Catching up on killer driver court cases, still more bike giveaways, and last day of the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
It’s the last day of the 6th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
Thanks to Robert H, William C and Jo Y for their generous donations to help keep SoCal’s best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.
And help keep it free for everyone, all the time!
So don’t wait.
Take a moment right now, and give to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive today!
And a very merry Christmas and a healthy, happy and prosperous new year to you and all your loved ones.
As usual, I’ll take a much needed break between the holidays to shake off the dust of this awful year. But we’ll be around if there’s any breaking news, and see you bright and early on January 4th.
Just be careful out there.
I don’t want to have to write about you, unless maybe you ran into a burning building to rescue a bunch of puppies or something.
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It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from our anonymous courtroom correspondent, which she more than makes up for this morning.
Here’s what she has to say.
In a heartbreaking story, Randle Wayne Ommen was the cyclist killed by the allegedly impaired semi driver on Route 76 down in San Diego County last week. He would have turned 59 on December 28th.
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Also last Thursday night, a cyclist was knocked unconscious at Manchester & Normandie (near where Woon was killed) and transported by ambulance. This is all I know, and I’m furious that I can’t really find out more. With the current hospital capacity, the old method of walking around talking to the locals just unnerves me too much.
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Rojelio Martinez-Cuin accepted a plea deal in the hit-and-run death of 51-year old Michael David Tomlinson.
He pleaded guilty on December 2nd and was sentenced last Thursday. The misdemeanor count of driving without a license (due to a prior DUI conviction) earned him 6 months in County (time served).
For the vehicular manslaughter count, he received 4 years; the enhancement was dismissed. For the hit and run count, he received one additional year, to be served consecutively.
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Scuzzy Stephen Taylor Scarpa’s jury trial was pushed back to next February, and now the Defense will be filing a Pitchess motion on January 5th. Hmm. A homicidal, hypocritical, repeat impaired driver now wants to question the credibility of an officer involved in the investigation. The defense attorney who argued in the prelim that Scarpa is also a victim in this case is now attempting to portray the investigator as the bad guy. Bold strategy, Cotton.
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Samantha Cunha, who ran over her friend during a bizarre case of road rage last January, has been charged with… a single count of hit and run. She’ll be before Judge Hobbs next month, the same judge who’ll be presiding over Mariah Banks’ prelim the following week.
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Still trying to find court info about Andrea Dorothy Chan Reyes, the hit-and-runner accused of killing Whittier bike rider Agustin Rodriguez Jr., who ran all the way to a new life on another continent.
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Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling is one of us.
Christopher Krebs, former CISA dude, is also one of us. Before he deactivated his Twitter account, he made it known that he would be spending his newly gifted free time on his bicycle. Oh, and with his family, of course.
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On my commute Sunday, at an intersection that’s seen at least half a dozen collisions his year (including two crashes into a building and a recent car vs. bike), I was diverted around yet another solo collision that had pushed the guardrail three feet across the sidewalk.
At this location (with a clear line of sight to Mariah Banks’ last known address, btw), I always scootch up onto said sidewalk because the asphalt’s gouged from the frequent crashes and permanently littered with debris. The sidewalk wan’t cordoned off, probably because Johnny Law thinks nobody uses it. I got barked at by an officer (who I feel should’ve secured the damn crime scene better) after I’d hit the brakes ’cause there was about 40 pounds of debris laying on the path, which I repeat was already constricted by the incursion of the guardrail.
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In personal news, Santa baby just slipped a Surly under my tree, early. Time to wrap her with tinsel & lights!
Also. At the end of October, my boyfriend (who had the rona in April) & I spent a night at the Millineum Biltmore. We got confirmation that it was okay to bring our bikes into the room. Everything was cleared. Then, at check-out, they tried to charge us $50 for garage parking!!! We contested this at reception desk while standing there with our bikes. Sigh.
And. Noooo more hotel stays till after this virus gets its ass kicked. The button plate in the elevator and the balcony handrail above the Instagrammer-magnet as-seen-in-movies lobby were filthed up with smudges, full on handprints even. So repulsive, even if there wasn’t a pandemic going on. I’m incredibly disappointed in the Biltmore.
