My wife has been taking care of me for the past few months, despite her own health problems.
Tonight, it was my turn to take care of her.
So I hope you’ll forgive the lack of new Morning Links today. As usual, we’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on anything we’ve missed.
Sadly, the recent rash of bicycling deaths continued over the weekend, with yet another victim lost to our streets.
According to the Santa Clarita Signal, 22-year old Castaic resident Kori Sue Peters was riding on Rye Canyon Road at Beale Court in Valencia just after midnight Sunday when the driver of street sweeper hit her from behind.
She was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The driver cooperated with investigators, and did not appear to be under the influence drugs or alcohol.
According to Nina Moskol, Chairperson of the Santa Clarita Valley Bicycle Coalition, Rye Canyon is one of just two viable bike routes between Castaic and Valencia.
Sheriff’s investigators determined that she didn’t have lights on her bike, and also blamed her dark clothing for apparently making herself invisible to the driver of the street sweeper.
While bike riders are required to use lights after dark and have reflectors on their bikes, there is no requirement to wear light colored clothing, even though it’s probably a good idea after dark, though not always practical.
And drivers are expected, if not required, to notice whatever or whoever is in the road directly in front of them.
I’m told that Peters leaves behind two children, and may have recently returned home to work on a substance abuse problem without her kids.
In other words, she was trying to turn her life around.
And now she’ll never get the chance.
This is at least the 31st bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 12th that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Kori Sue Peters and all her family and loved ones.
Thanks to Nina Moskol for the heads-up.
Apparently, memorials for dead bike riders are high fashion now.
In a remarkably tone deaf move, haute couture fashion house Dior is working with French BMX maker Bogarde to co-opt the all-white ghost bike look to further their brand.
And no doubt, rake in big bucks from people with too damn much money and too little taste.
The limited edition BMX is due at the end of the month; the only good news is that only 150 of the utterly tasteless Dior bikes will be built.
Maybe their designers saw a few white bicycles chained to the side of the road, and had no idea why they were there.
Or maybe Dior came up with the idea themselves, and didn’t bother to find out that someone else had the idea first, for an entirely different purpose. And that the all-white paint job actually means something far more important than overpriced fashion.
Though you’d think their bike-making partners could have told them.
Let’s just hope Dior wises up at the last minute, and cancels the sale out of an abundance of caution and taste.
Or at least donates all the proceeds to benefit the families of those who died riding their bikes.
Photo is a screen grab from Hypebae.com.
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Bicyclists in the Malibu Hills are up in arms over plans to reopen the Troutdale bridge on Mulholland Highway this Wednesday.
But only if you’re in a car.
County officials plan to require, or maybe just firmly request, that bike riders dismount and walk across the pedestrian walkway adjacent to the bridge while it is undergoing reconstruction.
Something that would be problematic, to say the least, with the bridge located just beyond a sweeping turn following a steep descent along the popular riding route.
It would also be of questionable legality, since bicyclists are allowed on any road where cars are allowed, with the exception of many limited access highways.
But whether there is an exception for construction zones is unclear at this time.
A lot will depend on just what the traffic signs look like when the bridge reopens.
If they have a yellow background, it’s merely advisory, like the suggested speeds on corners that virtually everyone ignores. But if the signs are white, like a speed limit sign, they carry the force of law, and violators can be ticketed.
Whether those tickets are legal, however, could be up to the courts to decide.
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Los Angeles has scored two state grants totaling $43.6 million for bicycle and street safety.
The city will get $18.8 for a three-mile section of the LA River bike path in the West San Fernando Valley, as part of the mayor’s Twenty-Eight By ’28 program, to complete a pathway along the full 51-mile length of the LA River by 2025.
The other grant provides $24.8 million for improvements along the Broadway/Manchester corridor in South LA, including bike lanes, along with sidewalk and crosswalk enhancements and other safety projects.
Let’s hope that means bicyclists will finally see the long-promised bike lanes along Manchester that might have spared the life of Frederick “Woon” Frazier.
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In a bizarre crash, an Irvine bike rider was injured by a hit-and-run driver Saturday night.
The driver stopped after the collision, and his passenger got out to check on the victim.
Then the driver took off, leaving both the injured bike rider and the person who had been in the car with him on the side of the road.
