Calbike lists legislative agenda, ignores hit-and-run (again); and LA council committees belatedly consider HLA

February 26, 2025 / / Comments Off on Calbike lists legislative agenda, ignores hit-and-run (again); and LA council committees belatedly consider HLA
Day 57 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Calbike updated their legislative agenda for the coming year, calling for better and faster bike infrastructure, while reclassifying electric motorcycles and mopeds that are illegally marketed as ebikes.

Which, as we’ve repeatedly pointed out, are what are driving most of the complaints mistakenly directed towards electric bicycles.

Which they ain’t.

Other priorities include safe routes to schools, assessing the vulnerability of California cities to climate change, and removing roadblocks to bikeways and sustainable transportation projects.

Calbike also called for a halt to the recent rash of bikeway removals in the state, specifically in Culver City and San Mateo.

Although I keep hoping that someone, somewhere, will finally decide that hit-and-run drivers, who cause roughly a third of SoCal bicycling deaths, and are involved in up to half of all crashes in the City of Angels, are a problem, and actually do something about it.

Maybe someday.

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Streetsblog reports the LA Transportation and Public Works Committees will belatedly get around to considering two Measure HLA measure they put off earlier this month, ’cause they just didn’t have time to get around to them after dealing with constituents angry over another matter.

And that’s after failing to consider it in any of the previous 11 months following the measure’s overwhelming victory last March, of course.

Wednesday 2/26 – The L.A. City Council will host a joint meeting of its Transportation and Public Works Committees at 8:30 a.m. at L.A. City Hall room 401. The agenda includes two Measure HLA items postponed from earlier this month (see earlier SBLA coverage previewing HLA items and recapping the meeting when they were postponed

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Walk ‘n Rollers will host a Walk More Bike More Festival at Ivy Station in Culver City this Saturday, as Bike Culver City looks for bike valets.

Twitter post

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

Detroit cops demonstrate their windshield bias by ticketing bicyclists for riding in the roadway, incorrectly insisting they have to stay in the bike lane — even if it’s full of snow. And asking to see their licenses, which people who ride bikes don’t need.

You’ve got to be kidding. A so-called London “journalist” says that violent armed bikejackers “are doing society a favor” by targeting people whose only crime is riding a bicycle in the early morning hours, saying bicyclists have turned Regent’s Park into a circle of hell. Maybe he’d feel a little differently if they were mugging newspaper columnists, instead.

No bias here. Bicyclists complained about the BBC’s claim of “a war on our roads,” calling out the false equivalency of framing it as a battle when only one side suffers most of the losses.

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Local  

They get it. The Los Angeles Times also calls on Culver City not to backslide on their ambitious safe street redesign, arguing that we will “never have safe streets and quality transit if the region’s political leaders scrap or scale back projects when there is opposition to change.”

This is who we share the road with. A 33-year old social media influencer faces DUI and manslaughter charges after allegedly leaving a Malibu 4th of July party after drinking, and killing a rideshare driver in a head-on crash after jumping the center divider on PCH.

 

State

Costa Mesa will present a comprehensive bicycle safety education class, developed in consultation with Culver City nonprofit Walk ‘n Rollers.

Santa Barbara approved an amendment to the city code to provide more enforcement tools to rein in “excessive” ebike riders, even though excessive bicycling isn’t a crime, electric or otherwise. And even though it was inspired by a close call with a pocket bike, which is a mini motorbike governed by the state vehicle code, and not a bicycle subject to city regulations.

A long-delayed, one-and-a-quarter mile, $12 million bike trail connecting Morro Bay and Cayucos along the coast in San Luis Obispo County is now nearly funded and could break ground soon, providing a safer alternative to riding on PCH.

The Napa Valley Transportation Authority is looking for public input as they belatedly develop the county’s first active transportation plan.

The CHP is looking for a hit-and-run driver who left a Sacramento bike rider with major injuries earlier this month.

 

National

American bikemakers are facing yet another economic challenge thanks to Trump’s new tariffs on steel and aluminum, amid fears it will price out some customers and hurt demand.

Cycling Weekly takes an angle grinder to angle grinder-resistant bike locks to rate their resistance to, yes, angle grinders.

DoorDash says that San Francisco is the nation’s biggest market for bicycle deliveries, with 76% of the company’s deliveries done on bikes, ebikes and scooters, compared to 58% in New York and 57% in DC. Although my understanding is a lot of New York deliveries are made directly through the restaurant, without relying on a third-party service. 

