While 33 men were rescued from a Chilean mine, 6500 people died on American streets

October 14, 2010 / / 2 comments

Like everyone else, I kept an eye on the TV since the rescue of the Chilean miners began late Tuesday night.

My spirits soared when Florencio Avalos reached the surface, the first of 33 miners to be saved. And I’ve said a prayer of thanks for every one who has been brought out safe and alive, and rejoiced when the rescue capsule was raised for the last time and the final rescuer stepped out.

But let’s put this in perspective.

In the 10 weeks since the 33 miners were trapped on August 5, the world watched in rapt attention as an international team of rescuers literally moved the earth to bring them out.

But during the same 10 weeks, over 6,500 people died on American streets, based on statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In the same period, roughly 850 pedestrians and 140 bicyclists were killed in motor vehicle collisions.

By my count, 12 cyclists were killed by motor vehicles here in Southern California alone since August 5 alone; another died as the result of a collision with a pedestrian.

And no one even noticed.

No massive press response. No live coverage.

No 24/7 media watch tracking the safety of every motorist, cyclist, pedestrian and transit user throughout their journey, and breathlessly reporting when each arrived safely at their destination. Or breaking the tragic news to the world when one of the 33,963 people who were killed on our streets last year didn’t make it back again.

Those same statistics tell us that of the millions of people who will leave their homes today, 93 won’t return.

It could be you. Or me. It could be someone you love, or someone you barely know. Someone who once crossed your path, or someone you’ll never meet.

It’s just collateral damage. The price we’ve come to accept for the privilege of getting from here to there. 93 people every day. 651 every week. 2830 every month.

Roughly one person killed on American roads every 15 minutes.

And it touches virtually every life in this country.

So when does it become unacceptable? When do we reach the point when we decide as a society that the price is too high, that the last death was one too many?

And we’re willing to put the same effort into saving the 33,000 that we put into saving the 33.

I’m already there.

I thank God the miners are safe.

And I’ll be just as glad when the rest of us are.

.………

An Orange County mom takes to Facebook to find the Mercedes Benz driver who apologized for hitting her bike-riding son in Lake Forest before driving off. Meanwhile, a repeat drug offender gets four years in prison for killing a cyclist in an Orange County hit-and-run, and police search for an SUV that fled the scene after hitting a rider in last weekend’s Sonoma County GranFondo.

.………

More on CicLAvia from the Occidental Weekly, and the Times publishes letters in support of it, as well as letters on both sides of the Wilbur Ave controversy. (The car is the “most efficient means of transportation ever devised”? Really?)

.………

In an incredibly shortsighted move, the new Brit government cut funding for Cycling England, the successful program that trained over 400,000 children how to ride safely each year, even though it will only save £200,000 — about $330,000; the Bikeability program will continue for now.

Hopefully, they’ll increase funding for the National Health Service to make up for it; just one injured child could cost far more than they’ll save.

.………

For the second year, the Amgen Tour of California will end in Thousand Oaks. Long Beach is getting another Bike Station, offering free secure bike parking, bike shop, rentals and repairs; my goal is to get one at L.A. City Hall to make it easier to ride to city council meetings. The Bus Bench complains about an inconsiderate schmuck with a bike on the Gold Line. Evidently, bike industry insiders just don’t like Anaheim. Riverside’s new Culver Center opens with an exhibit on bike culture in Southern California. Your choice for governor: big bucks Whitman vs bike-lane Brown. Give all the angry people Dutch bikes. Advice on how to ride a bike in a dress. A key rule for bike safety — when car traffic slows down, watch out. Portland cyclists get their own green light. Three members of the Cutters, the Indiana University the 11 time Little 500 champion bike team made famous in Breaking Away, are injured in a head-on collision a week after another team member was hit by a car. What happens when sidewalk cafes swallow bike parking. A beautiful shot of DC bike lanes. A Baltimore cyclist explains to drivers why he sometimes has to take the lane. The World Anti-Doping Agency says they’ve heard Contador’s tainted meat excuse before. If regular bikes are just too boring for you, how about one without a seat? Kiwi police crack down on a bike pub crawl. A Sydney paper is up in arms over lawless cyclists terrorizing the city’s new bike lanes. Buenos Aires aims to be the Amsterdam of South American biking.

Finally, Sir Paul McCartney was hopping mad over a rude cyclist.