Something tells me he — or she — will have a lot of explaining to do once they get caught.
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Today’s must-read is a hard-hitting Namibian op-ed that starts out with a clear-eyed look at drivers blaming bicyclists for “minor misdemeanors or violations of road rules to say we ‘asked for’ accidents.”
Then abruptly shifts to an examination of race and privilege, as “black Namibians literally take their lives in their hands every time they head out onto the road.”
It’s more than worth the few minutes it will take to read, if only to get a different perspective from a view most of us seldom see.
Go ahead, I’ll wait.
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A black woman accuses Irish police officers of racism after they tackle her 15-year old brother, apparently for the crime of riding a bicycle.
https://twitter.com/Ciindy_Dasilva/status/1130229305085239296
Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.
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Today’s common theme is generosity.
Hundreds of Renton, Washington kids got new bicycles, helmets and a party courtesy of a local church.
After a Nebraska middle school student was hit by a driver while riding his bike, the local police teamed with a bike shop to give him a new one.
After thieves made off with the motorized bicycle a Detroit-area Air Force vet spent months saving for and building, a stranger saw the story on TV, and convinced his coworkers to pitch in to buy the man a new ebike.
A stranger responds to a social media request to replace the adult tricycle used by a Michigan man with special needs to get to work after his was stolen.
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In a huge victory for advocates of safer streets, LA CD4 Councilmember David Ryu has decided that the road diet and bike lanes on Rowena should stay in place. And recommended that the bike lanes should be extended and converted into protected lanes — an outcome that seemed highly unlikely just a few months ago. You can read Ryu’s full letter here.
A Long Beach bike commuter says the new protected bike lanes on Broadway create more problems than they solve, calling it a horrible experience to ride.
An estimated 2,300 bike riders and support staff will leave San Francisco in two weeks on their way down the coast to Los Angeles for the 2019 AIDS/LifeCycle Ride.
Unbelievable. A $50,000 settlement from the city confirms that a San Diego cop may have overreacted just a tad when he roughed up a 64-year old bike rider and threw him in the psych ward — all because he ran a stop sign.
Victorville will begin construction on a four-mile separated bike path along Bear Valley Road.
A group of four men and two women with ties to Azusa Pacific University will ride across the US to raise funds for clean water.
Sad news from Paso Robles, where a 70-year old homeless man was found lying dead on railroad tracks next to his bicycle, leading to speculation that he fell and hit his head on the tracks. Police says he wasn’t hit by a train, but are treating the death as suspicious pending an autopsy.
Two Palo Alto neighborhoods are finally connected after the city opened a bike and pedestrian bridge over busy Highway 101.
Forget ghost bikes. Oakland is permanently honoring a fallen bicyclist by renaming the street where he was killed in his honor.
The San Francisco Chronicle serves up Marin County’s Mount Tamalpais — aka Mount Tam — two ways. The hard way, and the less hard way.
The Wall Street Journal says Trump’s tariffs will mean more pain for the already struggling bicycle industry. As always with the Journal, the usual paywall issues apply.
NPR tackles the same subject, talking with the owner of American bikemaker Detroit Bikes, who relies on imported parts even though the bikes are built in the US.
Bike Index offers tips on how to help recover stolen bikes with a Facebook page.
Bicycling profiles the bike-riding pianist you’ve seen performing in trouble spots around the world, who tows his piano behind his bicycle.
NACTO is teaming with the Natural Resources Defense Council and Delivery Associates to give Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis and Philadelphia a crash course in building out bike infrastructure fast.
Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer joins in on Bike to Work Day, proving you can ride a bike in a bow tie.
The Seattle Times takes a look at the city’s deep-rooted bike culture.
Spokane WA gets an unplanned bike and pedestrian bridge after structural engineers ban cars from a 102-year old bridge.
Life is cheap in Montana, where a hit-and-run driver walked with just probation for a crash that paralyzed a bike-riding woman from the waist down; if she fulfills the terms of her probation, the felony conviction will be wiped from her record. Her victim, on the other hand, will serve a life sentence in a wheelchair.
No disconnect here. An Illinois man says a local road is too dangerous for people on bicycles, and it’s not a good idea to ride a bike there. Then adds that drivers pass him way too fast when he does.
No bias here. A Minnesota kid gets right hooked by a school bus turning into a parking lot. So naturally, the kid gets the blame for riding into the bus.
