It’s Day 20 of the 6th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
Thanks to Jamie S for a generous donation to help bring all the best bike news and advocacy to your favorite screen every morning — and especially for the kind words.
Don’t wait. Give to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive today!
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Today’s common theme is the nomination of former South Bend IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg to take the helm of the US Department of Transportation in the new Biden administration.
Curbed’s Alissa Walker says Buttigieg isn’t a transportation visionary, but he may not need to be because his new boss is.
Streetsblog considers what Mayor Pete would mean for the Transportation Department, noting some of his progressive campaign promises, as well as a few problems.
And The Points Guy considers what hims nomination means for transportation.
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Here’s your chance to add another bike-friendly voice to your neighborhood council, if you live or work in Hollywood.
— Hollywood Hills West (@HLWD_HILLS_WEST) December 16, 2020
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Sometimes it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Aussie authorities are looking for the man responsible for the bizarre crime of using the throttle on his ebike to draw phallic symbols on a bike path with the bike’s tire.
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Local
Metro Bike offers tips on how to stay safe riding a bike during the holidays. No, from Covid-19.
Pasadena police wrote 155 tickets during their latest bike and pedestrian safety crackdown, writing up 108 drivers, 25 bike riders and 22 pedestrians. Even though the biggest danger the last two posed was to themselves, which isn’t the case for the people in the big, dangerous machines.
Santa Monica is establishing a one-square mile, first-in-the-nation zero-emissions delivery zone in the downtown area, which should lead to an abundance of e-cargo bikes and delivery vans.
State
Bicyclists in Encinitas called for safety improvements in the coastal San Diego County city as a ghost bike was installed for Dr. Dr. Jennings Worley, a noted authority in the battle against cystic fibrosis, who was killed in a collision while riding his bike last month.
Sad news from the Bay Area, where word broke that the chief financial officer of the Sports Basement was one of the five victims who were killed last week when a trucker smashed into a group ride outside of Las Vegas.
National
Streetsblog says 2021 could be the tipping point when driverless cars become inevitable.
Cycling USA is raffling off a pair of Cannondale/Rapha/Palace bikes used in the 2020 Giro d’Italia, with funds going to support co-ed teams at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Tribal Colleges and Universities for the next three years
Popular Science tries out the new Harley Davidson ebikes.
‘Tis the season. A Tulsa OK organization donates over 200 bikes for local family in need.
Police in Ohio are looking for the red light-running hit-and-run driver who killed a 60-year old man out for a bike ride on his birthday.
Boston police recovered dozens of hot bikes after a large-scale investigation.
New York will finally begin work on finishing the long-delayed Queens Boulevard protected bike lane next year, even after the mayor attempted to pull the plug at the behest of a car-centric community council member.
Snopes confirms that a Florida manatee really did free itself from a bike tire that was stuck around its body for up to a year.
An 89-year old resident of a massive Florida retirement community pled not guilty in the hit-and-run that injured two bike riders, one seriously. Yet another example of keeping dangerous drivers on the road until it’s too late.
International
Cycling Weekly considers what the bike industry can learn from the bizarre Tesla ebike prototype.
Portugal is mourning legendary, record-setting cyclist and firefighter Carlos Vieira, who died of Covid-19 at 68.
Bike riders in Calcutta, aka Kolkota, asked the police commissioner to allow bicycles on all of the city’s streets, as a growing number of people, many of them poor, are riding to work to avoid crowded public transport during the pandemic; bikes are currently banned from major arterials.
Two Chinese college students filed suit against former dockless bikeshare giant Ofo in hopes of getting their deposits back. Meanwhile, Ofo competitor Mobike is shutting down after being purchased by another company.
Competitive Cycling
Good news for diversity-based cycling team L39ion of Los Angeles, which just announced a sponsorship agreement with deep-pocketed Zwift. You can join a virtual Zwift ride with the team next Tuesday.
A new documentary recounts the long road to recovery for Belgian cyclist Stig Broeckx, who was nearly killed in a horrific collision with a race moto in the 2016 Tour of Belgium, after almost miraculously awakening after six months in a coma.
Finally…
Just sprinkle a few kids bikes around the neighborhood in hopes that someone who needs one finds it. When traffic backs up at a drive-through holiday event, always blame the people on bikes.
And that feeling when your only motorcade is a bicycle.
@bikinginla Here's something every leader of every nation should aspire to. https://t.co/VUG1nqGvoy
— W Corylus (@CorylusW) December 16, 2020
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a mask, already.
