A call to remove the Marina Freeway, why more people don’t ride bikes in LA, and car-ticklers don’t protect a damn thing

August 21, 2023 / / Comments Off on A call to remove the Marina Freeway, why more people don’t ride bikes in LA, and car-ticklers don’t protect a damn thing

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

After surviving through hours of pouring rain, I lost my internet connection just as the storm was letting up — and just as I was about to put Monday’s post online. 

Then waited nearly 19 hours to get it back again. 

So here’s the post you were supposed to get yesterday. We’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on Monday’s news after I have a chance to catch up myself. 

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I hope everyone came through this weekend’s hurriquake in one piece. 

If you’re riding anywhere in Southern California today, try to avoid going through any standing water. 

As much fun as it might be to relive your splash-filled youth by riding through puddles, there’s usually no way to know how deep it is, or what may be hidden underneath. 

The result could be anything from a broken wheel to a broken collarbone. So it’s just not worth the risk. 

Image from From Streets For All/SWA Group.

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Urbanize examines the call from Streets For All and landscape architecture firm SWA Group to remove the underused Marina Freeway stub, and replace it with a linear park.

The concept unveiled yesterday, dubbed Marina Central Park, calls for converting the roughly 128-acre right-of-way lined with nearly 4,000 new homes, as well as roadway with space for vehicles, bus rapid transit, and bikeways. Renderings show low-rise structures located throughout the park, standing five stories in height with commercial uses located at the first floor.

Likewise, the proposal calls for reconnecting the freeway corridor surrounding ecological resources such as the Ballona Wetlands and Centinela Creek, which is shown with new terrace decks lining the concrete channel.

It’s worth considering, even if the prospect of removing a freeway —even one as useless as the Marina Freeway — in car-addled LA seems unlikely, at best.

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According to Joni Yung, aka ayogist, if you want to know why more people don’t bike in the LA area, consider the quality of our roads.

Or the lack thereof.

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This is why LADOT’s favorite form of bike lane “protection” doesn’t protect a damn thing.

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The East Side Riders Bike Club forwards news of Saturday’s Non-Profit Day in Watts.

Hope in the Community! / Esperanza en la Comunidad!

Watts Non-Profit Day!

This Saturday August 26th

10:00am-3:00pm

Watts Civic Center

1513 E. 103rd St, Los Angeles, 90002

It’s an opportunity for everyone to come together and celebrate our triumphs in our amazing City!

Non-Profit Day with East Side Riders Bike Club is not just a one-time event, it’s a steppingstone toward lasting Community Transformation, Empowerment, and Unity. The purpose of the day is to bring all non-profits in Watts and surrounding areas together so we can get to know one another, showcase their work to the community and bring Government Departments together so non-profits can interact and learn from their local government on policies and procedures. It’s a STEPPINGSTONE toward lasting community transformation.

As the organization’s email says, they’re more than just a bike club.

A lot more.

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Once again, a someone riding a bike was a hero, and a bicycle was the difference between life and death in an emergency, as a man in Maui borrowed a bike to get past a long line of stalled traffic and warn his grandmother in time to escape the flames of the Lahaina fire.

Meanwhile, a Kona bike shop owner is collecting “gently used” bikes to donate to victims of the Lahaina fire to meet their needs for transportation and recreation.

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Today’s best story comes from the UK, where an English man sold his bikes to pay for an operation for his dog.

When his dog, named for the bikewear brand Rapha, needed a lifesaving operation costing over $7,600, he put his four bicycles up for sale to pay for it.

So he was surprised when one of the buyers turned out to be a friend of his, who gave the bike back to him.

And when word got out about what he’d done, a local bike shop gave him another bike so he could keep riding.

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The recent world championships in Glasgow included competition in cycle-ball.

Seriously, raise your hand if you even knew that was a thing.

 

And don’t watch the next two videos if you want to remain proud of your ability to track stand or bunny hop.

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Alpha Romeo F1 driver Valtteri Bottas is one of us, competing in a Colorado hillclimb dressed as Duffman, the iconic Duff Beer mascot from the Simpsons.

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

A Utah columnist says the local government tries to appease bike haters by randomly chip sealing the most popular riding routes, even if it forced them to repaint all the bike lanes. With tongue firmly in cheek, I hope.

No bias here. An Irish paper asks why Mike van Erp, aka Cycling Mikey, is Britain’s most hated bicyclist, just because he films drivers breaking the law.

A New Zealand paper says “bike lane bullies” are putting bike riders at risk, with road raging repeat offenders and bike lane-encroaching drivers needlessly increasing the danger for people on bikes.

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

A 40-year old man has been arrested for a string of sexual assaults in San Mateo County, accused of riding his mountain bike on local trails and assaulting women as he rode by.

There’s a special place in hell for the Portland man who allowed his dog to attack a beloved 17-year old cat outside its owner’s home, then stomped on the wounded animal and rode his bike over it to finish it off, before riding off with the cat’s lifeless body.

Police in New York are looking for the couple who attacked a pair of Orthodox Jews when a woman passenger on a bikeshare bike slapped a man on the back of the head as they rode by, then attacked an Orthodox woman; another Orthodox man was attacked when a man got off his e-scooter to knock the victim’s yarmulke off his head.

North Carolina cops are looking for the spandex-clad bike rider who tried to kick over a political sign saying “Trump won,” before returning at night to set the sign on fire.

