to fix the crumbling sidewalks.

10 Years After $1.37 Billion Sidewalk Settlement, Advocates Ask: Is LA Moving Forward or Backward?
The Willits SLIDE brings disability advocates to City Hall for a civic performance marking a decade of the landmark accessibility settlement

LOS ANGELES — Ten years after a landmark settlement committed Los Angeles to spending $1.37 billion over 30 years to make its sidewalks and curb ramps accessible, disability and mobility advocates will gather at City Hall on Tuesday, August 25, at 9:00 AM to ask a simple question: Is Los Angeles actually moving forward?

Their answer will take the form of The Willits SLIDE, a civic performance in which participants move forward and backward together, physically representing a decade of progress and setbacks since the Willits v. City of Los Angeles settlement.

The City has spent more than $333 million during the settlement’s first 10 years. Yet broken pavement, missing curb ramps and inaccessible paths continue to create barriers for Angelenos who use wheelchairs, white canes, walkers and other mobility devices.

Advocates are also highlighting a costly contradiction: while approximately over $30 million annually is allocated toward Willits improvements, the City has spent roughly $40 million more annually settling sidewalk-related injury claims.

“The Willits settlement was a landmark victory for disability rights, but spending the money isn’t the same as delivering accessible streets,” said Alex Ramirez with Los Angeles Walks.

“Ten years later, we’re asking what it will take to stop moving backward and fix our sidewalks for good,” said Reanne Estrada, Artist and Creative Director of Public Matters, which developed the civic performance. 

The performance is the latest action from the Boo-Boo Bandage Brigade, a Downtown LA coalition using art, humor and civic action to advocate for lasting solutions to broken street infrastructure.

“Disability advocates have challenged us to make Downtown a blueprint for accessibility across Los Angeles,” said Hilary Norton of FastLink DTLA, who leads the coalition-building effort. “That means working together to build a system that works for everyone.”

Alongside stronger implementation of the Willits settlement, advocates are calling on the City to fast-track its Capital Infrastructure Program to better coordinate how Los Angeles plans, funds, repairs and maintains sidewalks and other public infrastructure.

MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES

  • The Willits SLIDE: A visual civic performance in front of Los Angeles City Hall
  • Disability advocates sharing their experiences navigating LA’s sidewalks
  • Boo-Boo Bandage Brigade props and visual installations
  • Interviews with advocates about the Willits settlement, sidewalk liability costs and long-term infrastructure solutions

ABOUT THE WILLITS SLIDE

The Willits SLIDE is a civic performance marking the 10-year anniversary of the Willits v. City of Los Angeles settlement. Through a collective movement forward and backward, participants will make visible both the progress and unfinished work of making Los Angeles’ sidewalks accessible to everyone.

The action is part of the ongoing work of the Boo-Boo Bandage Brigade, which uses art, humor, disability justice and civic engagement to draw attention to failing street infrastructure while advocating for lasting solutions.

Coalition partners include: Public Matters, FASTLinkDTLA, DTLA Mobility for All, Los Angeles Walks, CALIF, disability justice advocates and community partners.

Somehow, we can host a World Cup and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, but we can’t house the homeless, pick up the trash, fix the potholes or do anything about the damn sidewalks.

Chop wood, carry water.

Do the basics first.

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Thanks to David for sharing his own extensive views of the new bike and pedestrian bridge over the 5 Freeway in Irvine, as well as the surrounding park.

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Very few people ever looked this good on a bike. Even if he was probably just posing for a promotional photo.

Bluesky post

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

An apparent road-raging driver plowed his truck down the flimsy plastic bollards “protecting” Santa Monica’s 23rd Street Bike Lane. More proof that plastic won’t protect anyone.

No bias here. Hoodline says Berkeley is ripping out 145 parking spaces to build protected bike lanes on one of the city’s most contested streets. Never mind that the project is intended to save lives on a deadly street; the way they frame it makes the loss of parking the most important detail. 

In a truly sickening story, a Pennsylvania man pled guilty to 3rd degree murder for knocking a 40-year old man off his bicycle, then beating the victim to death with his own bike, even though he says he doesn’t remember it, after prosecutors dropped a 1st degree murder charge as part of a plea deal; the vicious attack came just half an hour after the suspect was released from Central Booking, where he had been held for some unknown reason.

If local leaders even oppose a lighted bike path through a Bath, England park, why are they called the Green Party?

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

A driving website calls out a “goofball” bicyclist who ran a red light, directly in front of a Burbank pedestrian with the right-of-way. And while they’ve got a point, just wait until they see the crazy things drivers do.

Reddit post

London’s Daily Mail gets its knickers in a wad over a report that 60% of bike riders don’t stop for pedestrians at floating bus stops, accusing scofflaw riders of “dicing with death.” Yes, you should always stop for pedestrians. But maybe someone should tell them that exactly zero pedestrians have been killed by bicyclists at London’s floating bus stops, and only six pedestrians were injured by bike riders at the city’s floating bus stops in 2024, compared with 11,400 pedestrians injured by motorists in London over the same period.

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Local 

Letter writers to the Southern California News Group discuss ebikes, though you may need a shower after reading them, even if the last two seem to get it.  Although that’s the first time in years I’ve clicked on a story in the Los Angeles Daily News without crashing into their paywall. 

The Times of India, of all sources, writes that the owners of Redondo Cyclery refused to sell in the 1980s, so Redondo Beach built the Redondo Shores shopping center around it. Although their ChatGPT image of a small, family-owned bike shop surrounded by a larger development is probably the funniest thing you’ll see all day. 

 

State

California Streetsblog updates the legislative agenda, highlighting the more important transportation bills still alive as the legislature moves to floor votes; among the bills is one that would increase the penalties for DUI, and another redefining the differences between electric bicycles and electric motorbikes. Maybe if it passes the cops and media will stop calling any damn thing with two wheels and a battery a damn ebike, already. 

Meanwhile, CalMatters calls out the legislature’s inability to pass California transportation bills that matter.

Sad news from Monterey County, where a 58-year old man was killed by a semi driver in a right hook while riding his bicycle.

San Francisco bicyclists demand a safer Market Street, after the city’s previous mayor cancelled plans for protected bike lanes. Which sounds oddly familiar, somehow.

 

National

A new study shows just six 30 second sprints on a bicycle does far more to lower your risk of diabetes and obesity than 90 minutes of moderate bicycling.

Despite all the handwringing and pearl clutching, 55% of ebike-related deaths over an eight-year period involved a motor vehicle, and only 6% involved pedestrians. And yes, that appears to include anything with two wheels and a battery.

World Atlas looks at the steepest roads in the US, including our very own Eldridge and Baxter streets.

Escape Collective writes about Joe Bell, calling him the Godfather of bicycle painting. Although as usual, you’ll run into their paywall after a few paragraphs.

This one hits a little close to home for me, after a 15-year old kid who was passionate about bicycling was killed by a driver while riding his bicycle on the sidewalk, in the small, rural Alaska town my brother called home for several decades; the boy’s parents understandably call it “every parent’s worst nightmare.” A crowdfunding page has raised nearly $81,000 of the $90,000 goal.

Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park has gone against the recent anti-bike lane DEI insanity coming out of Washington, and approved plans for a fully separated paved bike path along one of the key roadways in the park. If you ever get a chance to bike through the Tetons, take it. 

A Bozeman, Montana mountain biker says sometimes the smartest thing he does on a bike is get off it. Wiser words were never said.

He’s got my vote. An Oklahoma Democrat running for Congress is campaigning by bicycle, riding through all 14 counties in his district to meet with the voters. Not to mention it helps take some of the suck out of campaigning.

Great idea. A Wheaton, Illinois United Methodist Church is hosting “Bike to Church Sunday” on August 30th, but invites churchgoers to ride to services any other Sunday, too.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani finally acceded to the demands of his constituents — or the tabloids, anyway — and wore a little plastic hat that will magically make him impervious to motor vehicles. Look, I’m a firm believer in bike helmets, but they’re made to protect you from falling off your bike at relatively slow speeds, not protect from a driver doing 20 miles over the speed limit. They may help, but they’re not magic. 

A New Jersey website says ebike sales are off anywhere from 20 percent to 90 percent since the state passed a requirement for licensing and registration for any type of ebike, regardless of speed.

A kindhearted Pennsylvania police sergeant paused his patrols to help a boy fix his bike, popping the chain back in place while the kids peppered him with questions about being a cop.

Those boots may have been made for walking, but Nancy Sinatra apparently took them on tandem bike rides with Elvis Presley during the filming of Speedway at North Carolina’s Charlotte Motor Speedway. No word on whether he wore his blue suede shoes. 

 

International

Cycling News looks at the Wild West world of buying used kits. Sorry, but I draw the line at putting my parts where someone else’s pits and bits have been. 

