Morning Links: An epic symphonic CicLAvia, the Militant Angeleno, and free JUMP Bikes through next week

September 28, 2018 / / One comment

This is not just another CicLAvia.

Sunday’s Celebrate LA! open streets event combines bikes and music to mark the 100th anniversary of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with an eight-mile route stretching from Downtown’s Disney Hall to the Hollywood Bowl.

Although the last part will rely on shuttle buses to transfer people to the Bowl from the western CicLAvia terminus at Franklin and Vine.

In addition to the usual CicLAvia activities, this one will feature performances from symphony members and musical guests throughout the day and all along the route.

It will also feature the first ever public appearance of the Militant Angeleno, author of the popular Militant’s Epic CicLAvia Tour, offering a guide to noteworthy sites along the route.

And this one really is epic, with sites ranging from the new tallest building in LA, to a pair of Brown Derbys.

The Militant, who guards his non-camo clad identity as carefully as legendary LA hero Zorro, will host an informal free tour along the route — cohosted by yours truly.

Though how he intends to hide it in public remains to be seen.

As for my contribution, I’ll be there to answer questions and comment on bike safety issues as they come up.

But like everyone else, I’m really just tagging along to see the Militant Angeleno, and experience CicLAvia in a whole new way.

RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com if you want to join us.

I’ll look forward to seeing you there.

………

Santa Monica’s new JUMP dockless ebike bikeshare is free for the next week.

Twitter post

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Long Beach Mobility & Healthy Living Programs Officer Michelle Mowery sends word that the San Gabriel River Bike Path will be closed one more time next month.

The LADWP needs one more day of bike path closure to complete their work on the power plant.  We expect the path to be closed on October 4th between 2nd Street and 7th Street (California State Highway 22) from 8 AM to 5 PM.

Hopefully this will be the last time it’s necessary.

………

Local

A Los Angeles man was sentenced to three years probation and a $550 fine for scooting under the influence; he fled the scene after crashing into a pedestrian with a BAC over three times the legal limit.

Streetsblog says the missing sharrows have returned to 4th Street. The residential street is a popular route for bike riders headed to and from Downtown. Fourth Street was supposed to become a bike boulevard, but former Councilmember Tom LaBonge backed down in the face of local opposition to installing a red light.

 

State

Palo Alto will honor a former councilwoman who set the city on a bike friendly path.

 

National

A new report from the National Transportation Safety Board says better car design could prevent pedestrian deaths. And bike riders, too.

Now that’s my kind of state. The most Googled search term in Colorado is “Tour de France.” Which beats the hell out of Ohio’s “Ken Doll Man Bun.”

Seriously? A New Hampshire newspaper says converting a traffic lane on a bridge to a bike and pedestrian lane is a bad idea — even though it would only slow peak rush hour traffic five to ten mph below the posted speed limit.

A Nashville trauma surgeon urges scooter riders to wear a helmet, while a Massachusetts doctor says it’s irresponsible to offer bikeshare without also providing bike helmets. And that ebikes endanger everyone on the local bike path.

The New York Yankees are the only major league team that won’t allow bike helmets into the stadium, forcing riders to either go without one or rent a locker across from the stadium for $20 a game.

Shades of Los Angeles. DC bicyclists and councilmembers complain about the mayor’s Vision Zero plan, saying there’s no sense of urgency and the city isn’t doing enough to save lives; the head of the Department of Transportation says updating the Vision Zero website is just “too labor intensive.”

An Alabama YouTuber explains how to get a Walmart bike that doesn’t suck much.

The Tampa Bay newspaper insists the area isn’t really the nation’s most dangerous place for bicyclists, regardless of what the Wall Street Journal says.

Apparently it’s open season on bike riders and pedestrians in the nation’s second most dangerous city for bicyclists, with seven people hit by drivers in Jacksonville in just the last two days.

 

International

Canada’s Banff National Park considers lowering the speed limit to the equivalent of 18 mph to improve safety for bike riders and pedestrians.

Seven of the eight candidates for mayor of Winnipeg voiced their support for bike lanes and boosting active transportation.

No bias here. A Montreal pedestrian looks at bicyclists from a decidedly sidewalk perspective, saying she’s sick and tired of dealing with scofflaw cyclists on the sidewalk. Never mind that people don’t ride their bikes on the sidewalk if they feel safe on the street.

An advocacy group on Canada’s Prince Edward Island says licensing bicyclists isn’t the way to improve safety.

There’s a special place in hell anyone who’d punch an 80-year old British man after being told bikes aren’t allowed on a pedestrian path.

This is why you always need to carry ID when you ride. Authorities in the UK are trying to identify a 70-year old man who died of a heart attack while riding his bike last week.

NPR examines the proposal to ban phones on bikes in the Netherlands.

A Polish city is opening a six and a half mile, four lane bike highway, allowing bike riders to travel at speed up to 30 mph. Can we have that here? Pretty please?

Korean police are preparing to crack down on bicycling under the influence; under a new law, anyone riding a bike with a BAC of just .05 will be subject to a $27 fine. Which could be as little as two drinks for someone under 150 pounds.