British bike riders competing in a wildcat race — aka “thugs” in tabloid parlance — were accused of plowing into an elderly woman and a tourist, and nearly striking a little boy, although only the latter can be seen on video.

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Local 

Long Beach wants to know how you use bikeshare and dockless e-scooter programs in the city.

Sixty-four-year old former Bell police chief Andreas Probst was killed while riding his bike near his northwest Las Vegas home last Monday when he was struck by an alleged speeding, underaged driver; his daughter learned about the crash through a notification from Probst’s Apple Watch moments after it happened.

 

State

Police in La Mesa are looking for the hit-and-run driver who seriously injured a 51-year old man riding a bicycle on Wednesday; the driver of the pickup is described as a Hispanic male in a white T-shirt, black shorts and white shoes.

Good question. The San Francisco Standard wants to know why you can’t ride your bike across the Bay Bridge, with bike riders currently required to turn around halfway.

Megan Lynch forwards word that UC Davis is now offering accessible bikeshare, although with no recumbents or trikes, it may not be accessible for everyone.

 

National

The maker of a cargo bike designed to transport kids saw a big jump in sales after a successful 2021 Shark Tank appearance, although they faced a recent recall for exceeding federal lead paint guidelines.

A writer for Electrek argues that we need more kids on e-balance bikes, not fewer, even though The New York Times calls them motorcycles for kids.

After biking 3,000 miles across the US, a German man is now attempting to run all the way back, running more than a marathon distance every day.

The Cherokee Nation is accepting applications for next year’s Remember the Removal Bike Ride, which retraces the northern route of the Trail of Tears through seven states over a span of three weeks and 950 miles; applicants must be between 16 and 24 years old, and members of the Cherokee Nation.

A Chicago man is riding across the city bearing signs calling for 10% of the city’s streets to have bike lanes, instead of the current 2%.

Minneapolis-based All-City Cycles is on the way out, after its parent company announced the bikemaker won’t be releasing any new models after next year, despite its cult-like following.

In what may be a dangerous prank gone wrong, a Buffalo, New York man faces up to 25 years behind bars for fatally shooting a 38-year old man riding a bike with a BB gun.

New York’s recent Vision Zero progress has come completely undone this year, as the city sees its deadliest year for bike riders in decades, and with no one but the victims paying the price.

A 28-year old Philadelphia man faces life behind bars after he was convicted of the fatal driveby shooting of a 67-year old man riding a bike in Camden, New Jersey.

 

International

A Whistler, British Columbia pro mountain biker returned home to conduct her own anti-racism mountain biking clinics, teaching bike riders to be not only better mountain bikers, but better humans, as well.

Life is cheap in Ontario, Canada, where a 22-year old man will spend six years behind bars for killing two First Nation’s women out for an early morning bike ride, while driving under the influence.

Fed up with drivers blocking bike lanes, a Toronto bike advocate is dressing up as a World Cup referee and handing out yellow cards to offending motorists.

A Glasgow university professor has created a music map of the city to encourage people to ride their bikes or walk between music venues.

The British manufacturer of a new anti-theft smart bike light claims it’s more secure than most relationships. Which is probably true, sadly.

Bundesliga star Kevin Behrens is one of us, as the German soccer player rode his bike home after scoring a hat trick in a recent game.

A young man from Malta rode his bike over 2,700 miles from the Mediterranean island through Europe, traveling from the boot of Italy through Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark and Sweden, while carrying just his tent, sleeping bag, four changes of clothes and a phone charger.

An Indian paper says bike riders struggle for space on the roads in Chennai at the risk to their own safety, as the city of nearly 12 million has lost its love for bikes over the past 90 years.

A Nigerian man rode his bicycle for 15 days and 500 miles just to meet afrobeats star Davido in Lagos.

That’s more like it. Motorcyclists in the Philippines will face arrest if they continue to use a bike lane on a major roadway, although the fine converts to less than $18.

 

Competitive Cycling

Newly crowned world road champ Mathieu van der Poel may extend his WorldTour season to train for mountain biking.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the highly touted new bike route just leads to a pair of locked gates. When you’re trying to escape from the cops, try not to ride your bike into a stopped police van.

And now you, too, can own a bicycle custom made for the legendary Fausto Coppi, for the low, low price of nearly $132,000.

So who wants to start a crowdfunding campaign so I can buy it?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

CicLAvia throws a hurricane party Sunday, and Finish the Ride calls for support for South Pasadena pilot bike lane

August 18, 2023 / / Comments Off on CicLAvia throws a hurricane party Sunday, and Finish the Ride calls for support for South Pasadena pilot bike lane

Let’s start with a correction.

I don’t know what the hell I was thinking yesterday when I said CicLAvia comes back to Hollywood and Koreatown a week from Sunday.

It’s this Sunday, of course.

The Koreatown Meets Hollywood CicLAvia follows a portion of the route first explored in the epic DTLA to Hollywood CicLAvia celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the LA Symphony four years ago.

Maybe someone should buy me a calendar. Or better yet, teach me how to use one.

Thanks to Joe Linton for the correction. 

Update: Sunday’s CicLAvia has been canceled due to the hurricane.

Twitter post

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It looks like we’re going to luck out, and get Sunday’s CicLAvia in before Los Angeles gets hit with the remnants of the Cat 4 Hurricane Hillary now moving through the Pacific.

According to the National Weather Service, the storm should roll in late Sunday, bringing possible rain and thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday.

