3.9-mile Reseda protected bike lanes saved by 2009 outcry, and LA doesn’t suck as much in new bike rankings

June 27, 2024 / / Comments Off on 3.9-mile Reseda protected bike lanes saved by 2009 outcry, and LA doesn’t suck as much in new bike rankings
Just 187 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Funny how things circle back around.

According to Streetsblog’s Joe Linton, completion of the Reseda Boulevard Complete Streets project means the boulevard now has the longest continuous protected bike lane in Southern California.

The newly complete bike lanes stretch nearly four miles, from Plummer Street to Victory Boulevard.

Just like you’ll see in the tweet below.

 

But it was just 15 years ago that we nearly lost them forever.

That’s when the news broke — courtesy of this site — that LADOT’s bike planning engineers had been told not to bother working on the bike lanes, because the West Department of Transportation was going to install Peak Hour Lanes on the boulevard instead, which would have turned the street into a virtually un-bikeable car sewer.

Similar lanes had gone in throughout the San Fernando Valley in the 1990s and 2000s, back in the bad old days when the highest priority of traffic engineers was maximizing vehicular throughput and level of service.

Fortunately, there was a huge reaction to the story, with countless people calling LADOT, councilmembers and other city officials to complain — resulting in the agency canceling plans for the peak hour lane less than 24 hours later.

And claiming, implausibly, that it was never actually their plan to install the peak hour lanes.

Yeah, right.

Linton called for an apology from the agency for deliberately misleading him, then-Streetsblog LA Editor Damien Newton, former Bicycle Advisory Committee Chair Glenn Bailey and myself. But also said he’d be willing to accept an apology in the form of actually building the bike lanes.

Which is what finally happened.

So thanks to everyone else who raised hell over it. If you were one of them, pat yourself on the back.

And thank you for your service.

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The rest of the world is catching up with the new City Rankings released by People For Bikes that we mentioned on Monday.

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Congratulations.

The California Public Utilities Commission has selected you to beta test driverless cabs from Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, whether you actually want to or not.

The commissioners reaffirmed its approval for the company to operate its autonomous, or self-driving, cabs on the streets of Los Angeles. Never mind the seemingly magnetic attraction they and their competitor Cruise have seemed to have for bicyclists and pedestrians in San Francisco.

But never fear.

You should be able to protect yourself by carrying an orange cone with you when you ride.

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Feel free to ride Benedict Canyon again.

https://twitter.com/LADOTofficial/status/1805722708660863180

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Gravel Bike California celebrates its fifth anniversary by highlighting the best gravel rides in the state.

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It’s now 189 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

A Santa Rosa man suffered a badly broken leg when he was targeted and run down by a road-raging driver while riding his ebike to work early Saturday morning, after the driver yelled at him to “get the fuck off the road.

Police in Victoria, British Columbia were accused of repeatedly using their vehicles as weapons to intentionally hit people riding bikes or scooters, or on foot. That should constitute a deadly use of force, just like firing a gun to stop a fleeing suspect, since any collision or fall off a bicycle or scooter can be deadly.

This is what a punishment pass from a British camper van driver looks like.

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

A 32-year old Hasidic man who had a bag of dog shit thrown at his face by a bike-riding New York bigot predicted his attacker will receive a slap on the wrist if he’s ever arrested, and won’t spend a day behind bars. Sadly, he’s probably right.

A British bike rider was trapped in a literal shitstorm when a farmer covered him in manure after catching him with a tent on the man’s land without permission while on a bike tour.

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Local 

Congratulations to Streetsblog LA, after their SGV Connect was honored as Best Regular Podcast by the Los Angeles Press Club for their coverage of last year’s Arroyo Fest.

Los Angeles has launched the city’s Let’s Play Outside campaign, complete with a ten-point kid’s bill of rights for outdoor activities, including riding a bicycle.

Speaking of LADOT, the city transportation agency shared additional details about the Hollywood Boulevard Safety and Mobility Project, including mostly parking-protected bike lanes from Gower Street to Lyman Place, and eventually east to the six-way intersection at Sunset Blvd, Virgil Ave and Hillhurst Ave.

Culver City Walk ‘n Rollers totaled up the savings from students riding their bikes to school in the city, with students burning 65,770 calories and removing 1,452 pounds of carbon from the atmosphere by walking or biking 5061 trips.

 

State

San Marcos has a brand new bouncing baby bike park.

Kern County was scheduled to accept state and federal funding to build a north-south companion trail to go with the county’s 35-mile Kern River Parkway, which runs east-to-west. Or vice versa, if you prefer.

Sad news from Kern County, however, where a Bakersfield bike rider died after being struck by a driver while riding in a crosswalk; the county suffered six fatal collisions in just the last week.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has reached a turning point after moving from outsider status to getting a seat at the table with government contracts and the ear of top officials.

When Napa’s street sweeper’s couldn’t fit in the city’s new protected bike lanes, the local bicycle coalition bought a human-powered street sweeper that’s towed behind a bike to do the job, instead.

 

National

NPR show The Indicator from Planet Money examines how Bike Index founder Bryan Hance cracked the case of high-end purloined bikes unexpectedly popping up for sale at a bike shop in Mexico. And yes, you can register your bicycle(s) with Bike Index or report them stolen for free, right here on this site.

A group of Hawaii teenagers reached a settlement with the state over climate issues, with the governor agreeing to take bold action to address climate change, including providing safer options for green transportation — like bicycling — to reduce motor vehicle traffic.

Portland, Oregon is investing $20 million over the next five years to increase access to electric bicycles for moderate- to low-income residents

It was summer Bike to Work Day in Colorado yesterday, including in my bike-friendly hometown. Although some question the lack of recognition for those who bike to work every day.

A San Antonio, Texas man faces sentencing after pleading guilty to killing a woman riding a bicycle, while driving under the influence; prosecutors argued he had at least 11 drinks before getting behind the wheel.

A Central Texas mom says she cried like a baby after a total stranger replaced her eight-year old son’s stolen bicycle upon reading her social media post about the theft.

Ghost bikes are disappearing off the streets of Austin, Texas, apparently thanks to city maintenance workers who don’t know why they’re there.

