Watch for dangerous smoke and closed roads in SGV, Shoup on parking minimums, and Bahati gets star treatment

August 20, 2020 / / 2 comments

My apologies for yet another unexcused absence yesterday.

Which seems like it’s starting to be a habit.

I spent most of Tuesday night being tormented by demons when I should have been working.

Either that, or my neuropathy, which is mostly managed, if not controlled, most of the time, flared up to a devastatingly painful level.

I’m leaning towards the first explanation, myself.

Then last night, I lost a few crucial hours to an extended internet outage, thanks to a certain cable provider who shall remain nameless. Which means we still have more to catch up on tomorrow.

Assuming there’s not some other minor disaster waiting in the wings. Just part of this annus horribilis we’re all dealing with this year.

And yes, that’s two n’s, thank you.

……….

Be careful breathing in the San Gabriel Valley for the next several days, after officials issued a warning about smoke from the Ranch2 fire.

Smoke from wildfires can cause serious health and breathing problems, both short and long term. Especially when you’re sucking it in on a bike.

A simple rule of thumb is, if you can smell smoke, stay inside and don’t ride. But if you have to, wear a good quality mask to filter as much of the smoke as possible.

Trust me on this one.

Meanwhile, several road closures remain in effect:

  • San Gabriel Canyon Road/Highway 39: closed at Northbound Hwy 39 at Sierra Madre Avenue (southbound Highway 39 is closed at East Fork roRoad)
  • Glendora Mountain Road: closed from Big Dalton to East Fork
  • Glendora Ridge Road: closed from Glendora Mountain Road to Mt. Baldy Road
  • Santa Anita Canyon Road: closed from Arno Drive to Chantry Flats Road

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UCLA parking meister Donald Shoup explains the problems with parking minimums.

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South LA’s own Rahsaan Bahati gets the star treatment from Peloton.

 

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Another edition of celebs on bikes.

Country singer Luke Bryan is one of us.

Coldplay’s Chris Martin is one of of us, going for a solo ride in the Hamptons.

Halle Berry might be one of us, posing on a bicycle for a photo shoot, though not actually riding it.

Semi-presidential candidate Kanye West is sort of one of us, too, preferring to do his riding indoors by crashing an Atlanta cycling class.

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The Department of DIY strikes in Guadalajara, using a three-wheeled cargo bike to paint their own bike lane.

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Don’t let anyone tell you there’s not enough room on the street.

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

This one would fit in the section below, as well. A ten-year old British boy was traumatized when a group of older boys on bikes dumped a carton of milk over him as he was riding his bike.

A British amateur bike racer was pushed off his bike by someone in a passing car, describing it as more terrifying than coming under enemy fire when he was in the military.

Then there’s this.

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

Sticking with the UK, authorities are looking for an apparently crazed bicyclist who refused to let a driver pass, then spit on his car and dented it with his bike. As always, there’s undoubtedly another side to the story. But bad behavior is never the right solution.

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Local

Now that’s more like it. A killer drunk driver got 15 years for the hit-and-run death of a pedestrian in Pasadena last year.

 

State

San Diego is launching a new bike blog to get more commuters out on their bikes.

 

National

Cycling News offers tips for weight weenies, with five ways to quickly cut the weight of your bike. Although one of the best ways to improve your bike’s performance is to reduce the weight of the person on it.

A pair of studies show riding an ebike provides good exercise, and is as safe as any other bike.

One more way our laws keep dangerous drivers on the road until it’s too late. A legal loophole allows drivers who’ve lost their license in one state to keep driving in another.

A recall has been issued for the Ripper Jr., Ripper MIPS Jr., and Ripper MIPS bicycle helmets because they don’t comply with federal safety standards.

A pediatric ER doctor suggests tips on how to get your kid to wear a bike helmet.

Portland’s Department of Transportation is responding to the Black Lives Matter movement by working to become an actively anti-racist organization.

Nice. A couple hundred Chicago bike riders turned out to show the streets some peace and love.

Kindhearted Minnesota cops gave a new bike to a young girl after hers was damaged when she was hit by a driver; the bike was one of 12 donated by local Shriners for deserving kids.

A Flint, Michigan bike rider was critically injured when he was run down by a cop responding to an emergency call. As usual, the person on the bike gets the blame, especially since he’s not around to give his side of the story.

An Indianapolis man got his custom-made twin-chain-drive bicycle back five years after it was stolen when someone dropped it off at a bike co-op.

That’s one way to solve the problem. The NYPD has inexplicably eliminated bicycling injuries from their Traffic Stat portal, making the problem disappear overnight.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A Delaware judge ruled that a driver who struck and killed two men as they were standing with their bikes outside a restaurant couldn’t have foreseen that he would have the seizure that caused the wreck, even though he had a history of seizures and hadn’t always followed his doctor’s orders or treatment plans.

A crowdfunding page has raised over $800,000 for the family of Connor Hinnant, the five-year old North Carolina boy who was fatally shot point blank by a neighbor, apparently for the crime of riding a bike on his lawn.

A Myrtle Beach SC bike rider is suing the city, alleging he was right hooked by a cop in a marked patrol car while he was riding in a marked bike lane. At the very least, he wants his bike replaced.

 

International

Cycling Weekly patiently explains the difference between gravel and ‘cross bikes.

An English town somehow equates dangerous bicycling with illegally feeding sea gulls, fining people the equivalent of $130 for either one.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a distracted driver walked without a single day behind bars for killing a bike-riding Royal Air Force officer while on the phone with his daughter. Meanwhile, a 78-year old driver walked with a suspended sentence for killing a bike rider ten years his senior.

Bike friendly Amsterdam is deteriorating, and at risk of collapsing back into the sea. Although all the bikes in that photo will make you forget everything else.

Talk about a close call. A Turkish boy was lucky to avoid serious injury when he rode his bike out from a side street and into the side of a passing car.

Now that’s a good dad. An Indian man rode his bike 65 miles to take his son for an education test, hoping to get him into a better school.

A Russian website remembers the first Russian to ride a bike around the world, in 1911, before dying when his plane was shot down in WWI.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch pro Jos van Emden figuratively nailed his thesis to the church door, listing ten proposals to improve safety in the peloton, including air bags along the rails near the finish, and a system of yellow and red cards to punish dangerous riders.

In a shocking move, Team Ineos has dropped former Tour de France winners Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas from their Tour roster, denying Froome a shot at a record-tying fifth win.

 

Finally…

Gotham bike riders want to know where to stick it. The best truck for backing over your kids.

And who needs a bike lock when you’ve got fake bird poop?

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

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

Meet CD4 candidate Nithya Raman tonight, fire closes LA County roads, and misogyny alive and well in bike industry

August 18, 2020 / / One comment

Meet CD4 candidate Nithya Raman virtually tonight, as she discusses her race against incumbent Councilmember David Ryu.

And listen to her stances on transportation in the the City of Angels, and the 4th Council District in particular, including bicycles.

As we’ve mentioned before, Raman has earned the endorsement of both Bike the Vote LA and Streets For All. And has my unqualified support, as well.

She’s already made a difference in the district, as Ryu has co-opted many of her urbanist and safe streets policies after opposing them for most of his first term.

RSVP for the Zoom conference here.

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Road closures remain in effect from the weekend’s Ranch 2 Fire.

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Gravel Bike California rides through SoCal’s abandoned Cold War-era tunnels to nowhere.

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A Pasadena survey is heavily weighted towards parking. But take a few minute to answer it anyway.

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How to change an inner tube without tire levers.

