It was World Bicycle Day — but not in LA, OC Bike Coalition says no to Class IV bike lanes, and Metro rides Rail-To-Rail

June 4, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 155 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Happy International Corgi Day to all who celebrate.

And seriously, why wouldn’t you?

Photo from 6th Street Bridge during 2023 Heart of LA CicLAvia.

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Yesterday was World Bicycle Day.

Or as it was known here in Los Angeles, Tuesday.

Just one more example of the city not treating us as second-class citizens, because they don’t even give us a passing thought.

Case in point, last month’s Bike to Work Day, which Los Angeles officials observed by ignoring it. And us.

Meanwhile, Zag Daily says it’s a pivotal time for bicycling, which is why World Bicycle Day matters.

Think Global Health says regular bicycling is good for physical, mental and yes, planetary health, but more sustainable urban planning is needed.

An Indian writer penned an ode to the humble bicycle.

In a purely performative move, New York renamed a bicycle tunnel as the “World Bicycle Day Bike Underpass” for one whole day. But at least that was better than LA did. 

The Coachella Valley marked World Bicycle Day by reminding drivers to use caution around people on bicycles.

Then there was this —

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The Orange County Bike Coalition has come out against Class IV protected bike lanes, calling out the “known hazards (they) cause to the riders that use them.”

Like other bicyclists we’ve heard from in San Diego, the OCBC expressed concerns about riders risking injuries by colliding with the raised barriers separating them from traffic.

Although it’s hard to reconcile anecdotal reports of hazards with studies showing they dramatically increase ridership and improve safety for everyone using the roadway.

Let’s hope that’s something researchers will take a look at.

And find a way to both protect riders from drivers, and from the bike lanes themselves.

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Metro is hosting a relaxed, family friendly ride to explore the newly opened segment of the Rail to Rail Active Transportation Corridor in South LA this Sunday.

The three-mile round-trip ride even includes a scheduled snack stop at Granny’s Kitchen Southern Style Soul Food along the way.

Although maybe someone should tell KTLA-5 that it helps to mention what day the ride is in their news reports. 

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Who needs new tires when you’ve got duct tape?

Duct tape fixes everything
byu/Visible-Grass-8805 inJustridingalong

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

Streetsblog takes a look at that off-the-rails Kern County Grand Jury report that criticized spending on Bakersfield bike lanes, concluding, in effect, that it’s too hot and smoggy to ride a bicycle in the summer, so everyone should just stay in their cars.

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

When you’re carrying meth and magic mushrooms, and trying to hide an $1,100 bike behind a bush outside Cheyenne, Wyoming, make sure it’s yours — and doesn’t have an AirTag on it.

Police in Northern Ireland are investigating after a viral video captured an adult riding a bicycle with a child draped over their back, and narrowly avoiding a collision.

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Local 

Los Angeles is narrowing the sidewalk on a 500-foot stretch of Balboa Blvd to make room for more cars — specifically left turn lanes — in a process Streetsblog’s Joe Linton describes as “harmful to city budgets, pedestrians, cyclists, climate, air quality, historic preservation, etc.” After all, who needs sidewalks anyway, right?

Metro’s Adopt-A-bike program is bringing mobility to families impacted by the January firestorms by providing them with free donated bicycles.

Culver City Crossroads offers more information on the CC city council’s unanimous support for extending the Ballona Creek Bike Path.

Santa Monica continues to improve the former quick-build MANGo greenway, and plans to build another on Washington Ave.

 

State

MSN reposted the San Diego Union-Tribune article we linked to yesterday about the California Ebike Incentive Program’s apparently successful third attempt at managing the 128,000 people who attempted to apply for a voucher last week, for everyone who couldn’t see it, like me. And I was even quoted in it.

The AIDS/LifeCycle ride passes through Monterey County on its way to the Central Coast for the last time, with 2,500 people taking part in the final tour.

Palo Alto councilmembers are pushing back against the city’s new bike plan, which calls for bike lanes on major traffic corridors.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Sad news from Stanford, where the president of the campus Democrats was killed when he was struck by a driver while riding an ebike on campus — raising the question of why a university campus even allows drivers to go fast enough to kill someone.

 

National

Sorry not sorry. A writer for Bicycling makes a concerted effort to stop apologizing for the “otherwise self-assured” way she rides. But maybe they should be apologizing for reposting the same damn story that originally appeared in 2017. 

This is the cost of traffic violence, part two. An off-duty Harris County, Texas police sergeant riding a bicycle was killed by a 63-year old man driving a U-Haul truck, in an allegedly drunken hit-and-run.

A Michigan man is building prosthetic limbs from readily available bicycle parts in an effort to help the nine out of ten people worldwide who don’t have access to artificial limbs.

A new campaign ad targets Boston Mayor Michelle Wu over her support for bike lanes, even after she ripped out the protective barriers.

 

International

A European website says bicycle tourism is changing how we see and spend on the continent.

Cyclist recommends the best road bikes — as long as you have a somewhere between the equivalent of $6,700 to $17,300 to spend.

Apparently, crappy bikes aren’t allowed to have great brakes worth more than the bike itself.

A writer for Cycling Weekly says bicyclists have a right to be angry about infrastructure, but it’s not worth fueling a culture war by haranguing people online. I’ve learned through long and painful experience that it’s just not worth engaging with the haters on social media, because it’s an argument no one ever wins.

In what may be the understatement of the year, the owner of Germany’s Canyon Bikes says “it was another challenging year,” after losing the equivalent of more than $43 million last year.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly says Simon Yates proved he’s one of Britain’s best-ever cyclists by winning the Giro, after riding “undercover” until the final weekend.

Mexican media continues to celebrate the success of Isaac del Toro’s second place finish in the Giro, calling it the best ever performance by a cyclist from the country. And marking the 21-year old as someone to watch going forward.

British cycling legend Sir Mark Cavendish will be honored by renaming a raceway in his honor on my ancestral home, where my great-great-great-great grandfather helped bankrupt the local bank.

LA28 announced venues for an accessible 2028 Paralympic Games, with most of the events located in Downtown LA and Exposition Park. Although it’s questionable how competitors and spectators will get to the games when the city isn’t building the bus and bike lanes they promised to make them car free.

 

Finally…

Your new wheels could pay homage to Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstrat guitar. It’s about damn time a bicycle was portrayed as an upscale, laidback status symbol on TV.

And that feeling when you have to bunnyhop a feline at the finish line.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Happy World Bicycle Day, protected bike lanes boost bike commuting, and CA Ebike Incentive Program finally gets it right

June 3, 2025 / / Comments Off on Happy World Bicycle Day, protected bike lanes boost bike commuting, and CA Ebike Incentive Program finally gets it right
Day 154 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Happy World Bicycle Day!

AOL marks the day by counting down the most iconic bikes in pop culture history. And it’s a tough crowd, since mean Miss Gulch’s bike from the Wizard of Oz only comes in at number four.

Meanwhile, a travel website says the future of US travel is two-wheeled, and it’s happening now. They also list some of the best cities for bicycling now, and a trio of cities to watch.

None of which is Los Angeles.

You can celebrate by getting out on your bike today and riding somewhere, anywhere. Because the best argument for more and better bicycling is seeing more people on them.

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No surprise here.

A new six-year, 28-city study shows that protected bike lanes resulted in 1.8 times greater bicycle commuter usage compared to standard bike lanes, 1.6 times greater than shared lanes — aka sharrows — and 4.3 times more than streets without any bicycle infrastructure.

Yes, that’s 430%.

Protected bike lanes also showed 52.5% greater bike commuting mileage than standard bike lanes, and a whopping 281.2% more than shared-lanes.

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The California Ebike Incentive Program offered an update on last week’s surprisingly successful round of voucher applications, and somehow managed to avoid patting themselves on the back for finally getting it right.

Although that legal disclaimer on the last line is a winner.

Meanwhile, the San Diego Union-Tribune offered an update on their ongoing series of reports examining the program, not always favorably, saying the third time was the charm.

Although I can’t seem to find a way to read it without a subscription, so let me know if I missed anything.

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Metro will offer free transit and Metro Bike rides this weekend, starting at 4 am  Friday in honor of the grand opening of the long-awaited LAX/Metro Transit Center.

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Hats off to the Burbank Leader for correctly recognizing the difference between ebikes and electric motorbikes, as Burbank cops stage a crackdown on the latter, rather than the former.

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Local 

The Culver City city council approved funding to work on plans to extend the Ballona Creek Bike Path northeast from where it currently ends at Culver City’s Syd Kronenthal Park. Or begins, depending on your perspective.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers photos and an open thread from Saturday’s Let’s Go Glendale open streets event on Glendale Ave.

Crispin Glover is one of us, as the “reclusive” Back to the Future star went for a bike ride in Los Angeles, days after his father Bruce Glover passed away at 92. I rode the hell out of my bike to cope with the death of my father over 30 years ago. And yes, it helped.