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We don’t get a lot of hurricanes here in Los Angeles; news reports yesterday said this would be just the third one in LA history.

However, the tradition in Louisiana is to throw a raging hurricane party when a hurricane approaches, because as Jimmy Buffet put it, if you’re going to get blown away, you might as well get blown away.

And as it just so happens, we have a party already scheduled for Hollywood and Koreatown on Sunday before it gets here.

You know what to do.

Let’s all turn out, and make this one a CicLAvia for the ages.

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Finish the Ride is calling for your support for a pilot bike lane in South Pasadena, in the face of the seemingly inevitable NIMBY opposition.

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Speaking of Finish the Ride, the group is gearing up for their annual Halloween event in Santa Clarita in just over two months.

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Bike Walk Glendale is hosting a walk through the city tomorrow, followed by an advocacy workshop on Wednesday.

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Gravel Bike California celebrates the annual Tour de Big Bear, calling it “perfectly timed and extremely well-organized” and complementing “a fantastic course which is hard to imagine being so close to LA.”

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More proof that a bike is your best way to get around before, during or after a disaster.

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The Bike League is less than $26,000 away from their relatively modest $50,000 fundraising goal, which will turn into a cool hundred grand if they make it.

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

No bias here. A writer for Britain’s conservative The Spectator warns about the dangers of cargo bikes, calling them hell for motorists “piloted either by smug yet very stressed parents or by delivery hipsters with ironic facial hair, retro clothing, flexible sexuality and a heavily-worn social conscience.” And yes, he claims to be a bike rider himself — a “member of the Lycra lancers” — which is always a red flag. 

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

A North Carolina bike rider had to be airlifted to a hospital after colliding with another bike rider traveling in the same direction, knocking each other out.

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Local 

A British expat living in LA’s Westchester neighborhood takes a century ride to get some fish and chips in Port Hueneme.

The Greening America’s Cities initiative of the Bezos Earth Fund will address heat-related social inequity in the LA area by providing $3.5 million to fund a greenbelt and a biking and walking path along the Pacoima Wash, replacing the existing concrete embankment with a less heat-absorbent surface.

 

State

A guest commentary from Cal Matters refutes the argument that adding speed cams to California cities will target people of color, but will protect them, instead.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department says thieves are targeting ebikes in North County cities, as riders run into Target or Walmart stores without locking their bikes. Which is yet another reminder to always lock your bike everywhere, unless you take it with you.

A 51-year old bike rider suffered serious, but non-life threatening, injuries when they were struck by a hit-and-run driver in La Mesa, who got out of his pickup following the crash, but drove away before police arrived.

Bad news from Fresno, where a 50-year old man was critically injured when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike in a crosswalk, reportedly against the light. As always, who was actually at fault depends on whether there were any independent witnesses who saw the crash, other than the driver who hit him.

Oakland underground cartoonist and muralist Fred Noland is one of us, as the Black artist prepares to release a 250-page biographical comic about the legendary Major Taylor.

More bad news, this time from Sacramento, where a man riding a bike was killed by a hit-and-run driver early Thursday morning.

 

National

Legendary union leader and American socialist Eugene Debs was one of us. Because of course he was.

Outside offers advice on how to avoid being taken in by greenwashing.

Sports Illustrated rates the best rear racks for every kind of bike.

Seattle readers report having a love/fear relationship with biking in the city. Which pretty much goes for bike riders anywhere in America.

Trek donated a quarter of a million dollars to restart expansion plans for a bike park in Idaho Springs, west of Denver.

An inspector with a Connecticut state attorney’s office — the equivalent of a district attorney — faces charges for hitting a 17-year old bike rider after failing to come to a full stop at a red light, and leaving the scene afterwards — twice.

Life is cheap in Staten Island, where a 35-year old woman walked without a day behind bars for killing a 52-year old man riding a bicycle, despite originally being charged with criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault.

Streetsblog complains there’s too much green on Brooklyn greenways, as the New York borough neglects overgrown weeds lining the bike paths.

New York is banning ebikes and scooters that haven’t been certified for safety starting next month, in the wake of a rash of deadly ebike battery fires.

A Florida state trooper explains who has the right-of-way when a driver is making a right turn across a bike lane and a bike rider is going straight. And surprisingly, gets it right.

 

International

Momentum considers the best cities around the world to fall in love with bicycling all over again. None of which is Los Angeles. Or anywhere else in Southern California, for that matter.

Road.cc offers “essential” money-saving tips to keep riding without breaking the bank.

Following the lead of competitive cycling, the world’s top chess federation has ruled that trans women can’t compete in women’s chess events, apparently concluding that their birth sex somehow gives them a unfair advantage in the Sicilian Defense.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 80-year old Winnipeg, Manitoba man rode his bike over 1,800 miles to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees.

In a pleasant change, a spokesperson for a British bicycling group says Belfast, Northern Ireland, businesses are firmly behind calls for less car parking and more emphasis on active travel.

An Irish columnist says the country’s police and Road Safety Authority don’t have the resources to keep bicyclists safe.

Cyclist takes a rare route up France’s legendary Mont Ventoux.

In what could be an intriguing matchup, the electric scooter unit of British Formula One engineering and technology firm McLaren Applied is reportedly in advanced talks to buy bankrupt Dutch ebike maker VanMoof.

China Daily reports the bike business is booming in the Middle Kingdom.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo says this could be the best start list ever for the Vuelta, with the reigning champs of all three grand tours set to clash at the Spanish grand tour.