My bike-friendly Colorado hometown is considering building a bike park on the site of the former college football stadium, where I used to smuggle booze for the marching band inside my tuba.

The governor of Arkansas signed a new bill allowing lift-access downhill mountain bike parks to help boost bicycle tourism, in a state where that is actually a priority. Unlike a certain populous Left Coast state I could name, although we seem to do okay attracting bike tourism, anyway.

 

International

Cyclist looks at the game-changing tech that has transformed bicycling over the past ten years.

Yanko Design recommends the top five “essential” bike gear upgrades for every bicyclist. None of which actually is. Essential, that is. 

A 33-year old beginning driver will spend the next two years behind bars for killing a 55-year old English man when he drifted onto the wrong side of the road for no apparent reason, and crashed head-on into the victim’s bicycle.

A British pro cycling site says semiconductors are even improving singlespeed bikes, despite their simplicity.

Momentum recommends four “fantastic” bike routes that showcase the best of Paris, for your next trip to the City of Lights, which is rapidly becoming the City of Bikes.

A Punjabi official insists that no government funds were expended on a Lahore, Pakistan bike lane that is already fading after less than a year, and will be repainted under warranty.

 

Finally….

That feeling when your pro cycling diet is a “hate crime against food.” Your new handlebar tape could look like a horned owl.

And for everyone who dreamed of riding a Raleigh Chopper through the Alps back in the day, someone has finally done it for you.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Teen bike riders again attack LA motorist, 3 fatal South LA hit-and-runs in 24 hours, and ATL ebike vouchers reduce driving

February 25, 2025 / / 3 comments
Day 56 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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My apologies for yesterday’s unexcused absence. 

My pancreas decided to remind me Sunday night that I’m still diabetic, and it’s still in charge. 

Good times. 

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For the second time in two months — and at least the third in six months — a Los Angeles driver has been attacked by a mob of angry young bicycle riders.

And yes, mob is the right word in this case.

According to witnesses, the kids set upon the victim after he got out of his car following an argument, and were shown on video hitting and kicking the man until he appeared to lose consciousness lying on the street.

Instagram post

The attack occurred around 4:30 pm Saturday at San Vicente Boulevard and McCarthy Vista.

KCAL News reports the attackers were around 16 to 18 years old, although other sources suggested they may have been younger.

It occurred just seven weeks and a few miles from where a man was attacked and his car severely vandalized after driving aggressively through a teen rideout on Olympic Blvd just seven weeks earlier.

And another driver was the victim of a similar attack in DTLA last August.

But no matter what the motorists may have done, or how justified these kids may have felt, there is never an excuse for this kind of mob violence.

Period.

Let’s hope someone recognizes the kids involved, so we can put a stop to this crap.

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Police in South LA are looking for a hit-and-run driver who killed a 16-year old boy riding a pocket bike — aka a mini-motorbike — early Sunday morning, despite some reports that mistakenly said the victim was on a bicycle.

The driver fled on foot, leaving the victim’s bike still wedged in the car’s grill.

As always, there is a $50,000 reward for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of Los Angeles. Anyone with information is urged to call the LAPD’s South Traffic Division at 323/421-2577.

The boy was just one of three people killed by hit-and-run drivers in South LA in just 24 hours.

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More proof that ebike vouchers are effective in reducing driving.

A new report shows recipients of Atlanta’s $1 million voucher program are riding more frequently and driving less, while boosting sales at local bike shops.

The recipients represent roughly two percent of the city’s population, from nearly every neighborhood, while serving mostly low and moderate income residents; one woman says she’s saving money on gas while enjoying riding through the city with her daughter on her new e-cargo bike.

Which is exactly what California’s ebike voucher program could and should be doing, if it had actual leadership, and wasn’t focused solely on providing transportation to low income residents who may not even own cars.

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Former LA-based pro cyclist Phil Gaimon, of Worst Retirement Ever fame, provides a tongue-in-cheek look at 10 facts about bicyclists that haters get wrong.

And my apologies to whoever sent this one to me after I lost track of who did it, but thank you, anyway!

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

No bias here. The Encinitas city council replaced two members of the city’s Mobility & Traffic Safety Commission, as the mayor called for a “course correction” from the previous focus on bicycles and pedestrians, to “make sure vehicles and their drivers aren’t forgotten in the roadway planning process.” Because because cars and drivers must have somehow been left out in the newly 40 years of auto-centric traffic planning since the city’s founding. 

