Get comfortable. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover today.
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There’s a special place in hell for the jerk who pushed an 11-year old boy off the bicycle he just won, then rode off with it after placing a small girl on the handlebars.
It happened on Halloween at Ted Watkins Park in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood. Anyone with information is urged to call Detective Daniel Cerda at the Sheriff’s Department’s Parks Bureau, 213/216-7675.
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The closure of a one-mile segment of the LA River bike path begins on Monday. Riders will be detoured through Griffith Park to avoid construction to add carpool lanes on the 5 Freeway.
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Keep your eyes open for an e-bike stolen from Andrew Yip of BikeSGV, which was used to transport materials for the organization, as well as worn out kids.
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Calbike provides the voting records on bike bills for the every member of the state Assembly and Senate.
If your representative scored poorly, you might want to have a talk with him or her.
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Utah gets the point across when it comes to distracted driving.
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Local
LAist considers what it will be like to use the coming Metro bikeshare system in DTLA, while Metro wants your help to determine just where those stations should be located.
CiclaValley offers his favorite routes from the Valley to DTLA.
Santa Monica gets its first protected bike lane down the center of Pico Blvd, to provide a safer connection from Santa Monica High School to Main Street. Meanwhile, a writer for the Santa Monica Daily Press considers whether bikeshare and that “bike thingy” on Pico are actually useful developments.
State
Talk about getting tough on crime. Road raging California drivers can lose their license for a whole six months for the first offense.
A writer for Orange Coast magazine previews this year’s “super-subversive” Laguna Beach Tour de Coop chicken coop ride. Except it was actually held last Sunday.
A Newport Beach driver pled not guilty to felony hit-and-run for fleeing the scene after critically injuring a 14-year old girl as she rode her bike on the Balboa Peninsula last August.
A cyclist in Newport Beach suffered just minor injuries when he was hit in a left cross collision on Tuesday.
Celebrate the third anniversary of the Inland Empire Biking Alliance in Redding with the BikesGiving Telethon on November 19th.
Bay Area groups are working to get more women on two wheels.
A Redding bicyclist has died nearly a week after he was hit by a car while riding home from work.
National
Next City makes the case against eye-searing flashing bike lights. I use two lights; a relatively low-powered light on flashing mode so I can be seen, and a bright light angled down so I can see without blinding others.
Bicycling offers up some classic bike commercials if you have 5:40 to kill.
Smart idea, as Seattle is installing DIY bike repair stations at nine county libraries.
A San Antonio TX man is on trial for killing his roommate because he failed to close the gate after bringing his bicycle into the yard.
A Pittsburgh letter writer seems to be saying it’s a cyclist’s fault that she doesn’t know how to use her mirrors and drives too close to parked cars, while another says sometimes bike riders really are at fault.
Baltimore bike advocates kick off a year-long “I Bike, I Vote” campaign to get bicyclists to the voting booth.
A candidate for mayor of Charleston SC says the most important issue in the campaign is keeping a key bridge for cars only; his opponent says he’s not sold on it either.
Atlanta’s first chief bicycle officer explains how he’s working to turn the auto-centric capitol of the South into a city that serves all road users. Including a road diet on a formerly seven-lane street that provided dedicated space for everyone, while improving automotive throughput and reducing crashes 25%.
A Florida bike thief is under arrest after he was chased down and dragged out of the bushes by a 5’3” mom whose bike he stole; unfortunately, the bike didn’t fare very well.
International
Apparently, pro cyclists are popping tramadol to kill the pain of racing. Seriously? When take I it, I can barely walk across the street, let alone ride a bike. And forget about a sprint finish.
Cycling News talks with cycling scion Taylor Phinney, who not only made an amazing comeback from a devastating injury, but became a better person in the process.
Um, no. An unpublished British study claims to show bike helmets turn riders into risk takers. All it really shows is that bike helmets may protect from over-inflated balloons.
Here’s another reason to ride. A study from the UK finds that stronger legs reduce the risk of age-related dementia.
An English soccer fan raised the equivalent of over $30,000 riding 15,000 miles to attend last year’s World Cup in South Africa. Then has his Surly stolen from outside his house.
A Brit paper explains how to stay dry while riding in wet weather. Which should be an El Niño primer for bike-riding Angelenos.
Bicycling has decreased in Ireland, but the percentage of people who use bikes as their primary form of transportation has gone up. Although more off-street bike parking in convenient locations might turn that decrease around.
Botswana’s Minister of Transport calls for everyone to use the roads safely and take responsibility for their behavior, yet the press somehow turns that into a call for responsible cycling.
Now that South Australia is allowing bikes on sidewalks, one city wants to impose speed limits. Which only works for bikes with speedometers, of course. And do they plan on ticketing excited kids who pedal too fast on their training wheels?
Now that’s a big bike ride. Around 600,000 Thais have registered for a nationwide ride in honor of the country’s king.
Finally…
Forget tall bikes; what you really need is a half-block long tandem. If you’re going to cut in and out of a group of cyclists while blaring your horn, try to make sure one of them isn’t the country’s prime minister.
And I’ve been trying to figure out how to take the Corgi on my bike. But this probably isn’t the answer.
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Please join me in offering a special thank you and Happy Veterans Day to everyone who’s served our country.