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Until recently, the aforementioned boyfriend had been storing his bikes, a Kilo WT & his beloved carbon fiber, in a Metro locker at the De Soto Orange Line station.
They were stolen. Right out of the locker.
He has elected to keep his new Cinelli in a storage facility a half mile away from his apartment.
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On a personal note, I’ve often complained about FedEx trucks parked in the bike lanes.
But let’s give credit where it’s due.
Last night the corgi puppy somehow slipped her harness, and was running rampant on the streets of Hollywood, ignoring my every command and attempt to entice and corral her.
I’d probably still be chasing her if a FedEx driver hadn’t dropped his packages, and managed to snag her on his fourth attempt, delaying her just long enough for me to slip the harness back on.
Unfortunately, I neglected to get his name.
But thank you, Mr. FedEx driver, whoever you are!
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‘Tis the season for still more bike giveaways.
A Hollister teen is leading a toy and bicycle drive to ensure every kid has a gift under their tree.
Kindhearted firefighters in a suburban Denver county bought a new mountain bike for a 16-year old boy after his was stolen.
A six-year old Tennessee girl started her own bike giveaway program, donating 23 refurbished bikes in just its first week — starting with her own.
A New Hampshire musician bought out all he bikes at a local Walmart to give to kids in need.
Several organizations came together for a bike and toy giveaway in Alabama’s Chattahoochee Valley.
And things like this are why I love South LA’s East Side Riders Bike Club.
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Thank goodness for drop handlebars, or this rider could be looking for a new head.
https://twitter.com/WigansDannyB/status/1340973757163331584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1340973757163331584%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-23-december-2020-279681
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Local
Santa Monica-based Spinlister has a new owner, after the bikeshare platform was purchased by LA ebike manufacturer Rokit Made.
State
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, which is arguably the most influential bike advocacy group on the Left Coast, is looking for a new full-time community organizer.
A 63-year old Stockton woman is spreading holiday cheer on her brightly festooned pedicab, complete with a glowing unicorn leading the way.
Better late than never. Sacramento is finally jumping on the Slow Streets bandwagon, opening six miles of streets to bike riders and pedestrians while closing them to motor vehicles.
National
Ford is touting their new warning system to help prevent doorings. Instead of warning drivers and bike riders about a potential dooring, maybe they could just keep the damn door locked until the danger is past.
Clean Technica says the new Akhal Shadow from Extans Design, with its bespoke monocoque carbon frame, is just too beautiful to ignore. Although as always with over-designed bikes like this, the question is less how does it look, and more how does it ride.
A crowdfunding campaign has raised over $24,000 to buy a new car for a Hawaii security guard who rode his bike an hour out of his way to return a woman’s wallet after she left it in the store where he works. Maybe he could turn down the car and buy a bunch of new bikes, instead.
The alleged meth-using truck driver who killed five Nevada bike riders is scheduled to appear in a Las Vegas courtroom today after he was extradited from Arizona, where he was taken into custody.
A new nonprofit bike and coffee shop is trying to fill the gap on the Navajo Nation, where many children and adults ride bikes, but there wasn’t a single bike shop despite being the nation’s largest Native American reservation. As usual, you can read it on Yahoo if the Bicycling site blocks you out.
The employees of a Denver bike shop have been keeping the operation going for most of this month, as the owner recovers from a hit-and-run while he was driving home.
Speaking of Denver, the city will maintain its Slow Streets program through the winter, with changes to adjust for winter weather.
Ugh. The carnage continues on the streets of New York, where the Daily News goes into way too much detail in describing how the most recent bike-riding victim lost his life; the city has seen 25 people killed while riding their bikes this year.
A Maryland man faces a raft of charges, including homicide and vehicular manslaughter, for the drunken head-on crash that killed one man and injured two others when he crossed the road to plow into a group ride.
Good idea. Chapel Hill NC bike riders are decorating their bicycles for the holidays to honor frontline workers.
