BikinginLA

Morning Links: DIY red cup protected bike lanes today, LA traffic deaths up despite Vision Zero, and a busy bike weekend

April 26, 2019 / bikinginla / Comments Off

It’s National Red Cup Project Day.

So go out and stake out your own protected bike lane by using your favorite brand of plastic red cups to mark your favorite bike lane for just a few bucks.

And knowing LA drivers, for just a few minutes before they run them over anyway.

But still.

Then send me the photos or video, and I’ll post them on here.

………

Good piece from the LA Times’ Laura Nelson, who writes that, despite Vision Zero, traffic fatalities are up significantly in Los Angeles; advocates blame inaction by the city and a lack of commitment to improve safety if it means inconveniencing drivers.

I’d say that about sums it up.

………

It’s a busy bike weekend in the LA area.

Culver City is looking for volunteers to clean up Ballona Creek on Saturday, presumably including the bike path.

Councilmember Bob Blumenfield hosts his annual Blumenfield Bike Ride in Reseda Saturday morning.

And the ever-popular CicLAvia rolls through the streets of Wilmington on Sunday, with their first event of 2015.

………

KCBS-2 looks forward to Monday’s arrival of LA’s first two-way bike lane on Spring Street in DTLA.

Although unlike the photo they use to illustrate the story, it probably won’t be cobbled.

………

Kindhearted Santa Clarita sheriff’s deputies surprised a young boy with a new bike after his was stolen; credit the local Bicycle John’s outpost for donating the bike.

Thanks to Nina Moskol, Chairperson of the Santa Clarita Valley Bicycle Coalition for the heads-up.

Speaking of Santa Clarita, the city’s mayor looks forward to next month’s visit by the Amgen Tour of California, while encouraging residents to explore the city by bicycle.

And a columnist for The Signal decries a “relative bloodbath of pedestrian and bicycle accidents” in the area, saying more must be done to improve safety, especially on busy six-lane McBean Parkway.

………

Today’s common theme: mountain bikes.

Recently retired football great Rob Gronkowski is one of us; Bicycling offers a little unsolicited advice as he takes up mountain biking.

Congratulations to gun maker Smith & Wesson, whose attempt to enter the mountain bike market ranks 41st on USA Today’s list of the 50 worst product flops of all time.

Finishing our mountain bike trifecta, Outside offers seven tips for beginning mountain bikes, whether or not they answer to Gronkowski.

But wait, there’s more!

The Orange County Register’s David Whiting takes a docent-led mountain bike tour through the volunteer-managed Irvine Ranch Conservancy, which he says most people have never heard of, even though at 40,000 acres it’s nearly as big as Bryce Canyon National Park and even more spectacular.

………

Local

Spectrum News 1 is the latest LA news outlet to look at the city’s new program to install permanent memorials to fallen bicyclists.

A former LA city planner states the obvious, suggesting that LA traffic congestion is only going to get worse and that solutions like walking and biking remain woefully underfunded, without the safe infrastructure necessary to make them work. However, he also blames increased density and transit oriented development, as well as reduced parking requirements, calling them frauds, without citing evidence to back it up.

An op-ed in the LA Daily News says California drivers won’t willingly give up their cars.

This is who we share the beach with. A woman tells what it was like to get run over by an LAPD SUV while sunbathing on Venice Beach.

Santa Monica’s Breeze bikeshare program could be on the chopping block due to competition from dockless bikes and e-scooters, as the city faces budget cuts and layoffs under a program to speed payment of its $448 million unfunded pension liability.

He gets it. An op-ed from the vice chair of the Long Beach Transit board of directors says everyone deserves safe streets.

This is who we share the roads with. A Long Beach bus driver faces charges for sideswiping more than a dozen cars while driving at three times the legal alcohol limit.

Signal Hill police will be cracking down on violations that endanger bike riders and pedestrians net month.

State

California’s Complete Streets bill moves forward after passing through the Senate Transportation Committee; SB127 would require Caltrans to consider the safety of all road users on any state-owned road.

That’s more like it. An El Cajon woman driving with a suspended license got three years behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that seriously injured a nine-year old boy who was riding his bike to school.

A San Diego TV station says bike riders and skaters at a new pump track think the park isn’t big enough for both of them.

A 75-year old Indian Wells man was hospitalized with significant injuries after he somehow crashed into the back of a parked city van Thursday morning.

Riverside sheriff’s deputies are still on the lookout for the red light-running hit-and-run driver who killed a 21-year old Eastvale man as he was biking home from work five years ago; deputies originally arrested a man who admitted to driving while “drunk out of his mind” and thought he had hit something that night, but phone records placed him miles from the crash site.

The speeding driver in the Sunnyvale crash who intentionally rammed eight pedestrians and bike riders as they waited at a red light was reportedly suffering from PTSD from his time in the Army; witnesses said they heard him repeatedly moan “Thank you, Jesus” following the crash.

National

A tax bill pending in Congress could mean an extra $53 a month in your pocket for commuting by bike.

Fast Company says people only realized just how much they’d miss ebikes after they were taken away.

Breaking a sweat today can provide health benefits up to a decade later.

An Oregon weekly offers its annual bicycling edition, with stories ranging from BMX and gravel grinding to low stress bicycle networks.

Phoenix says what’s a few traffic deaths between friends, bucking the national trend by voting not to adopt a Vision Zero plan.

A new study from an Arizona professor recommends leading bicycle intervals or split LBIs to reduce the risk of collisions with right-turning drivers.

Colorado comedian Wally Wallace discusses the second edition of his bicycle and comedy festival in tiny Trinidad CO, choosing the city of slightly more than 8,000 people because it’s halfway between Los Angeles and Chicago by train.

A Boise, Idaho bike cop is about to log 100,000 miles on his bike.

A Minneapolis transportation columnist says if you want a happy commute, travel by bicycle.

The NYPD is cracking down on red light-running bike riders, after a woman suffered a fractured skull that left her in a coma when she was struck by a food delivery rider who blew through the light. Seriously, unless you live in Idaho or Arkansas, stop for the damn red light, already — especially when pedestrians are present.

A DC website says it’s very charitable to conclude that the cop who hit a bike rider as he rode in a crosswalk actually had the right-of-way, as the local police insist.

Life is cheap in North Carolina, where a speeding driver who killed an 18-year old basketball star while he was riding his bike walked with just 75 days behind bars — and even that was suspended.

A travel writer visiting New Orleans says bikeshare is a surprisingly good way to tour the city.

International

Research papers usually tell just half the story about exercise science, since they too often leave women out of the equation, according to a Cycling Weekly writer.

Heartbreaking video from England, where a balance bike-riding three-year old became collateral damage in a road rage dispute between two drivers; remarkably, the truck driver who killed him was cleared of wrongdoing. Evidently, road rage is perfectly legal in the UK, even if it kills an innocent person.