Drivers in the UK say they’re being treated like extremist groups, accusing city counselors of being “snowflakes” for cancelling a meeting to discuss bicycling infrastructure, even though police had urged the cancellation over safety concerns from angry drivers.

The BBC remembers Paul Varry, the 27-year old Parisian bike advocate and father who dreamed of a bicycling revolution in the City of Lights, until he was run over — allegedly on purpose — by an SUV driver after Varry became understandably upset when the driver ran over his foot in a designated bike lane.

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

A Jersey City writer blames bad behavior by scofflaw bicyclists for jeopardizing plans for a protected bike lane, while arguing that calling drivers selfish for being unwilling to give up an inch of roadway is just a great strategy to lose.

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Local  

No surprise here, as Trump’s funding freeze could jeopardize efforts to revitalize the Los Angeles River; meanwhile, LA released the latest update of plans for completing the LA River bike path, which stands little chance of completion unless the feds unlock funding.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers his typically great photos from Sunday’s CicLAvia.

A man was arrested in Baldwin Park for vandalizing a church, resulting in $19,000 damage, following a brief bicycle chase.

The Broxton Plaza pedestrian plaza is now officially open in Westwood Village.

A Torrance driver faces charges after he was arrested for the hit-and-run crash that left an ebike rider hospitalized with serious injuries shortly after midnight Saturday; neither the driver or the victim were publicly identified.

 

State

The Voice of OC updates the current state of anti-ebike regulations in Orange County, with new ordinances in Buena Park and Laguna Hills. However, the cities continue to conflate relatively slow speed ped-assist bikes with higher speed Class 3 ebikes, and illegally modified virtual electric motorcycles.

In an opinion piece we can only hope is tongue-in-cheek, a writer for the UC San Diego student newspaper makes the case for giving bikes, scooters and skateboards undisputed right-of-way over pedestrians, even in crosswalks. Which is no different than drivers who insist they are entitled to the road, and people on bicycles should get the hell out of their way. 

Police in Contra Costa County have finally arrested a suspect for killing a man riding a bicycle over a year ago, leaving the victim lying the road next to his bicycle after midnight in December, 2023.

Sad news from Napa County, where a person riding a bicycle was killed by a hit-and-run driver Sunday afternoon, on the same highway where an Oregon couple was killed riding their bikes two years ago.

 

National

People For Bikes has launched a data-driven tool, developed with funding from REI, to help guide investment in recreational bicycling facilities.

A writer for Forbes asks if this will be the year the bike industry will bounce back, after yet another prolonged bust in 2024.

CyclingSavvy offers strategies to navigate a green light on your bicycle, which apparently isn’t as simple as it seems.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. A Las Vegas man faces charges for the allegedly drunken crash that killed 62-year old man riding an ebike — while he was already facing charges for another DUI, as well as ten previous charges for failing to appear.

The Northwestern University student newspaper profiles a 24-year old “campus enigma” known for performing stunts on his bike for hours on end, while blasting disco and funk classics through a speaker.

A 72-year old Connecticut woman walked without a day behind bars for killing a 47-year old woman as she was riding her bicycle, after the victim’s family asked the court for leniency. But at least she voluntarily gave up her driver’s license.

In a hard-hitting op-ed, a Black ex-con who has turned his life around to become a Connecticut lawyer and Harvard professor discusses how it felt to go to a bike shop, where he had been a customer six times before, to buy a bicycle, only to have the manager call cops after mistaking him for a vagrant. Yet he somehow went back a week later to buy a high-end Trek anyway.

A Tampa, Florida Catholic church gave away their 1,500th refurbished bicycle for people in need.

 

International

Momentum belatedly gets it, arguing that “sharrows used to make sense in theory, but are now mostly useless and possibly dangerous.”

A writer for Road.cc describes the tools he carries with him on his bike to fix just about anything on the road. I always made sure I had enough tools to get myself back if my bike broke down 50 miles from home in the middle of nowhere. And it did, more than once. 

Cycling Weekly considers how bicyclists can reduce their carbon footprint, when riding for recreation is far from a green activity as too few “hobby” riders use their bikes to replace car trips.

After traversing the continent by bike and train, a writer for Bike Radar lists his favorite European bicycling experiences.

London bike clubs are begging police to begin early morning patrols in the city’s Regent’s Park, where bike riders have been targeted by masked knife and hammer-wielding bikejackers. But donut shops must open later there, because the cops say it’s just too darn early for them.

