Sometimes you just have to throw in the towel.
A combination of an early morning commitment today, and a late night last night tending to a new puppy who got into something she shouldn’t have, means I’m out of time to get anything done tonight.
As usual, we’ll be back on Friday to catch up on anything we missed.
Yes, collisions involving bike riders really are down in Los Angeles.
According to a Crosstown analysis of LAPD crash data, the lighter traffic resulting from the coronavirus lockdown led to a nearly 71% drop during the 11-week period starting March 15th.
That’s just four days before the shutdown orders in Los Angeles and California.
Surprisingly, despite the return of motor vehicle traffic and the recent jump in SoCal bicycling fatalities, bicycle crashes remained significantly below last year as of the middle of last month.
More surprising is that LADOT is actually moving forward with bike projects outside the Downtown area.
It seems LADOT is paying attention. Despite facing a shortfall of nearly $31 million due to the coronavirus pandemic, the department has expedited multiple bike lanes and safety projects since the “Safer at Home” order was issued on March 19. According to Colin Sweeney, LADOT’s public information director, there have been nearly 28 miles of bike lanes installed or upgraded, and an additional 5.5 lane miles are under construction in the city…
In addition to Downtown, Sweeney said LADOT also implemented more than 12 miles of new bike lanes to Avalon Boulevard in South Los Angeles since May.
“In South Los Angeles, the Manchester-Broadway, Our Way project has just begun construction and will add new parking-protected bike lanes from Manchester to Century on Broadway,” he said.
So maybe there’s hope, after all.
At least if you live or ride in those areas, because there are large swaths of LA where the city doesn’t appear to be doing anything.
Thanks to Ethan Ward for the heads-up.
Illustration by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.
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On a related subject, the dramatic drop in SoCal bicycling deaths in March, April and May during the coronavirus shutdown, followed by a big jump in June and July as people started back to work, is a reminder that bikes aren’t dangerous.
Cars — and the people in them — are.
And streets are safer with fewer cars on them.
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Maybe the most effective way to counter LA’s legendary NIMBYs and fight for safer streets is on the neighborhood level.
And the best way to do that is by serving on your local neighborhood council, with openings available right now throughout the LA area.
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Maybe with more bike riders on LA’s neighborhood councils, we might see less of this crap.
https://twitter.com/EntitledCycling/status/1290348082681401344
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Ted Faber says Culver City’s efforts to provide social distancing for diners is good for people on bicycles, too.
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GCN examines whether you’re better off riding solo or as part of a group.
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Most mountain bikers have enough sense to stay the hell away from forest fires.
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Police in Orange, California are looking for a man riding a bike who sexually assaulted three women on the Santiago Creek bike path.
British authorities are looking for a mountain bike-riding man who attempted to solicit a sex act from a woman, before performing a lewd act in front of her.
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Pasadena police will conduct a bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement operation this Friday. The usual protocol applies — be sure to ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits. Or just avoid riding in the Rose City until Saturday.
Sierra Madre and Arcadia are moving forward with bike lanes as part of an actual bicycle network in the San Gabriel Valley.
Costs Mesa is asking local residents, bike riders and pedestrians to reimagine what busy 19th Street can be. Although the latter two are often residents, too.
I want to be like him when I grow up. A 96-year old Santa Maria man is rapidly approaching 100,000 lifetime miles on his bike, despite not taking up riding until he a relative spring chicken of 67.
A new study confirms the effectiveness of Oakland’s low-cost, quick-build protected intersections.
Streetsblog says the Covid-19 pandemic could take 14 million cars off American roads, and keep them off — but only if we move quickly to provide valid alternatives to driving.
The founding president of the American Planning Association says planners must actively confront structural racism embedded in the design of our cities.
Bike Portland asks what the city plans to do with a thousand high-mileage analog bikes from the city’s bikeshare program, which is replacing them with ebikes.
Waterloo, Wisconsin-based Trek is gearing up to meet the booming demand for bicycles, after initially preparing for the bike industry to implode as a result of Covid-19. Although one of the best ways to bankrupt any business is by chasing boom and bust cycles.
A new Chicago group is getting more Black people out on bikes while supporting Black-owned businesses.
An Indiana hit-and-run driver was sentenced to a whopping 48 years behind bars for killing a local a local coach and teacher who was riding his bike; the sentence included an additional 20 years for being an habitual offender. Even I think that might be just a tad extreme; the judge could have ordered the sentences to run concurrently, rather than consecutively.