A British Columbia road biker more or less bunny hopped a dying deer, riding over it after it was thrown directly into his path when a driver in an SUV crashed into it.

A Calgary writer says it’s time to accommodate all modes of transportation on Canada’s roads, even if an Ontario high court ruling that the province can rip out Toronto bike lanes over the objection of city leaders is likely to embolden Alberta to do the same. Although the conservative National Post is all in on the ruling.

Cambridge, England became the first city in the UK to institute a speed limit for bicycles, restricting bikes to 15 mph on a busy 16-mile bike lane running through the city. Call me crazy, but 15 mph seems reasonable under the circumstance. 

An English farmer says no, maniacal ebike riders did not chase his horses, claiming news reports had been blown out of proportion. And even if they had chased those ponies, it’s unlikely they would have been riding the kind of ped-assist bike used to illustrate the story. 

A British bicyclist starts a conversation about the condition of the roads by taking a photo of his bike wheels securely wedged in a deep crevasse in a local highway.

Road.cc examines just how good Mallorca, Spain really is for bicycling.

 

Competitive Cycling

A new report says bystanders waved the van driver onto the course where 19-year old Welsh cyclist Finlay Tarling was killed during the 8th stage of the Volta a Portugal on Friday. The photo of his shattered race bike is just heartbreaking. 

The race resumed Saturday with Alexis Guérin wearing a black jersey instead of the usual yellow leader’s jersey, and the peloton wearing black armbands, following a moment of silence before the race; Guérin was the eventual winner after Sunday’s final stage.

A crowdfunding campaign launched by Tarling’s manager has raised the equivalent of over $84,000 to help other young riders realize their cycling dreams.

An Aussie cyclist explains why road racing can never be entirely safe. But allowing a driver onto a narrow road course before the entire peloton has passed is a major fuckup that can, and should, be avoided. 

An ill-timed appendectomy cost former USPro crit champ Lucas Bourgoyne a shot at winning the American Criterium Cup. Then again, is there ever a good time for an appendectomy?

 

Finally…

That feeling when you try, but ultimately fail, to catch a runaway pig with your ebike. Your next ped-assist ebike could be a Harley-Davidson — though not, sadly, a hog.

And remembering those heady days of the ’60s and ’70s, when kids dreamed of muscle cars and rode muscle bikes.

Although my hand-me-down bike looked more like the one on the right, if you added red and white streamers to the handgrips.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

CicLAvia returns to Pasadena, 19-year old Welsh cyclist killed in Portugal race when driver enters the course, and why Trump hates bike lanes

August 17, 2026 / / One comment

The Little Old Lady from Pasadena can leave her bright red Super Stock Dodge in the garage this November.

CicLAvia made the surprise announcement last week that the popular open streets event is returning to Pasadena for the first time since 2015.

It will run down a section of Colorado Boulevard on Sunday, Nov. 15, with the exact route and hours to be announced.

The event appears to be so last minute that it’s not even on the CicLAvia website yet.

Photo of the iconic, 113-year old Colorado Street Bridge by mcbruin from Pixabay; Photo of the memorial to Jackie and Mack Robinson by Mike from Pixabay.

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Tragic news from Portugal, where 19-year old Welsh cyclist Finlay Tarling was killed during Friday’s 8th stage of the Volta a Portugal; a rider with the NSN Development Team, Tarling was reportedly struck head-on by a van driver who prematurely entered the course after the majority of the peloton had passed.

The stage was neutralized after Darling’s death, and the NSN Development Team pulled its five remaining riders out of the race.

According to IDL Pro Cycling,

At the time of the accident, Finlay Tarling was riding alone, at the back of the pack as a chaser. On a descent, he was going so fast that a GNR support car couldn’t keep up with him. At that moment, there was one other support car—the last car in the race indicating that the peloton had passed (the broom wagon)—and two motorcycles following behind the race.

In principle, all three riders—who had fallen behind at that point—could have had a lead bike, but Tarling was going too fast on a descent. As he took the inside line in a fast left-hand turn, the car suddenly appeared there, driving in its own lane—but of course, it should never have been on the course at that moment.

The driver reportedly had waited for the racers to pass, and when he didn’t see anyone else coming, he asked if the race was over and it was okay to enter the course. After waiting a little, he pulled onto the course, with tragic results.

The driver tested negative for drugs or alcohol, and isn’t expected to face charges.

Cycling News reports Finlay was the brother of Josh Tarling, a cyclist on the Netcompany-Ineos team, and expected develop a successful career.

Needless to say, the Cyclistes Professionnels Associés (CPA), the union for pro cyclists, was angry over what was described as a “catastrophic” lack of security. 

We are speechless and filled with anger after the news of Finlay Tarling’s death at the Tour of Portugal,” the CPA posted. “It is not right that a young athlete’s life should end this way, and we are furious that even today it is still not possible to prevent such serious accidents.”

The president of NSN Cycling called for better helmets in the wake of Tarling’s death.

“One thing we have to look at is helmets. They need a major upgrade. Bike helmets only need to meet standard testing like all helmets, EU standard CE EN 1078 is only rated for 19.5km/h (12.11 mph) and I do not believe this is enough for road racing.”

(Actually, that’s not enough for anything other than falling off a beach cruiser after too many fruity cocktails; I’ve long complained about the lack of protection offered by bicycle helmets.)

Darling’s parents released a statement, asking you to think of him the next time you clip into your pedals.

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The Skepchick podcast considers why Donald Trump hates bike lanes.

My guess is he just didn’t get enough fawning admiration from cyclists when he briefly ran the Tour de Trump.

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A Denver news report says a raging Colorado wildfire threatens the population Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race, and all the financial benefits it brings to the struggling mountain town.

Thanks to Megan for the heads-up.

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

A 71-year old Upstate New York man faces charges for a road rage attack on a bike rider, swerving his car at the bicyclist and cutting the rider off, then pepper-spraying and kicking the victim in the face; he faces counts for assault in the third degree, reckless endangerment in the second degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford won the lawsuit attempting to stop him from ripping out Toronto’s bike lanes, as the Ontario Court of Appeal, the province’s highest court, ruled in his favor, but a Toronto website reminds readers its an election year there, too, and they can voice their displeasure at the ballot box.

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Local 

Courthouse News considers the struggle to close the eight-mile gap in the Los Angeles River bike path through DTLA, Vernon and Maywood. Maybe because the process has been such a trial up to this point. 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton checks out the new concrete curb-protected bike lane on Clark Ave in Long Beach.

 

State

Police in Irvine used a “specialized K9 officer and cutting-edge drone technology” to recover a high school student’s stolen ebike from an ex-con in a homeless encampment. That’s one very specialized dog if it knows how to pilot a drone. 

LAist celebrates the newfound freedom to bike, skate or walk over the 5 Freeway in Irvine, thanks to a new bike/ped bridge over the busy highway.

Cops in Huntington Beach busted two men for using a fraudulent credit card to order five ebikes valued at more than $8,000 from the Jax Bicycle Center; employees became suspicious due to the size of the purchase.

Writing for the Voice of OC, a 12-year old Laguna Niguel middle school student says Orange County needs ebike safety reform immediately. Although they could have done better than illustrating it with a kid jumping a non-electrified mountain bike. 

The California Coastal Commission finally approved a long-gestating plan to transform much of the northeastern corner of San Diego’s Mission Bay into marshland and recreation space — but not so much for bicycles, after ruling that a planned bike and pedestrian path has to be moved so it doesn’t pass through any wetlands. Although you’ll have to find a way around the Union-Tribune’s paywall if you want to read about it. 

Tragic news from Sacramento, where two ebike riding teens were killed when then were both hit by a truck driver.

 

National

A new national survey shows strong support for sustainable transportation, local energy policies, and green infrastructure investments, though responses varied between urban and rural areas.

He gets it, the hard way. A Nevada bike rider questions why a hit-and-run driver left him lying bleeding in the roadway, saying “I can think of a lot of reasons why someone would hit me, but I can’t think of one good reason why someone would just leave the scene and leave me there.”

A 20-year old Arizona woman was lucky to survive when she was washed off a flooded bridge while trying to cross on her bicycle, then sucked through a flood tunnel; a woman who jumped in to rescue her had to be pulled out, too.

Utah endurance bicyclist Matthew Lefthand set a new world record for averaging 30 mph over 200 miles on a standard upright bicycle.

A Colorado woman says not only did becoming a one-car household reduce her family’s carbon footprint, it also made her life better.

Police in Chicago are looking for a reckless hit-and-run dirt bike rider who left a 45-year old woman riding a bicycle along the lakefront pathway with “catastrophic injuries.”

Tragic news from Indiana, where a 31-year old man drowned after apparently riding his bicycle around warning barricades, and falling into a gap where the road had been washed out.