Category: Best of, Bicycle Safety / Tags: , , ,

Casting a critical eye on Times columnist Sandy Banks’ Wilbur Ave auto-centric bias

October 13, 2010 / / 8 comments

You didn’t really think I was going to forget about Sandy Banks, did you?

CicLAvia may have pushed her recent one-sided column about the Wilbur Avenue road diet to the back burner. But far from out of mind.

There it was on Saturday morning, on the second page of the L.A. Times — the same paper that recently flaunted their new journalistic standards by replacing their front page with an ad for Law & Order Los Angeles.

And don’t get me started on the entirely inappropriate photo that accompanied Banks column.

Maybe all the paper’s photographers had the weekend off. Or maybe they were stuck in Valley traffic and couldn’t make it back in time to meet the paper’s new early press deadline.

Still, I expected better from her.

Her column usually focuses on feel-good stories about her family life, or those of ordinary Angelenos trying to make it in this megalopolis we call home.

This time, though, it was all about her anger and frustration over the road diet that cut Wilbur from four through lanes to two, making room for a center turn lane with bike lanes on either side.

For years, Wilbur Avenue had been a free-flowing community secret, a commuter street that bypassed the congestion of Northridge’s main routes. Then a “street improvement” project last month turned our speedway into a parking lot.

It wouldn’t have taken much research to reveal that her speedway was never intended as a bypass to the Valley’s more crowded boulevards, as drivers turned what should have been a quiet, safe residential street into a cut-through throughway that only benefitted the people who don’t live there.

The road diet merely returned a little sanity to a single local street. And if that slightly inconveniences the people who don’t live on it, it’s a small price to pay to preserve the livability of the neighborhood.

Despite denials from the people who should actually know, she also suggests that the mayor’s recent Road to Damascus conversion to bike advocate may have had something to do with the sudden, unannounced striping of bike lanes — forgetting that we live in a dysfunctional city where bureaucrats seldom speak to one another, let alone the public. And even though she notes herself that bike lanes have been slated for that street since 1996.

Then again, she’s probably not the only one who was shocked that something from the ’96 bike plan actually made it onto the streets.

Despite talking to LADOT’s John Fisher and Bikeways Coordinator Michelle Mowery, she fails to mention that the actual purpose of the road diet was to slow high-speed drivers like herself and return a little sanity to Wilbur Avenue. Or that the bike lanes were added almost as an afterthought because there was finally room for them.

Instead, she based her entire column on the mistaken concept that her inconvenience was due to the city giving cyclists priority over drivers.

Like that would ever happened here.

Needless to say, she had 12th District City Councilmember Grieg Smith, who never met a speed limit he didn’t want to raise, firmly in her corner.

“Wilbur is the wrong street for this kind of improvement,” said Smith, his sarcasm clear. His district office is on Wilbur, at the bike lane’s southern terminus. “I’ve driven that street for 30 years, and I have probably seen a total of 30 bicycles on Wilbur in all that time.”

Maybe he really was blindsided by the unannounced road diet. On the other hand, you’d think a council member would be able to pick up the phone and find out what’s going on in his own district.

And why.

Instead, he responded in typical knee-jerk, car-centric, anti-bike fashion, saying that the 98% of the public who drives shouldn’t be inconvenienced for the 2% on two wheels.

Never mind that many of us do both. And a lot more might if they felt safer on the streets of the council member’s own district.

In fact, the city’s new bike plan suggests that up to half of L.A. adults ride a bike from time to time, and roughly 12% ride on at least a monthly basis.

Smith should also know, as the mayor and many of his peers on the City Council seem to have figured out, that this city can no longer afford the same failed focus on automotive throughput that has destroyed the livability of many parts of our city. By focusing all our efforts on moving more and more cars through our streets, we have created gridlocked streets, destroyed our air quality and blighted countless pass-through neighborhoods.

On the other hand, by providing effective alternatives to driving — like well-designed bike lanes, for instance — we can create a safer, more walkable, ridable and livable Los Angeles that will improve the quality of life for everyone.

What we need to do is increase our 1% share of bike commuters on the street to the nearly 6% in Portland — or even the 3% currently enjoyed by San Francisco — rather than mercilessly drive them off the streets as Smith would do.

And make it safer and more convenient for people to leave their cars at home for short errands around their own neighborhood, which currently account for nearly half of all car trips.

