Walk ‘n Rollers hosts bicycle safety workshop and pizza party, and “powerful force” for N.M. bike community killed

January 23, 2025 / / Comments Off on Walk ‘n Rollers hosts bicycle safety workshop and pizza party, and “powerful force” for N.M. bike community killed
Day 23 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

……..

It’s our third light bike news day in a row, as some guy in Washington seems to be sucking up all the news space. Which just means I can get to bed that much earlier. 

Although it’s questionable how much sleep I’ll get, as smoke from yet another not-too-distant LA fire infiltrates our apartment once again. 

Today’s photo: apropos of nothing, a bike hanging on a wall of a defunct coffee shop. 

………

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

No bias here. British drivers complain about bikeshare bikes, calling them a “blight” on the sidewalks, but parking cars on said sidewalks appears to be just fine.

A road-raging UK driver will spend the next 18 months behind bars after being convicted for using his car as a weapon by deliberately ramming a bike rider following a punishment pass, then getting out of his car and yelling at the victim as he lay helpless on the street.

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

A 73-yer old Dublin, Ireland woman died of a head injury after she was struck by a man riding a bicycle, while she was putting up political campaign posters last year.

………

Local  

Walk ‘n Rollers is teaming with the YMCA and Culver City to host a free bicycle safety workshop and pizza party this Sunday to “help keep commuters and recreational cyclists safe.”

 

State

Calbike considers a number of policy changes to protect vulnerable road users.

Orange County’s most bike-friendly city just got its first protected bike lane, with a new 1.25-mile curb protected lane to go with Irvine’s 300 miles of painted bike lanes and 100 miles of off-street bikeways.

The Imperial County DA’s office says they’ll be cracking down on riders of ebikes and electric motorcycles for unspecified violations. Which seems like illegal selective enforcement, unless they crack down on violations by other road users to the same degree.

Bad news from Bakersfield, where a 14-year old boy was critically injured by a driver while riding his bicycle against traffic.

A 44-year old Oregon woman pled not guilty to charges including vehicular manslaughter, hit-and-run and DUI for allegedly just driving off after hitting two men riding bicycles in San Luis Obispo, killing an 87-year old Avila Beach man and injuring his 74-year old companion.

Sad news from Walnut Creek, where a woman was killed by a driver while riding her bike Wednesday morning — or rather, by a vehicle, since the story doesn’t even mention that it had a driver until the last paragraph.

A suspect has been arrested in Amarillo, Texas for a deadly hit-and-run that took the life of a 49-year old Tulare County man riding a bicycle last August.

 

National

This is the cost of traffic violence. A man describe as a “powerful pedaling force” for the Albuquerque, New Mexico bicycling community was killed by a driver while riding his bike home after spending the day refurbishing bicycles for children in need; 64-year old Chuck Malagodi, who led bike tours around the world before moving to the city, was just a mile from his home when he was killed, after he had refused a ride from a friend.

I want to be like them when I grow up. Three men in their 70s from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, along with a fourth man in his late 60s, completed a bike-touring trip down the 3,000 mile East Coast Greenway trail.

 

International

Vancouver, British Columbia is shutting down some popular DIY bike trails, arguing that they pose a risk to bike riders and the environment.

A Toronto woman thanks the “stranger angel” who came to her aid after she was seriously injured when one of her tires got stuck in a streetcar track. Although what makes one angel stranger than another is beyond me. 

A London bikeshare provider will now offer ebikes with a basket in front and a child seat in the back — or maybe another adult seat.

A writer for Cycling Weekly celebrates the joys of cafe stops after a long ride — in her case “stinking up” British tea rooms.

The BBC insists that a TV show attacking ebikes and lumping low-speed ped-assist ebikes together illegally modified electric motorbikes was “fair and impartial and clearly not an attack on the e-bike industry,” despite complaints by viewers and a trade association that it was exactly that.

 

Competitive Cycling

Canada is trying to level the playing field by banning time trial bikes in junior cycling events.

Wind tunnel simulations suggest your water bottle may be in the wrong place — as long as you don’t actually use a bicycle, since they didn’t use one in the tests.