A refurbished bike program started by the owners of an Ohio chain of car dealerships and bike shops has given away over 125,000 bicycles in the past 38 years.
International
Life is cheap in London, where a driver walks without a single day behind bars for assaulting two bike riders in a royal park.
Competitive Cycling
The sports director of men’s cycling team Israel Start-Up Nation is leading the way for women in pro cycling.
Finally…
That feeling when a suspected hit-and-run victim got drunk and fell off his bike, instead. A bike ride as metaphor for the dumpster fire that was 2020.
And taking your Christmas tree — and your family — home by bike in Amsterdam.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already.
Too many bike riders never came home, 3 DUIs in 2 years for killer Newport Beach driver, and bike stats for every occasion
Just two days left in the 6th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
Thanks to Kent S and Jose P for their generous donations to keep SoCal’s best bike news and advocacy coming to your favorite screen every morning — and free for everyone!
So don’t wait.
Give to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive today and avoid the last minute holiday rush!
And be sure to come back tomorrow when we’ll mark Christmas Eve with an extensive recount of OC court cases, courtesy of our anonymous correspondent.
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In a heartbreaking story, Outside remembers nine people who went out for a bike ride and never came home, just a tiny fraction of the nearly 700 people killed on American streets this year.
It’s also a reminder that yesterday marked the seventh anniversary of the DUI collision that killed Australian James Rapley as he rode a rented bike on Temescal Canyon.
Rapley was on a layover at LAX, making his way home for the holidays, when he was run down on a Sunday morning by an underage driver still wasted from the night before.
Every one of the nearly 1,000 bicycling deaths I’ve written about haunt me, but some are always with me; Rapley’s death is one of those, because it was just so damned needless.
His death almost resulted in a parking protected bike lane on Temescal, too late to help Repley, but which might have kept the next driver from taking a life by drifting into the painted bike lane on the curving climb.
But despite my best efforts, and those of others, the proposal died amid the fierce backlash over road diets in Playa del Rey.
It would have been a fitting memorial to a life needlessly lost, to go with the white bicycle-shaped bike rack installed by Rapley’s family in the park next to where he died.
Instead, his spirit will continue to haunt me until we finally take steps to ensure not one more bike rider will die there.
Meanwhile, Jalopnik blames the high bicycle death count on a lack of pedestrian crash testing, allowing oversized trucks and SUVs to proliferate on American roadways.
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This is why people continue to die on our streets.
A 22-year old Newport Beach woman allegedly ran a red light directly before slamming into another car, killing a young couple, and leaving their three small kids orphans.
Court documents allege Grace Elizabeth Coleman had a blood alcohol content of more than .20, over one and a half times the legal limit. And she had no reason to be on the road after she had already been driven home from a local brewery.
This is apparently her third DUI in just two years, including a June 2019 hit-and-run for which she assumed financial responsibility without being charged, as well as a pending DUI from this past August.
She’s currently being held without bail.
Just one more example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the streets until it’s too late.
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Livestrong is alive and well, even without He Who Must Not Be Named, who we’re all expected to pretend never won the Tour de France once, let alone seven times.
The cancer charity slash website offers an extensive and useful compendium of 95 bike stats, ranging from global cycling to crashes — not accident, please — and broken down by sex, race and ethnicity.
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Who knew?
You can get a free QR code sticker from Bike Index to help secure your registered bike.
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‘Tis the season for still more bike giveaways.
The San Diego Chargers of Los Angeles teamed with the Pechanga tribe to distribute 200 bicycles and helmets for LA-area kids.
A San Antonio, Texas ministry gave away over 700 bicycles and toys to less fortunate children.
Members of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity gave 14 new kids bikes to struggling families in Selma, Alabama.
A Savannah, Georgia bike advocacy group donated nearly 60 refurbished kids bikes to families facing hardships.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes keeps going on.
Italian pro Andrea Vendrame was the victim of a road raging driver, who got out of his car and punched him following a punishment pass on a training ride, all for no apparent reason other than Vendrame was riding on the roadway.