An Indiana triathlete says don’t drive into people on bicycles, after a driver chose to hit him rather than slow down and pass safely.
Nice. Sandusky, Ohio is building a 12-mile bike and pedestrian boardwalk along the city’s waterfront. And yes, with real boards.
DC bike advocates have been fighting for safer streets since Watergate was just a gleam in Richard Nixon’s eye.
Bad enough that a speeding driver killed DC bike advocate David Salovesh a few weeks back; now another speeding driver has murdered the ghost bike put up in his honor.
An Ottawa op-ed says a hit-and-run driver may have struck a bike rider, but it was bad road engineering that killed him.
You could get a free ebike if you promise to ride it in Europe for 300 to 600 miles in six days.
I want to be like him when I grow up. A 96-year old Dutch man rides his ebike up to 22 miles a day — even though he didn’t start riding until he was 65.
The e-scooter invasion of Europe is nearly complete after Germany approves their use on the country’s roads and bike paths, leaving the UK as the continent’s only holdout. Then again, if Britain goes through with Brexit, they’ll sever the ties binding them to Europe anyway.
An Indian city is the latest to get a bicycle mayor to improve it focus on bicycling. Meanwhile Los Angeles still has to make do with the mayor we’ve got.
It shouldn’t be a spoiler at this point to point out that race leader Tejay Van Garderen cracked on the steep slopes of Mount Baldy, allowing 20-year old WorldTour rookie Tadej Pogačar to vault to the lead. And ultimately, to victory in the Amgen Tour of California, setting a record for the youngest WorldTour winner.
On the women’s side, Dutch cyclist Anna van der Breggen led start to finish to claim victory in the all-too-brief three stage race.
The LA Times offers a behind the scenes look at the Tour of California, from the perspective of a team director racing behind the peloton.
La Cañada residents turned out to cheer the racers as they sped through the city on Saturday.
Is it a spoiler if Geraint Thomas tells us who will win the Giro in another two weeks?
Former world champ Jack Bobridge won’t be doing any partying for awhile, after being convicted of supplying ecstasy to an undercover cop.
Commute by towing your foldie behind your foldie, then put the other foldie in the first foldie. Your best bike hack is a $2 pool noodle.
And evidently, there really is a war on bikes. And they’re calling in the Air Force.
Cars and drivers aren’t the only dangers we face.
Sometimes it’s your own body that lets you down.
That’s what happened yesterday morning on trail above Simi Valley, where a man apparently died of natural causes while riding with a group of friends.
According to the Ventura County Star, the victim was riding on the Undertow Trail, which they describe as a popular mountain bike trail south of Hummingbird Ranch outside Simi Valley, when he began to feel ill around 10:40 am.
His riding companions told him to turn back, and called 911.
The Ventura County Fire Department and a county helicopter crew responded; sadly, the 52-year old Santa Clarita resident died before rescue personnel could arrive.
This is at least the 30th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second that I’m aware of in Ventura County.
It’s also a reminder to see your doctor on a regular basis — especially if you’re having unexplained chest pains or difficulty breathing, no matter how fit you may feel.
It may not have made a difference in this case.
But it might in yours.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones.
Earlier today, we reported that the victim in yesterday’s Long Beach crash had died, based on a report on Long Beach Local News.
However, that page has since been taken down with no explanation.
As a result, I have removed my article until we have a further update on the condition of the victim. So let’s all hope they were wrong, and offer her our prayers.
And let’s hope LBLN learns how to run a retraction.
Update: I’ve received confirmation from someone with the Long Beach Post that the victim of this crash is still alive, and remains in critical condition.
So let’s all keep our fingers crossed.
Thanks to John McBrearty and April Morris for their help with this story.
A woman was critically injured riding her bike in the Belmont Shores neighborhood of Long Beach early yesterday morning, after she allegedly went through a red light and was struck by a driver.
As always, the question is whether there were any independent witnesses who actually saw who had the green light.
Or if Long Beach police relied strictly on the driver’s account, since the victim would have been unable to share her side of the story.
Either way, it’s a reminder to always stop for red lights and observe the right-of-way.
Because the consequences can be life changing. Or ending.
Thanks to John McBrearty for the heads-up.