 

Finally…

Your next electric scooter could come disguised as a telecom utility box that magically transforms into an ebike. Your old brake levers could be reborn as door handles.

And that feeling when the real sprinters aren’t even in the peloton

https://twitter.com/NBCSCycling/status/1881882165828346210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1881882165828346210%7Ctwgr%5E2517ed17769547aae86b204e10ffde7b36f76ccc%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-22-january-2025-312235

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Update: 80-year old Long Beach resident Enrique Barajas killed by hit-and-run driver while riding bike on Atlantic Ave

January 22, 2025 / / Comments Off on Update: 80-year old Long Beach resident Enrique Barajas killed by hit-and-run driver while riding bike on Atlantic Ave

Enrique Barajas deserved better.

Then again, anyone who still rides a bicycle at 80 years old deserves better than to be killed by a cowardly hit-and-run driver.

According to investigators, Barajas was riding north on Atlantic Ave near Pleasant Street around 12:15 pm Monday, when he attempted to merge from the bike lane into the traffic lane. He was sideswiped by the driver of an SUV traveling in the same direction, who continued on without stopping.

The Long Beach native was taken to a local hospital where he died the next day.

The crash could have occurred where the bike lane ends as the road bed narrows under a railroad underpass, forcing anyone using it to move into the right lane.

However, some of the news reports indicate that Barajas was merging into the left lane when he was sideswiped by the SUV driver, who was traveling in the right lane. That suggests that Barajas may have been attempting to merge into the left lane to make a turn when he was struck on the right side, rather than the left.

Meanwhile, a Long Beach website raises the possibility that the driver may not have known that they struck Barajas. However, they should have known they hit something after seeing damage to the side of the vehicle.

Anyone with information is urged to call Long Beach Police Detective Johnson at 562/570-7355, or anonymously at 800/222-8477 or lacrimestoppers.org.

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

It also appears to be the first caused by a hit-and-run driver.

Update: James forwarded the following information about the location of the crash. 

This area is essentially a highway with narrow bike lanes, on street parking which puts all or most of the bike lane in the door zone as well as intersection designs that assume bicycle riders can and will mingle with high speed car traffic at intersections.  It’s basically Huntington Beach but with on-street parking and narrower bike lanes.  He apparently  was hit while moving into the “number one lane” in an area where a parked car could conceivably force you into traffic.

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

February meeting on Long Beach Orange Ave bikeway, and new bike plans for CA cities where that actually means something

January 22, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 22 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

……..

It’s another light bike news day, so let’s jump right in. 

………

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

A Next City op-ed says Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s campaign to rip out Toronto’s bike lanes has nothing to do with traffic, and is all about the battle between “Old Toronto” and the city’s auto-centric suburbs. Or maybe just an egocentric, bike-hating politician. 

Once again, bicyclists have been the victims of anti-bike attack, as a Wellington, New Zealand man was lucky to escape with just a flat tire after someone tossed tacks onto a number of bikeways around the city; as a recent chemo patient, he had to rely on the kindness of strangers to change his tube. Several other people took to social media to report similar attacks, which have been going on since last month.

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

It turns out the French ebike rider we mentioned yesterday who pled guilty to causing the death of a 51-year old man riding a regular bicycle in Yorkshire, England was actually riding an electric motorcycle, which explains the confusion over the charges. Which is why we need to find another term to distinguish between ped-assist ebikes, and electric mo-peds and motorcycles.

………

Local  

Long Beach will host a public meeting February 13th to discuss the Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway along the city’s deadliest corridor for pedestrians, and part of Long Beach’s Elevate ‘28 five-year infrastructure plan.

 

State

New Streetsblog California editor Damien Newton introduces himself, and says his approach to the site will be a little more “bloggy.” While former editor Melanie Curry will be missed, the site couldn’t be in better hands than Damien, who brought Streetsblog to California in the first place as the founder of Streetsblog Los Angeles.

Goleta is conducting an E-Bike Safety Awareness Week this week, which seems to consist mainly of watching an ebike safety video and the CHP’s online ebike safety and training program.

