Archive for Morning Links

Fighting for civil rights on bikes, a close call caught on video, and the war on bikes keeps going on…and on

January 20, 2021 / / Comments Off on Fighting for civil rights on bikes, a close call caught on video, and the war on bikes keeps going on…and on

Yes, Dr. King was one of us.

We’ve seen photos of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on a bicycle before.

But it never occurred to me to consider the role bikes played in the Montgomery bus boycott kicked off by Rosa Parks.

Although maybe it should have, because in retrospect, it’s not surprising that Black men — and presumably women — would take to their bikes to get around town while boycotting the city’s bus system to demand an end to segregated transportation.

Just one more way bicycles have helped change the world.

https://twitter.com/Jay_Pitter/status/1351382966933598209

Image by Michael Gaida from Pixabay.

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A British bike rider plays dodge the dump truck after the driver pulled out in front of him, as well as in front of cars coming from the opposite direction.

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How to tell when you’re a real bicyclist.

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

A 12-year old South Carolina boy suffered dozens of puncture wounds when he was repeatedly shot with a BB gun by a group of teenagers after passing them on his bike. This shouldn’t be treated any differently than any other random shooting. It’s a violent assault, not a prank. 

A London borough counselor says she’s finished with riding after being attacked by two men in a car for failing to get the hell out of their way. We’ll never get people out of their cars as long as driveway vigilantes can use their cars enforce their often mistaken interpretation of the law. And too often, get away with it.

https://twitter.com/Jo_Earlsfield/status/1351543555169386497

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Local

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Heartbreaking news from Miltipas, where a seven-year old boy was killed when an armed robbery suspect in a stolen SUV slammed into his bicycle; the woman behind the wheel was arrested, while her male partner is on the run.

The Consul General of the Netherlands gave a presentation to Bay Area officials on how to apply Dutch expertise on cycling infrastructure, pointing out that ebikes nullify the area’s famous hills.

Congratulations to Davis on retaining its status as a platinum-level bicycle friendly community.

 

National

Maybe Joe Biden can take his Peloton to the White House after all.

NBC News picks the year’s ten best ebikes.

The pandemic-induced bike boom and subsequent shortage is fueling a surge in bike theft in the Denver area.

Texas bike riders will soon be able to ride 100 miles from Austin to the Alamo in San Antonio without ever riding on the roadway.

Car choked Houston is planning a network of 1,800 miles of high comfort bike lanes. Seriously, if they can do it, why the hell can’t Los Angeles?

No bias here. A impatient New Jersey DJ somehow feels a bike-riding woman has an obligation to get the hell out of her way instead of “lollygagging” through an intersection.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A Pennsylvania man pled guilty to two misdemeanor counts for killing a bike rider while driving under the influence, and with cocaine in his blood.

A woman from DC is suing a Florida city for $200,000, the maximum allowed under state law, despite having over $1 million in medical bills after a careless garbage truck driver hit her bike, leaving her with “multiple compound fractures, a crushed pelvis, eight broken ribs, a punctured lung and a traumatic brain injury.”

 

International

Road.cc announces their picks for the bike of the year, with prices starting at a surprisingly low £749 — the equivalent of $1,025.

Cycling News considers the best women’s road bike saddles.

Next City examines what American cities can learn from Chinese dockless bikeshare providers.

Christy Brinkley is one of us. Or she just knows the value of posing with a bicycle on a tropical beach.

Kids, don’t try this at home. A Costa Rican BMX rider knocked himself out landing on his un-helmeted head after riding off the roof of an ice cream parlor trying to film a video.

Life is cheap in Ontario, Canada, where an 80-year old man walks with a lousy $5,000 fine for killing a 13-year old bike-riding boy, after admitting that he wasn’t even wearing his glasses behind the wheel. At least he lost his license for four years, even though it should have been permanently.

An English man was beaten by a group of thieves armed with metal pipes who stole his bike.

A British man is riding around the world on a tandem bike after overcoming a diagnosis of terminal cancer.

Kolkata, India is building a 74-mile cycle track criss-crossing the city.

The world watched in awe as paraplegic climber Lai Chi-wai fell just short of his goal of pulling himself to the top of a Hong Kong skyscraper, climbing 800 feet while raising $700,000 for charity. But what’s not mentioned is the cost of the traffic violence that left him confined to a wheelchair in the first place.

Yes, please. A new report suggests that Aussie commuters should be paid to bike to work instead of driving.

 

Competitive Cycling

Somehow we missed this news over the weekend, as an SUV driver plowed into six members of the Bora-Hansgrohe cycling team after failing to stop at an intersection during a training ride in Italy. Three members of the team were injured seriously enough to be taken to a hospital with concussions, while two of the riders, Wilco Kelderman and Andreas Schillinger, also suffered spinal fractures. But Kelderman didn’t let a little thing like a fractured vertebrae keep him from training.

 

Finally…

Now that’s a pretty picture. Chubby Batman is one of us, too.

And no, bike riders shouldn’t be allowed to use drive-thrus during the pandemic.

We should be allowed to use them any time drivers can.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already. 

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

Vandals attack Slow Street in Valley Village, GoFundMe raises $25k for Black Lives bicyclist, and blocking bike lanes in SaMo

January 19, 2021 / / Comments Off on Vandals attack Slow Street in Valley Village, GoFundMe raises $25k for Black Lives bicyclist, and blocking bike lanes in SaMo

It’s a blustery day in LA, and much of Southern California.

With makes it a great day to get that KOM, as long as you can keep the wind at your back. Otherwise, it could feel like riding with an anchor.

And as someone who used to deal with Colorado’s notorious Chinook winds, bear in mind that an ill-timed gust can literally blow you off your bike, or all the way across the roadway.

Or both.

So maybe you’re better off just staying home with a good book.

Photo by Anja from Pixabay.

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No bias here.

Someone clearly isn’t a fan of the Slow Streets movement, at least not in Valley Village.

Or maybe they’re just a fan of speeding cars and keeping the streets the deadly domain of dangerous drivers.

Thanks to Jeff Vaughn for the heads-up.

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The family of fallen Ride for Black Lives bicyclist Branden Finley call for help finding the carjacker who killed him in a hit-and-run crash in Downtown Los Angeles, as a crowdfunding page for his family raises over $25,000 the first day.

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What do you call a bike lane when it’s not a bike lane?

A loading zone.

https://twitter.com/BenBiking/status/1351370501529112576

I tried fighting that same battle on San Vicente nearly a decade ago.

It wasn’t hard to get FedEx and UPS to agree that parking in a bike lane violated their internal policies, and pinky swear promise they wouldn’t do it anymore.

And while the Santa Monica police couldn’t grasp the concept that a bike lane is a legal lane of traffic reserved for bicycle, or that blocking one is a clear violation of state law, the chief agreed that double parking is illegal, at least.

But that was several SaMo PD chiefs ago. And nothing ever changed.

Delivery drivers kept parking there. Cops kept ignoring it.

And bike riders continued risking their lives mixing with impatient drivers who couldn’t comprehend that blocked bike lanes mean bike riders have to merge into the traffic lane.

Clearly, adding Amazon delivery vans to the mix hasn’t helped, either.

The only solution is to make it a protected bike lane, which it should be anyway.

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

Frightening bike theft in Stockton, where a man in a car pulled a gun on a 54-year old woman and demanded the bike she was riding, tossing it in his backseat before speeding away.