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

It takes a major schmuck to destroy an artistic fence made of bicycles surrounding a Dayton, Ohio nonprofit.

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

San Diego police arrested a stabbing suspect as he fled by bicycle following a knifing in a Pacific Beach public restroom Sunday night.

A pair of Texas men are under arrest after hitting a passing bike rider with a baseball bat in a failed attempt to steal his bike.

Then there’s this, from mountain bikewear Where The Trail Begins, proving misogyny is alive and well in the bike industry. Even if the company only seems to have two lousy products.

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Local

Great idea. A new petition calls for a protected bike lane on Franklin Ave between Highland and Los Feliz, which would be the first safe east-west bike route across Hollywood. Or any other direction, for that matter. And yes, I signed it.

 

State

Former Santa Ana Councilmember and SCAG President Michele Martinez is replacing OC real estate developer and sprawl advocate Lucy Dunn on the California Transportation Commission; Martinez is credited as a driving force behind SCAG’s popular Go Human campaign.

A Bakersfield columnist describes how his father-in-law just decided to take up bicycling and bought a new bike — his 92-year old father-in-law.

More tragic news from Northern California, where sheriff’s deputies in Cupertino discovered the body of an apparent hit-and-run victim lying next to his bike early Sunday morning.

Smart idea, as the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition teamed with a local water district to document Valley Water signs along roads and trails. Which beats the hell out of sending staffers out in trucks to look for them. Thanks to Robert Leone for the heads-up.

 

National

Black Girls Do Bike is teaming with USA Cycling to make bicycling more accessible to women of color.

A tech site says the boom, bust and boom cycles resulting from the coronavirus have tossed bikeshare systems proven rebalancing algorithms over the handlebars.

A writer for the Daily Beast says ebikes are wondrous machines that can take you further than you ought to go if anything goes wrong.

A Las Vegas paper gets it, editorializing that higher speeds and heavier vehicles are literally killing us.

Bicycling belatedly catches up with the decision of the Lance Armstrong-founded Mellow Johnny’s bike shop to stop selling bikes to the Austin, Texas police department, in support of the Black Lives Matter protests. Which we mentioned here a couple weeks ago.

A Chicago writer offers a primer on trail riding courtesy.

An op-ed in the New York Daily News calls on the city to recommit to creating streets that benefit all of us.

A bighearted eight-year old Baltimore boy just learned how to ride a bike after the pandemic hit. But he’s already planning a 50-mile ride to raise funds to help pave sections of the C&O Canal Towpath; as of this writing, he was just $124 short of his $2,500 goal.

Police in Virginia are looking for a driver who allegedly smashed into three police bikes while attempting to run down the officers on them.

Now that’s a good kid. When a bighearted 10-year old boy in Monroe, Louisiana learned a handicapped man wished he had a bike after his truck was stolen and his home caught fire, he insisted on giving the man the new bike he had saved up to buy for himself.

 

International

Cyclist considers the best e-cargo bikes.

London’s conservative Sunday Times says the reason fewer bike riders are getting ticketed in the city is because bicyclists are getting away with breaking the law. Not, say, the well-established principle that better bike infrastructure encourages better behavior.

Surprisingly, there’s no historic marker in the English town where John Kemp Starley developed the Rover Safety bicycle, revolutionizing the world of big wheeled, direct-drive bikes and making it possible for anyone to ride a bicycle.

Heartbreaking story from Rwanda, where a teenage member of the country’s women’s national cycling team says she was raped and impregnated by a team coach; she’s still waiting for justice eight months after the body of her baby was exhumed, after he died under mysterious circumstances just days after birth.

Not even the world’s biggest bike maker in Taiwan can build their way out of the current bike boom-inspired bicycle shortage.

 

Competitive Cycling

SB Nation posted video of the crash that seriously injured 20-year old Belgian pro Remco Evenepoel, as he went over a bridge while descending in the Il Lombardia stage race; he’ll be off his bike for the next two months. The video is hard to watch, and lingers a little too much on Evenepoel as he writhes in pain at the bottom of a ravine. So be sure that’s something you really want to see before clicking through. 

Pot, meet kettle. Former US Postal Service team manager Johan Bruyneel, who headed it when ex-Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, and most of the other team members, were winning by loading up on EPO, now says UCI isn’t doing anything about doping because all they care about is money.

 

Finally…

When you’re already wanted for a probation violation, as well as a fugitive from another state, maybe riding erratically all over the highway isn’t the best idea.

And that feeling when you’re about to be attacked by a sea creature on dry land.

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

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

Car-centric LA weakens plans for bike/ped friendly Union Station, Mulholland Hwy closed by fire, and cars cost everyone

August 17, 2020 / / Comments Off on Car-centric LA weakens plans for bike/ped friendly Union Station, Mulholland Hwy closed by fire, and cars cost everyone

Is it really any surprise that Los Angeles is watering down plans to make the entrance to Union Station more walkable and bikeable?

Writing for Streetsblog, Joe Linton spells out in detail how Metro’s longstanding plans to re-envision the station’s forecourt area and surrounding streets have run into the city’s typical auto-centric roadblock.

For the past half-decade, Metro has been planning upgrades to Union Station to make the site easier and safer to access on foot and by bike. The L.A. Union Station Forecourt and Esplanade Improvements project includes upgrades on the Union Station grounds, which Metro owns, as well as upgrades to nearby streets, which are controlled by the city of Los Angeles.

The latest version of the project plan removes and waters down some core pedestrian aspects of the project. Why? Because, even in its most transit-accessible and most heavily walked core downtown areas, Los Angeles city departments are unwilling to prioritize the safety and convenience of people walking – instead they are insisting on car-centric standards that foster more driving.

Then there’s this.

What is perhaps most sad about the new design is that it ignores the significance of connecting Union Station and El Pueblo. If the city of L.A. won’t prioritize walkability at the front door of the region’s most heavily-used transit hub and at in its historic walkable core, is there anywhere where Angelenos can expect safe and convenient places to walk? Continuing to apply outdated late-20th-Century one-size-fits-all standards erodes what already works in these precious historic places.

As Linton points out, it takes leadership to fight for safer, more walkable and bikeable streets.

And that’s exactly what’s missing right now.

Former CD14 Councilmember José Huizar was an advocate for Complete Streets, and might have fought some of these changes. But with a federal indictment for bribery hanging over his head, he was effectively out of the picture long before his fellow councilmembers kicked him out.

And don’t get me started on LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, who should be stepping up to fight for the original Metro plan as part of his LA Green New Deal plan to reimagine the way we get around this city.

But in typical Garcetti fashion, has been largely missing in action.

You have until Wednesday the 26th to offer your comments.

And politely suggest that LA get its collective head out of its piston-driven ass, and return to the original plan.

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Calbike is urging you to reach out to your state representative to support SB 288.

New bike lanes and improved public transit are critical to California’s recovery. Now is the time to fast-track key sustainable transportation projects, but environmental regulations more appropriate for oil refineries than bike lanes can delay such projects by years. We don’t have years. 

Senate Bill 288 would make it easier to build bike lanes, bus lanes, and light rail lines by eliminating unnecessary review regulations, while preserving important opportunities for public involvement.

Contact your Assembly Member today and tell them to vote Yes on SB 288.

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If your planned riding route takes you on Mulholland Hwy, check to make sure the road is open after a fire closure on Sunday.

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The next time someone says bicyclists should have to pay for the streets we ride, show them this.

And tell them maybe we aren’t the ones being subsidized.

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Advocates continue to call on bikemakers and retailers to stop selling to police departments, accusing police of using their bikes as weapons and shields.

