Morning Links: Fat tire biking the Iditarod trail, Aussie ped safety video and best wishes for a happy New Year

December 30, 2014 / / One comment

And you thought it was cold in LA this week.

Now that my formerly Iditarod-racing brother has traded his dog sled for a bike, he shares a few images of fat tire riding the same famed trail he used to mush.

photo by Eric Rogers

Photo by Eric Rogers

Photo by Eric Rogers

Photo by Eric Rogers

And no, I’m only a little jealous.

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A surprisingly hard-hitting safety video from Australia personalizes pedestrian safety from both sides of the issue. Too bad no one has the guts to do something like that in this country.

Let alone do one for bikes.

Video courtesy of Wolfpack Hustle.

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‘Tis the season.

An Orange County woman helps ensure that 40 kids’ bicycle dreams came true this Christmas. Cincinnati’s Bike Lady gives bikes to 116 local foster kids. And a British bike Santa passes out bike-related gifts at the end of a three-mile family ride.

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Local

Cast your vote for the year’s final Streetsie Award, for Excellence in Advocacy; right now, it’s a very tight race between Finish the Ride, Tafarai Bayne and Cynthia Rose. And don’t forget to vote for Journalist/Writer of the Year.

Two teenage mountain bike riders are rescued after spending the night in the forest above Altadena.

The Boston Cyclists Union says forget the cold and get out and ride, already; good advice for LA this week. Let alone Alaska.

Don’t forget the free bike valet at LA’s biggest New Years Eve celebration tonight.

 

State

A Laguna Beach high school and middle school launches a mountain bike team.

BikeSD is looking for a part-time Business Coordinator.

A Riverside cyclist is recovering after suffering major injuries in a collision.

The CHP writes 36 tickets in an effort to improve bike and pedestrian safety in Sacramento County. At least one went to a cyclist for riding too far too the left, also known as taking the lane, which is usually legal.

A San Francisco man claims police dragged him from his house and beat him unconscious for riding on the sidewalk; imagine what they would have done if he’d run a stop sign.

 

National

Bicycling offers their favorite Kickstarters of the year.

A North Dakota man gets his banana-seat bike back after 39 years.

San Antonio offers an award in the death of a father who was shot while teaching his son to ride a bike on Christmas Day.

A writer calls for making auto-centric Houston safe for cyclists and pedestrians through neighborhood greenways.

A Chicago bike rider sues over an allegedly faulty bike path design that left her partially paralyzed after riding off a nine-foot drop.

A New York woman who was knocked down by a bike-riding former American Gladiator calls for a 15 mph speed limit for bikes in Central Park. Then again, it wouldn’t be much of a story if she’d been hit by almost anyone else.

A Manhattan CEO walks away from his job to start a new bike brand for casual riders.

No hypocrisy here. The hit-and-run Baltimore bishop who ran after killing a cyclist on Saturday had just delivered a sermon on accountability. Which she clearly meant for everyone else.

Evidently, hit-and-run has no age limit, as an 88-year old Florida man is arrested for fleeing the scene after killing a former NFL player riding his bike.

 

International

An 80-year British Columbia cyclist wins a $100,000 court verdict against the road raging driver who knocked him off his bike.

Unbelievable. A Canadian man is convicted of killing a cyclist while driving drunk — at three times the legal limit, no less — with multiple priors, and they still let him out during the day. But at least he got a lifetime ban from driving.

Madrid bike riders face fines of up to the equivalent of nearly $1,500 for the heinous crime of… wait for it… riding on the sidewalk.

Malta drivers are warned to watch out for hedgehogs, but not bike riders.

An Aussie barber on a bike rides his fixie to clip his customers.

A motorist from Down Under asks if he can drive in bike lanes now that bike riders aren’t required to stay in them, and demands that cyclists ride single file with a two-bike length space between them.

 

Finally…

Turns out Portland’s Bureau of Transportation has a sense of humor when it comes to bike lane symbols; we could use something like that here. Evidently, we need a bicycle dashboard inspired by Audi, complete with turn signals; after all, it’s just so hard to stick your arm out to let drivers know you’re turning.

And a Kiwi junior cycling champ trades a bike saddle for a bareback bronc; who knew they had cowboys, let alone rodeos?

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Thanks to Mark Jones for his generous donation to support this site.

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Please accept my best wishes for a very healthy, happy and prosperous new year.

And be careful out there; I want to see you all back here in 2015.