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Local
Sunset For All offers their own gift guide from bike-friendly shops on the iconic boulevard.
Around on Bikes talks with Streets For All’s Michael Schneider about the bike and pedestrian PAC’s efforts to transform transportation on the streets of Los Angeles.
LADOT is looking for feedback on the long-delayed 4th Street Street Neighborhood Greenway project.
The Metro Bike bikeshare will be free on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, as well as New Years Eve and New Years Day.
State
A bike-riding man was critically injured in an East Oakland hit-and-run collision.
National
A new study of aggregate insurance data shows over half of all collisions involve someone using a phone.
Boulder, Colorado police have busted a pair of bike burglars blamed for stealing nearly $60,000 worth of bicycles.
A Colorado TV station examines the anatomy of a bicycling crash, as an entry into the 4225 crashes resulting in injuries to bike riders over the past decade in which drivers were believed to be at fault.
An accident reconstruction specialist deconstructs a recent fatal bike crash in Illinois, saying as cyclists, “we accept risk in return for the beauty of our sport, but we cannot ignore the risks.”
A Detroit father of five was surprised with a new car after his fellow Carvana employees took pity on him for riding his bike 30 miles to work in frigid weather. Which might be warmer, but may or may not be a improvement.
Not bloody likely. Michigan sheriff’s deputies believe an 82-year old man just happened to fall off his bike, fatally striking his head, at the exact moment an SUV driver was passing him.
They get it. A Nassau NY newspaper considers how motorists can drive safely around bike riders.
A candidate for New York District Attorney says the DA should use all available laws to bring dangerous drivers to justice; his opponent says criminalizing collisions is the wrong way to go.
New York drivers quickly moved to take over formerly protected bike lanes after snow plows took out the flex posts.
DC discovers the hard way that more traffic cops does not necessarily translate to fewer drivers being ticketed for parking or driving in bike lanes during a pandemic.
This is the cost of traffic violence. A South Carolina band director suffered major injuries when he was struck by a cowardly driver while on a half-century ride; the driver was apprehended shortly after fleeing the scene.
Insurers settled with the family of a homeless Georgia man for a whopping $7.5 million in a Christmas Day crash two years ago, after a pickup driver ran him down on his way to church just one day after a Good Samaritan had given him the bike he was killed on.
International
Don’t count on a Canyon bike under the tree if you live in the UK, as the German bike brand has become one of the first Brexit casualties.
Pink Bike considers what the coming no-deal Brexit will mean for British bike customers.
A Polish bike builder dressed as Santa Claus broke the record for the world’s tallest tall bike, on a bicycle shaped like a Christmas tree; the previous record stood for seven years, set by LA’s own Richie Trimble’s Stoopid Taller bike in 2013.
A Mumbai researcher says non-motorized transportation is the way to travel for smart cities of the future. And the present, too.
An Indian laborer left his wife and twins at home, riding 260 miles to join a multi-day protest.
Competitive Cycling
Newly signed L39ion of Los Angeles women’s cyclist Kendall Ryan is focusing on next year’s Tokyo Olympics, with the support of the team.
An aspiring young British cyclist says yes, the sport has a serious safety problem, even if he doesn’t think about it when he’s competing.
Finally…
Your next e-cargo bike may not even need you.
And, um…
https://twitter.com/freialobo/status/1341552214427525121
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already.
Category: Morning Links / Tags: 'Tis the season, bicycle registration, bicycling, bicycling fatalities, Bike Index, DUI, hit-and-run, James Rapley, Los Angeles, Too damn many
Five years for hit-and-run death of OC bike rider, more on death of bike writer Roy Wallack, and the first HBCU cycling team
Just three days left in the 6th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
Thanks to Samer S, Terence H, Michael S, Matthew H and Georgia M for their generous donations to help keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.
And help keep it free for everyone, while keeping you informed — and hopefully, entertained a little.
So don’t wait. Drop what you’re doing and give to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive now!