Jennifer Garner is one of us, too, as she took a casual ebike ride through the streets of Brentwood.

Santa Monica unveiled a trio of options for the city’s erstwhile airport, although none appear to offer any consideration for bicycling.

 

State

The Los Angeles Times says Gavin Newsom and the California legislature are preparing the biggest CEQA overhaul in a generation, as a result of national criticism that the state can’t build sufficient housing and public infrastructure anymore.

 

National

Over 22,000 people have signed a petition calling on the US Department of Transportation to prioritize funding for bicycling infrastructure in major US cities.

Momentum recommends five rail trails to explore this summer — although the closest one to Los Angeles is Redding’s 16-mile Sacramento River Trail.

Bicycling examines strategies to keep girls from quitting bicycling when they grow up, while inspiring a lifelong love of riding. Unfortunately, the story is hidden behind their paywall, so you’re out of luck if you don’t subscribe.

The Today Show talks with the founders of All Bodies On Bikes, a size-inclusive nonprofit bicycling community with 14 chapters across the US.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 83-year old Sitka, Alaska man continues to ride, after switching to an ebike in his late 70s when he started having trouble keeping up with his younger friends.

Cleveland continues its transformation from last century’s Mistake by the Lake, to a modern multi-modal American city, announcing plans to convert a couple downtown streets into paired one-way streets with protected bike lanes to improve comfort and safety for bike riders and pedestrians.

It may be harder to tell shit from Shinola now, as the upscale Detroit brand will no longer be making and selling bicycles.

A pair of New Jersey women will spend the next six years behind bars, after pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter for killing a 22-year old NYU graduate who was riding a bicycle on a state highway last year, while they were doing 90 mph in a 50 mph zone and illegally passing other vehicles on the shoulder.

 

International

Road.cc examines the new study that shows “rude” and “impossible to please” British bike riders are putting local leaders off, and “unwittingly undermine their own discourse” online. Which is a reminder to always be nice and polite to the commenters who threaten to kill you on social media.

Bollywood actress Nia Sharma is one of us, explaining that bicycling is freedom on two wheels, and she’ll take riding a bike over driving any day.

An Indian website examines why the country’s workplaces still discourage bicycling, even though it reduces sick days and boosts productivity.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mexico News Daily says Isaac del Torro may have finished second in the Giro after losing to Simon Yates on the penultimate stage, but he won in the hearts of his countrymen.

 

Finally…

Freddy Mercury, on the other hand, wasn’t one of us, fat-bottomed girls notwithstanding. That feeling when a bike race is like a nearly empty bottle of ketchup.

And apparently, riding a bike naked is better than having a brain tumor.

I mean, who know?

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Update: 30-something man on bicycle killed by hit-and-run driver in South LA; nearly 1/3 of SoCal bike deaths this year hit-and-runs

June 2, 2025 / / Comments Off on Update: 30-something man on bicycle killed by hit-and-run driver in South LA; nearly 1/3 of SoCal bike deaths this year hit-and-runs

Once again, someone on a bicycle in Los Angeles has been left to die alone in the street by a heartless coward.

But for a change, we actually learned about it the next day.

According to multiple sources, the victim was run down from behind while riding west on East Century Boulevard near San Pedro Street, in the Broadway-Manchester neighborhood of South LA, around 11 pm Sunday.

The victim, identified only as a man in his mid-30s, died at the scene, his mangled yellow road bike lying nearby in the crosswalk.

Unfortunately, security video was too blurry to provide a description of the suspect vehicle or driver, and there doesn’t appear to be any immediate witnesses.

Google Maps shows a bike lane on the west side of San Pedro, but none on the east, where the crash appears to have occurred.

Anyone with information is urged to call the LAPD South Traffic Division at 323/421-2500, or anonymously via Crime Stoppers at 800/222-8477 or lacrimestoppers.org.

As always, there is a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver for any fatal hit-and-run in the City of LA.

This is at least the 16th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, the fourth that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County, and just the second we’ve learned about in the City of Los Angeles — which is likely a dramatic undercount.

This is also at least the fifth bike rider killed by a hit-and-run driver in Southern California this year.

Update: The victim has been identified as 34-year old Jose Villalobos.

Update 2: The LAPD has posted video of the crash, which occurred with other vehicles around, so someone probably saw it. But be warned, it shows the full crash and the aftermath, be sure you really want to see it before you click on the link. 

The police have identified the suspect vehicle as a silver Chevrolet Camaro. 

“Following the crash, the driver of the Camaro made a right turn onto San Pedro Street, continued northbound, and then turned westbound onto East 98th Street, fleeing the scene without stopping to render aid or identify themselves, as required by law,” police said.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Jose Villalobos and his loved ones.

Thanks to Jeffrey for the heads-up. 

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

New study shows mid-block safety boost from bike lanes, and wild police chase nearly disrupts Unbound Gravel race

June 2, 2025 / / Comments Off on New study shows mid-block safety boost from bike lanes, and wild police chase nearly disrupts Unbound Gravel race
Day 153 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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It’s a busy week here at BikinginLA World HQ, with International Bicycle Day tomorrow, and National Corgi Day on Wednesday.

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No surprise here.

A pair of new studies concluded that bike lanes improve mid-block safety — any kind of bike lane, as a matter of fact, whether separated, buffered or just painted.

Separated bike lanes were the safest, apparently referring the plastic bollard demarcated bike lanes that pass for protected in Los Angeles.

Of course, the problem with any bike lane — aside from drivers who use them as parking or traffic bypass lanes — comes at intersections, where the risk to riders is the greatest.

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You’ve got to be kidding.

The Unbound Gravel race was nearly disrupted by a wild police chase through the countryside around Emporia, Kansas early Saturday morning, when sheriff’s deputies had to block a pickup driver from crashing through the course after he blew through a closed intersection.

At one point, he tried to pass patrol cars attempting to stop him by driving in a ditch, rolling his truck after he crashed into a sheriff’s vehicle when he tried to drive back out — and kept going anyway.

The chase finally came to an end about half an hour after it began when deputies once again spotted the truck, blocking it in and taking the driver and his passenger into custody.

They both face multiple, and well-deserved, charges.

Yet somehow, it all appears to have happened without the participants in the race knowing how close they came to disaster.

Meanwhile, Americans were shut out of the Unbound Gravel podium for the first time, with Kiwi Cameron Jones winning the men’s race, and Switzerland’s Simon Pellaud second, after they worked together on a 50-mile breakaway to capture the win.

New Hampshire triathlete Karolina Migoń won the women’s edition in record time, shaving nearly an hour and a half off the previous best; Serena Bishop Gordon finished second.

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Streets For All is urging you to support a version of Measure HLA in Los Angeles County tomorrow.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will meet on Tuesday, June 3rd and consider moving a LA County version of Measure HLA forward.

The agenda item is #17 “Equity, Accountability, and the Accelerated Implementation of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Master Plan.” You can read the full motion here.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

MOST IMPACTFUL:

Attend the meeting live and make public comment in support of Item 17!

IN PERSON

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2025 at 9:30am

Board Hearing Room 381B

500 West Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

VIA PHONE

Call (877) 226-8163 and enter Participant Code: 1336503. Press 1 to be added to the public comment queue

Can’t make a live public comment?

EMAIL PUBLIC COMMENT [FILL IN THE BOTTOM!]

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

Denver, Colorado bike riders are concerned after the city removed plastic bollards marking a downtown protected bike lane, apparently because someone thought it would be more attractive without them — but increasing the risk of riders crashing into the low protective barriers that remain.

No bias here. The New York Post blames bike lanes for causing gridlock for drivers trying to avoid congestion pricing tolls on the Queensborough Bridge, instead of placing the blame on drivers trying to illegally avoid the tolls.

Seriously? A new study from the UK suggests bike riders could be their own worst enemy, with local politicians blaming riders’ “rudeness” for their own reluctance to support bicycle projects, concluding “nothing we ever do will make cyclists happy.” Which is probably because politicians seldom do enough to begin with.

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Local 

LA County sheriff’s deputies busted five high-end bike thieves for the April theft of 337 Ari mountain and road bikes worth a whopping $1.7 million while in transit to Los Angeles; the men allegedly employed a sophisticated scheme to redirect redirecting truck drivers while using box trucks and passenger vehicles to deliver the bikes to waiting warehouses.

Long Beach unveiled the newly remade Artesia Blvd, complete with new bike lanes, crosswalks and 400 trees.

 

State

He gets it. An op-ed from a Marin County sustainable transportation advocate calls on Caltrans to build new bicycle and pedestrian facilities on Tiburon Blvd on the Tiburon Peninsula, making the case for a multi-modal Complete Street despite the opposition of some residents.

 

National

Portland is a “cyclist’s paradise,” according to a new study that rated it the most bike-friendly America city; New York, San Francisco, Denver and Minneapolis round out the top five, which could come as a surprise to a lot of people who live and ride in them. Needless to say, Los Angeles didn’t make that list, or the five after that. And probably wouldn’t have made the next ten, either. 