You’ve got to be kidding. Life is cheap in Britain, where a “remorseless” hit-and-run driver walks without a single day behind bars for leaving a triathlete with serious injuries after deliberately cutting in front of her bike — and saying she deserved it, calling it karma, for the crime of delaying his car for a few moments. Let’s wish him well, because karma’s got a nasty way of coming back to bite you in the ass.

Seriously? Japan Today points out the dangers of reckless bicycling, while noting that police blame bike riders for “nearly 100%” of crashes with pedestrians. While we have an obligation to ride safely around people on foot, anyone who’s ever had someone step off a curb or turn around in front of them knows that’s pretty damned unlikely.

The Japanese man whose wife and three-year old daughter were killed when their bike was struck by an 87-year old driver calls attention to elderly people who can no longer drive safely. We’ve got to find a better way to identify unsafe drivers and take the keys out of their hands. Because despite what Elon Musk says, self-driving cars are a long way off.

Finally…

When you’re sexually harassed by your e-scooter. Here’s your chance to tour Winterfell by bike.*

And yes, I would.

In a heartbeat.

*dragons not included

Category: Morning Links / Tags: Beach Streets, bicycling, Blumenfield Bike Ride, Bob Blumenfield, cicLAvia, Los Angeles, mountain biking, Red Cup Project, Santa Clarita, Spring Street, traffic fatalities, Vision Zero

Update: Man dies in solo sidewalk crash on Foothill Blvd in Tujunga

April 25, 2019 / bikinginla / 23 comments

Sad news from Tujunga.

And for a change, there wasn’t a driver involved.

According to a press release from the LAPD, a man was killed while riding along westbound Foothill Blvd east of Commerce Ave in Tujunga at 10:50 Thursday morning.

The victim, who hasn’t been publicly named, was riding downhill on the sidewalk when he collided a sign and a tree.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, and identified only as white man in his 30s.

This is at least the 21st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also the fifth in the City of Los Angeles.

And it’s another reminder that riding on the sidewalk is more dangerous than it seems.

Update: There will be a ghost bike placed for the victim this Sunday at 7:30 pm.

Update 2: Family members have identified the victim as Steve Jensen.

I’m told Jensen was actually riding downhill in the street, and swerved to avoid a car stopped in the lane. He crashed into a sign for a smog test center that was in the street illegally, and hit a tree on the sidewalk.

The badly dented sign is still there, visible inside the fence for the smog test center.

The question is whether they’ve learned anything, or if the sign will go back out in the street in the morning.

Update 3: Apparently bad bike infrastructure played a significant roll in this crash, as well. LA’s typical disappearing bike lane design at intersections may have helped cost Jensen his life, forcing him into the traffic lane after gaining speed on his descent.

I now have a ghost bike in my neighborhood. I ride this section of Foothill often. Westbound is full of dangers. The hill his steep. Speed gathers quickly going down, and just then the road narrows, the bike lane vanishes, and your out 'in the lane' like it or not. https://t.co/ebkNl1uvfd

— Doug Moore (@mooremediaone) April 29, 2019

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Steve Jensen and all his loved ones.

Thanks to Zachary Rynew for the heads-up.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: bicycling fatality, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, sidewalk riding, Steve Jensen, Tujunga

Morning Links: Red Solo Cup protected bike lanes Friday, CiclaValley leaves LACBC, and more on Sunnyvale attack

April 25, 2019 / bikinginla / Comments Off

Oh the joys of diabetes.

I’ve been on a blood sugar roller coaster for the last 12 hours, spiking, then crashing, then spiking and crashing again.

I’ve done my best to fight through it and finish today’s post, despite the swimming head and uncontrollable full body shakes that come with it.

But I finally have to throw in the towel.

I’m about two-thirds through what promised to be another epic post. So instead of holding off posting anything until tomorrow, I’m publishing what I’ve got so far.

I’ll catch up on the rest after I’ve managed to sleep off this awful feeling.

Which could take awhile.

………

Get your red plastic Solo Cups out on Friday. And make your very own protected bike lane.

All week we’ve been keeping up with stories about the tragic death of DC bike advocate Dave Salovesh, who was killed in a collision by the driver of a stolen van.

One thing Salovesh was famous for was making his own DIY protected bike lanes using the iconic red cups.

So this Friday, bicyclists around the country will honor him while making the case for improving bicycle safety by with their own red Solo Cup protected bike lanes.

Just head down to your local store, buy a bag or two, and place them on any bike lane you want turned into a protected lane.

Maybe if enough of us do it, in enough locations around the city, our civic leaders might actually get the point and do something about it.*

We can dream, can’t we?

Meanwhile, a DC paper looks at the long journey the ghost bike for Salovesh took to get to the street, including the city’s long-time failure to improve safety that led to his death.

*I’m using us here, when I really mean you. Unfortunately, there are no bike lanes in Hollywood close enough for me to hobble to with my cane. So go out and mark one for me. And let’s hope someone finally gets around to striping a few around here before I regain my mobility, grab some spray paint and make ’em myself.

………

It looks like the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition is going to be even more short handed for awhile.

After the departure of three staff members due to a budget shortfall caused by the bike coalition’s previous, short-lived executive director, now comes word that Zachary Rynew, aka CiclaValley, is leaving after four years.

Rynew announced his decision on Facebook late Wednesday after struggling with it for several days.

When pressed for the reasons behind his departure, he said he was making himself available for today’s NFL draft, in hopes of being the oldest and most seriously out of football playing shape player taken in the first round.

If he said he was declaring for the NHL draft, I might believe him.

His departure leaves the LACBC seriously understaffed, and with a loss of experience and knowledge that will take some time to replace. Which is compounded by the board’s decision to implement four-year term limits, leading to a significant loss of institutional knowledge.

It’s not unusual to have staff turnover when a new ED comes in, as various people decide they don’t fit with the new leadership. Or have that decision made for them.

Let’s hope the new leadership can keep the coalition on track and active in the streets while they deal with all these staff changes.

Because frankly, we need them if we’re ever going to improve safety on the mean streets of Los Angeles.

………

The FBI has joined the investigation into a speeding driver who intentionally slammed into eight people waiting at a Sunnyvale intersection, including bike riders and pedestrians, seriously injuring four of the victims.

The driver, Isaiah Joel Peoples, now faces eight counts of attempted murder.

………

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

After attempting to run a pair of bike riders off the road for no apparent reason — even though they were in a bike lane — a Utah driver pulled in front and brake checked them, then sped off with one victim still caught on the car’s spoiler.

A London driver yelled at a man on a bike to get to the side of the road, even though he was waiting legally at an advanced stop, then intentionally rammed his bicycle before driving off. Which other kindhearted and concerned drivers immediately responded to by honking at the bike rider to get up off the road and out of their damn way.