Heartbreaking news from Michigan, where an 83-year old Florida man was killed while riding his bicycle, just after reaching a lifetime goal of riding 200,000 miles; he was leaving his son’s house to visit his daughter when a driver ran him down.

Just weeks after NY Governor Kathy Hochul cancelled plans for congestion pricing in Manhattan, a new study shows New York has the world’s worst traffic congestion, costing the city $9.1 billion a year in lost productivity; Los Angeles is #7 on the list.

Actress Jennifer Lawrence is one of us, looking “loved up” as she rides a bikeshare bike with her husband on the streets of New York.

 

International

Once again, life is cheap in the UK, where a teenaged driver who killed a bike rider, just weeks after passing his driving test, walked without a single day behind bars after he was sentenced to community service and a lousy £240 fine — the equivalent of just $303.

A Manx bicyclist — no, not that one — just finished a five-day bike ride across the French Alps on a foldie, raising the equivalent of over $7,500 for an Isle of Man hospice along the way.

France Today shared nine of the country’s best bike routes that anyone can bike.

A team from the Netherlands set a new world’s record for the world’s longest tandem bicycle at an incredible 55.35 meters — aka 181 feet 7 inches — perfect for when you really don’t get along with your stoker.

 

Competitive Cycling

This year’s Tour de France hasn’t even started yet, and it’s clear last year’s Vuelta winner, American Sepp Kuss, won’t make the podium in Paris next month, after withdrawing due to Covid.

Bicycling shares the North American cyclists still competing in the Tour, remembering that yes, Canada is part of North America. Read it on AOL this time if the magazine blocks you. 

 

Finally…

You can ride in just about any clothes, but maybe rethink the bell bottoms. Nothing like putting crocheted woolen boobs on your bike to fight breast cancer.

And your next car could be a three-wheeled California-made bike.

On second thought, no it can’t.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Move along, nothing to see here — just too effing tired and sad edition

June 26, 2024 / / Comments Off on Move along, nothing to see here — just too effing tired and sad edition

My apologies.

I ran out of time to write a new Morning Links for today, after spending my time last night writing about yet another tragic bicycling death instead.

And frankly, after writing about the needless loss of a loving 18-year old kid with a bright future, I just don’t have the heart for it.

We’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, to catch up on anything we missed the past couple days.

Category: General /

Police blame the victim after 18-year old Raider Magallanes killed in Signal Hill bicycling collision last week — even though witnesses contradict them

June 26, 2024 / / 4 comments

Nothing like blaming the victim.

A Long Beach boy was killed riding his bike in Signal Hill last week, and the local police were quick to blame him for his own death.

Maybe too quick.

According to the Long Beach Post, 18-year old Raider Magallanes was training with a couple friends around 7:35 pm on Tuesday, June 18th when he “collided into a moving vehicle” at Cherry Ave and Skyline Drive.

There’s no word on whether Magallanes died at the scene, or after being taken to a hospital after the crash.

And yes, the driver stuck around afterwards, as required by law and basic human decency.

Signal Hill police determined that the recent high school graduate ran the red light after descending a steep hill while headed west on Skyline Drive, apparently based on a security cam from a nearby grocery store.

However, according to Velina Velasquez, the boy’s aunt and legal guardian, numerous witnesses have come forward to say Magallanes — not the driver — had the green light. And that the traffic lights couldn’t be seen in the video that captured the crash.

Which raises the question of whether there were any independent witnesses who told police Magallanes ran the red light. Or if they just took the driver’s word for it.

Magallanes had graduated with honors from Long Beach Polytechnic High School just five days before the crash, and was training with friends in anticipation of joining the Marines in August.

His aunt adopted Magallanes and his two brothers when he was eight years old, and raised him as her own.

Velasquez has stayed near the intersection for the past week, talking with anyone who may have seen the crash. During that time, she’s witnessed several near-misses, along with a hit-and-run, and says more needs to be done to improve safety.

“There needs to be a camera here, there should have been a camera here,” Velasquez said.

A crowdfunding campaign has raised less than $7,000 of the $30,000 goal.

This is at least the 26th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

Magallanes’ death came just four days after another fatal bicycling collision less than four miles away in Long Beach.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Raider Magallanes and all his loved ones.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , ,

Bicycling “disaster for traditional economy,” bike-born antisemitic attack in New York, and LA scores another pitiful bike score

June 24, 2024 / / Comments Off on Bicycling “disaster for traditional economy,” bike-born antisemitic attack in New York, and LA scores another pitiful bike score
Just 190 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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In probably the worst take ever, the CEO the Caribbean-based Euro Exim Bank called bicycling a disaster for the traditional economy.

That’s because bicyclists don’t buy cars, make loan payments, or pay for car repairs. And never mind the reduced healthcare costs because people who ride bikes tend to be healthier than people who drive.

Even though reduced healthcare costs and a healthier population are a net benefit to society, and people who ride bicycles still buy stuff — and have more money left over to do it with.

And if bicycling is such a threat to the traditional economy, maybe it’s the traditional economy that needs to change.

Then again, the billionaire owner of discount Euro airline Ryan Air wasn’t much better, tweeting his discontent over environmentalists and bicyclists with the hashtag #AirTravelOverBicycleRide.

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WTF is wrong with some people?

Police in New York are looking for a bike-riding middle-aged white man bigot who yelled “Fuck you, Jew,” then tossed a bag of dog poop through a driver’s open window before riding off on his bicycle.

Which raises the obvious question of who the hell rides a bike carrying a bag of dog poop?

Never mind that it remains unclear whether or not his intended victim actually was Jewish.

It’s also unclear whether this had anything to do with the current tensions over Gaza, or if it was just some asshole taking advantage of the current tensions.

But regardless of any possible political motives, there’s just no excuse for antisemitism or bigotry of any kind, no matter how you get around. Ever.

Period.

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People For Bikes is out with their seventh annual City Ratings, showing things appear to be getting better for bicycling in the US.

Los Angeles scored a pretty pitiful 25 out of a possible 100, though they cited the passage of the Measure HLA Complete Streets mandate as reason for hope. But at least that’s a little better than last year’s even more pitiful 19.