A Seattle man defied stage four prostate cancer to take part in the annual Seattle to Portland ride, covering 206 miles in just two days.

A special needs teacher from Glenwood Springs, Colorado resets at the end of the school year by traveling throughout North and South America by bicycle.

A Chicago bike rider was collateral damage when couple cops lost control of their patrol car and rolled it; one officer was hospitalized with a serious leg injury, while the rider was in good condition after being struck by debris while standing on the sidewalk.

This is the cost of traffic violence. An 18-year old driver crossed the centerline on a roadway in Lucas County, Ohio, crashing head-on into a pair of bicyclists; 38-year old Roseann Marie Peiffer, described as “true legend” and “a beloved figure in the local bicycling community,” tragically died at the scene, while the other rider survived with non-life threatening injuries.

New York ebike riders are complaining about the NYPD’s crackdown, arguing that giving criminal summonses to lawbreaking bicyclists, rather than traffic tickets, is unfair; meanwhile, a cop dramatically raised the stakes by pulling a Taser on a red light-running bike rider.

 

International

How a bike can help you live carfree, even in the mountains.

Montreal turned city streets over to the people on two wheels for the 40th consecutive year, offering carfree routes up to 60 miles.

Iceland’s Lauf Cycles is raising its prices due to Trump’s tariffs, which affect components even though the bikes are assembled in Virginia.

A 74-year old British TV chef is riding her bike 450 miles from Land’s End to the White Cliffs of Dover, in hopes of raising the equivalent of $135,000 to help feed disadvantaged people in the south of the country.

 

Competitive Cycling

Britain’s Simon Yates fulfilled the promise he showed in winning the 2018 Vuelta by coming from third place to crash 21-year old Mexican cyclist Isaac del Torro’s Giro pink party.

Yates took the lead on the penultimate stage with a devastating attack that left the others gasping for breath, while finishing nearly five minutes ahead of the former leader.

Yates also made up for his epic loss in the 2018 Giro, when he cracked on the final stages after leading the race for 13 days, and withdrawing in 2020 and 2022.

Del Torro finished second overall, while capturing the white jersey for the tour’s best young rider.

The first American pope gave the Giro peloton a papal blessing, telling the riders they are always welcome in the church just before they set off on the first-ever route through the Vatican gardens in the race’s 116-year history.

The peloton held a moment of silence before Sunday’s final stage of the Giro to remember the wife of former Dutch cyclist Robert Gesink; Daisy Gesink passed away from an “aggravated illness” just one year after the longtime Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider retired.

You could win Yate’s signed pink jersey. Let’s just hope they washed it first.

Nineteen-year old Brit Matthew Brennan captured the first tour win of what looks likely to be an impressive career, winning the final stage of the Tour of Norway to capture the general classification.

Norwegian cyclist Mie Bjørndal Ottestad won the women’s Tour of Norway, clinching the victory with a win on the second and final stage, with first stage winner Justine Ghekiere taking second.

 

Finally…

Why settle for ugly bollards when you can have tulips? Why waste your time in some dark warehouse when you can go to a rave on two wheels?

And that feeling when Winnie the Pooh steals your bike.

5/28 Winnie the Pooh DT PHX Bike thief $150 reward
byu/CampSuccessful inphoenix

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

CA Ebike Incentive finally gets one right, LA far from the happiest place on Earth, and life is cheap for an ex-Chili Pepper

May 30, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 153 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Oops.

I got tied up with other things, and missed last night’s application window for the California Ebike Incentive Program.

Okay, I just forgot about it until it was too late. Which kinda tells you just how concerned I am about it after all the damn delays and fails.

But I’m told the program had announced they had accepted 1,000 applications less than half an hour after the window closed at 6 pm, so it must have gone okay for a change.

Even if they’re still throttling the application process, for no other reason than they can’t seem to process any more.

At this rate, it’ll only take four more years to give out all the available funds.

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No surprise here.

The new 2025 Happy City Index was released yesterday, revealing that many of the world’s happiest cities are also among the most bike-friendly.

Needless to say, Los Angeles isn’t among them, on either count.

In fact, the City of Angeles tied for a relatively sad number 70 — 36 places and 72 points below San Diego, which came in just one point ahead of Bruges and Amsterdam.

Yes, Amsterdam.

We’re also behind such remarkable garden spots as Columbus OH, Washington DC, and Beijing, China. Because everyone knows humid, swampy and politically riven DC is just this side of the happiest place on earth.

But at least we can take comfort in knowing we’re ahead of San Jose, Moscow and last place Pula, Croatia.

So take that, Pula.

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Life is cheap in Alhambra.

Not-so-Red Hot Chili Pepper Josh Klinghoffer walked without a day behind bars for killing a 47-year old man who was walking to an Alhambra grocery store, while Klinghoffer was “likely” driving distracted.

The guitarist, who toured with Pearl Jam recently after leaving the Chili Peppers in 2019, was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation and 60 days community service after pleading no contest to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence.

Klinghoffer could have faced up to six years in prison for felony manslaughter without the plea deal.

More proof that it helps to be famous. And able to afford a good criminal lawyer.

Thanks to Nuance Enjoyer for the heads-up.

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The popular Finish the Run/Finish the Ride runs and rolls through Griffith Park this weekend.

The event raises funds and awareness for safer streets across California.

Tomorrow is reserved for the runners and walkers, with distances of 5K, 10K and a half-marathon, aka 13.1 miles, while Sunday is dedicated to riders and rollers, with rides of 12 miles, 20 miles, 35 miles and 62 miles.

Finish the Ride began with the crash that founder Damian Kevitt barely survived when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding on Zoo Drive, and dragged onto the the nearby 5 Freeway before he could free himself, as told to the LA Times in the video below.

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

A British man whose wife was killed by someone on a bicycle says he’s all in favor of giving life sentences to bike riders who kill pedestrians. Even though drivers who recklessly kill bike riders and pedestrians usually walk with a slap on the wrist. See Kinghoffer, above.

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

A Dublin, Ireland columnist writes that the biggest risk she faces on the roads comes from other bicyclists — especially men who get upset when they find themselves behind a slower woman, and pass her without a sound. But if they pass without a sound, how does she know they’re upset and not just assholes? And why does she just assume that other bike riders — not her, of course — have sense of superiority towards people in cars?

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Local 

People for Mobility Justice is marking the end of Bike Month by hosting a community bike ride through the Florence-Firestone neighborhood on Saturday.

A bike corral operated by Hermosa Cyclery at last weekend’s Fiesta Hermosa in Hermosa Beach was filled with over 1,000 bicycles each day of the three-day festival, over half of them ebikes.

Credit the grassroots Car-Lite Long Beach with keeping the city’s bike lanes clear through their bi-monthly volunteer cleanup efforts.

 

State

Calbike argues that quick-build infrastructure projects improve safety and urges you to contact your assemblymember today to support AB 891, which would create a quick-build pilot at Caltrans.

A June 16th public meeting could decide the fate of mountain biking in San Bernardino County’s 855-acre Wildwood Canyon Park Property, as California State Parks gathers input on how the property should be classified and what it should be named.

West Sacramento opened a new bike and pedestrian bridge over a highway gash that has long divided it in two, allowing riders to safely cross between the north and south sides of the city. Correction: I originally located this in Sacramento, not realizing that Sacramento and West Sacramento are two different cities. Thanks to Debra for the heads-up. 

Streets For All is expanding outside of Los Angeles for the first time, as the transportation PAC merges with San Francisco’s KidSafe SF to extend the reach of both groups; the new entity will be known as Streets For All San Francisco; follow them on Twitter/X and Bluesky.

It’s the beginning of the end for the AIDS/LifeCycle Ride, which sets out from San Francisco for the last time this Sunday; the ride will arrive in Los Angeles on Saturday.

 

National

Escape considers kits to fit a dad body.

A law enforcement website stresses the importance of better bike training, especially as more police agencies adopt ebikes.

Dallas approved its first new bike plan in 14 years, even as some councilmembers warned it’s not enough to keep up with other major cities. On the other hand, if they actually build it, they’ll be way ahead of Los Angeles.

A Chicago woman will be sentenced today after pleading guilty to killing a bike-riding university professor; she was driving in the bike lane at more than twice the legal alcohol limit when she ran him down from behind.

Police in Chicago blamed distraction and a failure to slow down for the city’s first bicycling death this year, along with the deadly front-end design, extreme weight and poor sight lines of the driver’s EV Hummer, even though the 18-year old victim was alleged to have run a red light.

Ebike advocates dodged a bullet when a committee in the New York legislature killed a bill requiring registration of ebikes — but Streetsblog warns it was just the first shot in an expected fusillade.