A Welsh startup’s “ingenious” bicycle storage rack earned the equivalent of a $126,000 investment on the British equivalent of Shark Tank.

That’s more like it. A British man will spend the next eight years behind bars for killing a 16-year old kid riding a bicycle, while doing 70 mph in a 30 mph zone stoned on coke and weed; he initially left the scene, but came back shortly afterwards and called the cops to report the crash.

A writer from the Netherlands calls cul-de-sacs the enemy of ebikes, because they force people to ride next to high-speed traffic on overly wide boulevards.

A Dutch website considers whether the country’s roundabouts are really that safe, concluding they improve safety for bicyclists and drivers, though there’s still room for improvement.

A German company wants you to hide an AirTag in your bike bell.

How to go from selling soap from a bicycle to becoming a detergent mogul and one of the richest people in India.

The Washington Post remembers “inveterate adventurer” Shirley Duncan, who died just shy of her 100th birthday; Duncan was just 21 when she set off with a friend and a dog to ride across Australia in the days after WWII, a nearly three-year journey recounted in her 1957 book, “Two Wheels to Adventure,” now out of print.

 

Competitive Cycling

Ultra-endurance cyclist Lachlan Morton has done it again, setting yet another world record by riding 402 miles across New Zealand in just 18-and-a-half hours.

America’s only seven-time ex-Tour de France champ offers his tips for how to stay safe while riding a bicycle, including riding a gravel bike and going where cars can’t go. And waiting for self-driving cars to take over, which could take awhile.

What will likely be Chris Froome’s final year on the pro tour is on hold, after the four-time Tour de France champ broke his collarbone during the final stage of the UAE Tour.

 

Finally….

You can now be replaced by a robot. No, a bike basket is not a dumpster. Who needs a hearse when you’ve got a cargo bike?

And forget the dating apps; if you really want to find lasting love, get run over by a speeding driver while riding your bike.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Update: Road cyclist killed on PCH near Thornhill Broome Beach in Ventura County, another victim of SoCal’s killer highway

February 22, 2025 / / 5 comments

Southern California’s deadliest roadway has claimed another life.

This time in Ventura County. And once again, the victim appears to be a road cyclist.

According to the Ventura County Star, the victim was struck by a motorist while riding in the northbound lanes of Pacific Coast Highway shortly before 11:15 this morning.

They place the crash in Ventura County near the sand dunes south of Thornhill Broome Beach, about 2.4 miles south of Mugu Rock.

Meanwhile, KVTA 1590 places the collision on PCH north of Sycamore Canyon Road at 11:13 am.

The station reports the victim was leading a group of eight other bicyclists on the shoulder of the highway when the rider allegedly made an abrupt turn into the northbound traffic lane, and was hit by a driver traveling at 55 mph.

Ventura County firefighters said someone was performing CPR on the victim when they arrived. Unfortunately, despite their efforts, the victim was pronounced dead at the scene, and additional units were called off.

There’s no information yet on the identity of the victim or the driver. And no word on why the victim may have swerved into the traffic lane, or what group the riders may have been associated with, if any.

Despite recent efforts to improve safety, too many people have died, and continue to die, on PCH as a result of traffic violence. And too many of those have been riding bicycles.

This was at least the seventh bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first that I’m aware of in Ventura County.

Update: The victim has been identified only as a 66-year old Los Angeles man, though he has still not been publicly named, while the driver was a 37-year old woman from Malibu, also unnamed.

Update 2: The victim has been identified as 66-year old Los Angeles resident John C. McLaughlin. A comment from Damian Kevitt below says McLaughlin was on a training ride with LA Tri Club when he was killed.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for John C. McLaughlin and all his loved ones.

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

Banning non-existent 39 mph ebikes from sidewalks, the year’s first CicLAvia on Sunday, and riding to remember civil rights

February 21, 2025 / / Comments Off on Banning non-existent 39 mph ebikes from sidewalks, the year’s first CicLAvia on Sunday, and riding to remember civil rights
Day 52 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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No bias here.

Los Alamitos will join the list of Orange County cities enacting local restrictions on ebikes, introducing a new ordinance allowing cops to cite riders for “unsafe” conduct, while intentionally keeping the ordinance “broad.”

Although leaving it too broad could make the ordinance unenforceable if it leave it up to officers to decide on the fly what’s legal and what isn’t.

Then there’s this.

The city’s mayor pro-tem demonstrated from the dais just how little research and preparation went into the promised ordinance.