Meanwhile. Michigan’s carfree Mackinac Island was rated the country’s top city for bicycling, which is a lot easier to do when you don’t have drivers and their big, dangerous machines to contend with.

Outside the US, London leads the UK in bikeability, but the UK continues to trail the rest of Europe.

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There’s another bouncing baby bike lane on the bike-friendly UCLA campus.

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Mark your calendar for a friendly Orange County bike ride at the end of the week. Thanks to Mike Wilkinson for the tip.

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It’s now 186 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

A new study shows that despite the wailing of local businesses, San Francisco’s centerline Valencia Street bike lane didn’t actually hurt their sales.

Chicago bike advocates are questioning whether city workers really removed a ghost bike by mistake, or if it was taken down in preparation for next month’s NASCAR race in the city.

While Cambridge, Massachusetts drivers fight to halt expansion of bike lanes, a second person has been killed riding a bicycle in the Ivy League town in less than a month, just as PeopleForBikes proclaims it as a top city for bicycling. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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

American professional skateboarder Tyshawn Jones was kicked off his bicycle by another bike rider while riding in Paris last week, for no apparent reason.

https://twitter.com/TMZ/status/1804186264834576843

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Local 

Good question. The LA Times asks why you should need a driver’s license for a job that doesn’t involve driving?

Police in Los Angeles are looking for a man riding a “distinctive” pink bicycle, who’s accused of fatally stabbing another man before riding off late Saturday afternoon.

 

State

A San Francisco news outlet asks candidates in a city council race if they support the proposed quick-build Frida Kahlo protected bike lane project.

Sad news from Oakland, where a bike rider was killed in a hit-and-run early Friday morning. Thanks again to Megan Lynch.

 

National

A writer for Tom’s Guide says Trek’s $200 CarBack Radar Rear Bike Light is like having eyes in the back of your head, pairing with your smartphone to give you a view of cars approaching from behind.

A columnist for Cycling Weekly bemoans his favorite-ever bike ride, as the effort to repeat it turns from a cherished memory to a nagging reminder of subsequent inadequacy.

A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that childhood bicycling deaths have dropped significantly since 1975. Although that probably reflects a drop in childhood bicycling rates more than any safety improvements. 

The 17 Cherokee bicyclists who took part in the annual Remember the Removal bike ride returned to when it started in Oklahoma, following the nearly 1,000-mile ride that traced the route of the historic Trail of Tears.

Wisconsin conservatives continued to freak out over the Madison edition of the World Naked Bike Ride, after last year’s complaints, with one official insisting they need to protect the children from seeing naked and nearly naked adult bodies on bicycles, and that the participants “desperately need Jesus.” Then again, the need to protect children from the effects of climate change is exactly the point the bike riders were trying to make. 

Pittsburgh is providing adaptive bicycles through the city’s bikeshare program.

When a 12-year old Buffalo NY boy started a lemonade stand to raise money for a new bicycle after his was stolen, a generous stranger gave him a brand new BMX bike, instead.

Iconic artist Edward Hopper was one of us, as New York’s Whitney Museum scheduled a 60-mile bike ride to celebrate the “avid” bicyclist’s 142nd birthday.  But he doesn’t look a day over 131.

Electrek calls the Key Biscayne, Florida ebike ban the “Footloose for ebikes.”

 

International

Is Manchester, England really the booming European Capital of Cycling, or is it just a vague tagline on a t-shirt?

An Irish writer says after doing the math, spending the equivalent of $6,400 for an e-cargo bike didn’t seem outrageous compared to buying a second car.

She gets it. Even in the Netherlands, the same debate goes on, as a spokeswoman for a victim’s support charity says fixing the causes of bicycling crashes should be a higher priority than getting people to wear bike helmets.

The BBC celebrates the “endless dunes, romantic windmills, historic Hanseatic towns and abandoned forts” of Poland’s “glorious” Velo Baltica cycling route along the Baltic Coast.

 

Competitive Cycling

One of the greatest ever women’s cyclists is making an unexpected comeback, after the Netherlands’ Anna van der Breggen announced her return to competition three years after her last race.

Magnus Sheffield and Matteo Jorgenson will join Brandon McNulty on the US cycling team for the Paris Olympics, as the USA attempts to end a 40-year men’s medal drought; Chloe Dygert and Taylor Knibb will take the two women’s spots.

Toronto was transfixed by the city’s long-standing Dunlop Trophy Road Race back in 1894.

Twenty-three-year old Italian cyclist Andrea Piccolo was fired from the US-based EF Education-EasyPost cycling team after he was arrested for carrying human growth hormone into the country.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your ebike conversion kit bursts into flames while you’re riding it. And Sisyphus may have been condemned to push a rock up a hillside for all eternity, but some bicyclists ride up the same hill every time because they want to.

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Thanks to David Erickson for his unexpected donation to help support this site, and keep bringing you all the best bike news everyday, from around the world and around the corner. Donations of any amount, for any reason, are always welcome and appreciated. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

54-year old man from Alaska killed riding bicycle in early morning Westminster crash

June 22, 2024 / / Comments Off on 54-year old man from Alaska killed riding bicycle in early morning Westminster crash

Too often these days, the news leaves us with more questions than answers.

The was the case on Friday, when news broke that a man from Alaska was killed riding a bicycle in an early morning collision in Westminster.

According to KCAL News, the victim was riding in the traffic lanes near 20th Street and Beach Boulevard around 5 am Friday, when he was struck by the driver of a Lincoln Town Car.

The driver stopped and called 911 after the crash, and police did not suspect he was under the influence.

The victim, identified only as a 54-year old Alaska resident, died at the scene.

However, there’s no explanation of whether he was visiting Orange County, or was living here now.

There’s also no word on what was meant by “riding in the traffic lanes.” He would have been in the traffic lanes if he was crossing Beach Blvd. Or if he was riding on Beach, there’s no other place he could have been, since there are no bike or parking lanes.

And there’s no word on how fast the driver was going, or whether the victim had lights on his bike in the pre-dawn darkness.

Hopefully, we’ll get more answers soon. But I wouldn’t count on it.

