Bike lanes could be coming to Los Feliz, CicLAvia comes off life-support, and hit-and-run driver murders Holocaust survivor

January 29, 2026 / / No comments

Bike lanes could be coming to Los Feliz Blvd.

But only if they can figure out how to build them without a) removing a traffic lane, and b) adversely affecting Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument Number 67.

Or as most of us know them, the majestic evergreen cedars lining either side of the busy boulevard, which have been designated as a Historic-Cultural Monument since 1970.

CD4 Councilmember Nithya Raman, who somehow represents the area in a bizarrely gerrymandered district, got the city council to approve $400,000 for a feasibility and design study to install a cycle track between Fern Dell Drive and Vermont Ave.

A safe bikeway along the corridor would provide a huge benefit, as there is currently no safe way to get from Hollywood to the LA River or the zoo, without climbing extremely steep hills.

Or to Costco, for that matter.

………

It looks like CicLAvia may be off life support.

According to the San Fernando Valley Sun, Metro voted last year to approve funding for open streets events tied to the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics, putting traditional open streets events at risk.

However, after outrage from the community, Metro agreed to fund 70% of the cost for nine additional open streets applications, while requiring host cities to provide the other 30% matching funding.

Which is exactly what the Los Angeles City Council did yesterday, voting 12-2 to approve $3.2 million for open streets.

CD3 Councilmember Bob Blumenfield and CD7’s Monica Rodriguez opposed the measure because only one of the events is planned for the San Fernando Valley.

CD9 Councilmember Curren Price, Jr. was absent.

Probably because he’s just the latest in what’s becoming a long list of allegedly corrupt councilmembers, facing trial for embezzlement, perjury, and conflict of interest benefitting his wife and her consulting company.

………

This is who we share the road with.

The LAPD is looking for the hit-and-run driver who killed an 80-year old Holocaust survivor and his dog as they were walking in the bike lane on Woodman Ave in Sherman Oaks on Tuesday night.

Police located the car, a silver Maserati Quattroporte, abandoned nearby at Mammoth Ave and Milbank Street.

There were no license plates on the murder weapon.

………

My bad.

I neglected to consider yesterday that not everyone has Instagram. Which I should have, considering I only have it to share corgi photos and witticisms.

Well, I think they’re funny, even if the dog doesn’t share my sense of humor. Or my wife, for that matter.

Fortunately, Randy corrected my mistake yesterday, posting details of the West LA Unity Ride, while noting rental bikes will we available.

https://bsky.app/profile/randycoppinger.bsky.social/post/3mditgzlzts2u

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:l3c3zg3aljdbctelkytee3wo/post/3mditnnt4cc2u

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton notes Unity Rides will be taking place throughout California this Friday and Saturday, including additional rides in the LA area:

Los Angeles: Organized by Allez L.A. Bike Shop, 5227 York Blvd. Meet This Friday at 7:30 a.m., 8 a.m. roll-out.

Los Angeles: Organized by Organized by Domestique Cycling Club, Westwood VA Medical Center parking – just off Dowlen Drive, west of Sawtelle Blvd. [Strava route map]

Although it would be more effective if all the rides could meet up somewhere for a rally that would really get attention.

You’ll find information on the Westwood ride below, assuming the Instagram post stays embedded this time.

A ride will also take place in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where Pretti grew up; Bikepacking has mapped rides ranging from the US and Europe to Australia.

Meanwhile, Salsa Cycles explained why they felt compelled to speak out, even as commenters demanded we should keep politics out of bicycling, with the company saying they’re proud to call Minnesota home.

But clearly, not everyone agrees with them.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

You know your new bike lane sucks when riders are reporting broken bones and kidney damage, like this one in Brighton & Hove, England; the city is defending itself by arguing that they’re all turning in the wrong place.

A British man was convicted of assault for punching a bike rider who had stopped to relieve himself in the woods along a bike path, accusing the victim of being a “pervert,” and touching his genitals in front of him. Which is generally what one does when one stops to take a leak; a better question might be why was he looking? 

The capital of Estonia is busy moving bike riders to side streets, because apparently only drivers belong on main thoroughfares, and bike riders don’t really need to get anywhere, anyway.

………

Local 

An op-ed in the Los Angeles Times says the county has set a goal of ripping up 1,600 acres of pavement and replacing them with green space and trees, but questions if it’s too little, too late. Probably. Because we all know how “goals” tend to work out around here. 

Bike lanes on Fairfax Ave now have a new coat of Kermit, in a special shade or green specifically designed not to piss off Hollywood filmmakers. Although that’s still probably not enough to keep drivers from using them as traffic bypass lanes. 

 

State

The Laguna Beach Police Department will hold a free e-bike training course this Saturday, including certification to ride an ebike to local schools.

The attorney representing the family of 6-year old Hudson O’Loughlin is looking for deeper pockets than the woman accused of killing the boy as he rode his bike with his family in Pacific Beach; the suspect has been without a valid driver’s license for nine years, which means she probably doesn’t have insurance.

 

National

Amazon is recruiting ebike delivery riders who own their own bikes without any illegal modifications and with their own liability insurance; the company has also begun investing in their own ebike cargo vans for urban deliveries.

Seriously? A nonprofit bike park in Idaho continues to battle with county officials, who have denied it a permit to even build bathrooms, in a dispute that boils down to whether it should be classified as a ‘park’ or a ‘recreational facility.’

A 62-year old motorcycle rider faces a vehicular homicide charge for killing a 68-year old man riding a bicycle just a few miles from my Colorado hometown following a nine-month investigation; he’s accused of failing to negotiate a lefthand curve after passing another motorcycle, striking the victim on the far right shoulder, apparently head-on. Which makes it sound like the investigation should have taken about ten minutes.

Texas authorities warn parents that their kids could be riding an illegal electric motorcycle in the form of an ebike, while Gulf Shores, Alabama joined the parade of coastal cities cracking down on ebikes.

 

International

How to convert an old, unloved mountain bike to a modern gravel bike for the equivalent of less than $1,400.

A Brazilian gas company recounts the tale of a man who rode from his home in Bahia to New York in the 1920s, taking two years to travel through 11 countries, including sleeping in a tree after getting stalked by a jaguar, only to return home to find that no one really cared about his feat.

Bicyclists in Toronto appeared in Ontario’s highest provincial appeals court yesterday to defend their successful challenge of the province’s plan to rip out three of the city’s bike lanes, which ended with a ruling that bike riders had a constitutional right to have safe places to ride.

A Toronto film school graduate released his own, self-financed 15-minute romantic drama called The Bicycle Boy, which cost him just $23,000, which you can now watch for the low, low price of just $3.49. Which means he’ll break even if just 6,590 people pay to watch it. 

The British Parliament is considering a bill that would ban kits for illegal ebike conversions.