New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch argues that her cops have to give criminal summonses to scofflaw bike riders because they don’t have licenses that can be suspend — but many drivers continue to drive after their licenses are taken away.

While we’re on the subject of Commish Tisch, she defended her crackdown on ebike riders before city councilmember who fear it could hurt immigrants — even though ebike crashes and pedestrian injuries were both down by double digits in the four months before the policy went into effect.

A Florida sheriff’s department warns everyone to lock their bicycles securely, so they don’t end up a pile of parts, like this.

 

International

A new report from adventure travel company Explore Worldwide ranks the iconic Blue Ridge Parkway through North Carolina and Virginia as the world’s most beautiful bike route, with Montana’s Going-to-the-Sun Road close behind; Oregon’s Crater Lake route and Missouri’s Katy Trail are the only other US routes to make the list.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a speeding 75-year old driver was sentenced to a lousy ten months behind bars for killing a 63-year old woman as she was riding with a friend; he claimed he couldn’t see them because of the lights of an oncoming car, despite their hi-viz and bike lights. Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive. 

British bicycling deaths were down two percent last year — and a whopping 25% in the past ten years. Which shows what happens when the government actually gives a damn, unlike a certain North American superpower I could name.

Tennis star Novak Djokovic is one of us, after he took advantage of a break in the French Open to ride a bike around the Arc de Triomphe — something he doesn’t plan on doing again.

A new position paper from a German bicycle industry association seeks to put ebikes on an equal footing with regular bicycles by limiting ebikes to 750 watts and a support ratio of 1:4, although some industry leaders warn it could kill off the ebike business; ebike engine maker Bosch stands accused of protectionism for participating in the report.

 

Competitive Cycling

Hola! says hello to Mexican cycling star Isaac del Torro, taking a look at just who the history-making rider is.

Germany’s Nico Denz crossed the finish line nearly one full minute ahead of the pursing riders to win the Giro’s stage 18, while del Torro retained his 41-second lead over second place Richard Carapaz.

A Catholic website says new Pope Leo XIV will greet the Giro peloton when it makes a detour through Vatican City on Sunday.

Sad news from Belgium, where former pro Ludo Dierckxsens collapsed and died on the 600-mile Stand Up for Cancer ride; the former Tour de France stage winner was 60 years old.

 

Finally…

You’re not a gravel pro until you pee in your bibs. That feeling when someone actually questions whether bicycling is a good form of exercise.

And what makes newspaper columnists somehow assume they’re all experts on bicycling?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Chino driver flees with ebike embedded in bumper, Historic South Central Meets Watts CicLAvia, and pledge to bike in OC

May 29, 2025 / / Comments Off on Chino driver flees with ebike embedded in bumper, Historic South Central Meets Watts CicLAvia, and pledge to bike in OC
Day 149 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Just a quick note. 

I always try to thank people who submit stories, because I truly appreciate the help finding stories I might not otherwise see.  

After hearing from a few people, however, I am changing my policy to identify people just by their first names going forward, in order to protect their privacy. 

I mean, you’ll still know it’s you. But everyone else doesn’t need to.

………

Um, okay.

Police in Chino arrested a woman who drove roughly five miles or more to Montclair with a shattered windshield, and an ebike embedded in her bumper, after fleeing the scene of a hit-and-run crash that left the victim with a head injury.

Police found the woman by tracking an AirTag hidden on the ebike across multiple cities.

What they don’t say, though, is how much time elapsed between the crash and the arrest, and whether the driver would have had time to sober up first.

Because something tells me she might have needed to.

Thanks to Jeffrey for the heads-up.

………

Mark your calendar for the next CicLAvia next month, as Historic South Central Meets Watts.

Here’s how a press release describes the open streets event.

6.4-Miles of Open Streets Connecting Historic South Central, Florence, Firestone, and Watts Via S Central Ave and 103rd Street to Enjoy this ‘Pop-Up’ Park for the Day in One’s Favorite People-Powered Way for All Ages and Abilities

On Sunday, June 22; between 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. CicLAvia will celebrate its 61st car-free open streets event catalyzing vibrant public spaces, active transportation and good health through car-free streets. CicLAvia—Historic South Central meets Watts connects historic South Central, Florence, Firestone, and Watts, welcoming everyone of all ages and abilities to enjoy this day-long 6.4-mile pop-up park. Always free, you can enjoy the day,by walking, jogging, biking, roller skating, skating, or simply spectating at CicLAvia. Participants can show up anywhere along the route between 9am-4pm to enjoy the open streets, take the time to explore, and see where the day takes you.

Imagine streets alive with joy, laughter, and the freedom to roam. CicLAvia is a non-profit organization that has been opening streets throughout Los Angeles County for nearly 15 years now. It transforms city streets into a car-free celebration of community, connection, and possibility — places where participants can slow down, connect, and appreciate the city in a new way. CicLAvia is about reimagining our city streets as welcoming spaces for everyone — places for walking, running, rolling, skating, cycling, gathering, and enjoying the moment.

As a nonprofit organization, CicLAvia relies on the public’s support to continue bringing opportunities for meaningful community connections, mindful exploration, and greater understanding across Los Angeles.

CicLAvia—Historic South Central meets Watts includes five (5) hubs filled with plenty of activities and programs along the route. Hubs are walking zones (mandatory dismounts) and meeting points along the route which includes theHistoric South Central Hub located on Central Ave, just south of Washington Blvd.; Jazz Park Hub located at 41nd Place and Central Ave; Florence Firestone Hub located on Central Ave near 61st St; Central Ave Hub located on Central Ave near E. 84th St; and the Watts Hub located on E 103rd St and Success Ave. Hubs offer family-friendly activities, restrooms, free water refilling stations, free basic bike repair, bike parking, places to sit and meet up with friends and family, and first aid. Free pedicab rides are available at each hub’s information booth.

The CicLAvia—Historic South Central meets Watts route is accessible via many different forms of transportation. There is not one place to start or finish. Read more about getting to the route through these links: hubs, Metro, bike rentals, parking for the event, group meet ups: walk/run clubs, feeder rides, bus detours, and help getting to CicLAvia.

(Please note, if you are biking to and from CicLAvia along any streets that are open to cars, it is at the discretion of the individual.)

“South LA is always one of the highlights of CicLAvia’s schedule,” says CicLAvia Executive Director Romel Pascual. “Along South Central Ave, LA’s dynamic culture can be seen in the local businesses and restaurants, community parks, and public art that are on the route. It gives Angelenos the opportunity to see new things, which reminds us of what makes our city a remarkable and special place.

………

As long as we’re doing press releases, the Orange County Transportation Authority, aka OCTA, says there’s still time to pledge to ride a bike this month.

While OCTA encourages people to ride all year long, May is National Bike Month, which is also celebrated all month long in Orange County.

OCTA invites people of all ages and abilities to take part in Bike Month, and there’s still time to pledge to ride a bicycle – for commuting, for fun, or for fitness.

This year’s “Every Ride is Your Story” campaign encourages participants to ride at least once during May. Those who pledge online will be entered in a raffle to win a commuter e-bike prize package that includes an Avant Agile Commuter E-Bike, along with accessories including an adult helmet, child helmet, bike lock, and baby seat.

Pledges must be received by the end of the day on Saturday, May 31, at www.octa.net/bikemonth. A winner will be announced in June.

In addition to the Bike Rally, OCTA continues to promote safe cycling habits for all riders, including those using e-bikes. Resources and safety tips are available at www.octa.net/bikeand www.octa.net/ebike.

Orange County offers more than 1,000 miles of bikeways, from beach paths to mountain trails, making it easier than ever to ride safely and explore the region on two wheels. Over the last 15 years, OCTA has invested approximately $437 million in active transportation, including cycling and more than half (54%) of the county’s primary roadways include bike lanes.

Over 80 riders made a 4-mile bike ride from the Orange Metrolink Station to OCTA headquarters for a Bike Rally Wednesday morning to promote active transportation throughout the county.

………

No bias here.

The anti-bike New York Post is trying to whip a nonissue into an “explosive” campaign issue, after an ebike rider crashed into a three-year old girl who apparently got out of a double-parked car and darted into the bike lane he was riding in, making a crash virtually unavoidable.

Yet the paper somehow blames the bike lane, and not the driver who double-parked or the dad who didn’t hold her back.

And the result could have been far worse if she had darted in the other direction. But no one seems to be calling for removing dangerous traffic lanes from the roadway.

………

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

A Lancaster, Pennsylvania man was charged with intentionally crashing his car into a 16-year old boy riding an ebike, after he admitted to intentionally driving into the victim, causing serious injuries.

Seriously? After a British bike rider was struck by a hit-and-run driver who darted in front of him on a roundabout, The Sun can’t seem to figure out who was in the wrong.

………

Local 

Metro’s board of directors moved last week to put the planned Southeast Gateway Line underground, leaving them a paltry $10 to $12 billion short. And even that probably wouldn’t result in the green, bike-friendly Alameda corridor shown in the picture.