Heartbreaking news from Massachusetts, where a 94-year old man faces a homicide charge for running down a 67-year old bike rider. Yet another example of allowing an older driver to remain behind the wheel until it’s too late.
There’s a special place in hell for the woman who drove off after running down a couple nine and twelve year old boys riding their bikes on a Long Island service road; the 31-year old driver was busted ten hours later, which could have given her plenty of time to sober up if she was under the influence.
Good point. A New York writer wants to know why the mayor is cracking down on Revel after the Vespa-style scooter-share service suffered two deaths, but not motor vehicles, which cause far more.
Road.cc gets it, recommending the best road bikes under the equivalent of $650. And yes, there are good bikes in that range these days. Although whether you’ll be able to find any at your local bike shop after the coronavirus bike boom is another matter.
Speaking of Road.cc, the bike site Investigates an “innovative new risk-management philosophy” that says it’s time to drop the “us vs them” attitude, and build a road system that accommodates people’s errors.
Cycling Weekly explains what you should look for in a commuting bike.
Treehugger offers tips on what you’ll need to bike with small kids, while The Guardian covers the same topic.
North American bike riders need more than just white lines on the street to stay safe.
A pair of British Columbia bicyclists are lucky to be alive after they were struck by a load of lumber a truck driver carelessly left overhanging his pickup bed.
One in five British residents say they’d consider riding a bike as part of their commute, but fears of bike theft and dangerous streets hold them back; meanwhile, only ten percent of Brits think the country takes road safety seriously.
An English ambulance driver, who should know better, tells a bicyclist to get off the road and ride on a parallel cycle track, even though the rider is traveling at up to 30 mph. Maybe he’s just trying to boost his business if there are any slow bike riders or pedestrians on the path.
An English blues musician was killed when he crashed his bike into a bollard that was placed on a bike and pedestrian bridge after an elderly couple drove onto it by mistake — and even though another bike rider had already been injured in the same spot.
Nice story from the UK, where an 83-year old man is looking for the racing cyclist who crashed into him, ripping off his lip, which had to be reattached — not to hold him responsible, but to thank him for staying with him and holding his hand all the way to the hospital.
A British woman says the country’s new bike-focused anti-obesity campaign will fail because it ignores the complex causes of obesity, insisting she’s neither lazy or lacking self-discipline.
German grocery chain Aldi is selling a full-featured folding bike for the equivalent of just under $400; no word on whether this offer is only available in the UK, or if they’ll ship to the US, though. Although if I had an extra four hundred bucks lying around, I’d find out.
The next pro cycling star may be Remco Evenepoel, as defending Tour de France champ Egan Bernal says he’s astounded by the 20-year old Belgian rider’s “massive” talent.
After winning the Strade Bianche, Belgian cyclist Wout van Aert held onto his jersey and the winning bike for a planned museum after he retires.
USA Cycling pulled the plug on this year’s Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Who needs a washing machine when you can ride a bike? We may have to deal with distracted LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about careless sheep violating the right-of-way.
And don’t hang your face mask from your car mirror.
Or anything else, for that matter.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already.
The joys of puppyhood.
Our teething new corgi puppy jumped up to give me a kiss, then snatched my glasses off my face and ran off with them before I could stop her Monday night.
So if I miss any major typos in today’s post, blame trying to see through a badly chewed lens.
That said, it’s a light news day, so let’s jump right in.
Today’s photo, the new intern discovers how it must feel when Godzilla destroys Tokyo.
And my glasses.
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A British bike rider suffered significant injuries when a road raging driver backed over him in a deliberate attack.
A Concorde man stopped his bike to repeatedly erase a chalk sidewalk message in support of Black Lives Matter, telling the woman who wrote it not to “deface” the sidewalks of his neighborhood. Even though it’s her neighborhood, too. And in front of her house.
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Bruce Willis is one of us, and back in Brentwood after isolating in Idaho with his family.
Kevin Hart and very pregnant wife Eniko are both one of us, too. And so is their yet-to-be-born kid.
Usher is one of us, as he buys a bike rack for his Tesla. And has it mounted in front of a WeHo fetish shop that should be familiar to anyone who rides Santa Monica Blvd.
