My apologies.
I’ve spent most of Tuesday flat on my back after an apparent bad reaction to one of my diabetes meds.
I’ll do my best to be back on Thursday, assuming my head and stomach settle down.
Secrecy in Ethan Boyes death, DEA agent killed Oregon bike rider, and dangerous conditions on new SaMo bike lanes
My apologies if you received an incomplete, premature version of this post, after I inadvertently hit the Post button.
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Two month’s later, the driver who killed Master’s cycling champ and world record holder Ethan Boyes in San Francisco’s Presidio National Park has still not been identified.
And federal officials are being unusually tight-lipped about the case.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a medical examiner’s report obtained through a public records request shows officials suspected his killer was under the influence at the time of the crash.
But there’s no word on whether the driver was tested, or whether he or she has been or will be charged with a crime.
The story also confirms that Boyes was wearing a helmet, which was shattered by the force of the impact, and that he died of multiple head and body injuries, suggesting he was hit at a high rate of speed.
Yet the ongoing secrecy raises inevitable questions of just who the driver was, and why the government is taking so long to release any information.
Photo by Artyom Kulakov from Pexels.
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Speaking of federal coverups, officials in Salem, Oregon kept in close contact with officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration after one of their agents killed Salem, Oregon woman as she rode her bike in March.
The local police went so far as to allow officials with the DEA to review a press release before it was given to the media, and secretly forwarded photographic evidence to the DEA.
Yet officials kept information about the crash from the public, despite appearing to be an open book to the feds, even though it was their own employee who was under investigation.
While there’s a case to be made for allowing the DEA to keep the identity of an agent under wraps, any further involvement in the investigation would in inappropriate under any circumstances.
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Mitchell Guzik writes to warn bike riders of dangerous conditions on Ocean Ave in Santa Monica, after he took a bad fall when he struck a newly installed curb, saying construction work that closed the bike lane means there’s no safe place to ride.
The street recently received a new curb protecting the two-way bike lane, but it doesn’t do any good if the bike lane is closed.
Although Guzik reports some people were riding in the closed bike lane anyway.
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The West Hollywood Bike Coalition will hold its monthly meeting tomorrow.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
No bias here. A news site lists the dangers of ebikes, including a lack of licensing and registration, implying that they somehow should be.
No bias here, either. A La Jolla website suggests Encinitas residents are up in arms over the removal of parking spaces near Swami’s Beach to build bike paths and a walkway on the Coast Highway — even though the project actually adds 50 spaces a short walk away.
Australian bicyclists aren’t the least bike surprised by new research showing drivers see people wearing bike helmets and spandex as less than human. Thanks to Geri for the heads-up.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A London bike rider needed extensive surgery for a broken jaw after he crashed into a young girl walking in a crosswalk — not because he was injured in the crash, but because someone walked up to him afterwards and punched him in the face.
Several British bike riders were charged the equivalent of $625 in fines and fees after illegally riding their bikes through a pedestrian zone.
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Local
Torrance has backed out of an agreement with Redondo Beach to build a network of bike paths throughout South Bay, after receiving opposition to a plan for a short connector bike path on Diamond Street, which will now stop at the city limit between the two cities.
State
Sadly, no surprise here, as Black residents of San Diego are four times more likely to be stopped by police while walking or biking as white people.
San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties are looking forward to the arrival of over 2,000 bicyclists later this week participating in the annual AIDS/LifeCycle fundraising ride between San Francisco and Los Angeles; the ride is raising $11.7 million for HIV and AIDS services in the two cities.
This is who we share the road with. A Bay Area man faces multiple charges for a South Bay crime rampage that included a series of carjackings, stabbings and deadly collisions across several cities and neighborhoods, leaving three people dead and five others injured.
National
PeopleForBikes offers the second part of a three-part series on the 15 best arguments to advocate for bikes and counteract anti-bike lane activists at your next public meeting; you can read part one here, while part three will be released tomorrow.
It could be a good time to shop for a bike, as American bike shops face a glut of bicycles as demand softens, except for gravel bikes and ebikes. Meanwhile, Axios offers advice on how to pick the right ebike with your rebate, assuming you can get one.
It turns out it was kindhearted Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Terron Armstead who donated a $5,500 ebike to a 14-year old St. Louis boy who walked two hours to attend his middle school graduation; the boy’s grandfather, who is raising the boy and his five siblings after their mother died, also received a new minivan from a local car dealer.
This is who we share the road with, too. A Missouri woman faces charges for the stoned crash that killed four motorcyclists on Saturday, including a 17-year old girl, when she jumped the center line and hit a group of ten motorcycle riders head-on after taking several anti-psychotic meds just hours before the crash.
A 15-year old Chicago boy took the stand to testify against a former police sergeant accused of pinning him down after falsely accusing him of stealing a bicycle.
A 26-year old man faces charges after swerving into a group of pedestrians and bike riders in New York’s Gramercy Park while allegedly under the influence, killing a 23-year old man and injuring three other people, one critically, while destroying two ebikes; the driver had a blood alcohol level of .08, just over the legal limit.
After Raleigh, North Carolina’s self-proclaimed “No-Hands King” disappeared from the streets, a reporter discovers he was busted for selling a half ounce of crack cocaine out of the back of his SUV; he was famed locally for riding shirtless, with nor hands, on one wheel of a cruiser bike festooned with American flags.
International
British Columbia’s new ebike rebate program received 12,000 applications within the first 24 hours; only the first 4,000 people with get a rebate now, while the other 8,000 will be waitlisted.
Unbelievable. Life is cheap in New Brunswick, Canada, where a 25-year old woman was sentenced to one year home vacation detention for the hit-and-run death of a 62-year old man — but she can leave home for work or school, to care for her daughter or go to medical appointments, or just run errands for four hours every Saturday. Meanwhile, her victim received the death penalty for the crime of riding a bicycle.
English bicyclists planned to take over all lanes of a major highway to demand a separate bikeway between two towns, while asking participants to leave their Lycra at home to demonstrate that the purpose of the bikeway would be for transportation, not for sport.
Life is cheap in the UK, where a 26-year old driver won’t spend a day behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that left a 10-year old girl with serious injuries when he jumped a red light, and slammed into her as she rode her bike home — and faced the equivalent of just over $1,100 in restitution.
Britain bikemaker and online retailer Planet X is going belly up, and will be dissolved in the country’s equivalent to bankruptcy court.
A British three-time cycling world record holder plans a 3,000-mile ride around the circumference of the country on a handmade bamboo bike to call attention to the climate crisis.
Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety agency recommended that residents of the country cope with rising gas prices by taking to their bicycles.
Competitive Cycling
A Danish triathlete relates what happened in the crash that killed a race moto driver during a German Ironman last weekend, explaining the victim hit a triathlete head-on in a section where competitors where riding in both directions on the roadway at speeds up to 30 mph.
The Netherland’s Mathieu van der Poel returns to racing after a two-month layoff, with plans to compete in the Tour de France, and both road and mountain biking at the world championships.
Finally…
Probably not the best idea to lead cops on a bike chase when you’re already wanted to failing to appear. When you’re riding your ebike carrying a meth pipe, it may not be the best idea to lead cops on a chase after threatening people with a knife.
And it’s definitely not the best idea to lead police on a wild two-and-a-half minute bicycle chase, before dropping your bike and violently confronting officers.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
Category: Morning Links / Tags: bicycling, bicycling fatalities, coverups, DEA, Ethan Boyes, Los Angeles, National Park Service, Ocean Blvd, Presidio, protected bike lanes, Salem Oregon, San Francisco, Santa Monica
Person riding bike killed in a possible South LA hit-and-run Sunday night; few details available
Once again, a bike rider may have been killed in a hit-and-run.
And once again, we know almost nothing.
KTLA-5 reported late last night that someone riding a bicycle appeared to have been struck by a driver at South Central and East Florence Avenues in South LA around 8 pm Sunday.
The victim, described only as a possible minor, died at the scene. The station reports a bicycle was lying on the sidewalk afterwards, next to a tent in the street covering the victim’s body.
Unfortunately, that’s about all we know.