The one-day Maryland Cycling Classic is now America’s top race, with a “star-studded preliminary roster” featuring leading American cyclists and Tour de France stage winners.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a paracycling champ without arms wins a pair of high-end watches. Or when you lose your KOM — or QOM — to a Dutch cycling champ.

And why that bike crash was definitely your fault.

No matter how it happened.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Fountain & SaMo bike lanes back in WeHo, K’town to H’wood CicLAvia, and new Adventure Cycling LA short routes

August 17, 2023 / / 2 comments

There may be hope yet in WeHo.

Nine months after proposals for new and enhanced bike lanes on Fountain Ave and Santa Monica Blvd were nearly derailed over concerns about increased traffic and lost parking spaces, WeHoVille reports they will be back before the West Hollywood city council next week.

According to the paper, the Fountain Ave proposal is planned for two phases.

The first phase of the study, known as Phase 1 PS&E (Planning, Specifications, and Estimates), focuses on the design of protected bike lanes, with specific plans to reduce travel lanes from four to two and remove approximately 150 on-street parking spaces on the north side of Fountain Avenue. This phase includes an 11-month timeline, with an expected conclusion in July 2024. The construction phase is anticipated to begin in early 2025, taking another 4-6 months. The preliminary construction cost for Phase 1 is estimated to be between $5 million and $10 million…

As the study progresses to Phase 2, the focus shifts to the permanent installation of protected bike lanes and the redesign of sidewalks along Fountain Avenue. The timeline for Phase 2 spans 16 months, starting in January 2024, with potential construction beginning in Q1 or Q2 of 2026. The construction of Phase 2 is estimated to be between $30 million and $35 million.

Meanwhile, the council directed the city to study the feasibility of upgrading the existing painted bike lanes on the western portion of Santa Monica Blvd to protected bike lanes.

City staff were also told to conduct a block-by-block analysis of the feasibility of installing painted bike lanes on the narrower eastern segment of the boulevard, which would likely involve narrowing traffic lanes and the removal of parking spaces.

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CicLAvia comes back to Hollywood and Koreatown this Sunday with a return of the Koreatown Meets Hollywood route, first explored in the epic DTLA to Hollywood route celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the LA Symphony four years ago.

According to a press release from CicLAvia,

On Sunday, August 20; between 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., CicLAvia – Koreatown meets Hollywood, presented by Metro, and in partnership with LADOT, welcomes everyone of all ages and abilities to its 47th car-free open streets event connecting Hollywood and Koreatown along Vine St, Melrose Ave, Western Ave, and Wilshire Blvd, for participants to jog, ride, bike, skate, run, walk, skateboard, spectate, play, to enjoy the 5-mile route. Always free, CicLAvia participants just show up anywhere along the route at any time to enjoy the open streets and to take the time to explore two of L.A.’s iconic communities. Participants are encouraged to take Metro.

There are many local gems, activities, and businesses to check out near and along the route – discover them through CicLAvia’s new Interactive Digital Map. Hubs have family-friendly activities, restrooms, free water refilling stations, free basic bike repair, bike parking, and first aid. In addition, free pedicab rides, sponsored by AARP, are available at each information booth. Activities along the route can be found here.

A press conference kicking off the event will be held starting at 8:30 am on Sunday, August 20th, at 1750 Vine Street, at the Hollywood Hub next to Capitol Records.

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Adventure Cycling announced the launch of their Short Routes Program, featuring shorter bike touring routes designed to break down barriers accessibility and make bike travel more approachable, regardless of experience level or how much time someone has available.

The program launches with routes starting from Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Austin and Seattle.

Anyone can submit a route in the US that a beginner can bike in two to five days, with approximately 20-50 miles of riding each day.

According to the group, there are three short routes currently available in the Los Angeles area:

Carpinteria to Refugio

Created by tour leader, Johnny Lam, this route has camping available at both ends, in Carpinteria — where riders can easily get to by Amtrak or car with many amenities including a great coffee shop and various restaurants — and Refugio, where the hiker biker site is given the best plot of land looking over a beach and the Pacific Ocean.

LA to Catalina Island

Created by local transportation planner Danielle Parnes, this is a fun bikepacking trip full of beautiful beaches, mountains, and wildlife. It’s relatively easy to get to from L.A. via a ferry departing near Long Beach but feels like a faraway destination. Campsites on this route are only accessible by hiking or biking, making for calm, quiet evenings, and the dirt roads have few cars.

Santa Monicas Overnight

Also created by Danielle Parnes, the Santa Monicas Overnight route leaves from West LA and goes up fire roads into the Santa Monica Mountains, camping in Topanga State Park, and then down to the beach, with a mix of city, desert mountains, and ocean views and swims. This route starts and ends at Expo line light rail stations in West LA, for easy access from downtown or other parts of the city.

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Streets For All announced a call to remove the three-mile 90 Freeway in Marina del Rey, converting the remaining stub of the otherwise unbuilt highway into a linear park.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1691892199338951011

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Good point.

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Remember these tables from a tweet by traffic planner and co-host of The Planning Commission Podcast Don Kostelec the next time someone complains about the great ebike menace.

And remind them what the real danger is.

 

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Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić one of us, riding his bike to a horse track in his native Serbia.

https://twitter.com/nuggets/status/1691492802235133952

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

A British news producer was slammed for comments comparing 20 mph speed limits for motorists to bicyclists using training wheels, while sarcastically suggesting that maybe cars should have giant beanbags attached to them, as well. Actually, I might be in favor of that one.