Like this confrontation in Chicago Saturday afternoon.

https://twitter.com/luz_mayancela/status/1294802015483318276

Unfortunately though, that prediction about police not getting any bikes this time was wrong.

I’m of two minds when it comes halting the sale of police bikes.

While we’ve all been shocked at the way they’ve been used by some departments — and continue to be used — I believe bike cops are a net benefit to the community under normal conditions, getting officers out of their cars and closer to the public they’re supposed to serve.

The question is how to limit the use of those bikes to those normal conditions.

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Good point.

https://twitter.com/may_gun/status/1295245773932658689

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Megan Lynch also forwards word that the director general of the Mexico City mayor’s office is actively destroying the commercial bikes people rely on to earn a living.

For those for are Español challenged, like me, that translates to

AMAZING! The General Director of Government of the Mayor’s Office Miguel Hidalgo, presumes more than 140 confiscated tricycles, which means that more than 140 families this man “Hegel Cortés Miranda” took away the livelihood that they bring to their families every day.

Another tweet describes the owners as men and women who perform a service to the community by selling “water, sweet potatoes and bananas, coffee and bread…tamales or atole.”

Call me crazy, but maybe the middle of a worldwide pandemic isn’t the right time to put struggling merchants out of business.

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That feeling when you invite your friends over to the world-class bike park you built in your backyard.

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

A British man was left “a bloody mess” after a passenger in a passing car pushed him off his bike as he was riding home after working a night shift, and forcing him through the rear windshield of a parked car; he suffered muscle damage to his arm and leg, as well as cuts and bruising to his face. His attackers reportedly drove off laughing. Really funny, alright.

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Local

The Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council will discuss a proposal for a roundabout at 4th Street and New Hampshire at tonight’s virtual meeting.

Urbanize LA offers more information about the proposal for a Complete Streets makeover of iconic Melrose Ave, part of the city’s High Injury Network, which could be a model for how we can re-envision the entire city.

Glendale is holding a virtual public hearing tonight to discuss plans to repave La Crescenta from Honolulu to Verdugo — including adding sharrows to the lightly travelled four lane street, where drivers routinely exceed the 40 mph speed limit.

A Santa Clarita bike rider was apparently injured in a collision Sunday afternoon. Although it’s hard to tell from an article that just says a “patient” was sent to the hospital, fails to mention if the car had a driver, identifies the rider as a pedestrian on a bike, and somehow blames the bike rider for “accidentally” running into the car — yet with enough force to shatter the windshield.

Malibu will replace the failing 96-year old bridge over Trancas Creek on PCH with a new, wider bridge with bike lanes and shoulders in each direction.

Disappointing news from Santa Monica, where the city has pulled the plug on the popular Breeze bikeshare, after concluding that there’s no way to make it work under the current conditions. That comes on the heels of UCLA, Pasadena and West Hollywood also cancelling their docked bikeshare systems, raising the question of whether LA’s Metro Bike can survive in its current form.

 

State

Encinitas approves a $13 million pedestrian and bike railroad undercrossing to connect residents with the beach and restaurants.

After a ten-year old Lafayette boy was killed when a delivery driver ran into his bike, his parents started the Live Like Leo Memorial Foundation in his memory; it’s raised over $200,000 in less than three weeks.

Sad news from Stockton, where a 41-year old man was killed in a collision while riding his bike.

Guess? founder Maurice Marciano is one of us, as he faces an extend period of rehabilitation and therapy for undisclosed injuries following a bike crash near his Napa home.

 

National

Nice piece from the New York Times, as they follow along with a small group of teenagers riding across a divided country in the middle of a pandemic.

The last surviving Denver newspaper says the popularity of ebikes is skyrocketing, with one user observing that “you don’t realize how fabulous they are” until you try one.

A 65-year old South Dakota man has written a book about his bicycling journey from Pierre SD to North Pole, Alaska, completing his 2998-mile journey in just 42 days.

NPR says bicycling is on fire right now, as the pandemic changes the way people get around.

The Chicago Tribune says the coronavirus bike boom is beyond what anyone expected.

A New York State assembly member with horrible taste in sport coats will bike 116 miles to campaign for re-election in the state’s 116th district. God forbid that’s actually a suit.

A New York bike rider was killed during a crash-filled rampage by a utility truck driver who slammed through a number of vehicles “as if they were toy cars.”

Philly bike riders will have to keep their pants on for another year, after Covid-19 cancels the city’s annual Naked Bike Ride.

Nearly $600,000 has poured in for the family of five-year old North Carolina resident Cannon Hinnant, who was shot point blank by a neighbor as he was riding his bike, apparently executed for the crime of riding on his lawn.

A pair of kindhearted Florida deputies bought a new bike for a waitress so she wouldn’t have to keep walking to work after hers was stolen.

 

International

Cycling Weekly offers an absolute beginner’s guide to ebikes, including answering the eternal question of whether you have to, you know, pedal them.

A five-year old English girl is kicking off her training wheels and riding in a 5k charity ride, raising the equivalent of nearly $200 for struggling families so far.

Heartbreaking story, as a British coroner ruled that the death of a 51-year old man was the direct result of getting hit by a driver as he was riding his bike 36-years earlier.

Traffic violations for bicycling infractions fell dramatically in London as the city expanded its bikeway network, despite the increase in ridership inspired by the coronavirus bike boom.

The president of Estonia is one of us, joining in on a 621-mile NATO bike ride.

Mumbai’s 24 new bicycle councilors took the the streets on India’s Independence Day to call for making the city a bicycling destination.

Heartbreaking story from India, where the relatives of a 71-year old man suspected of dying from Covid-19 were forced to carry his body to the graveyard by bicycle after local authorities refused to send an ambulance.

Once again bike riders are heroes, as a group of disabled bike riders rode 155 miles across Cambodia to deliver food to people starving as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. So much for the myth that disabled people can’t ride bikes.

 

Competitive Cycling

Talk about a cursed race. Rising star Remco Evenepoel is out for the season after suffering a fractured pelvis and bruised lung when he struck the wall of a bridge during a descent in the Il Lombardia, somersaulting over the edge and down a steep ravine. The 20-year old Belgian cyclist had already won the Tour of Poland and Volta a Burgos this year, earning comparisons to the legendary Eddy Merckx for his all-around riding skills.

Meanwhile, German national champion Maximilian Schachmann suffered a broken collarbone when a driver somehow entered the course near the finish of the Il Lombardia and turned across his path, claiming she didn’t know about the race.

Germany’s Andre Greipel and Tony Martin blasted the organizers of the Criterium du Dauphine, complaining about gravel and potholes on the roadways; race leader Primoz Roglic was one of the many crash victims.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you cancel the race, and everyone shows up anyway. Clearly, baseball skills don’t go away just because you’re on a bicycle.

And a little light bike reading for the young adult in your life.

Or maybe you.

We won’t tell.

https://twitter.com/may_gun/status/1295112053720399875

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

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

Caltrans wants input on replacing Encino ped bridge, best ad ever for LA bicycling, and maybe we should just move to Dubai

August 14, 2020 / / Comments Off on Caltrans wants input on replacing Encino ped bridge, best ad ever for LA bicycling, and maybe we should just move to Dubai

Caltrans is looking for feedback on a proposal to replace the pedestrian bridge over the 101 Freeway in Encino.

Or maybe not, since one of the options doesn’t involve a replacement.

Artwork from Caltrans rendering. Thanks to S. Martinez for the heads-up.

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Phil Gaimon does a little lane splitting on PCH through the ‘Bu, passing cars like they were standing still.

Which, from the looks of it, they mostly were, as usual.