A Boston suburb proves that Vision Zero works, as Somerville, Massachusetts — population 85,000 — goes four years without a traffic death.

A 63-year old New Jersey man raised $8,836 for a Newark homeless charity by competing in the 3,300-mile cross-country Trans Am Bike Nonstop Race.

A Biloxi, Mississippi couple celebrated their 50th anniversary with a 50-mile bike ride. My wife and I used to celebrate our anniversaries with a bike ride, too — I’d take the bike ride, and she’d celebrate when I made it back in one piece. 

Horrible story from Birmingham, Alabama, where a 39-year old man was killed after he was struck by multiple drivers over an eight-minute period while riding his bike shortly before 4 am, including a sheriff’s deputy in a patrol car.

 

International

Forbes examines the more than 70 World Naked Bike Rides from around the globe, calling it a protest against “indecent exposure to cars.”

Cyclist’s Undercover Mechanic blames a “feast of information but a famine of knowledge” for why bicyclists are so bad at buying bicycles.

A writer for Road.cc says the collapse of Raleigh bikes is a British cultural tragedy, which feels personal to him and other riders of his generation.

An Irish woman rode 374 miles across the island alone to support two friends who had developed lymphoma, raising the equivalent of nearly $9,500 to fight the disease.

Multiple bicyclists have been arrested for violating the Isle of Man’s annual ban on riding the Mountain Road during the summer motorcycle racing season, even if it is the home of Sir Mark Cavendish. Then again, it’s also my ancestral home, which seems to count for nothing. 

The Kazakh Embassy organized a Brussels bike ride to mark the 34th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Belgium.

A 66-year old Israeli man on a solo cycling trip in Finland has been found dead by the side of a road a week after his family lost contact with him; police believe he was the victim of a hit-and-run driver.

Momentum talks with a woman in St. Petersburg, Russia about her bike life, who describes her riding style as agile, unpredictable and fast, even if she rides a heavy retro bike people have called a “circus bike.”

Former South Korean Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Yoo In-chon is on a seven-day, six-night pilgrimage to bike to 15 Catholic shrines in the country to mark the first anniversary of his younger brother Bishop Timothy Yoo Kyung-chon’s death.

Great idea. A Sydney, Australia bike scavenger hunt is designed to help riders discover the city, sending them to 15 locations where they have to find a stamp to mark their passport, with locations divided into Parks, Cycleways and Destinations.

 

Competitive Cycling

Wout van Aert demonstrates that he’s not invincible on gravel, as his training parter beats him to the finish at the Belgian Gravel Championships.

Former Argentine one-day classics specialist Juan Antonio Flecha may have retired from the sport, but he hasn’t given up bicycling, telling a writer “a cyclist is someone who lives life with a bicycle, not just someone who does sports,” as he drops his two daughters off at school on his bike.

A writer for Cycling Weekly says the recent Tour de France Femmes has has a major influence on women, who have taken up everyday bicycling as a result of the race.

 

Finally…

Riding naked with a group of other nude and partially clad bicyclists, good; riding pantless by yourself, not so much. Now you, too, can build your very own tandem unicycle.

And this is what you call a major phone fail. Thanks to Steven for the photo.

 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Driver killed on Forest Lawn after Bass killed Raman safety project, and LAPD never asked for security video after bike rider injured in hit-and-run

August 14, 2026 / / No comments

The good news is, for the first time this week, we didn’t learn about anyone killed riding a bicycle yesterday.

Unfortunately, after this long, though there’s no way I can catch up on everything we missed this week. So let’s just see how much I can get in before the sun rises today.

As for the bad news, it starts below.

And buy a new T-shirt, already. You’ll thank me later.

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Go ahead and get mad. Lord knows, I am.

Because KABC-7 is reporting that one person was killed in a fiery single-car crash on Forest Lawn Drive, near Griffith Park and the eponymous cemetery early Thursday morning.

That’s the same cemetery that called on the mayor to halt a fully funded and shovel-ready safety project sponsored by CD4 Councilmember — and mayoral candidate — Nithya Raman, including a lane reduction and improved bike lanes, that had somehow made it through the city’s endless series of public meetings.

Needless to say, our mayor couldn’t bend over fast enough.

As Streets For All put it, Karen Bass set an awful precedent by personally intervening to keep the street dangerous and deadly.

Back to Mayor Bass. In her letter she directs the departments to revise their plan to preserve all current travel lanes while protecting the bike lane – defeating nearly all the safety improvements the project was meant to bring.

And the worst part? The Mayor is setting an awful precedent here. By siding with cemeteries’ unfounded concerns and giving in to state legislators interfering with the project, she’s setting LA up for this to happen again and again. In her letter, Mayor Bass directs the departments to conduct “essential, immediate outreach to gather feedback on the new plan and achieve a resolution for all partners.” More outreach! Apparently, three years wasn’t enough. But this isn’t general public outreach – reading between the lines, this is outreach to two parties only – Forest Lawn and Mount Sinai. The Mayor is directing city departments to waste taxpayer dollars coming up with a plan that doesn’t solve the safety concerns, and is giving the cemeteries equal footing to city departments, by insisting they sign off on the plan before it moves forward.

Whoever this person was, his or her blood is on the mayor’s hands. Not to mention the cemetery managers who fought so hard to keep the street just the way it is, in an apparent attempt to drum up more business.

In that, they succeeded.

November can’t come soon enough.

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You’ve got to be kidding.

A homeless man says he was the bike rider seriously injured by a hit-and-run driver in LA’s Pico-Union neighborhood in June, suffering a broken leg.

And he says the driver “was gunning” for him, and went out of their way to run him down.

Yet despite that, no one from the LAPD has canvassed local businesses for their security cam videos — even though the shop owner across the street says they’re welcome to it.

Evidently, intentionally running down a homeless man is just no big deal to them. Or maybe it’s just because he was on a bicycle.

………

Streets Are For Everyone offers a legislative update on all the bills they are sponsoring and supporting this legislative session.

……….

A writer for a British Columbia website gets it right — the real danger is cars, not kids on scooters or ebikes.

All the outrage we feel about teens weaving on e-bikes and scooters would be better spent figuring out how to keep massive motorized vehicles away from all other road users.

My apologies and thanks to whoever sent this to my attention.

……….

Yesterday, I got a very nice email from the Marketing Director for B&D Law Group, APLC.

While they make the serious tactical error of not advertising over there on the right, they have created a list of California bicycling laws, including ebike regulations, updated for 2026. Along with a list of commonly asked questions, which they actually get right.

And yes, that is surprising, because I usually don’t link to pages from lawyers who don’t sponsor this site, because they usually get something wrong. Sometimes a lot of things.

So check it out if you want a refresher on what you can or can’t do on two wheels in this state.

And thanks to Alex for reading this site.

………

A Redditor posted a photo of much-needed concrete barriers on Imperial Highway, which Reddit somehow considers adult content.

Maybe because half of the bikeway is in the gutter.

Reddit post

………

This is what we could be doing in Los Angeles, which has a hell of a lot better weather than London.

Bluesky post

………

Thanks to Megan for forwarding a video of a Chicago cargo bike rider making sure a stranger didn’t miss his bus.

………

Normally, I wouldn’t offer a company free advertising like this.

But I was surprised to get the following email from Oofas, the maker of cushioned recovery slides I wear because of the neuropathy pain my feet. And yes, I recommend them, as does my podiatrist.

But not only is this about bicycling, it’s also about a cause I can get behind wholeheartedly.

Meanwhile, a writer for Sports Business Journal shares his own experienced on the ride.

If they want to thank me, I’m a size 11.

………

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

Let’s hope this is a mistake. The superintendent of the Las Virgenes Unified School District announces a ban on ebikes on campus, except for high school students with a valid California driver’s license — but also says “Elementary and middle school students, as well as high school students without a driver’s license, may not possess or ride a bike on campus.” Hopefully, he meant an ebike; otherwise, no one can ride any bicycle to school. 

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

Bakersfield cops are looking for a 13-year old hit-and-run bike rider who crashed into a pedestrian outside the city’s Valley Plaza Mall. Someday I may tell you about the award-winning ad I wrote for that mall back in the day. But today is not that day, my friend. 

A Philadelphia woman calls on her fellow bicyclists to show some decorum after witnessing a case of bike path rage, when “a woman in a Lycra onesie sped by at top speed” yelling for a bike-riding little boy’s parents to get him the hell out of her way.

………

Local 

Writing for Golden State Report, Mona Field, professor emeritus of political science of Glendale Community College, etc, shares my disappointment that the Los Angeles charter reforms on the November ballot don’t go further, by offering police reform, ethics reform, expanding the council or ranked-choice voting. My gut reaction was to vote down everything as a result, but she says maybe we should rethink that. I subscribe to Golden State, so my apologies if this is behind a paywall. 