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

A man carrying a cross somehow managed to ride his bicycle through burned-out Lahaina, Hawaii, despite being closed to the public after the town was destroyed by a wildfire last week.

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Local 

An op-ed from Streets For All founder Michael Schneider calls for banning cars from streets around schools, which would greatly improve safety for kids, and everyone else.

The Los Angeles Times considers the benefits and challenges of living carfree in the City of Cars, uh, Angels.

The Eastsider reports a final design has been chosen for the 12-acre Paseo del Rio greenway being created on the former Taylor Yard railroad property next to the LA River.

 

State

Sad news from Ridgecrest, where a 48-year old man was killed when he apparently struck the center median with his ebike; police suspect he was riding under the influence.

This is who we share the road with. A 71-year old woman was arrested for vehicular manslaughter and failing to yield to pedestrians after killing a four-year old girl crossing a San Francisco street with her parents, and critically injuring her father. But at least she stayed at the scene, so there’s that.

The partner of fallen San Francisco cyclist David Sexton is still looking for answers, over a month after he was killed in a hit-and-run crash in the East Bay city of Richmond. A tragic reminder that most California hit-and-runs are never solved. 

This is the cost of traffic violence. According to the LA Times, 20 bears have been killed by motorists in Lake Tahoe, and nearly as many seriously injured.

 

National

NACTO calls out six things to look for in the forthcoming revision of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, aka MUTCD, which sets the standard for traffic control laws and devices in the US, including elimination of the deadly 85th Percentile Rule.

The bike industry is rallying around a pair of bike shops destroyed in the Lahaina wildfire.

An Albuquerque NM man faces a murder charge for allegedly stabbing another man 15 times in a dispute over a stolen bike.

My Colorado hometown newspaper examines the causes of bike and pedestrian crashes in the platinum level bicycle-friendly community, as bicycling collisions trend downward, but remain the most common crashes affecting vulnerable road users — including another one injured by an SUV driver just two days ago.

No surprise here, as the website for Colorado’s new ebike rebate program crashed due to overwhelming demand. Meanwhile, California’s program still suffers from failure to launch.

Four years after Cape Cod voters rejected plans to extend a 25.5-mile bikeway, there are still no options to replace the proposal.

Bizarre tragedy in Mississippi, where a 64-year old man was killed when a trailer being towed by a pickup broke loose and fell off an Interstate Highway flyover, striking the man as he rode his bike on the shoulder of a another freeway down below.

De Soto County in central Florida is the deadliest county for bicyclists in the nation’s deadliest state.

 

International

Ouch. A new international report finds that senior leadership within the bike industry remains overwhelmingly white, male and heterosexual, and that efforts towards equality, diversity and inclusion were described as “tokenistic and shallow” at best, while revealing “cultures of harassment and unfair treatment.”

A Scottish man is called the “unluckiest cyclist in Scotland” when he was run down by a driver for the third time in two years, but at least this driver stopped, unlike the first two. Although considering he survived all three, I’d call him pretty damn lucky.

Missing Iranian cyclist Mohammad Ganjkhanlou has reportedly been granted asylum in the UK, a week after he disappeared following the world championships, where he placed 66th in the time trial.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly examines the nascent National Cycling League, and says there may be hope for its fan-first format.

I want to be like them when I grow up. A pair of 81 and 79-year old men will complete in Maine’s Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb, 50 years after competing in the inaugural race up the tallest mountain in the Northwest. Meanwhile, a man who’s suffered from Parkinson’s disease for nearly five decades will once again compete in the annual race, after finishing the difficult climb in just under one hour and twelve minutes last year.

Former Syracuse basketball player Terrence Roberts suffered three broken ribs and a collapsed lung after crashing with another bicyclist on a June training ride, just three days after the 6’10” former forward completed in his first crit with LA’s Major Motion Cycling team.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the 122-year old, first-ever motorized bicycle prototype goes on display, even if it is a replica. How to tell when a roadie rides a mountain bike.

And how cars took over American streets, explained.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Bike lanes as next big US infrastructure program, why we love cars more than children, and banning GOP reps from bikes

August 16, 2023 / / Comments Off on Bike lanes as next big US infrastructure program, why we love cars more than children, and banning GOP reps from bikes

My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

As of this week, I’m now on insulin four times a day, and riding a wild blood sugar rollercoaster as I adjust to the new regimen.

I’ll get used to it eventually.

But I ain’t there yet.

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Streetsblog asks if building bike lanes could become America’s next big infrastructure project, as a new online portal positions them as “key components of a national effort to end climate change.”

Nonprofit PeopleForBikes’ recently launched the Great Bike Infrastructure Project, a new advocacy portal which aims to map all the “protected bike lanes, off-street trails, pump tracks, bike parks, and more” that U.S. communities are poised to build — particularly following the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which multiplied the amount of federal funding for cycling by roughly six.

Rather than treating those efforts as disconnected, though, the group says advocates need to start thinking of their hyper-local bike projects as part of one massive, national effort to combat climate change, cure traffic violence, and end universal car dependence — and do the urgent work of bringing transportation decision-makers together in a unified front.

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In a hard-hitting Streetsblog op-ed, Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition volunteer Liz Schiller considers the recent $8.9 million makeover of Pasadena’s Huntington Drive.

And asks why we love our cars more than our children.