He calls this the best ad ever for cycling in Los Angeles. And he’s got a point.

Although I’m not sure I’d split lanes like that on SoCal’s killer highway, even though it’s perfectly legal.

But I confess, there’s a real satisfaction in passing long lines of stalled traffic on your bike.

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Maybe we should all just give up on LA and move to newly bike-friendly Dubai.

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Once again, an English police department shows their American counterparts how it’s done when it comes to enforcing safe passing laws.

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Local

A Pasadena website looks at the new bike lanes in Arcadia and San Gabriel.

 

State

San Jacinto approves plans to implement critically needed bike and pedestrian safety projects.

Santa Maria police will step up bike and pedestrian safety enforcement from the 18th through the 25th of August. Standard protocol applies — ride to the letter of the law until you get out of their jurisdiction.

Santa Cruz has chosen eleven streets for the city’s Slow Streets program.

San Francisco proposes a protected bike lane and other steps to fix a dangerous section of Folsom Street.

A Sacramento TV station wants to see your first bike.

 

National

A new Amazon Prime show from the producer of Survivor promises to pit the world’s toughest cyclists against the world’s most challenging bike race. If you can’t access the Bicycling site, you can read it on Yahoo.

Road Bike Action Magazine is offering free online access with registration. And entertain yourself for hours swatting their many popup windows.

Your next bike tires may never need air or a patch kit.

A columnist for a Salt Lake City paper says biking in the age of coronavirus is the least we can do. Which is all most people do, anyway.

The Green Bay Packers’ website goes all the way back to 1958 to uncover the source of the team’s annual tradition of borrowing kid’s bikes to ride to the first day of training camp.

Sadly, there will be no more bicycle taco deliveries in Milwaukee.

A Minnesota public radio station looks at the local chapter of Red Bike and Green, a Black riding collective founded in Oakland 13 years ago to bring more diversity to bicycling.

Heartbreaking news from Detroit, where a mother was killed, along with her one-year old son, when a driver plowed into the bike trailer she was pulling with her bicycle. Crashes involving bike trailers may be rare, but sadly, they do happen, despite what many drivers will tell you.

More proof that ebikes are real bicycles, as a Tennessee man lost 105 pounds and beat diabetes by riding one. Once again, if you can’t access the Bicycling site, you can read it on Yahoo. And before you ask, no, that won’t work for me; if I lost 105 pounds, there wouldn’t be much left. And I’d still have diabetes.

A Boston website takes understandable pride in Bicycling’s promotion of the hometown East Coast Greenway. Although hometown is a bit of a stretch for something that runs over 3,000 miles through 15 states.

A Hoboken NJ bike thief folded under interrogation about the theft of a folding bike, appropriately enough.

Apparently, Virginia state police plan to put a pickup truck behind bars for fleeing the scene after running down a teenage boy who was walking his bike, since they don’t even mention that it might have had a driver.

 

International

Bloomberg examines the problem planners face balancing expanded space for bike riders with the needs of disabled people. Although it’s worth noting that expanding space for bikes allows some disabled people to ride bikes, which many use as mobility devices.

CBC says cutting speed limits could slow climate change. Not to mention save lives.

That’s more like it. After 12 criminal convictions in the past 15 months — including four for bike theft — a prolific British thief has been banned from even handling or sitting on a bicycle for the next two years.

Surprisingly, bike theft in down dramatically in the UK, with 19,000 fewer bikes stolen compared to the previous year.

The Guardian’s Laura Laker says UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will never see the golden age of bicycling he anticipates as long as the roads continue to feel unsafe.

In what may be the best story of the day, a four-year old British girl rode three miles on her little pink bike — complete with a doll in the toy rear child seat — raising the equivalent of $522 to fight cancer, after her grandfather died of the disease.

Helsinki, Finland is converting a boulevard into a shared bike boulevard, creating an express bikeway where drivers have to slow to the speed of bike riders.

A play that premiered in Germany’s Terezín Ghetto during the Holocaust will be performed live in New York and Israel; The Last Cyclist is described as a comic allegory that “pits innocent bicycle riders (Jews) against escaped lunatics (Nazis) who seek to destroy them,”

Residents of India Goa state are turning to bicycles and running to stay fit and get away from the pandemic for awhile. They also have the country’s best cuisine, which is annoyingly hard to find in Los Angeles. 

A former Philippine volleyball star turned TV host is giving away 50 bicycles to deserving people to help them get to work during the pandemic.

 

Competitive Cycling

A writer for the New York Times examines the coronavirus lockdown phenomenon of Everesting and the rapidly falling world records.

Colorado’s high school mountain bike season is going virtual in response to Covid-19. Now if they can just figure out how to make that work with high school football.

Cycling News wants to know if anyone can beat Remco Evanepoel at the rescheduled Il Lombardia monument race.

You may never win a stage in the Tour de France or the Critérium du Dauphiné, but you can own the bike that did. Or might have, anyway.

Speaking of which, Stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné featured an unexpected hazard — hailstones.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you have to revise your story because people don’t know what a stroad is. Your next bike helmet could squish down, so hopefully your head won’t.

And if you’re going to ride 621 miles on a stolen bicycle to see Tokyo for the first time, try not to get busted for bike theft just short of the city.

But at least the purloined bike the adventurous thief took was only worth $93.

Thanks to Robert Leone for that last one.

……

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

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

5-year old fatally shot riding bike on neighbor’s lawn, reclaiming road space for bikes and dining, and Pasadena BLM ride

August 13, 2020 / / Comments Off on 5-year old fatally shot riding bike on neighbor’s lawn, reclaiming road space for bikes and dining, and Pasadena BLM ride

My God.

A North Carolina man is being held without bond on a charge of 1st degree murder, after shooting a five-year old boy point blank for the crime of riding his bike onto the man’s yard.

There are no words.

Or a pit in hell deep enough for someone who could do that.

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Today’s common theme is trading space for cars in exchange for space for bikes and diners.

That’s what’s happening on Culver Blvd in downtown Culver City, where city leaders approved plans for quick-build “tactical mobility lanes” for buses, bicyclists and emergency vehicles for the next two years, with additional space to be used for outdoor dining.

Hermosa Beach is trading the sharrows on Hermosa Ave for dedicated bike lanes and more outdoor dining space for at least the next six months.

San Luis Obispo is removing a traffic lane to stripe what may or may not be a temporary bike lane to accommodate the Covid-19 bike boom, while providing a buffer for outdoor diners.

New York goes the other way, moving a bikeshare rack to make room for diners at a 100-year old restaurant.

However, a writer for USA Today questions whether people dining al fresco at restaurants newly expanded into the streets to provide a safe space from Covid-19 are actually safe from people driving cars. Short answer, probably not in most cases.

Today’s photo shows SCAG’s revived Go Human campaign mentioned below.

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Ride to support Black Lives Matter and demand civilian police oversight in Pasadena on Saturday.

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LA’s Slow Streets movement finally made its way to Valley Village.

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The San Diego County Bicycle Coalition talks with ’84 Olympic cycling hero Nelson Vails on Instagram this Friday.

https://twitter.com/sdbikecoalition/status/1293736129066176512

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When is a Scottish pathway not a pathway?

When it’s a raging river.

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Christian Bale is one of us, as he takes his mountain bike out for a spin with his wife, in what may or may not be LA.

Britney Spears is one of us, too, going for a ride along the beach with her boyfriend.

Die Hard star Bruce Willis is one of us, going shopping by ebike in Santa Monica.

MMA fighter Ronda Rousey is one of us, though she may be rethinking that after she “ate it so hard” falling off her bike.