Mayor Pro-tem Tanya Doby said she read that e-bikes can travel at nearly 39 miles per hour on a sidewalk. “So my question is, what, if anything, is within the realm of possibility to limit or restrict e-bikes or just no e-bikes on the sidewalk,” she asked.

“Is there anything that can be added for that,” she wondered?

Never mind that anything capable of doing 39 mph would be considered an electric motorbike under California law, requiring a motorcycle helmet, driver’s license and license plate.

And as a police captain explained to her, Class 3 ebikes capable of exceeding 20 mph are already prohibited from being ridden on sidewalks.

Let alone 39 mph motorbikes.

But other than that, it’s nice to see a city official so well versed on the subject she’s attempting to legislate.

And yes, that’s a little sarcasm.

Okay, a lot.

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Don’t forget Sunday’s first-of-the-year CicLAvia, on a first-ever route from University Park to LA’s historic West Adams.

And if you see someone with a corgi walking or riding a pedicab, say hi. Because that just might be me.

The person, that is. Not the corgi.

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Local  

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Business owners are “concerned” about a new bikeway project on San Diego’s Imperial Ave, which will remove the center lane they use to unload trucks, even though it will provide bike access for underserved communities. And even though studies have repeatedly shown that bike lanes are good for business.

Ride through the Paso Robles wine country to raise funds for local cancer patients, survivors, and their families on April 6th.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Oakland will name a new two-way cycle track next to Lake Merritt for Maia Correia, the four-year old killed when she was doored while riding with her father on the same roadway.

The Los Angeles Post-Examiner offers a guide to the best bicycling routes in the East Bay, for your next trip to the Bay Area.

 

National

Bicycling considers common household items that could come in handy for cleaning and maintenance on your bike. And for a change, this one is available on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

No surprise here. Consumer Reports tested 21 cheap bike helmets purchased online, and found eight failed to meet minimum federal standards.

The Guardian traces the history of how bike buses revived riding to school.

A Portland father describes how bicycling led him to a job in the mayor’s office.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. An Elyria, Ohio police employee hit a homeless man riding a bicycle after rolling her car through a stop sign, then just drove away, later claiming she didn’t know she’d hit anyone — and still ended up only paying a lousy $50 fine. Fortunately, Good Samaritans are stepping up to help the victim, whose bike was destroyed in the crash.

A group of 35 people rode 31 miles from Marion to Selma, Alabama to remember civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was shot and killed 60 years ago on Feb. 18, 1965. And a bicycle ride this Saturday will follow the 51-mile route from the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama to to the Alabama State Capitol steps Montgomery taken by civil rights marchers led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr in 1965. 

 

International

A writer for Road.cc says sometimes, souplesse is more, longing for the days when effortless pedaling and the love of bicycling mattered more than ‘watts,’ ‘aero’ and ‘epic.’

Awhile back, we mentioned a father and son in the UK who were injured when a driver plowed into the bike they were sharing; now bicyclists and community members are calling for a complete redesign of the intersection, while civic leaders agreed to reconsider the ridiculous 50 mph speed limit.

Swiss bikemaker BMC issued a voluntary recall for its Kaius 01 gravel bike, telling users to “immediately stop riding” it due to a risk of fork steerer tubes coming loose under heavy riding conditions.

A pair of Dutch men embarked on a bike ride to “the other side of the world” last year, arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 343 days later — and offered to host anyone who wants to do the same ride in reverse.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An Aussie man celebrated his 86th birthday by bicycling with his friends in the local bike club, which has a growing chapter hosting twice weekly rides for people over 80.

Ebike and e-scooter injuries have “skyrocketed” a “whopping” 300 percent in a single year at an Australian children’s hospital — although that reflects a jump from just six to 24. And in all likelihood, has more to do with the increase in ebike ridership than an increase in risk. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Levi Leipheimer’s Levi’s Gran Fondo will offer live streaming of The Growler, its professional race with both on and off-road cyclists competing for a $156,000 purse.

Yeti Cycles offered a heartfelt tribute to American expat and Yeti/Shimano EP Enduro Team Mechanic Matt Opperman, who was found dead next to his mountain bike in the mountains above Siles, Spain.

 

Finally….

Apparently, it takes a major screwup for lesser known bike races to make CNN. That feeling when calling an ebike an ebike is an insult to the ebike.

And seriously, if you’re going to Mardi Gras, just leave your car at home.

And take me with you.

Please.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

CA Ebike Incentive management firm accused of major misconduct, and “King” Trump kills New York congestion pricing

February 20, 2025 / / One comment
Day 51 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Nope. Nothing to see here.

