Update: Drinking, unlicensed hit-and-run driver slams into four bike riders in El Centro, killing 44-year old man and injuring 3

It’s not often we hear from Imperial County. And when we do, the news usually isn’t good.

That’s the case today, when an unlicensed driver swerved off the road and struck a group of people who were riding their bikes in El Centro Sunday morning.

The four were riding north on the shoulder of State Route 111, just south of Interstate 8, when they were rear-ended by a 31-year old woman around 7:30 am, killing a 44-year-old man and severely injuring a woman.

Two others suffered minor injuries.

The driver was arrested shortly later after fleeing the scene. Officials said she had been drinking, but was not legally intoxicated, and didn’t have a valid license.

The victims were all reported to be Mexican citizens.

This is at least the 55th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first in Imperial County.

Update: The victim has been identified as 44-year old Emeterio Millan of Mexicali, Mexico. 

The most seriously injured victim was flown from El Centro to Palm Springs for treatment, while the Mexican consulate was working to help the other victims and get Millan’s body back home to Mexicali. 

The driver, a resident of El Centro, is being held on $150,000 bond on felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter charges.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Emeterio Millan and all his loved ones. And best wishes for a fast and full recovery to all those injured in the crash. 

 

Update: Man killed in Carlsbad train collision in what may be first San Diego County bike death this year

The San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting that a 24-year old man was killed when he was struck by an Amtrak train while crossing the tracks in Carlsbad Thursday night.

According to the paper, the victim, who has not been publicly named, was riding east on the sidewalk near Grand Ave and Washington Street when he rode onto the tracks, and somehow struck the side of the train around 7:30 pm.

He was taken to an Oceanside medical center, where he died.

Sadly, he was on his way to meet friends in Carlsbad Village, the Times of San Diego reports.

A street view shows the railroad crossing is controlled by warning lights and crossing arms. However, the arms don’t extend to the sidewalk where the victim was riding. No explanation is given for why he apparently either didn’t notice the train, or was unable to stop in time to avoid it.

Anyone who witnessed the crash is urged to call the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department at 858/565-5200.

This is at least the 53rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year; remarkably, it appears to be the first in San Diego County.

As we’ve noted many times before, a train crash is the easiest kind of collision to prevent because you know exactly where it will go, and get a clear warning of when it’s coming; it’s also the most difficult to survive.

So never ride through or around crossing arms or warning signals, and never stop on the tracks.

Update: The San Diego Union-Tribune reports the victim has been identified as 37-year old San Diego County resident Jason Lynn Holsinger, despite initial reports that the victim was 24.

The San Diego medical examiner confirms that Holsinger rode around the crossing gates and into the side of the train.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Jason Lynn Holsinger and all his loved ones.

 

Update: Man walking bicycle across Redondo Ave struck and killed by two drivers; 5th Long Beach bike death of 2019

A man was killed when he was struck by two drivers while walking his bike across the street in Long Beach.

Or maybe three, since Long Beach authorities were quick to throw him under the bus.

According to a press release from the Long Beach Police Department, the victim, who was originally thought to be riding his bike, was struck around 6:20 am Thursday near the intersection of Redondo Ave and 11th Street.

He was crossing southbound Redondo, and had stopped in the left lane to wait for traffic to clear when he was struck by the driver of an SUV, and knocked into the left lane on the other side.

A driver headed in the opposite direction swerved around him, before he was hit by the driver of a second car as he lay in the roadway.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, despite efforts to save him.

Both drivers remained at the scene. A police spokesman said neither driver was intoxicated, and weren’t distracted by their cellphones.

However, there is also no way of knowing if the drivers were distracted without examining their phones, which requires a warrant. And there are many other forms of distraction, which may or may not have contributed to the crash.

A story from the Long Beach Post reports that the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was allegedly crossing the street illegally in low light conditions, according to unnamed authorities.

The reports are unclear exactly where the victim was crossing the street, saying only that it was somewhere south of 11th.

However, according to CVC 21955, the prohibition against crossing mid block only applies if there is a traffic signal at both ends of the block. In this case, there is a traffic light on 10th, but not on 11th.