Berkeley is asking for feedback on the city’s 2017 bike plan, as they prepare to update it later this year; the city has identified ten key projects for the new plan. Although the real question is how much of the old plan was actually built, to give some idea of how seriously to take the new one. 

San Francisco introduced a new bike plan calling for improvements to 385 routes or street segments. Unlike Los Angeles, they actually dust theirs off from time to time. Never mind that LA’s bike plan hasn’t been updated since 2010, unless you count councilmembers removing key streets from the plan before it was subsumed into the new mobility plan in 2016.

 

National

People For Bikes says the new AASHTO and NACTO — aka American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and National Association of City Transportation Officials — bikeway guides offer valuable resources for communities to build great places to ride.

An Oregon legislator says “oopsie” about his new bill that would ban throttle-controlled Class 3 ebikes from sidewalks bike lanes, clarifying that it was probably a “misnomer” on his part, since Class 3 ebikes are ped-asssist, rather than throttle-controlled, and that the law was actually targeted towards small electric motorcycles and mopeds.

Two-way, curb-protected bike lanes have now made their way south to Tampa, Florida, in the heart of the country’s deadliest state for people on bicycles. .

 

International

Momentum ranks the best international bicycle festivals worth traveling for; #1 on the list is Monterey’s Sea Otter Classic. Although what’s missing is any mention of LA’s CicLAvia, though they do include the original in Bogotá.

An Irish minister cancelled plans for a major cut to the Value Added Tax for bicycles over fears that retailers might pocket the savings instead of passing them on to bike buyers. In the simplest terms, VAT is like a sales tax that is built into the retail price, rather than adding it on afterwards; the advantage is that the price you see is the price you pay.

A Dutch university researcher is hitting the road on an ebike equipped with an array of LIDAR sensors to map and identify everything on the road, in an effort to develop an AI system to help drivers avoid people on bicycles.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo remembers pioneering American cyclist Doug Shapiro, a two-time Olympian, 1984 Coors Classic champ, and just the third Yank to ride in the Tour de France.

 

Finally…

Your next e-mountain bike could be a Porsche. It’s not a high bike theft zone, it’s a Bicycle Redistribution Point.

And that feeling when a reviewer calls a futuristic hubless ebike a death trap and the worst bicycle in the world.

But other than that, he liked it, right?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Putting “bicycle face” in context, popular bikewear brand hit by ransomware attack, and put a little spring in your ride

January 21, 2025 / / Comments Off on Putting “bicycle face” in context, popular bikewear brand hit by ransomware attack, and put a little spring in your ride
Day 21 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

……..

It was a light day for bike news yesterday, probably because of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

So let’s get right to it. 

I mean, it’s not like there was anything else going on yesterday, right?

Today’s graphic is a 1908 British telegraph ad, courtesy of Cool Bike Art.

………

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

If the cops stop you for swerving on your bicycle and having trouble standing off it, blurting out “I am drunk” is probably not your best defense.

A 20-year old French ebike rider pled guilty to careless driving for causing the death of a 51-year old man riding a regular bicycle in Yorkshire, England; he also entered a guilty plea to driving without a license or insurance. Which makes it sound like he was actually on an electric motorcycle, even though the story clearly says it was an electric bicycle. Or “electronic,” anyway.

………

Local  

No news is good news, right?

 

State

This is who we share the road with. A Corona man faces charges for shooting at another driver, after first sideswiping the victim’s car while illegally driving in the bike lane.

A new Chico bike and pedestrian bridge will be named for a Chico State University nursing student, eleven years after she was killed by a drunk driver while riding her bike home from the university library.

 

National

A women’s website puts the 19th Century warnings about women suffering from “bicycle face” in context, as the forerunner to today’s “resting bitch face.”

Denver-based bikewear maker Primal Wear has been hit by a ransomware attack affecting over 10,000 files and 17 gigabytes of data, but no customer data appears to have been breached.

Seriously? Iowa is just now getting around to banning handheld cellphone use while driving, despite a previous ban on texting while driving.

A Chicago website takes a look back at the good news for local bicycling in 2024, starting with a nearly 20% drop in bicycling deaths, which is very good news.