Horrible story from Ireland, where an inquest heard witnesses say they saw a 14-year old boy riding unsteadily after falling off his bicycle, only to disappear for six days before his body was found in a storm drain.

 

Finally…

That feeling when bike thefts are merely “inconveniencing,” or when it’s never too cold to ride. Who needs an ebike when you can build your very own electric jet bike?

And a reminder how it feels to ride a bicycle for the first time.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

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

Nationwide Unity Rides Saturday to honor Alex Pretti, and accused hit-and-run killer of 6-year old Hudson O’Loughlin arraigned

January 28, 2026 / / One comment

Alex Pretti was one of us.

The 37-year old Minneapolis VA nurse, who was fatally shot — okay, murdered — by ICE agents on Saturday was a lover of the outdoors, and an active mountain bike rider.

Which is just one reason the bike community is rallying behind him.

Minneapolis’ Angry Catfish bike shop, which claimed Pretti as a frequent customer, is helping to organize memorial Unity Rides rides across the country for this Saturday, starting with Minneapolis.

The Radavist is calling for the entire bicycling community to come together for healing and to honor Pretti, who he says could have been any of us. Although I’m not sure how many of us would have stepped up to help a stranger at the risk of our own lives.

Meanwhile, Minnesota-based Salsa Cycles is urging bike riders to contact their legislator and join in a Unity Ride to protest the recent fatal shootings by ICE agents in Minneapolis.

According to Cycling Weekly,

“Our neighbors are being unlawfully detained, harassed and murdered at the hands of the federal immigration enforcement agents,” Salsa Cycles wrote in its statement. “Now is the time to speak up and stand up…”

“Community is important in times like this,” Salsa Cycles states. “Alex Pretti was a member of our local cycling community…We encourage you to come ride with us, host a ride in your community, or simply go ride in solidarity on Saturday.”

Bike Portland reports other rides have been announced for Portland, Oregon, Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia; Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas, Texas; Bellingham, Washington; San Francisco, California; Wichita, Kansas; and Memphis, Tennessee.

West LA Bicycle will host a Unity Ride here in Los Angeles (click here in case the Instagram link below doesn’t embed properly).

https://www.instagram.com/p/DUCoEbDjDuR

Anyone interested in organizing a ride can contact Community@angrycatfishbicycle.com for more information.

Let me know if there are any other rides planned for Los Angeles or Southern California.

I honestly don’t care what your politics are.

No one should be killed for legally, and peacefully, exercising their 1st and 2nd Amendment rights.

………

Ten years hardly seems like enough.

Thirty-two-year old Tiffany Sanchez was formally indicted Tuesday on felony charges of vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run for killing six-year old Hudson O’Loughlin as he rode his bike with his family on a Pacific Beach sidewalk January 18th.

The former carries a maximum of six years, while the latter has a max of just four years, thanks to California’s lax hit-and-run laws.

And that’s only if she is convicted on both charges, and gets the maximum penalties, to run concurrently.

Anyone want to give odds on that?

Sanchez is accused of knocking Hudson off his bike as she turned right into an alley, stopping briefly, then fleeing the scene and driving over the boy as he lay helpless on the ground.

According to 10 News San Diego,

“The defendant did not stop, she did not render aid, she did not assess the situation or try to help out, she didn’t, she did not call 911,” said Cassidy McWilliams, deputy district attorney.

Never mind that she hasn’t had a valid driver’s license for nine years, and shouldn’t have been on the road in the first place.

She was ordered into custody on $150,000 bond, and will be required to wear an ankle monitor and forbidden from driving if she manages to post it.

………

A new map from the San Francisco Chronicle shows the most dangerous streets and neighborhoods for bicyclists and pedestrians, based on traffic deaths from 2020-2024, as reported by law enforcement agencies to the Transportation Injury Mapping System at UC Berkeley.

According to the paper,

This analysis includes people walking, biking, using wheelchairs or riding personal conveyances such as rollerblades or skateboards. In total, nearly 6,500 people were killed while walking or biking across California during this five-year period, a toll that includes about 800 cyclists.

Fatalities climbed steadily for nearly a decade across the state, reaching a peak of 1,429 deaths in 2022, before receding to 1,208 in 2024. In comparison, the Bay Area has remained relatively stable. The number of fatalities has ranged between 150-180 deaths per year.

The map pinpoints the location of both pedestrian and bicycling deaths, while blocking out high-fatality hotspots.

The latter of which makes Los Angeles look like the hot mess it is.

………

Active SGV is hosting a free Learn to Bike class in El Monte on Sunday.

The group is also hosting an easy ride to Whittier Narrows next weekend.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A New Jersey legislator is “backpedaling” on his own proposal to require a $50 annual bicycle registration fee to make bike riders contribute to the cost of their own infrastructure, with public comments running 61% against. Because apparently, people who ride bikes don’t pay taxes like normal folks, and the proven societal and health effects of bicycling are worth nothing. And no, drivers don’t pay their own way; the overwhelming cost of building and maintaining roadways comes from general tax funds.

The simple act of bicycling without a helmet or hi-viz clothing could soon become a criminal offense in Ireland if a new government proposal is enacted; the president of an Irish bicycling organization calls it “performative policymaking,” arguing “there is no credible evidence” that it would significantly reduce collisions or fatalities. Meanwhile, an English author and columnist writing for the Irish Times says that “Anyone who thinks cyclists ‘come out of nowhere’ should not be in control of a vehicle.”

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Carpenteria is becoming the latest coastal California city to crack down on ebikes without distinguishing ped-assist bikes from the electric motorbikes and illegal ebikes causing the problems, although they are capping ebike speeds at 28 mph, mirroring state law.

………

Local 

Metro will mark the birthday of civil rights icon Rosa Parks next Wednesday, aka Transit Equity Day, with free rides throughout the system, including Metro Bike; the agency is also conducting a survey to better understand the needs of neurodivergent riders.

UCLA is now requiring that every ebike and e-scooter kept on campus be UL-certified and registered with the school transportation department.

A Canyon Country bike rider was hospitalized with minor injuries as a result of a hit-and-run crash with a truck driver leaving a movie set. Which means the driver shouldn’t be too hard to find. 

He gets it. A personal trainer from Signal Hill says Long Beach residents don’t need another fitness trend, because all they have to do is go outside to enjoy one of the city’s most effective health resources, including the beachfront bike path.

 

State

Once again, a bike thief has been busted in Orange County, after stealing a bait bike worth over $2,000 in Huntington Beach, which makes it a felony. Meanwhile, the LAPD still won’t employ bait bikes because a former city attorney feared it could be construed as entrapment, even though similar charges have held up in other cities that do.

Laguna Beach city leaders are debating potential locations and designs for a pump track, though they haven’t made a commitment to building one yet.

A 71-year old man was critically injured when he was struck by a pickup driver in Indio Tuesday morning and knocked under the truck, suffering “significant” injuries; shockingly, the driver was unharmed. And yes, that’s sarcasm. 