South Pasadena will vote on the city’s draft bike plan at tomorrow’s council meeting; comments are due by noon Wednesday.
Take an augmented reality tour of the LA River.
A San Francisco family financed their dream of moving to Washington’s Whidbey Island by riding bikes, walking and taking public transit.
Bicycling talks to several long-distance bike tourers about what gear they take along for the ride. And offers advice on bicycling through National Parks. You can read the full story without Bicycling’s draconian new paywall on Yahoo.
Bicycling also offers a refresher course on how to use hand signals while riding a bike. No, not that one.
An Air Force squadron commander was killed, and two others wounded, when they were somehow run over by the driver of their own support vehicle while on a 155-mile Alaskan bike tour. Yet a local radio station doesn’t even mention there was a driver.
It takes a major asshole — and I use that term advisedly — to paint racist white power phrases on a bike path near a Las Vegas high school. Or anywhere else, for that matter.
A pair of BYU football coaches offer inspirational tidbits while riding their bikes to work.
The former president of Smartwool died of a heart attack while riding his mountain bike near Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Riding Arkansas’ High Country Route though a bikepacker’s paradise.
No longer the “mistake by the lake,” a rejuvenated Cleveland now offers a 58-mile Emerald Necklace bike loop from the shore of Lake Erie to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Boston put out a call for proposals to see how e-cargo bikes could fit into the city’s delivery landscape.
A 14-year old New Jersey boy with cerebral palsy is more than halfway to his goal of raising $18,000 for a Kosher retreat and hospital for children with cancer and physical or developmental disabilities by riding his recumbent 80 miles in a charity ride.
British sales figures put a number on the coronavirus bike boom, with a 63% increase in bike sales during the lockdown period. Meanwhile, British farmers are being warned to watch out for an unusual plethora of bikes on the roads.
Business Insider goes inside the world’s largest bicycle garage in The Netherlands.
Talk about taking the scenic route. A Moroccan man traveled four years through 26 African countries to attend the Hajj in Saudi Arabia, starting on foot before buying a bicycle along the way.
A Ghanan woman is working to empower women and help children get an education by building low-cost, environmentally sustainable bamboo bicycles, planting ten new bamboo stalks for every one she cuts down.
Chris Froome hopes the delay in this year’s Tour de France will aid his hopes for that elusive record-tying fifth yellow jersey. Even though he who must not be mentioned won seven, before he didn’t.
If you don’t have work to commute to these days, just turn your foldie into a fishing bike. And when you’re white, riding a bike while falling down drunk and carrying a loaded gun, chances are, white cops probably aren’t being racist by arresting your ass.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already.
A report from the C40 Cities group promotes the new Paris model of putting all necessities within a 15 minute biking or walking distance.
The climate group, currently led by LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, encourages the model as a response to municipal budgets ravaged by Covid-19.
Which makes it worth noting that the “world’s climate mayor” is doing nothing of the sort in his own city, except for encouraging greater density.
Which is problematic in itself, after a number of current and former city officials have been implicated in a bribery scheme to approve building projects.
As we’ve noted before, cities around the world have taken advantage of the lighter traffic brought on by the pandemic to make temporary, and sometimes permanent, changes to encourage more biking and walking.
Los Angeles, on the other hand, has done absolutely nothing outside of the Downtown area, where Councilmember Jose Huizar has been a driving force behind a move to Complete Streets.
He is also charged with being the ringleader behind the bribery scheme.
Which pretty much sums up the current state of the city.
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A bike thief was caught on video ransacking an Anaheim building’s bike room. Which is exactly why I don’t recommend using them.
Bike rooms give the illusion of security while providing an enticing target for thieves. Better to find space in your home to keep your bikes inside.
And register your damn bike already.
https://twitter.com/lemusss29/status/1287897963927281664
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Road ID is offering half off to VIP members starting tomorrow — if you’re willing to sacrifice your privacy to become one by signing up for texts.
I wear mine every time I ride my bike. And any other time I leave home.
But I also prefer to maintain a little privacy, and not get spammed with commercial messages every time I look at my phone.
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Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley is one of us.
Orlando Bloom is one of us, too.
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No surprise here, as Oregon bike riders report a rising tide of road rage incidents in recent months. Everyone is stressed because of the coronavirus and the resulting restrictions, which means too many drivers will end up taking it out on us.