Then everyone would benefit from the reduced congestion.

Even drivers like Banks who feel hopelessly inconvenienced by the first baby steps to get there.

Damien Newton looks at the Wilbur Ave controversy, and embeds a report from KNBC-TV 4.

Reports indicate that last night’s Northridge West Neighborhood Council meeting did not go well for the cyclists in attendance. Word is that drivers are on the offensive, and ready to steamroll cyclists and local residents to regain their high-speed Wilbur Avenue throughway. Although how effective it would be now that they’ve told everyone about their secret speedway is another matter.

.………

Frequent Kiwi contributor the Trickster forwards a link to a fascinating Aussie study of the role of traffic violations in collisions reported to the police. In over 6,000 crashes between bikes and motor vehicles, the cyclist was found at fault in 44% of the time, while cyclists were held at fault in 66% of crashes between bikes and pedestrians. However, you may want to note that the results are based on police reports, without independent analysis of their investigations.

He also forwards a report on a study of cycling injuries in Australia that suggests efforts to improve road safety for drivers have done little to improve safety for cyclists, and that cyclists are over-represented in their share of traffic injuries and under-represented in efforts to prevent them.

.………

Still more cicLAvia news, with photos from This Girls’s Bike, a report of Grist and an out of town visitor’s view of our fair city, Metro and a car-free Sunday from Plan Bike. Meanwhile CicLAvia wants your ideas for the next one.

.………

The Source offers an update on Metro’s bike efforts. New bike racks at the CARECEN day labor center in MacArthur Park. Photo’s from San Diego’s Tour de Fat, which will be hitting L.A. on the 23rd. It’s back to Vegas after all for Interbike. Portland looks beyond cyclists to promote biking as an everyday means of transportation. Cycleliscious updates the Black Hawk bike ban, along with new rules for large rides in lieu of the proposed ban in St. Charles County MO. St. Louis blocks many streets already, so why not let bikes through? Crain’s New York Business asks if the city should give up on Manhattan bike lanes; so far, the vote is running 9 to 1 in favor of keeping them. It’s fall back in the midlands. After killing a cyclist, a London dump truck driver is fined £165 and forced to get new glasses.

Finally, Hermosa Beach officials want your input regarding the sharrows on Hermosa Avenue; if you’ve ridden them, you know how effective they are; if not, they’re the gold standard for what SoCal sharrows can and should be.

Category: General / Tags: , , , , , ,

Wednesday links — more CicLAvia, memorial ride for Daniel Marin and a lot of bike news

October 13, 2010 / / 2 comments

I’ve got too many links for just one post. So click away, and come back later today for my take on Saturday’s auto-centric column by the Times’ Sandy Banks.

.………

More great videos from CicLAvia, including the first L.A. Streetfilm paid for by user donations, as well as EzraHome and Los Angeles Cycle Chic, and photo sets from L.A. Cycle Chic and the Koreatown Youth and Community Center. Chimatli catches a little rocker in one of those perfect vignettes that defined the day. Or spend a few hours catching up with the 101 and counting CicLAvia videos currently on YouTube. Mark Elliott writes why CicLAvia matters, while a writer in the Times says he enjoyed CicLAvia, but would rather have more bike paths, instead. The CSUN Daily Sundial says it was a lot of pros, with a few minor cons mixed in.

And while we’re at it, here’s Mayor Villaraigosa’s somewhat underwhelming bike safety video to go along with the Give Me 3 campaign created by the LACBC and Midnight Ridazz.

Note: Initially, I mistakenly called the mayor’s Give Me 3 campaign; while he was involved in the approval and unveiling, he was not involved in the creation of the poster campaign.

.………

There will be a memorial ride this Friday in honor of Daniel Marin, the 17-year old cyclist killed on Laurel Canyon Blvd on October 1st; link courtesy of Claremont Cyclist.

.………

A lawsuit has been filed in the case of four cyclists injured on PCH when Caltrans allegedly left unmarked hazards and debris on the shoulder for an entire weekend, despite warnings. After last week’s rain induced washout, Santa Monica students celebrate Bike It! Walk It! Day today. LADOT Bike Blog interviews the team behind the new SCAG Bike/Ped Wiki. Bikeside unveils the details behind the Life Before License campaign. L.A. County is about to have a new bike riding health services director. CNN offers a view of what L.A. could look like in the near future.