There’s no word on how he may have been killed, or any description of a possible suspect.
Assuming this was a hit-and-run, there is a standing $50,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the driver for any hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles.
This is at least the 19th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the eighth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County; four of those have been in the City of Los Angeles.
It’s also the eighth fatal hit-and-run involving a SoCal bike rider this year.
Category: General / Tags: bicycling fatality, hit-and-run, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, South LA
No Chatsworth COLT ride this year, a mea culpa on Friday’s SB 50 post, and Los Angeles Times goes gravel grinding
Let’s start with something that’s not happening.
For the last several years, the Chatsworth Neighborhood Council has held a community ride celebrating the Orange Line Bike Path, called Ride the COLT — aka Chatsworth Orange Line Tour.
It usually happens right around now; last year, on June 12th.
But this year, not so much.
In response to a question from J. Barrios, I reached out to the Chatsworth NC to ask about this year’s ride, and was told there was nothing planned at this time.
I was also told that could change, so there may be hope.
But I wouldn’t hold your breathe.
Photo by Michael Gaida from Pixabay.
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Sometimes I get it wrong.
That may have been the case Friday when I wrote about SB 50, which would ban police from stopping motorists and bike riders for minor offenses, in an effort to prevent pretext stops.
But a comment from someone calling themselves An Observer suggests my understanding of the bill was off base.
Your presumption that SB 50, if enacted, would prohibit “stops for failing to register a bicycle, or rolling through a stop sign or riding salmon” isn’t correct.
The former is already prohibited; Cal. Veh. Code § 39002, as amended by last year’s AB 1909, says that cities or counties “shall not prohibit the operation of an unlicensed bicycle.”
The latter two wouldn’t be affected by SB 50, in which the definition of “low-level infraction” is limited by reference to two sections of the Vehicle Code relating to bicycle equipment and helmets; it wouldn’t cover violations related to bicycle operation in general:
“(E) A violation related to bicycle equipment or operation in Sections 21201 and 21212.”
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB50
Peace officers would still be allowed to stop bicyclists for other violations, including Cal. Veh. Code § 22450 (stop signs), § 21202 (right-hand curb or edge), or for that matter, §§ 22107–22111 (hand signals for turning and stopping).
So it may offer much less protection to bike riders, particularly people of color, than I thought.
Mea culpa.
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The Los Angeles Times writes about gravel cycling, with 11 spots for grinding it out around the LA area.
And they talk with our old friend Zachary Rynew, the voice behind the Gravel Bike California videos we frequently share on here.
Zachary Rynew is a longtime Los Angeles cycling advocate who runs the website Gravel Bike California, which details numerous gravel rides in the region. He has been pedaling two-wheelers since he was in grade school and says riding on gravel roads takes him back to when he was a kid. It also makes navigating L.A. more efficient. “I was commuting from the San Fernando Valley to UCLA and cut my driving time in half by doing gravel and going through Fryman Canyon Park, then Franklin Canyon,” he said.
Southern California, Rynew believes, has a ton of off-road opportunities. “You can make your own adventure on gravel in the Santa Monica Mountains to the San Gabriels and in the hills above Redlands and Chino,” he said. “I love the versatility around here.”
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The East Side Riders are hosting a community meeting in Watts tonight.
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Turn out next Sunday to help make Ballona Creek more rideable.
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Caltrans is conducting a survey on road safety; Streets For All offers suggested responses to demand safer streets.
Meanwhile, the California state transportation agency has launched a new traffic safety campaign for the state, where someone is killed on our streets every two hours.
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More proof that plastic car-tickler bendie-posts don’t really protect anything.
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Bicycling says the trailer for the new Netflix docuseries about the Tour de France just dropped, “and it’s intense.” Read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
No bias here. Slate interviews Oregon Representative Earl Blumenauer, calling him the “biggest bike dork in Congress.”
Police in Cincinnati cited a bike rider for riding salmon after he was struck by a driver, even though he was only riding in the bike lane on the wrong side of the street because the other side was blocked by a construction project.
A half dozen pro-car protestors blocked a Toronto bike lane to demand its removal, forcing riders out into rush hour traffic
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A 29-year old man was shot by police and arrested after engaging in a running gun battle as he fled a traffic stop on his bicycle; he was booked on charges of attempted murder of a peace officer, several weapons-related charges and outstanding warrants after being released from the hospital.
A London writer complains about dockless bikeshare bikes carelessly strewn across the sidewalks by unthinking riders, calling them Lime Slime.
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Local
Speaking of Streets For All, the transportation PAC reminds us to comment on the LA County Master Bicycle Plan.
Streetsblog says LA’s BLAST initiative to quickly build bike lanes has failed to launch. Which really shouldn’t surprise anyone, since it was started under the Garcetti administration, similar to other failed projects like Vision Zero and the mayor’s Green New Deal.
Los Angeles firefighters used a helicopter to rescue a 47-year old mountain biker who suffered a severe ankle fracture when he fell from a remote section of the Haines Canyon Motorway in the San Gabriel Mountain foothills Sunday afternoon.
State
A San Diego bike rider was hospitalized with a head injury after they were run down by a hit-and-run driver; fortunately, the injuries weren’t considered serious, and police located the driver shortly after the crash. No word on whether the driver was arrested, however.
CalFire used a helicopter to rescue a mountain biker who fell in a remote area while riding Chula Vista’s Sweetwater River trail.
The Fresno Dollar General worker caught on security cam video running down an alleged shoplifter as he made his getaway on a bike says she has been fired, insisting she didn’t mean to hit him with her car. Even though that’s exactly what she did.
A Palo Alto editor says adding protected bike lanes to El Camino Real is a bad idea, questioning whether they would protect school kids from getting hit by motor vehicles, and whether removing parking spaces would hurt small businesses. Studies have repeatedly shown that protected bike lanes improve safety for everyone on the street, including pedestrians. And that bike lanes, particularly protected bike lanes, are good for businesses, large or small.
Over 2,000 bicyclists set off Sunday on the seven day, 545-mile AIDS/LifeCycle fundraising ride from San Francisco to LA; the ride will end in Los Angeles this Saturday.
A pair of Lodi men are headed across the US on a fundraising ride, three decades after one of the men, a high school geography teacher and track coach, made the same trip on a whim with two friends.
National
The best Apple Watch features to try on your next bike ride. Assuming you have one, that is.
Architectural Digest says a few simple design changes — like safe bike lanes and bicycle garages — can radically cut travel emissions in the US.
Honolulu bike riders offer suggestions to improve the city’s sketchy intersections.
A Portland bike rider commends the kindness and caring he experienced from bystanders and medical personnel when he crashed his bike riding through an intersection, dislocating his shoulder.
Flagstaff, Arizona bike advocates accuse the city of slow walking bike safety improvements.
A 62-year old e-mountain biker died after being found unresponsive on a Utah golf course, where he apparently crashed while riding through a bunker.
Nice story from St. Louis, where a 14-year old boy with sickle cell anemia was given a new ebike after he walked six miles to attend his 8th grade graduation, while his grandfather, who takes care of him and his six brothers and sisters after their mother died, was given a new $40,000 minivan by a local car dealer.
A member of a Chicago-area school board was killed when she was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding her bike in Highland Park.
She gets it. A Boston University instructor says bike-friendly cities should be designed for everyone, not just wealthy white riders.
Brompton has fittingly opened a micro-bike shop in Brooklyn, at just 70 square feet. Apparently they couldn’t figure out how to make a folding one.
An Alabama writer complains about a recent report that ranked four cities in the state near the bottom for bikeability for the nation’s 200 biggest cities, with Mobile in the penultimate worst position, just ahead of Jackson, Mississippi.
International
The Guardian offers advice on how to score a good deal on a new or used bike.
Wallpaper looks at the year’s best designed ebikes, ranging in price from around $1,600 to nearly $18,000.
Vancouver bike riders held a funeral procession, complete with hearse and coffin, to mourn the recently removed bike lane through the city’s Stanley Park.
British Columbia is the latest city, state or province to introduce an ebike rebate program, with income-based rebates between $300 and $1,400; over 8,000 people signed up for the waitlist in the first 24 hours.
The Havana Times offers a sepia-toned photo essay of bicycling in the city.
A London man needed multiple surgeries after he was severely beaten by a hooded gang that bikejacked his $15,000 Specialized bicycle, leaving him with a broken jaw, collarbone and scapula, and several missing teeth.
Cycling Weekly admires a 1980s British-made Allin roadie, which is absolutely gorgeous.
A bicycle played a key role in the first 24-Hours of Le Mans when a Bentley suffered a punctured gas tank; after the driver ran three miles to the pits, his co-driver borrowed a bike from a gendarme, rode salmon back to the stalled car and plugged the hole with a wooden bung, before eventually finishing fourth.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo is one of us, briefly losing consciousness when he fell off his bike while riding with his son. And yes, he was wearing a helmet.
An Indian writer marks last Saturday’s World Bicycle Day with detailed advice on how to ride a bike with diabetes. You, that is, not the bike.
Don’t try this at home. An Austrian judo Olympian will attempt to scale K2 on a bicycle; she’ll be riding up the world’s second highest mountain at 28251 feet.
An Australian couple have been together for over 30 years after meeting during a long-distance bike ride.
Popular Aussie bicycling photographer David Blucher is learning to walk again, six months after a mountain biker lost control at the bottom of a run, hitting him at full speed in a crash he can’t even remember.
Competitive Cycling
American pro Keegan Swenson outsprinted Czech rider Petr Vakoč to win this year’s Unbound Gravel, with Lachlan Morton third; Swenson’s win made up for last year, when he was out sprinted for the win.
Carolin Schiff dropped the competition like freshman English, sweeping to a mud-soaked 60-mile solo breakaway to win the women’s Unbound Gravel by a remarkable 15-minutes over second place finisher Sofia Gomez Villafane, with Sarah Sturm in third.
France’s Arnaud Demare won the 103rd Brussels Cycling Classic in a close sprint, following a 23-man breakaway that managed to stay ahead of the remainder of the peloton.
A 70-year old man was killed when his race motorcycle collided head-on with a competitor in a German triathlon, while the bicycle rider suffered severe injuries, and a camera operator on the back of the motorcycle was treated for shock. Yet another example of why race motos should be banned from bike races.
Road.cc says pro cycling needs to ditch its obsession with “hardness.”
Finally…
Who needs pedals when you have solar power? Your next roadie could retail for north of fifteen grand.
And where to shop when you’re in the market for “Strappy Cycling Culottes.” Or maybe just one of the world’s most expensive bikes.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
Category: Morning Links / Tags: bicycling, Chatsworth, Gravel Bike California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times, pretext stops, Ride the COLT, SB 50
Man may have died from medical emergency riding bike in Griffith Park Friday morning, or possibly while hiking
A man died from an apparent medical emergency while riding his bike in Griffith Park Friday morning.
Or maybe not.
The victim was riding, or possibly hiking, on or near a trail at Vista Del Valley Drive around 8:40 am when he went into severe medical distress.
Paramedics responding to the 2600 block of North Commonwealth attempted to revive him, providing “intensive, advanced life-saving care.” But he was already beyond medical help and died at the scene.
The victim was identified only as a man around 50 years old.
One way or the other, it’s tragic news, whether or not he was riding a bike.
Bill banning pretext police bike stops passes state Senate, Pride Rides roll this weekend, and happy National Donut Day
Pretext stops could soon be a thing of the past.
The California Globe is reporting that SB 50, which would prevent police from issuing tickets for low-level violations, has narrowly passed the California state Senate.
The bill would ban police stops for a number of violations, such as vehicle registration or wrongly positioned license plates.
It would also prohibit stops for bicycle equipment or operations — which presumably means no more stops for failing to register a bicycle, or rolling through a stop sign or riding salmon.
While the safety effects of that can be argued, the idea is to prevent minor violations from being used as a pretext to stop motorists or bike riders to search for evidence of more serious infractions, which have unfairly targeted Black and brown bike riders in the past.
Los Angeles revoked its bike licensing law after city officials learned it was being used by the LAPD as an excuse to stop and search people of color as they rode their bikes.
And the Los Angeles Times has reported that seven out of every ten bike riders stopped by LA County Sheriff’s deputies were Latinos, who complained of police harassment that prevented some from riding their bikes.
Then there was the killing of South LA bike rider Dijon Kizzee, who was shot 15 times by sheriff’s deputies after he dropped a gun while attempting to flee from a traffic stop for riding salmon.
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A couple of Pride Rides will roll this weekend, with one in Culver City tomorrow, and and another heading to the WeHo Pride Parade on Sunday.
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Streets For All is hosting a fundraiser and community ride in Venice this Sunday.
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This is who we share the road with.
A 21-year old Florida woman was lucky to survive with serious injuries when she drove up the ramp of a tow truck stopped for another crash, then went airborne for over 100 feet before her car tumbled end-over-end.
But by all means, tell me again about that bike rider who rolled a stop sign.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
Police in Turlock are looking for whoever is responsible for a series of drive-by paintball attacks targeting bike riders and pedestrians; the mother of one of the victims alleges the paintballs are being frozen to inflict more serious injuries.
A 39-year old Albuquerque man faces murder and hit-and-run charges, accused of intentionally running down a man riding a bicycle following an argument between the two men; he was already on pretrial release for a pair of drug charges.
A Scottish driver faces charges for allegedly flipping off a 60-year old man before pushing him off his bicycle, apparently for the crime of riding in the street, or maybe just being on the planet; the defense tried to claim the victim intentionally swerved his bike into the car, evidently assuming we all enjoy pain.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A London bike rider calls for the hit-and-run “MAMIL” — aka Middle Aged Man In Lycra — who left him unconscious following a bike-on-bike crash to be arrested, named and shamed.
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Local
Streets For All reminds us to take the SCAG survey we mentioned recently — that’s the Southern California Association of Governments, representing the six SoCal counties north of San Diego County — to set priorities for regional governments.
Speaking of Streets For All, the transportation safety PAC urges you to tell LADOT you’re on board with extending the LA River bike path to the edge of Griffith Park, which would provide the first legal way to exit the pathway at Forrest Lawn Drive. And presumably enter it there, as well.
State
The Bike League is out with their latest list of 45 new and renewing Bicycle Friendly Communities; the only California cities on the list are Coronado, Solano Beach and Chula Vista, each of which renewed their previous status.
Santa Cruz County officials approved plans to encourage more bike riding with a voucher program offering $800 off the purchase price of an ebike, and $1,200 for a cargo or adaptive e-bike; the program also includes a $300 voucher for regular bicycles.
Police in Concord are looking for the hit-and-run driver who critically injured a 39-year old man riding a bicycle Wednesday night.
Two couples were injured when they were trapped under a construction fence while riding on a Berkeley bike path, after the fence was apparently toppled by the wind.
National
Outside launched their new Velo website yesterday, with a focus on roadies, gravel, ebikes, urban bicycling and the catchall, news.
They get it. The Atlantic writes that President Biden is ignoring the dangers of “Mega-EVs,” adding that environmental hype is crowding out any concern for people outside the vehicle. However, you won’t be able to read more than a few paragraphs without a subscription.
German bike tire brand Schwalbe has opened a program to recycle inner tubes at select bike shops around the US.
If you miss your childhood Beatles lunchbox, you can slake your Fab Four urge with a new line of Beatles-themed State bikes and gear — including an Abbey Roadie.
In a refreshing change, an Idaho sheriff reminds bike riders they don’t have to stop for stop signs, and don’t need to wear a helmet, even if it is a good idea.
An Iowa woman facing charges for the alleged drunken hit-and-run that killed two women walking on a bike path — yes, a bike path — and seriously injuring another man now faces additional charges for assaulting another woman in a jail brawl.
A Michigan court has postponed the trial of a woman accused of the drugged-driving crash that killed two people and injured three others; 43-year old Mandy Marie Benn allegedly plowed her car into a group of bicyclists participating in a charity ride last summer.
A Richmond, Kentucky woman has been hosting bikepackers riding the 4,200-mile Transamerican Bike Trail for the last nine years through the Warm Showers website.
New York apparently caved to drivers who didn’t want to be inconvenienced by a planned bike boulevard, backing off the most aggressive plan to remake the street.
A Tallahassee, Florida man who uses his bike as his only form of transportation after suffering a TBI 25 years ago has topped 405,143 other bicyclists using the Strava app by riding 5,000 miles during May’s National Bike Month.
International
Don’t forget that Saturday is World Bicycle Day.
Fortune cites experts warning that we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ebike injuries, as riders reach speeds they wouldn’t be able to on a regular bike. Although at least some of the rise in bike injury rates can be attributed to the rapid rise in ebike use; it would be far more accurate and useful to compare ebike injury rates to injury rates on regular bikes.
Someone stole a Vancouver ghost bike, then returned it two weeks later with no explanation following a public outcry.
In an unusually intelligent move, an English active travel organization will now be consulted on any housing development consisting of more than 150 units.
He gets it. A Glasgow writer says no one owns the roads, and we all pay for them whether we walk, bike or drive.
This is who we share the road with, too. A music producer and heiress to the banking Rothschild fortune will have to find another way to get around for awhile, after being banned from driving for six months because a woman on a bicycle spotted her illegally using her phone while driving. Although she can probably afford an Uber. Or a chauffeured limo, for that matter.
Bike-friendly Amsterdam announced a winner in the city’s Tunnelvisionair competition to create ways to make the city’s “scary, drab and sinister” bike tunnels more inviting.
A Nigerian professor writes that bicycling could be a boon for densely populated Lagos, but it’s being held back by a lack of safe infrastructure, personal fears over safety, and an attitude that rich people drive and poor people ride bikes.
Australia’s Tasmania state announced a $1.2 million incentive plan to encourage people to buy ebikes, e-scooters or EVs, though they still have to determine what form it will take.
Competitive Cycling
Twenty-five-year old Belgian pro Julian Mertens has been placed in an artificial coma following successful spinal surgery, after he suffered multiple injuries in a serious crash while training in Belgium Wednesday.
Bicycling says you can stream the Critérium du Dauphiné, which they term the Mini Tour de France, by subscribing to the Peacock network for $4.99 a month, or $9.99 for ad-free service. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.
Volunteers from a US Army base helped out with the penultimate stage of Japan’s largest international bicycle race, the Tour of Japan.
The Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame introduced its latest class of inductees, including California gravel race organizer Miguel Crawford, and former pro cyclist and TBI researcher Allison Tetrick.
Shamefully, WorldTour Team Bahrain Victorious has signed 21-year old Italian cyclist Antonio Tiberi, the former Trek-Segafredo rider who was let go after he tested his new rifle by shooting a neighbor’s cat, claiming he somehow didn’t think shooting it would kill it.
No surprise here, as fake accounts are popping up on Twitter purporting to represent bike races, attempting to scam you out of your money and personal information.
Finally…
Now you, too, can buy your very own ebike conversion kit for the price of some ebikes. Your next bike could be painted in liquid gold — but presumably not the wood care product.
And happy National Donut Day, which should be considered a religious holiday for bicyclists.
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Thanks again to Matthew R for his generous monthly donation to support this site, and keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.
Donations of any amount are always welcome and appreciated, regardless of reason. Or frequency.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
Category: Morning Links / Tags: bicycling, group rides, Los Angeles, police bias, pretext stops, Pride Month, SB 50
County completes work to expand beachfront bike path to Palisades, and speed cam pilot passes state Assembly
County officials celebrated the completion of separated bike and pedestrian pathways on the beachfront Marvin Braude Bike Trail.
But it could have been so much more.
The project extended the parallel walking and biking pathways through Will Rogers State Park, creating a continuous 22-mile separated pathway along the beach from Pacific Palisades to Torrance.
As long as you don’t count the section that was bizarrely routed through a Redondo Beach parking garage, where bike riders are expected to dismount and walk their bikes.
But it didn’t have to end in Pacific Palisades.
Thirteen years ago, Los Angeles officials revived a proposal to extend the bike path two miles north to Malibu, where separate bike and pedestrian paths would be built into the rip rock along the coast to get around the private tennis club at the north end of the state beach.
The proposal would have allowed safe bike access to and from Malibu for beach visitors and tourists alike. Along with the added benefit of allowing bike riders to bypass the dangerously narrow section of PCH leading into Malibu.
Unfortunately, it was killed by opposition from a group of influential LA bike activists who balked at the project’s $30 million price tag, worried the optics of spending that much on a bike path would increase opposition to other bike projects.
Even though the city officials would have sought state and federal grants to pay for it, so it would cost the city little or nothing.
And even though it would take considerably more to build it today, with the price tag increasing with every passing year.
But it would have been done by now. And it would have been wonderful.
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I still can’t seem to embed tweets.
So you’ll have to settle for a screenshot of this announcement from Walk San Francisco celebrating the passage of AB 645, which will allow a speed cam pilot program in six California cities, including Los Angeles, Glendale and Long Beach.
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The World Cycling Alliance reminds us to celebrate World Bicycle Day this Saturday.
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A new documentary about America’s only remaining Tour de France winner opens in theaters June 23rd, setting out the cyclist’s “setbacks and triumphant comeback.”
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
More proof we’re damned if we do, and damned if we don’t, as a road raging British driver loses it because the bike rider in front of him stopped at a red light.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A British man is calling for the hit-and-run salmon bike rider who knocked him unconscious in a bicyclist-on-bicyclist crash to turn himself in; the victim gained fame as the owner of an uninhabited Scottish island featured by the BBC.
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Local
CicLAvia returns to South Los Angeles on Father’s Day, June 18th, with a 6.2-mile route along Vermont Ave between Exposition and Century Blvds; the route is easily accessible via the Metro Expo (E) Line.
An unscientific survey of over 4,300 Angelenos from LAist shows concerns over homelessness and housing affordability dwarfs everything else, including infrastructure and transportation.
The Eastsider reports work is back on track for the highly flawed $80 million redesign of the landmark Glendale-Hyperion bridge, which will include bike lanes, but forces pedestrians to cross four lanes of traffic to get to the single sidewalk; work was supposed to begin in 2020, but was delayed by the pandemic.
Streetsblog visits the dangerously substandard, three-foot wide De Soto Avenue bike lane, two-thirds of which is in the gutter.
State
California Streetsblog says Smart Growth America’s new Complete Streets report raises the bar with strong and effective policies that lay the groundwork for safer streets for everyone.
Both drivers and bike riders are complaining about a construction project to add bike lanes and reverse-angled parking along PCH in Encinitas; the city’s mayor encourages everyone to wait until it’s done, when he says it will become a very popular destination.
Plans for a pedestrian promenade and bikeway on San Diego’s Normal Street have been delayed for eight years in a dispute over a driveway, which has now been condemned by the city.
A Kern County man faces up to ten years behind bars after he was convicted of the drunken hit-and-run that seriously injured two people riding bikes, leaving one with a brain injury; the defense attorney had tried to blame the victims for riding on the roadway without lights or reflectors. Even though neither of them forced the driver to get drunk, or get behind the wheel afterwards.
An op-ed from a Santa Cruz writer says a proposal for a 12-foot wide bike and pedestrian trail next to a rail line fails the safety test because it would be too popular, and wouldn’t allow users to escape in an emergency, due to fencing on one side and a retaining wall on the other.
Sad news from Clovis, where a 36-year old man faces charges for the drunken hit-and-run that killed a bike rider; he had a BAC over three times the legal blood alcohol level when he was arrested after someone in his home turned him in.
Streetsblog’s Roger Ruddick says visiting the Netherlands wasn’t a shock, but returning to the Bay Area afterwards was.
A Lewiston bike shop owner was lucky to survive after “a swell of humanity” rushed to his aid after suffering a heart attack while riding across the Golden Gate Bridge.
A 29-year old Shasta County woman has been sentenced to three years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a 65-year old man riding his bike. She reported the victim lying on the side of the road, but didn’t say she was the one who hit him; she could have faced a total of five years on the two charges.
National
Portland’s summer-long Pedalpalooza bike festival kicked off its 21st season this week.
This year’s Cycle Oregon Classic bike tour through rural Oregon will be its last, a victim of rising production costs, rider preferences, volunteer capacity and extended fire seasons after 32 years.
A kindhearted 11-year old Arizona boy bought two mountain bikes after his bike was stolen, one for himself and one to give to someone else, after a TV station reported on the lemonade stand he was using to raise the money.
Residents of Houston’s Third Ward are demanding greater protection from a gang of teenagers who have been terrorizing bike riders on a local trail; five bicyclists have been brutally beaten and robbed in recent weeks, and another victim was shot.
Members of a St. Louis bike group are calling for the return of a green bike that was installed as a memorial to one of the group’s founders, after it disappeared just before the second anniversary of his unexpected death.
Massachusetts is considering a proposal for ebike rebates up to $750.
A free six-week Brooklyn bike repair course helps formerly incarcerated people get back on their feet, as well as others who have had run-ins with the law.
French startup Upway has opened their first US location in Brooklyn, selling refurbished and overstock ebikes at a discount.
The libertarian Cato Institute says the racially charged conflict over a New York bikeshare bike illustrates the growing popularity of shared ebikes.
Curbed considers the pitfalls of congestion pricing and how to avoid them, which is addressed to New York’s upcoming congestion pricing program. But it should be required reading for LA Metro and Los Angeles County officials.
A ten-mile bike ride around the National Mall by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and and chief GOP negotiator Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana played a roll in working out a deal with White House officials on raising the national debt limit.
International
Momentum Magazine recommends easy ways to incorporate bicycling into your urban lifestyle.
Canadian cargo bike owners say park the car, and use a cargo bike instead.
An estimated three hundred people turned out for a memorial bike ride in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to honor a 33-year old mother and wrester who represented Canada for over a decade, after she was run down by a garbage truck driver.
The news from Montreal just keeps getting better, as the Quebec city attempts to revitalize commercial districts by closing ten streets for the summer.
As we noted yesterday, a modestly updated version of the classic, British-made Raleigh Chopper bike is back, complete with its oversized gear shifts, albeit at a whopping 2,970% markup.
Bicyclists in Oxford, England have launched their own DIY, crowdsourced online bike map showing low-traffic routes throughout the city.
A self-proclaimed liberal London bike rider made headlines for accusing Just Stop Oil activists, who were blocking a street in protest, of “harming the cause” and “fucking it up for all of us.” I’ve long argued that blocking streets may garner headlines, but you don’t win people over to your cause by making their commutes miserable.
Competitive Cycling
Celebrate the Giro with pink sidewalls on your Italian-made Vittoria tires.
Primož Roglič’s former ski-jumping teammate appeared out of nowhere to give him a key push right when he needed it following a Giro mechanical.
Cycling Weekly offers a detailed analysis of every stage of next month’s Tour de France.
Bicycling profiles 2022 Unbound Gravel champ Sofia Gomez Villafañe, explaining how the Argentine mountain biker became a gravel superstar. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.
Two Russian Olympic track cycling medalists have been barred from competing for failing to adopt a neutral status due to the country’s war in Ukraine.
Tragic news from Tennessee, where a 58-year old lifelong athlete and longtime Ironman competitor has died over a week after he was injured crashing his bike in a Chattanooga triathlon.
Finally…
That feeling when you’re the former world champ, and still have to train for the Tour de France with your kid in tow — literally. Your next foldie could have a magnesium frame.
And your new Porsche could have two wheels instead of four, at far less than half the price.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
Congestion pricing rears its not-so-ugly head, NYT talks with LA’s Entitled Cyclist, and Long Beach bike rider critically injured
On a personal note, my 75-year old adventure cycling, ex-Iditarod mushing brother is setting out today on yet another cross-country bike ride.
He’s taking a train to Oregon, then riding down the coast before turning east, and riding to Minnesota, up into Canada, and possibly on to Buffalo and New York City if conditions allow.
And yes, I want to be like him when I grow up.
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Congestion pricing could be back on the table for Los Angeles County.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Metro’s long-awaited study into the feasibility of instituting a congestion pricing scheme on local highways is expected to be released this summer, after it was allegedly delayed by Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins because she didn’t want it to become an issue in last year’s election season.
Years in the works, the plan promises cleaner air, smoother rides and more funds to the agency’s coffers in the future. Studies show it could reduce harmful air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by pushing more commuters to use public transit, while making roads less hellish for those who pay to use them…
The pilot program is part of a larger push among major cities to rethink how to deal with traffic that eats up commuters’ lives and pollutes communities as vehicles creep along. California has been quietly setting the stage for road pricing for years.
The good news is that Metro is restoring its pre-pandemic route schedules, which should make transit marginally more attractive to current non-transit users, though the steady drumbeat of new of crime, homelessness and drug use on county trains could have the opposite effect.
The bad news is, with a few notable exceptions like DTLA, Santa Monica and Long Beach, the LA-area bike networks necessary to get defecting motorists on two wheels don’t currently exist.
And they’re not likely to be coming in the near future without a massive and unexpected investment in our streets.
Photo by Jeff Weese from Pexels.
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The New York Times talks with Tom Morash, aka the Entitled Cyclist of Twitter, Instagram and YouTube fame.
Morash is a 41-year-old lighting programmer who works in the film and TV industry in Los Angeles, where he has lived for some 16 years. When he first arrived, he used to take his car everywhere, like most Angelenos. But the city’s traffic jams soon crushed any desire to drive.
After talking to a co-worker who cycled to work, he decided to try it. He never looked back. Now he always cycles the 12 miles or so that take him to most of his jobs.
Yes, cycling can be scary, he acknowledges. Drivers cut him off, text at the wheel, exceed the speed limit, open their doors without looking and park in the bike lane. “But I can’t imagine choosing to be in a car,” he said.
It’s worth investing a few minutes of your day to get to know someone who uses his bike and social media voice to make a difference.
And whose bike makes one in his own life.
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Bad news from Long Beach, where a woman was critically injured in a collision while riding her bike on Pacific Coast Highway near Long Beach City College Monday night.
The eastbound victim allegedly swerved onto the opposite side of the roadway, where she was struck by the westbound driver, who remained at the scene.
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You have one more day to sign up for a month of bikeshare for a single buck.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
Houston police are looking for a group of young men who have been brutally attacking and robbing bike riders on a city bike trail, with five riders viciously beaten and another shot in the past two weeks; one man was tackled from his bike, pistol whipped and robbed of his wallet and phone, while another had his bicycle stolen after getting hit with a shovel.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
The LAPD had arrested an alleged bike-riding serial arsonist for setting up to 30 cars on fire in the Sunland-Tujunga area. Demonstrating once again that bicycles are the most efficient choice for whatever crime spree you have in mind. Thanks to Steven Hallett for the heads-up.
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Local
Streets For All reminds us to tell the federal government to make auto makers consider pedestrian safety in crash testing. And add bike riders while they’re at it.
This is who we share the road with. A road raging Tesla driver and a motorcyclist got into fist fight in a Pasadena street, following a verbal confrontation between the two men, as well as the driver’s mom.
A Redondo Beach letter writer complains that a planned 200-foot long bike path extension in Long Beach will cost $6,000 per foot, compared to adding a freeway lane, which he says would cost just $500 a foot. Actually, the California Policy Institute says adding a freeway lane in an urban environment costs $62.4 million per lane mile, or about $11,800 a foot. Correction, Jim Lyle points out it’s actually $118,000 per foot, not $11,800 as I wrote. My only excuse is I was an English major.
State
Calbike is urging you to contact your state legislators to support a series of bills they term the Biking Is Not a Crime slate for 2023, including bills that would legalize sidewalk riding, ban police pretext stops, and decriminalize transit fare evasion. Although the best solution for that one is to adequately fund transit and make it free.
The Fullerton Observer says the Orange County city refused to improve bike safety in the face of opposition from motorists, rejecting a proposal to remove a traffic lane and improve bike lanes when Associated Road is repaved for water main work.
A project to widen El Camino Real in Del Mar from two lanes to four, while adding concrete median, sidewalks and bike lanes has been put on hold, after a judge ordered an additional environmental review.
Closing arguments began Tuesday in the hit-and-run trial of a 43-year old Bakersfield driver accused of seriously injuring two people as they rode their bikes, while driving with a blood alcohol level over three times the legal limit; the defense attorney blamed the victims for riding in the traffic lane without the required lights and reflectors.
Sonoma bicyclists say the city has a lot more work to do if they want to get more people out of cars and onto bikes.
National
Yesterday was National E-Bike Day, officially registered as such by Lectric eBikes to mark their fourth anniversary.
Mobility justice groups are working to reverse decades of disinvestment to make Black neighborhoods better for biking and walking; the story begins with the killing of South LA bike rider Dijon Kizzee, who was shot 19 times by LA County Sheriff’s deputies for what began as a traffic stop for riding salmon.
Tragic news from Las Vegas, where a motorcyclist is dead, and a bicycle rider critically injured, following a high speed collision between the two.
Outside rides Utah’s new 190-mile Aquarius Trail bikepacking path, sandwiched amid the state’s “spectacular wilderness” between Bryce and Zion national parks.
The Idaho Stop Law is slowly spreading across the US, as nine other states and Washington DC have adopted the law, although only three have adopted the full law allowing bike riders to treat stop signs as yields, and red lights as stop signs. California is once again considering a bill to legalize the Stop as Yield portion of the law; Governor Newsom vetoed a previous version of the bill.
A crowdfunding campaign for the Black teenager involved in New York’s Citi Bike Karen incident has now raised over $91,000 of the $120,000 goal to pay legal expenses. Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign for the hospital worker accused of trying to wrest a bikeshare bike out of his hands has raised more than $132,000, far exceeding the $120,000 goal.
Crashes involving bike riders are rising in Virginia, with twice as many bicyclists killed on state roads so far this year, compared to last year.
Medical authorities in Florida have concluded that the man accused of brutally stabbing a Daytona Beach couple as they rode their bicycles home from the city’s motorcycle Bike Week festivities has regained his mental competency, and is now fit to stand trial for the March, 2022 murders.
International
Go ahead and be jealous. Montreal is investing $30 million to expand and improve its bikeway network, with 53 projects spanning 14 boroughs and four other municipalities.
London road deaths were down to their lowest level of any non-Covid year last year, evidence that the city’s extensive Complete Streets and bicycle superhighway efforts are working.
A London paper complains about an “idiot driver” who parked blocking a crosswalk and bike lane to nip into the market.
Britain has approved the use of longer semi-truck trailers on the country’s roads, despite fears they could increase the risk to bike riders and pedestrians.
Belgium-based Cowboy and Grenoble, France’s eBikeLabs are involved in a messy divorce, with eBikeLabs suing the ebike maker for patent infringement and stealing its software, after the two companies had been partnering together.
Sydney, Australia will extend the life of a popular popup bike lane for at least another three years.
Competitive Cycling
British budget cuts could endanger the rise of the next generation of cyclists, as the country cuts spending for its under-23 program, potentially removing young Brits from the Nations Cup, the Tour of Britain and the Tour de l’Avenir.
Britain has banned transgender women from competing in women’s cycling events, restricting trans cyclists to the country’s “Open” classification. Read it on AOL if Bicycling blocks you from their site.
More tragic news, this time from Ireland, where Gabriele Glodenyte was killed by a driver while on a lunchtime training ride; the 24-year old cyclist was a rising star in women’s racing in the country.
Cycling News considers the top contenders for this weekend’s Unbound Gravel 200.
Cyclist offers their 21 best photos from the recently concluded Giro d’Italia, including a close-up view of Mark Cavendish’ crash in stage 5.
Finally…
When you’re already a suspect in at least ten bike thefts, maybe don’t ride salmon on an ebike that may or may not be yours. Your next bike could be a new and improved recreation of your first one.
And a paean to Campy’s late, lamented thumb shifter.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
Baffling Redondo Beach bike path baffles in dismount zone, and SaMo uses 3D concrete printer to protect bike lane
Redondo Beach has lost it.
David Drexler reports on the city’s seemingly unending war on bike riders on the beachfront bike path by the Redondo Beach pier.
For the uninitiated, Redondo Beach has long tried to force bicyclists to dismount and walk their bikes near the pier.
Never mind that the bike path is bizarrely routed through the pier parking garage, which puts bikes into unavoidable conflict with pedestrians exiting the garage to visit the pier.
And there’s no denying that many, if not most, people rode their bikes through the dismount zone, either politely waiting for pedestrians to pass or weaving through the people walking.
Myself included.
Recently, the city raised the stakes by issuing $300 tickets to anyone caught riding past the dismount signs.
Now they’ve installed a series of plastic K-rail baffles in an effort to make it difficult, if not impossible, to stay on your bike.
We’ll let Drexler take the story from there.
Back from cycling in the beach cities today Sunday and saw that Redondo Beach set up an obstacle course to make absolutely sure you walk your bike at the Pier.
Someone who works for Redondo must have (it out) for cyclists. Seems like every time I am over there is a new cycling restriction.
It’s almost like a SNL parody of someone who hates cyclists and everyday dreams up another way to snarl them.
Now I am telling you Redondo is going to end up with an injury lawsuit for this one. I was watching cyclist maneuvering through the course and some were hitting the barriers having difficulty making the turns. Someone is going to fall down–I see the problem especially when it gets hot sunny and summer busy unlike today. Someone is going to be rushed through, or another impatient cyclist and push through causing a fall.
I had my beach cruiser there today and you have go very slow and cautiously not to run into the barrier making the numerous turns one after another. This requires a certain level of coordination off the bike different than going straight.
It’s questionable whether this is actually legal, or whether liability would attach if someone is injured, as Drexler suggests. .
CVC 21211(b) prohibits any obstruction on a bike path, “which impedes or blocks the normal and reasonable movement of any bicyclist,” which these clearly do.
But it goes on to add a another clause that reads “unless the placement or parking is necessary for safe operation or is otherwise in compliance with the law.”
If anyone challenged the placement of the baffles on the bike path, Redondo Beach could argue they are necessary for the safe operation of a bicycle in that location, and comply with local regulations.
Whether that argument succeeds would be up to a judge, and probably more than one, since the case would likely be appealed regardless of who won.
If anyone has pockets deep enough to take the fight that far, that is.
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For some reason, I still can’t embed Tweets. So you’ll have to click through to see video of Santa Monica’s 3D concrete printer laying down a concrete curb on the Ocean Ave protected bike lane — as well as Santa Monica Forward riding the newly curb-protected bike lanes, which now may be one of the safest places to ride a bike in the Los Angeles area.
And which don’t need any baffles forcing riders to dismount due to poor design.
Maybe Elon has changed the Twitter algorithm once again, for reasons known only to him.
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Ride to the West Hollywood Pride parade this Sunday — not Saturday, as it says below.
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That feeling when your ride on the LA River bike path is interrupted by a Maywood police chase; police took one of two carjacking suspects into custody.
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A new Scottish campaign calls on drivers to give bike riders a safe passing distance, reminding them it’s not just a bike, it’s a person; meanwhile, 97% of Scottish drivers agree that passing a bike too close put lives at risk.
They just do it anyway.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
No bias here. Santa Barbara residents complain about a proposal for safe bike lanes on the city’s State Street, with one man claiming he’s not anti-bike, just “anti-disrespectful and bad behavior,” and troubled they’re “bending over backwards for bikes.” Never mind that safe bike lanes have been shown to improve behavior by bike riders, who don’t have to ride like their lives are at risk.
Neither paint nor a cement curb seems to keep Toronto drivers from parking in the city’s newest bike lane.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Proving its never too early to start riding recklessly, a six-year old Illinois girl was seriously injured when she was struck by another child riding a bicycle.
A jaywalking 74-year old New York woman blames herself after she was struck by a hit-and-run ebike rider. And yes, you have just as much responsibility to stop after a crash as any motorist. Even if too many of them don’t, either.
People called for greater enforcement as seven bicyclists were filmed ignoring a London “cyclists dismount” sign in a period of just 22 seconds.
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Local
About damn time. LA’s Westwood Village will convert a portion of Broxton Ave into a pedestrian-only plaza in time for summer; whether that will be enough to revive the university-adjacent village which has been destroyed by restrictive covenants, wealthy NIMBYs and a single owner controlling most of the village’s commercial properties remains to be seen.
Streetblog’s Joe Linton offers six takeaways from the newly approved Metro budget, which sadly continues to waste billions on destroying neighborhoods for induced demand-inducing highway projects. We’ll forgive the clickbait headline this time.
Pasadena’s Cordova Street is going on a Complete Streets diet, reducing each direction to single lane lane for motor vehicles and a painted bike lane.
State
A San Diego letter writer calls for bike lanes and lower speed limits on Fuerte Drive from La Mesa to El Cajon, saying drivers routinely travel up to 50 mph in the 35 mph zone on the busy roadway. Although what good does it do to lower the speed limit when drivers ignore it anyway?
Police in San Jose are looking for the hit-and-run driver who dragged a bike-riding woman under his car for 400 feet — more than the length of an entire football field — as he fled from the crash scene; she survived, but suffered major injuries.
Sad news from Sacramento, where a 49-year old man was killed in a collision while riding his bike on the campus of Sacramento State University; no word on whether he was connected to the university or just passing through.
National
Popular Science offers pro tips for teaching your kid how to ride a bike.
A travel website ranks the ten most bike-friendly cities and towns to visit in the US. The bizarre list includes such decidedly bike-unfriendly cities as Houston, Oakland and San Jose, with the ostensible bicycling paradise of Bozeman, Montana topping the list.
Most city’s only have to worry about drivers when they build bike paths; Seattle’s new waterfront bike path has to take cruise ships into account, too.
A Houston writer offers suggestions to improve safety for bicyclists at the sprawling Houston Medical Center, while warning bike riders to stay away because it isn’t safe to ride there.
Minnesota is the latest city or state to beat California’s ebike rebate program to the staring line, offering up to $1,500 on the purchase of a new ebike — even though California was the first jurisdiction in the US to approve one. Meanwhile, Minnesota bike riders can now legally treat stop signs as yields when there’s no conflicting traffic.
A 76-year old Franciscan friar from Pennsylvania is preparing for his next fundraising bike ride, after raising half a million dollars for charity over 13 years.
A Brooklyn man was critically injured when his bike was struck by a driver, but police haven’t been able to identify him. Yet another reminder to always carry ID with you when you ride. And preferably not in your wallet or phone, which could be stolen while you’re incapacitated.
A writer for Streetsblog gets to drive the New York Department of Transportation’s petite new four-wheeled cargo bike, designed to replace larger delivery vans.
Speaking of New York, the city is finally completing the last 1.2-mile section of bike lanes on Queens Blvd, informally known as the Boulevard of Death before work began on turning it into a Complete Street in 2015; the work was delayed by community boards wanting to maintain the car-centric status quo.
Gothamist considers how New York’s successful Citi Bike bikeshare nearly failed, while Streetsblog offers three-lessons learned from the bikeshare program’s success. None of which LA’s Metro Bike seems to have learned yet.
International
Santiago, Chile celebrated a new 15-mile bike path by setting a record for the largest human bicycle, formed by roughly 2,000 people.
A writer in Havana considers the pros and cons of bicycling in Cuba.
In a problem most SoCal bike riders can relate to, bicyclists in Kingston, Ontario complain the faded bike lanes make it more dangerous to ride the city’s streets.
Yes, please. Montreal residents can now call a new hotline to report blocked bike lanes.
I want to be like her when I grow up. An 85-year old grandmother raised the equivalent of $70,000 by riding 1,000 miles through the Scottish countryside in honor of her three children, two of whom died from natural causes, and the other in an accident.
Police in Aberdeen, Scotland went undercover to catch drivers passing bike riders too closely, ticketing 11 motorists for violating the country’s five-foot passing distance. Despite repeated requests, the LAPD wouldn’t put plain clothes officers on bikes to catch drivers breaking California’s three-foot passing law, fearing it would be considered entrapment, while putting the officers at risk. So instead, they just let us deal with it.
The aunt of two teenage Welsh boys killed in an ebike crash believes they were “chased to their death” by police.
Labour Member of Parliament Ed Miliband was roundly ridiculed in the British press after he was spotted wearing a Hövding inflatable bike helmet as he rode his bicycle to work, accused of not wanting to mess up his hair with a regular bike helmet.
A French company is introducing an ebike-specific helmet with a nearly full face design, complete with a shaded visor perfect for your next bank robbery.
The actress who created the roles of Elphaba in Wicked and Elisa in Frozen is one of us, as Idina Menzel rides a bike in Tuscany.
A Ukrainian engineer is using recycled parts to build his own DIY ebikes.
Don’t steal a bicycle in India’s West Bengal state, where a 55-year old man was tied to a tree and beaten to death after he was accused of stealing a bike.
Horrible news from Kuwait, where 15 Filipino and Indian bike riders were run down by a hit-and-run driver, causing several injuries — yet police blamed the victims for not having a permit and police escort to ride the roads.
Proving once again that supply meets demand, business is booming for Japanese bike helmet makers in response to the country’s new mandatory bike helmet law.
A five-hour joyride cost a New Zealand man $1,500 — the equivalent of $918 US dollars — after he stole a bicycle from a bike shop, then pushed it back through the front doors when he apparently tired of it five hours later.
Competitive Cycling
Slovenian cyclist Primož Roglič captured the Giro on Sunday, after passing former leader Geraint Thomas with a brilliant ride on Saturday’s penultimate stage, then movingly leading out his friend Mark Cavendish for a win on the final stage. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.
Not many people have switched sports as successfully as Roglič, going from ski-jumping to winning the Vuelta and Giro.
Cycling Weekly explains why Unbound Gravel, formerly the Dirty Kanza, is the world’s premier gravel event, with thousands of amateurs joining WorldTour roadies, track world champs and Olympic mountain bikers.
Several women’s cyclists competing in the second stage of the Ford RideLondon Classique went down in a mass crash less than two-thirds of a mile from the finish line. Yet somehow, the MyLondon website can only manage to find a stock photo of male cyclists to illustrate the story.
Finally…
Now you, too, can own your very own gold and diamond encrusted Colnago for a mere $133,000. Not every road bike comes with a built-in handle.
And evidently, we’ve had the answer to high gas prices for 99 years (fast forward to 5:55).
Thanks to Steven Hallett for the video.
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Thanks to Don H for his very generous, and very unexpected donation to help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every morning.
Donations are welcome anytime, for any reason. And always appreciated.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
BOLO alert for Westlake hit-and-run, more on NY bikeshare Karen, and Life/Cycle-riding doctor running to replace Schiff
The seemingly epidemic of heartless LA hit-and-run drivers just keeps on going.
The LAPD is looking for the driver who left a bike rider bleeding in the streets of Westlake, suffering from what is described as “severe, though not life-threatening injuries.”
The crash occurred around 8:45 pm on Saturday. May 13 at Hoover and Carondelet streets in the Westlake District.
The suspect vehicle is described as an older model white Nissan, with likely with damage to its front end, hood and windshield from the impact with the victim.
Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD Detective Juan Campos at 213/833-3713, or email 31480@lapd.online. Or call the Central Traffic Division Watch Commander at 213/833-3746 after hours or weekends.
As always, there is a $25,000 reward for any hit-and-run resulting in serious, but not fatal, injuries in the City of Los Angeles.
Photo by Artyom Kulakov from Pexels.
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There’s always another side to the story, even when everyone has already taken sides.
It’s been clear for some time that we’ve only heard one side of the story about the white New York hospital worker filmed in a viral video trying to wrest and whine a bikeshare bike out of the hands of a Black teenager.
The woman, who has become infamous as the Citi Bike Karen, has spoken through her attorney, who claims he has receipts showing she rented the bike she was trying to claim.
She’s raised over $124,000 from people who thought she was unfairly accused of racism.
Now the family of the teenager she was trying to take the bike from is finally speaking out for the first time. According to them, the 17-year old boy’s life and family have been in turmoil since the incident.
They explained that as the son of low-income, West African immigrants on public assistance, he was entitled to discounted 45-minute bikeshare rides, after which the rate increases.
The day of the incident, he and his friends rode from his home in the Bronx to visit friends in Harlem. After 45 minutes, he re-docked the bike to reset the clock, before setting out again at the reduced rate.
Which is when he claims his life went to hell.
He says the hospital worker approached the group as they briefly rested with the bikes, asking each one in turn if she could use their bike. Each boy said no, because they were about to take them back out again.
So she stepped onto the bike anyway, using her phone to scan the bike’s QR code as he held onto the handlebars, and tried to take the bike out of his hands.
According to New York’s NewsOne,
It was 7:24 p.m., and that is when the boys began recording…
Michael insisted Sarah Jane Comrie knew he was planning to use the bike. He said she asked him and his friends to use theirs, and they all informed her they were using the bikes and would be leaving shortly.
He said she seemed annoyed that they wouldn’t willingly give up their bikes to her. He also said he believes she wanted that bike as opposed to the others that remained docked in the rack because he had one of the newer e-bikes.
The rest of the interaction plays out in the video. Sarah Jane Comrie, dressed in scrubs bearing the NYC Health + Hospitals logo, removed her work ID badge from her neck, placed it in her bag along with a brown paper bag she was holding and began screaming for help.
Proving once again there’s always another side to the story.
We have no way of knowing who is right, or exactly how the events played out in the minutes before the camera was turned on. But the incident offers a Rorschach Test for today’s America, as people on both sides of the political divide quickly chose sides.
A white woman received over a hundred grand, while a young Black man has his life upended. Although a crowdfunding campaign started yesterday has raised over $37,000 for his legal fees in less than 24 hours.
Because once again, we’re all taking sides.
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He gets it.
A reporter for Vice takes on former LADOT head Seleta Reynolds recent comments comparing building bus and bike lanes without community engagement to bulldozing houses to build freeways.
This difference of intent and scale is worth dwelling on because it is why the comparison is so misguided. The U.S. Department of Transportation has estimated 475,000 households containing one million people were displaced due to highway construction from 1957 to 1977. That is the equivalent of displacing the entire population of modern-day Austin, Texas. Likewise, a Los Angeles Times analysis found that an additional 200,000 people have lost their homes due to highway construction since 1990. To the best of my knowledge, there has not been a single housing unit destroyed or person displaced to build a bike or bus lane anywhere in the U.S. On these grounds alone, it is simply absurd to compare urban highway construction to bike and bus lanes. Projects of such vastly different scopes and scale deserve different approaches and mindsets.
But there is another good reason to reject this comparison, one that is equally revealing about the biases of modern transportation officials. Reynolds asked, “What makes us so confident we know best?” Another way of asking this is, what makes us so confident we know bike and bus lanes are better than masses of parking and multiple travel lanes for private cars for everyone?
The answer is: we’ve got the receipts. In this case, decades of scientific study and experiments carefully tracked and evaluated by local departments of transportation.
The sheer absurdity of Reynolds’ comments, coming from someone who should surely know better, is appalling.
It also explains why so little was done to improve LA streets while she ran the department. And why we shouldn’t hold our breath for any major innovations coming from her new position as Metro’s Chief Innovation Officer.
Unless maybe her chief innovation is even more pointless, never-ending public meetings.
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Openly gay, Lebanese-Armenian global health leader Dr. Jirair Ratevosian is the latest candidate to toss his hat into the ring to replace outgoing Rep. Adam Schiff in California’s 30th Congressional District.
He’s also one of us, regularly taking part in the annual 545-mile AIDS/LIFECYCLE ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, which benefits the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
However, Ratevosian faces stiff competition from Burbank Assembly Transportation Chair Laura Friedman, California State Senator Anthony Portantino, and former Boy Meets World star Ben Savage, among others.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
A Columbus, Ohio bike rider is calling for more protected bike lanes after a road raging driver brake checked him, then threw a drink at him. That came just days after another road raging driver deliberately backed into a bike rider when the man on the bike refused to get off and fight him.
No irony here. A London man goes on a rant about the city’s LTNs, or Limited Traffic Neighborhoods, while filming himself in front of a congested, non-LTN jammed with cars.
An award-winning British TV producer, writer and comedian was fined the equivalent of more than $1,200, plus another $1,250 in court costs and victim surcharge, for flipping off a bike cam activist when he was caught using his smartphone from behind the wheel of his $173,000 Aston Martin.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
After a Seal Beach letter writer complains that it seems petty to ticket a pair of senior citizens on a tandem for rolling a stop sign, a cop explains that bicycles are treated as vehicles in California, and bike riders have to obey the law, too. Even laws that most drivers don’t. Which is one more argument to pass the Stop As Yield bill in the state legislature, and get Governor Newsom to sign the damn thing this time.
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Local
For some reason, I can’t seem to embed tweets today. So click through for some great shots of bicycles over 100 years ago in LA’s historic Chinatown, forwarded by Erik Griswold.
Los Angeles Public Press examines LA’s gender-expansive group rides designed to make biking in the city more comfortable, safer and accepting.
State
No news is good news, right?
National
The CPSC, aka Consumer Product Safety Commission, is looking for public input as they consider how to update federal regulations governing bicycles to accommodate ebikes. Read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.
Bloomberg’s CityLab says American cities are failing female bicyclists by failing to invest in bike infrastructure.
A writer for the Christian Science Monitor relates riding cross county from Boston to Oregon in the ’70s with just a bike and $200, back when ATMs and cellphones didn’t exist.
After saying that dismantling yet another claim that bike and bus lanes cause pollution is uninteresting and a complete waste of his time, a Seattle writer considers the philosophical function of the automobile, instead.
A Colorado man takes to the road on an adaptive recumbent bike, eight years after he was injured hitting a pothole, which eventually cost him both legs.
A 28-year old Kentucky man is dead after a pickup driver crashed into his bike; police excused the crash because glare from the setting sun kept him from seeing the victim. Never mind that the correct course of action would have been to pull over to the side of the road until he could see, before he killed anyone.
The New York Times says the Citi Bike bikeshare has become part of New York’s street life as it marks its tenth anniversary.
Several members of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles participated in a fundraising ride to benefit an autism nonprofit while wearing winged bike helmets to match the ones they wear on the field.
This is who we share the road with. A 32-year old Philadelphia woman faces murder and vehicular homicide charges for a December hit-and-run crime spree that killed on man and injured two other people; she is accused of hitting three cars and a scooter rider, then crashing into a bike rider before fatally slamming into a man walking in a crosswalk, and fleeing from all three crashes.
International
British Columbia becomes just the latest city, state or province to offer ebike rebates before California’s long-delayed program finally gets off the ground, with purchase credits ranging from $350 to a maximum of $1,400.
After a UK city announced plans to encourage bike riding by giving away 2,500 bicycles and free bicycling lessons, local advocates argued the city needs to address the “huge issue” of providing safe places to ride them.
This is what it looks like to hit a pothole while riding at speed, as a British man suffered a broken pelvis when he only managed to avoid three out of four potholes in his path.
Competitive Cycling
Leader Geraint Thomas held off an attack by by Primož Roglič and his Jumbo-Visma team on stage 18 of the Giro, while Italian champ Filippo Zana broke away from the pack to claim the stage win; the stage came on Thomas’ 37th birthday.
Bicycling says the colossal amounts of elevation gain in the last few stages of the Giro will make the final days of racing a slugfest. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t appear to be available anywhere else, so you’re on your own if the magazine blocks you.
Cycling Weekly pulls nine bikes out of the Worldtour pro peloton to name one as their racing bike of the year.
The annual Tour of Nevada City Bicycle Classic as been officially cancelled this year, following years of declining attendance.
Finally…
As long as people hate bicycles and semi-trucks, you might as well do them both. That feeling when you take your javelina bike out for a spin; thanks to Dr. Grace Peng for the link.
And that feeling when you can’t decide between a BMX and pogo stick. So you do both.
……….
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