………

Local

The accused bike-riding South LA Slasher was finally arraigned on Wednesday and entered a not guilty plea.

LADOT somehow concludes that a speeding hit-and-run driver and the wet roadway caused the crash that took the life of a woman on Hyperion Ave this past January, rather than the unsafe conditions on the street itself. But decide to make some fixes to it anyway.

Fox 11 looks at LA’s new plan to provide permanent memorials for fallen bicyclists.

The Press-Telegram reports you can’t drive on Long Beach’s Pacific Ave on Saturday due to this weekend’s Beach Streets open streets festival, but says that’s a good thing.

State

San Diego approves a permitting process for dockless bikeshare and e-scooters, as angry residents get out their torches and pitchforks. Meanwhile, a San Diego planning board calls for a protected bike lane on Point Loma Blvd.

You can still sign up for Saturday’s Joshua Tree 55 Bike Ride in Twentynine Palms.

San news from San Francisco, where a dump truck driver killed professional skateboarder Pablo Ramirez Tuesday afternoon; in a tragic irony, the San Francisco Chronicle says his stunts were death defying.

More sad news, this time from Sacramento, where a man was killed in a collision while riding his bike Tuesday night.

Zombie cars strike again. A Loleta news site writes that a woman was struck by an SUV while riding her bike, without ever mentioning that the vehicle had a driver.

National

Bicycling looks at the most beautiful custom and handmade bikes from this year’s North American Handmade Bike Show.

No bias here. An Arizona newspaper writes about the problem of “rampant cyclists” on the town’s streets, as one woman calls for rumble strips or speed bumps to slow the riders down — even though that could result in countless crashes and serious injuries. But hey, that would slow them down, right?

Forget Bike to Work Day. The next town over from my hometown is challenging businesses to encourage their employees to bike to work for the next two months.

An Iowa paper encourages drivers to share the road, after record flooding forces bike riders off popular trails and onto the streets. Whether they want to be there or not.

My favorite story of the day. A bighearted Ohio motorcycle cop stopped to help a couple of kids learn how to ride a bike without training wheels.

Buffalo NY college students reinvent the laufmaschine, aka dandy horse, in response to the current climate challenge.

Advocates call the NYPD’s heavy-handed crackdown on bell-less bicyclists racist and wrong, while some of the harassment victims tell their own stories.

No bias here. After a Virginia cop hit a bike rider, police somehow conclude he had no responsibility to look to the right to ensure the sidewalk was clear before making a right turn on a red light; here’s video of the same crash from another angle. Thanks to Janet Lafluer for the second link.

A North Carolina writer worries authorities will be coming after his bikes, after a Republican legislator introduces a bill requiring licenses for bicycles.

Kindhearted St. Petersburg police officers pitched in to buy a new bicycle for a man who biked to work every day after his was stolen.

International

You’ve got to be kidding. After a Canadian bike rider was seriously injured when she was sideswiped by a truck driver, the case against the driver who hit her was dismissed because prosecutors didn’t establish that she was riding a bicycle.

Once again, businesses are shooting themselves in the foot, this time in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where they’re opposing bike lanes on a downtown street — despite multiple studies showing bike lanes are good for business.

Competitive Cycling

Bike Snob says bike racing, I wish I knew how to quit you.

An Illinois attorney set two age-group world records for women over 50 at a Mexico City track cycling event earlier this month.

Finally…

When you somehow think riding a Penny Farthing will get you a Brexit job. If you just stole a bike, try not to sell it back to the bike shop that originally sold it.

And it may be rented out by a bike shop, but this is definitely not an ebike.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: bicycling, CiclaValley, Dave Salovesh, Department of DIY, LACBC, Los Angeles, protected bike lanes, Red Solo Cups, the war on bikes, Zachary Rynew

Morning Links: 92% of LA hit-and-runs unsolved, 8 hurt in Sunnyvale assault, and Complete Streets in Beverly Hills

April 24, 2019 / bikinginla / 2 comments

Don’t county on the LAPD to catch any driver who runs you down.

According to the LA Daily News, only eight percent of reported hit-and-runs were solved by police in the City of Angels in 2017 — a one third drop from the year before.

Police blame a new statistical formula for the drop from the already far too low total.

Which is why it’s better to stop hit-and-runs before they happen, rather than try to catch fleeing drivers afterwards.

If only our elected leaders cared enough to actually do something about it.

………

Horrible news from Sunnyvale, where a speeding driver slammed into a group of people, allegedly on purpose, sending eight victims to the hospital.

The police are saying they were all pedestrians, however, photos from the scene show a number of backpacks and bicycles strewn about the crash site.

………

It must be getting pretty chilly in hell these days.

Better Bike’s Mark Elliot is asking for your input on the Beverly Hills Complete Streets draft plan.

Yes, Complete Streets in the former Biking Black Hole.

The newly bike-friendly, though decidedly anti-scooter, city is even proposing enhancements to its nascent bicycle, pedestrian and transit networks.

Which is something no one who participated in bike plan talks ten years ago would have expected, when city leaders effectively blew off anyone who showed up for meetings on two wheels.

And scheduled those meetings for times when bike riders who wanted to participate couldn’t.

Things have changed.

But as we’ve seen in Los Angeles, it only takes a new election cycle or a handful of angry drivers to lose that newfound support for active transportation.

So add your comments to the plan.

And keep up the fight until the lines on the map turn into paint on the street.

………

I don’t even know what to say here.

In a truly bizarre ruling, the US 6th District Court of Appeals concluded that marking the tires of a car to track how long it’s been parked constitutes an “unreasonable search,” and lacks probable cause.

Even though it’s just marking the outside of the vehicle, which is open and in full view of the public.

It doesn’t seem likely stand up on appeal. And only applies to the 6th District, which is made up of Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

But it’s one more example of the privilege drivers enjoy.

Thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up.

………

Pasadena will promote the upcoming Amgen Tour of California by forming a human bicycle sculpture at the Rose Bowl Friday afternoon.

Reservations are required if you want to take part. And the first 100 people to confirm will receive free VIP passes to the Final Friday Foodtruck Festival,

………

Bike Culver City discovers fresh Kermit on Overland Ave.

https://twitter.com/BikeCulverCity/status/1120866074835034112

Thanks to Ted Faber for the link.

………

The crowdfunding page for Frederick “Woon” Frazier is now up to nearly $9,000, just short of the $10,000 goal.

Hopefully some very generous and kindhearted people will push it over the top soon.

And yes, I’ve done my small part to help.

………

Local

There will be a community meeting in Compton tonight to discuss the future of the LA River, hopefully including plans for completing a 51-mile bike path along its banks.

Santa Monica-based Bird is working to make their e-scooters more sustainable. And more durable, so they don’t fall apart while you’re riding them.

A Santa Clarita woman is calling for more bike lanes in the city after her mother was killed when she was rear-ended while riding her bike last month.