Long Beach makes Bicycling’s list of five up and coming bike cities. Clint Worthington, formerUltraMarathon record holder for biking from San Diego to Seattle in 4 days, 18 hours and 29 minutes, ison the ballot for city council in San Juan Capistrano. Thirty-one cyclists ride from Mammoth Lakes to Big Bear to raise funds for the U.S. Adaptive Recreation Center; sounds like a worthy cause to me. Cyclistsneed taming in Santa Cruz; to be honest, I ignore most “walk your bike” signs, too. The San Francisco cyclist killed by a Muni bus is remembered by his aunt. A Modesto college student recognizes her stolen bike, follows the rider and gets it back.

Attention male cyclists — just because a woman looks a lot better on a bike than you do does not mean she has any less knowledge or skills, capice? A new Portland store opens with more parking spaces for bikes than cars. Just days after getting fired, the former head of the 13,000 Cascade Bicycle Club willreturn for the next 6 months while they find a replacement; hey, I’m available. Then again, Maine’s Bicycle Coalition is looking for a new Executive Director, too. Colorado’s high school mountain bike racing league is taking off. An 89 year old Boulder CO man is injured in a collision with another cyclist. After sharrows are installed, Austin TX cyclists enjoy a 5.5 foot cushion from parked cars, compared to one foot before. Baton Rouge extends a bikeway on the Mississippi River levee, with plans to eventually extend it all the way to New Orleans; that was just a pipe dream for cyclists when I lived down there. A Philadelphia area woman is killed after being shot seven times while riding her bike. A memorial ridewill be held Sunday for Roger Grooters, the former USC athletic staffer killed last week on a cross country ride. A Tampa man hits a stranger eight times with his bike; no word on what caused the altercation.

A new ghost bike for a Canadian First Nation rider who died doing what he loved. Toronto cyclists and drivers don’t know what to make of the city’s new bike boxes, while the local branch of the Department of DIY installs bi-directional sharrows. Peugeot eyes a comeback to the world of biking. The UK’s Carbon Trust wants to get other people to reduce their carbon footprint, but won’t let their own employees ride bikes. Note to L.A. officials — London’s new bike share program is the city’s only transport system on its way to turning a profit. Australian cyclist Stephen Hines has been banned for two years for using clenbuterol, the same drug three-time Tour de France winner says he got by eating tainted meat. UsingPortland as a model for Melbourne, where cyclists will be able to get their next helmet from a vending machine — for just $5.

Finally, if you find yourself riding your bike past Paris Hilton’s house, don’t knock on the door.

Category: General / Tags: , , , ,

Calling all cyclists — NC meeting tonight to discuss Wilbur Ave road diet and bike lanes

October 12, 2010 / / 4 comments

Just days after the success of CicLAvia, L.A. cyclists once again have to defend the little bit of infrastructure progress we’ve made.

Drivers long used to using Wilbur Ave are up in arms about the recent road diet that reduced it from four lanes to two through lanes and a center turn lane, along with bike lanes on either side of the street — and they have one of the city’s most car-centric Council Members in their corner.

Angry drivers are blaming a cabal of bicyclists for imposing unwanted bike lanes on the street. The truth, though, is that the reduction was made to stop the all too frequent practice of using Wilbur — an otherwise quiet residential street — as a high-speed throughway to bypass backed-up Valley streets; the bike lanes were just an added benefit once street capacity was already reduced.

Tonight there’s going to be a neighborhood council meeting to discuss the situation on Wilbur Avenue. The meeting will take place at 7 pm at the Northridge West Neighborhood Council at Beckford Avenue Elementary School, 19130 Tulsa Street, Northridge, 91326; cyclists are encouraged to attend.

I know it’s short notice. But if you can make it, wiser voices than mine encourage you to focus your comments on the benefits of the road diet for the local residents of the Wilbur Ave area.

By reducing the traffic capacity, it will reduce the high rate of cut-through traffic and slow down speeding drivers, making the street safer for everyone. And resulting in a more pleasant, livable and walkable neighborhood for the people who live there.

And the fact that bikeways tend to increase property values can’t hurt, either.

Unfortunately, I’ll be home tending to a sick wife tonight. But if anyone who attends wants to share their thoughts afterwards, just let me know. You can find my email address on the About Bikinginla page.