So it’s hard to understand how the victim could have broken the law by simply crossing the street.

Anyone with information is urged to call LBPD Det. Allen Duncan at 562/570-7355.

This is at least the 52nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 24th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County. It’s also the fifth bicycling death in Long Beach, in what is turning out to be a very bloody year for the city.

Update: The victim has been identified as 59-year old Mike Yanis, who was homeless. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Mike Yanis and all his loved ones.

Thanks to Michael Muhammad for the heads-up.

Man killed lying in street next to bicycle in South LA’s Hyde Park neighborhood

KTLA-5 is reporting that a man with a bicycle was killed when he was struck by a driver in South LA Sunday night.

According to LAPD investigators, the victim was lying in the street next to a bicycle on Arlington Ave, near the intersection with West 48th Street in the Hyde Park neighborhood, when a driver swerved around him just before midnight.

Unfortunately, another driver following in the same direction was unable to stop or go around him in time.

He apparently died at the scene.

There’s no explanation given for why the victim, publicly identified only as a 58-year old man, was down in the street. It’s possible that he may have fallen or been knocked off his bike, suffered a medical emergency, or simply passed out under the influence.

The coroner’s office shows one possible victim on that date, a 58-year old black man identified as Larry Mitchell; unfortunately, there’s no location given so it’s hard to say for sure if that’s who it was.

This is at least the 51st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 23rd that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County. It’s also the 11th bicyclist killed in the City of Los Angeles this year.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones.

 

Morning Links: Rabid bat in OC bike rental shop, helmetless teen in Burbank crash, and Ballona Creek closure this week

If you see a lone bike rider with kitty litter panniers and a full lumberjack beard making his way east from the Santa Monica Pier along Broadway, Ohio or Santa Monica Blvd this afternoon or evening, say hi to my brother Eric. 

It’ll surprise the hell out of him. 

I’m going to take a few days off to enjoy his visit, and pretend to enjoy my birthday this year.

Barring anything unforeseen, we should be back later in the week. 

So ride carefully and defensively for the next few days. I don’t want to have to come back to write about you, or anyone else. 

Bat photo by Miriam Fischer from Pexels; see next item.

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Rabid bicyclists are nothing new.

Rabid bats inside an Orange bike rental shop, on the other hand…

Seriously, if you were in the bicycle rental shop at 1 Irvine Park Road in Irvine Regional Park recently, and you had any contact with a bat, call the Orange County Health Care Agency’s Communicable Disease Control Division from 8 am to 5 pm at 714/834-8180, or call 714/834-7792 after hours.

Or if you have a pet that may have come into contact with a bat in the area, call your vet right away.

Or just wait until you’re foaming at the mouth, and people assume you’re just another angry NIMBY screaming about bike lanes.

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More information on the Burbank crash we mentioned last week, as a 16-year old boy was critically injured in the collision at Alameda Ave and Lake Street Thursday night.

Unfortunately, no further details are available at this time.

However, the police were quick to mention that the victim didn’t appear to be wearing a helmet, as required by law for anyone under 18.

But they failed to mention whether he suffered a head injury that a helmet might have prevented.

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A section of the Ballona Creek bike path will be closed for maintenance most of this week.

Twitter post

Thanks to Ted Faber for the tip.

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Maybe there’s a reason to buy an Apple Watch after all.

A Washington man is crediting his father’s watch with saving his life after a bad mountain biking fall.

Not only did the Apple Watch automatically notify the son his dad had fallen, it called 911 and informed them of his location.

Before the son could get there, his father was already in an ambulance and headed for the hospital.

If that’s not in the company’s next commercial, they need to fire their ad agency. Or marketing director.

Or both.

Thanks to Mike Cane and Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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The Orange County Bicycle Coalition is offering a handy dandy little chart explaining the legal requirements for bikes, ebikes, hoverboards, e-scooters, motorized bicycles and motor-driven cycles, such as Vespas.

As (almost) always, just click to make it bigger and easier to read.