Congratulations to San Jose, where traffic deaths dropped for the second straight year, declining ten percent from 2024 to the lowest level since 2012.

Bike-friendly Davis has released a new citywide bike map. Granted, it’s easier to build a connected bike network in a small city, but at least Davis has one. Los Angeles doesn’t. 

Sad news from Lodi, where a 78-year old retired physician was killed by a driver while riding his bicycle in Amador County, southeast of Sacramento; he was called The Lone Rider by his bike club because he rode so much after his retirement 23 years ago.

 

National

Gadget Review ranks the fifteen best bikes from last year. Some of which actually are. 

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The assets of bankrupt Seattle ebikemaker Rad Power Bikes were auctioned off in a fire sale for $13.2 million, following its recent Orange County warehouse fire — a 99.2% drop from its high valuation of $1.65 billion.

Once again, someone riding a bicycle has been collateral damage in a police chase, when a bike rider was killed by a speeding driver fleeing from the cops in Tucson, Arizona, who also crashed into a pedestrian before being shot by state troopers; the driver was hospitalized, while the pedestrian suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Winter bicycling rates are skyrocketing in Cambridge, Massachusetts, increasing over 400% in the past ten years, thanks in part to the city plowing snow from bike lanes.

South Carolina authorities are searching for a 15-year old boy who disappeared under “unusual” circumstances after leaving his grandfather’s house for a bike ride a week ago, and hasn’t been seen since.

 

International

A writer for Cycling Weekly says like it or not, of course there are barriers to bicycling for female riders, from the cost of an entry level bike to products designed for male riders, and threatening behavior from other road users.

A new Canadian study shows that nearly 3,600 kilometers — roughly 2,200 miles — of high-quality bicycling infrastructure was added across the country, but the increase largely bypassed areas with more children and older adults, which could benefit most from it.

The London Times asks if 2025 was the year London became a bicycling city, as even Timothée Chalamet embraced the city’s ubiquitous Lime bikes.

British Transport Police have reversed their recent announcement that they wouldn’t investigate the theft of bicycles left at train stations for more than two hours.

A British man completed a six-month, 14,000-mile trip from Melbourne to Melbourne, the former in the UK and the latter in Australia.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a man’s wallet when he fell from his bike after leaving a nightclub in Turin, Italy, and was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver while he was on the ground.

 

Competitive Cycling

Two-time Tour de France champ Jonas Vingegaard was lucky to escape serious injury when he crashed on a training ride, after he tried to drop an amateur cyclist who repeatedly tailed him and wouldn’t back off; amateur Pedro García Fernández posted video to Strava showing him riding on Vingegaard’s wheel, saying he couldn’t understand the pro’s anger at being followed by a fan. It used to piss me off when some stranger drafted off me, and I’m not even famous.

Chinese bikes have made it to the WorldTour, with the Quick Pro brand signing a new sponsorship agreement with the Euskaltel-Euskadi cycling team, after more than 30 years using Orbea bikes.

Ouch. Aussie Jay Vine finished the Tour Down Under riding with a broken wrist after getting caught up in the infamous kangaroo crash.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you give five grand from your insurance settlement to the driver who knocked you off your bike because the crash cured your back pain. We may have to deal with rabid LA drivers, but at least we hardly ever run into potentially rabid baby bats. Who needs a bike seat when you’re Ryan Seacrest?

And honestly, who wouldn’t want their very own lobster bike?

Ok, who has $200?seattle.craigslist.org/see/gms/d/se…

— Cold vermin winter of our discontent (@sciencehippies.bsky.social) 2026-01-24T20:52:56.370Z

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

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

Today’s post called on account of yuck

January 27, 2026 / / No comments

My apologies.

I’m feeling just this side of awful tonight. With any luck, it’s just a passing bout of old and diabetic, and I’ll be young, healthy and beautiful after a good night’s sleep.

Hopefully, we’ll be back on Wednesday to catch up on anything we missed.

Category: General /

Mayor Bass, City Council no-shows up for traffic deaths die-in; and how can LA build a subway if it can’t fix poop spray?

January 26, 2026 / / No comments

People are dying to stop people from dying on the mean streets of Los Angeles.

Figuratively, anyway.

The Los Angeles Times reports on Saturday’s die-in on the steps of LA City Hall, saying dozens feigned their deaths to protest the 290 traffic deaths last year in the City of Angels, and the adjective failure of Vision Zero.

“We’re out here today because the city of Los Angeles signed Vision Zero as a directive in August 2015 to prioritize saving lives on our roads — to achieve zero traffic fatalities by 2025,” said SAFE founder and executive director Damian Kevitt, who lost his right leg in a violent traffic incident in 2013. “Not manage or reduce [them] but eliminate traffic fatalities. We are a decade later and we are at 290 traffic fatalities. … It’s a 26% increase in traffic fatalities since the start of Vision Zero…”

“The city has tools, it’s just not using them,” Kevitt told The Times. “In 2024, voters approved measure HLA by a two-thirds margin. It requires the city must follow its own mobility plan … to make roads safer for cyclists, for pedestrians, for better transit.” He also cited state measure AB 645, which in 2023 authorized a pilot program for speed cameras in a handful of California cities including Los Angeles, as “a tool the city could be implementing — it’s speed safety systems.”

In a perfect illustration of just how unserious the city is about ending traffic deaths, CD 13 Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez was the only member of the city government who bothered to show up.

But hey, Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement.

No, wait. Her office did.

Apparently Mayor Bass had better things to do.

Mayor Karen Bass’ office said in a statement that Bass, who took office in December 2022, “has made street safety a priority by accelerating the implementation of hundreds of new speed humps, signage and intersection treatments which help ensure drivers are traveling slowly and with control near schools. Vision Zero started in 2015 and requires intensive coordination across departments.”

The office pointed to Bass’ October 2024 executive directive to facilitate street repairs, clean parks and infrastructure and city services enhancements ahead of the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Summer Olympic Games in L.A.

So, evidently, we need a World Cup or Olympic Games to justify saving human lives.

Oh, and clean parks.

Got it.

Kevitt had one parting comment for The Times: “Don’t use the word traffic ‘accident’ when writing about this,” he said.

“In the road safety arena, it’s ‘crash’ or ‘collision,’” he said. “ ‘Accident’ implies non-responsibility. It’s just an ‘oops.’ But when you’re driving drunk or distracted, that’s a choice. If you hit and kill or severely injure someone, it’s not an ‘oops.’ We’re trying to say: This is preventable.”

There’s a lot more to the article, and it’s worth a few minutes to read the other comments from people who have lost loved ones. Or fear exactly that.

Particularly since the Times appears to be the only media source that even bothered to cover it.

Evidently, our deadly streets are no more important to the people who report on them than they are to the people we elect to fix them.

Looks like the joke’s on us.