Thanks to Patrick, aka Trickmilla, for the heads-up.

Category: General / Tags: , ,

¡Viva CicLAvia! Part 2, and why you need to know the law

October 12, 2010 / / 6 comments

photo from LADOT Bike Blog

I really had no intention of talking more CicLAvia today.

To be honest, I’ve been itching to get to the Time’s Sandy Banks’ misguided motorhead perspective on the Wilbur Avenue road diet.

But frankly, everyone is still talking about Sunday’s CicLAvia. I spent all day yesterday just trying to keep up with all the great coverage popping up online — and these are just the ones that crossed my radar, without looking for them.

Urban Adonia writes about CicLAvia from the perspective ofone of the key movers who helped make it a reality. LADOT Bike Blog recounts his day at CicLAvia, and offers my favorite photo of the day (see above) among others. LAist calls it 7.5 miles of 100,000 smiles. Curbed says it brought out the best of L.A. Blogdowntown offered photos and live updates throughout the morning. Where the Sidewalk Starts offers an overview of key reviews, while Neon Tommy suggests there were only 50,000 people there, not the 100,000 the Times reported. KPCC says thousandslived the fantasy of a car-free L.A. for a few hours. El Chavo says cyclists want three feet, but wouldn’t give CicLAvia walkers the same consideration. LA Loyalist calls it a unique and wonderful experience.Maddie looks at CicLAvia from an urban planning perspective.

Stephen & Enci Box interview a handful of leading CicLAvistas, and CD4 candidate Stephen offers his view on the day. Sunday featured biking, walking, skating — and marriage. Alex Thompson employs his usual great eye behind the camera. Bicycle Fixation isn’t too bad behind the lens, either. The Source’s Steve Hymon offers more great photos; that view leading to the First Congregational Church was my favorite vista of the day, but then, I’m a sucker for traditional religious architecture. And still more photos from Melissa F, Joel Epstein, Megan Hirsch and GTWODT. KCBC Channel 2 says there wasn’t a car in sight, and Ohai Joe posts a great video record of the day. Even the formerly alternative curmudgeons at the L.A. Weekly say maybe they got it wrong.

But maybe Unja sums it up best, by saying you just had to experience it for yourself. And you could have a chance as soon as next August, with the possibility of three more before the end of next year. Personally, I vote for another one next spring.

One suggestion for next time — put out some donation buckets at major intersections where everyone will see them, and ask people to drop in a dollar. I have a feeling if they’d done that this time, it would have more than paid for the next one.

In the meantime, maybe you can satisfy that bike urge at the Tour de Fat in two more weeks.

.………

Just a quick reminder why you need to know the law at least as well as the authorities.

A cyclist in San Anselmo CA was hit by a car while riding through a crosswalk last week, and the local police demonstrated their failure to keep up with the actions of the state legislature.

According to a local report, a spokeswoman for the San Anselmo police department said that “if a cyclist rides his or her bike from the sidewalk into the crosswalk, then the cyclist is legally at fault.”

So for any cyclists — or yes, law enforcement personnel — who are unclear on the concept, CVC 21650 (g), which took effect last year, specifically permits cyclists to ride in the crosswalk anywhere riding on the sidewalk is allowed.

This section does not prohibit the operation of bicycles on any shoulder of a highway, on any sidewalk, on any bicycle path within a highway, or along any crosswalk or bicycle path crossing, where the operation is not otherwise prohibited by this code or local ordinance.

Riding on the sidewalk may or may not be legal in San Anselmo. After scouring the city’s website and its 2008 bike plan, I couldn’t find anything that addressed the matter.

But if it isn’t prohibited, the victim was perfectly within his rights to ride in the crosswalk; if it is, the violation occurred long before he got to the intersection, which the police spokeswoman fails to note.

I hope he’s got a good lawyer.

.………

Reuters reports on an interesting study of 11 New York city bike lanes by Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer, finding that the success of Gotham’s growing network of bikeways is being undermined by just about everyone. The most common violations include salmon and red-light running riders, as well as cars and pedestrians blocking bike lanes — and police using the lanes to bypass traffic even when there’s no emergency. But even with the problems, it’s evidently still a great way to see the city. Thanks to Matthew Spence for the heads-up.