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At least one rider made it out for yesterday’s soggy Bike to Work Day.
And on a very cool Pedersen bike, no less.
And hats off to Michael Fishman and Pure Cycles for saving the day when the unthinkable, but all too common, happened to a rider in DTLA.
Meanwhile, LADOT hosted a pair of pop-up traffic safety installations, despite the wet Bike to Work Day weather.
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Lots of news coverage from around the US for Wednesday’s Ride of Silence to honor injured and fallen bike riders.
Including right here in Pasadena, though the LA ride seems to merit nary a whisper.
Like Rides of Silence in Philadelphia, and a small Nebraska town. Lubbock and Houston, Texas. Ridgeland, Mississippi. Lansing, Michigan, where billboards also called out the dangers of distracted driving.
Not to mention San Francisco, where riders confronted winds and rain to go with the usual tears.
Meanwhile, Denver responded to the 88 people killed on the city’s streets last year by putting up signs marking the site of each needless death; the city’s mayor confessed to an inadequate response to the deadly streets.
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Spectrum New 1 catches up with Keith Jackson, the bike rider who was nearly killed when he was run down riding on La Tuna Canyon last year.
Jackson has had to relearn how to walk, eat and talk after spending two months in a coma.
And as happens all too often, the driver who hit him sped off and hasn’t been seen since.
But at least his crash resulted in narrowing the wide traffic lanes on La Tuna and installation of a buffered bike lane. One of the rare instances of city officials responding to a near-tragedy by actually fixing the street where it happened.
Jackson will be at Sunday’s Finish the Ride in Griffith Park to spread the need for safer streets if you want to wish him well in his recovery; registration ends at 6 pm tomorrow.
And give him my best wishes while you’re at it.
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It’s not just drivers who give in to road rage.
Police in a Denver suburb are looking for a bike rider who yelled at a woman for blocking a bike lane, after she pulled her car over because her mother, who was in the passenger seat, wasn’t feeling well.
When the driver caught up to him at a red light, he allegedly kicked and punched the car, then reached in to grab her mother, before spitting on both women and riding away.
Let’s hope the woman he was riding with saw all that, and took it as fair warning before he turns that violent temper her way some day.
Although it does make you wonder what the driver said when she caught up to him.
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Today is the last day to submit comments on the shamefully inadequate Beverly Hills Complete Streets plan.
Popular offroad route Sullivan Canyon will close for maintenance for six weeks starting June 3rd. Thanks to Steve Messer for the tip.
Curbed’s Alissa Walker says LA’s future is on foot, even though the city is still designing the streets for cars.
Metro is considering three alternatives for extending the LA River Bike Path.
WeHoVille looks forward to the August CicLAvia connecting Hollywood and West Hollywood. And so an I, since I should finally be back on my bike by then.
KNBC-4 says keep your eyes peeled for Gabe the Sasquatch at Sunday’s Mission to Mission edition of 626 Golden Streets.
The fight over moving a row of palm trees to make room for a Complete Street makeover of Long Beach’s Marina Drive goes on, despite a Coastal Commission ruling giving the okay for the move.
Long Beach will celebrate Bike Month with a three-mile Pedal & Picnic ride for all ages on Saturday.
OCTA has rescheduled the Orange County Bike Rally for next Thursday, following yesterday’s rainout.
Carlsbad pulled the plug on its planned bikeshare system, even though it would have been operated with no risk to the city.
A 63-year old Ramona man took a cross-country bike tour to ride himself into better health, and raise funds for a local museum; so far he’s raised just $640 of the $5,000 goal.
A bighearted high school freshman from Santa Ynez organized her second annual fundraising bike ride to provide bicycles and tools to girls in rural Cambodia, to help ensure they can get to school to receive an education.
A Fresno driver relies on the built-in cameras in his Tesla to prove a hit-and-run bike rider really did run into him, and not the other way around.
Sad news from Oakland, where an 83-year old man was killed attempting to ride his bike across a busy state highway.
Police arrest 30 homeless people in a warrant sweep along a Sacramento bike path.
Bike Snob says ignoring bike riders won’t make us go away.
Now both Uber and Lyft are encouraging their drivers and passenger to look for bicyclists to avoid doorings.
Outside offers advice on how to buy a mountain bike. And says softails are back, except now they’re on high-end roadies and gravel bikes.
