I hope you’ll forgive my unexcused absences for the past few days.
The good news is, my wife is doing well, and should be back home from the hospital before the week is over.
And my beleaguered laptop is up and running again, leaving me somewhat poorer, but back on the job. Let’s hope it stays that way.
We’ll just assume that nothing important happened while we were gone.
Right?
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LA’s biggest Bike Hub is opening today at Union Station. The new Metro site will offer secure parking for up to 200 bikes for $5 a week, or $60 a year.
Photo by Metro’s Julia Salinas, taken from The Source website.
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KCET examines the crumbling state of LA’s streets, and the risks it poses to people on two wheels.
Not to mention the needless expense to the city, as the Bureau of Street Services has returned tens of millions of dollars to the city, rather than making desperately needed street repairs, even as the city pays out millions in legal settlements to injured riders.
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It’s been a heartbreaking few days for elderly bike riders.
A 76-year old man was killed in a collision while riding his bike in Bakersfield; John Rous was a well-known and longtime member of the local riding community.
An 80-year old British bike rider was killed in a collision with Tesla, which may or may not have been driving itself.
An 83-year old man in the UK was killed when his bike apparently hit a pothole; new rules could mean that more British potholes won’t get fixed.
An 86-year old Indian man was killed in a collision with a truck as he was riding his bike to an outdoor gym.
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Rest easy, folks. Ed Sheeran is playing guitar again, and promises he’ll keep riding his bicycle, despite injuring both arm in a recent crash.
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Let’s catch up with a couple of stories we missed from last week.
Manhattan Beach voted to install sharrows and bike route signs throughout the city. Even though one councilmember is afraid they’ll just embolden cyclists to ride exactly where they’re supposed to.
UCLA students plan to form their own neighborhood council, and split with the “NIMBY and obstructionist” Westwood Neighborhood Council. While the story is about housing, the Westwood NC has also been active in blocking much needed bike lanes in the area.
Mobility advocates gathered in Leimert Park for Untokening California to discuss creating greater equity in transportation.
Next year’s CicLAvias will include a seven-and-a-half-mile route from Disney Hall to the Hollywood Bowl on September 30th, with performances by the LA Philharmonic orchestra along the way. And ending with a free performance by the orchestra at the Bowl.
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Local
A writer in the UCLA paper calls for an awareness campaign to get students to walk and bike more safely.
Bike SGV names Doug Strange their Community Advocate of the Year; the founder of the reborn La Verne Bicycle Coalition will be honored at their 2017 “Noche de las Luminarias” awards dinner next month.
Pasadena-area Rotarians will meet this weekend to assemble 300 bicycles for underprivileged children.
Santa Monica is moving forward with plans for a “radical” transformation of traffic-choked Lincoln Blvd into a more human-scale Complete Street.
State
Newport Beach police are looking for man riding a red cruiser bike who was seen following a San Bernardino County prosecutor before she was severely beaten while jogging in a park this past August.
A Riverside bike rider was shot in the leg as the result of an attempted robbery.
In a bizarre story, a Bakersfield man died in police custody shortly after using a fake gun to threaten a woman riding her horse on a bike path.
Sad news from the Sacramento area, where a 19-year old North Highlands man was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bike.
Sacramento State University is now a silver-level BFU. And no, that does not stand for Big Effing University.
A Marysville woman has been arrested in last week’s hit-and-run that left a bike rider seriously injured; she was taken into custody after calling the police to claim her car was stolen before the crash. An excuse that never seems to work in real life.
National
The GOP Senate wants to take away your measly $20 monthly benefit for riding your bike to work; the Bike League has more information on what you may be about to lose.
Architectural Digest examines how the threat of vehicular terrorism will change our cities in the wake of the New York bike path attack.
Bicycling offers tips on how to wash your bike.
A Seattle grandfather is suing after being left a paraplegic when he crashed into an unmarked bollard on a bike trail, which probably shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
An Iowa bicyclist says no, really, it’s much safer if she doesn’t give you any warning as she glides past on the sidewalk. That is what is technically known as a load of crap.
Evidently, flipping off the president pays. A Virginia woman who was fired from her job after her employers learned she was the bike rider who was photographed flipping off the presidential motorcade will receive at least $77,000 from a crowdfunding campaign. She says she did it because he wouldn’t have heard her through the glass.
International
A new crowdfunding campaign promises to turn your bike into an ebike for just $299, with an extra eight pounds of weight.
The Cuban record holder for the world’s tallest tall bike is working in tandem with the previous record holder, LA’s Richie Trimble, on a 20-foot tall tandem.
A Montreal website offers tips on how to stay safe and warm on your bike this winter. Which is especially good advice here in Los Angeles, where it sometimes gets down to a frigid 60 degrees.
Actor Robert Pattinson is one of us, as a gossip site freaks out when he’s spotted riding his bike in London without a helmet. Which is perfectly legal there, just as it is here.
A new UK survey shows 78% of people support protected bike lanes, even if the politicians don’t.
Three people were injured when a French driver with “psychiatric problems” deliberately plowed his car into a group of students.
Lithuanian students illustrate how much space cars take up, and how little bikes need.
A Mumbai website says everyone has a right to be safe when they ride a bike, from milkmen to champion cyclists.
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Competitive Cycling
VeloNews reminisces about the great Bernard Hinault on his birthday.
Cyclist magazine explores why Chris Froome isn’t considered a legend.
Phil Gaimon released a statement about repeating the rumor that Fabian Cancellara was a known motor doper in his new book, after the Swiss rider’s lawyers demand the removal of the book.
Finally…
It’s a sad day when a dog has better form on an upright bike than I do — even if he does need training wheels. No matter how threatened you feel by drivers, riding with an AR-15 is probably not the answer; neither is claiming you just found it in the street and were taking it to the police station.
And if you’re going to ride your bike with a stolen Glock in your pants, put a damn light on it.
The bike, that is, not the gun.
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Thanks to John P. Lynch for his generous contribution to support this site, as well as his kind wishes for my wife and laptop.