Huntington is a wide, wide road. Eight lanes widening to eleven at intersections, plus on-street parking, and a landscaped median. An average of 15,000 cars travel on it every day. Drivers on Huntington routinely exceed the posted speed limit of 45 mph. On that brand new piece of bicycle infrastructure, only paint separates a person on a bicycle from exactly the type of hazard that killed the Encinitas teen. A pedestrian or cyclist interacting with a motor vehicle at a speed of 40 mph or above is very likely to be killed.

What if we had given up a lane to create a place for bicycles that is physically separated from all those speeding cars?

It’s a damn good question.

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You’ve got to be kidding.

The House majority whip told members of the Republican caucus not to take any chances so they don’t risk losing their slim majority in Congress.

Including riding a bike.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) told Republicans on a caucus conference call, “Please take care of yourselves. We do not need to lose anybody else.”

He went on to explain that he saw Rep. James Comer (R-KY) biking over the weekend.

“Stay off the damn bike,” Emmer said.

………

ActiveSGV needs your help to slow South Pas down.

Twitter post

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They’ve got a point.

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Pour one out for the late rapper and community organizer Nipsey Hustle, who was one of us.

Twitter post

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This is what we could have in Los Angeles.

Here’s what the Mayor of Paris says the tweet below.

Our streets are changing to offer ever more space and nature to Parisians! The proof by example with the rue de la Presentation in the 11th.

Twitter post

………

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

No bias here. A multi-ton pickup rolls a stop sign, but all a reporters sees are ebike riders observing the letter of the law, with one rider even putting their foot down at the stop.

https://twitter.com/KNXBaird/status/1691193282309799936

No bias here, either. A San Diego TV station reports that residents of the East County neighborhood of Jamacha are worried about their safety after a parking-protected bike lane was installed. It’s not as if that’s the first parking protected bike installed anywhere; the station could have pointed out that they have improved safety for people throughout the US, including in Los Angeles. But they didn’t. 

A Sacramento bike advocate can’t remember the crash that left her with four broken ribs, a fractured clavicle and a partial collapsed lung, after police arrested the alleged road raging driver accused of deliberately running her down as she rode with a small group.

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

There’s a special place in hell for the man who rode up behind a Millbrae woman on a mountain bike and groped her as she walked on a trail.

Boston transit cops are looking for a man who used his bike to smash a bus windshield, after drinking on board and spitting on the floor.

Twitter post

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Local 

The Los Angeles Times calls on the state to ban traffic stops for minor violations that are too often used as pretext stops to target people of color.

The new bus and bike lanes on LA Brea Avenue are officially open, but have been reduced to around two and a half miles as appointed CD10 Councilmember Heather Hutt continues to block them below Olympic Blvd.

LA County is offering rewards in four cold case homicides, including the murder of 70-year old Luis Sandoval, who died three months after he was shot while riding a bike on on Olympic Boulevard in East Los Angeles in 2007.

Pomona is developing a bike park for all skills levels, driven by a homegrown BMX rider and police detective.

The Santa Monica Daily Press looks at last weekend’s Open Main Street open streets event in the city; if you missed it, like I did, you’ll have two more chances in the coming months.

 

State

The president of the Bay Area’s BART transit system was fined more than five grand for lobbying local officials on behalf of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition over 200 times without registering as a lobbyist.

 

National

Bicycling debates whether the bike industry is in trouble, or if it’s poised for another comeback. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus goes on a local podcast to offer an introduction to bike safety.

Heartbreaking news from Las Vegas, where a 64-year old man riding a bike was killed in a hit-and-run by an underage driver in a stolen car.

Tour de Fat may have abandoned the rest of us, but it’s still going strong in my Colorado hometown.

Colorado will start their statewide ebike rebate program tomorrow, less than a year after approving the program. Meanwhile, California’s program remains vaporware, despite being the first ebike rebate program approved in the US. 

A Minnesota man is in the midst of an 11,000-mile, year-long bike ride throughout the US to raise awareness and funds to fight prostate cancer and schizophrenia, despite suffering from stage four prostate cancer himself.

Boston will launch a pilot program offering cargo bike delivery services in the city’s Allston neighborhood next month.

New York is allowing wider cargo bikes following a pilot program, while a local advocacy group calls for wider bike lanes to accommodate them; a local TV station accuses their drivers of speeding down sidewalks, running red lights and going the wrong way against traffic.

Once again, an innocent person was the victim of a police chase, as a 54-year old New York woman is in critical condition after she was struck by a driver fleeing from the cops while riding her bike.

The New Yorker talks with cover artist Kadir Nelson about his illustration depicting teenagers participating in a rideout on the Williamsburg Bridge.

 

International

A writer for Momentum shares what she calls the empowering path to bike commuting.

That’s more like it. A 24-year old English man will spend the next 13 years behind bars for the reckless, drunken hit-and-run that killed a 53-year old man riding his bike home from work.

An Edinburgh city councilor complains about “extremely light” bike racks that can be easily unscrewed to steal any bike locked to them.

A woman in the Netherlands got her bike back thanks to a hidden AirTag, after she found it locked to a light post.

Police in Dubai seized 8,786 bicycles, ebikes and e-scooters in the first six months of a new law allowing seizures for anyone over 16 riding an e-scooter or ebike without a driver’s license, or anyone under 16, period.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from Italy, where 17-year old Italian junior cyclist Jacopo Venzo died following a crash while racing on Friday.