A Minneapolis man reflects on his neighbor’s bike theft, and his recovery of her stolen bike a few days later, as the thief prepares to go to trial.

A writer from the New York area says the pricing strategy for New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare system makes it seem less like a transportation solution and more like a hostage negotiation.

 

International

Momentum considers how three Canadian cities are leading the way on winter Viking biking programs.

It only took British bikemaker Pashley 99 years to finally build a bike with drop handlebars, not to mention disk brakes and 3D-printed junctions.

Police in Nottingham, England proved it is possible to do something about the bike theft epidemic, after a campaign of increased enforcement and bicycle registration cut bike thefts a whopping 77%. But only if your local police department actually cares enough to do it. 

Talk about not getting it. A British wildlife trust calls approval of Brompton’s new eco-friendly headquarters “a dark day for nature,” while also noting the “puzzling” lack of car parking. Because evidently, encouraging employees to drive to work is good for nature and wildlife.

After an Irish doctor recovered from an induced coma resulting from a hit-and-run driver as he was riding his bike home from work, he penned an open letter calling for slowing drivers and improving safety for bicyclists, asking ” Why are we all in such a hurry to kill ourselves…and the planet?”

An Indian man was injured when his handlebars got caught in dangling wires hanging down from an overpass.

A writer for OneArabia says yes, bicycling is a sustainable transportation option amid the skyscrapers and luxury cars in Dubai, despite the hefty environmental costs for shipping and packaging.

Kuala Lumpur wonders where the bike riders are, after rolling out over 20 miles of new bike lanes in the city center. Never mind that 20 miles isn’t much, and there’s no safe way to get there from outlying areas — or that drivers are parking in them.

 

Competitive Cycling

The race director of the Tour Down Under defended their safety measures after a woman watching a pre-race crit was injured when several riders crashed on a tight corner; former Tour de France champ Geraint Thomas agreed, calling  the TDU one of the safest races on the WorldTour.

The Big Bear Cycling Association announced details for August’s Tour de Big Bear, ranked one of the top ten Grand Fondos in the US.

 

Finally…

Evidently, losing your rear wheel in the middle of a race is a bad thing. Getting buzzed by a driver is one thing; getting buzzed by the director of a cycling team in the middle of a race is another.

And here’s one way to put a little more spring in your ride.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , ,

High wind warnings and fire danger return to LA, man dies riding Simi Valley trail, and denouement to bizarre Scottish hit-and-run

January 20, 2025 / / Comments Off on High wind warnings and fire danger return to LA, man dies riding Simi Valley trail, and denouement to bizarre Scottish hit-and-run
Day 20 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

……..

Well, this ain’t good.

The National Weather Service is calling for a return of Santa Ana winds up to 100 mph starting this afternoon — the same conditions that fueled the deadly wildfires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena exactly two weeks ago.

So beware of dangerous wind gusts that can rise suddenly, keep an eye out for any sign of fire or smoke, and keep your phone handy for any wind or evacuation alerts.

After last time, we’ve all seen what could happen. So if you smell smoke, wear a mask. And if there’s a fire anywhere around you, get the hell out.

Please.

Twitter post

Let’s hope we don’t see the return of orange skies, like this shot from Cole Keister for Pexels.

………

Sad news from Simi Valley, where a man believed to be in his 50’s collapsed and died while riding his bike with a companion.

The incident occurred shortly before 1:30 pm Saturday, along Albertson Fire Road in the hills south of Simi, and east of Thousand Oaks.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, despite the efforts of first responders.

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

………

Call it the denouement to a shocking case we’ve been following for several years.

The family of a 63-year old man killed by a drunken hit-and-run driver while on Scottish fundraising ride has received an undisclosed six-figure settlement from the driver’s insurance company.

Tony Parsons died after the driver drove away, leaving him propped against a fence overnight. The driver came back with his brother the next day and buried Parsons in an unmarked grave in the woods, along with his bike and belongings, where his body wasn’t found for another three years.