Pedal Ahead, the San Diego firm chosen to manage the California Ebike Incentive Program is being sued by their former manager, accusing the nonprofit of what basically sounds like fraud and embezzlement.

But I’m not a lawyer, so what the hell do I know?

According to San Diego’s CBS8, it also may have explain why it took so long to roll out the state ebike vouchers.

In a newly filed non-conformed copy of a lawsuit obtained by CBS 8, former Pedal Ahead manager Rodrigo Rodriguez says he was forced out of his position after he reported misuse of funds, discriminatory statements from the nonprofit CEO, Ed Clancy, and evidence that Clancy was using Pedal Ahead to steer business to his own e-bike ventures, thus delaying a statewide initiative to provide grants to lower-income residents to purchase e-bikes.

In December 2024, the program moved on from Pedal Ahead and finally rolled out its e-bike incentives.

According to the lawsuit, the rollout was postponed for a long time due to Pedal Ahead’s alleged misconduct. However, not before Pedal Ahead secured over $10 million in grant funding from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the San Diego Association of Governments.

So those of us who accused the program of mismanagement and called for a criminal investigation may have been onto something.

You’re welcome.

And apparently, Pedal Ahead is not involved with the program any more, with the state taking over management of the program, which is the first I’ve heard about it.

So we have them to thank for the intentionally botched rollout of the first and only round of vouchers.

Clancy is also accused making discriminatory comments about the low-income communities they were intended to serve, as well as neglecting required outreach to communities of color in the state, including Barrio Logan, Richmond, Hunters Point, Fresno and Native American reservations

Evidently, oversight wasn’t a high priority for the California Air Resources Board, aka CARB, which was supposed oversee the program.

Or basic competence, for that matter.

The San Diego Union-Tribune has reported that Pedal Ahead is facing three separate investigations, however, their story is currently hidden behind a paywall.

Let’s hope those investigations also look into who chose them to run the program for CARB, and why.

And maybe it’s time for a few public hearings on this whole shitshow.

Or past time, even.

Ebike photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels.

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President Trump has boldly gone where no president has gone before, reaching into local traffic management to cancel New York’s successful congestion pricing program, while crowning himself king.

Twitter post

Just how legal that is remains to be determined.

Trump could have a say in the matter, since the program involved highways and bridges built using federal funds, which legally gives Washington a voice, if not a veto, over how they are used.

Although whether Trump can summarily overturn the four-year process blessed by the previous administration will depend on the outcome of the inevitable lawsuits.

Meanwhile let’s all wish a happy third birthday to LA Metro’s own congestion pricing study, which still hasn’t been released, evidently out of fear of pissing off LA drivers and the elected leaders who love them.

It may be a moot point now, though, since a Los Angeles edition of congestion pricing is no more likely to be approved by the Trump administration than New York’s was.

Twitter post

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An automotive website lists ten bicycles with known safety flaws, along with another ten ebikes banned for safety risks.

Although it doesn’t say who banned them, so maybe take that with a grain of salt.

And maybe they should have stopped there. Because that same automotive website badly misses the mark with their next piece, highlighting ten bicycles proven to be safest in high speed crashes.

Maybe they assume bicycles come standard with airbags. Or maybe they’ve forgotten that it isn’t the hard surfaces of a bicycle that matter in a crash, but the soft, squishy parts of the person on it.

Whether you’re in a solo crash or struck by a speeding driver, even the heaviest, most shock-absorbing frame will offer little protection when your entire body is exposed to the impact.

Which raises the question what the hell they’re thinking — or maybe what they’re on.

Or maybe they just let AI write the whole damn thing, and no one bothered to read it before they put it online.

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Finish The Ride founder Damian Kevitt will join a discussion on the future of ebikes at Claremont’s Harvey Mudd College on Monday.

Twitter post

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

Ontario, Canada’s ongoing war on bike lanes made its way into the campaign for provincial premier, as current leader Doug Ford, brother of the late crack-smoking Toronto mayor, attacked his opponents for their belief in “bike lanes and riding bikes and planting trees…But the problem is, you won’t be able to afford the trees because the economy will go down the tubes with all three of you.” Because apparently, trees and bikes are somehow bad for the local economy. Or something. 

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Local  

The eight-year old son of singer Pink and motocross star Carey Hart is one of us, following in his famous dad’s footsteps on “an appropriately sized” BMX bike.