 

Category: Morning Links /

Update: The holiday bloodbath continues — teenage bike rider killed in Rialto

December 30, 2014 / / 3 comments

Word is just coming in that a young bike rider was killed in a Rialto collision this evening, the fourth SoCal cyclist to die in the last three days.

According to the Press-Enterprise, the collision occurred around 5:40 Monday evening near the intersection of Riverside Avenue and South Street; police found the victim on the sidewalk in front of 335 S. Riverside Ave.

He was unresponsive and suffering from major injuries when police arrived, and died after being taken to a local hospital.

The paper identifies the victim only as a juvenile Hispanic male; other sources that aren’t available online yet give his age as 13.

The paper reports the driver remained on the scene and is cooperating with investigators; alcohol is not believed to be a factor. Which could mean that the driver was sober, or had not consumed enough to be intoxicated.

No other information is available at this time, and no word on how the collision occurred.

This is the 85th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 11th in San Bernardino County. It’s also the first cycling death in Rialto in the last four years.

And hopefully the last.

Update: The victim has been identified as 16-year old Ryan J. Martinez of Rialto. 

According to the Press-Enterprise, Martinez was riding near his father’s home on a new bike he’d just gotten for Christmas. He was reportedly going the wrong way on Riverside when he was hit head-on by a northbound car. 

He died one day after his mother’s birthday. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the Ryan Martinez and his family and friends.

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

36-year old bike rider killed in Fountain Valley collision; third Southern California bike fatality in three days

December 29, 2014 / / 2 comments

Then there were three.

After going a full 30 days without a bicycling fatality, three Southern California bike riders have lost their lives in the past three days, as a rider succumbs to injuries suffered in a Fountain Valley collision on Saturday.

According to KTLA-5, 36-year old Westminster resident Vinh Tran was riding south on Brookhurst Street at Heil Ave when he was struck by a Jeep driven by William Joseph Klein of Santa Ana.

Tran was taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, where he died earlier today.

He was reportedly riding next to the curb when he was rear-ended by Klein. A street view shows three southbound lanes on Brookhurst, with right turn lane near Heil; it’s possible Klein may have been attempting to make a right turn when he ran into Tran.

Then again, it’s also possible Klein may not have been in control of his vehicle, since he was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of a prescription drug. He was taken into custody on Saturday on suspicion of felony DUI and gross vehicular manslaughter, and is being held on $100,000 bond.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Fountain Valley Police Department at 714-593-4484.

This is the 84th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 19th in Orange County; that compares with 12 in the county last year. It’s also the second cycling death to occur on Brookhurst in Fountain Valley in the last three years, just 2.6 miles apart.

My deeper sympathy and prayers for Vinh Tran and all his loved ones.

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

81-year old cyclist killed in San Bernardino rear-end collision

December 29, 2014 / / 2 comments

After going nearly a full month without a bicycling fatality anywhere in Southern California, we now have two deaths just days apart in the Inland Empire.

According to the San Bernardino Sun, 81-year old San Bernardino resident William Francis Easley, a well-known business owner, philanthropist and political leader was killed while riding his bike early this morning.

Easley was riding with another cyclist just after six am when he was struck by a car on the 1000 block of E. Lynwood Ave. His riding partner, a local physician, immediately began CPR, but Easley died after being transported to Loma Linda University Medical Center.

The paper reports both riders were using rear flashers and reflectors in the early pre-dawn hour, and that Easley was wearing a helmet; however, it does not note whether he suffered a head injury.

More details come from the Riverside Press-Enterprise, which clarifies that the riders were struck from behind while headed west in the right lane on Lynwood. A satellite view shows an extremely wide right lane; however, it’s likely there were cars parked along the curb at that hour, which could have forced the riders into the traffic lane to void the door zone.

The unlicensed driver remained at the scene and reportedly cooperated with investigators.

Easley was an experienced rider, according to the Sun, and would regularly ride with a small group of cyclists.

He had started his career as an accountant, and had gone to own a chain of business interior companies, as well becoming involved in restaurants and real estate, and had been active in local politics.

His death comes just two days after another rider lost his life in Riverside; prior to that, it had been a full month since the last fatal bicycling collision in Southern California.

This is the 83rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 10th in San Bernardino County; he is also the sixth bike rider to lose his life in the city of San Bernardino in just the last three years.

My deepest sympathy and prayers to William Easley and all his loved ones.