Alexander “Sandy” McKellar was sentenced to 12 years behind bars, while his twin brother Robert got five years and three months.

They probably would have gotten away with it if Sandy McKeller hadn’t taken his girlfriend to the burial site in 2020, and confessed the whole crime to her.

She promptly reported it to the police. Yet it wasn’t until the next year that the grave was finally discovered and the McKellers arrested.

………

This is who we share the road with.

https://twitter.com/motorisms/status/1881011234092503154

………

It’s questionable whether most drivers will ever grasp the concept that riding abreast and controlling the lane makes us safer, while making it easier for them. It just requires a little patience.

Twitter post

………

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

A man attacked a 74-year old man riding a bicycle in East Harlem, New York, first pushing to victim off his bicycle, then picking it up and beating him with it, for no apparent reason.

Police in Spartanburg, South Carolina are on the lookout for two suspects, after the passenger in a car threw a drink cup at a man riding a bicycle; the cops were able to find the cup, so it’s conceivable they may be able to lift prints. That happened to me so often riding in Baton Rouge, Louisiana that I could have opened my own convenience store. Although it must not have been illegal there, because I eventually gave up on trying to get a cop to take a report.

Complaints are flooding in against the BBC for a recent report attacking ebikes, as one bike shop owner says “Finding a wolf in sheep’s clothing should not be a reason to attack sheep.” Which may just be my new favorite expression.

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

A 31-year old Scottish man faces sentencing for intentionally riding his bicycle into his girlfriend, knocking her to the ground. No word on whether the woman was injured. Although if she’s still his girlfriend after that, she may have suffered serious brain damage. 

………

Local  

KNBC-4 offers more details on the fire that destroyed Altadena’s Steve’s Bike Shop and most of the city two weeks ago, while owner Steve Salinas was fighting to save his brother’s home.

 

State

A 40-year old Riverside man was killed while riding an electric scooter against traffic when he was hit head-on by a driver turning out of a school parking lot.

Don’t plan on riding a new, fully funded bike lane connecting Downtown San Francisco with Golden Gate Park anytime soon.

An alleged burglar was busted for stealing several bicycles with an estimated value of $28,000 from a San Francisco home; he was arrested after the victim spotted one of the bikes for sale online and notified the police.

Sacramento is urged to consider addressing the city’s climate goals and the high rate of bicyclist and pedestrian deaths by making a new bridge across the American River car-free.

 

National

Bicycling offers the key to a successful Everesting attempt, which research shows comes down to selecting the right gradient for your fitness level. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Bicycling also considers how to recognize the signs of exercise addiction in bike riders. But you may have to find a way around their paywall if the magazine blocks you, since this one doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else.

One last bike-friendly federal bill before the new administration takes over, with the signing of the Biking On Long Distance Trails (BOLT) Act, which will require the feds to build at least 10 long-distance bicycle routes throughout the US, and identify potential routes 10 more using existing roads and trails.

An ebike impact calculator launched last year now includes data from over 500 US cities, allowing users to assess the environmental and economic impact of shifting short vehicle trips to ebikes.

Bicycling deaths continue to climb in ostensibly bike-friendly Portland, Oregon. Probably due to the same problems with distracted drivers and massively oversized vehicles plaguing every other American city. 

A Seattle components maker takes a look back, and discovers that bicycling has come full circle.

Washington state launched a $5 million dollar ebike rebate program, which expects to fund about 7,000 more vouchers than the botched first round of California’s intentionally throttled program.

Cycling West shares photo of an Ogden, Utah bronze statue of a kid riding a bicycle, with a dog running alongside.

A new 9.3-mile multi-use trail for art aficionados in the Berkshires will connect three Massachusetts art museums, as well as a theater, multiple art galleries and other cultural and historic destinations.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. Heartbreaking news from Florida, where a 53-year old man without a license was busted for his third DUI — but not until he ran a stop sign and killed six-year old kid riding a bike. Just one more example of why it’s not enough to suspend the driver’s license after a second DUI. The driver’s car should have been impounded for the full term of his license suspension. 

 

International

British Columbia’s Rocky Mountain Bikes is now under bankruptcy protection, with parent company RAD Industries Inc. in dire financial straits.