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A little tactical urbanism in action, as someone hacked a highway warning sign to give a clear, if slightly censored, message to drivers everywhere.

Twitter post

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes is all too real.

A man is under arrest for intentionally using his car as a weapon after a Sacramento State student complained that he was parked in a bike lane, then getting out of his car and beating the victim as he was lying in the street.

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Local

UCLA parking meister Donald Shoup says parking reform will save the city, blaming free street parking and mandatory off-street parking for causing needless traffic, sprawl and housing unaffordability.

The LAPD says it broke up an e-scooter flash mob that was attempting to take over DTLA, and possibly the 101 Freeway, Saturday night.

LA Times letter writers give pedestrians the usual bicyclist treatment, blaming scofflaw distracted walkers for a rise in pedestrian deaths while absolving the people in the big, dangerous machines of any responsibility.

Kesha is one of us, nearly unrecognizable with her newly dark hair as she rides around Venice with her boyfriend. And yet, the fearless paparazzi somehow still managed to spot her.

A Bixby Knolls man discusses his disastrous, yet ultimately successful, attempt to revive the Long Beach Marathon for skaters, bicyclists and runners in 1999.

 

State

California Governor Gavin Newsom took a big step towards street equity by appointing former LACBC Executive Director Tamika Butler to the California Transportation Commission, along with Hilary Norton, who runs Fixing Angelenos Stuck in Traffic, aka FAST.

The San Francisco Chronicle says California must overhaul its approach to transportation to fight climate change, and questions whether it’s up to the task. Based on what we’ve seen so far, the jury’s still out on that one.

In the best story of the day, an 86-year old Escondido woman is hooked after taking the first bike ride of her life on a tandem bike.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a customized road bike worth nine grand from a San Diego paracyclist when she went inside to get her shoes.

This is who we share the roads with. A road raging Florida man punched a Lake Elsinore motorcycle rider, before taking aim with his car and running over the victim’s bike.

Santa Cruz police cracked down on traffic violations that threaten the safety of bike riders and pedestrians, ticketing 24 drivers over a five hour period, along with one pedestrian. And just one bike rider, for failing to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

San Jose bike riders turned out in force for the city’s open streets event over the weekend.

Sad news from Vallejo, where a 66-year old man was killed when he was struck by a driver in an early morning crash; police blamed the victim for wearing dark clothing and not having a light on his bike, as well as having drugs and alcohol in his system.

 

National

The rich get richer. Tucson approves plans for more bike boulevards, on top of the nine the city already has. Which compares favorably to LA’s, uh, one.

Chicago cops busted a suspect who allegedly rode his bike up to a woman and shot her last week; one of the officers was shot in the leg making the arrest. Fortunately, both victims are expected to survive.

A Michigan appeals court has affirmed the sentence for the man who killed five bike riders and injured four more while driving under the influence of a veritable smorgasbord of drugs. The 53-year old man won’t be eligible for parole until he’s 90. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.

Tragic news from Cleveland, where a 38-year old man faces charges for carjacking an SUV with a toddler still strapped into a child seat, then killed a bike rider as he tried to make his getaway from the police.

After arguing in his car with a teenage boy, a slightly older man followed him into the Massachusetts woods and slit his throat as the victim tried to ride away, alleging he blacked out after the boy called him a racial slur.

Join the club. A New York councilmember says the city doesn’t have the resources to investigate hit-and-runs, with just 26 officers assigned to more than 42,000 cases every year.

Now that New York Mayor and erstwhile presidential candidate Bill de Blasio has finally given up on his quixotic quest for the White House, the press is insisting he refocus on being mayor, including getting the city’s Vision Zero program back on track.

For a change, the New York Post is kind, saying simply that the mayor has totally plateaued. And a writer for The Intercept wants to know why de Blasio is trying to kill him, accusing the self-proclaimed progressive NY mayor of favoring drivers over bicyclists.

Apparently, it remains open season on bike riders in New York, where a 14-year old boy was killed by the driver of a private garbage truck for the city’s 21st bicycling death this year — more than twice the total for all of last year. His family is demanding answers, as they should.