Ebike dealer Upway is hosting a community bike ride and ebike block party in Redondo Beach on Saturday.

 

State

Former Los Angeles mayor and erstwhile bicycle champion Antonio Villaraigosa is complaining about high gas prices and closing oil refineries. Neither of which could have anything to do with taking more than $175,000 in campaign contributions from the oil industry for his run for governor. Right?

The chief executive officer of the San Diego Youth Services rode his bicycle 500 miles from San Francisco to San Diego earlier this month to call awareness and raise funds for the 55-year old nonprofit.

A Madera teenager got a new, refurbished bicycle after his was stolen, thanks to a program run by inmates at a local penitentiary.

Sad news from Petaluma, where a man riding a bicycle was killed when he was rear-ended by a driver.

 

National

Portland wants residents to help them choose a new tagline to promote bicycling. None of which would have made it past the first round at any decent ad agency.

Singletracks looks at five of the best mountain bike trails in Washington state. Sasquatch sightings optional.

Another teenager has been arrested for the Albuquerque, New Mexico hit-and-run that killed a 63-year-old physicist as he was biking to his job at Sandia National Laboratories last year, making them the fourth juvenile in the stolen car when the kids intentionally steered it into the victim, and posted it on social media.

A Denver, Colorado TV station examines the intersection between May’s Mental Health Awareness Month and National Bike Month, and how riding a bicycle can improve your mental health.

An Austin, Texas woman learned the hard way about reckless ebike riders on the city’s trails. Or one in particular, anyway.

Atlanta’s bike-riding Magnet Man has a new bicycle thanks to fans and supporters who replaced the one he had stolen, enabling him to get back to using his magnet-equipped bike trailer to sweep metal debris off the streets before it ends up in the tires of local drivers.

 

International

Bicyclists in the Cayman Islands are calling for immediate action to improve safety on the streets after an uptick in serious injuries.

What’s the point of living in a haunted Manitoba city if you’re not going to have a bike ride visiting all the ghastly and ghostly sites? Although it really should have been after dark. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Mexico’s Isaac del Toro bounced back from a bad day in the Alps to win Wednesday’s stage 17, extending his lead to 41 seconds, as Richard Carapaz climbed into second.

This is pretty much the definition of a gnarly crash, taken from a New Jersey Cat 3 race.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your AI reporter doesn’t know the difference between a linear park and a sports attraction. Or when a fundraising ride ends in a new bike — and a proposal.

And NFTs once again raise their ugly, scammy and virtually worthless head, this time with a bicycle spin.

Seriously, shame on Pez Cycling for even accepting the sponsored post.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Advocacy groups call for implementing daylighting law, one last AIDS/Lifecycle Ride, and next CA ebike fail tomorrow

May 28, 2025 / / Comments Off on Advocacy groups call for implementing daylighting law, one last AIDS/Lifecycle Ride, and next CA ebike fail tomorrow
Day 148 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Calbike and California Walks called on cities yesterday to implement the state’s daylighting rules.

A 2023 bill passed and signed into law sought to improve safety by prohibiting drivers from parking near intersections, providing better sightlines for drivers approaching them, as well as bike riders and pedestrians.

And better enabling those last two to be seen by the former.

The bill provided a built-in one-year grace period before full implementation. But as of the first of this year, cities were allowed — but apparently not required — to ticket drivers who parked within 20 feet of a crosswalk.

And in California, every intersection is presumed to have a crosswalk, whether or not it’s painted, unless crossing is specifically prohibited.

Yet few, if any, cities in the state have begun issuing tickets. Meanwhile others, such as San Francisco, have watered down the requirement by painting red curbs extending 10 feet from the crosswalk, instead of 20. Something cities are allowed to do if they pass an ordinance justifying the need for the change — which San Francisco hasn’t done.

According to a press release from the groups,

CalBike and California Walks urge municipal leaders and public works departments to:

  • Educate parking enforcement officers and empower them to write citations for parking within daylighting zones. No signage or curb paint is required to take this step.
  • Educate residents about the need to leave sightlines clear near crosswalks as an act of community care.
  • Install signage and red curb paint marking the 20-foot no-parking space wherever feasible.
  • Harden daylighting zones as much as possible by adding bike parking corrals, bike or scooter share docks, benches, planters boxes, bioswales, or other community amenities.
  • Use planned road maintenance projects as opportunities to demarcate and harden daylighting zones.

They’ve got a point.

We can pass all the safety measures in the world. But they won’t save a single life if no one uses them.

Photo by Labskiii from Pexels.

………

California Senator Adam Schiff will be the first sitting US senator to take part in the annual AIDS/LifeCycle Ride.

Make that the final AIDS/LifeCycle Ride.

Which is kind of sad, on both counts.

Schiff was the first member of Congress to take part in the annual ride in 2014 — and will be the last, even if he only completes the final leg into Los Angeles due to votes in the senate.

The ride has raised over $300 million over its all-too-brief 31-year history to support the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Meanwhile, a writer for Daily Kos expresses his sadness that this year’s AIDS/LifeCycle Ride marks the end of his own 26-year history with it.

………

CARB, aka the California Air Resources Board, is back with another attempt at a second round of ebike incentive vouchers, after totally screwing the pooch the last time around.

So what’s the over/under on whether they somehow manage to screw it up again, given their pathetic track record and intentionally throttled funding?

Asking for about 150,000 friends.

………

Metro will hold a series of community meetings this week to release the latest plans and cost estimates for a new rail line along the Sepulveda Transit Corridor, traveling under and/or over the Sepulveda Pass.

Although any plan that doesn’t provide a direct connection to UCLA will be an abject failure out of the gate.

  • Wednesday, May 28: 5:30–7:30 p.m., Presentation will begin at 6 p.m., Veterans Memorial Building Rotunda Room, 4117 Overland Avenue, Culver City, CA 90230.
  • Thursday, May 29: 5:30–7:30 p.m., Presentation will begin at 6 p.m., Westwood United Methodist Church, 10497 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90024.
  • Saturday, May 31: 3-5 p.m., Presentation will begin at 3:30 p.m., Sherman Oaks East Valley Adult Center, 5056 Van Nuys Boulevard, Building B, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403.

………

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

No bias here. In a prime example of a grand jury run amok, a Bakersfield grand jury questions whether the city’s green bike lanes are more of a nuisance than a benefit, and says Bakersfield shouldn’t install any more unless they cost less than $15,000 a mile. Which is about what it costs to stripe a two-lane street, without any bike lanes.

Life is cheap in North Carolina, where a man walked without a single day behind bars when a judge imposed a lousy 45 day suspended sentence for intentionally crashing an ATV into 56-year old man riding on a bike path, leaving the victim with serious injuries.

A British jury saw a doorbell cam video capturing the events leading up to the allegedly intentional crash that killed a 25-year old mother riding an ebike with another person; prosecutors allege the 23-year old driver finally succeeded in ramming the bike on his fifth attempt.

………

Local 

USC Annenberg Media examines the opening of the first 5.5-mile segment of the Rail-to-Rail Active Transportation Corridor, a rail-to-trail conversion connecting Metro rail lines in South LA.

The Glendale City Council got an update on the city’s “slow and methodical approach” to its Vision Zero Action Plan.

Pasadena, Day One and the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition are wrapping up Bike Month by hosting the family-friendly Pie & Ice Cream Are Friends Ride this Saturday, for anyone with a sweet tooth and a bicycle.

Active SGV will host a community bike ride this Sunday leading to and from a public meeting to learn more about the Rio Hondo Ecosystem Reclamation Project to create multi-use bike and walking paths, along with other environmental benefits.

Long Beach will mark the end of Bike Month with the official unveiling of the Great Artesia Boulevard Project on Saturday, complete with a bike rodeo and free bicycle tune-ups.

 

State

The San Diego Union-Tribune says bike lanes proposed by SANDAG, aka the San Diego Association of Governments, are still hamstrung by delays, as they finally green lighted a $27 million project on University Ave that began planning in 2013.

No bias here. According to the New York Times, the anger over converting San Francisco’s Great Highway into a park remains, with the transformation into a pedestrian promenade setting off a clash over the city’s anti-car culture. Or maybe, just maybe, they could have talked to the many people who love the new linear park, a large percentage of whom undoubtedly drove to get there and have nothing against cars, but recognized that the former highway was no longer needed. 

A lawsuit filed by the California Native Plant Society, Marin Audubon Society, and Marin Conservation League that was settled last year is blocking ebikes from using a trail on Mount Tamalpais, regarded as the birthplace of mountain biking.

 

National

A Tulsa, Oklahoma man will take part in the 1,645-mile Black Wall Street to Wall Street Ride for Equity, connecting Tulsa’s Black Greenwood District destroyed in a 1921 race riot with the nation’s financial center; the ride is organized by Black Leaders Detroit to “amplify national conversations about racial wealth gaps, Black entrepreneurship and community resilience.”