State

San Diego police release a sketch of the — alleged — perv who tried to lure a bike-riding nine-year old girl into his van next month.

Dockless bikeshare could be moving into San Diego’s North County this summer.

Thanks to Robert Leone for forwarding news of a new study from UC San Diego confirming that “talking on a cellphone while driving quadruples the risk of a crash even when a driver is using a hands-free device,” while texting results in an eight-times higher risk.

As San Jose’s Better Bikeway San Jose project nears completion, not everyone is on board. On two wheels or four.

National

Just a tad bit of roadie bias here. Women Fitness offers “must-have tips for girls who love bicycling.” Although it may come as a shock to them that many women somehow manage to ride a bike without spandex and clipless pedals.

A new study shows Americans are still sitting too much. Blame me for skewing the results; I’m still spending most of the day flat on my ass when I’m not rehabbing my new knee.

Bike lawyer Bob Mionske says states are finally coming around to Stop as Yield Laws — aka the Idaho Stop Law. And that’s a good thing. Maybe if enough states adopt it, we can finally stop hearing the tired refrain that California is not Idaho. Because evidently, they don’t think we know that.

Curbed considers how five American cities are expanding bikeshare to underserved areas.

JFK Jr was one of us.

A Colorado paper says Denver’s 20-year transportation plan will solve traffic congestion — if drivers don’t rise up against it. Then again, that’s what they said about LA’s mobility plan, which is gathering dust after the city backed down in the face of angry drivers.

An Illinois man faces up to 12 years in prison for the drunken hit-and-run crash that seriously injured a bike rider; he told police he knew he hit the man, but panicked and drove home instead of stopping. Sure, let’s go with that. Because no one would just try to sleep it off, then turn himself in once he sobered up, right?

Oops. Just days after the NYPD ticketed bike riders for not having a bell — and confiscated their bikes in some cases — Gothamist posts photos showing New York’s police commissioner doesn’t have one on his bike, either.

Great idea. The University of Kentucky offers its students $400 vouchers for a new bike, as long as they promise not to drive for two years. Make it enough for an e-cargo bike, and I’ll promise never to drive again.

A North Carolina man was injured when his bike was rear-ended by a speeding driver who had been weaving through traffic. Since he was deaf, he couldn’t hear the driver approaching and had no chance to get out of the way.

You’ve got to be kidding. A plainclothes Miami-Dade FL cop is being investigated by internal affairs after swearing at a bike-riding mom and her two kids to get out of the road, insisting — incorrectly — that it’s against the law for them to ride their bikes in the street. Then the cop intentionally doored her 14-year old son, knocking him off his bike.

International

Road.cc offers money saving tips for bike riders, including patch your own tubes and don’t be such a weight weenie.

Once again, bike riders are heroes, as a pair of Canadian men spotted a duck in distress while on a bike ride, and rescued her eight ducklings from certain death by fishing them out of a storm drain.

A Canadian city and its bikeshare provider defend their decision to junk dozens of outdated bikes, saying they were no longer road worthy.

English police found the body of a 78-year old flautist, a month after she went missing while on a bike ride.

More on that Scottish bus service that ferries mountain bikers nearly 40 miles from Edinburgh to trailheads in the Highlands, eliminating numerous car trips.

A Scottish suicide survivor’s sixth attempt to ride his bike around the world was cut short after it was stolen before he could even cross the British Channel. You know what they say. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again.

About damn time. Welsh police are setting up a special road rage unit to investigate video evidence of assaults on bicyclists and pedestrians.

A 23-year old Zimbabwe bike rider pled guilty to negligence after hitting and killing a pedestrian while riding 21 mph; he had been facing a charge of culpable homicide.

A pair of Philadelphia-area women are riding over 6,000 miles from Thailand to Spain to raise funds for street children in Nepal; they’ve made it as far as Turkey after 406 days on the road.

Finally…

Nothing like finding a pair of 500-pound safes on the side of a bike path that were stolen 772 miles away. That feeling when you let your guard down, and your bike stolen gets along with several others at a cobbled sportive.

And probably not the best idea to knock London’s first bike mayor off his.

………

A special thanks to Steve S for getting me back online after software issues locked me out of this site for over an hour last night. Without his help, you wouldn’t be reading this today.

Although I’d probably be sleeping instead of writing right now.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: Better Bike, Beverly Hills, bicycling, Complete Streets, hit-and-run, LAPD, Los Angeles, Mark Elliot, Sunnyvale, vehicular assault

Morning Links: Roads closed in Griffith Park, Lyft fights dooring, and bike transponders aren’t the answer

April 23, 2019 / bikinginla / Comments Off

You might want to put off that Griffith Park ride for a few weeks.

Or maybe find another route.

The roads leading to and around the famed Griffith Observatory will be closed to all traffic for the next two weeks for construction work.

And yes, that includes bicycles.

KNBC-4 has a map showing which roads are closed.

Photo from the Griffith Observatory’s Facebook page.

………

They get it.

Lyft will start sending its customers a notice ten minutes into their rides telling them to watch for bikes and scooters at the end of the ride.

They’ll also encourage ride hailing users to employ the Dutch Reach when they open the door to get out, to avoid dooring anyone.

Which only makes sense, since some of those people at risk of dooring could be their own bikeshare and e-scooter users.

………

No, the solution to traffic safety is not to make bike riders and pedestrians wear transponders so we don’t get killed.

But congratulations to a pair of Florida university students who won second place with the idea.

Now, if they could just invent one to create a force field that would repel any motor vehicle that came within three feet of me and my bike, I’m in.

………

More on the heartbreaking death of DC bike advocate Dave Salovesh.

A DC website gives a glimpse of just how much his death impacted the city, including a statement from the local Bicycle Advisory Council, as well as comments from a number of city council members.

The Greater Greater Washington website relays the grief of the bicycling community.

Streetsblog says Salovesh’s death shows the slow progress DC is making towards safer streets.

DCist says frankly, it’s personal this time, as the cycling community ramps up activism in the wake of the crash.

An American expat and former DC resident now living in the Netherlands talks about the loss of her friend.

And a woman writes that no one should lose a friend to a traffic crash.

Meanwhile, an advocacy group will hold a Portland, Oregon rally calling for no more traffic deaths after a woman was killed crossing the street.

Sadly, things like that happen in Los Angeles nearly every day. But except in very rare cases, no one does a thing.

That has to change.

Now.

………

Local

A gang member convicted of killing an LA cop was found dead in his Death Row cell Saturday morning; he was convicted of killing Los Angeles County Office of Public Safety Capt. Michael Sparkes while the off-duty officer was out for a bike ride.

A writer for Wired says your cellphone could help Metro with a radical remake of the LA bus system, showing when, where and how far Angelenos actually travel, regardless of mode; surprisingly, it shows that only 16% of trips in the city are longer than ten miles.