A J-pop star faces charges for a drunken hit-and-run that injured a bicyclist and a pedestrian; the former singer with Japanese girl group Morning Musume turned herself in to Tokyo police 15 minutes after the crash.

 

Competitive Cycling

Eighteen-year old rising Belgian star Remco Evenepoel overcame an early crash to win the junior road cycling world championship; he won the junior time trial title earlier in the week. Although just days after he asked not to be called the next Eddy Merckx, that’s exactly what the Telegraph did in that last link.

A pair of quad-tandem teams from Great Britain and Canada are racing from Portland to San Francisco to raise money for mental health programs.

A bike race took 45 competitors over 6,000 miles from Lyon, France to Guangzhou, China on solar-powered ebikes.

Former Vuelta and Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich faces yet another assault allegation for attacking a man at the Hamburg airport, as he was preparing to fly to the US for rehab. Which clearly can’t come soon enough.

 

Finally…

Who needs a bike bell when you can put a 100 decibel siren on your handlebars. And walking on water may be a miracle, but biking on it isn’t anymore.

 

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Morning Links: Phil Gaimon pens his own obituary, balance bike parking, and Bike the Vote endorsements

September 27, 2018 / / One comment

Take a few moments, right now, and read this hard-hitting piece from Phil Gaimon, who narrowly avoided being turned into road kill by a salmon driver speeding around a curve on the wrong side of the road.

Just like the squirrel he passed several minutes later after he composed himself.

Of course, the squirrel did dart into traffic and he’ll get no mention in the local paper, but if I’d shared his fate I expect that would be the headline for me. I’ve made peace with the fact that this probably is how I’ll die someday and I’m choosing to still do it, but I’d like to set the record straight here. When I die on my bicycle, I didn’t do anything erratic and I didn’t make a mistake. I’m an expert at bike riding, I did it for a living among the best in the world for years, and in my retirement I ride cautiously because I had enough broken bones when it was my job. When I die it’s because of some asshole not paying attention, speeding, texting, or both, on roads where there’s no infrastructure or room for error, and most likely there won’t be much of a punishment. I’m dead, so at least they can get the story right.

I’ve long thought the same thing as Phil Gaimon describes.

Odds are, when I finally meet my maker — which hopefully will be a very long time from now — it will happen on a bike.

Not because bicycling is dangerous, but because I’ve spent far more time on my bike than I have doing anything else. And plan to continue as long as I’m able to remain upright and turn a pedal.

But now that I live it Hollywood, it seems even more likely, thanks to streets filled with aggressive and distracted drivers. Along with a near total lack of bike lanes, protected or otherwise.

And no, sharrows don’t count.

Like Gaimon, I fully expect to be blamed if that ever happens.

And like Gaimon, it won’t be true.

That’s why I use a bike cam when I ride, so I’ll have proof I didn’t run a red light or stop sign, or suddenly suicide swerve out in front of traffic.

It’s cold comfort.

But to will have to do until Los Angeles finally gets serious about Vision Zero.

And finally commits to building the bike plan its already committed to.

………

On a happier note, this tweet gave me the biggest smile I’ve had in weeks.

https://twitter.com/asausagehastwo/status/1044233989064708097

Thanks to Keith Johnson for the heads-up.

………

Get ready to bike the vote this November, as Calbike offers its endorsements in the coming election.

Interesting to note that all but one of the legislative candidates they endorse supports using clean transportation financial incentives for bike purchases.

Which translates to giving rebate to encourage people to buy bicycles, ebikes or otherwise. And actually use them to replace car trips.

Meanwhile, Bike the Vote LA has released their own voter guide for the LA area. Nice to see my own Assembly Member made the list.

………

Local

A new study ranks the 20 most congested cities in the US; for a change, Los Angeles wasn’t at the top of the list. In fact, LA ranked seventh, behind Chicago and ahead of Seattle.

It’s a busy bike weekend in DTLA this week, with CicLAvia rolling on Sunday, and the Bike! Bike! conference Thursday through Sunday at Los Angeles State Historic Park; Bike! Bike! is intended to bring bike owners, bicycle shops and bike groups together to “workshop new ideas and methods to advocate for urban bicyclists.”

Community stakeholders conducted a “slow jam” on Temple Street, where limited safety improvements are underway after Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Mitch O’Farrell combined to kill a desperately needed road diet on the dangerous street. Although the improvements might help people on foot, it’s not a Complete Street unless it safely accommodates people on two wheels, as well.

Streetsblog visits the new purple curb extensions on the Pico Blvd Great Streets project. But how great can it really be without bike lanes?

CiclaValley races his wife from Westwood to the San Fernando Valley, pitting bike against car. You can guess who won.

Santa Clarita City Councilmember Cameron Smyth explains why you should ride in the city, and explains how Santa Clarita’s Heads-Up traffic safety campaign applies to people on bicycles.

 

State

Unsafe routes to schools. A mother and her eight-year old son were lucky to escape with minor injuries when a turning driver struck their tandem bike while they were riding to school. Police said the driver couldn’t see because he had the sun in his eyes, which makes it okay, right?

The Ventura County Star says it’s time to stop the madness, and do what you can to clean the air by car-pooling, taking the bus, walking or riding a bike.