A Healdsburg CA driver lays on his horn to demand a man riding with his son get the hell out of his way. And when they don’t, he rams the father from behind.

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

Police in New Jersey are looking for a man who grabbed a woman’s butt before riding off on his bicycle. And no, that’s not cute or funny — it’s sexual assault.

A Singapore food delivery rider faces charges for crashing into an eight-year old girl as she walked home from school with her mother, breaking her glasses and seriously injuring her eye.

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Local

No surprise here. Los Angeles once again has the worst traffic of any major city in the US. Yet the city still isn’t taking any significant steps to provide alternatives to driving and get people out of their cars.

Boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard is one of us, as he goes for a bike ride with his wife and daughter.

 

State

Good news from behind the Orange Curtain, as Caltrans agrees to remove the ill-conceived rumble strips on PCH through Bolsa Chica that posed a needless risk along the popular riding route. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.

A Bakersfield advocate calls for the city to establish a Vision Zero program to become a safer place for pedestrians and bicyclists.

 

National

There may be hope for all those many and varied bicycle-to-vehicle communication systems that are supposed to be the salvation bike riders and pedestrians, as a consortium of bicycle and automotive companies finally agree to set a common standard that will work across platforms.

Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you can’t commute by bike.

An editor for Vice learns that riding a bicycle is just like riding a bike, even at the ripe old age of 29.

The Sierra Club offers suggestions on how to store your bike inside during the winter. Or better yet, let your bike sleep inside, and keep riding it outside, regardless of the season.

Who needs bikewear when you’ve got a $180 pair of denim overalls?

A new report shows Washington State needs to spend $5.7 billion to fix the state’s roads and improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians, while advocates say the existing strategies clearly aren’t working. Which is pretty much the same story in California, and just about everywhere else.

A Boise, Idaho nonprofit hand-delivered nearly 60 bicycles to families in need to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s legacy of service.

Even in rural Kansas, a driver can turn his or her car into a lethal weapon to deliver a punishment pass, as a bicycling trio learned firsthand.

Chicago is considering what looks like a curb-protected two way bike lane through the city’s Fulton Market.

When a Virginia pastor had trouble finding a new bike after his was stolen, he responded by starting a new ministry to repair and refurbish bicycles for people in need.

 

International

The bike industry clearly has the gravel bug, as Road.cc rates 18 of the hottest new gravel bikes from some of the most popular bike brands. And while they’re at it, they also pick the year’s best commuter bike, with prices starting at the equivalent of just $500.

Bike Radar gets a jump on next year’s holidays with a guide to the best gifts for bicyclists in 2021, starting with a five buck DVD of Breaking Away.

An Oxford University professor says forget the WHO’s guidance, and wear a mask when you run or ride a bike.

You know there’s a problem when South African bike riders are warned away from a particular road because the risk of getting robbed is too high.

Cyclist examines how Taiwan’s Giant became the, well, giant of the bike world.

 

Competitive Cycling

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome blamed an undiagnosed strength deficit and an inexplicably painful screw resulting from his horrific 2019 crash for a disappointing comeback season in 2020. But that may be behind him, as he takes a couple KOMs on a “Super Saturday” ride through the Malibu Hills as he rehabs in Los Angeles.

Twenty-two year old Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar stands in the way of Froome’s search for a record-tying fifth Tour title, as he commits to defending his yellow jersey before tackling the Vuelta.

 

Finally…

Saying a boy’s bike is easy enough for a girl probably isn’t the best marketing idea. For 25 grand, they could at least give you more than one gear. It’s not a giant Ferris wheel, it’s a bike tire.

And since we started the day with Winnie the Pooh, we might as well end it with a little Tickety-Boo.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already. 

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

LA King Day bike ride, help ID injured Black bike rider, and cars cost more than you think — even if you don’t drive one

January 18, 2021 / / Comments Off on LA King Day bike ride, help ID injured Black bike rider, and cars cost more than you think — even if you don’t drive one

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

I’m old enough to remember asking my dad about a sign saying “N****r don’t let the sun set on you here!” as we passed through an Arizona town when I was a kid. 

So we may still have a long way to go to get to that promised land King spoke of.

But let’s take a moment today to appreciate how far we’ve already come. 

Photo by nbandr from Pixabay.

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In honor of King Day, the LACBC has put together a family friendly ride marking his visits to Los Angeles.

Although I’d rather do the King Day ride that starts at Little Richard’s house.

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LA County health officials are looking for the public’s help in identifying a man who was seriously injured in collision last Tuesday at Island Ave and West PCH in Wilmington.

He was riding a red and black bicycle, apparently without identification.

He’s described as around 30 years old, 5 feet 5 inches tall and 156 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.

Anyone with information is urged to call Harbor-UCLA Medical Center at 424/306-6310.

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Stories like the one above are why I always urge everyone to carry some form of ID with you every time you ride. And one you won’t have to worry about getting stolen if you’re incapacitated — unlike your wallet or cell phone.

I always carry my emergency contact numbers written down on a small card tucked into my seat pack.

But I also wear a Road ID, just in case. In fact, I use it as a medic alert bracelet for my diabetes any time I leave home, not just when I ride.

I took advantage of a recent sale to get an updated one, so feel free to save $5 on your next order.

Full disclosure, if you use the link, I’ll get five bucks off on a future order, too. Not that that should motivate either of us. 

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Treehugger’s Lloyd Alter says the true cost of car ownership is a lot more than you think.

And you’re paying it, whether or not you even drive.

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Sadly, this is what passes for a bike lane in too many places in and around the City of Angels.

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Nope. No bias here.

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No bias here, either.

Although someone might want to mention that bikeshare providers and users pay fees for the privilege. And probably a lot more than drivers do relative to their actual costs to the city.

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What it’s like to ride a wooden bike.

And how to avoid bad habits and stay comfortable on your bike.

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

A New York delivery bike rider was savagely beaten by a group of men when he attempted to take a photo of their car after it hit him; the victim’s wife called his attackers “honestly the most ruthless, disgusting people I have ever seen.” Sadly, a crowdfunding campaign to help pay his medical expenses has raised just $715 after two days.

Apparently, disappearing cats aren’t the only thing you have to worry about in the UK’s Cheshire County, where someone has been boobytrapping a popular trail with nail-spiked boards that could result in serious injury to people on bikes, as well as people walking and their pets. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the link.

A road raging British driver chased down the star of the UK’s popular EastEnders show to berate him about just how wrong he was to ride a bike on the road.

Maybe they really are out to get us. A Dutch driver starts a major conflagration by deliberately crashing into an ebike warehouse before the bikes can make it onto the street.

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Local

Congratulations to LACBC Executive Director Eli Akira Kaufman for being named one of LA County’s Impact-Makers to Watch for 2021.

Streets For All is urging you to contacted newly elected LA Councilmember Kevin De León to support the Beautiful Boulevard plan in Eagle Rock, which would keep the existing bike lanes on Eagle Rock Blvd while adding lanes for the North Hollywood to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit project.

Streetsblog examines a creepy new prison-style bike bridge over railroad tracks along the 5 Freeway in Burbank.

 

State

Caltrans issues new guidance calling for greater attention to bicycle and pedestrian access and safety at new developments.

Sad news from San Diego, where a 27-year old woman suffered a life-threatening brain injury when the e-scooter she was riding hit a crack in the sidewalk, throwing her head-over-heels.