The New York Times says if you want to fight climate change, don’t drive so damn much. Although they might not have said it quite that way.

Long Island police evidently decide the constitution doesn’t apply to teenage bike riders, seizing the bikes of “disruptive” teens without pressing charges.

 

International

Cycling Weekly explores how to keep your bicycling obsession under control.

A British Columbia man learns the hard way that admitting to using heroin before riding his bike is a Get Out of Jail Free card for the cop that hit him.

No bias here. A Montreal columnist says he’s absolutely in favor bike lanes, except in the winter when he puts his bike away and drives everywhere. And accuses the city of being hostile to cars instead of just making room for people on two wheels, which he would probably hate in the winter, anyway.

Life is cheap in Yorkshire, England, where a hit-and-run driver walked without a single day behind bars for running down a bike rider, costing him the use of his thumb and killing his bicycle.

In yet another example of governments keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late, UK authorities blamed a variety of errors for failing to revoke a speeding driver’s license until after he killed another man, even though he had 25 points against his license — which should have been taken away with less than half that.

Scandinavian countries aren’t the only place where bicycling is a way of life. A reporter says everyone rides in the Tanzanian city of Shinyanga, where bicycles are the only form of transport.

Delhi, India gives LA drivers a hint of things to come as the city begins odd/even days to fight smog and traffic congestion; drivers with even license plates can drive one day, while drivers with odd plates can drive the next. Does that mean people with personalized plates don’t get to drive at all? This is the future we all have to look forward to if NIMBYs and traffic safety deniers keep fighting attempts to create safe, practical alternatives to driving.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly examines how Dutch women came to rule the cycling world, and questions whether anyone can beat them at this week’s world championships. Short answer, not yet.

British cyclist Lizzie Deignan says parenthood has given her perspective, and that bicycling is less important to her than its ever been. But considering the world championships road course runs right past her parents’ house, she’s not going down without a fight.

 

Finally…

Repeat after me. If you’re carrying meth on your bike, put a damn light on it — and don’t consent to a search. Don’t throw away those banana peels, just shove them down your pants (scroll down).

And passing a group of bike riders is perfectly legal.

Doing it in the grass to their right, no so much.

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Thanks to Megan Lynch for her generous donation, which she said was an early birthday present. Any donation, for any amount or any reason, is always appreciated.

 

Morning Links: More bike helmet studies, bicyclist badly injured in Burbank crash, and booby trapped trails in West SFV

A quick note — My brother should arrive in Los Angeles Monday evening on his bike tour of the Western US, I plan to publish on Monday, after all.

………

More fuel for the never-ending bike helmet debate.

Another new study suggests that wearing a bike helmet can significantly reduce the risk of severe injury or death.

The British study examined over 6,600 people brought to hospital emergency rooms for bicycling related injuries, and found 61.5% of the injured bicyclists for whom data on helmet use was available were wearing a bike helmet at the time of the crash.

That compares to just 22% in the recent American study, which was limited to bike riders with head and neck injuries.

The British study showed that use of a bike helmet was associated with a “reduction in severe traumatic brain injury, death within 30 days of the injury, the need for intensive care, and ‘neurosurgical intervention,'” as well as a reduction in traumatic brain injuries and facial injuries.

Although as I’ve been reminded many times, correlation does not equal causation.

Meanwhile, neurosurgeons at a Toronto hospital are calling for mandatory bike helmets for children and adults, but the city rejected a proposal to require them for kids.

And Road Bike Action Magazine reviews Bontrager’s new WaveCel helmets, and finds the improvement in safety is offset by it feeling hot on slow rides and heavy on long ones.

Bike helmet photo by Projekt_Kaffeebart from Pixabay.

………

Bad news from Burbank, where a bike rider suffered major injuries in a collision; unfortunately, there’s no further information at this time.

Twitter post

Thanks to Bean for the heads-up.

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Michael Kim sends word that someone has been booby trapping mountain bike trails in the West San Fernando Valley.