He gets it. A Los Angeles writer says not so fast on claims that teens on ebikes are the new Hells Angels, arguing that “experts say better regulation is needed but that bad press about ‘motorized menaces’ puts the wider ebike revolution at risk.” Amen, brother.

Streetsblog checks out above grade G Line bridges, nee Orange Line, new shade structure at the NoHo Red Line station, and hard plastic curbs protecting center-running section of the Chandler Bikeway.

 

State

Irvine has a new bike and pedestrian bridge over the 5 Freeway, but the Orange County Register doesn’t think you should know about it unless you’re willing to pay them.

You only have to wait a few more days to place an order for Irvine-based Rivian’s new ebike. Although when you’ll actually get it could be another matter. 

San Diego’s crackdown on ebike riders under 12 kicked in yesterday, although cops are just giving out warnings, for now.

A 15-year old Menifee boy was killed in a hit-and-run while riding an offroad e-moto; the driver was seen leaving the scene with a bike still lodged under his car.

Police in Valdosta are pushing back against videos on social media saying a bike rider was killed in a hit-and-run, insisting the victim died of natural causes.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition says a 32-year old woman was killed when the e-scooter she was riding got caught in a rail track, and she was hit by a delivery truck driver illegally driving in the transit lane, who fled the scene, although he was caught a few blocks away.

Hats off to Kyle and Jessica Aster, who donated a quarter of a million dollars to build a five-mile singletrack trail near Lake Tahoe, completing an iconic 12-mile loop around the lake.

 

National

If you ride with a Ritchey Carbon Fiber Bicycle Fork, don’t; they’re being recalled due to a “risk of serious injury or death.”

A Colorado couple discovers that riding 50 centuries in 50 states on a tandem bike may soon fill a blank page in the Guinness World Records book.

Um, no. A San Antonio TV station says a man was stabbed several times “during (a) fight over a bicycle,” but the description sounds more like he was stabbed by someone trying to steal his bike.

An Illinois man was arrested two years after a 56-year old man was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bicycle; the investigation showed the driver and his wife had gone to two bars, but they played the old “Oh, I thought we just hit a deer” card when finally caught.

A 73-year old Cornell University researcher and former sponsored cyclist has turned his garage into a word-of-mouth bike shop, and a bicycling community.

The New York city council has wisely backed off a plan to require ebike registration, after witnessing the messy rollout of New Jersey’s crackdown just across the river.

No surprise here, as DC finds building bike and bus lanes reduces crashes a lot.

Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins offers a “crash course in ebike helmets,” arguing that faster bikes means a bigger risk.

The kindhearted folks at a Tampa, Florida nonprofit will soon give away their 3,000th donated and refurbished bicycle, just three-and-a-half years after it was founded.

 

International

A new study from the University of Duh finds that bicycling infrastructure really can boost bike commuting.

Road.cc recommends six of the best British designed bicycles, starting at the equivalent of around 950 bucks. Although something actually made in the UK is another matter.

A British woman and her boyfriend completed a nearly 800-day trip from Europe through Africa — and he even had to push her about 80 miles when her bike broke down.

Irish police have conducted ten raids and arrested two teens, following a series of attacks, robberies and bike thefts by masked men on a popular bike path

That Chopper bike floating belly-up in the bathtub is a Raleigh, after Dutch parent company Accell declared bankruptcy, also sounding the death knell for the Lapierre, Batavus, Sparta, Koga, Haibike, Winora, Ghost, Babboe and XLC brands; however, there may be hope, as an Irish investment firm has expressed an interest in buying the entire lot.

New bike sales in France dropped 6% in 2025, while ebike sales fell 16%; however, sales remained 23% up from those heady pre-Covid days of 2019.

 

Competitive Cycling

LA endurance cyclist Isabel King completed the 207-mile Unbound Gravel race in 12 hours while pumping milk for her breastfeeding baby.

A writer for Men’s Journal rides a Tour de France bike through the Alps, and discovers that aero matters more than weight.

 

Finally…

That feeling when renting an e-bikeshare feels more like highway robbery. Writing the memo you wish the local DOT director would write.

And apropos of nothing, CNN ranks my bike friendly hometown #5 on their list of places to visit — and yes, it really did serve as the inspiration for Disneyland’s Main Street.

Although I don’t recall ever seeing a large pantless duck or talking mouse when I was growing up.

………

And seriously, you need one of these. Like, now.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Road rage trifecta — French driver goes bowling for bicyclists, Apple Valley man weaponizes his car, and WeHo bus driver hits rider and runs over bicycle

August 10, 2026 / / No comments

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.

………

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.

………

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.

………

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.

………

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.

………

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.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Caltrans starts 2-year process for new bike & pedestrian plan, and Calbike argues ebikes belong but need better regulation

August 7, 2026 / / 2 comments

Caltrans has begun a two-year process to develop a new bicycle and pedestrian plan.

Here’s how Calbike describes it.

The State Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan (SBPP) is Caltrans’ statewide policy plan for walking and bicycling. Caltrans has started work on a new plan, with a final version expected in 2028. It sits under the larger California Transportation Plan, alongside statewide plans for rail, freight, aviation, and other parts of the transportation system. The current SBPP will update Toward an Active California, the plan Caltrans adopted in 2017, which was the first plan of its kind in California.

Caltrans says the new plan will identify the major needs, challenges, and opportunities facing people who walk and bike. It will then lay out a set of actions for the agency to carry out. It is important to note that the SBPP will not contain a statewide list of infrastructure projects. A bike lane, safer intersection, or improved highway crossing does not need to be named in the plan to move forward. Those projects are generally developed through Caltrans districts, local governments, regional agencies, funding programs, maintenance work, and other parts of the project delivery process.

Since it is a two-year process, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to participate. Just sign up at their website to receive updates.

………

Speaking of Calbike, the statewide bicycle advocacy group released a report arguing the ebikes belong on California streets, even if they are poorly understood.

The report finds that California’s three-class e-bike system is functional, though poorly understood outside of professional policy circles. The larger problem is the growing number of faster and more powerful electric devices that fall outside those classes while being sold or marketed as e-bikes. That failure of translation has consequences at every stage of the debate. A parent shopping online may see a product advertised as an e-bike without any clear indication that it falls outside of California’s legal classes. A reporter covering a collision may use “e-bike” as a catch-all term even if it is actually a much faster device. An officer at the roadside may have little more than the device’s appearance to determine what the rider is operating. By the time residents bring their concerns to a city council, several distinct types of devices and behaviors have often been collapsed into a single category. The resulting policy can end up restricting legal e-bikes instead of addressing the faster, unregulated devices that often prompt the concern.

The report goes on to argue that Senate Bill 1167 — authored by Senator Catherine Blakespear and cosponsored by CalBike, PeopleForBikes, Streets For All, and Streets Are For Everyone — would address that problem by clarifying what is and isn’t a legal ebike, and establishing a “lawful regulatory path for devices that exceed the limits of a legal ebike.”

………

A study from the UK finds that e-scooters are far more dangerous than motorcycles or bicycles, with users three-times more likely to suffer traumatic brain injuries.

Then again, they’re also significantly less likely to wear a helmet.

………

Local 

The Los Angeles Times considers the potential re-wilding of the Los Angeles River. Yes, please.

A Calabasas woman is campaigning for the state to adopt a version of Rio’s Law, which would help first responders recognize when autistic or neurodivergent people are in a vehicle during traffic stops. Or, presumably, when walking or riding a bicycle. 

WeHo Times reports a man was hospitalized after his bicycle was run over by a West Hollywood CityLine bus at Santa Monica and Fairfax, where the bike lanes found elsewhere on a boulevard don’t exist.

 

State

A Seal Beach letter writer complains about kids on ebikes harassing a coyote, which managed to escape by crossing PCH. No word on whether a roadrunner was also seen in the area, or if the coyote employed any devices from the ACME Company.

A San Clemente family found a measure of justice, when the hit-and-run driver who killed a 40-year old man riding an ebike was convicted of the crime, four years after the crash; San Clemente resident Michael Thomas Kosco will be sentenced next month.

The Bakersfield city council narrowly approved a resolution prioritizing bike lanes, narrower travel lanes and lower target speeds to improve road safety, in a city that consistently ranks as one of the nation’s most dangerous cities for bike riders and pedestrians.

Speaking of Bakersfield, the city closed a portion of the popular portion of the Kern River Parkway Trail due to aggressive dogs around the bike path; six dogs were taken into custody, but some could still be roaming the area. Although no one read the dogs their rights, so nothing they say can be used against them. 

An op-ed from the head of a Santa Barbara advocacy group argues that two people crashed into local businesses, and another person killed a pedestrian, but not one of the crashes involved an ebike, despite the panic in the city over them.