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

Road rage incidents directed towards bike riders are up in at least one Oregon county.

Once again, someone has sabotaged a British mountain bike trail, hiding spikes and barbed wire in a deliberate attempt to seriously injure someone.

Someone may be deliberately targeting bike riders by spreading oil across a greenway trail; a little girl was injured when her scooter skidded off the trail and into a wall.

A Land Rover driver hit a Scottish bike rider on a narrow country road, then got out of his SUV to push the victim off his bike before driving away.

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Local

No surprise here, as a new report from the Southern California Association of Governments shows a massive drop in both public and private transportation compared to last year since the coronavirus crisis kicked in, including a 39% drop in bikeshare use. Meanwhile, SCAG is revising its successful Go Human campaign.

Metro Bike is offering discounted daily, monthly and yearly passes through this month.

 

State

A San Diego County man reports he was stung over 150 times after being surrounded by a swarm of bees while running on a North County bike path. Which serves as a reminder just how lucky I was to ride into a similar swarm, and escape with major injuries — but not a single bee sting. 

The San Diego Bicycle Coalition is kicking off a semi-virtual scavenger hunt; no word on whether the recalcitrant North Park businesses actually opted out.

Police are looking for a cowardly Murrieta driver who fled the scene after crashing into a woman riding a bike; fortunately, she only suffered minor injuries, but her new bike was damaged. Thanks to Jeff Hammons for the heads-up.

Ventura police bust a bike thief, only to discover he has over 30 priors in the last six years.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 95-year old Santa Maria man just hit 100,000 miles on his bike. Although I’d have to back up to get back down to a 100,00 miles. But I’m not 95-years old, either.

A volunteer group is helping San Francisco restaurants fight high delivery fees by delivering food orders for them by bike, foot and car, at no charge.

Modesto police are looking for a hit-and-run driver who ran down a bike rider, leaving him or her with undisclosed injuries.

 

National

A man honored his late father’s legacy and raised over $6,000 to fight cancer by riding a century every day last month. The story is available on Yahoo if you can’t access it on Bicycling.

Meanwhile, Bicycling drops its paywall to call the new Tern GSD the best-equipped electric cargo bike. As long as you’re willing to fork out over $4,500, or more than eight grand for the version they tested.

Finishing out our Bicycling trifecta, the magazine wants to tell you how to avoid road raging drivers.

Used bike sales have helped US bike shops to survive the pandemic bike boom, which has cleaned many shops out of new bikes for the foreseeable future. However, Cycling News says there are still good deals on new bikes if you know where to look. And apparently, they do.

City Lab says life-saving technologies already exist to keep people from getting killed by drivers, yet manufacturers aren’t required to install them.

Now that’s more like it. Cars could be considered guests on Denver streets in the not-too-distant future.

A Western Colorado rafting guide rescued a family trapped by a wildfire on rental bikes.

Kindhearted Colorado cops bought a new mountain bike for a 12-year old autistic boy, after he inadvertently left his bike next to a Free Furniture sign and someone helped themselves to it.

An Iowa man was killed when a tree limb fell on him as he was riding his bike during the 100 mph derecho storm that tore through the Midwest. And no, I never heard of one before, either.

No bias here, as a Dallas newspaper says they’re glad to be rid of the “bike litter” of dockless bikeshare bikes, even though there’s now a shortage of bikes due to the bike boom.

You can have as many lights as you want on your bike in Texas.

A New York priest raised $20,000 for a food bank with a century ride through Long Island.

This week’s VeloNews podcast talks with Wall Street Journal sports columnist and dedicated bicyclist Jason Gay about the bike boom and the rescheduled Tour de France.

A Georgia man learned the hard way that if you’re going to ride with meth on your bike, put a light on it, already.

 

International

Red Bull directs your attention to the best bike accounts on YouTube.

Vancouver cops are facing criticism for crashing a patrol car into a bike rider three times before knocking him off his bike, then violently tasing him, kneeling on his neck and wresting him to the ground before taking him into custody — all because he didn’t stop for a damn traffic violation.

A Canadian community will pay $120,000 to rip out temporary bike lanes that were part of a pilot project.

Talk about damning with faint praise. Bike-riding British Prime Minister Boris Johnson insists that “not all cyclists are Lycra louts.”

You might be able to get that Brompton you’ve been dreaming of after all. The British bikemaker is starting a subscription service in the UK for the equivalent of $39 a month, with Germany and the US likely to follow. Although there are other, much cheaper alternatives.

That didn’t take long. Just days after opening, Britain’s first Dutch-style protected roundabout had to be closed after a driver plowed through it.

Speaking of Dutch style, The Netherlands offers a guide to cities looking to build a better bike culture, from discouraging cars to building an actual network of separated bikeways.

The City Fix says African nations can still become more walkable and bikeable through targeted investments, despite the coronavirus crisis.

A Cartier ad featuring two men taking a romantic bike ride apparently crossed a line with Chinese sensors; a later version described them as father and son, which somehow seems worse.

 

Competitive Cycling

No surprise here, as the 2020 world road championships were the latest Covid-19 domino to fall.

Just days after winning Milan-San Remo, former world cross champ Wout van Aert won the opening stage at the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Former Tour of California champ George Bennett rolled to victory at Italy’s prestigious, 114-year old Gran Piemonte race.

Weight weenies rejoice! Canyon tells cycling’s governing body to stuff their weight minimums, checking in with a complete new bike weighing just 13lb 11oz, over a pound lighter than UCI’s minimum weight restriction.

 

Finally…

It’s not exactly the Virgin Mary in a tortilla or anything, just Simon Cowell’s face in a rock wall. Turns out that towing your kid’s bike with a towel tied to your car may not be the best idea.

And yes, you can carry your groceries home on a bike. Even if they’re already in the fridge.

Thanks to W. Corylus for that last link.

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

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

Garcetti opens new DTLA bus and bike lanes, Cowell not injured on ebike, and Richmond advocate runs for council

August 11, 2020 / / One comment

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the opening of the new 5th and 6th Street bus lanes and protected bike lanes in Downtown LA yesterday.

Although he seemed to forget the work of Skid Row residents and advocates in fighting for safe bikeways through the crowded city corridor most Angelenos prefer to avoid.

As well as taking credit for street improvements that don’t seem to be happening anywhere else outside of DTLA.

But let’s hope he’s serious about LA’s Green New Deal, which promises to reshape how we get around the city, while dramatically reducing the average miles driven by Angelenos.

And that he actually follows through this time.

Or am I the only one who still remembers the city’s abortive Vision Zero program?

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Forget those reports about Simon Cowell breaking his back riding an ebike.

Not to mention the breathless reports about the supposed dangers of electric bicycles.

Because this one wasn’t. Unless by ebike, you mean something just this side of a motorcycle.

Or maybe the fastest ebike on Earth, even.

Although anything that’s throttle controlled or travels faster than 28 mph requires a driver’s license, registration and a helmet under California law.

Meanwhile, Cowell took the time to thank the medical workers who cared for him, calling them “some of the nicest people I have ever met.”

And said maybe he should have read the manual first.

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This one made me smile.

Najari Smith, the founder of Richmond’s nonprofit Rich City Rides bike co-op, made the announcement that he’s running for the local city council this fall.

Like LA’s East Side Riders Bike Club, Smith works through the co-op to aid local youths and uplift the community, as well as helping people get on bikes who might not otherwise be able to afford it.

And knows firsthand what it’s like to get unjustly busted for Biking While Black.

Now we just need to talk the East Side Riders John Jones III to do the same thing here in LA.