Because nothing will ever change until city leaders care enough to do something about it.

And the media, and the people, care enough to hold them to it.

………

Good question.

Circling the News asks how LA County expects to build a subway under the Sepulveda Pass if it takes three years to even repair a washed out bridge on the beach bike path.

Or fix the noxious “poop spray” fouling it, for that matter.

………

Former NFL star Marshawn Lynch is one of us, riding a Lime ebike across Seattle for Sunday’s game between the Rams and the Seahawks.

Which did not end well for the Rams.

Then again, my beloved Broncos finished a broken ankle and a snow storm short of the Super Bowl, too.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. A Scottish city lived up — or maybe down — to its reputation as “hostile to anyone outside of a car” by scrapping plans for a bike lane through the town center because it would put the “economic vitality” of the town “at serious risk” due to the loss of six whole parking spaces. Yes, six. Never mind that studies have repeatedly shown sales go up when protected bike lanes go down.

An Irish writer says anyone who thinks bikes should be registered is “deeply unserious or misguided.” No, seriously. Tell us what you really think. 

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A British man is charged with careless bicycling after crashing into a woman when he tried to pass her on a pathway, but he says it was the woman who stepped into his path.

………

Local 

Bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd, Fairfax Ave and San Vicente Blvd in West Hollywood are getting a fresh coat of Kermit, with a shade of green specially formulated to enhance safety without overly annoying Hollywood filmmakers.

LAist examines Long Beach’s Vision Zero failure, as traffic deaths in the beachside city climb to their highest level in a decade. Although the public radio website may require your email address to read it. 

 

State

Solana Beach will use a $300,000 state grant to help fund a $1.075 million extension of San Diego County’s Coastal Rail Trail to the Encinitas border.

Megan forwards news that a UC Santa Barbara student bike committee has secured $1.4 million to build a new bike path on campus.

In a surprising example of rationality, researchers at San José State University say the state’s ebike problem may actually be an e-motorbike problem.

What a long, strange trip it wasn’t. A local leader of San Francisco’s World Naked Bike Ride was arrested when he and several other people showed up naked for a tribute to the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, in the mistaken assumption their bare bodies would be seen as a tribute to the band.

A Manteca resident claims the honor of being the only person to ever kick Greg LeMond out of a bike race — when America’s last remaining Tour de France winner was 14.

 

National

Your next ebike could get a whopping 600 mile range on a single charge.

A homeless man in Florida was been convicted of 2nd degree murder in the death of a 14-year old boy who disappeared while on a bike ride in 2021 — even though the judge had ordered an emergency mental health evaluation days earlier after a bizarre, rambling statement on the stand by the man, who had been ruled competent to stand trial despite a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia.

 

International

Cycling Weekly talks with a woman who used riding her bike through the Scottish Highlands as an escape from a difficult marriage, then rode through her bereavement, and used riding to recover from an illness that cost her 60% of her lung function.

A new study shows that Britain’s “transformational” Place to Ride program has saved the country’s National Health Service the equivalent of nearly $18 million, while resulting in $136 million in ‘social value’ across the UK.

The Republic of Ireland is considering a proposal to mandate compulsory bike helmet use and hi-viz clothing for all bicyclists and e-scooter users. Even though other helmet mandates have been show to reduce head injuries mainly by reducing riding rates, while preventing children from even learning how to ride. And if hi-viz was the answer, no one would ever crash into a fire hydrant, road sign or emergency vehicle. 

Parts of the Netherlands are banning the heavy, fat-tired electric bikes they call fat bikes, and we would call electric motorbikes.

A team of British club riders are following the route taken by the Prophet Muhammad from Makkah to Madinah in Saudi Arabia over 1,400 years ago to raise funds to fight pediatric heart defects.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 94-year New Zealand man who survived the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Holland will attempt to set a new age-group hour record, after already exceeding the record time on his own.

 

Competitive Cycling

In what has to be one of the most bizarre endings ever to a WorldTour race, Aussie Jay Vine won the Tour Down Under stage rage on Sunday — but only after getting knocked down when a pair of kangaroos hopped through the peloton, crashing into several cyclists, and forcing three riders out of the race; Vine rejoined the stage after switching bikes, but one of the kangaroos had to be put down.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a self-driving car parks in a bike lane, and the company tries to blame the driver. Or when an F1 star takes part in a gravel ride wearing only a banana hammock.

And of course a certain Pasadena kid grew up to be one of us.

Rocker Eddie Van Halen takes a spin on a mountain bike in 1989#BicycleBirthdayJanuary 26 (1955-2020)

— Cool Bike Art (@coolbikeart1.bsky.social) 2026-01-26T05:22:46.323Z

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

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

Update: Woman riding bicycle killed in Woodcrest collision in unincorporated Riverside County; 5th SoCal bike death in 8 days

January 24, 2026 / / No comments

Please make it stop.

For the fifth time in just eight days, someone has been killed riding a bicycle in Southern California.

This time a woman in Woodcrest, in unincorporated Riverside County.

My News LA is reporting that the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was killed when she was struck by a driver in the residential neighborhood south of Riverside Saturday morning.

The victim suffered major injuries when she was hit around 9:40 am, at Krameria Ave and Reiner Circle, and died after being taken to a hospital.

There’s no word at this time how or why the crash occurred, or who may have been at fault.

A street view shows a three-way, uncontrolled intersection at the base of hill in each direction. So it’s possible both the victim and the driver could have been traveling at speed.

According to the My News LA, it’s not clear whether the driver remained at the scene. In fact, there’s no information of any kind about the person behind the wheel.

This is the sixth bicycling fatality that I’m aware in of Southern California this year, and the first in Riverside County.

Update: The victim has been identified as 61-year old Riverside resident Gina Thomas. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Gina Thomas and her loved ones. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , ,

Examine where your LA tax money is going, bicycling helped then and now, and you can’t take a dog on a bike, right?

January 23, 2026 / / No comments

So that’s where it’s all going.

The Los Angeles City Controller’s office has developed a dashboard allowing you to examine where each city department stands in relation to the budget, including how much has been spent, and how much remains.

For instance, 44% of the city transportation budget for the ’25-’26 fiscal year has already been spent, most of which has gone into salaries for city employees.

And something tells me they’re not working on bicycles.

Never mind that the entire transportation budget is roughly 11% of what the city spends on police alone.

It’s worth taking some time to check it out.

Because it’s your money.

Actual photo of Los Angeles officials spending your tax money by MART PRODUCTION from Pexels. 

………

True then. True now.

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:7vpdxcialxa6j5s7yh5g5jhf/post/3mcxcnsts5s2q?ref_src=embed&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Froad.cc%252Fcontent%252Fnews%252Fcycling-live-blog-22-january-2026-317755

………

Not only that, but one of them looks like a corgi.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

In a brilliant example of cost effectiveness, the leadership of Medford, Oregon voted to rip out a road diet and two-way protected bike lane, spending $1 million to return the road to the previous layout — and another half million to repay a state grant to do the original work.