Sad news from Solano County, where someone riding a bicycle was struck and killed by a pickup driver exiting a freeway.

 

National

Colorado is relaunching the statewide ebike rebate program, with discounts of $1,000 on an ebike, and $1,300 on an e-cargo bike; that can be combined with a $225 tax credit, for a total savings of up to $1,525. That compares favorably to California’s ebike voucher discount of not a damn thing.

Even Laramie, Wyoming is opening a nine-acre bike park.

Colorado’s Steamboat Bike Park may be the most accessible in the US, with 15 of its 17 downhill trails adaptive-friendly.

A Colorado father hopes that his 24-year old son’s death in a hit-and-run while bicycling last month will somehow lead to safer streets.

A Washington DC man describes what it’s like to get shot while riding his bike, and thanks all the people who came to his rescue.

A team from the University of Texas completed the world’s longest annual charity ride, covering more than 4,000 miles from Austin to Anchorage, Alaska, while raising over $368,000 for cancer research and support programs.

It took nearly four months, but police in Louisiana have finally arrested a 34-year old woman for the hit-and-run death of a 24-year old man riding a bicycle, as well as her 60-something parents, who helped coverup the crime.

 

International

Bogotá, Colombia, is making sure women aren’t left behind in South America’s “city of cycling,” where women were previously convinced bicycles were for men.

Momentum makes the case for why Quebec’s 3,300-mile La Route Verte connected bicycle network is North America’s greatest bicycling route, combining quiet rural roads, converted railway trails, protected bike paths and scenic parkways.

An 11-year old Québécois kid pretty much sums up the feelings most of us have, saying “I’d be sad if I couldn’t ride my bike.”

Vultures are circling over the famed Raleigh bike brand, which could be on its last legs as it enters insolvency proceedings — the European equivalent of bankruptcy — after Netherlands-based parent company Accell Group failed to find a buyer.

A Turkish professor argues that bicyclists need to organize into an effective organization to make their voices heard to improve safety, rather than merely dreaming of a “beautiful society with the timidity of a pigeon.”

 

Competitive Cycling

Riders in the Tour de France Femmes are pushing for more stages for their own sake, not to be more like the men.

There were no major changes in the standings after stage 6 of the Tour, as Mauritian champ Kim Le Court bounced back from a difficult time trial to win the stage.

The women will compete on the brutal Mont Ventoux for the first time on today’s stage, which promises to be the hardest day’s in the Tour’s history.

Bike Radar says riders at the women’s Tour ride basically the same bikes as the men, just specced for smaller bodies. Although a lot of the men’s peloton shops in the petite department, too.

Dozens of cyclists crashed in a massive pile-up 24 miles from the finish line in stage 4 of the Tour de Pologne, requiring a half hour stoppage to sort out the mess.

 

Finally…

It may not be the first bike, but it’s probably the oldest.

And you’d think a website devoted to highway construction would know how to spell it.

But you would be wrong.

………

So I worked up a few more T-shirt designs. And yes, these are all for sale right now; just click on the photo.

 

 

 

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

San Diego completes 75% of bike plan, stoned double killer appeals murder convictions, and WeHo opens ebike voucher portal

August 6, 2026 / / No comments

San Diego, you’re looking good.

In a story hidden behind their usual draconian paywall, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that a new study from San Diego State University shows the city has completed 75% of the bike infrastructure called for in the city’s 2013 bicycle master plan.

Which compares favorably to Los Angeles, which has completed somewhere south of 5% of its plan adopted a few years earlier.

In addition, just over 80% of the city’s major streets have some sort of bikeway, even if most have disconnected sections forcing riders to fight their way through traffic, and only 8% of that is protected.

According to the paper,

The report also pointed to the need for more low-stress biking options, such as designated bikeways or multi-use paths dedicated to cyclists and pedestrians — types of infrastructure where riders face less traffic stress. While 63% of the network is considered low-stress, over 30% of the network is considered high-stress, the study found.

“While a majority of the network is technically bikeable, a substantial portion consists of high stress segments that may discourage use, particularly among the ‘interested but concerned’ population,” the authors wrote.

Still, it seems like they’re doing a lot more, and a lot better, than their much larger neighbor to the north, even if the city is experiencing some bikelash right now.

Meanwhile, another report shows that despite a recent dip on eight monitored corridors, San Diego bike ridership is still up 17% since 2019.

While San Diego makes progress, today’s image offers the view from Los Angeles. 

………

Once again, most of the story is hidden behind a paywall.

But there’s enough left uncovered to know that Mandy Marie Benn, the now 46-year old woman who was (allegedly) stoned out of her mind on prescription drugs and participating in a live Facebook chat when she killed two men taking part in a 300-mile Michigan Make-A-Wish fundraising ride in 2022, is appealing the murder convictions that resulted in a minimum 70-years behind bars, alleging prosecutors failed to prove a required element of the crime.

Benn was sentenced to two consecutive 35-to-60 year terms, which would make her about 160-some years old if she served her full terms. Which somehow seems a little unlikely.

So I’ll settle for her getting out at a tad over 112 years old even if she serves the minimum. Because that’s someone who should never see the light of day again, but you never know what the courts will do.

………

West Hollywood is accepting applications for their new ebike incentive program, offering up to 50 vouchers covering the full cost of purchase, plus maintenance.

That compares favorably with Los Angeles, which instead is considering cracking down on ebikes, seeing ebikes as a problem to be squashed, rather than an asset to encourage.

Meanwhile, a Los Angeles teenager warns about the dangers of ebikes after she was severely injured going over the handlebars “at a really high speed” last year.

Which is a pretty good indication that she was probably riding an illegal e-moto, or at least an illegally hacked ebike, rather than an electric bicycle.

Thanks to Andrew for the heads-up. 

………

Local 

WeHo will new require dockless ebike and e-scooter users to park in mandatory designated areas.

 

State

Irvine has officially been crowned as the least-stressed city in Southern California, and the 7th in the nation by WalletHub, and oddly, scored exactly the same rankings as SoCal’s fittest city and the 7th in the US, according to the American Fitness Index.

Australian bike retailer BikesOnline has opened their first physical US location in San Clemente.

A new report shows San Francisco is experiencing a higher number of severe crashes now than when the city adopted Vision Zero in 2014. Or as we say here in LA, welcome to the club.  

 

National

Triathlon site Slowtwitch discusses the most common mistakes new cyclists make. Actually, the most common mistake new cyclists make is trying to become cyclists, instead of just learning to enjoy riding a bicycle before trying to win a Grand Tour.

A pair of college students rode across the US, raising $15,000 for lone soldiers in Israel. Although maybe someone can explain what the hell a lone soldier is, and why they need our financial support.

A Cedar Rapids, Iowa nonprofit is working with the city to refurbish bicycles and distribute them to people who lack reliable transportation.

A Michigan woman is impressed by a young man she saw riding a bicycle on the gravel shoulder of the road as she drove by, assuming from his fast food uniform that he must be a dedicated worker riding to and/or from work dressed like that. If she’s that impressed, maybe she should leave her car at home and try it herself next time. 

New York’s city council is considering at least 17 bills cracking down on ebikes and e-motos, which is like comparing apples and IndyCars; meanwhile, New York Mayor Mamdani orders 42 makes of illegal ebikes to stop selling in the city.

 

International

The CBC talks with the first “excited” bicyclists and pedestrians to cross the newly opened multi-use path on the newly opened Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan.

Talk about not getting it. The UK is closing a number of shared-use paths located near major roadways, because the nearby traffic makes them too heavily polluted.

Shocking, I know. But despite the 134 “cycle streets” in Brussels, Belgium, where drivers are limited to 19 mph and not allowed to overtake bicyclists, bike riders still worry about their safety because too many drivers refuse to follow the rules.

The 18-year old grandson of legendary Australian ultracyclist Bob Montgomery remembers his 82-year old grandfather and riding companion, who died suddenly just one day after completing a ride across the continent to raise funds for a Motor Neurone Disease charity.

 

Competitive Cycling

For the first time in four days, the yellow jersey remained on the same shoulders as Marlen Reusser defended her narrow 12 second lead, while Demi Vollering outsprinted Kasia Niewiadoma and Reusser to win the 5th stage of the Tour de France Femmes.

Former Swiss champ Noemi Rüegg was knocked off her bike when a race moto clipped her handlebars in the “chaos” of the Tour’s 5th stage; she got back on her bike and finished the stage, but it was unclear if she was injured.

Aussie triathlete Tilly Offord is working her way back to competing in the LA Olympics in two years, after her road to the ’24 Paris Games was derailed by a near-fatal distracted driver while on a training ride in 2022.

 

Finally…

It took a bicycling food vendor for us to discover there’s a California in Trinidad & Tobago. Your next bike could be a sit-down electric scooter with pedals.