San Francisco’s new mayor called on the city to speed up Vision Zero safety improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians. It would be nice if LA’s mayor would say the same thing. But don’t hold your breath.

 

National

A new AAA study shows 80% of drivers overestimate the technical capabilities of their car’s safety devices, especially the ability to detect bicyclists and pedestrians. Maybe because every other car commercial shows them doing exactly that.

Uber has announced a $10 million fund to advocate for congestion pricing and charging stations for dockless ebikes near transit stations.

Bicycling offers 30 bike hacks every bicyclist should know. As long as you’re willing to put up with their annoying click-through format that only shows one item at a time.

Seattle bike commuting is down to its lowest level since 2007; just 2.8% of city residents rode to work last year, down from 3.5% the year before.

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on. An Iowa woman faces a 1st degree murder charge for stalking a man who accused her of stealing, and using her car as a weapon to intentionally run him down as he rode his bike in a parking lot, while driving under the influence.

Michigan’s new three-foot passing law goes into effect today.

A road raging Ohio lawyer lost his license to practice for a year — make that six months — after he brake checked a bike rider, and stomped the cellphone of a physician who stopped to record the incident. He also skipped out on the court hearing for the misdemeanor he ended up charged with, leading to his later arrest and conviction.

Seriously? It will now cost DC drivers who park in a bike lane three times as it does to door a bike rider under the city’s new Vision Zero laws; meanwhile, a bicyclist who hits a pedestrian crossing the street will be fined $150, but just $100 for hitting someone walking on a sidewalk.

A DC council member says the city has to do more to protect bike and scooter riders, including building protected bike lanes. Meanwhile, an advocacy site says it’s been just two days since a driver killed someone biking, walking or scooting in DC.

A Tampa FL columnist says a proposed transportation sale tax, which would reserve 12% of funds for bike and pedestrian projects, is a good start to change the city’s ranking as the nation’s most dangerous place for bike riders.

 

International

This is the cost of traffic violence. A promising young Canadian ballet student was killed in a collision on Sunday.

No bias here. A deputy mayor on Canada’s Prince Edward Island says requiring bike riders to attach a license plate to their bike or helmets would make the city friendlier to bicyclists. No, really.

A writer for London’s Evening Standard says bicycling must be made safer after decades of half-hearted attempts.

Members of an Oxford, England men’s choir will ride 100 miles to Wales to remember their roots as descendants of Welsh residents who moved to Oxford during the Great Depression.

This is who we share the roads with. A British motorcyclist records a road raging minicab driver running over his parked bike after he got off to confront the man. But the motorcycle rider was no angel, either, kicking and hitting the car after threatening to break the driver’s skull.

An American Vietnam vet with an Ivy League education gave up his life in this county to live as a hermit in Ireland, using his bicycle to get around.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclist examines the superstitions and rituals of the pro peloton, and concludes they might give riders a mental edge.

An 18-year old Belgian cyclist insists he’s not the next Eddy Merckx, as he prepares to make the leap from the junior ranks to the WorldTour next year.

Canada’s “starry girl cyclist” of the 1930’s is being inducted into the country’s Cycling Hall of Fame, after a riding career spent leaving fellow riders and stereotypes in her wake.

After years of misfortune, Australian time trial specialist Rohan Dennis claimed the world champ’s rainbow jersey in the event.

 

Finally…

Before you complain online about a bike riding mom and her child, make sure you’re right.

And when a cop right hooks a bike rider, it’s just a “momentary lapse in attention.”

Right.

………

Join the Militant Angeleno and BikinginLA for the first-ever Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour at the Celebrate LA! LA Phil 100 CicLAvia this Sunday!

Just RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com. We want to guarantee a relatively small group to make sure we can keep the group together, and everyone can hear.

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Morning Links: Pendleton bicycle restrictions take effect, and LA’s not the deadliest place to bike after all

September 26, 2018 / / One comment

Let’s start off today with a reminder that this is the last weekend you can ride through Camp Pendleton without registering first.

To make matters more complicated, you have to register in person, on base at Camp Pendleton, at an office that’s only open Monday through Friday.

Which is a problem, considering that the popular route through Pendleton is the only way to get from southern Orange County to North San Diego County by bicycle without riding on the 5 Freeway.

One more reason Caltrans needs to create a protected bikeway — if not a separate bike path — through the base.

Thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up.

………

A new study from the Wall Street Journal pinpoints the most dangerous place in the US to ride a bike.

And for a change, it’s not Los Angeles. Or even in Southern California, for that matter.

Instead the study, which ranks bicycling deaths per capita, lists the Sacramento area as the nation’s fifth deadliest, after four Florida cities.

Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida ranked number one, with an average of seven deaths per 100,000 people.

Previous studies have shown Los Angeles as the nation’s deadliest city for people on bicycles. However, those fail to consider that LA is the nation’s second largest metropolitan area.

While even one death is one too many, Los Angeles ranks just ninth on the Journal’s list at 2.8 deaths per 100,000 people, above San Jose and behind Riverside San Bernardino.

So we still suck when it comes to providing safe streets for bicyclists.