No bias here. A Killarney, Ireland website is up in arms after spotting a group of bicyclists riding in the street next to a new $4 million curb-level bike lane, saying “If you build it, they will come… or maybe not.” Except a group ride of a dozen or so fast-moving bicyclists is exactly what you don’t want in a bike lane, which should be used by a) fewer bike riders at once, and b) slower bike riders.

………

Local 

An ebike rider was hospitalized in critical condition after riding out of an A Line train car at a high rate of speed, and falling off the elevated Allen Station in Pasadena.

 

State

A Fallbrook kid was struck by a driver while riding their bike and knocked completely under the vehicle, then just got back up and rode their bike home before first responders even got to the crash site; sheriff’s deputies found him at home, and paramedics took him to the hospital.

The owner of a downtown San Diego bike shop is still struggling to recover, weeks after burglars escaped with more than $25,000 worth of merchandise.

 

National

Bicycling drops their paywall to promote a handful of products they think will make your rides more fun, or at least make them a few bucks if you buy them. The bubblegum pink inner tube is kinda fun, but the only way anyone will ever see it is if you’re fixing a flat, which is not so much. 

Velo says AI will make you faster on your bike, but not the way you think. Especially if you leave the damn thing at home, whatever device you keep it in, and just ride your bike without the extra weight and distraction.

Led by high school students, Washington State advocacy groups backed a proposal to keep the state’s three-tier ebike definitions, while adding a clear distinction between ebikes and electric motorbikes.

A Joliet, Illinois man is suing the city for more than 50 grand, plus medical expenses, after he rode his bicycle into a giant hole in the road without warning, alleging the city knew about the pothole and did nothing to fix it.

An Illinois man is riding his bike across the US, 50 year’s after he was one of 2,000 people who took part in the Bikecentennial, which involved riding 4,200 miles across the US to mark the bicentennial.

Road.cc’s ebiketips website says New Jersey’s draconian new ebike law will remove a viable form of clean transportation off the road.

Richmond, Virginia is moving forward with plans to replace a 113-year old bridge, even as planning commissioners got an earful about the lack of protection for proposed bike lanes.

Police in Savannah, Georgia, have made an arrest in the hit-and-run death of the city’s beloved Flag Man, known for riding his bike with a giant flag, nine months after he was killed while riding his bicycle. Seriously, if you can’t see someone on a bicycle with a giant flag on a flag pole, you’re driving with your eyes closed. 

 

International

Filmmaker Lee Donaldson makes a pitstop at the Cyclist podcast to discuss his upcoming documentary 525: The Unstoppable Eddy Merckx.

Life is cheap in Nova Scotia, where a drunken hit-and-run driver who killed a 10-year old girl was granted a full parole after just under a year and a half behind bars, less than a third of his four and a half year sentence.

Off.Road.cc says the 1990s was the golden era of British mountain biking.

Netflix is developing a documentary series about the death of Tony Parsons, who disappeared on a Scottish fundraising ride only to be discovered years later when a farmer confessed to his girlfriend that he killed Parsons while driving drunk, and with his twin brother, hid Parson’s body in a peat bog; they were sentenced to 12 years and 5 years behind bars, respectively. The moral of this story: don’t tell your girlfriend about the bodies. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Pro cyclists share their best hacks, habits and kit tweaks to make it through the worst of the winter months.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your epic ride goes from Boring to Dull. Your next ebike could be a computer on two wheels.

And aren’t drop bars supposed to, you know, drop?

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

UPDATE: 23-year old man riding bicycle killed by 79-year old driver last night, on “notorious” Oxnard roadway

January 22, 2026 / / 9 comments

Once again, we have to ask ourselves how old is too old to drive.

Because a 79-year old Oxnard driver somehow killed a man riding a bicycle directly ahead of her, on a dark roadway “notorious” for crashes involving bike riders and pedestrians.

According to the Ventura County Star, the victim, identified only as a 23-year old man, was riding on Wooley Road near Industrial Ave when he was run down from behind around 6:30 pm Wednesday.

Police found the victim lying in the eastbound lanes of Wooley, suffering from major injuries. RMG News reports he was taken to a local hospital, but died in transport.

The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. The grill of her massive older SUV showed damage to the center of the grill, suggesting the victim was right in front of her in center of the lane.

Video showed the victim’s red road bike crumpled on the side of the roadway. There are no lights visible on his bicycle in the video. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean he didn’t have any, either on him or on his bike.

RMG News describes that stretch of Wooley Road as known for “being poorly lit and the site of multiple past collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists.”

So the question remains why she couldn’t avoid someone who, at the very least, should been clearly lit up by her headlights.

We have no way of knowing whether her age was a factor in the crash. It’s possible it could have affected her ability to see the victim on the dark street, or reduced her ability to react in time.

Which is exactly the problem.

Due to limited testing of elderly drivers, we have no way of knowing who can operate their vehicles safely, day or night — and who can’t.

Or who shouldn’t be driving at all.

There’s also a question of why a street known to be hazardous for people walking and biking hasn’t been improved, or at least lighted well enough to prevent crashes.

We’re not likely to get the answers. But those are questions any lawyer will undoubtedly ask.

This is the fifth bicycling fatality that I’m aware in of Southern California this year, and the first in Ventura County.

Update: The victim has been identified as 23-year old Port Hueneme resident Jacob Dildine.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Jacob Dildine and his loved ones. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

Long Beach traffic deaths doubled since 2015; LADOT installed pathetic 30 lane miles of bikeways, ignores Vision Zero

January 22, 2026 / / No comments

Welcome to our world.

Traffic fatalities in Long Beach have more than doubled in the ten years since the city vowed to eliminate traffic deaths within a decade, rising to the highest level in the last ten years.

That corresponds with the City of Los Angeles, which adopted a Vision Zero program that promised to end traffic deaths by last year.

And you know how that worked out.

Now LA’s Vision Zero is a forgotten program, trotted out only when the city wants to assure us that they are really, truly doing something to reduce traffic violence, without actually holding themselves accountable for it.

Like Los Angeles, most of Long Beach’s traffic deaths have been inflicted on people who weren’t encased in a couple tons of steel and glass.

According to the Long Beach Post story in the above link,

Their greatest toll has been on people outside of cars. Last year, 32 people were killed while walking, biking or riding an e-scooter. That eclipses the number of people murdered here last year: 29.

At least in LA, it’s only the total number of traffic deaths that exceeds the city’s murders.

Photo by Zariflavin from Pexels.

………

LADOT has released their 2026 Annual Report, touting their usual list of successes for the past year, modest though they may be.

Including a rather underwhelming, if not pathetic, total of 31 lane miles of new bikeways installed during the last fiscal year. Which includes 1.3 lane miles of sharrows, which studies have shown are literally worse than nothing.