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

A Half Moon Bay bike rider was repeatedly stabbed in a case of sidewalk rage after getting in a dispute with a man about riding on the sidewalk; his attacker now faces a charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

Um, okay. An Iowa woman is under arrest for threatening to kill a bike rider and slapping an apparently unidentified “Hardee’s cup of liquid” out of her hand.

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Local

The Órale Boyle Heights podcast talks with the man behind Peatónito, Mexico’s legendary pedestrian rights superhero, now living in Los Angeles.

Another measure of how much LA traffic dropped during the coronavirus lockdown — road rage incidents were down, too.

Tafarai Bayne, chief strategist for CicLAvia, makes a pitch for the LA open streets event.

Gerrard Butler is one of us, looking good on his knobby tired ebike on a spin through the ‘Bu.

 

State

San Diego is promoting bicycling in the city with a new Better by Bike blog.

Bakersfield is starting work on a seven-mile extension of the city’s Kern River bike path, which will result in a nearly 40-mile bikeway.

 

National

They get it. NPR says now is the time to start riding a bike, while a suburban Chicago site says bicycling is one saving grace of Covid-19.

Writing for Business Insider, former Chicago and DC DOT Director Gabe Klein teams with Kay Cheng to make the case for making the country’s Covid-19 street closures permanent.

Self talks with a couple of experts to recommend the best bikes for women. Not that their experts don’t know what they’re talking about. But there are countless others — including more than just one woman — they could have spoken with who know as much or more about the particular needs of women riders.

A surprising report from Reader’s Digest visits 15 “visually stunning” pedestrian bridges across the US, many of which are open to bike riders, too. Actually, the real surprise is that Reader’s Digest is still around.

A Colorado site says gravel biking is showing real staying power.

Houston is finally getting around to banning blocking bike lanes, and allowing scofflaw drivers to have their vehicles towed.

A Kentucky newspaper trots out a long-discredited stat to argue for a mandatory bike helmet law, calling them “a cyclist’s best line of defense,” without distinguishing between adults and children. No, the best defense is avoiding crashes in the first place through safe riding techniques, defensive bicycling and better infrastructure; helmets should always be seen as the last line of defense when all else fails. And they’re only designed to protect against slow speed falls, not high speed impacts.

New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare is backtracking on promises to put more ebikes on the streets, cutting the promised number from “thousands” to “hundreds.”

A frontline doctor treating Covid-19 patients in the Bronx says his daily bike rides have kept him sane, despite working 38 days straight.

Now that’s more like it. A new West Virginia insulation factory will give employees who commute by bike priority parking when it opens next year.

 

International

Bogotá, Columbia, has embarked on a bike lane building spree that could set the standard for Latin America, with 550 miles of bike lanes slated for completion within four years.

Coventry, England, is making an effort to return to its bicycling roots, despite its status as the UK’s Motor City equivalent,

London’s Evening Standard recommends all the gear you need to become a bicycle commuter. Or you could just get a bike and start riding.

Auto insurance claims for bike crashes have nearly doubled in the UK in recent months, presumably due to the increase in ridership due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Streetsblog questions whether it’s time for the US to adopt the Madrid Model of sandwiching bike lanes — or rather, slow vehicle lanes — between higher speed traffic lanes, saying it’s already showing safety improvements by moving riders from the edge of the roadway.

An Indian writer calls for a bicycle revolution to “drastically change the socio-economic and demographic distribution” of bicyclists, in a country where bike use is too often limited to the poorest households.

Singapore’s new pedestrian code of conduct calls for people on foot to use sidewalks and crosswalks instead of bikeways when they’re available. And not bury their faces in their phones.

An op-ed by a New Zealand physician says slowing speeds is a good start, but actually fixing the streets will make a bigger difference.

 

Competitive Cycling

Bicycling says Max Fennell, the first black pro triathlete, wants more black athletes to realize their potential in endurance sports.

Doctors continue to say Dutch pro Fabio Jakobsen could return to racing if he wants, while predicting a long and arduous path to recover from the injuries he suffered in the Tour of Poland; speaking and eating will be a challenge, along with “aesthetic damage” to his face.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can go bike touring while pulling your very own mini-camper trailer. And apparently, your regular bike clothes just won’t due for gravel grinding.

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

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

Streets For All talks with CD4 challenger Nithya Raman; and bike riding celebs — possibly including the next president

August 10, 2020 / / Comments Off on Streets For All talks with CD4 challenger Nithya Raman; and bike riding celebs — possibly including the next president

Streets For All is hosting an online conversation with CD4 candidate Nithya Raman, who’s challenging first term incumbent David Ryu in November.

While the coronavirus has taken a lot of the energy out of this year’s election, it remains one of the most important elections in memory.

And this race is no different.

Ryu spent most of his first term blocking progress on street safety projects, before becoming a fair weather convert to urbanism in the past year, as he faced a pair of urbanists and homeless advocates in the primary election.

One of those was Raman, who forced him into a runoff this November. And whose election could be a game changer for the City of Angels

And yes, she’s got my vote as soon as my ballot arrives.

 

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Today’s common theme is bike-riding celebs. And one that maybe won’t be for awhile.

America’s Got Talent and former American Idol judge Simon Cowell fractured his back in several places after crashing his new ebike in front of family members in the courtyard of his massive Malibu mansion; he should make a full recovery after a six-hour surgery to install a metal rod to stabilize his spine. Although someone should tell People that a broken back does not a “minor accident” make.

The new Batchelor is one of us, taking a ride in Florida as he waits for the show to resume filming.

Bohemian Rhapsody and Mr. Robot star Ramy Malik is one of us, as he goes for a casually dressed ride in London.

Former Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher is one of us, saying he goes offroad riding four times a week. Even if he’s not a fan of wearing his “fucking helmet.”

And presidential frontrunner Joe Biden is one of us, too.

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Anyone see the problem here?

https://twitter.com/EntitledCycling/status/1292652497538936832

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Keep your eyes peeled for a purloined cargo bike.

https://twitter.com/jessicabasic2/status/1291810474942554112

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Bikes are the means of protest in Belarus, as citizens took to the streets to demand an end to the country’s corrupt government in advance of Sunday’s election.

Although someone should tell the cops there that it’s kind of hard to catch bike riders when you’re on foot.

Or better yet, don’t tell them.

Not that it did any good; experts say it was rigged from the start.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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

No bias here. An editorial in the conservative Santa Barbara News Press calls for licensing and taxing bike riders, while complaining about traffic lanes being taken from those poor, suffering drivers and given to people in bicycles, as well as a long, long list of other grievances.

Residents of Bristol, England, are accused of moving construction barricades and posting signs to keep bike riders out of their neighborhood.

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

Life is cheap in Britain, where a wrong-way bicyclist got just six months for slamming into a pair of pedestrians while riding drunk and without working front brakes; one of the victims, an 81-year old woman, died from her injuries five months later.

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Local

Yes, the beachfront Marvin Braude Bike Trail is open for its full length, from Pacific Palisades to the Palos Verdes Peninsula. But the Ballona Creek Bike Path will be closed for maintenance work during the day all next week.

LA Taco offers the gut-wrenching story of the aftermath of a hit-and-run that seriously injured a homeless man in LA’s Historic Filipinotown. And the inaction of police as investigators don’t have the time or staffing to follow up, even after getting the license number of the driver’s car.

The Mid City West Community Council will consider a much needed $50 million makeover of moribund and traffic-choked Melrose Avenue, including the city’s first Dutch-style curb level protected bike lanes. Fortunately, the MCWCC is one of city’s most progressive neighborhood councils; the online meeting will take place tomorrow starting at 6:30 pm.