Utah mountain bike pro Keegan Swenson took his third consecutive win at the Leadville Trail 100, shattering the men’s record in the process; Argentina’s Sofia Gomez Villafañe took the women’s race.

A Virginia paper explains how five local teenagers became Team USA for the the Quad Tandem World Championships in British Colombia, competing four to a single bike.

The former doctor for British Cycling and Team Sky was banned from all sports for four years for violating anti-doping rules. But the doping era is over, right?

Twenty-six-year old Iranian cyclist Mohammad Ganjkhanlou has disappeared after finishing 66th in the time trial at the world championships in Glasgow.

 

Finally…

Don’t bother asking a cat about bike lanes. Your next bike could look like a Transformer — and act like one, too.

And we may have to deal with jumpy LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about kangaroo crashes.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Bike-riding man killed in Quartz Hill collision Monday night; seventh LA County bike death this year

August 15, 2023 / / Comments Off on Bike-riding man killed in Quartz Hill collision Monday night; seventh LA County bike death this year

A man was killed riding a bicycle in northern Los Angeles County Monday night.

According to KFI radio, the victim was riding east on Avenue L near 42nd Street West in Quartz Hill when he was rear-ended by a 24-year old driver around 10:50 pm Monday.

The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was taken to a local hospital, where he died.

The driver remained at the scene, and was not suspected of being under the influence. He was not charged, even though police could not explain why he struck the victim’s bike.

There is a bike lane in both directions on Avenue L, but there’s no word on whether the victim was in the bike lane when he was hit.

Anyone with information is urged to call Officer M. Averbeck at the CHP’s Antelope Valley Area office at 661/948-8541, or the CHP Los Angeles Traffic Management Center at 323/259-3200.

This is at least the 32nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , ,

East Side Riders help send kids back to school, bikes to the rescue in Maui fires, and The Wire creator’s speed cam rant

August 14, 2023 / / One comment

Anyone need a top tube bag?

Orange County bike advocate and tandem pilot — or maybe stoker — Mike Wilkinson says he has a brand new ROCKBROS Waterproof Top Tube Bag he’s not going to use.

And he’ll send it to the first person who donates $20 or more to BikinginLA. 

The bag, with a clear top screen for your cellphone, retails for $19.99 on Amazon. Which means you’ll save taxes and shipping charges, if any.

On the other hand, if you’re the second person to donate, at least you’ll enjoy the warm feeling of knowing you’re helping bring all the best bike news and advocacy to your fellow SoCal bike riders every day. 

And that ain’t nothing. 

Photo by Keenan Constance from Pexels.

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Once again, a SoCal bike club goes well beyond bicycling to benefit the community.

And once again, it’s Compton’s East Side Riders Bike Club.

According to KTLA-5,

A lucky group of 30 kids were selected by their school districts to receive the ultimate back to school package on Sunday in an event hosted by the East Side Riders Bike Club and the Hey Leche Foundation in Huntington Park.

Attendees from Compton, Watts, Willbrook and the Huntington Park communities turned out for the event, with families receiving a laptop, $100 grocery gift card and kids getting a free backpack, new shoes and a haircut.

As East Side Riders president and founder John Jones III said, it’s just a drop in the bucket to meet the community’s needs.

But for these kids, it could be life changing.

………

Bicycles are emergency vehicles.

Our friend Joni responded on Friday to forward a brief mention of the bike riders who rode through Lahaina in the face of onrushing flames to shout a warning for people to evacuate, as the island’s emergency system remained silent.

Although it was actually from the New York Times, not the Washington Post.

Twitter post

Meanwhile, CNN reports some of the city’s residents escaped the flames by bicycle, while others sprinted away or used skateboards.

As many of us have experienced in city traffic, there is no better way to bypass stalled traffic than with a bicycle — something that becomes even more urgent in an emergency, when roads inevitably become clogged by evacuees in motor vehicles.

And there is no better way to navigate city streets to shout a warning, traveling at a human pace to alert people of danger.

………

Maybe the writers strike should apply to tweets, or x’s, or whatever the hell Elon insists on calling them these days.

Take The Wire creator David Simon.

Please.

The Emmy-winning author, journalist, screenwriter and producer took to Twitter, uh, X, to complain about getting a speed cam ticket in a New York school zone.

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He might have a point if it was his first ticket — never mind that school employees get there long before sunrise at times, including in the summer.

But according to New York Streetsblog, he has a whopping 16 prior school zone speed cam tickets.

Count ’em, sixteen.

Given his apparent history of speeding, his rant makes a better argument for why we need to legalize speed cams in California.

………

Good question.

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

No bias here. A drunk driver plowed into a parked car in San Diego’s Lisbon Street, so naturally the local TV station blamed a new bike lane through the Jamacha-Lomita and Skyline neighborhoods, not the alleged jackass who got behind the wheel after getting loaded.

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

No bias here. A British journalist says angry motorists and scofflaw bicyclists are nothing compared to “the menace of the electric bike and the e-scooter” and the people who ride them. No, really.

A Shanghai paper calls out reckless bicyclists who congregate on local streets for “lively” Thursday night gatherings, accusing them of disregarding traffic rules and disturbing the public while filing the entire road with bicycles and people. Sounds good to me. 

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Local 

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Los Angeles County Public Works led a community bike ride to celebrate a new bike lane and other improvements at the intersection of Pasadena’s Huntington Drive and Madre Street/Muscatel Ave. But the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition says it should have been a protected bike lane, and we can do better.

