In the big bike news of the weekend, a Washington mountain biker was killed, and another rider seriously injured, in an attack by a mountain lion.
Reports are the victims tried to scare the mountain lion off, doing “everything they were supposed to do,” according to the local sheriff.
However, the emaciated cat attacked anyway.
The surviving victim had to ride two miles after the attack to get a cell signal and call for help. When searchers arrived, they found the mountain lion standing over the body of the other victim.
Attacks on humans by mountain lions are rare, but they do happen; USA today says less than 100 have been reported since 1890. Like most animals, a mountain lion is more likely to attack if it is starving.
A woman in Orange County was seriously injured when a mountain lion attacked her and another woman as they were riding their bikes in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Parkin 2004.
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The Department of DIY struck in Westwood last week, as Westwood Blvd briefly had the much-needed bike lane Councilmember Paul Koretz has blocked at the behest of wealthy homeowners.
The president of the Westwood Neighborhood Council, which has successfully fought to halt bike lanes on Westwood, called the stunt “childish.” And blamed the group behind Westwood Forward, a breakaway neighborhood council attempting to separate from the larger NC.
Although blaming a rival group without any evidence whatsoever seems pretty childish to me.
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A Venice bike rider stopped a suspected car thief when he noticed his wife’s stolen car being driven by another woman, and used his bike to halt her.
https://twitter.com/MatthewSantoro/status/997894868809625600
I’m not sure who sent this one to me, but thank you.
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Malibu will be conducting a bike and pedestrian safety enforcement day on Wednesday.
https://twitter.com/CityMalibu/status/997187070715158530
By now, you know the drill — ride to the letter of the law until you leave the Malibu area, so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.
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Local
Bike SGV is staying in the open streets business, following the hugely successful 626 Golden Streets event with a new ciclovía through Baldwin Park and Irwindale in September.
A government website says road diets have proven divisive for cities, using Los Angeles as a case in point.
Upscale Echo Park bike and cycling apparel shop Banker Supply is shutting its doors, possibly as a result of rising rents in the area.
Santa Clarita now has a bicycling California bear sculpture.
State
A local entertainment website suggests the best bike trails in San Diego.
When the fires were burning in Sonoma and Ventura counties last year, one of the firefighters was a member of the US Bicycling Hall of Fame and a former member of the famed 7-11 cycling team.
Sad news from Fresno, where a bike rider was killed in a collision after allegedly riding against traffic.
National
A Korean-American writer says our streets are haunted by the victims of traffic violence, their ghosts fed by the false divide between drivers and non-drivers in a world where we are all dependent on motor vehicles in some way.
Fast Company says sustainable transportation won’t work if city’s don’t build bridges that work for cleaner transportation. Something Los Angeles is finally getting around to.
A new documentary tells the story of Colorado Rockies broadcaster Jerry Schemmel competing in the RAAM, aka Race Across America.
A Montana town has put out the welcome mat for bike tourists, making riders and the money they bring to the town feel at home.
Life is cheap in Illinois, where a driver pleads down the drunken hit-and-run crash that killed a bike rider, and ends up with probation rather than serving his one-year sentence. So let’s get that straight — a driver won’t spend a single day in jail after getting drunk, running down another human being, and leaving him to die in the street.
Detroit is adding recumbents and adaptive bikes to the city’s docked bikeshare so the system can be more inclusive for people with disabilities and other health problems.
The governor of Maine credits his bike helmet with saving his life when he was hit by a car while riding in Florida last fall.
Vermont bicyclists will have to find a detour as a damage from recent storm has knocked out a bike ferry across a section of Lake Champlain for the rest of the year.
A Massachusetts writer says he hates bike shorts, but can’t find a viable alternative. Maybe he should try some of these pants.
A writer for the New York Daily News says it’s dangerous out there for bicyclists, but it doesn’t have to be. And the problem isn’t the people on two wheels.
A Philadelphia writer says the city should steal Macon GA’s idea of installing an entire network of temporary bike lanes, then making them permanent when they prove successful, as they inevitably do.
An Op-Ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer offers some reasonable tips on how to change the city’s deadly car-oriented culture. Most of which could come in handy here in Los Angeles.
DC bicyclists celebrate Bike Week by forming a human-protected bike lane.
A new report from Baton Rouge LA shows every mile biked instead of driven adds $2.12 to the local economy.
International
Road.cc offers eight reasons you should ride your bike, seven of which apply in the US as well. Unfortunately, we don’t get the tax break UK riders do, especially since a modest bike commuting benefit was removed from the tax code to help pay for the recent tax cuts.
Vancouver’s pubic library now has a wi-fi equipped e-asist book bike.
When a bike raging UK bicyclist screams profanities at a truck driver for no apparent reason, the press somehow assumes that driver didn’t do anything to deserve it. Even though it’s always possible the driver did something stupid before the video starts.
A Welsh bicyclist was collateral damage when a driver swerved across the road in an attempt to frighten his girlfriend during a fight, and ran down the innocent rider.
An Irish writer breaks the omertà, and spills the beans about bicycling through Sicily.
Swedish bike riders are rushing to take advantage of a 25% subsidy on ebikes. Which is exactly what California should be doing with its cap-and-trade funds to get more cars off the roads.
German auto parts and electronics maker Bosch is encouraging its 1 million workers to ride bikes instead of driving, and will deduct the cost of leasing an ebike from the workers’ salaries.
An Indian website asks if bicycle mayors could help tame deadly traffic in the country’s cities.
After moving to the Netherlands, a Kiwi writer says bicycling changed his life and he never wants to own a car again.
Australia’s Road Safety Minister apparently approved a series of controversial ads that depicted bike riders as losers, despite initially denying that she’d ever seen them before they aired.
An Aussie driver faces drug and alcohol charges after plowing into a group of cyclists, injuring two riders.
Competitive Cycling
The Wall Street Journal discovers what many of us have — just riding a bike can be more fun than racing.
In your relatively spoiler-free report on the Amgen Tour of California, since the race has been over for two days now, we can tell you the men’s race was won by a Columbian rider, with riders from the country maling a major impact on the race.
On the other hand, American riders did better on the women’s side, though two-time world pursuit champ Dygert Owen suffered a concussion in a crash.
Evidently, you can take a dive in pro cycling. Which is probably better that shoving a competitor off his bike as you near the finish line.
The LA Times looks at the life of a cycling domestique.
And yes, there’s still a bike race going on in Italy, which is not being dominated by Columbians.
The Air Force has named endurance cyclist Major Ian Holt their male athlete of the year after he bounced back from life-threatening injuries in las year’s Tour of Gila to win two Masters track medals. In his day job, Holt serves as a combat operations division space control branch chief at Vandenberg.
Finally…
If you’re going to clothesline a bike rider, take off your Strava-enabled FitBit first. Forget a helmet, strap on a mouthguard.
And get your custom 3D printed carbon bike frames, courtesy of the CIA.