So make it a little less than 30 miles.

And since lane miles count each side of the roadway separately, that amounts to less than 15 miles out of the city’s 6,642 miles of city streets.

Just 0.23 percent.

I also challenge you to find a single mention of Vision Zero anywhere in the report.

If you can, you’re a better reader than I am.

………

Interesting idea.

An Idaho legislator is trying to close a loophole in the law, after a judge dismissed a case where a driver hit an ebike rider.

According to the judge, the law in Idaho defines a bicycle as a “human-powered” vehicle, and it wasn’t clear to his or her honor if an ebike is actually human powered.

And that’s the problem. Some ebikes are human powered with an electrical assist, while others are strictly throttle controlled, or a combination thereof.

So defining an ebike as human powered could be the solution to the current dilemma of cities cracking down on ped-assist ebike riders for the problems caused by people on electric motorbikes and dirt bikes.

Something which was made clear by New Jersey’s new law that requires a driver’s license and registration to ride even the slowest ped-assist bike.

Meanwhile, Vermont legislators say the state’s ebike laws can’t keep up with technical advances leading to ebikes that can easily exceed the state’s 28 mph limit.

………

We mentioned last month that you can, in fact, use an HSA/FSA — Health Savings Account or Flexible Spending Account — to buy an new bicycle or ebike, as well as bike gear, using pretax dollars, resulting in an average savings of 30%.

Now Marvin forwards word that Trumed will be the source you’ll have to use.

He adds,

The reason I really like this is because it supports the middle class. if I was poor, I could get help purchasing an e-bike. If I was rich, I could get help purchasing an EV. Finally, with FSA/HSA benefits, I can finally qualify for something that helps me.

The only downside I see is that no one can establish a new or add to an existing FSA/HSA until Nov 2026.

………

Streets Are For Everyone will hold a die-in on the steps of City Hall this Saturday to protest the unacceptable level of traffic violence in this city.

In 2025 alone, 286 people were killed on our streets — deaths that were preventable.

This Saturday, SAFE and partner nonprofits will gather to honor lives lost and demand action after a decade-old City pledge to eliminate traffic deaths was missed.

4th Annual Die-In for Safer Streets
📍 LA City Hall Steps, 232 N. Spring Street
🕙 Saturday, January 24 | 10:00–11:00 AM

Signing up is appreciated, but walk-ups to the event without signing up are also welcome.

Lives are on the line. Inaction is no longer acceptable.

………

Streets for All invites you to register for all their upcoming mobility debates/discussions this month.

………

Local 

The LA Chinatown Firecracker will be back for the 48th consecutive year on weekend of February 28-March 1, marking the lunar new year with running, walking, bicycling and dog walking events.

Glendale is very slowly moving forward with plans for the Glendale-Los Angeles Garden River Bridge Project, a landscaped bridge, currently in the environmental review stage, connecting with Griffith Park across the LA River.

Santa Monica police will conduct yet another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation tomorrow, as usual, ticketing anyone who commits a violation that endangers either one — even if you’re only endangering yourself, at least in their eyes.

 

State

A San Diego bike shop owner is still trying to cope with Trump’s tariffs, after a near year of uncertainty.

Residents of San Diego’s Pacific Beach neighborhood are calling for safety improvements following the death of six-year old Hudson O’Laughlin, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver as he and his family were riding bikes on the sidewalk — even though all the previous traffic calming measures introduced in recent years were removed following complaints from residents.

A travel website says Northern California’s Forest of Nisene Marks State Park is “a rather secluded and uncrowded haven” for hiking or biking surrounded by towering redwoods.

 

National

A nine-year old Washington State boy got a new bicycle from a local group after his broke down, nominated for his leadership and friendship to others — and he immediately named it for his favorite soccer star.

A Texas family is coping with the grief of losing a baby by attempting a long-distance bike ride to raise funds to support families facing high-risk pregnancies. Although how long they consider long-distance isn’t clear.

That’s more like it. Students, faculty and employees of Cincinnati’s Xavier University can now use the city’s bikeshare system for free.

 

International

Road.cc recommends the year’s best road bikes.

Cyclist offers recommendations on the best insulated water bottles. Which I misread as “the best insulted water bottles,” which would make for a much more interesting article.

Tragic news from Peru, where 29-year old Florian Berg was killed by lightening on Saturday when the German climate activist was caught in a severe thunderstorm in the Andes, after more than a year spent riding around the world.

Next City says Victoria, British Columbia is one of the best bike cities not traditionally known for it, after tripling its rate of bicycling in just 11 years. Although they can’t seem to spell Victoria correctly. Or British, for that matter. 

A Scotsman resigned from the rat race, quitting his high-stress job as a communications director for a renewable energy company for a much calmer career fixing bicycles. As I know all too well after a career in advertising, the problem with the rat race is the rats usually win. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Denmark’s Tobias Lund Andresen outsprinted the sprinters to win the first stage of the Tour Down Under.

Bike Radar asked the pros at the Tour Down Under how to make pro cycling safer, and was told the solution is slower bikes and safer courses.

The first stage of India’s Tour of Pune was temporarily halted due to a crash involving around 30 riders; fortunately, no one was seriously injured, though three riders were forced to withdraw.

French cyclist Simeon Sebastien Green is still competing at twice the age of many his competitors.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you’re a legendary British DJ, and the best bike ride of your life started in West Hollywood. Or when the local golf club is infested with ebikes of the non-bicycle variety.

And waxing eloquent about a blue touring bike bought on an informed impulse — for the equivalent of just 270 bucks.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Killer high & distracted hit-and-run Corona driver could get early release, and a look back at the madcap days of Bicycle Face

January 21, 2026 / / No comments

Evidently, life is cheap in Corona.

The parents of fallen bicyclist Benjamin Montalvo are justifiably angry that the hit-and-run driver who killed their youngest child in 2020 while driving high and distracted could get out of jail after just two and a half years of her nine-year sentence.

Noemi Velado was allegedly texting when she hit the 21-year old man and fled the scene, turning herself in to police days later.

According to KTLA-5,

The couple is now making an appeal to local and state lawmakers to officially designate Velado’s offense as a violent crime, which would require the perpetrator to serve 80% of their sentence.

“When you weaponize your vehicle and you’re texting endlessly and you’re high, that’s a violent crime and it should be treated as such,” Kellie said.

While the Montalvos say they keep their son’s memory alive by speaking out against impaired and distracted driving, they worry that Velado is not fully rehabilitated after such a short amount of time in prison.

Just one more example of how unserious California is about traffic crime.

And why people keep dying on our streets, and drivers keep fleeing afterwards. Because they know it’s not likely to result in more than a slap on the wrist.

And they’re usually right.

………

Now you, too, can suffer from ‘bicycle eye’, ‘bicycle arm’, ‘bicycle elbow’ and/or ‘bicycle heart,’ and other made-up maladies of the Victorian bike boom.