Anyone with information is urged to call Westminster Police Department Traffic Division Investigator Stewart DeJong at 714/548-3787.

This is at least the 25th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth that I’m aware of in Orange County.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , ,

CicLAvia and World Naked Bike Ride this Sunday, and ruining a good buffered bike lane with plastic posts

June 21, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 194 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Don’t forget Sunday’s CicLAvia on Western Ave in South LA, where you’ll find the good folks from Bike Talk and KPFK hosting a booth at the Western/Florence Hub.

Or if CicLAvia seems a little too formal for your last, the Los Angeles edition of the World Naked Bike Ride rolls tomorrow. Tip: Bring lots of sunscreen. And a few disinfectant wipes if you’re using a bikeshare bike.

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Evidently, some people just don’t like separated bike lanes.

Or what Los Angeles insists on calling “protected,” even though the usual flimsy plastic car-ticklers wouldn’t stop a Yugo, if you could even get one running.

That was driven home in a new post by Cycling Savvy’s Keri Caffrey.

She explains how she was never a fan of bike lanes. Until moving to California, that is, when she got to experience her first wide buffered bike lane.

But some people insist on ruining those “good enough” buffered lanes by adding little white plastic bendy posts and other assorted permeable and semi-permeable barriers.

In her opinion, anyway.

Imagine my horror at seeing a movement to convert these bike lanes to “separated” bikeways by adding barriers such as flex posts, bollards, curbs, and a host of other innovations.

I get the desire to feel protected from cars, but at what cost? First of all, “feel protected” is all you get. Posts and curbs will not stop a moving car. They will, however, cause a bicyclist to crash. This is a known hazard which causes actual casualties, including serious injuries. Yet, these crashes don’t show up in national crash data, because it counts bicycle crashes only if they involve a moving motor vehicle.

She also takes issue with the stat up there on the right from the Federal Highway Administration.

The research behind the FHWA’s claim didn’t include junctions, only mid-block segments.

The only relevant crash type is a mid-block overtaking crash, around 5% of total crashes for all roads, including ones with no bike lane. The majority of overtaking crashes are actually sideswipes in narrow lanes (the motorist misjudges the space). We have a robust dataset from Mighk Wilson’s crash analysis in Orlando. In it, overtaking crashes on streets with bike lanes were 1.5% of crashes. The majority of bike lanes in the area are narrow and non-buffered. Paul Schimek’s study in Boston came to a similar conclusion.

I get what Caffrey is saying. And it’s worth reading to get a different perspective from what we usually share here.

My personal take is that separated bike lanes aren’t for confident bike riders like her who are comfortable riding nearly anywhere. They’re for the people who would like to ride, or ride more, but are afraid to mix it up with the people in the big dangerous machines.

Although calling them protected does a disservice to everyone by overpromising on safety.

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Any kind of separation or buffer might have helped those Texas bicyclists who were run down by a drunk driver in a crash caught on bike cam earlier this week.

The driver who was allegedly three sheets to the wind at more than three times the legal blood alcohol limit has been identified as an American Airlines cargo worker.

Which could explain why your bags always seem to get lost or crushed beyond all recognition.

Thirty-one-year old Benjamin Hylander has been booked on two counts of intoxication assault with a vehicle causing serious bodily injury, accident involving injury, and driving while intoxicated with a BAC greater than 0.15.

Meanwhile, the victim shown getting run over by Hylander’s SUV after the initial impact, retired physician Tom Geppert, credits his bicycle with saving his life. And allowing him to walk away — if that’s the word for it — with “just” a concussion, injured left hamstring, a fractured rib and a severe laceration.

The other victim, Deborah Eads, suffered a severe laceration as well.

We can only be grateful it wasn’t much worse.

Maybe someday, carmakers will be required to use already-existing technology to ensure intoxicated people can’t get behind the wheel.

And can’t go anywhere if they do.

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It’s now 182 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

An English town has waived fines for bicyclists targeted by “cowboy” traffic wardens who wrote them up for breaking a nonexistent ban on biking through the city center.

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Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton takes a look at the new $11.2 million 1.4-mile Pacoima Wash multi-use path, expected to open this fall.

Santa Clarita has begun work on the new Bouquet Canyon shared-use pathway.

LAist offers a reminder that Caltrans needs your input on a proposed protected bike lane on PCH through Long Beach.

Long Beach hosts the city’s 12th Annual Kiddical Mass bike ride this Sunday.

 

State

No news is good news, right?

 

National

Yes, you can go bikepacking on an ebike.

Congress is considering the Domestic Bicycle Production Act, which would use a combination of tariffs and incentives to reshore American bike manufacturing.

Streetsblog says there’s a pedestrian death and injury crisis in New York City this year. Unlike Los Angeles, where there’s always a pedestrian death and injury crisis.

Tragic news from Michigan, where an 83-year old Florida man on a cross-country bike ride was killed when he was rear-ended by driver, who was allegedly distracted for some undisclosed reason.

 

International

Cycling Electric makes the case for why ebikes are the best vehicles for the environment.

Road.cc offers tips on how to avoid getting scammed buying a used bike on Facebook Marketplace.

Momentum recommends a new bike route that “glides along rainforests and epic beaches” on the west coast of Canada’s Vancouver Island.

A community group in Glasgow, Scotland has launched bikeshare service using refurbished bicycles, allowing anyone to rent a bike for free, or purchase one for whatever they can afford.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A Scottish man is marking his 90th birthday by taking part in a 460-mile fundraising ride.

Not all the news from Scotland is good, however, as a 17-year old boy faces a murder charge for killing another 17-year old boy as he rode an ebike.

Country star Blake Shelton is one of us, as he posts a picture of himself biking back to his hotel in Italy after drinking too much for his birthday.

An Aussie architecture site asks if ebikes and e-scooters could be the answer to the country’s affordable housing crisis, since removing a single car from a household could cover the full cost of a $300,000 mortgage.

 

Competitive Cycling

Road.cc takes a look at what all the best teams will be riding in the Tour de France this year.

The Visma-Lease a Bike cycling team unveiled their line-up for next month’s Tour de France, headlined by two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard and former points winner and three-time world champ Wout van Aert.