 

State

Calbike says support advocates, and keep calm and pedal on in the face of whiplash changes in federal funding and policies. And thanks for linking to Transportation For America’s analysis of what’s going on at the federal level, and what it means for all of us. 

San Francisco CA Senator Scott Weiner has introduced two more bills to speed up projects that reduce car dependency, with SB71 focused on shortening CEQA reviews for transit, bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and SB445 on imposing permitting process deadlines for larger transit projects.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel takes a look at the Coastal Rail Trail following the tracks of the 19th Century Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Railroad.

San Francisco finally installed its first speed cam, as allowed under a state pilot program approved a year ago. Which makes them one up on Los Angeles, which, to the best of my knowledge, hasn’t installed any.

 

National

Electrek recommends the best ebikes available now at every price point, from below a thousand bucks to more than five grand.

Bike Magazine considers how cuts in the federal public lands workforce will affect mountain biking, saying responsible ridership will now be more important than ever.

An Oregon legislator agreed to withdraw a controversial bill that would have banned Class 3 ebikes from bike lanes, while reclassifying them with mopeds and motorcycles.

New Mexico is considering whether and how to restrict mountain biking to protect the endangered Peñasco Least Chipmunk.

Denver will host a psychedelic bike ride in April to mark the 82nd anniversary of Bicycle Day, when Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hoffman dropped the first LSD tab and unexpectedly tripped out while riding his bike home from work.

Residents of New York’s wealthy Upper East Side say they were blindsided by the new green wave on Third Ave, with traffic lights now timed to give constant green lights to anyone traveling 15 mph. Like on a bicycle, for instance. Or a car stuck in traffic thanks to Trump’s cancelation of congestion pricing.

A Louisiana high school senior who rode his bike to school everyday received a surprise upgrade from two wheels to four, when school officials gave him the keys to a donated used car. Although some of us would consider that a downgrade, instead.

Florida nonprofit Jack the Bike Man vows to continue its mission of providing refurbished bicycles to kids in need, after a fire tore through the second floor of their West Palm Beach warehouse; there were no bicycles stored there, but the group had hoped to sell it to raise funds for their work.

 

International

Momentum recommends studded bike tires for winter riding. Although here in sunny SoCal you’re more likely to need a good sunscreen. 

Evidently, winter isn’t a problem for bike riders in Brussels, Belgium, where ridership is up 4% over last year, on top of a nearly 14% increase the year before, despite record rainfall.

Momentum also suggests the best off-the-beaten-path bicycling routes in Italy, for your next off-the-beaten-path trip to the country.

An Aussie photography magazine talks with “bicycle photographer extraordinaire” Marcus Enno, better known in the cycling world as Beardy McBeard.

 

Competitive Cycling

The opening stage of Portugal’s Volta ao Algarve was called off with no winner declared when nearly the entire peloton took a wrong turn at a roundabout less than a kilometer from the finish line, speeding through the crowded lane on the wrong side of the barriers.

Escape Collective drops their paywall to consider other alternative endings to bike races that UCI probably hasn’t considered. Unless maybe they have, of course.

 

Finally….

Your next mountain bike ride could be halted by a chipmunk. Now you, too, can ride the custom bike honoring a locally famous runaway dog in a pooch-themed Mardi Gras parade.

And your next road kit could honor famed cycling superstar SpongeBob.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Collecting bikes for Altadena fire victims, 12 years since crash inspired Finish the Ride, and NY congestion pricing works

February 19, 2025 / / Comments Off on Collecting bikes for Altadena fire victims, 12 years since crash inspired Finish the Ride, and NY congestion pricing works
Day 50 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Hats off to my old friend and former longtime LACBC staffer and volunteer Colin Bogart, who has organized a bike donation program for victims of the Eaton Fire for Pasadena nonprofit Day One.

According to the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition, the nonprofit is working with the Bicycle Kitchen, the Bike Oven, the Bikerowave, and the Long Beach Bicycle Co-op to collect and repair the bikes, along with local bike shops including Around the Cycle, Pasadena Cyclery, and Trek Pasadena.

The organization has received requests for over 300 bicycles.

So if you have a bike you don’t need, or can help in some other way, drop it off at Day One’s Pasadena office at 175. N. Euclid Ave from 9:30am to 5:30pm Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays, or by special arrangement 626/657.8744 or colin@godayone.org.

Photo by Olya Kobruseva from Pexels.

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It’s been a dozen years since a hit-and-run driver crashed into Damian Kevitt on Zoo Drive, and dragged him under his van onto the nearby 5 Freeway as he fled the crash.