Bicycling looks at LA’s new plan to install permanent signs as memorials to fallen bike riders.

LA Taco wants to know if you can live without your car for a day.

After moving from New York to Pasadena, a bike commuter suddenly finds his coworkers riding to work because they didn’t want him to show them up.

A chef at Gladstones in Long Beach is riding in this year’s 300-mile Chefs Cycle for No Kid Hungry.

State

The Santa Ana River bike trail will be closed off and on for the demolition of a bridge on the 405 where it crosses the river; OCTA promises there will be a well-marked detour in place when the trail shuts down.

An arrest has been made in the hit-and-run crash that killed a Jurupa Valley bike rider Saturday night.

A man ran off after he was caught spray painting a bike path on the Santa Barbara City College. No word on what he was painting.

A San Francisco columnist says the best of the outdoors is always a surprise after encountering a pride of peacocks while riding with his wife.

You’ve got to be kidding. The case against a 75-year old Healdsburg driver for killing a bike rider ended in a hung jury — even though the man was driving on the wrong side of the road to pass a slow-moving truck when he struck the woman as she was participating in a charity ride.

National

Great idea. In addition to rating cities for bike friendliness, People for Bikes is now providing user generated bike routes in cities around the US. You can download the app here. Do I really need to mention that the bicycle advocacy group ranks my hometown as the country’s best bike city. Which only happened decades after my last ride there.

A website devoted to fighting poverty says fining poor people for jaywalking won’t stop traffic fatalities when the real problem is dangerous streets and drivers.

Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus explains why Oregon should adopt the Idaho Stop Law the third time around. The same argument holds for California. And pretty well everywhere else.

No bias here. After a woman drives onto the shoulder of a highway and kills a man on a bike, the Idaho state police feel compelled to point out that he wasn’t wearing a helmet, as if that somehow contributed to the crash. And at highway speeds, a crash like that probably wouldn’t have been survivable, with or without one.

Houston is adding 19 miles of bike lanes, many in underserved communities where people rely on their bikes to get around.

Speaking of Houston, there’s a special place in hell for the bike-riding man who stole a 94-year old woman’s wheelchair. Fortunately, her neighbor was able to record the theft, and chase the man down to get it back; police recognized the man in the video, and made a quick arrest.

Bicycling will now be an official part of PE classes in Tulsa OK elementary and middle schools.

Los Angeles bike riders will be happy to learn bike lanes are coming to Melrose. Except in this case, the Melrose is in the Boston area. Meanwhile, the Boston Globe says instead of redesigning streets for people on bikes and on foot, we should wait so they’ll accommodate vehicles that don’t even exist yet.

The NYPD continued its bike-unfriendly ways, arresting the organizer of an informal bike relay race and baked goods ride for a four-year old open container violation before the race could even start. Then confiscated participants bicycles for not having bike bells.

New York Streetsblog relates the story of a bike rider who was hit by an apparent cop in an unmarked car making an illegal U-turn, and the uniformed cops who showed up refused to do anything about it before the man drove off without identifying himself. Naturally, the NYPD denied he was one of theirs.

New York bikeshare users are getting lawyers after suffering “grotesque” injuries caused by the braking problem on ebikes provided by Lyft, which operates the city’s Citi Bike docked bikeshare.

The case against a Virginia landscaper will go before a grand jury; he’s accused of helping one of his employees coverup the hit-and-run that killed a bike rider, fixing the company truck and telling his staff to swear it was a deer. And to stick to their stories.

There’s a special place in hell as well for the 41-year old man who fatally shot a 14-year old Jackson MS boy to take his bicycle.

Jimmy Buffett’s hometown of Mobile, Alabama is getting a new green bike lane, as the mayor works to make the city’s waterfront more welcoming for bike riders and pedestrians.

A Georgia bike rider was busted for beating up another man who was riding on a bike path with his wife, after swearing at them about the “rules of the trail.”

International

Once again, dozens of dockless bikes end up in a trash heap, after a bikeshare provider in Kingston, Ontario replaces them with a newer model. And once again, dozens of kids and low income people who could have put them to good use won’t.

A writer for the New York Times rents a Dutch bike, and rides through Holland in search of Rembrandt’s tulips.

A New Zealand automotive website wants to know why Aukland is hiding crash data.

Chinese dockless bikeshare provider Ofo has officially gotten the boot from Singapore.

Finally…

From pro cyclist to Goblin-inducing healer. No, a 16-person boat is not a bike, pedal-powered or otherwise.

And if you’re riding drunk, try not to pound on a driver’s window and rip off a windshield wiper after a close pass.

Then again, don’t do it sober, either.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: bicycling, Dave Salovesh, dooring, Dutch Reach, Griffith Observatory, Griffith Park, Los Angeles, Lyft, road closures, traffic safety

Morning Links: DC bike advocate Dave Salovesh killed, DTLA cycle tracks starts work, and Metro Bikes free today

April 22, 2019 / bikinginla / 5 comments

I lost a follower on Twitter last weekend.

Which is nothing new.

Except this time it happened the worst possible way.

Like a number of other people, I’ve followed Dave Salovesh, aka @darsal, for some time. And vice versa, for reasons only he knew.

The extremely popular DC bike advocate has been an outspoken supporter of protected bike lanes and safer streets, as well as taking action now to fight climate change. I’ve enjoyed his humor and insights, and learned a lot from him over the years.

Sadly, we won’t be following each other anymore.

Salovesh was killed Friday morning when the speeding driver of a stolen van ran a red light, crashed into a car and slammed into his bicycle before crashing into a tree.

It could be argued that he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, collateral damage to someone else’s crime.

Except he was riding on one of the city’s most dangerous streets, where Salovesh had been fighting to get a protected bike lane.

Whether that would have been enough to save him, we’ll never know.

Meanwhile, a bicycle columnist for a DC weekly remembers Salovesh as his good friend, confessing to raw emotions while adding that bike advocacy will go on, but it will be far less meaningful without him.

Over two hundred bike riders held a vigil and ghost bike ceremony in his honor on Sunday, starting and ending at the spot where the speeding car thief took his life.

A DC TV station calls his death a cruel irony, while bike riders attending the vigil demand for safer streets for all bicyclists.

And the city announced, just a little too late, that it would increase enforcement against drivers who stop or park in bike lanes.

Which is another of the issues Salovesh had long fought for.

Meanwhile, I’ve lost an ally and a friend, albeit one Ive never met.

And now, never will.

Photo of Dave Salovesh’s ghost bike and the spot where the driver’s car came to rest by Ryan Keefe.

………

LADOT is beginning work next weekend to convert the bike lanes on Spring and Main Streets in DTLA to two-way protected cycle tracks.

Now let’s just hope they also do something to keep drivers the hell out of them.

………

Metro, Metrolink and other SoCal transit systems are offering free rides today in honor of Earth Day.