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An Orange County man got a well-deserved five years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of 51-year old Michael David Tomlinson in Aliso Viejo last year.
And should have gotten a lot more.
Thirty-two-year old Lake Forest resident Rogelio Martinez-Cuin was sentenced after pleading guilty to felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury, as well as driving with a suspended license.
Martinez-Cuin was reportedly speeding and ran a red light before slamming into Tomlinson’s bike.
He was arrested after abandoning his car about a mile away.
In a heart-rending coda to the tragedy, Tomlinson’s wife learned about the crash when she drove up on the scene in his final moments.
Hit-and-run carries a maximum penalty of four years in California, while vehicular manslaughter is punishable by a max of six years in state prison.
That suggests that Martinez-Cuin may have accepted a plea, or else lucked out with a lenient judge.
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More on the death of bike and fitness writer Roy Wallack following Saturday’s mountain biking crash in the Santa Monica Mountains
Bicycling reports on Wallack’s tragic death on a rugged trail in Pt. Magu State Park . Read it on Yahoo if you can’t access the Bicycling site.
Road Bike Action remembers the man they call the “ever irrepressible,” “wild, crazy and loved” Roy Wallack. Thanks to Mike Bike for the link.
Wallack is survived by his wife and adult son, as well as his father, brother and two sisters.
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A new video series follows the creation and first year of competition for the new cycling team at North Carolina’s St. Augustine’s University.
The first episode of the Chasing History series was released this week, as they become the first cycling team from a Historically Black College or University, aka HBCU, to take to the streets.
Like Justin Williams’ L39ION of Los Angeles, and Rahsaan Bahati’s Bahati Foundation before that, it’s a big step forward in the long-overdue efforts to diversify the sport.
And it matters.
As usual, you can read the story on Yahoo if the Bicycling site blocks you out.
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Another day, another Amazon driver blocking the bike lane.
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You may finally be able to rent a scooter or dockless ebike in WeHo, leaving Beverly Hills as the Westside’s lone e-scooter desert.
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‘Tis the season, indeed, with still more bike giveaways to help ensure as many kids as possible have a bike in their stocking for the holidays.
The Ventura Bike HUB teamed with Mucho Gusto Barber Shop and other local businesses to provide bikes and toys for kids in need.
Sixty-three Denver 2nd graders got new bicycles, courtesy of carbon belt-drive maker Gates Corp.’s fourth annual bicycle giveaway. And yes, they all got belt-drive bikes.
A local group worked with Toys for Tots to give 237 bicycles to kids in a North Carolina trailer park.
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Now you can finally predict how likely a driver is to be drunk based solely on what they drive.
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No bias here.
A British lord calls for six months behind bars for riding a bike on the sidewalk, or bad ebike parking jobs.
Seriously, has he ever seen how motorists park?
Or drive, for that matter.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes keeps going on.
An Oxford, England city councilor says he was assaulted by a truck driver who then ran over his bicycle, but one letter writer bizarrely accuses him of being easily intimidated.
Extremely petty London drivers are blamed for digging up planters protecting one of the city’s Low Traffic Neighborhood streets, as a protest against making streets safer for people who aren’t in cars.
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Local
Streetsblog talks with newly elected Burbank Councilmember Konstantine Anthony, who was endorsed by Streets For All for his advocacy for complete streets, protected bike lanes and dedicated bus lanes, as well as his work on climate change and homelessness.
State
This is who we share the road with. A San Diego car thief is accused of intentionally running down a pedestrian while fleeing from police, leaving the victim with life threatening injuries.
Bad news from Indio, where a bike rider was hospitalized with major injuries following a collision yesterday afternoon.
A Santa Barbara letter writer calls for three-foot passing signs to prevent more ghost bikes.
Speaking of Santa Barbara, the city’s iconic State Street will be home to 17 docking stations for the new ebike-based bikeshare system starting next month.
National
Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss questions how to maintain our own love of riding in the wake of the Nevada bike massacre that left five experienced riders dead, let alone raise awareness of the dangers bike riders face without scaring people off.