Cycling Weekly looks back at the fads and fallacies of the day, as the Penny Farthings swept the world, allowing men and women to spread their DNA far and wide.

“One of my favourite facts is about what the bicycle did for genetics,” Will Manners, author of Revolution: How the Bicycle Reinvented Modern Britaintold Cycling Weekly. “For people living in rural areas, being able to get around on bicycles expanded the range of marriage partners available to them.”

According to geneticist, Steve Jones, this phenomenon makes the bicycle one of the most important inventions in recent human evolution.

But even more important, it could also clear up your zits in an ancient age before Clearasil.

The crowning glory in an era of ridiculous cycling ailments, ‘bicycle face’ was said to cause serious disfigurement. According to one account in Pearson’s Weekly, C.A. Pearson wrote that ‘bicycle face’ resulted from ‘the constant anxiety, the everlasting looking ahead, the strain on a nervous disposition which imparts a hard, set look to the face, and gives a haggard, anxious expression to the eyes which is quite painful to observe.’

Cycling, however, took a gentler view, writing: ‘we know riders of both sexes who have ridden for lengthy periods… and the only alteration we have ever noted in the countenances of any one of them is that the complexion has invariably been improved.’

It’s a good read, and more than worth a few minutes of your day.

Just be careful that smile doesn’t freeze on your face.

………

Yet another clickbait piece promoting a liability law firm uses 2025 crash data to rank both the safest and most dangerous American cities for bicyclists and pedestrians.

None of which is Los Angeles.

Although it’s no surprise we’re not on the good list.

While the safest cities are spread out across the US, half of the most dangerous ones are clustered in California and Arizona. Add Florida, and it represents three-quarters of the list.

Which is kind of scary to think that just three states make up 75% of the most dangerous cities for bike riders and pedestrians.

And we live in one of them.

………

Congratulations to Streets For All’s Michael Schneider, whose video illustrating the street paving differences between cash-strapped Los Angeles and gilded Beverly Hills was reposted by the New York Post, which never seems to tire of criticizing our (un)fair city.

Then again, we never seem to tire of giving them reasons to.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

An Irish advocacy group complains that Dublin officials can’t seem to find any space for bike lanes while making plans for a street that’s a primary route for the city’s bicycle network.

But sometimes, it’s the people on who wheels behaving badly.

A man in Salt Lake City, Utah, faces a murder charge and seven counts of discharging a firearm for shooting a man in the back, from a second-story window, who he thought was stealing his bicycle. To repeatedly repeat, no bicycle is worth a human life. Register it, put an AirTag in it, and just let the damn thing go and let the cops deal with it, because that’s what they’re paid to do.

A Spanish newspaper gets its knickers in a twist over video of a bicyclist drafting a minivan in the Canary Islands, whose driver seems to be working with him, calling it a very dangerous technique. Even though we’ve all done it. Or is it just me?

………

Local 

Streets For All calls it a Monster Metro meeting tomorrow, as the Metro Board will consider approving a final design for the Sepulveda corridor, and extending the the C-Line to Torrance, while calling for opposition to Metro’s proposed exemption to SB-79 for Los Angeles County.

 

State

A year after the AIDS/LifeCycle bike ride ended after nearly three decades, two new fundraising rides are emerging to take their place, with Cycle to Zero supporting the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and Center Ride Out benefitting LGBTQ centers in Los Angeles, San Diego and Palm Springs/Coachella; it remains to be seen if these rides will combine to raise as much to fight HIV/AIDS.

As if the financially troubled company wasn’t having enough problems already, Rad Power Bikes suffered another blown when a two-story fire destroyed their Huntington Beach store on Saturday.

Security cam video captured a man being chased down and attacked by a group of teens outside San Francisco’s Maritime Museum on Saturday, who beat and robbed him until bystanders stepped in to stop them – all because the man had asked them to slow down.

 

National

The Disco Biscuits announced a West Coast Tour to mark Bicycle Day 2026, the 83rd anniversary of chemist Albert Hofmann’s accidental discovery of the hallucinogenic effects of LSD as he rode his bicycle home. And yes, I’m just juvenile enough to find the whole thing pretty damn funny. 

An Oregon state appellate court says a cop needs more than a “hunch” that a bike was stolen to justify stopping the person riding it, reversing a gun possession charge resulting from the illegal stop.

Police in Austin, Texas can’t find the owner of an $8,000, customized Trek that they believe was stolen. Which is yet another reminder to register your bikes before anything like that happens to you.

Streetsblog calls on new New York Mayor Mamdani to rescind Central Park’s new 15 mph speed limit for bicycles imposed by former Mayor Eric Adams on his way out of office, arguing that it misapplies state law and sets a troubling precedent.

Meanwhile, new data shows that recent improvements for pedestrian crossings have resulted in better safety for people walking in Central Park.

A 17-year old boy surrendered to police, accompanied by his mother, for the December hit-and-run death of a popular Philadelphia, Pennsylvania DJ.

Something to watch for, as the University of Georgia’s College of Public Health has received a nearly quarter of a million dollar grant to study just how safe ebikes really are. Although as always, the question is whether they will differentiate between actual ped-assist bicycles, and electric motorbikes that unfortunately are also called ebikes.

 

International

Road.cc recommends the year’s best all-road bikes for whatever kind of paved or gravel roads you ride.

She gets it. An Irish columnist says bicyclists should be considered “brave”, “hardy”, “efficient” and “considerate” — rather than reckless or inconvenient — in a country that needs as many people as possible to ride to “alleviate traffic congestion, reduce air pollution, improve public health, make urban spaces more liveable, and cut carbon emissions.”

A new study conducted in Bangladesh, India and Ghana shows that increased bicycling could reduce pollution in the global south, home to 49 of the top 50 countries with the most polluted air, yet policies to improve safety and promote bicycling are far less common in low- and middle-income countries than in the wealthy north.

In a deeply disturbing story from India, a man was beaten to death, and several members of his family injured, when they objected when a woman in their family was struck by a member of another clan riding a bicycle; the other family attacked the victims with sticks and iron rods after the dispute escalated into an argument.

Bike Radar lists eleven Chinese bicycling brands you probably aren’t familiar with, but should be, as quality and innovation become more competitive with Western brands.

Japanese cops will stop giving warnings and start fining people for bicycling violations, with fines up to ¥12,000 — the equivalent of roughly $76 — for distracted bike riding.

 

Competitive Cycling

It could be a balmy 105° Fahrenheit for this week’s Tour Down Under, as Cycling Weekly asks how hot is too hot for bike racing?

Twenty-four-year old British cyclist Samuel Watson won the prologue of the Tour Down Under yesterday, through the INEOS Grenadiers rider opted for black shorts, instead of the team’s highly criticized beige/white kit.