Seriously? A moonlighting Arizona cop says he felt his life was threatened by a mountain biker who ignored no trespassing signs at a golf course while looking for a formerly accessible trailhead — so he tackled the rider off his bike and pulled a loaded gun on him during the scuffle, while insisting the victim somehow lunged off his bike at him.
Chicago police appear stumped about why a man on a bike shot and killed a Rastafarian community activist, though conservatives are quick to blame his surprising support for Donald Trump for his murder.
A New York bike rider went on a racist and homophobic obscenity-laced rant after an Asian driver honked at him, then faked an injury claiming the driver hit his “$11,000 bike.”
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CDTvX1UhjFe/?utm_source=ig_embed
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Metro Bike is offering a bikeshare relief program through this month, with discounted passes ranging from a single $1 ride or 24-hour pass, to a $100 pass for a full year.
LA-area streets are being reimagined as outdoor dining spaces; the question is whether it will last post-pandemic. Actually, the real question is why we can find street space for restaurant patrons, but we can’t manage to find any for bike lanes.
KCRW’s Steve Chiotakis talks with Lex Roman, author of a guide to where to vote and how government works, about how you can become a more civically engaged Angeleno. Because most of us need to.
Encinitas has finished work on protected bike lanes and other infrastructure improvements, including mosaic art panels designed by local students and artists
Groups of wheelie-popping teens are ignoring the dismount signs on Santa Barbara’s newly pedestrianized State Street.
The Bay Area’s East Bay Times recommends more than a dozen “great, scenic bike trails” crisscrossing the region.
Yreka’s Leslie Burley-Cobb has been nominated for the BMX Hall of Fame; she was one of the first women in the sport in the late ’70s, collecting 268 trophies before she retired in 1985. Raise your hand if you knew there even was a BMX Hall of Fame. And yes, mine are firmly in my pockets.
A Harvard professor is nearing the end of his cross-country bike ride to call attention to Black Lives Matter and Black Birders Week.
A writer for Gizmodo says riding an ebike has changed her entire perspective on how we get around.
Yahoo Life! says you don’t need bike shorts or clip-in shoes for these “cute” commuter bikes. Then again, you don’t need them for any other bikes, either.
“Beloved” international security expert and self-defense trainer Dave Acosta was killed in a Utah mountain biking crash last week.
Beloit, Wisconsin’s Bike Elves program has refurbished and given away 5,380 bicycles over the last nine years, after being founded by a man suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s.
An Illinois driver is being held on $1 million bail for reckless homicide after killing one bike rider and critically injuring another while fleeing from police.
Minnesota has found a used for abandoned mine pits by converting them to 30 miles of mountain bike trails.
This is the cost of traffic violence. A well-known Memphis minister died after being taken off life support following a bicycling collision last week.
The worldwide bike boom continues, as Boston bike shops are running out of bicycles.
Now that’s more like it. The New York Times offers tips on how to stay safe on mass transit — and includes bikeshare as a recommended alternative.
Drive-in movies are popping up all over New York; bike-in movies, not so much.
A New York novelist says riding through the pandemic has changed her perspective of the city.
Road.cc previews the bike tech trends for next year.
Rapha was justifiably criticized for water bottles printed with a message that could lead to eating disorders if anyone actually followed it.
After a London cabbie posted photos of Dutch parents riding their kids to school on cargo bikes, sarcastically asking if that’s really the kind of morning school run people want to see, the public responded with a resounding “Yes.”
A Croatian expat living in London says helmets, Lycra and flashing lights have become part of his new reality exploring the city by bike in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown.
Five Northern England bicycle trails to add to your bike bucket list. Unless maybe you’d rather combine beer and bikes on five trails surrounding Prague in the Czech Republic. I’ll take both, thank you. And they make some pretty decent beer in the UK, too.
The Irish Times recounts 12 reasons to start riding a bike, almost all of which apply equally well on this side of the Atlantic.
Take a nearly 1,250 mile ride over trees and beneath the water on the trails of the Belgian home of stinky cheese.
Bicyclists have been unofficially banned from the highways of Jalandhar, India, even though it’s legal to ride there; despite the law, riders are being told to stay off the roads following the death of a bike rider.
A Philippines foundation is changing lives one bicycle at a time by donating mountain bikes to people struggling to hold onto their jobs in the face of the pandemic.