 

State

San Diego’s $177 billion, 30-year anti-LA style transportation makeover is in jeopardy thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

Hundreds of mostly maskless people defied health officials and turned out for Santa Barbara’s annual Fiesta Cruiser Run informal bike ride. So if Santa Barbara Covid-19 cases spike in a couple of weeks, you’ll know why.

 

National

Bike Snob isn’t exactly onboard with bicycle shops and bikemakers boycotting police bikes.

We mentioned this one before, but it’s worth a reminder. A Portland study shows that even slow bike riders in the traffic lane don’t delay drivers more than a few seconds. So tell ’em to chill, already.

Um, no. A resident of a Washington island called police to say someone on a bicycle was trying to crash into cars.

He gets it. A Utah bike rider says bicyclists only act entitled because we are — pointing out that bikes have a right to the road under state law. That’s true in every other state, as well.

Kindhearted Arkansas cops teamed with a local motorcycle club to buy a special needs boy a bicycle trailer so he can ride with his mom.

A 22-year old man from Minneapolis is riding 84.6 miles a day for ten days to honor Black people killed by police.

 

International

The owner of a British Columbia driving school says some of his best friends may be bike riders, but he hates a trial project that restricts two-way automotive traffic to a single shared lane, while providing bike lanes in each direction.

A bighearted Calgary neighborhood organization gave out 280 refurbished kids bikes.

This is why you should register your bike. Police in Ottawa, Canada are looking for the owners of 30 bicycles recovered from bike chop shops following a month-long investigation, but only one was registered. Which means the other 29 owners may be out of luck.

Nearly one thousand people turned out for a Black Unity Bike Ride through the streets of London, in what’s planned to be an annual event.

Business is booming in a UK town after the city closed off a roadway, blocking motor vehicle access through the business district while opening the street to diners, bike riders and pedestrians.

That’s more like it. A British truck driver got a well-deserved eight years behind bars for killing two people while playing video games behind the wheel.

New protected bike lanes are popping up on Dublin’s coast.

Lots of kids ride bikes. Not many discover what may be an actual miracle while doing it.

After a young mountaineer was killed in a hit-and-run, an Indian newspaper says separated bike lanes are urgently needed, and those responsible for her death must receive appropriate punishment for the crime.

Officials in Bengaluru, India, are asking bicyclists to crowdsource the routes where they want bike lanes by using tools like Strava and Google Maps, as bicycling picks up steam in the city during the coronavirus crisis.

He gets it, too. A Bangladeshi architect challenges the callous carelessness of the country’s drivers, and a system that lets them get away with it with a wink and a smile.

Add South Central Vietnam to your bike bucket list.

The worldwide coronavirus bike boom has even reached the Pacific island nation of Guam.

A New Zealand man pled guilty to multiple DUI charges for killing a father riding bikes with his daughter last April; tests showed he was high on meth and Valium, and had tossed a handgun and ammunition out of his car following the crash.

 

Competitive Cycling

Remco Evenepoel won the Tour of Poland; the 20-year old Belgian cyclist has won all four of the stage races he’s started this year.

Evenepoel’s fellow Belgian Wout van Aert out sprinted Julian Alaphilippe to win the rescheduled one-day Milan-San Remo spring classic.

Doctors believe Dutch cyclist Fabio Jakobsen will be able to return to racing despite suffering a crushed palate and windpipe, as well as other major facial injuries, after he was hip-checked into the road barriers by another rider as he sprinted for what would have been a likely victory in the first stage of the Tour of Poland. Meanwhile, the cyclists union is repeating their call for standard barriers at all races so this doesn’t happen again

 

Finally…

No, a red Camaro didn’t flee the scene after hitting a six-year old boy riding his bike, the unlicensed heartless coward behind the wheel did. Your next foldie could have full-size folding wheels.

And if you’re going to ride off on your bike after stealing a bottle of booze, wear a damn mask.

And some clothes, maybe.

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

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

Update: Woman killed riding bike in Ojai collision; tenth SoCal bike death in past 30 days

August 8, 2020 / / 2 comments

Bad news from Ojai, where a woman was killed riding her bike Friday night.

According to the Ojai Valley News, the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was riding alone in the 1000 block of Cuyama Road, near Del Norte Road, when she was somehow struck by the driver of a vehicle.

She was pronounced dead at the scene, despite the efforts of firefighters to resuscitate her.

The paper places the time of the crash at around 6:57 pm. The driver reportedly remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators.

Unfortunately, no other information is available at this time.

A street view shows a narrow, two lane country road with no shoulders.

This is at least the 38th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second that I’m aware of in Ventura County.

It’s also the tenth SoCal bicycling death in just the past 30 days.

Update: The victim has been identified as 78-year old Ojai resident Marion Weil, who deserved better. The driver is identified only as a 40-year old Ojai man. 

Anyone with information is urged to call Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Sr. Traffic Investigator Shawn Holzberger at 805/388-5146.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Marion Weil and all her loved ones.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,

Calbike joins planners to call for defunding police, LA proves it can repave streets AND paint bike lanes, and Audi own goal

August 7, 2020 / / One comment

What does defund the police mean on a state level?

And what role should bicycling play in the debate?

Calbike — aka the California Bicycle Coalition — released their proposal for how to shift funding and enforcement to address the Black Lives Matter movement, while reducing systemic racism in traffic enforcement.

In this report, CalBike makes six recommendations for state policy changes that will shift traffic enforcement in an anti-racist direction.

  1. Redirect funding from the CHP budget to street redesign
  2. Redirect funding from the CHP to automated enforcement
  3. Divert Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) funding from police departments to community efforts
  4. Decriminalize biking and walking
  5. Make public transportation, including bike and scooter share, free
  6. Implement income-adjusted traffic fines

There are some good proposals there, including the shift to automated enforcement. As well as the call to decriminalize common bicycling and walking behaviors.

If nothing else, it’s a good starting point.

And a reminder that this debate touches all of us in one way or another.

Today’s tongue-in-cheek image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay.

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Meanwhile, over 650 members of the nation’s largest planning organization called for defunding the police, citing the connection between urban planning decisions and criminal justice outcomes.

And the need to actually do something about it.

“Historically, planners have been responsible for manifestations of institutional racism including redlining and the construction of freewaysand toxic industrial development in poor and Black and Brown neighborhoods, among many others,” reads the letter to the APA dated July 24. “These actions have had reverberating effects, including creating the preconditions for over-policing of communities of color and disinvestment in community health and safety (just as they created the conditions for safety, wellness, prosperity, and limited policing in predominantly white suburbs).”

One example they provide is Vision Zero initiatives, which aim to reduce or eliminate traffic fatalities. Despite their good intentions, the programs “rely on police-led enforcement and may inadvertently direct additional resources to police.” The letter also points to how transit planners have deployed transit police “who notoriously harass riders of color over fee evasion,”  and housing planners who’ve ignored how policing contributes to gentrification despite pledged support for affordable housing.

Which is one reason why enforcement shouldn’t be key to Vision Zero, here in LA or anywhere else. And why the automated speed and red light cams Calbike calls for are a better option for improving safety and compliance with the law.

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For once, Los Angeles added bike lanes after a street was resurfaced.

Proving they really can do it, after all.

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No surprise here.

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Caltrans was hard at work on fixing a Ventura County bike path.

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Nothing like an own goal from an automaker, who didn’t see the obvious problem until everyone else did.