And your next cup of Joe could help fund safer streets.

………

One last note.

I just got my first order of these T-shirts, and even I have to admit they look damn good, and even better in person. So order one, already.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Pantless Kiwi car thief attacks woman, cars, teen bike club and murders dog; and LA proposes performative ebike crackdown

August 5, 2026 / / No comments

Excuse the vernacular, but what the fuck?

One woman was assaulted, three teenaged bicyclists were injured, and a dog was murdered by pantless New Zealand man “known to police for mental health illness.”

According to reports, the series of incidents began when the 49-year old man, who was not publicly identified, attacked a woman on a public street around 7 am with no warning, causing bruising to her face, head and upper body.

And yes, without pants, apparently naked from the waist down.

When a passing Good Samaritan stopped his car and ran out to help, the pantless man jumped in and sped off.

After striking a number of cars, he veered his car into a cycling club on a training ride, striking five teenage victims from behind, and injuring three, one critically. Although it’s not clear if he intentionally struck the bicyclists, or if they just happened to be in his way.

After crashing into the bike club, he approached a woman walking two dogs, grabbed one and strangled it.

He then apparently got back in the heavily damaged car, and drove to a gas station, where he crashed into one of the pumps, and tried to jack another car, but couldn’t start it because the driver had taken the key.

He was finally tased by police and arrested, and booked on 14 separate charges.

The only good news is that no one was killed, and it was not a premeditated attack.

But seriously.

What. The. Fuck.

Image by Joel Fazhari from Pixabay. 

………

Los Angeles is apparently preparing to join the parade of cities cracking down on ebikes.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the motion, introduced by Heather Hutt and unindicted City Staffer B, two of the more conservative members of the city council, passed the council’s Rules Committee yesterday.

It asks LADOT to come up with ways to regulate ebikes, because the bills currently under discussion at the state level apparently aren’t good enough. Or maybe they just want to appear to be doing something about the problem before facing voters in two years.

Which would seem to give them enough time to see what the state legislature does this year, but still.

According to the Times,

The motion outlines a number of possible measures including banning the sale of e-bikes, e-motorcyles and electric mopeds that don’t meet legal standards out of the box, banning modifications that can make e-bikes faster and requiring education for riders under 18 or who don’t have a driver’s license. The motion, authored by Councilmembers Heather Hutt and John Lee, also suggested implementing rules for storage and charging to prevent battery fires.

“Banning the conversion of e-bikes to an e-moto will be an important step to preventing injuries,” Hutt’s office said in a statement. “Most importantly we need to ensure children are riding the appropriate vehicle for their age,” including kids staying off e-motos until they are 16 years old.

Although it’s not clear if they can legally go beyond state law by requiring education for riders under 18, while the other measures are already covered by state law, though perhaps not yet explicitly.

The proposal now moves on to the Public Safety Committee, then the full City Council.

Meanwhile, New York City is considering a crackdown on illegal ebikes, too, although the city council’s speaker wants the state to copy New Jersey’s fatally flawed crackdown on anything with a battery.

And Calbike offers a detailed report on why ebikes belong.

………

The Los Angeles Times profiles mechanical engineer Marc Papas, who is on a mission to ride every one of the streets in Los Angeles, and is about 80% complete in his goal of covering 7,500-plus miles of public streets.

The bike rides were connecting him to his city in ways he never expected. “I’m not necessarily saying that everybody needs to go out and ride their bikes,” said Papas, though he’d certainly love it if more Angelenos did. Instead, he hopes his biking project is showing people what’s possible — in the most extreme way. Yes, you can bike in Los Angeles, as many Angelenos often do out of necessity. It’s even enjoyable. And yes, you can do it across every single mile of the city, even if the cycling infrastructure isn’t perfect yet. “I think to me, success would be if people just go out and explore their own neighborhood,” he said. He views cycling as a form of civic engagement and a way to see things otherwise invisible when speeding by in a car. For beginners, Papas recommends sticking to bike paths and joining cycling groups. More experienced riders should venture out into new areas, said Papas. “Biking is like a superpower to gain familiarity with your neighborhood, but it just needs to be unleashed.”

It’s worth taking a few minutes to read the whole thing, because maybe it will inspire you to take that turn you always ride past, and discover what’s waiting for you.

………

Donate now to support Streetsblog California

Somehow I missed this earlier, but Streetsblog California is trying to raise ten grand to help close a $125,000 gap left by reduced foundation funding.

They’re among the good guys in the battle for safer streets, so help ’em out by clicking the banner above if you’ve got some extra cash stuffed in the sofa.

………

No surprise here, as a new international study finds that cities that continued to bike lanes saw continued growth in bicycling even after the pandemic bike boom.

………

Gravel Bike California explains randonneuring, and takes a 200 km — 124 miles — test ride.

………

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

A Pasadena lawyer says he just doesn’t get the federal government’s war on bicycles, with one DOT spokesperson defending his boss’ defenseless battle against bikes by saying it makes sense “despite the Left’s belief that everyone should ride a bike to their shoebox-sized apartment to eat crickets to achieve a phony climate agenda.” He says he takes offense because he loves his bike, and doesn’t eat crickets. Same here, on both counts.

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

Young ebike riders have caused thousands of dollars in damage to an Oklahoma City golf course, tearing up fairways and greens, as well as breaking things and vandalizing restrooms. Although something tells me those ‘ebikes’ are all e-motos and dirt bikes, maybe with a few illegally hacked formerly legal ebikes.

Organizers of a bike race on Canada’s Prince Edward Island were forced to apologize after some participants blew past fire trucks forming a barricade, and nearly collided with the annual Oyster Festival Parade.

………

Local 

Metro is expanding the One Car Challenge countywide for up to 2,000 participants, so you could get paid if you agree to leave one car parked for six weeks to explore other ways of getting around. And yes, one car households are eligible this time around.

Streets For All explains why they bought full page ads in early Democratic primary states South Carolina and Nevada calling out Governor Gavin Newsom for cutting $2 billion from programs supporting public transit, affordable housing, and clean air and water in the new state budget. I understand their anger, but that’s a lot of money that could have been used right here at home.

 

State

San Diego is lowering speed limits on some streets, and could lower limits on 20% of the city’s streets by this time next year.

 

National

Cycling industry advocacy group PeopleForBikes says they’re committed to proving bikes are good for you, mentally and physically.

Bike advocates in Austin, Texas are calling on the University of Texas to reconsider banning bicycles, scooters and other micromobility devices from a large area of the central campus.

A Concord, Massachusetts newspaper digs into the numbers, and finds that crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians were evenly divided over the last seven-and-a-half years with 38 each, as the city prepares to adopt a new transportation plan.

A Boston public radio station examines what the mayor has learned about bike lanes since one of the city’s transportation planners was killed while riding her bike.

A new protected bike lane connecting New York’s Inwood neighborhood to the Hudson River requires bike riders to cross a busy highway on-ramp and carry their bikes up and down a flight of stairs to preserve 40 precious parking spaces, which the local community seems to value more than the safety of bicyclists. I think we can all look forward to bicyclists slipping down icy steps this winter, if not rain-slicked steps before then. 

A 46-year old Sanford, Florida city employee faces hit-and-run charges after right-hooking a bike rider while driving a park and recreation garbage truck — like a regular a garbage truck, but smaller — killing the victim, then just continuing on her merry way; she was taken into custody after being located by police with the help of a witness.

 

International

Cyclist looks at the year’s best titanium bikes.

A 31-year old Windsor, Ontario man is camping out for 24 hours to become the first person to bike from the Canadian side of the new Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Windsor to Detroit, Michigan. Although it only seems right that riders should be required to explain who Gordie Howe was as kind of a toll or password before being allowed to use the crossing.

Seriously? Life is cheap in the UK, where a 35-year old van driver walked without a day behind bars for killing a 54-year man riding a bicycle, because he was really, really sorry and had no idea why he hadn’t seen the victim, who was lit up like a Christmas tree in the predawn darkness, describing the crash like he wasn’t responsible for, or even aware of, what happened.

Ireland is adopting the UK’s 21-year old National Standard for Cycle Training and its popular ‘Bikeability’ program for adults, as well as children. We could do a lot worse than offering a similar program here on a volunteer basis.

 

Competitive Cycling

The yellow jersey moved to the third rider in three days, as Swiss cyclist Marlen Reusser powered to victory in Tuesday’s stage 4 time trial at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, giving her a 14 second lead over Demi Vollering. For anyone who’s not a fan of women’s cycling, when was the last time you saw lead changes like that in the men’s Tour?

Male volunteers are undoubtedly lining up to perform bra checks at the Tour de France Femmes, after bra padding became the latest form of illegal doping by improving aerodynamics in a tuck position.