Bicyclists in Lahore, Pakistan now have their on lane on some of the city’s busiest roadways, but they’ll have to share them with motorbikes.

Bike counters captured a record number of bike riders in Christchurch, New Zealand last year, as the city topped 4 million bike trips, up from 3.6 million in 2023.

A senior political journalist writes in defense of bike lanes in New Zealand’s capital, both as a bicyclist and a driver.

A pair of Aussie bicyclists were seriously injured, and their bikes significantly damaged, when they were run down from behind by a hit-and-run driver. Raising the obvious question of how anyone fails to see not one, but two grown men on bicycles directly in front of them.

No surprise here. A new Australian study shows that wearing bike helmets or bright, reflective clothing is dehumanizing, with bicyclists in the helmeted, hi-vis camp seen as less human that bike riders in more casual attire.

 

Competitive Cycling

A woman watching the Tour Down Under was hospitalized when several competitors lost control and slammed into the fencing in a “chaotic” crash on a tight corner, at speeds topping 30 mph.

Visma – Lease a Bike, the flagship cycling team of the Netherlands, will go into the year’s Tour de France without any Dutch riders on the team, though it will have American Sepp Kuss.

Sad news, as former American pro Doug Shapiro died following a California climbing accident; the 65-year old New Yorker raced for the legendary 7-Eleven team, as well as the forerunner to Visma-Lease a Bike, while winning the 1984 edition of Colorado’s Coors Classic.

Thirty-year old Ryan Collins now owns 12 ultra-cycling world records, despite being told he’d never ride a bike again after a head-on collision in his early 20s.

Two-time Tour de France camp Jonas Vingegaard calls for an immediate end to carbon monoxide doping, the latest not-yet-illegal fad among the pro racing crowd. Which raises the question of whether LA cyclists would fail a CO test simply for breathing the air around here these days.

The former sports director for Belgian women’s cycling team Proximus-Cyclis, now Team Velopro–Alphamotorhomes, was banned for five years on Friday after being accused of inappropriate psychological and sexual harassment; the team manager was banned for 18 months and fined the equivalent of $5,500 for failing to report it. Is there really such a thing as appropriate psychological and/or sexual harassment?

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can own a $7,500 carbon frame racing bike spec’d entirely of Chinese parts, from a company you probably never heard of. How can you call yourself a real bike rider if you don’t know the difference between a Bicicletta and a Bicycle Thief?

And if you’re planning to snatch a $15,000 racing bike while the owner is having lunch with his friends, maybe make sure they’re not elite cyclists first.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Ebike crash critically injures Brea students, Bike League advocacy workshop still on, and fewer cars means cleaner air

January 17, 2025 / / One comment
Day 17 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

……..

Awful news from Brea, where two high school students were critically injured when they crashed a shared ebike into a brick wall.

The teens were riding single-person ebike when they clipped a tree with their handlebars while traveling at a high rate of speed. The ebike rider reportedly suffered significant, life-threatening injuries, while the passenger suffered major injuries.

Neither was wearing a bike helmet, which is legally required for any bike rider under 18 in California, or anyone riding a Class 3 ebike.

There’s no word on their identities at this time, or whether what they were riding was an electric bicycle, mo-ped or electric motorcycle.

Click this link for an easier to read graph of California’s bicycle and ebike regulations, courtesy of the Orange County Bicycle Coalition. 

………

Thanks to Anna Tang for forwarding news that the Bike League’s March Bike Advocacy Workshop will go on as planned, despite last week’s wildfires, which hopefully will be out by then.

You can register by clicking here, since I can’t embed her BlueSky post with the link, and had to settle for a screenshot.

………

Another lesson from Paris that seems lost on Los Angeles.

As Paris has worked to build a 15-minute city and provide effective alternatives to driving, it has seen a corresponding improvement in air quality.

And yes, I have the same problem embedding this BlueSky post, too.