British two-time Olympic track champ Katie Archibald is out of next month’s Paris Games, after breaking her leg in two places tripping on a garden step.

A Palestinian paracycling team is working to keep the dream of competing in the Paris Paralympics alive for cyclists in Gaza.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a drivers prefer a genuine horse’s ass to a butt on a bike seat. And when your new e-foldie comes with a name that reminds you size doesn’t matter, except when it does.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Ill-advised bike ban on Palos Verdes Drive South as ground shifts, and more on drunken Texas hit-and-run mayhem

June 20, 2024 / / One comment
Just 195 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.

Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels. 

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No one ever accused Rancho Palos Verdes of displaying common sense.

As we mentioned last month, the wealthy enclave felt a need to address dangerous road conditions on Palos Verdes Drive South, caused by shifting of the bluff underlying it.

So naturally, they responded to the slick, cracking and crumbling roadway by banning all two-wheeled vehicles, primarily bicycles and motorcycles.

Never mind that it’s the people in the bigass cars, pickups and SUVs who cause the most damage. Or that’s it’s in direct violation with state law, which allows bicycles and motorcycles on any public roadway where motor vehicles are allowed, with the single exception of banning bicycles from some limited access highways that have alternate routes.

Oops.

While a bicycle can get its tires caught in cracks in the roadway, bike riders also have a greater ability to avoid obstacles than people in motor vehicles, which are much harder to stop or turn.

And it’s not the people on bicycles who risk causing further damage through their sheer weight.

Unfortunately, however, the only way to beat the new rule is to break it, get a ticket and fight it in court, which is a long, complicated and expensive process. And would probably require a good lawyer to make your case for you.

Let’s just hope the sheriff’s department, which is charged with policing the Palos Verdes Peninsula, has enough sense not to enforce it.

But based on previous experience with the LA County Sheriff’s limited grounding in bike law, I wouldn’t count on it.

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The seemingly road-raging Texas driver who was caught on video plowing into two bicyclists from behind on Monday, apparently on purpose, was captured when he was chased down by witnesses.

Thirty-one-year old Benjamin Hylander taken into custody on multiple charges including driving while intoxicated and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

He had a roadside BAC, or blood alcohol content, of .25 — over three times the legal limit.

Hylander reportedly insisted he had to talk to the victims to apologize after he was stopped. But he can be clearly seen driving over one of the victims to get away, as the man lay face down in the roadway following the initial impact.

Which doesn’t exactly bespeak regret for his actions.

Remarkably, neither victim was seriously injured.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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This is great news for anyone who doesn’t drive, for whatever reason, in a state where driving is considered the default mode.

………

Here’s your chance to do good as you eat good, as the Morrison on Los Feliz Blvd will donate $1 from the sale of each of their new Finish The Ride burger to Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, for the next three months.

………

It’s now 181 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

No bias here. A Thai website relates how a 71-year old amputee fatally stabbed a drunken 45-year old man who had repeatedly harassed him while the older man played chess with friends — yet they described the murder as a case of “cycling rage” just because of how the killer got back home afterwards.

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

A bike-riding vandal is accused of deliberately smashing the driver’s side mirrors on a dozen cars in Torrance as he rode by Monday night, for no apparent reason.

Fox News offers video of a crazed, road-raging New York man who threw his bikeshare bike in front of an SUV after arguing with the driver, before the other person drove over the bike’s front wheel and apparently went on with his day; the bicyclist calmly rode off after giving the SUV driver and other honking motorists the bird. Although there’s no mention of what the poor, tormented driver may have done to induce such anger — or that merely driving over the bicycle is a crime. 

A British bike rider has been fined the equivalent of $280 for blowing through a red light while a mother was pushing her child in a stroller, forcing them them to stop mid-step to avoid a crash — rising to a well-deserved $500 including court costs and fees. Seriously, it’s one thing to go through a light when there’s no one around. But don’t be an ass when others have the right-of-way. 

………

Local 

Santa Monic bike riders rode throughout the beachfront town to celebrate the Juneteenth holiday on Wednesday, in a ride sponsored by the Santa Monica Black Empowerment Association.

Add e-scooters to the list of things you’ll have to dodge on the beachfront bike path in Long Beach.

 

State

Add Costa Mesa to the ever-growing list of Orange County communities trying to crack down on ebikes.

No surprise here. After Palm Springs bicyclist Bond Shields penned a “Bicycling Manifesto” for the city — composed of common sense safety reforms — he passed it on to the city manager and a councilmember; only the latter promised to do anything, passing it on to the city’s Sustainability Commission, where it apparently died a quick, quiet death.

San Francisco’s transportation authority has voted to remove the contentious Valencia Street centerline bike lane, although work won’t begin on a curbside replacement until next year; some of the newly empowered local merchants don’t like the new bike lane plan, either.

 

National

Skip lengthy ebike recharging times by getting a hydrogen-powered bicycle that can refill in seconds. 

Streetsblog talks with Wes Marshall, author of Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies Our Transportation System, about the real reason traffic engineers design so many deadly roads.

Speaking of deadly roads, a bicyclist says he’s been failed by prosecutors in Goodyear, Arizona, after they declined to prosecute the truck driver who may have been Snapchatting when he slammed into a group ride last year, killing two people and injuring eleven others; a new video emerged showing the driver videochatting immediately after the crash, rather than calling 911.

Great idea. Now you can help support bicycling on the Navajo Nation by wearing — okay, buying — a new bike jersey sponsored by a nonprofit Gallup, New Mexico coffee shop, with over half of each sale helping to create cycling teams, bicycle classes and events for the Dine people.

 

International

Your next bike helmet could fold up like a paper fan.

A British man has completed his third bike ride around the world — or his 11th if you count motorcycles. Which makes you wonder how he’s had time for anything else. 

The nonprofit European Cyclists’ Federation honored the European Union; Ghent, Belgium; Bologna, Italy; Lyon, France; and Quelimane, Mozambique; for their efforts to support and encourage bicycling at their annual Velo-City conference.

More than 1,800 bicycles have been delivered to war-torn Ukrainian communities through the #BikesForUkraine initiative.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a weekly group ride makes Thursday the happiest night of the week. Or when you feel the need to paint the town red, in the shape of Wisconsin.

And someone has been watching me.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Multiple drivers accused of intentionally running down bike riders; Congress looks at why bigass vehicles are killing us

June 19, 2024 / / One comment
Just 196 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025..

………

Happy Juneteenth! 

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence. Even though the situation is getting better, I’m still ending my days exhausted after caring for my wife and the corgi, while still dealing with my own injuries.

And Tuesday night it just got the better of me. 

………

Apparently, they really are out to get us.

Video captured a truck driver appearing to intentionally run down pair of Texas bicyclists from behind, before fleeing the scene, running over one of the bikes — and possibly one of the victims — in the process. Thankfully, a still photo shows the driver being led away in handcuffs by police.

Thanks to TacoTheCat for the heads-up.

Meanwhile, a bike rider in Hamilton, Ontario is urging police to charge a road-raging driver who appeared to intentionally crash into him, breaking his pelvis; the driver conducted a punishment pass with his pickup and trailer, after approaching from behind honking and swearing — then swerved his trailer into the victim, knocking him off his bike. He later found video the driver allegedly posted online showing him following and swearing at other riders.

And police in the UK are looking for a driver who filmed himself deliberately running down an ebike rider before fleeing the scene, leaving the victim with serious, but not life threatening injuries.

………

About damn time.

Streetsblog is reporting that the Government Accountability Office, aka the investigative arm of Congress, has launched exactly that into the question of why today’s massive motor vehicles kill so many bicyclists and pedestrians.

Hey, it’s Congress. Nothing is obvious to them these days.

The ever-growing stain our national reputation is partially attributable to our ever-growing cars, trucks and SUVs, some experts argue. Between 1993 and 2023, the average vehicle on U.S. roads swelled by 1,000 pounds, while simultaneously getting four inches wider, 10 inches longer and eight inches taller — bloat that’s driven by the increasing sales of pick-up trucks and SUVs.

That’s enough to bring the hoods of America’s best-selling cars, like the Ford F-series pick-ups, up to chest level for many adults, all but guaranteeing crashes that cause to vital organs rather than the legs, which are more survivable. The swelling size of the U.S. fleet has also increased the size of blind zones so much that drivers often can’t even see long lines of children right in front of them, and made it far more likely for pedestrians to be pulled under the wheels rather than pushed up onto the hood, where they’re less likely to be killed.

Let’s hope they get to the bottom of it, and discover what’s behind this perplexing — to government officials, anyway — jump in traffic deaths.

And actually do something about it for a change.

………

The great bike helmet debate goes on, fueled by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s call to wear one following his bicycling crash, which somehow angered a lot of people.

However, it didn’t anger a bike-riding UK writer who insisted Ramsay was right, while expressing her astonishment at “reckless cyclists without helmets,” who she argues can be more threatening that people in cars.

No, really.

………

Streets For All says they’ll be at Sunday’s South LA CicLAvia, with a booth at the Exposition Blvd Hub. Which just happens to be located right next to the Expo/Western Metro Station on the E (nee Expo) Line.

………

It’s now 180 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Meanwhile, a whistleblower has filed complaints with the San Diego Association of Governments, aka SANDAG and the California Air Resources Board, aka CARB, alleging that the CEO of San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead faked data for the ebike distribution program and mixed the program with his private businesses.

Pedal Ahead is the organization that has been selected by CARB to operate California’s moribund ebike voucher program — which is now likely to be dead in the water until the state can claw back its funding, and find someone else to run the damn thing.

And a Mastodon user writes that demand is high for Atlanta’s ebike voucher program, with 1% of city residents applying. But says infrastructure has to catch up. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

………

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

This is what people who call for licensing bicyclists are really asking for. And why.

Residents of a wealthy Sydney, Australia suburb have filed a civil right complaint alleging that a proposed new bike lane somehow infringes on theirs.

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

Ventura police arrested a 13-year old boy accused of being just one of a number of “disruptive” teens on ebikes, who allegedly stomped a homeless woman, threw rocks at another woman, and spit on people they passed; however, the rest managed to get away.

………

Local 

Work has finally begun on the long-discussed and much needed makeover of Hollywood Blvd, with the first phase being implemented Gower Street and Lyman Place.

City, county and state leaders unveiled plans to improve LA’s massive Sepulveda Basin, including connecting already existing segments of the LA River bike path on either side of the park.

West Hollywood is cracking down on e-bikeshare and e-scooter users who violate the city’s rules.

The documentary about LA’s killer highway, 21 Miles in Malibu — which just happens to be the exact length of PCH through the coastal city — won three Silver Telly Awards at the prestigious 45th Annual Telly Awards; the film was produced by Michel Shane, whose 13-year old daughter was killed by a motorist on the highway in 2010.

Santa Monica police are conducting yet another bike and pedestrian safety operation, this time lasting this entire week, ticketing any traffic violations that could endanger either group, regardless of who commits them. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit for the rest of this week, so you’re not the one who gets written up.

 

State

Streetsblog’s Melanie Curry updates the progress of traffic safety bills in the state legislature, including a much-needed speed cam pilot program on PCH in Malibu (SB 1297), the ever-shrinking requirement for a warning device to notify drivers when they exceed the speed limit (SB 961) — which started out mandating speed limitation devices to keep drivers from going more than 10 mph over the speed limit — and a bill to redefine ebikes and require only EU or UL certified batteries (SB 1271). Although the latter bill would be a lot stronger if it simply reclassified all throttle-controlled ebikes as electric motorcycles. 

Palo Alto approved plans for protected bike lanes along El Camino Real, along with narrower traffic lanes and restrictions on right turns, overcoming months of opposition.

 

National

Once again, bike riders are heroes, after people participating in an ebike tour in Yavapai County, Arizona rescued a woman who had driven her car off a 20-foot embankment.

A Phoenix, Arizona man has been charged with 2nd degree murder for killing a bicyclist in a hit-and-run as he fled a domestic violence situation.

A boy in New Mexico got his custom lowrider bicycle back just in time for his 12th birthday, after it was stolen from a museum lowrider exhibit.

Convicted murderer Kaitlin Armstrong has been ordered to pay the family of her victim, gravel champ Moriah “Mo” Wilson, $15 million as judgment in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by her parents seeking a more modest $1 million; Armstrong murdered Wilson in Austin, Texas two years ago over a perceived love triangle with pro cyclist Colin Strickland. But good luck seeing any of the money while Armstrong serves her 90-year sentence — and won’t even be eligible for parole until she’s 67.

Chicago bike riders rejoiced as news broke that a driver had been towed for parking in a bike lane.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A retired Minnesota police chief was killed when he was run down by a semi driver while riding his bicycle; the truck driver doesn’t appear to have been charged.

Mauritanian refugees are fixing bicycles in an Ohio city while they wait to learn whether they will be allowed to stay in the US.

Tragic news from Pennsylvania, where a man was found dead after riding his bicycle into downed power lines on a trail.

Leaders of a Black church in DC are demanding changes to a new protected bike lane, alleging the bike lane barriers block access for older parishioners and members with disabilities.

 

International

An editor for Cyclist says stop complaining about the high cost of bicycles, even as the price for high-end ebikes continues to climb.

Momentum lists the world’s top ten bicycling destinations. None of which are Los Angeles. Or in the US, even. 

That’s more like it. Toronto has a page on the city website explaining why licensing bicyclists doesn’t work.

That’s more like it, part two. The city council in Colchester, England has ordered traffic officers to stop ticketing people riding bikes through the city center, after they were accused of running amok by threatening to fine people who were actually riding legally.

A BBC presenter settled a defamation case filed by broadcaster and cycling advocate Jeremy Vine for the equivalent of over $95,000 for calling Vine a “big bike nonce” and a “paedo defender.”

The New York Times goes for a bike ride along France’s three-century old The Canal du Midi through the scenic Occitanie region.

 

Competitive Cycling

Outside examines how Durango, Colorado’s Sepp Kuss became cycling’s “chillest champion.”

 

Finally…

Los Angeles can take pride in being America’s 5th best city to bike in the nude. And the next time someone complains that no one is using the new bike lanes, show them this.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Nonprofit overseeing CA ebike voucher program under investigation, and Gordon Ramsay says “wear your helmet”

June 17, 2024 / / One comment
Just 198 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.

Image by Maxfoot from Pixabay.

………

And that, my friends, is when it all went to hell.

As you may know, we’ve been tracking the moribund California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which has now reached 178 days since we were promised it would open in fall of last year.

Spoiler alert — it didn’t.

It’s also a full three years since the plan was approved by the state legislature and signed into law by the governor. And counting.

And just two weeks before they’re guaranteed to miss the most recent promised launch date in the second quarter of this year, which has now been pushed back to sometime this summer.

They’re not likely to meet that one, either.

Because the program charged with operating the California ebike incentive program, San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead, could end up facing charges themselves.

In fact, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Pedal Ahead is currently facing not one, not two, but three ongoing investigations. (Although the paper’s newly even more draconian paywall means you’ll have to register with your email if you want to read it.)

It’s a confusing and convoluted story. But the gist of it is that Pedal Ahead is accused of being delinquent in filing the required paperwork with various government agencies, leading to investigations by San Diego County, the California Air Resources Board, and the California Department of Justice.

Yet somehow, they’re supposed to handle the increasingly complicated statewide program, which has now been funded with a still-too-small $31 million to distribute, even though that’s up from the initial $10 million fund, which was reduced to just $7.5 million after overhead.

And even though they’ve been removed as operators of the low-income ebike loan-to-own program launched by the San Diego Association of Governments two years ago.

Yet it was that “expertise” that formed the basis of their selection to operate the statewide program.

But at least that part of the story is clear.

It gets more confusing when the paper tries to explain the numerous nonprofit and for-profit companies opened by Pedal Ahead chief executive Edward Clancy in recent years, many with nearly identical names.

And many, if not most, of which either ran into problems, or apparently never got beyond the naming stage.

Then there’s the fact that Clancy wore a wire for the FBI’s probe into illegal campaign financing involving his former boss and a Mexican businessman, while skating on any possible charges himself.

Clancy was appointed as “bike czar” by former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, who resigned under a torrent of sexual misconduct accusations after less than a year in office.

According to the Union-Tribune,

Clancy was later reported to have been a confidential informant in an unrelated federal investigation into illegal campaign financing in San Diego County.

The Union-Tribune reported in 2014 that he wore a wire for the FBI, recording conversations with three people who were later charged with coordinating $500,000 in donations from Mexican businessman Jose Susumo Azano Matsura to Filner, then-District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and two Democratic political committees.

Clancy, who received qualified immunity from federal prosecutors and was never himself charged with any wrongdoing, maintained his political connections after he stopped consulting.

No problem, then.

It’s long past time that the state legislature conducted an open, public hearing into the problems with the state ebike incentive program that have led to its ongoing failure to launch, despite the clear intent of our elected leaders.

And shine a much-needed light on a program that has been utterly opaque up to this point.

Because something tells me what we’ve learned today is just the tip of an iceberg big enough to sink the Titanic all over again.

Thanks to Oceanside bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette for the heads-up. 

………

The common theme over the weekend, the one that sucked the air out of the news headlines, is Gordon’s Ramsay’s advice to wear your bike helmet.

Yes, the lovably irascible chef is one of us. Although “lovably” kind of depends on your perspective.

Ramsay revealed in a Father’s Day greeting that he had been the victim of a bad bicycling crash in Connecticut recently, lifting his traditional chef’s jacket to reveal a badly bruised torso. And crediting his shattered helmet and “those incredible trauma surgeons, doctors, nurses in the hospitals” that looked after him with saving his life.

Meanwhile, a writer for the Christian Science Monitor also says wear a helmet, and put front, and especially, rear lights on your bike, offering his own hard-won experience in Long Beach as proof.

Although he misses the mark in calling out bicyclists for riding “two, three or even four abreast.” forcing drivers to “swerve completely into the incoming traffic lane.”

Never mind that riding abreast helps prevent unsafe passing, and using the next lane to go around them is exactly what drivers are supposed to do.

Then again, even Dutch officials are calling for the country’s largely helmet averse population to change “because the brain is very vulnerable.”

………

Nothing like have your bike stolen right in front of you on a Metro platform in broad daylight, as passengers look on.

………

It’s not every day you actually see a positive report about new bike lanes on the local news.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdK5c-i6HDs

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

………

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

No bias here. A writer for an off-road racing website blames a group of Atlanta bike riders for complaining when a cop ignored the speeding BMW driver who zoomed around them on the wrong side of the road, only to lecture them for some undisclosed reason. “We’ve all encountered entitled, difficult cyclists before,” he writes. “Maybe they’re riding three or four abreast, not letting cars get by, and acting aggressive towards any driver who does try to pass.”

A UK paper complains about the mythical war on cars over plans to fine drivers who step out into London bike lanes, as if the real problem is the penalty, and not the reason for it.

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

Bavarian police observed over 11,500 bicycling infractions over a one-month period of heightened enforcement.

………

Local 

Discover Los Angeles reminds us about this Sunday’s CicLAvia on Western Ave in South LA.

Here’s your chance to tell Glendale you want a permanent calmer, safer North Brand Boulevard, after the city’s successful pilot project.

Pasadena is implementing a quick build safety improvement program on Allen Ave between Colorado Blvd and Villa Street, offering enhanced crosswalks, curb extensions and new bicycle lanes.

Active SGV offers a recap on the recent Active Streets: Mission to Mission, including an appearance by the inimitable Gabe the Sasquatch.

Malibu releases details on the upcoming safety improvements on deadly PCH. All of which only offer a downpayment on what the killer highway really needs. 

 

State

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, says three speeding bills they support are moving forward in the state legislature, including bills to allow speed cams on PCH in Malibu, and increase penalties for speeding on highways.

Motor vehicle speeds aren’t the only concern for state legislators, however, as AB 1774 would prohibit the sale of any product or device that can modify the speed of an ebike.

The California Building Standards Commission wants your input to shape bike parking standards in the new state building code.

Just days after the heartbreaking death of a 17-year old San Diego boy killed by an Amtrak train while riding his bike across the tracks, comes news that California is the deadliest state for train collisions, with 38 fatal crashes last year, compared to just 21 in Florida, the next highest state.

The Orange County Power Authority is launching its own ebike voucher program, offering up to $1,500 for income-qualified buyers.

Beach cities aren’t the only ones freaking out about ebike safety, as cities in California’s Inland Empire attempt to rein in teenagers on electric bicycles. Although they often conflate ebikes and e-motorbikes.

The latest proposal to replace San Francisco’s widely loathed Valencia Street center-running bike lane would create a slalom course as the bike lane swerves around restaurant parklets.

 

National

A writer for Bike Magazine pens a Father’s Day ode to his favorite riding companion, and the man who gave him everything.

Despite the best efforts of rightwing culture warriors, the World Naked Bike Ride returned to Mad City, Wisconsin on Saturday.

There’s not a pit deep enough for the schmuck who stole an 11-year old boy’s lowrider bike he’d customized himself from a New Mexico museum display.

Hundreds of teenaged bike riders gathered in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley to call for nationwide bike safety improvements at the 10th annual national Youth Bike Summit.

In news that should surprise absolutely no one — but probably will — a new study from New Jersey’s Rutger’s University shows bike lanes calm roadways, improving safety for everyone.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever rode off after stealing a collection jar raising funds for a premature Florida baby.

 

International

The mayor of Quebec City offers a master class in how to respond to accusations that bicyclists don’t pay for the services we receive. Although you’ll need to read the subtitles if you don’t understand French. Thanks again to Megan Lynch. 

A neighborhood in Birmingham, England is now offering an e-cargo bikeshare service to help cut pollution.

The UK’s best bicycle-friendly homes, starting at just £225,000 — the equivalent of a little over $285,000. I’ll send y’all a postcard once I get settled.

 

Competitive Cycling

That’s Sir Mark Cavendish to you, now.

Twenty-year old Norwegian pro Johannes Kulset is demanding an apology from cycling’s governing body after he was banned from the Tour of Slovenia for using the ‘super tuck’ position, denying he used his chest or forearms for support.

A pair of best buds are hoping to set a new record for the fastest duo to cross the Atlantic City finish line for the Race Across America, aka RAAM.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can own your very own Van Gogh bike. Ranking the Euro 2024 soccer teams based on how bike-friendly their cities are.

And there’s actually nothing funny about using laughing gas behind the wheel.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Update: 17-year old boy killed by San Diego Amtrak train after riding around crossing gates; 2nd SoCal bike death Friday

June 15, 2024 / / Comments Off on Update: 17-year old boy killed by San Diego Amtrak train after riding around crossing gates; 2nd SoCal bike death Friday

Sadly, there was more bad news for the Southern California bicycling community on Friday.

According to multiple reports, a 17-year old boy was killed when he was struck by an Amtrak train in San Diego’s University City neighborhood early Friday afternoon.

The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was crossing the railroad tracks on Sorrento Valley Blvd, between Sorrento Valley Road and Roselle Street, when he was hit by the southbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner at 12:34 pm.

He died at the scene.

The victim was one of three boys who stopped their bikes at the railroad crossing gates to wait for a northbound train to pass. But as so often happens, he rode around the gates after that train had passed, not realizing another train was coming in the opposite direction.

Tragically, Fox5 reports that the victim’s parents arrived shortly after the crash, while officials were still removing his mangled bike from the tracks.

The other two boys were not injured. It’s not clear if they were riding with the victim, or just happened to stop together at the gates.

This is yet another tragic reminder to always wait until the gates go up to cross any rail tracks, regardless of whether it seems safe at the time.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Sheriff’s Department’s non-emergency line at 858/565-5200.

This is at least the 24th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in San Diego County.

Update: The victim has been identified 17-year old Alex Segal. He was a student at Torrey Pines High School in the Del Mar Heights neighborhood, and a member of the junior varsity soccer team.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Alex Segal and all his family and loved ones.

Thanks to Phillip Young for the heads-up. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , , ,
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