.………

LACBC’s City of Lights program celebrates new bike parking in Pico-Union. Gary gets another response from a candidate of Santa Monica City Council. Becks and his boys bike along Venice Beach; hint to the $250 million man — your kids’ helmets would work better if they buckle the straps. If you haven’t OD’d on bike photos yet, the South Bay Bicycle Coalition offers shots of Sunday’s PedalPalooza. San Diego State University unbans bikes after building a separated bike and skateboard path; maybe USC should be taking notes. Evidently, the mean streets of San Francisco’s are that way because they’re full of potholes. Bike zombies invade Oakland; probably because potholes drove them out of Bagdad by the Bay. Levi Leipheimer leads 6,000 riders in Sonoma County’s King Ridge Grand Fondo; riders included TV star Patrick Dempsey, who seems to be on his bike everywhere but L.A. Unfortunately, one of the Grand Fondo riders remains in serious condition after a hit-and-run on the ride.

Portland bike maven Elly Blue says there’s bike safety in numbers, and offers the research to back it up.Biking infrastructure is all the rage throughout the U.S. AAA now offers bike coverage in Oregon and Idaho, but their policies still are anti-bike; competitor Better World Club — which offers bike coverage here — calls it greenwashing. Will a bike that makes you virtually lie forward make you a faster rider? The Virginia Bicycling Federation says same road, same rules, rights, and responsibilities. Charleston police crack down on salmon and sidewalk cyclists. An interview with cyclocross champ Katie Compton.

A popular Victoria bike and hike trail is reopened after people repeatedly tear down barricades blocking it. Dorset’s pedaling plumber takes to his bike to avoid pre-Olympic traffic jams. Attempting to set the world’s land speed record for wooden bikes. It was a deadly weekend on the roads for UK cyclists. A Scot schoolboy is impaled on his BMX bike when a stunt goes wrong. Riding on the Appian Way.

Finally, detectives are being driven ape dealing with the case of a teenage cyclist in Rocky Point NY who suffered minor injuries when he was punched by two people in gorilla suits, while a third suspect in a chicken suit rode off with his bike.

No, seriously.

Category: General / Tags: , , , ,

¡Viva CicLAvia!

October 11, 2010 / / 15 comments

I’m won’t waste your time talking a lot about yesterday’s first ever CicLAvia.

There’s already been a lot written on the subject — some of which you’ll find below — and there will be a lot more in the next few days.

Instead, I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

But I will say, this was one of the most successful events I’ve experienced in L.A. And one that has the potential to change the way we see and experience out city.

We owe a big thanks to the people behind it.

And like virtually everyone who was there, I can’t wait for the next one.

 

Obligations at home kept me from getting there until after 1 pm when things were well under way, so I didn't waste time joining in.

 

 

 

The LACBC hosted one of the pit stops; even though the crowd was estimated at up to 100,000, it never felt crowded.

 

 

My late arrival meant that I didn't time to stop for the best tamales Mexican-style mocha in town; but clearly, a lot of people did.

 

 

Contrary to what you may have read, not all of the Give Me 3 posters face away from oncoming traffic; this day, though, no one needed the reminder.

 

 

People made themselves at home on the streets; I saw a group enjoying a picnic in the middle of a normally bustling Downtown intersection.

 

 

People paused for various musicians and other performers along the way, a sitar performance ended before I could get a photo.

 

 

Everyone observed the few rules, although I did see a walker nearly step in front of oncoming traffic as he spoke on his cell phone.

 

 

The beautiful 4th Street Bridge was a popular gathering spot for riders; just imagine what it will be once the river is restored to a more natural state.

 

 

Some Angelenos used the opportunity to take a stand on a perfect SoCal day; I wish I'd been there early enough to see the mayor on his bike.

 

 

The bored looking police said a lot about how well-organized the event was; they seemed to appreciate the frequent thanks from people passing by.

 

 

Virtually every flavor of Angeleno represented a CicLAvia; even the four-legged variety joined in on the ride.

 

 

With my own bike out of commission, I was glad to have this Urbana bike on loan; everyone who tried it said it rode like a dream.

 

Just a few additional thoughts.

The overwhelming majority of people I saw were on bikes. While there were a relative handful of skaters, boarders and pedestrians, we need to find a way to get word out to the larger community beyond those of us on two wheels.

Especially the people who live in the area.