Red Bull Australia picks their ten favorite gravel bike shoes, as well as eleven cycling jerseys that apparently don’t care where you wear them.
Dutch cyclist Ellen Van Dijk won the Strade Bianche gravel race on a bike borrowed from a teammate, after her Trek-Segafredo team was struck by thieves the night before the race. Meanwhile, Wout van Aert won on the men’s side.
Former Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali suffered an injured hand in the Strade Bianche, just one of the 124 cyclists who abandoned the race in 104° temperatures out of the 166 who started; only 45 cyclists finished the women’s race.
High-end bike options for people who have more dollars than sense, and are willing to part with a lot of the former.
And don’t dare ride a whole six miles below the speed limit after lunch with you mom.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already.
The father of Barbora Kabatova, the 26-year old woman killed riding her bike near the Jeffrey Road connection to the 405 Freeway is begging anyone with information to come forward to help find justice for her.
I am trying to find any witness of this tragic accident.
Any camera on the ground or on the car, anyone biking, driving, walking around when this has happen.
Are there any witnesses do you know someone who witnessed this?
This is big intersection there must have been many people around.
I am desperate. Please help.
Juraj Kabat
Barbora’s dad
Seriously, if you know anything, share it with the police.
Before they find a way to blame the victim for causing her own death.
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Biking While Black seems to be the ongoing theme of the week, as a familiar LA face took over Bicycling for a much-needed conversation about race.
And the magazine has lowered its new paywall on these important stories so everyone can read them.
The founder of Atlanta’s Civil Bikes says there’s a tremendous untold story of Black people on bikes.
A product development quality engineer at SRAM describes growing up surrounded by bias, which didn’t change when he started winning races, saying the more he won, the bigger barriers he faced.
The cofounder of Pedal 2 the People describes what it’s like, and what it means, to never see Black people like her riding bicycles.
A pro cyclist for B&B Hotels–Vital Concept argues that racism in pro cycling should be treated like doping violations, saying no one ever faced consequences for the slurs he encountered from competitors in the peloton.
The founder of Black Girls Do Bike says if you love bicycling, you need to have uncomfortable conversations about race.
The Director of Mobility for the Oakland Mayor’s Office dreams of a day when he can just stick to bicycling without having to worry about anything else, noting there are challenges Black people face riding through any space that others don’t. Seriously, anyone who poses for a national bike magazine holding a corgi is more than okay in my book.
The owner of LA’s Ride On! Bike Shop/Co-op describes being stopped by Beverly Hills cops because he “fit a description;” in other words, he was Black and on a bike.
According to the co-director of PGM ONE Summit, claiming bicycling is colorblind doesn’t help anyone because bikes may not discriminate, but the people on them do.
LA’s own Nelson Vails, the first African American to medal in Olympic cycling, tells a somewhat different story, saying he never felt discrimination in his racing career, but Black Lives Matter opened his eyes to the need to rase the bar on equality.
Ayesha McGowan, America’s first Black women’s pro cyclist, says it’s exhausting making people in white spaces comfortable with her blackness.
The founder of the Level Up Cycling Movement questions how something as innocent as riding a bicycle can make another human being feel discarded, saying she was treated like she didn’t exist when she started riding.
Former LACBC Executive Director Tamika Butler offers advice on how to become anti-racist, on or off your bike. And explains on her own site how this extraordinary edition came together, and why it was necessary.
At this point, it shouldn’t surprise anyone to know that Black bike riders are stopped by police far more often than white riders, and face a much higher risk when they are.
Meanwhile, PeopleForBikes shares their commitment to rooting out racism in the bicycling industry. Maybe they can tackle the industry’s blatant sexism while they’re at it.
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Another reminder that the UC system isn’t accessible until it’s accessible to all.
https://twitter.com/AccessUc/status/1288904877628772353
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Regardless of politics, some things just aren’t right. In Portland, New York, or anywhere else.
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We missed this one earlier in the week, as we lost the last living link to old Hollywood. Along with a truly iconic bike rider.
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Evidently, motorized scooters are nothing new.
Thanks to Megan Lynch for forwarding the tweet.
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Thanks to Adam Ginsberg for sending what instantly became my favorite email of the week.
I’ll look forward to trying the same thing with our new four-footed intern.
After all, if she’s going to work for a bike site, she needs to know what it’s like, right?