Which is exactly the problem.

https://twitter.com/AudiOfficial/status/1289848460368257033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1290357990814396416%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fusa.streetsblog.org%2F2020%2F08%2F05%2Fdummkopfe-audi-blasted-for-horrendous-car-ad%2F

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How to turn your bike into a mobile ham radio setup.

Thanks to Bart Anderson, who’s examining bicycling in the Age of Covid-19, for the heads-up.

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

A New York man pulled off a string of burglaries while riding a stolen bike worth five grand.

……..

Local

Dockless scooter and bike companies got a three-month reprieve on stricter regulation in Los Angeles. If there are still any dockless bikeshare providers purveying their bicycles on the city’s streets, that is.

The editor of the LA Times editorial page reluctantly throws in the towel and buys his first car, after vowing to never own one in Los Angeles.

Ride to the letter of the law in Pasadena today, where the police are conducting another day of bike and pedestrian safety enforcement, targeting any violations that endanger those two groups regardless of who commits them; last week’s action resulted in tickets to 64 drivers, 28 bicyclists and 27 pedestrians. Thanks to Tim Rutt for the tip.

Manhattan Beach’s annual Tour de Pier fundraising stationary bike ride goes virtual this year.

 

State

Heartbreaking story from Santa Ana, where a man was shot to death near the Santa Ana River by thieves who stole his bicycle; police have four suspects in custody, and are looking for a fifth. As we’ve said before, no bike is worth your life. Just give it up and walk away, and let the police deal with it. Thanks to Sindy for the link. 

A San Diego judge is expected to reject a preliminary injunction that would block construction of the city’s 30th Street protected bike lanes.

Maybe you’re not crazy after all. A San Diego smart streetlight network installed to provide traffic data really has been spying on the public, with video going straight to the police.

Thousand Oaks is adding an expert trail to the city’s bike park.

He gets it. A San Francisco lawyer says regardless of the state’s three-foot minimum passing distance, if a driver thinks they’re too close when they pass a bike rider, they probably are.

Evidently, Stockton police are on the lookout for stragglers from the First Order, busting a bike rider who tried to flee a traffic stop while carrying a fake gun and an Emperor Palpatine mask.

Mountain Bike World Cup champ Kate Courtney shares her favorite NorCal mountain biking spots.

The low cost Rad Power line of ebikes got its start with a 15-year old kid building his own electric frankenbike in his parents Garberville garage.  And no, I didn’t know where that is, either. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.

 

National

A $5 donation for mountain bike trails and advocacy could win you a $16,525 mountain bike.

Bicycling offers advice on how to advocate for bike lanes in your own city.

Apparently Bicycling doesn’t want you to read about their own fight for “meaningful and long-lasting change,” though, or a call for making the same commitment to anti-racism as you do to getting better on your bike, hiding both behind a paywall after making the rest of their racial justice coverage available to everyone.

There’s no end in sight for the bike boom-induced bicycle shortage as imports can’t keep up with current demand.

New Scientist considers how long a multi-rider bike can be and still be efficient, concluding it could carry at least five riders.

Vanity Fair offers tips on how women can ride in style this summer, starting with a new Linus bike and a bluetooth speaker to annoy everyone you pass with your taste in music. Or you could just ride a beach cruiser with bare feet and ripped jeans, or maybe copy J.Lo’s unexpectedly glam bike style.

Now you can subscribe to your very own e-scooter.

An Oregon teen did the right thing and returned a stolen bicycle to its original owner, after buying it to rebuild and sell.

An “avid cyclist” from Santa Cruz CA writes to thank drivers in Walla Walla, Washington for giving her a wide berth when she rides.

Kindhearted Texas cops buy a new bike for a young Walmart employee after his was stolen while he worked cleaning the parking lot.

Evident, Mellow Johnnie’s is too mellow for the local police. The Texas bike shop founded by Lance Armstrong broke a lucrative four-year contract by refusing to sell bikes the Austin Police Department, after a handful of employees complained about police bikes being against Back Lives Matter protesters.

Iowa Facebook users team up to bust a bike thief and help a little boy get his stolen bike back.

A Brooklyn website says bike traffic is up 20% on New York’s bridges, but the cash-strapped city can’t afford to make changes to support the increase.

A Florida drunk driver apologizes to the victim’s daughter for killing her 73-year old bike-riding father, before getting sentenced to five years behind bars. Which sets everything just as if he’d never gotten behind the wheel after drinking to begin with. Right?

 

International

Canada is investing $3.3 billion in building bike infrastructure, as well as measures to improve social distancing and increase safety for kids on their way to school.

This is why people continue to die on our streets. A Canadian woman who killed a man riding a bike after bragging about driving drunk on social media got just 18 months behind bars for yet another DUI, her third drunk driving conviction in just five years.

More evidence of just how extensive Britain’s bike boom has been, as a new survey suggests 83% of Brits got on their bikes again as a result of the coronavirus lockdown.

No bias here. A local columnist blames bike riders for a new Dutch-style roundabout in Cambridge, England, insisting that the real goal isn’t safety, but causing gridlock. Damn. They’re onto us, comrades.

A British writer says it will take more than the country’s new voucher scheme to spur a bicycling revolution — including safe, well-marked bikeways, and making it clear to everyone that bike riders are legitimate road users.

Irish parents are encouraged to ditch the car in favor of a cycle bus. Or what we in the US would call a bike train.

Dutch hackers show how to mess with the country’s traffic lights by using a basic internet connection to spoof nonexistent bicycles, tricking the signals into giving the fake bike a green light.

A pair of writers for Bloomberg argue that Italy’s 900 euro ebike rebate — the equivalent of $1,063 — only benefits people who have enough cash long around to pay off the balance.

When the pandemic hit, Barcelona’s bike plans were ready to go, allowing the city to roll out a complete bit lane network in just weeks. Contrast that with Los Angeles, where the bike plan continues to gather dust on the back of the deepest, darkest shelf at LADOT.

Add this one to your bike bucket list. Turkey has just opened a new, blue, 16-mile rail-protected bike path along the Mediterranean coast.

In a clear sign of the times, stock prices for Japanese bike gear maker Shimano are up, while Nissan stocks are down, with the bike company passing the car maker for the first time.

 

Competitive Cycling

Dutch cyclist Fabio Jakobsen suffered critical head and facial injuries after crashing into the metal barricades on the side of the course in the first stage of the Tour of Poland.

Watch the left side of the screen, as Jakobsen makes his move along the barriers before getting disastrously hip checked by fellow countryman Dylan Groenewegen.

https://twitter.com/wcsbike/status/1291048127823314945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1291048127823314945%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbikinginla.com%2F%3Fp%3D42532

At last report, Jakobsen was in a medically induced coma following five hours of reconstructive surgery. Cycling’s governing body issued a statement strongly condemning Groenewegen’s actions in forcing Jakobsen into the barrier, while the head of Jakobsen’s Quick Step team called for a criminal investigation.

In other news, Spanish cyclist Ibai Salas Zorrozua’s on-again, off-again four-year doping ban is back on after a successful appeal from the World Anti-Doping Authority.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you turn to Miss Manners for advice on how to respond to pedestrians blocking bike lanes. Or when your stolen bike inspires your next short film.

And your next ebike may be able to read your mind.

………

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

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

Move along, nothing to see here

August 6, 2020 / / Comments Off on Move along, nothing to see here

Sometimes you just have to throw in the towel.

A combination of an early morning commitment today, and a late night last night tending to a new puppy who got into something she shouldn’t have, means I’m out of time to get anything done tonight.

As usual, we’ll be back on Friday to catch up on anything we missed.

Category: General /
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