For me, the saddest moment of the day came when a couple of young boys stopped me as I was leaving to ask if it was a race or a bike ride. I watched their faces brighten as I told them no, it’s CicLAvia, and you can do anything you want. Bike, walk, play, even — taking note of the boards tucked under their arms — skateboard.

Then I watched those faces fall as I had to add that it was over now.

And suggesting that there should be another one in a few months and maybe they could come out for that one didn’t seem to help.

That’s a long way away when you’re about seven years old.

.………

Just a few of the many, many anticipated reports from CicAvia, from Bicycle Fixation, the Claremont Cyclist, Straight Out of Suburbia — who rates it awesome — and Orange 20 Bikes, along with a great timelapse video and panoramic shot from Will Campbell. This Girl’s Bike offers a great photo of Downtown as seen from the 4th Street Bridge. Gary called it life changing, while Ubrayj says the city looked the same afterwards, so it must be something inside him that changed. L.A. Cycle Chic provides unedited video of a friend’s ride, while L.A. Creek Freak offers a couple of videos, including one of the thousands of small children who rode the route. Damien delivers three stories from Sunday, but says the most important number was 0 — as in the number of incidents reported. The L.A. Times says an estimated 100,000 people were there; no wonder I couldn’t find most of the people I was looking for. KPCC’s Larry Mantle discussed it on his AirTalk program; a podcast should be online soon. And in perfect L.A. fashion, Green LA Girl starts her day Downtown and finishes up on the beach. Even the LA Weekly finally got on board just hours before the kickoff. CicLAvia wants your pictures and stories, while the Mayor says this was his favorite shot of the day.

.………

Alberto Contador says that’s his story and he’s sticking to it, or he’ll sue. The count in the Spanish doping scandal now stands at seven. Australia owns the biking events at the Commonwealth Games, while Uganda riders have to make do with old gear and Kiwi riders get slapped — literally. Bicycling explains why next year’s Amgen Tour of California should be a good race, even though it may never be a great one. The next great American cyclist could be starting his racing career right now.

.………

The Ride 2 Recovery to help wounded war vets reclaim their lives comes to a successful conclusion at the Santa Monica Pier; thanks to Stanley for the heads-up. Gary gets two more questionnaires back from candidates for Santa Monica City Council. The L.A. Time’s Sandy Banks looks at the Wilbur Ave road diet from a decidedly windshield perspective. At least some people in Orange County think it will take more than better manners to reduce to their one-a-month rate of bike deaths, as new sharrows hit the pavement in Newport Beach and a writer makes a suggestion to improve a dangerous intersection. Maybe you can’t ride the L.A. Marathon anymore, but you can ride the Long Beach Marathon next weekend. The C-Blog offers good advice on how to ride in a group; he may be doing a lot of that now he’s got a new bike. Long Beach’s cycling expats travel from Philly to New York, dodging a flood and a close call with a falling branch along the way.  Four people were arrested in Stockton after attempting to rob a cyclist and shooting at a witness who tried to intervene. It’s not cars that’s killing off bike messengers, it’s the economy.

As we’ve discussed before, being pro-bike doesn’t mean you have to be anti-car. A how-to video on safe bicycling for children, courtesy of Madison WI and the NHTSA, and a look at the man behind a plan for a 20% bike share in Mad City by 2020. A physician in my hometown uses exceptionally dubious statistics to suggest that the local paper should only show photos of people wearing helmets, while another couple argue that bike paths lower property values, contrary to all available evidence. The Wall Street Journal jumps heads-first into the great helmet debate, though they miss the point on when helmets offer protection — and when they don’t; link courtesy of San Diego bike lawyer Amanda Benedict. Good to know — 12 emergency bike fixes. Learn how to carve a corner. Nevada cyclists get a chance to break in the new Hoover Dam bypass bridge, but why can’t the media figure out the difference between a ride and a race? Don’t build a Maine casino, build a bike tourism industry instead. Biking is getting better in New Orleans, resulting in the nation’s 6th highest level of bike commuters for larger cities.

Bikes are the latest amenity for upscale boutique hotels. Maybe more people would ride to work if they didn’t face death traps along the way. London’s Guardian newspaper endorses the city’s new bike share program. Separate looks at biking in Rome, and the wine country of Tuscany. If you’re tired of driving your Mini Cooper, now you can ride one.

Finally, by far the best report I’ve seen on the death — and more importantly, the extraordinary life — of endurance great Jure Robic.

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