Cycling News looks at all the yellow cards, fines and other penalties issued to riders in the Femmes Tour, including penalties for illegally tossed bidens and riding on the sidewalk. Although there’s no mention of fines for illegally enhanced bust lines.

Velo looks at how Belgian pro Sandrine Tas transitioned from speed skater to WorldTour cyclist in just six months. Tas follows in the footsteps — or maybe tire tracks — pioneered by siblings Eric and Beth Heiden, who both won Olympic speed skating medals before becoming top pro cyclists back in the 80s. 

Velo also looks at the Tour’s hottest day, as 102° Fahrenheit temps wreak havoc on the peloton.

Finally…

Yes, you can legally bike in your underwear, as long as the naughty bits are covered. And who needs a war over parking spaces, when bike trails could interfere with mule deer crossings?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thank Trump for higher bike inflation, libertarians call for transportation neutrality, and literal hatchet jobs on bike riders

August 4, 2026 / / 2 comments

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.

………

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.

………

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.

………

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.

………

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

………

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.

………

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.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Today’s post, in which I admit bicycling made me thin skinned, and proof bike riders face the same problems everywhere

August 3, 2026 / / No comments

Call me thin skinned.

No, literally.

If I brush against something, I get a bruise. Bump anything with point or a rough edge, and I bleed like a stuck pig.

Or just give me a sharp look from across the room, and I’ll probably start bleeding.

Yesterday I accidentally bumped something in a restaurant, and seconds later, blood was running down my wrist. I carry bandaids and alcohol pads everywhere I go, just in case.

I’ve used six in the last week.

The other day, my dermatologist finally explained what the problem is. No dread disease or blood disorder, but skin baked thin from all those years riding a bike for hours on end, back in the olden times when the sun was supposed to be good for you.

The damage runs the full the front of my arms, from mid-shoulder to my finger tips. Or put another way, the entire area exposed by a bicycling jersey while holding the handlebars.

But this is a story with a moral.

There’s nothing I can do about it at this point. But you still can.

Use sunscreen.

Lots of it.

It’s too late for me. So save yourself.

Photo by Tara Winstead for Pexels.

………

More proof that bike riders face the same problems everywhere, as a Japanese bicyclist tries to navigate a Tokyo bike lane.

Twitter post

………

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

WTF? A 39-year old Minnesota man was hit with a lousy misdemeanor charge after he was accused of of boobytrapping his own yard with a homemade spike strip embedded with dozens of 3-inch screws, just to keep neighborhood children from riding bicycles across his property. He faces a maximum of 180 days in lockup. Because who cares if a few kids get fucked up if it keeps them out of his yard, right?

Tragic news from New York State, where a 47-year old man was likely left paralyzed after a witness said a 21-year old driver intentionally slammed his pickup into the victim’s bicycle, directly in front of the victim’s home; the driver’s father later called to threaten the newspaper for reporting the story, adding the they aren’t the family “that owns everything.”

Nothing like blaming the victims. The UK tabloid Express says Britain’s new prime minister has already been hit with a crisis on the roads, with ebike riders jumping London red lights, and bicyclists accounting for 6% of traffic deaths, as “Cyclists have always been a safety issue for drivers.” Yes, killing bike riders is a safety issue for drivers — not for, say, the people who get killed or anything.

………

Local 

A tip of the hat to LA’s KNBC-4. which shares dashcam video of a cop chasing an ebike rider in Upland, without bothering to note that he was riding an illegal e-motorbike.

 

State

Dozens of Orange County parents may face charges after being warned their kids have been riding illegal e-motorbikes, as well as riding them in an illegal manner, and allowing them to do it anyway.

 

National

Ex-Talking Heads singer David Byrne shared the bicycling playlist he listens to while riding between dates on his ongoing Who Is the Sky? tour, ranging from Mitski and Ibeyi, to Harry Styles and Paul McCartney.

More tragic news today, as rock musician Nathan James says his father was found dead after disappearing on a Colorado bike ride; no cause of death was reported.

That’s more like it. A 41-year old Texas man was sentenced to 13-1/2 years behind bars for the drunken killing of a 53-year old man riding a bicycle. Although I have to wonder if the sentence would have been as harsh if the driver was white.

A kindhearted Toledo cop worked with a local bike shop to get a man a new bicycle after a driver destroyed the bike the man relied on to get to work.

The New York Post angrily insists the mayor and state government need to “face the deadly ebike menace now,” without noting the problem is caused by people on e-motorbikes and illegally modified ebikes. Or that people in cars kill more New Yorkers in a day than ebike riders do in a year. 

You’ll now have to register your ebike in New Jersey, even if you’re just visiting from one of the other 49 states where registration isn’t required.

Vandalism charges were predictably dropped against former Olympic rower and Masters cyclist David Hearn for damaging DC’s reflecting pool, after the Justice Department was forced to concede the damage was due to rushed, poor quality installation work — although Trump continued to insist the damage was due to vandals, who had cut a virtually impossible 300 foot slit all the way across the pool.

Southern Living says the Gulf Coast’s most scenic bike ride is hiding in plain sight with a 28-mile trail system in Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama. That wasn’t there when I spent a long weekend at the park back in the ’80s, which is how I ended up riding my bike along the coast to Pensacola, to the astonishment of the park ranger at the gate on my return.  

A three-year old South Carolina bike club for Black women gave back to the community by donating school supplies to students, including college students.

A Florida letter writer says forget the whole ebike thing, and just get your kid a regular bike, already.

 

International

Road.cc considers the best road bikes for the equivalent of two grand.

Montreal maps the city’s most dangerous intersections for bicyclists.

Under the category of life isn’t fair, a British bike rider was fined the equivalent of $1616 for filming a close pass by a driver while squeezing past a parked car, while the driver who caused the squeeze got off with a driver training class. And the cops said it would be “inappropriate” to release the video — after it has already gone viral.

Meet the bicycling sommelier of Girona, Spain, who observes “The bicycle has helped me to understand the territory. Understanding the territory is understanding wine.”

Horrible news from South Korea, where a man in his 60s was killed when his bicycle was rear-ended by the driver of an excavator on a bridge in Yeongcheon, in the southern part of the country.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch star Lorena Wiebes looks comfortable in yellow, taking the first two stages of the Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift with a combined margin of 14 seconds over Kimberley Le Court Pienaar, with Demi Vollering two seconds back in third.

Slovenian pro Urška Zigart is back in action at the Tour de France Femmes, just six weeks after breaking her jaw crashing in the Tour de Suisse.

American team Human Powered Health will contend some flat stages of the Tour with one rider on a SpongeBob SquarePants themed bike.

Belgium’s Wout van Aert cruised to victory in the Tour of Denmark by winning three of the five stages, with Lukas Kubis second overall and Henrik Pedersen third.

Remco Evenepoel has claimed a record fourth victory at the Basque Country’s Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa single day classic. And no, I never heard of it either. 

German cyclist Frederik Niessen can now tell everyone he beat Slovenian star Tadej Pogačar to the summit in the second stage of his fundraising Pogi Challenge on Sunday, even if Pogačar gave him, and everyone else, a seven-minute head start.

UCI doesn’t just sanction bigger sports like road cycling, mountain biking and gravel racing, also sanctioning lesser known things like bike polo, artistic cycling and snow biking.

Finally…

That feeling when track cyclists start to look like hockey players. How to ride the Costco half-century.

And no, posing on the beach with a stationary bicycle for publicity photos does not equate to actually riding it.

Twitter post

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Transportation bills still alive in CA legislature, no action on America Bikes Act, and “old coots” ignore real problem

July 30, 2026 / / No comments

I’m having some sort of major allergic reaction on my forearms. So if you see this post, it means I didn’t scratch all the skin off ’em.

Most, maybe. But not all.

………

If Sacramento has seemed peaceful lately, it’s because the legislature has been on summer vacation, which ends on Monday.

According to California Streetsblog, included among the bills still alive in this session, 

Assembly Bill 1421 would continue a study of whether a road usage charge could eventually replace the gas tax, which would stop EV users from getting a free pass. I’m good with it as long as the charge is based on vehicle weight, so users of massive vehicles pay more for the harm they cause to the streets, and the human bodies they hit.

Assembly Bill 1546 would increase the penalties for DUI to bring them more in line with other states. Now do the same for hit-and-run, where drivers in other states can get significantly more time for leaving people to die in the streets. 

Assembly Bill 1662 would change the law so that drivers who avoid fines as a result of a court-ordered diversion program would still get points on their driving record.

Assembly Bill 1837 would make camera enforcement of drivers who block transit lanes and bus stops permanent statewide. Now do bike lanes, too. 

Assembly Bill 2015 stops navigation apps from routing traffic onto neighborhood streets designed for local access, walking, and biking.