The newest non-folding e-cargo bike from Tern is rated at a whopping 28 mph, which puts it in Class 3 under California’s ebike rating system, requiring a bike helmet regardless of age and prohibiting its use on most bike paths.
A writer for Clean Technica says yes, ebikes are everything they’re cracked up to be.
The new Topeka, Kansas-based Steve Tilford Foundation was established to honor the former world and national champ who was killed in a car crash in 2017, and help young people develop a passion for bicycling.
Nice. Waco, Texas plans a network of trails that will be within a ten minute walk of anywhere in the city.
A cartoonist for New York Streetsblog sums up the difference between protected and painted bike lanes.
International
He gets it. A British Columbia letter writer says it’s time to debunk the myth that people with disabilities don’t use bike lanes.
Women in Bengaluru, India are reluctant to ride due the city’s dangerous streets and heavy traffic, as well as the additional burden of simply being a woman in the conservative country.
Ghana will now criminalize dangerous bicycling or driving that leads to the death of an unborn child; presumably, that could apply to the mother, as well as other drivers and bike riders.
The overwhelming majority of Malaysian bicycling deaths were the result of collisions while riding for transportation, rather than recreational cycling.
Competitive Cycling
A new film recounts the remarkable journey back to life for Belgian cyclist Stig Broeckx, who was nearly killed in a collision with two race motos in the tour of Belgium; he spent months in a coma, as doctors feared he would never regain consciousness. Or you can watch the film for free with a membership in the website’s VeloClub.
Team vehicles for Britain’s Ineos Grenadiers were tagged by anti-chemical climate protesters in Belgium.
Finally…
Your next bike could be carved from Welsh wood. Don’t attack security guards in a grocery store when they ask you take your bike outside.
And at least your neighborhood bike lane doesn’t require a snorkel.
https://twitter.com/simon_hawthorn/status/1340620947045363715?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1340620947045363715%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-21-december-2020-279635
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already.
‘Tis the season to give bikes to kids, LA delivery drivers turn bike lanes into parking, and dangerous PCH rumble strips
It’s the last four days of the 6th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
Thanks to Joel F, Kim D, Carol K, Danielle C, Brian N, Gregory C and John M for their generous donations to help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.
Your support helps keep this site free for everyone, with no access or subscription fees. And no paywalls, popups or premium content.
Period.
So don’t wait. Give to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive now!
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‘Tis the season.
Something to smile about in this plague-infected year is the outpouring of bike love we’re seeing, with groups all over the country giving their time, skills and money to make sure countless kids will have a bike under the tree this year.
A group of Ojai organizations donated 42 new and refurbished bicycles, along with helmets and bike locks, to local kids.
A kindhearted Sacramento CHP officer bought a new bike for a young boy after a driver ran over his bike and his family couldn’t afford to buy him a new one; fortunately, the boy wasn’t injured in the crash.
In addition to donating 420 bicycles to local kids, a Boise, Idaho nonprofit is delivering 100 bicycles to a pair of Indian reservations.
A Bozeman, Montana bike shop that refurbishes and resells bicycles most of the year allows kids to come in and pick a free bike every December, giving away 75 to 100 bicycles every year.
A Syracuse NY program gave away a remarkable 2,300 bicycles to kids in need despite the pandemic, while teaching kids to give as well as receive.
Thanks to a donation from a secret Santa, a Pennsylvania nonprofit was able to give 100 bicycles and helmets to kids in need.
Thanks to two Florida men, 25 local kids received newly refurbished bicycles reclaimed from the scrap heap.
A Florida sheriff teamed with a local group to give away 13 refurbished bicycles.
For the fifth year in a row, a retired NFL player is giving over 80 bicycles to kids in need at the Florida high school he attended.
On the other hand, Fayetteville, Arkansas’ annual Bicycle Man giveaway, which normally hands out up to 1,200 bikes each year, was cancelled due to the pandemic.
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What do you call a Los Angeles-area bike lane filled with delivery vehicles?
