January 27, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Move along, nothing to see here — TBI edition (plus Malibu road closures)
Seriously, if it’s not one damn thing after another.
I’m dealing with a mild concussion resulting from an obstinate corgi who refuses to go outside in the rain.
We had to wander aimlessly through the garage looking in vain for a spot she would deem worthy of relieving herself. When she reversed herself suddenly to examine a stray a stray leaf, I turned to follow and knocked myself silly using my head as a battering ram against a low-hanging concrete support beam I swear wasn’t there when we walked over.
After which she decided maybe the rain wasn’t so bad and she wanted to go out after all, while I wobbled like a Weeble counting the Smurfs swirling through my head.
Ten hours, later my head still feels like the Liberty Bell. Never mind that it’s taken me almost an hour just to write this much.
So I’m going to pack in for today, and see you tomorrow to catch up on anything we missed.
Meanwhile, before you risk riding today, take a quick look at the notices below about road closures in and around the ‘Bu due to rain in the Palisades burn scars.
January 24, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on New book examines past, present and future of Black bicycling; and bike to clean up Angeles National Forest trail tomorrow
Day 24 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
According to the Los Angeles Sentinel, New Black Cyclones: Racism, Representation and Revolutions of Power in Cycling by Marlon Lee Moncrieffe examines “several cycling communities throughout America and several countries in Africa, highlighting their perspectives on racial issues and general experiences.”
“I’m using the past to understand the present,” (Moncrieffe) said. “And taking the voices of current Black cyclists to understand what might be the future of our representation in the sport.”
The book will be available from all the usual source — yes, including that one — next month.
2. Bike to trail clean-up in Angeles National Forest
The Mt. Wilson Bicycling Association will host a bike-in trail cleanup from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday on the Valley Forge Trail. Volunteers will park at Redbox Picnic Area and are responsible for getting themselves to Valley Forge Trail Camp by bike. The group will meet at 8 a.m. for a safety briefing before riding to the trail. The organization will provide lunch to volunteers. Participants should bring water and snacks and wear long sleeves and pants to protect themselves from poodle-dog bush and other irritants in the area. Register at eventbrite.com.
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Gravel Bike California takes one fond look back to their favorite rides of the past year.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
At least 54 hiking trails were burned in Eaton and Palisades fires, let alone what may have gone up in this week’s Hughes Fire above Castaic. Which raises the troubling question of whether your favorite mountain biking or gravel trails will still be around when all the flames are extinguished.
A group of 61 local, state and national advocacy groups signed onto a letter to Caltrans and the California Transportation Commission urging them to speed up action to meet the state’s transportation-related climate goals, as they continue to build dirty freeways instead of bikeways.
The new Arkansas Global Cycling Accelerator is taking applications from bicycling-related startups and innovators hoping to jumpstart their business, as Bentonville strives to become a hub for the mountain biking industry, as well as a world-class mountain biking destination.
In today’s most touching story, councilmembers in Schenectady, New York joined a caravan of police, fire and public works vehicles to honor a local man famed for simply riding his bike throug the city while bringing warmth and cheer to everyone he met, after 56-year old Ronnie “Rondon” Cridelle lost his battle with cancer. Although when my time comes, I’ll be lucky if I get someone pulling a corgi in a wagon around the block.
Despite the recommendations of an independent investigation office, a Canadian Mountie in British Columbia won’t face charges for using his police cruiser as a weapon to knock a 15-year-old robbery suspect off his bicycle; prosecutors say there isn’t enough evidence to support the recommended charges of aggravated assault, dangerous driving and dangerous driving causing bodily harm. All of which seems pretty self-evident, given the circumstances.
A writer for Streetsblog sends a postcard from Shanghai, saying “the Chinese mega-city provides an example of great urban mobility, albeit with a side of authoritarianism.” Because as we all know, a side of authoritarianism goes great with Peking duck and stinky tofu.
January 23, 2025 /
bikinginla / 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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
January 22, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Update: 80-year old Long Beach resident Enrique Barajas killed by hit-and-run driver while riding bike on Atlantic Ave
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
January 21, 2025 /
bikinginla / 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.
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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?
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.
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.