Assembly Bill 2168 would, among other things, prioritize leveraging of more state transportation funding to the Active Transportation Program. Yes, please. 

Senate Bill 569 would make it harder for local governments to remove or weaken existing bicycle infrastructure, prohibiting the removal of a Class I, II, III, or IV bikeway, or reducing the physical protection of a bikeway, unless they replace it with infrastructure providing equal or greater levels of safety and connectivity. I’m looking at you, Encinitas. 

Senate Bill 1167 clarifies the differences between ebikes and e-motorbikes or electric motorcycles, and prohibit false marketing of vehicles that don’t meet the requirements and limitations of ebikes.

Senate Bill 1423 requires the Active Transportation Program to steer half of State Transportation Improvement Program funding to projects that make streets safer for people walking, biking, and taking transit, while also making the state’s top safe streets grant program easier for cities to access.

………

US Rep. Mike Thompson discussed the America Bikes Act in an appearance in his home district in Davis yesterday.

According to Sacramento’s ABC10,

He said the legislation would expand federal support for safer bicycling infrastructure and bicycle safety education. Local leaders and advocates said safer and better-connected bike routes could also help save lives.

The bill would remove tariffs on imported bicycle components when they are used to assemble bicycles in the United States…

Other provisions would expand local access to federal funding to improve roadway safety for bicyclists and pedestrians.

What he did not explain was how he expects to get the bill through the Republican-controlled legislature, where it still hasn’t been scheduled for a hearing, let alone a vote.

The bill comes at a time when the US Secretary of Transportation is inexplicably attacking “DEI bike lanes,” and removing any reference to road diets, protected bike lanes or speed cams from government websites.

And no, no one else seems to know what a DEI bike lane is, either.

………

He gets it.

Santa Barbara columnist Nick Welsh wonders why the “angry old coots” are getting so worked up over ebikes, while ignoring the real problem.

It’s the height of stupidity to tell other people how they should feel about anything. I, however, have never stopped trying. I figure, sooner or later, I’ll get it right.

Here goes. For the past couple of years, Santa Barbara has been held captive by a cabal of angry old coots who are addicted to being in the state of perpetual apoplexy. They call this disorder apoplexy nervosa for which, sadly, not even Jerry Lewis has found a cure. They have endlessly hijacked public meetings about the future of State Street, using these public forums as the megaphone through which to rail endlessly about the scourge and menace of e-bikes. (And yes, God will strike me dead with an e-bike.)…

If you need to be apoplectic about something, why not light your hair on fire about the “surge” in pedestrian deaths because Detroit insists on building bigger and higher trucks and SUVs and we — as premeditatedly stupid accomplices in our own undoing — happily and stupidly buy these trucks and SUVs.

Since 2009, we’ve seen hood heights “surge” from 30 inches to 40 to 50. This reduces drivers’ sightlines. Pedestrians go unseen. Whammo. With the lower hood heights of yore, their knees might have taken the brunt of the blow. But today, it’s their internal organs. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the United States averages 7,080 pedestrian deaths a year. Of those, the institute estimates 700 are due to the higher hood heights. By contrast, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reports there are 30-to-45 e-bike deaths
a year.

Go ahead and read the whole thing. It’s more than worth your time.

We’ll wait for you.

………

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

Good grief. Bicyclists aren’t even safe on bike paths now, after a bike rider was run down by a hit-and-run driver on the CV Link multiuse path in Coachella over the weekend, leaving him with scrapes, a swollen leg and knee, and damage to his bicycle; according to News Channel 3, people driving on the pathway seems to be a common problem.

Bike hubs and indoor bicycle parking facilities were temporarily shut down in Middlesbrough, Stockton, and Hartlepool, England, as a local Member of Parliament warned that bicycling and walking should not be “treated as an afterthought.” If only. 

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

Kenyons were suitably outraged after a large group of young bicyclists took over a Nairobi roadway popping wheelies and other “high-risk bicycle stunts” in an undated video.

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Local 

The nonprofit LA Local says the death last week of a 60-year old homeless man at 7th and Vermont is a reminder that Los Angeles, and Koreatown in particular, remain too damn dangerous for pedestrians.

Streetsblog says Spectrum News 1 offers another “windshield perspective” view of the Pico Blvd Safety Project, which would remove parking to make room for protected bike lanes, among other things.

Vanity Fair interviews Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, who is pictured wearing the classic P-22 CicLAvia T-shirt. And if that alone isn’t reason to vote for her, I don’t know what is.

Thanks to KABC-7 for making it clear that a man was killed and a woman critically injured in a Burbank collision involving an e-motorcycle, rather than just calling it an ebike. Although that doesn’t make it any less tragic.

 

State

Police in Laguna Beach cracked down on motorcycles and out-of-class ebikes, issuing 136 tickets, while failing to note that the problem stems from e-motos and illegally modified ebikes.

Bicyclists and residents of Woodside — as if the bike riders somehow aren’t “residents — packed a city council meeting Tuesday night to urge local leaders to push for stronger safety measures after a speeding driver killed a bicyclist earlier this month.

A 60-year old Los Gatos man suffered head injuries after his “bike was hit by a vehicle” Sunday morning; the story doesn’t mention that the vehicle had a driver until the final five words.

A San Jose bike rider is in critical condition after they were struck by a driver yesterday afternoon. Although judging by the headline, the victim was somehow injured after the crash, not during it. But at least the story mentioned the driver this time.

A San Francisco forum this evening will discuss how to build a bike lane. If you leave now, you could just make it. 

 

National

The Cherokee Nation is now accepting applications for next year’s Remember the Removal bike tour, commemorating the infamous Trail of Tears.

The far-right Daily Wire discusses, among other things, “blowing up bike lanes,” which I assume does not refer to inflatable protective barriers. And no, I have not watched it.

Seriously? USA Today considers what’s driving the increase in ebike injuries in kids and teens, without considering even the possibility of e-motos, illegal dirt bikes and illegally modified ebikes.

Gadget Review recommends 15 smart bike gadgets that actually make bicycling better. But as they used to say in those golden early years of the internet, your mileage may vary.

A Boise, Idaho man who says he’s been riding for 50 years apparently can’t grasp the purpose of the city’s first protected intersection, criticizing the raised islands for posing a hazard for “group rides that can include 10 to 20 cyclists traveling close to 20 mph.”

For the 81st year, the Green Bay Packers started training camp with the players riding borrowed kids bikes to the first session, while children lined up outside for the honor of having one ride their bike.

 

International

Author Phil Cavell’s new book examines why bicycling appeals to so many neurodiverse people, with one cyclist claiming ADHD offers an advantage at. the starting line.

A Montreal runner and bike rider asks “Why can’t we all — motorists, cyclists, pedestrians — just get along?” Which is one of the best questions I’ve seen or heard all month. 

A 51-year old English man is riding from North Wales to the southernmost point of Spain on a 36-year old bike to encourage men to open up and talk about their mental health, five years after he narrowly avoided taking his own life.

Who says bicyclists aren’t tough? A British man plans to ride 100 miles this month to raise money and awareness for Prostate Cancer UK, which is more than he’s ridden in the last three years — despite riding with a broken shoulder.

No surprise here, as almost three-quarters of UK bicyclists say distracted drivers put them at risk at least once a month.

In a story that reads like it was written by AI, a Kenyon website bizarrely identifies the victim of a bicycling fatality in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood, but brings it home at the end by saying the death reflects a “global global urban planning deficit that prioritizes vehicular throughput over human life,” offering a grim parallel to the challenges faces by East African urban planners.

Unbelievable. An Indian circus performer known for his “daring bicycle stunts, including riding without looking ahead, balancing on the handlebars and standing upright while the bicycle was in motion,” was killed in a burial stunt, in which he was supposed to be buried underground for 24 hours, but was left there for 36 hours because the organizers refused to dig him up until the crowd donated the equivalent of $74; needless to say, he died of suffocation.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch cycling star Demi Vollering feels like she’s the only pro cyclist talking about the problem of racing during her period, and wishes more women’s riders would speak out.

Velo offers 21 hot takes from the recently concluded Tour de France.

.

Finally…

That feeling when the cops decide it would “inappropriate” to release a video that led to a bike rider getting a ticket, after it had already gone viral when they released it the first time.

And an 11-year old San Clemente girl found her new best friend hiding in the bushes while she was riding her bike to Target, rescuing a small kitty she named S’mores.

Something that would have never happened if she’d been in her mom’s car.

@alaynanovini7

My sweet Madison found a kitten in need today on her bike ride. She is so scared. We took her to the vet and she is severely under weight and dehydrated. 16 weeks old and only 1.6 lbs. we gave her fluids and a dewormer. Next week will vaccinate her. Welcome home S’mores 🫶🏼😭🩷 #kittyrescue #kitten

♬ a punk – 3 minute audios

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,
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