An illegal parking lot. And dangerous as hell.
https://twitter.com/abikeist/status/1340506670519078913
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An effective new video calls for the removal of dangerous rumble strips along an already dangerous stretch of PCH in Orange County.
A Facebook post from the Riverside Bicycle Club explains the problem in more detail, as well as proposing specific actions to fix it.
Seriously, when will Caltrans finally learn that rumble strips should never be used on any roadway used by bicyclists.
Which is pretty much all of them.
Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.
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Maybe there’s hope yet.
https://twitter.com/rufusgifford/status/1340346200671850496
Meanwhile, Bicycling considers what his nomination will mean for people who ride bikes. As usual, you can read the story on Yahoo if you get blocked out of the Bicycling site.
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This is why you should never rely on a cable lock to secure your bike.
Because chances are, there was a bike connected to this that someone is missing now.
It’s also a reminder to register your bike before this happens to you.
Because even the best bike lock can be defeated by a determined thief with the right tools.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes keeps going on.
A London man with a potentially life-threatening condition is suing to remove a bike lane in front of a hospital, claiming that potential congestion could delay his arrival at the hospital, and the removal of parking spaces means that his friend couldn’t park to bring him in. Never mind that his friend could always drop him off, and the bike lane could help countless others improve their health. For that matter, I have a potentially life-threatening condition too, as do countless other people who ride bicycles.
A British truck driver will spend nearly four years behind bars for killing a bike rider, despite losing his license three months earlier due to diabetes and poor eyesore.
But sometimes it’s the people on to wheels behaving badly.
A 32-year old man was stabbed by someone on a bicycle in an apparent random attack while he was standing with friends on a bridge in San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood; fortunately, he’s expected to survive.
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Local
This is who we share the bike path with. The LA Times remembers one of the many men and women who live along the banks of the LA River in the shadow of the bike path, who, unlike most, was neither unknown or alone.
State
About damn time. A new bill under consideration at the state legislature could provide financial incentives to purchase ebikes, most likely in the form of rebates.
San Dieguito River Park near Del Mar received a $1.39 million grant to fill a gap in the planned 71-mile-long Coast to Crest Trail.
Construction workers lifted an arched bike and pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks in Emeryville.
National
Outside considers how much you should spend on a gravel bike, noting that higher cost doesn’t always translate to higher value.
Wired says learn to fix and upgrade your bike instead of buying a new one.
Cycling News looks at their favorite new bike tech of the year.
The Verge considers how to keep the pandemic-inspire bike boom from fizzling out. Which it will, unless our leaders take steps to encourage riding and improve safety.
Consumer Reports explores whether an ebike is right for you, while a writer for Forbes says that’s all she wants for Christmas.
More than a thousand people took part in a virtual bike ride to honor the victims of the Las Vegas bicycle massacre that killed five experienced riders; the Zwift ride raised $15,000 for the victims.
Boston removed the concrete barriers protecting a bike lane, blaming them for causing drivers to crash. Evidently, the barriers must have jumped out in front of people in cars without warning; otherwise, the blame should go to all those people who couldn’t manage to drive safely next to them.
New York’s least bike-friendly newspaper shows a little sympathy for winter bike riders blocked from bike lanes that weren’t plowed after a heavy snowstorm, unlike the streets next to them.
Six people are suing New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare, alleging they were injured when the brakes locked on the ped-assist bikes they were renting, throwing them off their bikes.
International
Two English men will spend the rest of their lives behind bars for beating a recent college graduate to death after he pushed a boy off his bike for riding directly at him on a sidewalk.
An English driver continued to claim a bicyclist somehow rode into his truck, despite video showing he plowed right into the young woman who was wrapped in hi-viz bikewear, while making no effort to go around her.
The Scottish bicyclist who nearly got killed on a Texas highway just miles from the end of his round-the-world bike ride has bounced back to have a record-setting year, and announced he’ll return to Texas for a group ride to raise funds for the two hospitals that saved his life. And this time, he’ll have a police escort to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Kenya’s second lady rode 90 miles to mark 100 days since she established the Mama Cycling club to encourage people to become more physically active and call attention to the need to prioritize road safety to protect people on bicycles.