Thanks to Mark Friis, Executive Director of the Inland Empire Biking Alliance for the heads-up.

 

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

Morning Links: Bike parking loses to BBQ in Sunnyvale, bike rider shot in Carson, and more bike giveaways

December 29, 2014 / / 3 comments

Evidently, blocked bike racks aren’t just an LA problem.

Ralph Durham forwards this photo of a Sunnyvale Lowe’s store, where bike parking clearly takes a back seat to barbecue.

Sunnyvale-blocked-bike-racks

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‘Tis the season.

An annual memorial bike drive in Lompoc distributes 95 bikes to local children. And an Atlanta non-profit gives 20 bikes to kids despite being robbed of $5,000 worth of equipment and office supplies two days earlier.

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Local

In yet another waste of human life, a 27-year old man was shot to death in Carson, apparently while riding his bike.

LA riders usually don’t have to worry about dressing for cold weather, but we may want to rethink that this week.

The New York Times belatedly recognizes that it’s possible to tour LA on two feet; now if we could just get them to admit the same about two-wheeled tourists.

 

State

A 60-year old bike rider suffers life-threatening head injuries in a solo fall in San Diego’s Mira Mesa neighborhood. He reportedly wasn’t wearing a bike helmet; falls like that are exactly what helmets are designed to protect against.

Rancho Cucamonga cyclists will enjoy new bike lanes when the extension of Wilson Ave is complete in May.

Santa Cruz police are looking for the driver of a white pickup who fled the scene after killing a cyclist on Friday.

A Livermore cyclist lost his life in a horrifying wreck when he swerved to avoid a collision between two riders in a group ride, fell onto the wrong side of the road and was hit by a truck; the victim was about to take over as principal of a Napa high school.

 

National

South Dakota attempts to improve safety for motorists by making the state’s roads more dangerous for bike riders.

A Rhode Island man rides 8,000 miles through 48 states on a $100 bike. Which begs the question, what about the other two?

A Baltimore cyclist is killed in a hit-and-run on one of the city’s best bike lanes; the driver turns out to be an Episcopal bishop, who reportedly was arrested on drinking, driving and drug charges in 2010.

 

International

A UK cyclist completes a 2,000 mile fundraising journey to Spain — despite breaking his shoulder on the third day of the ride.

A British man runs home to get his bike and catches a mugger who robbed a tourist on Christmas Day.

An Amsterdam cyclist is wanted by police for assaulting a bus driver who he says threatened his girlfriend with his bus.

Russia’s crashing ruble could undermine the Tinkoff-Saxo pro cycling team.

Instead of taming dangerous traffic, Dubai police urge cyclists to stay off major roads. And sidewalks.

Abu Dhabi wants to be bike friendly by 2020.

Bangkok authorities open a new five mile bikeway as a New Years gift for the people.

 

Finally…

Dealing with LA drivers is bad enough; cyclists in the other LA are dodging bullets from illegal hunters in Baton Rouge parks. Caught on video: A drunk attempts to ride a bike suspended outside a bike shop, with predictable results.

And an arrest is finally made in the theft of a Miami mailman’s postal bike last March. Yes, they deliver mail by bike in Miami Beach.

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Just a quick heads-up. I’ll be moving to a new apartment at the end of this week, so my apologies in advance if I’m not able to keep up with regular posting this week. We’ll get back to a regular schedule once everything gets unpacked and things settle down.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , ,

Riverside bike rider killed in sideswipe collision; 1st cycling fatality this month

December 27, 2014 / / 3 comments

It couldn’t last.

For the first 26 days of this month, there hadn’t been a single bicycling fatality anywhere in Southern California. It looked, for a time, like we might actually finish the year without another rider losing his life

Sadly, that ended today.

According to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, 68-year old Israel Cerda Contreras was riding east in the right lane of Central Avenue east of the 91 Freeway just after noon today.

Witnesses told police that he began weaving as he struggled to ride uphill. As he did, he reportedly drifted into the far left lane on the six lane street, and was clipped from behind by a car traveling in the same direction.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver stopped, and was not suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

To make matters worse, Mark Friis reports the collision occurred in the same spot where David Mendez lost his life earlier this year. Mendez was the first bike rider killed this year; with luck, Contreras will be the last.

This is the 82nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 13th in Riverside County.

Let’s hope we can finish the year without another one.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Israel Contreras and all his family.

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