As we’ve said before, when they catch the jerk — or jerks — responsible, they should face attempted murder charges at the very least, if terrorism charges, because this is a blatant attempt to frighten bicyclists off the trails.

Thanks to Michael Kim for the news.

………

I’m told that Alana Ealy, the road-raging driver who intentionally slammed her car into bike rider Quatrell Stallings as he blocked the intersection where Frederick “Woon” Frazier was killed in a hit-and-run the day before, has been sentenced to a well-deserved five years behind bars.

Ealy had quarreled with several other protesters, left the scene and returned prior to the exceptionally violent assault captured in the video below.

She was finally taken into custody after a two month manhunt by police; no word on who, if anyone, will get the standing $25,000 reward for her capture and conviction.

………

The US House of Representatives has voted to award the Congressional Gold Medal to America’s last remaining Tour de France winner.

The resolution to honor Greg LeMond now must be approved by the Senate and signed by President Trump. 

However, Trump’s approval should be a given, since LeMond competed in the president’s eponymous bike race as he was making his comeback after getting shot by his brother-in-law.

………

A pair of bighearted LAPD officers dug into their own pockets to buy a new bicycle for a hit-and-run victim whose bike was destroyed in a head-on collision.

Complete with panniers, no less.

https://twitter.com/LAPDCTD24/status/1174910497071611904

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CiclaValley visits the Valley Glen intersection where LADOT crossing guard Delia Huerta Arrearan was killed in a collision that also injured a student on Monday.

Twitter post

The crowdfunding page for her family is now up to $3,555 of the $15,000 goal.

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The annual Eastside Mural Ride takes place tomorrow. I’m told it’s a great ride. And one I’ll look forward to doing myself one of these days.

Twitter post

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Here’s your chance to grab a free poster honoring SoCal’s two new junior world champs.

Twitter post

Thanks to David Huntsman for the tip.

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No surprise here, as a British police department sent an undercover cop out on a bicycle, and discovered exactly what bike riders face on the roads.

Twitter post

Clearly, things are no different on that side of the Atlantic than they are here.

Although just 84 drivers behaving badly in a metropolitan area of nearly three million seems just a tad low.

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Now that’s a smart idea.

Twitter post

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Congratulations to LA-based Cero, whose e-cargo bike won gold at the recent Euro Bike show.

https://twitter.com/CERObikes/status/1174762497028452352

Everyone who thinks Cero should sponsor my site with a new cargo bike raise your hands.

Seriously, I could use one to replace my car, and give our next dog a ride in that big basket when we find one. 

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes is all too real.

A New York bike rider was attacked by a pedestrian who kicked him off his bike and threatened to kill him. But says gaslighting by the cops was worse than his injuries.

But sometimes it’s the people on bikes behaving badly.

Or in this case, a grocery chain, as the Whole Foods in New York’s Bowery neighborhood is hogging the sidewalk with industrial-strength bikes and trailers for their Amazon Prime Now delivery service.

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Local

Nice to see Josef Bray-Ali is continuing his old Flying Pigeon tradition of the Get Sum Dim Sum ride, following the implosion of his failed city council campaign in CD1.

Curbed looks forward to next year’s Arroyo Fest, which will shut down a seven-mile stretch of the historic Arroyo Seco Parkway, aka the 110 Freeway, to cars and open it up to people for the first time in 16 years.

 

State

Streetsblog says California’s proposed Complete Streets bill needs your support as it sits on Governor Newsom’s desk awaiting his signature.

Encinitas is considering installing protected bike lanes on the coast highway, replacing the current painted lanes.

Sad news from San Diego, where a 47-year old man suffered major head injuries after allegedly riding his bike through a red light on a T-shaped intersection in Kearny Mesa; he was allegedly riding salmon, as well.

If you’re headed to the annual Adams Avenue Street Fair in San Diego this weekend, ride your bike and take advantage of the bike valet.

Drivers were so confused by new bicycle traffic lights on a Monterey bike lane that the city covered them up until they can come up with a fix.

The San Francisco Chronicle hops in the way back machine to go 25 years into the past for a look at the original Critical Mass rides.