A Manilla op-ed warns about the risk of wearing a face shield when you ride a bike, despite a new nationwide mandate; a Philippine advocacy group doesn’t like the mandate, either.
A Kiwi city became the canvas for a New Zealand man’s bicycle Strava reindeer art.
An Australian judge rejected a truck driver’s claim that he didn’t know he hit and killed a man riding a bicycle because his music was cranked up too loud.
Competitive Cycling
The L39ION of Los Angeles cycling team — pronounced Legion — unveiled their roster for the upcoming racing season.
Finally…
If you’re going to shoplift a shitload of toys, try not to ride over a police bike making your getaway. Try not to break anyone’s leg when you’re biking under the influence.
And this is just what I feel like on a trainer.
https://twitter.com/deceuninck_qst/status/1339988426830049282
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already.
Category: Morning Links / Tags: 'Tis the season, bike giveaway, blocked bike lanes, Caltrans, Orange County, PCH, rumble strips
Writer and adventurer Roy Wallack killed in mountain bike crash in Santa Monica Mountains Saturday morning
Roy Wallack wrote that bicycling would help you live to be 100.
Sadly, he didn’t make it.
The Irvine resident, author of Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100, was just 64 year old when he died following a crash on the Guadalasca Trail in Pt. Magu State Park Saturday morning.
According to the Ventura County Star, Wallack was riding with friends on the difficult trail when he fell around 9:20 am, although he had not been publicly identified yet in the original story.
The crash took place on the Guadalasca Trail, he said, which cuts through steep, technical terrain near the Backbone Trail. The cyclist, a man in his 60s, had reportedly been riding with friends when he crashed his bike and lost consciousness, Worthy said. The cyclist’s city of residence was not immediately known Saturday.
The man’s friends called for emergency medical assistance and performed CPR until the sheriff’s helicopter arrived with paramedics and a flight nurse. The crew continued life-saving measures but the cyclist did not survive and was pronounced dead at the scene, Worthy said.
And yes, he was wearing a helmet.
A former columnist for the LA Times, Wallack was a prolific writer, according to the Star.
Wallack was a health and fitness journalist who had penned stories and columns for publications including The Los Angeles Times, magazines including Outside, Bicycling and Men’s Journal, and had authored a book, “Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100…and Beyond,” according to his online profile on Twitter and on his Muck Rack page. His most recent tweet from Nov. 17 links to an LA Times story offering tips on buying and selling fitness gear during the coronavirus pandemic.
A Google search shows he’s the author of at least eight other fitness books.
The Times describes Wallack as a avid hiker, runner and bicyclist who took part in the Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley, as well as the 750-mile Paris-Brest-Paris bike tour.
Wallack’s work for The Times spanned barre classes, triathlons, kayaking, the L.A. Marathon and more. He penned a gear column for many years, keeping fitness fans in the loop about the hottest must-haves.
He began a 2016 piece: “Hiking the Grand Canyon was not on my bucket list. A marathon, yes. Bike 200 miles in a day, yes. Ironman triathlon, absolutely. But for some reason, a mere day hike, even in one of the world’s most spectacular natural wonders, was never on my radar.”
Wallack ended up being won over by the 15-mile trek, describing it as “an otherworldly journey into a land before time” and “a true bucket-list adventure.”
The paper also describes his efforts to keep his 84-year old father active, despite being housebound by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The paper reports that he recently finished one last book, about Richard Long, the founder of GT Bicycles, who was killed in a collision with a truck while riding his motorcycle to a bike race in Big Bear in 1994.
Tributes were beginning to pour in as word of his death began to spread Sunday evening.
This is at least the 66th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fifth that I’m aware of in Ventura County.
My deepest condolences and prayers for Roy Wallack and all his loved ones.
Thanks to Zachary Rynew and Mike Burk for the heads-up.
Category: General / Tags: bicycling fatality, mountain biking, Pt. Magu State Park, Roy Wallack, Ventura County