Security cam video captured the moment a three-year old girl darted into the path of a man riding an ebike in a New York bike lane, giving the man no time to avoid a crash after she ran out from between two parked cars; fortunately, she only suffered minor injuries.

The Transportation Committee of a West Side Manhattan community board — equivalent to LA’s neighborhood councils, but with more power — voted unanimously to oppose giving criminal summons to scofflaw bike riders, arguing that more enforcement of lawbreaking bicyclists may be needed, but the NYPD policy is too extreme.

Speaking of New York, the city’s DOT, police and community organizations have been collecting bicycles to donate to people in underserved communities, with 253 bikes collected so far this year.

Atlanta was selected as the first city to get Lime’s new LimeBike ebikes, which the company says is geared towards women, older riders and commuters who need extra room for storing stuff when they ride.

 

International

A writer for Tom’s Guide explains what to consider when buying a bike helmet. All of which you could probably have figured out for yourself.

No surprise here. A French travel writer says a bike is the best way to find the secluded beaches on St. Mary’s Island, off the coast of Cornwall, England.

The Irish taoiseach, or prime minister, apologized before the country’s parliament, along with his chief deputy and the country’s justice minister, for the failures that allowed a driver with 40 previous convictions to remain on the road 14 years ago for the hit-and-run crash that killed a 23-year old man riding a bicycle, despite a court order that should have kept him behind bars. And if you wonder why people keep dying on our streets, that’s a good place to start. 

A newspaper in the Czech Republic city of Brno — apparently founded during a Middle Ages vowel shortage — takes stock of the city’s bike infrastructure, or the lack thereof, arguing that the city should be a haven for bicyclists due to its short distances, but isn’t. Sort of like Los Angeles should, thanks to our mostly flat terrain and ideal weather. But isn’t.

 

Competitive Cycling

It was a brutal day in the Alps for most of the Giro peloton on Tuesday, following an attack by Richard Carapaz that helped the Ecuadorian cyclist leap up the GC standings, leaving 21-year old Mexican phenom Isaac del Torro still leading, but just 26 seconds ahead of Brit Simon Yates, with Carapaz another five seconds behind in third.

Carpaz vows to fight all the way to Rome after emerging as the race’s biggest disrupter. Unless you count del Torro, who already disrupted the race a week earlier. 

Pre-race favorite Primoz Roglic abandoned Giro Tuesday, after being caught in yet another crash.

Italian cyclist Alessio Martinelli was conscious and in stable condition following a frightening 50-foot fall down a ravine, after he slid off his bike crashing on a rain-slicked curve during Tuesday’s stage of the Giro.

Joe Goettl and Flavia Oliveira Parks won the men’s and women’s editions of Utah’s Belgian Waffle Ride, with Carter Anderson and Courtney Sullivan finishing second.

 

Finally…

Great moments in bad headline: No, a man isn’t riding 480 miles for pancreatic cancer, he’s riding to fight it.

And that feeling when you feel compelled to prove your street cred by hating on bicycles.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Mass teen rideout leads to violence as man shot in Baldwin Park confrontation; Glendale hosts open streets Saturday

May 27, 2025 / / One comment
Day 147 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

A mass rideout of teens and young adults on bicycles has once again led to violence in Southern California.

But this time, one of the riders was the victim.

According to Baldwin Park News, an adult man was shot following a brief confrontation in the middle of an intersection, during a ride involving hundreds of bicyclists.

The incident came around 2:45 Saturday afternoon, at Main Ave and Olive Street in Baldwin Park.

The man was riding his bike when he was confronted by an unknown person, who pulled out a gun and fired moments later, striking the victim in the lower body. He’s reportedly in stable condition with a single gunshot wound.

There’s no word on what may have led to the confrontation or why it escalated to violence, although it’s not unusual for motorists to become enraged by bike riders taking over the entire roadway or performing stunts as they ride.

There’s also no description of the suspect, or whether the shooter was in a motor vehicle.

This shooting comes after at least three other rideouts have led to violence on the streets of Los Angeles. However, in each of those cases, it was the people on bicycles who attacked drivers and cars after confrontations with motorists.

A 16-year old boy was also allegedly murdered by a motorist accused of intentionally crashing into him after an argument during a rideout near BMO stadium last November, following the victim into a parking lot to run him down.

………

Glendale will host an open streets event on Saturday.

https://twitter.com/heybikela/status/1927059765533818886

……….

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

No bias here. The New York Times explores why the city’s drivers get off with a simple traffic ticket, while scofflaw bike riders end up in criminal court, even though people in cars are far more likely to kill someone.

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Nearly 200 Chula Vista kids got new bikes, courtesy of the city’s Rotary Club.

Hats off to a Palm Desert couple who parked their car and sprang into action when an ebike rider suffered a “significant” head wound after losing control and falling into the street, working to stop his bleeding before paramedics arrived.

It takes a real schmuck to flee the scene after running down a six-year old San Francisco girl riding a bicycle and her mother; fortunately, their injuries aren’t thought to be life-threatening.

A San Francisco website asks if Davis, home to the nation’s first bike lane, is still the state’s bicycling capital, even if local residents don’t ride as often as they used to.

 

National

The Trump administration wants to ban your bike from federal property under a new proposal from the Department of Homeland Security would “prohibit the unauthorized use, operation, parking, locking, or storage” of bicycles and scooters on federal property. Because evidently, we’re much more dangerous and disruptive than those people in the big, dangerous machines.

A motorsports website considers what urban bike riders can learn from NASCAR safety protocols, arguing that a bike helmet, preparation, and riding defensively are key to getting back home in one piece.

I want to be like him when I grow up. Two years after he set a record as the oldest person to ride a bike across the US, an 80-year old man with Parkinsons is doing it again, this time riding from south to north along the route of the Underground Railroad.

A Dallas, Texas man was lucky to survive after becoming just the lated victim of a police chase, when a man being pursued by the cops slammed into the back of his bicycle as he rode with a group along the side of a highway — then was carried more than a mile on the hood of the driver’s car until another crash threw him off.

Hats off to the Tallahassee teenager who built a mountain bike repair station on a popular trail as his Eagle Scout project.

 

International

Bike Radar considers what not to do that could ruin your next ride to work.

Maybe they’re out to get us. A Vancouver, British Columbia man was killed when a deer crashed into him as he rode his bike down a steep hill; meanwhile, a Swiss woman died after hitting a cat on her ebike.

Apparently, it takes more than an hour to get an unlocked bike stolen in a busy crime-ridden London neighborhood.

BBC reporter Anna Holligan says her whole world has gotten smaller and slower, after thieves in the Netherlands stole the cargo bike she used for news reports from the bike path.

A writer for Travel + Leisure says a bicycling safari is the best way to see wildlife in Africa’s Kalahari Desert.

An Aussie city installs a traffic light giving bicyclist a head start before drivers get a green. And of course the people on two wheels love it, and the ones on four, not so much.

 

Competitive Cycling

Kristen Faulkner out-sprinted Lauren Stephens and Katherine Sarkisov to repeat as the US elite road cycling national champ.

Quinn Simmons won the men’s elite road race with a solo breakaway, finishing nearly three-minutes ahead of second place Evan Boyle, with Gavin Hlady winning a mass sprint for third, another two-and-a-half minutes back; it was Quinn’s second national title after winning in 2023.

The U-23 road cycling titles were won by Ella Sabo on the women’s side, and the aforementioned Gavin Hlady for the men.

US cycling legend Bobby Julich said winning the national championship the ultimate honor of his cycling career.

Twenty-one-year old rising Mexican cycling star Isaac Del Toro finished a very unexpected full week in the Giro’s pink leader’s jersey.

Mathieu van der Poel’s preparations for the Tour de France got more complicated when he broke his wrist in a mountain bike race in the Czech Republic over the weekend.

Speaking of the Tour de France, cycling stars Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard have blasted plans to have the Tour end on Paris’ Montmartre climb, saying the hilly, curving course that worked for the recent Olympics would lead to chaos, putting riders and fans at risk.

Red Bull profiles 28-year old Colombian cyclist Dani Martínez, calling him the complete package after finishing 2nd in last year’s Giro in just his send year with the Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe team.

Road.cc tells “the amazing story of Wong Kam-po, the cycling king of Hong Kong,” who won the world championships, beat future winners of the Tour de France, and was called the world’s best non-pro bike racer.

 

Finally…

When you’re under the influence and driving with coke and weed in your car, maybe stick to the road and not the bike path. That feeling when a pair of bikeways make the list of 50 stupidly dangerous designs that defy logic.

And a man riding in Yellowstone was lucky he didn’t find out how it feels to get buffaloed. Or bisoned.