 

Finally…

Your next cleats could save your floors and stop scaring the dog.

And that feeling when you can pedal guitar.

Or something.

Nice beat, easy to dance to. I give it a 95.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Press conference today with arrested DIY crosswalk painter, and European train definitions exclude disability bikes

January 20, 2026 / / No comments

Welcome back from the three-day King Day holiday weekend.

I hope your weekend was better than mine, and you got to ride in that perfect January weather, while the rest of the country froze their asses off.

As for me, I spent every night of the weekend writing about a fallen bike rider, including a six-year old kid killed by a hit-and-run driver in front of his parents in Pacific Beach.

I still haven’t recovered emotionally from writing about that one, and can’t even imagine what they’re going through.

Let’s hope this week is a little better. Okay, a lot better.

………

Streets Are For Everyone will host a public press conference at 1 pm today at Kelton Ave and Wilkins Ave in Westwood with founder Damian Kevitt and Jonny Hale of People’s Vision Zero, who went viral when he was arrested for trying to paint a DIY crosswalk when the city wouldn’t.

A press release promoting the event quotes Kevitt as saying,

“The people of Los Angeles want safer roads; they are begging for them. The City has the tools to save lives, but it’s so mired down in bureaucracy, legal red-tape, and fighting lawsuits that it actively prevents simple and effective ways to make roads safer.”

It also quotes Hale,

“We’re not gonna paint every residential intersection, but the same processes that make it hard for us to make roads safer, make it hard for city workers to do their jobs. The city should address this and prioritize street safety and infrastructure.”

Vision Zero failed in this city as much because of the city’s endless bureaucracy as it did for a lack of vision and commitment.

I know it’s the last minute, but maybe a good turnout for this will put some pressure on city officials to do something, or get the hell out of the way and let us do it.

No one should ever go to jail for trying to save lives.

………

Megan writes to complain that European train operators agreed to a common definition of what is a bicycle to be allowed onto trains.

But as usual, failed to consider adaptive bikes and nontraditional bicycles used as mobility devices by disabled passengers.

Unfortunately, once more the absence of diversely disabled people in “the room where it happens” results in continued inequity.

So while this seems to be a compromise, but improvement on the old rules for abled bicyclists, it’s not as good for those riding other types of cycles, particularly disabled people (many of whom need handcycles, trikes, and bikes with seats rather than saddles).

Some will retort this is a compromise and they’ll continue working on it, but (1) I bet they won’t continue working on accessibility & inclusion issues because (2) they probably aren’t working on getting disabled cyclists into the decision making areas of cycle and train advocacy.

And part of the point is that abled cyclists don’t have to do as much work to get answers nor to “prove” their needs.

………

Streets For All will host a mobility discussion with city council candidate Faizah Malik, who is challenging CD11 Councilmember Traci Park, on Monday.

………

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton demonstrates the danger of slip lanes.

This week’s video ventures onto a porkchop to cross a dangerous #SlipLane

— Streetsblog L.A. (@streetsblogla.bsky.social) 2026-01-15T19:01:54.873Z

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A Florida cop faces charges for tackling a teenager off his bicycle at a local skate park.

Maybe the reason Edinburgh bike riders don’t use the bike lane just might have something to do with the parked cars encroaching on it.

But sometimes, it’s the people on who wheels behaving badly.

Police in San Francisco are looking for a group of bicycle-riding teens who attacked a man who told them to slow down, and was forced to flee for his safety.

………

Local 

Metro will hold a public meeting to discuss the recently released Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Los Angeles River Path Project to close the gap through DTLA, at the Lincoln Heights Community Center this Wednesday.

Speaking of Metro, Michael Schneider explains why Metro has so much trouble doing anything for anyone who’s not in a car, including not pursuing bus lanes because it’s just too hard.

About damn time. Santa Monica will use AI-powered cams mounted on parking enforcement vehicles to enforce drivers blocking bike lanes. I met with various Santa Monica police chiefs multiple times over the past 30 years to complain about blocked bike lanes in the city, only to be told there was nothing illegal about it. 

 

State

You may never get to ride in Copenhagen, but California could be the next best thing, since a petition to sell California to Denmark has now drawn over 280,000 signatures.

Oceanside could be the next California city to restrict ebikes, with a new ordinance allowing police to seize ebikes from reckless riders, or anyone who has gotten two or more ebike violations in 12 months. Once again conflating electric motorbikes with ped-assist ebikes. 

 

National

The New York Times remembers Cannondale founder Joe Montgomery, crediting him as the man who made bicycles lighter by switching from steel to aluminum frames.

Gadget Review considers six cutting-edge bicycle inventions that they say actually deliver.

A Massachusetts man talks with public radio about riding 46,0000 miles across six continents, with no intention of stopping now.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed the nation’s strictest ebike bill on his way out the door, requiring registration, licensing and insurance for all electric bikes, while doing away with the three-tier system most states use to classify them. And once again, lumping ped-assist bikes into the same bucket as electric motorbikes.

Bicyclists in Asheville NC are pushing for safer streets in the wake of a collision that killed two men riding bicycles and injured another, when a garbage truck driver drifted onto the wrong side of the road.

That’s more like it. A 35-year old Florida woman agreed to a nine-year sentence for a 2022 hit-and-run crash that killed a 56-year old man riding a bicycle, knocking his body off a bridge and into the river below where he had to be recovered by a Coast Guard crew.

Florida authorities were able to rescue a lost bike rider who had gone off trail by tracing the GPS on his phone, and relaying it to rescuers. Which is a good reminder to always take your phone with you. 

 

International

Momentum says bicycles are the perfect antidote for the winter blues.

MMA lightweight contender Justin Gaethje is one of us, confessing he didn’t do his best in his last title shot after crashing his bicycle just 18 days before the bout.

An 83-year old English man has no intention of quitting, after working at the same bike shop since he was just 15.

Lime has been ordered to pay a London business owner the equivalent of more than $10,000 after he seized Lime Bikes that had been left on his property, then charged the company storage fees to hold onto them.

 

Competitive Cycling

The iconic Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race has banned drop handlebars, ruling that all competitors must use flat or riser handlebars, although Cycling Weekly says it won’t actually make riders any safer.

Mountain Bike Action profiles two-time US National Champ and World Cup podium finisher Anna Newkirk, calling her America’s rising star in women’s downhill racing.

American Matteo Jorgenson will skip the defense of his Paris-Nice title to become the new wingman for Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour de France.

British sprinter Vicky Williamson announced her retirement at 32, despite struggling back from a crash that left her with a broken neck and back, dislocated pelvis and a slipped a disc that knocked her out of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

 

Finally…

Who needs a helmet on your head when you’ve got an airbag in your shorts? That feeling when you can’t get a new part for your kid’s bike because the bikemaker is too busy conducting inventory.

And if you’re going to flee from the cops on your bike, make sure you’ve got a good chain on it first.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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