………

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

Aussie bicyclists are understandably angry after an 18-year old man was arrested for sabotaging two bike trails by stringing fence wire strung at waist level, injuring two people and severely damaging four high-end bikes, in an attack that could have literally killed someone. He’s being held without bail on four counts of endangering life, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years for each count, not 25 as we said yesterday, as prosecutors suggest he may have thought it was just a prank.

………

Local  

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Sacramento BMX riders are fighting to keep a DIY bike park they built by hand over a decade ago, despite city plans to level it to restore the natural habitat.

Sad news from Sacramento, where a woman in her 50’s was killed when she was right-hooked by the driver of a semi-truck — although though the CHP immediately blamed the victim for attempting to pass the truck as it was turning. And judging from the article, the truck was apparently was operating on its own while the driver just sat there. 

Finishing our Sacramento trifecta, the Sacramento Bee apparently lowered their paywall to profile each of the 32 lives lost to traffic violence on the city’s streets, each killed despite the city’s impending Vision Zero commitment to end traffic deaths in the next two years.

 

National

Consumer Reports suggests that buying a bike helmet online could be dangerous, due to a proliferation of third-party sellers of helmets that don’t meet federal safety standards. One more reason you’re better off buying from your favorite local bike shop.

BMX star Nigel Sylvester just dropped his latest collaboration with Nike’s Jordan Brand by introducing his new Air Jordan 4 “Brick by Brick” shoe.

Bicycling’s senior test editors offer their solutions to some of the most vexing bicycling problems. But you’ll have to subscribe if you want to get the answers.

A Portland, Oregon woman spent the past year posting signs at the site of all 69 fatal traffic collisions in the city. Doing that in Los Angeles would be a full-time job posting nearly one sign a day.

Las Vegas suggests using the city’s bikeshare system, rideshare or a double-decker bus on your next trip to flush your money down the craps table.

Albuquerque, New Mexico is building buffered bike lanes and multi-use trails to protect riders in one of America’s most dangerous cities for bicyclists, though disparities remain between wealthier and low-income neighborhoods.

Great idea. Fayetteville, Arkansas’ trash department is teaming with a local nonprofit to set up a drop-off location where people can donate their old bicycles to be repaired and donated to people in need.

A Vermont city is being sued after a hit-and-run cop allegedly killed a bicycle-riding man who was waiting at a bus stop at 3 am, then continued without stopping before his conscience apparently got the better of him, and he came back to the scene.

 

International

How do you love ditching your car for a bike commute? Let Momentum count the ways.

A Toronto op-ed dispels some of the myths used to dismiss the value of bicycle infrastructure by examining just who is actually using it.

A new kind of bike shop has opened in Manchester, England, offering service for delivery riders reminiscent of a Formula 1 pit crew.

A Paris suburb has launched a pilot program to light up bike lanes at dangerous intersections, which automatically light up when someone on a bicycle enters the intersection.

In 1923, six men from India set out to ride their bikes around the world to prove that Indians were capable of greatness, in contrast to the colonial image of them as subjugated and incapable; three completed the journey four-and-a-half year later, traveling more than 40,000 miles across 27 countries, while meeting Pope Pius XI and Benito Mussolini along the way.

A group of Indian men set off this week on a 2,500-mile bike rally from Kashmir to Kanyakumari to promote a pollution-free India. Although judging from the photos, the “rally” consists of just five men.

Bike brands from around the world are trying to cash in on China’s latest bike boom.

 

Competitive Cycling

The 2025 Santos Women’s Tour Down Under kicks off the first of three stages today, which is actually yesterday in Australia. Or today is tomorrow. Or something like that.

Canadians Sarah van Dam, Adele Normand and Mara Roldan hope to make their mark at the Tour Down Under, as they debut with their new teams.

Bicycling considers whether the sport has a drinking problem, as some recent studies suggest there’s no safe amount of alcohol. Although Yahoo says they posted the same story, word-for-word, two years earlier. And no, cycling doesn’t have a drinking problem, but some cyclists do. There’s a difference.

 

Finally…

Your next ebike could be ready for the apocalypse. And the late, great David Lynch was one of us.

Then again, so was Bob Uecker, for those of us old enough to remember.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Entries   Recent Entries »
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee