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The Marvin Braude bike path on Dockwieler Beach in Playa del Rey remains closed due to damage from last week’s rains and heavy surf. And is likely to stay that way for some time.
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In a heartwarming story from Montebello, a Sherman Oaks triathlete sets up a gofundme account for a wheelchair-bound homeless man who suffered two broken legs when he was hit by a car while on his way to a hospital for follow-up care for a leg infection.
She met him while riding a double metric century before the holidays; completing the circle, the man, who once worked as an EMT, helped save the life of a stranger who had collapsed from a heart attack while riding his bike last year.
As of this writing, the fund had raised just over $3,000 of the $5,000 goal.
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Local
The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition is pushing for 10% of a possible transportation sales tax measure to be set aside for biking and walking projects, while noting that other areas commit more.
LADOT Bike Blog talks with Bridget Smith, the department’s new chief of staff.
Melissa McCarthy is one of us, going for a pre-Golden Globes ride with her family.
Streetsblog’s Damien Newton kicks off a new series of podcasts focused on sustainable transportation in the San Gabriel Valley by talking with Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian and Bike SGV’s Andrew Yip.
The Steering Committee of BikeCulverCity, formerly the Culver City Bicycle Coalition, meets tonight at Kay ‘N Dave’s Cantina on Culver Blvd.
A new art exhibit just opened in Culver City focusing on works sculpted from bicycle wheels.
Santa Monica’s bike share coordinator offers tips on how to use the city’s Breeze bikeshare system.
LA Magazine looks at the LA Public Library’s San Pedro Book Bike.
State
Formed by a then-13-year old kid, Redlands’ rapidly expanding GS Andiamo Junior Cycling Development Program is helping to introduce teenage riders to the sport of cycling.
Bakersfield police are looking for a hit-and-run driver who injured a bike rider last month.
Improvements in bicycling safety appear to be paying off in San Luis Obispo, as bike collisions are down 20% since 2009 even as ridership increases; overall traffic collisions in the city reached their lowest point in 15 years.
Great piece from the Bay Area looking at streets that are dangerous by design for bicyclists and pedestrians to an extent that would be unacceptable for roads designed for motor vehicles. The story notes that traffic fatalities are three times higher in California cities on streets laid out after 1950, before California’s deadly auto-centrism took over.
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s interim director begins work while a search goes on for a new leader.
Fairfield police use a bait bike to bust five bike thieves. As the story implies, most bike thieves don’t suffer any real consequences; we need to change the law to make the theft of any bike a felony, regardless of value.
National
Bicycling offers advice on how to deal with angry drivers. Nothing defuses an angry confrontation faster than pulling out your phone and taking a photo of the driver and his or her license plate, while making a show of dialing 911 will almost always get them to drive away. Just don’t stand in front of their car while you do it.
Seattle moves forward with a one-mile protected bike lane on a popular riding route that preserves 90% of parking along the street, but at a surprising political cost for a city that supports bicycling.
As fat-tire bicycling gains popularity, bike theft becomes a year-round problem in Alaska.
A Colorado driver gets eight years for killing a bicyclist while driving drunk; the judge wanted to show more leniency, but the driver showed no hint of remorse or taking responsibility for his drinking. Contrast that with a Georgia case where a motorist got off with one year of probation after pleading to vehicular homicide in the death of a cyclist.
Kentucky considers a bill requiring children under 12 to wear a bike helmet.
Kirstie Alley is one of us, riding through New York with her friends helped her lose 50 pounds and keep it off for the past year.
Seriously? New Jersey considers forming a commission to study how to better protect bicyclists and pedestrians. Because it takes a commission to find proven solutions like protected bike lanes, better crosswalks, slower speeds and prioritizing people over motor vehicles?
A Baltimore man was stabbed to death and robbed following a confrontation with a group of men while riding his bike; two teens are charged with his murder while police look for other suspects. Always try to ride away from confrontations, and remember no bike — or anything else you have on you — is worth you life.
International
A Winnipeg bike rider captures close calls with motorists on his helmet cam. That squeeze play with the semi is scary as hell.
A British cyclist lost her life because of a water-filled pothole that was supposed to have been fixed weeks earlier — and finally was, two days too late.
Britain plans a permanent memorial to fallen cyclists, inspired by the man who brought the first World Naked Bike Ride to Cambridge.
UK track cyclist Victoria Williamson is expected to make a full recovery after shattering her pelvis, ribs and several vertebrae in a crash with a Dutch competitor last week.
A new study from the Netherlands shows bicycling is so popular the country’s bike lanes are bursting at the seams. Note to City Lab: Referring to the Netherlands as Holland is like calling the US West Virginia.
That solar bike path in the Netherlands has proven successful after a full year of use, although the energy produced is far more expensive than other sources.
An Italian photographer catches images of Rome’s crumbling 20-mile riverside bike path.
A website in the United Arab Emirates offers an interesting look at the history of the bicycle, and looks admiringly as bicycling moves to the mainstream in NYC.
Finally…
Apparently, hemp seeds are dope when it comes to building muscle. Never mind its ability to take you places or improve your health, a bike is just one big fashion accessory.
And now you, too, can blog about bikes for fun and profit.