We just don’t suck as much as some other places.

Note: You may or may not hit a paywall when trying to access the Journal article; I was blocked trying to access it directly, but was able to get in by clicking the link in the Sacramento pieces.

………

Unbelievable.

A Florida man is under arrest for grabbing a woman’s bicycle and throwing it off a bridge as she was walking across it with a flat tire.

Then he threw her boyfriend off when he tried to intervene.

Fortunately, he only suffered a cut and a bloody eye in the 30 foot drop to the ocean, and was able to swim to a pylon to await rescue.

The whole thing was witnessed by a cop who just happened to be crossing the bridge at the same time, and caught part of the incident on video.

………

Sometimes, showing a little courtesy and respect is appreciated.

And it’s not that hard to do.

https://twitter.com/Satar_Gaza/status/1044640978873782273

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Local

Good piece from CiclaValley, as he accuses CD4 Councilmember David Ryu of having a one-size solution to traffic on Rowena Ave, and pursuing 20th Century solutions to 21st Century problems.

The Verge looks at LA’s scofflaw underage e-scooter underground. Which is ridiculous, when you consider that a 16-year old can legally operate two tons of high powered glass and steel, but can’t legally ride a 15 mph scooter.

 

State

Abandoned Ofo bikes are still strewn about in San Diego after the dockless bikeshare provider pulled out of the city, but left its bikes behind.

The annual Eroica California ride for classic bicycles will now be based in Cambria.

Marin bike shops are the latest to feel the effects of Trump’s trade war with China.

 

National

A new baseball cap-style bike helmet folds down to the size of a water bottle.

Texas Monthly looks at the cyclist safety that isn’t happening in the Rio Grande Valley, after city commissioners walked out on a 19-year old woman as she spoke passionately about the death of her friend, who was killed in a collision as he was riding.

The Vision Zero program in San Antonio, Texas awarded a $10,000 prize to the city’s safest driver, after an app tracking the winner’s speed, hard braking and distracted driving showed he beat out over 14,000 other participants.

A local paper says that despite what people say, thousands of people bike and walk in Houston; the proof is the number of people hit by cars.

Bizarre tragedy in Chicago, where a motorist chased down a driver who fled after striking a bicyclist — moments after telling another rider in the group that he was going to jail — then was shot and killed by someone in a third vehicle as he argued with the hit-and-run driver. He was facing trial for discharging a weapon in a road rage incident last year, which he claimed was self-defense. Thanks to J. Patrick Lynch for the heads-up.

A blind DC woman now rides a tandem bike once a week, after not riding since she was a girl. And discovers that riding a bike really is just like riding a bike, whether or not you can see.

Instead of demanding safer streets, the Washington Post calls for kicking e-scooters off the sidewalk and requiring helmets for users. Never mind that mandatory helmets are impractical for a device that encourages spur of the moment usage, and could halt their rapid spread; few people just happen to carry a helmet with them everywhere they go on the off chance they might want to ride one.

 

International

Business Insider ranks the best bike lights.

A writer for Bike Radar examines ten things to consider when commuting by bike.

New aero wheel fairings — think hi-tech fenders — claim to cut wind resistance more than aero wheels.

The new VeloGuide website developed by a pair of Calgary men acts like a combination of Tinder and Airbnb for bicyclists, connecting riders with local guides in cities around the world.

Hamilton, Ontario police blame a bike rider for not wearing a helmet and riding on the sidewalk after she swerved to avoid a pedestrian and crashed into a stone wall, instead of blaming the dangerous street that made her feel safer on the sidewalk.

A Cayman Islands website says danger lurks around every corner for bicyclists, on a daily basis.

A Manchester, England teen pleads guilty to beating a man to steal his bicycle in a daylight attack that that went viral.

An annual program in the UK has given away over 750 refurbished bicycles to Londoners who can’t otherwise afford them.

Strava says it hasn’t seen any verified cases of bicycle theft related to the platform, after a British rider blames the app for leading bike thieves to his home.

This is who we share the roads with. A road raging Brit driver was sentenced to three years behind bars for deliberately running down a bike rider after the victim complained about a dangerous pass.

Great idea. A new website in the UK is designed to help local bike shops compete with internet dealers by allowing bicyclists to shop online from multiple shops across the country, and have their purchases shipped to them or pick them up at the store.

The director of a Scottish sportive has dropped charges against two farmers who allegedly attacked participants with sticks to protest the road closures during harvest time, saying they’ve learned their lesson. And that the decision doesn’t give others a green light to attack bicyclists.

Well organized Dutch bike thieves stole 33 bicycles worth over $117,000 from a single shop.

Bike riders in the Netherlands face a ban on distracted bicycling.

University students in India can now take a short course in bike culture and learning how to use European bikeshare systems.

An Aussie woman says the key to a happy marriage is a spouse who keeps your bike in working order.

Two other drivers report nearly hitting famed enduro cyclist Mike Hall on the morning he was killed while competing in an cross-Australia endurance race, saying he came out of nowhere — even though other drivers said he had front and rear lights, as well as reflective gear.

Hong Kong will lift bicycling bans on 16 bridges and underpasses, while keeping them in place on another 324.