They’re also providing free rides on the Metro Bike bikeshare system.

Or you can just ride your own bike, which is always free, with or without a code.

Meanwhile, Metro celebrates Earth Day by beginning a three-year detour of the Expo Line bike path next to Jefferson Blvd today.

………

LA’s hit-and-run epidemic struck close to home last week, when a man was murdered by a hit-and-run driver on Sunset Blvd just walking distance from our apartment.

Even with the cane I’m currently confined to.

Compounding the tragedy, the victim was an Australian man who had been released from prison 12 years after he was wrongly convicted of murder.

……….

Pinkbike celebrated the weekend with videos of epic mountain bike fails.

On the other hand, at least these people were out there riding, so there’s that.

………

Local

Westwood Village applies for grants to improve the appearance and walkability of Westwood Blvd, as well as install bike racks. But apparently forgets to improve the actual streets and add bike lanes so people might actually use them.

A writer for the USC paper says the future of LA sustainability begins with students, urging them to get involved at every level of planning and policy, including supporting more bike lanes.

The LACBC’s next Sunday Funday Ride rolls May 5th, offering a preview of June’s popular LA River Ride.

Claremont police ticketed bike riders and drivers in a crosswalk crackdown for rolling through the crosswalk instead of stopping for pedestrians, as the law requires.

Food delivery drivers will get their own dedicated parking spaces in front of two restaurants in downtown Santa Monica for a three-month trial to keep them from double-parking in the bike lane. Now maybe they can do something about the FedEx and UPS drivers who park in the bike lanes on Ocean and San Vicente on a daily basis.

State

Turns out the thief who stole a $5,000 bike from the Cyclist bike shop in Santa Ana just wanted to ride it, and cut off the ends of the handlebars because he’s a Phil Gaimon fan.

A San Diego community planning board voted to approve plans for a new cycle track in Point Loma.

A bike rider was lucky to escape with minor injuries following a crash with a hit-and-run driver near the University of San Diego.

A “gypsy family” of pedicab drivers stops in Coachella to provide rides at the music festival, one of several they serve as they make their way around the country.

A San Jose newspaper says the popular road up Mt. Diablo needs more bike turnouts allowing drivers to pass bike riders without crossing the center line, and hopefully avoid the next crash.

In a horrifying story, the CHP is looking for a hit-and-run driver who left a Merced woman to die on the side of the road after crashing into her bicycle; her body was found at 1 pm, hours after she was struck the previous evening. Unfortunately, there’s no way to know if she would have survived if she had been found sooner. Or if the coward who hit her had stopped to get help.

National

Seattle bicyclists rode to all 27 public library branches in the city in an 11-hour, 70-mile ride to support investing in the city’s library system.

Speaking of Seattle, the city is bucking the trend by maintaining a fleet of dockless bikeshare bikes, even as providers pull dockless bicycles in favor of e-scooters.

Talk about not getting it. A Texas man will spend the next ten years behind bars after repeatedly violating the terms of his probation for the hit-and-run death of a bike rider; he had originally gotten out after serving just 17 days of a two-year sentence thanks to a loophole in the law. You’d think someone would have enough sense to keep their nose clean after a gift like that. But apparently you’d be wrong.

She gets it. A Chicago letter writer says make safer bike lanes the norm.

A Michigan outdoor campaign is putting a face on distracted driving by plastering photos of the victims of distracted drivers on billboards.

A Rhode Island man has spent the past nine years looking for a pair of nurses to thank them for saving his life after his front wheel locked up on a bike path.

A 74-year old New York man says he was attacked by a lawless gang of teenage bicyclists swarming down a riverfront path.

The head of New York’s TransAlt advocacy group says the NYPD has to stop going out of its way to blame the victims.

DC bike cops bust a prodigious bike thief, but aren’t able to find any of the bicycles he allegedly stole.

Kindhearted Virginia deputies pitched in to buy a physically and emotionally impaired man a new bicycle when his was stolen, after they learned he had overcome the odds by learning to walk again following a crash left him in a coma.

A South Carolina newspaper says not every street in the state has to be a Complete Street, but there are some where it’s necessary.

International

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that traffic collisions are the leading cause of death for children and young adults.

London’s formerly bike-friendly Sunday Times now says a reported drop in bicycling levels in the UK is a victory for motorists “in their long-running battle with cyclists.”

A writer for The Guardian says cars are ruining our lives and triggering environmental disasters, and must be phased out within ten years.

Dutch bike maker VanMoof has sold 11,000 ebikes worth a cool $33 million and change.

Afghan women are demanding that their rights be preserved in any peace talks, including the hard-won ability to ride a bicycle.

South African police are looking for a hit-and-run driver who fled the scene on foot after plowing into a 10 bicyclists, killing one and injuring seven others.

In a case of keeping an elderly driver on the road until it’s too late, an 86-year Australian man faces charges for dragging a food delivery rider under his car the length of a football field before fleeing the scene; the 23-year old woman he hit suffered extensive injuries, including severe burns.

In yet another case of an elderly driver who shouldn’t be, a Japanese man crashed his car into a group of people waiting at an intersection, killing a mother and daughter who were sharing a bicycle and injuring eight others. Police suspect the 87-year old driver hit the gas pedal instead of the brake.

Taiwan’s Penghu archipelago, made up of more than 90 islands and islets, is promoting bicycling tourism, saying it’s the best way for tourists to explore the area.

Beijing is opening a four-mile, bicycle-only roadway with one lane in each direction, along with a reversible lane in the middle.

Competitive Cycling

USA Cycling will field a national team at the Amgen Tour of California, naming ten young riders the team will be chosen from, including one who competes for an LA team.

Belgium is mourning the death of track cycling great Patrick Sercu, considered one of the greatest of all time.

Finally…

Banned from riding your bike in a not-so-public public park. When you decide anyone who doesn’t ride like you do and go out of their way to ride in a bike lane is a selfish, entitled jerk.

And if you’re carrying a number of controlled substances on your bike, don’t break any bylaws.

Whatever that means.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: @darsal, bicycling, bike lanes, Dave Salovesh, Earth Day, hit-and-run, Los Angeles, Main Street, Metro, Metrolink, protected bike lanes, Spring Street

Bike rider killed in Jurupa Valley; no details available

April 21, 2019 / bikinginla / 2 comments

Yet another bike rider has been killed in Jurupa Valley.

And as usual, there’s virtually no information available.

According to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, someone died while riding a bicycle on the 8800 block of Limonite Ave around 11:07 Saturday night.

There’s no word on whether the victim was a man or a woman, whether the death was the result of a crash, or whether there was anyone else involved.

Hopefully we’ll get more information soon.

This is at least the 20th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth that I’m aware of in Riverside County.

It’s also at least the fifth bike rider to be killed in Jurupa Valley since the city of just 100,000 people was incorporated in 2011.