 

National

Tsk tsk. Indoor cycling firm Peloton is facing $300 million in damages, up from $150 million, after music publishing companies discover even more tunes they allegedly used without permission.

Your bike already looks like a work of art, so hang it like one.

Lyft is adding bike lane maps to their apps to encourage safer bikeshare and e-scooter rides.

Life is cheap in Oregon, where a red light-running driver who killed a blind man walking in a marked crosswalk won’t spend one lousy day behind bars.

You only have ten more days to buy a new cargo ebike from a Texas startup designed especially for riding with your dog.

Go hogs! The University of Arkansas is offering a free bike valet to cut vehicular traffic to their stadium for Saturday’s football game. Maybe UCLA and USC should consider doing the same. Except maybe not maybe.

Wisconsin prosecutors rule that a police officer was justified in fatally shooting an armed 18-year old bike rider who fled after getting pulled over for not having a light on his bike. Even though he had dropped his gun and doesn’t appear to have made a move for it before he was shot.

Chicago police are looking into whether a masked bike rider who shot a woman walking along on a sidewalk is linked to a similar attack in June.

They get it. Kalamazoo MI approves plans for a road diet, bike lanes and pedestrian improvements. Yet no word on residents rising up to demand their car lanes back, unlike a certain SoCal city we could all name.

Horrible news from Kentucky, where a little girl was killed when she fell off her bike, and her neck was impaled by the hand brakes on her handlebars; even worse, it happened on her ninth birthday. Unfortunately, tragedies like that happen several times a year, yet bike makers continue to sell kids bikes with dangerous brake levers. And the government continues to look the other way.

That’s a new one. An arsonist in Ithaca NY has been setting Lime Bike handgrips on fire.

Yet another Long Beach NY community wants to criminalize teenage bike riders for scaring and inconveniencing people in cars with ride-outs, instead of trying to find a way to accommodate an otherwise healthy activity intended to keep kids out of gangs.

Despite the seemingly endless rants of bike lane opponents, the New York Fire Department says cars and construction, not bike lanes, are the reason their response times are up nearly 30 seconds in the past four years.

Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss explains why he loves riding in New York City, despite the risk. But adds that “cycling in this or any city should not be the exclusive domain of the death-defying.” Amen on both counts.

A writer for Streetsblog says NY mayor and still presidential candidate for reasons no one can comprehend Bill de Basio’s Vision Zero is just a blood-soaked joke.

A Newark NJ mom writes a friendly letter to the thief who stole her bike, complete with the toddler seat in front.

No windshield bias here. A Kentucky congressman says DC shouldn’t become a state because it would make it too hard to park. And yes, he appears to be serious.

A Florida man faces charges for a sword fight with an unarmed pregnant woman in a dispute over a bicycle.

A bike co-op in Florida is allowing community members to ride out with a new bicycle as long as they’re willing to work a little for it.

 

International

Who needs paint when you can just wrap your frame in vinyl?

London, Ontario police and officials are coming under fire for a traffic safety crackdown that also targets pedestrians and people on bicycles. Just like all the ones frequently held in California. Although that’s required under California law, which prohibits targeting any specific group. Like drivers, for instance.

Dutch companies will be able to provide their employees with company bicycles starting next year, just like they do company cars. But employees will lose the 19¢ per mile they get for riding their own bikes.

 

Competitive Cycling

Apparently, all it takes to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Cycling Team is winning a world championship, like world mountain bike champ Kate Courtney.

Outside profiles former world mountain bike champ Kirt Voreis and his many injuries.

Odd story from the UK’s The Courier, which says pro road cycling is on the right tracks (sic), then goes on to discuss the problems with team sponsorships and racing’s failed financial model.

Unless you want to fork out the cash for NBC’s cycling pass, you’re screwed if you want to watch next week’s road world championships.

 

Finally…

Signs maybe you’ve been riding your bike too much. If you ride naked with a group of people, it’s a statement; if you ride naked alone, you’re just a two-wheeled flasher.

And maybe they meant along instead of across. Otherwise, it’s going to be a very short trip.