Speaking of Pasadena, the aforementioned PCSC wants you to sign their petition calling for an “All Ages and Abilities” safety standard for the El Molino, Wilson, Sierra Bonita and Craig Avenue greenways.

 

State

Encinitas named a longtime employee as the city’s new mobility manager, in the wake of the city’s ebike state of emergency; Nick Buck has served as recreation coordinator in the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department, and as the city’s events and special projects supervisor.

Police in San Diego are looking for bike thief who violently assaulted another man in a failed attempt to steal the victim’s ebike in the city’s South Park neighborhood.

It takes a real schmuck to assault a nine-year old Santa Barbara kid to steal his bicycle; police made an arrest a short time later.

A father and son were run over by a driver at a Fremont classic car show while riding their bikes; fortunately, they don’t seem to have been seriously injured.

The Frisc says the urgency expressed by San Francisco officials after the death of champion bicyclist Ethan Boyes appears to have waned, as fixes to the street where he was killed have slipped into next year.

A writer for SF Gate says the lack of a bike path on the west span of the Bay Bridge means it takes “uncompromising quadriceps and a willpower to rival Thomas the Tank Engine” just to ride a bike from San Francisco to Oakland.

 

National

CNN rates the year’s best ebikes, starting at just $1499 for an REI cargo bike.

Elektrek explains why ebike makers and PeopleForBikes are fighting right-to-repair laws that would allow you to fix your own ebike — or have it fixed by someone other than the manufacturer — over fears of starting fires by damaging the lithium-ion batteries. Then again, where would we be if you could only have your car serviced by the dealer?

An Oregon writer responds to a question asking why bike riders don’t have to pay for a license if paddleboarders do, and says similar programs have failed in cities throughout the west — including Los Angeles. And bike riders already pay their share when they buy a bike.

An Alaska bicyclist takes the contrarian view, arguing that the recent moves by Anchorage to improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians will only benefit a few people, and that safety would improve more if the city enforced existing laws.

It’s not unusual for someone to ride their bike across the US these days, but not many do it diagonally; two men are nearly a third of the way into a 5,000 mile ride from Anchorage AK to Jacksonville FL to raise awareness and funds to fight childhood cancer.

Evidently, they do things differently in Alaska, as an Alaskan man seeks official recognition from the Guinness World Records for riding his bike backwards across 500 miles of Iowa during RAGBRAI.

Houston’s Vision Zero program says it’s building bike and walk paths as fast as they can, as bicycling deaths are on track to double over last year.

San Antonio, Texas says “oops” about raised bumps on a protected bike lane that were inadvertently extended into an intersection, making right turns difficult, at best.

Chicago bicyclists cheered when authorities towed a car parked in a bike lane, saying they’ve never seen it happen before.

A Minneapolis letter writer says drivers may think they’re being polite when they randomly stop for bike riders and pedestrians, but everyone is safer when they observe the right-of-way.

Once again, President Biden rode his bike in Rehoboth Beach, Delware without falling off.

The family of a North Carolina woman unveiled a new mural painted by one of her close friends, next to where she was killed riding her bike.

 

International

Forbes says the bicycling industry is in financial collapse after the pandemic bike boom officially ended this year.

A Glasgow writer says closing the city’s streets down for the cycling world championships shows real possibilities for what could be done.

An architecture firm in Glasgow has begun a campaign calling for safer intersections in the city, after a 22-year old staffer was killed while riding her bike.

According to a Scottish writer, the future of bicycling in Scotland looks bright  well beyond the world championships in Glasgow, including in the southern borderlands he describes as “the St Andrews of cycling.”

A Welsh bicycle delivery rider was beaten unconscious when he tried to resist a group of bike thieves who attempted to steal his ebike at knifepoint, after he had stopped to pray.

Heartbreaking news from Italy, where a 27-year old British woman was killed in front of her husband as they rode together on a mountain bike trail; the victim was an expert on Covid-19 who advised the British government during the pandemic.

A 70-year old French doctor rode his bike 2,500 miles to Ukraine to raise funds to generators and first-aid kits for the Russian invasion.

 

Competitive Cycling

Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel became the youngest person to win the individual time trial at the world championships at age 23.

Lotte Kopecky became the first Belgian to wear the rainbow jersey for road cycling in 50 years by winning the women’s world road cycling championship on Sunday, topping the Netherlands Demi Vollering and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig of Denmark; no American finished in the top ten.

British WorldTour cyclist Tom Pidcock delighted the local fans by winning the world cross-country mountain bike title, beating ten-time champ Nino Schurter in the process; French cyclist Pauline Ferrand-Prevot won the women’s rainbow jersey.

Evidently things were pretty peaceful at the worlds, as Scottish police made just nine arrests during the ten day event — five of them during a climate change protest during the men’s road race.

A cartoonist screatively ays maybe riders in the pro peloton could do a little more to resist the bicycle greenwashing that runs rampant in team sponsorships.

Peter Sagan called an end to his legendary road cycling career, as he transitions to professional mountain biking.

 

Finally…

Oh, nothing, just the world’s best cyclists grabbing a pint down at the local. That feeling when your half-million dollar Rolls Royce plows into an Amsterdam bike rack, and you’re not even in it.

And why just ride a bike when you can ride your own ass?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvdC3e-gKhr/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=40b41a64-e69a-4e66-86a4-536afd7b907d

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,
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