Or whatever.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: ,

Cheating alleged in Lyft’s Metro Bike bid, questioning rescue of Georgia bikepacker, and PCH study comments extended

May 23, 2025 / / Comments Off on Cheating alleged in Lyft’s Metro Bike bid, questioning rescue of Georgia bikepacker, and PCH study comments extended
Day 143 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

My apologies to everyone who found an unfinished — or unstarted, for that matter — draft of today’s post in your inbox. 

And yes, spellcheck, unstarted is a real word.

But’s that’s what happens when have too many windows open on your screen, and inadvertently hit the “publish” button when you try to click on one.

Not for the first time, I might add. 

………

Now that we have that out of the way —

Today is the unofficial start of the three-day holiday weekend. Which means lots of people leaving work early, and not paying attention to anything but where they wish they already were right now.

Like bikes, for instance.

And long weekends mean parties and barbecues — and a lot of drinking and other forms of imbibing.

So ride defensively all weekend, and assume every driver you see is under the influence of something. Because more than a few probably will be.

I just want to see you back here safe and sound on Tuesday.

And try to take a few moments to remember what this holiday is all about, anyway.

………

Raise your hand if you’d be shocked to learn there may have been cheating in awarding the new Metro Bike contract.

Hello? Anyone?

Is this thing on?

Streetsblog reports Metro directors delayed what was expected to be a pro forma vote to award Lyft the contract to operate the city’s docked bikeshare program yesterday — despite a unanimous vote by the Metro Operations Committee to advance the contract.

And after two previous botched attempts at awarding the contract.

But according to LA Public Press, the vote was pulled after allegations were raised that Lyft had inside information giving them an unfair advantage, in violation of Los Angeles ethics rules.

And yes, we have ethics rules, as hard as it is to believe at times.

Anne Marie Drolet, a bike mechanic and shop steward with the bike share union Transportation Workers Union Local 320, told LA Public Press that the allegations, if proven, should disqualify Lyft from the bidding process.

“Lyft’s bid once again seems very unfair, like they’re getting a leg up,” Drolet said. “One of their subcontractors helped write the [request for proposals]. I think it’s ridiculous [Lyft is] still in the running.”

Alta Planning + Design, a transportation design company founded in 1996 with offices in the U.S. and Canada, did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. Metro has previously hired the company to do things like design transportation plans that capture the highest number of riders at transit stations.

LA Public Press also reports that Metro was on the cusp of making the change despite limited cost savings that amount to a rounding error in the massive Metro budget.

Lyft’s proposal claims it can cut costs, build new docking stations, add more e-bikes to the fleet, and develop a new bike share app.

But Metro documents show Lyft’s current proposal offers minimal cost savings. The company said it can operate bike share for $198 million, while BTS says it can operate the program for $202 million.

Opponents of the company’s bid have also pointed out current CEO David Risher’s comments that the company’s takeover of bike share programs is part of a push to get more people using Lyft for ride-hailing.

It’s possible — likely, in fact — that the allegations are an effort by current program operator BTS and unionized Metro Bike mechanics to derail the shift in management.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not true.

And even if it’s not, is it worth risking the bikeshare program as the city prepares to host the World Cup and ’28 Olympics by shifting to a company which has had a spotty record in other cities?

……….

It’s been a little more than a week since the “miraculous” rescue of Georgia bikepacker Tiffany Slaton after she got lost in the mountains above Fresno, surviving three weeks on wild leeks and melted snow.

But apparently, not everyone believe her story.

According to the Los Angeles Times,

(Fresno County Sheriff spokesperson Tony) Botti defended Slaton, saying that the woman didn’t report herself missing and “there is no evidence to show she knew we were searching for her.”

Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni called Slaton’s journey “an incredible story of perseverance, determination and survival” saying it is “something that you may see on TV that they would make movies about.”

On the other hand, a Redditor had this to say.

“I’m glad to see that other people don’t believe this story. So many things don’t add up, I hope this office investigates fully since resources were used,” a person wrote on the sheriff’s office’s Facebook. “It’s embarrassing to think people believe someone fell off a cliff, survived 2 hours unconscious (guess she was timing it), popped her knee back into place, and traveled 20 miles after splinting her leg.”

Even the experts had questions. Experienced Sierra mountain guide Howie Schwartz didn’t doubt Slaton was lost.

But,

“It doesn’t seem like a story you can really wrap your head around,” Schwartz told The Times. “Falling off a cliff, having to splint her leg. You don’t splint your leg unless your leg is broken and if your leg is broken, you’re not walking miles on it.”

Never mind the Redditors who said she was probably crazy, embellished her story, or looking for a book deal or crowdfunding cash.

Which probably explains why her parents shut their crowdfunding page down. But not until it had raised over $23,000.

Then again, those same doubts also popped up in my own Twitter/X feed.

So what’s the answer? Don’t ask me.

Her story does seem kind of incredible. But the best stories usually are.

………

Caltrans uses a lot more words than necessary to say they’re giving you more time to comment on the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study.

Maybe they had to use them all before the weekend.

ADDENDUM ADDED TO THE PCH MASTER PLAN FEASIBILITY STUDY AND EXTENSION OF THE COMMENT PERIOD

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is pleased to announce that an addendum has been added to the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study. The addendum, described in Section 7, Project Prioritization/Phasing of the Draft Study, consists of a qualitative evaluation matrix assessing the Study’s recommendations for alignment with the Study’s goals as well as statutory mandates and guidelines related to long-range corridor planning. By demonstrating alignment with mandates and guidelines related to corridor management, the Study is better positioned for additional funding opportunities to support the implementation of its recommendations. The results of the evaluation matrix can be found in Appendix E: Evaluation Matrix.

To ensure the public and stakeholders have time to review the update, the comment period has been extended from June 9, 2025, to June 16, 2025. The updated Draft Study can be viewed here.

Caltrans invites members of the public, stakeholders, and any interested individuals to review the Draft Study and leave your thoughts in the comment box provided here or via email to 07-pchmpfs@publicinput.com. When providing comments via email, please include the relevant section title, page number, figure, or table number when applicable to help us accurately locate the part of the document you’re commenting on.

………

Streets For All shares video of their virtual happy hour with LA City Attorney candidate Marissa Roy.

I never know how much to tip my virtual bartender. Or a Waymo driver, for that matter.

………

Streets Are For Everyone, aka SAFE, posts video of the recent die-in on the steps of City Hall.

………

Active SGV hosts free two-hour ebike rentals this weekend.

https://twitter.com/ActiveSGV/status/1925644608425410632

Here’s the link if Elon is still screwing up proper embedding of Twitter/X posts.

………

Of course a bicyclist who used to be a driver would have no idea what a traffic light is. Especially when it comes to right turns.

Or left.

………

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

Tres shock! New York’s police commissioner says her cops are only targeting reckless ebike riders for six offenses along 14 key corridors; Streetsblog says it ain’t necessarily so.

………

Local 

Streetsblog’s Sahra Sulaiman reports on the celebratory grand opening of the “transformative” Rail-to-Rail bike/walk path in South LA.

Long Beach is launching a 12-month pilot program allowing both private and shared e-scooters along the shoreline bike and pedestrian path.

 

State

Palm Springs bike riders demanded action on safety improvements while honoring fallen bicyclists at Wednesday’s Ride of Silence.

The Santa Barbara Independent says the city’s bicycling rates are inching up while bicycling injuries climb, making both bike and Vision Zero goals “distant.”

 

National

A magazine for lawyers examines the legal challenges facing bike riders injured by distracted and/or reckless drivers. Best advice, document everything and find a good lawyer to walk through your options. Like one of those guys over there on the right. 

The Independent lists eight American cities that are surprising great for bicycling. Seven of which actually are. And yes, I’m looking at you, Houston.

The Today Show highlights a dad going viral for his daily bike rides with his seven-year old daughter.

Nice. Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed the nation’s first law permitting shared streets, with a 10 mph speed limit and strict rules requiring people on bicycles to yield to pedestrians, and drivers to yield to bike riders. Which is how it should be, anyway. 

Salt Lake City is pulling the plug on its ebike incentive program after funding nearly 300 vouchers last year, citing a flat budget for the coming year. But wouldn’t a flat budget mean they could fund everything they did the previous year?

An Idaho dancer says ballet is just like riding a bike. And he should know, since he rides a bike to stay in shape for ballet, mentally and physically.

Damn. A Texas jury gave the parents of an eight-year old bike-riding boy killed by a young man driving a family business truck just at tad more than the $1.1 million they were asking for, awarding them a whopping $80 million. Let’s hope that’s a very valuable family business they’ve got there.  

Your next bike parts could come from a Topeka vending machine. Which wouldn’t be the first thing I’ve bought from a vending machine in Topeka.

 

International

Seriously? London emergency rooms are supposedly buckling because of a surge in demand due to “Lime bike leg,” caused by people trapped by the weight of collapsing ebikes that are “around four times heavier than regular cycles,” while a surgeon warns of “life-threatening injuries.” Call it the modern equivalent of bicycle face.