Hopefully city leaders will care enough to determine the cause and do something about it.

Update: According to a report on KNBC-4, which hasn’t been posted online yet, the victim was a man who was killed in a hit-and-run.

Update 2: The victim has been identified as 30-year old Rigoberto Guzman.

He was struck by a vehicle driven by 26-year old Andrew Scott Walters at the intersection of Van Buren Blvd and Limonite Ave around 11 pm Saturday. The force of the impact threw him to the far side of the road, where he died within a few minutes after impact.

Walters was arrested at his home after fleeing the scene, and booked on suspicion of hit-and-run resulting in death; he was released on $75,000 bond.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Rigoberto Guzman and his loved ones.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: Andrew Scott Walters, bicycling fatality, hit-and-run, Jarupa Valley, Rigoberto Guzman, Riverside County

Morning Links: Happy Bicycle Day, murder charge for OC driver, and Taylor Swift drops a new blue bike

April 19, 2019 / bikinginla / Comments Off

Happy Bicycle Day.

Which doesn’t actually have much to do with bicycles at all. Or riding them, for that matter.

It’s the 76th anniversary of the day Albert Hoffman invented LSD, and discovered its hallucinogenic effects while riding his bike home.

So turn on, tune in, drop out, and kick back while we take a look the day’s bike news.

Then get out and go for a ride yourself.

Preferably without the influence of any mind-altering substances.

………

They take traffic crime seriously in Orange County.

Victor Manuel Romero, the allegedly highly intoxicated hit-and-run driver who killed bike rider Ray MacDonald in Huntington Beach the day after his birthday, will be arraigned today on a single count of murder.

Which most likely means this isn’t his first DUI, since drunk and stoned drivers convicted in California are required to sign a letter indicating they could face a murder charge if they kill someone while driving under the influence in the future.

Although the actions of some drivers are so despicable that they should face a murder charge either way.

This is one of those cases.

And unlike Los Angeles, the charges are unlikely to be plea bargained down to a misdemeanor.

………

Taylor Swift may or may not be one of us. But at least she knows the power of a pretty blue bike.

On the other hand, newly 40-year old Kourtney Kardashian is one of us, though apparently, not very good at it.

……….

Evidently, motorized scooters are nothing new.

………

The Bicycle Tree bike co-op rides to savor the flavor of Santa Ana tomorrow.

………

If you’re going to crash into brick walls, maybe you should wear a helmet. And bring a dog treat.

………

Local

Metro is considering new regulations to wrangle the tangle of e-scooters and dockless bikeshares at their stations.

LAPD busted a ring of scooter-riding car burglars, who’d come down from Oakland on the weekends and rent e-scooters to ride around Hollywood breaking into cars.

Thanks to Culver City for putting new bike lanes on Overland Blvd.

Oopsie. Sit-down scooter company Wheels, which recently launched with a bizarre Sunset Strip party for B and C list celebs, has been fined $40,000 and counting for operating in Santa Monica without a permit. Although they’ve probably more than made up for it by renting scooters to all those red carpet folks, right?

Santa Monica Spoke has a busy social calendar, starting with a Kidical Mass ride tomorrow, and a membership meeting on the 27th.

State

A Bakersfield letter writer says no, the bike path is for everyone, not just the people on two wheels.

National

Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss asks the burning question why do Americans hate bikes so much? On a related subject, the writers and producers of ABC’s Black–ish seem to share that sentiment, finding humor in threatening people on bicycles.

Lime is working on a sensor system to detect drunk users and keep them safe. When they have it up and running, maybe they can pass it on to carmakers.

Tres shock! A new Seattle report shows that bikeshare use drops when it rains. And drops even more when it snows.

A Spokane WA state senator agrees to release funding for the city’s road projects after they promise to build a new bike trail. Although the sharrows the city promised as part of the agreement won’t do anything but help drivers improve their aim.

No bias here. A Las Vegas paper notes that a bike rider was hit by a car while crossing a street outside of a marked crosswalk. Even though bike riders aren’t required to use crosswalks, or even allowed to in many places. And never mind that they take until the fifth paragraph to even mention in passing that the car had a driver.

San Antonio TX suggests making bicyclists second class citizens by shunting them off onto side streets when a major boulevard gets a makeover in order to make more room for cars, instead of installing the protected bike lane advocates are asking for. Meanwhile, an op-ed in a San Antonio paper says more needs to be done to protect riders.

The family of the first bikeshare user to be killed in the US received a $5.25 million jury verdict, after turning down a half million dollar settlement offer from the company the truck driver who killed her worked for.

Once again, a bike rider is a hero. After an Indiana cop struggled to subdue a driver, a man jumped off his bicycle and helped bring the suspect under control and get handcuffs on him.

After a Maine restaurant owner offered to give away two children’s bikes on Easter Sunday, kindhearted business owners and local residents pitched in another 45 bikes and helmets.

A New Hampshire couple spent $150 of their own money to buy a new bike for a disabled Boston-area veteran they’d never met after learning that the bike he relied on for his only form of transportation was stolen outside a Dollar Store.

While Los Angeles continues to build bike lanes at a glacial pace — protected or otherwise — a new bill in New York would commit the city to building a minimum of 100 miles of protected bike lanes a year for the seven-year period starting next year.

No bias here, either. According to the New York Daily News, a man was killed when he somehow magically fell off his bike into the side of a passing truck. A far more likely explanation is the driver passed too close, either sideswiping the victim or causing him to lose control; Gothamist doesn’t seem to buy it, either.

If New York ever gets around to legalizing e-scooters, a new startup is offering to provide docking and charging stations for up to 10,000 scooters and ebikes. Although that kind of defeats the purpose of dockless bikeshare and scooters.

In news that should surprise absolutely no one, new stats show that New York Mayor de Blasio’s heavy-handed crackdown on ebikes is based on nothing more than fear and hyperbole; just nine of the 11,115 pedestrians injured in the city were struck by someone on an ebike.

Delaware police add insult to injury — literally — by ticketing a woman for failing to yield after she was hospitalized when her bike was struck by a driver’s car.

President Trump was scheduled to honor participants in a Wounded Warriors Ride after they reached the White House on Thursday.

International

A Winnipeg, Canada cop is being investigated after a bike rider alleged the officer pepper sprayed him and threatened him with a baton after he refused to let the cop search his backpack.

That’s more like it. Drivers in the UK who block bike boxes could be subject to the equivalent of a $130 fine and three points against their licenses. If the police actually enforce it, that is. Note: I originally wrote they’d be subject to a three pint penalty, which would be much more likely to result in compliance.

A British man rode his bike around the world while stoned to prove that stoners aren’t lazy. No, just use poor judgement, and are willing violate DUI laws in countless countries.

The founder of a million dollar English bikepacking bag maker learned learned how to do it by watching instructional videos on YouTube.

Scottish stunt rider Danny MacAskill looks back on his ten-year career, saying his only regret is filming a video at the Playboy Mansion.

Forget bike racks on the front of buses. A new Scottish bus that takes riders to a popular mountain biking area has two racks inside to accommodate riders.

Nigerian university students destroyed a Mercedes Benz after the driver ran down a bike rider and tried to flee the scene; no word on whether the driver escaped or was beaten by the crowd. Although it’s unclear what type of bike the story refers to; the same word could refer to a bicycle or a motorcycle.

Competitive Cycling

Former Cervelo-Bigla pro Doris Schweizer is alleging an abusive environment on the team, claiming she was denied medical treatment after suffering a severe concussion, and forbidden from talking with other riders.

Organizers of Minnesota’s North Star Grand Prix have started a crowdfunding campaign to raise $200,000 by May 3rd or they’ll have to cancel the race this year, just like last year. So far the page has raised $5,985, with just $194,015 to go.

A Spokane writer says Rebecca Twigg puts a new, relatable face on homelessness, noting that she’s turned down offers of help, preferring to focus on the half million people in the US who need help to put a roof over their heads.

A fund has been set up in the name of fallen track cyclist Kelly Catlin to support young women’s track cyclists; Catlin recently took her own life after suffering a serious concussion in a crash last year.

Finally…

Nothing like a custom, hand-crafted camo paint job on your new ebike to help ensure drivers won’t see you. If you’re going to use your bike seat as a drug stash, try to hide it from the cops’ hidden cameras.

And how can anyone make fun of our bike shorts when we’re just following the year’s hottest fashion trend?

………

Chag Sameach and Happy Easter to all those celebrating the respective holidays this weekend.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: bicycling, Ray MacDonald

Update: Bike rider killed in Sun Valley hit-and-run Thursday night

April 18, 2019 / bikinginla / 2 comments

Once again, a man has lost life, simply for riding a bicycle.

And once again, a coward has fled the scene instead of stopping to take responsibility, this time in Sun Valley.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the victim was struck by the driver of a red Dodge sedan while riding his bike at 8558 North San Fernando Road in Sun Valley around 8:35 pm Thursday.

The driver kept going without slowing down. Witnesses attempted to follow, but were unable to catch him or capture his license plate.

No word on how or why the hit-and-run crash occurred.

A street view shows a narrow two lane street squeezed between railroad tracks and an industrial district.

Anyone with information on the hit-and-run is urged to call the LAPD at 877/527-3247. And as always, there is a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver in any fatal hit-and-run crash.

This is at least the 19th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the seventh that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; it’s also the fourth in the City of Los Angeles.

Update: The LAPD is now saying the victim was a pedestrian who was walking across the street outside of a crosswalk. Still no ID on the victim, and no explanation for why witnesses said he was riding a bicycle.

Update 2: Family members have identified the victim as Samuel Hernandez; sadly, he won’t be there to witness his daughter’s graduation from Cal State Northridge next month.

They also clarified that he was walking his bike across the street when he was killed.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Samuel Hernandez and his loved ones.

Samuel Hernandez’ daughter at the ghost bike installation with Zachary Rynew; top photo: people attending ghost bike installation with finished ghost bike

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: bicycling fatality, hit-and-run, Los Angeles, Samuel Hernandez, Sun Valley

Morning Links: US cycling legend Rebecca Twigg homeless in Seattle, hero bike rider, and the war on bikes

April 18, 2019 / bikinginla / 2 comments

Back in ’80s, I was in love with Rebecca Twigg.

Then again, so was just about other every straight male who knew a derailleur from domestique.

She won my heart, and so many others, when she claimed the ’83 Coors Classic stage race, followed by a silver medal in the road race at the ’84 Olympics, finishing second to her American teammate Connie Carpenter.

And followed that with a pursuit bronze medal in ’92.

Along with six world track titles and 16 US championships before, after and in between.

She was brilliant, charming and beautiful. And could drop you like freshman English without breaking a sweat.

So it broke my heart to learn that Rebecca Twigg has spent nearly five years living on the streets of Seattle.

According to the Seattle Times,

Twigg, 56, agreed to share her story to convince the public that not all homeless people are addicted to drugs or alcohol; that there are many like her, who have struggled with employment and are “confused,” as she said she is, about what to do next with their lives. She did not want to discuss mental health but feels it should be treated more seriously in Washington.
“Some of the hard days are really painful when you’re training for racing,” Twigg said, “but being homeless, when you have little hope or knowledge of where the finish line is going to be, is just as hard.”

She ended up homeless after two failed marriages, and struggling to fit into a workplace where she felt she just didn’t belong.

It was a familiar position, after her mother had kicked her out at 14, and she settled into the nomadic life of a bike racer.

Sadly, it’s not unusual for athletes to struggle after retiring, having spent a lifetime training and competing in a highly structured world.

And the article hints at another possible reason, mentioning a Texas crash that resulted in 13 stitches to her head — and probably a concussion.

Likely not the first one either. Or the last, in those pre-helmet, leather hairnet days.

But the saddest part of all is that Rebecca Twigg been forgotten by the cycling world she sacrificed her youth for.

And allowed to fall through the cracks, and onto the streets.

Let’s hope this news wakes up women’s cycling and bike racing’s governing bodies. So that someone, somewhere gives her the hand up she needs to get her life back together, and off the streets, once and for all.

And gives her the job she deserves in the sport she used to love, and knows so well.

Photo from Wikipedia.

………

Once again, a bike rider was the hero.

An Anaheim man went on a wild crime rampage in Lake Forest on Wednesday, breaking into a home, stabbing a woman multiple times, jacking her car, crashing it into another woman walking on the sidewalk, threatening some Good Samaritans, and trying to jack a couple more cars.

All in just nine minutes.

It all came to a burning end when 56-year old bike rider Eric Young pepper sprayed the man after nearly getting run down by him and witnessing the crime spree.

After four or five doses of pepper spray, the one-man crime wave sat down on the curb and waited for police to take him into custody.

………

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

A British bike rider was bloodied and suffered a badly broken nose after he was knocked off his bike by a speeding driver, then punched repeatedly by a passenger in her car.

Then again, people on bikes aren’t always the good guys. A New York woman was punched in the face by a man on a bike, who shouted “This is my bock, bitch!” before riding off. Shockingly, the NYPD didn’t seem to care, despite their usual policy of siding with anyone against people on bicycles.

And Boston police are looking for a bike-riding man who shattered a bus window with his fist in an attempt to get the driver to open the door. Because terrorizing bus drivers and their passengers is always the best way to get them to let you in.

………

A word for the wise, as demonstrated by a dirt biker.

Always make sure there’s solid ground directly in front of you. Because bikes, motorized or otherwise, still can’t fly.

……….