Singapore will deal with the problem of dockless bikeshare bikes blocking sidewalks and private property by charging users $5 for improperly parking bikes; three fines in a single year will result in a 12 month ban.

 

Competitive Cycling

A writer for Bicycling says the cyclocross race between Dutch veteran Marianne Vos and young American Ellen Noble was a battle for the ages. Even though she didn’t actually, you know, see it.

Cycling Tips gives a shout out to the “ageless” six-time cyclocross World Cup winner Katerina Nash, who finished third behind Vos and Noble.

An Emirates website goes behind the scenes with the UAE Team Emirates at the Vuelta.

 

Finally…

No spoiler here; this race ended — tragically — 122 years ago. Why choose between beer and bikes when you can roll out the barrel with a single Octoberfest?

And who wins a fondo when neither rider finishes rubber side down?

………

Join the Militant Angeleno and BikinginLA for the first-ever Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour at the Celebrate LA! LA Phil 100 CicLAvia this Sunday!

Just RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com. We want to guarantee a relatively small group to make sure we can keep the group together, and everyone can hear.

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Morning Links: CicLAvia and the Militant’s Epic Tour, riding a JUMP Bike up Mandeville, and Metro bike motions

September 25, 2018 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: CicLAvia and the Militant’s Epic Tour, riding a JUMP Bike up Mandeville, and Metro bike motions

Have you made your plans for Sunday’s CicLAvia yet?

Curbed provides details for Celebrate LA!, the epic Disney Hall-to-Hollywood Bowl CicLAvia, sponsored by the Los Angeles Philharmonic to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

LA Phil has more info on performances scheduled for throughout the day on their website. And it can’t hurt to download the app to make sure you don’t miss anything.

However, they both forgot to mention the first-ever public appearance of the Militant Angeleno, author of the popular Militant’s Epic CicLAvia Guides, as he co-hosts the Militant’s Epic CicLAvia Tour with yours truly.

You can find details at the end of this piece.

I’m planning to do more listening than talking, since I’ve been trying to talk the Militant into doing a tour like this for some time.

But if you’re aware of safety problems or anything in need of improvement along the CicLAvia route, let me know, and I’ll be happy to discuss it on Sunday.

………

It’s one thing to ride a dockless bikeshare bike on level ground.

It’s another to take one up Mandeville Canyon.

But that’s exactly what David Drexler did over the weekend. Here’s what he had to say about the experience.

UBER’s JUMP Bike Company Social Cycles dumped a ton of these glowing red electric bicycles on the streets of Santa Monica this past week, so I could not help jumping on one and putting it through some tests.

See my stats here.

I wanted to see if these 3 speed HEAVY monsters — and they are Heavy — have what it takes (the torque) to make it 5 miles straight up to the top of Mandeville Canyon Road. I do it all the time on my road bike, but what about JUMP?

Anyone that thinks these things with only 3 gears! can’t make it up a hill, think again — in 30% less time than self-powered.

And the constant demand for power only drained the battery from 96% full at the start to 56% from Montana at 9th Street in SM and Back over the course of 1 hour.  I could have done it again.

Here are some photos of the bike and me at the top gate at the end of Mandeville most cyclists are familiar with.

And I would also mention that the bike had excellent stability and control at fast downhill speeds, more stable than my road bike.

 

………

Metro will consider two motions involving bikes at their board meeting this Thursday. One would provide full funding for 14 open streets events and partial funding for one more, while another would authorize a report on options to provide more secure bike parking at Metro stations.

………

Local

The LA Times urges a no vote on Prop 6, the ballot measure to revoke the recent gas tax increase, saying it’s hard to overstate how destructive it would be.

An ebike website reviews the Cero One e-cargo bike from LA’s three-year old ebike maker Cero.

 

State

A 19-year old man was shot and killed in unincorporated Anaheim Monday afternoon; later reports indicated he was shot while riding his bike, and you can see his abandoned bicycle on the sidewalk in the background of the video.

A San Diego advocacy group has developed a comic book hero called Captain VZ to promote Vision Zero to school kids.

 

National

Bicycling looks at the history of your bike shorts. And says every bike community needs the riders who don’t fit in.

Streetsblog says the recent e-scooter deaths point out the need for safer streets, while a DC website puts the blame on car-centric streets, not scooters.

A Seattle writer says the best way to visit a nearby island is on two wheels.

Moots bicycles brings together Colorado ranchers and gravel cyclists to try to find common ground.

This is who we share the roads with. A pair of motorcycle riders punched out a Chicago bike rider with a hard-shell glove when he caught up to them after one of the motorcyclists grabbed his wife’s ass as she rode in a bike lane.

A Detroit man saved his own life by taking up bicycling after being diagnosed with diabetes five years ago; he lost 45 pounds in the first two months, and is now in the pre-diabetic range.

The Providence Journal questions whether Rhode Island’s bikeway system is safe for children after a six-year old was killed earlier this summer; warning signs and crossings blocked by vegetation doesn’t help.

New York urges people to ride bicycles instead of driving to avoid gridlock caused by the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, while the NYPD responds by blocking key bike lanes for security purposes. Streetsblog says it’s an argument for a carfree city.