Remarkably, Damian channeled the trauma of the crash that cost him a leg, and nearly his life, into the creation of Finish The Ride and Streets Are For Everyone to fight for safer streets and an end to hit-and-run.

And no, the driver was never found.

Twitter post

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More proof New York’s congestion pricing is working, even as Trump vows to kill it.

Twitter post

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

Police in Detroit are looking for the woman who used her car as a weapon to intentionally ran down a man riding a bicycle after an argument, along with her male passenger who got out of the car and hit the victim with a baseball bat.

Seriously? A writer for the Boston Globe investigates who has the right to public space on the streets, after a mayoral candidate calls for hitting pause on building bike lanes, and can only manage to conclude that bike lanes are the third rail of Boston politics. Even though the law is clear that bike riders have a right to the road, and well-designed bike lanes improve safety for all road users.

No bias here. Residents of Suffolk, England are up in arms because a car-shaped bike corral replaced a single parking space. Yes, one.

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Local  

The annual LA Chinatown Firecracker run, walk and bike ride has been rescheduled for March 8th and 9th, after it was postponed due to the January firestorms.

Streets For All says the long-sought extension to the Ballona Creek bike path is moving forward, despite missing out on ATP funding, after Metro recommended it for regional funding.

Streets Are For Everyone is teaming with the Pico Union Neighborhood Council to clean up MacArthur Park on Saturday morning, including the 7th Street bike lanes.

As we noted the other day, some people are criticizing a new demonstration bike lane in Santa Clarita, complaining that the flexible plastic bollards separating it from motor vehicles are a form of visual blight, but even the president of the Santa Clarita Valley Bicycle Coalition sympathized with the outcry over the “aesthetic unattractiveness.”

 

State

Calbike is hosting a webinar this Thursday to discuss creative approaches to funding active transportation infrastructure, as the usual sources threaten to dry up.

Apparently, former baseball star Barry Bonds is killing it on Strava, saying bicycling is his second passion. Although no one tests for steroids on the bike app.

A San Francisco website says anarchy has ensued on Valencia Street, as work begins to remove the contentious centerline bike lane and move it curbside, with people riding bikes forced to choose their own route on the street.

A Yuba City bike co-op is refurbishing bicycles and donating nearly 20 a month to homeless people.

 

National

Bicycling recommends ten expert-approved road bike upgrades for under a hundred bucks apiece. But you’ll have to fork out for a subscription if the magazine blocks you, because this one is limited to members only. 

It looks like bicycles, ebikes and bike components won’t be subject to Trump’s new 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, but will be affected by other tariff increases.

The mayor of Honolulu signed a new law requiring helmets for bike riders under 18, while limiting the power of ebikes and providing guidelines to prevent reckless riding.

A Las Vegas writer wisely observes that sometimes, the best bike ride is the one you don’t take.

A Park City, Utah website says riding a fat bike through the snow could be the cure for the winter blues.

The Illinois legislature is considering legislation that would fix a bad court ruling that said bike riders aren’t intended road users unless a street or highway is designated for bicycle use.

 

International

Momentum recommends the top six routes for solo bike tourism. And for once, the Los Angeles area is included, as part of the 800-mile California Coast ride.

Bike Radar recommends nine bikes that give you the best bang for your bucks.

A London food delivery rider says he’s been knocked off his bike by drivers eight times already, arguing that bike couriers are people too, and deserve safer streets.

A retired English man has earned the moniker “Dr. Bike” for fixing bikes for community members or to donate to people in need, while raising the equivalent of over $11,000 for local charities.

A British writer took part in an study riding around York measuring air quality with a small device on his handlebars, and found the air was even dirtier than expected — even on quiet country lanes.

Ebike makers in the UK are worried about whether they can rsurvive after the government scrapped anti-dumping tariffs on China earlier this month, with one calling it the final nail in their coffin.

 

Competitive Cycling

Former pro cyclist Jérôme Pineau called out the World Anti-Doping Agency, aka WADA, for giving top-ranked tennis pro Jannik Sinner a three-month slap on the wrist for testing positive for a banned substance twice last year, saying a cyclist would have been banned for at least a couple years.

 

Finally….

2 Chainz may be a rapper, but two chains could be coming soon to a bike near you. If the city won’t clear snow from the bike lanes, just put a plow on an ebike and do it yourself.

And what could be more humiliating than getting busted for bike theft in front of your mom?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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