We know a guy on a bike can beat a someone in a car, but can a London bike rider beat another guy riding the Tube across one of the world’s busiest cities? Would I be writing this if he couldn’t?

A 2,000-mile circular relay ride will connect all 42 Anglican cathedrals in the UK. Or as they call them over there, cathedrals.

A British bike club is proving that age is no barrier to learning how to ride a bike.

 

Competitive Cycling

Your new US national time trial champs are Emily Ehrlich and Artem Schmidt.

Mexico’s Isaac del Torro continues to lead the Giro, as Olav Kooij of the Netherlands won a mass sprint Thursday with a leadout from Wout van Aert. Meanwhile, a reader named Steven points out that del Torro’s name translates to “laughter of the bull,” which seems oddly appropriate.

A Utah newspaper profiles 23-year old Utah native Natalie Quinn as she fights to rise in women’s cycling — without getting paid, after joining American team Cynisca Cycling midseason when the British team she was on folded. Which pretty much sums up the problems with the current state of women’s cycling.

Kenyan cycling coach Evan Wangai discusses his journey from boda boda driver to pro cyclist.

 

Finally…

Why line the bike lane with ugly yellow posts when you can have recycled red plastic tulips? Always use a bicycle as a getaway vehicle for your baby gator heists.

And who needs lube when you’ve got…sand.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Colorado solves hit-and-runs while LAPD keeps public in dark, and CARB pinky swears they’re really ready this time

May 22, 2025 / / Comments Off on Colorado solves hit-and-runs while LAPD keeps public in dark, and CARB pinky swears they’re really ready this time
Day 142 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Funny how that works.

Just one day after the Colorado Highway Patrol asked for the public’s help finding the hit-and-run driver who killed a man riding a bicycle outside Boulder, a suspect was arrested.

Imagine that.

Denver, Colorado developed the hit-and-run alert system, later adopted by the state, that the ones in Los Angeles and California are patterned on.

The difference is, they actually use them. We don’t.

Which might be why the CHP solves nearly two-thirds of felony hit-and-run cases in the state. No, the other CHP, in Colorado.

In California, that number is about 20%, while in Los Angeles, it’s less than 10%.

But here’s a crazy idea.

Maybe those numbers would go up if they didn’t wait weeks, or months — or never — to even let the public know there was a hit-and-run, let alone ask for our help solving it. Never mind actually use the hit-and-run alert systems we fought so hard to give them.

The City of Los Angeles also offers an automatic $50,000 reward for information that helps the cops solve a fatal hit-and-run, with rewards ranging up to $25,000 for less severe crashes. But no one stands a chance of collecting if we don’t even know about it.

And maybe that’s the idea, trying to save the severely over-strapped city a few bucks so the cops can buy more helicopters.

They should be ashamed.

Or maybe sued.

Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay.

………

The California Air Resources Board promises that the state’s ebike voucher program is really, honest-to-gosh ready for the anticipated demand this time, after two mostly failed attempts.

Pinky swear.

Then again, they’ve only had two attempts. And you know what they say about the third time.

The first distributed somewhere around 1,500 vouchers, but deliberately throttling the applications left more than 100,000 frustrated and angry Californians waiting at the gates, blocked from even getting a chance to apply.

The second attempt was even worse, when the system crashed as soon as it opened as potential applicants once again exceeded the system’s limited capacity, and the whole damn thing was shut down with just minutes remaining in the application window, frustrating the lucky few who had somehow managed to get in.

Myself included.

The Los Angeles Times quotes CARB spokesperson Lisa Macumber defending the total clown show, citing the heavy demand.

“As a result, automatic security measures were activated and the website operated and controlled by California Air Resources Board’s third party administrator Pedal Ahead was temporarily unavailable,” said Lisa Macumber, spokesperson for the state agency.

The technology is never 100% certain and it could have happened under any administrator running a program like this, Macumber said.

Sure it could.

But here’s a thought. If each teeny, tiny application window has more than 150,000 presumably qualified people desperately trying to somehow squeeze themselves in, maybe offer more than a few thousand measly vouchers at a time, and give us a much larger window to get those applications in.

And if that many people are willing to suffer this much indignation just for a chance to get a voucher, maybe go back to the state and ask for enough money to actually meet the damn demand.

But have no fear.

Macumber promises they’ll be ready this time.

No, really.

“It’s like getting tickets to a Taylor Swift concert, it can be really hard to get through the technology, and then at the end of the day, find out whether or not you’re successful,” she said. “So we really understand the frustration.”

The agency has rescheduled the second application window for May 29 and says this time it’s ready for droves of prospective applicants.

To ensure they don’t have the same problems this time, they’ve hired the same people who failed so badly last time to do it again, hoping for different results.

And you know what they call that.

So get your documents ready. Mark your calendar for 6 pm on May 29th.

And keep your fingers crossed.

No, all of them.

You can read the Times story on Yahoo if the paper’s paywall shuts you out.

………

About damn time.

CD13 Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez introduced a motion to explore using cameras to catch drivers who block bike lanes, starting with a pilot on Hollywood Blvd.

This follows a successful test in Santa Monica, where automated cams captured 1,700 violations in six weeks.

Which, based on my own observations, suggests they weren’t trying very hard.

……….

Thanks to our old friend Megan Lynch for forwarding this TV news story highlighting a San Francisco bike center as a “pillar of the community” for fixing bikes for free to get people riding.

………

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

A San Diego letter writer complains about the new traffic configuration at the city’s Balboa Park, warning that one lane for buses, a lane for bicycles, and a single lane for cars causes traffic to back up on busy weekends, calling it “another problem dreamed up by the city traffic engineers.” Apparently, it’s never occurred to him to use one of those other lanes by taking the bus. Or maybe even riding a bike. Because it’s a damn park, already. 

No bias here. London’s Telegraph says new safety data shows that bike advocates are wrong about cars being a bigger problem in the city’s parks, even though the data actually highlights the dangers of serious injuries caused by cars and the people in them.

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

London is now filing criminal charges and imposing fines equivalent to more than $500 for bicycling violations like running red lights and blowing through crosswalks.

………

Local 

Luxury Travel Magazine examines why Los Angeles is the best last-minute summer vacation spot. Because all the other cities were already booked?

Beverly Hills police will conduct a bicycle and pedestrian safety operation today, targeting violations that could put either group at risk, regardless of who commits them. So once again, ride to the letter of the law until you pass the city limits sign today, so you don’t celebrate bike month by getting a ticket. 

 

State

Out Sports talks with openly gay pro skier and Olympic medalist Gus Kenworthy about why he’s taking part in the final San Francisco to LA AIDS/LifeCycle Ride next month.

Huntington Beach police and the OC Sheriff’s Department will host a free ebike training session at a Huntington Beach middle school on the last day of the month.

Sad news from Tulare County, where a man was killed when a driver rear-ended the bicycle he was riding; unsurprisingly, the driver was uninjured.

San Francisco “activists” called on the city to recommit to Vision Zero, after six pedestrians have been killed there already this year. Los Angeles officials can’t recommit to Vision Zero, because they never committed to it in the first place. And maybe those “activists” are just people who don’t want to get killed crossing the street.

 

National

Former Calbike chief Dave Snyder assures bike advocates we’re doing the right thing, saying local bike advocacy is good resistance. So make like Andor, and join the rebellion, already. 

No surprise here. In a survey of how 75,000 Seattle commuters actually feel about how they get to work, bike commuting came out on top by a wide margin.

Police in Greeley, Colorado are looking for the ebike-riding asshole who shot a dog last month. But at least the dog survived, even if the person’s last remaining shred of human decency didn’t.

BLM — no, the Bureau of Land Management — will determine whether ebikes are allowed on federal trails in western Colorado, after 64% expressed an interest in using them in a recent survey.

Bicycling crashes in Wisconsin were up nearly 25% over a five-year average last year. It would be nice if someone, anyone, could tell us how many there were in California last year. But keeping actual running stats on traffic deaths would just be too much work, apparently. 

 

International

The leaders of many of the top bikeshare providers called on cities to “move beyond pilot thinking and treat shared bicycles as a permanent, integrated part of the public transport system,” arguing that it’s not an optional add-on or a “climate gadget.”

Once again, a man was killed after a fight over a bicycle. A 34-year old man in Middlesborough, England was convicted of murder for fatally stabbing a man who had borrowed his bike to ride to a pub for a drink. Yet another reminder that no bicycle is worth a human life. Seriously, just let it go.

The “best sommelier in Catalonia, Spain” recommends her favorite route for a meditative bike ride through the region’s Llémena Valley.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly examines the journeys of five champion paracyclists, from initial injury or disability to victory.

 

Finally…

If you find a small snake lying in the bike path, just leave him the hell alone, already. That feeling when that cute little Norwegian e-pedalcar company goes belly-up before you even get a chance to buy one.

And that feeling when you can finally get the 12-foot high banana seat bike of your childhood dreams.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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