That’s more like it. El Paso, Texas authorities say they know they screwed up by striping a bike lane that’s half gutter and so narrow the bike lane symbol won’t even fit in it. And are considering removing a traffic lane to fix it.
A Minneapolis newspaper offers a belated obituary of a longtime local bike advocate, who was found dead in his home last month due to complications from a lifelong struggle with alcohol.
Chicago bike riders are losing access to a popular shared use pathway along the riverfront after reconstruction partially blocked it, and private security guards have begun illegally enforcing a non-existent ban on bikes.
Police in Fort Wayne, Indiana are looking for a bike-riding man who shot an employee of a property management company before riding away in a full-face helmet, presumably to hide his identity.
Vermont ebike buyers can get a $200 rebate from their utility company. Which they’ll probably need once Trump’s tariff’s kick in.
A Massachusetts woman decides to take advantage of a beautiful spring day to ride her bike to the bank, and ends up at a dumpster. And then a dumpster fire of a car-choked intersection.
New York’s Vision Zero is going the wrong way where bikes are concerned, as the ten people killed riding bicycles so far this year already equal the total for all of 2018.
Maybe city leaders will listen to them now. Seventy DC bike riders fanned out across the city to count drivers blocking bike lanes, logging nearly 500 violations by early afternoon.
A DC writer offers advices on how to bike to work while spending as little as possible on it. People for Bikes offers their tips, as well.
A four-man troupe of bike-riding British Shakespearean actors made their US debut in Virginia this week; the performers have ridden their bikes between performances in 12 countries.
This is why people continue to die on our streets. A drunk driver in South Carolina walked with a lousy 24 hours of community service after she was caught on video crashing into a pedicab, then telling police she had no idea she’d hit anything; fortunately, the pedicab driver didn’t appear to have been injured.
The former chief accountant for the SEC won a whopping $41 million judgement against his Florida homeowners association after crashing his bike into a stanchion they erected on a bike trail.
Here’s something to look forward to. A writer for Forbes says distracted driving will increase exponentially on the path to self-driving cars.
Canadian Cycling Magazine offers eight tips to bike commute like a pro.
An Ottawa, Canada traffic safety expert calls a painted bike lane “complete lunacy,” saying bicyclists will never be safe on the street as long as they have to share the same flat surface with cars and trucks.
A British MP says he’s going to keep claiming mileage expenses for riding his bicycle on official business, complaints be damned.
Video from an English bus shows the exact moment the driver swerved directly into a bicyclist, knocking the man off his bike; fortunately, he wasn’t seriously injured.
An Iranian prosecutor has decided that it’s sinful for women to ride bicycles and prohibited by Islamic law; police have been told to give women bicyclists a polite reprimand, then impound their bikes if they don’t have ID on them. Or they can use the equivalent of a bike burka so no one can see what they’re riding. No, seriously.
If you still haven’t seen Wednesday’s stage of the Amgen Tour of California, what the hell are you waiting for, already?
But you might want to skip this next section.
American Tejay van Garderen lost his lead in the AToC, and then he didn’t, after race officials decided a massive crash near the end of the race unfairly delayed him and other riders. A writer for VeloNews says the jury made the wrong call.
Meanwhile, NBC catches you up with Thursday’s men’s and women’s races.
Bicycling wants to know who’s the 21-year old American kicking ass in the Tour of California.
A pair of women are fighting for greater equality in the race, instead of the lousy three stages — and no live TV time — women cyclists are now offered.
There was a lead change in the Giro, while much of the peloton went down in a massive crash on wet roads.
Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Gay calls Ben King the humble king of American cycling. Unfortunately, the article is hidden behind the Journal’s paywall, so you may not get past the first few paragraphs.
Texas pro Lawson Craddock discusses his road back after riding the entire Tour de France with a broken collarbone last year, and refusing to give up despite finishing dead last as a result.
And last but not least, bike racing returns to LA — or Carson, anyway — with the newly revived La Grange Grand Prix on June 2nd.
Six times around the world, and his bike its stolen in Californiaon the seventh. We may have to worry about LA drivers crashing into us, but at least we don’t have to worry about crashing into sheep.
And that’s one way to prevent a close pass.
https://twitter.com/SafeCyclingEire/status/1129109853773926405