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A Coachella man will face charges for jumping out of his car and shooting at a group of bike riders, for unknown reasons. Thankfully, his aim seems to suck. Thanks to Victor Bale and Phillip Young for the heads-up.
A Utah man faces a murder charge for allegedly running over his roommate as the other man was riding his bicycle. Maybe next time, don’t leave your license plate behind at the crash scene. Just a suggestion.
Anti-bike vigilantes are accused of ripping out the plastic ballards protecting a British bike lane. Although a thin, bendable plastic post doesn’t offer much protection anyway.
Riverside County deputies busted a cruiser bike-riding man for sexually assaulting a woman on a Temecula bike path.
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LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds worries that LA traffic may be worse than ever post-pandemic. Or maybe not, because an economic collapse could mean fewer people can afford to drive. Although both of those problems could be helped with the sort of bikeways other cities are building, but LA isn’t.
Yelp maps out all things bicycle in the City of Angels. As long as your idea of Los Angeles doesn’t extend more than a few blocks south of I-10, or east of the LA River. Thanks to Brandi D’Amore for the tip.
The Glendale City Council will discuss plans for the Verdugo Wash in an online meeting starting at 6 pm this Tuesday; if you live or ride in the city, let them know what you think.
Pasadena police are planning yet another bike and pedestrian safety operation next Friday, ticketing any violations that endanger bike riders or pedestrians, regardless of who does it. As always, plan to ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.
Seriously? San Diego business owners worry about plans for a socially distanced bicycle scavenger hunt that promises to bring more customers to their community, because they’re unsure about coronavirus protocols. But people coming in cars are perfectly fine, apparently.
The kindhearted members of an Oxnard hip hop organization raised $750 to replace a bike stolen from a 15-year old member of the group.
A pair of coastal bike paths north of Ventura will close for construction this weekend; one will close during the day, while the other will just see overnight closures.
San Francisco opens a new one-third mile, two-way protected cycle track across the Lefty O’Doul Bridge, improving connections with a nearby protected bikeway. Which is exactly what Los Angeles should be doing, but isn’t.
Essence explains why everyone on your timeline is riding a bike right now. Hint: It’s fun. And good for you.
Business is thriving for the owner of a Denver coffee bike, after he lost his other job to the pandemic.
A Colorado mountain biker recommends criding — crying while riding a bike — to maintain your sanity in these trying times. Which may just be my new favorite word. Although indignorant is still pretty hard to top.
A Pittsburgh writer says slowing traffic and improving safety on city streets will actually make them more dangerous for kids. No, really.
Former New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin is one of us. Although he may wish he wasn’t right now, after another rider clipped his wheel, leaving him with four fractured ribs, a punctured lung and a bleeding head wound.
New York’s Westchester County considers mandating bike helmets for all bike riders. Apparently attempting to drive down bicycling rates while doing little to actually improve safety. Or at least that’s been the experience in other places that have done it.
A British Columbia woman is looking for two Good Samaritans and a cop who helped save her life following a crash just days into a cross-country bike tour.
Now there’s a first. London police are asking bike riders to wear helmet cams to help them catch and prosecute dangerous drivers.
The UK’s new focus on bicycling gives local residents the power to close streets to through traffic, as well as prohibiting local governments from building substandard bike lanes. Thanks to Ralph Durham for the link.
Nearly a hundred bike riders died on the streets of Great Britain last year, which represents an improvement of exactly one, as the fatality rate dropped from 99 to 98.
If you’re going to drive drunk through a drive through, at least secure your bike and fix your flat tire — and maybe leave the machete at home. It may not the best idea to take a shortcut by riding through a shooting range.
And always practice good social distancing when dining.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already.
My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence.
You know I’m having a bad night when I can’t even manage to post something to say I won’t be posting anything.
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A preliminary hearing has been postponed in the case of the Pennsylvania man violently wrestled to the ground and arrested for the crime of…wait for it…Biking While Black.
In Walmart.
And legally paying for the bike he’d been test riding as a gift for his kid.
In the video, you can hear him repeatedly asking why he was being arrested, and insisting that he had paid for the bike.
Security camera video shows him riding up and down the aisles without posing a danger to anyone; the only visible risk in the video comes from a woman who pushed her shopping cart into a man.