A local historical society looks back at a six-day women’s bike race held 118 years ago in Elmira NY. Thanks to Ted Faber for the link.

A Philadelphia program brings bicycling to students who might not otherwise have a chance to ride.

DC advocates plan to install a ghost scooter for the e-scooter rider who was killed in a collision on Friday.

A South Carolina bike shop owner warns that bicycles are about to get a lot more expensive, thanks to Trump’s tariffs.

This is what real heroes look like. An Alabama couple opened a coffee shop as a side business, with 100% of the profits going to buy bikes for people with MS.

 

International

A British letter writer gets it, saying bicycling is fun and should be encouraged.

Over 25,000 people took part in Cycle to Work Day in the UK and Ireland last month.

Ireland is considering a plan to cut speed limits to 20 mph in built-up areas around the country, with support from Mark Beaumont, who set the record for the fastest trip around the world by bicycle.

Fifteen thousand woman took part in last weekend’s Fancy Women Bike Ride in 60 cities in Turkey and throughout Europe to celebrate World Car Free Day.

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes is all too real, as a South African bike rider suffered serious injuries when someone sabotaged a bike trail with a wire strung at neck level.

Sydney, Australia agrees to conduct a lane reduction on a four lane bridge, converting it to three motor vehicle lanes and a two-way protected bike lane.

Australia is conducting a three-day inquest into the death of famed endurance cyclist Mike Hall, who was killed in a collision last year while competing in the inaugural Indian Pacific Wheel Race; authorities say he was virtually “indistinguishable” in the dark, despite a red taillight and reflective stripe. Needless to say, no charges are expected against the driver.

Seoul, Korea averages ten collisions involving a bike rider every day; bicycling fatalities were up 25% last year.

 

Competitive Cycling

Next year’s Giro will start with a short uphill time trial in Bologna.

A former columnist for the New York Times looks at the startling descent of once-feared cyclist Jan Ullrich, who won the Tour de France in 1996 when he was just 23, and little or nothing since. He admitted to doping in 2013, and was briefly admitted to a psychiatric facility earlier this year after attacking a prostitute, as well as a neighbor.

 

Finally…

Who needs drugs when you’ve got bikes? A new bike rack could let you keep going if you flip your car.

And you’ve gotta have fuel to ride, which means some serious donuts.

Although they should have included the amazing peanut butter and jelly donuts from Stan’s Donuts in Westwood.

I’m just saying.

………

Join the Militant Angeleno and BikinginLA for the first-ever Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour at the Celebrate LA! LA Phil 100 CicLAvia this Sunday!

Just RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com. We want to guarantee a relatively small group to make sure we can keep the group together, and everyone can hear.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Iconic LA interchange condemned Angelenos to car hell, and 2nd US e-scooter death in DC crash

September 24, 2018 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Iconic LA interchange condemned Angelenos to car hell, and 2nd US e-scooter death in DC crash

Nice piece in The Guardian from LA’s Nate Berg, who says one of the most famous — and infamous — buildings in LA is a freeway interchange.

He singles out 1948’s groundbreaking four-level freeway interchange in DTLA, which set the standard for cities around the world.

For better or worse.

And helped condemn the city’s residents to a life dependent on cars; an unwilling addiction we’re still fighting to overcome.

………

Sadly, it was almost inevitable.

The nation’s second e-scooter death was announced over the weekend, as a man riding one was killed in a DC collision, just weeks after a Dallas man died after falling off a scooter — a crash his family blamed on a hit-and-run.

And no bias here, as a tech website unfairly puts the blame on Lime for the deaths.

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Brandi D’Amore forwards news that Bike Index is rapidly nearing their 5,000th stolen bicycle recovery. Just one more reason to register your bike right now.

And if you want to donate to Bike Index, here’s the link.

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Local

Nice gesture from 3rd District LA Councilmember Bill Blumenfield, who introduced a motion in the council (scroll down to the ninth page) that would allow permanent memorial signs calling for safer driving where bike riders were killed. If they did the same for pedestrians, there’d be a sign on nearly every corner. Thanks to TJ Knight for the heads-up.

CiclaValley offers his thoughts on placing a ghost bike for the victim of last week’s bicycling crash in Winnetka, saying it didn’t have to happen.

Loyola Marymount University held its own Bike Week last week to introduce students to bicycling on campus.

Writing for the Pasadena Star-News, Steve Scauzillo offers lessons learned from Pasadena’s failed Metro Bike bikeshare program, placing the blame on a lack of sponsorship and safe streets.

 

State

San Diego’s Bike IB rolled from Imperial Beach yesterday to encourage women to be more comfortable riding a bike.

Thousand Oaks opened a new park offering six miles of trails and a bicycle skills park.

San Jose residents turned out in force to celebrate the city’s fourth annual open streets event.

 

National

Wired considers the nation’s stubborn bicycling gap, saying American cities are either cycling cities, or hardly one at all.

The conservative AASHTO guide has finally added design standards for protected bike lanes.

The Electrek website looks at the new ebikes introduced at last weekend’s Interbike bike show in Reno, while a writer for Singletrack compares the show with earlier editions in Las Vegas.