Police have busted a 28-year old man for the New Year’s Day hit-and-run crash that put a 68-year old bike rider in a coma he still hasn’t recovered from.

Bad news from the Sacramento area, where a 41-year old man is facing paralysis after he was run down by a hit-and-run driver while out for an early morning bike ride with his brother and nephew.

A Santa Rosa woman gets three years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of the founder and CEO of an artificial intelligence startup as he was riding his bike last year. Although under the current conditions, she’s likely to serve far less time before she gets out.

 

National

Streetsblog calls out the National Highway Safety Administration, saying the NHTSA’s final report under the Trump administration blames everyone but agencies like themselves for America’s deadly streets.

Outside says the pandemic bike boom is here to stay, with more bicyclists on the roads than ever before.

AARP is hosting a webinar on New Insights on Biking Among Older Adults on the 27th. Personally, I’d rather learn about biking for older adults, but I suppose it’s important to learn how to ride among them, in case you ever get swarmed by senior citizens. Thanks to an anonymous source for this one, since she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to share it.

Pink Bike’s podcast features the legendary Gary Fisher discussing how he brought mountain biking to the masses.

A kindhearted Texas detective worked with a nonprofit to get a new bike for a young boy after his was destroyed by vandals.

Maybe he really does get it. As mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg reshaped the downtown area while challenging the concept that streets are for cars.

A new New Orleans nonprofit is bringing bikeshare back to the city, after Lime pulled the previous JUMP bike system off the streets during the city’s pandemic lockdown.

 

International

Cycling News looks at how ebikes are saving the bike industry.

Road.cc offers their top ten picks for road bike of the year under the equivalent of $5,400, starting at under $900 for a Specialized Allez.

Speaking of Road.cc, they also explain how the right bikewear can boost your biking, while correctly noting that you don’t always need it.

Easily confused motorists call for the removal of whimsical nautical street decorations intended to guide bike riders and pedestrians around a seaside English town, saying they’re too much of a distraction. Or they could just make drivers slow down and pay attention, which would improve safety for everyone.

Kindhearted Good Samaritans came out in force when a 14-year old Brit paperboy had his bike stolen, inundating him with seven new bikes.

No surprise here, as UK Prime Minister BoJo’s lockdown-busting bike ride has made it harder for cops to convince other people they have to stay home.

The operator of a British bike center says if anyone offers you a cheap bike, “kick em in the nuts and steal it back” after thieves ransacked his shop and stole the bicycles.

A Dublin bike advocate says focus on prevention, because chances are if your bike gets stolen, you won’t get it back. Not to beat a dead horse, but an important part of that prevention is registering your bicycle, which greatly increases your chances of getting it back if it ever is stolen.

The 15-year old Indian girl who rode a bicycle over 750 miles to carry her ailing father back home at the start of the pandemic will be the new face of an anti-drug campaign.

A 22-year old Indian man will ride over 2,200 miles across the country from Kerala to Kashmir to call attention farmers protesting three new laws imposed by the government.

A kindhearted Good Samaritan fixed a broken kids bike he or she found abandoned along a Singapore bike path, and left the repaired bike along the trail with a note in hopes the owner would find it.

 

Competitive Cycling

Eight-time BMX world champ Simon Tabron is on the slow path to recovery after suffering a heart attack and a subsequent stroke while on the front porch of his Bonsall CA home; it could take as long as a year for the 47-year old father of two to get his full speech back.

VeloNews considers how pro cycling made it through the pandemic last year.

 

Finally…

Admit it, you probablcan’t bunny hop up 33 flights of stairs. If you don’t want an expensive hot bike to look suspicious, don’t cover it in duct tape.

And yes, Captain Kirk really stole Spock’s bicycle.

And more than once.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already. 

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

County releases draft LA River master plan, making bike theft a tad too easy, and gravel biking to the Hollywood Sign

January 15, 2021 / / Comments Off on County releases draft LA River master plan, making bike theft a tad too easy, and gravel biking to the Hollywood Sign

Thank you all for the kind words yesterday. 

I’m still riding that diabetic rollercoaster, for no apparent reason other than my body wants to do to me what rioters did to the Capital last week. 

But if you’re reading this, it means I managed to power through this time.

Photo by The Lazy Artist Gallery from Pexels.

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LA County finally released a draft of the LA River bike plan.

Including, as we noted on Wednesday, starchitect Frank Gehry’s proposal to leave the ugly concrete sewer in place, at least in places, and just cover it up with elevated parks so we don’t have to look at it anymore.

Not exactly the return to a natural state we’ve been promised.

Here’s how Streetsblog’s Joe Linton described it.

The county river plan is trying to strike difficult delicate balance on many issues. At this morning’s press event Supervisor Sheila Kuehl mentioned the balance between an overall “coherent holistic” vision and a “great deal of local community control.” Solis touched on the need for river revitalization to serve park-poor low-income communities of color, while addressing issues of gentrification and homelessness. Historically plans for the river have struggled to find the space to address a broad range of needs in communities it flows through; these needs include parks – with both active and passive recreation – housing, schools, and much more.

The plan ends up trying to address all of these issues within a fairly limited jurisdictional corridor. The river system is a tangled jurisdictional mess. County Public Works (acting as the County Flood Control District) controls the river channel structures, but the adjacent, and in cases underlying, land is the jurisdiction of various cities. The county’s jurisdiction is constrained by the federal U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which mandates flood damage minimization standards. The county has little control over the numerous freeways and several rail lines constrain the river. Many of the complex issues that impact the river – from watershed rainwater runoff to homelessness to gentrification – are largely situated outside the waterway corridor itself.

You can watch the presentation, recorded on Zoom like everything else these day. Just ignore the first minute where everyone sits around trying to not look awkward before it gets going.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmt0ZpYYdvw&feature=youtu.be

Comments will be open for the next 60 days.

Of course, what matters to a lot of us is the ongoing plan to complete the gaps in the bike path, particularly through Downtown Los Angeles and the meat packing district to the south, to create a continuous bikeway along the full 51-mile length of the river.

But speaking strictly for myself, I’d much rather ride along a park-filled natural riverbank than on a concrete river underneath a lush park.

Thanks to Fatema Baldiwala for the heads-up.

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Seriously. At least make it hard for them.

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Gravel Bike California invites you to take a rocky ride to the Hollywood Sign.

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Now this is what a bikeshare system looks like.

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Here’s your Friday mountain bike break.

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

No bias here. A Montreal opposition leader says bike paths are disruptive to residents and merchants, and the city must ensure “social acceptability” before building any more.

Police in England are looking for the driver who intentionally crashed into a bike rider, leaving him with elbow, knee and hand injuries, after the bicyclist complained about the driver cutting him off.

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

A 25-year old Los Angeles woman pled not guilty to fatally stabbing a Metro employee as she rode the B Line (nee Blue Line) with her “distinctive” green bicycle near DTLA.

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Local

Metro is looking for feedback on the agency’s draft plan to recover from the Covid-19 crisis, which could present an opportunity to rethink our streets if they do it right. Or else turn it into another Covid long-hauler struggling to survive.

Speaking of the LA River, the LACBC is teaming with Metro’s BEST program to offer a tutorial on riding it next Thursday.

And speaking of the LACBC, the coalition is offering a half-off fire sale sale on merchandise with the discount code LACBC50off.

Bob Odenkirk is one of us, as the Better Call Saul star rides the streets of Los Angeles.

 

State

Orange County has officially, if virtually, opened the new Oso Parkway bridge, complete with shiny new bike lanes. 

Someone appears to be targeting the owner of a Poway bike shop, after burglars broke in and vandalized the shop while stealing several high-end mountain bikes worth up to $9,000; another of his shops suffered a second high-end break-in, while a third was vandalized with swastikas and racist graffiti, causing $20,000 damage to a new shop truck.

Santa Barbara has begun work on a bike and pedestrian safety project around Stearns Wharf, and added bike infrastructure to the State Street promenade to improve safety.

An unlicensed San Mateo driver faces charges for the New Years Day hit-and-run that’s left a bike-riding 68-year old man in critical condition two weeks later.

They get it. San Leandro is considering a road diet on a major boulevard, cutting it from six lanes to four to improve safety for bike riders.

San Francisco is putting another 500 e-scooters on the streets.

 

National

They get it, too. US PIRG says it’s time to hit the reset button and take a fundamentally new approach to American transportation.

A writer for VeloNews takes a contrarian view, arguing there’s no need to increase diversity in bicycling if we’d just stop overlooking Black people who already ride bikes.

A Next City op-ed argues that the real test of whether Transportation Secretary nominee Mayor Pete really cares about cities will be what he does to protect pedestrians from self-driving cars.

Ford is continuing work on a project to allow bicycles and motor vehicles to electronically communicate with each other to improve safety.

No surprise here, as cars, and the drivers in them, remain the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the US, even as millions of Americans were theoretically confined to their homes. As Streetsblog notes, if a global pandemic can’t get Americans out of their cars, what will?

A new public safety campaign developed after the death of five Las Vegas bike riders reminds drivers to change lanes to pass someone on a bike; the state is one of five that requires drivers to change lanes, rather than merely give a minimum passing distance. Then again, they could just as well remind drivers not to use meth before getting behind the wheel, like the alleged killer allegedly did.

Police in Austin, Texas have a new bicycle supplier, after Lance’s Mellow Johnny’s bike shop refused to sell to them any more in the wake of the George Floyd protests and the weaponization of police bikes by the cops.

New York police have identified a suspect in the shooting of a bike shop employee last summer after arguing with the man minutes earlier.

No bias here, either. A Virginia bike rider gets the blame for hitting a car after his brakes locked up crossing an intersection. But no word on what the driver may have done to make him brake so hard.

A Baton Rouge LA advocacy group is calling for an end to the city’s ban on riding bikes through drive-thrus.

A New Orleans woman awaiting trial for the hit-and-run death of a bike rider last January is back in jail for choking her drunk fiancé to death; she has a history of domestic violence arrests, despite blaming her late boyfriend for attacking her. On the other hand, she apparently only kills in January, so we should all be safe the other eleven months.

 

International

That’s more like it. Toronto is installing more secure bike lockers at a new transit station.

Cambridge, England is considering allowing electric vehicles to share bus lanes with buses and bike riders; one rider said at least you won’t have to smell any nasty fumes when you go over their hood.

Scottish authorities have finally found the body of man who disappeared while on a charity bike ride over three years ago; two men were recently arrested in connection with his disappearance.

British bike thieves continue to target frontline medical workers, as a doctor who hadn’t taken a day off since the pandemic started had his bike stolen — but kindhearted strangers crowdfunded a replacement within hours.

If anyone wants to move to the UK, Brompton is hiring.

An Irish court case hinges on whether a bike with a gas engine is still a bicycle.

A 36-year old Japanese company specializing in unique panda, dinosaur, cucumber and eggplant shaped bicycles is struggling to survive the Covid-19 pandemic. Sort of like everyone else these days.

An Aussie writer says he won’t be jumping on the gravel bandwagon because he’d love it too much, and doesn’t have room for another bike beyond the ten he already owns. Meanwhile, off-road.cc picks the gravel bike of the year and the best gravel gear and accessories.

 

Competitive Cycling

Women’s cycling great Anna van der Breggen will don double rainbow jerseys reflecting world titles in last year’s road cycling and time trial championships as she enters her final year in the pro peloton.

Sad news from Australia, where 1956 Olympian and Aussie cycling great Cliff Burvill died after falling off his bike riding a new crit circuit; he was 83 years old.

At last, there’s some good news about former CART and F1 driver Alex Zanardi, as the paracycling champ spoke with his family for the first time since his crash in an Italian paracycling race last summer, following a series of brain surgeries.

How to train your brain for bike racing.

 

Finally…

Calling the pun police. That feeling when a family stroll on a bike trail could make you lunch for a hungry kitty.

And when your Peloton bike is a national cybersecurity risk.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already. 

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

Gehry wants to put a lid on the LA River, riding more is better for your heart, and Houston bike deaths spike while LA drops

January 13, 2021 / / One comment

When it comes to the LA River, Los Angeles starchitect Frank Gehry want put a lid on it.

Literally.

While environmental and advocacy groups have been working for years to restore the river to a more natural state, Gehry, who was invited to reimagine the river by LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, wants to cover it up instead.

Gehry proposes addressing decades of social injustice by leaving the concrete river channel alone, while building a continuous park on platforms stretching above the river.

What that would mean for long-time plans to finally complete the LA River bike path along the full 51-mile length of the river isn’t clear.

There’s no word on whether it would be left where it is along the banks of the river, moved onto the new platforms, or buried beneath them.

Or just forgotten entirely as yet another inconvenience in the path of progress.

But the simple fact is, Los Angeles has turned its back on the river at its heart for far too long.

And burying it, when we have a chance to finally revive it, isn’t any better.

Thanks to Fatema Baldiwala for the heads-up.

Photo shows the 4th Street Bridge over the Los Angeles River during CicLAvia.

………

Keep riding if you want to live.

A new Oxford University study shows that every physical movement counts when it comes to improving cardiovascular health.

But people who exercise the most have the lowest risk of heart disease, with no upper limit to how much is beneficial.

Which means that a simple walk around the block helps, but a five-mile bike ride helps more.

And a 50 miler is better yet.

………

Heartbreaking news from Houston, where a record 34 bike riders lost their lives last year as more people took up bicycling as part of the pandemic bike boom.

That compares to Los Angeles County, with over four times the population, where bicycling deaths inexplicably dropped from 34 in 2019 to just 16 last year.

Thanks to Phillip Young for the link.

………

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

Life is cheap in the UK, where a man walked without a day behind bars for leaning out of the car he was riding in to pull a bike rider off his bicycle, while bizarrely claiming he was acting in self defense.

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

A San Diego man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for riding his bike to conduct a series of brutal, gruesome attacks on homeless people, killing four and injuring several others.

………

Local

This is the cost of traffic violence. A Long Beach mother and military vet was killed by a hit-and-run driver as she slept on a sidewalk; Stephanie Jackson became homeless after watching her fiancé die of liver cancer, but wouldn’t admit it even to her daughter.

 

State

No news is good news, right?

 

National

Three-hundred miles were just added to the US Bicycle Route System, bringing the network to nearly 15,000 rideable miles.

VeloNews explains the tech behind the new crash-resistant bikewear.

America’s last remaining Tour de France winner introduces a head-turning carbon fiber electric city bike that doesn’t look a bit like a typical ebike. Although the $4,500 price tag is kind of head-turning, too.

Kansas City’s bikeshare system is going dockless.

Your new Waco, Texas home could be a TV star, complete with a vintage bicycle attached to the wall.

The Chicago Tribune considers how to choose the right mountain bike helmet.

A Michigan town approves spending $115,000 to rip out a three-year old bike lane.

New York is considering an automated camera system to ticket drivers who block bike lanes, blaming them for an increase in bicycling deaths. Although they might want to start with their own police department.

A new poll shows New Yorkers are skeptical of Vision Zero, even though 70% know someone who has been injured or killed by traffic violence.

Miami Beach is expanding its Slow Streets program, which was originally scheduled to end in November after one month.

 

International

The BBC examines why some bikeshare programs work and others don’t — like the need to use ebikes in hilly cities.

Road.cc chooses their bike of the year for under £1,000, the equivalent of $1368. Meanwhile, sister site off-road.cc selects their mountain bike of the year.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s seven-mile bike ride, in apparent violation of his own lockdown rules, draws the ire of the populace — and worse, the British press. Or maybe not, as a police official says even a ride ten times longer is allowed under the rules. Either way, Johnson vows to keep riding, and do his running at Buckingham Place.

France will now require all new bikes sold in the country to be marked with a ten character registration code to help fight bike theft, with used bikes to follow starting in July.

 

Competitive Cycling

Masters ‘cross racer Lee Waldman offers lessons learned from a lifetime of bike racing to help the nation heal in the wake of last week’s insurrection in the US capitol.

Austrian cyclist Stefan Denifl ends up with a net eight month ban for six years worth of doping.

 

Finally…

Do your mountain biking at the zoo. Your next bike could be made from natural timber, metal work and vegetable tanner leather.

And your next bike could be a four-wheeled, two seat pedal-powered minicar.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already. 

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

Man fixing bike severely injured in South LA hit-and-run, and what white allies can do to help build greater bike equity

January 12, 2021 / / One comment

The LAPD is looking for the driver of a glass utility truck who ran over a homeless man as he worked on a bicycle in South LA, leaving the victim with severe injuries.

The crash happened on Monday, January 4th, at the intersection of Adams Boulevard and Nevin Avenue in the Central-Alameda neighborhood.

The driver had just turned the corner when he struck the man as he knelt near the curb. He briefly stopped, then continued on without getting out of his truck.

The crash was caught on a security cam across the street.

But be warned before you click on it, because it clearly shows the innocent victim getting hit by the driver’s truck. And there’s no way to unsee it once you do.

As always, there is a $25,000 reward for any hit-and-run that results in serious injury, under LA’s standing hit-and-run reward program.

………

Good piece in Bicycling from the “People’s Bike Mayor of New York,” who explains what white allies can do to make bicycling more equitable for all riders.

Starting with this.

The biggest and most important thing an ally can do is shut up, listen, and amplify the voices of Black and brown folks, who are often silenced.

That’s an important message.

Because too often I’ve heard well-meaning white people explain to people of color what they need, instead of asking them first.

And sometimes, I’ve been one of them.

We’ve come a long way from the days when a friend told me you’d never see him or any other Black person on a bicycle, because everyone would just assume they couldn’t afford a car.

LA groups like East Side Riders, Black Kids on Bikes, Major Taylor Cycling Club and Black Girls Do Bike, as well as the Bahati Foundation Cycling Club and the Legion of Los Angeles, founded by former national champs Rahsaan Bahati and Justin Williams, respectively, have made great strides in getting more people of color out on bikes.

But clearly, we’ve still got a long way to go.

Here’s the Yahoo link if Bicycling’s site blocks you out.

………

Any chance they might be willing to trade national leaders for a few days?

Thanks to W. Corylus for the heads-up.

………

Another SoCal stolen bike recovered thanks to Bike Index’ free lifetime bike registration and nationwide bike theft database.

………

This one will probably come in handy some day.

If it hasn’t already.

………

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

No bias here. A Singapore news site somehow concludes a bike rider was in the wrong for getting right hooked after stopping a few feet beyond the stop line, as if the truck driver that nearly hit him had no obligation to see or go around him. I would have flipped him off, too, under the same circumstances.

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

A bike-riding Chicago-area man was busted for allegedly committing 15 car burglaries while wearing ten different shirts and five pairs of pants; whenever he was caught on security cam he’d take off a layer to make himself less recognizable. Didn’t work, though.

………

Local

LAUnscripted invites you to customize your ebike with Newport Beach bikemaker Electric Bike Company.

 

State

A Coachella bike rider was lucky to escape with a minor head injury after being struck by a driver.

Bike shop owners in California’s Central Coast are enjoying the benefits of the lockdown-induced bike boom.

Monterey’s Sea Otter Classic bike fest will be pushed back from May to October, in hopes the coronavirus pandemic will recede by fall and allow the event to be held.

A San Francisco advocate is calling for the elimination of beg buttons, which prioritize motor vehicle traffic over pedestrians; the buttons often force bike riders to ride up onto the curb to push the button in order to get the light to change.

 

National

An Arizona preacher complains he almost became a hood ornament for a careless driver, who somehow didn’t see him on his bike directly in front of her car.

Bicycling takes a look at — and recommends — New York’s massive, 750-mile cross-state Empire State Trail, which allows you to bike across the state, from north to south and east to west. Or vice versa.

Speaking of New York, they could become the next state to adopt the Idaho Stop Law, after an upstate legislator introduced a bill calling for bike riders to be allowed to roll through stop signs and go through red lights after coming to a full stop.

 

International

Do as he says, not as he does. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was spotted riding his bicycle in London’s Olympic Park, seven miles from his home a 10 Downing Street — despite the country’s Covid lockdown orders requiring people to stay close to home. Needless to say, some people were none too pleased.

Singapore drivers are fed up with bicyclists hogging the roadway “like nobody’s business.” Which is another way of saying streets are for cars, and anyone else is just in the way. Especially when there’s another lane to go around them.

 

Competitive Cycling

Pro cyclist and mountain biker Lachlan Morton offers tips on how to ride during the winter. Almost none of which applies in sunny Los Angeles.

Cycling Weekly plays fashion critic, ranking which women’s WorldTour team has the best kit.

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome is looking forward to riding for a new team this year, saying competing for the same team year after year felt like copy and pasting. Never mind that he’d already been pushed from the leadership of what is now Team Ineos.

 

Finally…

If Zwift has gotten too boring for you, try being a bike messenger from the comfort of your own home. That feeling when your failed wheelie ends up with a swim.

And nothing like guitar legend Robert Fripp accompanying your exuberant exercise bike vocal performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khkKfMotNoI

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already. 

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

The cost of traffic violence, vehicular cyclists versus protected bike lanes, and why people keep dying on the streets

January 11, 2021 / / Comments Off on The cost of traffic violence, vehicular cyclists versus protected bike lanes, and why people keep dying on the streets

This is the cost of traffic violence.

A British woman describes firsthand what it’s like to survive — barely — a near-fatal collision with a truck driver while riding her bike to church.

I heard a loud bang. A heavy thud. A violent bump. It was me. It was the noise of my body slamming against the lorry. And then falling to the ground.

I couldn’t work out what was happening. My heart was in my throat. I was staring up at the beautiful, bright blue sky, but at the same time sinking into darkness.

I was in excruciating pain as the heavy truck’s wheels – of which there were 12 in total – ran over my leg.

It’s a powerful story.

Especially this part.

I was desperate to see my kids, but I didn’t want to scare them. After two days, I put on my bravest face and held them when they visited me.

My son said, “Mummy, you’re not ready to die. We haven’t finished our story yet.”

Fortunately, she made it. And kept her leg, thanks to five separate surgeries, including one 12 hour marathon.

But something else to consider.

While she doesn’t mention it in her story, one vital aspect in getting back on her feet was the UK’s National Health Service, which meant she didn’t leave the hospital with a massive bill like she would have in the US.

In fact, chances are, she paid little or nothing, despite her month-long hospital stay.

So she was able to go home to her family and resume her life, even writing a book about her experiences.

Instead of being forced into bankruptcy like so many Americans after a similar experience.

………

The San Diego Union-Tribune takes a deep dive into the city’s new protected bike lane network, and the problems it causes for some in the spandex-clad set.

“This is to attract the all-ages and abilities groups that are just trying to go places within their communities, but if you need to go fast, the (car) lane is always open,” said Everett Hauser, a traffic engineer focusing on bicycle infrastructure for the city of San Diego.

Many new projects around the region also include bicycle-specific traffic lights at busy intersections and reconfiguring streets to encourage slower driving especially at tight turns.

Still, not everyone’s convinced.

“These protected bike lanes that have appeared in the last few years are the most dangerous thing that’s ever happened to bicycling in San Diego,” said Ralph Elliott, 70, historian of the San Diego Bicycle Club and a member for more than 50 years. “They’re unsafe. If there’s a car door in your face, somebody’s walking in the protected bike lane, skateboarding in the lane, dog in the lane all that’s dangerous because you can’t get out.”

Most studies don’t bear that out, however.

A recent 13-year study of 12 large international cities shows that separated and protected bike lanes improve safety for all road users, reducing traffic deaths by 44%.

Although a lot depends on the design and quality of the protected lanes.

But as the story points out, protected bike lanes are designed for casual bike riders who might not feel safe mixing with motorists.

Club riders and other experienced bicyclists who don’t want to slow down should be free to continue riding in the regular traffic lanes, where their speed won’t pose a danger to themselves or others.

………

Sadly, two SoCal bicycle riders lost their lives over the weekend.

On Saturday, a 75-year old man was killed by a semi-driver in an Oxnard crash.

And on Sunday, a motorcycle rider somehow slammed into the trailing rider on a group ride in East San Diego County near Jamul; both the bicyclist and the motorcyclist died at the scene.

Two more tragic reminders that our streets aren’t safe enough for people on bicycles. And our safety is still in the hands of those we share the road with.

………

This is why people continue to die on our streets.

An Iowa man who deliberately drove his car through a group of racial justice protestors because he thought they needed “an attitude adjustment” walked without a single day behind bars, despite leaving several injured people in his wake. To make matters worse, his conviction will be expunged if he stays out of trouble for three short years.

And a North Dakota woman walked away with two years probation after intentionally running down a man she’d been arguing with as he attempted to ride away on his bike.

………

Take a 59-second mountain bike break.

………

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

A 73-year old Novato, California woman blames a pair of aggressive mountain bikers for spooking her horse, resulting in a broken wrist, shattered eye socket and a broken jaw that had to be wired shut. Seriously, don’t do that.

………

Local

Former Los Angeles City Councilmember Tom LaBonge died unexpectedly last week at 67; he was known for his frequent recreational rides through his district, though he also blocked a number of bike projects, including the long-planned 4th Street Bike Boulevard.

Streets For All says there’s still time to run for your neighborhood council; a Thursday webinar will discuss how you can add more bike and pedestrian voices to your council — starting with yours.

Glendora wants your input on plans to improve bicycle access to the city’s upcoming Gold Line — aka L Line – station.

 

State

A La Jolla woman ‘fesses up to being the person who installed a free trading post along a bike path in the city.

Federal authorities seized 600 girls bikes worth $84,000 that were headed to a company in San Bernardino County; the Chinese-made bikes had an excessive level of lead in their pink paint.

A Lompoc paper considers the role the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition plays in making the streets safer and more equitable for people on bicycles.

After barely surviving stage four throat cancer, a Bakersfield man took to two wheels to regain his life.

No San Francisco, a sharrow on a four-lane arterial roadway does not a safe bicyclist make.

 

National

Bicycling says the best deals are on used bikes these days, and wants to help with your shopping by listing what they consider the best buys.

Cycling Tips offers more details on the proposed class action lawsuit alleging Trek vastly overstated the effectiveness of their WaveCel technology for Bontrager bike helmets.

A young former soap opera star is one of us, as the kid who played Danny Morgan on General Hospital needed a number of stitches after doing a face plant off his bike.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a paraplegic Denver man’s three wheeled adaptive handcycle.

It’s been eight months since a Colorado woman disappeared after reportedly going for a Mother’s Day bike ride; no trace has been found, despite a massive search.

After setting out to ride 2,020 miles across the US in 2020, a South Dakota teenager overshot the mark, ending up with almost 3,000 miles.

Good news from North Carolina, where a 14-year old girl was found safe, three weeks after she had disappeared while riding her bike.

 

International

Now your bike can actively remove pollution from the air, rather than just not adding to it.

A writer for Bike Radar says it’s worth the time and research required to ride comfortably in the winter. Although in LA, that sometimes means just deciding to go with a lower SPF.

Conde Nast Traveler recommends seven bike trails from around the world, from India to Germany — including our own beachfront Marvin Braude Bike Trail.

Forget how well it protects your head; what really matters about your new bike helmet is whether it works with you ponytail.

A Vancouver man set a new world’s record by riding 7,100 miles to visit 24 European capitals in just six months.

Road.cc calls it an “unexpected outbreak of common sense” as bicyclists get a rule overturned banning bikes from a shopping district, even if they’re just being walked.

London’s city council will take another look at the knee-jerk removal of a popular bike lane after drivers complained it was causing congestion; since the removal, drivers have just used it as a parking lane. As we’ve said before, though, the only real cause of traffic congestion is too many cars.

After riding nearly 50 miles just to get there, a group of men are turned away from a Welsh bike trail for breaking the UK’s lockdown restrictions; they’re told they’ll face arrest if they come back.

British and European bike brands remain in flux as they struggle to adapt to the new Brexit trade rules.

The pandemic-fueled bike boom manifested itself in Ireland, as well, as the city of Cork saw a 35% jump in bicycling last year.

This is what LA could be doing, but isn’t. Paris has approved a $300 million plan to convert the car-choked Champs-Élysées into “an extraordinary garden” running over a mile across the city.

Record-setting 109-year old bike racer Robert Marchand wrote a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, asking that bicyclists be exempted from Covid lockdown rules that restrict biking or running to within roughly two-thirds of a mile from home.

A new Belgian ebike parking unit allows you to securely lock up your heavy bike, while recharging the battery.

Another Chinese bikeshare bicycle dumping ground swamps the city of Chengdu.

No bias here. A Singapore paper asks if bicyclists and drivers can ever get along — but only includes rules for the people on two wheels, with barely a word on how motorists can drive safely around people on bikes.

 

Competitive Cycling

German doctor Mark Schmidt faces up to five and a half years behind bars, as well as losing his medical license for five years for his role in the Operation Aderlass doping scandal that took down at least six riders on the pro tour.

 

Finally…

You can’t use stadium seats for sports fans anymore, so you might as well use them to display your massive team cycling jersey collection. If you’re going to steal a tip jar from a business, don’t leave the bike you stole behind.

And yes, the royal family rides bikes, too.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already. 

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

LA brags about modest bike lane mileage, resource guide for traffic violence victims, and Trek sued over WaveCel claims

January 8, 2021 / / Comments Off on LA brags about modest bike lane mileage, resource guide for traffic violence victims, and Trek sued over WaveCel claims

Los Angeles continues to nibble at the edges of bike safety, as the city touts the installation or improvement of 61 miles of bike lanes in 2020.

That includes nearly 13 miles of new bike lanes on South LA’s Avalon Blvd.

However, it’s important to remember that LADOT measures bike lanes in lane miles, which means that each side of the roadway is counted separately. So that 61 miles really means bike lanes were added or improved on just 30 miles of streets.

That’s a big step up from the ten lane miles installed in the 2017-18 fiscal year, but still just a fraction of the annual totals built during Antonio Villaraigosa’s tenure as mayor — although the city is installing more protected and separated bike lanes now.

However, it still neglects large segments of the city, and makes no attempt to create a connected bike lane network crossing Los Angeles — let alone the three interconnected networks called for in the city’s mobility plan.

Bike lane construction for 2021 is expected to concentrate on Figueroa Blvd in DTLA and Broadway in South LA.

So who knows?

Maybe someday the city will finally get around to building bike lanes where you ride while you’re still young enough to use them.

………

Losing a loved one is hard enough under any conditions.

Let alone losing someone you love to traffic violence.

That’s why Southern California Families for Safe Streets, a project of pedestrian advocacy group Los Angeles Walks, is offering a free resource guide for people who have experienced a sudden, unexpected loss.

The guide was prepared by people who have gone through it themselves, including tips on how to turn your grief into effective action.

Let’s hope you never need it.

But roughly 3,500 California families did in 2019. And probably will this year.

………

Why wait for local leaders to rip out a bike lane, when you can just turn an offroad bike path into your own personal car lane?

………

It’s not new, but this video offers a recumbent tour of a unique California neighborhood where homes have hangers instead of garages, and taxiways in place of streets.

Thanks to the free, daily California Sun newsletter for the link.

………

Forget the latest high-end, high-tech wonders. Pink Bike takes a look at what everyday bike riders are riding.

………

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

Someone has been removing bollards from a protected bike lane in the UK and just tossing them across the surrounding area, creating a hazard for people riding bicycles, as well as others who might trip or drive over them.

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

An Aussie bike rider unloads on a motorist after the car’s passenger threw litter at him. Seriously, don’t do this, kids. Violence is never the answer. Although I may have been known to toss trash back through the driver’s window.

………

Local

The Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition reminds the city — and everyone else — that protected bike lanes improve safety for everyone, not just people on bikes.

 

State

Six women will set out to break three world records on Saturday by riding elliptical bikes up San Diego’s steep Mt. Palomar, with a 5,000 foot elevation gain in just 12.5 miles.

Santa Barbara has embarked on a stunning remake of Los Positas Road to add a 2.6-mile multi-use path connecting to the beach.

 

National

Maybe there’s hope yet. Streetsblog says the victories by Democratic Senate candidates in Georgia opens the way for a long-delayed revamp of the national transportation bill to create greater sustainability, with an emphasis on public transit and active transportation.

A new lawsuit accuses Trek of falsely claiming its Bontrager WaveCel helmets are up to 48 times more effective than traditional foam bike helmets in order to command a higher price.

The Drive recommends their picks for the best ebike conversion kits.

Anyone can build up an existing frame, so learn how to weld your own, instead.

Las Vegas bike advocates are responding to the recent death of five experienced bicyclists at the hands of a meth-using truck driver by pushing for greater safety for people on two wheels, including a call for a presumed liability law that would shift the burden of proof to the person in the more dangerous vehicle.

A Nyack NY bike shop is shutting down after nearly 50 years, after long days due to the pandemic bike boom took all the fun out of it for the owner, and emptied all the shop’s inventory, anyway.

New York suffered its first bicycling death of 2021 when an ebike rider inexplicably rode into the back of a parked SUV, the same day Southern California saw the year’s first first bike rider killed in a Riverside hit-and-run.

Great idea. A New Jersey business district is offering shoppers free twice-weekly delivery by cargo bike.

 

International

Road.cc rates 15 aluminum disk brake bikes, calling them today’s best value bikes.

More evidence of the worldwide bike boom, as London’s bikeshare system saw a record-setting 157% increase in registrations during the pandemic.

Two Irish cousins will spend at least a couple decades behind bars for murdering another man in a case of mistaken identity after falsely accusing him of stealing a bicycle; one man got a life sentence while the other received a minimum of 26 years in prison.

A Dutch university has developed a tool to wirelessly recharge ebikes through the kickstand.

Admitting to mistakes in the early days of the pandemic, Milan’s mayor is committed to changing how people get around the formerly auto-centric city, including plans for 185 miles of new bike lanes, with 21 miles already installed during the initial lockdown.

A horrifying crime, as Indian vigilantes kidnapped 30 women and children because they suspected men in the nomadic tribe of stealing bikes. Although they may have accused them of stealing motorcycles, rather than bicycles, since the Indian press uses the same term for both.

Malaysian bicyclists say new bike riders inspired by the pandemic bike boom are giving the rest of them a bad name.

 

Competitive Cycling

Yes, the pros do care what you say about them. So be nice.

Former doper and current gelati maker Riccardo Riccò just says no to the Covid-19 vaccine, thanks to a newfound concern over what he puts in his body.

 

Finally…

Just what every aspiring fashionista needs — a $27,000 haute couture bicycle. Your lifelong wait for bike shorts with built-in artificial intelligence and stimulating electrodes is finally over.

And if you’re using your bike to burglarize motor vehicles, just put a damn light on it, already.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already. 

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

The war on bikes keeps on going, bike riders behaving badly, and that really was Chris Froome riding that bike in SaMo

January 7, 2021 / / Comments Off on The war on bikes keeps on going, bike riders behaving badly, and that really was Chris Froome riding that bike in SaMo

It’s a light news day in the big, wide, wonderful world of bikes, after yesterday’s DC shit show sucked up all the oxygen.

So let’s get right to it.

Photo by Maria Orlova from Pexels.

………

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

Life is cheap in the UK, where a man walks without a single day behind bars for reaching out of a car window to push a man off his bicycle.

A 27-year old British man remains in critical condition with a head injury after he was brutally attacked while riding his bike.

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

An Ontario, Canada man faces charges for biking under the influence after cops observe him yelling and swearing at passing cars while struggling to stay upright.

A pair of young kids walking in a crosswalk were sent flying when a New Zealand bike rider slammed into them after blowing through a stop sign; fortunately, the brothers have been released from the hospital, but the youngest one is now afraid of bicycles. And understandably so.

………

Local

‘Tis still the season. A Santa Clarita landfill company built out 100 bikes and 70 scooters to donate to a pair of nonprofits for distribution to local kids for the holidays.

 

State

Visalia punts on plans to complete an offroad bike trail after property owners refuse to sell, and councilmembers balk at using eminent domain.

 

National

CityLab looks forward to the incoming Biden administration, saying it could take steps to make motor vehicles a lot safer, especially for bike riders and pedestrians. Let’s start by banning oversized private trucks and SUVs, and redesigning the high, flat grills on SUVs and pickups.

Despite initial opposition, the Slow Streets movement have proven its popularity, causing planners to rewrite their playbooks.

Fort Worth’s bike-riding mayor calls it a career after five full terms leading the Texas city.

Huh? Martha’s Vineyard rejects a proposal for a shared use path on a local roadway, because bicycles would be “detrimental to the bucolic nature of the road.” Because only cars and SUVs are bucolic, evidently. 

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A Syracuse NY judge undercuts prosecutors by offering a hit-and-run driver a reduced sentence for killing a beloved local street musician as he was riding his bicycle — even though the driver, who was out on parole, was driving without a license.

Life is cheap in New York, where a truck driver gets to keep his license despite killing a teenaged bike rider with his erratic driving.

An NYPD commander throws in the towel, saying a deadly Brooklyn intersection should be redesigned to physically separate bike riders and pedestrians from reckless drivers, because nothing else will work.

In an unusual move, a New Jersey driver and his passenger will both face charges for the hit-and-run death of a 56-year old bike rider.

After a lifetime of bicycling, a Florida woman switches to a ‘bent in order to keep riding as she gets older.

 

International

Red Bull offers easy but awesome tricks to customize your mountain bike.

Life is cheap in Great Britain, where a drunk, speeding driver got a lousy 34 months behind bars for slamming into a bike rider while driving at three times the legal alcohol limit; the victim had to have a number of surgeries and skin grafts to repair his shattered knee and lower leg.

Cycling News goes shopping for the best bike deals in the US and the UK so you don’t have to.

More bike fallout from Brexit, as bicycle and accessory makers suspend shipments to the UK.

No surprise here, as an Irish bicycle advocacy group comes out against a mandatory helmet law, saying traffic cameras, separated cycle tracks and lower speed limits would be more effective in reducing bike injuries.

Why choose between a mountain bike and a city bike when a German ebike maker will give you both with a single shared engine and battery.

High-end Indian bikemakers are struggling to keep up, as import restrictions and supply chain disruptions result in a delay of up to four months to buy a new bike.

Bizarre story from Zimbabwe, where a 39-year old bike rider was killed in a collision with a donkey cart driven by a man with the same name.

 

Competitive Cycling

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome is spending his winter riding and rehabbing in Santa Monica in an effort to fully recover from the critical injuries he suffered in a high-speed training crash last summer.

 

Finally…

Who needs wheels when you can turn your bike into an e-snowbike? That feeling when they promise the best bike baskets to bring your dog along for the ride, but only deliver one barely big enough for a chihuahua.

And still wheelie good at 51.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , ,

Biking in America’s most dangerous city, LA bike and pedestrian deaths down, and longtime bike advocate dies

January 6, 2021 / / 3 comments

Congratulations, Angelenos.

You now officially live and ride in the most dangerous place in the United States.

And that’s not even counting Covid cases.

Let alone LA drivers.

Photo by Danne from Pexels.

………

Oddly enough, though, LA County streets were a little less dangerous last year.

Crosstown says while LA Mayor Eric Garcetti’s efforts have failed, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a steep drop in pedestrian deaths, succeeding where he couldn’t.

We’ve seen a similar drop in bicycling fatalities, with just 16 deaths in all of LA County last year, compared to 34 in 2019.

Never mind the mind-blowing decline in bicycle collisions we mentioned last month, dropping 90% in September compared to the year before, and 70% for the year as a whole.

The question remains why, since motor vehicle traffic has returned to pre-pandemic levels, while bicycle ridership is up.

Maybe it’s safety in numbers. Or maybe there’s something else going on.

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More sad news.

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Mitt Romney is one of us. Or was, anyway.

https://twitter.com/FrenchHist/status/1346713706776825856

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

Once again, someone has sabotaged a British bike trail, planting upright nails in the dirt to puncture the tires of unsuspecting riders, with the potential for serious injuries.

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Local

It looks like Adams Blvd could get a new bike lane on a two-mile stretch between Fairfax and Crenshaw. As always though, what if anything ends up on the streets depends on how loudly the drivers and NIMBYs complain.

A Santa Clarita radio station picks up tips on how to ride in the snow, which apparently first appeared on a Virginia website. Even if most SoCal bicyclists are unlikely to encounter snow unless they go looking for it.

 

State

San Diego is opening a new $135 million bridge over Mission Bay to replace an aging span that will be demolished and recycled; a 12-foot wide bike and pedestrian lane should be finished sometime next year.

 

National

Now we’re starting to get somewhere. A new clip-on, throttle controlled motor promises to convert your bicycle to an ebike in just minutes, for around four hundred bucks.

Self picks their favorite bike helmets for women.

New above-the-ear earbuds from Bose promise to keep you safe on the road by allowing you to hear the sounds around you; these headphones from AfterShokz make the same promise. But just try explaining that to the cop who’s writing you up for having one in each ear.

The owner of Phoenix, Arizona’s Bicycle Nomad Cafe completed his second 2,200 mile bike journey to retrace the route of escaped slaves along the Underground Railroad, riding with a reluctant partner from New Orleans to Niagara Falls.

Los Angeles didn’t get a single bike lane on PeopleForBike’s ranking of the top ten bikeways in the US; Austin Texas — with just a quarter of the population — got two.

A Milwaukee man went from fixing bikes for his neighbors to opening a new bike shop, thanks to the increased demand from the pandemic-induced bike boom.

A new study shows New York has consistently failed to follow through on plans to install bike parking, resulting in just one space for every 116 bicycles; that compares with 1.5 spaces for every registered motor vehicle. Then again, drivers aren’t exactly happy with the situation, either.

Horrible news from Jacksonville, Florida, where a pair of bike crashes just ten minutes apart left one woman dead, and another man fighting for his life.

Florida residents have rallied round a new local bike shop, after a Good Samaritan stopped a burglar from breaking in and held him for the police.

 

International

British bike shops have been given the okay to remain open, despite the country’s slide into its third pandemic lockdown.

A former mountain biker who competed for the UK says ebikes helped him get his life back, despite a serious heart condition that means never raising his heart rate above sedentary levels.

Named “low carbon heroes” by the Welsh Government, a British couple are helping get more people on bikes during the lockdown by refurbishing old bicycles and converting them to ebikes.

Dutch bike cops will now have flashing blue lights on their bikes to identify themselves as the police. No word on whether they will also make siren noises with their mouths.

I like it. South Africa’s Stay Wider of the Rider campaign reminds drivers to give bike riders more space on the roads.

A pair of Malaysian cities plan to improve safety for bike riders by converting under-used motorcycle lanes into bike lanes.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Tips talks with American cycling legend Connie Carpenter-Phinney, road cycling Gold Medal winner in the ’84 Olympics and one of the era’s top women’s pros; she’s also the wife of fellow Olympic cyclist David Phinney, and the mother of recently retired pro Taylor Phinney.

Apparently, British women’s cycling great Beryl Burton doesn’t get any respect these days.

 

Finally…

Maybe you should put bicycling under job skills on your resume. Bribing firefighters with a bike to take their Covid-19 vaccine.

And that feeling when you go out for potatoes and come home with a new bicycle.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already. 

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