He was also accused of shouting obscenities at other shoppers, though witnesses at the scene reported that he was simply exuberantly wishing them a good day.
Apparently, that’s a crime now.
If you’re black, anyway.
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Speaking of Biking While Black, a pair of New Jersey cops are under fire for manhandling a 15-year old kid during a bicycle flash mob, apparently for the crime of riding a bike in an annoying manner.
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And while we’re on the subject, a Florida man faces charges for illegally detaining a 15-year old Black teenager who was just riding his bike to basketball practice.
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Milwaukee police are looking for a bike-riding man who fatally shot a Black Rastafarian Trump supporter.
A group of Chicago bikeshare riders were caught on security cam carjacking an 82-year old man.
A British hit-and-run bike rider will face charges of manslaughter and causing bodily harm by wanton and furious driving for a collision with a pedestrian.
Cyclists in Ghana are keeping fit by riding in the midst of Covid-19.
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Construction is underway on the new Elysian Valley walk/bike bridge connecting Frogtown to the upcoming Taylor Yards project.
Cal Matters says no, Los Angeles and other cities aren’t playing Big Brother by tracking dockless ebikes and scooters.
The national president of insurance brokerage firm Hub International died of a heart attack while riding his bike, apparently in San Diego; David Reich was just 50 years old.
It’s not unusual to find things while riding a bicycle, although a driver’s severed foot following a violent collision in Templeton is another matter.
Tragic news from the Bay Area, where a ten-year old boy was killed by an Amazon delivery driver while riding his bike in Lafayette.
A competition to design better protected bike lane barriers resulted in a number of innovative designs; the winning entry converts recycled car tires into planters to create an effective barrier any city can afford.
Gear Junkie explains how to pump up a bike tire in nine easy steps. Or you could just get a pump that matches your valve stem, and fill the damn thing.
After spending the last five months indoors, a writer for Vox says maybe Peloton isn’t so bad.
Now that’s more like it. Portland is fining the feds $500 for every 15 minutes they illegally keep unpermitted fencing blocking a bike lane.
A Montana columnist says maybe bad drivers should get a time out.
After some jerk stole a seven-year old boy’s bicycle, kindhearted Arkansas cops stepped up to give him a new one, along with a birthday parade.
Hundreds of Chicago bike riders turned out for a Ride Against Racism.
Tragic news from a Chicago suburb, where one bike rider was killed and another critically injured when a driver fleeing police slammed into them.
They get it. A New Hampshire letter writer says don’t blame the new bike lane for a bike rider getting doored, blame the driver.
A group of unruly Long Island teenagers are accused to harassing people at a gym, before riding their bikes to Wendy’s and throwing drinks at other customers.
New York’s dockless moped company Revel shut down after a second rider was killed in just ten days.
They get it, too. The UK is creating a new government agency with a five-year budget equivalent to $2.57 billion to promote active transportation and improve cycle and pedestrian infrastructure across the country; the agency is as much about improving health as it is curbing pollution.
No surprise here, as a British program offering vouchers worth the equivalent of $65 to get bikes repaired proved so popular it crashed the website on the first day.
British bikemaker Raleigh is introducing a line of bakfiets-style e-cargo bikes.
A pair of women from Great Britain now officially hold the record for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by tandem bike.
A British paper asks who was in the right when a turning driver left crossed a Boston bike rider, even though they both had the green light — forgetting that a vehicle going straight always has the right-of-way over a turning vehicle.
The family behind Ferrari is getting into the ebike business by investing in Belgian bikemaker Cowboy.
The Bike League introduced the new Kittie Knox award for equity, diversity and inclusion in bicycling, with the award going to Ayesha McGowan, the first Black American woman’s pro cyclist. Although someone should tell them it won’t be an annual award until they do it again next year.
Three-time Austrian Olympic cyclist Johann Lienhart got a ten-year ban for helping his triathlete son dope. Evidently, the family that dopes together stays together. But seriously, the era of doping is over, right?
Your next Yamaha could have pedals and climb hills. Why buy a bike when you can buy the entire company?
And stealing a lousy $72 from Burger King seems like a waste of a perfectly good getaway bike.
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Meet the newest member of the BikinginLA team.
Our new intern is taking awhile to get up to speed after joining us on Monday. But she should be able to contribute more once she learns to stop pooping inside.
You can follow her new adventures in Hollywood, if you’re so inclined.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already.