Bicyclists in a St. Louis suburb have started a petition calling for a Complete Streets ordinance that would require it to consider bike riders and pedestrians in any street project.

Milwaukee bike riders are worried about the city’s new streetcar after a number of riders have been injured on the tracks, months before it actually opens.

A Wisconsin letter writer says, contrary to common perceptions, bike riders already pay more than their fair share.

A new Minnesota study shows drivers are less likely to buzz bicyclists in bike lanes, especially in protected bike lanes.

No bias here, either. A Detroit writer complains about a growing sense of entitlement and invulnerability among pedestrians, blaming the victims for the rising rate of pedestrian deaths. If she thinks pedestrians are entitled, just wait until someone tells her about drivers. Or just hands her a mirror.

An Ohio bike shop owner says yes, riding a bike on the sidewalk is dangerous, but sometimes it’s the best choice.

Streetsblog says charging a New York bus driver who killed a bicyclist with a misdemeanor for violating the victim’s right-of-way is like “letting Jack the Ripper off with a misdemeanor for soliciting a prostitute.” Yet somehow, a British tabloid still finds a way to blame the victim. A video showing the crash was released last week. However, I wouldn’t recommend watching it; there are some things you just can’t unsee.

Definitely no bias here, as an Annapolis, Maryland newspaper asks if a new downtown bike lane broke the city.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 85-year old Virginia man still rides his age on his birthday.

A New Orleans website says the city is literally walking and biking away from their cars.

 

International

Sony introduces a set of wireless earbuds that are designed to enhance environmental sounds, allowing you to hear both your music and the noises around you.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A British expert in human and molecular genetics who was researching hearing and sight loss in children was killed in a collision with a London black cab driver.

An English woman still has her bike because a bystander intervened to stop a young thief as he was riding off with it.

A man in the UK is riding 200 miles on his seven-year old daughter’s pink bicycle to raise awareness of the brain tumor that killed her three years ago.

Britain is planning to connect a network of existing horse trails to create a 1,000-mile offroad bikeway running the entire length of the country.

A British high school has ordered students to place numbered license plates on their bikes so people can report any antisocial behavior to the school. However, anyone who arrives on foot or by car is apparently welcome to carry on, antisocial or otherwise.

A road raging Irish cab driver intentionally brake checked a man, knocking him off his bicycle after arguing with him moments earlier; the whole incident was caught on video.

Oslo, Norway is taking a number of steps to actively discourage driving in the city center to “give the city back to the people.” Which drivers naturally see as a war on cars.

Three-quarters of Swiss voters agreed to enshrine bicycling in the country’s constitution to protect the rights of bike riders, forty years after voters protected hiking and walking. And no, that’s not likely to happen here in the US anytime soon.

A Venice, Italy design exhibition features the work of British bespoke bicycle maker Hartley Cycles, founded by a former artist and jewelry maker.

A bicycle ambulance program is saving the lives of people suffering from malaria in Zambia, and could be rolled out across Africa.

Collisions between bike riders and kangaroos are on the rise in Australia, and expected to double the normal annual total as a drought brings the wild animals out of the bush.

An Aussie mom has forbidden her teen children from bicycling after concluding the country’s drivers are too aggressive behind the wheel.

 

Competitive Cycling

British Cycling officials have approved adding a sixth day to the women’s Tour of Britain, which already offers prize money equal to the eight-day men’s race.

 

Finally…

Seriously, stealing a kid’s bike is bad enough without taking a dump on their lawn. How to lie and beg your way into a new bike.

And Trump ordering the removal of bike lanes is just a bad joke.

For now, anyway.

………

Join the Militant Angeleno and BikinginLA for the first-ever Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour at the Celebrate LA! LA Phil 100 CicLAvia this Sunday!

Just RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com. We want to guarantee a relatively small group to make sure we can keep the group together, and everyone can hear.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Court sticks LA and Caltrans for $9.1 million in PCH crash, and Brown signs e-scooter helmet bill

September 21, 2018 / / 4 comments

In the latest massive court case against the City of Los Angeles, a jury awarded $9.1 million to a man injured while riding his bike on PCH.

The Los Angeles Times reports Robert Jeffrey Watts suffered a severe brain injury four year ago, when he swerved his bike to go around rocks and debris on PCH in Pacific Palisades, and was struck by the wing mirror of a passing truck.

Watts came across a pile of sand and rocks on the pavement, and steered into the travel lane to avoid the debris. He was struck by a truck’s side mirror and lost control of his bicycle, resulting in a crash that left him with a “significant amount of brain damage,” according to a complaint filed in 2015 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Watts was an experienced bicyclist who rode to his office in Culver City for years to keep fit, said his attorney, Boris Treyzon. Watts, who ran a successful freelance camera company, was left unable to work.

The jury split blame for the case, finding Caltrans 40% liable for the crash, with Los Angeles responsible for the rest.

Caltrans, which owns the highway, had hired Los Angeles to sweep the pavement at least once a month and keep it free of debris, but jury testimony and records left it unclear how often the work was performed, Treyzon said.

During the trial, he said, two city street sweepers testified that at the Tramonto slide, “they would simply swing around … and ignore it,” rather than remove the sand, gravel and rocks from the roadway.

No surprise there to anyone who has watched LA City street sweepers in action. Or had to ride through the debris they left behind.

The size of these awards keep climbing. And those payments come out of your taxes.

Money that would be much better spent to fund quality bike infrastructure and safer streets to keep bike riders and pedestrians from getting injured.

Instead of paying out massive legal judgements after they do.

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Go ahead and scoot without a skid lid.

To the surprise of some — okay, me — Governor Brown signed AB 2989, allowing adult users of e-scooters to ride without a helmet.

In addition, the law allows scooters on streets with speed limits up to 35 mph; current law limits scooters to streets with speed limits up to 25 mph unless they have bike lanes.

No word on when the law takes effect.

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CiclaValley wants to know whether Decker Canyon or Westlake Blvd offers the scarier descent.

Although Phil Gaiman might vote for Tuna Canyon.

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Cheetahs don’t pedal.

Just saying.

 

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Local

Ride Metro Bike bikeshare free tomorrow for World Car Free Day.

A writer for City Watch takes a miserable walk down Fairfax Blvd, followed by a harrowing bike ride. And says Metro could fund trees, sidewalk improvements and bike lanes on Fairfax, as well as on Wilshire Blvd and all the major streets in the area that connect to Wilshire, for less than $50 million. Let’s hope someone is listening to him.

Downtowners weigh in on plans to remake LA’s Civic Center, calling for protected bike lanes and trails with bike and scooter parking.

Bicycling profiles the founder of LA-based women’s bikewear brand Machines for Freedom.

The third annual Gran Fondo Santa Clarita rolls next Saturday.

 

State

The Tahoe-Pyramid Trail is nearing completion, following the Truckee River 116 miles from the north shore of Lake Tahoe to Nevada’s Pyramid Lake.

 

National

A writer for Forbes explains in detail why you have a greater right to ride a bicycle than to drive a car, and proposes a Micromobility Bill of Rights giving you the same entitlement on smaller devices like e-scooters.

Bicycling looks at the “newest and coolest gear” from this year’s Interbike show.

Your next bike could be made of Super Magnesium.

No bias here. A Colorado columnist complains about “Bicyclist Entitlement Syndrome,” saying courteous bike riders are so rare you never see them. And the rest park their bikes on handicap ramps and run over kittens.

Omaha police agree to keep patrolling the city’s paved trails in response to bike riders’ concerns about “wrongdoers.”

A Chicago city alderman has proposed requiring bike riders to dismount and walk their bikes on the popular downtown Riverwalk, saying it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

The administrators of the bike-hating Northern Kentucky Facebook group we linked to earlier this week have turned it into a closed group after it got public attention, and changed the name to “Share the Road;” local bicyclists are worried it could incite violence against bike riders.

Police in Knoxville TN are the latest department to use an ultrasonic radar device to enforce the three-foot passing law. The LAPD, not so much.

A pair of Cleveland bike riders were brutally attacked and robbed in separate early morning attacks.

New York is closing a pair of key bike lanes, apparently for security reasons, in preparation for next week’s United Nations General Assembly meeting — but leaving open a car tunnel that runs directly underneath.

A DC Twitter bot instantly uncovers the unpaid traffic tickets for any license plate, including one driver with 84 tickets totaling $10,700. Can we get that here in LA? Pretty please?

 

International

The co-founder of Zipcar warns the changes autonomous vehicles will bring could be paradise, or it could be hell.

Bike Radar offers tips on how to take inexperienced bike riders out for their first road ride.

Now that it’s legal north of the border, Canada’s military says don’t drive for 24 hours after you toke.

The Guardian looks at the colorful reinvention of city intersections.

Now that’s more like it. After a driver in the UK tweets that she should have run over a bike rider, police tell her to return her license because she’s clearly not fit to have one.

A British ebike maker says restricting ebikes to 15.5 mph in the UK and European Union is too slow for riders to be safe in traffic.

A Brit bike rider blames Strava for leading thieves to his home, where they stole five bikes worth nearly $16,000.

Heartbreaking news from the Netherlands, where four children were killed when the daycare cargo bike they were riding in was hit by a train.

VeloNews takes a tour of Italian bicycle factories.

 

Competitive Cycling

Forty-three-year old Amber Neben continues to defy the calendar as she prepares to compete for her third road world championship.

But maybe you’d rather watch bike racers about 40 years younger.

Twitter post

 

Finally…

Forget bike polo, it’s Cycleball season. Now you can own your very own British bike chain; no, not that kind.

And maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think those are bike racks.

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Thanks David D, and everyone who has contributed this week, for their generous donations to help support this site. 

One final reminder, if everyone who visits this site today donated just $10, it would be more than enough to keep it going for a full year.

………

Join the Militant Angeleno and BikinginLA for the first-ever Militant Angeleno’s Epic CicLAvia Tour at the Celebrate LA! LA Phil 100 CicLAvia on September 30th!

Just RSVP to MilitantAngeleno@gmail.com. We want to guarantee a relatively small group to make sure we can keep the group together, and everyone can hear.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,
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